A thought that broke my heart a little bit: Imagine if all of this AI nonsense money would have been spent on building, repairing and maintaining railways and building new trains? The billions! Instead of all this harm, there could be continent spanning rail and people could stop fucking flying, too. 😶
@quixoticgeek Also maybe the intercontinental electricity supergrid Buckminster Fuller proposed in the 1970s, to carry the renewable electricity those 450km/h trains run on from the solar farms to the railways ...
@Kierkegaanks @cstross where the fuck are you getting that idea from ? Japan has maglev trains doing over that speed. France has tested a TGV at over 500kph. Noone died.
Trains run at upto 320kph in everyday service just fine.
@quixoticgeek @Kierkegaanks@beige.party @sinituulia @cstross Ideally yes, under good conditions. But not when temperatures get over 90 F or 35 C. Or when there’s extreme cold or heavy snow. Extreme seasonal conditions in parts of the US make that challenging. Sure, air travel has issues and delays with weather too, but we need both forms of transportation. High speed rail for trips less than 500 miles and air for greater distances might be a good mix.
@bouriquet @quixoticgeek Explain to me, if trains stop working over 35℃, why Egypt just bought a bunch of Siemens Velaro rolling stock for their new high speed network? Algeria has high speed rail and Nigeria's working on following suit?
(Continuously welded track *does* tend to buckle if it gets too hot, but that's a function of the operating temperatures it's pre-tensioned for, and in Africa it's going to be set higher than in Europe.)
@cstross @quixoticgeek True. The expansion depends upon the baseline that is set on installation when rail is welded. But northern US, that temperature varies from a typical low of -20 F to 100 F (Minneapolis). US rail networks often have problems in winter with frozen switch points, even with propane heat. Much of it is pretty crude. Regional high speed rail makes sense but most folks wouldn’t tolerate a 2-3 day cross-US trip vs a 4-5 hour flight.
@bouriquet @cstross rail in the us has so many problems. Many by design. Norway/Sweden/Finland seem quite capable of operating trains in winter. Narvik, Kiruna, Kolari, are all stations way further north than any in the US. And in recent years they've had temps over 30°
But then 20F is only -7°C. Switzerland, Austria, France all get that, and all get 35+ in the summer. Amtrak has a lot of problems, blaming the climate is no excuse.
@quixoticgeek @bouriquet The real beast to accommodate if you want continuously welded track is Toronto. From +35℃ in summer to -35℃ in winter, a 70℃ swing. Toronto has commuter rail but the rolling stock looks rather old-fashioned ...
@bouriquet @quixoticgeek @cstross @musing_sys if it was a pipeline I’d be more optimistic. Also SNCF is part of the consortium and their goal is to not run trains… It’s just a glossy report right now.
🎉 Dnes slavíme 77. narozeniny Jeho Veličenstva – King Charles III! 👑🎂
Král Charles se narodil 14. listopadu 1948 a dnes patří mezi nejdéle sloužící členy britské královské rodiny.
📌 Zajímavosti o králi: • Je nejstarším panovníkem, který kdy nastoupil na britský trůn. • Dlouhodobě podporuje ekologické iniciativy, zemědělství a ochranu životního prostředí. • Navzdory zdravotním výzvám v posledních měsících si udržuje odhodlání a aktivně pokračuje ve svých královských povinnostech.
Ich möchte noch mal ein lautes "TOLD YOU SO!" an den Menschen aussprechen, der meinte, dass diese Regierung nur "konservativ" sei und das ja für mein Leben nichts ändern wird.
Verpflichtende Musterung, falls ich doch mal Kinder bekommen sollte, der als männlich definiert wurde, und für alle Kinder in meinem Umfeld, deren Genital bestimmt hat, dass sie männlich sind.
