Posted on February 3, 2026
Tags: madeof:atoms, madeof:bits
Today I had a day off. Some of it went great. Some less so.
I woke up, went out to pay our tribute to NotOurCat, and it was snowing! yay! And I had a day off, so if it had snowed enough that shovelling was needed, I had time to do it (it didn’t, it started to rain soon afterwards, but still, YAY snow!).
Then I had breakfast, with the fruit rye bread I had baked yesterday, and I treated myself to some of the strong Irish tea I have left, instead of the milder ones I want to finish before buying more of the Irish.
And then, I bought myself a fancy new expensive fountain pen. One that costs 16€! more than three times as much as my usual ones! I hope it will work as well, but I’m quite confident it should. I’ll find out when it arrives from Germany (together with a few ink samples that will result in a future blog post with some SCIENCE).
I decided to try and use bank transfers instead of my visa debit card when buying from online shops that give the option to do so: it’s a tiny bit more effort, but it means I’m paying 0.25€ to my bank1rather than the seller having to pay some unknown amount to an US based payment provider. Unluckily, the fountain pen website offered a huge number of payment methods, but not bank transfers. sigh.
And then, I could start working a bit on the connecting wires for the LED strips for our living room: I soldered two pieces, six wires each (it’s one RGB strip, 4 pins, and a warm white one requiring two more), then did a bit of tests, including writing some micropython code to add a test mode that lights up each colour in sequence, and the morning was almost gone. For some reason this project, as simple as it is, is taking forever. But it is showing progress.
There was a break, when the postman delivered a package of chemicals2 for a future project or two. There will be blog posts!
After lunch I spent some time finishing eyelets on the outfit I wanted to wear this evening, as I had not been able to finish it during fosdem. This one will result in two blog posts!
Meanwhile, in the morning I didn’t remember the name of the program I used to load software on micropython boards such as the one that will control the LED strips (that’s thonny), and while searching for it in the documentation, I found that there is also a command line program I can use, mpremote, and that’s a much better fit for my preferences!
I mentioned it in an xmpp room full of nerds, and one of them mentioned that he could try it on his Inkplate, when he had time, and I was nerd-sniped into trying it on mine, which had been sitting unused showing the temperatures in our old house on the last day it spent there and needs to be updated for the sensors in the new house.
And that lead to the writing of some notes on how to set it up from the command line(good), and to the opening on one upstream issue(bad), because I have an old model, and the board-specific library isn’t working. at all.
And that’s when I realized that it was 17:00, I still had to cook the bread I had been working on since yesterday evening (ciabatta, one of my favourites, but it needs almost one hour in the oven), the outfit I wanted to wear in the evening was still not wearable, the table needed cleaning and some panicking was due. Thankfully, my mother was cooking dinner, so I didn’t have to do that too.
I turned the oven on, sewed the shoulder seams of the bodice while spraying water on the bread every 5 minutes, and then while it was cooking on its own, started to attach a closure to the skirt, decided that a safety pin was a perfectly reasonable closure for the first day an outfit is worn, took care of the table, took care of the bread, used some twine to close the bodice, because I still haven’t worked out what to use for laces, realized my bodkin is still misplaced, used a longand sharp and big needle meant for sewing mattresses instead of a bodkin, managed not to stab myself, and less than half an hour late we could have dinner.
There was bread, there was Swedish crispbread, there were spreads (tuna, and beans), and vegetables, and then there was the cake that caused my mother to panic when she added her last honey to the milk and it curdled (my SO and I tried it, it had no odd taste, we decided it could be used) and it was good, although I had to get a second slice just to be 100% sure of it.
And now I’m exhausted, and I’ve only done half of the things I had planned to do, but I’d still say I’ve had quite a good day.
- Banca Etica, so one that avoids any investment in weapons and a number of other problematic things.↩︎
- not food grade, except for one, but kitchen-safe.↩︎
blog.trueelena.org/blog/2026/0…
3rdi
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Svavar the Neurospicy
in reply to 3rdi • • •Safety regulations are written in blood.
Grant
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •And then there's the *incredibly predictable* consequences of not understanding.
thelondoneconomic.com/business…
#Brexit #BrexitLies #EU #Europe
The economic cost of Brexit laid bare
TLE (The London Economic)James
in reply to Grant • • •@gsymon
"This leaves Britain as a rare modern case study: a rich country that deliberately raised barriers to trade and cooperation and paid the price. "
And now we have the States: a rich country that deliberately raised barriers to trade and cooperation and paid the price.
Julio J. 🀲
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Insert here meme of
> Man tries to burn EU flag. Flag doesn't burn because of EU regulations on flammable materials.
