By RNZ reporter Robin MartinAllowing homeowners to plant berm gardens improves social cohesion and brings communities together, according to an Australian researcher.New Plymouth woman Alana Brough faces a $1000 fine with an additional $50 added every day if she doesn't remove a fruit and vegetable garden she planted in her berm.Alana Brough outside her New Plymouth property. Photo: RNZ / Robin MartinBut a senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia's school of agriculture and environment, Natasha Pauli, said research she had done over almost a decade showed improved community well-being was "an accidental consequence" of allowing "verge gardens" as they were called in Australia."So the research that we've looked at is predominantly around low-growing vegetation. So typically that's 70 centimetres and below and almost all of our local governments here in Perth - 30 out of 31 - actually allow residents to plant low-growing vegetation on the verge in accordance with the local guidelines."There are also a number of incentive programs as well, where people can apply for funding to get plants to put on their front verge."An educational tour for people interested in verge gardens. Photo: Supplied via RNZDr Pauli, an environmental geographer who studied human interaction with the environment, said biodiversity loss and climate change were behind the desire to plant out verges in Western Australia."So, there's a bit of a drive to replace the traditional verge coverings which quite often is grass here, which you can maintain as a low water use vegetation type as well, but there's a drive to replace that with locally growing endemic and indigenous plants."There's less emphasis on vegetables and fruits growing on the front verge, but it's really about having those locally grown plants that are specific to the area that could even potentially forge some ecological connectivity between them and remnant vegetation."Dr Pauli, an environmental geographer who studied human interaction with the environment, said biodiversity loss and climate change were behind the desire to plant out verges in Western Australia."So, there's a bit of a drive to replace the traditional verge coverings which quite often is grass here, which you can maintain as a low water use vegetation type as well, but there's a drive to replace that with locally growing endemic and indigenous plants."There's less emphasis on vegetables and fruits growing on the front verge, but it's really about having those locally grown plants that are specific to the area that could even potentially forge some ecological connectivity between them and remnant vegetation."Photo: SuppliedDr Pauli said there was an interesting correlation between planting out a berm and social interaction."So, what our researchers found is that when one person starts planting out their verge then their neighbour will quite often come over and say, 'Oh what are you doing? That looks really interesting' and start thinking 'Is there something I could go away and do as well?'"Planted out verges were still quite rare with between 5 and 10 percent of berms planted out in the Perth area."But they do tend to cluster, so you'll have streets where there's a higher than average percentage of verge gardens. And that's primarily because of a phenomenon that we like to call social contagion, which sounds a bit strange, but people will actually come over and get ideas from other people and then take that away and do that on their front verge as well."Dr Pauli said the increased social interaction was a by-product of the ecological and aesthetic goals."Being out in that public space gives people permission to go and talk to someone because they're out in public. So now you can talk to them. They're not just in their private garden anymore."As well as the community well-being benefit there was a boost to local fauna and flora and an educational aspect to verge planting."There's primarily a very important educational benefit, particularly here in Perth because people are responding to local climatic variables and local biodiversity variables, so that educational component is around changing perceptions of what can be considered to be a normal sort of garden for this region."Dr Pauli said there was not enough data yet to say how much water was saved by planting out verges or the benefit for local wildlife."So there's definitely some social benefits, there's some educational benefits and there's likely environmental benefits as well. But those are a little bit more difficult to quantify."Sustainable Taranaki backs berm gardensMeanwhile, an organisation that supported community gardens and sustainable backyard projects was backing Alana Brough and her planted berm in New Plymouth.Sustainable Taranaki's Jenni Hammond said as long as they were well maintained, berm gardens should be supported."If they are prepared to plant up a berm with something that would provide local residents food, provide opportunities for community engagement and interactions with your neighbours, then I think that berm gardens are an awesome opportunity for additional food sovereignty in your area."Alana Brough with one of the fruit trees she has planted. Photo: RNZ / Robin MartinHammond said at the very least the New Plymouth District Council should be open to a discussion about changing its policy on berm gardens."That could involve community consultation, working in with your neighbours or a commitment to keeping it maintained and a wider discussion about what that looks like."She could only see an upside."A productive use of space is always a great thing and growing food in these times seems like a great idea. Reducing your supermarket bills and getting to know your neighbours and use your space productively."NPDC positionIn a letter to Brough, New Plymouth District Council said the Local Government Act prohibited planting of any tree or shrub or the digging up of the berm in any way without its prior approval."Roadside berms need to be kept clear of vegetation and other items, such as pavers, unless we've given prior approval as plants and trees can become overgrown and encroach over footpaths, roads and driveways," manager infrastructure Rui Leitāo said."This impacts public access and creates an issue for people with limited mobility. Access to underground utilities also needs to be maintained."Unauthorised plantings or paving on road reserve can also create safety concerns in the neighbourhood and become a liability for council should the property change hands and/ or the plantings are no longer maintained."

