Dear fediverse,
does anybody know of instructions on how to light an oil lamp (the kind with vegetable oil) with flint and steel, and no matches (not even the old, non self-igniting, type with sulfur)?
I've found how to light fires (lots of resources), a couple of instructions on how to light candles that aren't going to work with a lamp, articles and videos about oil lamps in general, but nothing on the combination.
I can't believe that before the invention of sulfur matches people had to light a full fire (or ask some fire to the neighbors) in order to be able to light a simple lamp…
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These days I'm re-reading a book on the history of math I had read ages ago.
The aim of the book is to present an overview of current (at the time it was written, in the 1970s, plus an appendix from the 1990s) modern math and it's pretty good at it (that's the reason why it was recommended to me when I was in high school and my math teacher found out I had plans to study math at the university).
Because of this, it is reasonable that it's skipping all math development from cultures that didn't have a direct influence on modern math: it claims so in the introduction, apparently recognizing that those developments were significant, just outside the scope.
But then, every. single. time. the author gives a judgement on something, it's cringeworthy. When the europeans in 1600 and 1700 developed calculus with no formal basis and without even recognizing the need for one it was liberating; when arabs did the same with algebra it was a lack of formal capabilities. No. just no. did you even *read* what you're writing???
Luckily, most of the book is maths and that part is enjoyable, I should just skip the end of most chapters…
@Charles Stanhope it's “Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times” by Morris Kline
(in an italian translation, and I've just realized that the original book only reaches the 1930s and the appendix written in the 90s that brings it a bit more up-to-date is from the italian editor. It was ages since I read it, and right now I'm still at the 1700s :) )
Bad picture is bad, but...
I didn't exactly lit a #fire, but at least I got some embers from #FlintAndSteel (I was indoors, so I couldn't light kindling)
I watched the following two videos to get from "one spark every 100 strikes" to "one spark every 5-10 strikes, and sometimes they even get on the char cloth" (sorry for the youtube links)
youtube.com/watch?v=CRR8fQbVYT…
youtube.com/watch?v=3pzGMQkdeF…
The big hints from those videos were:
* keep the flint at 45° to the striker
* if you're missing the flint often, you are using the right movement :)
I'd recommend following the link to read the full thread
Developer-driven software distribution is a bad idea, which is why I dislike things like Flatpak.Having distro maintainers involved in the process and installing your software from a free software distribution like Debian or FreeBSD is a much better distribution of power. The packages can be tuned to suit their environment without the developer having to repackage it for every distro, and the distro maintainers can keep out anti-features like telemetry and advertising.
The middleman may seem annoying to developers, but embrace the model and it'll work for you. Landing packages in your favorite distro isn't actually that hard, and the rest of the distros will follow. If you're an end-user who wants to see some software available for your distro, look into packaging and volunteer - it's easy.
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I don't see any technical reason why there couldn't be a trustworthy source of curated flatpacks, but wouldn't that be basically a distribution repository?
Yes, programs wouldn't have to be patched to work with different versions of their dependencies, but flatpacks would have to be regenerated every time a dependency has a security issue, so I'm not convinced it would be easier for the maintainers.
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A20 and A64 OLinuXino OSHW Linux computers now got OpenElec / Kodi support olimex.wordpress.com/2019/11/2…
We’ve been challenged by a group of amazing individuals and Private Internet Access to raise a total of $113,093 during this fundraising season -- renew or begin your Conservancy support today! sfconservancy.org/news/2019/no…
Opening raw images with feh
Up to debian buster, feh was able to open the thumbnails inside my .cr2 files using Imlib2 directly; this has stopped working in debian bullseye, but I've found that there is a way to open them properly using dcraw: it only requires adding --conversion-timeout 5 (or any other suitable positive number) to the command line to enable the use of external programs.
so
feh 141140-img_5195.cr2
results into various errors including feh WARNING: 141140-img_5195.cr2 - No Imlib2 loader for that file format
while
feh9 --conversion-timeout 5 141140-img_5195.cr2
prints 141140-img_5195.cr2 is a Canon EOS 1100D image. and shows you the preview you wanted :)
And this shaves the neck of the yak, now I can proceed with the original task...
In the last few years I've been adding little boy blue and similar shades to my clothing (beside black, which remains the main me-colour).
Last week I suddenly realized that I “needed” a #fountainPen ink in a similar shade., asked for recommendations on a forum and ended up buying two (online, looking at pictures, because I don't have a shop that keeps a variety of inks nearby :( ): Noodler's Polar Blue and Herbin Bleu Myostosis.
The Herbin is more periwinkle, which is not really me, but I love it and it's very me-playing-old-lady (only missing some lavender scent…), and the bottle with a pen holder is very nice.
