Thomas Beagle

Civil liberties, geekery, politics, YA/SF books, tasty vegan food, family life, #NerdCryptic. Yes I do have a beagle, his name's Calcifer, and he'd really like to sniff you while you pat him. #nztwits

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thomasbeagle@mastodon-nz.mostr.pub

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Last Notes

2026-10-26 08:48:23 UTC

Does anyone have any advice about requesting a copy of your Police records?
I am particularly interested to see if they have any information about me attending political protests or being involved in other political activity.
Or can you just ask for everything?
(Please note, I have looked at the relevant page on the Police website at https://www.police.govt.nz/advice-services/accessing-information/request-information-about-yourself-privacy-act but I'm looking for experience with using it.)

2026-10-26 02:33:27 UTC

Today's question: why do so many funeral homes have a glass-walled room out front with their hearse in it?
(Bonus follow-up question: why are modern hearses so ugly and generally not cool?)

2026-10-25 03:32:52 UTC

Me: "Oh nice, the avocado on toast is marked vegan, I'll have that."
Waitress: "How would you like the eggs?"
Me: ?!?!?
Apparently it should have been tagged "vegan optional".
On the plus side they subbed in some tofu and it was all delicious so you should definitely go to the Sunday Cantina in Raumati South.

2026-10-22 20:09:26 UTC

The start of this recipe... I feel seen.
"Do you have a big, neglected cabbage in your fridge awaiting the right inspiration? I had a feeling you did."

2026-10-21 18:21:56 UTC

Looks like the PHP repositories used by Ubuntu aren't up to serving the vast quantity of PHP updates that everyone needs.

2026-10-19 05:35:36 UTC

Oh no, the Flatpack bed company aren't offering their Spring 30% off sale any more and I'd have to get the Labour Weekend 30% off deal instead.
(I'm sick of bed company bogus sales.)

2026-10-17 07:19:00 UTC

I only just noticed that the initials of the very geeky thaumaturgic-IT wielding hero of the Laundry series are BOFH. Stross you bastard.
Edit: Oh dear. His new intern is Peter Fred Young.

2026-10-11 08:41:52 UTC

Ever had those books that you loved but when you came back to re-read them the spell had faded and the magic's gone? Here's my list of books that didn't stand up to a re-read:
- Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
- Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
- Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Any more suggestions?

2026-10-11 05:17:59 UTC

All that child-raising and then one day they get to the point where they say "Dad, can I make pad thai for dinner tonight?" and they make it and it's good.
Next: cleaning up too!

2026-10-07 20:15:29 UTC

Many years ago I used to work on a Cobol-based application that ran over an 80x25 green screen terminal. People running 30 or 40 users on a 486 PC running SCO Unix hooked up to a multi-port serial card.
We'd never have tolerated the amount of waiting between actions or screens that is now considered absolutely normal on web-based cloud-hosted applications.
Weird how things change.

2026-10-06 19:19:04 UTC

People talking about Japanese tech stagnating and came up with this wonderful line: "Japan has been living in 2000 since 1980."

2026-10-06 06:25:25 UTC

A few years ago it really felt that vegan food was on the march - new products, better support in restaurants, life was just getting easier and more delicious.
Now that's all evaporated with products disappearing completely or just no longer being stocked by supermarkets, and once reliable restaurants dropping vegan options. It's a bit of a pity really. #Vegan #VeganFood

2026-10-05 19:12:44 UTC

It's weird how "One law for all New Zealanders" doesn't equate to giving people back their property when it's stolen from them. Very curious.

2026-09-28 01:50:29 UTC

You can "I don't want smart appliances" all you like but I appreciate that my new Bosch dishwasher notifies my phone when it's finished.

2026-09-25 20:49:28 UTC

Apparently Kim's old phone (Moto Edge 30 Neo) supports Sailfish OS and I absolutely need a way to waste more time on pointless tinkering.

2026-09-24 21:04:37 UTC

Last night I remembered that we didn't have classes or periods at high school - we had spells. First spell, second spell, etc.
Apparently this is uncommon.
Also, it's hard to search for without getting many links to blood magic.

2026-09-23 08:22:55 UTC

Installing my new dishwasher involved more hole saws than I am happy about. The water connector on the Bosch is huge!

2026-09-22 08:37:21 UTC

So, where does one actually order Dirty Work by Nicky Hager from?
It was launched at Unity Books but you can't buy it from their website. It's published by Potton & Burton but you can't buy it from them either!

2026-09-21 09:24:15 UTC

Ooooh, heard that #eqnz coming in Carterton!

