Twice in two hours, the cat has got in my face, tried to get attention, settled momentarily in my lap, and then bit me.
She has food, access to anywhere she wants, I played with her before, I don't understand what's going on.
Remote
Stephen
@stephen@ephemera.vital.org.nz
akkoma 3.20.0
Not quite a gentleman, an eternal Mr Salteena.
Interests include but are not limited to: cider making, gardening, frugality, mandolin and music in general, computering; civil liberties, misinformation, the politics of Aotearoa; menswear, physical culture, language.
Capoeirista, cat dad, meddler, Yid.
Posts deleted regularly, so save your own copy if you want it for eternity.
Interests include but are not limited to: cider making, gardening, frugality, mandolin and music in general, computering; civil liberties, misinformation, the politics of Aotearoa; menswear, physical culture, language.
Capoeirista, cat dad, meddler, Yid.
Posts deleted regularly, so save your own copy if you want it for eternity.
113 Followers
156 Following
50 Posts
Replying to
@cestfleuve@mastodon.nz I think we've become desensitised to the very literal sense of cost of staying alive. I've been reading a book in Portuguese where there is a very similar phrase but it's "custa da vida" ie the cost of _life_. which hits harder.
Replying to
@richardh@mastodon.nz I am still using Gnucash as a desktop app (albeit with the files kept on a server). I have been able to use its reporting function to generate extracts an accountant can use.
I'm going to follow this with interest, because I foresee my financial life becoming more complicated soon. Am tempted by the various text-based bookkeeping systems out there.
Replying to
@davemosk @phil_stevens IMO demanding accountability of people and orgs who hold power IS one of the individual and collective actions we should take, arguably the most important one. I do many other things along the lines you suggest too, because I think signalling matters, but I don't think they are enough.
Replying to
@inlaing@mastodon.social I'd say it has something to do with the phenomena described here https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/ai-mania-is-eviscerating-global-decision-making/
But also we just have a tremendous bias towards new shiny things over old things that work. That's about 50% of overspend/failure in large IT projects in NZ. Gauld and Goldfinch continue to be relevant https://oup.nz/library/dangerous-enthusiasms/
Replying to
@billbennett I still use an online calendar, because reminders are useful, but everything else is in a notebook now. Quasi bullet journal. I find it much easier to carry it everywhere than try to synch data, find the file, etc etc etc.
Replying to
@exlibrarykris@cloudisland.nz it was overcast and so cold and I thought nah, no one's going to come... but they dribbled in and as the last two people turned up, the sun came out! It was lovely indeed.
Replying to
@phlogiston@mastodon.nz Common Crawl, on the other hand... https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/common-crawl-ai-training-data/684567/
Replying to
@billbennett evaluating their list candidates last election was genuinely shocking to me.
Replying to
@Niall@mastodon.nz @jmopp@masto.ai @aral@mastodon.ar.al if you look up "jury nullification" in the UK, you'll see UK judges have been giving lawyers and juries shit whenever UK state interests are perceived to be threatened, going back a century or more. I don't think there's necessarily anything special going on here, that's how the UK Establishment works. And there was a law change only a few years back that made it even harder than it currently is.
Replying to
@craftygardennz@mastodon.nz very interesting! My old Leaf is still good on that front, but the range is frustrating occasionally even so (I have the 24kWh version). I wonder how this would compare to trading my Leaf in on a more modern EV.
The other thing I'm interested in is the fate of the old batteries. I gather they can have a good retirement as domestic batteries in a solar set up. And I'm pretty keen on that idea.
Replying to
Replying to
@ObsidianUrbex@mstdn.social my Dad used to collect old scientific instruments and one of the keepsakes I have after his passing is a microscope very similar to the one in the foreground of your first image. But when I was a kid he had a whole display shelf of them! And that knurled brass was so beautiful.
Replying to
@billbennett I believe there is research showing that taking notes by hand improves recall, where typing does not (something about the processing required to condense perhaps).
Replying to
@futuresprog speaking of Jones, maybe this will alarm him https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360966083/10-cents-disaster-nzs-fishing-boats-close-going-under
Replying to
@danirabbit@mastodon.online when I saw this boosted I didn't see the preceding post, and thought this was about age restrictions and id etc for social media - which kind of shows your point, how thorough-going this exclusion of the young is.
Replying to
@irix@cloudisland.nz oh wow searching for the origin of this, I found an alternative version in Papers Past. I wonder how many famous 19th century chaps had this story told of them.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS18830215.2.11
Replying to
@irix@cloudisland.nz
Among the coffee-drinkers a high place must be given to Bismarck. He
liked coffee unadulterated. While with the Prussian Army in France he
one day entered a country inn and asked the host if he had any chicory
in the house. He had. Bismarck said--"Well, bring it to me; all you
have." The man obeyed and handed Bismarck a canister full of chicory.
"Are you sure this is all you have?" demanded the Chancellor. "Yes, my
lord, every grain." "Then," said Bismarck, keeping the canister by him,
"go now and make me a pot of coffee."
Replying to
@PatrickHerd@aus.social @craftygardennz@mastodon.nz this also interests me! Am more and more convinced I want to add a battery to the set up here. And it would be elegant to take out my present Leaf battery, repurpose it, and upgrade the Leaf at the same time. I fear there are too many points of friction in that process for me to overcome though.
