Mike Riversdale

Sun setting behind an Ōwhiro Bay hill.

The Petone Pier is a glorious walk out and makes for a lovely photo of itself when the sunsets over the Wellington hills.

I've noticed (!) recently that I'm really really hot when meeting work people for workshops and the like.  I'm not nervous, well not feeling it in the ways I used to, squiggly tummy, slightly damp palms, and a lot of pacing around. I'm seemingly fine and dandy. And yet my head sweats like a freak, to the degree that my hair is dripping wet. After an hour or so and into it I've forgotten all about it and the sweating stops. I thought it was maybe illness, the body working hard to fight something off. Or maybe it was just hot and I need my haircut coz it can be a wooly hat sometimes. But you know what, I think it's anxiety sweats. Meeting people, being around actual physical people. Or I need my haircut again 😁

Snap snap snap went the camera, and auto-make-glorious went the machines.

As the dementia took Derek speedily away from us and we headed to his COVID death in a precious few months there were still times when Dad flashed through and he was as funny as ever. Those final times are precious memories and I know Mum and Rob join me in thanking the incredible staff at  Ysbyty’r Tri Chwm and later the Gibraltar Nursing Home for facilitating Skype for us.

I think I try and deal with the world as it is, of course how I see reality is definitely different to how you do, so maybe I don't. I'm about 2.5 out of 4 of a Stoic.

This Catalyst branded charging cable is da bomb and the best freebie I've ever got at a conference (ssshhh, I picked up a couple of them). USB into something and then out to iPhone, micro-USB, or USB-C, it covers it all I ever want.

Strange, unexplored, and forbidding, is the famed lost land of fog and clouds ... just behind Tinakori Road and between the Wadestown and Northland suburbs of Wellington City.

Let the eyes play over this photo, allow the brain to slowly get used to the geometry, and then you leave a comment with your guess of what it is a photo of (and where if you're a local) ...

October 2020 and the pressure and stress of zero income, massive rent outgoings, no foreseeable work due to COVID killing events, was really getting to me. As we know in a mere 2 months time I was gainfully employed and the move out of the rent drain was coming. I shall never forget the $12 in my bank account, the apparent futility of looking for a job, and the dark dark places I went to. I shall never forget the help from my friends (both near and far), the government of the day, and the support given without asking. I shall never forget my own resilience , courage, and strength to keep on going, one step at a time.

It's art mate, that's what that is, art.

I've talked about the show I've Never Seen Star Wars before ,  ... a comedy talk show broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Hosted by comedian Marcus Brigstocke, each episode features a celebrity guest trying out experiences that are new to them, but common to many others. The title comes from the show's producer and creator, Bill Dare, having never seen the Star Wars films. The theme music by The Specials is extremely appropriate to the show, and to us all. Little did I know that it is a cover, here's Doris Day singing it back in 1950:

You reading this is absurd, me writing this is absurd, both of us being on this floating rock of life in a vast vast universe at the same time as I wrote this and you read it is absurd ... everything is absurd. If so, WHY?

At the annual Breaker Bay Garage Sale there is always a vast choice in second-hand book authors, you can have Agatha Christie OR Patricia Wentworth 😏

Man in water waiting for his jetski to come back.

The amount of willing and active misunderstanding of climate change blows my mind. How those that have no background in climate science have suddenly become experts in it, espouse beliefs, pass on half-truths, and even demand they have a say on such things, is both scary as fuck and a sign that something deep and incredibly broken is moving through humanity. Saying, "I don't know.", and "Those that have spent their lives working at this say ..." are my two phrases. "I don't know" It's fine not to know. The human world is ever increasingly complex, and recently comes at us from all angles and is very demanding (subtly) in gaining a response from us. When someone's posts something that has a comment box and "I don't know", I don't put anything. Same when someone asks me something I don't know, I simply say, "I don't know". "Those that have spent their lives working at this say ..." This, bizarrely

This isn't really a true podcast, you can't subscribe to it in a podcast player and can only listen to it on BBC Sounds - this is a bad thing. Having said that John's Shame Well , a section on Elis James and John Robbins Friday afternoon (UK) show ( an actual podcast ), has some of the funniest toe curling true stories going.

I'm so glad, via the power of Twitter, asking, and locality, I was able to bring Karen O'Leary to the 2020 Annual Greens Quiz fundraising for the party. And Karen turned up looking amazing and MC'ed my quiz like a total boss.

September 2020 Daffodil Run from Wellington to Carterton. Unfortunately the actual Carterton Daffodil Festival had been COVID cancelled but the train out and back was still loads of fun.

I'd never heard the low fuel light being called 'the idiot light' until a mate of mine said it the other day. Totally works eh.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha - well, indeed!

Nina Conti is a genius comedian ventriloquist with a fascinating background !

Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus, but did you remember it was a full on Rupert The Bear adventure, no nor me.

Merely 17% of the roughly 20,000 proteins in the human body had their 3-D structures known prior to AlphaFold. Enter AlphaFold and now 3-D structures for nearly the entire (98.5%) human proteome. This is a giant leap considering drug discovery is now easier. [source:  The Man Behind One of The Most Important AI Advancements, AlphaFold ] I've been often accused of being a "Google-phile", someone that is somehow emotionally attached to a US-based multinational software company, this always makes me laugh. I am astounded not by organisations but by products I can use to make my life easier. Products are of course not created in a vacuum and the ethics and morals of the creators are always uppermost in my mind. DeepMind was bought by Google in 2014 and is now part of the wider Alphabet group. It's research into AI with it's wider goal of creating/discovering General AI, has of course been fed up/across to the Google product factory, notably the speech generation when

Wellington airport uncovered parking is, of course, rows and rows of parking spaces. Each row is lettered, A, B, C, and so on but also helping you remember which row you've abandoned your car in they have animal symbols. H = hedgehog 🦔 I = iguana 🦎 Cute eh.

