#wellington climate

[wellingtonnz]

When people ask me if I miss Wellington ...

A good day in Wellington happens only 7% of the time

Based on data since January 1, 1954 only 7% of days in Wellington have ever been good, let alone unbeatable.

That is only 1839 days, or just over five years, of unbeatable Wellington skies across 69 years.

A 'good day" was defined as a day where the temperature rose above 18C, rain was less than 0.5mm, average wind speeds were below 15km/h and more than 75% of daylight hours were sunny.

By this definition there is a yearly average of 26 good days in Wellington.

Source

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent-ish things ~

[fuckyeahstickers]

[naturistgirl]

NAKED SNOW WALKING AND THE BIRCH MOON

The first new moon after the Winter Solstice has various names. Some call it the Ice Moon, others the Snow Moon. Here in the High Pennines the snow has been plentiful and deep. The weather feels exceptionally icy. Here in the Britain however it is rarely ever far below freezing. We have a mild climate compared to say, Continental Europe or the Northern States. It's a great time for naturism!

We headed up to the Wild Wood on January 6th. It was an invigorating walk, uphill. We walked briskly, we had to! Walking clothes free when it is this cold is a very different experience to textile walking. In the depths of Winter, people tend to layer and muffle up. True, all those clothes DO keep you warm when sedentary; layers trap body heat. However, as you exercise, particularly when walking briskly, things are very different. Muffled up in layers, you rapidly slow down as you overheat, carrying the burden of heavy clothing. Naked, you walk briskly, unencumbered by the weight of clothes. You don't want to stop or slow down and your naked body soon acclimatises to the cold. Stepping out and climbing the hill to the wood felt refreshing, invigorating and ever so free!

The wild, wooded hills around here were once heavily mined for coal and yellow clay to make bricks. The industry left its scars for a while, even after it had gone. Nature will always reassert itself and soon, woodland returned. The countryside began to recover. One of the first trees to regenerate is birch. The Wild Wood has older trees, mainly oak, but around it's fringes, birch and alder predominate. On snowy days like this, the silvery bark of birch shines like a beacon. It isn't a long lived tree. The soil is thin and rocky here. Birch often succumbs to the ravages of winter storms. Birch has a more human life span than other trees; 80 would be a good age for a mature specimen. This tree is nonetheless a hardwood and has long been used for all manner of beneficial things.

Birch, being the first tree to grow back after devastation, has a connection to birth and new life. Baby's cradles were made from birch wood and the tree is deeply associated with fertility, renewal and re-birth. Birch twigs make good broomsticks, perfect for a clean sweep of your house at the start of the year. Cattle were herded with a bunch of birch twigs which was also thought to ensure fertility. When birch grows again in Spring, its delicate pale green leaves are heart shaped. The sap of the birch tree is also used to make a delightful wine. Britain's Queen Victoria was said to have been very fond of it!

We made our way to the very summit of the Wild Wood. Here, the woodland is denser and criss-crossed by little paths. Holly shines green and glossy amid the larger trees. There are also larch, oak, ash and sycamore. Out on the sheep pasture beyond, sheep were scraping at the snow, searching for grass. We walked the wood but saw nobody. There was only one other set of prints on the previous night's snow. We stopped to take the photographs which we have shared in this blog. Thank you to Mart, my loving husband for these. He adores naturism every bit as much as me.

The ground temperature was low and I was glad of my pink wellingtons with two layers of socks. My green wool beanie (thank you sheep) was a must; most of the heat you lose is from your head. We hope you find our photographs inspiring.

It would be lovely to see other's photographs of their own naked snow hikes. We look forward to seeing your posts. Tumblr has way too many endlessly recycled photos of naked young women on summer beaches! Give it a rest. The promotion of naturism needs contemporary photos of yourselves, enjoying your local environment as nature intended. why not write as well, describing what you do. Non-sexual nudity should, and does represent, all manner of body shapes and types. You are never too old to walk naked. You were born this way.

We receive lots of messages of affirmation from likeminded naturists. Thank you so much. I also receive some flattering yet less suitable comments and requests from others who are; how shall I put it? - not exactly passionate about naturism, more about sexy naked ladies! Let's face it, who isn't? Sex is great and I love it. It isn't however the focus of this blog.

My purpose in writing this, is to inspire you to your own naturist activities. So while it is gratifying to have you send photos of one tiny part of yourself, please don't. Most of these messages come from Tumblrs who follow hundreds of others yet are entirely empty with no avatars. Sadly, I have come to realise that these accounts are best blocked, no offence. We do welcome messages of support however as well as photographs of your own naturist jaunts and hikes. So if you want to follow me and have me follow back, post an avatar which is actually you and some real pictures of yourself in your blog. Message and tell me what motivates you to naturism! OK?

Stay naked!

Jane xx

[stupittmoran]

Did you know that Bill Gates' primary residence in Seattle boasts 7 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, a 60-foot pool with an underwater music system, a 2,500-square-foot gym, a 1,000-square-foot dining room, six kitchens, and a trampoline room with a 20-foot ceiling? And let's not forget the 2,100-square-foot library, a home theater that seats up to 20 guests, and a massive 300-square-foot reception hall with room for 200 guests. And there's also a spacious guesthouse, a garage that fits 23 cars, and an artificial stream stocked with fish.

Depending on the source, its value is estimated at $127 to $170 million. But wait, there's more! Gates also owns homes in Del Mar, California at sea level ($43 million), Indian Wells, California ($12.5 million), Wellington, Florida ($8.7 million), and a ranch in Wyoming ($8.9 million). A fun little tidbit about his Florida property: In 2016, he paid $13.5 million for the neighboring house. Rumor has it he's also bought four other properties on the same street, making him the sole resident of the entire block.

While Bill doesn't own a mega-yacht, he regularly charters them for his vacations. He also has a penchant for spending big on luxury cars, and let's not forget his four private jets. In interviews, he's mentioned that purchasing private jets is his "guilty pleasure."

Now, isn't it ironic that one of the main proponents of reducing our carbon footprint lives like this? With such an expansive estate and luxurious lifestyle, we can't help but wonder how much his own carbon footprint is ballooning.

If the people who are urging us to reduce our carbon footprints are living lives of excess, how can we trust their motivations and the validity of their claims about man-made climate change?

Don't be like Bill!

--Dr. Simon Goddek on Twitter

[mindblowingscience]

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists identified a gene "hotspot" in the poplar tree that triggers dramatically increased root growth. The discovery supports the development of better bioenergy crops and other plants that can thrive in difficult conditions while storing more carbon belowground. The team used a vast poplar dataset to identify regulator genes that can trigger hundreds of other gene expressions in the tree. They confirmed the molecular function of one hub gene, PtrXB38, and found that plants with the gene produced prolific and deeper roots. The gene even stimulated the growth of aerial roots on stems and leaves. The work is published in the journal New Phytologist. "With more roots, these plants absorb more nutrients, grow larger, are more tolerant to drought and can draw more carbon underground for longer-term storage," said ORNL's Wellington Muchero. The aerial roots may also make the plant more tolerant to flooding. "This naturally occurring gene has implications for biomass production, food production and climate change mitigation."

