iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

It's been a great world cup. Well done to all involved. Wishing today's runners up Canada, more government support to continue to become a powerhouse. Much love to today's champions @redrosesrugby.bsky.social. You did us proud xx

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Sassy Little Hobbit @sassypolitico.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Been waiting this morning for nz cartoonists to show up

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James O'Malley @jamesomalley.co.uk · 11/09/2025

Peter Mandelson resigning in scandal, Oasis are the biggest band in the country, and there's an enormous tech bubble that may or may not burst. Is it 2025 or 1998?

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Fuel Cells Works @fuelcellsworks.com · 27/08/2025

Pasadena approves $32M contract for 17 hydrogen fuel cell buses, replacing natural gas models. The new fleet will enter service by spring 2027—marking a major zero-emission milestone #HydrogenNow #ZeroEmissions #CleanTransit #Decarbonise fcw.sh/LGeNXD

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Josh | writer, painter, tinkerer @tworuru.com · 19/08/2025

Just fantastic that this stupid, barely rates as a joke, AI slop bullshit continues to get more traction on this absurd website than the work of any nz artist I know and keeps getting reposted into my timeline just to rub it in

Hideous ai slop poster featuring a bunch of things that aren’t birds to serve a joke that isn’t funny

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Really interesting to read in FT about concerns in USA over the stats chief dismissal. Politicians often fail to understand that the data they have is the only thing they (and investors) have to make choices on investment. Attacking your own data undermines your own investment appeal

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Pip @pipinotautahi.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Well fuck. It works.

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Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

'Waterloo Road, London' (2024) by Michael John Ashcroft michaeljohnashcroft.com

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Prof Jenny Rohn @jennyrohn.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

Last chance to apply for great research tech #job in my friendly lab @uclmedsci.bsky.social in London! Cutting-edge organoid and microbiology work seeking to understand how probiotic bacteria might be deployed to fight urinary infection #UTI. Closes 23 July #UTISky www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNQ902/r...

jobs.ac.uk

Research Technician at UCL

Apply now for the Research Technician role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

I wonder how many workplaces pay for their employees to have password manager software?

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

Today was a sunny day which pleased all in our house

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Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

#nzpol Data released by Statistics New Zealand today shows that the Consumer Price Index rose to 2.7%. This marks the 3rd straight quarter in which annual inflation increased, up from 2.2% in December 2024. The data underneath this figure suggests some troubles ahead. A🧵

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Paul Lewis @paullewismoney.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

So here’s the Ryanair arithmetic. Gate employee catches out 62 passengers for €1.30 bonus for each to earn max $80 a month. Ryanair makes 62x(€75-€1.30) = €4569 profit (before other staff costs) every month per gate employee. 45% of its revenue comes from fining customers.

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

Definitely recognise this. I listened to writers who said "just write". Doesn't matter if its good. Just write something. Its much easier to correct nonsense than to create perfection the first time.

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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

People simply don’t know enough about the AI hype train and think it’s a panacea — it’s starting to remind me of the radium craze

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Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Australia has stronger trade unions that Aotearoa, and fewer work place deaths and injuries (as well as being paid more), while still chained to neoliberalism. Does ACT think Australia is succeeding in spite of, or because of, its greater regulation of workplaces?

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Twitter users asked many times for fewer Nazis on the platform. Might have been a good move to listen, eh. #GarbageInGarbageOut

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David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

This had a lot of good data, some of which did not match some of my assumptions about what has been happening in the past few years, so I revise my assumptions.

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Foxes @foxylustygrover.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

RNZ laying the grocery shop increase over the last 3 years bare: Woolworths Greenlane trolley 2022 $238 to 0025 $305 a 28% increase PAK'nSAVE Royal Oak trolley 2022 $217 to 2025 $270 a 24% increase Mince: PnS up 53% WWs up 59% #NZPol www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

In May 2022, our first shop at Woolworths Greenlane cost us $238 dollars and $217 at PAK'nSAVE Royal Oak.

