I didn't realize that Swiss trains apparently also adhere to the "schedule for 80% of capacity rule".
Apparently trains in Switzerland go around 80% of the top speed possible on the track. The 20% overhead is used to make up time in the case of delays.
The thinking is: stable and predictable operation is more important than going faster. Because the cost of passengers regularly missing layovers is much higher than the benefits of trains being 20% faster.
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Slack, overhead, and spare capacity are not inefficiencies to be ground down, but integral to the stable functioning of systems. Because a system without buffers cannot absorb shocks.
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@yosh something I internalized in the Texas winter storm of 2021: the opposite of "efficiency" isn't "waste" it's "redundancy"
Event alert! 6 February 2026 — Cambridge
"After Section 28: LGBTQIA+ Rights in an Age of Censorship and Backlash" is an urgent day of discussion and action on the growing censorship of LGBTQIA+ lives, and lessons we can learn from Section 28.
Tickets available here https://buytickets.at/aftersection28/1907726
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@andypiper @neil as an employee of CU, I’ll definitely get a ticket — will be an opportunity to press certain people should any rules on what toilets I can use can enacted at work before then…
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@rachel @andypiper Oh, I'm sorry, that's awful :(
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“Excuse me is this the backpack to Roosjesdaal?”
“Yes via Brussel-Midi”
Alt...
Rosahaj in backpack asking OV a question
You can become a sustainer and read more about what we've been up to here:
We're a small group of UK-focused hackers, from far and wide across the country, looking to bring some of the CCC spirit back home with us!
We're hoping to grow a grassroots community, fostering spaces and meetups aimed at keeping the chaos spirit flowing 1st Jan to 26th Dec.
We'll be looking to meet and connect with other UK-focused hacking communities and like-minded groups.
We're looking forward to seeing you at #39c3 and online!
Stay tuned for more info on how to find us.
@neil @pwaring
Isn't this just the new version of "no-one was ever fired for buying IBM"?
If you choose the dominant market player, and stuff goes south: "you can't blame me, it was general consensus that this was the thing to do"
If you choose to self-host, and anything at all goes even slightly wrong: "this wouldn't have happened if we had just gone with [insert relevant monopoly company]"
| Fruit: | 0 |
| Vegetable: | 8 |
| Both: | 1 |
Closed
Watering down the GDPR is, IMHO, utterly undesirable, and most likely harmful to the rights of data subjects.
A personal principle of mine is, when I realistically can (and that's a massive caveat), to do business with people and organisations that I trust, rather than for whom the slight possibility of regulatory enforcement or litigation is all that's holding them back from taking advantage of me.
Unsolicited advice [SENSITIVE CONTENT]
This may or may not help, but there's a public bridge at aria-net.org which lets you join Matrix rooms and 1:1 chats, without a Matrix account or server, from XMPP.Like all bridges, I'm never 100% confident it's working properly on the other end! But, it's worked quite well for me so far.
Parliament is going to debate the petition you signed – “Repeal the Online Safety Act”.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/722903
The debate is scheduled for 15 December 2025.
Can a toddler be a terrorist?
A shocking new report has found that babies and toddlers have been referred to the UK's controversial counter-terrorism scheme Prevent hundreds of times since 2016.
ORG has shown that data collected under the Prevent programme is widely shared and retained for years even when referrals are marked ‘no further action’. Lives are being impacted from an absurdly young age.
Read more from Hyphen:
https://hyphenonline.com/2025/11/12/babies-referred-to-prevent-counter-terror-islamist/
Other changes:
"Completely open source" → "based on open standards"
Specific deadlines → open consultation period
Technical specs (OpenAPI) → general principles
Fixed roadmap → iterative development
@sebastian Don’t threaten me with a good time. I *wish* package registries didn’t exist. Centralised package registries of this kind are an absolute terrible idea.
“What if everybody did it?” is the cornerstone of Kantian ethical morality: “Take every action, as if, by acting it's willed into universal law”.
… which is a fancy way of saying “Do onto others as you would have do unto you”.
So, I'm totally ok with a “what if everyone did it?” analysis.
& I'm not sure there is even a utilitarian comeback here.
Cc: @AnnieBuddy @evan
I’m glad @servo exists, is hosted by the European arm of the Linux Foundation, has excellent engineers from @igalia paid to work on it, and is funded by @nlnet.
Web browsers are a crucial component of how we access to (and share) information. The status quo is not okay, and it’s likely to deteriorate further.
