strypey

strypey, 3 days ago to Podcasts

(1/2)

".. if you have made money under dubious circumstances in the former USSR, and you're looking for someone in the West - in the 'rule of law' states - where you can park that money in a real estate project - which is the great engine of money-laundering - Trump is absolutely perfect."

#TomBurgis, 2024

https://nzpod.co.nz/podcast/disorder/ep44-part-1-are-corruption-and-kleptocracy-at-the-

#podcasts #Disorder #Corruption #Kleptocracy

strypey, 3 days ago to random

#FreudianTypoOfTheWeek

Screeming (n.): Showing of a horror movie.

strypey, 5 days ago to music

#Listening to Aotearoa by Minuit. I consistently tear up when I hear this song, and especially when I watch the video;

"And if the past's a distant land
Maybe there is no rhyme or reason
And if we salvage what we can
You and me
And yes, it's true we're very young
And we have sticks and stones and bruises
Can we do undo what has been done?
Is this the way destiny chooses?
You and me
You and me
You and me
We are a New Zealand"

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/aotearoa-2009

#music #electronica #Minuit

strypey, 6 days ago (edited 2 days ago) to til

#TIL about this site, which summarises findings from dozens of trusted online sources, and gives visitors information to help us decide whether the site at a given web address is dodgy;

https://www.islegitsite.com/

strypey, 6 days ago to facepalm

"We’re moving to a more modern, reliable way of storing your data, by using a cloud-based service that operates from Australia.

This change is happening across New Zealand - we're part of a national consortium of public libraries (with 41 other councils) called Kōtui, which is managed by the National Library of New Zealand, within the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). All libraries that are part of Kōtui are making this change."

From an email sent by Hamilton City Libraries.

#FacePalm

strypey, 7 days ago to Podcasts

"... it felt a little bit to me like a cross between a political program and a bit of a game show. The "raise your hands" and all that stuff. I just wanted something a bit more serious I think."

#AlastairCampbell, June 2024, on the Sunak vs Starmer debate

https://alastaircampbell.org/2024/06/261-sunak-vs-starmer-who-won/

#podcasts #TheRestIsPolitics #UKPolitics #elections #ElectionCoverage #ElectionDebates

strypey, 7 days ago to random

Why are NatACTs obsessed with reducing government spending as a proportion of GDP? It's like indexing tax rates to Goat aBdominal Product (or the entrails of a goat).

What increased public spending does is make more public goods (eg infrastructure) and public services (eg healthcare) available, adding to the real economy. Often by funding people who can do that using underutilised skills and resources. But NatACTs seem to think it takes a bigger bite out of an economic pie that stays the same.

strypey, 7 days ago (edited 3 days ago) to random

"If you’re over 18 and below the superannuation age (currently 65), the Government will (if you’re eligible) contribute 50 cents for every dollar you contribute, up to a maximum Government contribution of $521.43 each year (1 July to 30 June). This is paid directly
to your KiwiSaver account around late July each year."

https://simplicity.kiwi/assets/Uploads/Product-Disclosure-Statement-Simplicity-KiwiSaver-1-February-2024.pdf

So... if we're not putting a minimum of $20 a week (on average) into KiwiSaver, we're turning down free money?

(edit: corrected dodgy maths)

#KiwiSaver

strypey, 7 days ago to Podcasts

1/2

"One of my favorite nuggets of writing advice comes from James D Macdonald. Jim, a Navy vet with an encylopedic knowledge of gun lore, explained to a group of non-gun people how to write guns without getting derided by other gun people: 'just add the word modified'."

...a gun person’s imagination gnaws at that word 'modified', spinning up the cleverest possible explanation for how the gun in question could behave as depicted.

#CoryDoctorow, 2024
https://craphound.com/news/2024/06/02/against-lore/

#podcasts

strypey, 9 days ago to Podcasts

(1/2)

"To the extent that this is an argument between left and right, it is the left right now, most often raising the complaint that its speech is being suppressed. They see students arrested on trespassing charges as being denied their right to protest peacefully against Israel's recent action, and for many its record over decades."

#JohnDonvan, 2024

https://opentodebate.org/debate/free-speech-threatened-campus/

#podcasts #OpenToDebate #FreeSpeech #FreedomOfExpression

strypey, 11 days ago to random

Goggle's app store gatekeeping disrupted a social enterprise competing with their chat services;

"During this period we have had multiple people sign up for hosted Snikket instances, and then cancel shortly after. This is almost certainly because a vital step of the onboarding process (installing the app) is currently broken. This is providing a bad experience for our users and customers, negatively affecting the project’s reputation and income."

@snikket_im, 2024

https://snikket.org/blog/snikket-google-play-removal/

strypey, 11 days ago to tv

#RIP Paul Darrow, actor, 1941-2019. Best known for playing Avon in the 1970s British sci-fi TV series Blake's 7, a character famous for his unapologetic self-importance, and sardonic quips like;

"I’m not expendable, I’m not stupid, and I’m not going."

