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alisonmarigold

@alisonmarigold.bsky.social
789 followers 722 following 262 posts

Mycologist, sometime botanist, plant lover, forager, forester, musician. Working to become a better ancestor. Aotearoa/New Zealand.

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Reposted by alisonmarigold
Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫 @lookitup.baby · 23h
Hi, I’m a sighted alt text user! Here are some reasons I use it: - Slow Internet on an airplane - I’m over 40, I have no idea who that celebrity is - Bluesky broke images again - My vision sucks and that text is too small to read otherwise - Conveys further context and authorial intent
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Jennifer RM @jenrm.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
My agronomist friend (and amazing chef) is awesome, and scholarly, and she debunked this particular meme quite thoroughly. This blog post of hers might be worth a read: feastofassumption.substack.com/p/vegetables...
feastofassumption.substack.com
Vegetables Still Have Plenty of Nutrients, Thank You Very Much
Several smart people have asked me if the following chart is true.
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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
holy shit!! artists!!! you guys!! pinlite.app someone made a pinterest facade site that just strips away all the dumb bullshit and gives you only the images this is AMAAZINNNGGGG. Not to mention the web 1.0 grey and blue link vibe lol
screenshot of PinLite, a skin of pinterest that's just taken away all the bs and only shows the images, on a grey web 1.0 background
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
New working paper: the Norwegian wealth tax was a huge success. The "exodus" of wealthy people never happened (less than 100 individuals left). Tax revenue increased by 71.5%. No changes in business activity or investment. www.nber.org/papers/w35854
Taxing Entrepreneurial Wealth: Evidence from
Norway, 2021-2025
Marius A. K. Ring
WORKING PAPER 35854|
DOl 10.3386/w35854
ISSUE DATE October 2026
Whether imposing higher taxes on business owners adversely affects business activity by constraining investment and inducing capitalist flight is a central question in the ongoing debate on how to tax the ultra wealthy. To shed new light, I exploit a series of related Norwegian reforms during 2021-2024 that increased dividend tax rates, removed migration-related capital gains tax loopholes, and nearly doubled the effective marginal tax rate on business wealth. These reforms spurred international debate and, allegedly, an "exodus" of Norwegian billionaires (Financial Times,
2023). While I document clear effects on migration, these responses are concentrated among the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution and mostly confined to 2022 and 2023. My results indicate that at most 100 individuals left due to the reforms. I find no evidence of significant outmigration or reduced inflows of startup founders or inventors. I estimate that absent any outmigration, wealth tax revenues would have increased by 75% from 2021 to 2024. Reform-driven outmigration lowers the revenue gain to 71.5%. My findings further show that outmigrating owners' firms remain economically active and do not reduce investment. In a broader set of analyses, I examine whether business outcomes are affected, regardless of whether owners outmigrate, since firms may reduce investment both due to liquidity constraints or distortions to owners' savings decisions. I compare firms owned by Norwegian individuals subject to the wealth tax with firms owned by foreigners and other tax-exempt entities. By merging historical ownership data from Orbis with the Norwegian shareholder register, I perform these analyses on both Norwegian and foreign-domiciled firms.
Across settings, I find no evidence that Norwegian-owned firms pay out more dividends or invest less after the reforms,…
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Ben Dickson @drbenomycin.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Friends of Kirikiriroa, you must all know someone who played a wind instrument in their youth and hasn't picked it up in years who would enjoy a social band experience working towards amazing music? Please PLEASE prompt them to have a go!
waikatosymphonicband.nz
Band Highlights | WSBNZ
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 09/10/2026
Productivity as an adult is just an endless process of applying new psychological tricks and operant conditioning to yourself until an acceptable number of tasks are completed.
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Amanda Montañez @unamandita.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
New knitting stitch just dropped, and I got to draw it!! www.scientificamerican.com/article/math...
scientificamerican.com
Mathematicians invented a knitting stitch that stops mistakes from spreading
With a little help from knot theory, scientists have invented a “robust knit” to fight laddering
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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I cannot overstate how much I have built my entire personality around persisting at hard things, which may help to explain why I find rarely find AI tools to be useful.
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Joshua Foust 🪖🎮 @joshuafoust.com · 09/10/2026
Academia is just 👌🏻 sometimes
arstechnica.com
After being demoted and forced to retire, mRNA researcher wins Nobel
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
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Charlie Stross @cstross.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Oh my: LibreOffice just made "no AI" one of their official features: blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/09...
blog.documentfoundation.org
