David Penfold 

@davep@infosec.exchange
2K Followers
260 Following
22.6K Posts

Does IT stuff. Vegan and anarchism curious.

Likes permaculture, infosec, Tranmere Rovers. But mainly bad jokes stolen from https://www.justthetalk.co.uk/thehaven/17468/urgent-i-need-a-good-joke-right-now

Also unreasonably fond of BPMN.

Officially not right in the noggin #ʘ‿ʘ

likewhatever
SignalDave.14
CO2 ppm at birth321.37
David Penfold 4h ago
Plague Poems7h ago
As you sit
in this ongoing pandemic
the headline: “US rocked
by four 1-in-1,000 year storms
in less than a week,”
may lead you to believe
that the world
is ending,
but this situation
does not mean the world
is ending,
alas, it means the world
as you knew it
has already ended.
David Penfold 5h ago
Jim Salter15h ago

This is the best take on Fermi's Paradox that I've ever seen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

David Penfold 5h ago
evacide5h ago

I cannot overemphasize to you how often law firms are targeted by hackers, sometimes employed by opposing parties in cases they are working on, and how profoundly unprepared most law firms are to defend themselves.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/11/politics/chinese-hackers-suspected-law-firm-hack

Chinese hackers suspected in breach of powerful DC law firm

Suspected Chinese hackers have broken into the email accounts of attorneys and advisers at a powerful Washington, DC, law firm in an apparent intelligence-gathering operation, the firm, Wiley Rein, told clients this week in a memo reviewed by CNN.

CNN
David Penfold 6h ago
Adrianna Tan8h ago
Sorry what
David Penfold 7h ago
Sue Smith9h ago

OK I've been harping on for months about how important I think it'll be to create coding learning paths for folk that begin with an app they generated using LLMs so I'm starting the process of doing that here

https://dev.to/suesmith/understanding-that-app-you-vibe-coded-5hig

Understanding that app you vibe coded

Dealing with a project you generated using an AI tool? If you don’t have programming skills and need...

DEV Community
David Penfold 7h ago
Randahl Fink7h ago
"Is this 911? Yes, hello officer, I would like to report a murder."
David Penfold 7h ago
Joy10h ago

Detox Doodles!

This is a habit of drawing every time I feel the urge to scroll mindlessly. New good habit replacing a bad habit!

This page is all about beavers, hardworking and cute!

#art #beaver #sketch #DetoxDoodles #sciart #InkArt

David Penfold 7h ago
Marcus Hutchins 7h ago
Still one of my most unnecessary projects. My apartment complex wouldn't let people have more than 1 garage fob per resident. So, I reverse engineered mine, bought some cheap fobs on Amazon, then wrote custom firmware for them that imitates my apartment fob.
David Penfold 8h ago
stux⚡9h ago
#CatsOfMastodon
David Penfold 8h ago
Matt Novak2d ago
This is a real tweet from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
×
Gavin ShoebridgeJun 28
Here's the absolute weirdest electric vehicle you've ever seen.
It was called the Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway in the UK, and it's an elevated tram which ran on submerged (at high tide) tracks.
It started running in 1896 but was knocked out of action a week later by a storm. It was rebuilt and ran for 5 years, carrying thousands alongside the beach for no immediately obvious reason. 😄
It's long since gone but the fact it actually existed is surreal.
Show threadJamesAshburnerJun 28
@KiwiEV Ah, look, thanks all the same—but I’ll give that one a miss, if you don’t mind. Being a Melbourne schoolboy shivering in a draughty 1920s half-open tram was misery enough. Nothing personal, though!
Show threadSalem's LotJun 28
@JamesAshburnerCBR @KiwiEV You are 110+ years old? No disrespect intended.
Show threadJamesAshburnerJun 28
@SalemsLot @KiwiEV Tram classes designed and built in the 1920s and 1930s. They had extremely long service lives—often with various updates, modifications, or rebuild-to-another class transformations.
Show threadRoss MacfarlaneJun 28
@KiwiEV As told by Jago Hazzard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUzV1jt0aRQ&ab_channel=JagoHazzard
It's A Boat! It's A Tram! No, It's The Brighton & Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway!

YouTube
Show threadMichael ᚋᚔᚉᚆᚓᚐᚂJun 28
@rmtheriskmanagr @KiwiEV Amazing stuff. I've watched the video but still have so many questions. Were the motors submerged? I don’t see any transmission gear from above. How did they seal the motors?
Show threadSalem's LotJun 28
@baoigheallain @rmtheriskmanagr @KiwiEV If I had to build it a driveshaft going down inside the legs it would be. To get it all away from the salt water. But even then, synchronization is an issue that has to be solved.
Show threadAlexJun 28
@KiwiEV lets be honest... the british doing this should not surprise anyone.
Show threadFeòragJun 28
@alex02 @KiwiEV There was something similar, but cable-hauled, in St. Malo, Brittany. Acted as a ferry across the harbour where it was not possible to build a bridge. https://feorag.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/le-pont-roulant-de-saint-malo-a-saint-servan/
Le Pont Roulant de Saint-Malo à Saint-Servan

