Another drought for Southern Region? How will ..Dairy farmers deal with that? Water is going to be scarce. More pressure on Councils to “allow” water takes?
"The foundations of evolutionary biology had been distorted by prejudice.
Why do you describe sex, as in the male and female categories in species, as anarchical?
I was really surprised when I came to understand how sexual differentiation actually happens. Everybody at school learns that males are XY and females are XX. You think that the genes that govern being male are on the Y chromosome, and the genes that cover being female are on the X, and that the pathways that take you to being male or female are linear and distinct. That’s what I assumed, like many people. And then I spoke to Jenny Graves, who had been studying sexual differentiation and determination for a very long time, in everything from platypus to nematode worms. She was part of the team that found the SRY gene, which is of course the trigger for the male pathway in humans. She’s the one who told me that it’s a pretty anarchic setup.
I was amazed by what she told me. When you have a fetus, it starts off as sexually neutral with a unisex kit of parts. Then there’s a trigger—in humans, the presence or absence of the SRY gene—that starts one of these two pathways. The gonads either start down the pathway of becoming a testes or an ovary. Now, what I didn’t know, which Jenny told me—she had to tell me three times because I couldn’t believe it—is that the genes involved in making testes or ovaries are basically the same 60 genes. They just play to a different tune. And these two pathways involving these 60 genes are neither separate nor linear. They’re enmeshed, and they work antagonistically. So, to create an ovary, you have to suppress the testes at the same time.
They’ve now found in studies of mice that this suppression, this antagonistic relationship between these two pathways, continues into adulthood, which suggests that the gonad is never actually stable in a mouse, an astonishing thing to discover. When she sent me this diagram to explain what these two linear pathways look like, it was like a machine of millions of cogs with these little blue balls being spat out and pumped between things, and destroyed, and the whole thing was like a whirring map. It was chaos. She said that’s what she sees these pathways to be like. This anarchic system is why you get such extraordinary variation "
Read the full article (and I suggest you will find it more than interesting!) here:
Though flavor has become the American spelling, it is not new. Examples of its use are easily found in British texts from the 19th century and earlier. The modern British spelling was not definitively settled until around 1800, which was around the same time that influential American educators and lexicographers began pushing the simpler flavor.
I wonder how many people commenting here read the article. It's pretty interesting. The underlying theme is that sex (how species reproduce) is dimorphic but this doesn't determine behaviour or roles in the way that say Darwin posited. And that Darwin's science was probably affected by his cultural world views.
Also worth noting is that science has been skewed by the historical dominance of men, and that when we allowed more women into science, we can see they asked different questions. I would say because of their experience of being female, and because there is such a thing as women's culture.
Will read the article Robert, but just the title leads me to suspect Jenny has an ideological position that she is fitting her reseach to. Human genes and the process (which happens in the womb, rather than "assigned at birth" is a complex system. But we are either male or female with the very rare exception of intersex people who have nothing to do with being trans or gender ideology.
This issue which features things Queer includes pictures of young women showing their masectomy scars. Itt appears to be part of celebrating all things Queer and Trans.
Reseach like Jenny's I suspect is used to support queer theory.
We are living in a time where being female has never been more scrutinized or politicized. I feel that there’s been a revolution in our understanding of what it means to be female. And that revolution started in the early 1980s with the likes of Sarah Hrdy and Patricia Gowaty first challenging these stereotypes that Darwin had set in stone of the passive female that’s chaste, submissive, and coy. But even though they started those challenges and, in many cases, won them in as early as the 1980s, much of that thinking has taken a long time to permeate into popular culture and even into science.
Might be a revelation to some, but many have heard this dross multiple times.
The ‘recent’ understanding of what it is to be female, the conflation of material sex based body differences, processes and impacts with societal stereotypes, the analogy with sexual reproduction in other species… etcetera etcetera…
Yes. Nothing new in that article you could not have already picked up from any number of David Attenborough shows. Yes we have long understood that sex manifests itself in any number of different ways in a myriad other species.
But crucially most species evolve one strategy, and stick to it. Humans evolved their own highly complex strategy and one closely linked to our complex societies. There is no reason to think we could mate like bonobos, or preying mantis, without also massively upending our entire social orders as well.
