iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Peter Sime @petesi.me · 15/09/2026

A year ago on 10 September 2025, I bought this exact 2 TB SATA SSD for NZ $189. Today, it's more than twice the price. Its effect on memory costs has been observed for months now, but #fuckAI

A screenshot from PB Tech showing a 2 TB SSD costing $458.85

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 13/09/2026

I have voted for the sea bird/tree bird coalition. #BotY #nzpol

Screenshot of my votes cast in Bird of the Year: the Northern Royal Albatross, Fantail, Tūī, and Kōkako

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 11/08/2026

Made this back when the last #spill ( #spull?) was rumoured. #nzpol

A "Knives Out" promotional poster photoshopped with coalition MPs instead of the original cast. The title has been changed to "CoCs Out"

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 03/08/2026

On the one hand, a photo walk might seem appealing. On the other hand, to hell with that.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 16/07/2026

The bloke in Auckland who labels every #eqnz as extreme is still there, which in a way is reassuring.

Screenshot of a map demonstrating "felt reports" of a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Fiordland, NZ

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 09/07/2026

Mānawatia a Matariki. Here's a picture I took of Matariki/the Pleiades in December. #Matariki

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 25/06/2026

Looks pointedly at NZ Labour #nzpol

1st screenshot of 2

Tweet from Hunter Biden:

I'm not running for office. But if I were, these are some of the lessons I'd take away from what happened in NY yesterday.

1. Authenticity is measurable. Voters can smell a focus group from a mile away.

2. Endorsements from the current Democratic leadership now read like warnings. The establishment wing of the party is no longer a sword. It's a question mark.

3. Conviction beats caution. The candidates who said hard things about rent, about who pays for what, about Gaza, they won. The triangulators lost.

4. Cost of living is everything. Everything else is wallpaper.

2nd screenshot of 2 (Hunter Biden's tweet continued)

5. The middle is not a strategy. It's an empty room. Voters reached past the establishment to grab someone who actually believes something.

6. Don't fear the base. Court it. The Democrats who ran from their own voters lost. The ones who ran toward them won.

7. If you want to lead a party you have to be willing to fight inside it. Mamdani didn't ask permission. He took the field.

The lesson under the lessons: the country is tired of being managed. People want to be led.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 30/05/2026

If you've ever read Mad on Radium: New Zealand in the Atomic Age by @rkpriestley.bsky.social you'll know we've taken a long, hard look at nuclear power in NZ before and the economics just don't work. #nzpol

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 29/05/2026

Paragraph 103 of the papal encyclical this week. I don't think any Catholic can support the government's steps towards AI in benefit applications today. I certainly don't. #nzpol

Indeed, entrusting an algorithm in practice with the power to select who is worthy or not, without anyone bearing responsibility for that judgment, is to hand over the task of redefining the boundaries of human possibilities. In this process, political responsibility is also lost, not just empathy toward those excluded, which can, after all, be simulated. The exclusion of the vulnerable becomes cloaked in a veneer of neutrality and objectivity, against which it becomes difficult to raise objections. In this way, injustice goes unnoticed, and compassion, mercy and forgiveness — understood not as mere appearances but as real political actions — gradually disappear from view.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 29/05/2026

Sometimes interesting images present themselves in your own backyard. I took this photo of a flight from Sydney to Santiago in Dunedin today.

A jet flying over Dunedin with contrails.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 21/05/2026

Just sit with this for a minute. That cold knot of rage in your stomach is entirely normal. Because you are a normal, empathetic person who believes everyone should be clothed, fed, and housed. Nicola Willis is not a normal person. I think she might actually be a sociopath. #nzpol

Finance minister says New Zealanders living in social housing have "won the Lotto"

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 11/05/2026

This raises questions. Will any cheese do? And just how big a piece are we talking? Does "fascinate" mean confusion or interest? "May" is heavy lifting here, too. A woman confident in herself could *know* she is cheeseworthy. To borrow from Pratchett, this isn't so much witchcraft as whichcraft.

A page of spells, charms and incantations saying you may fascinate a woman by giving her a piece of cheese.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 21/04/2026

It's official. He's embattled. #nzpol

Screenshot from The Guardian describing Christopher Luxon as "embattled".

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 16/04/2026

Her top campaign contributor is AIPAC. Of course she wants to see this war continue.