After three years of hard graft on his business dream, North Otago man Daniel Carson is on the cusp of finding out whether it will pay dividends.Mīti, a meat snack made using 10-month dairy beef and beech honeydew, is going into limited production next month, and Dan is looking for public support through a month-long PledgeMe campaign.“Essentially we just need a 10 percent top-up to pay for the manufacturing that we've already committed to. We're making 35,000 packets,” he says.The Mīti will be manufactured in Auckland’s The Food Bowl where, with the help of co-founder and food technologist Dr Lily Liu, they have worked to finalise a product they are happy with.Dan hopes PledgeMe will continue to increase momentum around the product, which will also be available online once the campaign ends.The idea for Mīti stems from Dan’s desire to change one of the most problematic parts of New Zealand’s dairy industry, the slaughter of close to 2 million calves annually - surplus to requirements and mostly male - at around four days old.With a background in technology sales, 10 years’ experience managing a farm in Canterbury, and a passion for science and data, Dan came up with the idea of the food product.The meat snack industry is huge globally, and he believes New Zealand is missing out on an opportunity to be a bigger part of it.A former flatmate and now NZ Beef & Lamb market researcher, Hugh Good, came on board as a co-founder, and Dan then connected with Lily through LinkedIn.He has been working full-time on Mīti since August.The New Zealand public got their first taste of an earlier version of Mīti when it was trialled at Hamilton’s Field Days last year, and it recieved positive feedback.The initial vision of a bar-shaped snack has been modified to suit the manufacturing equipment available, and the recipe has also been refined.It no longer includes native horopito and nori seaweed, due to supply reliability issues, but the product stays true to Dan’s original vision of using all-natural ingredients - in particular beech honeydew from Southern Alps Honey in Mid Canterbury as the preservative.Mīti has just passed 12-month shelf-life testing. The change from a bar to a bite shape is one of the concessions that had to be made to ensure the manufacturing of Mīti stays in New Zealand, something Dan continues to push for, despite facing ongoing obstacles.“It was going to be quite easy to send all the raw material over to Australia and get it made under contract there, but we really wanted to make it in New Zealand, so that's why we've changed things.“But it's probably for the better, because the bite format's possibly easier for people to understand for a beef snack.” Initial data from scientific studies AgResearch is carrying out points towards confirming Dan’s own findings that young dairy beef is more environmentally friendly than other beef sources, due to the “feed conversion efficiency”.“Because most of the feed that goes into them is for growth. Obviously the bigger an animal is, the higher the proportion of its diet goes to just maintaining its weight before it grows on top of that,” he says. A screenshot from the PledgeMe website.“And we're essentially processing them at the peak of that feed conversion efficiency.”The study is awaiting peer review before the official results can be released, but so far shows this stock class releases up to 47 percent less emissions than New Zealand's average beef production, per kilo of beef produced, he says.AgResearch is also looking into the gut and brain health benefits of Mīti, which Dan is convinced it contains due to its all-natural make-up, and he is excited to see the results.“I’m hoping it's going to grab attention because we want this to be something unique in the marketplace. And we want it to be an export food, so we're hoping it's going to get quite a bit of attention for all its points of difference, compared to what else is in the market.”Every step that has gone toward creating the finished product has been its own challenge, Dan says.And then there’s convincing the supply chain - the farmers and the industry - why the age of the cows at processing is the optimum for a scalable solution to the bobby calf problem, he says.But this is also what has kept him going.“Even though help hasn't been financially there, people get it, and there's been enough encouraging people who are interested that I want to keep going.”His supporters, either financially or in kind, include the Ministry of Primary Industries, AgResearch, Pāmu Farms, Alliance, Fonterra, Bioresource Processing Alliance and even the SPCA.He envisages a “New Zealand Inc” approach and has come up with the concept of a new brand - Mataora Beef.“Which is essentially just what the branding would be for the scale availability of this young beef product, manufacturing protein or ingredient. And it would be available for others to purchase with all the environmental credentials and the animal welfare credentials wrapped around the brand, so they know what they're getting.“And all of the processors in the country would essentially be selling the same thing under the same brand at the same price, because no other country could produce this ingredient, because no other country has the size of the bobby calf issue. “We need to start looking at doing a few things differently, and I'd like to think that it's a good opportunity now to change away from the status quo, because the status quo is not working.” Mīti’s target market is “pretty much everyone”, Dan says.Children seem to love it, it's great for sports endurance and physical activities, and because of its room temperature shelf-life, “it'll go anywhere”.The PledgeMe campaign finishes on 22 November, and people can pre-order Mīti for December delivery, or they can contribute as little as $5 towards the cause, pay $10 to donate a pack to a foodbank, or treat themselves to different experiences. Following the end of the campaign, Mīti will be for sale online, and Dan will also be hard at work trying to get it into stores, so he can continue to pay his mortgage, he says.He also hopes to have a presence at international food shows to gauge interest from potential export markets. In an ideal world, he will upscale “massively” and eventually hopes to establish a manufacturing facility in the Waitaki.The first production run on Mīti will begin on 4 November and end 22 November.

By RNZ reporter Susan Edmunds, Money CorrespondentRachel Parangi and her husband Jason did not think seriously about home ownership until they were in their mid-40s.They bought their first home, in Whangārei, in April."We basically thought 'we've got some money in KiwiSaver, we've both got steady jobs we've been in a while, let's see if we could buy a house'… we didn't think much about it, but then I said to [my husband] maybe we should try - we kept seeing rents go up," Parengi said.They went to see a broker who told them to start looking.She said it was more expensive than renting but it was worthwhile to have an asset for their family.They had to take a 24-year mortgage, rather than a full 30-year term.She said the decision to withdraw all their money from KiwiSaver meant they were starting again when it came to retirement planning, but that was not a focus at the moment. They did not want to be renting for life."Our kids' ages range from 16 to 25, so we've still got a lot of supporting them we need to do, so I wanted to have an asset if we could."The country's largest bank, ANZ, said the average age of its first-home buyers was now 35. BNZ said about 45 percent of its first-home buyers were early to mid-30s. Westpac said its average age for a first home was also 35.Credit bureau Centrix said earlier in the year the average age of a first-home buyer was 37 - it had fluctuated from 37.6 at the start of 2018 to 35.7 years in the fourth quarter of 2021. That average is roughly ten years later in life than where it sat in the 1970s.Last year the median age of women giving birth was 31.3. The median age of first marriage or civil union in 2013 was 30.4 for women and 31.6 for men.For many first-home buyers, like Parangi, that means clearing out KiwiSaver to form a deposit, and then starting retirement savings again. Kernel KiwiSaver founder Dean Anderson said $9.4 billion had been withdrawn from the scheme over the past decade for house purchases.The average withdrawal was just over $30,000."For many, the tangible benefit of using their savings today to buy a house feels more relatable than focusing on a vague and far off sense of retirement."While it can be a lifeline for securing a home, is KiwiSaver's role in funding immediate needs like homeownership pulling focus from its core purpose-building long-term retirement security?"Rupert Carlyon, founder of Kōura KiwiSaver, said people who withdrew money for a first home in their late 30s or 40s would end up with less money at retirement than someone who did so earlier."Someone earning $80,000, if they take out a house withdrawal at 30, they will end up with $715,000 at 65, if they do the same at 35 then they will have only $492,000 - a difference of $230,000."But he said going into retirement without a home was not a good prospect either: "And potentially outweighs the costs to your KiwiSaver nest egg and retirement."The mortgage payments on a house often act as a significant saving mechanism in their own right, and by owning the house you are no longer exposed to growing rents."David Boyle, general manager of KiwiSaver at Fisher Funds, said people would need to focus on getting back on track for retirement once the purchase was made."For a lot of those that have emptied out that dollar value for their first home, the majority maintain their contributions. If they don't, if they go on a contribution holiday, they could lose that 3 percent pay rise from their employer from their contributions."He said owning a home would put people in a better position at retirement.Having a house purchase out of the way also made it easier for people to decide which fund to be in when they returned to saving."It would give the KiwiSaver member the ability to go into something more aggressive, because they've still got at least maybe 30 years to kind of unlock that wealth creation through a more equity-based portfolio."It takes the noise off the table, because you can't use the money for anything else after that until you're 65."You've got to get the balance right around the repayments on your mortgages, but we know over time people's salaries go up."Their homes should increase in value, too, he said.Certified financial planner Paul Sewell, from Financial Advice Hawke's Bay, said he would counsel people to get rid of their debt as quickly as possible."The likelihood, though, is that you end up with debt into your 50s, 60s, and possibly overlapping into retirement. The solution for that is you might be able to work longer."He said people who did not own homes usually had worse outcomes because they often ended up not saving or investing enough elsewhere to cover the difference at retirement."For a lot of people, if they don't have that commitment [to make the mortgage payment], their spending tends to be greater."Mortgage broker Glen McLeod, of Edge Mortgages, said it was common to see banks reduce the length of mortgages as people got nearer 50, as Parangi's did."Some have a policy where [the loan term] has to be in line with your retirement age, but you can get away with 70 in some cases."He said sometimes banks would accept that people planned to sell an asset at retirement to pay down debt."With rates high at the moment, as they come down you can leave your repayments higher and pay things off faster."Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. - RNZ

Higher than recommended fluoride levels in the Ōamaru water supply means the pause button has been hit by the Waitaki District Council.Testing last week indicated levels of 1.07mg/L post-reservoir and 1.08mg/L at South Hill, a council spokesperson says.The council targets 0.8 mg/L for fluoridation, following the Director General of Health’s directive to fluoridate between 0.7 and 1.0 mg/L. Although marginally above the target level, the levels remain within the maximum acceptable value for fluoride in safe drinking water set at 1.5mg/L in the Water Services (Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand) Regulations 2022, the spokesperson says.Fluoridation has stopped while council Water Services and commissioning contractors Filtec recalibrate the dosing equipment and analyser to ensure water is fluoridated at the targeted level.Water from the Ōamaru supply will still have fluoride in it until next Thursday (October 24), as the reservoirs and wider network have already fluoridated water in them.It is anticipated recalibration will be complete by then, and then fluoridation can recommence.Once fluoridation restarts, the council will perform regular testing at the treatment plant and in the reticulation network with an accredited laboratory, in addition to continuing to use the dosing and analyser recording - which is the requirement for monitoring fluoridated supplies - to ensure it remains within target.Director General of Health Dr Diana Safarti has been notified that dosing has stopped to allow for this recalibration, the spokesperson says.

By RNZ reporter Sally MurphyA herbicide deemed okay to use in New Zealand has been pulled off shelves in Australia with immediate effect.In August, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced the immediate suspension of all registrations for Dacthal or DCPA herbicides, citing possible irreversible damage they could cause to unborn children.That prompted the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority to issue an urgent alert for people to stop using products with the chemical chlorthal dimethyl, which is used to control annual grasses and broadleaf weeds in vegetable growing.After reviewing its use, the EPA issued new rules for using the herbicide in September.It can only be used on soil where specific crops are grown, pregnant individuals or individuals who may be pregnant are prevented from using the substance or entering a site where its been used, and wide buffer zones are needed to further protect the public from spray.But now Australia is following the United States, completely banning the use of products containing chlorthal dimethyl.The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) said there was currently 12 products available in Australia.Chief executive Scott Hansen said the APVMA identified an immediate risk of serious injury or serious illness which could result from use of these products."The APVMA has the power to act swiftly where we identify an imminent risk to human health and we are exercising that authority today with the cancellation of all products containing chlorthal dimethyl."We haven't taken this decision lightly and are exercising a high degree of caution in cancelling these products and ask those who hold them to cease use immediately. We will issue information on the product recall requirements shortly."Hansen said the decision brings Australia into alignment with international counterparts and reiterated that there is no phase-out period for the products due to the risk to human health."The APVMA considers the risk of continued use to be unacceptable as the risk of exposure cannot be effectively mitigated."The primary risk is to pregnant people's unborn babies, particularly where those people have handled the chemical or re-entered areas where the product has been used within the last 5 days.Hansen said the APVMA understands the impact that this regulatory decision will have on industry, but the safety of people is of paramount importance. - RNZ

Artist Sian Quennell Torrington once had an exhibition called Soft is stronger than hard, and her residency at the Crucible Gallery, and life itself, continue to reinforce that concept for her. (3-minute read)Sian travelled south from Naenae, near Wellington, and has been in Ōamaru for five weeks, as one of the first two artists to take part in a new residency, funded by the Hynds Foundation. Local artist Karen Aitken is the other resident.Sian’s interest in the residency, where artists have the opportunity to work with metal casting equipment at Gillies Metaltech, was sparked by a fascination with Boudica, a 1st Century queen of the British Iceni tribe. “So I read a series of books during the last few years about Boudica . . . she brought together and led tribal armies and fought the Romans who were colonising their land.“She's a real person, and I grew up knowing about her and visiting some of those places in the UK.”Boudica’s father worked with metal, Sian says.“So there's all this writing about her casting metal, and the fire and the skill and the risk and you know, all of the elements of that amazing process. It really captured me.”The concept of armour and the way people “armour” themselves with their bodies, in terms of clenching fists, or tensing muscles, as a “bodily way of protecting ourselves” and the impact that can have, also interests Sian.“You know, we get sore, and we injure ourselves, and also we're not able to let life and feelings flow . . . because we're in that state of defensiveness and hardness.“So for me, this residency is a way to explore materially the idea of armouring and hardness and the things that get sort of stuck in our bodies.“Like when we have a massage or we do yoga and there's a pose . . . and the tears come . . . It really releases something.”The release brings a “softening”, Sian says, and her art is about bringing together the hard and the soft, and “representing what’s inside on the outside, physically”.Earlier this year, she did an art project called, How Is Your Heart? as part of the Performance Arcade in Wellington, where artists gather in a “village” of containers along the waterfront. She was there for two days, and had created a collection of wearable sculptures.She asked people the question “How is your heart?” and they would choose a sculpture that resonated with them and how they were feeling at the time, and put it on like a necklace.A visitor to Sian's How is Your Heart project in Wellington earlier in the year. Photo: Supplied/Tash Helasdottir-Cole “Because the last few years have been hard, right? For everyone. And it's been a collective experience of things being hard," Sian says.“Often someone you know is having a really rough time and you can support them . . . but this has been, everyone is having a hard time. Everyone is struggling at the same time. And I noticed that it had become hard to answer the question, ‘How are you?’ You know. It just feels like, ‘where do I start?’.” The project drew in 400 people, and after two 12-hour days, Sian came away feeling tired but “nourished”.“There's a lot of giving when you're an artist . . . and what happened with this exhibition, was it came back. There was a loop.” That exhibition, followed by a conversation with a good friend, made Sian realise what she needed to do next was to explore within herself what she was asking of other people.“What is my heart? How do I show that? And so that's what I'm doing here.” A foundry is about transformation, she says. “Radically amazing transformation.“I mean, when they poured the pieces last week - it looks like they're just pouring fire.“So, what I'm doing here is transformation - and inspired by that process of melting what's hard, making it into what's soft.”Since beginning her 12-week residency, Sian has been surprised at what works as a casting mould and what doesn’t.A hard sculpture that she pressed into the sand as a pattern for a mould was too complex, and the sand collapsed as the sculpture was removed.Using soft patterns, such as a sculpture made from fabric, works better once the sand has hardened around it, because it remains soft and so is easier to remove.“Because it's soft, you can sort of manipulate it. It moves.“Again, it's about that resilience . . . which isn't resisting, which is about, you know, letting our feelings out, sharing them, providing ways to do that, and the very process itself is saying that. It’s saying if you can't move, if you can't be soft, it will break.”The incongruity of seeing her soft, pink fabric sculpture in such a “traditionally masculine environment” like the foundry is not lost on Sian.The artist at work. Photo: Supplied/Tash Helasdottir-Cole “Nothing is pink . . . There are huge machines. There is steel. There is metal . . . and to be in there with these men who are totally dedicated to making this is amazing . . . and they are so respectful and they're so interested.”“Often, women, the feminine, we get laughed at. We get, ‘Oh, what's that silly frippery little thing?’“This little pink scraplet of a sculpture is so important to them. I'm being treated with so much respect and that's transformational in itself for me, and I think it would be for most women. To have that experience, you know, because these little things, these soft things, they are really important.”The residency is Sian’s third. Her first was in Samoa and her second in India, and she says residencies are about being somewhere completely different and opening yourself up to new experiences.She could stop tomorrow and say, “wow, it’s been amazing”.She has a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of Art - Whiti o Rehua at Massey University, and before her 20-year career as an artist, Sian worked in the fashion industry.“I made clothes and sold clothes and ran my own little business.”She made all her own patterns - a painstaking process - and so when she lost them all in one go at Heathrow Airport, Sian’s life veered off on a sharp tangent.“So things changed. It was devastating . . . I'd put so much work into making those and you craft them and you change them and you develop them . . . and you know, it's just massive.“I knew I couldn't go backwards, I couldn't remake them. I had to go forwards, and what I had was a studio in Wellington.”Sian had always wanted to paint and do art, so used this as an opportunity. She started drawing the trees out of her studio window.“It's like the forces that be go, ‘you know, you need to change and it's going to hurt, but it's going to be fast. Bang!’.” Sian is loving being looked after in Ōamaru, and relishing learning a new craft. She loves listening to the penguins at night, and the ocean, and feels grateful that people have been so open to working with her and collaborating, and inviting her along to things.“Because you're away from partner and friends and everything else . . . Three months is long enough that you do actually have to build a little life.”

