Quixoticgeek

"why does the fridge have an internet connection?" "So it can download security updates" "Why does it need security updates?" "To protect against new vulnerabilities" "Surely if we didn't connect it to the internet, we wouldn't need that..." "Oh"

This is why I bang on so much about level access. Noone should have to depend on railway staff and the correct alignment of the train to the platform to be able to use a train. This also highlights another common problem with train design. The sole single wheelchair space on the train. Cos of course no wheel chair user has friends in wheelchairs tho they want to travel with ... Public transport that isn't level access is defective by design. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5gmr3dl2lp4o

Any train bike space that requires the bikes hang on dangle hooks, is a poorly accessible bike space that is not fit for purpose.

My public transport app tells me there's no public transport today due to a "staking". Which I assume is when they get Buffy the vampire slayer in to clear out all the vampires from the trains and busses...

Watching a video on Small Modular Reactors. And whilst I consider myself generally pro nuclear. I can't help but thinking, £1.8bn for a 470MWe SMR install seems a lot when 32 15Mw wind turbines give the same name plate capacity. Throw in a 50% load factor, build 64 of the wind turbines, you're still gonna have a lot of budget left over for a grid scale battery... Wind and solar is just so much more economical than any other energy generation method.

Dear rail companies. I *really* do not want to install your app. I'm visiting your country for a week, I don't want to sign up for an account just to buy one ticket. Please, just make it simple for us the traveller.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@yorik/117010549173714814 Large chunks of the world are literally on fire, but sure, we're global warming nutjobs for not wanting to destroy the planet.

We have a winner. Robin Gemperle is first to reach the finish in 10 days 8 hours and 55 minutes. He's done just under 4700km, averaging over 450km per day. An incredible ride. #TCRNo12

@MakersHour@cupoftea.social A4 I regularly teach other members of the makerspace how to use the various bits of equipment we have as well as advise on techniques etc... #MakersHour

If there's no room on your trains for bikes and luggage, then you're system is poorly designed, and has no resilience. The purpose of public transport is to transport the public. And the public want to travel with more than a handbag... 2/2

Stood on the platform at Madrid, @MagicLike@soc.sekundenklebertransportverbot.de says "Duck!" Behind me. So I duck down. Then an Avlo S112 Renfe starts sliding in on the track next to the platform...

@MakersHour@cupoftea.social A3 I'm entirely self taught, and often with a project I don't know how to do what I'm doing until I do it. The purpose of making the project teaches me how to make the project... #MakersHour

@0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange @catsalad@infosec.exchange my very European brain is looking at this and is very much thinking wtf... Are they at least going through electronically, or is this still the carbon paper embossing thing ? My brain is very confused.

Of all the trends in cycling, the one I absolutely cannot get my head around is the fashion for loud freehubs. It sounds like you've got a spanner in your spokes, or being chased by a tin of angry bees. A well maintained bike can be completely silent. To glide through the countryside in silence on a bike is one of the greatest pleasures there is. Why would you ruin it with an energy stealing noise maker?!?!?!?!?

Part of the band on my headphones broke the other day. Fortunately my headphones are made by fairphone, so I could just order a replacement part. Tonight, I broke out the @iFixit@mastodon.social, a couple of screws and a pop off cover later, headphones are all fixed. This part has broken twice now, once on each side. Yay for repairable devices.

When the bubble bursts, we need to make sure that society can recover, at least in digital form, the content of all those books the evil bastards destroyed.

@catsalad@infosec.exchange @jdblair@hachyderm.io @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange tipping is again something my brain struggles to understand. There appears to be all sorts of etiquette about it, and my autistic brain doesn't understand that. I understand the basic idea (something about taxes on tips). But still

Sitting on a train, eating home made fruit cake, watching the world go buy.

RE: https://fosstodon.org/@RosannaSibora/117061525631846334 Blimey. At this point the fact I've never knowingly used an LLM is going to be something worth putting on my CV.

Come to France they said. See our beautiful cities they said. The cities: (For the geoguessers among you. Where did I take this photo from ?)

@jimbob@aus.social @venya@musicians.today every photo of mine I share is straight out the camera with no editing at all.

@ainmosni@social.ainmosni.eu @raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie @catsalad@infosec.exchange @jdblair@hachyderm.io @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange there was an issue a few years ago in the UK where some chains were deducting any tips received from the servers wages, to bring them down to minimum wage. Tho UK minimum wage is a bit higher than US. It was banned after a public out cry, as well as boycotting of the chains in question.