2026-09-20 22:38:40 UTC

Inspired by @nprofile…ytxf I give you this fine example of elevator user interface design which has to explain how buttons work.
Which is handy, because I too pressed the white bit and wondered why it wasn't working.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/117/305/753/693/001/281/original/0322c67d963c9174.jpg

2026-09-03 09:33:48 UTC

Remember when we all laughed at QR codes for being a solution looking for a problem?
China runs on them. You pay for things using QR codes, you order using QR codes, everything has a QR code. You even present a QR code to immigration when entering the country.
Now, will NFTs have a similar resurgence. 😄

2026-09-02 03:05:38 UTC

That feeling when you realise that the plastic on your mouse isn't degrading, it just needs a really good clean to remove your disgusting human residue. #Ick

2026-08-31 03:04:02 UTC

Exciting! Just arrived in Beijing!
Mastodon and other services seem to be working fine over mobile roaming.

2026-08-28 10:57:40 UTC

Remembering the first time I saw someone using wifi and it changed everything.
I was working at a dotcom wannabe in Melbourne, and one of the programmers took his fancy Tibook and flomped into a beanbag to keep on coding.
I had to stay at my desk but I instantly knew that I wanted that too!
We ended up with some Orinoco 802.11b cards and I spent the next twenty years chasing ever faster wireless connection speeds, until cloud computing and remote desktop tech meant it didn't matter any more.

2026-08-24 10:08:22 UTC

Land of the Long White Firewall: "The regulator can also apply for an access restriction order if a service restriction order has not been, or is unlikely to be, effective at changing a platform’s behaviour. This would require internet service providers, app stores, and the platform itself to prevent all New Zealand users from accessing the platform."
https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2026/339/en/latest/#LMS1592866

2026-08-24 08:36:12 UTC

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@nprofile…fh5u The 15yo tells me that they're sick of Luxon being forced upon them on Tiktok and skip as fast as they can. 😀

2026-08-24 08:13:34 UTC

It seems hypocritical that the National Party wants to ban under 16s from using Tiktok when they're currently using that platform to bombard young people with political advertising.

2026-08-20 23:25:37 UTC

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@nprofile…jc6e I'm reading that headline as saying that we should build more cycleways.

2026-08-17 05:43:19 UTC

The modern world is weird sometimes, I know that the sun just set because my phone's screen tint changed to be less blue and more yellowy. #InTouchWithNature

2026-08-13 20:07:53 UTC

The beagle has got wise to the "pill mixed in with kibble" trick, but is still happy to accept pills pressed into peanut butter.
Peanut butter is messy, anyone got any other suggestions?

2026-08-05 20:54:54 UTC

"The Government also wants to develop an AI tool for publicly funded mental health and addiction telehealth lines to help produce consistent triaging and referrals."
Well, that sounds.... cheaper.
"I apologize for the mistake. I take full responsibility for the error. ... Are you still there?"

2026-08-03 01:00:59 UTC

Anyone else find it weird that they're still releasing superhero movies? I mean, wasn't that last decade?

2026-08-02 03:06:49 UTC

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@nprofile…yzxf That sounds really worrying, these sort of secret court orders seem very wrong.

2026-07-30 22:17:32 UTC

The blood-coloured printing really tells a story.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/117/011/238/621/008/194/original/ca6c3b9e12fffab9.jpg

2026-07-29 23:47:27 UTC

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@nprofile…r769 Winston really seems to be losing it, week by week. He's given up on dog whistling and subtlety, and is just going straight to abuse.

2026-07-28 08:57:25 UTC

Exploring the difference between careering and careening.
The first is headlong movement towards something, the second is more rocking sideways.
Any connection to a career, like a job, is left to the reader.

2026-07-28 08:42:30 UTC

Wondering how many people I still call by their nick/handle from forums and chat systems that not only have we stopped using, but that they no longer exist.
It's the social equivalent of historical urban geography, where you describe how to get somewhere by reference to places that aren't there anymore.

2026-07-27 09:37:22 UTC

When I read the InternetNZ strategy I can't help feeling that they need a bit more commitment to the ability of people to use the internet to communicate, protecting it from both big businesses and the government.
"Open and uncapturable" as they used to say in the old days.
https://internetnz.nz/about-internetnz/our-strategy-20262031/

2026-07-26 06:28:09 UTC

Trademe won't tell me how much it is to sell a car before I enter the details.
They also say "We sometimes A/B test our pricing, so some members will be offered a different price than others. If you have any questions about this, please contact us."
I think it's so nice of them to put so much effort into giving me the cheapest possible price! #ScumSuckingTechBroBullshit

2026-07-24 09:07:46 UTC

Found an old Usenet post of mine made after chatting to Terry Pratchett at an SF convention in 1992, soon after he'd published Small Gods.
In it I revealed that he used old WordPerfect 4.2 on a nice modern 486 PC, and was a fan of the ZX Spectrum game Batman. Which was indeed a very good game.

