@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

esnyder

@esnyder@mastodon.social

Many interests, little time. Unschooling parent. Long-term interest in bicycles; built a bamboo diamond frame bike years ago, learning TIG welding now to mess around more again. I would like to talk with more thoughtful and empathetic people with whom I don't agree. Periodically I am very sad. Wrassle computers for money.

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esnyder, to cycling
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

Bike trailer design questions: a thread :)

First, some context. My eldest child has been vending at a local growers and crafters market for a couple of years (they do lapidary and silversmithing.) Since we've gotten the cargo bikes they have gotten nearly as obsessed as I have.

So, the goal: build a trailer that lets them get to & from market by bike.

An awesome example: Scavenger Coffee

1/n

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

Now, I don't want to jump straight to the full thing. I want to make a couple junker trailers to work on my welding, learn , and get a feel for things.

In particular, I want to learn enough to get some sense of how to know what a safe load is for a given build. I can find info on tube sizing & thickness for traditional diamond frame building, but not so much for trailers.

2/n

ascentale, to cycling
@ascentale@sfba.social avatar

Hello people! If you've got any questions for Friday, please share them in reply to this post, or add the tag.

We have a couple of questions already, but can use some more. Any that we don't get to will still be included in a future BikeNite!

(Next BikeNite, a Q&A discussion, is Friday at 4pm Pacific time!)

cc: @fedibikes

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@ascentale @fedibikes I'm going on two years of having an e-cargo bike and I'm really really loving it. But, it was very expensive, and a hard purchase to pull the trigger on. I actually managed to find someone trying to sell an earlier version of it when we were considering it and rented it for a week while considering.

Since getting it there have been a number of accessories that we also agonized over.

(cont.)

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@ascentale @fedibikes

So, I'm wondering what experiences people have had in local advocacy specifically about helping people figure out what kind of transport bike stuff will work for them before having to fork over $$$$.

This (private) e-bike lending library looks fantastic, as an example of something that seems like it would help. Anyone have success getting governmental help with such things? https://mastodon.social/@crschmidt@better.boston/111364502535579937

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@ascentale @fedibikes Maybe any experiences of organizing periodic "gear trial" get togethers where you can test ride bikes, rain gear, panniers, trailers, bike racks, etc etc.?

esnyder, to cycling
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

I've been looking through old pictures, and found some from the workshop build at the Bamboo Bike Studio in San Francisco back in 2012 where I got to make this bike. I thought I would drop some of the process photos.

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

The "lugs" (joins between the frame components) are made of carbon fiber and epoxy, wrapped by hand around the bamboo tubes as they were held in place in a jig with blocks of balsa wood shaped to fair the joints.

Close up image of the bottom bracket joint with the bamboo surface roughed up to bond with the epoxy better, and the balsa block not yet shaped.

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

Here's what it looked like with the balsa shaped and starting to tape off areas of the bamboo that we don't want the epoxy on.

View of the bottom bracket/seat tube/chainstays from behind, showing the balsa wood shaped.
A view of the seat stays/seat tube/top tube joint shaped and awaiting carbon wrap. You can see the section of steel tube set into the bamboo seat tube to provide a more robust mechanism to clamp the seat post.

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

I don't have any pics of the wrapping itself, because my hands were covered in epoxy :) But once the wetted out carbon fiber was wrapped on, we wrapped over it with plastic to compress the joints.

Daojoan, to random
@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar

I demand a reality show where politicians have to live on minimum wage for a month. 'Keeping Up with the Commoners.'

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@Daojoan this, but longer and more comprehensive.

A month isn't enough time to really feel the impact. Odds are nothing major will break in a month (especially because they're going into it with bought-new, quality goods). Odds are they won't need to see a doctor, deal with dental problems. And that none of their family will either. Etc..

impactology, to random
@impactology@mastodon.social avatar

The Coerciveness of the Primary Key: Infrastructure Problems in Human Services Work by Chris Bopp, Lehn M. Benjamin, Amy Voida

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3359153

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@impactology have you read James C Scott? This essay of his (a cut down version of his book length "Seeing Like a State") really blew my mind when I encountered it, as someone who grew up mostly with positive mythic versions of science and scientific consensus, standard weights and measures, etc.. https://www.cato-unbound.org/2010/09/08/james-c-scott/trouble-view-above/

(I don't particularly like CATO, but I do like Scott 🤷)

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@impactology thanks, didn't know that one!

alberto_cottica, to sciencefiction
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

I like doing economic analysis of work (man needs a hobby, I guess). Looking for advice: what do I read next? Preference for recent work depicting economic systems.

Background: I am part of a collective, the Science Fiction Economics Labs. We maintain a list econ-sci fi work here: https://edgeryders.eu/t/economic-science-fiction-a-selection-of-works-and-authors/8582?u=alberto

Illustration by Nadia E. Alter

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@alberto_cottica Becky Chambers' short books A Psalm for the Wild Built and A Prayer for the Crown Shy are far future utopian books, the second discussing the economic system quite explicitly. I didn't see them in the edgeryders list.

ascentale, to random
@ascentale@sfba.social avatar

Inspired by @ai6yr, who skipped riding last week because it was raining cats and dogs. A question related to cycling in the rain:

Q8. What are the considerations, aside from gear, related to riding in wet weather? What do you do to maintain traction and visibility? How else do you ride differently, or what else do you do when cycling in the rain?

