#my local library has a 3d printer you can use after you take one of their classes:)

[vase-of-lilies]

So for tiny vurse what if both nat and wanda have an emergency having to leave tiny alone but then enter aggitha and she whispers through the wind and lures you out because she's still mad at wanda then wanda and nat come home check your room and your gone but they find a trail of crumbs because we found the cookies and finds us in a cabin souronded by 3d print animals dancing with magic and agitha keeps us in like a dream like state that we don't see are mommies or hear them. Add what you want I just think it would be funny as I'm looking at my 3d printed dragon.

The Trap

Paring: Mommy!Wanda Maximoff x Little!Reader (f) x Mama!Natasha Romanoff (Featuring Agatha Harkness)

Warnings: Heavy MD/LG, Agatha luring away reader, magic, tiny has to be alone:( forest, being kidnapped from your kidnappers, this is a dark AU in general so beware, threats of falling off a cliff, hallucinations

A/n: I love this request! Thank you for sending it in 🥺 (I also have always wanted to 3D print something but I don't know where to find a printer 😭 my local library doesn't have one either:( ) But I hope you like this!! I feel kinda bad making it angsty at the end lol but I thought this could be like Anistaisia's dream (If you have seen the movie!!)

"Baby, I'm so sorry we have to go, but we will be back so soon, ok? Can you promise us that you'll be good?" Wanda and Natasha are rushed to get out the door, an emergency mission involving Ultron threatening the existence of humanity.

You nod as you hold your lion in your hands, tears forming in your eyes as you think of not being with your mommies for a little while. Pretty soon after they leave, your bigger headspace might show itself again, but you know better than to escape. And as you stare at your mommies gathering everything they need, you start to feel a sensation of abandonment.

Wanda immediately takes notice of this and kneels down in front of your spot on the couch. Grabbing a hold of your hands she squeezes them gently. "Hey, little one... it's going to be ok. You are gonna have so much fun with Leo here and then after you lay down for your nap, we'll be back in a blink of an eye," She says with a smile, kissing the backs of your hands.

Nat sighs as she sees you on the couch and frowns at your tears. She joins Wanda and sits beside you, wrapping her arm around you softly. "I promise, sweetheart, we'll be back so soon." She whispers, kissing your head. You nod at their reassuring words and lay down on the pillow they set up for your nap on the couch.

Hugging your lion tightly, you wave to them as Wanda and Nat go out the front door, the two women waving back.

The soft music coming from the TV plays and you watch the ocean waves beating against the sand on the screen. It lulls you to sleep almost as fast as hearing your Mommy's lullaby sung to you.

Not far into your nap you heard a soft whisper, causing you to sit up slowly. You yawn and rub your hands over your eyes, getting the sleepers and crusties off of your skin. You look around confused as to where this soft whisper could be coming from, remembering that your caregivers had to leave for a mission.

Your eyes looked around the room, looking for that voice however, your mind was pulled in a different direction when you saw a small bag of Wanda's famous cookies! Hopping off of the couch, you wander over to the counter where there is a note.

'Be good, Tiny, we're always watching over you ❤️ Love, Mommy and Mama.'

Their note made you smile but you were yet again distracted by that soft whisper in your ear. Your head snapped to the sliding back door that had miraculously opened on its own. Curiosity took over your head like a trance, or maybe it really was a trance...

Absentmindedly, you take a bite of a cookie, some crumbs tumbling down your shirt and onto the floor. Your eyes widen as a purple tendril of energy presents itself in the door, and the whisper is louder than ever, luring you outside of your humble abode.

As you follow the mist, you continue to nibble on the cookies your mommy left for you, dropping a pathway of crumbs on the way to the gate at the edge of the backyard. This gate was connected to the fence, and the mysterious purple energy quickly opened it. The hinges squeaked with every inch it opened and you were taken aback by a small group of animals, a purple glow around them as they danced down a dirt path into the woods.

You continued to eat your cookies, some chocolate chips falling on the soil beneath you as you explored deeper into the forest.

"Just a little further, sweet girl..." The whisper coaxes you, your aura turning a bright purple as you fall further under the spell of Wanda and Natasha's enemy; Agatha.

Your mind was a haze once you got to an imaginary home in the middle of a grove of trees, the animals jumping and dancing around you as you sat down on a rock. What you didn't realize, was in reality you were nowhere near a grove of trees, you were on the edge of a cliff. At the bottom of the cliff was a collection of sharp, jagged rocks. Agatha had manipulated your mind to see something different.

She had the intention to take what mattered the most to the two women she hated.

The rock you were sitting on was at the very edge of the cliff and was only a couple feet (or meters for you non-Americans). If you walked any further, you would fall to your death and not even know it.

On the mission, Wanda could feel something was wrong and once they were finished with Ultron, they raced back home to see if you were safe. When you were not on the couch, in your bed, or in your playroom, they panicked. Nat ran to the security room and rewound all the tapes. Her eyes narrowed as she saw you leave through the backdoor, but she still could feel something was wrong. The door had opened by itself... she didn't leave willingly. She thought.

"Nat! Nat, let's go! I know where she is!!" Wanda shouted from the kitchen where the backdoor was. Her wife ran to her, gun in hand and spider bites ready in her other. "Look, she left crumbs." Wanda pointed to the ground, the pathway of cookie crumbs leading to the gate.

The two women ran as fast as they could, following your trail of crumbs all the way to where you were. As they saw you, Wanda gasped and tears filled her eyes as she saw you so close to the edge of the cliff. She saw the purple around you and growled to herself. "Agatha... you bitch,"

Nat looked over at her, knowing not to move if Agatha was near. She is powerful, but Wanda is more so. All three of them knew that, yet Agatha still tried.

Looking around the trees, Nat sees the witch perched on a branch, purple whisps of magic moving about her fingers. Wanda is nudged by her wife and she looks in the same direction, glaring at the woman. Before anything worse can happen to you in your dream state, Natasha pulls her grappling string from her belt and shoots it towards you, the chord wrapping around your waist to hold you away from the cliff.