#TV #SciFi #Blakes7 #PaulDarrow

strypey, 11 days ago to random

Some people might be struggling to understand why Palestinian civilians in Gaza can't just avoid places the IDF is attacking. That's because none of the countries on their borders - including Israel - are allowing civilians to leave Gaza, which is tiny.

For a sense of scale;

Aotearoa: 268,021 km2

Canterbury: 44,503 km2

Ōtautahi (Christchurch City Council territory): 1,426 km2

Ōtautahi (urban area): 295.15 km2

Gaza: 365 km2

strypey, 14 days ago to random

Any suggestions on the best place for someone in Aotearoa to get a durable, USB-charged electric arc lighter (plasma lighter)?

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a31133313/how-plasma-lighters-work/

I've seen them for sale in a Z station, and hell, I buy vegan pies there. But if there's a more ethical supplier, I'd much rather give them my business and have someone other than Z to send people if they want one too (same with the pies if anyone knows of any good vegan baking retailers in Waikato).

#ArcLighter #PlasmaLighter

strypey, 14 days ago to meta

It's a bit ranty towards the end, but there's some fascinating insights here into shifting sands of the ZuckerBorg's metrics, FarceBook enshittification, and so on:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/were-watching-facebook-die/

#Meta #FarceBook #enshittification

strypey, 14 days ago to random

Seems Biden is stuck between Iraq and a hard place. While some are calling him "genocide joe" for his handling of the campus occupations...

"I Morton Klein, as an American Jew, as a child of Holocaust survivors, have become frightened at the Biden-Lipstadt administration legitimizing antisemitism and Israel-bashing and making it extremely difficult for Jewish groups to fight [the BDS movement] on campus as antisemitic and antisemitic members of Congress as antisemites."

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/06/01/biden-touts-cair-splc-antisemitism-push-muddies-waters-israel-hours-major-jewish-holiday/

strypey, 14 days ago to TeslaMotors

"Backed by billions of dollars in venture capital and established aerospace giants that include Boeing and Airbus, startups across the world such as Joby, Archer, Wisk and Lilium are spearheading this technological revolution, developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that could transform the way we travel."

#JameyJacob, 2024

https://theconversation.com/electric-air-taxis-are-on-the-way-quiet-evtols-may-be-flying-passengers-as-early-as-2025-228664

#EVTOL #EV #ElectricAviation

strypey, 14 days ago (edited 13 days ago) to random

The NZ Official Information Act needs to be reformed so that it applies to anything that is funded by public money.

#NZPolitics #OIA

strypey, 14 days ago to random

"[Nicola] Willis says she's not an austerity minister, but cutting taxes, holding down wages and slashing government spending are austerity measures. There is no evidence they will reduce the wage gap: Australia is doing the reverse, which is why people are going there.

Britain, meanwhile, has spent 14 years doing very much what Willis has introduced. The result: Gross National Income per capita is on track to be eclipsed by Poland within about 10 years."

#SimonWilson, #NZHerald, May 30, 2024

strypey, 14 days ago to Podcasts

"I think [the government are] putting the money into the wrong areas. When you've got money that's taken off people that could be in their first home, and giving it to people that own multiple homes, there's a bit of an issue."

Vanessa, single Mum on Supported Living due to a spinal injury, guest on the Tova podcast, 23 May, 2024
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/tova-podcast/

#podcasts #Tova #NZPolitics

strypey, 14 days ago to journalism

What distinguished television from film as a medium, from its very early days, was live broadcasting. As time went on, and more and more TV shows were prerecorded, this was kind of forgotten. But until VHS came along and allowed audiences to timeshift both films and TV shows, television still retained that live event quality; be there or you missed it.

(1/3)

#media #television #TimeShifting

strypey, 15 days ago (edited 15 days ago) to random

Winston First have been spreading a story that the poor state of our roads was caused by a change to importing road bitumen, instead of producing it locally at Marsden Point. All because of the last Labour government and those bloody greenies;

https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/08/nz-firsts-doomed-deal-to-reopen-marsden-point-refinery/

A few points on that.

(1/?)

#roading #WakaKotahi #RONS #MarsdenPoint

strypey, 15 days ago (edited 15 days ago) to UKpolitics

Ok, UK Labour have got my attention;

"Sir Keir Starmer has announced plans to create a publicly owned renewable energy company if Labour wins the next general election."

"He... plans to make the UK the first major economy to generate all of its electricity without fossil fuels.

He says this can be achieved by 2030 - five years earlier than being planned by the government."

#BrianWheeler, 2024

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63046067

#elections #UKPolitics #UKLabour #energy #RenewableEnergy

strypey, 16 days ago to random

"The Invidious docker image is only available on Quay because, unlike Docker Hub, Quay is Free and Open Source Software."

https://docs.invidious.io/installation/

#Docker #Quay

strypey, 17 days ago (edited 17 days ago) to Podcasts

Despite decades of rumours of a reboot of the cult classic BBC TV series Blake's 7, I don't think it will ever happen. Listening to a podcast called Star Fall;

https://kitchendavid.podbean.com/

... reminds me of why. All the things that made B7 great entertainment are the most difficult to replicate.

(1/?)

#podcasts #StarFall #Blakes7