mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Father / husband / professor in forestry / astronomer / musician / Aotearoa born / raised in Suisse & USA / super curious / driven / keen to improve the world. Refugee from Twitter.
“Some people think we can wait and, when it gets too bad, then we reduce emissions and things will get better again. People don’t realise that we can’t make it get better again. We can only prevent it from getting much worse.” #climatechange https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/30/europe-wildfires-climate-crisis-heat-summer?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
After Winston Peters’ racist vitriol directed at a New Zealander of Asian descent, not being affiliated with NZ First has become a valuable electoral advantage. #nzpol https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361013356/chinas-ambassador-not-impressed-winston-peters-insulting-chinese-kiwi-mp
Trump's and Netanyahu's attacks on Iran and Lebanon breach the United Nations charter which Aotearoa/New Zealand signed in 1945. We should speak out about this. #nzpol
Only Trump would attack another country after he personally trashed an existing treaty restricting nuclear weapons and then pretend some self-righteous rage about deaths of American military.
No, #AI is misnamed. It is not at all “intelligent”. It is simply a complex model of language. All its creators have done is show that the Turing test, judging intelligence by a machine’s interactions with humans, is flawed. John Searle explained in 1980 with his “Chinese room” thought experiment, how a machine could produce responses which gave the appearance of intelligence without knowing what the words meant in the real world. That is exactly what we have created. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/19/could-ai-be-conscious?CMP=share_btn_url
This is appalling overreach, particularly as our government’s climate change policies are failing. #nzpol #climatechange https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment_climate/594922/government-changes-climate-law-to-prevent-lawsuits
The irony is that if #Trump was not sheltered by the Supreme Court and was called to account for his wild statements about, and actions related to, #COVID19, then he might face prosecution. Rand Paul’s wacky campaign against the very capable and honest Dr #Fauci is utterly bonkers. As usual, Trump and his minions are making a mockery of what they apparently believe is “governance”. #uspol https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/29/anthony-fauci-senate-covid-hearing-takeaways?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Some evening ragtime for you #music
Thank goodness the slaughter in #Iran has stopped. #Trump killed a whole lot of people, lost lives of US servicemen, destroyed infrastructure, murdered children, spent billions, lost millions in military hardware, and sent the world into recession. Yet Iran still enriches uranium, probably now really does want a nuclear weapon, and controls who does and does not go through the strait of Hormuz. Trump's "victory" has turned to ashes in his mouth. #uspol
Warning: Don’t accept the latest update of the TVNZ+ app. It’s appallingly bad, playing the wrong programme and not allowing you to resume where you stopped watching during your last session. #TVNZ
The Israeli genocide in #Gaza, in appalling detail, as reported to the UN in this reading of an UNWRA report summary.
We're entertaining at McKenzies' bar on Pages Rd, Friday April 17th at 8 pm.
#Trump & #Netanyahu deserve the opprobrium they have inflicted on each other. They should be held accountable by the world for the evil have perpetrated. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/09/tensions-emerge-bejamin-netanyahu-donald-trump-alliance?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
So, #MAGA in the #USA wants to go straight from Caligula to Nero? I guess there’s no Claudius on offer. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/28/is-tucker-carlson-eyeing-a-2028-presidential-run?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
This is worth 30 minutes of your time. Don't be put off by the title, which in my opinion is overly pompous. It doesn't offer answers, but at least it poses the right questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xr9rIQxwj4
The essence of #Trump, set out in excruciating detail. Hannah Arendt’s comment about, “The banality of evil” comes to mind. #uspol https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/20/trump-presidency-evil-absurd-frightening-ideology?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
#Iran had already agreed to limit uranium enrichment. The Strait of Hormuz was open to all without constraint. Then #Trump started a war on Iran with no consistent reason and no military objective, killing large numbers of people. The Strait of Hormuz is now Iran’s trump (!) card, the world is facing a major recession, and absolutely nothing positive has been achieved by US forces. What more proof do you need that Trump is a moron? #uspol
A great essay here by Heather Reese #uspol https://open.substack.com/pub/heatherdelaneyreese/p/more-embarrassing-rejections-for
This is collective insanity, but that’s symptomatic of #MAGA. #UFO https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/12/trump-vance-aliens-ufo?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Who’d have thought a fossil-fuel shill like Trump would be the one to spark a green revolution? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/18/fossil-fuel-trump-green-revolution-us-iran-renewable-energy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Trump's own administration said that #Iran was not building a nuclear weapon prior to the latest attack by the #US and #Israel. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/18/us-intel-chief-gabbard-says-iran-was-not-rebuilding-enrichment-prior-to-war
Sad to watch democracy die in the #USA. #USPol https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/07/tennessee-congressional-map-redistricting?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
And something completely different.... #music
Guys like #Trump and Orban prey on discontent, telling one section of their communities that all their problems will be solved if only some other section of their communities is punished. These sections are usually defined along religious or ethnic lines. It’s called fascism. As Trump has shown, if you let them run amok by voting them into power, things get worse for the communities that they claim they serve, social divisions grow, and people get hurt. #uspol
Just to make absolutely sure #Trump joins #Netanyahu as a #war criminal. #warcrimes https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/07/iran-war-live-updates-trump-hormuz-threats-deadline-strikes-middle-east-conflict?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other