But then that may well be the general idea for some.
Year Zero … perpetual anarchy / permanent revolution … all fixed categories & meanings are "oppressive" and must be immediately & aggressively subverted … everyone outside the Critical Theory Cult is a Fascist, lacking the “unusually-refined moral sensibilities” of the self-enamoured erudite.
In other words … Another day, another Queer Theory fantasist.
Over the years here at TS I have noticed the most radical voices eventually revealing an underlying sexual motif behind their desire to upend everything.
The below essay is very quickly written and still very much a work in progress, but I felt it was important to share some of this information as part of Intersex Awareness Day.
As someone born with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, I had until recently felt fairly neutral about the term Intersex as I could see its value as a political label and as a way of understanding the bodies of those of us living with complex variations of sex development – and I have found it amazing to see young activists embracing and celebrating their bodily differences under an intersex flag.
However, the recent appropriation, misrepresentation and even fetishizing of ‘intersex’ has led to me increasingly believing that the term is doing more harm than good.
I am also increasingly contacted by young people, adults and new parents that have never met anyone else with the same variation of sex development, possibly as they do not feel represented by current activism that focuses only on those who identify as intersex. Peer support can be hugely valuable – and I would like this to be available for all, regardless of how they identify.
I do not mean this essay to be a criticism of people using the term intersex to describe themselves, however, I am critical of using intersex to describe babies and children, who do not have a choice.
On Intersex Awareness Day, I want to start with what has sadly become a controversial statement.
I want to support ALL people born with variations or differences of sex development (DSD) and not only those who choose to identify as intersex. I want to ensure that all children born with differences in their sex or reproductive development, get the family, psychological and peer support they need, to make informed choices about their healthcare. Most importantly, I want them to have access to accurate and precise information about their bodies and to have the opportunity to meet other young people who share their experience.
For this to be possible, there needs to be activism, advocacy and academic research that is truly inclusive and centres the children and families most in need of support – and listens to a diverse range of voices and not only to adults who identify as intersex.
O.k read the article and it is interesting about the differenct species. Thanks for posting Robert
The edition I posted of Salient show what universities are peddling in terms of Queer Theory and Gender Ideology. The fact that they are showing pictures of young women who have had double mascectomies as something to celebrate should cause a few wake up calls I would hope.
In the meantime, Order has been restored in the Universe, and Justice has been Served, as the Time Honoured game of Quidditch is renamed "Quadball"… because players no longer want to be associated with the inventor of said sport who has been deservedly cancelled due to her outrageous claims that sex is a biological reality.
"There should be a lesson for those Governments who want to have Private Equity investment funds being able to invest in strategic assets."
What lesson do you think they should take? Do you propose they should take the most obvious one? That is that Government should sell all the businesses they own to organisations such as BlackRock. Then when the share price falls it will be BlackRock clients who lose money rather than the taxpayer?
This sort of story reminds me of a question Bill Gates was asked in 2000, and the answer he is supposed to have given.
Some reporter asked him, during the dotcom crash, how it felt to have lost a billion dollars in a day. Gates responded that Microsoft was the same company as it had been yesterday and that he still owned the same fraction of it that he had owned yesterday. He hadn't lost anything.
I have a problem with Governments owning any business.
It is that politicians will never admit that they have made a mistake and therefore will never stop throwing money at a business that should be allowed to die. Hence they keep wasting more and more money on stupid investments rather than say that it was a mistake and the business should be wound up.
Sooner or later, in the private sector people will stop putting money into a company and it will collapse if it can't produce goods at a price that people are willing to pay. Governments don't have that constraint. It isn't their money and their only real interest is in trying to show that their judgement was infallible.
The only time a stupid Government owned business gets closed down is after a change of Government. I vote for a change of Government after 9 years so that this can happen. I was really pissed off in 2017 because there wasn't a competent opposition to come to power. Events since then have shown how correct my opinion was.
I never said anything about firms being more, or less, honest or efficient.
I was only discussing whether they were more likely to give up on doing something stupid. Sooner or later a Company has to stop money-losing endeavours. This often coincides with the CEO being sacked. With Politicians running things it happens when they lose an election. A new Government can stop the madder things and talk about how bad their predecessors were. A Government that remains in power doesn't stop things they started. It has nothing to do with their political leanings. They are all the same.