Agatha notices the sudden lack of movement from you, frowning as you don't move forward with the animals as they hover in mid-air above the drop. She looks around to see what could be stopping you and meets the glowing red eyes of Wanda on the ground.

"Ah, so you do care about your little bunny..." Agatha says, floating down from her spot in the tree above. She lands between you and your mommies, sparking even more rage in Wanda. A large red burst of energy forces Agatha into a tree trunk, blood flowing from her head as she stands up.

"Oh, you are angry," The witch notes, smirking as Wanda walks towards her. The two sorceresses face each other, distracting Agatha enough for Natasha to run to you. Her soft kisses to your forehead and arms around you weren't enough to pull you from the trance you were in, but Wanda could help with that.

"First, you mess with my family in Westview, then you mess with my wedding, now you mess with my girl? It ends now, Agatha, you are dead to me and will be for everyone!" Wanda shouts, her magic pushing her up to float above Agatha, who is much too weak to fight back.

Natasha pulls you to a safe spot, your whimpers making her frown as she sees you reach for the imaginary animals that were luring you to your death. She holds you to her chest so you aren't able to see Wanda and Agatha and prays that once Wanda is done, you will be back to normal in no time.

The scarlet witch forced all of her energy onto Agatha, not killing her, just transferring her to a place where everyone would be safe from her. The Raft. She knew that the guards there dealt with her first, so they knew exactly what to do once Agatha arrived there.

Finally, your mommy floats to the ground, taking a deep breath as she regains her energy. Her head turns towards you and Nat, both looking back at her. Quickly she makes her way to you and kneels down to you as you sit in Nat's lap, holding onto her and your lion. With a small push of red magic to your head, your trance is pulled away from your mind and your eyes snap back to reality.

Looking at your surroundings, you realize it is not the same thing that you saw while under Agatha's power and you whimper. "Where a' I?" You ask in a small voice, trying to make sense of what happened. "Where da animals?"

Wanda sighs and holds your hand, "Oh baby, it's ok, you're safe now. You must have wandered off while you were sleeping," She chuckles softly, trying to distract your thoughts from becoming irrational. With Natasha smoothing her hand over your head, you are slowly pushed back into sleep.

"Mama n' mommy home..." You whisper tiredly, a sloppy smile on your face as your hands move up to gently cup Wandas. Your mommies smile at you and carry you back to the cabin, making sure to tuck you in with your little lion by your side.

After wiping off the crumbs from your front, Wanda smiles and whispers to you, "I'm glad you liked the cookies, little one."

And with a kiss to your forehead, you sleep peacefully in between your loving mommies.

#wanda maximoff x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #Wandanat x reader #into the tiny verse #The toy lion the scarlet witch and tiny in the wardrobe #wandanat x little reader #mommy wandanat x little reader #mommy wanda x little reader #mommy natasha x little!reader #Wanda Maximoff #Natasha romanoff #may answers asks #nonnie:)

[bagusarisaputra]

One of the highlights of my trip to Finland was seeing how good the public services are. Elon Musk, in his opposition to a billionaires' tax, has spoken about how beyond a certain point, wealth is no longer about personal use, as an individual would struggle to spend such sums, but rather, about capital allocation. He thinks the tax would be foolish because it would take money away from an entity adept at investing it, which a billionaire by definition is, and put it in the hands of an entity that has a track record of being wasteful, which many governments do. The new Oodi library in Helsinki is the best refutation I know to his argument. It is a three-storey, €100 million public space with co-working areas, reading rooms, high speed internet, a cafe, restaurant, and cinema. There are video game booths with huge flat screen TVs, where I saw a father and child, a podcast recording studio where I met a local entrepreneur, a music studio, and a 3D printer. There is a piano and guitars on the wall. I wondered how much it would cost to rent them? Turns out they are all - the studios, the equipment, the spaces - free, you just need to book a time. The building houses 100,000 books on all sorts of topics, from academic textbooks through children's books to the latest bestsellers. Walking around, I saw a section of literature in Somali. After the onset of the Somali civil war in 1991, a number of people fled the country, some to Finland. I felt moved when I saw that rack - I imagined a child separated from his homeland coming across those books, and finding pride in them, a lost piece of himself, a connection to something greater than him. Billionaires are better at maximising profits but that is not what governments are for. Ideally they work towards creating a better, more equal society, and to deliver good living outcomes for their citizens. Libraries are a case in point: famously loss-making, but crucial in the functioning of a healthy democracy, for education, and social mobility. Oodi inspired me, because it showed me just what can be achieved when the funding and political will are there, and the system works for the good of the people. #oodi #libraries (di Oodi) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdN9g-ctQMT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#oodi #libraries

[allanamayer]

Libraries in the age of fascism.

Ever since the furor around Canada accepting Syrian refugees, I’ve been watching and waiting for libraries to get together and share resources about how to be good allies in trying political times. I think in case of libraries and refugees, we’ve made good strides as individual communities and organizations (especially from IFLA and in Europe, as you’ll see if you visit that link), but haven’t really gotten together as coalitions or a professional community to talk about the work that needs to be done.

In America, of course, libraries and resistance is a whole ‘nother deal, and not one I’m equipped to comment on - but Canada continues to be impacted by it, not just by the possible repeal of the Third Safe Country Agreement and by refugees now trying to enter Canada from the US, but by the heightened tension in areas such as trade relations (and my particular tinfoil-hat concerns of eventual annexation for our natural resources, don’t say I didn’t tell you so).

What will happen to libraries in Canada, as a result of fascism at the fore in America (and in Britain, and around the world)? As a result of our own right-wing politicians trying to play a similar rhetorical game?