(This article was originally published on my Livejournal on 20th November 2015) I’m being a NaNoWriMo rebel this year and using it to get together the first draft of a work that expands on my …

Forsyth's Compendium of Curious Contraptions
Show threadMark AsserJun 28
@KiwiEV And there's another splendid place name. Rottingdean.
Show threadSebJun 28
@KiwiEV @MarkAsser Posh girls’ school there
Show threadRaven667Jun 28
@KiwiEV did they have cocaine in 1890 because this seems like it was designed by drugs, there's no question _why_ it existed *to be awesome*
Show threadSuperMoosieJun 28

@raven667

@KiwiEV

Show threadWilliam WadeJun 28
@KiwiEV Known locally as Daddy Long Legs
Show threadAprettyture!Jun 28
@KiwiEV it kinda looks like a skeeter from sm64 in this shot

-aurora
Show threadJWcph, Radicalized By DecencyJun 28
@KiwiEV Thanks for that - got me searching & I found this very informative video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUzV1jt0aRQ
It's A Boat! It's A Tram! No, It's The Brighton & Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway!

YouTube
Show threadDuncan BourneJun 28
@KiwiEV the stone "sleepers" for the daddy long legs railway are still there, and can be seen at low tide. Just to the west is the volks electric railway, the oldest surviving electric railway in the world. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volk's_Electric_Railway
Volk's Electric Railway - Wikipedia

Show threadUnholy OrdnanceJun 28
@KiwiEV
You can still se bits of the rail if the tide is low
Show threadb3lt3rJun 28

@KiwiEV @losttourist

No one would have believed, in the early years of the 21st century, that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and ...

Immediately thought "Tripod" when I saw the pic

Show threadOwenJun 28

@KiwiEV
When I was a kid ('70s) you could still see concrete sleepers and odd remains of the track out on the far shore at very low tides.

And of course the parallel electric railway, also built by Magnus Volk, and which runs just behind the beach, is still working and one of Brighton's major tourist attractions.

https://volksrailway.org.uk/

Volk's Electric Railway

Volk's Electric Railway
Show threadinpcJun 28
@KiwiEV “ for no immediately obvious reason” 
Show threadthefathippyJun 28

@KiwiEV

Well that was a strange rabbithole.

Thanks for opening the door!

Show threadJenJun 28
@KiwiEV reminds me of the delightfully strange Burgh Island Sea Tractor.

We happened upon it on holiday and rode it the short distance across to the island. We stopped for a drink, then paddled back to the mainland, with seawater up to our thighs.

https://www.burghisland.com/about-us/sea-tractor/
The Sea Tractor | Burgh Island Hotel

The iconic sea tractor of Burgh Island, transports guests to their magical stay daily. Whether across the waves or by car during low tide. Find out more.

Burgh Island
Show threadlippyduckJun 28
@KiwiEV Almost as much of a folly as #Brighton's i360. At least Daddy Long Legs actually went somewhere and isn't now lumbering us with two million quid a year's worth of bad debt. https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/24754936.brighton-i360-much-will-51-million-debt-cost-taxpayer/
Brighton i360: How much will £51 million debt cost the taxpayer?

The Brighton i360’s £50 million debt will cost the taxpayer hundreds of pounds each – and the council will be paying its loan back until 2041.

The Argus
Show threadgioJun 28
@KiwiEV This photo is from a universe where boats have not been invented. Kind of like in the Star Wars there are no wheeled vehicles.
Show threadDaniel M KarlssonJun 28
@KiwiEV That’s wild.
Show threadMuro deGrizecoJun 28

@KiwiEV

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_and_Rottingdean_Seashore_Electric_Railway

Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway - Wikipedia

Show threadElektropunkJun 28
@KiwiEV
Great Tread, Thank you!
This is what the Internet is really for.
Show threaddasgrueneblattJun 28
@KiwiEV I can see the immediately obvious reason. It's very cool! 
Show thread0x10fJun 28
@KiwiEV I think I've seen an elevated railway vehicle with similar struts but I can't remember the details.
Show threadbleepJun 29
@KiwiEV thanks for sharing this. I live in Brighton and the Volks and its history is something that visitors are always interested in. Funny, I was in Weston-super-mare the other week and I saw their old pier and asked if it had one of these unusual elevated trams and my friends looked at me like I was mad - I assumed they were commonplace.
Show threadDiamondJul 1
@KiwiEV Kinda reminds me of the Marseille undersea cable cars
Show threadJona JoachimJul 1
@KiwiEV
Looking at the picture 🤔 where does the electricity come from?
Show threadBreaking.ImpossibleJul 3

@KiwiEV
Volk's electric railway, at least the spiritual successor to the one mentioned here (and built by same bloke), still runs in Brighton!

It's the oldest operating electric railway in the world.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volk's_Electric_Railway

Volk's Electric Railway - Wikipedia