God For Breakfast

@_preposterously @JoelMacManus "Beneficiaries" is not a static class of people. For most people being on a benefit is a brief period of government-mandated poverty before they find a new job. Many people drive to their job interviews & WINZ has compulsory meetings.

@JoelMacManus Beneficiaries don’t need to drive to work.

@stumpy2121 The goal in this case is not to boost public transport numbers, it is to offer a small amount of financial relief to people affected by fuel price increases.

@nickofnz lol if you have to make it free to get people to use it even at a time when fuel is extremely expensive, public transport is a lost cause

Make it free! It’s a win-win. High petrol prices: Cost of public transport 'still a significant barrier to people' rnz.co.nz/news/national/…

@_ConnorSharp Central govt also expects local govt to fund the majority of climate adaptation planning and implementation. Rates are not going anywhere but up.

Fun fact, if central government builds these RoNS, the old state highway they often replace will be divested to local government and become a local road. Which means more roads to maintain and operate for local councils, and so more cost, and so rates go up!

Received one too many emails from my university begging us to attend an AI workshop, prompting me to write the person back sending the invitation.

@ClintVSmith Thank you!

we didn't choose between health and the economy in the last pandemic. the elimination strategy meant we suffered relatively little increase in unemployment and soon had a booming economy, compared to other countries that allowed up to 1% of their populations to die.

As a statistician, I keep asking myself how all these AI people are dealing with the massive potential for catastrophic errors in critical analyses, and the answer keeps being they either didn't think about it at all, or they don't care.

@pourfairelevide The phrase "underage man" notably does not exist in anyone's lexicon.

seeing this phrase a lot recently in respectable publications that supposedly have editors. not sure what it’s supposed to imply that the words “children” or “minors” do not adequately communicate.

Jeff Bezos has begun the process of raising $100 billion for a new fund that would buy up manufacturing companies and then use AI to automate production.

@RevisionistNow @Kruiser17 Because they also have bills. The bills that existed before they were unemployed don't suddenly disappear.

@Kruiser17 Why do beneficiaries need help? Unless sickness beneficiaries that need to get to medical appointments beneficiaries are the last that need help as they have no work to get to and can walk in most cases if they live in large cities as have all day to get there.

So willis is looking at a package for petrol relief for working families & has ruled out helping beneficiaries. So the elderly are penalized again. They have increased rents, electricity, groceries etc like everyone else, while on a fixed benefit.

@Kruiser17 @oceanblue76547 You can work part time and get a pro-rated benefit from WINZ (beneficiaries who work have to pay secondary tax, it sucks).

@oceanblue76547 One cannot work while on a benefit, educate yourself. I was referring to Pensioners & people with disabilities who are on a fixed income. They are the ones who are in real hardship.

@_grahamsurrey_ @smallfry676 @bIockhousebay It opened a few years ago. They rebuilt the cinema area after it was closed due to earthquake damage and the new space includes an Imax.

@smallfry676 @bIockhousebay I had to Google it to check, but you’re correct. How long has there been an IMAX in the Queensgate Mall?

Explaining to overseas friends that my country has one IMAX screen and it’s in an abandoned mall and I get discounted tickets via my roadside assistance membership

@Lou_vs_ME Extremely grim, and jaw-droppingly short-sighted.

New Zealand isn't counting or costing Long Covid! 🤔 The two central govt health agencies told Breakfast TV, when asked to respond to patients' calls, that they have: "no plans for Long Covid monitoring nor for any economic analysis" #LongCovidAwareness

The data centers needed to train AI can consume as much electricity as 200,000 American homes—and the race to power these digital tools is changing the physical world, Matteo Wong reports: theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/…

@spencerbeswick They haven't eaten enough books to know the taste of human writing.

Do college students really think we can't tell when they use AI, or do they just not care?

@black13830 @ChrisPenknz Giving people shit about their job history is such trash, small-minded behaviour. We've got to get rid of these poisonous goons.

After @ChrisPenknz's put down of a prior Labour PM's fish & chip shop job as a teen, a quick Google let me know he had first jobs as a paper run delivery person and a library assistant. I did a paper run too. Our first forays into work should not be weaponized decades later.

@actparty The lies you peddle are unforgivable.

We cannot give Chris Hipkins the chance to screw up again.

@GunnelsWarren Immigration has been so thoroughly demonized in your country that you are talking about people who have a specific type of working visa as if they are not human beings. And Nina Turner retweeted this. That's fucked up.

The corporate race to the bottom: 1. Ship blue-collar jobs to Mexico & China 2. Replace high-tech workers with H-1Bs 3. Replace all workers with robots and AI All of this is possible because billionaires own the political establishment. End Citizens United, Fight Oligarchy

@ZealandEarly Made in Porirua 💕

So Whittaker's voted Australian's favourite chocolate block for the 3rd year straight. Can't argue with that.

@frankie2258 National relaxed about the risk of drowning Chuck and Mary.

We are pfficially a laughing stock.' Cook Strait - the biggest pothole in New Zealand' stuff.co.nz/travel/3609504…

We believe being forewarned is being forearmed. The Anthropic Institute will tell the world what we are seeing and expecting from the technology we build. It will lead new research into the challenges posed by more powerful AI, and partner with others to address them.