What Is 'Weaponised Incompetence' And Is Your Partner Really Bad At Chores? by Kellie Scott for RNZ. Having been a victim of more than my fair share of weaponised incompetence - think any time someone, from primarily the male species, does a half assed job of something, knowing it means they won’t be asked to do it again - this piece made my blood boil.
Your Grandad Builds A Hut In The Bush. But He Builds It On Public Land. Should You Get To Keep It? by Pete McKenzie for New Zealand Geographic. A fascinating insight into the private huts scattered throughout the New Zealand bush that I never knew existed. The Department of Conservation (DOC) used to give out permits for you to build these pretty much anywhere you like, but has mandated that all private huts on public land must be removed by 2050 or when the current licence holder dies.
Teen Girls Confront An Epidemic Of Deepfake Nudes In Schools By Natasha Singer for The New York Times. A very 2024 piece about the phenomenon emerging in US schools of young boys creating "deepfakes" or "deepnudes" of their female class mates, where real photos are digitally altered to appear sexually explicit. While the FBI has warned that distributing such images is illegal, responses from schools vary widely.
Dead Rebels: Why Rugby Australia Killed Melbourne’s Super Rugby Team by Carla Jaeger and Sarah Danckert for The Sydney Morning Herald. An explainer of the latest shake up in Super Rugby - a competition that has a bit of a revolving door. For further background here is a summary of the comings and goings since its inception:
Western Force: Joined in 2006, dropped from the competition in 2017 due to a restructuring in the competition that reduced the number of teams.
Cheetahs and Southern Kings: Both South African teams were cut in 2017 as part of the same restructuring that saw the reduction of teams from 18 to 15.
Jaguares: The Argentine team joined the competition in 2016 but left after the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions.
Sunwolves: The Japanese team also joined in 2016 but was disestablished after the 2020 season for similar reasons.
Bulls, Lions, Sharks, and Stormers: In 2020, the South African Rugby Union decided that their remaining four franchises would no longer compete in Super Rugby, moving instead to the PRO14 competition in the northern hemisphere.
Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika: Both joined in 2022 as part of the revamped Super Rugby Pacific format.
(As you can see Super Rugby history is a new found pub quiz skillset of mine)
Yes, Pretty Is A Privilege by Zeynab Mohamed. An insight into the stark reality of pretty privilege. This explores the fact that people who are more conventionally attractive are presented with more advantages and opportunities throughout life, now has little to do with evolution or genetics and is broadly just societal conditioning.
Is America’s Weed Habit Dangerous? by The Economist. With marijuana now legal for recreational use in 24 states and for medical use in 38 states, daily marijuana users have surpassed the number of daily alcohol users.
Podcast of the week
McDonalds Broke My Heart by Revisionist History. This is Malcolm Gladwell's podcast, author of two of my all time favourite books Outliers and The Tipping Point. A great podcast series that explores a range of weird and wonderful topics that don’t make it into his books. This particular one about the history of the McDonald’s fries and is a great introduction to Gladwell’s story telling style.
Fact of the week
Queen Elizabeth II was a trained mechanic. She served as a member of the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II.
Happy reading,
Maddy x