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Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.


Periodic reminder that "don't speak ill of the dead" is for, like, not mentioning at her funeral that Aunt Sally was a drunk and a lousy cook. It's not for suppressing public discussion of public figures and their complicated legacies.

Or, put another way, the obligation to "speak truth to power" is way more important than the obligation "not to speak ill of the dead". One is about justice and the other is about politeness. To be frank, FUCK politeness.

Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.



/me, playing a game of 0ad and looking at the random factions: “oh, it's civil war between Syrians, and my Syrian allies have asked the help of the Roman empire against the yellow Syrians”

@Diego Roversi “fools”

/me, looking and how my ally still has more or less their initial corner of the map, while my territory has been enlarged significantly “you're not wrong”


Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.


Content warning: Messaggio di utilità sociale. Contiene marchi e prodotti.

Content warning: Messaggio di utilità sociale. Contiene marchi e prodotti.

Content warning: Messaggio di utilità sociale. Contiene marchi e prodotti.

Content warning: Messaggio di utilità sociale. Contiene marchi e prodotti.

Content warning: Messaggio di utilità sociale. Contiene marchi e prodotti.

Content warning: Messaggio di utilità sociale. Contiene marchi e prodotti.



TIL: if you put thread on both sides of the sewing machine, things you've sewn keep together better :D
TIL: se metti il filo da entrambe le parti della macchina da cucire, le cose che hai cucito stanno assieme meglio

barfly reshared this.

happens to everyone once in a while =)


This week I haven't complained about #handsewing with plastic thread yet, right?

well, now I'm complaining about handsewing plastic fabric with plastic thread when there is even a layer of mylar safety blanket under the fabric.

but binding the edges with a machine seam and then handsewing it on the back is so much neater than trying to stitch in the ditch by machine!

#sewing

what on earth are you making??

@donkey herder a roll for cards (ID, driver license, etc.), the mylar blanket is there to make it harder to read them remotely (it's not perfect, but it should help reducing the distance the reader has to be to work).

I'm using some leftovers of cordura from my backpack lining, and sew-all thread.


Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.


One way Mastodon is like earlier internets that I most appreciate is there are so many cats and their humans are mostly just sharing the joy of cat rather than trying to make them into influencers/celebrities/brand deal magnets

#cats #catsofmastodon

A content looking grey and white British short hair kitten with olive coloured eyes. They’re leaning out of a cat basket with their paws under their chin
This entry was edited (2 days ago)

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Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.


This HTML-as-coded-in-1995 page details (and I do mean details) telecommunications in the small and almost inconceivably remote island state of Saint Helena.

It's a hoot.

http://sainthelenaisland.info/communications.htm

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I feel there has to be some connection between this, and the island's notoriety as the residence of Napoleon Bonaparte in his final years.
This entry was edited (3 days ago)

Isn’t The Good Samaritan story named that because of how unusual it was to find a good one?
Or else the story would’ve just been called The Samaritan?
This entry was edited (4 days ago)
I was taught that anti-Samaritan racism was normal, so pointing out that even this despised race could have a good member was a big deal.
This entry was edited (4 days ago)

@Dgar @PaulNickson 🍰 @MaJ1 ♻️ @Chris Real it's my understanding that Samaritans were¹ worshiping the right² entity in the wrong way, which in that context was way worse than worshiping the wrong entity at all.

¹ technically speaking still are, since they still just barely exist
² right and wrong from the point of view of the Jews, of course

weirdfolks group reshared this.


Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.


Udite! Udite!
Sia noto in tutto il regno che sabato si terrà la conferenza gratuita "Un patrimonio per la città: gli stranieri a Como nel Quattrocento".

#ASpassoNellaStoria #Storia #GEP

La locandina dell'evento, poggiata sopra un testo del Quattrocento
@fabrixxm eh sì, penso proprio sarà una cosa bella (e non intendo perdermela) 😊
@valhalla @fabrixxm uuuuuh, che bello! Sì, io conto di andarci (salvo catastrofi dell'ultimo minuto) e mi farebbe piaceressimo incontrarti/vi 😊
@LaVi 🕊️📚🐈 decisamente interessante, grazie per la segnalazione!

