Reposted by Skye
For my sins, I have been on Facebook longer than sixteen years so if they ask me to verify my age that is dumb
December 8, 2025 at 1:52 AM
For my sins, I have been on Facebook longer than sixteen years so if they ask me to verify my age that is dumb
Reposted by Skye
I hope everyone who pushed for this understands this is the end of online anonymity for all ages. It means age verification and Digital IDs for everyone. Does anyone trust social media companies to handle this information appropriately?
www.myprivacy.blog/australias-d...
www.myprivacy.blog/australias-d...
December 8, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I hope everyone who pushed for this understands this is the end of online anonymity for all ages. It means age verification and Digital IDs for everyone. Does anyone trust social media companies to handle this information appropriately?
www.myprivacy.blog/australias-d...
www.myprivacy.blog/australias-d...
Reposted by Skye
I can't stress what Mark says enough.
We really will be in the territory of trading liberty for (illusory) security.
Some of us haven't been sleepwalking, but I honestly don't see Labour having the courage to make the case against a ban to parents.
We really will be in the territory of trading liberty for (illusory) security.
Some of us haven't been sleepwalking, but I honestly don't see Labour having the courage to make the case against a ban to parents.
Ending pseudonymity has huge consequences for online activism. We‘ve sleepwalked into a surveillance state. The next few years are going to look very different in terms of risk assessment.
December 8, 2025 at 3:10 AM
I can't stress what Mark says enough.
We really will be in the territory of trading liberty for (illusory) security.
Some of us haven't been sleepwalking, but I honestly don't see Labour having the courage to make the case against a ban to parents.
We really will be in the territory of trading liberty for (illusory) security.
Some of us haven't been sleepwalking, but I honestly don't see Labour having the courage to make the case against a ban to parents.
Reposted by Skye
The one thing I would say about New Zealand summer holidays is they are our only significant break all year long whereas in Europe (for example) you get a Christmas break and then a summer break so you're only stuck for about six months at a time, not the full year.
December 7, 2025 at 11:34 PM
The one thing I would say about New Zealand summer holidays is they are our only significant break all year long whereas in Europe (for example) you get a Christmas break and then a summer break so you're only stuck for about six months at a time, not the full year.
Reposted by Skye
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Reposted by Skye
Whatever else it can do, this tech adds work and erodes trust. The extra work is time-wasting and wearying, and I resent the erosion of trust most deeply. I cannot believe it is healthy for society to be ever less sure that anything you encounter is the real thought or expression of a fellow human
I spend so much time verifying everything now from art to cited sources to photos to historical references to citations to quotes to legal and medical information that it's really hard to fathom how much work AI has collectively added to the world, not reduced
Here's the reality this example illustrates:
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
December 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Whatever else it can do, this tech adds work and erodes trust. The extra work is time-wasting and wearying, and I resent the erosion of trust most deeply. I cannot believe it is healthy for society to be ever less sure that anything you encounter is the real thought or expression of a fellow human
Reposted by Skye
Watch and learn.
💯 this.
Hate and anger raise cortisol levels.
If you are always hateful. Always angry. Cortisol destroys the body from the inside out.
💯 this.
Hate and anger raise cortisol levels.
If you are always hateful. Always angry. Cortisol destroys the body from the inside out.
December 6, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Watch and learn.
💯 this.
Hate and anger raise cortisol levels.
If you are always hateful. Always angry. Cortisol destroys the body from the inside out.
💯 this.
Hate and anger raise cortisol levels.
If you are always hateful. Always angry. Cortisol destroys the body from the inside out.
Reposted by Skye
You are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to regret listening to this bird:
A male rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) in winter plumage.
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
Ptarmigan is from Gaelic 'tarmachan' meaning "croaker". The p- was added when people mistakenly assumed it was a Greek word.
A bird forever warning people: "A werewolf!" (just in case of werewolves).
December 6, 2025 at 5:10 PM
You are ABSOLUTELY NOT going to regret listening to this bird:
Reposted by Skye
Our gorgeous #WakeUpDeadMan end credit portraits, painted from life by Isabella Watling. We’re still in theaters, see my pinned post for a theater finder!