[Don’t @ me about fake news, please; I feel like this is a battle libraries must’ve lost sometime in the last decade for any of this to have occurred. If we weren’t always providing (and aggressively pushing) a critical alternative to cable news and the limitations of information literacy, it’s too late now.]

I was happy to see Libraries Resist publish a Google Doc of resources and guides. It’s a bit broad and generalist, without a lot of library-specific (and hardly any actionable) tasks for staff and managers. You can find ideas in there, but it’s a lot of reading. (And you’ll note the more actionable sections are the immigration/citizenship/refugee one and the bits that pertain to digital security, work that Library Freedom Project has been doing for ages and in times less immediately pertinent.)

It's worth pointing out that I had hoped that most libraries learned these things after 2001, when dealing with the PATRIOT Act, and so I'm perhaps glossing over some basics. If you aren't already up to speed on things like warrant canaries and refusing to supply patron records to law enforcement, you have reading to do.

Here are some actionable things you can do, if you work in an American or Canadian library and wield any power whatsoever:

- Issue statements reaffirming the library as a safe and inclusive space where patrons’ autonomy and privacy are respected. 

- Make book displays, exhibits, and events that reflect that. Use the #BlackLivesMatter booklist (under Displays, Exhibits) or the #BLMCdnSyllabus. (Here’s a mostly-up-to-date list in Bibliocommons, if your library uses that and you want to check what you have.) Host rallies and talks. Offer meeting and planning space. Be loud about it.

- If your community is involved in this Sanctuary City thing, publish statements of support. As Laura Saunders alludes to, standing up in this way will cost you, so batten down the hatches in preparation for losing federal funding.

- I mean, batten down in preparation for losing federal funding no matter where you are in America. The IMLS, the NEA, and the NEH are under imminent threat. Realign your strategic priorities accordingly. Think about maybe not buying that second 3D printer! In all seriousness, think about where your budget could be a year from now, two years from now. Think about the worst-case scenario. Prepare for that, and more.

- If you're in Canada, try the opposite: see what kind of relevant and proactive offerings you can provide. See how far you can go in service of the newcomers and religious minorities in your community. See what kind of accolades you can get for your humanism, your compassion, your prescience. Now is the time to make your moves. We may not have a federal government more willing to pay lip service to feel-good rhetoric than right now.

- Also related to something Saunders mentions: prepare your staff with training and warnings in order to stay open during civil unrest; get together supplies for patrons who might be putting themselves in danger (of hunger, dehydration, pepper-spraying or tear-gassing, arrest or search); fill your social media with information about privacy and safety lessons.

- Invite LFP to give privacy talks to your staff, so they can pass those skills on in one-on-one interactions with patrons; invite LFP to give privacy talks to the public who are interested (and train your staff to give regular talks in the same vein after they leave).

- Abolish library fines. Just do it.

- Create library accounts that require no fixed address. No fines means no need to pursue people in multiple communication avenues, right?

- Take gender identification off your library accounts too.

- Get an ILS/OPAC/whatever that doesn’t hold borrowing records by default. Allow patrons to opt in manually to that kind of data-gathering. (Yes there are laws about this and you should read them.)

- Write letters to vendors whose products don’t allow you to do these things. Tell them what you’re disappointed about and tell them you won’t buy from them until they fix it.

- If you can, volunteer with groups documenting protests. It’s usually just data-entry into an Omeka; you can do this! Encourage your staff to do the same. Offer them workplace incentives to do so. Make it a formal collaboration.

- Do something similar with Wikipedia and other popular research sites, to keep information current and up-to-date and as verifiable as possible given that there are probably a ton of people out there working night and day to skew and distort what those articles say. 

- Do something similar with local news organizations. Alternatively, fact-check them daily. When your local paper (probably some tiny arm of a huge ____Media conglomerate) promotes not-great content from other parts of the world, call them out. Make it fun. Do it on social media. 

- Encourage your staff to learn languages. Support them however you can.

- I really wish I could come up with a way that libraries can support reproductive rights for women, but nothing’s coming to mind.

- Prepare for a deluge of public-school students with massively decreased quality of education. Plan your school-age literacy programs accordingly. If you can, collect data on these things (in a smart, anonymous way): markers of the degradation of public education will be useful stats in the years to come.

- Hold postcard-writing or letter-writing events so people can communicate with their elected representatives. 

- Teach FOIA classes too. 

- Use your makerspace to make protest signs, buttons, bumper stickers, and other visible signs of support for allies. Share a couple in-house designs that people can print out for themselves if they’re not design-inclined. Here in Hamilton we have these great designers who make and hand out that shit for free; you may have to step up in your community.

#HamOnt Is For Everybody. pic.twitter.com/pKkxN2LYMi

— Matt Jelly Max+ (@mattjelly)

January 30, 2017

(I think that for at least some libraries, these all fit into "things you can do in the next year," especially if you're a small shop and/or are already in the procurement process for some of these things. They may not be options for many sites; YMMV; don't @ me FFS.)

#libraries #community #refugees #protests #resistance #privacy #security

[qonqr]

Google Maps & COVID-19

I know there are many frustrated players on Android right now. Sadly, there is very little I can do to solve your problems. 

Last week, Google broke their map service that impacted all apps on iOS and Android that use Google Maps, except for the Google Maps on Android app.  Even Google Maps apps on iOS crashed every time.  Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, etc all crashed on every app launch.

Google is working on a fix, but unfortunately, they have so badly corrupted the temporary storage for maps tiles (cache), recovery is a manual process. I will try to get an update released as soon as I can, but unfortunately we are waiting on Google to release the new libraries that can fix/avoid the cache corruption, then we need to wait for Microsoft to port them to my development platform.

In the mean time, the work-arounds that are being shared are to

uninstall and reinstall the application

clear the application data for QONQR

disconnect your device from using cloud backup (so the corrupted cloud cache is not copied back to your device)

after installing try starting the app while having cellular data and Wi-Fi turned off, then reconnect to the internet once the app has started.