@0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange @catsalad@infosec.exchange what's with the taking the card away thing? How do you do a pin number for payment?

Cycling back to the station I hear my name being shouted. I turn round and see a friend who was cycling back from Leiden who had seen me and called out. We cycled together for a bit. I'd say something about small country. But I've also had people who know me say hello when I was waiting on a Paris RER platform.

Going past La Mancha, looking at windmills and feeling very annoyed that I couldn't fit a lance through Renfe security.

If I had to explain my experience of Spanish high-speed rail in a simple phrase it would be this: "passenger hostile". I am absolutely amazed that anyone ever thought this was an acceptable way to run a railway. I wonder if anyone from Renfe management has ever used rail services outside of Spain ?

@ChrisMayLA6@mastodon.me.uk @SusiArnott@mastodon.green the flaw in all of this is that the impact that most individuals can have now is minimal. I can't build a bike lane, I can't build a train line, I can't run a night train, I can't convert the steel plant to electrolysis, I cant build an offshore wind farm. We are beyond individuals taking steps. We need society wide measures lead by governments. But that goes against capitalism. Collectively we need to stop using fossil fuels. This can't be done individually.

@raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie @catsalad@infosec.exchange @jdblair@hachyderm.io @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange yeah. I don't understand why that's the norm. It breaks my brain.

The latest party political broadcast from Count Binface is an absolute banger. https://youtu.be/ujHphnnDaGg

@f09fa681@digitalcourage.social @cycling_on_rails@mastodon.social tho having to evict people or luggage from the bike space when I get on with my bike is a right pain in the arse. I would rather trains were just designed properly. Sure sit in the bike space in rush hour, but the rest of the time no thanks.

@MakersHour@cupoftea.social A3 Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha *breathe* Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

@hmwilker@social.tchncs.de it's on purpose. Basically one brand that was known for their quality was quite loud, so there became an association of loud == better quality. Which created an arms race. Then various bike YouTubers would compare free hub sounds when reviewing bikes. And finally a few morons think it's an alternative to a bell for alerting pedestrians.

@BashStKid@mastodon.online exactly.

An intermodal freight train just went past, over a ⅓rd of all the trailers on the train we're Amazon prime branded.

@cycling_on_rails@mastodon.social exactly. No train in normal operation should be more than 50% full. So there shouldn't be contest for space between humans and luggage.

@MakersHour@cupoftea.social A4 tools... sorry is that too obvious an answer? #MakersHour

@falken@social.falkensweb.com @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange @catsalad@infosec.exchange ye fucking gods I hate tap to pay. I'm in France, and my card doesn't work because it's a Dutch card, and every 100 euro i need to input a pin, but none of the payment terminals in france will accept a pin it just shows as declined. Every country has different assumptions, that are often mutually exclusive.

@annehargreaves@ioc.exchange @cycling_on_rails@mastodon.social that's a downgrade. The VIRM 4 fits 6 bikes already. A virm 6 fits 9. They can run a double VIRM which gives us 18...

@jonpsp@mstdn.social my bike is my luggage on so many trips.

@cloudedjudge@hachyderm.io I have a Shimano xt dh-m8000 rear hub laced onto H+Son Archetype rims, it's beautifully quiet. Just the slightest tick to tell you it's working. The rims are bomb proof. I have the Dh-T8000 dynamo hub on the front with the same rim. 30000+km on them, zero regrets.

@fak@cupoftea.social well. In many countries (I.e. NL, DE) a working bell being installed on the bike, is a legal requirement. In the UK, bike bell must be fitted when sold, but there's no legal requirement that it stays fitted. The loud freehubs are just antisocial arseholes

@fak@cupoftea.social I think the "it's so pedestrians can hear me" thing is a retroactive justification to try and make them feel better about the idea...

@allpoints@mstdn.social @chewie@mammut.gogreenit.net for work I couldn't get less than ¼ rack.

@Blackhound@mastodon.ie my longest was 375km

@jernej__s@infosec.exchange @falken@social.falkensweb.com @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange @catsalad@infosec.exchange you think I didn't try that at any of the half dozen different terminals I used? Not a single one asked for a pin.

@chewie@mammut.gogreenit.net @allpoints@mstdn.social it's becoming very expensive, and most datacentres don't want to deal with single server customers

@denisbloodnok@mendeddrum.org before I fixed them my disc brakes squealed like a banshee if I pulled the lever right. Great for scaring the crap out of tourists...

@VeroniqueB99@mastodon.social can you add alt text so I can boost please?