Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 43m

I flew earlier this year and had to spend most of the day in Auckland Airport. It was grim. With current prices I opted to take the Intercity bus. Big day but it was comfortable and mostly pleasant. I definitely prefer it to flying.

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Erin Vachon (they/them) 🍉 @erinvachon.bsky.social · 1d

I'm going to guess all the running.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 1d

Running on empty: why are so many marathon runners so miserable?

One in four endurance runners displays ‘worryingly high’ levels of anxiety and depression, according to a study led by a man who has himself run more than 400 marathons. Isn’t exercise supposed to make you feel good?

www.theguardian.com

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 11h

Judith Collins coming in strong under "Someone Else."

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Sallymander 🦎 @narwhallibrarian.bsky.social · 15h

I am reminded that actually I am in a good position to comment on executive pay at charities and incorporated societies . . .

A good exec accepts a pay package that puts the org in a safe budget position and never draws more than market because that would harm the work of the org.

Watershitdown @watershitdown.bsky.social · 17h

This stinks more than a soggy gumboot , King's execs get 527k which is what some other charities run on per year if they haven't been cut altogether by this cretinus gov..

#nzpol

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 14h

The biggest loser here is Nicola Willis being on 3% with Simeon. Devastating.

Foxy @foxylustygrover.bsky.social · 17h

Come vote for "Someone else" with me to mess up Bishop's numbers! #NZPol

1/2 Link in thread

Chris Bishop received the highest percentage of votes with 38%.
Erica Stanford and Christopher Luxon followed with 18% and 17% respectively.
"Someone else" received 21% of the votes, which is the second-highest result.
Nicola Willis and Simeon Brown each received 3% of the votes.

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David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 14h

I've been looking through this as an online resource, and I think it is a nice resource for those out there handling ecology type data. Well done on the authors.

Dax Kellie @daxkellie.bsky.social · 16h

Still want to make cleaning biodiversity data shrimp-ler? 🦐

Good news: We just updated our Cleaning Biodiversity Data in R book, so you still can! We've updated data for 2025, added new content & fixed lots of silly typos 😀

Live the shrimp-le life:
cleaning-data-r.ala.org.au

#rstats #ecology 🧪🌏

The cover of the Cleaning Biodiversity Data in R book. It has an illustration of an Pacific Cleaner Shrimp in the middle of a navy background. The shrimp has a bright red-orange shell, pale-yellow body and white whiskers.

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Watershitdown @watershitdown.bsky.social · 17h

This stinks more than a soggy gumboot , King's execs get 527k which is what some other charities run on per year if they haven't been cut altogether by this cretinus gov..

#nzpol

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Gregory Morgan 🇺🇸🇳🇿 @drgregorymorgan.bsky.social · 1d

Rare white whale sighted in New Zealand:
www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Rare white humpback whale spotted off coast of Kaikōura

Could it be the world-famous Migaloo who hasn’t been spotted in five years?

www.stuff.co.nz

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🐶🐾Megan🍓🌻 @meganisalanis.bsky.social · 1d

Please consider signing 🙏

#NZPol #Environment #Nature

our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/op...

Oppose the Amendments to the Marine and Coastal Area Act

Join us in calling on the government to immediately halt all progress on the amendments to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act.

our.actionstation.org.nz

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Rohan MacMahon @rohmac.bsky.social · 1d

Stuff front page right now… what a juxtaposition.

#climate #nzpol

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Brett @brettcd.bsky.social · 1d

Why is Goldsmith doing this? Is it another coalition agreement line item? And who does it benefit (besides ACT donors)? Just daft that this govt is willing to waste yet more millions for ideological (even racist) nonsense.

#NZPol

Govt ignored advice against overturning marine title rulings

The advice given was that by doing so it could cost millions and affect decisions over 200km of coastline.

www.1news.co.nz

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David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 1d

talking with a colleague I was reminded of some accessibility infographics I saw about a decade ago, and was able to find them again. I think they are still pretty good accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/02/d...

A direct link to the English language pdf set is github.com/UKHomeOffice...

Dos and don'ts on designing for accessibility

Karwai Pun is an interaction designer currently working on Service Optimisation to make existing and new services better for our users. Karwai is part of an accessibility group at Home Office Digital,...

accessibility.blog.gov.uk

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Deirdre McKay @dccmckay.bsky.social · 2d

The problem.... is us... www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Microplastics are brought into the wilderness on hiking shoes and gear, study shows

Research comparing Adirondack mountain lakes in New York suggests foot traffic is significant source of pollution

www.theguardian.com

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Nick Young @nickofnz.bsky.social · 1d

It’s ironic that this happens the day after the Luxon Govt announced it will make the climate crisis worse by letting the dairy industry off the hook for its superheating methane emissions.

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 1d

Great cat but also that photo wall is awesome! May have to steal that idea.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

Photos coming out of Western AK are devastating.

Hardest hit are indigenous villages off road system, many miles by air from supplies. Most built on river deltas w/ no high ground to which to escape.

Cuts to NASA/NOAA mean worse weather data. Cuts to EPA mean no grants for erosion control. Etc.

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 2d

These are mostly indigenous communities in Alaska that have been slammed by the storm.

The local manager of a small airline fleet says he is the only one doing evacuations right now!

Defund FEMA and people are abandoned. Defund public media and no-one knows.

FYI, today is Indigenous Peoples Day.

Flooding seen with water up to the crash barriers of local roads

Sheds and debris lie scattered in the storm

A small blue house has been blown onto its roof

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 1d

Yes 🤬

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 2d

817 4015
757 8248

I haven't called either of those numbers in at least two decades

bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 2d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 2d

Jamie Cleine will eventually be proved right. I hope those that voted him out remember that the next time their homes flood. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Outgoing Buller mayor cries as he talks about risks facing town

Jamie Cleine was in tears as he spoke about increasingly damaging floods.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 2d

Believing in science is apparently hate speech now.

Given where we are at as a country, I think it would have been better if the headline writer had avoided quoting the mayor in the headline here.

newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/13/l...

Latest mayor to be ousted claims he's a victim of 'hate speech'

Going against the tide, the final local election votes have broken left at the expense of conservative Northland leaders. Jonathan Milne reports.

newsroom.co.nz

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Stockholm University @stockholm-uni.bsky.social · 2d

Widespread mortality of warm-water coral reefs is underway as the world reaches its first climate tipping point. The Global Tipping Points Report 2025 underlines that the only way to avert catastrophe is to act urgently. Research from @sthlmresilience.bsky.social
www.su.se/english/news...

Widespread mortality of coral reefs - Stockholm University

Widespread mortality of coral reefs Widespread mortality of warm-water coral reefs is now underway as the world reaches its first climate tipping point. The Global Tipping Points Report 2025, released...

www.su.se

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 2d

Really interesting research. I wonder how this fits in AoNZ?

"Species introductions shift seed dispersal potential more than extinctions across 120 island plant–frugivore communities."

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 2d

Nope.

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Andy McKay @korimakoecology.bsky.social · 2d

I don't have a problem with people catching a feed but it's insane that we allow completely unregulated commercial fishing.

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 2d

A reminder.

Humanity has never removed an atmospheric pollutant at a global, continental or, even, regional scale — we have only ever shut down the source and let nature do the clearing up. This is the case for chlorofluorocarbons and stratospheric ozone destruction, for sulfur dioxide and acid rain, and for sulfur and nitrogen oxides and photochemical smog. We must be prepared for CDR to be a failure, leaving us to rely on the environment to stabilize atmospheric CO₂ over thousands of years. This is another argument for rapid decarbonization.

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