Continue Reading

[swxppedshitposts]

January 20, 2025 – The Day the World Shifted

As the sun rose over Washington, D.C., the world watched as Donald Trump took the oath of office for the second time. Across the globe, leaders braced for the impact of his new policies. Among them was Mr. Gold, the Head of State of New Zealand, watching the ceremony from his study in Wellington. Belle sat beside him, her expression tense as the television screen displayed Trump’s triumphant smirk.

Trump’s speech was as divisive as ever. He boldly declared that the U.S. would recognize only two genders, reinforcing a policy shift that would erase protections for transgender and non-binary individuals. Minutes later, executive orders were signed: the U.S. was pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, slapping 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, and withdrawing from the World Health Organization.

And then there was Elon Musk. At a rally that same day, he performed the Nazi salute—twice—igniting global outrage.

Mr. Gold took a deep breath, his fingers steepled beneath his chin. He had worked with Trump before, back when the man was first president. He knew his brand of politics—bluster, provocation, and power plays. But this was different. This was dangerous.

The Immediate Response

New Zealand’s government was already in turmoil. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had aligned with Trump’s worldview on several issues. While their coalition partners in ACT and NZ First welcomed Trump’s protectionist stance, their Green and Māori allies were furious. Protesters flooded the streets of Wellington, demanding that New Zealand condemn Trump’s policies.

By nightfall, Mr. Gold had called for an emergency meeting at Government House. Seated at a long table were Luxon, Deputy PM Winston Peters, ACT leader David Seymour, Labour leader Chris Hipkins, Green leader Chlöe Swarbrick, and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

“We need to respond,” Mr. Gold said, his voice calm but firm. “Trump has made his position clear. The world will soon be split between those who follow his lead and those who resist. Where does New Zealand stand?”

Luxon exchanged a glance with Seymour before replying. “New Zealand stands where it always has—neutral. We must act in our best interests, not get swept up in American theatrics.”

Mr. Gold’s lips curled into a smirk. Neutrality was a coward’s stance.

“With all due respect, Prime Minister, our best interests lie in standing for our values. New Zealand has long been a leader in climate action, inclusivity, and multilateralism. Abandoning that to appease a man who plays politics like a reality show would be a mistake.”

Swarbrick leaned forward. “I agree. We need to issue a strong statement condemning the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the WHO. And we need to open pathways for transgender Americans seeking asylum here.”

Luxon’s face darkened. “You want to declare diplomatic war on our closest ally?”

“No,” Mr. Gold said smoothly. “I want to declare that New Zealand is not for sale. We are not Trump’s lapdog, and we will not be bullied into submission.”

The room was silent. Then, Peters let out a chuckle. “You’ve got a way with words, Your Excellency.”

Mr. Gold merely smiled. If only they knew the real extent of his power.

The Magic of Diplomacy

That night, while the government debated policy, Mr. Gold took matters into his own hands. Alone in his private quarters, he pulled out a piece of straw from his coat pocket and placed it on his desk. With a flick of his fingers, the straw twisted and transformed into pure gold.

Gold was power. And Mr. Gold had plenty of it.

He sent a series of encrypted messages—some to international leaders, others to select billionaires who did not support Musk or Trump’s new world order. He spun gold in secret, funneling resources into climate initiatives and a shadow network of resistance that would work against Trump’s policies behind the scenes.

And then there was Musk.

Mr. Gold had never liked him—arrogant, chaotic, a man who toyed with power like a child playing with fire. The Nazi salutes were no accident. They were a signal. And if Musk thought he was the only one who could send messages, he was wrong.

The Press Conference

Two days later, Mr. Gold stepped before a podium in Wellington. The world was watching.

“The United States has made its choice,” he said, his voice echoing across the courtyard. “New Zealand will make its own.”

He listed the policies Trump had enacted, pausing at each one for effect.

“We will not follow the United States in its retreat from the Paris Agreement. Instead, we will strengthen our commitment to fighting climate change.

We will not abandon global health. New Zealand will increase funding for Pacific and global health initiatives to fill the void left by the United States.

We will not ignore the erasure of human rights. New Zealand will open pathways for transgender asylum seekers affected by these policies.

And as for those who seek to normalize extremism—let me be clear. Fascism will find no home in Aotearoa.”

It was the boldest statement a New Zealand Head of State had made in decades. The backlash was immediate. Right-wing politicians accused him of overstepping his role, while activists hailed him as a defender of democracy.

But Mr. Gold didn’t care about the politics. He cared about results.

Trump’s Retaliation

Within hours, Trump fired off an unhinged tweet:

“DISGRACEFUL! New Zealand’s so-called ‘leader’ is just another socialist loser! SAD! Maybe we should put some BIG TARIFFS on them too!!!”

Mr. Gold read the tweet and let out a quiet chuckle. “He’s predictable.”

Belle, reading over his shoulder, sighed. “And dangerous.”

“Yes,” Mr. Gold murmured, “but he’s also a man who understands deals.”

He had spun straw into gold. He had done the impossible.

And if Trump thought he could strong-arm New Zealand into submission, he was about to learn the hard way that bargaining with the Dark One never ends well.

And then Alexsander cooked Donald Trump with asparagus and cut off both of Elon Musk's hands and feet. "Perfect," he announced with glee, "now I have the ideal meal to feed the alligator for dinner!"

OOC; Seriously, what the fuck is this? I'm crying

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil proposes global alliance to combat hunger and poverty

This week, members of the Brazilian government participated in the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations (UN) in New York, USA. They presented a proposal to establish a global alliance to combat hunger and poverty.

The goal is to pool knowledge, finances, and partnerships to enhance efforts toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Established by the UN in 2015, the SDGs aim to implement public policies to guide humanity through 2030.

According to the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family, and Fight against Hunger, the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty "is one of Brazil's main initiatives as a member of the G20 [group of the world's 20 largest economies]." At the side event focused on implementing these policies in various countries, Minister Wellington Dias stated that the planned actions include promoting food security, increasing income, and addressing inequalities.

"The reality we are facing, with multiple crises—including climate and environmental crises, economic instability, and conflicts—is causing a resurgence of hunger, food insecurity, and poverty. Addressing this complex challenge requires numerous strategies and actions," said the minister.

Continue reading.