Today, those same items at Woolworths have shot up to $305 dollars - an extra $67 dollars at the checkout. PAK'nSAVE our shop, now set us back $270, an extra $53 dollars.

Compared to our 2022 shop, seasonal vegetables like carrots and cabbage were cheaper. Other items that had come down slightly or stayed the same were Watties baked beans, plain flour, Mightyfresh wheatmeal toast bread and diced tomatoes.

But they were mostly exceptions, most of the items on the shopping list cost more.

The humble beef mince now not so humble at 1kg used to cost $11.99 at PAK'n SAVE, now $18.99. At Countdown, it was up from $14.90 in 2022 to $23.80 now.

For some, it is now a luxury among other items they are going without.

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Anyone else thoroughly enjoying the Glasto coverage from NZ? I'm really loving it

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 24/06/2025

in which the president of the united states comes to understand that forging peace in the middle east is actually quite hard

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Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

A cosy BBC crime drama beckons

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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 24/06/2025

BREAKING: Palestinian witnesses and hospitals say Israeli forces opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people.

bit.ly

Israeli forces fire on people waiting for aid in Gaza, killing 25, witnesses and hospitals say

Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza.

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Reposted by Dr Claire Benson

Caitríona Beaumont @caitbeaumont.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Do come along, book via the link below but if you miss the cut-off or it appears booked out we can usually squeeze you in so come along anyway. It will be a great seminar to end our @ihr.bsky.social @cont-brit-hist.bsky.social 2024/25 programme. See you there 😊. www.history.ac.uk/events/women...

history.ac.uk

Women and unemployment in deindustrialising Britain, 1975 -1990

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Quakers in Britain @quaker.org.uk · 24/06/2025

We have deep concerns about government plans to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. Nonviolent protest, and even acts of vandalism, should not be labelled as terrorism. Civil disobedience has been a powerful force for positive social change. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

quaker.org.uk

Quakers speak out against proposed terrorist proscription of Palestine Action

Quakers in Britain have voiced deep concerns about the government’s plan to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.

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CEO Johnny Cans @oldmatecans.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

I see the Taxpayers Union are mad at the government for protecting a rare species that the private sector tried to wipe out. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

rnz.co.nz

DOC spends hundreds of thousands to care for snails after mining destroys home

But an OIA reveals hundreds of thousands of dollars has been spent to do so.

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Olaf Falafel @ofalafel.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

I called my children War and Peace - it's a long story.

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Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

a leading campaigner against the recent rise in National Insurance is married to a man convicted of one of Britain’s biggest ever NI frauds - via The Times

Charlotte Alt
A leading
campaigner against the government's increase in employer national insurance contributions is married to a man convicted of one of the country's biggest national insurance frauds, The Times can reveal.
Nadra Ahmed CBE, who chairs the National Care Association, has spearheaded a campaign to exempt care homes from the tax rise announced in last year's autumn budget.
Over the past nine months she has appeared on Sky News and Newsnight on BBC2 and has been quoted in national newspapers calling for an urgent change to the policy that she described as risking "the foundations of the public services we deliver".
Yet in 2016 Ahmed's husband, Aquil, was sentenced to prison for seven and a half years after pleading guilty to his part in stealing £6.9 million in tax and national insurance contributions from the taxman. He remains barred from serving as a company director.
The 69-year-old was an accountant and the tax mastermind of the fraud, which was conducted with two other people. The scam involved pocketing cash due to HM Revenue & Customs that had been paid in good faith by construction workers using a payroll service run by the three men.
The money was laundered through companies in Gibraltar and Belize and from there was transferred to bank accounts in Jersey, Guernsey, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the US, South Africa, Dubai and Chile.
At the time the amount stolen would have been enough to fund more than 500 care workers for an entire year.
The fraud helped to fund lavish lifestyles for the three men, the court

