This is most awesome from the Why Would You Tell Me That!? podcast, especially the qualifiers - which superpower are you choosing:
TL;DR: A warning that the NZ government is stealthily shifting the nation's "DNA" from collectivism to right-libertarian individualism. Led by the ACT Party, the plan cuts ~9,000 public servants by 2029 to save $2.4 billion, gambling on AI to fill the void. This hollowing out makes the state strictly transactional. I plan to vote for change in five months.
New Zealand is still…
Lorie was my first, and you never forget your first eh, especially if it's a great experience, and it was.
So what made Lorie so influential on my work life?
I was 20 years of age and St Ivel in Swindon was my first 'proper' job after being a paperboy* or working as a waiter in a fancy hotel restaurant. It was both out of Monmouth and inside of an office where people wore suits, sat in…
Daily Photo theme catch uptime as we drift through _Science_ and specifically _Out there_ and _In there_. Hmm, I have wandered off piste somewhat, ah well.
This coming week is _Far away_ and then _Very close_ - actually, I'm gonna swap "In there" and "Very close" as that's what it looks like I did in my wobbly brain, all part of a grand plan that even I wasn't aware of.
If you look at the theme…
Where AI can actually move the needle in the NZ public service?
Let's ask Google's Gemini what it thinks - everything below is the response to the question above.
The push to integrate AI into the New Zealand public service is happening at a critical inflection point. With the current government’s mandate to reduce the public service workforce by roughly 14% (around 9,000 roles) by…
"AI" / LLM, it's mostly useless despite Google stuffing it into every part of their ecosystem ...there are hints that it might, in a few years, be useful but we're definitely not there yet.
However, it can be used to generate (on the back of the world's information oh so generously supplied by humans over the centuries!?) weird and wacky malarkey.
We've all seen the 'funny' images and…
We know that looking at the "youth of the day" and finding them the most feckless, ignorant, lazy, bunch of no-goods the world have ever existed is a most lazy, ignorant, and reckless thought one can have.
It seems an insidious thought that surfaces every time some reach an age they feel comfortable looking down upon the young.
_[side note: be aware of any "youth of today!" quote…
A simple phrase, "remember to bring a plate", used by Kiwi's whenever there is a social gathering of sorts - very popular for Thirsty Thursday drinks :)
It means, on the surface, "Bring a plate of food to share" and not bring an empty plate!
The underlying meaning is "Bring a plate of something to share, no matter how small or cheap" as it is the bringing of the plate that matters and not…
It's the red heart of Australia and so saying, "It's HOT here in Australia" may seem like a blindingly obvious thing to say however, as I write this in May 2026, it's bloody cold in Papunya. The UK is having a an unusually early heatwave and Monmouth's low is our high, I know!
It's usually stinking hot though, especially during the summer months and, according to those that spend their working…
A week or so ago the world went a tad Attenborough Birthday crazy and let out a giant breath when he made it to, and past, the date.
He's been a dude saying the best things for such a long time it's got to the point we can't imagine him not being around. The amazing TV work he and the hardworking crew share still astonish and delight, we're all small kids with our mouths wide open when we…
Wikipedia pages are almost always added to appropriate categories - check at the bottom - and the Catfishing game asks you to guess the Wikipedia page title by only listing the categories.
For example, these categories:
... are all on this page:
(subscribe/RSS)
Daily photos help keep me centered, it's my way of ensuring there is a moment that is just for me - it's not the only one but it's locked in every morning and I adore it. It's a creative exercise, it can stretch my brain, and of course I get to look back across my archives and see some wonderful moments.
I group my daily photos via a 4 weekly theme, and this is the end of _Screens_ focussing…
Nat and I count May 20th as the date we 'got together', but it seems that others 'knew' we were gonna well before we did ... the power of 2 + 2 = 5 is strong with many* ;)
It's been a heck of an adventure and I can't imagine anyone else I would've wanted, been able, or enjoyed being alongside as much as I have with Natalie. Our first date was in a bar in Levin and I am writing this in a…
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PAPUNYA, NT — May 20, 2026 —
Every hit book series ends and we wave goodbye to characters we have come to know and love, and so it is with the best selling…
It's been a very long time since I published an Anika Moa post but this photo of hers popped up as well as a reminder that it's her birthday during the week.
Have a gorgeous one buddy, gonna play your songs to the outback during the week :)
(subscribe/RSS)
Before the train get amongst wot the young 'uns are listening to, "experimental math rock band from Quebec: Angine de Poitrine " - and if you find them weird you're old but also hang on for the train song further down this page.