[thatssosussex]

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex join their friends, polo player, Nacho Figueras and his wife, Delfina Blaquier (Their daughter Alba was there too. She also wanted to know why Lili wasn’t there 😂) at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge in Wellington, Florida. The match was in support of Sentebale. Sentebale is a source of support and inspiration for young people, caregivers and communities in Lesotho and Botswana affected by issues of health, wealth inequity, and climate resilience. Harry and Nacho also played against each other in the match as well. (4/12/24)

[inposterumcumgaudio]

An Analysis/General Overview of Stewart Adams or Lionel? I think they're such interesting characters- Lionel anyways. Stewart kind of seems.... awkward, I think it's implied that him and Sally were something or maybe it was just jealousy from Fiona.

Lionel Castershire is fascinating in his own right, but since your question has more word count about Stewart Adams, we'll go with him today.

One thing I think is interesting about all three characters who share the shopkeeper model is that they are acutely aware of the problems in the town that their services involve. They're all also, to different extents, responding to those problems in under-the-table ways because they understand that bringing attention to the problems themselves would not be appreciated while solving them quietly would. Lionel's the canniest about his observations, probably owing to that his backroom dealings are quite a bit more sophisticated than Reg Cutty's or Stewart's are. We know Reg is aware of the food shortages and what he's done to help keep the town fed. Stewart, for his part, is attempting to use his skills to solve the problem of the toxic fog, in the Village and out. Quite noble and not illegal at all!

But selling Sunshine is.

I once said that I thought Sally was lying to Gemma Olsen about Verloc inventing Sunshine. At the time, I supposed that Sally hadn't invented it either but due to it's illegality, it was given a name following her naming convention. My current theory is that Stewart Adams invented it (or at least, arrived at it independently) and Sally gave it that name retroactively once it became part of her repertoire.

In composition, Sunshine is not that hard to craft. The trickiest part for most Wellies would probably be obtaining the rowan berries. Any passable chemist can make it on their own (and in the case of particularly accomplished chemists like Verloc, may have improved upon it), but Stewart was likely the first to need to make it.

Joy intolerance has probably always been a thing, ever since Joy was first introduced in 1953. If you're an old lady with arrhythmia for instance, maybe taking a drug consisting largely of methamphetamine isn't the best idea. As Joy use is gradually made compulsory, however, being intolerant of it becomes a greater problem. It's something a Wellie would seek help for.

Normally, a talented compounder like Stewart should be able to figure out what component of Joy causes the problem and sub it out for something else, except that the formula for Joy is a trade secret guarded by Haworth Labs. Given that Joy is not actually solving a problem so much as putting a band-aid on it though, Stewart was able to craft something else entirely to help the Joy intolerant skirt the rules. Sunshine would get them past Joy detectors; their behavior beyond that was on the client to manage though. We likely have a bit of a survivorship bias thing going on with Sunshine users nowadays; probably quite a lot of them succumbed to grief over their memories and were beaten to death or were otherwise cast out to Barrow Holm in those earlier years.

And at this point, Sunshine wouldn't have a name because it was something only Stewart was making and it was on the secret menu, so to speak. I think Sally's the one who put it on the map.

When talking to Arthur regarding "exotic pharmaceuticals", Stewart makes the point on two separate occasions that he only sells legal drugs. The first of these - if you trigger the secret dialogue about cod liver oil - is fairly innocuous.

That he specifies legality at this point doesn't come off as amiss, given the broader climate of chemistry in Wellington Wells.

When discussing the second quest he gives you to retrieve the chemicals he sold to Mrs. Chaney however, he tells us a bit more:

The legal standing of his work is important to him, but that he goes on to say that Sally Boyle, oft proclaimed "experimental chemist", doesn't work here anymore and this is a respectable shop consequently implies that this was not always the case.

There's not any information in the game about when Sally started working at Stewart's shop. Given surrounding circumstances though, my theory is that her first stop after leaving the Hastings house was the Design Centre. She likely wouldn't have become the fashionable It Girl she is now if she'd gone straight to the Apothecary. Shacking up with Davey Hackney fits her MO of finding a shitty guy prone to flattery to support her. It follows logically as well that if you have just left home because you were shown that your apparent value to the world is your youth and beauty to go somewhere where those things will provide you with an immediate living.

It also gives Sally time and space to cultivate her own clientbase out of the models and other assorted celebs.

Imagine your husband proposing to hire the prettiest, youngest, and most popular girl in town to work at your humble chemist shop. If you've got any kind of sense, you'd look real askance at that, right? If we're just imagining Sally walking in off the street and begging for a job unproven? I mean, Stewart seems like a genuinely nice guy and we're not really ever given opportunity to see what Fiona's level of empathy and generosity is, but hiring some rando girl off the street to do chemistry is a bit of an ask at that time. Sally even says herself they wouldn't have let her become a chemist if not for the war.

But if she already has a clientele that would then be purchasing her drugs from your shop, it'd be hard to argue with the numbers and arguing at all is just saying you don't trust your husband.

What was Fiona to do, really?

Anyway, now that Sally is no longer here, Stewart's working to cut that part of his customer base off, probably both on a professional level and on the "every time some Parade type comes here asking for Sally Specials, I have to sleep on the couch again" level.

And I think it's those types who expected Sunshine to have a name they could ask for. Why would they want a drug that is, in effect, not doing drugs? Is it not cool to do drugs?

Well, it would be if the government wasn't saying you had to.

Obviously, making Joy use compulsory hasn't diminished the popularity of drug use at all among the cool kids, but there's always going to be small subset with oppositional defiance. That's who of Sally's clients she would be selling Sunshine to at this point. "Nothing so cool as breaking the rules!"

One thing about Sally I think does go underappreciated is that she is also a talented marketer. All of her drugs have names that make using them sound fun regardless of what they do. It was also her idea to market her new Joy formula as a new flavor. She thinks about these things, finds demographics for her products. Seeing a useful formula that Stewart developed being under utilized probably seemed like a missed opportunity to Sally, rather than the deliberate downplay that it would have been for Stewart. And thus Sunshine got its street name.

So when Sally tells Gemma that Verloc invented Sunshine, it's probably that "lying with the truth" trick that Byng mentions. She tells Gemma that Verloc invented it (which is technically true if you assume he also came up with a formula for it independently for his own use) when the formula found on the streets - the one Gemma is actually asking about - is the one Stewart developed.

Let's put a pin in that and come back to it in a minute.

Stewart really only has quests for Arthur and they tend to be very shallow on the characterization aside from the matter of his shop's reputation, but there is other thing I want to touch on before we really get into his relationship with Sally.

Stewart's last quest for you, "The Beginning of the Endocrine", tasks you with taking "his" pituitary extractor and collecting samples from a Bobby, a Doctor, and a Crier.

Now, Stewart's been fuckin' with this device ever since Sally left, which at this point would be about three years. What's interesting though is that he's apparently never tested it himself. Like Lionel, he professes to be too busy to leave the shop to attend to any errands outside of it. He's never actually seen the device in use. He can probably imagine, but he's elected to pass the dirty work of it off.

