Sean Sturm

Precisely! 😔

Transgender, nonbinary and disabled people more likely to view AI negatively, study shows Some of the marginalized groups most likely to be harmed by AI are also most wary of it. A new study’s findings raise questions about equity and consent in technology design.

Transgender, nonbinary and disabled people more likely to view AI negatively, study shows
theconversation.com/transgender-...

Headline from The Post: Foodstuffs posts world-leading profits as Kiwi grocery costs stay high

Almost makes you want to walk straight out the door with a trolley full of groceries, eh?

Talbot Mills Poll

Labour at 35%
National at 32%
Green Party at 12%
ACT at 8%
NZ First at 7%
Te Pāti Māori at 3.8%

Left bloc: 50.8%
Right bloc: 47%

‘Trumpian’ edict: Health leaders slam new rules, Seymour glad ‘muppets back in their box’ The Acting PM has dismissed doctors’ concerns of censorship, saying they shouldn't make public submissions about “fast food restaurants” or “leading advocacy campaigns”.

‘It’s censorship’: #NZ Public health leaders slam ‘Trumpian’ edict: #Medical officers of #health told they would need “national level” approval before making public statements about health concerns
#Seymour is sounding more #Totalitarian each day. #FreeSpeech #nzpol

www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

Minister adopts Uber’s wish-list when drafting employment law changes, rejects official advice - Law News Neil Sands Officials advised Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden against restricting workers’ ability to challenge their employment status in court, but she ignored them and instead adopted...

Confirming what we all already knew- the proposed change to s6 and New Zealand's legal definition of employee was drafted at UBER'S behest. If this becomes law, I really hope the opposition parties commit to repealing it. lawnews.nz/employment/m...

So much for the Nats (& Co) being the natural party of government and good financial managers. Maybe for their mates!

Unpaywalled version: archive.is/Wrmhl

This article looks at the substantial financial risk that @siouxsiew.bsky.social took in winning her case against @aucklanduni.bsky.social. It notes that the University had deep pockets, but it was the public who paid the cost of its failure to acknowledge fault. www.thepost.co.nz/business/360...

A very powerful essay by Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov, arguing that:
a) Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and
b) denying this threatens to "undermine everything that Holocaust scholarship and commemoration have stood for."

Do read the whole thing www.nytimes.com/2025/07/15/o...

Even former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is now saying that Israel is, in fact, creating a concentration camp in Gaza. Why do political leaders around the world remain silent?

YouTube video by TransgenderEquality The Gender Recognition Bill Becomes Law in Ireland

Today is the 10th anniversary of Ireland's gender recognition act. Ireland's gender recognition is through self-declaration without the need for permission from a doctor, panel or judge etc. In the past decade nothing bad happened.
youtu.be/1f8OxezAqTk?...

What is wrong with people? #nzpol

No need for bill protecting campus free speech, unis and legal experts say But supporters of the Education and Training Amendment Bill say universities can't be trusted to uphold freedom of expression.

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

Open letter from local Jewish Voices condemns Zionist ‘colonisation’ project | Asia Pacific Report

Two independent Jewish Voices groups in Aotearoa New Zealand have written an open letter to the government condemning the Zionist “colonisation” project leading to genocide and criticising the role of the NZ Jewish Council for its “unelected” and “uncritical support” for Israel.
#gaza #jews #Zionist

Many of the same operatives behind the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - a joint US-Israeli venture - are now cooking up new plans for the Palestinians in Gaza. Details of these are now coming out in some key reporting.

@meenakshirv.bsky.social reports on the revelations in the FT & Reuters.

Incontrovertible evidence, now, of *police* investigating families supporting their kids with gender affirming healthcare in the UK. For trying to do the best for your child, following best practice in most of the world, here you get a visit from the police.

Thank you, Wes Streeting.

Trickle-down misogyny:

When there are no available women to be misogynistic towards (women Prime Ministers, women mayoral candidates),

The misogynist will trickle down to the next available targets (former women Prime Ministers, current women mayors who are not running for re-election)

Bloated faced 'alpha male' with eyes too close together, double chin and no lips

💀 Mr Alpha Male invites ad hominem attack ... media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload...

