← Feed

Posts

• View post

  Twice in two hours, the cat has got in my face, tried to get attention, settled momentarily in my lap, and then bit me. She has food, access to anywhere she wants, I played with her before, I don't understand what's going on.

• View post

  If you're one of those holdouts who still reads blogs, how do you feel about the ability to comment? Are you still moved to do so sometimes? Do other people's comments ever add something for you? Or is implementing comments a big waste of time? (asking because I'm thinking about a new project where that is a question)

• View post

  I'd like to know a lot more about this "upgrade." Starting with, will hosting remain on-shore? attn @civillibertynz@mastodon.social https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/722047/massive-old-and-clunky-government-database-gets-60m-upgrade

• View post

  I am mildly tempted by smart plugs and temperature monitors. What "smart home" tech doesn't phone home or will continue to work if firewalled off the internet? As in, are there standards or manufacturers I could look for that would narrow the selection a bit? Or are they just all bad?

• View post

  Interesting little nugget in this story about how many pints an hour of minimum wage buys these days https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360987900/old-bottle-broken-what-hospo-business-veteran-says-can-save-struggling-sector

• View post

  It was late 2021 when my friend Marianne twisted my arm to run a capoeira angola workshop one weekend in Christchurch. And that led to regular classes. Capoeira groups are always marginal in places where noone knows what capoeira is. You're mostly dependent on people who have come from somewhere else where it's better known, and by nature those people move on, and it's hard maintaining a core so that newcomers don't turn up and find no other students. But today I had 9 people t...

• View post

  Has anyone written in any depth about Carrot Ironfoundersson and autism? Was just musing on his literal-mindedness, focus, rigid sense of fairness, oversharing detail about his interest in AnkhMorpork history and culture and his knowledge of dwarf culture, inability to pick up cues from eg Angua...

• View post

  I wish everyone was as clear-eyed about LLMs and generative AI as this person from the knitting community is: https://katedaviesdesigns.com/2026/04/29/knitting-bullshit/

• View post

  Argh. This seems like a very inappropriate use of LLMs to me. Although it's a tender at this stage, not clear that any implementation exists at this point. https://www.thepress.co.nz/politics/360978799/ombudsman-warns-humans-need-make-final-call-redactions-made-ai-bot

• View post

  I have made an important scientific discovery

• View post

  A friend was playing this in the car the other day. This evening I'm listening to the whole Best Of The Black President album. But this is one of the best grooves ever committed to recording IMO. Criminally underrated bassline, unassuming but crucial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snIV_-IECsM

• View post

  Can't have people holding The Platform and the oxymoronically named Reality Check Radio to account. Oh no. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/594400/broadcasting-standards-authority-to-be-scrapped

• View post

  I hope he wins, but I also hope a few zeros get added on to the sum sought in punitive damages. $1.5m is change lost down the sofa for Google. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/05/canadian-ashley-macisaac-fiddler-musician-singer-songwriter-sues-google-ai-sex-offender-ntwnfb

• View post

  Tonight's home grown bean is Good Mother Stallard. Not only holds its shape, but unlike any other bean I've ever eaten, the pattern on the skin is preserved. #gardening

• View post

  Electric chainsaws - am interested in your opinions, especially about models available in Aotearoa.

• View post

  FFS. Have we not seen so many "false flag" conspiracy theories from the right, why must the left turn to them too. When a president is historically unpopular and in an incredibly polarised environment it's not surprising or unexpected that someone tries to kill him, and it's also not surprising if they don't succeed. Genuinely surprised and disappointed to see people in my timeline going there.

• View post

  I ate the last fig of the year today: https://vital.org.nz/posts/figs.html #gardening

• View post

  I think most people are unaware of the sheer scale and ferocity with which AI services pummel every web site. Here's a look at what just one small, friends-only server gets: https://www.osnews.com/story/144851/the-day-i-logged-1-in-every-2000-public-ipv4-visualizing-the-ai-scraper-ddos/

• View post

  These apples all came from my garden. Egremont Russet, Belle de Boskoop, Kingston Black, Monty's Surprise, an unknown crab apple. Almost enough for a 5 litre carboy. Going to add another kg or two of apples I foraged from the park, and then press for cider today. This will be a very local product indeed. #cider #gardening

• View post

  Clawdia was concerned in the conservatory

• View post

  Underreported. >On March 24, The New York Times published an article which reported that Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has told President Trump that he needs to finish the job, overthrow the Iranian regime or render it so feeble that it cannot threaten anyone — the second condition likely being impossible without achieving the first. As the Times put it (emphasis added), “Prince Mohammed has conveyed to Mr. Trump that he must press toward the destruction...

• View post

  Clawdia did not like the weather this morning but she did like conditions on my lap