Jerry Falwell would go nuclear if Alexandria interfered with his cows.
And as for anti-environmentalists understanding about grass – if they can read this book they might learn more about it than they want to know. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass
by John Christopher
Scientists have been telling us stuff for centuries and we have ignored
them.
Hugh Hindmarsh Atkinson died in England December 2018 aged 89.
Atkinson went overseas to finish his studies and did many things before he become Chairman of the European Space Agency in his later years. Among his appointments:
… He continued to work at Harwell for a few years before shifting to the adjacent Rutherford Laboratory, remaining there for seven years as head of the general physics group….
During his years in Whitehall, he provided advice on topics ranging from the supersonic Concorde aircraft through to environmental matters. In one report he wrote that the countryside was being “destroyed” by farmers ripping out hedgerows; the Ministry of Agriculture insisted instead it say the landscape was being “modified”
(He noted the countryside in UK being ‘destroyed’ in one report written between 1968-1972.)
Sure – they’re mad, but they have most of the privately owned guns.
The National Defense Authorization Act (2012) has been interpreted by some people to override the Posse Comitatus Act (1878). If so, Federal military forces could be legally deployed against mad, armed to the teeth conservatives opposing a Sanders presidency. Possibly. Fun times ahead for the “great Satan”.
One is a random act.
Two is coincidence.
Three (lets hope it doesn’t happen) is highly suspicious.
I had three pets who suffered unaccounted for injuries on consecutive occasions. Two died and the third one was saved. My vet was certain the two dogs were not accidents. The third was a cat.
My heart goes out to the owners. I know what they are going through.
Does anyone know what the possibilities are of having a motion-sensor camera, a pinhole camera, a thin line of wire alerting on movement so that something can be done to prevent tragedy or catch the perp? It could be the same person, I would think a man, with a fetish and hate connected with this type of horse. Is there a connection between the two horses. A broken neck – was that through falling over a cliff after being chased? It couldn’t be done by human strength surely.
Another thought has occurred to me. The rodeos have been stopped and this has resulted in anger from the men involved. There is a lot of anger about SAFE’s work helping animals also. The sort of people who own these small horses might be seen as those interfering so and sos. Having a wild ride on one of their horses, giving it pain to make it buck and keeping it going till it falls down would be a possibility to those of callous disposition.
We know that they exist out there; men who won’t limit themselves, who turn vicious when they are denied something, pour their hate and anger on to a chosen or even random victim. Injuring and killing children, women, dogs, horses, seagulls, seals, and also other men is seen by the perpetrator as dishing out punishment that is justified. I write sometimes about soul. Trying to keep one in a good state is probably the basis of managing to stay mentally healthy. I don’t believe in blanket forgiveness, but I do attempt understanding.
When aiming to reduce animal suffering, we often focus on the short-term, tangible impacts of our work, but longer-term spillover effects on the far future are also very relevant in expectation.
As machine intelligence becomes increasingly dominant in coming decades and centuries, digital forms of non-human sentience may become increasingly numerous, perhaps so numerous that they outweigh all biological animals by many orders of magnitude.
Animal activists should thus consider how their work can best help push society in directions to make it more likely that our descendants will take humane measures to reduce digital suffering. Far-future speculations should be combined with short-run measurements when assessing an animal charity’s overall impact….
Scenarios in which machines supplant biological life may sound preposterous, perhaps because they are common tropes in science fiction. But from a more distant perspective, a transition of power toward machines seems almost inevitable at some point unless technological progress permanently stagnates, because the history of life on Earth is a history of one species being displaced by another.
Evolved human brains are far from optimally efficient, and so seem likely to be displaced unless special effort is taken to prevent this. Even if biological humans remain, it’s plausible they would make heavy use of machine agents to spread to the stars in ways that are dangerous or impossible for collections of cells like us.
An essay on British Cookery. Evidently for reasons unknown it was decided not to publish it. I guess he wasn’t a good advocate of British tucker. Interesting what was eaten in pre obesity crisis days. The class struggle with a sense of humour.
Seriously frightening rates of foetal abnormalities…..
Ten percent for birth ‘defects’….”spina bifida (where the bones and membranes around the spine do not develop properly)
face and skull malformations (including cleft palate)
malformations of the limbs, heart, kidney, urinary tract and sexual organs. ”
…and a whopping 40% for neurodevelopmental disorders.
“The risk of birth defects associated with valproate, marketed as Epilim, Depakine, Depakote and Stavzor among other names, has been known since the 1980s, especially for spina bifida.
In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) issued an alert earlier this month saying valproate should only be given to girls and women of childbearing age under specialist supervision and only when other medications had been found not to work.
According to the new report by France’s National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM), between 2150 and 4100 children suffered severe malformations linked to the drug.