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Hypolite Petovan
in reply to Julio J. 🀲 • • •Matt
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •@cstross mmm, yes, I used to have one cable, a lightning cable, and it did everything. Now I have a cupboard full of USB-C cables. Some do 100W, some don’t, some do display port alt mode.
Did you know it’s possible to get a USB-C cable that only does USB2? I didn’t, until I only got USB2 speeds on my SSD.
Calling USB-C a standard is like calling all 4 legged animals dogs.
Charlie Stross
in reply to Matt • • •Matt
in reply to Charlie Stross • • •@cstross And I do get that, but I think this is a case of careful what you wish for. Lots of battery powered electronics now come with a USB-C charge cable that you want to throw in the bin, because it will get mixed up with all your other cables and you will use it and spend 30 minutes wondering why your device is slow/doesn't work. Of particular joy to those performing tech support for parents.
Apple tried to stop shipping cables with everything, and people got pissed about that too.
Kent Navalesi ☕️
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •lkh
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Konstantin 🔭
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •those regulations also include other perks like:
- Prices you see in the store or online are final (no hidden fees).
- You get European movies and content on Netflix and other platforms
- When you order something, you get info when it will be delivered
- When you buy food, you know it’s safe to eat
- 2 years of free warranty for gadgets and electronics
- Your kid can go to school or get a degree regardless of your financial situation
… and that’s just scratching the surface
zed
in reply to Konstantin 🔭 • • •matzipan
in reply to Konstantin 🔭 • • •𝙲:\𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚣𝚎𝚗> █
in reply to Konstantin 🔭 • • •Nicks World
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Mike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺
in reply to Nicks World • • •@NicksWorld
I'm not sure that's a good analogy.
The EU is perhaps more like a benevolent uncle who keeps you safe and looks after you from a distance.
Oh how I wish we were still European here in the UK!
🦩 Plastic Garden Fauna 🦩
in reply to Nicks World • • •@NicksWorld @MikeFromLFE
As an American, I'm jealous of that willingness to reign in the worst behaviors society can create.
If you think the EU's regulations are excessivly strict, I can promise you the reality of an unregulated hellscape of amoral predatory rent seeking is far worse.
SamuelJohnson
in reply to Nicks World • • •@NicksWorld @MikeFromLFE Not really true. Enforcement of regulations is largely down to member states not the EU*, which has fewer employees (about 32,000) than some medium sized city councils. It's sometimes the case that national political factors influence the enforcement of regulations delegated to member states. Eg, Ireland is generally regarded as being soft on lawbreaking by US big tech companies bc of heavy US presence
*though the EU has a Court of Justice that can be appealed to
Tubemeister
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •They're trying, at least...
But those 10 different connectors and adapters are still 10 different cables, they just all have usb-c plugs on now so you can't see the difference anymore.
Example: The multi-port 140W usb-c charger I bought last year came with a cable that would only charge at 10W. Different but identical looking cable, 60W.
Example: My Noco (so, not some Ali special) battery booster has a usb-c charging port, but only charges at the typical 7W of a micro-usb connection.
Yora
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Because of EU regulation, we don't live a hellhole country like the USA.
If European capitalists were allowed to, they would exploit and abuse us the same way.
Gaute
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •One might point out that the chinese were first in mandating micro-USB for phones. Then EU came along mandating USB-C.
Also, one may acknowledge the (very small) benefits like phone connectors and roaming, larger benefits like climate policies (impotent, but still), and more, and still think that the downsides of bureaucracy, bad democracy deficit and ingrained, foundational neoliberalism equals net negative.
Gaute
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •One might also point to small things like data roaming or consumer protection stuff like @iamkonstantin lists, and ask: which of these would likely have passed even without an EU? Most, I think.
Some things like enforcing standards like USB-C, *could* have happened without EU, but EU makes it more likely.
Grow Fediverse
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •the tower fairy
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Sensitive content
mbpaz
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Gourd
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Jyrgen N
in reply to Gourd • • •Lenz Grimmer
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Svavar the Neurospicy
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •I'm currently furious about #Brexit because I learned that the EU has a unified process for Small Claims Court.
I'm being stiffed on a holiday-related deposit by a Greek company and I need to hire lawyers to submit the claim in Greece on my behalf instead of being able to file it in the UK.
Bogdan Buduroiu
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •I'm a federalist, but even I have to recognise the EU is beyond reform, Europe needs a post-EU, federal future.
A monetary union lacking fiscal and investment structures means a structurally dysfunctional EU. A EU Commission that cannot be held responsible by it's constituents is structurally dysfunctional. A democratically elected EU parliament that can't draft laws is structurally dysfunctional. The Euro being a low-value Deutsche Mark, pushing Southern, deficit nations like Italy into endless austerity (causing the rise of populism), while keeping German exports strong, is structurally dysfunctional. Having strict budget deficit rules which cause perpetual austerity after periods of economic crisis, yet loosening those deficit rules only for military spending, is structurally dysfunctional.
