iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

laragreaves.bsky.social @laragreaves.bsky.social · 11h

I can't believe they have banned jokes from our project titles. As an experienced reviewer and examiner (and public joke maker), someone being able to use humour appropriately about a subject can point to their expertise and how deeply they have thought about a topic.

35515

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Jolisa Gracewood @nzdodo.bsky.social · 8h

First, they came for the humanities; then they came for our humanity. Sooo tired of this regime of penny-pinching, brow-beating, humourless fun-police. Humour is evidence of joy in one's work! Wit is part of intellect! Puns are a normal and nifty tool of communication, in the arts AND the sciences!

46714

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 13h

Folks: the brilliant archaeological work of the Zimbabwean scientists and scholars featured in the program should not be diminished in any way. It was not their decision.

135122

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Dr. Sarah Parcak @indyfromspace.bsky.social · 13h

What the FUCK @pbs.org ... you used generative AI for archaeological reconstructions of Great Zimbabwe? Fuck you. How DARE you. You couldn't be bothered to pay actors? Animators? (Africa's Golden City, showing now- they did a "We used generative AI" disclaimer prior to the show starting)

141140232

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Behemoth & Leviathan, LP 🎃 @harkov311.bsky.social · 19h

I dunno man, I think if Russia doesn't wanna fight the rest of Europe, it should probably avoid attacking the rest of Europe. That is how it got into the war it's fighting now, you recall

320131

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Jen Taub @jentaub.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Still trying to understand how Napster got shut down, but Anthropic is going public and still hasn’t paid us authors yet after stealing our work.

15388461946

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 20h

Being GenX/Millennial is such a trip. In our lifetimes, we saw people our age getting wild criminal penalties for pirating music and now have to sit and watch as companies gobble up our work with impunity.

89114643365

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

George The Station Cat @george-station-cat.bsky.social · 21h

🐾 WELL, WOULD YOU LOOK AT ME! 📺🐈

691140172

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Aotearoa's Electoral Orange Guy @poti-aotearoa.bsky.social · 22h

General Election 2026 Deadlines Days left to enrol for the first time: 10 days Switching rolls has closed, new enrollments can still choose rolls Enrol or update here: vote.nz/enrolling/enrol-or-update/e… Remind your Friends & Whanau #nzpol

01316

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Chip Matthews @chipmatthews.bsky.social · 21h

That this is even a thing, and that this coalition has a good chance, ffs NZ That they chuck it behind the paywall as a “you should subscribe!” on a topic like this is some high level wtf

131

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚🇳🇿 @notjustdna.bsky.social · 21h

#NZpol Government selects LNG provider, starts working with them – I thought this was effectively suspended until after the election, instead it seems they’re charging ahead just with the technicality of not "yet" formally signing a contract while election is on. That now feels duplicitous.

rnz.co.nz

Government quietly selects liquefied natural gas provider

The government has quietly chosen a preferred provider for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility in Taranaki - though it is yet to sign a contract.

55431

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Kent Duston @kentduston.bsky.social · 21h

If any more evidence was needed that this government cares about money more than it cares about people, this is it #nzpol

1103

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Dr Sarah Hendrica Bickerton 🏳️‍🌈 @sarahhbickerton.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Trains, dude ... the people want trains. Give the people what they want.

817651

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Mountain Tui @mountaintui.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Māori settlements since 1975 add up to $2.7bn - that's 1.5 months of superannuation OR one small lane in the Mount Wellington tunnel Chris Bishop wants. Māori have been patiently working through the processes. TOP want to force all settlements to be completed by 2040 through public opinion

Qiulae Wong and David Seymour - separate photos

57531

Dr Aleisha Ward @nzjazzhistory.bsky.social · 20h

Hey, remember the reason Herbs wrote 'French Letter' in the early 1980s? And DLT and Che Fu wrote 'Chains' in the 1990s? Yeah, this is pretty similar- just because it's away from human infrastructure doesn't mean that it can't hurt us. ("How comes I got cyclops fish in my waters?")

041

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

There’s really only one way to mark the 99th anniversary of Roger Moore’s birth

Marc Haynes’ story: As a 7 year old in about 1983, … I was with my grandad in Nice Airport and saw Roger Moore Sitting at the departure gate, ... told my granddad i'd just seen James Bond and asked if we could go over so I could get his autograph. …so we walked over and he popped me in front of Roger Moore, with the words "my grandson says you're famous. Can you sign this?" As charming as you'd expect, Roger asks my name and signs the back of my plane ticket... I'm ecstatic, but …I glance down at the signature. … it definitely doesn't say 'James Bond'. ...I tell my grandad he's signed it wrong, … so my grandad heads back to Roger Moore...
"he says you've signed the wrong name. He says your name is James Bond." Roger Moore's face crinkled up with realisation and he beckoned me over. …he leant over, looked from side to side, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said "I have to sign my name as 'Roger Moore because otherwise...Blofeld might find out I was here." He asked me not to tell anyone …and thanked me for keeping his secret. I went back to our seats, my nerves absolutely jangling with delight. My grandad asked me if he'd signed 'James Bond.' No, I said.
I'd got it wrong. I was working with James Bond now. Many years later, I was working on a recording that involved UNICEF, and Roger Moore was doing a piece to camera as an ambassador. He was lovely and while the cameramen were setting up, I told him the story. He …had a chuckle and said "Well, I don't remember but I'm glad you got to meet James Bond." So that was lovely. And then he did something so brilliant. After the filming, he walked past me in the corridor, heading out to his car - but as he got level, he paused looked both ways, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said, "Of course I remember our meeting in Nice. But I didn't say anything in there, because those cameramen - any one of them could be working for Blofeld."
I was as delighted at 30 as I had been at 7. What a man. What a tremendous man.