“The study confirms the highly teratogenic [capable of causing birth defects] nature of valproate,” Mahmoud Zureik, ANSM’s scientific director and co-author of the report, told AFP news agency.
“The figure of about 3000 severe malformations is very high.”
Types of birth defects attributed to the drug include spina bifida – which occurs when a section of the spinal column does not form properly – and defects of the heart and genital organs.
The risk of autism and developmental problems was also found to be higher, and will be explored in a follow-up report due later this year.”
Uncontrolled epilepsy and mood disorder are more harmfull than Sodiun Valpoate.
Anyone contemplating a pregnacy while taking any medications need to consult a medical practitioner. To promote a view that is anti medication is akin to antivacination.
Psych Nurse. Didja actually read Medsafe’s notice? Up there. Just put your wee cursor thingy over the shorter bit of blue text and click.
Epilim has been upgraded (for want of a better expression) from ‘not recommended to be taken during pregnancy’ to ‘don’t give to women of childbearing age unless they are using fail safe contraception.’
And for very good reason. This is thalidomide territory.
Sodium valpoate is safer than the alternatives,no one should stop their medication without medical advice, pregnancy and Epilepsy/mood disorder can be safely managed. Whats not needed is scaremongering from the ignorant.
Thanjks Psych Nurse
Your info sounds worthy of note. And shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand by any antis burdened with prejudice – pre-judging that is!
There are good landlords out there….my daughter today told me her landlord for the past few years has not only refunded their bond with no quibbles BUT given them some additional hundreds for being good tenants….what can you say.
Last couple I had were pretty good, They trusted that me and my ‘lady friend’ took care of the properties they rented to us so never inspected, let us have pets, and were even reasonably tolerant of the little bit of growth and clutter we had (long story).
They had their moments when they would revert to ‘evil landlord’ type, but 99% of the time they were good landlords.
We did that for our excellent tenant, when we got a buyer for my Mother’s unit.
After all she had to find somewhere else to live, and that was from a small pool in Waihi. There are good tenants and landlords.
Events in India are taking a worrying turn.
If the world’s largest democracy goes rogue, then the chances of nuclear war increase significantly.
It would be great to have a post on this subject and get everyone’s expert opinion on this.
Our throw away culture.
12 years to go.
And we are not learning.
There are so many easy solutions.
We need to act quickly.
A Wellington man was shocked by the “sea of plastic” left behind after Eminem’s concert at Westpac Stadium on Saturday.
Peter Steele was at the concert with friends and took a photo of the mess left behind by the 46,000 attendees.
“I just saw a sea of plastic, it looked like it had hailed,” he said.
“The conversation just started with ‘what a mess, what pigs, where do they go, that’s appalling.'”
Steele said so much fuss was being made over plastic bags at supermarkets when massive amounts of plastic cups were being used at such events. He believed there would have been at least 100,000 cups.
The man weeps “It’s absolutely hell. Why are they doing this to us. The busier you are the less you earn.” Locked into contracts that limit their income. They have been in despair for 10-15 years, even since 1993. Scanning a parcel earns them 37 cents!
“They [Australian government] should be ashamed of themselves”.
Kia Ora,I try to keep most my posts without a paywall for public interest journalism purposes. However, if you can afford to, please consider supporting me as a paid subscriber and/or supporting over at Ko-Fi. That will help me to continue, and to keep spending time on the work. Embarrassingly, ...
There was a time when Google was the best thing in my world. I was an early adopter of their AdWords program and boy did I like what it did for my business. It put rocket fuel in it, is what it did. For every dollar I spent, those ads ...
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Hi,If you’ve been reading Webworm for a while, you’ll be familiar with Anna Wilding. Between 2020 and 2021 I looked at how the New Zealander had managed to weasel her way into countless news stories over the years, often with very little proof any of it had actually happened. When ...
It's a long white cloud for you, baby; staying together alwaysSummertime in AotearoaWhere the sunshine kisses the water, we will find it alwaysSummertime in AotearoaYeah, it′s SummertimeIt's SummertimeWriters: Codi Wehi Ngatai, Moresby Kainuku, Pipiwharauroa Campbell, Taulutoa Michael Schuster, Rebekah Jane Brady, Te Naawe Jordan Muturangi Tupe, Thomas Edward Scrase.Many of ...
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Happy New Year!I had a lovely break, thanks very much for asking: friends, family, sunshine, books, podcasts, refreshing swims, barbecues, bike rides. So good to step away from the firehose for a while, to have less Trump and Seymour in your day. Who needs the Luxons in their risible PJs ...
Patrick Reynolds is deputy chair of the Auckland City Centre Advisory Panel and a director of Greater Auckland In 2003, after much argument, including the election of a Mayor in 2001 who ran on stopping it, Britomart train station in downtown Auckland opened. A mere 1km twin track terminating branch ...
