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builddoctor.bsky.social
@builddoctor.bsky.social
50 followers 93 following 3 posts
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rlmrdlnz.bsky.social
NZPFU Letter to Van Velden
Pass it on
#nzpol
To my Minister, the honorable Brooke Van Velden. I sat watching our Deputy National Commander on TV friday morning, yet again spinning things to make FENZ sound squeaky clean. She would make a great Politician. I guess I expect a bit of honesty from people who claim to have been a career firefighter, a profession New Zealanders trust. It seems my expectations were too high. Hopefully as a firefighter myself, I can try to clear up a few things FENZ keeps saying publicly — because a lot of it simply isn’t true. First — FENZ claims our bargaining proposal is three times their offer. That is factually wrong. A lie if you like. Our proposal was no where near that. I was in the room, I know that and they know that. Next — trucks. FENZ keeps talking about ‘delivering new trucks’. They brag about ‘317 new firetrucks delivered since 2017'. What they don’t say is the vast majority were smaller, cheaper volunteer units used in provincial/rural NZ For our career crews, that need a larger, stronger firetruck to service New Zealand's cities, not one new frontline firetruck since 2018. Not one. This year from September, we were told 23 new trucks were finally scheduled to arrive. Not a single one has turned up. Not One. And the "new" old trucks, bought 5 years ago, now out of warranty, were sent back to Europe to have new pumps and new lockers added (FENZ hurry to point out the pumps and lockers have warranty... duh)— those trucks are now sitting around rusting because the gear doesn’t even fit. That’s the level of planning we’re dealing with. These new old trucks are the same ones that firefighters refused to ride back in 2017 because of chassis cracks, doors that fell off, and intercoolers that have failed, in every single truck, confirmed by FENZ in an OIA FENZ's solution. Buy more of the same FENZ also keeps throwing around firefighters’ pay proposal as if asking to be kept up with inflation is evil. The irony of someone on close to $350,000 who sits behind a desk, insinuating 85,000 is alot for a senior firefighter (who actually goes into fires) is not lost on me. Of course I am the unreasonable one for expecting my employer would try their best to keep me moving alongside inflation. Let’s clear this one up: overtime is paid for hours worked above the 42-hour week. Is FENZ suggesting we don't pay firefighters for working extra hours? It is true a firefighter might reach $90,000 — after years of training, exams, leadership responsibilities, and a job where you literally run into burning buildings and try to bring dead people back to life. However, a recruit firefighter earns just $2.35 above minimum wage. Once they graduate, they move to $1.25 below the living wage That’s what you get for entering one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. And yes — in 2005, $90,000 was a solid wage. Today, most people are paying $40-50,000 a year in rent alone — after tax. FENZ knows this. They just hope you don’t think about it. Meanwhile, You (Hon Minister) and FENZ agreed to cut the levy that funds the entire organisation by more than 30% — and to strip out another $240 million in savings on top of that. And based on the offer they’ve put on the table, it sure doesn’t look like the savings are coming from the executives earning half a million a year. It’s frontline firefighters who are going to foot the lions share of that bill— those at the bottom who can’t afford a kilo of mince and who are struggling to pay rent. I am sure the reason for the savings and the cuts seem noble, what isn't noble is giving us a 7% effective paycut to achieve it. So when they talk about ‘investment’ and ‘new trucks’ and ‘supporting firefighters’ — remember this: The numbers don’t lie. The facts don’t lie. We’re not striking for fun. We’re striking because FENZ has been failing firefighters — and the public — for years. Please help. Regards David Phillips Station Officer
November 30, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Reposted
theonion.com
Target Now Offering Snipers To Take Out Other Shoppers For Black Friday
November 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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domesticanimal.bsky.social
‘Fossil fuel companies were given privileged, insider access to confidential drafts of legislation during a two-year campaign to weaken oil and gas regulation and overturn the offshore exploration ban’ - RNZ
My Stuff #cartoon today #nzpol #FossilFuels
Cartoon. Title: “Industry Consultation” Image of MP Shane Jones holding a copy of the “Oil and Gas Ban” document in each hand, and a red pen. To either side of him is one man labelled “Oil” and one labelled “Gas”. Jones is saying, “Here…run my red pen through this, will you?”
November 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted
mcnees.bsky.social
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
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wired.com
At New Zealand's Kawaiican cybersecurity convention, organizers hacked together a way for attendees to track CO2 levels throughout the venue—even before they arrived. www.wired.com/story/this-h...
This Hacker Conference Installed a Literal Anti-Virus Monitoring System
At New Zealand's Kawaiican cybersecurity convention, organizers hacked together a way for attendees to track CO2 levels throughout the venue—even before they arrived.
www.wired.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:06 AM
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hannahnpbowman.com
This is an amazing fact
patrickjohanneson.com Patrick Johanneson 🚀 🇨🇦 @patrickjohanneson.com · Nov 21
8675309 is prime, and so is 8675311, so if you ever need a middlin'-large pair of adjacent primes to test your cryptographic suite, all you need is a 1980s earworm and a +2 and you're all set.
colindickey.com Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · Nov 21
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Reposted
pepperraccoon.com
Hey uh bc I keep getting asked by Kawaiicon attendees: it’s pepperraccoon.com and yes you can buy cool things there x
Pepper Raccoon: NZ Indie Visual Artist & Merch Designer
Pepper Raccoon is an alternative New Zealand artist, with a deep commitment to sustainability and giving back to conservation charities through her premium merch, including nature-inspired enamel pins...
pepperraccoon.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:53 AM
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hellomotorbike.bsky.social
She's fucking lying
October 18, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Reposted
thejuicemedia.com
The Government of New Zealand has made a new tourism ad and it's surprsingly honest and informative!
Honest Government Ad | Visit New Zealand!
YouTube video by thejuicemedia
www.youtube.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Reposted
duckinator.bsky.social
The team formerly behind RubyGems has come together to launch a new gem server for the Ruby community!

