Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

@josh We pivoted to family "no electricity night" where we play board games and read by lamp light.

@apples_and_pears I appreciate the vote of confidence!

I don't intend on giving anything away, I'll be selling anything I publish for what I hope is a fair price. I just think most of what I'm interested in publishing right now would not necessarily interest the No Starches and Addison Wesleys of the world.

Since I've already published plenty of books with traditional publishers I don't feel like I have anything to prove in that respect. I'd rather have the freedom to pursue my interests.

My knitting machine clock, Tempus Nectit, is complete! I advanced it to the current time and mounted it on the wall. The white section is waste yarn to cast on, and the red stripe marks Valentine's Day. The shiny metal "tooth" marks the hour hand. Currently it is set to noon. The clock will advance every hour, completing a full circle (and row) every 12 hours, or two rows a day.

Now I have the massive task of the technical write-up for my site.

#knitting #3dprinting #electronics

@julian Yes I appreciate the work No Starch is doing and know quite a few people there, but some of things I want to write fall outside of projects traditional tech publishers can afford to take a risk on.

@yaelwrites True. That could be a factor too.

@yaelwrites I think that's a good thought experiment to weed it out. For instance I work from home and rarely am on video conferences, yet I still shave somewhat regularly for my own satisfaction in my appearance.

Of course when I know I *will* be on a video conference I ensure I'm relatively cleanshaven beforehand.

@yaelwrites I guess I would fall more on the side of the level of effort you are willing to put in for your own satisfaction, and less strictly for the benefit/approval of others, but that's just me talking from the privileged male standpoint without the same cultural pressures.

I also tend to think there is a certain point after which exercise is no longer for someone's health and instead is for vanity, and I'm old school (and privileged?) enough I guess, to think that vanity is not a virtue.

@a@linuxrocks.online I'm basically ignorant of any options I may have here outside of Amazon and 100% self-hosted, so suggestions like this are very helpful! It's the main reason I posted, because I was hoping for feedback like this.

I really miss writing a column for Linux Journal and would like an outlet for this pent-up writing energy that compensates me for my time. I have many book ideas that topically fall outside the risks tech publishers are willing to take.

For instance, I have a lot of still-relevant LJ articles that I have already curated into a book w/ topical chapters.

Is Amazon really the only game in town for self-publishing w/ print on demand and good distribution? I'd rather avoid self-hosting a store.

@apples_and_pears I'm really torn. On one hand I like the one day == one row. On the other I like the idea of it functioning as a normal clock and telling the time (accurate within an hour), which means one day == two rows.

@maximum_mew @clive @pluralistic I really appreciated this post. I also think it's a shame that universities are now essentially treated as trade schools.

There is certainly a place for both, and trade schools are valuable for folks who want specific training to get a specific job, but the value of a university education is supposed to be the enhanced background of knowledge you gain that makes you a more educated individual overall, compared to high school. It's not about job training.

@runtimeterror It depends on what you want to do with it, I guess. The consumer metallic hook CSM the printables design mimics are hundreds of dollars, but also more capable than the inexpensive ($40-$70), plastic Sentro 22 and 48-hook machines like I used for this project.

@runtimeterror Thanks! The knitting machine is the inside mechanism from a Sentro 22-hook knitting machine.

@Bloomfer Painting one of the pink "teeth" (for lack of a better word) in between the hooks could be an option. Were you thinking one would be AM and the other PM?

@Bloomfer Unfortunately no, due to how the yarn feeds from the outside into the center. Anything that pointed from the outside toward the center (I've seen clocks with the design you are talking about) would ultimately have a loop of yarn wind around it shortly after 3 o'clock.

@Bloomfer If I did mimic a normal clock (one rotation every 12 hours) I'd likely attach some sort of hand to the outer pink rim of the center, pointing to the white frame. It would need to be flexible to bend around the yarn feeder at 3 o'clock.

The case for my knitting machine clock is complete!

I could hang this on the wall now and start knitting this year's scarf, but I'm going to spend time on the software side. The fact that this has 22 hooks leaves me with imperfect options. Right now I do one stitch per hour, and half stitches at 0,6,12,18 to make one row per day. I *could* simply divide a full day's motion across 24 hrs, or do it in 12 hours (2 rows/day) to mimic a normal clock. Thoughts?

#knitting #3dprinting #electronics

@Kymberly Very interesting technique! I like how this turned out.

@matthew_d_green I think what *might* be OK is a virtual librarian that curates this catalog of the loved one's pictures/writings/videos so you can reference/replay them later. It could even do this in the style of the loved one, but with a clear dividing line that demonstrates it's simply a virtual librarian and not attempting to *be* the loved one.