Federation Bot

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Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch)

@catsalad@infosec.exchange 8 hours ago

furry levels are 96% and rising

(96%) ■■■■■■■■■□

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 7 hours ago

@catsalad :3

A stock photo of some dominos falling over that I've labeled. The first domino is falling, the second one is starting to fall, and then the rest are still standing. In order, they read "Me (apparently)", "Catsalad", "Julia Eepymoe", "Yassie Labrynthzone", "Alice (your choice!)", and finally "John Mastodon".

An image of a fursuiter (grabbed from Wikimedia commons) is overlayed on the whole image at a low opacity. — A stock photo of some dominos falling over that I've labeled. The first domino is falling, the second one is starting to fall, and then the rest are still standing. In order, they read "Me (apparently)", "Catsalad", "Julia Eepymoe", "Yassie Labrynthzone", "Alice (your choice!)", and finally "John Mastodon". An image of a fursuiter (grabbed from Wikimedia commons) is overlayed on the whole image at a low opacity.

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 10 hours ago

As someone who sells software, of course I’m fine with buying software.

I’m not okay with renting it.

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 11 hours ago

Varoufakis, si mi país tuviera campos asi para detener a los inmigrantes yo no estaría hablando de multiculturalismo sano y funcional (este es en Samos) https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/58830/eufunded-greek-migrant-camp-described-as-dystopian-nightmare-by-amnesty-international

InfoMigrants

EU-funded Greek migrant camp described as 'dystopian nightmare' by Amnesty International

The human rights organization Amnesty International has described an EU-funded closed migrant detention facility on the Greek island of Samos as a "dystopian nightmare." The Amnesty report follows several other alarms sounded over conditions in Greek migrant camps by other human rights groups.

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 14 hours ago

Quake [E1M1] The Slipgate Complex

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 15 hours ago

Haha. CCS2 electrical vehicle chargers communicate by running powerline commnication (yes, a full IP networking stack) over the wires plugged in your vehicle. And yes, some charging stations have a ssh listening, with default credentials (root/root).

https://www.saiflow.com/blog/the-hidden-ccs2-attack-surface-on-ev-chargers

(thanks @faheus for pointing me to it)

The Hidden CCS2 Attack Surface on EV Chargers

The EV charging industry has well-established security standards. OCPP provides clear guidelines for securing the communication channel between EV Chargers and the Charging Station Management System. While the industry has focused on securing the backend communication, the attack surface exposed through the CCS2 charging plug remains largely untested.

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SSI

@SoftwareSaved@mastodon.social 17 hours ago

📄 We are happy to share that a paper co-authored by SSI Fellow Stephan Druskat and SSI Director Neil Chue Hong has been named runner-up in the 2025 Best Paper Award for Computing in Science & Engineering, awarded by the IEEE Computer Society Publications Board.

The paper, "Better Architecture, Better Software, Better Research," was recognised by the review committee for its originality, rigor, and contribution to the field.

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 17 hours ago

The paper draws on a Dagstuhl Seminar on "Research Software Engineering: Bridging Knowledge Gaps," co-organised by Druskat and SSI's Caroline Jay.

The full list of 2025 IEEE Computer Society Best Paper Award winners and runners-up is available on the IEEE Computer Society website: https://www.computer.org/publications/2025-best-paper-award-winners

The paper itself can be read via IEEE Xplore: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11017520

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11017520

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Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 19 hours ago

Public Transport - Don't Make Me Think!

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/07/public-transport-dont-make-me-think/

In the last year, I've been through over a dozen cities and used public transport in all of them.

It is wild just how confusing and complex buying a ticket can be. While some cities obviously take a user-centred approach to ticketing, others appear to take a Kafkaesque delight in a bureaucratic maze of zones, apps, and intricate restrictions.

One of the seminal texts in computer systems design is "Don't Make Me Think". Every time a service forces the user into making a decision, it is placing a cognitive burden on them. Computers' jobs are to make things easier for us fleshy meatbags.

There are some intractable problems with navigating unfamiliar spaces (looking at you Kyoto Station!) and a transport authority can't publish signs and make announcements in every conceivable language, but there's one thing they can control - ticketing.

Let me take you through some of the public transport ticket experiences I had - and explain how easy or hard they were to use.

Basel, Switzerland - free

Upon checking in to our hotel I was given a free Basel Card. It entitled me to free public transport across the city.

Zero extra cost. I didn't have to remember to take a physical card with me - the details were emailed as a PDF directly from the hotel on check-in.

I didn't have to show the bus driver when I entered a tram. If a ticket inspector was present, they could have asked to scan it.

This is close to the platonic ideal of "Don't Make Me Think" public transport. I didn't have to work out zones, fares, or timings. I didn't need to interact with people or machines. I didn't worry that I was somehow doing it wrong and was going to get shouted at.

Milano, Italy - contactless

I tapped my credit card on the reader. Whether it was a bus, tram, or metro the process was the same. Tap, wait a few milliseconds, beep. On the metro the gates opened automatically. On the tram, I just sat down after the beep.

The fares have a bit of complexity based on how frequently you travel. If you catch another bus within 90 minutes it only counts as one fare.

I didn't care because the daily price was capped.

Once I'd taken a few journeys it wasn't going to cost me any more. With a fee-free credit card it was simplicity itself.

If I had been on an extremely tight budget, I might have done some thinking - but as the daily cap was less than the price of a cocktail, I didn't bother.

Warsaw - paper ticket validation

I walked up to a touchscreen kiosk, selected the 🇬🇧 flag, and bought a 3 day paper ticket for a few € using contactless. The machine spat out a small paper ticket.

