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Dash - jinx

As promised, here's a fantastic piece of art (skateboard) from jinx (Justin Jenkins), check out his art on Instagram . By the way, I love this: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Justin Jenkins (@jinxstudiosnz)

Cricket Player Positions

Cricket player positions from the BBC

Light Shade

Crinkle shade of light.

Regulatory Standards Bill - Extension NOT Extended

On ya, finally got to submit your  Treaty 'Principles' Bill thoughts  BUT that's only part one of two! Don't be fooled into thinking you've done your dash, the Treaty Principles Bill was probably always going to die and absolutely will now because of the overwhelming public disdain for it, your submission will add to that - top work! The Regulatory Standards Bill is sneaking in behind, like a Slytherin behind Potter, and if passed could be a game changer for this country ... it's astounding. I can't say it better than Emily Writes, and her awesome Jan 6th post, OK fine, what submissions do I have to make FFS?! , "Don't worry - I got you. Here's everything you need in one place!" , so I won't: Bill : The Regulatory Standards Bill Do it by : 13 January 2024. Why should I care? This bill is the twin to the Treaty Principles Bill. So much so that you can use your submission for that bill as the template to this one. It has been described ...

Mrs Susan Bucket

"That's Bouquet!" The left is a poster seen around Wellington, the right is of course Hyacinth Bucket as seen on TV.

Ask For What You Want

 "Can I have that TV?" I can't recall where I first heard that someone would ask either that question, or something similar, but I do recall thinking it was so ballsy. It turns out that it's not at all, it's just asking for what you want. The trick of course is to accept a, "No." with grace. Mostly you'll be told, "No." a lot, and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with asking and getting a no. Three points float up for me as I write. 1: Don't ask the same person over and over again. Even if you're coming at it from the same naive position that you have always it's gonna come across as harassment. You'll browbeat the person into giving you something, or hear them telling you to fuck off. 2: Recognise the power dynamic between you and the person you're asking. "Can I have that TV" is very different if you're the landlord and they are the tenant. "Can we have sex?", or however you ask, is a ...

Views From OK Road

It's a brilliant view of the city and suburbs from the top of Orangi Kaupapa Road (Northland, Wellington) - do go have a look.

Hinerangi Sculpture

It always gets a photograph from me as I'm passing, I had guessed it was something to do with Māori, obvs, but knew nothing about it until I came to do this post. source: Trip ideas: Ngā Tapuwae o te Kāhui Maunga (Wellington City) Ngā Tapuwae o te Kāhui Maunga (the Footsteps of the Ancestors) is a memorial at the base of Pukeahu Hill in Pukeahu National Memorial Park, Wellington. It generally commemorates the participation of Māori in all the wars of New Zealand Aotearoa, including within NZ. More specifically, the monument represents the historical journey and association of Te Āti Awa with Pukeahu. It consists of three boulders, set in a garden, representing the mountains, Taranaki, Ruapehu and Tongariro, and the statue of Hinerangi. Each boulder has engravings representing Māori of the moa hunter era (pre-1600s) who lived around the Taranaki and Wellington regions. The gardens reflect the once extensive Māori gardens that covered the hill and surrounding area. The statue of Hine...

The Reykjavík “bike whisperer”

Photograph: Sigga Ella/The Guardian So many things that I admire about Bjartmar Leósson and his Icelandic stolen bike ventures , firstly his "I can do this" attitude: He put notes through neighbours’ doors and before long he had a description of a person believed to have been seen with his bike in the city centre. “Every single day I thought to myself: today is a good day to find my bike.” And one day he spotted somebody on his bike, stopped him and got it back. Secondly, his ability and willingness to change from anger to curiosity, with even more bikes being recovered: “I was very angry, they were angry – it was very rough at first. But then I started to think: OK, it doesn’t matter, I can scream until I’m blue in the face, nothing’s going to change. So I decided to try to level with them and just talk to them.” From that point, the dynamic changed. He started to become friends with residents of the shelter, some of whom started to help him track down bikes. Some of those, ...

