Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Dr Isaac Henderson from the NZ drone industry says, "The drone doesn’t know if it’s being flown for military or civilian purposes".

Reminds me of Tom Lehrer's Wernher von Braun...

www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Don't say that he's hypocritical
Say rather that he's apolitical
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department!" says Wernher von Braun

1 2 6

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

1

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 2d

Governor General Lord Plunket's farewell to Palmerston North, 23 May 1910: "we will watch when you are going to put the trams here, or how bridges you are going to have at Hokowhitu." My answer, 115 years later: it's too soon to tell.

Reposted by Robert McLachlan

James Renwick @cubaraglanguy.bsky.social · 2d

"...deep-seated systemic problems that incremental change will not solve." Right - time to stop pissing around and do everything we can to get off fossil fuels.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

5 7

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 4d

New Zealand says – hold my beer

1

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 4d

About 70th on 35%, world average 41%

1 1

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 4d

New Zealand ranks 30th in the world for share of low-carbon electricity.

1 1 5

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 6d

‘My son genuinely believed it was real’: Parents are letting little kids play with AI. Are they wrong?

Some believe AI can spark their child’s imagination through personalized stories and generative images. Scientists are wary of its effect on creativity

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Robert McLachlan

University Workers for Palestine @uwp-aotearoa.bsky.social · 7d

UNISAVER MUST DIVEST FROM GEN0C!DE

If UniSaver does not respond to our demand, we will launch a campaign to get unis across the motu to sever ties with UniSaver.

Show your support by signing the open letter here: tinyurl.com/26tj4kpj

8 12

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 8d

Is that why for decades government has declined to appoint board members and agrees to never challenge the boards' choice of chair?

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 8d

Government investing in thermal backup – see Marsden B. Diesel fired, built in 1978, never used. Sold for parts to India in 2012.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsden_B

Marsden B - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

2

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 8d

A reminder that more fossil generation = higher prices

2 2

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 8d

I'm not seeing payments to build renewables? I see "develop,
in consultation with industry, a regulatory framework to create lasting incentives for investment in firm generation." That could mean geothermal or it could mean subsidising fossil fuels.

1 2

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 8d

Today (30 Sep 2025) an all-time record was set for solar power generation in New Zealand – 1200 MWh from solar farms. (Distributed solar, not shown, likely also a record.) Alas, it earned only 0.08 c/kWh for its owners. Not a great incentive to build more. What will tomorrow's announcement bring?

7 28 95

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 9d

It's the market share of sales of newly imported vehicles. In New Zealand the market share dropped sharply after a change of government which led to the end of financial incentives, the introduction of per-kilometre charges for driving an EV, and the weakening of fuel efficiency standards.

4

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 9d

Purchase of newly imported vehicles – mostly new but in New Zealand some of these have been imported used.

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 10d

In August, the market share of fully electric light vehicles in Australia was triple that of NZ (10% vs 3.4%).

6 12 71

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 10d

So long, Mt Fuji

3

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 10d

"A lack of consistent planning and basic investment [has] led to the collapse of New Zealand’s regional public transport"

New article by Paul Callister and Heidi O'Callahan
thefutureisrail.org/solving-our-...

Solving our regional mobility crisis

More flights and better roads do little to solve the regional mobility crisis. Passenger trains, coupled with an improved long-distance bus network, restore mobility for New Zealanders throughout the ...

thefutureisrail.org

3

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 10d

Chapter 89, Fast-fish and Loose-fish

Is it not a saying in every one’s mouth, Possession is half of the law: that is, regardless of how the thing came into possession? But often possession is the whole of the law. What are the sinews and souls of Russian serfs and Republican slaves but Fast-Fish, whereof possession is the whole of the law? What to the rapacious landlord is the widow’s last mite but a Fast-Fish? What is yonder undetected villain’s marble mansion with a doorplate for a waif; what is that but a Fast-Fish? What is the ruinous discount which Mordecai, the broker, gets from the poor Woebegone, the bankrupt, on a loan to keep Woebegone’s family from starvation; what is that ruinous discount but a Fast-Fish? What is the Archbishop of Savesoul’s income of L100,000 seized from the scant bread and cheese of hundreds of thousands of broken-backed laborers (all sure of heaven without any of Savesoul’s help) what is that globular 100,000 but a Fast-Fish. What are the Duke of Dunder’s hereditary towns and hamlets but Fast-Fish? What to that redoubted harpooneer, John Bull, is poor Ireland, but a Fast-Fish? What to that apostolic lancer, Brother Jonathan, is Texas but a Fast-Fish? And concerning all these, is not Possession the whole of the law?

But if the doctrine of Fast-Fish be pretty generally applicable, the kindred doctrine of Loose-Fish is still more widely so. That is internationally and universally applicable.

What was America in 1492 but a Loose-Fish, in which Columbus struck the Spanish standard by way of wailing it for his royal master and mistress? What was Poland to the Czar? What Greece to the Turk? What India to England? What at last will Mexico be to the United States? All Loose-Fish.

What are the Rights of Man and the Liberties of the World but Loose-Fish? What all men’s minds and opinions but Loose-Fish? ... What is the great globe itself but a Loose-Fish? And what are you, reader, but a Loose-Fish and a Fast-Fish, too?

Reposted by Robert McLachlan

Naomi Oreskes @naomioreskes.bsky.social · 13d

It’s becoming a tragedy that we have to keep repeating this… or maybe a farce…

newsroom.co.nz/2025/09/25/y...

You can lead people to data, but you can't make them think

Comment from Auckland University: Scientific evidence for human-induced climate change is beyond dispute, so why is disinformation still so rife?

newsroom.co.nz

1 16 46

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 13d

Embarrassed to recall that in 1984 rent was $35 a week and I was paid $16 an hour for tutoring. Plus 2 hours prep so $48 per tutorial. My prof Roy Kerr (in the news recently) said he'd won a student strike for lab demonstrators to be paid twice the average wage of the day. $80/hr anyone?

1 1 3

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 13d

Thanks, good article. One key development was making student loans permanently interest-free while resident in NZ – an election promise of Helen Clark's in 2005 which has stood to this day. That would have had an effect during the recent burst of inflation.

1 2

Reposted by Robert McLachlan

Cycling Action Network @cyclingactionnz.bsky.social · 13d

Grabbing a water bottle, she unlocked the bike, and set off down the drive. The clouds scudded across the sky, the wind was fresh, and she noticed the new spring growth. She breathed deeply, and there it was again - that old cycling magic; it never failed to arrive.

#VoteForBikes #CyclingMagic

Words say "Wouldn't it be nice to have... comfortable, safe space to enjoy that cycling magic" with "Vote For Bikes, Cycling Action Network, Pae te haere maa pahikara". and an image of a stylised bike with a voting tick coming out of the front wheel, and a smaller kids bike behind. There is a traffic sign saying 'bike lane'. There is a large faded question mark in the background.

5 9

Robert McLachlan @robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 13d

We do have the NZ Tree Register which includes a lot of record-breaking and otherwise notable trees. It grew out of Burstall & Sale's "Great Trees of NZ" from 1984.
www.treeregister.nz

1 1