@derek@social.coop
@derek@social.coop avatar

derek

@derek@social.coop

Sustainability organizer and technologist seeking a #solarpunk world.

Product Manager at Tech Matters working on https://fosstodon.org/@terraso and LandPKS. Opinions expressed are my own.

I post on #climate, #crafting, and #community.

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

annaleen, to random
@annaleen@wandering.shop avatar

My novel is on sale as an ebook across all platforms for $1.99 in the U.S. this week!!! Check it out here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250228062/theterraformers

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

@annaleen Thanks for sharing! I bought another copy.

I really appreciate how you make the ebook DRM free! I use an open-source ereader that only works with open file formats, and its SO helpful.

derek, to random
@derek@social.coop avatar

Never written in or called your rep in government before? Here's a template for what to say:

Subject line: [The specific ask you have.]

Dear [name],

[Salutation, depending on the tone you want.] I am a constituent and a voter. I am writing today to ask that you [take a specific action, eg, support X bill, speak out against Y issue.]

[2-3 sentences why this matters, and what the outcome will be if they do the thing you asked for.]

Sincerely,

[Your name]

That's it!

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

You put your specific ask early, at the top, because that helps them A) know immediately what you're asking for and B) categorize your message.

B is key. An individual voice matters, but looking at a dataset that says "1000 of your constituents wrote in favor of this" helps your rep clearly get a signal from the populace.

derek, to random
@derek@social.coop avatar

"For some equivalent posts we’ve seen significantly larger engagement numbers for Mastodon compared to X/Twitter, particularly given the relative sizes of different platforms. We think this is partly due to the culture of Mastodon, and partly because of some of the topics we’ve posted about."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2024-02-extending-our-mastodon-social-media-trial

derek, to random
@derek@social.coop avatar

My god... I have a ? 😲

derek, to sustainability
@derek@social.coop avatar

GOAT is hiring a community organizer. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yYp2RKIbXX9VLSgBhx0egL8zrZ81iiwI/view

derek, to StarTrek
@derek@social.coop avatar

I wish there were a game that captured the feel of . I even tried to make one: https://derekcaelin.itch.io/the-captains-log

Here's the thing. The best thing about the show is not the space fights. It's not about the strange new worlds. Strictly speaking, it's not even the resource management. It was about the people interacting with each other and being good to each other while navigating peril.

That's not something you get from FTL, or Eve Online. Mass Effect comes close.

derek, to climate
@derek@social.coop avatar

I spent the past year as chair of my town's sustainability task force, and I'm convinced that towns are the "largest small thing"; a viable place to tackle the climate crisis. https://write.caelin.cloud/dont-forget-small-towns-can-play-an-outsized-role-in-tackling-the-climate

#ClimateCrisis #organizing

derek, to random
@derek@social.coop avatar

"In the beginning the Universe was created.

This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."

derek, to chess
@derek@social.coop avatar

I fell off the wagon... or am I back on my BS?

Either way, I'm making another board.

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

I took the oak and the poplar, and sanded them both with 120, 150, and 220 sand paper). Then I applied conditioner to the oak, and then stained it with a water based "espresso" stain.

I think the contrast between the white and the black wood is obvious and the wood grain looks great.

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

Stain looks good! ♟️

A closeup of highly contrasted brown and white stained boards juxtaposed

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

I took the board to my table saw and cut it up. Laid in a checker pattern, the pieces fit pretty cleanly together.

One difference between working with 1/4" boards, as I am here, and 1/2" board as I did in the past, is that the glue doesn't feel very strong. Maybe I should give it a backing...

Next, thinking about the sides of the box.

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

There is nothing like gluing together a bunch of finely cut squares together to help you realize that they are not, in fact, squares, but a collection of 1mm-off irregular rectangles. 🫣

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

It never ceases to amaze me how round saw blades can make such straight, regular shapes. Geometry! 🤓

I don't have a lathe, but I do have a table saw, so I'm starting to experiment with ideas for pieces.

These are made out of a 1" ash dowel.

a rought-cut block of wood resembling a pillar on a cubic pedestal.

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

learning a bit more about wire inlay. The idea is that I'll have inlay around the board.

superglue helps!

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

Pawn and Bishop experiments. I'm growing more and more excited that I'll be able to make something interesting!

a wooden, angular bishop

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

I think I need a simpler joint. Tried making a jig, it ended up being too complicated.

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

OK, starting to make more standardized pieces. I took a pawn experiment I liked and measured the dimensions. Now I'm recreating the pieces.

One challenge: I can't figure out the exact height of the saw blade, so I'm measuring by 1/3rd cranks on the elevation wheel. The base is 0 cranks (no cut), the neck is 5/6, 4/6, and 3/6 cranks, and the "head" is 1/6 cranks.

A set of roughly similar pawn shapes.

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

practicing box joints. Much simpler than finger joints!

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

Boards and margins finished. Having a table saw makes for better joints.

derek, to random
@derek@social.coop avatar

G-mail assumes that "Amazon" refers to the company and not the river.

derek, to random
@derek@social.coop avatar

I sit in my office, kittens at my feet, birds eating at the window feeder, plants spilling over onto my desk, and I think, "Wow, I've really created a space for a lot of life around me." :)

derek,
@derek@social.coop avatar

Now, if only all this life were eating each other, we'd have an ecosystem!

derek, to random
@derek@social.coop avatar

U.S. climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions declined slightly in 2023 : NPR
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/10/1223747804/u-s-cut-climate-pollution-in-2023-but-not-fast-enough-to-limit-global-warming

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