Frankly, it's really rather horrible using this device. The animation is startling to see the first time. And the quest is also sneakily structured in such a way as to lead you to feel a certain way about it.

That is, the objectives are, in order,

Obtain the Doctor Extract

Obtain the Bobby Extract

Obtain the Crier Extract

Bring the extracts to the Chemist

Bobbies are easy to find on the street so you're likely to nab one of them first. Doctors are also easy to find, but if you're struggling, Stewart also marked the Hippo House on your map for you. You're given these two first in the list because while using the extractor on these NPCs is an alarming sight, they are hostile to you and can kill you easily if you give them the chance. Arthur even has a ct line for it, in which he says to consider it karma.

The Crier is last on the list for a reason.

You're likely to leave the Crier to the last too because unless you've already done Lionel's quests up to the point that you had access to St. George, you'd not know where to find them immediately. (You could nab one off the street, but narratively, you wouldn't.) And the reason why leaving the Crier to last is most effective is because she's a helpless little old lady who effectively can do nothing to you. Snapping this ghoulish device around a Crier's head and scrambling her sinuses is supposed to leave you feeling some kind of way about it. In the original lines, the Crier even had a sad little line to make you feel extra bad about what you've done.

So when Arthur gets back to the chemist shop, he gives Stewart a piece of his own mind: "If anyone ever uses one of those on me, I will hunt you down and kill you."

Very tricky, manipulating you to feel bad like that.

You want to know what the real slight of hand here is though?

There are cut lines for "Gland of Hope and Glory" in which Sally was supposed to have her own extractor that was broken, necessitating her to visit Stewart to collect her old one from him. That's what he means when he says here that his is not the only device like this out there.

The real trick that they've pulled here is letting you experience the horror of this device in a limited capacity as Arthur first and then giving it to you as Sally to use as often as you like, when the shock of it has worn off.

Because as Sally, you have no qualms nor compunctions about using the pituitary extractor. At very minimum, she'll use it on a helpless and dying old man. At worst, the player will use it in lieu of (and just as often as) Arthur and Ollie's takedown skill rather than crafting Sally's knockout syringes.

Arthur, for all his faults, often does consider how his actions will affect others and so using the extractor is viscerally horrifying to him. Stewart has to collect the extractor from you when the quest is over, not only because he has to have it when Sally visits in the next Act, but also because otherwise, a player would probably rely on the extractor the way people often do when playing Sally, which would be incongruent with Arthur's character.

That Sally, on the other hand, not only uses the pituitary extractor freely but invented it? It's really a very apt metaphor for her character. It's practically poetic. She created this Saw trap of a tool that she uses with impunity, ripping what she wants out of people with no concern for what happens to them afterward. (Also, how did she make this "quite clever" device if she can't tinker? Wants must, I guess.)

The game is calling collect to tell you something about her. Please accept the charges.

That being said...

Sally tells Gemma that Verloc invented Sunshine. If indeed Stewart was actually the one who made it, why would she do that?

Well, for one thing, despite abandoning him for Verloc, Stewart seems not to be holding any hard feelings about it. This means that he's still available to be called on for a favor if needed. No sense throwing out a perfectly good resource just to keep the heat off herself.

Pinning it on Verloc is satisfying in the sense that it'd be a lie with the truth as stated above. Lies that border the edge of truth are the most satisfying to tell, are they not? Don't they make you feel clever? But it's also a safe move too. Verloc, even if accused of developing Sunshine, is above the law as far as what happens on Uskglass goes. He can explain such an accusation away and even if he can't, it won't matter. Like, I don't think Sally would lie to Gemma with the express intent of making Verloc's life harder. She's not bitter about the break up because she wasn't the one left wondering, you know? But I do think she would do so knowing that he could take the repercussions of it better. What would be inconsequential to him could be devastating to Stewart.

And like with Verloc, Sally also is not bitter about her break up with Stewart because, again, she left him. That he's not sending her death threats or even banning her from his shop is worth maintaining a civil relationship.

I think Sally would still think back on her time with Stewart fondly. She never speaks of him outside her quests in his shop, but he was probably the first man she met who was just as interested in her chemistry as her looks. It's that age old trick: you tell a smart girl she's pretty, you tell a pretty girl she's smart.

Which is not to say I think Stewart had any guile or machinations about this. I know there's an age gap again, but it's not always grooming. I think if Sally fell for being told she was oh so clever, he was just as much prey to her charms telling him he could be oh so much more. I don't think there was any manipulation of the situation on either of their parts here; I think Sally and Stewart just fell into their affair out of circumstance because both of them told the other what they wanted to hear.

And real talk, it's kinda the only logical thing that would have happened and I think they both know it. Like, I don't think Sally actually loved Stewart (or vice versa). Stewart was never going to leave Fiona for Sally. Sally was never going to spend the rest of her life as a side piece to a village chemist. They both had to know their little affair was a temporary arrangement. And so it was and now that it's over, they're both being relatively adult about it. Such a rare thing in this town!

Aside from Stewart's remaining hopes anyway.

Fiona's lines hint at the cut content about Stewart hoping he can win Sally back. But I think those lines were cut because there's enough of a Greek tragedy happening behind that glass just have him trying to be more than he is because Sally convinced him he could be. Like, it'd be one thing if she'd been gassing up Verloc (who is only about a decade older than her) and telling him he could be more. But Stewart is over the hill. If he was going to be more than a village chemist, he would have by now. It was irresponsible of Sally to put these ideas in his head.

When Fiona says she could have gotten over Sally "borrowing" Stewart while she was here, she means it. Like, that was just kind of an accepted part of life back then, that your husband probably would cheat on you at some point. Again, because we now have access to every human on the planet and r/relationship_advice to compare notes, we generally consider cheating as a deal breaker these days. And it is, let's not diminish that, but in a world where you have limited options for life partners and divorce is a difficult and long process, you put up with more and settle for less. And it really wasn't that long ago that this changed. (In some places, it still hasn't!)

Like, Friends had a plot spanning nearly a decade involving whether one character cheated on another and if they could ever get back together. That was the 90's. In the 90's, if your boyfriend cheated on you, you might mull over whether you could "work it out" or if you could stand being alone or how long it would take to find someone new. Sunk cost fallacy like you would not believe!

Now imagine that in a small island town where no one new ever comes and no one can ever leave.

Yeah, Fiona coulda gotten over the cheating. But the aspirations Sally put in him? That's a bridge too far, oi oi oi.

It's as Fiona says; he's not going to climb the ranks anywhere in Wellington Wells and he can't leave the town for whatever opportunities might lie beyond the bridge for a man well past his prime. So what the fuck is he really doing? What is he hoping to accomplish with his tinkering?

It was one thing to wreck her home. But now that Sally's gone, Fiona can't even get her home back the way it was. Stewart is plagued by the flighty ideas Sally put into him. He's not satisfied with what he has anymore and it's not a problem Fiona can fix because the circumstances simply do not permit it. Sally isn't just a homewrecker; she salted the fucking foundations.