This story was originally published by RNZBy Tess Brunton of RNZUniversity of Otago student Sophia Crestani died at an overcrowded Dunedin party in October 2019 and an inquest into her death was held in May.Coroner Heather McKenzie gave her findings in person in Dunedin this week, saying her death was a tragic, but likely preventable accident.Sophia Crestani's dad wants to see a shift in student culture away from overcrowded parties, excessive drinking and drugs, anti social and risky behaviour.Student-led groups hope that the inquest will encourage more progress and conversations to help keep students safer.A coroner's finding that Sophia Crestani's death in an overcrowded Dunedin party was likely preventable has prompted a call to action to improve the city's student culture.The University of Otago student died at a party hosted in a flat known as The Manor in October 2019, with Coroner Heather McKenzie finding she died from crush asphyxia when pressure on her chest prevented her from breathing normally.Maggot Fest seemed like an typical large North Dunedin student party, until about 11pm when the stairs had become very crowded, she said.People started falling down the staircase, landing in a mass of tangled bodies, with one party-goer telling a 111 operator that people were going to die.But she said there was at least a half an hour window before Sophia Crestani died when someone could have acted."If the tenants as hosts had taken active oversight of their party, it might not have grown to the size it did and the critical situation on the stairs might not have developed," she said.Sophia Crestani died at the Dunedin party. Photo: RNZ / FacebookHer recommendations included students leaving parties or calling an authority if they did not feel safe, students taking active steps to be responsible party hosts, the university considering its approach to disciplining students after large events that breach its Code of Conduct, and the Good One website removing advice to lock bedroom doors before hosting a party.Sophia's dad Bede Crestani said the findings were welcome, but devastating."It's terrible. There's a half an hour that could have saved a life. There's nothing that can take that pain away. We can't bring her back... so we hope that there's real lessons that are learnt from that that are really practical things," he said.Bede Crestani hoped Sophia's legacy would help to protect others from harm and wanted to see a shift in student culture away from overcrowded parties, excessive drinking and drugs, and anti social and risky behaviour.He wants to see more progress to improve the lives of the North Dunedin student community.Sophia Crestani's parents Bede Crestani and Elspeth McMillan outside the court house in Dunedin. Photo: RNZ / Tess BruntonHer mum Elspeth McMillan said the inquest was over, but the work in their daughter's name was not."We can not stop having to live over and over again the circumstances of Sophia's death and start to just remember the good times we had with her," she said.The Sophia Charter was created in the wake of her death to enhance safety and well-being of students living in North Dunedin with multiple agencies pledging their support."We're really pleased with what we've seen to date. There's been some tangible actions and we're hearing of improvements in the culture so that's really reassuring. But there is more to do for sure," McMillan said.Hold On To Your Friends co-founder Louisa says they need to engage with students if they're trying to fix problems with the student culture. Photo: RNZ / Tess BruntonStudent-led Hold On To Your Friends co-founder Louisa hoped the inquest would encourage more progress."I feel like it's well and truly set the stage for future dialogue. I think it is definitely just the first step in a very long road, which is towards creating a safer student culture," Louisa said."It's not going to happen overnight and it's not going to happen easily. It requires cooperation of all of the stakeholders."The problems with North Dunedin's student culture might be more widespread, she said."You don't hear about the close calls and whatnot because they're close calls, nothing comes of them. I think the challenge is definitely communicating to students in a way that gets through to them because coming from authority figures like the university ... sometimes just doesn't get through, because they're just like 'aw, they're trying to shut me down' or 'this is lame'."So it's really trying to tap into how do we get students to recognise that this isn't okay."They needed to engage with students, she said."It is just about nudging people, letting them know that this isn't okay and also making them aware of the harms because they just don't think it's going to happen to them. But it can happen and it has happened and it will happen again."Students for Sensible Drug Policy president Max Phillips says the time for action is now. Photo: RNZ / Tess BruntonStudents For Sensible Drug Policy president Max Phillips said they needed to have more honest conversations about the student culture."The key things that Bede and Elspeth have communicated to us is that it's taken a long time to get here and that they want to see progress a lot quicker because it needs to happen a lot quicker because people are still getting hurt," he said.Students needed to be part of the conversation for change, he said. - RNZ

It’s not unusual for Ōamaru to bring its past to the fore, but this time the focus is on extinct birds, not Victorian buildings.Several life-size moa, with a trail of footprints, are being painted under and near the Thames Street railway bridge, as part of a plan to revitalise the town centre.The Ōamaru Underland Artscape is the first of five community-led ‘pathfinder projects’ to get started. The projects aim to pilot new approaches to unlock the potential of central Ōamaru, and the groups have been made up of a selection of volunteer community members.Waitaki District Council community and economic development manager Mel Jones says it has been rewarding to actively engage in developing the projects.“Volunteering their time, knowledge and resources to make Ōamaru a place we can all be proud of.”Ōamaru artist Matthew “Wicksey” Wicks has been commissioned to recreate the life-sized Dinornis robustus, or South Island giant moa, which stood 3.6 metres tall before it died out.“On the big wall, as you come out of the tunnel - there's just this large concrete face - there'll be three moa going on that, painted life-size.“So kids and adults will be able to stand next to them and get a feel for what their size was, and then on two of the pillars that hold up the railway bridge, there's two moa going on those as well.“They'll be sort of in the trees, which is quite neat. In their natural habitat as it were.”The footprints are being painted by a group of volunteers, who will be guided by another Ōamaru artist, Martin Horspool, using a stencil made using actual moa prints found in Central Otago. About 60 footprints, the same size and stride as left by the former giant bird, will be used as an educational and directional tool, steering people to walk in the footsteps of the moa.“ On the concrete path that goes underneath the bridge, all the way underneath that bridge there,” Martin says. “Almost like, it's like another layer. It's like a subterranean sort of passage.“It's as if it's kind of like underground.”Work on the project was supposed to start on Monday, but has been hampered by wet weather, Wicksey says.“The large wall is going to have a bit of cleaning done to it first, and then once that's all prepped and ready to go, we'll have a bit of a working bee down there and paint a sort of a background on it, and get the face ready for the moa to be painted on it.“It's just on hold at the moment in terms of starting, just waiting for it to dry up, and then we'll be into it.” An artist's impression of what the moa mural might look like. Photo: suppliedWicksey says the project will be finished by the end of the year. While there will probably be some signposting to let people know what they might find under the bridge, the group also wants it to be a bit of a “hidden gem” to be discovered.The initial plan was to form a larger arts trail through the town, but the decision has been made to start small. “I think starting where we're starting gives us the opportunity to go, ‘Hey, let's do what we wanted to do. It might take a few years, but eventually it will be great’,” Wicksey says.“There's conversations happening behind the scenes, some really good ideas being shared that will come to light in the future . . . but we want to do it right and we want to do something really cool, so scale it down, do a really good job of it and then eventually grow it.”The cost of the project is being covered by Better Off Funding, which was allocated to the council by the Labour Government as part of the Three Waters Reform process.Town MasterplanWaitaki District Councillors voted to adopt the Central Ōamaru Masterplan at last week’s meeting.The plan aims to improve and develop central Ōamaru over the next 30 years, focusing on better connections and navigation. Key projects have been identified to help link three main areas – Thames Street, the Heritage Precinct, and the Harbour.The five community-led projects will be a part of that.The Masterplan is a “living document”, meaning it will be updated with new ideas and opportunities as they come up, and take on board learning from the pilot projects.Council chief executive Alex Parmley says the Central Ōamaru Masterplan brings together several existing plans into one combined strategy "for revitalisation and growth". “It offers the chance of a new way of working with partners, local businesses and community members to make Ōamaru a place we can all love and feel connected to.”

