Robbie Nicol
@robbienicol.bsky.social
Sorry for all the posts. (He/him)
I'm a proud subscriber to @theonion.com newspaper and I love it all, but I think the thing that feels the most exciting about it is the ads? I feel like you wouldn't be allowed to do this in New Zealand?
November 12, 2025 at 6:01 AM
I'm a proud subscriber to @theonion.com newspaper and I love it all, but I think the thing that feels the most exciting about it is the ads? I feel like you wouldn't be allowed to do this in New Zealand?
Why does Neon not have the latest John Oliver anymore? Or Smiling Friends, even though the Adult Swim website says that it does?
November 10, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Why does Neon not have the latest John Oliver anymore? Or Smiling Friends, even though the Adult Swim website says that it does?
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
Israeli soldiers speak out on killings of Gaza civilians
Israeli soldiers speak out on killings of Gaza civilians
IDF soldiers tell documentary of opening fire unprovoked and arbitrary designations of who was an enemy
Israeli soldiers have described a free-for-all in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints, with civilians killed at the whim of individual officers, according to testimony in a TV documentary.
“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” Daniel, the commander of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank unit, says in Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, due to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday evening. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Israeli soldiers speak out on killings of Gaza civilians
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
this essay is just as good as everyone says it is, and imo is a good piece of blanket advice
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:10 AM
this essay is just as good as everyone says it is, and imo is a good piece of blanket advice
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
lithub.com/maybe-dont-t...
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
Watts told farmers in the Waikato that there was no requirement to meet the Paris target. “You have to have the intent to meet it and if you don’t meet it, no one sends you an invoice – and that’s why it’s not a liability on the government’s books,” he said. 🤯 newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/06/g...
Gutting of Zero Carbon Act crashes bipartisan climate consensus
It took more than a year of painstaking cross-partisan negotiation to land the Zero Carbon Act. Now, the Govt is gutting it unilaterally, Marc Daalder reports
newsroom.co.nz
November 6, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Watts told farmers in the Waikato that there was no requirement to meet the Paris target. “You have to have the intent to meet it and if you don’t meet it, no one sends you an invoice – and that’s why it’s not a liability on the government’s books,” he said. 🤯 newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/06/g...
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
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 10:26 PM
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...
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
I got to act in this season of Educators and I played a conman and I got to meet Julian Barratt and it was very fun! If you would like to watch. www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/educat...
TVNZ+
www.tvnz.co.nz
November 3, 2025 at 8:47 AM
I got to act in this season of Educators and I played a conman and I got to meet Julian Barratt and it was very fun! If you would like to watch. www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/educat...
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
NEW from me:
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
October 31, 2025 at 2:32 PM
NEW from me:
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Political hostility, high visa fees and (in the case of the UK) stagnant incomes are making the UK and US less attractive destinations for top international talent.
That steep decline in the appeal of moving to the US after 2016 is 👀
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
I think the dislike button is a good idea as long as I also receive a monthly email with the name and address of everyone who disliked one of my posts
October 31, 2025 at 11:01 PM
I think the dislike button is a good idea as long as I also receive a monthly email with the name and address of everyone who disliked one of my posts
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
basically camps that will concentrate detainees in a single place
The Department of Homeland Security is funneling $10 billion through the Navy to help facilitate the construction of a sprawling network of migrant detention centers across the US in an arrangement aimed at getting the centers built faster. https://cnn.it/4oDFP9W
October 24, 2025 at 10:10 AM
basically camps that will concentrate detainees in a single place
Weather finally proving that God is officially anti-union.
October 22, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Weather finally proving that God is officially anti-union.