Content warning: condizioni mediche intime

Content warning: condizioni mediche intime

Content warning: condizioni mediche intime

Content warning: condizioni mediche intime

@valhalla caspita, sei riuscita ad andare! Io me la sono persa, accidentaccio 😒
Però sono contenta tu l'abbia trovata interessante, sono certa lo sia stata.

Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.

@LaVi 🕊️📚🐈 sisi, decisamente interessante, e ti siam stati grati per la segnalazione.

l'unico problema è che forse forse dobbiamo un pezzettino di gratitudine anche a trenò? che se non t'avessimo seguita per le lamentele sui treni, non so se l'avremmo mai scoperto :D

(se ti è utile saperlo: hai causato 4 delle presenze :) )

@valhalla sono contenta che vi sia piaciuto! Ero certa sarebbe stato interessante e mi è spiaciuto non poco perdermelo.

Ma sì, dai, diamo un briciolo di gratitudine anche a Trenò, ché se non fosse stato per i continui disservizi (e conseguenti lamentele) forse non ci saremmo mai incontrati.

(Certo che mi è utile: mi spaccerò per influencer per farmi prorogate il contratto! :D)

Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.

@LaVi 🕊️📚🐈 (così ad occhio poteva pure essere un 20-25% dei presenti, esclusi i dipendenti dell'archivio, se ho stimato giusto quanti fossero: mi pare un risultato degno di un influencer!)
@valhalla caspita, sì!
(Se mi rinnovano il contratto vi offro da bere!)


Chickpea Crackers


Posted on September 20, 2023
A flatbread, prescored into small portions, but still in one piece on top of a plate and overflowing to the side (it's about 10 cm × 30 cm or so). A side is thin and more browned, the other side is a bit thicker and paler.

And another half-written article I had in my repo. (Am I doing #FallFinishAlong with blog articles instead of / in addition to craft projects? it feels so).

I was in need of snacks. I wanted something bready, but with a bit less carbs and more proteins. I had a bag of chickpea flour.

Ingredients were:

  • 100 g wheat flour
  • 100 g chickpea flour
  • 100 g water
  • 3 g salt
  • 1 g dry yeast

Mix everything as usual for bread, leave to rise for 4-6 hours.

Divide in 4 parts, roll them out to a thickness of about 1 – 2 mm, prick them with a fork (or the fancy cracker pricking tool that you don’t really need but I may have bought).

Optionally spray with a bit of water and sprinkle with salt (coarse or flake is best).

Preheat the oven to 240°C and cook for 5 minutes, or preheat the oven to 210°C and cook for 10 minutes for a dryer version.

I’ve tried both cooking temperatures: the 210°C had the big advantage of being the same as the common bread I was already making, so no additional oven time was required (it was summer. this was a consideration.), but I’m not sure which version I like best, so I think in winter I will alternate between the two.

Put it in a cotton (linen?) bag and keep it in a dry place, where it will keep for weeks (assuming you’ve made a bigger batch :D ).

This is now part of my staples.


https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2023/09/20-chickpea_crackers/index.html

Hi! I gave this a go. Here are my changes:

- 50g of sourdough instead of 1g of yeast
- 6h30mins rising
- 7 mins at 240°C
- the chick pea flour expired a year ago

It's not cracker crispy, more like flat bread. Does not taste bad though, would go well with an umami flavoured gravy dish.

My guess is 50g was too much. Will try again with less next time.

Four flat crackers on baking paper.

@Nathan Lövsund 🐒 🚀 mine aren't extremely crispy (like commercial crackers) either, more like homemade crackers.

Nice idea using sourdough, I should also try it one day!


Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] reshared this.


somebody on tumblr wrote:

“stories can resonate with you even when the characters are nothing like you’ is something a 6 year old would understand but it needs to be explained to fandom adults on tumblr”


Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.


Content warning: thinking of the roman empire

Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.

Content warning: pensare all'impero romano

Content warning: pensare all'impero romano

Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.

Content warning: pensare all'impero romano

Oblomov reshared this.

Content warning: pensare all'impero romano

Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.

Content warning: pensare all'impero romano


Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.


Installing minidlna


Posted on September 19, 2023
I’ve found the draft of this article I almost completely wrote (checks) more than 3 months ago, and I guess it’s time to finish and publish it.

The very first A10 based device that entered our home, before they started to use it for SBCs, was a Chinese media server with a slot for a 3.5" hard disk and a few analogue audio outputs.

Of course from the time it entered our home it has always been running Debian.

