Matisyahu's Blog

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

recent posts

  • End of the year draws near.

    Just before I head off to sleep, the end of the year draws near and I look back at what has happened throughout the year, I have to admit that personally I’ve had a good year getting closer to my health goals but that being said it hasn’t been a great year outside of that – a crazy person in the Whitehouse leading to global instability. What I am hoping is that as the rest of the world works around the Trump administration that the such work will insulate the New Zealand economy and we’ll get back on track with some economic growth.

    I am pretty lucky regarding the situation I am in but for many New Zealanders they’re doing it tough if the quiet malls and supermarkets are anything to go by but then again I could be wrong. There has been an uptick in the number of people purchasing gifts online so it could be a matter of fewer people shopping in stores because they’re switched to ordering online but that being said the supermarkets are pretty quiet so when it comes to thinks you need to purchase for Christmas Day so I think for many families the money situation is pretty tight.

    Coming into the new year I’m starting a fresh after indulging in some wonderful food over the two weeks I’ve had off from work but I thought it would be best to get back into the swing of things by starting afresh this Monday (29/12/25) before the new year starts. I mentioned previously that one of the things I’ve reminded myself before I eat something is “am I hungry or am I just bored” and the second thing I’ve focused on is making sure that I always have a pantry filled with nutritious food that can be easily prepared thus eliminating the excuse of ordering take aways or heading down to the store to pick up random bits of food.

    If there is one ray of sunshine it has been the realisation by many around the world that GDP growth doesn’t translate to the average person getting wealthier. All the growth in the United States economy can be summarised to AI investments (more like malinvestmens) and the the cost of healthcare going up since those numbers contribute to GDP figures – remove those factors and the US would be in a recession right about now. I think there are many waking up to the fact that ‘line go up’ doesn’t translate to ‘more money in bank account’.

    The big question is whether this will translate to the left putting out a bold vision or whether we will see more of the same neoliberal half baked solutions that never address the underlying problems in the economy. All too often I see the nominal left in New Zealand diagnose a problem correctly but then half ass the implementation – almost scared that they might actually have to sell the idea and defend the idea against the expected push back by those in the media and parties on the right. It’s almost as though the left are scared of their own shadow because they limited their horizon due to many convincing themselves that there is no alternative to neoliberalism (aka There Is No Alternative (TINA) – Margaret Thatcher).

  • A quiet Sunday at home.

    I decided to have a quiet Sunday at home – no drama, no going down to the store, just enjoying the vibe and working on my garden. Mum came around to drop off some extra plants which has added some extra greenery to the backyard although I am still working on a bigger project. What I’d like to do is get some railway sleepers and build up a box then inside that box I have a concrete planter that is lifted up for drainage so then it possible to have some sort of hedging growing along where the fence is or maybe grow some tomato plants or something else. The downside is that the location of where the sun comes in I don’t think anything will grow so maybe the artificial hedge would be the better solution which would hide the ugliness of the fence.

    I was reading through Arstechnica as a follow up to a post I made regarding the performance of the YouTube app on the Apple TV 4K along with the performance of tvOS 26.2 in general to see whether others have experienced similar issues – it appears that it isn’t an isolated incident. I then am reminded of an issue that was raised recently regarding the CPU hogging nature of the YouTube website (link) because of a service worker in the background. It is interesting though that it has been a week since the issue has appeared and the reason why I was interested is because even with reduced transparency enabled I was still getting stuttering an unresponsive experience so I assumed based on the evidence that maybe something more was going on than just user interface maybe is not as well optimised on the Apple TV 4K as it should be.

    I’ve since reenabled transparency on my Apple TV 4K and I haven’t noticed performance issues coming back which makes me wonder Google has done something to the website because the YouTube app I nothing more than a front end to the YouTube TV website so it could be possible that Google has made a change to correct the above issue (as reported on Reddit) which is why it is now working. I’m going to keep an eye on it but it is one of those things with technology given that there are so many moving parts it is difficult to nail it down to one thing that could be causing the problem because there maybe more than one contributing factor. In the case of Apple TV 4K, it could be that the user interface isn’t optimised but the problem is made worse by a framework that the app depends on having a bug or a performance regression.

    The fact that here was someone else on Arstechnica pointing out a similar issue with the HBO Max app (which makes use of Webkit) tells me that there is a common thread and maybe what Google did with the YouTube website was work around the problem but a more permanent solution will appear in maybe tvOS 26.3 or 26.4. I’ve had a look at Safari Technology Preview 234 (link) and it appears that some improvements that may make their way into 26.4 which should hopefully improve responsiveness.

