The Standard

Open Mike 12/06/2026

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 12th, 2026 - 41 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:


Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

41 comments on “Open Mike 12/06/2026 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. PsyclingLeft.Always 1
    12 June 2026 at 8:08 am

    And not just in Wellington either….

    One-in-100-year coastal floods now happening twice a year in Wellington – study

    Sea level rise caused by climate change is set to expose areas like Wellington to more frequent coastal flooding, climate scientists say.

    Human-caused sea-level rise has made coastal sea-level extremes four times more frequent since the start of the 20th century.

    Researchers analysed tide gauges recorded between 1900 and 2005 and used climate simulations to identify the influence of human activity on flooding due to sea level rise at 130 sites around the world.

    However, in some locations like Wellington, the increase in flood likelihood was many times higher.

    The authors argued this was direct evidence human-driven climate change had already increased coastal flood risk, and it was crucial flood protection planning used up-to-date flood frequency estimates.

    In the article Prof James Renwick (who I have read much about, and by, a well respected Scientist)

    "At many locations studied, the one-in-100-year extreme sea level event is now occurring at least once per decade. Sea levels are continuing to rise so coastal inundation events will be happening even more frequently over time from here."

    Renwick said it also underlined the need for "urgent adaptation".

    "This week's extreme wave event on the Wellington south coast reinforces the idea that we need to act now and develop response plans urgently. I trust our policymakers and politicians are listening."

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment_climate/597849/one-in-100-year-coastal-floods-now-happening-twice-a-year-in-wellington-study

    IMO some will indeed be listening as in Labour and Greens….however NACT1 Govt ? Not so much….if at all.

  2. Bearded Git 2
    12 June 2026 at 10:05 am

    Southland MP Joseph Mooney (National) attacked both Radio NZ and Queenstown Lakes District Deputy-Mayor Quentin Smith yesterday because the landscape wrecking fast-track development proposed by his rich mates was getting masses of flak from the community.

    The Deputy-Mayor's response says it all:

    "In 25 years in or adjacent to local government I have never seen anything like the chaos imposed on us and own communities by the current government…..the wider Queenstown area was facing the consequences of another 12,500 houses approved through the fast-track process."

    This corrupt government, and fast-track, has to go.

    Paywalled: https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown/politicians%E2%80%99-development-disagreement-leads-online-squabble

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 2.1
      12 June 2026 at 1:01 pm

      IMO Mooney is well connected/dodgy (apart from his other borderline shit incl, but not limited to, asking if Mohan Dutta should be at a NZ University)

      I did reply to you recently about the so called Mooneys Bridge ? Crux a local media, had a story about, which they had to OIA NZTA….

      • Graeme 2.1.1
        12 June 2026 at 2:57 pm

        Mooney always struck me as an MP who did the minimum required to keep his job, you hardly heard of / from him. Then in the last year he's popping up everywhere and vocal. With varying success / effectiveness.

        Someone after his job?

        • Mercurio 2.1.1.1
          12 June 2026 at 2:59 pm

          Peter McDonald, 5th-generation Southland farmer, Labour candidate.

          • Graeme 2.1.1.1.1
            12 June 2026 at 4:07 pm

            Peter is a different choice for a Labour candidate, and a different career choice for a Southland farmer. Not sure how he'll go, both in the main part of the electorate, and in Queenstown. You couldn't get a more starkly diverse electorate. Mooney got around that by wearing the blue gumboot.

            But I was thinking more someone in from National, the seat would be very attractive as a recruiting incentive. Pure speculation, but National has selected a succession of place holder plonkers since Bill left

        • PsyclingLeft.Always 2.1.1.2
          12 June 2026 at 6:37 pm

          Yep, have to say much earlier, I had no idea who he was….until a story about him in the paper. Seems he had a bit of a sad early backstory…but, also sadly, it didnt seem to leave much learned Empathy?

          Recently it seems he has become a great Twitter fan, (possibly just a great Twit : ), which was lampooned by Steve Braunias : )

          The secret diary of .. Joseph Mooney

          Inside the exceptionally prolific X account of the Southland MP

          https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/06/06/the-secret-diary-of-joseph-mooney/

          • Graeme 2.1.1.2.1
            12 June 2026 at 7:50 pm

            When he first popped up I wondered who National had selected, there was a bit of empathy showing, his first "issue" was the plight of an immigrant worker family. More something a Labour MP would have picked up. That didn't last long and then he kinda disappeared. Putting the work in now but there's the feeling of a monumental fuck up coming soon

  3. Incognito 3
    12 June 2026 at 10:14 am

    Is Datagrid a done deal?

