Cyn

I was literally going to write this. When I worked at Massey the staff research profiles on the website were pretty well done, front and centre (for the Institute I was in, at least). But they’ve been restructured a number of times since then. 😕

It’s depressing.

Welp.

I mean, it’s not really a show for true fans of F1 though. The episode (S8, E2?) we watched last night explained what pole position is, lol.

💯

Literally, at work this morning:

Clinician: Patient should stop medication A, but must keep taking medication B.

AI VR transcription of this: Patient should stop taking medication B.

Seriously NEVER LET A DOCTOR USE AI FOR YOUR APPOINTMENTS. NEVER. UNDER ANY FUCKING CIRCUMSTANCES.

He’s probably taken a look at how New Zealand’s poor-people-and-kid-hating RW govt has destroyed our school lunch programme and thought “Sounds good.”

Just following the playbook.

#nzpol

Co-signed. I used to run a nutrition program out of my classroom. Some adults would complain that some kids didn't need the food. All kids were welcome to come and eat. Kids were hungry and then we fed them and then they weren't hungry. Mission accomplished. End of story.

This post is for all of you in every time zone all around the world.

I keep hearing that Bluesky is still mostly North American. But I think there’s lots of you around the world that love cities, and want them to be better.

We want @urbantruth.bsky.social to be global.

I hope you’ll check us out.

Aotearoa joins the chat!

I mean I knew the difference only because I was a nerdy kid in the 80s with a deeper-than-usual interest in global politics, lol. 🤓

But, for news reporting agencies, this is a basic fact checking exercise!!

You are joking me. Good grief.

LOVE IT!

My dream is to organize summer camp for adults. Where you take a week off work and you do arts and crafts and sports and someone feeds you three meals a day and then you sit around the campfire at night.

Ohhhhh boy.

Very pleased to see Helen Clark calling the current NZ govt’s response the disgrace that it is.

FFS

A blue and white jay perches in a bare poplar tree in the muted light of a somewhat cloudy day.

A backyard blue jay to bring a little peace to your feed. #birds

NZ government statement failing to condemn Israeli and US attacks on Iran. Reads: “New Zealand Government Statement on Iran Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs New Zealand has consistently condemned Iran's nuclear programme, its destabilising activities in the region and elsewhere, and its repression of its own people. Iran has, for decades, defied the will and expectations of the international community. The legitimacy of a government rests on the support of its people. The Iranian regime has long since lost that support. In this context, we acknowledge that the actions taken overnight by the US and Israel were designed to prevent Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security. We condemn in the strongest terms Iran's indiscriminate retaliatory attacks on Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan. We cannot risk further regional escalation, and civilian life must be protected. We join the international community in hoping this crisis ends as quickly as possible. We call for a resumption of negotiations and adherence to international law - and we urge the Iranian leadership to seek a negotiated solution that returns Iran to the community of nations. Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the conflict, and to the New Zealand families who are understandably worried about their loved ones in the region. We recognise too the courage of the Iranian people who have taken to the streets in recent weeks to demand change, only to be met by violence and murder. The Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future.”

Never again want to hear the current NZ government try and pretend it’s in favour of the rule of law.

Boast about gang patches, criminalise the homeless, but fail to condemn (yet another) illegal war of aggression. Immoral shits.

Could @rocketlabcorp.com tell us if it was involved in the attack on Iran? And if, hypothetically, they would join the US in the invasion of Greenland (the EU)? Would be good to know.

A screen shot from Facebook of Ryan Hamilton holding a bucket and wearing a big, soliciting donations for the Heart Foundation outside Hillcrest New World.

The origins of the Move On orders are from Ham East National MP, Ryan Hamilton - former Hamilton City Councillor whose council colleagues are setting up bylaws of a $20,000 fine for basically being visibly homeless.

It begs the question, who's allowed to ask for money on the street and who isn't?

WOW! You’ve done an incredible job.

Text explaining how there isn’t a war on cars, with all the benefits of reallocating street space to move a lot more people with a lot less space and other consequences, including life and death, pollution/emissions, public and personal costs, etc. Providing more choices works better for everyone, including drivers. And more transportation choices support the economic competitiveness of cities, as smart cities know.

I’m not a fan of politicians trying to make people angry for votes by claiming there actually IS a “war on cars” (there isn’t — if anything there’s been a war on every OTHER way of getting around since the 1960s).

A politician just made the claim on LinkedIn. Here’s the reply I posted. #UrbanTruth

That’s brilliant. 🙂

My go-to is a square of grippy mat (if you know what I mean) but I have been tempted to put a small pair of pliers in the utensil drawer for just this purpose. It shouldn’t be so difficult!

Right!?! Food company, do you want me to consume your product or no? lol

My finger pointing at the little gap in the rim of a plastic yoghurt container. The gap remains after snap off a small section of plastic, so that you can easily remove the lid from a new product.

Snapping off that little bit of plastic from a new lid.

Argh. Hopefully they go out soon and turn it off, that’s really stressful.

Your patience is incredible, I’d have made a noise complaint long before now!

Ad on housing and homelessness: “If we don’t build housing to solve homelessness, we don’t really want to solve homelessness.”

Ad on car dependency and mobility freedom: “Car Dependency isn’t freedom. Mobility freedom comes from mobility choices.”

Ad on walkable neighbourhoods and complete communities: “Walkable neighbourhood aren’t scary, they’re convenient.”

Text from the URBAN TRUTH COLLECTIVE website, “About Us” page: “The Collective will share persuasive research, evidence, and information in ways that will successfully break through the noise and influence decisions. The Collective will create new messaging, brands, and marketing campaigns to help expand understanding around the truth about better city-building, and build defences to urban disinformation. And the collective will forcefully call out the lies, and the liars, that seek to undermine both the truth about, and the achievement of, better cities for people.“

A BIG thank you to everyone for all the interest and energy during our official LAUNCH WEEK! Trust us, this is just the beginning, as we continue to “build this plane while we’re flying it.” Please keep helping us spread the word, and stay tuned for more details on how to get involved. #UrbanTruth