TDB Open Mic
TDB Open Mic is The Daily Blog’s community noticeboard.
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THURSDAY 5th MARCH 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Starfish don’t have bodies. Along with other echinoderms (think sea urchins and sand dollars), their entire bodies are technically classed as heads.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’m completely in favor of the
separation of Church and State.
… These two institutions screw us up enough
on their own, so both of them together is
certain death.”
― George Carlin
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Sacred cities watch
Sirens braid the midnight air
Peace waits, unattended
WEDNESDAY 4th MARCH 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Bacteria on your skin cause your itches. Specifically, bacteria known as Staphylococcus aureus can release a chemical that activates a protein in our nerves. This sends a signal from our skin to our brains, which our brain perceives as an itch.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
― Plato
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Maps drawn in tension
Borders glow on anxious screens
Markets feel the shock
TUESDAY 3rd MARCH 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: You can be heavily pregnant and not realise. Cryptic pregnancies aren’t that uncommon, with 1 in 500 not recognised until at least halfway through and 1 in 2,500 not known until labour starts.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
― Mahatma Gandhi
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Old grudges whisper
Leaders speak in thunder tones
Civilians pray low
MONDAY 2nd MARCH 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Hippos can’t swim. Hippos really do have big bones, so big and dense, in fact, that they’re barely buoyant at all. They don’t swim and instead perform a slow-motion gallop on the riverbed or on the sea floor. In fact, hippos can even sleep underwater, thanks to a built-in reflex that allows them to bob up, take a breath, and sink back down without waking.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
― Isaac Asimov
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Allies trade warnings
Missiles bloom in desert dusk
Oil fields flicker red
SUNDAY 1st MARCH 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Wearing a tie can reduce blood flow to the brain by 7.5 per cent. A study in 2018 found that wearing a necktie can reduce the blood flow to your brain by up to 7.5 per cent, which can make you feel dizzy, nauseous and cause headaches. They can also increase the pressure in your eyes if on too tight and are great at carrying germs.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”
― Malcolm X,
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Trump vows iron fire
Israel strikes at Iran
Desert holds its breath
SATURDAY 28th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: All the world’s bacteria stacked on top of each other would stretch for 10 billion light-years. Together, Earth’s 0.001mm-long microbes could wrap around the Milky Way over 20,000 times.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Opposition stands
Answers bend but do not break
Speaker calls for calm
FRIDAY 27th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Bananas are radioactive. Due to being rich in potassium, every banana is actually slightly radioactive thanks to containing the natural isotope potassium-40. Interestingly, your body contains around 16mg of potassium-40, meaning you’re around 280 times more radioactive than a banana already. Any excess potassium-40 you gain from a banana is excreted out within a few hours.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Red briefcase lifted
Numbers drift like autumn leaves
Who feels winter most?
THURSDAY 26th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: One in 18 people have a third nipple. Known as polythelia, the third nipple is caused by a mutation in inactive genes.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Open homes at noon
Auctioneer chants like a hymn
Young couples fall silent
WEDNESDAY 25th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Your signature could reveal personality traits. A study in 2016 purports that among men, a larger signature correlates with higher social bravado and, among women, a bigger signature correlates with narcissistic traits.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’m completely in favor of the
separation of Church and State.
… These two institutions screw us up enough
on their own, so both of them together is
certain death.”
― George Carlin
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Three hands on one wheel
Policy by negotiation
Smiles hide sharp elbows
Long time emergency volunteers Jarrad Scott and Peter Ottley were desperate for change.
“The fact that you can go out and be drunk and wrap a car around a power pole and be covered by ACC, but if you’re volunteering to save lives, you’re not covered.
“It’s ridiculous,” Scott said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/587953/volunteer-firefighters-renew-calls-for-acc-mental-health-cover
TUESDAY 24th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Sound can be minus decibels. The quietest place on Earth is Microsoft’s anechoic chamber in Redmond, WA, USA, at -20.6 decibels. These anechoic chambers are built out of heavy concrete and brick and are mounted on springs to stop vibrations from getting in through the floor.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
― C. S. Lewis
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Beehive hums at dawn
Coffee, caucus, compromise
Wellington winds rise
MONDAY 23rd FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Snails have teeth. Between 1,000 and 12,000 teeth, to be precise. They aren’t like ours, though, so don’t be thinking about snails with ridiculous toothy grins. You’ll find the snail’s tiny ‘teeth’ all over its file-like tongue.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
― Plato
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Polls flicker and fade
Leaders smile, shake steady hands
Storms behind the scenes
SUNDAY 22nd FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Wind turbines kill between 10,000 and 100,000 birds each year in the UK. Interestingly, painting one of the blades of a wind turbine black can reduce bird deaths by 70 per cent.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.”