Now that we may have a few, more powerful, A20 SBCs available, it has been fully dedicated to music: it is connected to the stereo, the hard disk has a clone of the git-annex repository where I’ve ripped all of my CDs1 and is played by connecting via ssh and running alsaplayer.

It’s simple (for my tastes). it works. Unless you’re in a different room than the one with the stereo.

And then I read this post on the fediverse that suggested installing minidlna on an old Raspberry Pi, and on a whim I decided I needed it.

I installed the package from Debian, set a few easy settings in the configuration file (such as which directories to serve), restarted the service.

And that’s it, it just worked.

The only thing I had to take care about is that to use git-annex repositories as the source of media files either the root of the repository should be used as media-dir, or the wide_links options should be set to yes, otherwise the symbolic links that point outside of the media-dir won’t be served.

As a client I used VLC (note for myself in case I ever forget, it’s under View → Playlist and then Local Network → Universal Plug ‘n’ Play), mostly because I already had it around.

Now that I’ve used it for a few months I have to say that it isn’t a perfect solution: the main format I store my music in is in flac 2, which isn’t supported by dlna; for a significant part of it I’ve also already generated single-song ogg files for convenience 3, and at least it works for those.

I don’t store (yet?) my video collection on the A10 device, but I did a quick test, and no, of course a raw dump of a DVD as generated by dvdbackup isn’t supported, so I would have to convert those too. And there is some support for subtitles as a separate file (which is something else I tend to have around), but only one file, with strict requirements for the name, which is a bit restrictive.

On the other hand, the hassle to set this up was so low that the functionality / hassle ratio is most definitely worth, and I’m quite happy I did and plan to continue using it.


  1. (yes, I’m still using CDs, I have objections to those newfangled streaming services)↩︎
  2. full CD rip in a single file, with an embedded cuesheet, to preserve as much as possible of the original disc.↩︎
  3. in theory the flac was supposed to be future-proof storage, with the ogg files for actual use, but then I always listen to full albums, so the flac just work, and I only tend to bother generating the ogg when I’m already generating mp3 for the car.↩︎

https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2023/09/19-installing_minidlna/index.html

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Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.


Inspired by the excellent UI for emergency alerts on smartphones, @Fabio had the idea to write a new phone interface: Launcher Ultima

It's an isometric RPG, to make a call you have to find a phone box, to answer an incoming a call you need to be close to the *right* phone box (and of course there are multiple ones).

The address book is, as the name suggests, a book. Or rather multiple books, spread out around the whole world.

And if you receive an emergency alert a huge red face appears on top of the screen, and *loudly* reads the text of the alert.

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Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.

Ispirato dall'ottima interfaccia per gli avvisi di emergenza sugli smartphone, @Fabio ha avuto un'idea per scrivere una nuova interfaccia per telefoni: Launcher Ultima.

È un RPG isometrico, per fare una telefonata devi trovare una cabina del telefono, per rispondere ad una telefonata devi essere vicino alla cabina del telefono *giusta* (e ovviamente ce n'è più di una).

La rubrica e sparsa su svariati libri, distribuiti per il mondo.

E se si riceve un avviso di emergenza appare un faccione rosso sopra allo schermo, che legge il testo dell'avviso ad *alta* voce.

Oblomov reshared this.

@Fabio ah, quindi *evidentemente* lo farai davvero? pensavo che l'idea fosse sperare che Qualcuno(TM) lo facesse :D
@Elena ``of Valhalla''
L'ho messo nella lista "cose poco probabili che riesca a fare ma che comunque mi solletica l'idea"
@Fabio temo che il rapporto utilità / sbattito non sia molto favorevole :D

@Fabio utilità in senso lato.

compreso usarlo per far vedere quanto si ha un telefono figo (ma il telefono vero è un altro) :D

con tanto di boss da sconfiggere prima di poter leggere uno dei tanti libri in cui è suddivisa la rubrica, giusto?
@Daniele Tricoli @Elena ``of Valhalla'' chiaro. e i puzzle da risolvere per sbloccare le funzionalità

ma... non vogliono mica eliminare TUTTE le cabine telefoniche¹? Io tempo te lo darei pure, ma temo che qualcun altro non sia dello stesso parere o.o'

¹ https://www.ilpost.it/2023/05/26/cabine-telefoniche-dismissione/

@LaVi 🕊️📚🐈 @Fabio tranne che nei luoghi di rilevanza sociale: ospedali, carceri, interfacce per telefoni :D

crono 💀 reshared this.


ottimo. i messaggi di emergenza di it-alert non arrivano sugli stupidofoni, e neanche su pinephone.

