Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

Here's what over a hundred and fifteen years of dust looks like.

Today I'm cleaning and refurbishing a 1906 Brunsviga mechanical calculator. It's the oldest calculator in my collection and the first with a pinwheel mechanism.

I got some positive feedback about my articles from a stranger and it surprised me just how much it meant. I've made more of an effort recently to tell people when I appreciate their work because of how rare (but meaningful) positive feedback is.

Final ant update (I hope): the ant is gone! It must have found a way out of the monitor over the weekend.

I got a free floor loom today! This is a four harness loom made by the Towle company in the 1950s or `60s. Used floor looms are like upright pianos in that they are either very expensive or very cheap/free. This one came with a bench, warping board, and a box full of accessories!

If you have a tech career, retooling is especially important. I've made 4 major career pivots so far (dev->sysadmin->security->executive) and while each was a planned and smooth transition, each required a combination of mentoring/on-the-job training and self-study.

I'm encouraged to see the growth of trade schools, not just for young adults who wouldn't be served well by a 4-year degree, but also for older adults who must retool because fewer modern career paths last someone their whole life. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/12/31/skilled-trade-education-comeback/

I wrote about our unique set of high security features for the Librem 14 such as anti-interdiction, Qubes, hardware kill switches, and PureBoot. What other security features would you like to see us add to this in the future? #infosec #hardening https://puri.sm/posts/my-recommendations-for-the-most-secure-librem-14-configuration/

Ant Update 2: Some time overnight, the ant moved again and is facing up toward 12 o'clock. It must still be alive.

Making slow but steady progress on the rug. I'm about a quarter of the way through. #weaving

Update: the ant (somehow?!) seems to have moved a bit...

Bug report: I went to brush this ant off of my monitor and discovered it was *inside* the screen. It is now permanently in my field of view unless I take my monitor apart.

The badge pairs well with this adorable vintage Comptometer oil can.

For Christmas I received a Comptometer badge. These achievement badges were originally awarded to Comptometer operators who performed exceptionally well during their Comptometer adding machine training (Comptometer-specific vocational schools like software boot camps today).

I find carrying a pen and notebook incredibly handy and I've had Field Notes-style graph notebooks in my back pocket for years. For 2022 I'm trying out a Moleskine Weekly journal instead, to see if I like making short (1 sentence) semi-daily entries in addition to regular notes.

The first wave of EVs are old enough their batteries are starting to fail. People tend to repair old ICE cars, but at a $22k price tag to replace batteries that will inevitably fail, it seems like older EVs will be thrown away instead of repaired. https://gizmodo.com/finnish-man-passes-on-paying-22-600-to-replace-his-tes-1848268874

This kind of weaving is pretty slow going. A complete 1 1/8" colored row (like that light brown section near the top) takes me about 1.5 hours to weave.