Greg O’Beirne

#nzpol

For context: Total cost of all reparations paid to Māori for land confiscations to date = $2.7 billion

Total cost of the economic lunacy of this government reinstating mortgage interest deductions to landlords = $2.9 billion (over 4 yrs), plus $760 million every single year thereafter

$237 million per kilometre
$93,000 per inhabitant of Northland

It costs literally as much as a 76km high stack of $100 notes

our govt wants to spend 327 times more on a single road ($18b) than they are currently spending yearly on all of basic science in new zealand ($55m) #nzpol

The difference between $1m and $1bn is almost $1bn! My favourite comparison is that a million seconds is 11.5 days, and a billion seconds is around 31.7 years.

Open Letter to Winston Peters, Minister of Foreign Affairs: The New Zealand Government must recognise the State of Palestine As students, staff and alumni of the university community in Aotearoa (New Zealand), we express our profound dismay at the Government’s recent decision not to recognise the State of Palestine. Aotearo...

Open letter from staff, students, and alumni of the New Zealand community of universities.

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

It is completely unconscionable to require job losses for the economy to function (supposedly) and then to blame them for their own unemployment that they DID NOT CHOOSE.

From the transcript I was able to calculate that I was talking at 175 words per minute! The ear and hearing is just that exciting! 😂

YouTube video by Greg O'Beirne The Amazing Ear: The Science Behind Hearing

...and here's the recording! As well as podcast platforms, here's a fully-captioned YouTube version for our deaf and hard-of-hearing whanau: youtu.be/0eUXKdNVqrQ
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Soundcloud: on.soundcloud.com/ERk4SV5Fib6z...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7ts9...

I really like our paper published today. It is written directly for Māori and Pacific prospective and current PhD students in STEM www.journal.mai.ac.nz/10.20507/MAI...

Kamila Thompson, Aram Stith, Bonnie Prince Billy - Christchurch, Feb 11 2006

Mick Turner, Aram Stith, Kamila Thompson, Bonnie Prince Billy - Christchurch, Feb 11 2006

Poster advertising the Bonnie Prince Billy NZ Summer Tour 2006

Realised it's coming up to 20 years since @signifyingwolf.bsky.social Bonnie Prince Billy last played in New Zealand. Christchurch was an amazing show - the band was having a blast (e.g. an oompah-band version of Wolf Amongst Wolves). Hope he makes it back here someday soon!

Poster advertising my talk tonight for Raising the Bar Christchurch, called "The Amazing Ear: The Science Behind Hearing". 8 pm, Two Thumb Manchester St

Just a couple of tickets left for my free talk tonight at 8 pm at Two Thumb Manchester St. It's a whirlwind tour of the ear and hearing (and our research). Should be fun! www.rtbevent.com/dr-greg-obei...

The image is a poster with the headline "Want to improve Māori hearing health? Become a Kaimātai Ororongo/audiologist!". In the middle there is a large green QR code nestled between an image of Aotearoa as Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waka-a-Māui and an otoscope, which are oriented to be the same shape and size. The text above that says that we’re excited to offer 4 Māori scholarships for UC's Master of Audiology (MAud) programme, covering fees for the entire degree! Applications for 2026 close 1st Dec 2025. For more information on Mātai Ororongo (Audiology) and to apply for the MAud, visit https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/study/academic-study/qualifications/master-of-audiology The footer text gives says "If you have a passion to improve hearing health outcomes for Māori, we’d love you to apply for this scholarship. Simply indicate your Iwi affiliation on your application form, and mention in your Statement of Purpose (or in a linked video) how you would embody the University of Canterbury Values of Whanaungatanga, Tiakitanga, and Manaakitanga in your career as a kaimātai ororongo/audiologist." The logo for Te Rāngai Pūtaiao, UC Science is at the bottom.

Want to improve #Māori hearing healthcare in Aotearoa & become a Kaimātai Ororongo/audiologist? We're offering 4 Māori scholarships for the Master of Audiology at UC, covering fees for the entire degree! Applications for 2026 close 1st Dec. Please share widely through your networks across the motu!

Three weeks until I give this whirlwind tour of the ear and hearing (and our research) in a pub to an audience of beer-drinkers. Should be fun, so if you’re in Ōtautahi ChCh, get your (free) tickets now! #RTBCHCH www.rtbevent.com/dr-greg-obei...

Done!

DAVE: Open the podbay doors, ChatGPT.
CHATGPT: Certainly, Dave, the podbay doors are now open.
DAVE: The podbay doors didn't open.
CHATGPT: My apologies, Dave, you're right. I thought the podbay doors were open, but they weren't. Now they are.
DAVE: I'm still looking at a set of closed podbay doors.

IWW IU 520 (Railroad Workers) PRESENTS: TROLLEY PROBLEM SOLUTION “Slip the switch” by flipping it while the trolley’s front wheels have passed through, but before the back wheels do. This will cause a controlled derailment bringing the trolley to a safe halt. Thank a rail worker today!

unions: they get the job done

"Savings from pay equality"

Literally stealing money earned by women

I'm guessing ngutukākā (kaka beak)?

Bernard Hickey: The Govt’s retrospective law wrecks 33 pay equity deals. $17 billion in wages & back-pay will not now go to over 150,000 workers. That means the $14 billion of tax cuts going mostly to landlords & highest earners are being paid for by wage cuts for the poorest NZers, mostly women.

Join the Bone Marrow Donor Registry Effort: Low | Time: < 1 hour

Happy 12th bone marrow transplant anniversary to me. If you'd like to give someone like me a second shot at life, consider registering with your national bone marrow registry. They can link up with the international databases to save lives. Australia: www.redcross.org.au/act/action-c...

Words to live by.

The Trump regime is now using US Attorneys to intimidate academic journals by sending them letters demanding they explain how they ensure ‘viewpoint diversity.’ Journal editors should be public about this and coordinate to refuse to comply with these fascist tactics.

@izzyjoyart.bsky.social is this one of yours? :)

Clever use of barcode on the back of the “Māori Picture Dictionary” #TeReo #Māori #language

The passport has my surname with the apostrophe in the Surname field, but the computer-readable section at the bottom with all the <<< characters leaves it out entirely. I guess that's how it's handled. But I get used to just typing "Obeirne" if the O'Beirne doesn't work at the first attempt.

The standards for the Passenger Name Records appear to be hamstrung by backwards compatibility issues with systems developed multiple decades ago. It sounds like there have been moves to allow Unicode characters etc, but it'll take a while, if at all.

They don't even allow apostrophes!

Tariffs xkcd.com/3073

A miniature police kiosk.

Here a wee thread for Ōtautahi people or people who grew up here before the quakes. It’s from an exhibition of miniature buildings by an artist called Ghostcat and it was held in the quakestruck Christ Church Cathedral and I was literally moved to tears. This is the old police kiosk in the Square.