If this is contagious does this mean that the NZRFU might actually be able to acquire Silverlake. That would delight me enormously. Don’t fuck with theAllBlacks!
It would be laughable to look at the latest edition of Salient, if queer theory didn't impact so negatively young women's (and men's ) who get caught up in it so significantly
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New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
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Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
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Another drought for Southern Region? How will ..Dairy farmers deal with that? Water is going to be scarce. More pressure on Councils to “allow” water takes?
Plenty in the Waikato and taranaki currently. Knock knock dairy industry this is the reality of CC calling.
Canterbury and Otago dairy production is in large part secured through irrigation.
Southland could do the same with massive irrigation if it wants to secure dairy production.
Just need to extrude some multi-kilometer pipes straight out of Tiwai Point.
It will be an excellent quandary when growing trees becomes more profitable than milk, now that trees are rapidly overtaking sheep.
Ready for a fascinating read?
Overthrowing the patriarchy with ecstatic sex
Read the full article (and I suggest you will find it more than interesting!) here:
https://nautil.us/overthrowing-the-patriarchy-through-ecstatic-sex-21451/
“Variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.”
As this was written by an 18th century English poet shouldn't that be "flavour"?
Possibly BG – it was a 'cut-and-paste' job
Thanks BG and Drowsy. It is only an aside, but I think we all benefit from knowing about such 'sidelines'.
Or maybe I just have morbid interests..
Interesting…thanks.
Flavour to everyone other than Americans.
https://qz.com/596395/the-case-of-the-missing-us-in-american-english/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster
Very interesting Robert. Thanks.
I suppose that if the antagonistic battle was a draw, then the person could be hermathrodite.
Steady on. You'll be challenging some folk's worldviews there.
I wonder how many people commenting here read the article. It's pretty interesting. The underlying theme is that sex (how species reproduce) is dimorphic but this doesn't determine behaviour or roles in the way that say Darwin posited. And that Darwin's science was probably affected by his cultural world views.
Also worth noting is that science has been skewed by the historical dominance of men, and that when we allowed more women into science, we can see they asked different questions. I would say because of their experience of being female, and because there is such a thing as women's culture.
Will read the article Robert, but just the title leads me to suspect Jenny has an ideological position that she is fitting her reseach to. Human genes and the process (which happens in the womb, rather than "assigned at birth" is a complex system. But we are either male or female with the very rare exception of intersex people who have nothing to do with being trans or gender ideology.
On a separate but related note, this from Salient
https://www.salient.org.nz/
This issue which features things Queer includes pictures of young women showing their masectomy scars. Itt appears to be part of celebrating all things Queer and Trans.
Reseach like Jenny's I suspect is used to support queer theory.
From Robert's link:
Might be a revelation to some, but many have heard this dross multiple times.
The ‘recent’ understanding of what it is to be female, the conflation of material sex based body differences, processes and impacts with societal stereotypes, the analogy with sexual reproduction in other species… etcetera etcetera…
Yes. Nothing new in that article you could not have already picked up from any number of David Attenborough shows. Yes we have long understood that sex manifests itself in any number of different ways in a myriad other species.
But crucially most species evolve one strategy, and stick to it. Humans evolved their own highly complex strategy and one closely linked to our complex societies. There is no reason to think we could mate like bonobos, or preying mantis, without also massively upending our entire social orders as well.
But then that may well be the general idea for some.
.
Year Zero … perpetual anarchy / permanent revolution … all fixed categories & meanings are "oppressive" and must be immediately & aggressively subverted … everyone outside the Critical Theory Cult is a Fascist, lacking the “unusually-refined moral sensibilities” of the self-enamoured erudite.
In other words … Another day, another Queer Theory fantasist.
Over the years here at TS I have noticed the most radical voices eventually revealing an underlying sexual motif behind their desire to upend everything.
“You know what they're all obsessed with don't you?”
Yes and with the passing of years I only get to manage it about once a day now …
Congrats, you've 'out-Fawltied' Basil – knew you were still up to it
You know she's not talking from gender ideology, right?
