iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 12/06/2026

Elon could buy every home in NZ and still have cash to spare…?

Screenshot of RBNZ stats, showing NZD$1.66T total value of nz housing stock

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 28/05/2026

I did not see the c under the bridge from across the train… thought that message was a lot darker

Auckland Transport sign on a train. Pic is a train track next to Tamaki Drive with water on both sides. Text says “The view on trains is changing”, but the c is obscured beneath a bridge.

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 11/04/2026

Some wild pre cyclone lighting in South Auckland

Sunset photo worth a toddler looking at the view on a deck. Lots of vivid orange colours.

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 03/03/2026

Eclipse! Looks more red in pics, but moon looks less illuminated to the eye

Picture of the moon during a lunar eclipse. Moon is perhaps 3/4 shaded, with a peach hue.

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 03/02/2026

I guess this is one way to make more hydro power in NZ

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 27/11/2024

Just because I could, I created a Prometheus exporter for the Bluesky firehose. Perhaps not the most efficient way to collect these metrics, but it's a fun experiment to see what's possible!

github.com

GitHub - benclapp/bsky_firehose_exporter: Prometheus exporter for the Bluesky firehose.

Prometheus exporter for the Bluesky firehose. . Contribute to benclapp/bsky_firehose_exporter development by creating an account on GitHub.

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Michael Bain @mikejbain.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Stuff is reporting that Parliament grounds are essentially full with still thousands on the hikoi yet to arrive. I am so so proud to be tangata Tiriti & Pākehā today. Te Tiriti gives me a place to stand here in this whenua alongside tangata whenua. Thank you Aotearoa. PHOTO: Megan Jones

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Tze Ming Mok 莫志明 @tzemingdynasty.bsky.social · 16/08/2024

Melissa Derby breaking new ground as NZ's first ever pro-racism Race Relations Comissioner

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Cinderella Mechanicus @hroethgar.bsky.social · 19/07/2024

TIME TO RELEASE THE MEME

The Banner/Thor meme.

Banner: You expect better from a security appliance.
Thor: Do you though?

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Coyote / J. Stryker 🇨🇦 | Memento Vivere 🍃 @easterncoyote.bsky.social · 09/07/2024

I suspect that some of you are feeling this quote, too? "The most painful anguish that mortals suffer is to understand a great deal but to have no power at all." —Herodotus

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Hadespuppy @hadespuppy.bsky.social · 07/07/2024

I know the latest NZ election outcome was less than good, but jesus.

Tumblr post from user sapphia

USA please listen to me: the price of “teaching them a lesson” is too high. take it from New Zealand, who voted our Labour government out in the last election because they weren’t doing exactly what we wanted and got facism instead.

Trans rights are being attacked, public transport has been defunded, tax cuts issued for the wealthy, they've mass-defunded public services, cut and attacked the disability funding model, cut benefits, diverted transport funding to roads, cut all recent public transport subsidies, cancelled massive important infrastructure projects like damns and ferries (we are three ISLANDS), fast tracked mining, oil, and other massive environmentally detrimental projects and gave the power the to approve these projects singularly to three ministers who have been wined and dined by lobbyists of the companies that have put the bids in to approve them while

one of the main minister infers he will not prioritise the protection of endangered species like the archeys frog over mining projects that do massive environmental harm. They have attacked indigenous rights in an attempt to negate the Treaty of Waitangi by “redefining it”; as a backup, they are also trying to remove all mentions of the treaty from legislation starting with our Child Protection laws no longer requiring social workers to consider the importance of Maori children’s culture when placing those children; when the Waitangi Tribunal who oversees indigenous matters sought to enquire about this, the Minister for Children blocked their enquiry in a breach of comity that was condemned in a ruling — too late to do anything — by our Supreme Court.