And she has the gall to tell Fiona that maybe that's what Stewart liked about her? She's lucky Fiona was in a glass booth or that would have been a short Act.

[blogger360ncislarules]

Curious which top-notch British shows are coming to MASTERPIECE next year? We’ve got the lineup for you! MASTERPIECE returns for a stellar 55th season in 2025, dishing up headline-making new series plus returning favorites, stunning costume dramas, addictive mysteries, and A-list actors from Damian Lewis to Keeley Hawes, Kate Phillips to Hugh Bonneville. As our friends across the pond would say, it’s going to be a cracker year! Plus, there are even more unforgettable shows on the horizon beyond 2025, so savor all the details we know now below.

Miss Scarlet | Season 5

This period gem is a detective series set in Victorian era London and MASTERPIECE viewers can’t get enough. In Season 5, Kate Phillips returns as the fearless Miss Eliza Scarlet, though her best friend William “The Duke” Wellington (Stuart Martin) has sailed to New York. His departure shifts the series, opening fresh new paths for Eliza. Cue a commanding entrance from DI Alexander Blake (Tom Durant-Pritchard) whom, as it turns out, doesn’t much like private investigators!

 Airdate & Preview: Miss Scarlet Season 5 premieres on PBS at 8/7c on Sunday, January 12th, though PBS Passport members can binge all six new episodes now! Watch the Season 5 preview. 

All Creatures Great and Small | Season 5

Everything audiences find irresistible about this series—the scenic Yorkshire Dales, colorful locals, compelling animal stories, and joyful pandemonium in a rural veterinary practice—is back for Season 5, along with the much-awaited reappearance of playful Tristan Farnon (Callum Woodhouse). Need more? There’s an adorable newborn at Skeldale House; everyone is doting on wee baby Jimmy. Rejoin all your favorite cast and characters, including the imperial Pekingese pup, Tricki.

 Airdate & Preview: All Creatures Great and Small Season 5 begins Sunday, January 12th at 9/8c. Watch a short recap of Seasons 1 to 4 and get a sneak peek at Season 5. Watch full episodes from All Creatures Great and Small Seasons 1 to 4 anytime with PBS Passport.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

What do audiences get when celebrated actors the likes of Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance, and Jonathan Pryce are given material adapted from Booker Prize-winning author Hilary Mantel? The “best TV you’ll see all year,” according to The Guardian (UK). “Six hours of utter TV magic.” Critics laud The Mirror and the Light, which traces the final climatic years of royal “fixer” Thomas Cromwell in Henry VIII’s court. A sequel to the Peabody Award-winning Wolf Hall (2015), the show picks up in 1536 with Cromwell riding high as the king’s closest advisor and the most feared figure of his time. How does it all unravel from there?

 Airdate & Preview: Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light premieres on PBS Sunday, March 23rd at 9/8c. (See the powerful trailer here.) You can catch up on the original Wolf Hall ‘s plot points, historical details, and character arcs in a special episode of the MASTERPIECE Studio podcast. 

Miss Austen

It’s a much-lamented yet historical fact that Cassandra Austen opted to burn her renowned sister Jane’s private letters—but why? The fictional miniseries Miss Austen takes Cassandra’s epic decision and uses it to invent an affecting story about the loves and losses of both Austen women. This highly-anticipated period drama stars Keeley Hawes and is based on Gill Hornsby’s 2021 bestselling novel of the same name—and we cannot wait!

 Airdate: Miss Austen arrives on MASTERPIECE Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 9/8c. (Fittingly, 2025 also marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.)

Grantchester | Season 10

Longtime crowd-pleaser Grantchester will return for an impressive 10th season, with regular cast and characters all back in action, including that charismatic new vicar who’s caught our eye—Rev. Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair). Alphy injects fresh storylines and vibrant energy to a whole new set of crimes that need solving alongside DI Geordie Keating (Robson Green). Grantchester is a “winning combination of a delightful and appealing amateur sleuth, articulate writing, and engaging mysteries to solve,” according to TV Guide.

 Airdate: The Grantchester Season 10 airdate has not yet been announced. Stream full episodes from Grantchester Seasons 1 through 9 when you watch with PBS Passport.

The Marlow Murder Club | Season 2

This miniseries is a perfect fit for those seeking more light-hearted British mysteries. It literally whisks viewers away to an idyllic British town and has fun with a trio of sideline sleuths—a retired archaeologist, well-connect vicar’s wife, and dog walker with access to her clients’ homes—who take it upon themselves to solve local murders. “Peak cozy murder mystery material,” says Decider. Samantha Bond leads the cast in this adaptation of the bestselling book series by Robert Thorogood, who also created Death in Paradise.

 Airdate: The Marlow Murder Club Season 2 has no premiere date announced as yet. Stream The Marlow Murder Club Season 1 when you watch with PBS Passport, an online, on-demand library of PBS programming available to PBS supporters.

Unforgotten | Season 6

In this long running, critically acclaimed show, veteran London detectives played by Sanjeev Bhaskar and Sinéad Keenan unravel the truth behind a single cold case murder from the past. Suspenseful and slow-building character arcs across an entire season elevate the show’s procedural premise, letting viewers get to know suspects (and victims) more deeply. “The beauty of this drama is the way it allows us to emotionally invest in both police and suspects,” says The Times (UK).

 Airdate: The premiere of Unforgotten Season 6 has not yet been made public. 

Maigret

MASTERPIECE will bring a brand-new and contemporary adaptation of Georges Simenon’s beloved novels about streetwise Parisian Chief Inspector Jules Maigret to the small screen. (Simenon’s Maigret books are the second best-selling detective series ever, behind only Sherlock Holmes.) Jules Maigret’s unique superpower is his deep compassion for victims and suspects alike and his patient immersion into the environment of a crime, all of which lead to profound insights that we can’t wait to see play out.

 Airdate:  The Maigret release date has not been announced, though we know Benjamin Wainwright will lead an ensemble cast.  

The Forsyte Saga

An elaborate, all-new take on The Forsyte Saga has been commissioned by MASTERPIECE in partnership with the UK production company behind Poldark and Victoria—so prepare to swoon! The brand-new period drama will be a fresh and sweeping reimagining of John Galsworthy’s Nobel Prize-winning Forsyte stories about the wealthy, multi-generational family in 1880s London. Expect crisscrossing storylines of love, obsession, adultery, and ambition—this time with a focus on the formidable Forsyte women.

 Airdate: The Forsyte Saga premiere date has yet to be announced.

The Gold | Seasons 1 and 2

Hugh Bonneville as Brian BoyceHugh Bonneville will return to MASTERPIECE in this critically acclaimed true crime drama recounting one of Britain’s largest and most notorious heists. The show dramatizes the events surrounding the theft of nearly £26 million in gold bullion as well as the crime’s complex and high-stakes aftermath affecting the thieves and law enforcement alike.