Texas = fossil fuels = climate warming, Ted. (The state of Texas is the largest annual emitter of carbon dioxide in the United States, over double the next state.)

'Incredibly sad' housing situation for working homeless in Christchurch Some employed people are making an active decision to skip renting to save money by living on the street.

This is Christchurch where homelessness has doubled. In Auckland homelessness has tripled.
#nzpol

This 83-year-old priest has just been arrested for holding a sign which read:

“I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

According to Starmer’s new law, this puts her in the same category as an ISIS or Al-Qaeda terrorist, with a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

So Seymour claimed last month that 99.5% of RSB submissions were from bots. I asked him for more details, inc. how this number was arrived at. His office says “this information doesn’t exist.” So he just pulled it out of his arse, and here’s his office admitting it.

YouTube video by Q+A with Jack Tame Paul Goldsmith: Will tough on crime actually work? | Q+A 2025

Maiki Sherman: Tell us about the facts and evidence you based these law changes on.

Goldsmith: Reckons reckons reckons reckons reckons assumptions and more reckons.
We're cultivating ignorance and harvesting fear.
Because we said so, and because we can.
Facts and evidence is woke.
#nzpol

Makes shit music; has shit opinions.

The following thread contains 201 open access articles, books, chapters & reports written and led by First Nations’ researchers. We write our own research across all areas. The order is random and ranges across disciplines, because of course it does.
#201FirstNationsArticles

Spare a thought for the IDF today. They were out all day yesterday shooting innocent people trying to get bags of flour, and when they got home they had to find out the heartbreaking news that some people at Glastonbury don't like them. That cannot be good for your mental health.

A diagram of pronouns used in te reo Māori. What this image shows is that pronouns in the Māori language aren’t gendered, and instead reflect the number of people being spoken to, or about, or even those just listening in and not engaging in the conversation. As traditional Māori culture is communal and inclusive, this is also reflected in our language. For example, the singular third-personal pronoun ‘ia’ can mean he, she, they, or it.

“Pronouns are biological!”

*laughs in te reo Māori*

Springer Nature book on machine learning is full of made-up citations Would you pay $169 for an introductory ebook on machine learning with citations that appear to be made up? If not, you might want to pass on purchasing Mastering Machine Learning: From Basics to Ad…

Of course it is:

Springer Nature book on machine learning is full of made-up citations retractionwatch.com/2025/06/30/s...

“Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention Red Flag Alert on Anti-trans and intersex Rights in the UK Released on 30th of June 2025 The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security would like to bring attention to and condemn recent judicial and governmental developments in the United Kingdom, which attempt to harm transgender and intersex people in the UK by stripping them of privacy and segregating them as 'others.' The Lemkin Institute believes these moves are part of a broader process of erasure. It is not only government action but also the media narrative that has fuelled hostility to and debate about the humanity of trans and intersex people while ignoring their voices. We see evidence of genocidal intent and actions targeting these communities. In April this year, the United Kingdom's Supreme Court (UKSC) delivered a judgment declaring that, for the purposes of the Equality Act (2010), "sex" refers to "biological sex," which it did not define clearly. The Equality Act (2010) provides protection against discrimination on a variety of grounds in public spaces. This ruling at the UK's highest court means that individuals are now protected from discrimination on the basis of their assigned at birth sex, regardless of how that corresponds to their gender identity, lived gender, or sex characteristics. The decision is the result of a court challenge brought by the gender critical group For Women Scotland, which is financially backed by author J.K. Rowling and characterises itself as "feminist."! The UKSC decision creates dual legal categories for people who have gender recognition certificates, making them one sex for the purpose of the Equality Act (2010) and another for all other legal purposes, stripping people with Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) of crucial protections and privacy. Despite the UKSC's assurances in their reasoning that the decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers would not be disadvantageous to trans indi…

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has issued a Red Flag Alert on Anti-trans and intersex Rights in the UK. “We see evidence of genocidal intent and actions targeting these communities.” www.lemkininstitute.com/_files/ugd/b...