I failed completely and ask that no-one commits a crime where I have to give any sort of evidence.

Wellington has a few fascinating 'behind the facade' spots with views of roof carparks, backs of high-rises, and in-between's down to ground level.

"I can see the South Island!", always a magical sentence when on a clear day.

A chook popped up to say hello.

You wouldn't guess it but this a colour photo of surfers paddling out to the waves.

Yellow*, isn't it supposed to signal danger in nature (wasps, vipers, bananas etc). Well if it I don't care as I think this is lovely and I got as close I liked. * No, it's red and/or black. Wikipedia: Aposematism

This is me getting out of bed on a workday.

I believe this is the effect that architects are after, a massive tower block that isn't an eyesore.

I love, LOVE, a good Kasploosh!  from powerful waves as they crash about the oceans and bash into the rocks.

Nat Ferguson and Kirsten Lunman are amazing wahine and it's a pleasure to know them AND to hear them, which you can now do with their newly released podcast, PowrUp For as long as they can remember, Nat and Kristen have challenged the status quo. In 2018, they co-founded investing platform Hatch, and rewrote the wealth stories of one hundred and eighty thousand New Zealanders.  Five years and one tech exit later, they put their heads up for the first time and were shocked to see little change in the representation of women in leadership positions. In 2022, women were at the helm of just eight percent of large companies, and occupied less than 30% of board seats.  It was time for a new challenge. PS: Nat was one of originals on Access Granted and together they appeared a number of times, seriously these are clever people with a directed passion to help all women in business - do not think this podcast is just about startups/tech, is mostly certainly is not!

Podcasts about tech are two a penny, I know as I ran one. However, podcasts based in Aotearoa New Zealand sharing stories of Kiwis (of all flavours) are hard to come by, I know as I ran one. A while ago the most awesome and out there dude Troy Hammond , co-founder of the tech/start-up recruitment company Talent Army, took up the mantle and is now successfully running his own show,  We F*@kin Love Startups . He's perfect for such a show, I know as we had him on an episode. Aaaaaand, he's connected to buggery, recruitment peeps generally are, and has already got a season full of interesting, controversial, funny, insightful, and experienced guests. It's a listen I now rarely miss. Not only is the podcast wonderful to hear but Troy has been very kind in a week homage to Raj and I and Access Granted - awwww, how glorious is he :)

A resounding cheer to ALL the women and especially to those I have known, do know, and are yet to know. It's common knowledge that I'm no 'manly man' and, at a BBQ, I'm much more likely to be found in the kitchen chatting or at the table drinking with women than standing around the fire discussing car acronyms with men (or the women that are into car word salad). I love women, they are in all ways way more fun, interesting, intriguing, and different. They experience the world through such a different lense than myself (white, aged-ish, male) that it's ALWAYS the best to be with them. Men, meh, I know what they're like, I am one. So once again here's to all the wāhine, you make the world shine. Associated posts from this blog: "In light of all the not all men idiots ..." Me too Women's International Rugby iCal Fixture Calendar Celia Payne-Gaposchkin and YOU My Nan "I Will Not" Women In Science, They DO Exist

Who knows why I was up early enough to see the sunrise in the ripples of Wellington Harbour, and yet here is the photographic evidence that I was.

On the book's back cover will be this photo staring out those that dare to employ the magick detailed within. The book will be called, The Lost Arts and Practices Of Dancing With The Nature . Or something equally silly.

Yet Another Breaker Bay Incredible Sunrise.

It's always good to get out and look back at things from a distance, they're never quite the same afterwards.

No wonder he's the king of the coop, check out all his finery, and that steely look in the eye.

The thin meshed cage gives it a dot matrix feel, don't you think?

Today in 2023 here in Aotearoa New Zealand is March 1st, Welsh St David's Day, and the glorious thing about time zones is it will also will be March 1st tomorrow (in Wales ). Hope your 1st March is a happy one for you all and that you are eating leeks, speaking Welsh and singing (just to perpetuate all the myths) to the best of your abilities. Random Acts of Welshness (2022) St David’s Day - the day we celebrate our patron saint and all things Welsh. When we remember his famous guiding words: gwnewch y pethau bychain - do the little things. What better way to celebrate than to bring those words to life with an outpouring of hwyl and kindness. Fly the Draig 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wear a leek Cwtsh (also known as a cwtch!) 🤗 Give a spoon Say it in Cymraeg Buy David a pint 🍻 Say it with flowers Wear Welsh Dance 💃🏽 Eat some cheese 🧀 Plant a tree 🌳 Share Welsh cakes 🍪 Visit a castle 🏰 Don your Welsh hat Gwlad, Gwlad! 🎶 Eat a leek Listen to some miwsig 🎸 Enjoy a feast  Tales of Wale

5 things I can tell you about this photo: It's never been edited It was taken using the "Night sight" function on a Pixel 4 XL phone  It is dated Saturday, July 25th 2020 at 2:08pm I was at Rex Tremendous, the Wellington Zoo café I think those are leaves  What it is and why so red I have no idea.