The Noodler's is a problematic ink, but the shade is just as I wanted (and I've managed to make it behave with #dipPens by adding some gum arabic: that's the sample in the middle of the picture).
Also, I've managed to open a Noodler's bottle without spilling ink everywhere, and I consider this a personal achievement :) (there is a reason why other producers leave some air in their bottles…)
And I would never give ink samples to friends with the subtle aim of starting an ink sample exchange and end up with even MOAR inks to try.
NEVER!
(sometime I just give ink samples with no other reasons :D )
I'm releasing the sources of the Pepper&Carrot eShop's product for #ThankYouPatrons day! Prepare your printer, transfer paper, sticker paper to hack, tweak and derivate your own DIY creation 🙂 E-shop sources link: peppercarrot.com/en/static6/so…
I'm hearing more people at coffee shops ask "Do you take cash?"Every time I hear it, I scream into my head, "What kind of world are were creating FFS where only people with access to the right technology can buy shit!!!"
I know of one restaurant in town that is cashless. They're completely fucking proud of it, how futuristic it is. And, honestly proud of how it keeps certain people out.
Know what's super futuristic? Technology that doesn't enable discrimination.
Of course, part of the reason for that is that people are terrible.
Holding cash on site opens you up to the possibility of being robbed, sometimes violently.
If people weren't terrible, that wouldn't be a concern.
It isn't all that though, there is, at least in Australia, laws stating you MUST be paid into a bank account (not cash) for your labour. That is the Tax Dept making sure they keep their fingers in your pie.
I live in a place where luckily armed robberies are rare (although extortion isn't, but that doesn't depend on the amount of cash kept on-site).
OTOH, places with a lot of cash flow do have ways not to keep too much inside the premises, at least not in a way where it can be accessed on demand (time-based deposit safes, people regularly moving cash away to a bank, etc.). Maybe it's helped by the fact that those who have that need really have a lot of money around (and thus can afford paying to keep it safe).
OTOH, since recently we also have laws that state that payments above a certain amount can't use cash, but at least that's quite above a typical restaurant bill, even for large groups.
> Bits were stored as sound pulses sent into a nickel wire, about 50 feet long. The pulses traveled through the wire and came out the other end exactly 5.5545 milliseconds later. By sending a pulse (or not sending a pulse for a 0) every 500 nanoseconds, the wire held 11,008 bits. A pair of wires created a buffer that held the pixels for 480 characters
That is so punk.
Watts also suggested that the police should wear baby blue uniforms because, he asserted, this would make them less likely to commit acts of police brutality than if they were wearing the usual dark blue uniforms. This proposal was never implemented.
from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_blu…
I guess it can't hurt?
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Publishers Should be Making E-Book Licensing Better, Not Worse
eff.org/deeplinks/2019/11/publ…
#hash(0x187a550) #hash(0x187a628)
Macmillan, one of the “Big Five” publishers, is imposing new limits on libraries’ access to ebooks—and libraries and their users are fighting back.
Starting last week, the publisher is imposing a two-month embargo period on library ebooks. When Macmillan releases a new book, library systems will be able to purchase only one digital copy for the first eight weeks after it’s published. Macmillan is offering this initial copy for half-price ($30), but that has not taken away the sting for librarians who will need to answer to frustrated users. In large library systems in particular, readers are likely to experience even longer hold queues for new Macmillan e-book releases. For example, under the new Macmillan embargo, the 27 branches of the San Francisco Public Library system, serving a city of nearly 900,000 people, will have to share one single copy right when the demand for the new title is the greatest.
The harms to libraries and their patrons during these two months go far beyond wait times. E-books are a critical resource for library users with vision impairment, dyslexia, and other physical or learning needs. An embargo on new e-books disproportionately harms these readers who rely on digital formats, and violates the principles of equitable access at the core of library services.
After the two-month embargo period ends, libraries will be welcome to purchase additional copies of the e-book under normal terms, which aren’t great to begin with: typically, a $60 price tag for an e-book that can only be lent out to one user at a time for two years or 52 lends, whichever comes first. After that, the library has to license another e-book. On top of that, libraries tend to have different agreements with each of their publishers and vendors, all of which are subject to change.
This is a significant mark-up over what a consumer might expect to pay for a new e-book, and a falsely restrictive model compared to libraries’ rights for physical books. When a library purchases a physical book, the purchase is covered by first sale doctrine, which means the library can lend it out freely, repair it, give it away, or resell it. But libraries don’t have any of those protections when it comes to e-books.
So why is Macmillan imposing additional burdens? In a July memo, CEO John Sargent says the publisher’s move is motivated by “growing fears that library lending was cannibalizing sales” of new e-books and a need to “protect the value of your books during their first format publication,” but fails to present any evidence to back up his claims. (He also ignores existing, consistent evidence to the contrary.)