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight Gaming: Lovely day for it..

So last night I played We Happy Few, checked socials and found... Retrospring will shut down in 2025.

So retrosprings a sort of a q/a social media site and they've announced they will be shutting down next year. Screenshots taken from the site.

So We Happy Few, the game that can be summarised as modern britain simulator. Before launch, the game was garnering some attention with a lot of folks being fascinated with what looked like 1984 meets bioshock. Of course when the game did launch... it was a buggy, tedious mess of a game and wasnt great to play.

Now, the idea of a survival game were you need to play along and conform to societys quirks in order to blend in is an incredible idea that I feel isnt explored very much in games and holds some relevance in todays climate. Joy is the drug that made the town of Wellington Wells the way it is, people stoned off their minds and forgetting the terrible past, living in ignorant bliss. And if you didnt take your joy, you're labelled a downer and will be attacked until you conform or get chased out. And theres lot of effort in wellington wells, mainly within the town itself to detect downers, all to make sure everyone stays happy. And you'd assume there'd be some pressure to play along just enough to stay alive right? Well not really.

Truth is that We Happy Fews "survival" mechanics are rather toothless. In the games story you only need to occasionally eat, drink and sleep as you walk miles along grasslands and cobblestones street to reach the next cutscene, and in the early game you get introduced to the garden district were berries and clean water are abundant. Heck theres plenty of rose of giliead bushes that can be turned into healing balm, making most fights trivial since you're stacked with healing items. By the way, i said clean water because in the town and parade districts, the water is spiked with joy but only the water, the food isnt spiked so any pies, sandwiches, stews and cans of v-meat you find are joyfree. Even tea, grapefruit juice and coffee are safe for some reason. Actually there is quite a bit of food in the village, edible too despite the fact that the games story states that theres currently a famine going on. Where mass starvation is a looming threat that everyone is too overjoyed to care.

The opening had a bunch of wellies eat a dead rat thinking it was candy from a smashed pinata but you never get anything like that in game. Joy does make things look pretty but outside of getting past a detector, there isnt much of a reason for a player to decide to chase the joyful bulldog. No circumstance in the game made you weigh the pros and cons of taking joy either to get past a detector or even just making rotten food edible for a lil bit, dealing with the consequences of withdrawal and memory loss later, which tbh all they did was made the visuals more morbid and made you more noticeable to wellies. You know, I actually recall that taking joy had a more dire effect that once you take enough, the games over. Your not a downer anymore after all are you?

Apparently in its earlier concepts the game was planned as a roguelike kind of game where the joy and survival mechanics wouldve been fleshed out more. But I suppose as the game gained traction and attention, especially after the xbox presentation at e3, the expectations for the game to be a bioshock-esque kind of game may have caused development to change direction in order to realise that expectation, yet they end up keeping a lot of the now abandoned elements for the rougelike, incorporating some of it like the procedural generation, into a mashed together game that couldnt make its mind up. And thats a real downer.

You cannot accuse this game of being lazily made, far from it. The enviroments and writing is fascinating, the story and characters are interesting and voice acted tremendously well. Behind the mask of a game thats mostly running to one place to the next, theres a small glimpse of something truly great. This isnt just a bad game, this is a bad game that couldve been a great game which is a worse than just a any bad game because now im sitting here mad, typing on a touchscreen about the pontential this game had and couldve realised had the leadership of this game made their bloody minds up. The story, the world, the characters and general style. The game had the talent and resources to make something great and at times, you can see that quality. But the direction behind this game was flawed, the ones leading the project could not figure out what kind of game they were making and all we got was a rushed, buggy, confused mess.

Im just writing a blog post, paraphrasing my thoughts here. But if you're interested in delving into this further, theres a couple of videos that are worth watching. First off is the The Cost of Joy which is a documentary by the developers that details the development of the game itself.

The second is a video by Abbsynthe titled We Happy Few: An amazing story weighed down by a bad game, which covers a lot of the aspects of the game and its story and goes into more detail.

I recommend giving these videos a watch if you're interested.

Thats all for today, see you all tomorrow. Feedback is appreciated, anons are currently on.

[doubleddenden]

My ideal Gen 10, since I can't sleep

Long read

1. Regional basis, Australia and New Zealand

Other than the fact that Australia is basically the ultimate cheat sheet for Pokemon ideas (one could argue it already has them if they were rated M), I've actually had this desire for an Australia region for a long time, ever since I was 10 and started my "Australia" phase while my classmates got in their ancient Egypt and Greek phases.

It would have a lot of space to play with. 95% of Australia is apparently uninhabited due to harsh terrain and climate (and the huge desert area towards the center), but Pokemon tends to play fast and loose with regions anyway. That's how we get places like Hoenn or, for some reason, a desert area in NYC and the UK. That's basically a canvas to work with while expanding on other areas where wildlife and cities can be found.

Not to mention, it would be the first region from the Southern Hemisphere to be made into a region and the farthest from any other place. In fact, that could work to bring us a whole slew of brand new Pokemon without as much reliance on the old. Again, the ultimate cheat sheet. You could make 6 different Pokemon lines from different Bunyip descriptions alone.

It should also be noted 2 things: 1, Uluru is already in SV via an art piece in Hassel's classroom. That's *almost* dead center of Australia.

2 is more of a coincidence, but game freak milks those almost as much as Charizard. Ever hear of antipodes? Basically an antipode is a location on the exact opposite side of the world from another set point- Basically if you were to drill a hole through the exact center of the planet, you would wind up there.

Madrid, Spain- or more or less the real life approximate location to where Area Zero is placed- is Wellington, New Zealand's antipode. You might think that's an incredible coincidence- you're probably right, but Pokemon likes this type of symbolism. Take Sword and Shield's legendaries, two wolves who came after Sun and Moon, much like Odin's wolves who chase after the sun and moon in Norse mythos, or Solgaleo being the Sunne Eater Pokemon despite being weak to fire due to that also being an alchemical symbol for something "impossible" or "frustrating."

I'm not saying that there will be a direct hole in the Pokemon equivalent of New Zealand to Area Zero, although it would make for a nice callback to find something akin to the Kitakami Crystal Pool there and as a way to bring Terrastilizing to the next Gen, since we know it can be done anywhere.

Speaking of New Zealand, I have been kind of clumping it together with Australia despite them being separate countries, but they are close geographically. It too would also be an amazing place to work with. Fun fact a lot of people already know: Lord of the Rings was filmed there, and if Galar could make call backs to old bands and James Bond movies, you bet your ass they could make a callback to that. If nothing else, it would make for great DLC.

2. The Pokemon

I'm gonna be real, I want a lot of new Pokemon. Like bare minimum 120 originals, but ideally another 151. But I also think that, given that Australia is the ultimate pokemon cheat sheet, we could go further.

