iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 03/10/2026

Yeah. Looked like a no.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 01/10/2026

You can vote in areas where you own property even if you don't live there. This is from the LGNZ website:

Screenshot that says:

"Live in one area, pay rates in another?
Voters who live in one area and pay rates on a property in another area may qualify to vote in both areas. To do this you need to be registered on the Ratepayer Roll. Find out more."

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 01/10/2026

Listen, people give journalists and journalism a hard time but honestly, where else can you get quality up-to-the-minute reporting like this?

Herald Facebook post that reads (IN ITS ENTIRETY): Emergency services rush to scene of incident in Auckland suburb.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 24/09/2026

Apparently I'm chaotic good. politicalcompass.org/test

Political four-box grid that puts me in the mostly left, mostly libertarian group.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 22/09/2026

Look! lol how fabulous my wife is!

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 22/09/2026

Thanks Apple. I hate it.

My phone Home Screen with a red 1 notification on the settings icon which relates to Apple telling me to upgrade my iCloud storage, a service I do not use.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 19/09/2026

Oh no. It’s a terrible fuel spill. #RoofJuice

A glorious sunny spring day in Auckland with high, whispy clouds and some trees.

Screenshot of my solar array currently sucking down 12.3 kW of sunlight, running the house and charging the battery while also exporting to the grid.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 18/09/2026

OK what the fuck is this all about?

Screenshot of the Pink Floyd page on iTunes which suggests I might like to pay $35.99 for The Wall double album or similar for A Momentary Lapse.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 17/09/2026

Powering the house. Charging the battery. Pushing to the grid. All at the same time. #RoofJuice

Screenshot of my house’s solar capabilities. First time I’ve seen the roof provide enough energy to do all three things at once.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 15/09/2026

Our population is ageing and soon we will have more people outside work than of working age. We aren't having anywhere near enough babies to balance that and babies take time to reach working age, despite what you've been told. This is a global trend and means there's a new gold rush underway. 1/n

A chart showing national population projections from 2024 through to 2078. The percentage of people in retirement today is around 16%: by 2078 it's around 30%.

https://explore.data.stats.govt.nz/vis?fs[0]=Society%2C1%7CPopulation%20projections%23CAT_POPULATION_PROJECTIONS%23%7CNational%20population%20projections%23CAT_NATIONAL_POPULATION_PROJECTIONS%23&pg=0&fc=Society&bp=true&snb=3&vw=tb&df[ds]=ds-nsiws-disseminate&df[id]=POPPR_NAT_008&df[ag]=STATSNZ&df[vs]=1.0&dq=P50.2024%2B2025%2B2026%2B2027%2B2028%2B2032%2B2038%2B2043%2B2048%2B2053%2B2058%2B2063%2B2068%2B2073%2B2078.BTH%2BDTH%2BNATINC%2BNETMIG%2BTOTPOP%2BPCT0014%2BPCT1539%2BPCT4064%2BPCT6500%2BPCT8500%2BMEDAGE&to[TIME]=false

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 14/09/2026

This really is not the draw card you think it is any longer.

Screenshot of an advert for a retirement village that is "one street from the water[front]" which looks lovely but fails to take into account that it will indeed be under water in the next couple of decades. Guess that resale value won't be too high then, eh?

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 11/09/2026

Yeah, Herald you might want to look at that headline because I'm not sure the daughter has been convicted of sexual assault here.

NZ Herald headline says "'He's the breadwinner': Wife backs husband over daughter's sexual assault convictions."

He's been found guilty of sexually assaulting her so the headline is shockingly inaccurate.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 09/09/2026

I’m having Apple Music issues again. Does anyone know why this keeps happening? Albums will download the first three songs but not the rest.

Screenshot of an Apple Music purchase where three songs are ready to play but the rest are listed as “purchased” but I can’t do a thing with the.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 02/09/2026

That's what El Niño is all about.

Weather maps of New Zealand September-November this year showing rainfall in yellow on the left (mostly below average except for West Coast of South Island which is above) and forecast temperature in red on the right (mostly above average except for West Coast of South Island which is average).

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 28/08/2026

Taken from the safety of the gazebo

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 28/08/2026

Not ideal conditions but they’re having fun.

A collection of wet archers with umbrellas.

Archers and judges out standing in their field.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 28/08/2026

My favourite part and I'm only one paragraph in.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 27/08/2026

While I'm talking up Proton's services of COURSE there's a major outage. So instead, let me talk up Proton's approach to communicating with customers. See below. For added value, if I want more updates I can sign up to receive them via Slack. This is how it's done.

An outage page from Proton's status page that lists what is being done, even if it's only "still investigating" to keep customers informed. Ka pai.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 26/08/2026

Can't really see for the tree but on the left side you've got no parking for quite some way, while on the right there are only three dashes, making it impossible to see past the cars when you're pulling out. It used to be longer but didn't get painted so...