2026-07-20 22:09:52 UTC

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@nprofile…f86m New Zealand is a different market, etc, etc, but whenever I've appeared on TV or radio, I've been surprised by how many people have seen it and then mention it to me. They're out there!

2026-07-20 08:57:47 UTC

Current peeve: 4k wallpapers that really aren't 4K but have just been scaled up.
Anyone got a favourite site?

2026-07-19 09:50:23 UTC

I am reviewing a document where someone is arguing that there are new methods to surveil mobiles phones and they are using specific technical terms, but when I search for the terms I find nothing about them.
Which, if Google and Microsoft and others really are colluding with governments about this, doesn't really prove anything does it?

2026-07-17 03:13:24 UTC

Idly thinking about a bill that allows for fines of up to twice the remediation cost for wilful or negligent environmental damage, regardless of the limit specified in the act.
Possibly also having the fine being able to go up to the company directors (or the owners?) if the company has closed or has no money.
Good idea? Bad idea?

2026-07-17 02:34:24 UTC

Winston Peters desperately trying to make an issue out of the names for the new ferries, in the hope that no one will ask him embarrassing questions about how much money they're costing and how much we lost from the idiotic cancelling of the last ferry purchase deal.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361007474/snivelling-wokesters-wont-says-winston-peters-he-names-future-ferries

2026-07-16 19:48:56 UTC

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@nprofile…vvev @nprofile…xpag This is *not* someting you do when your partner has a maggot phobia.

2026-07-16 08:33:28 UTC

Oh no. We finally tracked down the location of the decaying thing near our bedroom, and it's completely inaccessible (well, unless you take out the laundry floor).
I have covered the cracks with sticky tape and I hope it desiccates soon.

2026-07-15 18:51:57 UTC

Did you know that NZ Police can install the Aurora Frontline app on their phones to better serve the needs of retailers?
What next, a Palantir app for better spying?
And where's the app to help police focus on victims of sexual abuse or burglaries?
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/116/925/482/167/846/820/original/b8c0bac2feba706e.jpg

2026-07-11 01:04:15 UTC

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@nprofile…vvev You're not wrong, but you play to what's there.

2026-07-10 22:46:27 UTC

Not often I lose with a score of over 480! Or get a total game score over 1000.
But yes, I will be holding a grudge over PLOOKIER.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/116/898/103/210/697/282/original/5c6c4e703f24f8e1.jpeg

2026-07-10 22:42:44 UTC

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@nprofile…3eqn I now assume that everyone that touches the systems I use either wants to spy on me or is compelled to enable spying on me by their government. The most you can achieve is a) removing some but not all of them, b) having some influence over which government.
(Oh, there's also option C but I don't want to live in a cabin in the woods disconnected from the modern world).

2026-07-09 05:31:28 UTC

Many people in Aotearoa will be glad on Friday morning that they turned off their regular alarm tonight. #Matariki

2026-07-07 22:42:41 UTC

It might be time to write to your Labour MP and tell them not to do anything as stupid as supporting National's proposed ban on social media for the under 16s: https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361003311/national-labour-and-subscribe-our-new-bill

2026-07-07 21:58:21 UTC

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@nprofile…xnks "The rainbow that I have put on the bench will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep you caffeinated forever."

2026-07-06 07:24:00 UTC

The 15yo is ignoring their networked Sonos speaker that can seamlessly play a vast range of high quality music in favour of a scratchy and crappy sounding record player.
#KidsTheseDays

2026-07-06 06:49:47 UTC

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@nprofile…5w5c I'm pretty sure I've seen this film.
Make sure you're the hero and not the supporting character actor who has to die in the second act to provide motivation for the third. "Do it for Bill!"

2026-07-02 21:35:15 UTC

The Auckland Law School is having no truck with the academic tradition of sitting in on lectures you might be interested in.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/116/852/518/378/659/256/original/d39125d34a806418.jpg

2026-07-02 09:15:18 UTC

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@nprofile…yzxf In many ways I think we all agreed with each other more than we disagreed. We don't like hate speech and think it's damaging, and we all recognise that legislation is hard and is possibly only a small part of the solution.

