@macronencer@mastodon.scot

Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · 5d ago

I'd like to propose a new abbreviated reply: "AI;DR"

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · Aug 05, 2026

Replying to @ChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk

@ChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk I'm still struggling to get my head around what's happened. If I were to travel back to the 1980s in a time machine and tell my past self that forty years from now peaceful protest would be criminalised, my past self would probably assume it was a Tory government, or even a full-on Fascist one.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · Jul 31, 2026

Replying to @infobeautiful@vis.social

@infobeautiful@vis.social Indeed... and without the log scales it would be WAY tinier, too.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · Jun 24, 2026

Replying to @Javensbukan@cosocial.ca

@Javensbukan@cosocial.ca @Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt Nice! Anyone who knows the scene will realise that this is apt on more than one level.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 31, 2026

Yesterday I saw an oystercatcher foraging on someone's lawn, about 5-10 miles from the nearest coastal water.

Is this unusual?

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 29, 2026

"I stream on Twitch."

"That's nothing. Andy Serkis twitched in a stream."

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 29, 2026

Spirit Feel - Roger Kellaway Quartet, 1967

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMQ66M6_u6o

#JukeboxFridayNight
#AllThatJazz

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 29, 2026

Hobbies - David Sanborn

Always loved this quirky tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIG9ITVPfQc

#JukeboxFridayNight
#AllThatJazz

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 28, 2026

A discourteous driver named Bignal
Turned left without giving a signal.
I thought it a crime,
So—bereft of a rhyme—
I decided this was no longer a Limerick and went after the git, ramming him off the road, pulling him out of his car and giving him a damned good thrashing.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 26, 2026

The main problem with dystopian science fiction is this: the normal people say "well that looks cool, but we don't want it to happen!", while the psychos say "oh, so THAT'S how it's done. Thanks."

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 25, 2026

It's really weird that some people seem to have forgotten the phrase "the twentieth century". I've witnessed multiple people on YouTube claiming the 1980s is "the nineteen hundreds". Weird.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 25, 2026

This remains one of the best TV clips I've ever witnessed.

Stanley Unwin meets Bill & Ben

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVpJzGeM2p4

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 25, 2026

Just tried to submit a repeat prescription request. This used to be a simple web form that would always work 24 hours a day and someone would pick it up from an inbox. NOW I get a message that says:

Outside of service hours

We're not currently accepting online administrative queries as it's outside our service hours for these. The next opportunity to use the service is listed below.

BONKERS. This process does NOT need a human present!

#EnshittificationUK #Enshittification

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 24, 2026

I just heard about this effect, and I'm confused as hell. I'd love to know how I would come out on the experiment, because as far as I can tell, I don't have ANY spatial organisation of numbers in my head. Is this because I have #aphantasia ?

If I'm thinking of times then I definitely do feel them being in a circle like a clock, but numbers in general? No geometry at all — unless it's actually important, e.g. if I'm thinking about XY co-ordinates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial-numerical_association_of_response_codes

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 22, 2026

I was just listening to this song and paid close attention to the lyric. Very much a song for our time!

https://www.rush.com/songs/the-weapon/

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 20, 2026

Replying to @brianbilston@mastodon.online

@brianbilston@mastodon.online ravo!

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 14, 2026

Replying to @josh@masto.byrd.ws

@josh@masto.byrd.ws Great quote. Another way of saying it is that "supernatural" is a meaningless word.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 13, 2026

Replying to @Finley@layer8.space

@Finley@layer8.space @nixCraft@mastodon.social Haha! I was just coming here to suggest that such an app would be inevitable eventually — turns out it's already been done! Excellent.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 13, 2026

Replying to @wonderofscience@mastodon.social

@wonderofscience@mastodon.social I look forward to seeing this used as a propellant for NASA's next deep space probe.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 12, 2026

Replying to @BackFromTheDud@mas.to

@BackFromTheDud@mas.to @petrillic@hachyderm.io Pratchett was a bit different for me because I'd only read a handful of his books at the time. I've now read almost all of them, and I feel a much deeper loss now, retrospectively. He was a genius, for sure.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 12, 2026

Replying to @petrillic@hachyderm.io

@petrillic@hachyderm.io That loss hit me so hard. I heard about it from a friend who casually slipped it into conversation with the same tone of voice he would have used for "my neighbour's cat is ill". Then he continued talking to others in the room about trivial stuff while I sat there speechless, my world collapsing around me. Towel Day will be particularly important this year. I might break out the bath sheet.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 09, 2026

Replying to @Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt

@Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt It got my location very wrong indeed, which is interesting. However, it's a brilliant idea. The thing that I found most surprising was that apparently browsers can harvest your current battery percentage and use it to track you across sites. That's extremely sneaky!