Yes, no AI is now a feature - TDF Community Blog
One of the comments on the announcement of LibreOffice 26.8 was a simple question: “So, no AI is now a feature?” LibreOffice does not reject artificial intelligence out of hand, but an office suite us...
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Maddie Machine @theuglymachine.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
It's finally done, and she is so pretty
A spear head made to look like an egret
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 08/10/2026
@cathleen.eurosky.social little-flying-robots.ghost.io/why-we-cant-...
little-flying-robots.ghost.io
Why We Can't Let Enormous Weirdos Regulate AI
Imagine if instead of regulating drones via the standard lengthy, boring, and bureaucratic process - which we did - we instead decided, in the name of fostering all-important American drone innovation...
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Stephanie Lamy @stephlamy.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
For my ENG speaking followers Unprecedented High School blockades began in the outskirts of Paris in Créteil on the 21st of Sept. National mobilisations followed on the 29th of September, the 1st and the 6th of October. The movement is ongoing and has spread both in scope and scale. #tippingpoint
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D Jukic She/her @dejanajuk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Replay: New Zealand was once a world leader on pay equity. Dame Marilyn Waring explains how the government wound back decades of progress – and why the fight to properly value women’s work is far from over. #nzpol
publicinterest.nz
Marilyn Waring on how New Zealand went backwards on pay equity
New Zealand was once a world leader on pay equity. Dame Marilyn Waring explains how the government wound back decades of progress – and why the fight to properly value women’s work is far from over. ...
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Mara Wilson @marawilson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Do any neurologists or neurosurgeons follow me? If so, would any of you be interested in being interviewed/consulted for a project I’m working on? I would give you credit for it, and could pay you for your time.
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paulinabarry.bsky.social @paulinabarry.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This is one of two biodiversity posters I made on the Taiari River Catchment, commissioned by Taieri Wai. These are going out to local schools, farmers, and landowners for free so they can learn about the wildlife around them! #biodiversity #sciart #nzart #herps #birdart #reptile #botany #maps
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bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 07/10/2026
ah damn, RIP Margaret Hamilton. she took safety-critical software engineering seriously, and got people to the moon and back. news.mit.edu/2026/margare...
old photos of a woman (Margaret Hamilton) standing next to a tall stack of books (printouts of Apollo space mission software source code)
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Eric Pazdziora @ericpazdziora.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Opera doesn't make money. Opera’s what you spend money *on*.” “But . . what do you get out of it?” “You get opera. You put money in, you see, and opera comes out,” said Salzella wearily. --Terry Pratchett, 'Maskerade'
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Luke BOO 👻 ber @coolhand.bsky.social · 26/01/2024
Thinking of that time at work when sales was asking for 20 foot USB cables and our electrical engineer said “it’s ohm’s law, not ohm’s fucking suggestion”
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VERTICAL📼BLANKING📺INTERVAL @vertiblank.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A Hark! A Vagrant classic
Watson: Oooh, what’s that you’ve got?
Franklin: My final report
Watson: Little Rosie Franklin’s research! I bet it’s something!
Franklin: ROSALIND.
Crick: Oh, that’s a big name
W: You’re getting fancy on us! Tell me—
F: Ah. I love this game.
W: Is it a scientific breakthrough in feelings?
F: Well, I suppose I have to go into hysterics or have a baby somewhere, good day gentlemen
W: GO, GO
[W and C slip a look at F’s notes]
C: Nice
W: Quit hogging
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Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Any suggestions for middle grade books with arab protagonists? My kid just said they dont like being arab because "we're always the bad guys."
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Aunty Donna @kebabette.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ōtautahi Christchurch book people! We Are Books has a sale in the WEA Hall today and tomorrow 10am to 4pm as well as the Bookshop itself and all its goodies. www.cwea.org.nz/we-are-books/
Book sale Book saleBooksBooks
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Micah @rincewind.run · 02/10/2026
getting mad at the pope for not thinking the chatbot has a soul is easily the funniest thing I've read all week
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Word Family Friday @wordfamilyfriday.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In which "decal" and "cockamamie" are the same word, both from French "décalcomanie"! "calque" ("to copy, to trace, to calque") is an extremely close relatively. Variously more distantly (all from Latin "calx": "heel"): "recalcitrant", "caltrop", "calzone", "Chaucer"
Directed graph visualizing the information in this thread
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Dustin A. Chacón @lingdustin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I've heard people make claims that AI would lead to a new Renaissance, but I didn't imagine it'd happen like this:
Screenshot of a Tweet from Pope Leo XIV. It reads: 

