Mike Riversdale

A friend of mine recently related how she was so over men sending her weird, annoying, and sometimes creepy messages via LinkedIn. I know, bloody LinkedIn, so I assume these are men are just using a "business reason" to get off, or something 🤮 So, the first message of this article, MEN, STOP IT! If you think you have the right to give a woman mental work by sending any unwanted message, you are wrong. It is so tiring and boring and sad, don't do it. The second message of this article is, men, atone by reading the next three articles and tell a woman, maybe your daughter, what it meant to you. Ask them what they think of you reading it, you will be happily surprised. 1: Stop praising women’s strength. We need a world where we don’t have to fight to be valued To change these harmful systems, we must continue radically shifting norms, despite continuing resistance. Second, creating accountable and equitable governance structures is not just women’s work; it is everyone’s ta

Normally, well I say normally like I go back to Cymru on a regular basis, which I don't ... normally, I go to the UK in the summer in order to leave Aotearoa New Zealand (AoNZ) as their summer is ending and join the British one. If I time it right I can then return with summer (or at least spring) kicking back off here in NZ. But, dear reader, this means I never get to experience a true dark (snowy?) northern hemisphere Christmas.  This last visit (2023/24) I arrived in August and left in January and it was an autumnal feast of leaf colour. Monmouth is surrounded by trees the Forest (of Dean), the Wye Valley, and woods galore. And they all put on a show just for me, just for me I tell you!

There's not a massive amount to do in Monmouth once you've done you're shopping, had a pint, and been to the theatre. So, during the days I took myself off to visit all parts of Monmouth, all the suburbs. I visited them all, walked every street, and saw things I've never seen before. For instance, I'd never really been to Osbaston and therefore had no idea just how big it is. Also, whilst I'd been to some bits of Over Monnow I had been wandering through. You can view  all the photos  if you ever wanna see what and where.

"So, the reason I did that and I know now know that it was a bad thing and I can only apologise one more time the reason and yes we all acknowledge that it was a dumb thing to do and of course it is the reason we are here right now and it is difficult to understand why I did it let me give you some background yes best to give some context as to why that happened, OH LOOK A SQUIRREL!"

A mixed bunch of new albums, some new events, some old, and some just for the hell of it. Riversdale Beach (Wairarapa, AoNZ) What We Do In The Shadows Q&A (2014) Wellingtonista Monmouth Cemetery Eric Idle (Oct 2024)

I love a good graveyard. Graveyards are often quiet, peaceful, full of nature, and have a gothic beauty about them that means I can't stop taking photographs. I once had a first date in a graveyard . Great first date it was too. Graveyards are also full of stories. Snapshots of a time, lives encapsulated, raising questions at each headstone. This graveyard, Monmouth Cemetery , (what's the difference between a "graveyard" and a "cemetery") brought up the question, "What or who is IHS?", as seen on a number of the ornate headstones? Turns out it is a who, it's Jesus himself: In the Latin-speaking Christianity of medieval Western Europe (and so among Catholics and many Protestants today), the most common Christogram became "IHS" or "IHC", denoting the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus, ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, iota-eta-sigma, or ΙΗΣ. I have been learnt, and so have you.

We like to think that information ("content") on the Web comes at us from every angle and at speeds that our poor brains just can't take, stooooppp, it's all too much. Nope, most people get small amounts of Web information in very limited ways, Facebook, YouTube, maybe Twitter (ick) or something more wholesome but similar like Bluesky or Mastodon. You'll likely also get messages (through something) with a link to something wonderful and glorious, but I'd say that's mostly it for the vast unwashed. You, are much better than those ignoramus though, and also visit the BBC, RNZ, Stuff, or some other old skool media website (or app, different but same). I applaud you, but what about all those other websites that you like the look of but forgot. You should be using an RSS reader ... yup! This conduit is anti-lock-in, it works for nearly the whole internet. It is surveillance-resistant, far more accessible than the web or any mobile app interface. It is my secre

Because, if you tolerate this your children will be next.

They say it's a special bridge , I didn't know until I had walked across it and read a large sign telling me that it's special army bridge. You wanna know why it's so special eh, ok, let's imagine you've walked across the bridge and you're reading the sign telling you it's a special bridge, here's the words for you ... This bridge is one or only two known examples of an Inglis badge still extant, and the only  one still carrying light Vehicles. Developed in the First World War as military bridging for use in combat conditions, it was designed by Professor Sir Charles Inglis, whilst he was serving as an officer in the Royal Engineers. It has few component parts and can be constructed using the minimum of mechanical aids since all the components can be manhandled into position. The tubular sections are pinned into cast sockets to make 15ft. (4.57m) bays. A maximum of 6 bays could be built and greater load carrying capacity could be achieved by doublin

Or perhaps it's brain neurons, or maybe the structure of an estuary. Maybe it's the true hierarchy of human society. It's a winter tree, obvs, but it's reminiscent of so many things in nature.

Enter Amazon and you have exited capitalism. Despite all the buying and the selling that goes on there, you have entered a realm that can’t be thought of as a market, not even a digital one. Quite the statement eh and I would agree. Amazon brings to mind Standard Oil with Jeff Bezos taking on the John D. Rockefeller mantle with ease. Amazon will, at some point, be broken up, but not before Bezos has collected even more of his previous dollars, just like Rockefeller, which will be too little and definitely too late. Who knows what the world will look like after Amazon but it'll not be consumer-focused unless we stop buying shit we don't need. So, who said the quote above, Yanis Varoufamis , a a Greek economist and politician, in The big idea: has the digital economy killed capitalism? Here's another quote from the article: “If it ain’t a capitalist market, what in the sweet Lord’s name are we stepping into when we enter Amazon.com?” a student at the University of Texas onc

The river Wye is by the far the main river of Monmouth despite the smaller Monnow giving it's name to the town , Mon-mouth, the "mouth of the river Monnow"* When the Wye is high and running fast, the Monnow struggles to flow in, slowing down to becomes pond-like, and then slowly rising, it's quite the sight. I really like how the setting winter sun lights up the Monnow. * The town was originally known in Welsh as Abermynwy ("mouth of the Monnow"), replaced by Trefynwy ("Monnow town" – the initial m of Mynwy mutating in Welsh to f, pronounced /v/) by the 1600s.