Rupert V/

He/him/his. Writing code for a living for 35 years and counting. I've lived in England, Minnesota, and (currently) Aotearoa New Zealand :laserkiwi:.
Married with two off-site adult children.
Profile pic is a loon (state bird of Minnesota) in the form of the Star Wars Rebel Alliance symbol

Homepage: www.morrish.org

Public Key

npub1xcq5p9w3z9wfs0pgs6pa03ujuqy8acnw9ewfhx4yklsrq56fwwmqr8j9k3

NIP-05 Address

rupert_at_mastodon.nz@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrvq2qjhg3zhyc8s5gdq7hc7fwqzr7ufhzuhymn2jt0cps2dyh8dsprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntl5flld

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1xcq5p9w3z9wfs0pgs6pa03ujuqy8acnw9ewfhx4yklsrq56fwwmqr8j9k3

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Last Notes

2026-03-27 05:03:52 UTC

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Is ham for Christmas dinner a thing over there?

2026-03-09 03:53:59 UTC

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It was called the 2024 elections. Collectively, you got it wrong. You probably know that. Sorry to bring it up.

2026-02-19 13:11:20 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@WarnerCrocker/116097329008976718
Congratulations, America. You now have a ruling family that is less subject to the law than the British royal family.
#note1j6f…wn7u

2026-02-09 03:56:22 UTC

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I think you may be missing the point. You don't stop bigots being bigots. You make being a bigot socially costly. You make palling around with bigots unpopular with people who might otherwise associate with bigots.

2026-01-29 03:45:25 UTC

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#alttext
Bluesky posts
Morbi @morbi.bsky.social
I have always said it, I will continue to say it, we are limiting the productive potential of millions of freaks by demanding they earn a wage to survive instead of enabling them to do whatever thing their brain is broken for
Morbi @morbi.bsky.social
not just in art, either, there are guys who would go around obsessively fixing every clogged pipe in a 10-mile radius if they had the free time and social infrastructure to do so

2026-01-28 21:18:25 UTC

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And a statue of Janey Godley.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/115/974/797/353/940/676/original/df57f2e04712b05d.png

2026-01-25 01:34:23 UTC

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I have a niece in Minnesota whose husband has a precarious immigration status (one of the ones where they can cancel your permit to be in the USA without telling you until they arrest you). Her kids are brown. She is in total denial that anything bad could happen to them.

2026-01-25 00:09:15 UTC

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To do what? The only thing worse than unarmed protesters trying to face down a group of armed thugs is to add another heavily armed group trying to keep order.

2026-01-18 23:59:24 UTC

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Freedom Bricks
#AmericaRenamesDanishThings #HashtagGames
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/115/918/814/936/608/591/original/641383f403ef514a.jpg

2026-01-18 23:55:09 UTC

New US lexicon to be adopted prior to war with Denmark:
#AmericaRenamesDanishThings
#HashtagGames

2026-01-17 19:31:05 UTC

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I disagree that the Minnesota fraud scandal is "genuinely stunning". It's less fraud than Don Jr and Eric do on any given Tuesday, though even they aren't the worst fraudsters in a Republican party that includes Rick Scott.

2026-01-15 23:47:45 UTC

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To paraphrase Margaret Atwood, ICE is afraid people will piss on them, people are afraid ICE will kill them.

2025-12-03 19:40:34 UTC

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Should call it Tolkeining. JRR completely re-wrote the chapter "Riddles in the Dark" for later editions of The Hobbit so LotR would make sense.

2025-11-25 17:49:52 UTC

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Is it true though? Or is it that for murders which are reported and for which someone is convicted of murder, 50% of the convictees are black?
I recall a time in Illinois when less than 50% of murders were being solved, which meant you were more likely to go to jail if you got elected Governor than if you committed a murder.

2025-11-09 23:45:52 UTC

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What have they done now?

2025-09-19 19:31:08 UTC

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Canada is very flexible on visas (if you have the right passport). I worked from home (actually someone else's home) for my NZ job from Montreal for 6 weeks last year.
I'd volunteer (my wife is begging for a hobby farm) but then I'd miss Prof. Lawler in NZ.

2025-09-18 00:19:49 UTC

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I wish. There are three people I will happily vote for (out of 4 local board spots) and the rest are either definite noes or probable noes.
One mayoral candidate had me nodding along until they got onto criminalising homelessness. Now I'm stuck.

