Sylvain Miermont @miermont@qoto.org

Requirements for an EU grant

Does the fediverse count? :p

One of the neat things about the IBM Selectric typewriter is that it has interchangeable "typeballs" for different fonts/languages. And now someone figured out how to 3D print custom ones, so now you can type on a Selectric in Comic Sans. https://www.printables.com/model/441233-comic-sans-typeball-for-the-ibm-selectric-typewrit

***** Google's plans to restrict sideloading on Android are an authoritarian wet dream come true *****

Let me be really clear about how horrifically dangerous #Google's plans are to restrict #Android sideloading to "verified developers" (that is, entities for which Google has full verified identity and associated information that they could hand over to authorities on demand).

This means that even though you own your Android device, you cannot install apps obtained from ANY source (except perhaps apps you build yourself that will only be permitted to run on your own device) unless Google knows pretty much everything about who created that app.

The ways that this could be abused are so numerous I won't even start listing them here, other than to note that it is absolutely horrific overreach by Google and at least appears to be Google bending over for abusive government demands, and could put already vulnerable individuals and groups at even more risk.

Absolutely disgusting.

L

Old software tends to get new coats of paint over the years to keep it looking shiny. But occasionally the paint flakes off and you can see the old metal beneath.

In the case of cPanel's WebHost Manager (WHM) product, that paint crack is an option in the user settings to get alerts about the status of your web server via ICQ

In case you missed it yesterday I spent a couple of hours in Kehl 🇩🇪, just across the Rhein from Strasbourg 🇫🇷 trying to assess the non #Schengen compliant border controls https://gruene.social/@jon/115073311955243721

@xyla @Stellar @EUCommission

"In the olden days, you see, when my expectations were laid down, and tape recorders recorded onto tape, the good ones had a special playback head that came after the recording head. (...) Admittedly, you were always listening a fraction of a second behind the action but at least you knew that the recorder was indeed capturing the action.

Not so today. It is entirely possible to conduct a long interview, monitoring all the while through your headphones, without capturing a single peep. Ask me how I know."

https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/i-will-get-fooled-again

Do you steward or moderate a digital social space? We know it’s a role that often takes time, energy, and care, but the tools and platforms don’t always take that into account.

Now is your chance to share your experience in @iftas's 2025 Fediverse Needs Assessment and help improve the web for all.

https://about.iftas.org/2025/08/11/the-2025-fediverse-needs-assessment-is-open-have-your-say/

I picked up a prerelease copy of “Designing Electronics That Work” by Hunter Scott. And I think I can recommend it on the force of this paragraph alone. #Electronics

Adding up the stats from #CrossBorderRail...

388 #CrossBorderRail lines visited and investigated

150567km on 1010 trains

5079km by bike, across 208 bike stages

12111km by bus, ferry, tram, metro, car

And all of that since 13 June 2022 😀 And I might have a few more grey hairs than I had when I started!

All the borders mapped here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#6/49.468/13.601

i'm proud to have been involved in the creation of this new book from
@nostarch , Designing Electronics That Work! it's full of useful material for anyone who wants to build anything electronic and bring it to mass production.

https://nostarch.com/designingelectronics

People give unsolicited advice all the time in person and it's rarely as annoying as when the same thing happens online.

Sometimes (often, if I'm being honest), I will post about something here, and the post garners suggestions from people that I immediately find irritating. But if I step back and think about it, the suggestions are things that wouldn't bother me if a friend said them to me in real life

I've been pondering lately about why that is, and I think I have some answers.

1. Parasociality: Social media creates an asymmetry in person-to-person interactions that shows up as parasocial relationships. The result is that people might feel like they're giving advice to a friend, but to the recipient, it's like getting advice from a stranger. I think it's usually easier to accept advice from a friend because there's a sense that they know you and understand your situation.

2. Communication: Online communications are stripped of all the non-verbal cues that help lubricate person-to-person interactions. If your real-life friend makes a suggestion that you don't care for, you might sigh heavily or roll your eyes -- behaviors that communicate that you aren't receptive to the idea. I think those kinds of cues can carry more weight than a verbal explanation. Online, all a person gets is a verbal explanation, and those lend themselves to parsing and debate. And no one wants to debate something like that, especially if they are a stranger (see point 1)

3. Volume: If you're with a group of friends and complain about something, one of them might chime in with some advice, but everyone else is privy to that interaction. If you reject it, your other friends will know not to keep suggesting the same thing. If you accept it, everyone else hears that and you can move on to a new topic. Online, people don't always see and often don't bother to read other replies, so you end up with several people suggesting the same thing, even after you've already told someone else it won't work.

In short, social media sucks for socializing!

Retaliation

#webcomic #krita #miniFantasyTheater

Missionaries have been secretly and illegally placing small devices on the lands of isolated indigenous peoples in the Amazon in an attempt to convert them to their faith

The 'In Touch' devices - made by a Baptist group in Atlanta, Georgia USA - play out passages of the Bible. Weatherproof and fitted with solar panel, they run indefinitely.

The devices have been found scattered throughout the Javari region, near Brazil's border with Peru.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jul/27/missionaries-using-secret-audio-devices-to-evangelise-brazils-isolated-peoples

#colonisation

Incredible! Not only is there a twice yearly injection that is 99% effective in preventing HIV infection, but the drug company that owns the patent is making it available at effectively cost

https://newatlas.com/infectious-diseases/hiv-prevention-fda-lenacapavir/

Every time I open LinkedIn, someone from a science agency shares an unplanned (forced) early retirement or RIF. Lately it’s NASA and EPA. In the spring, NOAA. I think people have no idea how deep this loss really is. I don’t know what rebuilding federal science looks like, but it won’t be simple or quick.

Since Microsoft is organising a European Sovereign Tech Fund, we should ask Lockheed Martin to put together a European Sovereign Defense Fund. There’s probably also opportunity here to bring Amazon in to advise on EU labour standards and have McDonald’s take the lead on food safety policy in the EU.

CC @EUCommission

#EU #USA #corporateCapture #europeanSovereignTechFund #microsoft #github #openSource #freeSoftware #tech #freedom #humanRights #democracy

Part of the job as a cybersecurity professional is in fact arguing to purge and not log information about your customers.

Data is not oil. It's risk.

Nothing will ever be enough to "prove" science has value in a political era where power can simply decide to make an entire ecosystem a scapegoat, and people are ready to modify their beliefs immediately in response. Curing all of cancer wouldn't be enough.