Australian Dr Saul Newman from Oxford Institute of Population Ageing has been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for his work debunking the idea that people in Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia in Italy and Greece live longer lives than average.These long-lived people we've been taking "lifestyle tips from" are "mostly corpses", Newman told RNZ's Afternoons."I found out that at least 72 percent of the people in Greece over the age of 100, thousands of people, they're all dead."These numbers come from the people handing out the pensions, and they've been handing out the pensions for 100-year-olds despite the fact that these people are dead."It's extraordinary to have a ton of science based off this, because, like, what are you going to conclude? Essentially it's nonsense."Okinawans, it is claimed, live long healthy lives because of among other things, their love of veggies."The Japanese government actually asked Okinawans since 1975 they've asked them about their nutrition, and they've always been dead last out of 47 regions of Japan."They're always last in terms of eating sweet potatoes, in terms of eating their veggies full stop. They're always last. None of this stuff stacks up."In all these regions record keeping, the basis on which these longevity claims are made, was decidedly poor, he said."It's wild. There were 230,000 people in Japan that were alive on paper and dead in reality - 230,000. It's incredible. Greece was roughly 8000."In fact, he said, Okinawans were among the least healthy people in Japan."It's astounding the level of poor health and the extensive records of poor health in Okinawa."They start measuring people in 1975 when the Americans handed the province back. And since 1975 they've measured how heavy the older people are in Okinawa with the over 75s and they've always been dead last in terms of body mass index.They've always had the worst health."The island of Sardinia is another place where people are claimed to live long lives, not so much, Newman said.It measures life expectancy at age 85 and has done so since 1990 and it has never been remarkable."It's about 60th roughly in Europe right now. And when they first started measuring, they were 51st in Europe. So, they've never been anywhere near the top."It was a similar story on Greece, he said, with data showing in 1990 Greece had higher levels of overweight people than the USA.He has found no correlation between longevity and geography, he said."We're assaulted by bad data here … there's a huge volume of research about this, and it's so transparently wrong, then how are you going to rely on anything else?"I'm not a nutritionist, right? I can't tell you what a good diet is. I can just tell you that this, the diets being proposed here, have no connection to what actually happens in these regions."Originally reported by RNZ

While a lot of Otago is still in recovery mode from the weekend’s wild weather, it seems the rain and wind isn’t quite done with us yet.Some rain is expected in parts of the south this afternoon and this evening, and the forecast for Tuesday has MetService issuing weather watches for heavy rain and strong winds, with snow to follow. The west of the South Island is mostly in the firing line this time, although Otago and Canterbury lakes and headwaters 15km east of the main divide could be affected by heavy rain from about 6am to 6pm tomorrow (Tuesday).The Canterbury High Country looks likely to be buffeted by Northwest winds approaching severe gale strength in exposed places from 9am to 5pm tomorrow, while the coastal areas of Southland and Clutha could be in store for west to northwest winds approaching galeforce, from 9pm on Tuesday into Wednesday, with winds expected to turn southwest on Wednesday morning. The northwest winds are going to pump up the temperature in eastern areas, but after the rain passes there’s a cool southerly wind that moves up the country and brings a noticeable drop to afternoon temperatures. Gore might struggle to make double digits on Wednesday while Hastings goes from above average temperatures on Tuesday to below average on Thursday.The cool air intrusion brings about risk of snow and there’s already a Road Snowfall Warning in force for Milford Road from Tuesday evening and Southland could get snow down to 500m on Wednesday, MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris warns.“The recently saturated southeast can expect some wet weather this week. There are a few showers due today, potentially some heavier ones this afternoon/evening,” he says.“Tuesday brings some passing rain as the front moves through and then a final bout of rain on Wednesday as the southwest wind pushes over. Thursday and Friday are looking mainly fine at this point.”