So 120 originals bare minimum- that means brand new Pokemon without ties to any past region, form, or evolution line, and does nit include "fakes" or "mimics." After 120, you can start adding regional variants, convergent species, cross Gen evolutions, fakes like paradoxes, alternative forms, legendaries, and mythicals. You could get to 200 alone just from that, but I'll be reasonable and accept 151 bare minimum. That could also be symbolic, since if this game were to release in 2026, it'd be the 30th anniversary, and we've consistently had a new Gen every 10 years with 4 on the 10th and 7 on the 20th.

And listen, again, the cheat sheet. If Game Freak were to stop trying to figure out how to give a job to a blue ringed octopus or a quokka, that could be done relatively easily with enough artists. You got poisonous sea snakes, gigantic spiders, wombats, wallabies, kangaroos (like a real one, but Kangaskhan could also get something), Tasmanian devils, little penguins, cassowaries, emus, echidnas, platypus, salt water crocs, dingos, Australian shepherds, kookaburra, adders, possums, quolls, lyrebirds, frill lizards, thorny devils, thylacine, bilbies, bunyips- you make an entire dex out of that alone.

All they gotta do is not try to stress themselves out by giving them jobs. I really don't want a Lyrebird that plays a lyre, and I don't want a stand up comedian kookaburra or quokka obsessed with selfies- just. Monsters. In nature. That's all you gotta do. Make a wallaby that punches lightning and evolves into a kangaroo that kicks it too, make a flaming thorny devil, make a normal type quokka, does not need a Wikipedia lesson for each one.

I think that we should try to get away from artificial or human traits in Pokemon from here and take a step back to nature. No I don't want my starter to have a job, I want it to be a cool monster you could see living naturally in the wild. I don't want a boomerang Pokemon, but I would accept a boomerang bird or something like a Tinkaton or Marowak with one. No Gholdengos or Inteleons or Cinderaces, more Golisopods, Feraligatrs, Sentrets, and the like. The more animal or monster like, the better.

3. The theme

I have a fear of us possibly getting a super hero or sentai theme- we don't want or need that. I think a theme of nature and wildlife conservation and observation would work wonders, and it would be a nice break from God damn soccer, annoying soccer fans, school, and school bullies.

I'd see it potentially as a Legends hybrid? Where you help the professor observe rare species in their natural habitats. You could teach plenty of good morals by having us defend wild Pokemon from poachers or real estate moguls.

Ideally, we wouldn't need any world ending calamity or a threat that tears at the fabric of reality. We could just have something like Ho-Oh and Lugia- 2 box monsters that are cryptids. If they must be more than that, maybe avatars of nature that evolved from normal Pokemon to protect the wildlife. Something you could see being illusive and powerful, but a guardian to wildlife.

If there must be some sort of calamity, research could be done into local legends and myths, such as The Dreaming, or maybe even involving quinkans as inspiration.

4. Progression and layout

Ideally, it's a completely open world where you can go whichever direction you want. I made a post about it, but you'd Ideally have 18 gyms to choose from, only needing 8 to get to the league and to defeat 4 more as your elite 4. The levels would be tied to badge count, meaning you can challenge them in any order.

I want my friends and I to have completely different journeys and to have reasons to do multiple playthroughs, akin to BoTW. Like I go north, catch a flying/water bird, catch a dog, etc. My friend goes east, they catch a flying/rock bird, a cat, etc.

If you really wanted a surprise, a sky area would be dope.

Also, a short beginning. I'm talking I make a character, get my Pokemon and dex, and I'm off to do what I want. I don't want to spend an hour in route 1 on tutorials, I want to GO.

Story I think would be best to keep in non linear episodic bursts where we befriend locals and help them with problems while continuing on with our professor against poachers, and ideally you could skip a bit or do everything.

Since this would be Australia, I think that this place could be easily way bigger than Paldea, but for loading I think it'd be best to either separate it by quadrants in open sandboxes or at least work it so it's not shitting itself trying to load a town in the distance.

Also, I shouldn't need to say it, but I should be able to see a wind mill be a wind mill.

Ideally there's more nature vs city with more memorable locations, and the cities are nice and explorable as well.

5. Character customization

I shouldn't need to add this, but just make it good again. I don't want a uniform, I don't want to be stuck looking like a child, I at bare minimum want to dress up in the full range out clothes again and more.

I think it's also time for us to have more control over the types of bodies we have. Little, young, teen, 20s, etc, big, chubby, lanky, body types, etc. Also l, for the love of God, actually good hair styles, like anime hair styles would help wonders.

Oh and for the love of God, FULL. LENGTH. PANTS.

6. Voice acting

It's time. It's time. It's been time since Gen 8. It's time. There's too many voiceless cutscenes not to have it by now.

Just... try not to make it suck like Masters or the anime did for dub. I'm just saying, accurate Australian accents will work wonders.

7. Rivals.

Nemona was great. Hop was awful. But at this point, I'd say it'd be great to get a serious one again.

Or better yet, give the player the option to "choose" their rival, kind of the same way we would name Blue or Hugh, except you'd maybe get a list of personality types or a list of pre made rivals to choose from, so you can have your pathetic woobified wet cat baby boy if you want while I get a tsundere bitch that I can bully. The personality you pick could even determine fighting style, teams, and whether they'd pick a starter stronger or weaker to yours.

8. Gimmicks

We don't need more. If we have any, I'd say just recycle the old ones. Megas and Terrastilizing could come back easily, doesn't mean they have to be the center of them all.

If we must have a gimmick, I'd want something that has a semi to permanent change on a Pokemon. Maybe a "twilight" Pokemon that has exact flipped stats, color scheme, and typing, or maybe the Pokemon equivalent to Armor Digivolving.

I feel that fusions could be on the table, but honestly I don't think now is the time.

The best new gimmick though is no new gimmick. 30th anniversary, let's just master the past ones.

9. Traversal and HMs or ride

Let's have custom Ride Pokemon depending on our parties, like how Palworld does it. I wanna ride my fast af thylacine through the outback, I wanna fly on my flying serpents, surf on my croc, you get the deal.

10. Art style

I want it to look anime, basically. Think of how Alola looks on the 3ds, and make it HD and look good. We don't need realism, but don't make it look washed out too.

Character design, I'd like for us to maybe go back to a style reminiscent of gens 5 and 6, or at least let the SV dlc Character designers take lead here. SV was fine for what it was, but I want less of that and something more... appealing, I guess. The characters for Blueberry look more like Pokemon characters than the SV characters did, if that makes sense.

If we're in Australia and New Zealand, I think having art patterns and such familiar to its indigenous peoples would be really awesome, and having opals and such would also go a long way.

11. Music

Music hasn't really been an issue in Pokemon imo, except for where it gets repetitive. Basically just make more tracks.