For the first time in a decade, a New Zealand Prime Minister is heading to the Middle East. The trip is more than just a courtesy call. New Zealand PMs frequently change planes in Dubai en route to destinations elsewhere. But Christopher Luxon’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 5, 2025 thru Sat, January 11, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The decade between 1952 and the early 1960s was the peak period for the style of music we now call doo wop, after which it got dissolved into soul music, girl groups, and within pop music in general. Basically, doo wop was a form of small group harmonising with a ...
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When National won the New Zealand election in 2023, one of the first to congratulate Luxon was tech-billionaire and entrepreneur extraordinaire Elon Musk.And last year, after Luxon posted a video about a trip to Malaysia, Musk came forward again to heap praise on Christopher:So it was perhaps par for the ...
Hi,Today’s Webworm features a new short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now.Bear with me.Shortly after I sent out my last missive from the fires on Wednesday, one broke out a little too close to home ...
So soon just after you've goneMy senses sharpenBut it always takes so damn longBefore I feel how much my eyes have darkenedFear hangs in a plane of gun smokeDrifting in our roomSo easy to disturb, with a thought, with a whisperWith a careless memorySongwriters: Andy Taylor / John Taylor / ...
Can we trust the Trump cabinet to act in the public interest?Nine of Trump’s closest advisers are billionaires. Their total net worth is in excess of $US375b (providing there is not a share-market crash). In contrast, the total net worth of Trump’s first Cabinet was about $6b. (Joe Biden’s Cabinet ...
Welcome back to our weekly roundup. We hope you had a good break (if you had one). Here’s a few of the stories that caught our attention over the last few weeks. This holiday period on Greater Auckland Since our last roundup we’ve: Taken a look back at ...
Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partnerSometimes I feel like my only friendIs the city I live in, The City of AngelsLonely as I am together we crySong: Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, Flea, John Frusciante.A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area. ...
Open access notablesLarge emissions of CO2 and CH4 due to active-layer warming in Arctic tundra, Torn et al., Nature Communications:Climate warming may accelerate decomposition of Arctic soil carbon, but few controlled experiments have manipulated the entire active layer. To determine surface-atmosphere fluxes of carbon dioxide and ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Over the holidays, there was a rising tide of calls for people to submit on National's repulsive, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, along with a wave of advice and examples of what to say. And it looks like people rose to the occasion, with over 300,000 ...
The lie is my expenseThe scope of my desireThe Party blessed me with its futureAnd I protect it with fireI am the Nina The Pinta The Santa MariaThe noose and the rapistAnd the fields overseerThe agents of orangeThe priests of HiroshimaThe cost of my desire…Sleep now in the fireSongwriters: Brad ...
This is a re-post from the Climate BrinkGlobal surface temperatures have risen around 1.3C since the preindustrial (1850-1900) period as a result of human activity.1 However, this aggregate number masks a lot of underlying factors that contribute to global surface temperature changes over time.These include CO2, which is the primary ...
There are times when movement around us seems to slow down. And the faster things get, the slower it all appears.And so it is with the whirlwind of early year political activity.They are harbingers for what is to come:Video: Wayne Wright Jnr, funder of Sean Plunket, talk growing power and ...
Hi,Right now the power is out, so I’m just relying on the laptop battery and tethering to my phone’s 5G which is dropping in and out. We’ll see how we go.First up — I’m fine. I can’t see any flames out the window. I live in the greater Hollywood area ...
2024 was a tough year for working Kiwis. But together we’ve been able to fight back for a just and fair New Zealand and in 2025 we need to keep standing up for what’s right and having our voices heard. That starts with our Mood of the Workforce Survey. It’s your ...
Time is never time at allYou can never ever leaveWithout leaving a piece of youthAnd our lives are forever changedWe will never be the sameThe more you change, the less you feelSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan.Babinden - Baba’s DayToday, January 8th, 2025, is Babinden, “The Day of the baba” or “The ...
..I/We wish to make the following comments:I oppose the Treaty Principles Bill."5. Act binds the CrownThis Act binds the Crown."How does this Act "bind the Crown" when Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which the Act refers to, has been violated by the Crown on numerous occassions, resulting in massive loss of ...
Everything is good and brownI'm here againWith a sunshine smile upon my faceMy friends are close at handAnd all my inhibitions have disappeared without a traceI'm glad, oh, that I found oohSomebody who I can rely onSongwriter: Jay KayGood morning, all you lovely people. Today, I’ve got nothing except a ...
Welcome to 2025. After wrapping up 2024, here’s a look at some of the things we can expect to see this year along with a few predictions. Council and Elections Elections One of the biggest things this year will be local body elections in October. Will Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Canadians can take a while to get angry – but when they finally do, watch out. Canada has been falling out of love with Justin Trudeau for years, and his exit has to be the least surprising news event of the New Year. On recent polling, Trudeau’s Liberal party has ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Much like 2023, many climate and energy records were broken in 2024. It was Earth’s hottest year on record by a wide margin, breaking the previous record that was set just last year by an even larger margin. Human-caused climate-warming pollution and ...