gem.coop

I am *super* excited about this!
gem.coop
gem.coop
October 6, 2025 at 4:33 AM
Reposted
russelnorman.bsky.social
The decision of the Luxon Govt to cancel the NZ Battery Project, which would have underpinned security of the nz electricity network, sure looks short sited as we watch the wave of industrial closures driven, in part, by security of supply and high prices of electricity.
September 19, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Reposted
russelnorman.bsky.social
The 2023 IRD wealth study found that the richest 300 people in NZ pay tax on income of 9.4%, versus 28% for someone earning $80k. Luxon Govt is removing the clauses of the tax law that allowed IRD to collect the study data. They don’t want you to know. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/...
Shielding the rich? Govt to axe info-gathering power that shed light on how much tax the rich pay
Axing the power will improve taxpayer privacy but weaken the quality of IRD policy advice.
www.nzherald.co.nz
September 2, 2025 at 1:11 AM
builddoctor.bsky.social
Bought one.
pepperraccoon.com 🦝 Pepper Raccoon: Trash Priestess 🦝 @pepperraccoon.com · Aug 18
NEW SHIRT ALERT AND IT'S EELS THIS TIME BC Y'ALL SAID YOU WANTED EELS AND I LOVE THEM

EEL CYCLES depicts the beautiful and strange transformative life stages of a longfin eel, from ocean egg through to freshwater adult...and $3 from each shirt will be donated to Forest & Bird <3

pepperraccoon.com
August 18, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Reposted
tastapod.com
For the last year or so I have been noodling on the idea of a Best Simple System for Now.

What happens when you write exactly the code you need, at the level of quality you need, but solving the problem _for now_ rather than a generalised or hypothetical version of it?

dannorth.net/best-simple-...
Best Simple System for Now
You can have your cake and eat it, as long as you bake it carefully. ‘We can do this the quick way and pay later, or the thorough way and pay now.’ This seems to be a fundamental dichotomy in software...
dannorth.net
February 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted
blockpartyapp.com
Interesting reading on security vs privacy, and how interlinked they are. Hackers don’t need to go through the back door when they can go through the front door. bsky.app/profile/dani...
daniel-solove.bsky.social Daniel Solove @daniel-solove.bsky.social · Nov 15
Are Many Privacy Violations Also Data Breaches? teachprivacy.com/are-many-pri... This is an older post but still relevant - many privacy violations are also data breaches and should be treated by regulators and lawsuits as such.
Are Many Privacy Violations Also Data Breaches?
Data breaches and privacy violations have long been thought of as different things, but actually, there is a lot of overlap. Two recent FTC cases address
teachprivacy.com
November 15, 2024 at 11:16 PM