One or more of these things in combination will probably get you back up and running. It is also possible that uninstalling before you go to bed, then reinstalling the morning, might give your Android time to clean up the cache in its overnight maintenance routines.

Unfortunately, these crazy gymnastics are a common “turn it off and back on again” process developers often try.  It is worth noting, that the app still shows the black and blue maps when you first install it, then switches to Google maps on your next restart. In a previous blog post, I shared the cost of these styled maps increased by a factor of 4, and caused the company to lose money for two months as a result of the very high map cost.  In a weird coincidence, it is possible the first time start might actually help us. It gives you the user more time to try all the work around in the app, before the next app restart.  Hopefully you can find a way to get the app running again while we wait for an official fix from Google.

If you want to get a taste for the developer rage this is creating, search for “google map sdk crash” with a result filter of the last week to see what developers like me are dealing with.

COVID-19

This time last month, I was working on some big changes in the QONQR code, to address some major server storage constraints that have plagued our system for years. It wasn’t anything that users would notice, but it would remove a major roadblock to possible future features.  Then the pandemic shut down the country.

I started 3D printing face shield visors at home on April 1, and two days later I asked the principal at the middle school if I could pull out the seven 3D printers they have, move them to QONQR, and begin printing visors with all these printers. Many of you know I am a coach for the local high school robotics team, but last year, I was also a coach for the middle school team.

The principal agreed, and two days later called me and said, “What if we pulled all the 3D printers from every school in the district and put them in one location. Would KnightKrawler (the high school team) be willing to run a lab to make visors?”  

After verifying with the district officials, this would be allowed, and establishing safety protocols, we had moved 24 printers from 3 middle schools and 1 high school to a single location. Since April 3rd, the team has 3D printed over 4,000 face shield visors. I have been at the school 60 hours a week for the past 3 weeks. We run the printers 10 hours a day, Monday-Saturday. 3M has donated 3 rolls of face shield plastic and our students have created 12,000 clears face shields using those rolls. Another company (anonymous) donated 2 more rolls that will make 6,000 more face shields. Other robotics teams, companies and schools have donated over 1,500 3D printed visors, which we have put shields on and distributed. On Friday, an injection molding company send us 5,000 visors, which we are putting clear shield plastic on for distribution.

So far, our team has received requests for over 10,000 face shield visors through our website. We had already filled half those orders, and now can fill the rest by Tuesday. The team has also shared over 3,000 clear shield plastic parts with other teams and organizations who are 3D printing visors.

Tomorrow we will send 500 shield plastic parts to a robotics team in Arizona. The Navajo Nation is one of the hardest hit populations in our country. They saw what we are doing and asked us for 500 face shields on Friday. We found another robotics team in Flagstaff, Arizona who have offered to 3D print the visors if we can send them the other parts needed. The collaboration among robotics teams across the country is amazing. Together our two teams are going to deliver the needed face shields. It is heartwarming to be able to create a connection between the Navajo Nation and a local robotics team.

If you want to follow our progress, please check our the team on social media, we have been posting multiple updates per day all month.

https://facebook.com/team2052

https://twitter.com/team2052

 The 60 hour weeks at the school, then returning home to answer the overwhelming social media comments and emails at night is taking its toll on my personally.  I apologize for the slow support response to your requests. I had anticipated our efforts with the robotics team would be a 1-month stop-gap, to help fill the early demand for PPE while the industry retools. While we see the industry retooling, the supply chain is still lacking. Our group of high school kids has been putting thousands of needed supplies in people’s hands. Unfortunately, my work on QONQR features is on hold for as long as I am able to help these students make such a large impact.

I am thankful QONQR gives me the flexibility the other volunteer coaches do not have wit their jobs. Thanks for your understanding and support.

 -Scott (aka Silver)

[dorcasrempel]

3Q: Collaborating with users to develop accessible designs

Academic researchers and others have long struggled with making data visualizations accessible to people who are blind. One technological approach has been 3D printing tactile representations of data, in the form of raised bar graphs and line charts. But, often, the intended users have little say in the actual design process, and the end result isn’t as effective as planned.

A team of MIT researchers hopes to fix that. They used a collaborative project with staff and students at the Perkins School for the Blind as a case study of the accessible design process, and generated a list of “sociotechnical” considerations to guide researchers in similar work. A paper detailing the work appears in the journal IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. Co-authors Alan Lundgard, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS); Crystal Lee, a graduate student in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society; and EECS and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory professor Arvind Satyanarayan spoke with MIT News about the case study and their findings.

Q: How did you land on this idea to record “sociotechnical considerations,” and what are some notable examples?

Lundgard: Crystal and I met during an intersession workshop in participatory design, where researchers collaboratively designed products with and for particular communities. We worked with the Perkins School to co-design a 3D-printed visualization of a time-series chart for people who are blind. Coming from MIT, there was this idea that we’d come up with a high-tech, flashy solution — but, it turns out, that wasn’t really the best approach. In that regard, I think a first-order sociotechnical consideration is, what degree of technological intervention is necessary, if any? Could the intervention take a more social approach without the need for a fancy technological design? Would a low-tech solution meet the needs of the community better than a high-tech solution?

Another big consideration is planning and communicating the extent of the collaboration, which is especially important when collaborating with marginalized communities. That means researchers clearly communicating their intentions and goals. As researchers, are we aiming to produce academic research, or a design solution that is immediately adoptable within the community? What is the duration of the project and what are the available resources? Failing to communicate clearly can leave community collaborators out of the loop in ways that are actively harmful.

Lee: We realized there were tons of intermediate steps before you start to even design a product. What does collaboration actually mean and what does participatory design look like? We got frustrated at certain junctures thinking about what product to make. While we talked to teachers, occupational therapists, and the Perkins School staff, we’d come up with a prototype and realize it was an idea that didn’t actually meet the needs of the community. Thinking through these tensions helped us come up with a list of sociotechnical considerations for other researchers and collaborators who may feel these same frustrations when working on co-design projects.