Submissions on National's racist, white supremacist Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill are due tomorrow! So today, after a good long holiday from all that bullshit, I finally got my shit together to submit on it. As I noted here, people should write their own submissions in their own ...
Ooh, baby (ooh, baby)It's making me crazy (it's making me crazy)Every time I look around (look around)Every time I look around (every time I look around)Every time I look aroundIt's in my faceSongwriters: Alan Leo Jansson / Paul Lawrence L. Fuemana.Today, I’ll be talking about rich, middle-aged men who’ve made ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 29, 2024 thru Sat, January 4, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Hi,The thing that stood out at me while shopping for Christmas presents in New Zealand was how hard it was to avoid Zuru products. Toy manufacturer Zuru is a bit like Netflix, in that it has so much data on what people want they can flood the market with so ...
And when a child is born into this worldIt has no conceptOf the tone of skin it's living inAnd there's a million voicesAnd there's a million voicesTo tell you what you should be thinkingSong by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour.The moment you see that face, you can hear her voice; ...
While we may not always have quality political leadership, a couple of recently published autobiographies indicate sometimes we strike it lucky. When ranking our prime ministers, retired professor of history Erik Olssen commented that ‘neither Holland nor Nash was especially effective as prime minister – even his private secretary thought ...
Baby, be the class clownI'll be the beauty queen in tearsIt's a new art form, showin' people how little we care (yeah)We're so happy, even when we're smilin' out of fearLet's go down to the tennis court and talk it up like, yeah (yeah)Songwriters: Joel Little / Ella Yelich O ...
Open access notables Why Misinformation Must Not Be Ignored, Ecker et al., American Psychologist:Recent academic debate has seen the emergence of the claim that misinformation is not a significant societal problem. We argue that the arguments used to support this minimizing position are flawed, particularly if interpreted (e.g., by policymakers or the public) as suggesting ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by John Wihbey. A version of this article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections on Nov. 11, 2008. (Image credits: The White House, Jonathan Cutrer / CC BY 2.0; President Jimmy Carter, Trikosko/Library of Congress; Solar dedication, Bill Fitz-Patrick / Jimmy Carter Library; Solar ...
Morena folks,We’re having a good break, recharging the batteries. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday period. I’m not feeling terribly inspired by much at the moment, I’m afraid—not from a writing point of view, anyway.So, today, we’re travelling back in time. You’ll have to imagine the wavy lines and sci-fi sound ...
Completed reads for 2024: Oration on the Dignity of Man, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola A Platonic Discourse Upon Love, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Of Being and Unity, by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola The Life of Pico della Mirandola, by Giovanni Francesco Pico Three Letters Written by Pico ...
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Welcome to the official half-way point of the 2020s. Anyway, as per my New Years tradition, here’s where A Phuulish Fellow’s blog traffic came from in 2024: United States United Kingdom New Zealand Canada Sweden Australia Germany Spain Brazil Finland The top four are the same as 2023, ...
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Well, it’s the last day of the year, so it’s time for a quick wrap-up of the most important things that happened in 2024 for urbanism and transport in our city. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the blog and supported us in our mission to make ...
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Hi,A lot’s happened this year in the world of Webworm, and as 2024 comes to an end I thought I’d look back at a few of the things that popped. Maybe you missed them, or you might want to revisit some of these essay and podcast episodes over your break ...
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A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 22, 2024 thru Sat, December 28, 2024. This week's roundup is the second one published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, ...
We’ll have a climate change ChristmasFrom now until foreverWarming our hearts and mindsAnd planet all togetherSpirits high and oceans higherChestnuts roast on wildfiresIf coal is on your wishlistMerry Climate Change ChristmasSong by Ian McConnellReindeer emissions are not something I’d thought about in terms of climate change. I guess some significant ...
KP continues to putt-putt along as a tiny niche blog that offers a NZ perspective on international affairs with a few observations about NZ domestic politics thrown in. In 2024 there was also some personal posts given that my son was in the last four months of a nine month ...
I can see very wellThere's a boat on the reef with a broken backAnd I can see it very wellThere's a joke and I know it very wellIt's one of those that I told you long agoTake my word I'm a madman, don't you knowSongwriters: Bernie Taupin / Elton JohnIt ...
.Acknowledgement: Tim PrebbleThanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work..With each passing day of bad headlines, squandering tax revenue to enrich the rich, deep cuts to our social services and a government struggling to keep the lipstick on its neo-liberal pig ...
This is from the 36th Parallel social media account (as brief food for thought). We know that Trump is ahistorical at best but he seems to think that he is Teddy Roosevelt and can use the threat of invoking the Monroe Doctrine and “Big Stick” gunboat diplomacy against Panama and ...
