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Paul Brislen

@brislen.nz

3.6K followers 3.7K following 4.3K posts

Kiwi telco guy. No I don’t know how that happened either. I shall bind him to me, with promises. 🇳🇿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Cymro o ddewis (Welsh by choice) "We consider that Mr Brislen is an authoritative source." (BSA decision, March 2020) Aotearoa he/him

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 8h

I have fallen down the rabbit hole of @thespinoff.bsky.social videos and by gum, they're jolly good.

Well done, team. Excellent work dissecting the weird and whacky world of New Zealand economics and politics.

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Juha Saarinen @juha.bsky.social · 11h

The Reserve Bank slashes the Official Cash Rate to 2.50% to bolster faith in an economic recovery that seems to have stalled over the past six months www.interest.co.nz/economy/1355...

RBNZ opts for JUMBO cut to resurrect recovery

The Reserve Bank slashed the Official Cash Rate to 2.50% to bolster faith in an economic recovery that seems to have stalled over the past six months

www.interest.co.nz

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Arianeh Sajadi, Esq. @arianehsajadi.bsky.social · 17h

A British academic is tracking the Dictator in the WH’s authoritarian acts since taking office in Jan.

It tracks illegalities, unconst’l acts, abuses of power - anything undermining democracy & propping up authoritarianism.

Tally is at 1466 authoritarian acts.

🆘🇺🇸

www.trumpactiontracker.info?

www.trumpactiontracker.info

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Cool Hand Fluke @nzrossvideo.bsky.social · 10h

Oh. Found out why we love gas all of a sudden

Justin Mikulka @justinmikulka.bsky.social · 1d

I recently wrote about how the US natural gas (methane) producers desperately need the world to get hooked on LNG imports. They need new markets for their gas. Why? From @ember-energy.org :

"global gas generation also fell (-6.3 TWh, -0.2%)"

The world is using less gas.

Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights 2025 | Ember

Solar and wind outpaced demand growth in the first half of 2025, as renewables overtook coal’s share in the global electricity mix.

ember-energy.org

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Michele @funnymichele.bsky.social · 1d

🤦🏻‍♀️

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Craig Renney @clrenney.bsky.social · 11h

#nzpol The Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate by 0.5%. That sounds great. But banks only cut interest rates that much when the economy is in trouble - and not when things are going well. This cut is a sign of economic weakness, not strength. A 😄🧵

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 11h

So, which of the banks is moving on the bank rate drop?

I've got a mortgage itching to be re-fixed...

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Bill Amend @billamend.bsky.social · 12h

My friend Matt Inman made a great comic about AI…

A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal

This is a comic about AI art.

theoatmeal.com

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David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · 12h

And the constituency that votes for them.
bsky.app/profile/thou...

David Hood @thoughtfulnz.bsky.social · Aug 21

I absolutely agree the Greens have pro-social collective values, but I also found that the 2023 NZES has a how much do you trust trust scientists question, and Green voters in 2023 exhibit the highest positive (lot + somewhat) trust with 98.9% of Green voters.

Black and Purple trust scientists as a general statement, orange and yellow mistrust. No opinion excluded.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 12h

That's reflected in them being the only party with a real digital policy/agenda.

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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 14h

listen. when dolly parton’s sister says it’s time for us all to be prayer warriors for dolly. you fucking pray for dolly

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 12h

Very much so... too many MPs cave in during public meetings and promise all kinds of things.

Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 12h

Yes, the current crop of Green MPs is quite a different beast to the types who turned up at the 3G events and cried about radiation poisoning their babies.

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Toby Morris @xtotl.bsky.social · 19h

People Watching: Metlifecare Bayswater Retirement Village, Mt Maunganui, at lunchtime on a sunny Thursday

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Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey.bsky.social · 16h

Would love to see this done for NZ media.

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 20h

Does the news reflect what we die from?

The image presents a comparison of the leading causes of death in the United States for 2023 and the media coverage these causes receive from three news outlets: The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Fox News.

In the footer, it notes the data sources, indicating that the information is based on media mentions from Media Cloud (2025) and death data from the US CDC (2025) and the Global Terrorism Index, with a clarification that values are normalized to sum to 100%.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 13h

Cops are pursuing lines of inquiry etc.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 14h

It is a lot. Attacks are fairly few and far between but there's some elements in the community down there who get carried away because vaccines/chemtrails/smart meters/5G/1080 etc etc blather snort.

Dickheads.

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 14h

And just like that... another cell tower burned down in Queenstown Lakes region.

That's five attacks in the past few weeks.

The irony is this puts people's health at risk. Almost all emergency calls go via mobile networks.

It'll be at least four weeks before a replacement tower can be deployed.

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 17h

Window Screen

xkcd.com/3151/

4-panel comic. (1) [person in front of window, shaped like a trapezoid with a curved top] This weekend, I had to make an oversized screen for a porch window. (2) [person sitting with hands on head surrounded by images of assorted equations and measurements] It involved countless tiny problems, each somehow way harder than it should be. Oblique angles. Curved edges. Noncoplanarity. (3) [person in front of window with screen on it, with building detritus strewn on the ground] ...I solved them all. I measured precisely. I did trigonometry. I made custom parts. And it fit *perfectly.* No gaps, no ripples. (4) [person typing at computer] I know that your foundation normally limits its purview to physics, medicine, peace, chemistry, and literature. However, if you review the attached photos showing how well the screen fits into the...

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 15h

Every time I send out a press release I go through the bounces and take them out of my media list.

"Hi, I'm not with XXX any longer. Please send any media inquiries to [generic inbox]."

And the generic inbox is usually full and can't accept more emails.

Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 15h

It's entirely feral now. Bots roaming at will, saying the most outrageous things. Videos of stuff that should not be shared being posted ad nauseam.

Can't go in any more.

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The Onion @theonion.com · 17h

Health Experts Recommend Standing Up At Desk, Leaving Office, Never Coming Back https://theonion.com/health-experts-recommend-standing-up-at-desk-leaving-o-1819577456/

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 15h

It is and for some people that's all they can afford/want.

Shouldn't be shut out of the market because they want to live in it and not rent it out to students.

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Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 1d

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 1d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 16h

The film trailer looks lovely but more about Will, not Agnes and...

might just be the trailer though.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2xt...

HAMNET - Official Teaser Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters Thanksgiving

YouTube video by Focus Features