Rupert Koopman
@rkct.bsky.social
Botanist, plant conservation in the fynbos, husband, dad
Pinned
Rupert Koopman
@rkct.bsky.social
· Dec 5
Hi all, I'm a botanist into the fynbos vegetation of South Africa's Cape region. Also onto extremely niche plant humour.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
“No one respects women more than I do. No one.” — Trump, 2016 when confronted with the numerous sexual assault allegations.
"When an off-camera female reporter... began to ask if there was anything 'incriminating' in the Epstein emails, Trump pointed a finger in her face. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy,' he said menacingly."
Tell me again how it's women who are ruining the workplace?
people.com/donald-trump...
Tell me again how it's women who are ruining the workplace?
people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:59 PM
“No one respects women more than I do. No one.” — Trump, 2016 when confronted with the numerous sexual assault allegations.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
AI is like this giant fucking boat we all were forced to get on, and it's a boat they stole, and also it barely floats, and also it's not going anywhere good. So it either takes us somewhere we hate, or it fucking sinks, so either way, fuck AI.
So if AI succeeds loads of people lose their jobs as they're replaced by AI, and if AI fails, loads of people lose their jobs as the economy crashes?
It’s amazing how this story has gone from 0 to 60 in UK press. There’s been no mainstream coverage to date but this morning the story is leading BBC News site & bulletins.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
November 18, 2025 at 1:07 PM
AI is like this giant fucking boat we all were forced to get on, and it's a boat they stole, and also it barely floats, and also it's not going anywhere good. So it either takes us somewhere we hate, or it fucking sinks, so either way, fuck AI.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
In April 2009, the Washington Post asked 10 writers to make the case for something that deserves to be tossed out as part of "spring cleaning."
I chose Larry Summers.
Better late than never.
Unlocked version of my 16-year-old article below.
naomiklein.org/why-we-shoul...
I chose Larry Summers.
Better late than never.
Unlocked version of my 16-year-old article below.
naomiklein.org/why-we-shoul...
November 18, 2025 at 6:20 AM
In April 2009, the Washington Post asked 10 writers to make the case for something that deserves to be tossed out as part of "spring cleaning."
I chose Larry Summers.
Better late than never.
Unlocked version of my 16-year-old article below.
naomiklein.org/why-we-shoul...
I chose Larry Summers.
Better late than never.
Unlocked version of my 16-year-old article below.
naomiklein.org/why-we-shoul...
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
With this news of Larry Summers "stepping back from public engagements" but still teaching, sometimes I think about how with all of the horrific stories of abuse of female students in academia, the only marine biologist I know of who was banned from taking future students is a woman.
November 18, 2025 at 12:21 PM
With this news of Larry Summers "stepping back from public engagements" but still teaching, sometimes I think about how with all of the horrific stories of abuse of female students in academia, the only marine biologist I know of who was banned from taking future students is a woman.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Elsevier has a 38% profit margin, and the other journal publishers aren't far behind.
"academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it... The dominant four collectively generated... $12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024."
November 18, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Elsevier has a 38% profit margin, and the other journal publishers aren't far behind.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Your jokes about all this are hilarious and please keep them coming
But I know so many wonderful journalists who can’t find work
And these clowns keep doing awful shit and getting fifth and sixth and seventh chances
And it’s all just kind of a lot
But I know so many wonderful journalists who can’t find work
And these clowns keep doing awful shit and getting fifth and sixth and seventh chances
And it’s all just kind of a lot
November 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Your jokes about all this are hilarious and please keep them coming
But I know so many wonderful journalists who can’t find work
And these clowns keep doing awful shit and getting fifth and sixth and seventh chances
And it’s all just kind of a lot
But I know so many wonderful journalists who can’t find work
And these clowns keep doing awful shit and getting fifth and sixth and seventh chances
And it’s all just kind of a lot
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Interesting to think how Zohran Mamdani might be a lawyer in Johannesburg or doctor in Cape Town right now had it not been for the University of Cape Town's incredible racism.
mg.co.za/article/2018...
mg.co.za/article/2018...
20 years after the ‘Mamdani affair’, the old adversary rejoins UCT
The academic who took on the university’s ‘bantu’ curriculum has returned, marking a ‘path towards decolonisation’
mg.co.za
November 6, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Interesting to think how Zohran Mamdani might be a lawyer in Johannesburg or doctor in Cape Town right now had it not been for the University of Cape Town's incredible racism.
mg.co.za/article/2018...
mg.co.za/article/2018...
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
NEW: A significant gap in weather balloon coverage in western Alaska, caused by Trump admin cuts to NOAA/NWS, may have hurt the forecast accuracy for the deadly storm there over the weekend. www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/w...