They have repealed labour protections around pay and 90 day trials, reversed our smoking ban, cancelled our EV subsidy, cancelled our water infrastructure scheme that would have given Maori iwi a say in water asset management, cancelled our biggest city’s fuel tax, made our treasury and inland revenue departments less accountable, dispensed of our Productivity Commission, begun work on charter schools and military boot camps in an obvious push towards privatisation, cancelled grants for first home buyers, reduced access to emergency housing, allowed no cause evictions, cancelled our Maori health system that would have given Maori control over their own public medical care and funding, cut funding of services like budgeting advice and food banks, cancelled the consumer advocacy council, cancelled our medicine regulations, repealed free prescriptions,

deferred multiple hospital builds, failed to deliver on pre-election medical promises, reversed a gun ban created in response to the mosque shootings, brought back three strikes = life sentence policy, increased minimum wage by half the recommended amount, cancelled fair pay for disabled workers, reduced wheelchair services, reversed our oil and gas exploration ban, cancelled our climate emergency fund, cut science research funding including climate research, removed limits on killing sea lions, cut funding for the climate change commission, weakened our methane targets, cancelled Significant National Areas protections, have begun reversing our ban on live exports. Much of this was passed under urgency.

It’s been six months.

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the Juice Media @thejuicemedia.com · 14/06/2024

The Government™ has made an ad about the state of Democracy™ and it’s surprisingly honest and informative. Feat. 🇮🇳 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🇮🇱 🇵🇸 🇺🇲 🇿🇦 🇮🇩 🇵🇰 🇮🇷 🇷🇸 🇲🇽 🇻🇪 🇧🇾 🇷🇺 🇧🇬 www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCph...

youtube.com

Honest Government Ad | the state of Democracy™ 🌎

The Government™ has made an ad about the state of Democracy™ around the world, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative. Feat. 🇮🇳 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🇮🇱 🇵🇸 ...

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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 10/06/2024

i hear you little buddy

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 01/06/2024

This is a very good idea, friends

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Corey Quinn @quinnypig.com · 30/05/2024

Getting pretty tired of this being almost my entire tech news feed these days.

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Grumpy @grumpyyetamusin.bsky.social · 30/05/2024

This tax cut isn't even pissing on us when we're on fire; it's pissing in our faces whilst our body's on fire.

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Aditya Mukerjee 🦦 🏳️‍🌈 @chimeracoder.bsky.social · 23/05/2024

Google, 1998: We're going to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Imagine the whole world's knowledge in your pocket! Google 2024: Drink your own piss. Now eat glue.

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Hayden Donnell @haydendonnell.bsky.social · 30/04/2024

not sure I've seen a politician employ "things are only bad right now because we're enacting our policies" as a messaging strategy before. It's a bold play and I'm keen to see how it goes

"Well, it's not positive at the moment because we're having to make some pretty tough decisions. It's not easy when you've got people losing their jobs in the public service. It's not easy, right," Luxon explained.

"It is not easy to actually put sanctions on beneficiaries not holding their obligations on the jobseeker benefit, it is not easy to evict unruly tenants out of [Kainga Ora]. So, I get all of that, right. But we have a hell of a mess to fix, we are going to turn the show around. And I am sorry, but I am not going to get bounced around by polls."

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fredesque @fredtaming.bsky.social · 18/04/2024

me: no one believes me when i say there's a secret race of horse-people therapist: try to ignore the naysayers me: the fucking who

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 16/04/2024

Strands #45 “The long run” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵

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Coley @coleytangerina.bsky.social · 08/04/2024

I am sympathetic to people who feel so hopeless in the face of climate change, exploitation and oppression that they become nihilists and either passively or actively feel that humans might be better off going extinct. But for what? For a system that's only 500 years old?

