From 13ac36c5b7a240db0894e6edcfc658d165d79c60 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Adam A.G. Shamblin" Date: Fri, 5 Jul 2019 18:25:37 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] July 4th post --- content/holiday-update-2019-07-04.md | 116 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 116 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/holiday-update-2019-07-04.md diff --git a/content/holiday-update-2019-07-04.md b/content/holiday-update-2019-07-04.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f5c75c --- /dev/null +++ b/content/holiday-update-2019-07-04.md @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +Title: Holiday Update, July 4, 2019 +Date: 2019-07-04 +Category: misc +Tags: bee-keeping, scuttlebutt, mesh, gypsy wagon + + +Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans, and similar sentiments to my +international friends. + +## Bee Journal + +Our last hive inspection was early last month, and we decided to let some weeks +go by before we opened the hive again. We added a second brood super to the hive +during the last week of May, and upon our last inspection the colony had only +just started to draw comb on the new frames. It has been a long, cold spring +with lots of rain. The beehive, the garden have both developed slowly this year +for it. + +It's been warmer this past couple of weeks, and both the gardens and the hive +have certainly perked up. Yesterday the colony started to beard on the front of +the apiary. I'd read that this was normal and could mean a healthy hive that +needed more room. We decided that bright and early this morning we would open +the hive, give a quick inspection and add a honey super. We'd been continuing to +feed until this point, and when I opened the top feeding super it was very full +of bees, the sugar jars covered and a thick cluster clung to the inside of the +cover when I lifted it. After giving a couple puffs of smoke to the entrance and +inside, I tapped off the bees and we lifted off the top brood super to see what +was going on below. + +Confirming what we'd expected, the bottom brood super was full, all ten frames. +While we opted not to pull out any frames this time, it was easy to see bulging +drone caps and smooth worker caps from above. While we didn't see the queen, her +work is evident. When we open the hives we like to work fast, so we quickly +reassembled the hive, added the new honey super and closed it up. There were +still probably a couple of hundred bees clinging to the removed inner cover and +feeding super, so I tapped them off on top of the hive and put the equipment +away. Over the next hour the lingering bees found their way back inside, I hope +to start filling the honey super. + +Speaking of honey, there were plenty of swollen honey cells at the top of the +brood frames, and a bit of comb had stuck to the bottom side of the inner cover. +We scraped this off and squeezed out our first taste of our backyard honey, and +it was good! I'm hopeful we will see our first harvest in August. + +## Scuttlebutt, Decentralized Content + +A couple of years ago I learned about and started using an interesting protocol +and application called [Scuttlebutt](https://scuttlebutt.nz). This is a +decentralized, peer to peer social network, more or less, built upon it's own +custom protocol and developed by some notable hackers in New Zealand. While I've +been using Scuttlebutt for some time, I'd fallen off since I don't really have +any friends on there, and I'd become disillusioned with some of the attitudes +expressed on the platform. A [recent +podcast](https://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-290) featured Scuttlebutt's +(SSB) creator, Dominic Tarr, and after listening to it I've found my interest +renewed. + +After having fired up my client, [Patchwork](https://github.com/ssbc/patchwork), +I waited for a few hundred content updates to sync and found the community to +which I'd connected to be about the same. The focus is certainly on the +development of the platform and the social concerns of that community, which +seems to be quite influenced by the thinkers at +[Loomio](https://www.loomio.org/) whom I admire. Much talk of consensus and +inclusion. I've begun once again to post here and there, in Esperanto and +concerning bees, so far. + +I've also decided to try hosting my own pub server, a sort of super-peer used to +get around the limitations of IP4 and NAT, and to pull my community focus +towards something more local to myself. I've nearly got a working kubernetes +deployment assembled, just working through some peculiarities around loading +configuration into a hosted volume. More to come there, as I expect I'll have it +working by the end of the long holiday weekend. + +## Mesh Networking, Redux + +I'm starting to revive an older project. A couple of Pi-days ago I gathered all +the [RaspberryPi](https://www.raspberrypi.org/) single-board computers I could +borrow and built a small mesh network using the Open Mesh Project's +[batman-adv](https://www.open-mesh.org/projects/batman-adv/wiki). I had a bunch +of success, and I even teamed up with a colleague to run his Kubernetes cluster +on it. I started writing some code using the +[alfred](https://www.open-mesh.org/projects/alfred/wiki) distributed data store, +and there is a [GitHub project](https://github.com/coyote240/alfred-client) with +setup instructions and some of the Python I wrote to handle native messages. +Like a lot of projects, after the initial push my effort petered out, but this +is tech I care about and I finally am starting to push myself to pick it up +again. + +During my [recent Erlang training]({filename}/erlang-training.md), I +realized that the binary message passing that I'd been using Python for might be +better handled using Erlang's excellent binary pattern matching. It should be +fairly straight-forward to handle any combination of Alfred or batman-adv +messages quickly. I've got a handful of Pi Zero Ws ready for the task, I'm +starting to get the basics set up and to experiment running Erlang on each. + +## Even Tinier House? + +So, last thing, we traveled to visit the in-laws and our oldest son last +weekend. We met his girlfriend for the first time. She's a bit of a bad-ass, I +have to admit, and she lives in a ~200sqft. tiny house she built with her +family. We drove out to take a look and I was immediately inspired. No, tiny +house living is not in my future, but I have daydreamed in the past about +building a Gypsy or Basque style wagon into the back of a 1967 Ford F250 we have +parked out back. I'm starting to see what it would take to get the truck moving +again (tires, fresh gas, etc.) and maybe start to sketch out some plans. + +Serendipitously, my mother sent me this great book for my birthday just a few +days after we got back. Derek "Deek" Diedricksen at +[RelaxShacks](https://relaxshacks.blogspot.com/) wrote this great book, __Humble +Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages, Ramshackle Retreats, Funky Forts and +Whatever Else We Could Squeeze in Here!__. His web site is a bit of a nightmare, +but look him up on that video streaming site I heard of or check out the book. +It's a lot of fun and is full of inspiring ideas that just might help lead to a +hand crafted camper truck. + +Ĝis la revido, kaj feliĉa kodumado! -- 2.39.5