One notable consideration from our case study: As researchers, don’t assume that your resources are the same as the community’s resources. For example, don’t make something for a small school if it requires a $300,000 3D printer that only MIT can afford. In our 3D-printed visualization, we at first tried to use a cheap and accessible 3D printer that’s often available in libraries. But, this affordability imposed other constraints. For example, using the inexpensive printer, it was hard to actually make something legible in braille, because the resolution is too low to be useful. It can’t capture the detail you need to accurately represent the data. So, using the affordable printer, our graph failed to meet certain accessibility guidelines. On the other hand, MIT’s high-resolution, industrial-grade printer isn’t affordable or available to the Perkins School — or most schools, for that matter — which is hugely constraining if the design is supposed to satisfy the students’ daily needs.

Satyanarayan: It’s also very important to compensate participants fairly, especially with marginalized communities. In participatory design, we don’t treat folks we work with as target users. Rather, they are collaborators throughout the process, and with specific skills. For instance, people who are blind have far more experience reading braille. We consider that a highly specialized skill that should be compensated accordingly. A key tenet of participatory design is recognizing that people in the community have lived experience that is valuable and necessary for a design to be successful.

Q: In your paper, you say you hope to avoid pitfalls of “parachute research.” What is that and why is it important to address?  

Lundgard: “Parachute research” is where researchers — particularly from wealthy universities — drop into a community; take advantage of local infrastructure, expertise, and resources; write an academic paper; and then take off. That is, after publishing a research paper, they completely disengage from the community. That’s harmful to community members who engage in the collaboration in good faith and help to facilitate the research, sometimes without reciprocal benefits.

Lee: In accessible design, you often make a prototype based on some abstract knowledge of what a given community may want. Then, the people in that community evaluate the efficacy of the prototype, instead of being directly involved in the design process. But that can diverge from creating solutions that are beneficial for the communities the designers are purporting to help. In our paper, we didn’t just build something, test it, and report on it — we thought it would be more important to contribute guidelines for approaching similar participatory design problems.

Q: What does the future look like for you and for your work? 

Lee: I’m starting a collaboration with Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. They have a large group of senior citizens who are experiencing blindness later in life, and have to learn to interact with technology in different ways. Understanding how people interact with technology ethnographically will be necessary for understanding accessibility — in technology, in the built environment, and in digital infrastructure. That’s a big part of my research moving forward. 

Lundgard: Really, our paper is not just about data visualization, but also about how to approach accessible design more generally. In that sense, our paper tees up how to do future work, with a concise set of guidelines that researchers — ourselves and others — can apply to different problems. For example, I’ve recently encountered researchers at a loss for how to describe their visualizations in ways that make them more accessible. When visualizations appear in, say, textbooks, scientific publications, or educational materials, they might appear as braille translations of the image, but more often they appear as textual descriptions. But what is the best way to describe a visualization? Does it make more sense to refer to its visual or statistical properties? Maybe we can collaboratively come up with different encodings that are more intelligible to someone who’s not used to interpreting information visually.

Satyanarayan: Along those lines, one thread is captioning online visualizations. There’s a lot of work to do in figuring out what’s important to caption to present some high-level insight of what the visualization is saying, as well as find a way to automatically generate those captions. That’s a deep technological solution. But we still have to make sure our sociotechnical considerations are adhered to.

Looking long-term, we’re interested in alternative ways of encoding data that are usable and accessible to people who are blind. Before braille, text was embossed on paper, but that’s not really how people who are blind process language. Louis Braille, who was blind himself, came up with something vastly different that became the standard way for blind people to read text. We first need to take a step back and understand the audience for and with whom we are designing, and work directly with them.

To do that, we have to address several things. How do people who are blind think about data? I was introduced to data through line graphs and bar charts. What is the equivalent for people who don’t process information visually? Once we answer those questions, we can start thinking about what the best way to encode data, because we’re not sure 3D-printing a line chart is the best solution.

3Q: Collaborating with users to develop accessible designs syndicated from https://osmowaterfilters.blogspot.com/

[movieinternship]

Day One Internship: The TEA

Today was a bit of a recap of who everyone was, where everything is, seeing what things have changed since my 2011/12 Work Study.

I spent some time talking with the Director about what she does regarding budgets and working with the Board of Trustees and the state (since this is a public library they have to work with state funding and reps). Just like any other job really there’s a tree shape to the job levels. 

My library uses Overdrive for purchasing their ebooks. I didn’t know that it works the same way as a physical book: however many ecopies the library has, is how many can be checked out. So, if someone rents the only ecopy of a book available you will have to wait until their rental is over to check it out; the rental literally deletes from your device. I had been under the impression that a library's ebooks were a “as many people who want to rent it out at once can” kind of thing; like Project Gutenberg. What I also am not very knowledgeable about is the cost of being able to sell ebooks with copyright. Which is why Gutenberg is as it is; because they only have un-copywritten books.

Which brought an unknown scandal to my eyes, that I had been dealing with the repercussions of but didn’t know why: Apple and Amazon had been price fixing ebooks. 

I have, and hold, a bitter resentment towards editors and publishers, but not to the authors. So while I am for pirated and free material (mostly because school books are expensive as fuck and I already eat a lot of ramen and water) I want the writers to get back something of what they put out. So while Apple and Amazon made a killing, the writers got boned, and the two companies were ordered to pay back a certain million to customers who overpaid for their ebooks (in credits... not “real money”).

This brings up another scandal where Macmillan Publishing decided that libraries buying new ebooks was hurting their profit margin and so they were allowing libraries to only buy one ebook of new books- then the library would have to wait six more months to buy another copy (insert Star Trek Ferengi Rules of Acquisition here). Now, this doesn’t sound too horrible, but it has lead to libraries across the nation boycotting the publishing company. In short, since libraries can only rent out an ebook to one person at a time, if it’s a popular book, the wait list for it could be months long for patrons. My personal view is this: some people like to read things before they buy it, some people don’t have money to buy expensive new books- libraries are those middle ground and this alienates the patrons who use libraries to gain access to the material they want to read because of funding or (in case of small towns) not a wide enough, or lucrative enough, local bookstore. 

