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Tag: europe

  • The sun completely occluded by the moon.

    Three(ish) Weeks In Spain

    With exceptions for those of us who had work to do at the start or end, my family and I just spent three weeks hopping around the East of Spain, featuring surfing, a theme park, exploring, dodging the heat, and - of course - a total solar eclipse.

    Read more - about 9 minutes (2030 words)

    • Article
    • posted 23 August, 2026
  • A row of ticket gates in a London Underground station.

    Contactless Transport in London vs Paris

    Paris is rolling-out contactless tap-in payments for its transport network. Sounds like London's... except that Paris's includes a "convenience tax" that seems to disproportionately target short-term visitors. What might this say about each city's relationship with tourism?

    Read more - about 4 minutes (751 words)

    • Article
    • 3 comments
    • posted 21 July, 2026
  • Illustration showing a flying monster passing in front of a digestive system diagram decorated with symbols of dice and punctuation marks, alongside a light switch toggling 'warm blooded' and 'cold blooded' modes.

    How the European heatwave fucked me up

    I've been somewhat-offline for the last few days, after a heatwave lead to a heat illness lead to an opportunistic infection lead to me lying in bed and groaning. But I'm getting back to normal, slowly.

    Read more - about 6 minutes (1327 words)

    • Article
    • 3 comments
    • posted 30 June, 2026
  • 'Rainbow Map' of Europe. In general, the trend is that the further East you go, the weaker LGBT+ rights are, with Russia and Turkey being the worst, and the further West the better they get (with Belgium and Iceland excelling). There are a few exceptions, like Italy (less rights than you'd expect) and Greece (more rights than you'd expect), as well as standout Malta (topping the charts), but otherwise the trend is solid... except for the UK, which stands out as a weak performer in Western Europe, even compared to traditionally socially-conservative countries like Ireland and Switzerland.

    LGBT+ History Month

    Here in the UK we celebrate LGBT+ History Month in February. This year, I'd encourage you to look at the history of queer rights in the UK, and use it to celebrate what we've achieved so far... but more-importantly, as a reminder that there's more to do (especially lately).

    Read more - about 3 minutes (624 words)

    • Article
    • posted 7 February, 2026
  • A model of the E-ELT made of 5274 LEGO© bricks! The total cost of the model, which has a scale of approximately 1:150, is about 600 Euros. | Picture by Frans Snik of a LEGO version of the European Extremely Large Telescope. Yes, LEGO is a European invention too.

    Why there’s no European Google?

    Lionel Dricot explains why the big tech companies are mostly American, not European (and why that's a good thing). It's a cultural difference that also results in Europeans being behind so many of the most-important open source and open standards projects in the world.

    Read more (320 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • 2 comments
    • posted 6 February, 2026
  • Video framegrab showing an alternate history map of Europe in mid-to-late 20th century. West Germany has formed an economic union with several neighbouring states, while France and Italy have elected Communist governments and are within the Soviet sphere of influence.

    What If the EU Never Existed?

    It's Europe Day, and Nebula/YouTube channel EU Made Simple has released a video, What If the EU Never Existed?, describing a chilling alternate-history of post-WWII Europe. Well worth a watch.

    Read more (229 words)

    • Repost
    • of this original
    • posted 9 May, 2025
  • "Trans former judge plans to challenge gender ruling at European court": https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qw2149yelo

    Representation matters. That we have a trans former-judge, somebody both well-equipped and motivated to escalate this important challenge to the ECHR, is hugely fortunate.

    We need more representation (of trans people specifically, but many other groups too, and perhaps particularly in the intersections) in positions of power, expertise, and authority. To defend the human rights of all of us.

    Wishing you luck, Victoria McCloud.

    • Note
    • posted 29 April, 2025
  • German chat app slacking on hashing fined €20k

    by Richard Chirgwin (The Register) German chat platform Knuddels.de ("Cuddles") has been fined €20,000 for storing user passwords in plain text (no hash at all? Come on, people, it's 2018).

    The data of Knuddels users was copied and published by malefactors in July. In September, someone emailed the company warning them that user data had been …

    Read more (150 words)

    • Repost
    • 3 comments
    • posted 26 November, 2018
  • For the love of god, not everything is about cats

    Earlier this week, the Spanish government raided the Barcelona office of the PuntCat Foundation, the company that administers the .cat domain, and arrested one of its senior executives.

    PuntCat means “dot cat” in Catalan, the language spoken in the Catalonian region of Spain as well as places in France, Andorra, and Italy. The office was raided …

    Read more (147 words)

    • Repost
    • 1 comment
    • posted 30 September, 2017
  • Image representing post: Data-hucksters beware: online privacy is returning

    Data-hucksters beware: online privacy is returning

    Next year, 25 May looks like being a significant date. That’s because it’s the day that the European Union’s general data protection regulation (GDPR) comes into force. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it’s a date that is already keeping many corporate executives awake at night. And for those who …

    Read more (138 words)

    • Repost
    • 1 comment
    • posted 6 September, 2017
  • Tearing Europe Apart: 20 ways to divide Europe into slices

    20 Ways To Slice A Continent



    Atlas of Prejudice

    Read more - about 1 minutes (3 words)

    • Repost
    • posted 5 August, 2016
  • Image representing post: Leading By Example

    Leading By Example

    After getting thoroughly confused by the new European Union directives on the use of cookies, which come into force later this month, Dan goes to the Information Commissioner's website to look for some guidance... only to discover that they don't meet the new requirements, either.

    Read more (467 words)

    • Article
    • 2 comments
    • posted 15 May, 2011

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