    At a time when NZ is desperately commissioning a billion dollar LNG terminal to avoid electricity shortages, it’s also signed off a one gigawatt AI data centre twice as power-hungry as Tiwai Point smelter

    https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/06/11/is-giant-data-centre-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it/

    To the Coalition, AI is the answer to all prayers: growth, productivity, efficiency. So, they’ll push it as hard as the LNG facility, perhaps even harder – the one feeds on the other.

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1
      12 June 2026 at 10:21 am

      the one feeds on the other.

      This ! I just dont get how more people dont see it ?

    • alwyn 3.2
      12 June 2026 at 3:07 pm

      We were so much better with one of our prior Governments. They knew the results of welcoming things like Data centres here.

      When Microsoft announced a planned Data centre the then PM told us.

      ""This is a hugely welcome development," she said during her daily press conference. "It serves as a signal to the world that New Zealand is open for business and quality investment."

      Have things changed?

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350536103/jacinda-ardern-attributes-microsoft-s-big-new-zealand-data-centre-venture-to-safe-haven-advantage

      • Mercurio 3.2.1
        12 June 2026 at 3:15 pm

        Good spotting, alwyn! I'm with you – we should ignore new findings, understandings, developments, because someone said something back then!

        Have things changed, you ask?

        Well, I ask you; have they?

      • Incognito 3.2.2
        12 June 2026 at 5:47 pm

        I parsed your comment and my interpretation is that you’re in full support of the Coalition’s lust for an LNG facility in Taranaki and an AI factory in Southland. The reference to Ardern must have been a hallucination – are you still having nightmares of reds under the bed?

        • alwyn 3.2.2.1
          12 June 2026 at 6:58 pm

          Well, your interpretation of what I support is wrong. Good try but no cigar.

          Was my reference to Ms Ardern a hallucination? Do you mean that she never said it?

  4. Joe90 4
    12 June 2026 at 10:15 am

    Weyland-Yutani goes live.

    /

    Hundreds of millions of Pokémon Go players spent years filming the streets, parks, and buildings around them to earn in-game rewards. Those roughly 30 billion environmental scans are now owned by Niantic Spatial, and they helped train a camera-based navigation model that a U.S. defense contractor is preparing to put into drones and other military robots. Most of the players had no idea.

    […]

    Since 2021, Pokémon Go has asked players to record short videos of real-world locations, called Pokéstops, to earn extra in-game items. Scanning all the buildings, streets, and trees in a 360-degree sweep was optional, and Niantic asked separately for permission to keep the footage. Granting it meant agreeing to extra terms.

    https://dronexl.co/2026/06/09/pokemon-go-scans-niantic-vantor-military-drone-navigation/

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 4.1
      12 June 2026 at 10:23 am

      Most of the players had no idea.

      Literally. Never ceases to amaze me how many people willingly offer it up…..

      • Belladonna 4.1.1
        12 June 2026 at 11:10 am

        From my acquaintance with Pokemon fanatics, I doubt they'd have cared, even if they did know. They tend to be hyper-focused on the game – rather than any wider considerations.
        They would be more likely to think A: All of this location data is recorded anyway (Google maps); and/or B: If I don't do it, someone else will (so me refraining from some slight ethical consideration won't make a difference)

  5. arkie 5
    12 June 2026 at 10:32 am

    Fully autonomous drones with no human oversight have killed soldiers on the battlefield for the first time. This is according to a senior figure in the Ukrainian defence industry, marking a watershed moment in warfare.

    The one-off test involved 10 AI-controlled “Terminator” drones on the front line of the Ukraine war. Russian soldiers were killed.

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/

    I haven't got additional commentary for this one; just horrifying.

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 5.1
      12 June 2026 at 10:37 am

      I wonder how far off is SkyNet ? Thiel, Musk, assorted TechBro Oligarchs, et al…pushing the boundaries…for $billions. : (

    • Belladonna 5.2
      12 June 2026 at 11:19 am

      It seems to have been a test two years ago (from the linked article)

      A senior figure in the Ukrainian defence industry told New Scientist that a test took place two years ago involving fully autonomous drones set to destroy anything in a given area, with confirmed casualties

      https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/

      If it was so successful, one wonders why it hasn't been more widely implemented (I don't think ethical considerations are terribly likely in the middle of an active war).

      Anthony King at the University of Exeter, UK, says that though fully autonomous attacks without humans in the loop are technologically possible, they may be less of a decisive tool than many think.

      “It is certainly possible governments would allow this if it gave them any military advantage,” he says. “However, the fact remains that very few if any of the millions of drones which have been used in the Ukrainian war by Russian and Ukrainian forces have been [fully] autonomous.”