As far as buying physical books for the library we use Baker & Taylor Books. The same company that the local bookshop uses. No tea on that end, but it’s cool to know what companies are available to find these products for bookstores and libraries. There is also Ingram for physical books, and surprisingly 3M Cloud Library for ebooks (sorry no link, they mostly go directly to libraries and is a small selection from what I understand). 

After tea time and basics of how the books are attained I was introduced to the Integrated Library System (ILS) which is how a library catalogs incoming items, late items, bills, and just about everything in-between. We use an Open Source version KONA (much like the customization of running LINUX for libraries, instead of cookie cutter systems that run more like Windows). I love it, the tech guy is mad good at what he does, I’ve always been impressed.

We also work with the company OCLC which I have not delved much into, but seems to be a source of ideas for improving the availability of library services and innovating ideas for them as well.

i spent quite a bit of time at the resources desk, learning that most of the questions are technical and computer (we ended up helping some kids to print an awesome geometric design for her skateboard), and finding novels for travel and escapism; also talking about the validity of problematic content-

ok one more Tea for you. Apparently there was a huge meltdown in the Romance Novel genre. Several POC Romance writers took to absolutely destroying the entire basis of the genre. What we’ve all known for, since most of us could read, that romance novels are sexist, racist, and abusive, came flying twitter first into the “oh shit” lives of the white controlling writers of the genre; and in the end a bunch of them resigned from areas of genre writing that I yet have little knowledge of. But damn YES. As I told the librarian I was with- most of these things now come with an asterisk dedicating the work as outdated and offensive, and a product of its time (as Disney+ has done with older films). And as long as a person is intelligent enough to see the wrongs, the form of escapism is a learning process and guilty pleasure. Not that people don’t still believe the stereotypes and act on them, but it’s a slow process to culturally unlearn things with humans. Change is scary. This also falls into the fandom of fanfiction- much the same kind of reader-base, with some similar problems. 

In the end, I am so excited to be back because despite what most seem to think: Libraries are not boring and are not dying. These several detailed stories are just some of what I often come across working there, and I love it. There is never a dull moment, and there is always work to do. I did learn that there is a whole class in the Master’s Degree dedicated to learning to catalog books- AND I WANT TO TAKE IT. SO BAD. Also that some schools make you choose your emphasis after one semester, and some don’t care what you do as long as everything is filled out in the end. 

Homework this week is to make a list on KONA of books either in a genre to help with content searches of similar topics, or a selfish impulse of my own loves; and to find something in Thingiverse to print in one of the three 3d printers we have (I guess it’s been kind of hard to learn and I have no reason not to, because it’s cool as SHIT, so there.).

#internship #librarian

[reefertilizer-blog]

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out our guide to building this space bucket.

Hello, fellow growers!

I’m excited to tell you about the upgrades I’ve made to the original space bucket design.

In the last few weeks, I’ve added a few pieces of hardware to make the space bucket even easier to manage.

Its temperature and humidity are now monitored and maintained with a small easy to program digital controller.

I also 3D printed a pair of fan adapters so I can attach ducting to the fans (there’s a download below).

A carbon filter has also be put into the mix to help eliminate any powerful smells.

Let’s go through each upgrade and how to attach them to the space bucket.

3D Printed Fan Adapter

The original bucket had fans, but if I wanted to connect those to a filter or humidifier, I needed a way to attach an air duct. I always thought 3D printing technology was really cool. When I realized it was the answer to my problem I jumped right into designing a fan adapter. My local library has 3D printers the public is allowed to use after a short training program, so I signed up. I recommend checking out your local library, they have some pretty amazing resources at your disposal, not just books! The fan was 90mm, the air duct was 4″, and the design was pretty straight forward. You will notice the one I printed is smaller than the 3D rendering. The reason for this is that the original design would require 5 hours to print. Ain’t nobody got time for that! The software I used made it really easy to scale the height by about 50%. This reduced the print time to just over 2 hours. This shorter adapter was perfect for attaching a duct tube.

The 3D printed piece fit perfectly. I was a little worried it might not be rugged enough, but it’s working well. All I had to do was screw it on. You could add some sealant between the adapter and the fan to help keep the whole thing a little more “airtight”. The hose clamps I used were 4″ and they were just large enough to fit around the fan adapter with very little room to spare.

The material I used to print it was PLA plastic, which is a type of biodegradable plastic made from renewable sources like corn starch. Because it’s biodegradable it won’t last forever and will need to be replaced later on, but at least I’m not adding to the landfill. There are other polymers you can use to 3D print that will last much longer but they cost more. This one adapter cost only $3.50 in materials! To save even more material I set the printer to infill only 10%. Infill is a setting for 3D printers to limit the amount of material to use to fill solid areas. You can set it to 100%, but the print will take a really long time. 10% seems to be enough to keep the piece very solid. There might be small cracks here or there, but for me, the smell isn’t going to be a big issue with this grow.

My adapter was inspired by a design by a company called Mostly Safe Space Buckets. They are based out of Portland Oregon and sell all sorts of space bucket kits and supplies. They also have a comic strip! I’ve never seen that before, but it’s really cool. I originally found them on Etsy, but they also have a website. Go check out their space bucket kits.

Fan Adapter 3D File Download

Here’s a link to the STL file. It can be loaded into any 3D printing software and you’re ready to go! In return for the 3D model, please take a moment to follow us on our social media channels. Get the latest updates on our products and blog right in your feed! Thanks!