2025-08-30 00:54:04 UTC

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#StochiometrySaturday

2025-08-27 21:13:07 UTC

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You have to go down to paragraph 11, but here it is:
> Cruise passengers tend to spend less than other holiday tourists

2025-08-16 21:53:32 UTC

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You give up your right to sue them for any reason.
An extreme example is the guy who tried to sue Disney World because they killed his wife by lying about whether her food contained allergens but couldn't because he'd clicked through on a binding arbitration clause when he signed up for Disney+.
Also bear in mind that if you have insurance, and the insurance company refuses to pay up, and you sue them, the case will go to court as you versus whoever they decide was at fault. It is illegal to mention that you're actually suing your insurance company and not (say) Disney

2025-08-09 23:33:27 UTC

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I am still getting notifications (123 boosts and counting) on a picture I posted a couple of days ago that I took from image search. It's a reply to someone's original photograph, which only has 19 boosts, and I feel terrible.

2025-08-07 22:25:13 UTC

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We call them pūkeko over here.
They're born with what look like full sized feet. Evolution has a sense of humour, sometimes.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/114/989/811/703/029/123/original/7ac3fbf6ad3bbd18.png

2025-07-23 20:07:56 UTC

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Wait, Comey, Biden and Obama made up the Epstein files but they forgot to put Trump in there?

2025-07-04 21:59:45 UTC

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I think a lot of Americans assume all Hispanic people in the USA are either immigrants or descendants of recent immigrants, but most are descendants of people who were living in northern Mexico when it was annexed by the USA.

2025-06-23 21:27:27 UTC

I'm so old I can remember when Republicans were against sending armed federal agents to detain non-violent immigrants.
#USPol
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/114/734/782/553/914/817/original/6eec81cc54c87e4a.png

2025-06-14 06:00:31 UTC

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I think I saw it in an ancient land. Hope that helps.

2025-06-11 03:37:43 UTC

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Not my chocolate they can't.

2025-05-27 03:44:05 UTC

Roxanne
You don't have to turn on the Bakelite
#MakeASongArtificial #HashTagGames

2025-05-17 01:52:21 UTC

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I was worried that the books, told almost entirely in Murderbot's internal monologue, would not translate well to TV, but they seem to have managed it.
In the show, MB is shown with meat all over, which is not the mental picture I got from the books. I also pictured the augmented human Garu's implants as far more visible.
Otherwise, yes, very close to the books so far.

2025-01-29 23:31:35 UTC

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I remember when if you missed it at the cinema you might get a chance to see it on tv a year or two later if you happened to be home at the time.

2025-01-29 01:23:08 UTC

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Frozen hamsters

2025-01-23 02:17:27 UTC

Shrimp in rich sauce with the tails on
#PetPeeveAFood #HashTagGames

2025-01-22 18:11:38 UTC

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I remember an effort in the 90s to try to "professionalise" science research institutes. The scientists weren't having it and the managers just didn't understand how totally outclassed they were in the battle of wits that ensued.

2025-01-22 18:02:19 UTC

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My BA (maths, Cambridge) was a three year course, as were most in the UK at the time. I've not had anyone suggest I'm undereducated.

2025-01-06 00:00:14 UTC

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#MASHaFilmShoworSong
#HashtagGames
Counterpoint:
Wang Dang Sweet Pyongyang.

2024-12-16 02:36:10 UTC

I fought the Claus, and the Claus won.
#MakeAnySongAHolidaySong
#12DaysOfChristmas
#HashtagGames

2024-12-11 02:01:31 UTC

TNT
#OddNobelPrizeASongOrPoem
#HashTagGames
#NoEffort

2024-11-20 18:58:11 UTC

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Also worth noting that once farmland is built on, it is extremely time consuming and expensive to turn it back into farmland.

2024-11-18 20:04:19 UTC

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My favourite name collision was two people with the same name and DoB, living at the same address, and playing on the same football team.
Turns out they had met via the football team, been amused at the coincidence, and later become flat mates, without ONCE considering the havoc this would play with the player registration system their league was using (and I was maintaining).