― Karl Marx
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Parliament question—
laughter, heckles, careful smiles,
truth lost in the noise.
SATURDAY 21st FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: When you cut a worm in two, it regenerates. That said, this only works if it’s cut widthways – and not all will. Earthworms can regrow their tails, and the planarian flatworm can regrow its whole body from a tiny sliver of tissue.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
― Mahatma Gandhi
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Housing costs climb slow,
dreams shrink into smaller rooms,
keys feel far away.
FRIDAY 20th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: The T.rex likely had feathers. Scientists in China discovered Early Cretaceous period tyrannosaur skeletons that were covered in feathers. If the ancestors of the T. rex had feathers, the T. rex probably did, too.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.” ― Malcolm X
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Treaty words debated,
old ink meets a modern storm,
marches fill the street.
THURSDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: You don’t actually lose most of your heat through your head. Your face, head and chest are more sensitive to temperature changes, but this myth isn’t entirely true. In reality, covering any part of the body helps prevent heat loss in the same way.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: ‘I Am — Somebody’ Jesse Jackson
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Parliament question—
laughter, heckles, careful smiles,
truth lost in the noise.
WEDNESDAY 18th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Ants don’t have lungs. They instead breathe through spiracles, nine or ten tiny openings, depending on the species.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: The political lesson of Watergate is this: Never again must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of political adolescents to by-pass the regular party organization and dictate the terms of a national election – Gerald R. Ford
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Coalition morning—
coffee, polling, talking points,
winds shift by lunchtime.
TUESDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Chainsaws were first invented for childbirth. It was developed in Scotland in the late 18th Century to help aid and speed up the process of symphysiotomy (widening the pubic cartilage) and removal of disease-laden bone during childbirth. It wasn’t until the start of the 20th Century that we started using chainsaws for woodchopping.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites – Nelson Mandela
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Polls flicker and fade
Leaders smile, shake steady hands
Storms behind the scenes
MONDAY 16th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Earth’s poles are moving. This magnetic reversal of the North and South Pole has happened 171 times in the past 71 million years. We’re overdue a flip. It could come soon, as the North Pole is moving at around 55 kilometres per year, an increase over the 15km per year up until 1990.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: Everything is political. I will never be a politician or even think political. Me just deal with life and nature. That is the greatest thing to me – Bob Marley
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
On the marae floor
Voices carry through the years
Land remembers all
FRIDAY 13th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Comets smell like rotten eggs. A comet smells like rotten eggs, urine, burning matches, and… almonds. Traces of hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, sulphur dioxide, and hydrogen cyanide were all found in the makeup of the comet 67P/Churyumove-Gerasimenko. Promotional postcards were even commissioned in 2016 carrying the pungent scent of a comet.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: We’ve become, now, an oligarchy instead of a democracy. I think that’s been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards to the American political system that I’ve ever seen in my life – Jimmy Carter
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Treaty words debated,
old ink meets a modern storm,
marches fill the street.
FRIDAY 13th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: NASA genuinely faked part of the Moon landing. While Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the lunar surface were categorically not faked, the astronaut quarantine protocol when the astronauts arrived back on Earth was largely just one big show.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self – Ernest Hemingway
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Budget papers stack,
numbers promise different things,
families feel it.
THURSDAY 12th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Most maps of the world are wrong. On most maps, the Mercator projection – first developed in 1569 – is still used. This method is wildly inaccurate and makes Alaska appear as large as Brazil and Greenland 14 times larger than it actually is. For a map to be completely accurate, it would need to be life-size and round, not flat.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: An empty stomach is not a good political adviser – Albert Einstein
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Coalition morning—
coffee, polling, talking points,
winds shift by lunchtime.