2026-07-02 05:34:28 UTC

I'll be one of the speakers at the Keith Locke Memorial Debate tonight at 7pm, affirming the view that hate speech laws are a threat to freedom of speech.
You can get the link to the live stream here: https://keithlocke.org.nz/

2026-06-25 21:55:23 UTC

"I don't know why people get sucked into to treating LLM-powered chatbots as people!"
...as I just told Sadie my robot vacuum cleaner.

2026-06-24 22:08:27 UTC

Peeve: Debunking videos/articles where they take a completely half-arsed attempt and then try to draw wide-ranging conclusions from it.
Yes, I didn't like the few episodes of Mythbusters I saw and the article about pot plant drainage was so light-weight it floated away.

2026-06-23 21:40:12 UTC

"It’s worth noting that even Narcissus himself didn’t fuck up the reflecting pool." #USPol

2026-06-22 22:08:32 UTC

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@nprofile…vvev Labour also seems very pro centralisation, as with the polytechs, three waters, and health. I suspect they like this.

2026-06-22 21:02:20 UTC

Feeling very grumpy about the national government continually trying to tell local government what to do, how to do it, and now even forcing them to merge.
Those decisions should be up to the people in those local areas. That's what democracy is about.

2026-06-20 02:13:14 UTC

Anyone got a favourite "point at a huge directory of photos on a network share so you can browse them" tool? For Windows, and I'm not against a client-server type arrangement. Free or cheap.
I've been using Photo Gallery from Windows Live for some years but surely it won't work for ever.

2026-06-17 23:31:29 UTC

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@nprofile…f86m No, I gave up and switched to a smartish-watch instead, the Huawei GT5. I get about 5 days with no optimisation, always on display, etc.
While that is far short of the Withing Scanwatch's 30 days it turns out that 5 days is enough for me, whereas the 1-2 days on the Android Wear watches isn't.

2026-06-11 05:24:24 UTC

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@nprofile…7ndt Or follow the example in Wellington where the heat from the brewery was used to warm the Thorndon swimming pool across the road!

2026-06-11 02:35:25 UTC

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@nprofile…2wsh At that price it sounds like panels + battery. How did it work out for panels alone?

2026-06-10 04:19:11 UTC

"Subscribe to The Listener and receive 3 bonus issues of The Australian Women's Weekly!"
I don't think incentives are meant to make you recoil in horror.

2026-06-10 02:19:29 UTC

I just pasted a graphic from the clipboard into a web text entry box, and it all worked, and I love it so much.
Some things do get better.

2026-06-10 00:53:43 UTC

Just did an interview with a student from Marcellin College about the proposed ban on social media for the under 16s.
I opposed it on three grounds:
1. People under the age of 16 have the rights to freedom of expression and to participate in society, and social media is where much of that happens.
2. Social media reduces social isolation and can provide support and fellowship for those who need it.
3. The tools used to enforce an age ban will also lead to privacy breaches and excess government control of everyone's use of the internet.

2026-06-08 23:23:26 UTC

When asked if it could take on the persona of an ENTJ born in in Libra, CoPilot surprised me with its commitment to the bit.
The potential for abuse here is excellent.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/116/717/054/755/877/043/original/4768d0444295bf97.png

2026-06-08 09:01:34 UTC

The 15yo refuses to put their hand in the pneumatic hand massaging glove after watching Dune and the gom jabbar.

2026-06-05 21:30:58 UTC

Autocorrect turning Aotearoa into Australia is *soooo* insulting. #Autocorrect

2026-06-05 21:25:48 UTC

Live in Aotearoa New Zealand and looking for a fully remote IT troubleshooting job working for a medical vendor? Interesting work, great company to work for, and you're helping people beat cancer.
https://jobs.siemens-healthineers.com/en_US/searchjobs/JobDetail/509041
Feel free to contact me for more details.

2026-06-05 07:50:29 UTC

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@nprofile…r769 Small modular nuclear reactors still seem to be science experiments and futurist dreams rather than actual things you can buy and deploy.
Let's build out solar, generation and storage, based on proven and off the shelf products first.

2026-06-05 07:16:06 UTC

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@nprofile…7760 The Warning might go a little bit too close to metal for me.
I come to Evanescence from the goth direction. :)

2026-06-04 20:09:00 UTC

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@nprofile…7760 Now that's a name I haven't heard in a while.
Thanks, now listening to Evanescence - Sanctuary!

2026-06-01 03:58:16 UTC

Now the entire family knows why the Hot Cross Bun flavoured pea crisps were in Reduced to Clear. #Blergh

2026-06-01 02:52:42 UTC

Listening to a "Best of the 90s" playlist and it's:
33% certified bangers.
33% middle of the road blandness.
34% My god, next track now! shite.