  • A productive day.

    Today was productive, after getting all that I needed at Bunnings and The Warehouse I popped into the local Pak ‘n Save to pick up some shopping (chicken wings, salad and a few other bits and pieces) and I also stocked up on some Pepsi Max 2L that was on special – take advantage of the low price when I can. I’m getting psychologically ready to get back to work on Wednesday next week but I’m going to enjoy the last remaining days, it kind of sucks that holidays are never long enough but I guess the benefit of working, apart from the money of course, is how good the holidays feel once you get to it. In 2026 I’ll end up having maybe a couple of weeks off in June during WWDC and hopefully next year it won’t be wall to wall AI fetishisation because they would have learnt from from the backlash Microsoft experience with their whole ‘agentic OS’ nonsense not to mention the building resentment that even normies have adopted over the last year.

    I’m gradually working through an interesting video that popped up in my subscription feed:

    The one thing I keep reminding people is that Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter etc. aren’t the real world. A noise maker on one of these platforms throwing a temper tantrum amount something they don’t like does not represent the centre left or more broadly the left in general. We really do need to stop giving oxygen to this new generation of secular puritans whose online performativeness does nothing to advance social progress (or in fact makes it more difficult for marginalised groups to have their voice heard) other than for those people to gain social clout and chase that almighty dollar. Btw, on a side note, if your ‘allyship’ amounts to speaking over the very people you claim you’re trying to advocate for then maybe you should take seat because it is clear you’re not interested in helping but rather using those marginalised communities as a way to raise your profile at the expense of the very communities you claim you want to fight for.

    The other part is this cancel culture regarding these ‘online Karens’ who dig up something someone posted on a social media platform from 10-15 years ago and that person has moved beyond holding that position. One thing that it is important to note – someone saying, “I went to xyz show and I found that the jokes they made were rather tired old material” isn’t someone trying to ‘cancel’ you but rather they’re simply giving their opinion on something they experienced. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but people are allowed to have opinions and if they don’t like something then they’re entitled to tell the world that they went to something or did something but didn’t enjoy it.

    Getting back to ‘online Karens’, at the end of the day they only have power if we as a society give them power and as so long as big institutions convince themselves that these noise makers online represent a force in the real world then don’t be surprised that at extreme minority have an outsized voice. If the institutions such as media companies just said, “no, we’re going to have xyz do this particular awards show and if you don’t like it then tough toenails” and enough institutions held the line then eventually the ‘online Karens’ would realise that their temper tantrums and empty threats don’t carry any weight.

    The thing I keep reminding people is this, such noise makers online do not represent the real world and don’t represent normal people. The vast, vast, vast overwhelming majority of people aren’t interested in the online drama, they’re raising their kids, helping out at their local soup kitchen, going to their local church/mosque/synagogue once a week, they help out at their local school etc. they aren’t involved in this online nonsense and it wold serve their institutions well to stop allowing themselves to be convinced that idiots posting online represent any more than the squeakiest wheel demanding some oil.

    As for comedians, the biggest let down as far as I see it are the number of comedians who now suck up to those in power – rather than being the outsider looking in and criticising the system, what we’ve seen is an army of grifters from both on the left and right more concerned about sucking up to those in power for the sake of clout rather than being a practitioner of their craft. I remember years ago the worst thing a comedian could be called would be a ‘sell out’ – a comedian who sold out their principles so that they could align themselves to those in power or sold out to ‘the man’ such as doing any ad for a multi billion dollar corporation. The comedian was meant to be the rebel, the truth teller that was willing to speak to truth to power, to punch up rather than punch down.

    On a side note, if you don’t like a comedian, just don’t watch it – the same answer that those of us on the left gave the social conservative ‘family values’ types when they whined about a television show and we told them to change the channel if they don’t like it. No one is forcing you to watch it, if you don’t like the show then don’t watch it, if you don’t like that comedian then don’t attend their show – the power is in your hands. There are plenty of things I don’t like in my life but I don’t spend time making a video in an attempt to rally like minded people on Tik Tok to pressure x business to drop y show from their schedule.

  • A good start to building a relaxing backyard.