WEDNESDAY 11th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Our solar system has a wall. The heliopause – the region of space in which solar wind isn’t hot enough to push back the wind of particles coming from distant stars – is often considered the “boundary wall” of the Solar System and interstellar space.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands – Plato
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Across Aotearoa
Many flags, one restless wind
Future up for vote
This is a telling statement. ‘Ministry has cancelled 13 services after a review it says is routine.’ It surely seems routine for the authorities under our present government to do away with services and practices that we citizens had decided or agreed were of use to us and should be provided. Who asked for such changes; that our whole way of life be decided by people with no interest in community?.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/586447/just-not-fair-manawatu-parents-using-savings-and-loans-for-school-buses
Manawatū parents and caregivers are dipping into their savings and even taking out loans to fund a bus service to get their children to school. This comes after some school buses that used to run into Palmerston North were axed as a result of a Ministry of Education review into more than 250 routes nationwide. One high school reports that 300 of its students are affected by the changes.
Could we end with a ‘free town’? Watch this, listen for 29.03 while the difficulties are unfolded when one attempts to live by theories and ideals..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG3rLciXnnQ | USA The Libertarian Town that ruined life for everyone. (Grafton New Hampshire.)
And second | https://digg.com/offbeat/mJ0C7Yq/the-libertarian-town-that-ruined-life
Discussion…https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21534416/free-state-project-new-hampshire-libertarians-matthew-hongoltz-hetling…Background – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_State_Project.
Who’d be indigenous ah…
What’s worse throwing a bomb into a crowd of Noongar, Yamatji, Wankai and Kimberley peoples – Or burning an Aussie flag?
Funny how the far right keep getting a free pass from sections (Murdock) of the media.
Just remember folks, being indigenous in the eyes of many, means their lives equal = bugger all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ySBrqQsxtk
After reading about being indigenous and how it can be painful, the word mortify came to mind. Merriam Webster gives three different meanings to the word. And perhaps we could all improve before we actually worked our way through to finality…
mortify – verb: 1: to subject to severe and vexing embarrassment: shame… was no longer mortified by comparisons between her sisters’ beauty and her own.. — Jane Austen….2: to subdue or deaden (the body, bodily appetites, etc.) especially by abstinence or self-inflicted pain or discomfort…- mortified his body for spiritual purification…3: obsolete : to destroy the strength, vitality, or functioning of.
Breaking news from one of NZO top Deluders. Or How To Conduct a Country Coup while the Citizens are Comatose:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/586323/auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-says-government-unqualified-to-lead-city-s-economic-recovery…’Auckland mayor Wayne Brown says the government is unqualified to lead the city’s economic recovery and should leave it to local council. The comments came as Brown again renewed calls for a bed levy tax….despite the government’s opposition to the move.’
(What if he is right and it is a good, practical move? But the gummint is locked into the inertia of neoliberal control of government by pan-world trade treaty agreements which have triumphed over governments’ scruples relating to their ethical responsibilities and sovereignty? Is ‘our’ government virtually super-glued to their seats hence the saying ‘They are flying by the seat of their pants*’!)
* Aviation Innovation: “Flying by the Seat…” National Postal Museum |..|https://postalmuseum.si.edu › exhibition › fad-to-funda…
“Flying by the seat of your pants” means to do or take action without a plan, to go by feel, to make decisions in the moment.
Isn’t this bloody pathetic. I think that the people in control of all our services down or up from menial CEOs to master politicians – should be put on a code ’emergency’ as inclined to be mentally unreliable, valueless and clueless. Get Rid Of Them. I want a better country – don’t you?????
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/586352/a-cascade-of-errors-johnathon-taituma-died-after-st-john-ambulance-delays-coroner-finds
TUESDAY 10th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Mount Everest isn’t the tallest mountain on Earth. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the twin volcanoes, are taller than Mount Everest as 4.2km of their height is submerged underwater. The twin volcanoes measure a staggering 10.2km in total, compared to Everest’s paltry 8.8km.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: Man is by nature a political animal – Aristotle
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Budget night arrives
Numbers fall like winter rain
Households feel the cold
Sydney protest organisers accuse police of ‘state violence’ as Greens call for investigation.