Predictions for deadly Alaska storm may have suffered due to DOGE cuts | CNN
The forecast for the powerful and deadly storm that battered small communities in western Alaska over the weekend was likely made worse by a lack of weather data triggered by the Trump administration’...
www.cnn.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:53 PM
NEW: A significant gap in weather balloon coverage in western Alaska, caused by Trump admin cuts to NOAA/NWS, may have hurt the forecast accuracy for the deadly storm there over the weekend. www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/w...
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Final call to join our Youth Panel!
Are you 16–18 and passionate about nature? Help decide how £6,000 in funding is awarded to youth-led projects across the UK. Gain experience, training, and a reference - all online and flexible.
Apply by 19 Sept: buff.ly/9YpscPC
Questions? learning@linnean.org
Are you 16–18 and passionate about nature? Help decide how £6,000 in funding is awarded to youth-led projects across the UK. Gain experience, training, and a reference - all online and flexible.
Apply by 19 Sept: buff.ly/9YpscPC
Questions? learning@linnean.org
September 16, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Final call to join our Youth Panel!
Are you 16–18 and passionate about nature? Help decide how £6,000 in funding is awarded to youth-led projects across the UK. Gain experience, training, and a reference - all online and flexible.
Apply by 19 Sept: buff.ly/9YpscPC
Questions? learning@linnean.org
Are you 16–18 and passionate about nature? Help decide how £6,000 in funding is awarded to youth-led projects across the UK. Gain experience, training, and a reference - all online and flexible.
Apply by 19 Sept: buff.ly/9YpscPC
Questions? learning@linnean.org
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
"We're all throwing dildos at women athletes to promote our memecoin" really puts a fine point on not just how sexist, mean and stupid so much of right now is, but also the grim degree to which we're just inundated with Stuff a 15-Year-Old Dipshit Would Think is Cool. A confederacy of Beavises.
August 8, 2025 at 3:04 AM
"We're all throwing dildos at women athletes to promote our memecoin" really puts a fine point on not just how sexist, mean and stupid so much of right now is, but also the grim degree to which we're just inundated with Stuff a 15-Year-Old Dipshit Would Think is Cool. A confederacy of Beavises.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Recently turned in a deeply researched draft of a book on What AI Actually Is and reader, this is 100% correct
"The problem with AI isn't that it can do your job. It can't. The problem with AI is that your MBA-brained boss's boss doesn't know how your job works and thinks AI can do your job at fractions of a penny on the dollar, and hears the siren song of 'maximize shareholder value'."
MBA-brain is real.
MBA-brain is real.
They’re literally advertising it.
July 3, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Recently turned in a deeply researched draft of a book on What AI Actually Is and reader, this is 100% correct
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books
June 29, 2025 at 2:51 PM
My latest cartoon for @theguardian.com books
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Warnock: If I'm honest, there are days when I have to ask people of my faith tradition as a Christian, are we reading the same book?
The book I know says I was hungry and you fed me. I was sick, I was in prison and you visited me, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….
The book I know says I was hungry and you fed me. I was sick, I was in prison and you visited me, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….
June 30, 2025 at 3:51 AM
Warnock: If I'm honest, there are days when I have to ask people of my faith tradition as a Christian, are we reading the same book?
The book I know says I was hungry and you fed me. I was sick, I was in prison and you visited me, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….
The book I know says I was hungry and you fed me. I was sick, I was in prison and you visited me, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Can’t really articulate how furious it makes me to see gentile politicians wield fake charges of antisemitism against Mamdani. It’s not just the plain Islamophobia, it’s the fact that they’re needlessly stoking tensions in a way that puts Jewish New Yorkers at GREATER risk.
June 29, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Can’t really articulate how furious it makes me to see gentile politicians wield fake charges of antisemitism against Mamdani. It’s not just the plain Islamophobia, it’s the fact that they’re needlessly stoking tensions in a way that puts Jewish New Yorkers at GREATER risk.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Hakeem Jeffries is so skilled at being a disappointment. The worst opposition leader possible. I am so sick of rank careerism and incompetence.
June 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Hakeem Jeffries is so skilled at being a disappointment. The worst opposition leader possible. I am so sick of rank careerism and incompetence.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
I genuinely cannot believe how many Democrats are spending their energy on destroying Mamdani when the GOP is trying to turn ICE into a full on secret police by drastically raising their budget
June 29, 2025 at 1:06 AM
I genuinely cannot believe how many Democrats are spending their energy on destroying Mamdani when the GOP is trying to turn ICE into a full on secret police by drastically raising their budget
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
I am perpetually surprised by how in touch with things this man is.