Screenshot from opensecrets.org showing Rep. Stefanik's top contributor in 2023-2024 was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), with campaign contributions over $350,000.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 24/03/2026

Ah yes, the bloke who negotiated a coalition agreement with Seymour and Peters - people who both routinely humiliate him - is trying to negotiate with other countries for fuel. He's a big business boy doing a big business. Should be easy, right? #nzpol

Christopher Luxon talks into his phone in a tweet revealing his discussions with Anwar Ibrahim, the PM of Malaysia.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 19/03/2026

Be on your guard, New Zealand. Right wing governments love a crisis. It gives them an excuse for austerity and asset sales. #nzpol #oilcrisis #shockdoctrine

Book cover of "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 13/03/2026

Yeah, I don't particularly like Windows 11 either. But this gave me a giggle in the search bar.

On this day March 13 Uranus discovered, 1781

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 12/03/2026

Brent crude is over $100 now. #OilCrisis #IranWar

Screenshot of Brent crude oil price at $100.30 a barrel.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 10/02/2026

The latest Transparency International Corruption Perception Report is out and NZ is not doing as well as we're used to. Slipping from a peak of 91/100 in the mid 2010s to 81/100 last year. We also slipped 2 places in overall rank since 2024. #nzpol #corruption www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025/...

Screenshot of a graph of the Corruption Perceptions Index score for New Zealand showing it go from a peak of 91/100 in 2014-2016 to 81/100 in 2025.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 22/01/2026

You know you're in for a good book when you're nodding enthusiastically in agreement with the first paragraph. From "Understanding Media: Communication, Power and Social Change" by James Curran and Joanna Redden #nzpol

There is something about new communications technology which causes level-headed academics, sober investors, respected government ministers and sceptical journalists to lose their critical faculties. Time and again they have given credence to forecasts about an imminent media revolution only to find themselves eating humble pie. It is worth recalling their neophiliac folly in order to avoid repeating it in new ways.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 13/01/2026

Crikey, did @naomiaklein.bsky.social have to be this prescient in 2007?

Naomi Klein describes a Corporatist system in her 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 28/12/2025

Finally Dunedin had a clear night recently and I could spend a couple of hours imaging the Sculptor Pinwheel Galaxy. This little smudge is 6 million light years away.

The Sculptor Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as NGC 300 or Caldwell 70.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 21/12/2025

This tumblr post from exwife-of-frankenstein has been popping up all over the place in recent weeks. It rings so damn true.

The image contains a social media post that summarizes the frustrations and annoyances of modern technology and consumer culture.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 20/12/2025

On my summer reading list.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 20/12/2025

Sometimes I really am a 12 year old at heart.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 12/12/2025

There was a break in the cloud last night for a while. I think it's the law - or at least a convention - that people getting into #astrophotography take a shot of the Orion nebula as their first image. The highlights are a bit overexposed, but I'm happy with it.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 10/12/2025

My first photo with my smart telescope.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 14/11/2025

In the 2010s, my city adopted street lighting that makes a real difference.

A comparison of the night sky between the heavy light pollution of unshielded sodium streetlights and shielded LEDs.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 02/11/2025

Look, @newsroom.co.nz I love ya, but you have got to do something about the floating banner on your site. It's like I'm reading an article through a letterbox slot. #nzpol

Screenshot of an article from newsroom.co.nz

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 22/10/2025

Given tomorrow's weather warning, it's looking ever more doubtful I can rally in support of the #MegaStrike, so here's my sign. #nzpol

A placard of the "distracted boyfriend" meme, with Luxon's head in place of the BF's, the outraged GF with "Health" and "Education" in text over her torso and the distracting woman in red with "Landlords" and "Tobacco" written on her.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 16/10/2025

She was cool. Apparently she's just learning at the moment but her owner said she enjoys protests.

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Peter Sime @petesi.me · 15/10/2025

A few photos from the protest against Luxon at the rear entrance to the Art Gallery in Dunedin this morning. I'd say about 15-20 were there, although there were more people at the main entrance. #nzpol

A protester flying the Tino Rangatiratanga flag. Dunedin, 16 October 2025.

A protesting dog. Dunedin, 16 October 2025.

Protesters and police, Dunedin, 16 October 2025.

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