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notjustdna.bsky.social
Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools/NotJustDNA 🔬🧬🖥️✍️📚
@notjustdna.bsky.social
3.3K followers 790 following 10K posts
Scientist and science writer from New Zealand.

BioinfoTools on Twitter.

Traveller. Cycle touring.

More later - just setting this account up!
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notjustdna.bsky.social
Magnitude 7.6* earthquake off the coast of Japan

- 53.1 km depth
- By eye it’s about 60km off the coast
- I’m seeing Japanese automated news reports of it e.g. english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/6...
- Tsunami report issued; reports say estimated up to 3m

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...
Map of location of earthquake, off east coast of Japan.
December 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
🦠 #NZ Measles

“If you were present at any of the below locations on the days and times listed, you must call Healthline urgently on 0800 611 116”

These people “need to stay at home and avoid seeing others until they’ve phoned Healthline and received advice.”

Links to full news & locations below.
Close contact locations being called for immediate action: • BP Connect Richmond, Queen Street, Nelson: 16 November, 1:15PM to 2:15PM • Eagle Bar, Karangahape Road, Auckland: 29 November, 12:00AM to 2:30AM • G.A.Y. Club, Karangahape Road, Auckland: 29 November, 1:15AM to 2:45AM • Eagle Bar, Karangahape Road, Auckland:30 November, 1:45AM to 3:55AM • G.A.Y. Club, Karangahape Road, Auckland:30 November, 2:45AM to 4:25AM • Hikari Teppanyaki, Grant Road, Frankton: 1 December, 6:00PM to 8:45PM • Dunedin Public Hospital, Emergency Department: 2 December, 1:00PM to 2:30PM • OPSM, Grant Road, Frankton: 2 December, 2:10PM to 3:40PM • Chemist Warehouse, Queenstown: 2 December, 7:50PM to 9:00PM • Carters, Glenda Drive, Queenstown: 2 December, 2:45PM to 4:15PM • The Ballarat, Queenstown: 2 December, 8:05PM to 10:30PM
December 7, 2025 at 11:00 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
Getting around is the similarity of the 'Thoughts and Desires' sculpture in Ariana Park, Geneva, ⬇️ and Trump’s "FIFA Peace Prize 2025".

Tongue-in-cheek: It leaves me wondering if someone has scanned the sculpture, 3-D printed a miniature, then spray-painted that in "glossy gold"! 🙄😑

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Photograph of 'Thoughts and Desires' sculpture on left at Ariana Park, Geneva. The legend to the right reads, “THOUGHTS AND DESIRES (2017) by Ali Ibadullayev and Salhab Mammadov This sculputre was Donated by the Rpublic of Azerbaijan to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its membership in the United Nations on 3 October, 2017.” Source: https://www.ungeneva.org/en/about/palais-des-nations/ariana-park Photo of Trump’s 'FIFA Peace Prize 2025'
December 6, 2025 at 8:46 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
📚 An initial take on my holiday season reading list… I have plenty of others…

Now to choose the first to read 😵‍💫

Choices, choices, choices.

Brief notes in the ALT.
Rebecca Stott, Darwin’s Ghosts, which I’ve meant to read for "forever". Robert Kaplan, Asia’s Cauldron; I’ve spent time in locations around the South China Sea, it’ll interesting to see his take on it. R. F. Kuang, Babel. New author for me, sounds promising. Same for the more recent, Katabasis. Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lords of Creation – the last in a trilogy I want to finish. I’ve taken ages to get to it. David van Reybrouck, Congo. One take on a country that seems to suffer from just about everything. (Reminds me I have a book looking at South Korea, too; a country I hope to revisit, this time on a bicycle.) Colin Thubron, The Amur River – a trip he undertook when 80, a sort of reminder I could be out there, somewhere? Alastair Reynolds, Inhibitor Phase, part four of the Revelation Space trilogy. Peter Watts, The Freeze-Frame Revolution. One of my favourite sci-fi writers. Oddly, I can’t remember if I’ve read this or not. It’d be a long time ago. I also have Echopraxia. Kate Atkinson, When will there be good news? I’ve never read any of her work.
December 6, 2025 at 5:15 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
🦠 #NZ #measles

We’re still seeing new cases of measles. One more, this time in Wellington, linked to a previous case.

