De-queer Karangahape Road 

Did you think painting over a rainbow crossing would help you overcome the fear of the gay peeps on K Road? LOL, think again. 

Early in the morning of the 28th of March, THE rainbow crossing on K Road was reportedly painted white overnight. Later on the same day, the items of interest were located and seized. Police released images from the CCTV in hopes of identifying the offenders which is still under investigation at the moment. 

Karangahape Road is not just a symbol but also a safe space for queer people to walk around without the fear of being hate crimed. Many people were upset the incident happened as now the city needs to invest more money into fixing the vandalism. 

Totally not cool! At least choose the same colour as the street to make it look pretty!

Jojo Siwa stepping into her new era

We all have that one friend forcing us to listen to songs ironically and here we are, going down a rabbit hole of Jojo Siwa in her baddie era. “I was a bad girl, I did some bad things” Jojo related to herself. With Karma blasting on repeat (volume down to zero), the song is actually meaningful revolving around the “effed around and found out”. So, what are you waiting for? Stream Karma by Ellen Degeneres 2.0 aka Jojo Siwa.

Instagram is limiting political content (sus)

Instagram now has a feature to limit suggested political content from your feed. Users are required to go into the settings in the app to turn off the feature. 

Instagram won’t interfere with the relationship between you and your following accounts. They claim this feature is to create a greater experience for Instagram and Threads users, suggesting less political content from other creators.

Know your content

Instagram did not mention elements they counted as political content. Releasing such a feature during the high tension of political conflicts all over the world was suspicious. Anyhow, we can use their ads template to see if the posts are flagged as political content. They are counted if: 

  • They’re made by (or on behalf of), or about a candidate running for public office, a political figure, a political party or advocates for the outcome of an election to public office.
  • They’re about any election, referendum, or ballot initiative, including “go out and vote” or election campaigns.
  • They’re about social issues in the location where the ad is placed. Learn more about what we consider to be ads about social issues.
  • They’re regulated as political advertising.

Here is a step-by-step guide to change it:

Go to your profile, click on the three horizontal lines icon in the top right corner for Settings

Scroll down and find or search ‘suggested content’. It also may come as ‘Content preferences’. Click on it.

Select ‘Political content’. You can either leave it as is – ‘Limit political content from people you don’t follow’ or change it to ‘Don’t limit political content from people that you don’t follow’.

Is bed rotting a trend now? 

TikTok is being used by the younger generation to verbalise and visualise their daily struggle as a coping mechanism. Many users have taken it to the next level, relating to such behaviour as a “trend” and in this case – bed rotting. If you are familiar with the term, you would know bed rotting is when your body refuses to get out of bed and is rather rotting in depression. It is dangerous to glamorise or romanticise a mental illness, leading to false information that will influence people who have yet to be exposed to these issues. If you find yourself rotting in bed reading this, consider changing into new clothes and finding something to nurture your brain and body in the kitchen.

A step forward for feminism

St. Paul Minnesota just approved a new city council made up entirely of women – Rebecca Noecker, Nelsie Yang, Cheniqua Johnson, Hwa Jeong Kim, Saura Jost, Anika Bowie and Mitra Jalali. Six out of seven members are people of colour. All of them are under the age of 40. They are also diverse in profession, ranging from civil engineering to nonprofit directing. 

To see women in political issues is already an opportunity. But to see a whole council of young race-diverse women in a city council is a step into women’s history. However, it is sad how our society has not considered this the norm and women are fighting everywhere for their social stands. 

Congratulations to all the new City Council members!

Kiwi Buzz Lightyear

In honour of Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story), the New Zealand Defence Force (DAF) first launched an experimental communications satellite that departed from the Wallops Launch Complex 2 in Virginia.

This is also the first time NZDF has had a mission payload attached to the research satellite that was developed by the US Naval Postgraduate School. 

The special event signifies an exciting milestone for both NZDF and the New Zealand space field. This research will later enable innovation and development of new technology.