"In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgen to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity."
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alisonmarigold @alisonmarigold.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It's very good 👍🏽
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Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Councils are increasingly banning smart glasses at public facilities aboutregional.com.au/smart-glasse...
aboutregional.com.au
Smart glasses face ban at council pools as larger policy push planned | About Regional
A southern NSW council has become the latest to move to ban smart glasses over privacy concerns, but an expert…
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audioculturenz.bsky.social @audioculturenz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Student Radio Network in association with Irirangi Te Motu/NZ On Air has announced that the Aotearoa Alternative Awards are returning for 2026. And AudioCulture Iwi Waiata happily return as the sponsor of Te Whiringa Toa 2026 ki a Te Pou Hononga/The 2026 SRN Top 10 Award... 1/2 srn.nz
Aotearoa Alternative Awards 2026
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UnderTheRadar @undertheradarnz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Absolute legends of Japanese punk rock, Shonen Knife have announced local special guests for their spring tour of Aotearoa NZ — HOMESICKK?, Memory Foam, SEEK HELP!, GY-RO and Displeasure! Celebrating the release of Let's Knife Re-Cut, get tickets NOW via UTR & susiesays.co.nz
undertheradar.co.nz
Shonen Knife 'Let's Knife Re-Cut' New Zealand Tour Supports Announced
Japanese pop-punk legends are playing in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Ōamaru and Dunedin.
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alisonmarigold @alisonmarigold.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yeah, Proper Crisps just got shrinkflated after getting bought out
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JBR @jetblackraider.itch.io · 11/10/2025
the perfume meme
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Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚🇳🇿 @notjustdna.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
#NZpol Saw this excellent quote-reply to Simeon Brown’s latest attack on Labour. Worth sharing.
David Peez @RebelEkonomista

"The truck driver in Pakuranga helps pay off a lawyer's loan." No, Simeon. He doesn't. Not a cent.

When the government lends a student money, it creates the dollars and credits their account. No tradie's tax was collected and posted to a law degree. When the graduate repays, those dollars are deleted, drained back out like tax. They don't land in the truck driver's pocket either.

So nobody foots the bill. The worker and the graduate aren't on opposite sides of a ledger. Setting them against each other is the trick, and it runs on the same myth as "add it to the tab", that the government is a household counting coins. It issues the currency. The real limits are real resources and inflation, not a truck driver's tax bill.

"Someone always pays." Sure. Just never the person you keep pointing at.