    I went down the road with mum to pick up some furniture and plants for my backyard then did some grocery shopping on the way back home. Once back at home I unpacked everything and mum helped me get the pot plants setup. Below are two photos of where things are so far:

    What I’d like to eventually do is make the fence a lot more presentable – I’m unsure whether I should replace it with a colour steel or whether I’m better off maybe putting up a fake hedge cover over it which will avoid having to do major work (link). With that being said, the side fences also need to be sorted out along with getting more plants – I’m looking at getting some long planter boxes then maybe some railway sleepers to kind of it in with a pebble bed underneath it.

    The other big focus is getting some shade over the sitting area – I’ve had a look through Bunnings and it appears that there are kit sets where one can setup a gazebo to cover the area while still making sure the space is open. One of the benefits of having such a setup will mean that on days when I need to dry my clothes I can put it on a clothes rack sitting outside even if the weather isn’t necessarily good. The choice is either getting a bespoke one or getting one that will need a few tweaks – in the meantime I may end up just getting a umbrella or a temporary gazebo that I can put up and leave up but take it down when there are high winds.

  • Happy Boxing Day.

    I decided to have a quiet time at home on Boxing Day after the excesses of Christmas Day – lots of food and sweets however it did feel a bit overwhelming so I’ve spent today at home unwinding, went for a quiet walk around the block a few times to get some fresh air once the rain stopped. On Saturday I’ll have a look at some outside seating along with some pot plants to make the backyard more inviting particularly on my day off from work where I can spend the time outside using my laptop rather than stuck inside. While I’m at the store I’ll have a look to see if there are any options for some sort of shade even if it is a temporary form of shade that I’ll need to put away in the garden shed.

    When it comes to the garden shed, the one I’ve got is a cheap one where as what I’d like to get is something that is a bit more robust and I’m also looking at maybe getting an e-bike with enough space that it can carry shopping (something like a cargo bike would be nice). Although they’re more expensive than a 50cc scooter there is the benefit of not having to pay for registration and from what I understand for insurance purposes it comes under ‘home and contents’ like an ordinary push bike rather than it having to have a separate insurance policy. The sort of shed I’ll get will be based on the dimensions of the bike that I’m looking at getting so that it can fit inside but from what I understand the battery is removable so it is possible to recharge the battery inside.

    With the lead up to the new year the big focus by me has been on making small lifestyle changes that I can carry over to the new year – call it a running start rather than starting new resolutions from a standing start which doesn’t have the benefit of built up momentum. The thing I’ve been doing for the last week is asking myself “am I hungry or am I just bored” before going to have something to eat. It is easy to get stuck in a cycle of eating just to fill up time or associating an activity with eating eg I’m going to watch a movie so therefore I should have something to nibble on, rather than asking whether I’m doing it out of habit because that is what I’ve always done or is it because I’m genuinely hungry.

    I think that good amount of my weight gain in the past it has been due to ‘unconscious eating’ where I’ll just go through the day on autopilot not really asking myself “but do I really need it because I am hungry or am I doing it because I’m bored and need to keep myself occupied by doing something?”. It isn’t about depriving oneself of enjoyment but rather asking whether this is something that I am consciously engaging in or am I just on autopilot and going through the motions. It is early days but I’m hoping that if I stick to it then eventually it’ll become an ingrained habit that becomes an default setting rather than having to consciously thinking about it.

  • A wonderful day with the family.

    I got up at 10am today and got ready to be picked up by mum and we spent the day with my sister, her partner and two kids. I made sure that I got the beer and wine out of the fridge for the presents and everyone was happy with what I bought. My sister bought me the following (which I have put on my kitchen bench):

    It is a Snoopy biscuit container along with a Woodstock and Snoopy salt/pepper container which will look nice, adds a bit of colour to my kitchen. The wine I bought for mum was the Brown Brothers Dolcetto & Syrah which is a light read wine that you have cold – quite refreshing and low in alcohol which went nice with the lamb and the generous amount of roast vegetables my sister cooked. The desert was wonderful, ambrosia and a pavlova with cream and various fresh berries on top. I was going to stay the night at mum’s but that was assuming that both mum and I would have more alcohol than normal and thus to play it safe mum would drop me off the next day. Today I just had the one glass of wine and for the rest of the day I had soft drink which meant that by the time mum dropped me back it was around 8 hours since my last drink so the alcohol had worked through our body and thus would be under the alcohol limit.

