Seems like an overtly political - not religious - action. Hopefully they once again lose their tax-exempt status.

What an absolute legend. Give him a medal.

Got a gull stuck in the decorative grill on the front of our office once. Spent the whole morning shrieking, seemed like he was stuck. Called the council, SPCA, building owner, nobody wanted to help.

Then after a few hours the bastard quite calmly hopped up and flew out.

That gull was a dick. We named him Greg.

Better to ask forgiveness rather than permission.

Edit: how did I get that backwards?

Nitrates in drinking water are linked to cancer and birth defects. In high-enough concentrations it can trigger blue-baby syndrome, which can straight-up kill babies.

Got an email advertising cyber monday sales on firewood. Yup, logs of wood. For cyber monday.

100%. Unless the toilet has a dedicated ass-wiping professional I’m not paying to use it.

There is actually a movie about it called Mr Organ. I recommend it.

This is basically the plot to Nothing but Trouble.

“Prior to this attack, the man arrested had been receiving support of the mental health services,” Patel added.

Sounds like a lone-wolf with some complex stuff going on. Still horrible.

Summer interns starting today, why do I do this to myself?

Update: this year’s crop is great! I am so tired.

Education is really important. But you can lift people out of poverty just by straight-up giving them money too. A properly-funded welfare system (or a UBI) would go a long way to truly ending poverty. Childhood poverty is such a strong predictor for anti-social behaviours like gang membership, crime, unemployment, that it blows my mind we don’t just funnel money to people to break them out of the inter-generational poverty loop.

Had a persistent headache all of yesterday, took the afternoon off. This morning I realised I hadn’t had any coffee yesterday. I truly am an addict.

https://nz.pcpartpicker.com/ might be what you need

This. This this this this this

Found this wee dude chilling on my daughter’s face after she had some play time in the sandpit.

Actually I think it would be better in c/NZ to be honest. Off topic is intended for shitposting and discussion of topics not related to NZ.

Great initiative!

Yeah that last point is fascinating.

There’s a saying on the left that if you sit down at a table with a nazi, there are now two nazis at the table. I don’t completely agree with that logic, but the far-right are a sizable influence in those protest groups. Sure you get the crunchy hippy vegan wellness-mummas who are only there because they’re anti-vax or anti-fluoride or whatever, but they have seemed pretty alarmingly willing to jump on the anti-trans hate train recently. Anger at the system does seem to be the main uniting value, you’re right, and personally I think that anger is something that needs to be healed through civil discourse and maybe politics. But that anger is currently being hijacked by the far-right to bolster their cause, and that worries me.

I don’t believe that all these middle age women at the protests are blaming Jews for the vaccine

I don’t believe they are either, but I think some of the people supporting and pushing these movements absolutely are. For a movement that is hyper-aware of “agendas” and “narratives” the people in these protest movements seem pretty oblivious to the possibility their own movement is influenced in exactly that type of way.

The only term that I identify with is pro-russian.

Which is honestly unsurprising. Western intelligence groups have been sounding alarm bells about Russian attempts to interfere in the politics of western democracies for a decade or so now, as you likely know well. In my time on Telegram I’ve noticed a constant low-level hum of spam in major channels that has all the fingerprints of state-sponsored propaganda, likely out of Russia. Telegram itself has such intimate links to the Kremlin it may as well be a state asset at this point. Whatever your personal reasons for being pro-Russia, you have to recognise they have a clear interest in sowing disharmony in western nations, and they have the capability to do it. If I were in their shoes, these anti-government fringe movements would be the perfect tool for the job. Have you really not considered the possibility that you’ve bought into the propaganda platform of an increasingly hostile foreign government?