Love and DIY [Candide]

[daylen]

But Smith is right that we are under stimulated. On the level of senses, most do not get enough feeling with hands or the rest of the skin (breezes, warmth, cold), not enough smell, or even taste. But those could be taken care of by technology or the spending of money, I suppose. But what technology without cultural change can not stimulate and what the vast, vast majority does not get enough of, is one: connection and two: beauty without agenda.

Let's flip this around as an exercise. Say your agenda is to disconnect technology from nature because you believe that technology has no inherit beauty. Not saying this is where you are coming from but rather that this is a plausible view. Wouldn't this view cut you off from what could otherwise be a beautiful relationship between nature and technology?

[delay]

[4] Greer offers the trick of counting each time you have a camera cut. By doing this not only are you giving yourself a distraction, but it breaks the flow the narrative (if there even is one), allowing you to see how empty it really is.

Thanks for your journal update! I started John Michael Greer's Arch Druid Report a few times, each time deciding it was crazy, until I finally accepted that reality is perhaps stranger than I thought. Since then I enjoy his Ecosophia blog. There's lots of things to disagree with. The tip about counting camera jumps is excellent. Another one is turning off the sound, kind of amazing how that takes the enchantment out of video. Infinite Jest is on my to read list.

[candide]

Thanks for your journal update! I started John Michael Greer's Arch Druid Report a few times, each time deciding it was crazy, until I finally accepted that reality is perhaps stranger than I thought. Since then I enjoy his Ecosophia blog. There's lots of things to disagree with. The tip about counting camera jumps is excellent. Another one is turning off the sound, kind of amazing how that takes the enchantment out of video. Infinite Jest is on my to read list.

There is lots to disagree with, but back when I interacted with him in his comment section and one notable time on Reddit, he was always cordial in a way that showed he personally can live with dissensus

https://archdruidmirror.blogspot.com/search?q=dissensus
Which is a rare thing in our time.

Still, I am not a fan of his politics (even though it would seem some people here assume I am on that side... ). I'd elaborate, but I don't want to run afoul of the no politics rule, and frankly hope I haven't already. Moving on...

Infinite Jest is a monster. When reading big fictional bricks I find that setting a small daily page quota to be really helpful to get through it. There always ends up being days that I read more, sometimes significantly more, but it helps to keep the momentum going and have a low daily barrier to entry.

I also think I read so many of these literary books because of the daily hit of virtuous I felt from hitting these goals. Now, looking back I don't really feel accomplished and the knowledge and almost all of the skillset has been swamped by these large language models, but where there is a purpose for the reading (even just straight up curiosity) it can be a great way to stay out of trouble and spend very little.

[delay]

Infinite Jest is a monster. When reading big fictional bricks I find that setting a small daily page quota to be really helpful to get through it. There always ends up being days that I read more, sometimes significantly more, but it helps to keep the momentum going and have a low daily barrier to entry.

Wow, yeah, I see Infinite Jest is 1,079 pages. That is likely to remain on my to-read list indefinitely

I also think I read so many of these literary books because of the daily hit of virtuous I felt from hitting these goals. Now, looking back I don't really feel accomplished and the knowledge and almost all of the skillset has been swamped by these large language models, but where there is a purpose for the reading (even just straight up curiosity) it can be a great way to stay out of trouble and spend very little.

There's plenty books that offer more than staying out of trouble! Some are fun to read and some offer new insights.

I find the investment books are tough to get through... I would feel virtuous when I finish one of those.

[candide]

Wow, yeah, I see Infinite Jest is 1,079 pages. That is likely to remain on my to-read list indefinitely

David Foster Wallace also has collections of essays, some of which read like mini Infinite Jests... Dude loves end notes [1]. Some of the essays are available online. I mean, in the legal spots.

===

[1] Can you blame him?

[candide]

@daylen. Okay, I'm willing to play the game implicit in the exercise, but I also don't want that to the bury the central thrust of the piece, which was about context-shifting and how it is the source of the key tricks to holding attention past points that are healthy or desirable.

And on that level, I would draw the parallel to free and open source software. I know you are not only a Linux user but use Arch, which is a community very much characterized by user-control and suspicion to the corporate involvement in, say Ubuntu. So I would say any reason why Arch is to be preferred to Microsoft Windows serves as template for why people would choose to DIY direct experience rather than have it mediated through corporations.

If this thread was on the wider internet, you could almost promise someone would swoop in with some bit about FOSS just being about cheapskates not wanting to (or not able) to pay. But that really shouldn't play here on a frugality forum. And, being shamed by shitheads aside, the money savings is a valid argument.

Reality isn't being mediated -- at least with expensive "production values" -- for free.

Now to your comments.

Say your agenda is to disconnect technology from nature because you believe that technology has no inherit beauty. Not saying this is where you are coming from but rather that this is a plausible view.

Indeed, I do not believe this is where I am going from. I would hope I had absorbed Pirsig enough to not be in that spot -- I sure quote him enough, as I will again now:

The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of the mountain, or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is to demean oneself.

I will note that the book was also strongly anti-television. So even accepting the possibility of seeing harmonies most holy in any technology does not imply an acceptance of any way it will be used.