By Serena Solomon of RNZ [email protected]: This story discusses eating disorders.Before going to bed most nights, Eleanor Whitmore, 15, brushes her teeth and unwinds with an audiobook.She will also connect a bottle of a high-calorie, nutrition-rich liquid to a pump and tube that feeds directly into her stomach while she sleeps.The liquid supplements the few "safe" foods she eats. Currently, that's an odd selection: chocolate, lettuce and carrot. Almost anything else elicits a visceral reaction beyond Eleanor's control. Her face screws up, she feels nauseous and inevitably whatever it was is spat back on her plate."I was repulsed. I couldn't swallow," says Eleanor, whose relatively normal behaviour towards food shifted at age 10."The PEG," as the device to her stomach is called, has taken the pressure off Eleanor to eat enough to survive. In the five years since she became repulsed by food almost to starvation, she has begun finding a sliver of enjoyment in eating and putting on weight.Her condition is a relatively new mental illness diagnosis called Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder or ARFID. It entered the annals of psychology in 2013 and is a branch of the eating disorder tree. Whereas anorexia, another eating disorder, is typically characterised by a fear of putting on weight, ARFID often revolves around an aversion to food and eating.Much is unclear about the condition that affects adults as well as children. An incidence of choking, vomiting or severe constipation can trigger it. ARFID is also common alongside autism where often the taste, texture, smell and sight of food overloads the senses. Others have a disinterest in food.Eleanor Whitmore's pump that helps feed her while she sleeps. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone"Milk forever"Annie's 10-year-old son is thriving in almost every area of life - socially, academically and in sports - but not with his eating. He doesn't eat. He only drinks a specific milk supplement that must be heated to a specific temperature and only from a specific sippy cup he's had since he was a toddler."I think he will live on milk forever," Annie says.Annie, an early education teacher from Palmerston North, first thought something was up when her son didn't explore the world by putting objects in his mouth, as most babies do. He showed no interest in food and was breastfed exclusively until close he was more than a year old.By age 18 months, Annie's son had an ARFID diagnosis and unlike about half of those with ARFID, he is not on the autism spectrum. She asked that her last name be withheld so she can't be found online and trolled for her parenting.For much of his life, Annie's son has been in and out of hospital for dehydration or malnutrition. At times, he will refuse to drink even his supplement."If anyone said to him, 'Why don't you eat?' He would say, 'I don't know,'" says Annie. "And that's what he's said to his therapist for the last three years is, 'I don't know'."How ARFID is diagnosed and treatedAnnie's son would be considered severe on the ARFID spectrum which can be made murky by the picky eating phase most kids go through.Many of the kids that go on to get an ARFID diagnosis typically have less than a dozen safe foods, says Emily Jones, a feeding therapist from Massey University."My big red flag would be that your child is dropping a whole food group in their repertoire. They don't eat any fruit and veg. They only maybe go to one texture," she says.Other red flags include avoiding family dinners, losing weight and nutritional deficiencies shown through blood tests.The morning I interviewed Jones, she was working on getting a young girl to eat a tiny sliver of processed meat (an unsafe food for the client) between two pieces of white bread (a safe food)."We'll try to do things like, build bridges with the sandwiches because I know she likes white bread and we're doing things like that, but it was just too much for her," Jones says.Dr Rachael Mayne Photo: suppliedARFID prevalence has been estimated to be anywhere from 0.5 percent of the global population to 15 percent, says Dr Rachael Mayne, a clinical psychologist at the New Zealand Eating Disorder Clinic.Once patients are diagnosed correctly and provided with appropriate treatment, ARFID can be reversed in many. Like with most conditions, the earlier the diagnosis, the better."We're generally seeing really good results and positive change. Clients go on to learn skills to maintain their weight and live really full lives," Mayne says.However, medical professionals in New Zealand are "still very much learning and I think we've got a long way to go in terms of health professional training," she adds.'I blamed myself for so many years'Most of those with ARFID or whose children have ARFID that RNZ spoke to said that getting a diagnosis was a challenge. The length of that process was largely determined by the psychologist or paediatric doctor you happened to get and how knowledgeable they are about ARFID.Elizabeth Nicole, 25, spent crucial years fighting the wrong eating disorder. She was misdiagnosed as a teenager with anorexia. Her treatment included forced feeding.Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with ARFID and autism after a dietitian Nicole had begun working with started to doubt the anorexia diagnosis."I can't explain to you the level of anger, sadness and grief," she says. "I blamed myself for so many years for quote-unquote not getting better."Now, with ARFID-specific treatment, Nicole already has a few dozen new safe foods. However, with so many years severely underweight and malnourished there is no guarantee her body will survive the stress of refeeding, she said.'We've had to sacrifice'Sam Whitworth, from Christchurch, had little support in the early days of her son Mason's ARFID diagnosis. Now, besides popcorn, marmite sandwiches and Bluebird chicken-flavoured chips, much of 10-year-old Mason's nutrition comes through a feeding tube. His weight has stabilised, and hospital visits are less frequent.But it means that the family activities and holidays - including for Whitworth's two older daughters - are near impossible."There are some really strong and really hard things we've had to sacrifice as a family because of it," Whitworth says.Where to get help:Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (24/7)Youthline: 0800 376 633 (24/7) or free text 234 or email [email protected]'s Up: free counselling for 5 to 19 years old, online chat 11am-10.30pm 7days/week or free phone 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787 11am-11pm Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm or text 832 Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English.Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254Healthline: 0800 611 116Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155OUTLine: 0800 688 5463 (6pm-9pm)If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.This story was originally published by RNZ

Update: 5.45pmSH1 is closed between Hampden and Palmerston and will not open until at least, tomorrow (Saturday.October 5).Hampden Hall will be open for travellers but you are requested to find accommodation in Ōamaru if possible. SH85 Palmerston to Kyeburn also remains closed at least until tomorrow. Conserve water notices have been issued for the Awamoko and Windsor water supplies. Waitaki District Council says with rain projected to ease over the next six hours Civil Defence has not be activated, but CDEM has been supporting Council, contractors, FENZ and NZ Police in its business-as-usual operations throughout the last 48 hours.Metservice meteorologist John Law says the worst is over. If residential properties are threatened, call 111. FENZ will assess the property and provide sandbags if necessary.Remain alert. Do not enter floodwaters. Stay home.------Update: 4.35pmState of Emergency also declared for Clutha. Red Rain Warning for North Otago, Dunedin and coastal Clutha has been extended to rom 9pm, to 11pm tonight (Friday October 4).Roads closed due to this weather include; Danseys Pass Road, Factory Road, Patterson Road, Simm Road, Cormacks-Kia Ora Road, Springhill Road, McArthur Road, Rocklands Road, Grange Hill Road, Fleming Road, Stromness Street, Runbrake Street, Aitchison Road, Tiverton Street, Goodwood Road, Horse Range Road, Island Cliff - Duntroon Road, Old Mill Road, Adam Sutherland Road, and Kieleys Road. Latest updates on road closures are available on the Waitaki District Council website here.See the latest Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management video update here.------A State of Emergency has been declared for Dunedin City in response to heavy rainfall and flooding with another 70 to 100 millimetres of rainfall forecast for North Otago, Dunedin and coastal Clutha today (Friday October 4).Overnight, evacuation centres were opened at the St Clair Golf Club (now full) and Forsyth Barr Stadium (open, entrance through gate J) in Dunedin, housing about 100 residents whose homes were being threatened by flooding and had nowhere else to go.Roads are closed throughout Dunedin, North Otago and Clutha including State Highway 87 between Kyburn and Hyde along with Fleming, Patterson and Factory roads in and around Palmerston and Grange Hill Road near Dunback all closed due to flooding.Danseys Pass Road is closed due to snow and ice.Current local road conditions and road closures can be found on the Waitaki District Council's website.People have been advised to;avoid any non-essential travelnever try to walk, swim or drive through flood waterput safety first and don't take any changesact quickly to self-evacuate if you see rising waterbe ready for power and communication outagesif there is an immediate risk to life, call 111Metservice has issued a red heavy rain warning until 9pm tonight.If there is anything urgent, you can call Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management on 03 477 4000. If it is an emergency, call 111.For those that do need to travel, such as to get to a safe location, it is important to take care and drive to the conditions.Access Waka Kotahi's journey planner here.Be alert to the conditions, check Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management, MetService New Zealand and Waitaki District Council for updates.

Latest: 8.26 PM Thursday October 3 from MetserviceHeavy Rain Warning - RedPeriod: 25hrs from 8pm Thu, 3 Oct - 9pm Fri, 4 OctArea: North Otago, Dunedin and coastal CluthaForecast: Expect 70 to 100 mm of rain, on top of what already has fallen, with the heaviest falls about the eastern hills. Peak rates of 8 to 15 mm/h. Note that the amount and duration of rain is highly unusual for this area and it may cause major impacts.Impact: Threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding and slips. Conditions will disrupt travel, make some roads impassable, and isolate communities.Action: Do not enter floodwaters and avoid travel. Act quickly to self-evacuate if you see rising water. Be ready for power and communications outages. See preparedness advice in readiness for action please.--------The Metservice has issued a Heavy Rain Warning - Red for North Otago, Dunedin and coastal Clutha for the period of 34 hours, from 11am today (Thursday October 3) until 9pm tomorrow evening. Forecast: Expect 120 to 150 mm of rain with the heaviest falls about the eastern hills. Peak rates of 8 to 15 mm/h. Note that the amount and duration of rain is highly unusual for this area and it may cause major impacts.Impact: Threat to life from dangerous river conditions, significant flooding and slips. Conditions will disrupt travel, make some roads impassable, and isolate communities.Action: Do not enter floodwaters and avoid travel. Act quickly to self-evacuate if you see rising water. Be ready for power and communications outages.See preparedness advice in readiness for action please.Follow Emergency Management Otago - WaitakiFollow RNZ's live blog for updates.More to come.Road Closure: SH8 Tarras to Omarama - Lindis Pass