Protesters who gathered on Monday night to oppose Israeli President Isaac Herzog were beaten, pepper-sprayed and arrested by police.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/police-clash-with-protesters-as-thousands-rally-against-president-herzogs-visit/ysljl9ehd
Help for start up businesses. Good if it is for the micro kind as what is termed small business is big in Kiwiland. And help them run it well, have opportunity to talk over service tips. (Notice ex Airnz Greg oran is going to work for some large USA corporate.) Let;s invest in our own people and keep the money in NZAO and reinvest in more and so on.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/586313/early-stage-angel-investment-in-start-up-businesses-grows-for-first-time-since-2021
Mayor Wayne Brown. Our God lead us to neolib heaven.
A New Zealand first: Judge faces conduct panel over alleged behaviour towards Winston Peters at Northern Club
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360935699/new-zealand-first-judge-faces-conduct-panel-over-alleged-behaviour-towards-winston-peters-northern
“Aitken and Galler later wrote a note of apology.”
Silly boy Dave. Why apologise for tour wife telling the truth! I realise you empathise and understand how some old curmudgeon can have gone down the rabbit hole in a desperate bid to repair a legacy that’s now an utter joke, but never apologise for telling it like it is.
It’d probably be easier to park the old c*&t up in a French Castle with an unending supply of whiskey and nicotine (or even heroin).
No no no – keep calling out the bullshit artists
MONDAY 9th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: The fear of long words is called Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. The 36-letter word was first used by the Roman poet Horace in the first century BCE to criticise those writers with an unreasonable penchant for long words. It was American poet Aimee Nezheukumatathil, possibly afraid of their own surname, who coined the term how we know it in 2000.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists – Ernest Hemingway
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Polls flicker and fade
Leaders smile, shake steady hands
Storms behind the scenes
Japan’s Leader Takaichi Wins in a Landslide snap election, Clearing Way for Hard-Line Agenda
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/world/asia/japan-takaichi-election-landslide.html
There is so much going on all the time and facts and comments flying around in all media and on every raindrop etc. Things can be overlooked. This is a good coverage of salient present problems here in NZAO right in this blog – a lot of good horse sense, and even we donkeys can recognise it. If you are ahead of events, this will help keep your advanced place.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/taxpayers-union-manipulations-3-waters-hysteria-and-wellington-downing-in-french-privatisation-sht-welcome-to-nuzilind/…
Dr Bryce Edwards stresses that Wellington’s primary wastewater plant built in 1998 has failed regularly when being assessed and in practice.
A simple question – we changed over to provision of services bought from businesses which should have greater nous than government, and much has been been built by large overseas entities. It appears that we as citizens have government acting as an agent to obtain the expertise for us with government’s superior knowledge of which entity is most suitable and reliable. So are we being treated right?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/586251/drainlayer-panel-beater-loses-fight-for-cover-from-acc-for-lung-disease-because-of-pet-parrot
We should not be surprised at this denial of cover for lung problems. At present there is a long-running game on to deny that Kiwis ever had the right to a welfare state, and even to attain rights to a little bit of land with a dwelling on it for ourselves. Etc etc – denial of access is the theme du jour. Or in vulgar terms GFY.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/585964/auckland-homeowners-not-advised-of-rule-change-affecting-flood-buyouts-advocate-says
I just saw this from 2/2 and thought others might have missed it and it would mean a lot of importance to many people affected.
SUNDAY 8th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: Wearing a tie can reduce blood flow to the brain by 7.5 per cent. A study in 2018 found that wearing a necktie can reduce the blood flow to your brain by up to 7.5 per cent, which can make you feel dizzy, nauseous and cause headaches. They can also increase the pressure in your eyes if on too tight and are great at carrying germs.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind – George Orwell
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
On the marae floor
Voices carry through the years
Land remembers all
Trump’s Dangerous Diversionary Device: Using Race to Erase Discourse.
https://time.com/7372895/trump-obama-video-diversion/
2degrees customers with Noika/HMD 4G volte phones, have phones that no longer work since the 3G shutoff.
Why are Nokia/HMD phones not supported by 2degrees, when competitors Spark and OneNZ do support them?
Why is 2degrees driving customers with Nokia/HMD phones to its competitors?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There is no public indication that 2degrees plans to add VoLTE support for HMD devices in the future.
Unless 2degrees updates its compatibility list, there is no expectation of future support.
As of January 22, 2026, no HMD (Nokia) devices appear on 2degrees’ official VoLTE-compatible phones list.
HMD devices like the Nokia 4.2 and Nokia 7.1 are supported on other networks (e.g., Spark, One NZ), but 2degrees has not enabled VoLTE for them, likely due to lack of carrier provisioning or device lifecycle limitations.