Rick talks about them:
AND, Google search them on a desktop/laptop - ha ha ha ha, love it: https://www.google.com/search?q=Angine+de+Poitrine
Ok, let's get to be a…
This post, alongside my love of science and particular time , is about a passion of mine –you. I've found a few intriguing articles that ponder who the who inside you actually is; or isn't, enjoy.
By Masud Husain, April 14, 2026
[..] patients with brain disorders poignantly reveal how even very basic brain…
I'm a bit all over the place with the Screens theme but hey, who cares! Here's the Connecting set of 7, along with Celebrity , and Watching. I think it's Computers next and then we're done with this theme (sounds like a chore, but it's not really).
Lot easier just to join the albums tbh:
#…
It's a slow process for me held back by how great Google Photos is and why Proton can't give us a dedicated Contacts app. I'll get there, in the meantime here's a few other people's views and techniques of moving yourself from the US tech giants.
By Paris Marx, July 18, 2025
An excellent read that covers not only Paris' chosen app but alternatives that may suit…
Visit https://sinceyouarrived.world/taken and it will tell you all the info that your web browser silently passes back to it.
A simple trick but very effective - report back to the user what the browser (Chrome, Vivaldi, Edge, Safari, Firefox etc) has just told the web server. Every page on the Web collects this information, all the time, and they rarely tell you. To be fair much of it is…
I haven't had the need for it but I'm sure there will be a time when I fall over in the street and there's no-one around that knows me. I hope whoever finds me calls the appropriate services and my phone is OK because ALL of my emergency contact details are on the phone, accessible to anyone that needs them at the time.
Blood type, emergency contacts, any medication I'm on, even if I am a…
It's always a shock when I hear, or it dawns upon me, that someone is loyal to an organisation.
__
British English, /ˈlɔɪəl/, LOY-uhl
OED's earliest evidence for loyal is from 1531, in the writing of Thomas Elyot, humanist and diplomat.
- Having or demonstrating undivided and constant support for someone or something.
_Dogs are veryloyal animals, which…
The Happy map by Alvin Chang, a data journalist and professor at The New School.
In 2017, more than 10,000 people tracked experiences that made them happy as part of a research project. The researchers gathered more than 100,000 happy moments.
Map methodology
The map is initially split up into 200,000 regions using a voronoi algorithm; it looks like a giraffe's fur. From…
Being excited about everyday tech isn't something any of us do anymore, but do we know how it works - not me! Shri Khalpada has us covered with How The Heck? , a series of interactive explanations of everyday technology designed primarily for curious, non-technical readers.
- QR Codes: Black-and-white squares that survive coffee stains
- GPS: Turning time into distance with…
_
_
_
What a wild ride this post has been as people tell us that time doesn't exist but also it's been measured to have a negative number (something went out before it went in), but hey we all experience time differently anyway so what does it all matter, check out the clock to feel it in action._
I'll start with the hard science just so we all know defining time is as easy as grabbing hold…
I don't take many photos of TVs or computer screens so this was a challenge. I did, however, get 7 photos although one isn't even on a screen as I was still in Stadium mode from the previous week, oops.
(subscribe/RSS)
On the surface these 2 articles could be seen as unrelated, but I would posit that they are both human endeavours that fit into the "absurd worldview" helping the creators survive feelings of saṃvega ("the urgent realization that you need a more meaningful life craziness of everything").
They also give me a big smile and a warm feeling because of their efforts, yes it' all crazy out there in…
Two more online games to while away the office hours whilst pretending to be hard a work behind your 3 quarter sized pod divider.
Absolute madness but sucked me down the many levels!
Which country is bigger than the other click to choose.
(subscribe/RSS)
It's a complex and intricate human universe and we have long passed the mythical time when one person could know how everything hung together.
Even in the earliest times, knowledge was specialized. Hunters, gatherers, elders, and healers within tribes held specific expertise that was not universal to all members. While life was "simple" in the sense of fewer technologies, it was never "easy"…
I use some "AI" tools, and increasingly so - it's all so beguiling. At the moment I've managed to limit myself to creating AltText on images I share (https://cloudisland.nz/@miramarmike) and the odd photo tweak when I need to remove something (a power line etc) or make my weird ass fake book covers into actual book-looking images.
Here's other people's thoughts on "AI"/LLM that I have found…