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Tom Le Breton @tomlebreton.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

New paper out! After the 2019-2020 #fires in Australia our team undertook #IUCN Red List assessments of fire affected #plant species, to handle the volume we undertook paired rapid and full assessments and compared their accuracy 1/4 doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

If you should ever leave me, Though life would still go on believe me, The world could show nothing to me, So what good would living do me? #RIPBrianWilson

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Fire on historic ship The Tui most likely caused by electrical fault www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

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Dylan Reeve @dylanreeve.com · 16/04/2025

One of the things I find endlessly fascinating about Facebook scam ads is that they get intensely focused on one celebrity at a time. At the moment it seems the wonderful Kura Forrester has captured their attention.

Facebook ad, it features two images of Kura Forrester and says "Shocking incident involving Kura Forrester. The allegations have been confirmed!"

The ad appears to be a link to a story at rnz.co.nz and shows a headline reading "The interview that shook all of New Zealand ->"

Facebook ad, it features what looks like a screen capture of a YouTube video of Kura Forrester sitting in front of a microphone, and says "Shocking incident involving Kura Forrester. The allegations have been confirmed!"

The ad appears to be a link to a story at rnz.co.nz and shows a headline reading "The interview that shook all of New Zealand ->"

A fake RNZ news page that shows a story headlined "Supporters Demand Release of Kura Forrester After Scandalous Interview" filed in the "New Zealand / Money" section

The sub-head reads: "Hundreds of people have rallied in support of celebrity Kura Forrester following an on-air incident during a popular talk show"

It is illustrated with a image that features a publicity photo of Kura Forrester on one side and an angry crowd clashing with a line of NZ Police officers.

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Fuel Cells Works @fuelcellsworks.com · 05/06/2025

JCB's hydrogen engine will debut at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, marking its first public display at a UK agricultural event. #HydrogenNow #Fuelcells #CleanEnergy #Decarbonise #ZeroEmisson fcw.sh/hR7bW4

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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

So if you've seen headlines panicking bc "the cHiNeSe smuggled in bioweapons to kill our crops!!" The Michigan Farm Bureau would like to remind everyone "Yeah they're junior scientists who are working to STOP CROP DISEASES. It looks like they just didn't do the paperwork for bringing in samples."

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Police, FENZ and the MBIE "wanted to take the opportunity to remind all those who own or manage a building, particularly buildings with sleeping accommodation, of their responsibility to ensure those who occupy their premises are protected from fire."

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Anyone calling NZ IRD this morning, hoping for the promised '2 minutes' wait time, may be disappointed. Call 1 (after 9am): We can't take your call right now. No indication why. Call 2: 16 minutes and waiting. I wonder what the 2 minutes refers to? Maybe it includes automatic services??

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Health Nerd @gidmk.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Are you worried about pesticides in your tampons? You don't need to be. The recent headlines were based on some very bad science. My new piece: gidmk.substack.com/p/you-dont-n...

gidmk.substack.com

You Don't Need To Worry About Pesticides In Your Tampons

The very problematic science behind some recent headlines.

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Eddie Clark @dreddieclark.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Perpetual reminder that Worksafe was set up following the recommendations of a completely independent expert Royal Commission responding to mass workplace deaths at Pike River.

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Tim Murphy @tmurphynz.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Bit awkward this Financial Times front page headline and story today “: ‘Scientists accuse New Zealand and Ireland of hiding livestock emissions’

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Dr Claire Benson @pyroclaire.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

NZ leading some cool new research on combined steel and wood structures! Great to see University of Canterbury looking at this important area of the built environment. woodcentral.com.au/world-first-...

woodcentral.com.au

World-First Study Tackles Fire Safety in Timber-and-Steel Buildings

A team of New Zealand experts will tackle fire safety concerns in timber-and-steel-framed buildings inside a purpose-built fire lab as part of a world-fire proj

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