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 24/08/2026

Made sure to give it a flyer on worker’s rights. #UnionMan

A robot stands ready to be exploited by the Man.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 23/08/2026

I wonder which of these three will still have their jobs by Chris-tmas.

Screenshot from RNZ's website showing Chrises Hipkins and Luxon flanking the Opportunity Party's leader Qiulae Wong. The caption reads: "Opportunity in kingmaker position, new poll shows" and the sub head mentions both Chrises but not Qiulae.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 19/08/2026

This popped up on my feed. I now have proof positive that social media is listening to me.

Screenshot that says "Shitstinct. The uncanny ability to make the worst possible decision without hesitation."

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 18/08/2026

Ever heard of Traveller pies? No, me either till some Aussie comedian mentioned them. Designed for the one-handed driver/pie consumer. NEW ZILD WE NEED TO RECOGNISE THE CHALLENGE WE FACE

A rectangular pie that is designed for eating while driving. Called a Traveller, this is the 'classic beef' and has a blob of tomato sauce on it.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 17/08/2026

I only ask because: www.dpmc.govt.nz/sites/defaul...

Screenshot of section 2.83 of the New Zealand Cabinet Manual which says to avoid conflicts of interest "Ministers should exercise careful judgement about possible conflicts between their constituency interest and their ministerial roles" and that the "Secretary of the Cabinet is available to advise in cases of doubt".

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 16/08/2026

Not much of a loyalty scheme really. Less than a point for a flight to Sydney. I didn’t know you could get less than a whole airpoint.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 13/08/2026

I don't know how accurate or even if it's true but I think if we all squeeze our eyes shut REALLLLLLLY TIGHTLY we can make it happen.

A screenshot showing Clacton Polling results from 12 August suggesting Count Bin Face has 53% of the vote while Nigel Farage has only 47%.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 06/08/2026

Now that, my friends, is a good morning.

Auckland city, with a small sliver of moon, on a fine, crisp winter’s day.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 05/08/2026

Ermagaaad Auckland. Tis I. Jack Frost

A slightly frosty morning on the grassy bank. 🥶

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 01/08/2026

Get up and out there you dogs. Hi Arthur!

The Mountain Green archery club nestled into the hill with Arthur the greyhound enjoying the sun.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 01/08/2026

This is the greatest thing I have read today.

It’s an Instagram post of someone else’s Mastodon post that says “my 9 year old and his classmates have stated using “that’s AI” to mean “I don’t believe you.”
Me: we’re having dinosaur meat for dinner
Kiddo: that’s AI.

The quoter says “watch out big tech, you’ve lost the second graders”.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 30/07/2026

Oh no, I have to go into town to the GP. Oh no, it’s a sunny day. Oh no, what form of transport shall I use? EV4LIFE

A blue helmet made of pure science fiction ready to come with me on my electric motorcycle.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 29/07/2026

Look for the (bump) bear necessities, the simple bear necessities...#

Youngest daughter just saw a bear across the swimming hole in the Algonquin National Park in Canada. This is that bear against a woodland backdrop. Not in the picture, the cub she was travelling with.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 21/07/2026

That explains why I got a lot of likes (for me). Damn them for not doing S2 of The Peripheral. Looking forward to Neuromancer. Keep up The Good Work sir!

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 20/07/2026

There it is just off the south coast. The Wall Around the World. Funny old Americans still think the world is a globe. Snort.

In the distance an impenetrable snowy mountain range marks the edge of the world. Beyond lies the Lip and from there… nobody has ever returned to tell the tale.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 20/07/2026

Hey can someone sort out the sundial? It’s still showing summer time.

New Zealand’s national time keeper, currently showing the wrong time. Should be an hour earlier for winter time.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 16/07/2026

Oh yeah, before I forget. The Rob Reiner nod in the final episode of The Bear is 😭😭😭

The Grandfather from the movie The Princess Bride. An older gentleman with a moustache and hat.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 15/07/2026

This was one of my favourite books growing up. New Zealand gets a mention (cricket) but largely it's a history of England snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Don't know why I bring that up now. Just popped into my head.

The cover of Stephen Pile's book "The Book of Heroic Failures". Highly recommended.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 15/07/2026

It's worth noting this chart from the exec summary: gas heating, cooking and two petrol cars costs $20k/year. Running on solar: $17k/year. My solar set up cost $24k so @$3k that's 8 years to pay it off entirely. Hands up if you think oil/power are going to stay at this price for the next 8 years?

Figure 1 compares the cost of gas plus electricity plus petrol for a two car household ($21,180/year) vs the same but using solar/battery set up and two EVs $17,160/year) leaving a savings of $3020 per year.

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