"The cloud is down, all of it" "But the AI that was supposed to keep it running ?" "Had a debug log file that expanded to use all the storage and took the cloud down" "Get the robots to reboot it ?" "They are controlled from the cloud" "and the access doors ?" "Cloud" "If the robots are down can we just force our way inside ?" "No.. the automatic defence system runs on its own servers at your insistence so it's still working"
Politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to protect their privacy and bypass invasive laws. Their solution? Entirely ban the use of VPNs. Yes, really. As of this writing, Wisconsin lawmakers are escalating their war on privacy by targeting VPNs in the name of “protecting children” in A.B. 105/S.B. 130. It’s an age verification bill that requires all websites distributing material that could conceivably be deemed “sexual content” to both implement an age verification system and also to block the access of users connected via VPN. The bill seeks to broadly expand the definition of materials that are “harmful to minors” beyond the type of speech that states can prohibit minors from accessing —potentially encompassing things like depictions and discussions of human anatomy, sexuality, and reproduction. eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/lawm…
It's unfortunately no longer enough to force websites to check your government-issued ID before you can access certain content, because politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to protect their privacy and…
Tried to open #Discord on web. Login. Enter your email and password. Okay, click login. "Wait, are you human?" and a #HateCaptcha widget. I check the checkbox that I'm human (discrimination to us, other sentient beings, but okay). Login. enter your login and password. Wait, are you human? check the box. Login. Enter your login and password… Maybe it's only me, but I've never ever ever managed to cope with Discord, although this interesting loop appears for the first time.
Now imagine trying to do that when you're blind and they have no audio version, but some ridiculous cookie that works via e-mail. That's why I never signbed up with them.
haha I hate captchas, too! Like you, I am totally blind, so I don't have any vision to rely on. I don't know why they can't just use audio for these things, or even the simple checkboxes.
In 2021, I’ve tabled amendments to the @EUCommission’s proposal of the Digital Markets Act, one of which introduced mandatory messaging interoperability for the gatekeepers. Now, more than 4 years later, real effects on the market are starting to appear. about.fb.com/news/2025/11/mess…
The DMA requires Meta to give people using WhatsApp in Europe the option to connect with people using third-party messaging services that have chosen to
@Jiří Eischmann @Marcel Kolaja @European Commission This is a joke isn't it? First third party supported chat services are BirdyChat and Haiket. Does anyone have friends over there? This sounds similar to how apple has opened their apps ecosystem that no meaningfull competion is viable. Meta is not seeing their users seriously. Why we can't bridge whatsapp chats with FB messenger chats? These are running on similar if not the same backends.
Some #mona beta feedback: it should say translated before the post text with #voiceover. That way we can set expectations appropriately before hearing the text and thinking it’s poorly written.
Open source maintainers of major projects (hi) are not ready to accept and talk about how the cultural insistence on permissive licensing is just straight up labor exploitation taking advantage of our addiction to popularity (also hi).
"...detailed how the company would use AI to speed up licensing. In [Microsoft’s] conception, existing nuclear licensing documents and data about nuclear sites data would be used to train an LLM that’s then used to generate documents to speed up the process."
Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AIs massive power demands and they're using that AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants.
I've read that #Firefox users want "just to use a sturdy browser". I don't know, maybe something is wrong with me, but whenever I tried using Firefox (I don't like its #Accessibility anyway — it's accessible, don't get me wrong, but it's just… other way), it crashed far, far more often than Chrome and Edge together.
We don't want that AI stuff. (Lonnnnng time Firefox user here.) That said, Firefox has always been stable in my experience, although the more add-ons being used can make it creaky and unstable.
@fastfinge Oh 110% you are. Evil Microsoft and their evil shipping a browser with an operating system like that. How dare they allow you to use their browser to download another one if you want to.
@FreakyFwoof No judgment from me (a Firefox guy) about using what works for you 👍
I think for most people, all the major browsers are basically stable enough. Some people have a lot of trouble with Chrome, some people like you have a lot of trouble with Firefox, some people are unlucky enough to have trouble with both, etc. Of course it would be great if whatever issues you're having with Firefox could be fixed, but it's not like you have a duty to help make that happen or anything - using a different piece of software that just works is always a valid choice.
Долгое время пользовался Firefox, с момента как он стал нормально дружить с Jaws, и стало возможным забыть про уёбищный и медленный IE, но с внедрением своего движка они свернули куда-то не туда и начались всякие проблемы, причём до сих пор на некоторых сайтах работает криво, но тут видимо сказывается отсутствие поддержки Firefox разработчиками того или иного сервиса. Так совпало что в тот момент Chrome стал устраивать в принципе во всём, на него и перебрался.
well, maybe i've been using #firefox wrong, but in my 20yrs of heavy usage I don't recall any breakage at all. Certainly not in the last 10years ( anything before that I cannot remember anymore, tbh). So any 'reports' about constant problems I cannot relate to (and believe). But I fo care abouy my system. I don't let it blow up and explode in my face
New from 404 Media: Microsoft and nuclear power company Westinghouse Nuclear want to use AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants in the United States.