New locations of interest have been added ⬇️ More may be added. See info.health.nz/conditions-t... for the full list

For further information: www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/corporate-in...
New location of interest: (external link) Wellington · Saturday 22 November - New World Wellington City, Wakefield St (6:05pm – 7:35pm) · Monday 24 November - BP 2Go, Berhampore (12:40pm - 2:10pm) · Thursday 27 November - New World Newtown (8:55am to 10:20am)
November 30, 2025 at 4:56 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
🖥️ Reminds of the colour iMacs, unveiled in 1998, but curvier with a camera (?) at the top, like modern computers ⬇️

(ALT: Bondi blue iMac. Bondi is a famous beach. These things were sold for surfing the web,… out on the wide blue…)
Bondi blue iMac. Bondi is a famous beach. These things were sold for surfing the web, out on the wide blue…
November 29, 2025 at 5:45 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
#NZpol
I’m still trying to understand the latest Stanford fuss, and having woken in the wee hours see this.

So… it was on Facebook (?), and Stanford deleted it soon after?

Over at X-Twitter one of her last posts from over two years ago has a longer passage ⬇️

Recycling old grudges or something?
This is a bit much to type in at 4am (woken for some reason, no idea why…… 😔), but a selective quote (think quote-mining and all that) about how "Labour want to mandate their Common Practice Model of how teachers should teach in our schools." Note the use of mandate – a trigger word for many groups Also, "their", when you’d think it would be what was recommended from some review (rather than "Labour’s), and may not even be the final direction.
November 28, 2025 at 2:54 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
#NZpol Again, it’s useful to compare what political parties and MPs sing to their fan bases, as opposed to media outlets. It shows where their focus is…
ACT New Zealand: PROMISE KEPT: Unelected Ngāi Tahu representatives at Environment Canterbury will be gone, under reforms announced today.
November 25, 2025 at 9:51 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
In an Andy McDermott novel – The Sacred Vault,* published in 2010 – the tech villain gives an example of how his search engine, Qexia, could be used to "play" India v. Pakistan sentiment to provoke a nuclear war.

It also reminded me of returning to India from Pakistan in 2000. (cont’d)

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Page 169 of The Sacred Vault. I must get image -> text sorted out sometime, this is too much to type out manually, sorry. A point it makes at the bottom is that it’s feeding them what they _expect_ to find, "feeding their biases". I see something similar in what Grok is doing at X-Twitter.
November 24, 2025 at 5:25 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
"My bottom, my choice" LOL 😂

Just seen this four years late - the cartoon was drawn in late November 2021.
Worker, hand on newly constructed toilet, says - "Behold! The mass toilet and sewerage rollout!" "Everyone’s health will be better protected if we no longer relieve ourselves in the streets!" Replies from the 'anti-' crowd: "Wait – is this going to be compulsory?" "What if a spider bites me on the arse?" "I saw on Villagebook(TM) that surrendering one’s privates to the "Devil’s Mouth" will lead to infertility." "What about freedom to dump wherever I please?" "I won’t be forced into some government cubicle!" "My bottom, my choice!"
November 24, 2025 at 11:19 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
📷 Seen around #Christchurch #NZ

(A loose, on-going series of photos taken while out and about.)
Looking south from Settlers Reserve towards the Heathcote Valley.
November 23, 2025 at 8:10 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
#NZpol I found this while looking up ACT’s latest effort at being shit-stirrers, hoping for “ditching the Clean Car Standard entirely” -

ehinz on 'Health effects of air pollution':
www.ehinz.ac.nz/indicators/a...

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Screenshot of page linked to, since there’s no preview on the link.
November 22, 2025 at 7:01 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
Spotted this at my local supermarket earlier this year ⬇️ On an older, modest model car, but clearly someone’s favourite 😊
November 21, 2025 at 7:47 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
🚴 Nice to see tonight’s TV news segment on the Great Rides in NZ.

Here’s the map for all of NZ: www.nzcycletrail.com/find-your-ri...

The Great Rides are listed here: www.nzcycletrail.com/find-your-ri...

I can’t help notice the absence of Great Rides in Canterbury on the map they showed on TV.
I’m of course biased, and am showing the northern two-thirds of the South Island.
November 21, 2025 at 6:08 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
🦠 #NZ Measles – Two more cases, both in Nelson

- closely linked to an existing case in Nelson
- *new* locations in Nelson, Auckland and Waikato ⬇️
- full locations of interest, there are a lot: info.health.nz/conditions-t...

If you have symptoms, please contact Healthline Healthline on 0800 611 116
New locations of interest: Nelson Sunday 16 November – Richmond Mall (12:50pm to 1:50pm) Sunday 16 November – Farmers Richmond, Richmond Mall (12:55pm to 2:10pm) Sunday 16 November – BP Connect Richmond (1:15pm to 2:15pm) Waikato Saturday 15 November – Woolworths Pokeno (9:00am to 10:15am) Auckland Saturday 15 November – BP Connect Mangere (5:30pm to 6:50pm) Saturday 15 November – Airport Takeaways, 741 Massey Road, Mangere (6:00pm to 7:15pm) Sunday 16 November – Stampede Restaurant and Bar, Papakura (4:45pm to 8:45pm) Monday 17 November – Unichem Clevedon Road Pharmacy (2:45pm to 4:00pm)
November 21, 2025 at 4:17 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
There’s a big story the book covers – the origins of life – but if you’re someone who studies molecular life, this excerpt of this "little story" from The Tree of Life captures the sort of thing you live for ⬇️

(The Tree of Life is the second book reviewed in the linked article.)
While opsins [the proteins that sit in our photoreceptor cells] are used to sense light, what they actually detect is a specific form of a small molecule called retinol… The retinol molecule sits permanently in the receptor bit of the opsin protein. It is deemed to be inactive and, in this state, is effectively invisible to the opsin. But when an inactive retinol molecule is hit by a photon, its shape suddenly changes, and it is this second active form of the molecule that can be detected by the opsin. The altered opsin now sends out the signal that a photon has landed, and this message, ultimately ends up in the brain. In this ingenious way, a receptor protein was repurposed so that we (and all animals) could detect light.
November 17, 2025 at 7:41 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
This is easy to verify on a Mac (not iPhone), using View > Go to Date…

Try it, just select View > Go to Date… from the menu at the top, and enter 1/10/1582 😊

I can’t find the equivalent on my new iPhone’s Calendar app. I can’t seem to jump to a specific date at all, which feels like a fail* 😔
View of October 1582 in Apple Mac’s Calendar app. October 5-14, inclusive, are absent.
November 16, 2025 at 10:58 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
The BSA won’t be actively seeking out to "police" or "regulate" content (as some may read McClure to be saying or claim online), but are responding to complaints – how the BSA usually works.

2/3

——
*For anyone confused, it’s an old internet acronym: IANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer.
ACT New Zealand, on X-Twitter: 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 ACT MP Laura McClure has lodged a member’s bill which would repeal the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA). "New Zealand’s broadcasting rules were written in the 1980s, in a different time when Kiwis were forced to get news and entertainment from a handful of TV channels and radio stations. Broadcasting rights were doled out by the Government and regulated on that basis," says McClure. "These days, people have endless choice. Kiwis get information from countless digital, on-demand and social platforms, from both local and international sources. If someone doesn't like what they see or hear, they can tune in to something else. "The BSA’s attempt earlier this year to expand its remit into online media, following a complaint against The Platform and Sean Plunket, was an attempt counter its own irrelevance with massive overreach. When a government-appointed body tries to regulate speech on podcasts and livestreams, we have a serious problem. "The correct response to the BSA's irrelevance is to abolish it, not to expand its powers. We'll still have laws against defamation and obscenity; we just don't need a taxpayer-funded body policing taste and opinion online." McClure’s Broadcasting (Disestablishment of Broadcasting Standards Authority) Amendment Bill would repeal Part 3 of the Broadcasting Act 1989, dissolving the Authority and removing related provisions from other Acts. "About $700,000 of the BSA's $1.8 million budget comes from levies. ACT doesn't usually support favours for the media, but in this case we'll happily remove a pointless tax on struggling media outlets," says McClure. "If my Bill is drawn and supported, we'll clear away a legacy institution that has outlived its usefulness. More importantly, we'll affirm that in a free country, the ultimate broadcasting standard is the judgment of the audience."
November 15, 2025 at 4:31 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
2/2

- Tracing for this person is underway. Locations they can’t directly trace are listed in the news briefing ⬇️ If you may have been at these places, please follow the instructions.