Don't you cry tonightI still love you, babyAnd don't you cry tonightDon't you cry tonightThere's a heaven above you, babyAnd don't you cry tonightSong: Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so”, said possibly the greatest philosopher ever to walk this earth, Douglas Adams.We have entered the ...
Because you're magicYou're magic people to meSong: Dave Para/Molly Para.Morena all, I hope you had a good day yesterday, however you spent it. Today, a few words about our celebration and a look at the various messages from our politicians.A Rockel XmasChristmas morning was spent with the five of us ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). 2024 has been a series of bad news for climate change. From scorching global temperatures leading to devastating ...
The Green Party welcomes the extension of the deadline for Treaty Principles Bill submissions but continues to call on the Government to abandon the Bill. ...
Complaints about disruptive behaviour now handled in around 13 days (down from around 60 days a year ago) 553 Section 55A notices issued by Kāinga Ora since July 2024, up from 41 issued during the same period in the previous year. Of that 553, first notices made up around 83 ...
The time it takes to process building determinations has improved significantly over the last year which means fewer delays in homes being built, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “New Zealand has a persistent shortage of houses. Making it easier and quicker for new homes to be built will ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is pleased to announce the annual list of New Zealand’s most popular baby names for 2024. “For the second consecutive year, Noah has claimed the top spot for boys with 250 babies sharing the name, while Isla has returned to the most popular ...
Work is set to get underway on a new bus station at Westgate this week. A contract has been awarded to HEB Construction to start a package of enabling works to get the site ready in advance of main construction beginning in mid-2025, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“A new Westgate ...
Minister for Children and for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour is encouraging people to use the resources available to them to get help, and to report instances of family and sexual violence amongst their friends, families, and loved ones who are in need. “The death of a ...
Uia te pō, rangahaua te pō, whakamāramatia mai he aha tō tango, he aha tō kāwhaki? Whitirere ki te ao, tirotiro kau au, kei hea taku rātā whakamarumaru i te au o te pakanga mo te mana motuhake? Au te pō, ngū te pō, ue hā! E te kahurangi māreikura, ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says people with diabetes and other painful conditions will benefit from a significant new qualification to boost training in foot care. “It sounds simple, but quality and regular foot and nail care is vital in preventing potentially serious complications from diabetes, like blisters or sores, which can take a long time to heal ...
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour is pleased to see Pharmac continue to increase availability of medicines for Kiwis with the government’s largest ever investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the government,” says Mr Seymour. “When this government assumed ...
Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora e mua - Those who lead give sight to those who follow, those who follow give life to those who lead. Māori recipients in the New Year 2025 Honours list show comprehensive dedication to improving communities across the motu that ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden is wishing all New Zealanders a great holiday season as Kiwis prepare for gatherings with friends and families to see in the New Year. It is a great time of year to remind everyone to stay fire safe over the summer. “I know ...
From 1 January 2025, first-time tertiary learners will have access to a new Fees Free entitlement of up to $12,000 for their final year of provider-based study or final two years of work-based learning, Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Targeting funding to the final year of study ...
“As we head into one of the busiest times of the year for Police, and family violence and sexual violence response services, it’s a good time to remind everyone what to do if they experience violence or are worried about others,” Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Risk & Resilience, UNSW Sydney Imagine a gathering so large it dwarfs any concert, festival, or sporting event you’ve ever seen. In the Kumbh Mela, a religious festival held in India, millions of Hindu pilgrims come ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Motortion Films/Shutterstock You may have seen stories the Australian dollar has “plummeted”. Sounds bad. But what does it mean and should you be worried? The most-commonly quoted ...
Summer reissue: Lange and Muldoon clash, two days after the election. Our live updates editor is on the case. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gina Perry, Science historian with a specific interest in the history of social psychology., The University of Melbourne ‘Guards’ with a blindfolded ‘prisoner’.PrisonExp.org A new translation of a 2018 book by French science historian Thibault Le Texier challenges the claims of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Jordan, Professor of Epidemiology, The University of Queensland Peakstock/Shutterstock Many women worry hormonal contraceptives have dangerous side-effects including increased cancer risk. But this perception is often out of proportion with the actual risks. So, what does the research actually say ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kiley Seymour, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Behaviour, University of Technology Sydney Vector Tradition/Shutterstock From self-service checkouts to public streets to stadiums – surveillance technology is everywhere. This pervasive monitoring is often justified in the name of safety and security. ...
South Islanders Alex Casey and Tara Ward reflect on their so-called summer break. Alex Casey: Welcome back to work Tara, how was your summer? Tara Ward: I’m thrilled to be here and equally as happy to have experienced my first New Zealand winter Christmas, just as Santa always intended. Over ...
