Jenny Nicholls
@jenster.bsky.social
Absent-minded twit. NZ Listener book reviewer, book designs, former art director/columnist at Metro/N&S. She/her
This amazing labour-of-love book about the Tongariro National Park helped me to understand just what a calamity the fire is...
Tongariro National Park
Artist, Desmond Bovey, explores the plants, animals and landscapes of Tongariro National Park, with in-depth information and over 400 illustrations.
www.pottonandburton.co.nz
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
This amazing labour-of-love book about the Tongariro National Park helped me to understand just what a calamity the fire is...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
If you'd told me that a speaker at the Free Speech Union conference would call for banning non-Christian public expressions of faith to an applauding crowd, I would have said yes, obviously that is going to happen newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/10/t...
November 9, 2025 at 8:30 PM
If you'd told me that a speaker at the Free Speech Union conference would call for banning non-Christian public expressions of faith to an applauding crowd, I would have said yes, obviously that is going to happen newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/10/t...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
The Mamdani political sign generator is kinda fun https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/for.html
November 8, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The Mamdani political sign generator is kinda fun https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/ccshan/for/for.html
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
If I'm doing the math correctly, Musk's big pay packet yesterday could have made each of these now-dead people millionaires instead.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 2:52 PM
If I'm doing the math correctly, Musk's big pay packet yesterday could have made each of these now-dead people millionaires instead.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
What a boondoggle - the Saudi ‘Line in the Sand’, with trains with no baggage and global-cladding-gobbling bird-killing mirror finish sounds like the world’s most wasteful and expensive dumb thing
November 8, 2025 at 7:41 PM
What a boondoggle - the Saudi ‘Line in the Sand’, with trains with no baggage and global-cladding-gobbling bird-killing mirror finish sounds like the world’s most wasteful and expensive dumb thing
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
this is incredibly lucid and valuable research.
Please take a minute to scroll through this—and share it.
It's the story of our time.
The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
It's the story of our time.
The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic American—And Why Europe Is Next.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
www.authoritarian-stack.info
November 7, 2025 at 11:54 PM
this is incredibly lucid and valuable research.
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
Before her (too early) death, the amazing Sharon Begley wrote this piece on double helix co-discoverer James Watson and the racist and sexist pronouncements he seemed to revel in making in later life. Fascinating read about a troubling individual.
www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...
www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Before her (too early) death, the amazing Sharon Begley wrote this piece on double helix co-discoverer James Watson and the racist and sexist pronouncements he seemed to revel in making in later life. Fascinating read about a troubling individual.
www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...
www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
Australia has so much solar generation capacity that it's offering customers free electricity for three hours in the middle of the day: electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 7, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Australia has so much solar generation capacity that it's offering customers free electricity for three hours in the middle of the day: electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
Over the last months, we’ve entirely rebuilt search on Our World in Data — we just launched it:
ourworldindata.org/introducing-...
Let me know what you think. Does it work for you?
ourworldindata.org/introducing-...
Let me know what you think. Does it work for you?
Introducing our new, more powerful search
Finding what you’re looking for, or discovering something new, has never been easier.
ourworldindata.org
November 6, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Over the last months, we’ve entirely rebuilt search on Our World in Data — we just launched it:
ourworldindata.org/introducing-...
Let me know what you think. Does it work for you?
ourworldindata.org/introducing-...
Let me know what you think. Does it work for you?
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
The East Village is hootin and hollerin
November 5, 2025 at 2:45 AM
The East Village is hootin and hollerin
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
A bonfire of the climate policies. An emissions Guy Fawkes Day
The Govt quietly announced a loosening of climate rules at 8pm last night:
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...
- Decoupling the ETS from Paris
- Shifting ETS resets to every 2 years
- Delaying the public sector target by 25 years
- Removing CCC advice from *before* emission reductions plans:
www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...
Government quietly loosens climate rules
An announcement at 8pm on Tuesday saw the Government delinking the ETS from the Paris Agreement and extending another emissions deadline by 25 years.
www.thepost.co.nz
November 4, 2025 at 10:56 PM
A bonfire of the climate policies. An emissions Guy Fawkes Day
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
If you're in need of positive and rather wholesome news, there's a high school teacher named Bryan who took a ton of freely licensed celebrity headshots at the New York Film Festival last month for Wikipedia, and I truly can't believe how drastic the upgrade is for some articles (thread)
November 1, 2025 at 1:21 PM
If you're in need of positive and rather wholesome news, there's a high school teacher named Bryan who took a ton of freely licensed celebrity headshots at the New York Film Festival last month for Wikipedia, and I truly can't believe how drastic the upgrade is for some articles (thread)
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
Folks, people who appreciated Siouxsie's work during the pandemic and/or who like free speech and academic freedom should help out here if they can. And that's all of us, one way or another, right?
www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...
www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...
