Aotearoa / New Zealand

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The kahukura red admiral butterfly has been named New Zealand's Bug of the Year today, after nearly 17,000 bug lovers voted for their favourite insect.

Twenty bugs were vying to be New Zealand's favourite, with 11 of the 20 nominees listed as at-risk, endangered or declining.

The competition - run by the Entomological Society of New Zealand - was created to give bugs the same kind publicity seen in the popular Bird of the Year race.

The winning insects receive research funding and promotion about their conservation.

Autistic children and young adults are more than twice as likely to die before their 25th birthday, compared to their non-autistic peers, new research shows.

The study, published this week in the international academic journal Autism, tracked 857,944 children born in Aotearoa - including 11,919 autistic children - between 1996 and 2010 using individual-level data from the government's Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI).

It found autistic females were four times more likely to die, compared to non-autistic females

This article is actually from last week but I only just came across it.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

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Look, we need the money and fuel is bloody expensive, but I believe we are adding another problem to the next generation and regressing further.

The tax sucks, but the benefits were worth it.

The privacy of shoppers signed up for Woolworths' new loyalty card Everyday Rewards has been questioned with the fine print revealing the supermarket can record licence plates, capture video and audio of customers and link them to membership numbers.

Woolworths states video footage and audio recordings are used for security, theft prevention and safety purposes only.

One customer said he was not bothered too much with the recording of licence plates and CCTV footage - "I'm not planning on stealing anything or abusing anyone" - but questioned how the information was kept secure.

The man pointed to an IT oversight last week which saw Everyday Rewards customers cashing in by creating multiple accounts and sharing points to get vouchers.

"Our team is well versed in protecting the information we do hold," the spokesman said.

My selection of paragraphs may have made Countdown/Woolworths look less competent than the article makes out, but I don't think it's too far off.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

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As of January this year, Aotearoa New Zealand became just the second country (after Canada) to adopt a groundbreaking new procedure for patients experiencing cardiac arrest.

DSED is a novel method that provides rapid sequential shocks to the heart using two defibrillators. The pads are attached in two different locations: one on the front and side of the chest, the other on the front and back.

A single operator activates the defibrillators in sequence, with one hand moving from the first to the second. According to a recent randomised trial in Canada, this approach could more than double the chances of survival for patients with ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia who are not responding to standard shocks.

The guidelines now specify that if ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia persist after two shocks with standard defibrillation, the DSED method should be administered. Two defibrillators need to be available, and staff must be trained in the new approach.

Though the existing evidence for DSED is compelling, until recently it was based on theory and a small number of potentially biased observational studies. The Canadian trial was the first to directly compare DSED to standard treatment.

From a total of 261 patients, 30.4% treated with this strategy survived, compared to 13.3% when standard resuscitation protocols were followed.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

The Entomological Society of New Zealand is proud to launch the second ever Bug of the Year 2024 competition with 20 incredible nominees vying for the top spot. Learn more about the nominees before you vote!

Who will steal the crown from the ngaro huruhuru native bee?

Voting is open through 12 Feb 2024

Eight charming bugs who deserve your love - Article from the Spinoff that prompted this post

AT going next level. Muppets.

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

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Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

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See this comment

I found this site, but it's US based, so unsure if it will help.

Property market is pretty crazy down here

In one instance Stephen McKee even told the other man, "It wouldn't matter if an Indian died, there would still be a billion left" after he'd nearly been kicked by a difficult horse.

At the hearing into the allegations against McKee in Auckland last year, he admitted asking staff to speak in English as a matter of safety in a potentially dangerous work environment, including one comment where he said, "I pay you in dollars not rupees" and another comment where he said, "How much do I owe you, $5 or $10, isn't that what you get in India".

However, McKee maintains these comments were all made in jest and in the context of group banter with multiple stablehands present, rather than being targeted racial abuse against Singh.

"We were joking around and making banter. I certainly have not been abusive in speaking to my Indian employees as Mr Singh alleges," McKee told the tribunal.

"I don't have any issues with Indians, their culture nor their work ethic."

Stories about surging inflation, successive food price rises and more Kiwis in arrears topped bulletins and filled front pages last year. But recent news about slowing inflation, cheaper food and rising business confidence hasn't had the same impact. How come?

Within the last month, surveys finding business confidence rising and food price inflation falling for the fourth consecutive month made few headlines.

But the bad news still does.

Last Thursday, TVNZ’s 1 News told viewers “New Zealanders are getting behind on payments”.

“More than 400,000 people fell behind on credit payments and the number of mortgage accounts past due exceeded 20,000,” it reported.

This was also based in the latest monthly report from credit agency Centrix, showing 4000 more Kiwis in arrears than a month earlier.

But last year more people were in arrears - and in 1 News’ own report this week Centrix explained the season was the reason for the latest modest monthly uptick.

“People tend to spend money and incur credit prior to Christmas. And it then comes back to bite them early in the new year,” he explained.

Terrible both in scraping the project and how nothing has been done for a quarter billion