Forum discussions (e.g., Geekzone) confirm that HMD has previously declined to add VoLTE support for older models upon carrier request, citing end-of-life status.
With the 3G shutdown completed on February 2, 2026, unsupported HMD devices will no longer function for calls or texts on 2degrees.
Interesting.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/586186/northland-councils-team-up-on-local-government-reform… } Submissions on the Bills to replace the Resource Management Act close on Parliament’s website on 13 February. A consultation on the plan to replace regional councils with ‘combined territories boards’ is open until 20 February, through the Department of Internal Affairs website……
Consultation on whether the government should force them to cap rates increases to within a range of 2-4 percent a year will also end soon.
Local Democracy Reporting said the proposed changes could affect councils’ ability to increase rates above a defined threshold, local authorities’ planning remit, and the structure and function of all the regional councils…..
Kaipara, Far North and Whangārei, along with the Northland Regional Council, are backing a ‘by Northland, for Northland’ approach.
They said the local government minister heard Northland councils were eager to engage early with the government and held a meeting with Simon Watts on Thursday, before Waitangi Day……They aimed to demonstrate that, as local leaders, they could be trusted to deliver solutions that work on the ground. [!!!!!!!]
SATURDAY 7th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: All the world’s bacteria stacked on top of each other would stretch for 10 billion light-years. Together, Earth’s 0.001mm-long microbes could wrap around the Milky Way over 20,000 times.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge – Isaac Asimov
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Treaty words endure
Old promises, new arguments
History speaks still
Just found another genocide that I hadn’t heard about before. (If a genocide happens and there is no observer able to report it, has it really happened?) Sort of, if a tree falls in the forest etc. (AI puts it this way – The famous philosophical riddle is: …| “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”. It is a thought experiment exploring perception, existence, and whether physical events depend on being observed. The answer depends on defining “sound” as either physical vibrations (yes) or auditory perception (no)…
…indigenous inhabitants of the Mesopotamian marshlands in the modern-day south Iraq, as well as in the Hawizeh Marshes straddling the Iran–Iraq border.[4] Comprising members of many different tribes and tribal confederations, such as the Āl Bū Muḥammad, Ferayghāt, Shaghanbah, Ahwaris had developed a culture centered on the marshes’ natural resources. Many of the marshes’ inhabitants were forcibly displaced during the AHWARI GENOCIDE when the wetlands were drained during and after the 1991 uprisings in Iraq…..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_Arabs
I’m getting interested in Syria. Have Agatha Christie’s book ‘Come Tell Me How You Live’ about her time there with second husband Max Mallowan, Archaeologist. And the book – Syria’s Secret Library. About : Embrace the Middle East https://embraceme.org › blog › the-making-of-syrias-secret-library…The making of Syria’s secret library: – We have built an underground secret library, filled with every kind of book you can imagine. There we can escape the devastation, the killing and the hunger.”…..(Trying to format this so it can be read easily.)
These people seem very advanced and I thought that the western countries were supreme! Hah- I think we are inclined to raid past civilisations and take home keepsakes but imbibe no real knowledge, respect or value what we find. That’s just my impression, could be wrong but perhaps we are following ancient traits that come to the top FTTT. See reference to 1591 in this item below.
Note: Hidden Compass https://hiddencompass.net › story › libraries-beneath-th-sand | Libraries Beneath the Sand – Hidden Compass
In 1591, Morocco invaded Mali, intent on looting the libraries, so local people took books to their homes and buried them in the desert. It would not be the last time.
FRIDAY 6th FEBRUARY 2026
FACT OF THE DAY: A chicken once lived for 18 months without a head. Mike the chicken’s incredible feat was recorded back in the 1940s in the USA. He survived as his jugular vein and most of his brainstem were left mostly intact, ensuring just enough brain function remained for survival. In the majority of cases, a headless chicken dies in a matter of minutes.
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind – George Orwell
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
Press release lands first
Facts arrive slightly late
Headline already
“This Friday, the 25th Winter Olympics will open in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. How big will the Games be? Will Russia be allowed to participate in the competitions — and what about security and doping?”
Let’s see what dramas unfold in the coming weeks.
https://www.dw.com/en/2026-winter-olympics-what-you-need-to-know/a-75716782