Tonight I am grumpy that IPv6 adoption is not universal.
Spinning up a new (public facing) service would be so much easier if I didn't have to faff around with v4.
75 years ago today, European nations signed this Convention, so the Holocaust could not be repeated. Beware those who want this to end.
Alt...
Right to life.
Prohibition of torture.
Prohibition of slavery and forced labour.
Right to liberty and security.
Right to a fair trial.
No punishment without law.
Right to respect for private and family life.
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Freedom of expression.
Freedom of assembly and association.
Right to marry.
Right to an effective remedy.
Prohibition of discrimination.
Prohibition of abuse of rights.
EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
75 YEARS (1950 - 2025)
Websites often pressure users to change browsers needlessly.
I run Firefox ESR 128.14.0.
https://www.firefox.com/en-US/firefox/128.14.0/releasenotes/ says it's nary 3 months old. Yet my bank says:
> “Your browser is no longer supported. For…improved security, update to…latest version.”
Reading bank's FAQ it's b/c they only support last 2 #Firefox releases (ignoring ESRs).
Web designers once aspired to “graceful degradation” — but that principle slowly declined in fashion since ≈ 2011.
Today, those who aspired to it now shun it.
> The number of sick and disabled people out of work is putting the UK at risk of an "economic inactivity crisis" that threatens the country's prosperity, according to a new report.
What an inhumane framing.
I appreciate that I am going out on a limb here, but perhaps we should sodding well care for and look after people so that they can live their best, most fulfilling lives, not so that they can "return to work".
Honestly, this is disgusting.
⏰ NEXT WEEK ⏰
We're going beyond the screen and hosting a meet up IRL. Whether you're a supporter or just curious, everyone is welcome to pop down.
Hear from our team, mingle and join the movement!
🗓️ Monday 10 November
🕡 6:30-9pm GMT
📍 Newspeak House, London, UK
Sign up ➡️ https://www.openrightsgroup.org/events/org-london-meet-up/
I almost want to try deleting random parts of a throwaway install, but then doing that on a real system is something else entirely. I'd definitely be worried that I missed something subtle/important.
python3.Not many experiences since have replicated that sinking feeling, seeing the system get removed in front of my eyes, kicking myself for having not spent 2 seconds looking at the list of packages to be removed.
Like you @KatS@chaosfem.tw I ended up reinstalling the whole thing, maybe it was salvagable but I for one had no idea how to do that 😀
Thought: I should dress my bicycle up as a human crawling on all fours for Halloween, then I will dress myself up as a bicycle and ride it around.
…
No, I am not drunk or high right now, why do you ask?
My “old man yelling at clouds” moment is: we shouldn’t have allowed html in emails, markdown (without any html tag) is enough.
This! Buy from local (independent) stores instead of online giants; attend live shows, and buy merch directly from the bands; eat locally-grown (organic) food; use privacy-focused, community-built online services; buy used gear & equipment instead of brand new ones; and of course, do it all based on what you can afford and as a best-effort thing, without being hard on yourself if/when it just isn't possible.
For sure, it won't change the world, but it will feel good 😎
https://terminal.ahumanfuture.co/posts/2025-10-17/the-world-is-something-that-we-make/
Please support your local decentralised messenger and stop this parasocial relationship with the blue messenger. You will never be able to fix him. Your decentralised alternative may not work as well, but that's because it's not effectively subsidized by big tech hyperscalers.
But hey, maybe we're not meant to have seamless calls everywhere and everytime and not pay anything! *loses 90% of the crowd*
Awww. We're fucked.
Do you turn off your alarm clock and continue sleeping? Get the new VimAlarmClock: you need to type :q to quit. The Pro version has an unsaved buffer in the background.
A little more than 2 months after Debian, we’re finally releasing Mobian Trixie as our new stable release! We’re also taking this opportunity to start rotating the PGP/GPG keys we’re using for signing both our images and package archive.
You can read more on our blog: https://blog.mobian.org/posts/2025/10/new-stable-rotating-keys/
If you design an on-hold audio loop, you shouldn't put it into production until you spend a day trying to do your regular job while on hold. If so, you'll learn:
1st: offer a callback queue if possible.
2nd: offer user the *choice* of pure silence or audio loop while holding.
3rd: the audio loop should:
* have completely consistent volume level.
* never break in w/ human voices in the loop (eg: “Remeber our website…”) once loop starts. It *will* sound like live agent every time to most users.