Phil Garnock-Jones
@theobrominated.bsky.social
2K followers 900 following 1.5K posts
Retired botanist, focusing on flower biology. "He Puāwai, a natural history of New Zealand flowers" to be published 9 October 2025 (Auckland University Press), illustrated with >500 stereo pair photographs. Whakatū, Aotearoa. orcid.org/0000-0002-2539-4152
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
theobrominated.bsky.social
All welcome at my book's launch: Unity Books Wellington 6 pm this Friday 10 October. Come and say hello.
Book launch invitation from Unity Books Willis St Wellington, for my book He Puāwai a natural history of New Zealand flowers. It shows the cover on a purple background with some stylised flowers.
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
djbyrnes1.bsky.social
Ellis getting into her concerns over plainclothes agents.

She says she's willing to give some leeway to "undercover" officers, but says other agents, including those doing crowd control at protests, need to have ID that "identifies them numerically and by agency."
theobrominated.bsky.social
And the award for the best rhyming slang in a TV series goes to Slow Horses (S5; E3).
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
djbyrnes1.bsky.social
Ellis rules that the plaintiffs have standing for their case. She cites the "ongoing and sustained record of conduct" by federal agents gathered over the last month.

She further finds the plaintiffs have plausibly shown feds have "frustrated" efforts to "protect journalist safety."
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
newsroom.co.nz
Exclusive: The Government has avoided questions about whether it’s joining preparations for a US confrontation with China. Until now, the public has had no insight.
Secret defence notes pointing to sensitive China preparation left at op shop
newsroom.co.nz
theobrominated.bsky.social
Ok iirc it was collected by AJ Healy and should be in the database. Ask Ines.
rhbloomer.bsky.social
Well now I wanna go find the specimens! 8 years right next door and I only made it to the herbarium for the first time a fortnight ago, which is sort of ridiculous.
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
jeffsharlet.bsky.social
Only generally aware of Nigel Farage, it’s been shocking to me in the week I’ve been reading UK papers daily how *precisely* Tory & Reform rhetoric echo Trumpism, particularly the full conquest of GOP by MAGA circa 2017-18. Reminder yet again that this fascism is global.
theobrominated.bsky.social
Ha ha. It might be a descendant of the original bird and the plant
rhbloomer.bsky.social
Even better, that's ~150m away from where this particular plant is 🤩
theobrominated.bsky.social
Sorry, I just realised you’re in Ōtautahi. I was referring to the Allan Herbarium at @bioeconomyscience.bsky.social in Lincoln.
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
rob-kowa.bsky.social
So much of the internet (while not great before) begins to read like badly written first year or high school student essays.
People are using AI more and more.
I cannot read about gardening, or hi-fi systems, or movies, or *anything* now, without listening to a machine.
Have you all gone insane.
theobrominated.bsky.social
What is a "two speed" economic recovery? Fast forward for landlords and billionaires, reverse for the rest of us?
theobrominated.bsky.social
Given the depth of talent in that caucus, that's inevitable.
theobrominated.bsky.social
The sooner the better, so long as it delivers the right result.
theobrominated.bsky.social
I've seen herbarium specimens of it taken from birds' nests in New Zealand.
theobrominated.bsky.social
I'm not a philosopher, but I don't think that's logical.
theobrominated.bsky.social
So looking forward to seeing photos of it covered in hue. What a cool idea.
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
domesticanimal.bsky.social
The Govt wants to cut Health NZ staff working on alcohol harm & end its research & social marketing campaigns. Sixty five organisations have signed an open letter to the PM, calling for alcohol industry to be excluded from policy making.
My #cartoon today #NZpol #alcohol #Health #PublicHealth
Cartoon. Title: “Sponsored by the Alcohol Lobby”. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and Assoc Justice Minister Nicole McKee, drinking together. McKee hands her beer to Doocey and says, “Hold my beer” “I’m going to sort out these Public Health boffins. Lower right it says, “Govt ignores expert advice on alcohol”
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
calacastellanos.bsky.social
👇 🌸 see Special Issue in New Phytologist on Nectar & nectaries with many ways of studying nectar biology - including our 2024 paper on nectar traits evolutionary potential @a-romerobravo.bsky.social @newphyt.bsky.social
newphyt.bsky.social
On the cover of our #LatestIssue: #Nectar collecting at the tip of the stigma in Agapetes lacei (Ericaceae). Photo by Evin Magner, courtesy of the University of Minnesota CBS Conservatory.

📖 See Virtual Issue: Nectar and nectaries
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1...

#PlantScience
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
russincheshire.bsky.social
A paean to privatised public transport.

Today I had to go from Stockport to Salisbury. So I bought a ticket

Stockport > Bristol > Salisbury

The drive to Stockport should have taken 35 minutes. Satnav said it would take 2 hours, and I'd miss my train.

So I went to Macclesfield, where I found...
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
russincheshire.bsky.social
To celebrate the centenary of Thatcher's Birth, I suggest digging her up and relocating her body to a plot in Liverpool, placing an illuminated dance floor on top, and charging £10 a go.

We could pay off the national debt in under a week.
a man is standing on a dance floor with a crowd behind him
ALT: a man is standing on a dance floor with a crowd behind him
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
phillipspobrien.bsky.social
They lead the polls in Germany, France and the UK.

The question therefore needs to be asked. Does Europe Really Want To Save Itself?
theobrominated.bsky.social
Every (lunar) month, a story about the full moon that happens every (lunar) month.
dpattemore.bsky.social
#breakingnews

Tonight, for one night only, you won’t need a telescope to see the moon! 😮

NZHerald: “You won’t need a telescope to catch a glimpse [of tonight’s supermoon]”
Screen shot of NZ Herald news story showing big zoomed in picture of the moon, with the title “How to see tonight’s super moon”, and the header “You won’t need a telescope to catch a glimpse”
Reposted by Phil Garnock-Jones
kateviolette.com
I don't think people who aren't the target of such laws realize how upsetting it is to simply read headlines like this

it adds up over a lifetime, you know

to know you are so hated, to have to always be on the lookout for creeps and chuds who would do you harm given the chance

it's tiring
qasimrashid.com
3 MAGA extremists have re-intro'd a bill that allows South Carolina to execute women who receive an abortion. If you haven't heard about S 323, it's because corporate media has completely ignored it.

Here's the overview, the sponsors, & how to fight back:
www.qasimrashid.com/p/s-carolina...
S. Carolina RE-Intros Bill To Kill Women For Getting An Abortion
Here's what's in the bill, why it is so dangerous, and the meaningful steps you can take to fight back, support women's health, and help block this bill from becoming law
www.qasimrashid.com
theobrominated.bsky.social
I don't trust people who have no doubts.