December 6, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Our gorgeous #WakeUpDeadMan end credit portraits, painted from life by Isabella Watling. We’re still in theaters, see my pinned post for a theater finder!
Reposted by Skye
My @politicshome.bsky.social story from the summer about the AI-generated "I rise to speak" phenomenon in Parliament has made it into @nytimes.com 🇺🇸
(sadly, without credit)
(sadly, without credit)
December 6, 2025 at 2:46 PM
My @politicshome.bsky.social story from the summer about the AI-generated "I rise to speak" phenomenon in Parliament has made it into @nytimes.com 🇺🇸
(sadly, without credit)
(sadly, without credit)
Reposted by Skye
Laws aren't real. They exist solely on account of buy-in from society's participants. Once one side disengages, you no longer reside in a society based on laws. You live in a society based on power and armed force. I am begging folks to accept this so we can get moving.
Just legal Calvinball. Obviously lawless.
December 6, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Laws aren't real. They exist solely on account of buy-in from society's participants. Once one side disengages, you no longer reside in a society based on laws. You live in a society based on power and armed force. I am begging folks to accept this so we can get moving.
Reposted by Skye
The Portishead and the Jarlsberg-flipping, Cocktail-style, are sending me
December 5, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The Portishead and the Jarlsberg-flipping, Cocktail-style, are sending me
Reposted by Skye
I have one piece of advice for American men: be the guy at the party who makes everyone a perfect grilled cheese at 3 in the morning and you’ll never sleep alone. Also what is going on with this embassy thirst trap
December 5, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I have one piece of advice for American men: be the guy at the party who makes everyone a perfect grilled cheese at 3 in the morning and you’ll never sleep alone. Also what is going on with this embassy thirst trap
Reposted by Skye
KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals: 'Worried where I will be in two weeks'
KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals: 'Worried where I will be in two weeks'
In October, $49.4m was withdrawn for hardship reasons, up from $38.4m in October 2024.
www.rnz.co.nz
December 5, 2025 at 9:40 PM
KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals: 'Worried where I will be in two weeks'
Reposted by Skye
So not only were we busy telling the world what we were doing on insecure Signal chats, we were shooting down our own people at the same time. It has costs to put incompetent people in charge of national security, and I fear we are just beginning to pay them.
www.businessinsider.com/navy-warship...
www.businessinsider.com/navy-warship...
A Navy warship mistook US fighter jets for enemy missiles and opened fire. The targeted pilot saw his life flash before his eyes.
New documents reveal how the USS Gettysburg shot down an F/A-18 and nearly hit a second one above the Red Sea last year.
www.businessinsider.com
December 6, 2025 at 12:05 AM
So not only were we busy telling the world what we were doing on insecure Signal chats, we were shooting down our own people at the same time. It has costs to put incompetent people in charge of national security, and I fear we are just beginning to pay them.
www.businessinsider.com/navy-warship...
www.businessinsider.com/navy-warship...
Reposted by Skye
Not until encountering them this (early) morning on the outskirts of the Redwood grove did I realize that among the invasive pests in the Rotorua forests are wallabies.
(And I can’t believe we live in a world now where I have to say this but, NO, this is not AI)
(And I can’t believe we live in a world now where I have to say this but, NO, this is not AI)
December 5, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Not until encountering them this (early) morning on the outskirts of the Redwood grove did I realize that among the invasive pests in the Rotorua forests are wallabies.
(And I can’t believe we live in a world now where I have to say this but, NO, this is not AI)
(And I can’t believe we live in a world now where I have to say this but, NO, this is not AI)
Reposted by Skye
OTD in 1994 Russia signed the Budapest memo, guaranteeing Ukraine's territorial integrity in exchange for their nukes, 44 Ukrainian Tu-22 heavy bombers and 1,068 Kh-55 cruise missiles.
Which have been fired at Ukraine in this war.
Which have been fired at Ukraine in this war.