Summer reissue: Five years ago, we voted against legalising cannabis. But what if the referendum had gone the other way? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a software developer shares his approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male. Age: 34. Ethnicity: NZ European. Role: Software developer. Salary/income/assets: Salary ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Cassidy-Welch, Professor of History and Dean of Research Strategy, University of Divinity Lieven van Lathem (Flemish, about 1430–93) and David Aubert (Flemish, active 1453–79), Gracienne Taking Leave of Her Father the Sultan, 1464 The J. Paul Getty Museum Travellers have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian A. Wright, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University Goami/Shutterstock On hot summer days, hitting the beach is a great way to have fun and cool off. But if you’re not near the salty ocean, you might opt for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Loc Do, Professor of Dental Public Health, The University of Queensland TinnaPong/Shutterstock Fluoride is a common natural element found in water, soil, rocks and food. For the past several decades, fluoride has also been a cornerstone of dentistry and public health, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ladan Hashemi, Senior Research Fellow in Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau PickPik, CC BY-SA Children with traumatic experiences in their early lives have a higher risk of obesity. But as our new research shows, this risk can be ...
Further interest rate cuts are coming, but why does everything still feel so bleak? Stewart Sowman-Lund explains for The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The year ahead: On a small boat in an oyster farm devastated by storms, ANZ’s boss learns about the importance of adapting to change The post Making the world your oyster appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Two key events in February will set the direction of New Zealand’s clean, green reputation for the rest of the year – and perhaps even many years to come.First, the Government must announce its next emissions reduction target under the Paris Agreement by February 10. Then, later in the month, ...
In our latest in-depth podcast investigation, Fractured, Melanie Reid and her team delve deep into a complex case involving a controversial medical diagnosis and its fallout on a young family. While Fractured is a forensic examination of this case here in New Zealand, the diagnosis that started it all is ...
To complete our series looking back at 2024 and gazing forward to 2025, we asked our big political commentary brains to nominate the three issues that will loom large in the year to come. Madeleine Chapman (editor, The Spinoff)The Treaty principles bill just won’t rest, and will start the ...
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Opinion: The Economist magazine asks whether Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Trump gamble’ of discontinuing fact-checking posts on Meta will pay off. We in Aotearoa should understand that good news for Meta’s bottom line could be a disaster for us.We live at a time when everything seems to be happening all at once. There is an incoming ...
Comment: With the right leadership, local government can be a genuine part of democratic community life. With a little effort, anyone can contribute to that. The post Don’t shrug your shoulders over local government appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 14 January appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia The world has watched in horror as fires continue to raze parts of Los Angeles, California. For those of us living in Australia, one of the world’s most fire-prone continents, the LA experience ...
Every story about the Ministry of Regulation seems to be about staffing cost blow-outs. The red tape slashing Ministry needs teeth, sure, but all we seem to hear about are teething problems, says axpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager James ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carmen Lim, NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, The University of Queensland Visualistka/Shutterstock A multi-million dollar business has developed in Australia to meet the demand for medicinal cannabis. Australians spent more than A$400 million on it ...
Summer reissue: The tide is turning on Insta-therapy. Good riddance, but actual therapy is still good and worth doing. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Historian, Australian Catholic University Stained glass with a depiction of the martyred nuns, Saint Honoré d’Eylau Church, Paris.Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA The Martyrs of Compiègne, a group of 16 Discalced Carmelite nuns executed during the Reign of ...
Tara Ward wades bravely into one of the thorniest January questions: how late is too late to greet someone with a cheery ‘Happy New Year’? Every January, New Zealand faces a big problem. I’m not referring to penguins strolling into petrol stations or cranky seagulls eating your chips, but something ...
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Summer reissue: For all the spectacle of WoW, Alex Casey couldn’t tear her eyes off Christopher Luxon in the front row. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be ...
“You liar Donald, I have never had weight loss surgery…………”
Will no one rid me of this corpulent cheat?
“How dare he declare a state of emergency before me.”
Donald needs to take a Paula’s 13th step and give himself over to Her higher power.
And so shall he be comfortable in His own skin.
She studied him with a basilik stare.
I must have a look on youtube to see if she has had a stare-out with Putin. They would be well matched.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/the-killing-times-the-massacres-of-aboriginal-people-australia-must-confront
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/as-the-toll-of-australias-frontier-brutality-keeps-climbing-truth-telling-is-long-overdue
It seems fitting that the Manchester Guardian, true to the spirit of Peterloo and Tom Paine, is publishing this material.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Paine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_History_Museum
Rehabilitating Tom Paine, bit by bony bit.
http://www.mindspring.com/~phila1/nyt330.htm
I believe that an election is imminent in Australia.
Conservative’s say the wackiest things….
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1101487565780205568
OACDS
https://twitter.com/CheriJacobus/status/1102254803336552448
Jerry Falwell would go nuclear if Alexandria interfered with his cows.