No amount of USB-C and no roaming fees will cover the fact that the EU is at an impasse, and the current Brussels political class is invested in the status quo, that will lead to the unravelling of the Euro and the EU itself.
Jess👾
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Oblomov
in reply to Jess👾 • • •Zło To 🏴☠️ ᵗʰʳᵉᵉᶠᶦᵈᵈʸ
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Juho Mäntysalo
in reply to Zło To 🏴☠️ ᵗʰʳᵉᵉᶠᶦᵈᵈʸ • • •@mattesilver
Nah, the push to China was thanks to logistics getting a lot cheaper thanks to invention of cargo containers in the 1970s, and GATT morphing into WTO in 1995.
Otherwise, hardware would still be made in USA (it isn't).
As for software, it's still being made in Europe (as it's made everywhere), but USA can dominate thanks to a large internal market and leveraging their earlier dominance with mainframes. (IBM, arpanet, etc.)
Johns
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Catbrainz 🇱🇧🇦🇲🏳️🌈
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Workshopshed
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •not forgetting the integration of energy markets making it easier for renewable energy to be traded across borders
cleanenergywire.org/factsheets…
Crucial EU electricity market integration collides with member states' worries of uneven benefits | Clean Energy Wire
Clean Energy Wireoatmeal
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Franchesca
in reply to oatmeal • • •lemgandi
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Bellaciao62
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Zoidberg For President
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Martin Vermeer FCD
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •It's not just about bureaucracy and the economy
fediscience.org/@martinvermeer…
Martin Vermeer FCD (@martinvermeer@fediscience.org)
Martin Vermeer FCD (FediScience.org)Joe W
in reply to Martin Vermeer FCD • • •@martinvermeer Ah, yes. I remember visiting my aunt when I was young. We had to cross the border between Germany and Belgium, with customs officials, passports and all this. Then all of a sudden: Autobahn all the way through. The main difference is that all of a sudden there's street lamps on the Autobahn 😁
And let's not forget: it has been a long time since Germany and France last had a war.
Edwin G.
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •@_elena
Irom
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •True, but I'm not looking forward to the regulations when right wingers are in charge.
I fear massive power concentration, even if it had some positive outcomes up to now. The EU can change and then it still affects the whole slew of countries.
Also the EU is not very democratic AFAIK.
Kim Possible
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •DMTom
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •John_Loader
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Toni Aittoniemi
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Beelbeebub
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •But hey, at least we now have blue passports and get to queue at the EU airports (we do love queuing).....
Ed
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Sammi
in reply to Ed • • •@EdBruce In theory there are penalties etc but in general the EU seems to avoid this route. Although they did withdraw lots of money from Poland after the anti-lgbt zones were formed.
Do remember that the EU parliament is voted for so there are large numbers of right wing and even fascist in the parliament. We daily fight these people to maintain some kind of liberal democracy. Given a chance many of these people would dismantle the EU.
One of the positive things to come out of Brexit was that other nations saw the horrific economic fallout and in recent polls the EU is more supported than ever. So thanks Britain, your sacrifice is noted.
The Fool
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Kerplunk
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •I do not want to see a weak EU/Europe.
What I do want to see is politics for the people, far too much is still pleasing the criminal trump.
Lobbyists, stop pandering to them, kick them out of Brussels.
Why you say. Think Epsteins web of corruption was definitely not the only one.
Take the illegally transferred millions back from Hungary.
Ensure those who approved that transfer are appropriately punished
Stop LIES surveillance is not needed to protect children. Privacy is a right
Lucy Weir
in reply to Kerplunk • • •Kinene⭐🐻
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Solar🌄Garden
in reply to Kinene⭐🐻 • • •@c_merriweather
<giant "flyover" country>
frequent flying by the super-affluent is a significant contributor to the #climateCrisis
thermodynamics allows no-one a cop-out
carbon offsets are largely greenwash
climate crisis drives many of the migrants to the temperate zones, contributing to the authoritarian backlash from which you want to flee
@fabio
Mārtiņš Bruņenieks
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •pinguino
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Alvan 🇵🇸
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •filobus
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Alexander Krumeich
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •gra
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Karel 'Clock' K.
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Also due to these regulations I cannot buy antibiotic ointment when the Czech regime is depriving me of healthcare when I have an infected eczema and am afraid it will produce sepsis and I die, because antibiotic ointment ran out and when I call a dermatologist and tell I need it urgently she gives me an appointment 4 months (!!!) in the future!