December 5, 2025 at 7:33 AM
OTD in 1994 Russia signed the Budapest memo, guaranteeing Ukraine's territorial integrity in exchange for their nukes, 44 Ukrainian Tu-22 heavy bombers and 1,068 Kh-55 cruise missiles.
Which have been fired at Ukraine in this war.
Which have been fired at Ukraine in this war.
Reposted by Skye
"Prior to tradescantia biocontrol release the average dry weight biomass at these sites was close to 500 g/m2. After agent establishment the average biomass was slightly above 100 g/m2, well below the 200 g/m2 threshold needed for native regeneration." www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications...
More damage, less biomass: monitoring progress of tradescantia biocontrol
Four classical biocontrol agents targeting tradescantia have been present in New Zealand’s environment for up to 14 years.
www.landcareresearch.co.nz
December 4, 2025 at 6:28 PM
"Prior to tradescantia biocontrol release the average dry weight biomass at these sites was close to 500 g/m2. After agent establishment the average biomass was slightly above 100 g/m2, well below the 200 g/m2 threshold needed for native regeneration." www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications...
Reposted by Skye
Our infrastructure isn’t ready for what’s coming.
The Bay took over the highway during this morning's #KingTides in Marin.
December 5, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Our infrastructure isn’t ready for what’s coming.
Reposted by Skye
Well at least Australia is famously blessed with lots of fresh water and isn't, say, our planet's driest populated continent, with a only thin reliably habitable zone around the coast, and permanent water restrictions even in their biggest city.
December 4, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Well at least Australia is famously blessed with lots of fresh water and isn't, say, our planet's driest populated continent, with a only thin reliably habitable zone around the coast, and permanent water restrictions even in their biggest city.
Reposted by Skye
Packs of beetles at Bunnings when!?!?
December 4, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Packs of beetles at Bunnings when!?!?
Reposted by Skye
Some good news for a change: the beetles and fungus introduced to control Tradescantia actually work, sometimes spectacularly. This is a game changer: this horrible plant smothers huge areas of forest floor and is a pain to eradicate by hand, regrowing from the smallest fragment.
"A kahikatea forest remnant site in north Waikato has seen a near complete disappearance of tradescantia after the leaf beetle, stem beetle, and smut fungus all established there between 2019 and 2021. This site is now seeing recovery of native ferns and tree seedlings."
December 4, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Some good news for a change: the beetles and fungus introduced to control Tradescantia actually work, sometimes spectacularly. This is a game changer: this horrible plant smothers huge areas of forest floor and is a pain to eradicate by hand, regrowing from the smallest fragment.
Reposted by Skye
Paywall lifted: A trove of briefings and Cabinet documents reveals the Govt was advised its new methane target is only consistent with warming of 2-2.7C (and possibly up to 4.5C).
Climate scientists have said 2.7C would represent 'unprecedented peril'.
newsroom.co.nz/2025/12/04/g...
Climate scientists have said 2.7C would represent 'unprecedented peril'.
newsroom.co.nz/2025/12/04/g...
Govt warned new methane target aligned with 'catastrophic' warming
Newly released documents reveal the Govt's new methane target is associated with 2.7C of warming – a level labelled 'catastrophic' by the UN.
newsroom.co.nz
December 4, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Paywall lifted: A trove of briefings and Cabinet documents reveals the Govt was advised its new methane target is only consistent with warming of 2-2.7C (and possibly up to 4.5C).
Climate scientists have said 2.7C would represent 'unprecedented peril'.
newsroom.co.nz/2025/12/04/g...
Climate scientists have said 2.7C would represent 'unprecedented peril'.
newsroom.co.nz/2025/12/04/g...
Reposted by Skye
I finally got around to reading this. You should read it too.
"We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
"We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I finally got around to reading this. You should read it too.
"We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
"We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice."
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
Reposted by Skye
Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule:
Four unidentified military-style drones breached no-fly zone to target Zelenskyy's arrival in Dublin
Gardaí are investigating whether the drones took off from land in Dublin or from an undetected ship.
www.thejournal.ie
December 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule: