Author | Lightnews

Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

@markd.nz

460 followers 330 following 390 posts

He/him. Actor, analyst, and JP in Ōtautahi, Aotearoa. Cult survivor, atheist, vegan, gay. Chairing too many committees. Let's build a sustainable, just future! Web: https://markd.nz Blog: https://remarks.nz Mastodon: @markdarb.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy

markd.nz

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · Nov 18

Kia ora! I've joined at last.

I was reluctant. Bluesky is built and governed in a way that runs counter to the spirit of the open web.

But an extraordinary number of people have gathered here because they care. I want to be part of that.

Let's strive for a truly open web. Together.

#intro

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 1d

trickle down economics
trickle down economic
trickle down economi
trickle down econom
trickle down econo
trickle down econ
trickle down eco
trickle down ec
trickle down e
trickle down
trickle dow
trickle do
trickle d
trickle
trickl
trick

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles @siouxsiew.bsky.social · 1d

Morning peeps! I’ve written a piece for @thespinoff.bsky.social on why I ended up taking legal action against my employer and a little bit about how it played out. The whole story needs a book to tell but this is a good start 😂 thespinoff.co.nz/society/01-1... thespinoff.co.nz/society/01-1...

Siouxsie Wiles: Why I’m crowdfunding despite winning my legal battle

'Between the ERA and the Employment Court, my husband and I have spent over $632,000.'

thespinoff.co.nz

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Chuck Wendig @chuckwendig.bsky.social · 15h

My perhaps controversial assessment is that when you share the propaganda of your enemies to call it out or to mock it… you’re still spreading their propaganda and maybe doing exactly what they hope you’ll do.

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Potato enthusiast @br3nda.bsky.social · 8h

It's 1870 in Aotearoa, the economy is in trouble...

The land wars faded out without much resolution except death and pain. The NZ gov was still called the colonial government. Māori had their own.

The gold rush hype in Otago, the West Coast, and Coromandel was drying up fast.

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 21h

I swear I've heard this voice somewhere before!

Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 1d

They're calling him the most French man in history

CBS News @cbsnews.com · 1d

A French cyclist survived for three days after a horrendous 130-foot fall into a ravine, kept alive by the bottles of red wine he had in his shopping bag, police said.

Cyclist falls down 130-foot ravine in France, survives 3 days by drinking wine he had in shopping bag

A helicopter airlifted him to hospital, with a rescue doctor calling his survival "a miracle."

cbsn.ws

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 1d

A century of progress in access to primary education

This is a line graph depicting the global gender gap in primary school enrollment from 1900 to 2023. The vertical axis represents the percentage of primary school-age children enrolled in primary education, ranging from 0% to 100%. The horizontal axis shows the years from 1900 to 2023.

There are two lines on the graph: one represents girls and the other represents boys. In 1900, about 31% of boys and 23% of girls were enrolled in primary education. The lines gradually rise, reflecting an increase in enrollment over time. By 2023, the enrollment rates are nearly equal, with 91% of boys and 89% of girls enrolled.

The data sources for the information presented are the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2025) and the study by Lee and Lee (2016). The image is credited to Our World in Data and is licensed under CC BY.

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 1d

“We cannot go back to anything approaching the old constitutional order, which already had been in a long, terminal decline.” www.liberalcurrents.com/the-american...

The American Presidency Can Never Be Trusted Again

It’s time for multiparty democracy and a limited executive.

www.liberalcurrents.com

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 2d

Media everywhere.

Matthew Guariglia @mguariglia.bsky.social · 2d

Once again, I am begging CNN/MSNBC to get proper tech and civil liberties on air contributors so that they’re not always turning to ex-law enforcement to explain what’s going on.

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 2d

And that's the profit from 2027 onwards! Decades of untaxed exploding value on the family bach!

Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Pip @pipinotautahi.bsky.social · 7d

The he politics of spite.
Honestly - it THIS one thing that all the right wing parties share.
Vengeful policy.

Take New Zealand’s right wing govt - cancelled important infrastructure that the country needed and we still don’t have (ferries, state houses, hospitals) just to be spiteful.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 7d

Trump to raise tariffs on Canada by 10% over Ontario’s Reagan ad on.ft.com/47GwGaS

Trump to raise tariffs on Canada by 10% over Ontario’s Reagan ad

US president was angered by a television advertisement quoting former president’s disdain for import levies

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Violet Blue® @violetblue.bsky.social · 8d

I thought everyone could use some good news!

My conservation friends' nesting box survived Wellington's wild storm perfectly and a Ruru (tiny owl) sheltered in it. Then one started making a nest! There's a camera inside now, too. The feeds aren't public but here's how they're doing.

Black and white still image in negative from being in night mode of a forest and long white box on a tree. Two small owls perch nearby looking at the box.

Black and white still image in negative from being in night mode of a forest and long white box on a tree. A small owl far in the background watches.

Black and white still image in negative from being in night mode of a forest and long white box on a tree. A small owl is peering out from inside the nesting box. She is home now.

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

sweetie π @sixfeetofcandy.bsky.social · 8d

the only walk of shame i’ve ever done was away from an all you can eat buffet

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Daniel Supernault @dansup.bsky.social · 8d

✅ Onboarding
✅ Auth (with 2FA support/switch account)
✅ In-app registration

The new Loops app is almost ready for you ✨

joinloops.org

#loops #loopsVideo #joinLoops

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 8d

The business of flying in a helicopter to see a glacier is especially maddening. Why not enjoy it from the ground, instead of contributing so directly to its melting through such an inefficient form of flight?

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Caræsten 🇵🇸 @cara.city · 10d

at the Internet Archive for their 1,000,000,000,000 pages archived celebration :)

A crowd of people in front of a neoclassical building with a banner that says Internet archive 1,000,000,000,000 pages archived on it

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

Amy Zhang @axz.bsky.social · 9d

We are doing a second round of research interviews with people who build feeds (or build tools to build feeds), this time focusing on questions of sustainability.
- Is this a hobby for you, or something else?
- What sustains it in your eyes?
Please fill out the form below, and we'll reach out! 🙏🙏🙏

Tony Zhou @tyzhou.bsky.social · 12d

📣 Do you create custom feeds on Bluesky?
We’re researchers at the @uofwa.bsky.social @socialfutureslab.bsky.social looking to understand feed creator experiences!

Interview Details: 1 hour, $20 gift card
Sign up: forms.gle/UMNgeoVbUx3e...
Info: social.cs.washington.edu/project-page...

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 11d

I don't know why Bluesky is trying so hard to be the algorithm that everyone is trying to escape. I prefer the Random From Follows and Popular With Friends feeds.

Geoff George @geoffdgeorge.com · 11d

Funny story: my mother joined Bsky a few months ago and recently asked me, "What was with the guy masturbating today?" And I learned she was using the Discover feed and landed on porn that got past the adult content filter. But she asked the question like we'd all seen it. All of Bluesky.

Brosephine Wires @joparkerbear.bsky.social · 11d

Oh damn just saw a dick on the discover feed. Are we back?

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 11d

Don't these people remember when NZ was the envy of the world – a leader that inspired people to be better globally? Don't they see that we could do that for climate action too? Or would they rather keep tainting our so-called 100% Pure New Zealand image until it's 0% Pure?

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Reposted by Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈

The Press @thepress.co.nz · Oct 2

Voting in the local body elections isn’t exactly as easy as going to the supermarket, but the logistics of it literally is.

Press reporter Sinead Gill explains how to vote in the local election.

🔗 Click the link in our bio to see the full story.

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 29d

This afternoon when I posted a recent #cult awareness video for The Revival Fellowship, little did I know that the podcast I Was a Teenage Fundamentalist had just today put out this excellent new episode about speaking in tongues. #exvangelical

131 - The Secret History of Speaking in Tongues

YouTube video by I Was a Teenage Fundamentalist

www.youtube.com

Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 29d

Wrong! Questions and critical thinking are the way to find the truth.

Questions don't destroy relationships. Cults do.

Leaving The Revival Fellowship aged 26 was the culmination of 15 years of asking myself the hard questions and finding the bravery not to shy away from the answers.

#exvangelical

Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · 29d

Typical #cult talk from The Revival Fellowship, which I was raised in:

"It's good to ask questions if it brings you closer to God… but it's not good if it takes you away from God."

If it takes you away from God or divides your relationships "then it's the wrong question and it's the wrong answer."

The Revival Fellowship - Chris Kernahan - Only certain questions are acceptable

YouTube video by David

www.youtube.com

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · Sep 26

Word got around that I'm willing to write reviews. No posts for two years, then bang! – two reviews in two days. #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #Lyttelton #theatre #Shakespeare #QueenLear

An evocative queer Lear reimagining

This production propels us not into the distant Celtic past of Britain, but to an impending dystopian future. Thankfully, queerness is normal in 2125.

remarks.nz

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Mark Darbyshire🌱🏳️‍🌈 @markd.nz · Sep 26

I had the joy of watching some truly electrifying community #theatre last night, and I couldn't help but write a review. #Ōtautahi #Christchurch

A sizzling spectacle of contrast and transformation

What a treat! I've never felt theatre so viscerally and physically as I felt this.

remarks.nz

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