Mike Riversdale

Last month I collected a bunch of "Which Are You Today?" images for online meetings and during that I stumbled across a friend sharing  Gift A Safe Night with Women's Refuge, what a simple and helpful thing to do. A $20 Safe Night helps a woman and her children escape family violence. I've joined the Safe Night's Club by popping $20 to them every fortnight for someone to use in their moments of absolute scary needs. One night of safety at Women's Refuge for a woman and child costs just $20 and includes: A safe, clean bed Secure transport Hot meals Supportive staff 24/7 crisis line Helpful advice We all do what we can to help when we can - if you can afford $20 every fortnight / monthly, then I would strongly urge you to sign up and help Women's Refuge support women and children when the shit really hits the fan and they need support and safety.

Those darkening shades of blue at twilight , going through all the dusks , glorious.

Despite Lyall Bay being as flat as a pancake there were still surfers out there trying to catch even the most miniscule of waves.

C, the letter "c", is used to represent the speed of light in equations. You know it, E=mc² , that's, energy is mass times the result of the speed of light times the speed of light .  In a vacuum (not through air, or water, or anything else) the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. Bloody fast eh! Whilst an atom is very very very small if you times it by the speed of light² that gives a lot, a fucking lot, of energy. Hence the atomic bomb going big boom! But, is that really the speed? 299,792,458 meters per second is the speed as measured with a round trip, the speed of light that went from a source, to something, and back again. But what if it's twice that speed on the outward journey and instant on the way back, we'd get the same answer.  Huh? Watch this ... Oh, and WHY is, probably / almost certainly, the speed of light 299,792,458 meters per second - no-one knows, it just is .

Flying from Nelson to Wellington on a clear day is a photographers dream. It's also mine as I snap away 😁 Two for today as I spent ages trying to work out which to use and realised, I'm in charge and I can do as many as I like. The following is Waikawa , just around from Picton, and one of the largest marinas in Aotearoa New Zealand.

You've finished your holiday, you catch-up on the news and come sliding in at great speed, screeching to a halt all ready to let the government have your views ... DAMN! Missed the deadline. The Regulatory Standards Bill submission ended yesterday (Monday) at midnight.  Bugger bugger bugger!!! The Ministry of Regulation received almost 23,000 submissions, around 80 percent of them in the final four days of the consultation period. [source: RNZ, The Regulatory Standards Bill: What you need to know ] Hold on though, this submission/ feedback process wasn't about any Bill before Parliament, it was about the wording of the draft Bill that will then go to Parliament . This was a preliminary submission, for the Ministry of Regulation (David Seymour's fiefdom) to gain feedback on the draft Bill that will then be put forward Parliament and then onto a Select Committee. The Select Committee will ask for input on the words that make up the actual Bill: The feedback received will in...

As I'm swiping through the photos, getting ever closer to the current day, I'm looking at a Nelson visit to Marchfest 2024 which, comically, was over the first weekend of April :) I stared at the photo, why on earth have a I drawn a blue circle around this woman? I don't remember drawing a blue circle around this woman? Is this woman someone I kno---- oh, she was the hoop woman, that's her hoop! Dur! I love how she is seemingly starting down the lens of the camera.  I wonder who she is. She's very good.

The playbook being used to transfer NZ health system to offshore companies for profits and for taxpayers to provide financial support to them. 

Was it from the Sycamore bark, specifically Platanus wrightii , the Arizona sycamore, that desert fatigues are patterned from? Open and zoom to see the lovely patterns, like an impressionist painting up close.

Which is your favourite?

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 from the BBC

Crinkle shade of light.

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 ...

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

 "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 ...

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

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...

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, ...

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.

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.

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.

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

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...

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 .

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". Update 14-Jan-2024: Did I Miss The Submission? (spoiler, no) -------- 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 “perso...

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.

*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. Update 14-Jan-2024: Did I Miss The Submission? (spoiler, no ) -------- 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: Th...

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

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. Update 14-Jan-2024: Did I Miss The Submission? (spoiler, no) -------- 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.

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. Update 14-Jan-2024: Did I Miss The Submission? (spoiler, no) -------- 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 t...