Read more: http://therebeleconomist.substack.com
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Luke BOO 👻 ber @coolhand.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I hate all android keyboards, so I made one a while back that's 1) simple as hell 2) learns words locally and 3) predicts swears. I was reminded of this when someone asked about accessible android keyboards, and I can't find the thread. Anyway, here's a page. I could carry that idea further.
lukesteuber.com
LocalType | Luke Steuber
A private Android keyboard. Predictions, typo fixes and an optional on-device language model, all on your phone.
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Queen Olivia III @queenoliviaiii.com · 27/09/2026
Anyone who sees a seal in a silly place is urged to contact DOC by phoning 0800 DOC HOT (362 468), with sightings noted for future conservation planning. www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3610...
stuff.co.nz
Why did the seal cross the road? To bring Wellington traffic to a halt
Police officers appeared to use road cones to persuade the “pretty small” seal not to cross the road, but it was too headstrong to obey.
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te pua o te rēinga @cucumber.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
on display at world of wearable art this year a werewere kōkako brassiere
Saar Snoek blue mushroom and moss brassiere on a mannequin
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Derek Lowe @dereklowe.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I note that the picture of the "European Academy of Engineering" that comes up in Google Maps is an altered version a 2022 picture of a main building of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The facade has been digitally reworked to make it look like the engineering academy!
A side by side comparison of an altered version (top) of a Gothenburg University building versus the actual 2022 photo (bottom), which was a show of solidarity with Ukraine
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Kristian Svennevig @ksvenenvig.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
3D-print your own landslide! New paper out in @geomorphica.bsky.social "Open access 3D-printable landslide models for outreach and teaching" journals.psu.edu/geomorphica/...
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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A world of always-on cameras and microphones on peoples' bodies is a very serious privacy and security problem for the people wearing them and for everyone around them.
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Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.
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Kate Bevan @katebevan.com · 24/09/2026
*extremely tired voice*AI agents don't "go rogue". They are not sentient; they don't have agency. They work within guardrails set by humans. If the humans are so shit at building secure sandboxes for the agents to work within, that's on the humans. Stop using this framing.
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Dr. Cassandra Mudgway @legallyfeminist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Re sharing this oped I wrote about Smart Glasses for... reasons #nzpol (The reasons are Meta have launched their AI enabled Smart Glasses in NZ and that sucks) www.rnz.co.nz/news/science...
rnz.co.nz
Smart glasses make secret filming easier. What does NZ law actually protect you from?
Analysis: At a glance, they look much like ordinary eyewear.
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Emily Grubert @gruberte.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I think I’ve underestimated how radical it is to be an “actually, we don’t need more data” guy in the age of AI
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Tracy Lord of the Nazgûl @seeemilyplay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
everyone’s culturally irish til you ask em to show even a fraction of the moral courage sinéad o’connor did
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 19/09/2026
A cancer vaccine succeeded in a clinical trial in preventing the recurrence of melanoma, a result experts say is a breakthrough for mRNA-based treatments. Trials for lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and other diseases' vaccines are also underway.
washingtonpost.com
A melanoma vaccine was hailed as a breakthrough. Which cancers are next?
Trials investigating mRNA vaccines for lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and other diseases are already underway.
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Episode 2 is up! Beforecast, my new podcast about history and our present, starting with a deep dive into Machiavelli. beforecast.fm has links to all the podcast sites, and the YouTube link is below.
beforecast.fm
Beforecast — Now Live
Historian Ada Palmer on the real Machiavelli. Episode 1 is out now. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube and more.
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Dr Emma L Briant 🇬🇧 in 🇺🇸 w/ 🐕 @emma-briant.co.uk · 25/11/2025
NEW: My Udemy course 'Propaganda & Disinformation for Beginners' has helped students in 26 countries worldwide strengthen their armour against disinformation since it launched 2 years ago. Techniques Cambridge Analytica used to secretly profile millions have become a vastly profitable industry.. /1
World map showing students from 26 countries and in 9 languages.
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Heather R @kiwienzian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
This evening I learned that Auckland Council has deployed guard-llamas to protect sheep at their farms at Ambury Park and Puhinui! www.rnz.co.nz/news/country...
rnz.co.nz
Llamas reduce number of dog attacks on sheep on Auckland council farms
Correction: A previous version of this story referred to a dog attack last June. It actually took place in January.
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alisonmarigold @alisonmarigold.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Listen to @bloodwork.show
Cropped photo of a slide at a conference with a quote by W. Edwards Deming "learning is not compulsory... neither is survival" and a sepia photo of W. Edwards Deming.
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Nicolas Hénin @nicolashenin.net · 17/09/2026
Nice campaign by the Norwegian Consumer Council about the declining lifespan of products. Enjoy!
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alisonmarigold @alisonmarigold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Letizea at Ord Legal
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