Mastodawn

I like this good news story from Morning Report on #RNZ National radio today. A kokorā, NZ little blue penguin, got itself seriously tangled in the netting of a soccer goal in a residential garden in New Plymouth. The boy who found it alerted his grandma who called the Department of Conservation. The penguin was carefully extracted from the netting, checked over by a vet, then released back at the shore.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019038809/penguin-gets-stuck-in-soccer-net-in-new-plymouth-garden

#nature #UrbanEcology #penguin #birds #nz #football

Penguin gets stuck in soccer net in New Plymouth garden

With the Football World Cup kicking off in a little over 24 hours, there will be many balls in the back of the net over the coming weeks. But one little penguin unfortunately found itself tangled in a football net in a New Plymouth garden. Ten -year-old Ezra made the discovery, before alerting his grandmother, Jackie Tomlinson who spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

RNZ

JeremyJupiterJones

20h ago

What #NZ has is an immoral, corrupt and complicit government that is blaming #Iran for being illegally attacked by #Israel and #USA and daring to defend its sovereignty and defending the people of #Palestine from a #genocide.

I am so ashamed by the complicity of this #NZPol Coalition of Criminals playing its part in #WarCrimes and failing to uphold the #Geneva Convention and #Nuremberg Tribunal.

Anyone who votes for #National #Act or #NZFirst in the November election is voting for war criminals and traitors to NZ.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/597873/new-zealand-condemns-lethal-plotting-by-iran-in-joint-statement

New Zealand condemns 'lethal plotting' by Iran in joint statement

In a joint statement with 22 other countries, New Zealand condemns attacks across Europe targeting Jewish communities, Iranian journalists and US interests.

RNZ

Robert Sanscartier 1d ago

#Wellington #NZ

One-in-100-year coastal floods now happening twice a year in Wellington - study

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment_climate/597849/one-in-100-year-coastal-floods-now-happening-twice-a-year-in-wellington-study

#ClimateChange #UpheavalClimate #ClimateInstability #MassAtrocity #pollution #ecology #environment #climate

One-in-100-year coastal floods now happening twice a year in Wellington - study

Human-caused sea-level rise has made coastal sea-level extremes four times more frequent since the start of the 20th century.

RNZ

cbud 1d ago

The fragile future of AI from an adopter. #NZ future demographic.

Futurist Frances Valintine (founder of Academy X and Tech Futures Lab) joins the show to map what New Zealand actually looks like in twenty years, and it's a sobering picture.

We're one of the fastest-changing populations on earth: ageing fast, with a birth rate well below replacement and a workforce shrinking from four people per retiree toward just two. Her warning is that we're already late to plan for it.

From there the conversation turns to AI and the future of work, where Frances is blunt - every job ahead will have an AI component, and the longer you wait to understand it, the harder it gets.

https://youtu.be/3eF8CiZtG74?si=xDqU4-uYe3A6aIQp

How New Zealand Is Changing Forever: Futurist Frances Valintine

YouTube

Show thread

Laurie Winkless 1d ago

As always, here are the papers. HMU if you need access.

1. Starfish arms can guide & focus light: https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2533437123

2. Our cells can fight infection from the inside
https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(26)00285-6

3. Found: the ‘missing wind’ of the Milky Way's black hole https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae63cf

#science #scicomm #nz

Laurie Winkless 1d ago

I was back on RNZ Nine to Noon today, reporting on science news. I covered three papers - starfish light sensors, the immune response of cells, and wind from black holes. Here's the segment if you'd like to listen to it (10 min)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2019038671/science-starfish-arms-fighting-cells-black-hole-wind

#science #scicomm #nz

Science: Starfish arms, fighting cells, Black Hole wind

Science commentator Laurie Winkless joins Kathryn with three new studies, including one into how starfish arms can guide and focus light.

RNZ

cameraobscura 2d ago

#NZ #telcos

I’m not happy about this from 2 degrees: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland/2degrees-installs-first-dome-antennas-on-central-auckland-rooftop-satellite-station/XPSAZKAKJ5HHDGNPAIRJFAKB2I/ (gets three strikes from me in the phrase ‘undisclosed US satellite broadband company’ alone).

I’ve cycled through all the NZ telcos over the years in search of the least worst option, would never go back to Vodafone/ONE, but am wondering if #Spark is ok and not unhealthily cosy with USA? Any current customers able to comment?

2degrees installs first dome antennas on central Auckland rooftop satellite station

The station was granted non-notified consent last year, drawing ire from nearby residents.

The New Zealand Herald

Jon Sullivan 2d ago

We've got a female korimako (NZ bellbird) back on the Lincoln University campus!

There was great excitement last year (in the right circles) when student William Harland saw the first female korimako ever on campus. Until then it had just been wandering males that had made it from the Port Hills to the university. William spotted her just twice last year.

The good news is that I saw a female today! And, she was foraging with a male, and they'd found the university's oldest (and very small) patch of native trees, where some trees were flowering.

Hopefully the campus will one day be a suitable enough habitat for pairs to stay over the Spring and breed.

https://www.inaturalist.nz/observations/369978646

https://www.inaturalist.nz/observations?place_id=67596&subview=map&taxon_id=12612&verifiable=any&term_id=9&term_value_id=10

#LincolnUniversityNZ #bellbird #birds #nz

Jon Sullivan 2d ago

It been super to see Jupiter and Venus so close together in the western sky in the evening. I imagine it would have been the talk of the village of our hunter gather forebears.

Here are a couple of photos I took of the planets on my bike commute home this evening.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/55324141633/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/55323984036/

#planets #conjunction #Venus #Jupiter #Christchurch #Ōtautahi #nz