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 22/03/2024

The Government has stopped paying for sensors that allow parents of kids with diabetes to sleep through the night without worrying about ‘Dead in bed’ syndrome. The money will instead go to landlord millionaires. Some will get over $1m/yr in tax benefits. thekaka.substack.com/p/paying-for...

thekaka.substack.com

Paying for tax cuts by not funding insulin pumps and glucose monitors for disabled kids

Ministry confirms funding pulled for new insulin pumps & glucose monitors, raising carer fears of 'Dead in Bed syndrome'; Simmonds didn't tell Cabinet of funding halt designed to help pay for tax cuts

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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 21/03/2024

I wrote about the idea of irreversibility in climate change and its incompatibility with politics five years ago. Doesn’t seem wrong now.

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Ryan North @ryannorth.ca · 16/02/2024

Love this story: Air Canada's chatbot gives false advice on booking a bereavement ticket, guy gets screwed, then Air Canada then argues its chatbot is a SEPARATE LEGAL ENTITY FROM THEM THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS OWN ACTIONS. lol wut anyway they lost the case hardcore www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

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Keith Ng @keithng.bsky.social · 13/02/2024

Hot cost of living tip: if you put a rat over your face, the facial recognition tech will let you do whatever you want

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 07/02/2024

Log Cabin xkcd.com/2891

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J.M. Berger PRE-ORDER THE POPE'S HITMAN @jmberger.com · 08/01/2024

I see we're at stage three of my five stages of content moderation

Denial: Because our platform is inherently good, we don’t have any need for robust content moderation.

Free-speech mouth noises: OK, so despite being inherently good, we can see some problems, but our unwavering commitment to free speech precludes us from taking any robust action to solve those problems.

Bargaining: OK, so despite our unwavering commitment to free speech, we acknowledge that we still have a problem, a big one, and we need to pacify users/activists/regulators/shareholders. So while we’re still not engaging in any meaningful moderation, we agree something more needs to be done, and we’re considering many options, so please leave us alone in the meantime.

Inadequate token-effort: We’ve taken down all the beheading videos, and from now on, we’ll take beheading videos almost as seriously as we take DMCA violations. Everything else remains the same. You’re welcome.

Acceptance: ALL RIGHT ALREADY. We acknowledge we have a problem, that we are part of society, and society h

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TOM @tomwalker.bsky.social · 26/12/2023

So cute that Americans get their go at Christmas now after we’ve gotten our grubby little hands on it. How’s it feel knowing we’ve been down here saying merry Christmas to each other in our stupid fucking voices cunt. Happy haurlidaurys mate haha kept em warm for ya

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P(aul) Frazee @pfrazee.com · 21/12/2023

if bluesky tanks my next startup will be a hacker rage room where we give you a big codebase and you remove features until there's nothing left. code deletion therapy

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Ed Zitron @edzitron.com · 18/12/2023

My last newsletter of the year: Marc Andreessen's "Software Is Eating The World" mentality is responsible for every problem in tech since 2011 - and if we want to save the tech industry, we must reject him and the e/acc "growth at all costs" death cult. tinyurl.com/wyat121823

tinyurl.com

Software Is Beating The World

Editor’s Note: Due to the length of this piece, you may need to click a button to read the whole thing in your email. Every single stupid, loathsome, and ugly story in tech is a result of the fundam...

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 14/12/2023

Quick somebody tell Willis before she locks in that Corolla for the interislander replacement #nzpol

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Ben Clapp @bencl.app · 07/12/2023

The more tasks I finish, the longer my todo list becomes.

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Jason O. Gilbert @gilbertjasono.bsky.social · 29/11/2023

Do you know how big of a loser you have to be to say “Fuck advertisers” and still come off as uncool

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David Cormack @davidcormack.bsky.social · 16/10/2023

Putting the rights of minorities to a referendum is bad. A lot of people treat rights as a zero sum game, so often the majority will vote against the interests of the minority because they think that increased rights and protections for minorities means fewer for them. I will fight that so hard.

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Marc Daalder @marcdaalder.bsky.social · 07/10/2023

I've spent a year working on this investigation into New Zealand's hidden air pollution crisis and I'm stoked to share it! For those without the time for a long read, the wonderful Hugo Stewart has put together a fantastic video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnFr...