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@Dio9sys Sadly, I have to ask for the source, otherwise I will assume this is AI slop.

@Jonas_Bostrom @jon One wonders how they managed to design the train like that? Are the same carriage models expected to be sold to some country where the platform is much closer to the track?

@ei8gvb @erebion @tal Exactly!

(But I guess it might be harder for somebody whose native language is not English, or not even Indo-European, even if they know (just) English. It requires experience and skill to successfully guesstimate what simple sentences in a language mean when you don't know it but it is closely related to a language you do know.)

@stefano Good action from you, congratulations!

@erebion @tal How hard *what* can be? Understanding what essentially is an ad on the outside of a train?

@tal Have you had the opportunity to enjoy Trenitalia (machine) announcements? Very repetitive, very verbose and tedious, fairly odd English pronunciation. (One would think that when recording announcements, they would find a professional native English speaker.) You might feel forced to adjust your enthusiasm...

"tap tap mode"
"easy and convenient"
long harangue about some law including its number and date that mercifully is only in Italian
etc.

@tal The actual announcements in the train are gloriously in four languages (by the same person): German, Dutch, French, and English. At least when I have taken such a train, which admittedly is much less often than @jon and others. Don't remember if they switch the order depending on the official language of the municipality the train is in at the moment, like I think for instance SBB does in domestic Swiss trains.

(In domestic Belgian trains, outside Brussels (which is bilingual), announcements are, AFAICR, *either* in French or Dutch, *only*. Even if the member of staff would know both languages perfectly. And if they get it wrong, it can have consequences for the poor member of staff.)

@tal The train doesn't go to Ireland.

I mean that many, or at least we Nordics, often wrongly think that English is more important than it is. Sure, it is important, but I think it is just fine that on a train that runs between Germany and Belgium, some marketing text on it is just in the languages of those countries

@jon Nice that they haven't added an English text in there. (Not sarcasm.)

Be careful out there.

@Richard_Littler Some white people are desperate to believe anything to avoid having to realise that ancient brown people have constructed impressive monuments.

@dominicstucki Thanks for the lovely writeup. I have been to Uetliberg in 1996 and 2017, but am ashamed to mention that I don't think I even noticed the off-center catenary and pantographs. (And did not know about it beforehand.)

> 79‰! That’s as steep as it gets on non-rack normal gauge railways in Switzerland!

Take that, Bernina line!

@barefootliam Fascinating mechanism. I had no idea catapults were used in that way, too, and not just to hurl projectiles from a bowl or bag attached to the arm. Fun how the part that strikes the arrow is shaped like a fist.

Mastodon folks can be so charmingly naïve. Like this. Does the person doing this ”poll” really expect it to show anything useful? Who doesn’t already know that most Firefox users who are here surely are against AI in most of its forms? Does that in any way match all Firefox users? I have no idea, but I doubt it.

And note: I am a Safari user. I want as few AI features in my browser as possible.

Quality media is not afraid to use the k-word.

When was the last time you saw a non-animated #GIF?

So the Venezuelan oil wells are not on fire yet? Did they not see this coming? Or is there a significant layer of middle management that have resisted such attempts? Or are there technical or geological reasons why what we saw in Kuwait in 1991 can not happen in Venezuela?

Apropos, one wonders whether the ASML machines in Taiwan have explosive charges just waiting for a Communist invasion?

I am fairly sure Trump, Putler, and Xi have made the Secret Deal of the Century.

The US gets Venezuela, and Greenland. Putler gets Ukraine and the Baltics. Xi gets Taiwan.

For starters.

Wow. TIL the etymology of the name #Venezuela. I'll let you guess yourselves before you check. (Do not reply with spoilers.)

(Thanks @JonnElledge )

Don't say: "headless" (about some computer without display and input devices)

Do say: "acephalous"