Download 3D File

Automated Temperature and Humidity Control

Having a way to maintain the optimum environment for your cannabis plants is really important. My apartment is super dry in the winter so I wanted to find a way to attach a humidifier to my bucket. I started researching different ways I would be able to automate the environment inside the bucket. I found a few products online that required a lot of re-wiring and seemed way to complicated. I just wanted something plug and play. Eventually, I found a supplier who built exactly what I was looking for. This device consists of a humidity and temperature sensor, a small programmable display and two power outlets. One outlet will control a humidifier or dehumidifier, the other will control a fan or a heater. You can program the device to turn on a humidifier if the relative humidity gets low, then shut off when it’s at the right level. To control the heat you can plug in your exhaust fan to suck out hot air if it gets too warm. The controller also has different settings for day and night. The length of each cycle can also be modified. There’s even an alarm that goes off if it gets too hot, cold, humid, or dry. It’s very handy and simple to use.

If you’re interested in using this controller yourself, we have it available in our store here. Shipping is free too.

Smell Proof Your Spacebucket With a Carbon Filter

When your plants start to flower, the smell of cannabis is going to get quite strong. Attaching a carbon filter to your exhaust fan should reduce this smell substantially. Since the bucket doesn’t have enough room inside for a filter, you will have to blow the dank air out through the filter. This was probably the easiest and quickest of all the upgrades I did to the bucket. I found the filter on Amazon here, as well as some duct tubing here.

Control Your Space Bucket Humidity

Using a humidifier is a great way to maintain the right humidity inside your bucket, especially if you’re in a dry climate. In this build, I used a 4 Litre Honeywell dehumidifier I found on Amazon. The reason I used this one is that it’s analog instead of digital. Since it’s controlled by the sensor, it needs to be able to turn on as soon as it has power. Digital humidifiers usually need a button to be pressed everytime it gets plugged in. This one has a simple switch that you can just leave on.

I had to modify the cover to make space for the 4″ T pipe. This pipe allows the fan to pull in fresh air as well as moisture.

Thanks for reading and following along with the space bucket build. If you have any questions or ideas on how to improve the design, leave us a comment below! If you’re interested in learning more about growing cannabis at home, be sure to join our mailing list. When you sign up you also get a free copy of our grow guide that covers all sorts of basics about growing cannabis. Sign up below!

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The post Spacebucket Update – Fan Adapter + Humidity, Temperature, and Smell Control appeared first on Reefertilizer.

#cannabis #grow weed #cannabis nutrients #grow good weed

[specialagentfluffstein]

All the asks! In a really nice way!

All the asks, minus the attitude! Sorry this took forever, I just finally had some time to sit and do it.

1. What was the last present you gave? I gave one of the girls in my EMT class some apples off my neighbor’s tree as a thank you for creating a complete medical terminology quizlet and then sharing it. 

2. What was the last present you received? My stepdad has a 3D printer at work and he made me a little block thing with the Walt Disney castle/signature. 

3. What animal best represents your personality? Bears. 

4. What are you most afraid of? Failure.

5. Who is your favourite villain? Right this second? Dr. Facilier from The Princess and the Frog.

6. Who is your favourite family member? (we all have one, admit it) My sister.

7. If you could name your own planet what would it be called? Fluffsville.

8. Stars or Moon? Stars.

9. Do you have/want kinds? I’m gonna assume this means kids. No. 

10. What is your greatest life goal? Happiness. And also visiting every Disney park.

11. What is something you can’t live without? Music. I almost always have something playing. Right now it’s my ‘Halloweenie’ playlist on Spotify. 

12. What is a place you associate with your childhood? A specific local library.

13. How was your first kiss/how would you like your first kiss to go? It went terribly. I got cornered like a wounded animal and as soon as he left I scrubbed my lips with the fancy sugar scrub I reserve for special occasions. My second first kiss (new boy) was much nicer, even though he missed. 

14. What is some life advice you have acquired? If the worst thing that happens today is that you messed up on the radio, it’s been a good day. And keep a spare pair of boots polished, just in case.

15. Who in history has influenced you? David Bowie and Walt Disney.

16. What is something strange that you think about often? Simulation and consciousness theories. It makes my brain hurt, but also, what if none of this is real, beyond what I can see and experience at this very moment?

17. Baths or Showers? I usually take showers for convenience’s sake, but I do love a nice soak with fun bath bombs or Epsom salts.

18. Tea of Coffee? Before 1400? Coffee. After 1400? Tea. 

19. Alcohol or soft drink? What do the hard sodas (Henry’s, Not Your Father’s, etc.) count as? Because the first thing I bought alcohol-wise from the grocery store after I turned 21 last month was a six pack of hard grape soda. I’m kinda a lightweight, I’ll be real with you. 

20. Writing or typing? Both, but I prefer handwriting stuff. 

21. What is you most favourite thing in your bedroom? Ugh that’s like picking a favorite child. I guess, right this second, it’s the Greg (from Over the Garden Wall) figure on my desk.

22. Spontaneous holiday! Where are you going and with who? Disneyland with my Boo Thang. 

23. Introverted or Extraverted? Extravert. 

24. Describe yourself in two words. Attention Whore. 

25. A song that always puts you in a good mood. “Dancing Queen”

26. What makes you feel? Really good music or food. 

27. What was your favourite concert? Chris Isaak. I’ve seen him twice.

28. Any plans for a tattoo? Yes! I just need to buck up and get it.

29. What was the first book you ever read? I have no idea. Probably a Magic Treehouse book.

30. What was the first movie you saw in cinemas? No se.

31. What do you think of when you hear ‘portrait’? An image of something. 

32. Tell me about your partner/ideal partner? I have one of those! He’s funny and has a cat and does competitive pistol and rifle matches. 

33. Tell me about your siblings, if you have any? I have a sister. She’s great.

34. What is a topic you would like to talk about more? I really wish I had more people to discuss religion with, and not just Christianity. I think religion is super interesting, and it’s tough to find people who will discuss it objectively. 