Going at it from the other direction is Michael Pollan's book Second Nature. I would describe the book as a cultural anthropology of gardening specifically, but our relationship to nature in general. Pollan shows how difficult it is for Americans to escape either treating nature as a virgin that must not be touched or the dark savagery to be lashed out against. The virginal view is in assent, and while more pleasant, it creates impediments to good management of wildlife.

Another book I have read that undermines this virginal view is Inheritors of the Earth by Chris D. Thomas. For example, the majority of species in an area did not evolve in that area, meaning humans humans no rubric to just down areas as say "no new species."

So, I don't think humans should reject technology for some opposite, concept "Nature." But again, if I have to play for a side...

Wouldn't this view cut you off from what could otherwise be a beautiful relationship between nature and technology?

But the relationship between the two isn't beautiful now and hasn't been for a while. And nature is not the one unbalancing the relationship and/or distorting it to ugliness.

We are left with tech being the abuser giving us a "baby, I can change." And just like the abuse cycle, even if there is a momentary change, you have to watch out for backsliding.

I choose my words pretty carefully when I wrote " But what technology without cultural change can not stimulate and what the vast, vast majority does not get enough of, is one: connection and two: beauty without agenda."

Best case on any tool is paying one time in a competitive market from a seller with a culture of providing quality. None of these are the current trends in business. This isn't even a trilemma when you're dealing with Big Tech; you're lucky when you find one.

==

Well, that straw man turned out to be a chair pull. I truly have better things to do with my time than that.

[candide]

Going Electric
===========

This is a companion piece to junk punk.


For the first several years of me making stuff, I used hand saws for all of my cuts, and removed layers of wood with sandpaper or files. The only electric tool I regularly used was a drill, and even at that one of my earliest posts on my gopher space were about prototyping a pump drill. I certainly had visions of making without electricity.

Then one day my wife told me she was pregnant. And from pregnancy to the first year and a half of my child's life, the pump drill project has stayed on hold. More and more I find myself using power tools first, not only appreciating the speed, but the increased accuracy.

Still, I like doing things inexpensively. I do not own, nor have ever used, a table saw or even track saw (though I have recently made a station that gives a circular saw a short track).

But first a word of advice:

1.) Fuck Batteries.

Back when it was easier to find versions of power tools that came in both corded and cordless, the corded version was
was the cheaper one, which reflects the real cost of manufacture. So it is entirely possible that following this advice will be first-order cheaper.

But tool companies have figured out that it is in their interest to get you locked into their battery system so they can do fun things (for them) like using microcontrolers to prevent the tool from working with other brands of batteries.

Yes, there is a market online for tools and microcontrollers to fool, say, a DeWalt into accepting a Harbor Freight tool's battery, but I would rather avoid Amazon as well.

If it ever comes to it, I would pay a slight premium to get a corded tool. I am also willing to lug around extension cords, and if I even had an absolute need to word away from the reach of my cords, I have a power station that I bought to keep charged for emergencies.

Don't sacrifice the open standard of your country's power grid just so some company can pretend they need a walled garden to make an induction motor go spin.

2.) Climbing Mt. Jigsaw

Jigsaws tend to be cheaper than circular saws. Also, they feel a lot safer to use for newbies, and I am not going to ask anyone to challenge that feeling.

The problem with a jigsaw is that the blades are flimsy and so when they hit the material they are going to go off to the side. This is called deflection.

For the impatient, here is one of the shortest videos with one of the easiest methods:

https://youtu.be/80bgLQuCLuk?si=0Vm_rRKrcl-oAs8X

The YT channel Woodworking with DIY tools is about making jigs, and he tackles the jigsaw topic well.

Some accuracy:

https://youtu.be/VrxuEWq1JZQ?si=bNzlYQaXZTeZY3ZY

the masterpiece:

https://youtu.be/X-_vY8CTHBY?si=Z26_-Hd-dlKq5oHK

Another creator, another good idea:

https://youtu.be/bBmFkEOdU6M?si=xajHIvsKf0teIw7E


3.) circular saw

I got my circular saw several years for less than $40 retail. I only bought it because I was trying to use up a gift card to the Home Depot, and it sat there for years.

Recently, I finally built a cross cut station for it. I don't plan on going back to cutting 2 by 4s any other way.

This section is organized by YouTube Channel

One Minute Workbench:
---------------------

https://youtu.be/68v9JlSM6OQ?si=C1gGGsCaSllRgXyw

DIY Creators
------------
https://youtu.be/N1-Pxik-u4U?si=LFGovo_pMT9f5Tim

https://youtu.be/CStLQkg3GLQ?si=I87_k5iHYBNrf6La


Imagine then Make:
------------------

https://youtu.be/ujMxPkuzDYY?si=mGD7V8t6QV8reean

https://youtu.be/LRYbhwfQAfg?si=7NlYyq1dTB1OWaVg

https://youtu.be/wvKZPp_mPgM?si=1Z-Y4HvD8D5ELia2


Yasushiro TV:
-------------

https://youtu.be/QCnCP1hdg9g?si=Z_OtGIJG3QXIOStU

https://youtu.be/Y0gBT_FK62s?si=ve0U7coEhThHeu0t

[candide]

Disk Sander
==========



I made a disk sander. It is hand cranked, and I find that gives it enough power to work effectively. It is nice to have another tool that can run quiet enough to not disturb neighbors, nor require hearing protection.