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 08, 2026

Replying to @madargon@is-a.cat

@madargon@is-a.cat Did you know there is an actual science paper about whether cats are a liquid? https://www.science20.com/the_conversation/the_rheology_of_cats_are_they_liquid_or_solid_the_deborah_number_and_how_it_won_an_ig_nobel_prize-237875

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 08, 2026

Replying to @LJ@zirk.us

@LJ@zirk.us Thank you. And congratulations to your son. I LOVE puns! (A good pun is its own re-word...) I think puns are a way of exposing the inner workings of one's mind in public, and those who decry them are akin to Victorians allegedly swooning at the sight of a bare ankle.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 08, 2026

Replying to @LJ@zirk.us

@LJ@zirk.us I totally appreciate that attitude, and I know my dad would have done too. Lost him in 2024, and a few months ago my mum observed that he never used sarcasm in humour and didn't find it funny. The surprising thing is that I knew him for 59 years and I'd never quite realised that about him until she said it. He loved to employ puns, silliness and Goonish humour, and was a very kind man.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 06, 2026

RE: @srtcd424@mas.to

Hard to imagine a clearer illustration of the Overton Window than this.

mas.to

Steven Reed: "@GerhardD@olching.social @jwildeboer@social.wilde…" - mas.to

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 05, 2026

Replying to @guilhernunes_@mastodon.art

@guilhernunes_ That is a delightfully pointy character!

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 05, 2026

I finally worked out that turning my socks inside out makes my toes far more comfortable because there's no seam to annoy them.

It's taken me decades to reach this epiphany. Why didn't anyone TELL me?

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 04, 2026

Replying to @floofpaldi@mindly.social

@floofpaldi@mindly.social Hey, I've always been a big fan of Star [TW][ar][er][ks]. And that includes Star Tark and Star Wres.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 04, 2026

Replying to @Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt

@Natasha_Jay Beautiful! It reminds me of a book I loved as a child, called "The Map That Came To Life".

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 04, 2026

Replying to @MIfoodie@social.vivaldi.net

@MIfoodie I've been doing this for years to remove everything but the video ID (I hate it when the playlist comes along as a package deal, for example), but thank you for reminding everyone of the privacy implications. Boosted!

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 03, 2026

Replying to @anon_opin@mastodon.social

@anon_opin I think it's a great idea. Why the hell should I put in the effort of loving something when I can have someone else do it for me first?

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 03, 2026

Why is it so difficult to buy a washing up brush of modest size? Tesco only seems to have one, and it looks like it was designed for cleaning elephants.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 01, 2026

Hey spammers... if you send me literally DOZENS of similar emails every day, don't you think it's just possible that I'll ignore them all?

Have you no nuance, you oxygen sinks?

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 01, 2026

I know we need to defeat Fascism, but when we've finished, could I just point out that there are people walking around at liberty out there who think it's OK to pitch-correct Freddie Mercury's voice? They should be next.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 01, 2026

Replying to @Gh0stlyM0use@mastodon.social

@Gh0stlyM0use @joelvanderwerf @Irenetherogue All very good points. There's a thing called faircamp, which helps artists set up storefronts on their own domains... but that sort of thing is always a lot of work. In theory, the fediverse should be a good alternative... but I'm unsure whether anyone is trying to do that.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 01, 2026

Replying to @kyleford@hachyderm.io

@kyleford Being British, I'm almost completely unfamiliar with garbage disposals. When I saw them in films as a kid, they seemed like this mysterious and weirdly violent monster that lived beneath American sinks. They still scare me.

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Mike Torr @macronencer@mastodon.scot · May 01, 2026

Replying to @Gh0stlyM0use@mastodon.social

@Gh0stlyM0use @joelvanderwerf @Irenetherogue As an artist on Bandcamp, I actually fully appreciate and understand this position. To be honest, if they did go "full enshittification", I'd probably move my music elsewhere (though I'm not sure where!). They don't own it and it's my right to remove it. It's worth pointing out, though, that I'm lucky enough to have other income: I don't make my living from music so I have the luxury of choice.

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