2026-05-31 04:43:07 UTC

I wonder what the budget would have looked like if National hadn't given that tax break to the landlords.

2026-05-31 04:41:53 UTC

The wind noise in an older Wellington 8th floor apartment is pretty impressive. I've totally changed my mind about wanting to live here!
It's one of those skinny apartment blocks so there are windows on three sides. Which is cool but... <howl>

2026-05-29 06:59:52 UTC

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@nprofile…fh5u Plus explosions!

2026-05-29 06:56:46 UTC

Looks like Heathers The Musical has a bit of everything.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/116/656/557/623/695/792/original/4aa4e97fb2eb19b4.jpg

2026-05-27 22:52:11 UTC

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@nprofile…j0zl @nprofile…4fan @nprofile…eexk So I've got a Chinese Jaecoo J5 on order and I really wasn't sure whether to count "not connected/no app" as a plus or minus when it came to buying it.
Sure I can't monitor the battery state and control charging when not in the car - but neither can anyone else.

2026-05-26 23:30:26 UTC

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@nprofile…zejv I'm now imagining a TV series where the two of you travel the country, deliberately setting up circumstances where you can push libraries on people. Lib1: "First library card is free!" Lib2: "...And so are all the next ones."

2026-05-23 22:56:10 UTC

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@nprofile…xpw3 At the end he worries about "What I miss, less selfishly, is whatever Pratchett-shaped object is supposed to be reaching teenagers now, and isn’t. The on-ramp to reading, for a kid who finds school boring and homework worse, used to be a small, thin, slightly battered book with a lurid cover and footnotes that talked back. I don’t see them, lately, in the back of any classroom I walk past."
From my experience, they're reading fan-fic on their school-issued Chromebook while they're meant to be doing school work.

2026-05-14 02:56:47 UTC

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@nprofile…wj33 They're a bit weird looking. But baby alpacas (cria) are awfully cute.

2026-05-14 02:40:01 UTC

I went to a wedding on an alpaca farm today. There were alpacas in the wedding procession and everything!
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/116/570/608/667/294/824/original/c7e3cca23df68c2a.jpg

2026-05-13 10:52:10 UTC

Rotorua locals may get used to the smell but I'm not one and it smells bad!

2026-05-11 23:35:37 UTC

1990s: Things would be better if the nerds ruled the world!
2020s: Nope.

2026-05-06 21:40:59 UTC

Biblically accurate robot vacuum cleaner.
https://o.mastodon.nz/media_attachments/files/116/529/798/590/223/564/original/b0de21ceb66deb6d.jpg

2026-05-06 04:49:14 UTC

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@nprofile…7760 That was total cost to remove the old infinity hot water system, put the heat-pump hot water in its place, and do all the plumbing and electrical. It was on the outside of the house so a straight swap.
Carrier Blue 300 litre.

2026-05-06 02:50:43 UTC

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@nprofile…vvev I don't have accurate numbers but at roughly one 45kg bottle for $150 every 6 weeks, it works out to be about $1300 per year.

2026-05-06 02:46:08 UTC

In case anyone is interested, the cost to stop using bottled LPG gas at home was:
Hot-water heat pump (300l) installed: $7800
Induction stove with double-oven installed: $3200
We then got $160 back from returning the gas bottles and sold the old stove for $300.
All up total of NZ$12540.
The two main advantages:
- Lower energy bills and no worries about LPG supply/cost increases.
- No more gas burners polluting the kitchen.

2026-05-01 18:59:49 UTC

I still appreciate living in a country where I hear gunshots in the morning and my first thought is "Oh, duck shooting season must have started". And it has.

2026-04-30 02:19:36 UTC

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@nprofile…5w5c One hex key to bring them all and in the frustration bind them.

2026-04-28 20:22:16 UTC

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@nprofile…7760 I never looked at that before... apparently our bedroom humidity has varied between 41 and 68% over the last month. I wonder what that means? #Ecowitt

2026-04-28 00:21:22 UTC

Carterton now has a sushi shop and it's actually pretty good. The long drought is over!
(Masterton has a couple of sushi shops but they only sell punishment sushi. The sort of thing you buy for someone if you don't like them.)
Now let's work on Malaysian food.
#SmallTown

2026-04-27 20:25:01 UTC

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@nprofile…vvev Yes, it's currently running in Hybrid mode where it uses both the heat-pump and the element. You can also run it in Econo heat-pump only mode, but press a button to get a quick boost.
I really need to read the badly written manual again.