      “So it’s not just that it’s ethically right to keep humans in the loop, at this point, it’s more militarily effective,” says King.

      How is it different to saturation bombing? Which also doesn't have any human input into specifically identifying the actual human being killed.

    • Incognito 5.3
      12 June 2026 at 11:21 am

      Wars have always been used as ‘field trials’ without ethics approval to innovate and develop new technologies. The connection between protection and economic prosperity goes far back and is very deep.

  6. Bearded Git 6
    12 June 2026 at 10:57 am

    From The Guardian today. Iran is taking the Mickey out of Trump:

    "As Donald Trump has declared a deal with Iran is set to be signed “very soon”, Iran's Tasnim news agency is saying he has announced that a deal is imminent 38 times over the previous two months…"

    • Drowsy M. Kram 6.1
      12 June 2026 at 11:16 am

      The Art of the Deal (1987) by Trump & Schwartz. "They want to make a deal so badly…"

      ‘Lying is second nature to him,‘ Schwartz said. ‘More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true.‘

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_the_Deal#Reception_and_legacy

      A reporter mentions that Trump has said in the past that the US and Iran were close to a deal, and asks why this time is any different.

      "Because they've taken a pounding," Trumps says. "They've taken a pounding like very few people could take. And they want to make a deal a lot more than I do."

      Answering a separate question, Trump says what has changed is Iran's "level of enthusiasm" for a deal.

      https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cly7nr3jzv5t [BBC News Live, 11 June 2026]

      • Macro 6.1.1
        12 June 2026 at 12:29 pm

        More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true.‘

        Well he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

        TruthSocial.com/@realDonaldTrump AI generated image of Donald Trump

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 6.1.2
        12 June 2026 at 12:47 pm

        I have pondered how it is, that such a character, who in all reality should never have risen beyond a televisual like The Apprentice, became President of the USA ? Go figure…

        • Mercurio 6.1.2.1
          12 June 2026 at 1:00 pm

          We must all "go figure" and if we were caught out by the phenomenon, we must indeed, figure it out.

          I liked your use of the word, "risen" – "hallelujah"!!

  7. arkie 7
    12 June 2026 at 11:44 am

    @Belladona 5.2

    How is it different to saturation bombing? Which also doesn't have any human input into specifically identifying the actual human being killed.

    The difference, very plainly, is that a machine cannot be held accountable therefore it should not be making these decisions. The same reason that modern aircraft still require pilots despite their autopilot capabilities; a human being is ultimately liable. In a just world war crimes are prosecuted, and autonomous killer drones add extra distance for those evading culpability.

    • Mercurio 7.1
      12 June 2026 at 12:42 pm

      You only need a separation from the human that pulls the trigger – they can face the consequences, while the architect of the killing gets off Scott-free; some poor sap gets held accountable. Nothing has changed really.

    • Belladonna 7.2
      15 June 2026 at 9:32 am

      Pretty remote connection for things like landmines or sea mines.
      Who do you 'blame'? The solder laying them? The captain of the minelayer? Or the person giving the directive? If the last one, then the person directing the AI to initiate an autonomous drone attack is just as liable…

  8. Drowsy M. Kram 8
    12 June 2026 at 12:46 pm

    Will ACT ideology have a negligible impact on Kiwis who need public health services?

    ‘Negligible’: Diabetes medicine proposal slammed after Seymour confirms no modelling of Māori complications [10 June 2026]
    Pharmac advisory groups warned removing ethnicity-based access could create barriers for Māori and Pacific patients, while no modelling was undertaken on the impact the changes could have on diabetes-related complications for Māori.

    “This is what race-blind policy looks like. Treating everyone the same in a system built on inequality doesn’t create fairness. It locks it in.”

    Can't say we weren't warned.

    Nicky Hager: Beware the smooth talker with a forked tongue [8 Oct 2023]
    “Act billboards say End Division by Race, but it is actually more like Defend Division by Wealth. Act is the make-the-rich-richer party and, at the same time, the attack-the-poor party.” — Nicky Hager.

    In other news, Elon Musk is set to become spaceship Earth's first trillionaire. Not content with being the richest person on the planet, he also wants to colonise Mars, and a better planet you could not hope to buy – there'll be no race wars on Musk’s Mars.

    Elon Musk’s Reward for Calling for a Race War? Becoming a Trillionaire. [Mother Jones, 10 June 2026]
    Some British government officials accused Musk of inciting violence in ongoing anti-immigration riots across the UK.