Lucy Cooke, (who Robert is quoting @2) seems to be having great fun here.
Might suggesting that Jenny Graves has "an ideological position that she is fitting her reseach to" be akin to judging a book by someone else’s cover?
Pot, meet kettle
I was going to ask you to elaborate Populuxe 1, but you know what? No worries.
Thank you Robert.
Another interesting read:
https://differently-normal.com/2021/10/25/the-invention-of-intersex/
O.k read the article and it is interesting about the differenct species. Thanks for posting Robert
The edition I posted of Salient show what universities are peddling in terms of Queer Theory and Gender Ideology. The fact that they are showing pictures of young women who have had double mascectomies as something to celebrate should cause a few wake up calls I would hope.
….the different species.
Oh yes.
In the meantime, Order has been restored in the Universe, and Justice has been Served, as the Time Honoured game of Quidditch is renamed "Quadball"… because players no longer want to be associated with the inventor of said sport who has been deservedly cancelled due to her outrageous claims that sex is a biological reality.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/uk/300642352/quidditch-is-now-quadball-distancing-the-game-from-harry-potter-author-jk-rowling-league-says
(I wouldn't be relying on those wake-up calls Anker.)
Maybe not Rosemary.
Yes we must all ban and punish and distance ourselves from J K Rowling immediately.! She has said biological sex is real and women exist!
Have they not yet realized that Rowling want care a toss about this and it only makes the cancellers look petty, ridiculous and authoritarian?
Blackrock signals change in investment strategy,with a change from ESG to value stocks.
Having lost this financial year an equivalent value of around Australia's GDP.
https://twitter.com/opinion/status/1549741775144861699
There should be a lesson for those Governments who want to have Private Equity investment funds,being able to invest in strategic assets.
"There should be a lesson for those Governments who want to have Private Equity investment funds being able to invest in strategic assets."
What lesson do you think they should take? Do you propose they should take the most obvious one? That is that Government should sell all the businesses they own to organisations such as BlackRock. Then when the share price falls it will be BlackRock clients who lose money rather than the taxpayer?
This sort of story reminds me of a question Bill Gates was asked in 2000, and the answer he is supposed to have given.
Some reporter asked him, during the dotcom crash, how it felt to have lost a billion dollars in a day. Gates responded that Microsoft was the same company as it had been yesterday and that he still owned the same fraction of it that he had owned yesterday. He hadn't lost anything.
It seems to me that Govts should Nationalise everything, then use the same argument as Gates.
I have a problem with Governments owning any business.
It is that politicians will never admit that they have made a mistake and therefore will never stop throwing money at a business that should be allowed to die. Hence they keep wasting more and more money on stupid investments rather than say that it was a mistake and the business should be wound up.
Sooner or later, in the private sector people will stop putting money into a company and it will collapse if it can't produce goods at a price that people are willing to pay. Governments don't have that constraint. It isn't their money and their only real interest is in trying to show that their judgement was infallible.
The only time a stupid Government owned business gets closed down is after a change of Government. I vote for a change of Government after 9 years so that this can happen. I was really pissed off in 2017 because there wasn't a competent opposition to come to power. Events since then have shown how correct my opinion was.
Sorry, but I don't think of the private sector as being any more honest (often a lot less) or efficient (they hide most of their stuff-ups.)
The privately-owned fossil fuel industry deliberately lied about global warning, and has probably brought us to the edge of extinction.
Utter ratbags.
I never said anything about firms being more, or less, honest or efficient.
I was only discussing whether they were more likely to give up on doing something stupid. Sooner or later a Company has to stop money-losing endeavours. This often coincides with the CEO being sacked. With Politicians running things it happens when they lose an election. A new Government can stop the madder things and talk about how bad their predecessors were. A Government that remains in power doesn't stop things they started. It has nothing to do with their political leanings. They are all the same.
If this is contagious does this mean that the NZRFU might actually be able to acquire Silverlake. That would delight me enormously. Don’t fuck with theAllBlacks!
Exactly Swordfish.
It would be laughable to look at the latest edition of Salient, if queer theory didn't impact so negatively young women's (and men's ) who get caught up in it so significantly