Asher Wilson-Goldman

Jorja Miller is one of the most dominant rugby players I've ever seen. Her ability as a big game player is simply phenomenal. And she's still only 22! Incredible. Black Ferns Sevens win again, what a team!

I'm calling it, gonna try for another 2 hours sleep before work.

Seifert was never going to be able to do it on his own. There's been no support at all. Really don't see what we gained by playing Chapman ahead of (in form) Conway throughout this tournament. #INDvsNZ

Not today 😭😭😭

Damn. Surely that's it 😭 #INDvsNZ

Fantastic comeback here at the back end of the innings after an awful start from us. Giving ourselves a chance perhaps? #INDvsNZ

Omg soft serves during long urgency hours would make things so much more bearable

As one of the Predator Free Kāpiti Coast steering group members, it's really cool to get to help start our rōpū up and work collaboratively with the volunteers and agencies already doing great predator control mahi on the ground to create a Kāpiti where nature thrives!

All but one of the photos on the website are mine too, a nice excuse to show off some of the beauty of this wonderful part of the world.

Predator Free Kāpiti Coast

I built my first ever website aged 10 in self-taught HTML. Safe to say things are a bit different now, 31 years later, but I really enjoyed pulling together the website for Predator Free Kāpiti Coast recently and am pleased to set it loose into the world.

www.predatorfreekapiticoast.org

More than 80 in the end! On private land near the airport.

Three dead koi carp in a net

Koi carp are a destructive pest, eating native fish (and their eggs) while also destroying aquatic plants and reducing water quality.

Hopefully now they're gone these waterways will slowly restore themselves and be a great space for people and native fish and tuna alike to enjoy!

Rows of dead koi carp laying on the grass

A person in waders stands in a lake

I was lucky to spend time this morning with Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai and the Department of Conservation helping to clear out koi carp in Paraparaumu.

Made the decision not to wake up at 2.30 for the World Cup semi final. Absolutely gutted about that now. What a win, what an innings from Finn Allen. Can't wait to watch it delayed tonight. Let's go Black Caps!

An Aotearoa New Zealand swamp forest with white nets wrapped around mānuka and open water in the foreground. A makeshift boardwalk crosses the open water.

Tirauriki growing on mānuka. Other plants are wrapped with lengths of window netting and secured with cable ties.

Collecting seed from the regionally declining, locally critical tirauriki/dwarf mistletoe (Korthalsella salicornioides) today.

Rhys Mills from Ngā Manu Nature Reserve singlehandedly started this population from seed he collected from Waikanae Park & one other private property over the past decade.

Happy birthday to me, I have to go to work and it's hailing on the drive in!

Waimeha Lagoon

An Australian Coot in the water

A swan and four cygnets in the water

Popped down to Waimeha Lagoon for a spot of birdwatching, and found a few Australian Coots alongside the usual pūtangitangi, pāpango and swans. Pretty cool, I hadn't seen them here before.

Anyway, this conversation is feeling very repetitive and rather pointless now, so I'm going to go do something better with my Sunday morning, like have breakfast with my partner and walk my dog on the beach. Have a good day.

Apologies for assuming you were American. Your statement isn't aligned to my experience of speaking and living with people from around the world at all. Many people will give their lives to protect their communities, but most don't feel the same abstract connection to the concept of a nation state.

I mean you clearly never met my Russian-Kiwi former neighbour.

I'm Jewish. I don't just "claim to be" Jewish. I am Jewish. That's the culture I was raised in. I'm also a Pākehā. That's another culture I've grown up a part of.

But do I think it's inherently better than any other country, or do I long for the day where I can kill others (or die myself) in its name? Of course not.

Also just as an FYI, most people outside the USA don't think of their nationality in terms of being "loyal" to a country, or plan to give their lives defending it.

I was born in NZ, I love living here and I actively work to make it better for everyone who lives here.

I'm an antizionist, why would you remotely think I would consider giving my life to defend a country I don't think should exist?

Are you Jewish? Because if not, if you don't experience what we do, I don't think you'll understand. And that's OK! I'm just not sure why you're arguing something so vehemently that doesn't affect you.

I'm not religious, I'm an atheist. My culture and heritage are Jewish.

Israel claiming to act and speak on behalf of all Jews creates harm to all Jews - it is a toxicity that erodes our community every day. Nothing like the harm Israel causes to the people it murders of course, but harm nonetheless

Neither myself not Steph are Israeli or American. We're both from Aotearoa New Zealand.

I'm Jewish, and Israel frequently claims (wrongly) that it is acting on behalf of all Jews worldwide, regardless of our nationality. Israel chooses to make it about us, we certainly don't want them to.

I haven't but I remember reading those survey results when they came out, was some similar ones from the UK around the same time. Will check out the podcast, cheers!

I say enough.

Enough with the support for this genocidal regime.
Enough with the lack of action from Luxon's government.
Enough with the killing, the bombing, the death.
Enough with zionism.

But here we are again. Israel, once again the aggressor.

Genocide in Gaza wasn't enough. Bombing Syria wasn't enough. Bombing Lebanon wasn't enough. Bombing Yemen wasn't enough. Bombing Qatar wasn't enough.