I think that if we're in Australia, it'd be really cool to ditch the orchestra and go for something more acoustic, and definitely didgeridoos. But really, I think a simple guitar and drum combo with maybe harmonicas could help carry the tune for most routes, maybe more techno stuff for cities I guess.

Battle themes I'd also want to take for a more acoustic theme, if maybe with high paced drums and some violin. Basically a more rugged experience that makes me think I'm in the Australian wilds rather than in some fantasy kingdom, and poachers could have a more techno vibe to them.

Maybe for a rival we could have a lofi inspired theme, or a rock kind of theme.

12. Let it bake until done.

I should not need to specify this, but I will anyway after SV.

Ideally this would have 4+ years in the oven, post pandemic, so at this point there's no excuses for it not to be finished. They know what they can and can't do by now, just make it look good and play good.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Richard Dawkins

Published: Jun 26, 2023

I’m in New Zealand, climax to my antipodean speaking tour, where I walked headlong into a raging controversy. Jacinda Ardern’s government implemented a ludicrous policy, spawned by Chris Hipkins’s Ministry of Education before he became prime minister. Science classes are to be taught that Māori ‘Ways of Knowing’ (Mātauranga Māori) have equal standing with ‘western’ science. Not surprisingly, this adolescent virtue-signalling horrified New Zealand’s grown-up scientists and scholars. Seven of them wrote to the Listener magazine. Three who were fellows of the NZ Royal Society were threatened with an inquisitorial investigation. Two of these, including the distinguished medical scientist Garth Cooper, himself of Māori descent, resigned (the third unfortunately died). I was delighted to meet Professor Cooper for lunch, with others of the seven. His resignation letter cited the society’s failure to support science against its denigration as ‘a western European invention’. He was affronted, too, by a complaint (not endorsed by the NZRS) that ‘to insist Māori children learn to read is an act of colonisation’. Is there an implication here – condescending, if not downright racist – that ‘indigenous’ children need separate, special treatment?

Perhaps the most disagreeable aspect of this sorry affair is the climate of fear. We who don’t have a career to lose should speak out in defense of those who do. The magnificent seven are branded heretics by a nastily zealous new religion, a witch-hunt that recalls the false accusations against J.K. Rowling and Kathleen Stock. Professor Kendall Clements was removed from teaching evolution at the University of Auckland, after the School of Biological Sciences Putaiao Committee submitted the following recommendation: ‘We do not feel that either Kendall or Garth should be put in front of students as teachers. This is not safe for students…’ Not safe? Who are these cringing little wimps whose ‘safety’ requires protection against free speech? What on earth do they think a university is for?

To grasp government intentions requires a little work, because every third word of the relevant documents is in Māori. Since only 2 per cent of New Zealanders (and only 5 per cent of Māoris) speak that language, this again looks like self-righteous virtue-signalling, bending a knee to that modish version of Original Sin which is white guilt. Mātauranga Māori includes valuable tips on edible fungi, star navigation and species conservation (pity the moas were all eaten). Unfortunately it is deeply invested in vitalism. New Zealand children will be taught the true wonder of DNA, while being simultaneously confused by the doctrine that all life throbs with a vital force conferred by the Earth Mother and the Sky Father. Origin myths are haunting and poetic, but they belong elsewhere in the curriculum. The very phrase ‘western’ science buys into the ‘relativist’ notion that evolution and big bang cosmology are just the origin myth of white western men, a narrative whose hegemony over ‘indigenous’ alternatives stems from nothing better than political power. This is pernicious nonsense. Science belongs to all humanity. It is humanity’s proud best shot at discovering the truth about the real world.

My speeches in Auckland and Wellington were warmly applauded, though one woman yelled a protest. She was politely invited to participate, but she chose to walk out instead. I truthfully said that, when asked my favourite country, I invariably choose New Zealand. Citing the legacy of Ernest Rutherford, the greatest experimental physicist since Faraday, I begged my audiences to reach out to their MPs in support of New Zealand science. The true reason science is more than an origin myth is that it stands on evidence: massively documented evidence, double blind trials, peer review, quantitative predictions precisely verified in labs around the world. Science reads the billion-word DNA book of life itself. Science eradicates smallpox and polio. Science navigates to Pluto or a tiny comet. Science almost certainly saved your life. Science works.

Postscript on the flight out: Air New Zealand think it is a cute idea to invoke Māori gods in their safety briefing. Imagine if British Airways announced that their planes are kept aloft by the Holy Ghost in equal partnership with Bernoulli’s Principle and Newton’s First Law. Science explains. It lightens our darkness. Science is the poetry of reality. It belongs to all humanity. Kia Ora!

Richard Dawkins

[wildhorseskeepdraggingmeaway]

I am nearly 33 and I have never been on a plane. As mentioned in my first post, I grew up too poor to own a car. Vacations weren't on the cards, certainly not by air travel.

As a young adult I decided I would never get on a plane as one flight between Aotearoa and Australia puts out about 400kg of CO2 per seat, and I was- and am- afraid of how the planet will become inhospitable in the near future due to our pollution. This line of philosophy, however, led me to the logical conclusion that the best way to prevent ruining the earth is to be against the creation of any new human life- Antinatalism.

Given time I also grew into the notion that by being born at all, the creature in question WILL end up suffering. An even better reason to never have children or indeed encourage the birth of any other form of life. This caused my thinking to shift away from climate change, as the planet's climate is maintained and changed by living things, that preserving the environment was simply a side effect of the philosophy that happened to benefit any stubborn life.

So why should I care how much me living impacts the earth? Well, I do still care, I don't want my little impact on the world to be the cause of others' suffering. However, if everyone lived like the 99% there likely wouldn't be a climate crisis to speak of. The way rich people conduct their business causes vastly the most harm. Well... next to the military. I'm no invading army. I'm not a celebrity with a private jet. I'm a relatively poor civilian who has scraped up enough money to catch an A380 to Wellington, to see a traveling exhibit at a world class museum. This could be the only time in my life I get to do such a thing. Carpe diem, Tiger. By breaking the life cycle you've more than earned your trip to Wellington.

Seriously. This is a screenshot of the flights in and around Oceania in the middle of the night alone. Chosing not to take this holiday wouldn't even be a drop in the ocean of CO2. It would be like shooting a hurricane with an arrow.

[alkaysani]

rules: shuffle your on repeat playlist and post the first 10 tracks, then tag 10 people

ty @oneawkwardcookie

hozier - de selby part 1

jones sandberg - melancholy

hozier - butchered tongue

hozier - all things end

system of a down - byob

isak wellington - ilinova

hozier - to someone from a warm climate

hozier - damage gets done

hozier - de selby part 2

hozier - first time

i'm seeing hozier in a week so this makes so much sense

tagging: @nilefreemans @gaal-dornick @hazelnut-rosewater-pomegranate @tawaifeddiediaz @eddiediaaz @oliverstaark @aziraaphales