2024-11-18 01:17:22 UTC

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I keep this list handy, though I try not to deal with names more than I have to (it's PII, even when it isn't).
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/

2024-11-17 02:56:21 UTC

Abrasion Grace
#MakeASongOrPoemSuperficial #HashtagGames

2024-11-13 02:29:51 UTC

Milk delivery
#MissedFromBygoneDays
#HashTagGames

2024-11-13 02:19:12 UTC

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When Doge was the ruler of Venice, not a meme.
#MissedFromBygoneDays
#HashTagGames

2024-11-13 02:18:48 UTC

When DOGE was a meme, not a shadow government.
#MissedFromBygoneDays
#HashTagGames

2024-11-13 02:17:29 UTC

Usenet before Cantor and Siegel
#MissedFromBygoneDays
#HashTagGames

2024-11-13 02:11:19 UTC

Ceefax
#MissedFromBygoneDays
#HashTagGames

2024-11-13 02:00:01 UTC

Twitter
#MissedFromBygoneDays
#HashTagGames

2024-11-12 02:44:38 UTC

Rubidium Tuesday
#MetalASongOrPoem
#HashtagGames

2024-11-09 09:24:57 UTC

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Story I heard was that the USA ordered replicas of the prototype kilogram and metre from Paris, but the ship they were on was taken by pirates.

2024-11-04 02:26:18 UTC

Twenty Five or Six to Three
#HashtagGames
#TimeChangeTiredASongOrPoem
#Chicago

2024-11-04 02:23:12 UTC

I Come From a Land Down Under
Where clocks already changed and in the other direction.
#HashtagGames
#TimeChangeTiredASongOrPoem
#MenAtWork

2024-11-03 18:35:55 UTC

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It also denies the proper punishment for Trump, which is to live out his life poor and ignored.

2024-10-31 22:22:35 UTC

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When rotating the bins in my worm farm I put a bit of pumpkin in the upper bin to attract the worms from the lower bin before moving those contents to the garden.

2024-10-22 01:21:01 UTC

Dr Livingstone In The Past
#HashtagGames
#AdventureASongOrPoem
#JethroTull
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/348/446/257/056/841/original/2c386bcf007fd24b.png

2024-10-16 23:46:58 UTC

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In May we had 5 people in our house and 2 ducks getting their pool filled daily and we collectively used 1,500l/day. Now we're down to two people and no ducks and our average is less that 400l/day. I'm not aware that we live without dignity.

2024-10-13 01:43:38 UTC

The Wrench Connection
#MakeAMovieUseful
#HashTagGames

2024-10-13 01:17:31 UTC

A Leatherman for All Seasons
#MakeAMovieUseful
#HashTagGames
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/297/465/688/928/895/original/05a98fffca40f302.png
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/297/469/353/228/508/original/e8ec02a76e5cf777.png

2024-10-10 00:06:17 UTC

It's not a #WealthTax. It's a Guillotine Avoidance Convenience Fee.

2024-09-22 20:14:09 UTC

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If a business whose only product is selling the users of it's platform to advertisers breaks the law and refuses to show up in court, what sanction would you impose?

2024-09-17 02:47:48 UTC

I Kea
#BirdBrands
#HashTagGames
https://mastodon.nz/system/media_attachments/files/113/150/588/243/709/723/original/6eb5d37920161434.jpg

2024-09-05 02:15:32 UTC

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Where do I sign up to be given $10 million to be "victimized"?

2024-09-01 07:36:24 UTC

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Really enjoyed this one. Is the music still going to be mostly piano pieces, or is this a permanent change of tone?

2024-08-30 01:32:54 UTC

Stealing home
#ThingsSaidInDivorceCourtAndInSports
#HashTagGames

2024-08-30 01:27:59 UTC

New balls, please!
#ThingsSaidInDivorceCourtAndInSports
#HashTagGames

2024-08-11 12:14:54 UTC

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Also require approval when you try to buy them at the self-checkout. I don't know why this is.

2024-08-10 22:24:22 UTC

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Well yeah. #LoserTrump has always been a loser. If America were any kind of democracy, he'd never have been president.

2024-08-06 17:24:46 UTC

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Congratulations and commiserations to the Bethling. When I insisted that not only was the thirteen times table a real thing but that I had already memorised it, I got moved to the other classroom with the big kids.

2024-08-02 20:54:58 UTC

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If you trust any organization run by Trump to be honest about money.