You can see the full locations of interest in this link -
info.health.nz/conditions-t...
Locations of interest [for this latest case]: Monday 3 November - Metlink school bus route #736 Karori Mall to Wellington College (7.30am-8.30am) Monday 3 November - Metlink public bus route #2 Wellington College to Karori (11:30am-12:40pm) Tuesday 4 November - Wellington Airport (11:00am-2:00pm) Tuesday 4 November - Auckland Airport domestic terminal (2:00pm-3:00pm) Tuesday 4 November - Auckland Airport international terminal (2:00pm-9:30pm)
November 15, 2025 at 4:04 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
If you see this post a bird.

From: bsky.app/profile/notj...

Original post reads:

Seen around #Christchurch #NZ, bird edition 😊

Kererū in a tree, feeding.

135mm lens, so not that far away 😊
Kererū in a tree, feeding. Slightly cropped from original.
November 15, 2025 at 1:58 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
Ah, so a thunderstorm warning was put out, but for whatever reason I didn’t hear a notification for it -
Severe Thunderstorm Warning Area: Hurunui, Selwyn, Waimakariri and Christchurch City Forecast: At 01:45 pm, MetService weather radar detected severe thunderstorms near DARFIELD, OXFORD, KIRWEE, CHARING CROSS and GREENDALE. These severe thunderstorms are moving towards the eastnortheast, and are expected to lie near ROLLESTON, CUST, WEST MELTON, MCLEANS ISLAND, EYREWELL FOREST and WEST EYRETON at 02:15 pm and near CHRISTCHURCH, RANGIORA, KAIAPOI, MCLEANS ISLAND, TEMPLETON, BELFAST, CHRISTCHURCH AIRPORT and EYRETON at 02:45 pm. These thunderstorms are expected to be accompanied by very heavy rain and large hail.
November 15, 2025 at 1:34 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
#Christchurch #NZ

FWIW, here’s my reply to Bishop over at the other place a few months ago -

(There’s a lot more to it, of course—e.g. the notion of ‘hubs’, their linkage to transport, living local, etc—but I was trying to cram it into one post, esp. as you can’t do multi-post replies there.)

2/2
Me to Bishop on X-Twitter (pretty much the only writing I do there now is to reply to NZ politicians): “Ya mug, Chch has long had long-term plans. They feature tying housing development in with public transport, infrastructure (roads, water, power, etc), activities. Sweeping generalised notions from central govt sprinkle deve'ment everywhere muck that up -> ⬆️costs to rate payers.”
November 10, 2025 at 4:51 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
#Christchurch #NZ New flood level map

- worth checking if you’re looking to buy a house
- Christchurch *was* built on a swamp, and it shows… ⬇️ All that blue!

ccc.govt.nz/services/wat...
Highest-level map of flooding risk in Christchurch. There’s a lot of blue……
November 9, 2025 at 6:54 AM
notjustdna.bsky.social
#NZpol Bizarrely, ACT MP Parmjeet_Parmar tries to pin this ⬇️ on Te Triti obligations.

“Blaming COVID won't cut it. If we keep pushing inward-looking, Te Tiriti-centric agendas, we’ll drive away international students and talent.”
International outlook scores for NZ universities. These show a sharp decline from ~2024 onwards, with the initial big fall in the year from 2023–2024.
November 6, 2025 at 6:51 PM
notjustdna.bsky.social
Seen around #Christchurch #NZ

While out cycling 🚴 😊
Looking across the surf at Scarborough Beach Powered paraglider heading up and out from Sumner Beach. Scarborough Heads in the right-hand background.
November 4, 2025 at 7:47 AM