@BillySmith@social.coop
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

BillySmith

@BillySmith@social.coop

I'm an engineer/musician/artist/designer/bricoleur/womble. :D

Now blogging at https://write.as/billysmith/

Currently working on #OSHW for the primary industry sectors; #Agriculture, #Aquaculture, #Energy, #PowerGeneration, #PowerStorage, #Sustainability, #Regeneration, #Resilience, #TerraForming.

You can't solve a #SocialProblem via TechnicalMeans, so i've focused on creating solutions that people can choose to build themselves. :D

#ADHD #TeamADHD #Womble :D

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is one decision you've made in your life, that you knew was the absolute right decision to make and why?

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@RickiTarr

Leaving crap situations. :D

PDFlynn, to humanrights

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

Human Rights Day
PRESS STATEMENT

THE SECRETARY OF STATE

DECEMBER 10, 2023

We live by the principle that all persons are born free and equal with inherent human rights. This principle – a product of foresight and humility by those who came before us – was enshrined 75 years ago today by the UN General Assembly when it adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR, now endorsed by nearly every country in the world, enumerates the human rights that must be universally protected, and sets a common standard of liberty and dignity for all people, of all nations.

https://www.state.gov/human-rights-day-3/

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@shekinahcancook @PDFlynn

Those have been running for some centuries... :D

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

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@shekinahcancook @PDFlynn

I'm based in London in the UK, so this is less of a direct problem for me, but we've still got the fundies from the USA giving money to the Orange Orders in NI.

The Orange Orders were then giving the money to the pro-Unionist/anti-Trans parties in Scotland and Northern England.

This is breaking the UK electoral funding laws. No accepting outside-UK money for domestic elections.

This was also part of the money funding the campaigns.

davidnavratil, to random Czech
@davidnavratil@mastodon.arch-linux.cz avatar

Pěkná vizualizace celosvětově vytěžených kovů v roce 2022

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@simon_brooke @davidnavratil

In 2012 few of us made a Gingery-style aluminium-casting furnace.

https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Project:GingeryFurnace

We found that if a renewably-charged battery was used as the air-fan power source, and if sustainably-farmed charcoal was used, then the whole system could be carbon-neutral. :D

And we built that feature by accident. :D

A properly-focused design-run by engineering specialists would work wonders for the efficiency. :D

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Magic spell to find lost items:

When searching fails carefully and as accurately as possible make a drawing of the item. Calm yourself as you draw and focus on the form and materials of the item. Label it. You should find it soon after. (IDK why this works but it does— should it fail you have made a poster that will help others to help you find it. )

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@futurebird @mensrea

Incense of Bus Attraction -

Material Component: One stick of tobacco. :D

luis_in_brief, to random
@luis_in_brief@social.coop avatar

Via this I find that the Dickens article has a terrible picture of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Any gnomies have something they can contribute to the cause? https://social.coop/@ZaneSelvans/111480182244564218

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@luis_in_brief @natematias

It was also the pub where the London Hackspace got started. :D

siderea, (edited ) to random

There are two problems that are coming for Mastodon of which apparently an awful lot of people are unaware. These problems are coming for Mastodon not because of anything specific to Mastodon: they come to all growing social media platforms. But for some reason most people haven't noticed them, per se.

The first problem is that scale has social effects. Most technical people know that scale has technological effects. Same thing's true on the social side, too.

🧵

CC: @Gargron

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@siderea

When the internet was first taking off, you had to have a university connection to access it, which meant that all of the policing of the trolling was taking place outside of the internet, and in the larger institutions.

When a university Sysadmin is told "Sort these people out, or we will disconnect the whole university from the internet!", then the individuals causing the problems, get dealt with very quickly.

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@siderea

Only part-way through this thread, and recognising a lot of this. :D

I'd be interested in being a fly-on-the-wall to a conversation between yourself and @ifixcoinops who has been running Improbable Island for over a decade.

He noted some of his experiences here:

https://retro.social/@ifixcoinops/111008076839685387

ntnsndr, to random
@ntnsndr@social.coop avatar

What is the appropriate thing to do when one finds oneself in a hot spring with someone with a Three Percenter tattoo?

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@ntnsndr

Maybe time to be somewhere else.

ai6yr, to random

Today's first repair task: replacing a non-functional vent fan in one of the affected rooms from my plumbing disaster. Wasn't working before the deluge, just an opportunity to fix it while the walls are open.

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@ai6yr

It's a protocol that has lasted. :D

With some of the older motors, the designs were made so that the coils could be replaced.

I don't know if that's a thing with the current designs.

pluralistic, to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

Empty tomb

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@Geoff @DenOfEarth @manu @pluralistic

There was a recording that i listened to in the early 1990's, called the Sounds Of Britain.

When rotary phones were still a thing, the exchanges used a similar mechanism. You could hear the clicks as the mechanism operated.

If you started dialling an adjacent area code before the first one had finished dialling through, so as long as you knew the numbers, you could dial all the way around the coastline of Britain, and then dial your own phone number. :D

eob, to random
@eob@social.coop avatar

Playing around with cellular automata, by converting Conway's standard Game of Life (Boolean values and discrete rules) into a variant with floating-point values and continuous function rules

https://eobrain.github.io/flife/

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@eob

This is very similar to the patterns of crystallisation within metals giving rise to the shear faults.

Each different chemical element will have a similar pattern, but with a different modifier that is based on the inherent qualities of each element. :D

Base energy equations. :D

devnull, to fediverse
@devnull@crag.social avatar

I'm looking forward to talking more about and integration on here again, been distracted lately with other technical debt items — and of course — work to put food on the table 😄

Not going to lie, one of the support services is "mentoring on community building". You'd think the co-founder of a COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD SOFTWARE would be aces at building community, but truthfully, I really suck at it.

