At the moment, in our fleet, it is the best ferry that we have
11.03.2026 06:05
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At the moment, in our fleet, it is the best ferry that we have
The brain drain continues β the U.S. has lost arguably its most important scientific awards ceremony:
arstechnica.com/science/2026...
Why, it feels like only yesterday when I said
bsky.app/profile/thou...
To Jan 20th 2026 there have been 1779 paid ACC claims for vaccine injury from 14 million doses. We know this already. side effects are no surprise, but they are rare. e.g. there were 73 vax site infections. But knowing facts does not publicise "angry bloke in pub's reckons" for ACT & NZF
I can lean on my actual experience to yell at everyone that this won't work! You can't identify emerging customer needs by aggregating data from the past! We tried this already with personas and again with big data! This is like the stupid business version of the problem of induction.
Jacinda Ardern & Grant Robertson Old Friends. One Stage. One Night. In conversation with Stacey Morrison (Te Arawa, NgΔi Tahu) Thursday 16 April | 7.30pm | Regent Theatre, Εtepoti
This should be interesting for folks in Dunners. nz.patronbase.com/_RegentTheat... @paullecomtephoto.nz @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social
Quarantine Nation graphic feauring Beehive, teddies, and bleach.
Quarantine Nation is a bloody good listen that dives into how the Covid-19 pandemic has played out in NZ. Interviews with Ashley Bloomfield, Hilary Barry, Helen Clark, & more.
www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...
Great Mahi by Adam Dudding & team. Extended interviews at www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Words I did not expect to utter in 2026:
It depends on where in the country exactly you are. I will feel a lot more comfy commenting after the next wastewater update (likely tomorrow) but as of nearly 3 week old info, e.g. I am fairly confident it is post-peak in Wellington/Hutt, at peak a bit further up the coast, so still spreading out.
"Sloppelganger" is one for the ages
Admissions, showing last July
Here is the difference in hospital admissions between now (2 weeks ago) & when the death data reporting is for.
Yes, people will be dying now, but very probably fewer than then. Yes, all behaviours still apply if you don't want covid. Yes, a wave raises risk vs non-wave. But data date matters too.
While we might wish politicians wouldn't destroy the social fabric for gain, & might wish media quote the report itself to add context when repeating claims, we can at least invite those we know personally on-spreading claims to read aloud key report statements & judge politicians trustworthiness
Quick graph, GDP growth and crude oil price
speed reading the methodology in appendix D of www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/..., at first glance I think it may not be capturing that may of the inputs are interconnected (the Middle East), so (while other things were going on at the time too) the 70s/80s suggests it may be worse.
Admissions
Hospital Admissions are at least only 2 or so weeks back (and Wastewater is within 1-3 weeks, with how much within depending on the exact week)
And the covid reporting dashboard has been updated from 19 deaths reported in the (as of now) week before last, to 5 reported last week.
But, to keep shouting at the void, this tells us nothing about the progression of the current wave, as the reporting is now but the events were July last year.
Look the White House/War Department cannot reasonably have been expected to anticipate the Iranians would deploy sea mines.
They don't exist in Call of Duty.
Works for me
This week on Counting Stuff, it was bound to happen, another post about Time related news and stuff. Like how DST broke Claude. And did you know they're planning to update the definition of the SI Second? =O #dataBS
www.counting-stuff.com/daylight-sav...
We don't need, and crucially cannot trust, politicians to summarise RC reports and tell us what the findings were. If we could we wouldn't need RCs
We have the report itself and journalists for that summary role.
The news value of pol reaction is simply how honest those reactions are
A screenshot of an amendment to an article in which Ruapehu, was mistakenly listed as an easy climb near Auckland CBD - instead of Rangitoto
Excess as best calculated.
... would go to the more technical approach, but it does look like this- Still low overall, with some individual weeks above average when the annual peak occurs a few weeks later than normal for example. So this is more for good faith readers here.
If I do the full excess mortality calculations to the best of my ability, which is what is happening against a trend estimate, that creates arguments about how you judge the trend. Those can be in good faith with experts, but someone claiming massive increases ain't good faith or expert. So I...
2023: Deaths 33072, Population 1154560, rate 28.64 per 1000
2024: Deaths 32958, Population 1183560, rate 27.85 per 1000
2025: Deaths 32913, Population 1212240, rate 27.15 per 1000
Again decreasing.
This is not fancy maths, but it is easy to see there is no massive increase. And easy to understand.
Estimated Resident Population by Age and Sex (1991+) (Annual-Dec)
Under 60s:
2023: Deaths 4812, Population 4044570, rate 1.19 per 1000
2024: Deaths 4770, Population 4106290, rate 1.16 per 1000
2025: Deaths 4569, Population 4111220, rate 1.11 per 1000
Which is decreasing.
And 60+ ages...
So, "from January 2024" means that we can compare to 2023 to see if there is a rise. And anyone who wants to can go to infoshare.stats.govt.nz - Population - Deaths VSD - Deaths by age and sex (Annual-Dec) and Population - Population Estimates - DPE - Deaths by age and sex (Annual-Dec) - ...
π I'm happy to release free, online textbooks covering the two courses I taught at the hashtag#NICAR26 data journalism conference put on by Investigative Reporters and Editors last week in Indianapolis.
Not at all. If you only count deaths, it went up, because there are more old people living to naturally die. But if you measure mortality like itβs been measured, the past few centuries, using death rate by age, it is low.
I am out for the evening but can get some graphs and sources later.
Sandy Sandilands, the UK Defence AttachΓ© to the United Arab Emirates
Sorry, but I just learned about the UK defence attachΓ© to the United Arab Emirates, then I had to spend ages verifying that instance of nominative determinism
Read, heard, or watched a great piece of NZ science journalism this year? Nominate it for an award! Entries close on Sunday: www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2026/03/09/s...