Another note is that the disk is made from cardboard. It is three layers thick, with the grains alternating -- one layer goes up/down, then the next left/right, and the last up/down. This appears to be rigid enough for the application.

Info Diet
=======

[Cross-posted from my gopher page].

Update on my information diet. I think I am cured of YouTube. The procedure is now to only get on the tube when I have a specific thing I am looking for. For example, seeing how something is done or a visual simulation. Even then, I impose one extra barrier of downloading it with a script based on youtube-dl. Most recently, I uploaded some videos on the change of water levels over geological time. But then after I pulled those videos, I looked around at what else the recommendation engine was coming up with and didn't want any. It was a liberating moment.

I stand by my claim two phlog entries ago [1] that the hacking into our visual space is what must be avoided most as the risk/reward is terrible: it has much power, but does not serve a need. To flourish, we need social interactions, but we have no need for the visual space to shift completely with cuts a dozen or so times every minute. We have to figure out ways to cobble together a social life, but we can actually avoid video.

Just because this is a very radical statement does not make it wrong. The etymology of the word radical means to get to the root.


Podcasts, evil?
============

I listen to a good amount of podcasts. I have long listened to them when doing tedious chores. But now while I am taking a breather from work (one more month, and then back to the grind, I suppose) I am using podcasts to fill another function that in the past used to make me slip back to YouTube: something to make eating lunch alone not feel so lonely.

I think there is a strong case to that podcasts are bad in that they replace the kind of riffing you should be doing with friends. Further, by the selective pressures for the talent to succeed in the market, you are listening to people in the top fraction of 1% in the ability in whatever it is you are listening for. This can distort your expectations for what real people can be expected to do. It is still content and mass media.

And I'll admit that once I've started a podcast, I tend to not be able to "put it down," so after I have finished a round a chores, I will often do things like play chess while I listen to the end.

But none of the problems are unique to podcasts, and only becomes worse when you added the visual, pseudo-social, and slot-machine aspects to the cocktail. It's easier to resist a podcast, and very easy to pause it if something else comes up.

I just don't like feeling icky or like my time has been wasted, and I don't feel that way with my current information habits.

==


[1] here in ERE land:
viewtopic.php?p=286761#p286761

[jacob]

I made a disk sander. It is hand cranked, and I find that gives it enough power to work effectively. It is another tool that can run quiet enough to not disturb neighbors, nor require hearing protection.

Another note is that the disk is made from cardboard. It is three layers thick, with the grains alternating -- one layer goes up/down, then the next left/right, and the last up/down. This appears to be rigid enough for the application.

I'm surprised that the cardboard is rigid enough, but any flex probably compensates for what has to be a slight wobble from the wood bearing? One improvement would be to have a second board, so the shaft doesn't just go through one hole. It would also be interesting to see if it is possible to introduce a belt or a gear, so it's not 1:1. I still haven't figured that one out. You could maybe also set it up like a foot-powered bow lathe?

Here's my DIY sander. I made it to true cogwheels for clocks and anything else that has to be perfectly round. It's possible to exchange jigs (freehand white one vs the rounding jig with the set knob). The sand paper sits on a piece of plywood and attaches to the shaft with a set screw (you can tap into hardwood and the threads will hold. IIRC, this is 1/4-20 in poplar). It's driven by a 1700rpm AC motor. It's not all that noisy (I think my drill press is worse, probably due to the belt drive), but it creates an ungodly amount of very fine dust.

[candide]

I'm surprised that the cardboard is rigid enough, but any flex probably compensates for what has to be a slight wobble from the wood bearing? One improvement would be to have a second board, so the shaft doesn't just go through one hole. It would also be interesting to see if it is possible to introduce a belt or a gear, so it's not 1:1. I still haven't figured that one out. You could maybe also set it up like a foot-powered bow lathe?

I think the first photo I posted obscured too much of the assembly. So here's it closer and from another angle:



So if anyone wants to make one these, I would say that having boards on both sides acting as bearings is a must.

A lot (maybe all) of what I do is improvised, so the cross bar was the first add-on I did. I would have kept adding and tinkering until I got it in a "good enough" spot for my purposes.

It is certainly going to be good enough for children's toys.

Cost: less than a $2 in glue and screws.

[candide]

Core Values
==========

In short:



Slightly longer:

I had planted some peas just to harvest shoots in the winter, early spring, but they kept growing, and my daughter got interested.

I had not planted enough peas to provide our needs all year. That's an understatement; I hadn't even planted enough peas for that afternoon. And so I went to the freezer, opened up some frozen peas, and cooked them in butter, putting my daughter on the cabinet and having her give stirring a try. She giggled. She also learned the word "peas" that day and has been better about eating her vegetables.

Coda
=====

So now you know what I've been up to.