Replying to
@ambientspace@cloudisland.nz nice! I've been interested in the trend of breweries getting into cider, it's so much more like making wine, seems like a change of pace... and who presses your apples at that scale?
( I have a tiny garage operation going with a home made press and mess about with wild ferments)
I hope he wins, but I also hope a few zeros get added on to the sum sought in punitive damages. $1.5m is change lost down the sofa for Google.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/may/05/canadian-ashley-macisaac-fiddler-musician-singer-songwriter-sues-google-ai-sex-offender-ntwnfb
Replying to
@PatrickHerd@aus.social yes, 4kW max, connected to grid. Working nicely. Suspect I might need a new inverter depending on battery solution though. Have an older Fronius which isn't very flexible.
Replying to
@thomasbeagle@mastodon.nz actually also not having buttons or knobs and only having a touchscreen also puts things on my shitlist.
I'd like to know a lot more about this "upgrade." Starting with, will hosting remain on-shore?
attn @civillibertynz@mastodon.socialhttps://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/722047/massive-old-and-clunky-government-database-gets-60m-upgrade
Replying to
@ambientspace@cloudisland.nz when do you think you'll be selling it? I will keep an eye out.
Has anyone written in any depth about Carrot Ironfoundersson and autism? Was just musing on his literal-mindedness, focus, rigid sense of fairness, oversharing detail about his interest in AnkhMorpork history and culture and his knowledge of dwarf culture, inability to pick up cues from eg Angua...
It was late 2021 when my friend Marianne twisted my arm to run a capoeira angola workshop one weekend in Christchurch. And that led to regular classes.
Capoeira groups are always marginal in places where noone knows what capoeira is. You're mostly dependent on people who have come from somewhere else where it's better known, and by nature those people move on, and it's hard maintaining a core so that newcomers don't turn up and find no other students.
But today I had 9 people turn up to a roda in town. Which might not sound like a lot, but it is to me. And we all went and ate together after, and the dream of building a little community is still alive...
(I transported all the instruments on my bike too).
#capoeira #capoeiraangola
FFS. Have we not seen so many "false flag" conspiracy theories from the right, why must the left turn to them too.
When a president is historically unpopular and in an incredibly polarised environment it's not surprising or unexpected that someone tries to kill him, and it's also not surprising if they don't succeed.
Genuinely surprised and disappointed to see people in my timeline going there.
When a president is historically unpopular and in an incredibly polarised environment it's not surprising or unexpected that someone tries to kill him, and it's also not surprising if they don't succeed.
Genuinely surprised and disappointed to see people in my timeline going there.
Can't have people holding The Platform and the oxymoronically named Reality Check Radio to account. Oh no.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/594400/broadcasting-standards-authority-to-be-scrapped
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/594400/broadcasting-standards-authority-to-be-scrapped
If you're one of those holdouts who still reads blogs, how do you feel about the ability to comment? Are you still moved to do so sometimes? Do other people's comments ever add something for you? Or is implementing comments a big waste of time?
(asking because I'm thinking about a new project where that is a question)
I think most people are unaware of the sheer scale and ferocity with which AI services pummel every web site. Here's a look at what just one small, friends-only server gets: https://www.osnews.com/story/144851/the-day-i-logged-1-in-every-2000-public-ipv4-visualizing-the-ai-scraper-ddos/
Interesting little nugget in this story about how many pints an hour of minimum wage buys these days
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360987900/old-bottle-broken-what-hospo-business-veteran-says-can-save-struggling-sector
Replying to
Also worth saying, if you haven't had much exposure - this dude spoke to power, was a threat to his dictatorial government, and he suffered for it. Imagine a Sex Pistols (so different but contemporaneous) or more recently Rage Against the Machine who were sufficiently popular, powerful and persuasive that the state came after them.
(Yes I am aware of just how problematic he was, and am not educated enough on the context to claim to be able to assess him in totality, but he had force that went way beyond being danceable, is what I'm trying to say)
Replying to
@rmi@cloudisland.nz which reminds me, isn't it interesting that Google tells you they NEEEEED it so they can comply with the law - what law? - but doesn't disable anything when you don't.
I wish everyone was as clear-eyed about LLMs and generative AI as this person from the knitting community is: https://katedaviesdesigns.com/2026/04/29/knitting-bullshit/
I ate the last fig of the year today: https://vital.org.nz/posts/figs.html
#gardening
Replying to
Many people however would argue the crown goes to No Agreement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiBnIsh5YzM
Fela Kuti - No Agreement
Electric chainsaws - am interested in your opinions, especially about models available in Aotearoa.
Tonight's home grown bean is Good Mother Stallard. Not only holds its shape, but unlike any other bean I've ever eaten, the pattern on the skin is preserved.
#gardening
Replying to
Replying to
@thomasbeagle@mastodon.nz that ability is cool. What's not cool is phoning home regularly to a 3rd party with my information. Or borrowing my internet connection to be part of a proxy farm. Or deciding that it's time to stop working even though the hardware is fine. Etc.
Replying to
Less fuss and mess than in a frying pan.