Angel Pee

The things you find in antique shops eh. The things that people decide to make as well. $160 and you could own one like it. I have no idea why you'd want to but life is about choices.

Digital vs Vinyl

There is no difference for your ears / brain. Any preference that you have is just that, a preference. It's the message, not the medium I don't care if you read a book that's printed on dead trees, on recycled clothing, a pretend electronic page, or a fancy touch screen. They all have their pros and cons , but if the story is awesome you'll forget the medium and be lost in the world you're reading. Same for size of TV to watch a movie and whether it's a streamed song or on a piece of vinyl. Enjoy your preference.

WOMAD 2024, Sunday

Final day, and so much more to enjoy. I wanna say thank you to Ann's cousin Justin for putting us up, it made such a difference to have an actual bed inside a house to go back to each night. AND, he's a brilliant pop artist, check him out on Instagram: jinxstudiosnz  - one of his pieces will be coming up soon in the daily photos.

WOMAD 2024, Saturday

Saturday was the main day and it was long, fun, colourful, full of music, friends, and food.

Tales Of An Astounding Adventure

Endurance under sail, Antarctic Ocean, c. 1915 Paget colour photograph by Frank Hurley Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874 – 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic and was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration . The story of the Endurance, its leader, and the trials of survival are astounding. Read about on Wikipedia at  Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition  and/or listen to Dan Snow: In this dramatic episode, Dan tells the incredible story of how Shackleton saved every single man on the fated Endurance expedition from perishing in Antarctica. In late 1914, the charismatic and brilliant explorer Ernest Shackleton led 27 men on a voyage to cross Antarctica from one side to the other. But what should have been a successful expedition turned into a two-year nightmare of hardship and catastrophe when their vessel the Endurance was crushed in the Weddell Sea pack-ice and sunk. Stra...

WOMAD 2024, Friday

I didn't realise all the middle managers of New Zealand would be at WOMAD on the Friday dressing up, there ya go. The evening was an eye opener as I, and many others, were introduced to the sheer energy and fun of Dubioza kolektiv .

Regulatory Standards Bill: What Is A "Person"

Apart from the timing and the large set of questions (which you don't have to answer, just send in the submission for you want), the most insidious part of the Bill is the use of the word "persons". Submission form:  https://consultation.regulation.govt.nz/rsb/have-your-say-on-regulatory-standards-bill/consultation/intro/ Email your submission to:  RSBconsultation@regulation.govt.nz More: Explanation & Submission Guidance & Assistance [Updated] I take this from the extremely helpful and detailed, Proposed Regulatory Standards Bill : Explainer & Submission Guide , written by Jen Bennett and Melanie Nelson with contributions from several others. What does “individual” or “person” mean in this Bill? Most government action should think about all of us - not just some of us. The Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB) focuses on individual interests. In the Bill the term "individual" or “person” includes not only everyday citizens but also corporations, large bus...

Moai Looking Old And Craggy

I'm sure moai are meant to last a long time, not sure this one will as it definitely looks craggier since the last time I photographed it . Ah, it was vandalised back in 2015, no wonder. Glad to see it still there.

Regulatory Standards Bill: Submission Guidance & Assistance [Updated]

*phew*, this is hard work. Unlike the Treaty Principles Bill which has a tonne of templates and publicly available submissions for you to copy/amend/submit, the Regulatory Standards Bill has very little out there. Submission form:  https://consultation.regulation.govt.nz/rsb/have-your-say-on-regulatory-standards-bill/consultation/intro/ Email your submission to:  RSBconsultation@regulation.govt.nz More: Explanation & Submission [Updated] What Is A "Person" [Update 8-Jan-2024] Emily Writes (Jan 06, 2025) being awesome, OK fine, what submissions do I have to make FFS?! , "Don't worry - I got you. Here's everything you need in one place!" : Bill: The Regulatory Standards Bill Do it by: 13 January 2024. Why should I care? This bill is the twin to the Treaty Principles Bill. So much so that you can use your submission for that bill as the template to this one. It has been described as: The ‘dangerous’ bill flying under the radar and “arguably one of the most ...