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
Business as usual = climate breakdown = economic and societal collapse
October 20, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Business as usual = climate breakdown = economic and societal collapse
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
If you read only one thing on The Spinoff books section this year make it this one (of course even better if you read it allllll but this - by Nick - is funny and sad and profound and silly and wonderful)
‘I didn’t write any poems today’: the diary of a modern poet
‘I didn’t write any poems today’: the diary of a modern poet
'Could the truth be so disgusting? That being a poet is mostly about hanging out with other poets?'...
thespinoff.co.nz
October 19, 2025 at 7:29 AM
If you read only one thing on The Spinoff books section this year make it this one (of course even better if you read it allllll but this - by Nick - is funny and sad and profound and silly and wonderful)
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
Clear-eyed and grim assessment from Mads: "any time a business promises “more” while simultaneously culling staff, you know you’re about to see a product and reputation crumble before your eyes."
RIP Metro magazine: 1981 – 2025
RIP Metro magazine: 1981 – 2025
The owners insist it will continue – but how?...
thespinoff.co.nz
October 18, 2025 at 6:17 AM
Clear-eyed and grim assessment from Mads: "any time a business promises “more” while simultaneously culling staff, you know you’re about to see a product and reputation crumble before your eyes."
oh no who could have foreseen this
The 30-second video from the National Republican Senatorial Committee is raising alarms among many observers who warn it crosses a new boundary in politics and could unleash a flood of AI-generated deepfake attack ads. n.pr/4qhNL2c
A GOP attack ad deepfakes Chuck Schumer with AI
The 30-second video from the National Republican Senatorial Committee is raising alarms among many observers who warn it crosses a new boundary in politics and could unleash a flood of AI-generated deepfake attack ads.
n.pr
October 18, 2025 at 12:51 AM
oh no who could have foreseen this
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
Hey @nytimes.com, did you change your headline, and change "Islamophobic attacks" on Mamdani to just "attacks," because Elise Stefanik and the GOP bullied you into it? Really? Why are they no longer Islamophobic attacks, as your headline originally and correctly stated?
October 17, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Hey @nytimes.com, did you change your headline, and change "Islamophobic attacks" on Mamdani to just "attacks," because Elise Stefanik and the GOP bullied you into it? Really? Why are they no longer Islamophobic attacks, as your headline originally and correctly stated?
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
"Copyright growing pains" is an interesting way of saying "they stole a bunch of intellectual property"
Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies
Want to See Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Soon
Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies
www.scientificamerican.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:16 AM
"Copyright growing pains" is an interesting way of saying "they stole a bunch of intellectual property"
Do I know any science teachers in Auckland who could help me film a video where I set methane bubbles on fire?
October 14, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Do I know any science teachers in Auckland who could help me film a video where I set methane bubbles on fire?
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
The Olive green areas are councils where citizens voted down Māori wards (the little blue blob in the middle is Kirikiriroa, which voted by a whisker to retain theirs).
Coincidentally those Olive green areas also pretty accurately represent land confiscated by the crown after the Waikato wars.
Coincidentally those Olive green areas also pretty accurately represent land confiscated by the crown after the Waikato wars.
October 11, 2025 at 8:09 AM
The Olive green areas are councils where citizens voted down Māori wards (the little blue blob in the middle is Kirikiriroa, which voted by a whisker to retain theirs).
Coincidentally those Olive green areas also pretty accurately represent land confiscated by the crown after the Waikato wars.
Coincidentally those Olive green areas also pretty accurately represent land confiscated by the crown after the Waikato wars.
One good thing about the local elections is finally getting a definitive list of how racist all the different bits of New Zealand are.
October 11, 2025 at 9:48 AM
One good thing about the local elections is finally getting a definitive list of how racist all the different bits of New Zealand are.
If I downloaded a government app, how easy would it be for the government to get information about me (location, other apps being used etc)?
October 7, 2025 at 10:30 PM
If I downloaded a government app, how easy would it be for the government to get information about me (location, other apps being used etc)?
Reposted by Robbie Nicol
As usual, we were blown away by the creative–and some might say twisted–minds of our players! Now presenting the winners of our Best & Most Cursed of Creative Mode, starting with /u/rowschank on our subreddit! 🥇
October 7, 2025 at 2:24 AM
As usual, we were blown away by the creative–and some might say twisted–minds of our players! Now presenting the winners of our Best & Most Cursed of Creative Mode, starting with /u/rowschank on our subreddit! 🥇