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher feels “more optimistic” New Dunedin Hospital will be fit for purpose, after a meeting with Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Infrastructure head Blake Lepper on Monday night.Mr Lepper made contact with Mr Kircher, who is Otago Mayoral Forum chair, on Friday, following an announcement from the Government last week that hospital plans as they stand can not be delivered on the allocated $1.88 billion budget.“He wanted an opportunity to update the forum after his previous presentation given two weeks earlier. I also invited the members of the Southland Mayoral Forum, and that meeting took place via Zoom.”All mayors from both districts were present, as were the chairs of the Otago and Southland regional councils, Gary says.The Government’s announcement last week triggered a mass protest in Dunedin on Saturday, with an estimated 35,000 people voicing their dissatisfaction at the prospect of a sub-standard hospital.Mr Kircher says he “can't overstate how important the voice of our region's people is in this discussion”.“Letting our central government politicians know what we expect for our healthcare is an extremely important show of support.”Mr Lepper provided an update on negotiations and other happenings since the group last met about two weeks ago.“Importantly, he spoke of his work to get the costs down without affecting services.”It appears Mr Lepper and Health NZ have made “good progress”, but he would have to comment on that himself, Mr Kircher says.“Blake did say that it will be another three to four weeks before he finishes his current process of getting the project back under the latest $1.88B budget.”Health NZ Chief Infrastructure and Investment Officer Jeremy Holman told the Waitaki App on Wednesday, that Health NZ is "working urgently to develop options for New Dunedin Hospital that can be achieved within the budget and deliver modern, fit-for-purpose health facilities that will enhance clinical safety and enable new models of care". The work will be completed over the coming weeks. "We will consult with critical stakeholders, including clinical leaders, to ensure we understand the benefits and risks before a final decision is made. As soon as a decision is reached, we will update the people of Dunedin and the wider Southern region," he says.Those in Monday's meeting found out more details on the order of priorities for reducing costs, and were told cuts to services are the last resort, Mr Kircher says.“We also learnt of the way these projects had been handled, with a strict division between responsibilities of Health NZ and the DHBs.“Car parking is one of those aspects, with HNZ not talking any interest in that as it was seen as a local service matter.”Mr Kircher commented last week that choosing to build the hospital on the former Cadbury factory site with demolition costs, site contamination issues, and positioned in between two State Highway 1 thoroughfares, had contributed to mounting costs.He also landed some of the blame with successive governments for poor management of the project.At Monday's meeting, the mayoral group gained a better awareness of the nature of the agreement in place between the Health Ministry and the contractor, and it appears to Mr Kircher there is “disproportionate responsibility” on the Health Ministry for any cost over-runs.They also gained a better idea of how many services were intended to remain in existing buildings rather than move to new buildings.“It gave a better context to the potential redevelopment of buildings that already exist and for which a better business case can be made.“I believe we finished the Zoom meeting with a more optimistic view that we are on a better path towards getting a hospital we deserve, though there is still a lot of work to be done in a short time.” The “mayors and chairs of Otago and Southland” also acknowledge the amount of support for the appropriate level of healthcare for the south, Mr Kircher says.“We are all committed to achieving that for our people. The more comprehensive and the more accessible that healthcare is, the better.”See a timeline of the new Dunedin Hospital build and read about why the hospital costs keep going up.

Metservice has issued a Road Snowfall warning for the Lindis Pass.MetService Road Snowfall Warning for Lindis Pass (SH8)Issued at 11:01am Wed 2 Oct 2024Lindis Pass (SH8)Valid: 10 hours from 5:00pm Wed 2 Oct to 3:00am Thu 3 OctForecast: Rain is expected to turn to snow this evening. 1 to 3 cm could settle near the summit, with lesser amounts to 800 metres.Disclaimer: These warnings provide information regarding expected weather conditions. They contain no information about current road conditions or about the amount of snow currently lying on any road.

By Jogai Bhatt RNZNothing screams 'how do you do, fellow kids?' quite like trying to use slang that's just not for you.It's why the internet collectively cringed when Prime Minister Christopher Luxon decided to give Gen Alpha's unique 'brainrot' style of speech a go in a video posted to Instagram and TikTok."Straight up, we're getting New Zealand back on track, no cap. The phone ban in schools ate, and it left no crumbs. See the lack of regional fuel tax? It's giving back on track. Delivering tax relief has so much rizz, Nicola Willis understood the assignment. Slay."The video attracted some mixed responses from viewers; some were mildly amused, while others experienced a fair bit of second-hand embarrassment.But why do we find it cringe when old people try to use slang? Who determines when words are in and when they're out? And where do they come from anyway?Skibidi, Sigma, Rizz - where did it all come from?Every generation has their own slang, but Gen Alpha (people born between 2010-2024) have a particularly unhinged way of speaking.They use a hyper-online style of speech, dubbed 'brainrot language'. It's slang that's often niche and insular to the internet, cropping up in places like TikTok, YouTube, Twitch and Roblox - making it uniquely difficult for older generations to understand.It's given rise to words like 'sigma', a humbler version of the traditional 'alpha', 'rizz', the ability to charm or woo someone, and 'skibidi', meaning bad, cool, or nothing at all.How does slang die?'Slay' is already dead. 'Tea' is vintage. Now, it's all about 'gyatt' (like gyatt damn, or goddamn) and 'fanum tax', the act of jokingly taking food from a friend, or collecting the fanum tax. Are you following along?The words are fun and silly and a little bit random - and Gen Alpha is fully aware of this. The more nonsensical a sentence, the more likely it is to receive a comment along the lines of, 'Imagine showing this to a Victorian child' or 'There's no way to explain this'.Something like 'skibidi Ohio rizz' might feel like the funniest thing in the world right now, but according to linguistics expert and content creator Adam Aleksic, these words might not be around for long."If you look at any historical example, the slang words that survive are never the ones we think of as slang words ... look at the words 'selfie' or 'cancel' meaning socially ostracise. We still use them because they didn't stick out as examples of slang."Any time a word is too obtrusive, it gets tied to a meme, people use it ironically and then the meme dies out, it becomes unfunny, like when adults start using it ... I don't think any of the brainrot words are actually gonna stick around."So why is it cringe when old people try to use brainrot slang? RNZ took to Auckland's Mission Bay to ask Gen Alpha (and their parents) just that.Sebastian Gundry (left) loves deliberately misusing Gen Alpha slang. Photo: RNZ / Marika KhabaziSebastian Gundry hears his daughter Kaia and her friends using words like 'skibidi', 'rizz', and 'mewing' all the time. He enjoys deliberately misusing them."Skibidi is something to do with brainrot, Ohio brainrot is when you wear two different coloured crocs, you have a rat tail or a mullet and basketball shorts," he says confidently."Rizz is like Rizla, like rolling paper for a cigarette. I'm pretty much a 100 percent sure on that. And does mewing mean spitting... like mooing?"Kaia explains that mewing is all about flexing your jawline, so you can 'rizz' people up. Rizz, in this case, is short for exuding charisma. For Gundry, it suddenly clicks."Oh it's like your vibe, your aura. And sus is short for suspect... see these words are all just a breakdown of normal words, but they're in half, it's like when you're texting and you can't be bothered writing the whole word."Kaia says it's "absolutely cringe" for adults to use this slang, and Gundry agrees."Words change all the time, they're constantly developing and changing, there's nothing wrong with Covid or Gen Alpha lingo in my view ... I just feel not cool, I shouldn't try and use it, I don't know what I'm saying. We're old and crusty and shouldn't try and be cool."Cosette Tulloch knows what her daughters are talking about - some of the time. Photo: RNZ / Marika KhabaziCosette Tulloch has four daughters aged nine to 15, so she has an idea of what they're talking about - some of the time."Rizz ... is that cool? Is it when you're flirting with someone? Mewing ... is that to do with having a sharper chin? Like a nice, defined jaw line? See skibidi, I was talking with my husband about this the other night and we still don't know what it is. Is it something to do with a toilet?"Tulloch's daughters are reassuring that she's on the right track, but reckon it's still a bit embarrassing when adults try to use these words."They're a little bit older and it's meant for us," 11-year-old Leah says.Her sister Shiloh, 13, agrees: "It's cringe, mum uses it and I'm like no, you can't do that ... but maybe they should just do it to make everyone else cringe."Tulloch says she was told off just that morning for trying to act cool."We drove up from Hamilton so I was like, 'Can we put some Gen Z music on', and Shiloh put on Central Cee and I was singing along and I got told off ... I think we need to embrace our kids' generation. Millennials are cool, I think we're nicer than your generation ... nah, jokes."Darren Tichborne (middle) doesn't try and get in amongst the slang of today. Photo: RNZ / Marika KhabaziEdward Strange, 13, is happy his dad Darren Tichborne doesn't try to get in amongst the slang of today.Tichborne thinks 'sigma' is a car, like a Mitsubishi Sigma. He thinks 'rizz' means "rarking someone up". Sus - "is that suspect? Like Christopher Luxon?" and 'mewing' must mean you have an itchy chin."I just wouldn't have a clue ... kids these days, man."There's just things you wouldn't say. I remember when the word 'lit' was going around some time ago, and that seems to have died a natural death... I actually gave him one earlier. He gave me poor directions and I said, 'you're giving me a bum steer' and he looked at me like 'what?'."Luckily, Edward knows what it means now: "It means like giving bad directions or bad advice."Janine Kenyon (left) loves hearing her granddaughters speak their own little language. Photo: RNZ / Marika KhabaziAda-Rose Wilson, 12, says it's hard to explain these terms: "You just kind of watch videos and figure out what it means" - and says sometimes it feels silly to try and explain them."It's kind of funny cause some people will be like 'Oh yeah, that person is so skibidi sigma rizzful, I've heard people say that before and it sounds really weird."Her cousin, 10-year-old Zelda Capamagian, explains that a lot of the terms are complimentary - 'sigma' means "amazing" or "kind of like cool" while 'rizz' is the ability to get men or women."Are you a parking ticket? Cause you've got fine written all over you," Zelda says.Their grandmother Janine Kenyon says she enjoys hearing the girls chatting away."I think we're a lot more accepting of slang and young ones than my parents were. We were seen and not heard, that was that generation."I stick to my own slang. I mean, I still use 'cool' which is dating back to the 60s, 70s, it hasn't gone away. But I love hearing them do it, it's their little language and they bounce off one another and it's great."Zelda doesn't mind if adults use slang - she and Ada-Rose both think their grandma is sigma - but they're worried about people who don't know what it means."If they're saying stuff and they don't know what it means, they could be saying something else, it could mean something bad. I would feel bad for them."This story was originially published on RNZ