Support Dr Siouxsie After She Supported Us! | PledgeMe
Support Dr Siouxsie to recover some of the money she spent fighting her legal case to protect employees experiencing online abuse
www.pledgeme.co.nz
November 1, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Folks, people who appreciated Siouxsie's work during the pandemic and/or who like free speech and academic freedom should help out here if they can. And that's all of us, one way or another, right?
www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...
www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/852...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
My latest column in Prospect: Don't worry about AI video destroying democracy. AI's destruction of the journalism business is a much more serious threat: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
Chatbots and deepfakes are eroding our shared reality
With Trump et al using AI slop for political gain, fact-checking and civic journalism are more vital than ever
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 4:25 PM
My latest column in Prospect: Don't worry about AI video destroying democracy. AI's destruction of the journalism business is a much more serious threat: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
most of the time I think he’s at least really committed to fascism. but there’s just a lot of evidence he’s bored as fuck and they keep coming up with these little projects for him. I mean it’s important for elderly people to stay active.
October 31, 2025 at 7:11 PM
most of the time I think he’s at least really committed to fascism. but there’s just a lot of evidence he’s bored as fuck and they keep coming up with these little projects for him. I mean it’s important for elderly people to stay active.
Another great current affairs magazine dies after a long illness. The new owner spiked my old mag 3 weeks before print day. I feel for the editor. Planning for a year of magazines - all that work - only to have it unexpectedly killed, those stories untold. I know what that’s like. It sucks.
North & South relaunch on ‘hold’
The long-running magazine was due to make a return in three weeks, but those plans have now been scrapped.
www.thepost.co.nz
October 30, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Another great current affairs magazine dies after a long illness. The new owner spiked my old mag 3 weeks before print day. I feel for the editor. Planning for a year of magazines - all that work - only to have it unexpectedly killed, those stories untold. I know what that’s like. It sucks.
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
AI agents tried to do graphic design, video editing, game development, and administrative chores like scraping data. "Even the best could perform less than 3 percent of the work, earning $1,810 out of a possible $143,991," writes @willknight.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/ai-age...
AI Agents Are Terrible Freelance Workers
A new benchmark measures how well AI agents can automate economically valuable chores. Human-level AI is still some ways off.
www.wired.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:32 PM
AI agents tried to do graphic design, video editing, game development, and administrative chores like scraping data. "Even the best could perform less than 3 percent of the work, earning $1,810 out of a possible $143,991," writes @willknight.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/ai-age...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
Language models are terrible at counting (part 12381...)
It's concerning how many workflows/copilots etc. these tools are now creeping into, despite making small numerical errors all over the place (which a causal eye might not catch).
Below from GPT-5 and Sonnet-4.5:
It's concerning how many workflows/copilots etc. these tools are now creeping into, despite making small numerical errors all over the place (which a causal eye might not catch).
Below from GPT-5 and Sonnet-4.5:
October 29, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Language models are terrible at counting (part 12381...)
It's concerning how many workflows/copilots etc. these tools are now creeping into, despite making small numerical errors all over the place (which a causal eye might not catch).
Below from GPT-5 and Sonnet-4.5:
It's concerning how many workflows/copilots etc. these tools are now creeping into, despite making small numerical errors all over the place (which a causal eye might not catch).
Below from GPT-5 and Sonnet-4.5:
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
lol Grokipedia science articles are literally just word-for-word copies of Wikipedia
October 28, 2025 at 2:06 AM
lol Grokipedia science articles are literally just word-for-word copies of Wikipedia
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
If I could change one thing about political reporting in New Zealand it would be the reflex to treat policy criticism from the political opposition as not only meaningful but the most important thing.
October 27, 2025 at 9:23 PM
If I could change one thing about political reporting in New Zealand it would be the reflex to treat policy criticism from the political opposition as not only meaningful but the most important thing.
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
#nzpol Labour is proposing to create a Capital Gains Tax on property - excluding farms and the family home. That income will help make GP visits free for the majority of people. Is that a better policy than continuing tax-free profits on, say, someone's seventh property? Absolutely. A🧵
Release: Targeted tax to grow the economy and fund free doctor’s visits
www.labour.org.nz
October 27, 2025 at 9:09 PM
#nzpol Labour is proposing to create a Capital Gains Tax on property - excluding farms and the family home. That income will help make GP visits free for the majority of people. Is that a better policy than continuing tax-free profits on, say, someone's seventh property? Absolutely. A🧵
Such a clear explainer of the problems with the rushed new NZ maths curriculum
A rushed new maths curriculum doesn’t add up. The right answer is more time
The third maths and stats curriculum for primary and intermediate schools in less than three years is being introduced on an unrealistic timeline.
theconversation.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Such a clear explainer of the problems with the rushed new NZ maths curriculum
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
Sign this petition about the Regulatory Standards Bill, please
petitions.parliament.nz/212f27b2-98f...
petitions.parliament.nz/212f27b2-98f...
October 24, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Sign this petition about the Regulatory Standards Bill, please
petitions.parliament.nz/212f27b2-98f...
petitions.parliament.nz/212f27b2-98f...
Reposted by Jenny Nicholls
A couple of weeks ago, Trump struggled with a broken umbrella as he boarded Air Force One.
Let me tell you how we got to this point — and the tragic downfall of the noble umbrella. 🧵
Let me tell you how we got to this point — and the tragic downfall of the noble umbrella. 🧵
October 23, 2025 at 9:51 PM
A couple of weeks ago, Trump struggled with a broken umbrella as he boarded Air Force One.
Let me tell you how we got to this point — and the tragic downfall of the noble umbrella. 🧵
Let me tell you how we got to this point — and the tragic downfall of the noble umbrella. 🧵