John Nurick
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jmnurick.bsky.social
John Nurick
@jmnurick.bsky.social
230 followers 230 following 1.3K posts
Retired, King George Sound. Makes things including photographs, furniture, recipes, software, coffee. Not enough time for reading.
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jmnurick.bsky.social
The dismaying diet @secondmentions.bsky.social
www.science.org/content/arti...
Screenshot of text Feeding on rotting corpses or carrion, known as necrophagy, occurs in many species, including flies, hyenas, and vultures. When beetles adopted the dismaying diet has long been under debate. Since 1966, the prevailing hypothesis has been that necrophagy emerged very recently, sometime between 130,000 and 12,000 years ago, in South America. As the continent’s large
October 20, 2025 at 11:09 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Here it is in legal language, Rule 2 of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
Rule 2 Responsibility (a) Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner, master or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case. (b) In construing and complying with these Rules due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation and collision and to any special circumstances, including the limitations of the vessels involved, which may make a departure from these Rules necessary to avoid immediate danger.
October 18, 2025 at 10:06 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
The blue post in the picture is a free DIY bike repair station outside our town hall, with hanger, air-line and captive tools. There's another near the museum.
A small pedestrianised square with a Victorian town hall, food truck, blue sky and a wooded hill in the distance. In the foreground are three young adults, one of them vaping profusely, and a blue metal post with a sign on top showing a stylised bicycle with spanner and screwdriver.
October 11, 2025 at 11:11 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Here's another mismatched blurb in the Kindle Daily Deal, or else @christianwolmar.bsky.social has (pardon the pun) a new line of work.
Screenshot with heading: Top Kindle deals for you Image of book cover with picture of old London Tube train and text: THE SUBTERRANEAN RAILWAY How the London Underground was Built and How it Changed the City Forever Our leading writer on the rallways' Guardian CHRISTIAN WOLMAR Text in screenshot continues: £0.99 The Subterranean Railway: by Christian Wolmar SOME MURDERS CAN'T BE SOLVED IN JUST ONE LIFETIME. 'A five-star start to a dazzling new series . . . Smart, original and utterly masterful' Janice Hallett 'A pleasure from finish to start' Anthony...
October 5, 2025 at 12:06 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Not just the UK.
Screenshot of a phone browser. The address bar shows "merck.com" and the window below it is blank except for these words: This site is not accessible to users in Australia
September 17, 2025 at 1:09 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
I get the Kindle Daily Deal email, UK version. Sometimes they spice up the blurbs.
Screenshot of Gmail from phone. At top is a small image of the cover of Wyrd Sisters. Below is the text: £0.99 Wyrd Sisters: (Discworld Novel 6)... by Terry Pratchett SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 'A NEW NAME TO WATCH OUT FOR' At the bottom are onscreen buttons for Reply and Forward.
September 16, 2025 at 9:37 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Not pets, but happy little cats!
Monochrome photo. Three little lion cubs lit by evening sun, lolloping fast towards something out of frame on the left (it's a river where they can get a drink).
September 15, 2025 at 7:12 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
A mystifyingly high score, given what I clicked through to:
Screenshot showing Dr Stylite's "13/10" and an apparently empty post from The Louvre of Bluesky.
August 20, 2025 at 9:33 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Edouard de Pomiane, in the age before home freezers and microwaves, wrote a book for French people who wanted to cook and eat a meal in their lunch breaks, with time to get from and to work. (Put some water to boil the instant you get home, before even removing your overcoat.)
Cover of book, red woodcut, green type, cream paper. Woodcut shows man in beret in front of gas stove on which a saucepan is boiling furiously. Man looks disconcerted. [Text, from top] Woodcuts after Toulouse Lautrec Cooking in — 10 minutes Edouard de Pomiane 300 recipes [Vertically, on the right] FABER paper covered EDITIONS
July 27, 2025 at 2:23 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Ian Jefferies's novel Thirteen Days is a good if disturbing read set in Palestine in 1948. The narrator is a disillusioned British R.E. sergeant who decides to help the Jews.
Upper part of back cover of an old orange Penguin paperback, with text as follows: PENGUIN BOOKS Thirteen Days Sergeant Craig, serving in the Royal Engineers in Palestine after the war, was a misfit. Finding himself at variance with the Army, with his fellow N.C.O.s, with the Arabs, and with the British Government, he launched a one-man crusade to help the Jews. In a word Sergeant Craig turned gun-runner (acting unpaid). This racy, caustic, tough-talking tale of a spiv with ideals is lan Jefferies' first book. It is droll, scandalous, outrageous, shocking, and infuriating, but in every sense you will have to admit that Thirteen Days is one of the most singular books you have read.
July 20, 2025 at 4:31 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
I no longer have that particular book, but I think this was the cover:
Cover of paperback of The Manticore. On a background of blue and brown zigzag horizontal lines there is a rectangular frame of red and yellow. The picture inside the frame shows a skeletal Death wielding his scythe on a bare yellow desert, with author, title etc in white type on the deep blue sky
July 1, 2025 at 11:40 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
This is fun. Looks like organisations subject to the GDPR cannot both use LLMs to handle personal data and comply with their obligations.
