James Gardner

Under The Arcade Presents - Finn Johansson and Band w/ HINA (duo) - Whammy Bar, Auckland Under The Arcade Presents - Finn Johansson and Band w/ HINA (duo), Whammy Bar, Auckland Wed, 18 March

support the artists - support the promoters (in this case me!)

*I*…

Recommended! Sarah’s a good ‘un.

To be replaced by guest star (and Judith Collins’s mate) Kristi Noem – O heard she’s looking for work…

Image 1: reasons given for withholding the information I requested on solar from MBIE

Image 2: the reason given in the House today by energy minister Simon Watts today

These two things are not the same

$22,000,000,000 on just one road? - Greater Auckland Last year, I posted about the challenges I faced, trying to daylight public-interest information about the government’s Roads of National Significance programme. As I wrote then, The paper also sugges...

Try and find some time to read @connorsharp.bsky.social's excellent work here on the ways the government is trying to make its $22,000,000,000 Northern Expressway fantasy real – including refusing to release its own cost estimates. It's just reckless. www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2026/03/03/2...

Government ‘kicked the tyres’ on solar subsidies but went with ‘minor’ tweaks instead It is one of the cheapest ways to cut power bills - yet documents reveal the government shelved a subsidy.

New Zealand has more sunshine than Germany.
But only 1 in 35 homes here has rooftop solar.
Australia? 1 in 3.

Why? I tried to find out - despite some strange secrecy

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Government ‘kicked the tyres’ on solar subsidies but went with ‘minor’ tweaks instead It is one of the cheapest ways to cut power bills - yet documents reveal the government shelved a subsidy.

Very timely article by @kirstyjohnston.bsky.social on this government’s idiotic energy “strategy”

Government ‘kicked the tyres’ on solar subsidies but went with ‘minor’ tweaks instead www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

About 20% of all LNG travels through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the energy source the NZ Govt wants to use instead of expanding renewables. A new LNG import terminal would be paid for by a new tax on our electricity bills (electricity which is mostly renewable). Nuts.

When news reached me this morning of DT‘s and Israel‘s war on Iran, I’m ashamed to admit that my first thought was not what it should have been: the illegality of it. Neither did broadcasters foreground it. Is this not proof of normalisation of the illegal? We must stay vigilant at all times.

As a professional military strategist, I just wanted to make sure everyone has a full understanding of the American strategy in Iran, thank you for your attention to this matter

“if you won’t let us use your product to spy on Americans and kill without supervision we will single-handedly destroy your business by fiat” is the single most authoritarian anti-business action I can ever remember any administration taking

And then some more…

Good.

Maybe Chuck and Mary can do some supply teaching when they’re here. FML.

We're probably getting pretty close to 700 science jobs lost over this term of government, directly linked to reforms/cuts. And believe me: the country wasn't overflowing with them to start with.

Eliane Radigue - Echos_Engsubs This is "Eliane Radigue - Echos_Engsubs" by Eleonore Huisse on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

In memory of Éliane Radigue the makers of this documentary have made it free to view online. What a lovely gesture

vimeo.com/541076521/d6...

New police powers to ‘move on’ rough sleepers only mask NZ’s deeper homelessness problem Women make up half of the people experiencing homelessness in New Zealand. A study shows access to permanent housing improves their health and lifts their income.

NZ is an international outlier in that more than half of those experiencing homelessness are women, often with dependent children. A "housing first" approach makes a huge difference to their lives (and men's), writes @universityofotago.bsky.social's Brodie Fraser theconversation.com/new-police-p...

Farewell to French composer Éliane Radigue (1932-2026) who taught us the radical power of slowness, of patience, and attention stretched to the threshold of perception. Her work will continue to resonate—slowly, endlessly—like a tone that never quite fades.

Cover of Wendy Carlos’s 1986 album ‘Beauty in the Beast’

40 years old, and Wendy Carlos’s ‘Beauty in the Beast’ is still an astonishing album. A great pity it’s not currently available.

“Superintelligence”

“Yet you eat food. Curious! I am very intelligent”

Isn’t that Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic…?

Niche, but if you’re into this stuff…

Watch: 'It needs to stop' - Police given new powers to clear beggars and rough sleepers Breaching a move-on order may lead to a $2,000 fine or three months in jail.

I knew it would be bad but this is draconian - note it is for anyone 14 years and over and it will be a $2k fine for people with no money so instead they will go to prison. It thus becomes move on to prison. This is not a solution to homelessness. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/governmen...

Clarinet Multiphonics Database A comprehensive database of clarinet multiphonics by Heather Roche. Search fingerings, hear audio examples, and build practice lists.

Also can you just take a moment to imagine with what glee I bought the domain www.multiphonics.app

SO MUCH GLEE

Yangqin and case

Went out for some bread and milk; came home with a yangqin. As you do. Now to tune the bugger!

If you have the time, put a submission in please.
If you’re not sure what this is about, please read what Dr Bex has written here & use the link to make a submission, which can be brief, and to the point #nzpol

Winston Peters has 'no doubt' he could've stopped contractors law if unions went to him earlier The Green's Teanau Tuiono says New Zealand First doesn't "give a damn" about workers.

1/4 In September last year we sought a meeting with Winston Peters and New Zealand First to talk about the Employment Relations Amendment Bill and what could be done to protect workers in New Zealand. We met with them in October and again shortly before the Bill was passed. #nzpol

Hi from across the ditch!