    uBlock Origin Lite 2025.1224.1544 was released today – I was expecting it to be released (it was released on 24/12/25 US time) so close to Christmas but I guess it is another Christmas miracle. I tried it out on a few websites and found that there has been a slight improvement in blocking – I’ve found on occasions there are ads and other content leaking through but that appears to be now addressed. It makes me wonder whether Apple has expanded the number of offices where the reviewing takes place when compared to Google where it can take sometimes two days for it to be approved. I’ve kept mum on the iOS 18.x series although I have a feeling that eventually I’ll need to upgrade her phone but I’ll hold off until 26.3 at the earliest although I am leaning towards 26.4 in a hope that with the new UI lead will make more changes to deal with the rough edges regrading Liquid Glass.

  • Everything is ready for tomorrow.

    I had a sleep in today then mum came around to help out with the garden where we took out the pebbles along with the weed matting and then removed all the weeds, placed the cardboard underneath then the weed matting on top then the pebbles were added on top of that and now I’ve got some belle gardens without the weeds growing through. After that mum got the whipper snipper out and sorted out the weeds growing in between the concrete and other cracks then I came through afterwards with a leaf blower to tidy it all up.

    The back shed is looking a little worse for wear with the door having broken up during quite a violent storm earlier this year so the big question is what to replace it with. The big question is whether I’m looking at getting a 50cc scooter – I’m open to either electric or petrol but if I do go for electric I want to make sure that there are service centres around near by if I need servicing or the tyre replaced etc. The cost of the electric scooters aren’t too bad with one I saw for around NZ$4000 plus inroad costs however the distance is only around 50-60km on a single charge but that being said that would be sufficient for shopping given hat the supermarket is only around 4-5km from where I live.

    I’ve put the wine and beer in the fridge for tomorrow because most likely that those receiving the gift will probably want to drink it – I’ve put a reminder in my calendar to get it out of the fridge before going. For mum and my sister I got them a bottle of Brown Brothers wine each – one bottle of Moscato and one bottle of Dolcetto & Syrah – both of them are lower alcohol wines that are sweet and refreshing which is perfect for a meal during the day. My sister’s partner I got 3 German beers and a Japanese beer – the empty cans will look good in his ‘man cave’ that he has built for himself (I guess since I live alone my whole house is a man cave).

    Oh, and just as a nightcap – it is amazing watching MAGA crashing out. MAGA types cannot get their head around the idea that when they say “but there could be Democrats in that file…” believing it was some sort of gotcha then the Democrats online will say “…yeah, and if they are they need to face justice..” with the MAGA types acting surprised. Unlike the MAGA types, those of us on the centre left and left aren’t a cult – we hold our politicians accountable. This is the reason why, even as a Labour Party member, I am critical of my party because I believe they can and should do better. The moment you stop being critical of the party you vote for is the moment that you have joined a cult.

  • Getting closer to Christmas.

    I went for an 11.6km walk tonight and the weather wasn’t too bad tonight – a nice breeze, a reasonable temperature and not too many crazies out on the road. I arrived back home after 1 hour an 50 minutes, put the wheelie bin out to be picked up on Wednesday and unlike some of the people on the street I make use of the special rubber/plastic hook that ensures the lid remains shut as to avoid the lid opening due to high wind then having all the rubbish being blown around.

    I’m looking forward to ending this year and the start of a new year – I see this as an opportunity to look back at the success I’ve had over the year which includes the weight loss and getting healthy. Although I haven’t hit my goal of being under 100kg I am happy that I’m still on the way there and sticking with a good routine. I’m hoping that with 2026 coming around that things will get better in New Zealand because god knows the roller coaster the economy has been on *sigh* that being said, there are things being worked on in the European Union to further integrate countries into a single economy, more free trade agreements are being signed, there are the midterms in the US that may result in some of the insanity being undone or at least confined.

    I’m looking at getting some barbells and maybe a few other exercise equipment – basically I want something I can do while watching television. For example, if I am watching a show I can do some curls using the barbells or maybe doing some squats while holding some weights so it adds resistance. The reason why I’m looking at doing that is because getting the weight down is good but I also want to have some lean muscle which will help burn calories and boost the metabolism. I’ve got the walking nailed down and that is sorting out the leg muscles but the free weights will build up some muscles in the arms and tone them down since I have some loose skin that I can tighten up with some resistance training.

  • Wasn’t going to but ended up buying presents.