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@glightly @ascentale @ai6yr @bikenite seconding the "hyper aware of slick stuff on the road" caution. A little over a year ago I was pushing hard to get home and took a sweeping turn on paved bike path at ~20 mph without paying much attention. There was a nice shade tree that had been laying down a good mat of leaves, which with rain over the previous few days was just like stepping on a banana peel. Now I have a titanium plate in my wrist and healthier caution riding wet.

MLE_online, (edited ) to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

The radishes that I planted in my garden three seasons ago escaped domestication, crossbred with some kind of wild brassica, and have been perpetuating themselves as weeds in my yard ever since.

One of the latest to start growing, which you see here, has begun to resemble broccoli and I kind of want to cultivate it and collected seeds and see what the next generation will look like

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@MLE_online how's it taste?

impactology, to random
@impactology@mastodon.social avatar

TIL about "sinecure"

A position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit.

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

A sinecure (/ˈsɪnɪkjʊər/ or /ˈsaɪnɪkjʊər/; from the Latin sine, 'without', and cura, 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service.

Aka David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs?

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@impactology I took bullshit jobs to be talking about something different; much more akin to busywork + status. A sinecure is status without the busywork, no?

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@impactology 🤔I think many bullshit jobs require a lot of...effort? stress? While producing little of value, and failing to engage the worker in any real way. I'm thinking of, say, the main character in Office Space.

MLE_online, (edited ) to random
@MLE_online@social.afront.org avatar

Can I make this too -small frame into a right-size frame? I aim to find out

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@MLE_online nice! Is that electrical conduit for the extension sections?

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@MLE_online no shade! I'm trying to get back to playing with bike/trailer building and am finding your projects inspiring.

impactology, to random
@impactology@mastodon.social avatar

Infusing Love into Daily Pedagogy by Tim Loreman

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6091-484-3_7

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-6091-484-3#about-this-book

"This book has provided the rationale and justification for the use of a selection of elements that lead classroom teachers towards a pedagogy of love. These include the development of kindness and empathy, intimacy and bonding, sacrifice and forgiveness, and community and acceptance in the teaching and learning relationship"

esnyder, (edited )
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@impactology I'm wondering if you have read this book? It always freaks me out when people approach education reform from this instrumental position: "we should do <moral thing> because it has <practical benefit>".

I realize I'm being a little perverse here. It's not like I think treating people with love and kindness has worse practical outcomes than not. But... The form of argument still squicks me out 🤷

ascentale, to cycling
@ascentale@sfba.social avatar

Happy Wednesday! On Friday at 4pm Pacific, it will be again!

Reply with any questions you'd like me to add to the discussion on Friday! Or let me know if you'd like to host sometime.

(BikeNite is a Q&A type discussion on the Fediverse.)


cc: @fedibikes

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@ascentale @fedibikes I'm not quite sure how to phrase it, but I'm very curious to hear from folks about how (if?) they manage transport oriented foul weather riding. Anyone have effective gear setups that gets them somewhere in the rain without needing to change at the far side? And that isn't miserable to put on and ride home again after? Without breaking the bank?

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

"Wyoming Valley West School District had initially turned down the offer by a local businessman to pay off the $22,000 debt"

OK so the backlash has them walking this back... but what is this "no someone else can't pay it off" about?

I like how the school said that some of the debts were as much as ... drumroll $400 as if that were... some outrageous affront.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49117936

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@futurebird my spouse has a very common name and an email address of firstname.lastname@gmail.com so gets lots of misdirected messages. She got a very stern letter from a school at some point about outstanding lunch debt and how the student want going to be allowed to get food until it was settled and we thought "what the heck, let's take care of this for these folks."

The school wouldn't let us pay the bill. 🤦‍♂️😡

est, to random
@est@emily.news avatar

From Piet Hut's "The Gravitational Million–Body Problem"

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@est 😂

mbonsma, to random
@mbonsma@mastodon.social avatar

I have never felt more respected or validated in my life than when I drove this onto the elementary school playground this morning

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@mbonsma 😍

impactology, to random
@impactology@mastodon.social avatar

Feel like most engineering schools in India and faculty just prepare you to be informed project managers. Not inventors. Not researchers.

Like just competent enough to understand the way existing machines, tech works so you can monitor it's production, manufacturing processes

Just competent enough to check the specs/bom on making a CNC mill but not skilled and imaginative enough to design a new kind of mill from scratch.

esnyder,
@esnyder@mastodon.social avatar

@impactology it's interesting reading this thread coming from the unschooling world.

I think it's a dependency problem. IMHO such institutes/teacher trainings don't exist because you simply can't ignore the machinery of compliance in any educational setting that involves telling people what to learn when.

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