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Patrick Bowman

@pobowman.bsky.social
310 followers 186 following 232 posts

Physics teacher and politics tragic.

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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 23h
"Nobody would run a farm this way. Yet put several billion dollars into a spreadsheet, replace “farm” with “Crown”, and perfectly intelligent people can spend an election arguing about whether the accounts have improved without first agreeing what improvement is for."
tadhgstopford.substack.com
The tragedy of NZs ‘conventional wisdom’
How’s the country going?
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Mac It Look Like An Accident @macrogers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Okay so we have a number now: the Onion is officially 6 months ahead of reality.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
"I'm from Belgium, I wanted to win the Tour de France,"
share.google
Nobel physics winner's pride at pioneering AI role
Francis Halzen, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, spoke with pride on Wednesday about his early promotion of artificial intelligence in his research on neutrinos.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I really hope so. The thought of a more disappointing one.....
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Because the well-off don't already have enough ways to avoid tax. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
rnz.co.nz
ACT pledges removing tax on KiwiSaver earnings
The ACT Party has promised to remove tax on KiwiSaver earnings.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
With my physics teacher hat on, that looks like a unit conversion/decimal place error.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
PM relies on media to debunk minister.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If they want to avoid government intervention, they might want to work on their pitch a little.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
virginiaheffernan.substack.com/p/the-long-s...
virginiaheffernan.substack.com
The Long, Slow Demise of Steven Pinker
This piece first appeared in The Nerve. (Check out that British spelling.) Give it a like! And, if you like my work, please do subscribe.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 27/09/2026
Happy ten year anniversary of the 2016 blackout in South Australia. I was told that as clean power grew in Aus, we'd see a blackout apocalypse. The chart below shows blackouts for generation shortfall as columns, and renewable proportion as a percent of the eastern grid. Enjoy :)
a chart showing blackout data for Australia
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
With twin floppy drives!
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Because they don't know it will work. From the article "Clinical trials are ongoing to find a licensed vaccine for the current outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no licensed vaccine or treatment."
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I'd say it's an extraordinarily generous gift to the world for the US to push its postgrads out like this.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Make a band edible: The Rolling Scones
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This was pitched at voters who mostly don't live in or near central Auckland and for whom the existence of the station is of little relevance. But it's the Greens who are obsessed with culture wars.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Those notorious communists.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"textbook communism by stealth". Anyone seen these textbooks?
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
But the loophole that if you give the PM a schooner you get to stay still exists.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It certainly wasn't on my bingo card.
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Tom Red @tomredmemes.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
richardjmurphy.substack.com/p/what-is-re... H/t to @bernardchickey.bsky.social
richardjmurphy.substack.com
What is rent?
It’s a much bigger economic issue than most people think
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Has Labour committed to that? National has talked a lot about RUCs without doing it (to anything not electric).
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Don't you think it's weird that fuel is charged at a flat rate rather than a percentage?
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Journalists should avoid covering the race lest the IDF kill them as they run past, just out of reflex.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Just in case you need another reason not to vote for ACT. ACT promises tax-free crypto gains after a year has been shared with you from RNZ www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
rnz.co.nz
ACT promises tax-free crypto gains after a year
The ACT party wants to allow people to make tax-free profits from cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, as long as they hold onto it for more than a year.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
How's that for a headline...
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A tiny fraction of the population hoovering up the world's resources label any attempt at a just distribution "accounting fraud".
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
"Local Government Minister Simon Watts says government will cap annual council rate increases at +4%. But this is probably just electioneering. After all, this is a government that raised its own spending in the latest budget by +4.5% after pushing spending up by +6.2% in the prior year."
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Musical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
We'll be hearing more nonsense about govt spending, tax, obegalx etc over the coming months, so here's a video of some actual data. It is very clear that, even on their own measures, the Govt's fiscal strategy has completely failed. Why? Because their economic strategy has failed (what strategy?)
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
It's an outrage so intense it has left them paralysed and unable to do anything about it.
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Renew Economy @reneweconomy.com.au · 20/08/2026
A near tripling of installed battery capacity and increasingly diverse ownership of solar and wind generators is pushing down electricity prices and boosting market competition, a new report has found ow.ly/Fqgk50ZBGyf
ow.ly
"Significant shift:" Batteries are capping electricity prices and helping to bust the energy market cartel
A near tripling of installed battery capacity and increasingly diverse ownership of solar and wind generators is pushing down electricity prices and boosting market competition, a new report has found.
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Musical Chairs @musicalchairs.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
It's great that rents are falling, but don't let Bishop and his Bishboys take any credit for it. In NZ, flat rents are a sign of significant labour market / income stress. What's remarkable about this time is that we have engineered our very own recession while the rest of the world has carried on.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
"...the real test of any philosophy of life isn’t the treatise it produces, but the day it makes possible." figsinwintertime.substack.com/p/forget-the...
figsinwintertime.substack.com
Forget the good life, try the good day
What the Stoics can teach us about the only unit of life we actually control
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I wouldn't say Sydney is particularly prominent in this photo 😄
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Seems they are inspired by the community independent model from Australia.
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
www.opportunity.org.nz/opportunity-...
opportunity.org.nz
Meet the Opportunity Board
Get to know the Opportunity Board
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Morgan resigned from the party years ago.
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Count Binface @countbinface.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
An American interviewer asked me about my political beliefs. #VoteBinface
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
static.klipy.com
Old Man Captain America: No, I Don't Think I Will
ALT: Old Man Captain America: No, I Don't Think I Will
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
"Finity War"
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
This is good news
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
If you're a New Zealander, I think this is the most important account on BlueSky.
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CBCC@NYCC @cbccpodcast.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Make Judge Dredd Fiction Again. At the @2000ad.bsky.social Booth. #SDCC #CBCCatSDCC
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David Milner @davemilbo.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Here's my 30-min unedited interview with @davidshoebridge.bsky.social outside Pine Gap. We talk about escaping a rotting American empire, nukes, why the Arrernte want Pine Gap closed, and how it feels like the @albomp.bsky.social government are "in a death cult". www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5VZ...
youtube.com
"Murdoched" and Raiding Pine Gap - July 26 - Andrew Dodd, Matthew Ricketson, David Shoebridge
YouTube video by The Sunday Shot
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
There's an excellent NZ mushroom group over on Facebook who can tell you what they are
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
"The trouble right now is not oil. In fact, there's something of a temporary glut with crude. Instead, alarming shortages of refined products such as petrol, diesel and jet fuel are once again threatening the global economy." www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07...
abc.net.au
Refinery shortages create new fuel crisis
There is a rapidly escalating supply crunch that has yet to show up on oil markets. While the price of crude has risen in the past week as the fragile Iran war ceasefire has crumbled, the remarkably r...
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
"I had made a noble, grown-up decision to forgo dessert, being in need of some extra belt notches by now, only to discover there was a cheese cart gliding toward the table like a Trojan horse filled to the brim with delicious dairy fat."
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
"Asking Labor and Coalition leaders to “rule out” governing with others is a hangover of a fading two-party system, with journalists essentially asking them to disregard the will of the third of voters who are increasingly parking their votes elsewhere." This goes for New Zealand too.
crikey.com.au
Journalists, please 'rule out' this silly gotcha question to politicians
An incessant Sarah Ferguson demanded Angus Taylor 'rule out' governing with One Nation on ABC's 730 — an inane ask about a hypothetical situation. She’d be better off asking him about things he is act...
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
To implement policy. They should look for the parliamentary votes wherever they can (as should the Greens IMO).
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Patrick Bowman @pobowman.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Now *that* is a tribute.
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