A heavy rain watch has been issued by MetService for Eastern Otago, including North Otago, for Thursday and Friday. Heavy rain had already been forecast for many areas of the country, with heavy snow for southern parts of the South Island, but Eastern Otago has now been added to the list.An active front over the Tasman Sea is expected to move eastwards across the country from late Tuesday through to Friday, bringing with it a blast of cold, wet weather.The watch has been issued for North Otago, Dunedin and Clutha, for a 33-hour period from 3am Thursday (3 October), to noon on Friday. A brief period of heavy rain is also expected tomorrow afternoon and evening before the easterly rain sets in early Thursday morning. There is a high chance the watch will be upgraded to a warning - with the risk of streams and rivers rising rapidly, surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions.People are encouraged to clear drains and gutters to prepare for the rain, and drive cautiously.

Waitaki App has been confirmed as an associate member of the NZ Media Council (NZMC) as of 30th September 2024."We're delighted," co-director of Waitaki App Cara Tipping Smith says."We know we're a bridge between traditional media and modern media, so being welcomed to the NZ Media Council (NZMC) feels like a very validating step for what we've achieved over the last couple of years."The NZMC states: "The main objective of the New Zealand Media Council, established as an industry self-regulatory body in 1972, is to provide the public with an independent forum for resolving complaints involving the newspapers, magazines and the websites of such publications and other digital media."The council is also concerned with promoting media freedom and maintaining the press in accordance with the highest professional standards."Membership of the council carries a responsibility to adhere to and uphold the NZMC’s twelve principles of ethical journalism and an acceptance of the Media Council’s complaint procedure as outlined on the Media Council’s website."Waitaki App co-director Alex Regtien says the App published its own code of conduct, the Digital Accountability & Responsible Engagement (DARE), a year ago and NZMC principles were an important part of our consideration then."Now as accepted NZMC members, we stand amongst the likes of New Zealand's leading publishers including the ODT, Oamaru Mail, NZ Herald, and TVNZ, along with international brands such as Warner Brothers Discovery, Netflix and Amazon Prime in our commitment to promoting media freedom and maintaining the highest professional standards."We're incredibly proud of our team, particularly our head of news, Ashley Smyth, whose integrity, diligence and professionalism has been unwavering since we began in November 2022."Members agree to abide by NZMC's 12 principles, and undertake to publish responsibly and ethically. If readers think the Waitaki App has breached these principles, complaints can made in writing to [email protected], and if the issue is not resolved satisfactorily, they can take the matter to NZMC.See the full complaints procedure here.

Mainly fine weather was felt across the nation to kick off the school holidays, but as we near midweek, MetService is forecasting heavy rain and strong winds to put an end to the sunny spree.On Monday, settled weather was widespread nationwide thanks to high pressure that moved in during the weekend. However, today (Tuesday) more clouds will be seen across the skies; northeasterly winds will pick up and some rain will fall around the country's southwest.MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris warns Wednesday and Thursday are the main risk period for severe weather. “Heavy Rain Watches are already in force for western and northern parts of the South Island. It’s likely some of these will be upgraded to Orange Warnings and areas in the North Island may be added,” he says.This potentially severe weather is brought about by a low pressure system approaching from the Tasman Sea which drags some warm and humid air across our shores.While this does mean some warmer than average temperatures it also increases the chance of heavy rain as the system passes over. Strong northeasterly winds will also be seen before the rain arrives.While most of the North Island will be covered by the warm and humid air, there is some cold air being dragged across the southern half of the South Island. This means Thursday brings the risk of snow falling down to around 500 metres for inland Otago and southern parts of Canterbury. Prolonged rain is also possible around these areas and severe weather forecasts might be issued.While coastal North Otago looks likely to escape the worst of the weather, the drop in temperatures over the next couple of days will be noticeable, with a high of 11 degrees predicted for Thursday, and rain forecast for the next two days.Lewis says It’s a good idea to stay up to date with the latest forecasts this week as the weather from Wednesday will be very different to now and severe weather may impact numerous regions.