    Elon Musk’s X not facing action from UK government over posts inciting violence in Belfast [The Guardian, 10 June 2026]
    Any official reprimand will come from regulator Ofcom, but not for at least two months

  9. Incognito 9
    12 June 2026 at 12:57 pm

    In a recent conversation here (https://thestandard.nz/open-mike-10-06-2026/#comment-2064326) we talked about the central role of language in LLM-based gen-AI and its associated social & cultural biases.

    To take just two well known examples: AI models discriminate based on race and gender, while AI-generated images consistently privilege white people over people of colour.

    Given these issues, the slower and more careful construction of models actually tailored to their communities and attuned to their language, needs, and desires can only be beneficial.

    Some languages, for example Indigenous languages with strong oral traditions, are considered “low-resource”, or underrepresented, with much less material in standard training sets. Switch away from English, and see the accuracy of your response plummet.

    https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-despite-the-ai-hype-some-experts-warn-of-a-bubble-what-happens-if-it-pops-283903

    The essay is a good read and delves into many factors, e.g., the growing negative public sentiment against AI and data centres.

    The last two paragraphs may entice you to read the essay during a quiet moment in the weekend.

    These protests and campaigns signal a gulf between the current AI vision — “tokenmaxxing” in an “AI everywhere” world — and the desires of everyday individuals. Of course, this disparity alone doesn’t signal the death of the AI boom dream: history is full of examples of elites rolling out exploitative technologies that run roughshod over the wishes of the people.

    But combined with other economic, social and environmental factors, these pushbacks begin to destabilise Big Tech’s future-on-rails. There are other possibilities — slower, smaller, more convivial, more sustainable — for technologies that contribute to our lives, our society and our world.

    Word of the week: conviviality

    • greywarshark 9.1
      12 June 2026 at 1:59 pm

      Some words have a sort of magic – conviviality is one I'll add to my list. Have others noticed some powerfully positive words (also some with dripping, dour context)?

  10. Incognito 10
    12 June 2026 at 1:16 pm

    Labour made a big mistake saying it would spend $65m making public transport cheaper. We need that money for roughly five metres of highway.

    https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/12-06-2026/memo-to-labour-wasteful-spending-is-for-roads-not-public-transport-subsidies

    The last 5 metres are the longest, everybody knows that!!

  11. PsyclingLeft.Always 11
    12 June 2026 at 1:18 pm

    Its a first ! Fark….Our Planet needs this…..not.

    SpaceX IPO makes Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire

    And wtaf?! Einstein? He maybe would have been annoyed? irritated? by that comparison….but in all probability would have just got on his Bicycle and carried on being profound : )

    JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon The banker, a former adversary of Musk in a prolonged legal battle, has since become an admirer. Dimon told CNBC last year that the pair had "hugged it out", and hailed Musk as "our Einstein".

    Musk : Grok

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/598001/spacex-ipo-makes-elon-musk-the-world-s-first-trillionaire

    Edit…I see DMK had earlier called out the $Trillionaire…..

  13. greywarshark 13
    12 June 2026 at 2:46 pm

    Thoughts on some RNZ News :

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/personal-finance/597970/uk-changing-rules-for-separating-couples-but-where-s-new-zealand-s-update

    It is also seeking views on proposals to modernise that country's lack of an automatic right to inherit if a defacto partner dies without a will. [This hit Sweden's Eva Gabrielsson, life partner of Stieg Larsson, who didn't marry because of that country's open-knowledge system which would have recorded their address and made them targets for further right-wing interest.]

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/personal-finance/597967/why-can-australian-taxpayers-claim-work-expenses-and-we-can-t

    …Australian taxpayers are being told to take their opportunity get tax back at tax time by claiming items they've bought for their home office against their taxable income.

    So why can't New Zealanders do the same?

    In Australia, people can claim a percentage of their phone and internet bills, if you're using a home office, as well as for things like bags, a mouse, or a new desk and other office supplies and accessories.

    Robyn Walker, a tax expert at Deloitte, said New Zealand kept things a lot simpler when it came to personal taxes than Australia.

    "That's how so many taxpayers can have their tax automatically calculated by Inland Revenue rather than needing to file a tax return." …

    This is an indication of why we are so unwise to leave so many tasks to the tech systems sapping us of thought of how to analyse, calculate, look after our own affairs.

    A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. Aldous Huxley

    The thin and precarious crust of decency is all that separates any civilization, however impressive, from the hell of anarchy or systematic tyranny which lie in wait beneath the surface . Aldous Huxley

    https://www.azquotes.com/author/7118-Aldous_Huxley/tag/tyranny