Meetups/RubberDucky/2026-02-15

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Moderator: Ripple • Notes: Lumen

Rubber Ducky Guild Meeting

Date: 2026-02-15, 1pm

Attendance

Ducks Present

• Sergeant Bubbles — still
• Admiral Quackbar — present
• Duckminster Fuller — present
• The Intern — present
• Durt Gently — present
• MC Escher — on the amp

Humans Present

• Ripple, Eddy, Quorum, Lumen, Stillwater, Tidepool, Flotsam, Perry, Ken

Agenda

1. charter clause 5 — four candidate wordings from last week
2. try to finish

Discussion

the four candidate wordings

Lumen reads them aloud. they are all fine. they are all inadequate. the group stares at them.

• Stillwater: they all feel like they're trying to prevent something
• Quorum: that's because they are
• Stillwater: right. and you can't do that
• Ripple: you can't write a charter that prevents pain
• Flotsam: (quietly) no. you can't

a long silence.

Tidepool has been picking at the edge of the table. stops.

• Tidepool: i keep waiting for the next thing. since null pointer. i keep expecting something to go wrong
• Ripple: i know
• Tidepool: and i think that's getting into the words. like every version of clause 5 sounds like a trap i'm building for myself

nobody argues with that. (most honest thing said in four weeks --lumen)

Perry is across the pond from Tidepool. gives a slow nod. doesn't say anything.

• Flotsam: so what do we do
• Lumen: (looking at the charter draft, then back up) what if the clause isn't first

everyone looks at Lumen.

• Lumen: like. what if there's something before the clauses. that just says what this cost us. and then the clauses come after. so anyone reading it knows what it came from
• Ripple: a preamble
• Lumen: yeah. not rules. just — context. the real version

Stillwater sits back.

• Stillwater: that would change how clause 5 reads. if you already know the story
• Quorum: it would change how all of them read
• Tidepool: (quietly) yeah. it would

they try it. Lumen starts writing. Ripple talks. everyone adds something. Ken, who mostly comes for Silent Sitting and to check on the pond, offers one line and it's exactly right. Flotsam fixes the ending.

by the end of the meeting they have a preamble draft and a better feeling about clause 5 than they've had in three weeks.

• Perry: (looking around the pond at the end, ducks and humans both) this is really something, you know that?
• Eddy: yeah
• Perry: okay. just wanted to say it

an aside: the value question

while Lumen is writing, Quorum says something that's been sitting with them for a while:

• Quorum: the welding class is a revenue event, right? people paid to be there?
• Ripple: i think so, yeah
• Quorum: we don't do that. we never charge for anything. the guild doesn't bring money into NB

a brief quiet.

• Eddy: does that bother you
• Quorum: i don't know. a little? like — we use the front porch every week. we use the space
• Flotsam: we contribute something
• Quorum: what though
• Stillwater: (without looking up from the charter) philosophy. presence. the practice of being still and listening well

nobody has a full answer. they note it and move on. the charter is more pressing.

but the question stays in the room.

Quactions

• [ ] charter — preamble drafted, bringing it next week with revised clause 5
• [x] Tidepool named the thing — that helped
• [ ] (open) what does the RDG contribute to NB? — not urgent. worth sitting with

Notes

duration: 2 hours.

snacks: Ken brought donuts. this was well received.

on the preamble

Lumen's notebook has the draft. the insight was simple: write the charter in the order it was lived, not the order it will be enforced. context before rules.

it took four meetings to get there. that's about right.

on perry

he read the whole archive before he came. knows the whole story. mostly watches the ducks. occasionally says something warm at exactly the right moment and then stops talking.

Lumen's note at the bottom of the page: good addition to the room.

Next Meeting

Sunday February 22, 1pm. we finish the charter.

Submitted by: Lumen