"may lead [..] to catastrophic nuclear consequences" and distrust of nuclear tech
Tech companies are betting big on nuclear energy to meet AIs massive power demands and they're using that AI to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants.
they're not using AI to do anything dangerous like actually design critical components without any human oversight, they're using it for licensing paperwork. They're replacing paper pushers, not nuclear engineers.
Does anyone have this strange ability where based on what name someone has, and how they write, you are able to come up with a 90% accurate voice profile? The 10% for me is usually like, "whoa! Okay I was way off!"
#FreeBSD users behind a proxy who also use #Poudriere: what are your tips for configuring an HTTP/HTTPS (non-SOCKS as far as I can tell) proxy for package builds?
In the "filesystems and I/O" portion of my Operating Systems course in college today. Brought some floppy disks in to help understanding storage system history and the archaic methods for data organization: tracks, sectors, partitions, etc.
I was surprised at how much the disks were investigated and examined by the students and how much curiosity was expressed. We almost had to suppress questions to get to the course material.
I think this is instructive. I'll try and incorporate some kind of tactile thing this spring when I'm teaching.
#Facebook v posledních dnech zaplavila masivní vlna hejtů na vedení pražské radnice a hlavně na náměstka Hřiba. Že prý zavinil dopravní zácpy v Praze. Nevím, jestli je to organizovaná kampaň, nebo jestli jen někdo začal a ostatní se jako stádo přidali. Každopádně fakt dává logiku hejtit (a posílat do Slavičína) někoho, kdo ve funkci za pár týdnů končí 😁
@bogo It's a good idea. But I have there ca. 500 people and almost all of them don't want to move to either #fediverse or #Signal (or any other "rational" messaging system). They are typically non-IT people and use Facebook and WhatsApp (and possibly Instagram or TikTok).
I am collecting other contact information from them (e-mail addresses, phone numbers...), but it's a long-distance run. When done (in the future), I will leave Facebook completely 😎
@bogo Many. Most of them are people from my real life and I want to contact them sometimes. Only a few of them are people that I have never met in person.
The DMA requires Meta to give people using WhatsApp in Europe the option to connect with people using third-party messaging services that have chosen to
Is it better than FairEmail in any way (looks excluded)? I happily use Thunderbird on Desktop, but unless it's better than FairEmail, I'd avoid the entire setup procedure
I'd much rather it was web-based. I'll get off Android as soon as there is a viable Linux option. I'm sick of being controlled by Google. I want Firefox OS back, running on decent hardware.
I know a lot of folks have been going on about it, but Steam's latest hardware announcement has been utterly insane for the day and age in which we live.
Consider that they didn't hype it up with a launch event. They didn't sell a bunch of hype and buzzwords. All they did was release a ~6 minute video that effectively described the hardware and what it would provide, and had a webpage with *actual specs on it*.
They invited a bunch of tech reporters/YouTubers to their HQ, but they let them talk to *engineers*, not marketing people. The discussions focused on real capabilities of the hardware, and actual demonstrations. No vapor and promises. Not glitz and glam.
They made it clear this is all SteamOS driven, and that they have a focus of getting *existing x86 Windows software* running not only on Linux, but on ARM and in VR!!
They aren't pitching a closed ecosystem. They said, outright, "This is your hardware, you can do whatever you want with it".
THEY DIDN'T MENTION AI ONCE.
And they're _already_ making a bigger splash than any competitor ever did, even though those competitors have gobs more money they've thrown at this stuff, and tremendously more staff.
It's flabbergasting. I hope they make enough of an impact with all this that people sit up and take notice.
Steve Ramirez, a neuroscientist who studies the creation (and manipulation) of memory, a truly sci-fi level of neuroscience, has written a book! I can only imagine this may be of interest to the type of folks who follow me:
I played with GUI for #Linux Desktop Migration Tool today. It is still rough around the edges, but it looks promising. Some operations such as selecting applications to reinstall can be done much more easily in GUI than in CLI.