And as for anti-environmentalists understanding about grass – if they can read this book they might learn more about it than they want to know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass
by John Christopher
Scientists have been telling us stuff for centuries and we have ignored
them.
Hugh Hindmarsh Atkinson died in England December 2018 aged 89.
Atkinson went overseas to finish his studies and did many things before he become Chairman of the European Space Agency in his later years. Among his appointments:
… He continued to work at Harwell for a few years before shifting to the adjacent Rutherford Laboratory, remaining there for seven years as head of the general physics group….
During his years in Whitehall, he provided advice on topics ranging from the supersonic Concorde aircraft through to environmental matters. In one report he wrote that the countryside was being “destroyed” by farmers ripping out hedgerows; the Ministry of Agriculture insisted instead it say the landscape was being “modified”
(He noted the countryside in UK being ‘destroyed’ in one report written between 1968-1972.)
So is AOC going to **personally** go to JFJ’s farm with her cattle truck and take his cows?
Jeer sounds like a terrorist.
LMAO
Sure – they’re mad, but they have most of the privately owned guns.
The National Defense Authorization Act (2012) has been interpreted by some people to override the Posse Comitatus Act (1878). If so, Federal military forces could be legally deployed against mad, armed to the teeth conservatives opposing a Sanders presidency. Possibly. Fun times ahead for the “great Satan”.
Disgraced director jumps before she is pushed: https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383915/dame-jenny-shipley-steps-down-as-director-of-china-construction-bank
Another miniature horse dies. This time stolen and found dead with a broken neck in New Plymouth. Copy cat crime or just coincidence?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/03/owner-of-miniature-horse-heartbroken-after-it-was-found-with-broken-neck.html
One is a random act.
Two is coincidence.
Three (lets hope it doesn’t happen) is highly suspicious.
I had three pets who suffered unaccounted for injuries on consecutive occasions. Two died and the third one was saved. My vet was certain the two dogs were not accidents. The third was a cat.
My heart goes out to the owners. I know what they are going through.
Sickening.
Does anyone know what the possibilities are of having a motion-sensor camera, a pinhole camera, a thin line of wire alerting on movement so that something can be done to prevent tragedy or catch the perp? It could be the same person, I would think a man, with a fetish and hate connected with this type of horse. Is there a connection between the two horses. A broken neck – was that through falling over a cliff after being chased? It couldn’t be done by human strength surely.
Another thought has occurred to me. The rodeos have been stopped and this has resulted in anger from the men involved. There is a lot of anger about SAFE’s work helping animals also. The sort of people who own these small horses might be seen as those interfering so and sos. Having a wild ride on one of their horses, giving it pain to make it buck and keeping it going till it falls down would be a possibility to those of callous disposition.
We know that they exist out there; men who won’t limit themselves, who turn vicious when they are denied something, pour their hate and anger on to a chosen or even random victim. Injuring and killing children, women, dogs, horses, seagulls, seals, and also other men is seen by the perpetrator as dishing out punishment that is justified. I write sometimes about soul. Trying to keep one in a good state is probably the basis of managing to stay mentally healthy. I don’t believe in blanket forgiveness, but I do attempt understanding.
Or it’s a nasty vicious kid with shitty parents.
Thinkpiece on thinking….. Getting into totally freaky objective thinking….possible….!
https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/why-digital-sentience-is-relevant-to-animal-activists/
When aiming to reduce animal suffering, we often focus on the short-term, tangible impacts of our work, but longer-term spillover effects on the far future are also very relevant in expectation.
As machine intelligence becomes increasingly dominant in coming decades and centuries, digital forms of non-human sentience may become increasingly numerous, perhaps so numerous that they outweigh all biological animals by many orders of magnitude.
Animal activists should thus consider how their work can best help push society in directions to make it more likely that our descendants will take humane measures to reduce digital suffering. Far-future speculations should be combined with short-run measurements when assessing an animal charity’s overall impact….
Scenarios in which machines supplant biological life may sound preposterous, perhaps because they are common tropes in science fiction. But from a more distant perspective, a transition of power toward machines seems almost inevitable at some point unless technological progress permanently stagnates, because the history of life on Earth is a history of one species being displaced by another.
Evolved human brains are far from optimally efficient, and so seem likely to be displaced unless special effort is taken to prevent this. Even if biological humans remain, it’s plausible they would make heavy use of machine agents to spread to the stars in ways that are dangerous or impossible for collections of cells like us.
Found this on an old antique apple site….
https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/policy-insight-research/defence-english-cooking
George Orwell. Commissioned by the British Council, 1946. Unpublished. © the estate of the late Sonia Brownell Orwell. Text is unedited from original typed manuscript.
An essay on British Cookery. Evidently for reasons unknown it was decided not to publish it. I guess he wasn’t a good advocate of British tucker. Interesting what was eaten in pre obesity crisis days. The class struggle with a sense of humour.