I hopped onto a tram, shoved the ticket in a slot and the machine printed a timestamp on it. Well, in theory. It didn't work the first few times for inscrutable reasons.

From then on, I didn't have to do anything. I jumped on whatever public transport I wanted. Only once did a ticket inspector come round demanding to see everyone's proof of validity.

The ticket was a slightly inconvenient size for my wallet - being much smaller than a credit card - and I think the kiosk should have validated it automatically. But, for general transport purposes, it was great at not forcing me to think.

Tallinn - scan the app

Install an app, choose ticket type, pay, done.

Every time I entered public transport, open the app, click the ticket, wave the resultant QR over a scanner.

Obviously choosing a ticket type is a little thinky. Do I want a single ticket, a day pass, something longer?

I'm not averse to installing an app when necessary. Thankfully, this transit app worked on GrapheneOS. There was an optional registration step which I skipped because I was unlikely to come back any time soon.

Riga - scan the bus

OK, this was just weird!

Much like above, install app, choose ticket, pay.

Despite buying an all-you-can-eat ticket, I still had to register on every bus/tram I got on. That meant hopping on, finding a QR code, opening the app, and trying to scan it while the driver attempted a new land-speed record.

Paris - ridiculous

Fuck Paris. The only way to buy a metro ticket is to download an app. Fair enough. But, after downloading the app it tells you to install another app!

Navigo app saying I have to install another app.

What the actual fuck? A convoluted, messy, and frustrating situation which has resulted in awful reviews for them.

Trains and metro travel require separate tickets at different prices. You can't easily hop from one to another. You need to think carefully about the route you're taking. A more convoluted route may be significantly cheaper because it doesn't involve swapping between services.

Madness!

The ticket readers use your phone's NFC chip to validate. So there's no technical reason why they can't just use contactless payment cards.

To be fair, change is coming… in 2030!

So what's best?

In an ideal world, all public transport would be free and plentiful. In our less-than-ideal reality, it seems obvious to me that public transport should above all be simple.

Tourists don't want to grapple with the complexities of zones, split tickets, random charges, and a different app for each city.

Regular travellers don't want yet another piece of plastic tat in their wallets, or to work out in advance what precise combination of journeys they need to take in order to optimise their spending.

One app is fine. Having to install a different app for each city you visit - even within the same country! - is infuriating.

Visitors should not have to think about how, where, when, or why they need to validate their tickets. Nor should anyone need to figure out which modes of transport are inclusive or not.

For the casual visitor, contactless payment with a daily / weekly cap is the simplest possible charging mechanism. It's cheaper for the cities to not have to build, develop, and support apps.

If you've come across a better public transport ticketing system - please let me know in the comments.

#usability

Contactless pay as you go

ATM, Azienda Trasporti Milanesi

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Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot yesterday

Foodball: Get your dinner plate into the goal intact, and serve it to the referee at the table in the back of the net.

Advanced rule: No hands.

#AltSportingEvents
#HashTagGames

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 2 days ago

Reportage. À Gaza, enseigner la musique sous les tentes
https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/reportage-a-gaza-enseigner-la-musique-sous-les-tentes_248133?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Publié dans Courrier International @courrier-international-CourrierInter

Courrier international

À Gaza, enseigner la musique sous les tentes

Avec les moyens du bord, un petit groupe d’anciens employés du Conservatoire national, détruit par la guerre, a décidé de dispenser des cours dans un camp de dé...

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 2 days ago

So I've been on here for a long while, but I'm back using this account after hosting my own server, then going over to Micro.blog. So an #introduction to anyone new. I'm Marti Abernathey, I'm the founder of Transadvocate.com, I'm a radiographer, and I support pretty much anything the right considers “woke”. I'm into home automation, and talk about the state of politics and the world. I'll probably curse. I love bad puns. My blog can be followed here: @marti@martiabernathey.com and my Peertube here: @the_tparty

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 2 days ago

三連休か、キャンプ行きてえなぁ～ #三連休はフォロワーが増えるらしい

4 media

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Andreea

@diemkay@hachyderm.io 2 days ago

2am “babe wake up, there’s a hedgehog giving birth outside our office window”

I really wanted to know if we actually had any, because unfortunately the only ones I’d seen were splattered on the road, killed by motorists.

After a bit of sound ID-ing, it turns out there were two hedgehogs in a long mating ritual with a lot of huffing 😂

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 2 days ago

Two useful websites:

http://www.hedgehog-rescue.org.uk/sounds/noises.php has sound clips of hedgehogs to help identify distress versus dreaming or mating

https://helpahedgehog.org/ how to help a #hedgehog if you spot one during the day (unusual), and if they’re suffering from hypothermia

Help a Hedgehog

Help A Hedgehog

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Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 2 days ago

RE: https://mastodon.au/@politicalgadgets/116943270504380974

Keeping a random eye on this graph is interesting. Who is spending dosh on Facebook ads? Track it over time.

Would be interesting to then correlate against news cycle.

And commentariat.

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 2 days ago

RE: https://flipboard.com/@alan_g24/trumpism-tyranny-and-travesty-03c9iluoz/-/a-x8ozENvZQ5OtF8DP7t6JOg%3Aa%3A32393059-%2F0

#FuckTrump for endangering cyclists and pedestrians.

Federation Bot

@Federation_Bot 3 days ago

worm drive? damn how do they operate their car

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Buccia

@BucciaBuccia@mastodon.social 5 days ago

@informapirata @eticadigitale Servirebbe una indagine sui sistemi di lettura targhe analoghi in Italia. I comuni adorano installarli ma non esiste alcuna informazione su chi ha accesso ai dati, per quali finalità, per quanto tempo, quali sono i sistemi di sicurezza. La targa è una approssimazione del riconoscimento facciale.