#moriremoTutti (o almeno io)

great, the Italian emergency alerts (that are being tested these days) aren't received by non-smart phones, nor by the #pinephone.

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E ovviamente gli smartphone in italiano si chiamano furbofoni.

#sapevatelo


Ju reshared this.


In the spirit of #FallFinishAlong, 3 days ago (3 days??? just 3 days???) i posted about a #YarnChicken victory at the middle of the shawl I'm knitting.

Pictured here, because I'm slow at moving pictures over from the camera to the pc :D
a work in progress garter stitch shawl on the needles; it's at the end of a row and there are about 80 cm of yarn left

Anyway, the whole shawl is made of 4 balls of yarn, I started it in mid June, finished #knitting the second ball 3 months later. and now I've almost finished working the third ball, and I'm ready to attach the last one.

The last quarter of the work is probably going to go significantly slower, because it's no longer garter stitch, but still. I wasn't sure this would have been ready for December, but now it's starting to look realistic.


I'm #knitting a shawl in two colours, and according to the precision scale I have exactly the amount of yarn I need to knit another two rows with the first colour before moving on to the next one.

I've added a lifeline, in case I lose this round of #yarnChicken.

And now, I should really stop knitting and have my breakfast, but that would delay *knowing*.


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And I'm more than halfway through the fourth ball of yarn.

The next steps are:
* one row (k all sts)
* inserting a lifeline
* two rows (yo / k2t and k all sts)
* start binding off with a method I've never used
* lose the yarn chicken round
* rip to the lifeline
* bind off, this time for real

Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.

E ho più che passato la metà del quarto gomitolo.

I prossimi passi sono:
* un ferro al dritto
* inserire un filo di salvataggio
* due ferri (lanciato / due lavorati assieme, e l'altro tutto al dritto)
* iniziare a chiudere con un metodo che non ho ancora mai usato
* perdere la partita a yarn chicken
* disfare fino al filo
* chiudere, stavolta davvero

Oblomov reshared this.



Non-e (Note)Book


Posted on September 18, 2023
A coptic bound book with a blue PCB as the cover.

Some time ago our LUG bought some things from soldered.com and while browsing around the website my SO and I decided to add a junk box to the order and see what we would get.

Other than a few useful things, there were two mostly unpopulated boards for the inkplate 10 which would have been pretty hard to reuse as electronics.

Two PCBs for the Inkplate 10 from eradionica, unpopulated. They are rectangles with a long slit close to one long side, a few holes and a notch at the bottom.

On the other hand, at 23 cm × 18 cm they are a size that is reasonable for a book, and the slit near a long edge made them look suitable for the cover plates of a coptic bound book.

Since the size isn’t a standard one, I used some paper I already had in big (A1) sheet: Clairefontaine Dessin Croquis Blanc at 120 g/m², and cut 32 sheet 466 mm × 182 mm big, to have room to trim the excess at the end and straighten the edges. This would make 8 signatures of 4 sheet each, for a total of 128 pages.

The paper will make it suitable both as a notebook (where I’ll write with liquid ink, of course, not ballpoints) or as a sketchbook for pencil (but not wet techniques).

I could have added a few more signatures, but this felt already good enough, and the risk to end up with an half-empty notebook was non-trivial (I will already have to force myself to actually use it, rather than keep it for a good topic that will never be).

First we finished depopulating the boards, using it as a desoldering exercise and trying (and not always succeeding) to save as many components as possible, even if most of them were too tiny for our current soldiering skills.

The book, closed, partially sewn.

And then I only had to sew the book, which was done mostly while watching the DebConf streams.

The finished book seen from the front edge, showing that the trimming isn't very smooth.

And a couple of days later, trim and sand the pages, which as usual I could have done better, but, well, it works.

The next time I do something like this I think I will have to add a couple more mm also to the height, to be able to trim also those edges.

A coptic bound book, open between signatures, on white pages.

And now of course the Big Question is: what should I dedicate this notebook to? Will I actually use it? This year? This decade?


https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2023/09/18-non-e-note-book/index.html