The fact that "build it and they will come" worked at all is miraculous.

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@devnull

Have you read the community management threads by @ifixcoinops :D

Worth a look. :D

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

"Going anywhere for the holidays?"
"Yes, upstate."
"Plane or car?"
"Oh Jesus no! Train."
"How long will that take?"
"9 hours. But my vacation starts when I get on the train, not when I get off the plane. It's much less stressful."
"You know... I can see that..."

Folks, I may have a made a convert today. Let's be real. Driving is work, and flying is torture. A train ride, might seem "long" but did you count all the time you spend getting to the airport, the security checks? The silly rules?

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@nbailey @futurebird

Making aviation fuel from atmospheric CO2 is already a thing:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/company-that-sucks-co2-from-air-announces-a-new-methane-producing-plant/

Hydrocarbons are useful, but it's the fossil fuel extraction that is now obsolete. :D

ChrisMayLA6, to bookstodon
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Meanwhile in ..... having been subjected to a infestation & a problem in the , now the organisers are picking a fight with Paris' riverside stalls that they want to absent themselves from the banks while the opening ceremony as their stock boxes are apparently a security risk...

How this will play out for the Paris mayor & Olympics management remains to be seen

@bookstodon

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@negative12dollarbill @riggbeck @ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon

I live in East London where the Olympics took place in 2012.

The local property taxes had been increased in 2007 to cover the costs, but the local borough still went into debt to cover the costs.

We'll be paying this off for decades.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Name a film you've seen that left you with the thought, "This is art." If you want to explain why it made you feel that way, that would be pretty cool of you.

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@RickiTarr

Beat Takeshi's "Zatoichi". :D

His use of lighting reflects his approach towards painting with watercolours.

His use of sound reflects the main character's blindness, so in the scenes where the main character is the only person present, we're seeing what they hear. :D

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@pnwpetey @RickiTarr

When i was studying audio engineering, one of the housemates was studying film, while working as a video-editor.

We had some long drunken conversations about film techniques and how the emotional content of a film is carried by the music.

He played the same action clip with three different musical soundtracks, and a separate spoken audio track.

All of them gave a very different flavour of experience. :D

kitoconnell, (edited ) to fediverse
@kitoconnell@kolektiva.social avatar

This is a long shot, but my spouse is looking for someone who can donate a 3D printer or a laser cutter to a group of artists and who used to experience chronic homelessness. It is an actual so you can get the tax write off. Please boost in case someone in the can help.

(Edit to add: in !)
(edit 2: It needs to be able to print ceramics.)

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@kitoconnell @rasterweb

I'm a member of the London Hackspace, and this is how we were given a couple of 3d-printers. :D

We kept one to use, and passed the other on to another hackspace.

Same for the donations of some of the machine tools. :D

https://london.hackspace.org.uk/

It might be worth asking at their local spaces. :D

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@kitoconnell

The request for ceramic printing will narrow your prospects of getting the machine for free, or even cheaply.

Unless you want to use a proprietary machine with high running costs and high material costs, you'll need to make/buy one of the FLOSS versions out there.

The use of ceramics requires a LOT of careful calibration of the printer, and calibration of the filament recipe.

I got a long lecture about this during the London Design Festival 8 years ago. :D

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@kitoconnell

The person that gave me the lecture was a professor from St. Martin's Art College, who was working CNC-machines for ceramic-printing.

If the filament mixture is too runny, then it prints easily, but slumps afterwards.

If it's too dry, then the print-extruder will clog more often, and the layers won't stick together fully.

Get the balance just right, then you'll print beautiful ceramics.

Finding the sweet spot can take ages.

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@kitoconnell

I wouldn't recommend one of these as a first 3d-printer to learn on.

Use one that prints in plastic, so the the people using the printers can learn how to get the best from them.

Then print the components to make a ceramic printer. :D

If you have specific things in mind, eg. to print for sale, then once the designs have been tested for printability, take the designs to a print bureau to get a high-quality version made. :D

It's what a few member of the hackspace have done. :D

BillySmith, to random
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

On AI and robot dogs:

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2023/11/12

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

👍🏿I like this framing, because it appeals to selfish people: Even if you're not Black, or brown, or trans, or have trans kids, you now care about school board takeovers by right-wing weirdos.

When they take over, they'll ban books and fire librarians. Again, you're not a teacher or librarian so you don't care.

But then the school district ranking will go down, as all the good teachers and smart kids leave. Your home loses $100K+ in value. Now you care!

H/T @jeffjarvis

https://www.salon.com/2023/11/09/im-so-tired-of-these-psychos-moms-for-liberty-is-now-a-brand/

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@mekkaokereke @jeffjarvis

In England, being in a catchment area of a good-quality school adds at least 20% to the asking price of a family home.

simon_brooke, to random
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot avatar

"“[The problem is] the desire for each country to maximise their own production,” he said. There needed to be an internationally coordinated and equitable global phase-out of fossil fuels, Lazarus said."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/08/insanity-petrostates-planning-huge-expansion-of-fossil-fuels-says-un-report

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@simon_brooke

Yes. :D

Open-Source HardWare development has to be understood as a series of single-shot design-runs. :D

Once a problem has been solved to a usable standard, it becomes the next building block for solving future design-run problems. :D

BillySmith,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@peterbrown @simon_brooke

Doesn't the fact that it's working elsewhere mean that a solution already exists. :D

We need to come up with an implementation that's compatible with the API's of the Scottish legal system. :D

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