In response, libraries across the country have boycotted, or at least strongly denounced, Macmillan e-book purchases. In another extraordinary step, the American Library Association has invited library users to sign onto a petition against the new embargo. The campaign, called #eBooksForAll, had over 160,000 signatures before the embargo started last week. Since then, the signature count has climbed to nearly 200,000.
All of this does not mean that Macmillan has it wrong on e-books across the board; for example, Macmillan publishes Tor Books, the only DRM-free imprint in the Big Five.
But of all the Big Five publishers to change e-book terms in the past year, Macmillan’s e-book embargo for libraries is by far the most contentious. The other four—Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster—are surely watching the backlash. We urge readers, and authors who like to be read, to sign the ALA’s petition and let Macmillan know that the embargo is a mistake.
#esperienzeDiVita: andare a farsi fare dei panini da un macellaio¹ granata con un vegetariano juventino, poche ore prima del derby.
la mattina dopo ci ha incontrati, salutati, e anche augurato buona giornata a noi altri tre, ad esclusione del suddetto, quindi credo che nei nostri panini non avesse sputato :)
¹ del tipo che è anche negozio di alimentari generale
While in front of the wacom stand at Lucca Comics I realized that what this world needs is a crowdfunding to pay for a stand for #Krita and the rest of the Free Software comic toolchain.
With @David Revoy and paper copies of Pepper and Carrot, of course.
No, I'm not volunteering to run it, sorry.
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Debian Donates to Support @[url=https://floss.social/users/gnome]GNOME[/url] Patent Defense bits.debian.org/2019/10/debian…
@Gruppo Linux Como @LIFO anche Debian ha donato alla campagna che citavo durante il #LinuxDay
La biblioteca universale del software trova casa a Bologna repubblica.it/tecnologia/2019/… via @[url=https://mastodon.uno/users/repubblica]Immagina[/url]
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Linux day 2019 a Tradate (VA)
Il Linux Day è la principale manifestazione italiana dedicata alla promozione di GNU/Linux e del Software Libero; quest'anno si terrà sabato 26 ottobre in numerose città Italiane.
Il GL-Como e il LiFo organizzano quest'anno una edizione congiunta, presso il FaberLab di Tradate.
L'evento quest'anno è limitato al pomeriggio, a partire dalle ore 14.30.
Programma
14:30 - Saluti
15:00 - Caramelle dagli sconosciuti - ed altri buoni motivi per usare apt
15:30 - Da Python 2 a Python 3 senza ritorno
16:00 - Coffee break
16:30 - Blender 2.8
17:00 - Infilare a forza python in una applicazione commerciale per salvaguardare la propria sanità mentale
17:30 - Ansible: the sane way - Dalla cameretta all'enterprise: i pochi tricks che fanno la differenza
Volantino:
gl-como.it/v2015/programma-lin…
rae
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to rae • •oil lamps require a flame to start burning, the small ember you get from char cloth isn't enough, so you need some kind of intermediate kindling.
Most instructions show how to light a full fire, so for kindling they use big-ish bundles of dry grass, vegetable fibers etc., sulfur matches were used in recent time as a smaller alternative (and I know they were used to directly light lamps), I'm wondering if there is another relatively small alternative.
rae
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • •...which is why my answer to you was "Lighting a candle or lamp with flint and steel often involves lighting char cloth or very slim tinder and then using that to light the wick."
Having watched videos of people doing this online, I'm not seeing them using large bundles of dry grass.
Algot
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
Unknown parent • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • •e.g. these are replicas, with a picture of the original below; from Italy, Spain (both 2nd century AD) and Belgium (generic “iron age”).
riproduzionistoriche.com/accia…
riproduzionistoriche.com/accia…
riproduzionistoriche.com/accia…
Elena ``of Valhalla''
Unknown parent • •I'm not that sure about fire pistons: from what I've seen they seem to also involve the same steps as flint and steel, except with the tinder being ignited by heated air instead of sparks.
I've only seen fire pistons online, but they don't seem that much faster than flint and steel, assuming that somebody is trained in using them.
Tarbuck Transom 🌹
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •Fire is the shared blood of community. You generally would ask some lit coals of a neighbor and carry them home in a jar ("to heap coals on their head") and light your fire from that. Lanterns etc were lit from a spill, straw, or noodle (spills preferred) because bootstrapping fire suucks. But if you must:
Charcloth or char moss on top of flint, striking w/ sparks that catch and glow, place lit cloth into tinder and blow into a flame, light the lantern from that.
Tarbuck Transom 🌹
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