    Normally over the festive season we don’t give presents to each other but my sister and her partner decide to get something for me so what I decided to do is get something for them along with something for mum as well. I didn’t go overboard but each of them were something unique that I’m sure they’ll enjoy and they’re presented in a metal basket with a wooden handle so it’ll be useful as away of storing things.

    When I was down the road the shops were really quiet – a lot quieter than what I’ve seen in previous years particularly when it comes to the supermarket this close to Christmas being on Thursday. I knew that things were getting pretty tough out there for many families but I don’t think many, at least those in power, understand how many families are struggling to keep their head above water.

    The government announced today that New Zealand and India have come to an agreement regarding a comprehensive free trade agreement but like a lot of things in life the devil is in the details. There is already one party in the coalition government who said they’re going to vote against it but couldn’t imagine Labour voting against it although Chris Hipkins has been rather coy about giving an answer other than saying that it is up to the Labour caucus to discuss the matter and make a collective decision.

    Personally, I don’t see Labour voting against it because generally there is a consensus between the two parties regarding free trade agreements being good and that even if the other party negotiates the free trade agreement it is doubtful that they were in power the agreement would be any better – one thing to keep in mind that as a smaller country we don’t have much leverage in negotiating these agreements regardless of who is in power.

    It is interesting how the world is resetting and a focus is on opening up to new markets to insulate ones country from the erratic nature of the United States. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next 3 years and whether we’ll see an acceleration of decoupling from the United States and then add to that the fact that is cheaper to do business in Europe than in the United States you may start seeing US businesses expand their presence in Europe along with Canada, New Zealand and Australia especially once you see the fast tracking of immigration for highly skilled workers which may result in a brain drain form the United States to the rest of the world.

    Daily writing prompt
    What is your all time favorite automobile?
    View all responses

    My favourite cars are from the 1930s and 1940s in the streamline moderne styling for both vehicles and trains – it gives a sense of modernity, speed, style and sophistication. Here are some good photos of what I am referring to (link).

  • A good start to the week.

    Had a relaxing day at home, tidying up around the place, had a chat to mum about the work I’d like to do around the yard – funny how as soon as I mentioned that it started spitting outside. Well, it wasn’t enough to stop me from going for a walk so I went for one and the total distance was 18.7km – I don’t have anything like a Apple Watch but I measure the distance using Google Maps which gives a good estimation and then combine that with the amount of time it took I can calculate from there what the estimated amount of calories burned (I normally work on 60-70 calories per km).

    I’ve been watching the implosion of MAGA and the right wing in the United States and I have to admit that I’m enjoying the warm feeling of schadenfreude – couldn’t happen to a more worthy group of of cretins who have demonstrated time and time again that they value the grift and propagation of ‘feels over reals’ commentary for years all for the sake of making a buck. Well, it is all coming back to bite them in the backside, when people slam face first into the brick wall of reality it doesn’t matter how much fluffing the right wing commentators do for Trump it won’t change the fact that rent is up, energy is up, food prices are up, the number of jobs lost has increased and the promise of a ‘golden age’ off the back of scapegoating undocumented immigrants hasn’t materialised.

    The reality is that the right can only survive when they’re in opposition because when they’re in power they’ve demonstrated that they have no interested in delivering on the promises they made on the campaign trail. The other part of the equation was this idea that far too many have internalised that there has been a ‘cultural shift to the right’ but I think what such individuals will find is that loud and obnoxious voices online do not represent ‘normies’ – most ‘normies’ are just trying to get through life and Bari Weiss found that out with her interview with Erika Kirk that no one cares (as demonstrated by the poor ratings). Unless you’re chronically online then it is highly unlikely that ‘normies’ would have ever heard of Charlie Kirk or Erika Kirk. I guess Bari Weiss is going to find out the hard way that what may interest here and those she hangs out with doesn’t actually interest the average normie.

    As my grandma used to say, the universe eventually balances itself out in the end – it may take a while but it eventually happens. I think what we’re going to see after dealing with Trump is a swing back to somewhere around the middle – MAGA people are now leaving MAGA and instead identifying as traditional Republican, Democrats are focusing on ‘meat and potato’ issues which has led to the likes of Zohran Mamdani winning their election because they don’t get bogged down in boutique identity politics. Some liberal commentators were given a hard time about wanting to have brunch but the point being made is that for most people it is exhausting – politics should be and needs to be boring and predictable rather than a never ending avalanche of chaos coming out of the Whitehouse.