Aotearoa / New Zealand

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.

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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.

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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!

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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

A rare penguin that turned up on a Dunedin beach last month is preparing to go back home to Antarctica.

The Dunedin Wildlife Hospital and the Department of Conservation are currently working on a release plan for the Adélie penguin.

She was "not overly fond" of humans but rather than running away, "she chooses to fight and will often charge our team while yelling what we can only imagine are expletives in penguin".

New Zealand's rarest bird looks set for a bumper breeding season this summer with five fledglings already striking out on their own and as many as eight more chicks to follow.

That might not sound like many but given that the total world population of tara iti, or fairy terns, is less than 40, that is a huge boost to the species' chances of survival.

It is also a much-needed morale boost for volunteers and Department of Conservation staff looking after the birds, after the disastrous 2022-23 season in which Cyclone Gabrielle killed five adults and all but one chick.

DOC supervisor Shelley Ogle said the current season was tracking to be the best since 2013-14.

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Sorry for all the spam, having a travelling day and reading more than normal.

James Shaw was great! I really like Chloe Swarbrick too, but I feel like Todd Mueller makes some good points about Shaw striving for consensus and working across the aisle. Hope the Greens can keep it after he's gone.

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Nelson man Norman Flounders, 79, has vowed to continue a four-year-long court scrap over a fine he got from Auckland Transport for driving in a bus lane.

The dispute has been through a hearing before two Justices of the Peace, the District Court and the High Court, and now looks set to go higher, with Flounders vowing never to pay the $300 fine and appeal to the Appeal Court.

The dispute arose from two instances, on 16 July and 20 July in 2020, when Flounders knowingly drove through a bus lane on Khyber Pass Road in Newmarket.

At the heart of the case is clause 2.3(4) of the Road User Rule, which sets out what is commonly referred to as the 50-metre rule. It provides an exception to the general rule (that you cannot drive in a special vehicle lane) if the driver drives in the lane to cross it to make a turn or leave the roadway, provided the driver uses the lane for the minimum length necessary to make the manoeuvre, for no more than a maximum of 50 metres, and gives way to vehicles entitled to use the lane.

Auckland Transport staff responded to Flounders dispute with a sketch map that showed the distance between the sign showing the start of the bus lane and the end of the bus lane was 77 metres.

Flounders argued that the bus lane was not continuous because it was bisected by a pedestrian crossing that was 17.5m wide. He said this meant there was actually two distinct bus lanes, and he calculated one to measure 9m and the other to measure 40m.

Both judges ruled that there was only one bus lane, not two, and that regardless of the actual length of the bus lane, Flounders used the bus lane for more than "the minimum length necessary to complete the manoeuvre".

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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.

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?