Nice!
His wife wrote a cookbook too: https://www.amazon.com/Brave-Victuals-Inquiry-Modern-Production/dp/0701108223
Thanks for that read, Glenn.
Delightful.
Dated today from the Misery of Health’s webpage……
https://medsafe.govt.nz/safety/Alerts/Epilim.asp
Seriously frightening rates of foetal abnormalities…..
Ten percent for birth ‘defects’….”spina bifida (where the bones and membranes around the spine do not develop properly)
face and skull malformations (including cleft palate)
malformations of the limbs, heart, kidney, urinary tract and sexual organs. ”
…and a whopping 40% for neurodevelopmental disorders.
Epilim used to treat seizures and bipolar.
This is further to a Natrad report from nearly a year ago….https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/329200/research-confirms-epilepsy-drug-birth-defects
“The risk of birth defects associated with valproate, marketed as Epilim, Depakine, Depakote and Stavzor among other names, has been known since the 1980s, especially for spina bifida.
In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) issued an alert earlier this month saying valproate should only be given to girls and women of childbearing age under specialist supervision and only when other medications had been found not to work.
According to the new report by France’s National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM), between 2150 and 4100 children suffered severe malformations linked to the drug.
“The study confirms the highly teratogenic [capable of causing birth defects] nature of valproate,” Mahmoud Zureik, ANSM’s scientific director and co-author of the report, told AFP news agency.
“The figure of about 3000 severe malformations is very high.”
Types of birth defects attributed to the drug include spina bifida – which occurs when a section of the spinal column does not form properly – and defects of the heart and genital organs.
The risk of autism and developmental problems was also found to be higher, and will be explored in a follow-up report due later this year.”
So slow to push the panic button.
This is a ministry in the gutter.
Run by ideological hacks and careerist.
Uncontrolled epilepsy and mood disorder are more harmfull than Sodiun Valpoate.
Anyone contemplating a pregnacy while taking any medications need to consult a medical practitioner. To promote a view that is anti medication is akin to antivacination.
Psych Nurse. Didja actually read Medsafe’s notice? Up there. Just put your wee cursor thingy over the shorter bit of blue text and click.
Epilim has been upgraded (for want of a better expression) from ‘not recommended to be taken during pregnancy’ to ‘don’t give to women of childbearing age unless they are using fail safe contraception.’
And for very good reason. This is thalidomide territory.
So, please stop with the antivaxxer slurs, eh?
Sodium valpoate is safer than the alternatives,no one should stop their medication without medical advice, pregnancy and Epilepsy/mood disorder can be safely managed. Whats not needed is scaremongering from the ignorant.
Thanjks Psych Nurse
Your info sounds worthy of note. And shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand by any antis burdened with prejudice – pre-judging that is!
So. Psych Nurse. Medsafe is scaremongering?
The research referenced was done by the ignorant?
To the point.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2019/03/04/in-defence-of-lesbian-rights/?unapproved=9052&moderation-hash=6b3459325f95454acbe1e50864b21b8c#comment-9052
There are good landlords out there….my daughter today told me her landlord for the past few years has not only refunded their bond with no quibbles BUT given them some additional hundreds for being good tenants….what can you say.
I agree, there are good landlords out there.
Last couple I had were pretty good, They trusted that me and my ‘lady friend’ took care of the properties they rented to us so never inspected, let us have pets, and were even reasonably tolerant of the little bit of growth and clutter we had (long story).
They had their moments when they would revert to ‘evil landlord’ type, but 99% of the time they were good landlords.
We did that for our excellent tenant, when we got a buyer for my Mother’s unit.
After all she had to find somewhere else to live, and that was from a small pool in Waihi. There are good tenants and landlords.
Events in India are taking a worrying turn.
If the world’s largest democracy goes rogue, then the chances of nuclear war increase significantly.
It would be great to have a post on this subject and get everyone’s expert opinion on this.
https://eurasiafuture.com/2019/03/03/indias-ruling-party-just-implied-that-the-oppositions-dissent-is-treasonous/
One for the weather bookmarks.
https://www.lightningmaps.org/#m=oss;t=3;s=0;o=0;b=;ts=0;
Our throw away culture.
12 years to go.
And we are not learning.
There are so many easy solutions.
We need to act quickly.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209362
Went to WOMAD last year. All the containers were compostable. Not a speck of rubbish in sight. It can be done
Across the ditch…this is pretty disgusting. Aussie govt screwing postmasters and running them into the ground. What is in the water over there? Grrr.
The man weeps “It’s absolutely hell. Why are they doing this to us. The busier you are the less you earn.” Locked into contracts that limit their income. They have been in despair for 10-15 years, even since 1993. Scanning a parcel earns them 37 cents!
“They [Australian government] should be ashamed of themselves”.