35. What are you a big advocate for? Seeking counseling. Everyone should see a counselor. We’d be much happier as a society. 

36. If you’re comfortable to answer, what is the sickest you have ever been? This past January I got the flu or something after doing a bunch of traveling, and I was so out of it I forgot that I texted the Detective I was interning for at the time that I was sick and not coming in, and that he responded with like ‘feel better’ or whatever and I even responded to that. So I spent the whole day going ‘oh nooooo I’m a no call no show.’ 

37. When were you the most scared in your life? I woke up from a really horrible dream and for about twenty minutes I couldn’t figure out if it was real or not. 

38. Ever had a paranormal experience? Yes! My grandma’s house is absolutely haunted, and when I’d be there alone watching TV in the living room I’d hear footsteps like someone coming to see what I was watching. They weren’t malevolent or anything, but it was a little unsettling. 

39. Biggest celebrity crush at the moment? Henry Cavill. 

40. What is something happening in your life right now? I’m in an EMT class and it’s not awesome at all. 

41. What is your favourite mythological creature? UNICORNS. 

42. Marvel or DC? For movies? Marvel. For comics? DC.

43. What object would be on your family’s banner? Alcohol. 

44. Favourite flower? Carnations.

45. One characteristic you like in a partner? You have to be able to laugh at things. Especially vaguely off color things. 

46. What planet/star would you travel to if it were possible? Jupiter.

47. What is your favourite meal… ever? Thanksgiving. 

48. First time…. doing anything. Describe your first time doing something? The first time I ran an overdose call as a Police Explorer, I got to see the guy get dosed with Narcan. It was rad. And then we ended up arresting the guy later. 

49. Who is your favourite superhero? Nightwing.

50. What is your favourite poem? Recite it? This is Just To Say - William Carlos Williams

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

51. What is an exercise you despise doing. Running. God I hate it so much. 

52. Secret talent? I can pole dance. Not well, but I can do a couple tricks.

53. Current song on replay replay replay? “Halloween” by Sonic Youth and “All That Heaven Will Allow” by the Mavericks. 

54. Recommend me anything. Seriously… anything. Go listen to the Mavericks. They are great.

55. If you weren’t in your current occupation what would you be doing? Probably going to school for a masters.

56. What is the first thing you notice about the person you fancy? Shoes and smile.

57. If you had one wish that would definitely come true, what would it be? That money would never be an issue. 

58. If you could time travel, when and where would you visit? I feel like I would just go to a bunch of concerts. 

59. What is your lucky number? 21.

60. If you adopt a pet what would it be and what would you name it? Oh man so many dogs. I want five corgis and a pitbull and the pittie’s name would be Korg. Korg and the Corgis. 

61. Do you believe in fate/everything happens for a reason? Kind of. I think personal decisions have a lot to do with it. 

62. What is your favourite thing about your personality? I am so aggressively cheerful. 

63. What is your favourite thing about your appearance? Hair.

64. What is your favourite clothing store? To actually buy stuff in? TJ Maxx. To walk around in? Nordstrom’s. 

65. What is your favourite online store? Tarte, or any makeup site. I love makeup.

66. Use one word to describe your most favourite person? Blond.

67. How do you usually have your hair? Up, unfortunately.

68. What was your favourite subject in high school? English and EMR.

69. What makes you feel empowered? Good outfits and good makeup.

70. What motivates you to do something? Spite.

71. What advice would you give someone who is going through a rough time? Things might not get better per se, but they’ll suck differently, so whatever sucks now probably won’t suck in the future. 

72. Ideal date? Dinner and a Movie. 

73. What is the best date night movie? A comedy. 

74. What is something you are currently looking forward to? Halloween!

75. Tell me a funny joke? You wanna know how I know it’s going to be a spoopy Halloween? I can feel it in my…bones! *skeletons laughing*

76. Do you like musicals? If so, what’s your favourite? I do like musicals, my sister and I really like Something Rotten right now. And I love the Lion King.

77. What is your favourite song currently? “All That Heaven Will Allow” by The Mavericks.

78. What song never fails to make you dance? “Footloose”

79. What is your favourite “classic?” Classic TV.

80. What is the best advice you have ever been given? The radio advice from the earlier question. 

81. Where did you ancestors come from? I think they were Vikings.

82. What have you learned from your parents/guardians? “Yes And” is the best answer.

83. What is a phrase you heard a lot growing up? “Knock it off”

84. Do you believe in magic? yes.

85. What reminds you of your best friend? The pictures I took down because we aren’t friends anymore. 

86. What are you passionate about? Being my authentic self. And Disney.

87. Tell me a story from middle school? I skipped middle school.

88. Who was your favourite teacher and why? Barthe. He was wacky as hell and taught in a way that I retained pretty much everything. I still use stuff I learned from him in college as examples for what I learn now.

89. Can you roll your tongue? Yes, and I can fold it.

90. What made you pursue what you are studying? (including school subjects) I thought I loved it. Now I’m not so sure.

91. Where would you like to travel to? All the Disney Parks. And I’d like to visit all 50 states.

92. What is something on your bucket-list? Visit all 50 states.

93. What is home to you? Wherever my bed is.

94. What do you do in your free time? When I have it, which is like never, I knit and watch TV or hang out with my boyfriend. 

95. If you could buy anything right now, what would it be? A house. 3 Bed 2 Bath with  two car garage, stainless steel appliances, and a yard. 

96. If you could see anyone, living or dead, right now, who would it be? My late grandfather. I could use some of his advice.

97. If you could choose, what would your last meal be? Chicken Wings.

98. How would you like to die? Um yeah that’s not going to happen. If it does I better be like 120. 

99. List five of your favourite pieces of art (paintings, books, songs etc) Everything. Everything is art and I love it all. 

100. What would you change about this world? Equality. I have just as much value as my male counterpart, even if we have different strengths. 

Thanks for asking!

#fluffy answers