Screenshot of text from linked article, reading: NOYB maintains that GDPR requires that information about individuals is accurate and that they have full access to the information stored, as well as information about the source. Moreover, Article 16 of GDPR states that data subjects have a “right to rectification” of inaccurate personal data. However, ChatGPT parent company OpenAI has admitted that it is unable to correct incorrect information and cannot say where the data comes from or what data ChatGPT stores about individual people.
July 1, 2025 at 9:42 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
The grippy appendages
@secondmentions.bsky.social
www.science.org/content/arti...
Screenshot from science.org with headline, stand first and photo of black squirrel on branch. Text: These squirrels' scaly tails help them climb slippery trees The grippy appendages may help engineers design robots that can navigate dense forests
June 25, 2025 at 10:28 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Not just photos.
Screenshot of AI-generated image of a dwarfish Donald Trump mounted on a giant ginger cat and carrying a submachine gun, surrounded by a host of ginger kittens. As seen in a tweet by Donald Trump Jr.
May 31, 2025 at 2:29 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Which TV series have watched more than one?
Jill and Trev on the brink of a new...
May 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Screenshot from my timeline just now:
[At top, text from a post] ...news cycle out of the completely fake story that Elon was out of politics [Middle, headline and intro from Irish Star] Elon Musk stares daggers at Ramaphosa during explosive Oval Office mee.. U.S. President Donald Trump seemingly admitted that he a... www.irishstar.com [Bottom, post from Washington Post] Elon Musk used to be a political force on X. Now he's back to business. The shift mirrors Musk's effort to revive his companies, which suffered reputational damage and in Tesla's case, steep decl...
May 21, 2025 at 11:54 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Enrolment is compulsory, but the Aust. Electoral Commission tries to make it easy, especially when you're just changing address. There are ID requirements to register (see screenshot) but my wife and I were just asked for name and address (no ID) when we voted yesterday.
Screenshot from Australian Electoral Commission: aec.gov.au/enrol/ You will need to provide one of the following Australian driver license number Australian passport number Medicare card details Australian citizenship number Someone who is currently enrolled [to] confirm your identity.
May 4, 2025 at 9:29 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
MUPPETS RULE OK
#muppets
#auspol
Screenshot of an actual Xitter post from the Liberal Party of Australia dated 28 Apr 25. The text is just "The choice". Below is a meme. At the top, on a black ground, are a photo of Liberal leader Peter Dutton and the word Leader. Below, on socialist red, is a Muppet resembling Labor leader Antony Albanese and the word Muppet. At the election on 3 May, the Leader lost his seat and the Muppet won handsomely.
May 4, 2025 at 8:37 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Ravelli. I remember him well.
Chico Marx as Ravelli in Animal Crackers.
April 23, 2025 at 9:47 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
"Grass paint" in the local Aldi last week, here on the south coast of Western Australia.
Product photo of a black plastic container with an integral handle and an elaborate screw-top with a hose fitting. Text on the green label includes: Rocky Point. Grass Paint Max. Colours and Nourishes Your Lawn. 2L hose on.
April 16, 2025 at 1:25 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Onion tarts/quiches/flans (but not, at least to me, pies) ready for tomorrow morning. The volunteers are tackling feral geraniums in Torndirrup National Park: bring your favourite weeding tools and a mug for smoko.
Two quiches, one 20 cm and the other a little smaller, with a lightly browned creamy filling, resting on a cooling rack.
April 11, 2025 at 7:10 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Onion tarts for the weeding bee tomorrow.

The Philips/Jamie Oliver self-stirring casserole outfit seems to have flopped on the market, but I got mine very cheaply and it's perfect for risotto or—as here—caramelising 2 kg of onions after I put them through its slicer.
A round stainless steel pot about 30 cm across, with black handles, sits on a white plastic base with a control panel at the front. The pot is half full of partly cooked onion. In its centre is a tall, dark red, plastic post which turns slowly; out of sight are the drive mechanism and the curved blade that stirs the contents. In the front right corner of the photo is my favourite coffee mug, just filled.
April 11, 2025 at 1:31 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
...or no social security number: here's a sadly apposite juxtaposition from my Bluesky feed just now.

#OBrien25 #TheThirdPoliceman
Screenshot of my timeline just now, with Barbara's post of the "If you have no name..." quote from The Third Policeman above a quote-post of Joshua Friedman's comment on the NY Times story about the administration's plan to add unwanted legal immigrants to a database of dead people. (Which AIUI would invalidate their social security numbers, freeze their bank accounts and wreak other havoc.)
April 10, 2025 at 11:25 PM
jmnurick.bsky.social
All too true.
Screenshot of post from @ChrisO_wiki on another site. Post reads as follows; Ian Fleming's original James Bond novels haven't aged well. For example, Moonraker -published almost exactly 70 years ago in April 1955 - features a villain who's a super-rich industrialist and rocket-maker seeking to cause chaos because he's a secret Nazi. Such a silly idea!
March 25, 2025 at 9:00 AM
jmnurick.bsky.social
Would be OK if they were all this size:
A little brown bird is having a good splash in a birdbath. Two others look on with interest. They look like (Australian) wrens but I don't know the species.
December 28, 2024 at 10:23 AM