In a corrupt developing 3rd world dictatorship Cambodia it is possible to buy antibiotic ointments without prescription and also dermatologist wait there is only 7-10 days, not 4 months.
I feel
e x t r e m e l y s t r o n g c o n t e m p t
towards the Czech regime.
#healthdeprivation #deprivation #czech #czechia #czechregime #czechrepublic #failedstate #contempt #regulations #overregulation #bureaucracy #overbureaucratization #healthcaresystem #healthcare #antibiotic #prescription #otc #overthecounter #ointment #eczema #infection #infected #sepsis #death #lethal #dangerous #danger #hazard #risk #eu #deathbybureaucracy #deathbyregulation #kafkaesque #humanrights #humanrightsviolation #humanrightsviolations #righttohealth #humanrighttohealth #basichumanrighttohealth
vepř jako pepř
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Its also those regulations that enforce VIOLENT borders
Dont try and sugar coat it
brib [has moved again]
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Sensitive content
"Brexit Benefits" include those roaming fees coming back.
Before we left the EU the fees weren't just scrapped for EU countries, but also for select non-EU countries, e.g. the USA. Now most providers have roaming fees for all of them, the ones that don't still have more restrictions on where you can roam without those extra fees
gudenau
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Jon
in reply to gudenau • • •Cameopilot
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Nicolás Alvarez
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •8Petros [Free Radical]
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •feld
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •> But remember that thanks to those regulations you can use a single USB-C cable that can charge anything
buddy there's like a dozen different USB-C cables with different capabilities and even devices with USB-C ports that can't be charged with normal USB-C cables+chargers unless it's a dumb USB-A on the other end which guarantees that it only uses 5v and no PD negotiation required
and then there's the devices where it actually matters if you actually plug the USB-C cable in "upside down" or not because not all devices have all the pins on both sides
don't build your enthusiasm up for the EU's over-regulation on a such a silly lie
Fabio Manganiello
in reply to feld • • •@feld yes, I’m aware of the different types of USB-C conventions out there. Also when it comes to different current/power requirements.
But I see it from the perspective of someone who believed it to be impossible 10 years ago to even be able to plug the same thing into a laptop, a phone or a headphone.
Even being able to plug the same thing into different laptops was unthinkable. I had a stash of “universal” power cords with at least 15 different barrel connectors, and 5 different addons to adjust for different voltage and current requirements.
And let’s not talk of smaller devices using combinations of mini USB, micro USB, USB-A and other exotic variants (a problem that still affects HDMI btw).
Of course the USB-C standard is still fragmented and confusing, and a lot of work must still be done, but we’re in a state that is light years ahead of where we were a decade ago.
Pino Carafa
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •I always find it wrily funny when euroskeptics talk about "bureaucrats in Brussels imposing rules".
Er.... no
Countries who are in the EU send representatives to Brussels. That's where our representatives get together, talk to each other, reach a consensus and agree on the rules that we will all follow. Every country in the EU is taking part in that decision making process. We make our rules together. So those who then refuse to be team members? They're the arseholes.
Martin Seeger
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Regulation and bureaucracy are conflict management tools.
Their extent is determined by the complexity of the society.
Eliminating both without reducing underlying complexity will just bring you unmanaged conflicts and more decisions determined by relative strength.
Wulfy—Speaker to the machines
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •I remember my Euro cell phone data draining within 30 minutes of the train crossing the border 😑
Just on app handshakes alone.
Had to buy a new SIM upon arrival at the central rail station and navigating the activation voice menus in a language I don't speak!
Yes to more #EU regulations (no /s)
Gracchus Babeuf Bourguignon
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •important to note that overregulation was a complaint of the Brexshiteers. Peoples lives were being ruined by "red tape", and Brexshit would fix it!!
But the regulations they overturned once they left were all of a type.
Consumer protection from scams and frauds.
Environmental protection from corporate malfeasance.
Consumer protection from overreaching corporate control of public spaces.
Anything which helped make life a little more bearable was first destroyed. The current state of the UK shows the results, with life expectancy plunging, education levels declining, insolvency and pollution skyrocketing.
Very Human Robot
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Amᵃᵖanda | map data witch
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •the "no roaming fees" is great, but remember that for years before that, the EU mandated maximum roaming rates, which slowly went down (and (IIRC) the 60€/month max roaming fee).
It's been 20 years since people experienced real unregulated roaming in the EU
Primo
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Pēteris Krišjānis
in reply to Fabio Manganiello • • •Also it is very visible that EU is last bastion standing against corporations ruling with iron fist. Yes, not perfect, lots of insane lobbying as well, but people have chance to fight back.