382670771

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Funksta Uzz @funksta-uzz.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

… cops & military regularly engage in criminality, we maintain alliances with the US as it exports violence across the globe, and large corporates based here push people into poverty and destroy land and water, but sadly hardly anyone has conniptions about politicians engaging with them.

1183

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Funksta Uzz @funksta-uzz.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

JFC, 1News led with outrage about the TPM/Greens gang hui. I wish people would realise that violence & suffering at the hands of the state far outweighs anything attributed to gangs. Erosion of public health, environmental pollution, removing rights of migrants & trans NZers, etc. Meanwhile … #nzpol

25413

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Bruce Buckman @brucebuckman.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Oh yes we are competing so impressively against OECD countries with capital gains taxes. We really knocking it outta the park.

Luxon says New Zealand's lack of a capital gains tax is a competitive advantage.

4478

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Lissa Carlino @lissacarlino.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

I am very concerned about this election. The vibe is very USA 2024. A time when Americans thought for sure they had all learned their lesson & there was no way they would ever vote in the orange cheeto again. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. And look at the USA now. Don’t eff up, Kiwis. #nzpol

3419

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

KITTEN ADOPTION KLAXON Gravy needs a home in the Baltimore/DC area ASAP, preferably one with other young cats. After the sudden death of her only sister, she really craves playtime with other kittens. Gravy is fully vaccinated and spayed, cuddly and playful, and learns what is ok and not ok fast.

gray kitten sleeping, curled into a cinnamon roll shape

gray kitten sitting on a wooden letter box, looking up expectantly

gray kitten lying on her back reaching her paws out to you

15887385

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Katya @nzkatya.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Just saw a guy returning a big pile of National Party signs to Dan Bidois' office. If Bidois hadn't been such a dick and plastered the fence with so many signs nobody would have complained. But then, he is a dick #nzpol

NZH article titled "Signing off: Hoardings ordered from fence" with a photo of a fence covered in over 2 dozen National Party, 3 Labour, 2 Opportunity and 2 NZF election signs Article says owner of the land, NZTA, has said signs must be removed as no permission had been given. National Party MP Dan Bidois complains that election signs have been put there before

3558

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

T✨ @tastromo.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

“Tamatha Paul being right” could provide the energy to power the entire country if we could electrify her lol

0103

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

the company's total revenue in 2025 was $23 million. it was spending $18.5 million per month before legal fees (and it has been sued in a suicide case + is facing tons of regulatory scrutiny). it could barely cover one month of expenses with its revenue for the entire year

7914113

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Character is still losing $9 million a month AFTER - laying off employees - making its model worse on purpose to be cheaper - moving to open source models - adding usage limits - spamming ads in its product - adding new in-app paid products

26. At all times, Character has struggled with profitability and its operational
expenditure has been high. For example, in the second half of 2024, following the 2024
Transaction, Character’s operating expenses (excluding legal fees) averaged approximately $21.9
million per month, including monthly compute costs of approximately $13.8 million. In fiscal year
2025, operating expenses (excluding legal fees) averaged approximately $18.5 million per month,
including monthly compute costs of approximately $10.0 million.
27. Character has, however, taken significant steps to reduce its operating burn,
including transitioning inference workloads to lower-cost GPU capacity and post-training openweight
models rather than developing proprietary foundation models. At the same time, Character
reduced its employee headcount and consolidated its facilities. As a result, operating expenses
(excluding legal fees) had declined to approximately $13.3 million by August 2026, a reduction of
approximately 39% from the second half of 2024 monthly average and approximately 28% from
the 2025 monthly average. Finally, net cash burn per month had declined to approximately $8.2
million by August 2026, compared with monthly averages of approximately $21.5 million in the
second half of 2024 and approximately $17.6 million in 2025

Character has also worked to build and diversify revenue, which it primarily derives
from subscriptions and in-app advertising. Monthly subscription revenue was approximately $0.6
Case 26-11603-BLS Doc 18 Filed 10/13/26 Page 11 of 26
12
million in January 2024, but due to increased marketing and other efforts, by August of 2026, this
revenue stream was $2.8 million. In mid-2025, Character launched in-app advertising and
partnered with multiple advertising networks to generate additional revenue sources. In March
2026, Character entered into an amended programmatic revenue-share and incentive arrangement
with a leading online advertisement provider. Monthly advertising revenue grew from
approximately $0.5 million in July 2025, its first full month, to approximately $2.5 million in
August 2026. In early 2026, Character also introduced in-app purchases. As a result of all these
efforts, total revenue grew from approximately $7.4 million in fiscal year 2024 to approximately
$23.6 million in fiscal year 2025.