Imma do something I have NEVER EVER done. Starting Friday at Royal Albert Hall and thru our entire Guns N Roses tour in Europe,,, every night I’m gonna auction off or sell the clock that I wore on stage and the proceeds are gonna go to single parents and teachers who need school supplies. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
Over at The Other Place,,, I get hit up nonstop to buy teacher school supplies,,, and it’s something I’ve done quietly for years. But this is my timeline,,, and I can’t do it alone
June 24, 2025 at 2:15 PM
I am perpetually surprised by how in touch with things this man is.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
AFA stands for Anti French lawn Action.
June 17, 2025 at 6:37 AM
AFA stands for Anti French lawn Action.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
But *why* does the pollen want to be in my nose and eyes so badly? Go and fertilise your own species, you sick plant freaks
June 19, 2025 at 6:26 AM
But *why* does the pollen want to be in my nose and eyes so badly? Go and fertilise your own species, you sick plant freaks
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
Colonial extraction and unequal exchange have shaped two centuries of North-South inequality.
A thread on the new study written with @gatonievas.bsky.social
[A thread 1/8🧵]
A thread on the new study written with @gatonievas.bsky.social
[A thread 1/8🧵]
🚨Global economic relations have long been defined by imbalances and unequal power, not by self-correcting market forces, NEW STUDY finds.
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
@thomaspiketty.bsky.social & @gatonievas.bsky.social call for structural reforms to the international monetary and exchange system.
wid.world/news-article...
Colonial extraction and unequal exchange have shaped two centuries of North-South inequality - WID - World Inequality Database
In a new study, Gastón Nievas and Thomas Piketty examine patterns of global imbalances, current account surplus/deficit and net foreign wealth accumulation over more than two centuries.
wid.world
June 9, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Colonial extraction and unequal exchange have shaped two centuries of North-South inequality.
A thread on the new study written with @gatonievas.bsky.social
[A thread 1/8🧵]
A thread on the new study written with @gatonievas.bsky.social
[A thread 1/8🧵]
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
you are EITHER out foraging in the woods and harvesting the crops all day to feed and clothe your family, A FULL TIME JOB if you are actually not buying anything, OR you are terminally online. you can't be both! even the best gardeners I know also have to buy flour and salt!
May 1, 2025 at 12:16 AM
you are EITHER out foraging in the woods and harvesting the crops all day to feed and clothe your family, A FULL TIME JOB if you are actually not buying anything, OR you are terminally online. you can't be both! even the best gardeners I know also have to buy flour and salt!
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
This is a widely inaccurate & dangerous mischaracterization. The vaccine was developed in fetal cells obtained from two elective abortions in the early 1960s. There is not abortion debris floating around in the vaccine. And the Vatican has okayed its use. RFK Jr. is again spreading disinformation.
RFK Jr on measles: "The MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris."
May 1, 2025 at 2:14 AM
This is a widely inaccurate & dangerous mischaracterization. The vaccine was developed in fetal cells obtained from two elective abortions in the early 1960s. There is not abortion debris floating around in the vaccine. And the Vatican has okayed its use. RFK Jr. is again spreading disinformation.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
The Internet of Things ended up being the internet of unsupported products.
Google is ending support for 1st & 2nd generation Nests and completely pulling out of Europe.
Imagine having to replace the thermostats in your home because of a reorg at some big tech meant it was no longer a priority.
Google is ending support for 1st & 2nd generation Nests and completely pulling out of Europe.
Imagine having to replace the thermostats in your home because of a reorg at some big tech meant it was no longer a priority.
Google is killing software support for early Nest Thermostats
No more controlling these “smart” thermostats from a phone.
www.theverge.com
April 26, 2025 at 12:39 AM
The Internet of Things ended up being the internet of unsupported products.
Google is ending support for 1st & 2nd generation Nests and completely pulling out of Europe.
Imagine having to replace the thermostats in your home because of a reorg at some big tech meant it was no longer a priority.
Google is ending support for 1st & 2nd generation Nests and completely pulling out of Europe.
Imagine having to replace the thermostats in your home because of a reorg at some big tech meant it was no longer a priority.
Reposted by Rupert Koopman
No apologies from me for posting two more photos from this morning's glorious sight of the thin crescent Moon and Venus in a brilliant pink sky well before sunrise. Give them a click as they're both in portrait mode. #astronomy #astrophotography @stormhour.bsky.social @photohour.bsky.social
April 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
No apologies from me for posting two more photos from this morning's glorious sight of the thin crescent Moon and Venus in a brilliant pink sky well before sunrise. Give them a click as they're both in portrait mode. #astronomy #astrophotography @stormhour.bsky.social @photohour.bsky.social