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

All the pod people are tucked up cozy inside as creatures of the night stalked the streets taking photographs.

Regulatory Standards Bill: Irony

Oh, this is astounding how Seymour wants to have smaller government and yet has created a whole new department and is wrapping so much shite around a system that works just fine. More: Explanation & Submission Guidance & Assistance [Updated] What Is A "Person" It's all libertarian bollocks eh, just like they always publicly shout that the government should stay out of everyone's lives, especially in "the market", but siphon off as much of the public purse as they can and go running back to their Nanny State when it all gets a bit too hard.

Regulatory Standards Bill: Explanation & Submission [Updated]

You've done  your Treaty Principles Bill submission , and that was a piece of cake eh. If that's what all Bill submissions are like then bring it on, the voice of the masses can be finally heard. Submission form:  https://consultation.regulation.govt.nz/rsb/have-your-say-on-regulatory-standards-bill/consultation/intro/ Email your submission to:  RSBconsultation@regulation.govt.nz More: Submission Guidance & Assistance [Updated] What Is A "Person" Hmmmm, seems it's different for each Bill, which sort of makes sense. The Treaty Principles Bill is something that's not going anywhere no matter what happens, so it's been made very much a, "Tell us what you think and what could be done", expecting a tsunami of, "It's crap, throw it away". The response is gonna be, "Ok, we asked and we're gonna throw it away, as we were gonna anyway." There are Bills that have some substance to them, and the relevant Select Committee real...

9 Letter Word

Good luck. A S K C T O C I L

Tree, Rock, Wave

A Tree growing on a Rock as a big Wave crashes onto the beach.

Being Millitant

Further to my 2025 theme of Backfill , I'm also going to step up my militancy against unfairness that I see. I'll (probably) focus on three things which are so broad they might touch on everything, in no order: Anti-racism Women's rights  Society v immense personal profit None of these should be a surprise to anyone that knows me. Expect to see me, by the end of 2025, on protests and maybe even being arrested as I refuse to come down from a tree or something similar ... maybe, it'll build over the next year and into my sixties. As for the biggies and specifics I'll be supporting them financially (Amnesty International & Greenpeace, and journalism) as I always do.

Tiny Orange Life

I was about to use the phrase "clinging on" but who knows, this lichen might be living the best lichen life possible. How do you pronounce it, "ly-kin", "ly-chin", or, "li-chin"?

2025, The Theme Is "Backfill"

It's quite the moment when you're pondering, cogitating, think think thinking about something and then, *pop*, the answer comes into your mind. 2024 was a "Foundational" year for me. One of working out what I want to do with the final third of my time on this planet. And that has worked out well, I have moved on from tech and finding my feet in sustainable "community work". I want 2025 to be less, dramatic. I've been reflecting for the past few days what it should feel like and it slooooowly dawned upon me, I want this year to be a bedding in year. A quick Google of the stages one goes through when moving a tree from one spot to another and the word "backfill" is used a lot. Once you've uprooted the tree, put it into its new hole home then you need to backfill with soil and compost, pat it down, give it water, and settle it into its new place. That's me. Over 2023/4 I have uprooted the tree of my life and I'm now safely / happily in...

One Hundred Proofs That The Earth Is Not A Globe

The best thing about  bonkers "science" books like this is that they're so old it's free to download and actually read them. So I did. INDEX. 1 The aeronaut sees for himself.   2 Standing water level.   3 Surveyors’ “allowance.”   4 Flow of Rivers—the Nile .  5 Lighthouses—Cape Hatteras.   6 The sea-shore.—“Coming up.”   7 A trip down Chesapeake Bay .  8 The model globe useless.   9 The sailor’s level charts.   10 The mariners’ compass.   11 The southern circumference.   12 Circumnavigation of the Earth.   13 Meridians are straight lines.   14  Parallels of latitude—circles.   15 Sailing down and underneath.   16 Distance round the South.   17 Levelness required by man.   18 The “level” of the astronomers.   19 Half the globe is cut off, now!   20 No “up” or “down” in nature?   21 The “spherical lodestone.”   22 No falsehoods wanted!   23 No proo...

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