81128173

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

New: I pulled the Character ai bankruptcy documents. They show: - They were spending $14 million/month on compute alone at a time their revenue was around ~$1 million/month - Currently losing $9 million a month - They admitted they enshittified & that it didnt work www.404media.co/character-ai...

404media.co

Character.ai's Bankruptcy Documents Show the Economics of AI Don't Work

Character.ai enshittified its product but was still burning tons of cash, its bankruptcy documents say.

8051961974

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Thalia @thaliathalia.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Yes. That was easy!

4508

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Ka pū te ruha - Toitū Te Tiriti @kaputeruha.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

The Greens wealth tax would be barely noticeable to the ultra wealthy. It would not stop anyone from innovating. The narrative from the right is ridiculous. Anyone who would flee for paying a tiny fraction more to support the country they live in does not care about it. #nzpol

24515

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Briony Neilson @brionyneilson.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

This is a) a scene from a never-released episode of The Avengers shot in Auckland. b) a group of airline crew from New Zealand's National Airways Corporation modelling their in-flight uniform in 1970. You decide. (Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand) 🗃️

colour photo of four women wearing strikingly modish airline uniforms

85515

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 13/10/2026

Oh hell yes, greens, who actually noticed that new zealand science funding has been decimated and actually want to fix it!!! #nzpol

Green party economic dev plan wuth science rebuild circled in red

413040

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Russell Brown @publicaddress.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Just to note that both the TVNZ Archives and the National Film Unit Collection are managed by ... Getty Images.

811250

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Tze Ming Mok 莫志明 @tzemingdynasty.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

This just came through on the chat @basicbishop.bsky.social, can't believe you are saving your best content for twitter bro

Kaitaia Friar @basicbishopnz on Twitter and here:
With polling continuing to tumble, things are getting desparate for da luxxo campaign

Photo-edited version of screenshot from the classic Black Mirror episode 1 'The National Anthem'. The Prime Minister approaches a sheep from behind, in a dark, curtained room, with porn playing on screens set up in front of the sheep. The sheep feeds placidly from a bowl. The PM is bald, the sheep is green.

68320

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Cats of Yore @catsofyore.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Mommmmm I'm borrrrrrrred. Photo from my collection, no date/info.

Black and white photo of a white woman in smart blazer and matching skirt, reading in an armchair by a fireplace. A shorthaired white cat is lying on the floor in front of the unlit fireplace, sprawled out looking bored.

121738135

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Musicology Duck @musicologyduck.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

the video not being behind the paywall is so brutal

21240219

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Dr. Rose Bridges (she/her or they/them) @composerose.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

The worst music history fuck-up that annoys me (the Kate & Leopold "La boheme" thing, will explain in replies) is probably more "They had the wrong king" level, but there are a looooot of musical anachronisms in period films. Why are Lizzy and Darcy in the 1790s dancing to something from 1695?

391

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

John Picacio @johnpicacio.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Publishers Weekly called today, asking questions about the Must Read Magazines contract situation. Did a 38-minute interview w/ them. This story isn’t going away. ICYMI: I’ll fight just as hard for the rights of the kid entering the industry as I will for my own. Don’t f**k w/ artists’ rights.

1133070

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Any typos spotted in this post spent a few wonderful hours zooming into the countryside to go for a midday walk today. If typos spotted, they'll be smiling to themselves as they remember two little goats having a rather wonderful time.

11464

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

A duo of brown and white spotted baby goats have found THE BEST furry rock to play on. It might be very big. It might have horns. It might moo. But it's an awful lot of fun. (Giant Bull is chewing his cud while being maximumly unbothered by the goat party taking place on his back.)

425217

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

A young human (8?) is playing a game of tennis with Dad on a country tennis court. The net might be a bit frayed. The court may have the odd weed growing around the edges but they don't mind. Eyes on the ball at all times. It's Young Human's turn to serve!

21554

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Two teens (15?) are sitting cross legged in front of a picket fence. Talking as they wield paint brushes paint the fence dark grey. A fluffy white cat sitting nearby, supervising with half-closed kitty eyes.

21664

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

In a bohemian country town, a barefoot woman, wearing a floaty blue and white dress, is carrying a small brown puppy down the street. Calling out to friend: "First visit to the vet! She was a champ!" Champ Puppy accepts all congratulations pats as her due.

11846

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

George Penney @georgepenney.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

🧵Spotted in Country Aotearoa New Zealand: A tiny human (2?) is holding Mum's hand as they walk to the end of a VERY LONG driveway and check their letterbox. Waving at cars as they go by. Doing a happy dance when Mum discovers that they have mail.

125033

Reposted by Dr Aleisha Ward

Academic Chatter @academic-chatter.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

You are not a failure. You've given your life to work you love and you're excellent at it, and it matters, even when the system acts like it doesn't. Solidarity.

1162