@svaclav partly, the migration logic was reused from the shell script, AI built the GUI structure and then I tuned it manually. I wouldn't be able to build a working prototype so quickly without AI and AI wouldn't be so successful if the core logic wasn't already written.
awesome work! Have you thought about a scenario of backing up source computer to an external storage or cloud and then restoring to the destination computer. This is the case when one wants to wipe existing install, do clean install and restore to same computer from an intermediate medium.
@JigenDaisukeJr It's on my todo list. People often ask for it. I'll probably only support local storage (or whatever GVFS provides, it could actually save it to remote storage such as Nextcloud). But it would only be one-time backup/restore. I don't want to get into the backup business.
The matrix.org room dir is ready for business; the future of room lists in Element Web; opening rooms more quickly in EX Android - all this and more happened This Week in Matrix!
I've switched to zsh a while ago, but I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what's useful or not, outside of using ohmyzsh and enabling things like p10k, autosuggestions, and a few other plugins
@accrescent I hope you win.🙏🏼 I answered every question 👍🏼
"Thank you for your support! Each suggestion will be thoroughly considered. We will announce the chosen organizations on the Proton blog and on our social channels. Stay tuned for the start of the fundraiser on 16 December, 2025!"🤞
New: Google has chosen a side in Trump's mass deportation campaign. Google is hosting a CBP facial recognition app to hunt immigrants; no indication Google will remove. At same time Google takes down apps for reporting ICE sightings
Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable group.
The tiny local credit union had to replace their Windows 10 PCs. Their local IT provider got acquired by a regional IT company and no longer offers disk wiping/destruction.
What are the best options to wipe or destroy (if required) about 5 SSDs that would satisfy a bank auditor?
I don't know if these are self encrypting drives. If they were spinning disks, I've used DBAN in the past, but SSDs have additional logic for wear leveling and trimming, so I don't know what additional steps are needed to ensure the data is all gone.
A quick check for physical disk destruction devices seems a bit pricey at this low volume, but a handy sledge hammer might not be enough for an auditor.
In the past, a disk random write/wipe plus drilling a hole through the platters was accepable for spinning drives.
ATA secure erase should be supported by the SSD and should be understood by the drive firmware to write zeroes to EVERYTHING including the bits you can't reach, but also even if you did a DBAN and are worried about the wear leveling the amount of extra storage dedicated to handle failing flash is pretty small that I doubt anything of value could be found. Who knows though!
🇪🇺 "I am surprised and concerned that the GDPR is being reopened and weakened at its core […]"
💬 Read the full article, including comments from Max Schrems and Markéta Gregorová, who is a European Parliament negotiator on the issue 👉 brusselstimes.com/1835654/secr…
Charlie Stross
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Kierk or gaanks
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •@quixoticgeek @cstross can’t tell if you’re making a funny, but maybe 450km/h is not a desireable velocity for travel on the ground
(As in it would kill everyone horribly if aerodynamics even allowed a train to reach it)
Quixoticgeek
in reply to Kierk or gaanks • • •@Kierkegaanks @cstross where the fuck are you getting that idea from ? Japan has maglev trains doing over that speed. France has tested a TGV at over 500kph. Noone died.
Trains run at upto 320kph in everyday service just fine.
bouriquet
in reply to Quixoticgeek • • •Charlie Stross
in reply to bouriquet • • •@bouriquet @quixoticgeek Explain to me, if trains stop working over 35℃, why Egypt just bought a bunch of Siemens Velaro rolling stock for their new high speed network? Algeria has high speed rail and Nigeria's working on following suit?
(Continuously welded track *does* tend to buckle if it gets too hot, but that's a function of the operating temperatures it's pre-tensioned for, and in Africa it's going to be set higher than in Europe.)
bouriquet
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •Regional high speed rail makes sense but most folks wouldn’t tolerate a 2-3 day cross-US trip vs a 4-5 hour flight.
Quixoticgeek
in reply to bouriquet • • •@bouriquet @cstross rail in the us has so many problems. Many by design. Norway/Sweden/Finland seem quite capable of operating trains in winter. Narvik, Kiruna, Kolari, are all stations way further north than any in the US. And in recent years they've had temps over 30°
But then 20F is only -7°C. Switzerland, Austria, France all get that, and all get 35+ in the summer. Amtrak has a lot of problems, blaming the climate is no excuse.
Charlie Stross
in reply to Quixoticgeek • • •musing_sys🇨🇦
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •Hubert Figuière
in reply to musing_sys🇨🇦 • • •It’s just a glossy report right now.