Last week, my eldest son began high school. He was so excited - he was absolutely fizzing. I volunteered to take him and his friends to school, and they leapt out of the car when we arrived, racing to the school hall before I could even snap a 'first
Kia ora! Welcome to Friday Night Chats!
community
AKA how to build community
Our little country is in mourning after devastating floods and landslides swept across the motu. There are many who need help. Here's a (starter) list of places you can donate. Annoyingly, some media outlets have lists of donation options behind paywalls. Which just feels like you're
Hi! Josh here. Emily is away this week for a family commitment so I am hosting Friday Night Chats. Be gentle, it's my first time. A huge thanks to Emily for trusting me with the keys while she's away. Feel free to skip to the comments
Hi! Josh here – Emily is away this week for a family commitment and so we're running a series of guest posts. We've been writing a bit about AI recently, especially with the horrible news that users of Grok / X / other AIs have been rampantly generating and
An extraordinary guest piece by writer Helen Gilby
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Hello! You made it to Friday! Welcome to Friday Night Chats. It's great to have you here. Let's chat. Feel free to skip to the comments if you read this already in your email! Skip to comments Happy Friday! How has your week been? We are
What should you do if you or your child is a victim of a Grok deepfake? This question is simple, right? Feel free to skip to the comments if you read this already in your email! Skip to comments It's something I've been asked multiple times
Around the world, every government is grappling with what to do with perverts using AI to create child sexual abuse material and pornography deep fakes. Grok is the most infamous chatbot to do this. Its owner, the deeply repugnant Elon Musk, is unconcerned by these violations across his site X
Ok, well - I did think because it's Monday, it would be cruel to send out a newsletter about everything garbage going on. So I started writing about why Heated Rivalry is so important, and then I was worried I'd get cancelled for daring to not
It's not normal for public servants and the Government to collude against unions like this.
Welcome to Friday Night Chats! I hope you had a very restful break. It's been a very bleak time for the world truly, but we're here, and we're here together, and that's what matters. It all feels weird, but we at least
We talked about how last year was The Year of Revolt - I'm hoping this year will be the Year of Being Horny on Main. But that seems less likely with every new day and we're only on day bloody six. I mean, we've
A friend asked me this morning if I was going to do an explainer on the United States bombing Venezuela overnight and kidnapping of their president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Feel free to skip to the comments if you read this already in your email! Skip to
My son has an endearing quality: he is incredibly literal. A long-running joke in our family is asking each other, 'How did you sleep?' and then closing our eyes and saying 'like this'. When we are in a rush, we sometimes say to each other, '
I'm staying inside this New Year's due to exhaustion and the weather. I'll be hosting a bunch of tweens but other than that I plan on cozying up with a book. Maybe you're in the same boat? Here's my list
Emily Writes Wrapped: The Top 10 EWW posts in 2025
You might think the festive season is a time for togetherness, positivity and joy, but you could not be more wrong. Let’s play the worst game of bingo with the usual suspects getting ready to leave a turd in your Christmas trifle. Feel free to skip to the comments