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Renting a sewing machine from the library

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Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#111

Post by wafflemaker »

whycombinetor wrote: post #31

Denver has this... nominally. 3 machines (2 in circulation, one is a "Display"). 4 week checkout period. 103 current holds. 103*4/2/12 ≈ 17 year wait time.

In the equation there seems to be a typo;

103 - number of ppl in queue, 4 - up to X weeks per person, 2 - number of machines 12 - ??

Maybe you initially wanted to use full months for how long a person can hold an item, but then switched to weeks, and accidently still used number of months to get the number of years?

Anyway, for an imprecise number, you can do with months - 104*1/2/12 ~4.3y.

For more precise result, use seconds, as that's the unit used for the precise length of the year. Year is not 365 days. It's actually longer, quoting Wikipedia for (tropical) year,

> Approximately 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds

That gives

  104 * (4 * 7 * 24 * 60 * 60) /2 /(((365 * 24 + 5) * 60 + 48) * 60 + 45)
Which results in 3.986 years. At maximum. Much less than 17!

Edit: getting asterikses * right

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#112

Post by infl8ed »

My local library has a few interesting things like this including a podcast kit (i.e. professional microphones and mixers) you can book in conjunction with a room booking and also a thermal imaging camera you can check out to "identify energy efficiency in the home by finding gaps in insulation, comparing the performance of different walls and rooms in the home, finding air leaks and identifying water leaks or damp issues". I approve wholeheartedly of these and similar initiatives.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#113

Post by lostlogin »

xattt wrote: post #56
ElijahLynn wrote: post #11

My local library which is part of the Washington county Library system (next to Portland). It's where Hillsboro is, which is where Intel's manufacturing is, also called Silicon Forest, has a Library Of Things! I've checked out a KitchenAid stand mixer, synthesizer, guitar, stud finder, drum machine, ukulele, air quality detector, and many more things. They also have a sewing machine and a. Vitamix. It's amazing! I lo…

Libraries of Things are a thing now. The items that are most useful are those that lend things that you use from once a year to every couple of years. My local library (PEI Library Service) has a telescope, radon detector, a basic (and I mean basic) toolkit, some gardening tools among other things. The collection has a couple of surprises, but mostly underwhelming. I did request something more practical, like a bicyc…

> a bicycle disc brake flushing kit

With the right gear, the job is still horrible. SRAM brakes give me an unlimited number of maintenance chores.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#114

Post by arghnoname »

TurdF3rguson wrote: post #70
hsuduebc2 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, that's exactly what you want in library. I understand it's tough for them but some of the homeless people are not people you enjoy you want to be around. I don't understand this need to spread this sentiment.

You will encounter homeless people in libraries, because it's one of the few public spaces that won't kick them out. Your reaction to that shouldn't be to hate and avoid libraries though. It should be to appreciate them more.

I don't go to libraries very often anymore because so often they're effectively homeless shelters. Should I not mind this? I don't know, 'should' is doing a lot here, but the truth is I used to love going to libraries, browsing books, and soak up the general scholastic atmosphere.

Homeless shelter just isn't that much fun for me. If I want to be virtuous and go to a soup kitchen or otherwise try to interact with and help homeless people, I'll just do that.

What people in general don't seem to realize by taking things that almost everyone likes (libraries, as one example) and requiring one to go through some virtue test to go is that in the end, public support for the good is going to collapse, it will lose funding, and then no one can have it.

I think we're going to lose libraries.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#115

Post by arghnoname »

MikeTheGreat wrote: post #106
mongol wrote: post #103

I am not very fond of this idea. I think libraries are for books, or possibly media. I can see the utility but I think it distracts from the actual purpose.

I used to think this way too. When I was growing up, libraries were for books. And that one room where they had periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and such) but you had to read those there in that room. And encyclopedias, for kids to use for their research reports. And a story hour for kids (and, let's face it, for the parents). And that one computer in the back that had Oregon Trail and Summer Olympic Games on it.…

I'm torn on this. Often I feel like the parent, but I recognize maybe I'm being stubborn.

You say libraries purpose is to help the community. If that's true, what you're saying makes sense. On the other hand, if their purpose is to promote literacy and reading, well, this is off mission.

I think of the former mission as more being a community center. My mother loves this form and spends a lot of time at her local library. I'm a curmudgeon and an intellectual snob apparently. I don't even like them having popular books, but I'm trying to be less rigid and more honest here and admit that some scope creep is probably healthy and the question is just where you draw the line.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#116

Post by stevekemp »

deanc wrote: post #91
yw3410 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the United Kingdom, we learn (maybe past tense, I've no idea if the curriculum has changed) how to use a sewing machine at secondary school.

I’m almost 40 and educated in the UK. I don’t think sewing has been taught in UK schools for quite many generations now - although no idea what the state of affairs is today.

It might be you need to make a choice to choose it; I know that when I was at school in the UK I got to choose between "CDT" (craft, design, and technology) or home economics, which was sewing, cooking, & etc.

I picked woodwork, as 95% of the boys did, and about 80% of the girls picked the home-lessons instead.

I do recall doing some sewing lessons outwith the home-ec classes, but it was very irregular. I know I skipped some stuff because my grandmother had already taught me to knit when I was six-eight years old. Only at home did I use a sewing machine, never at school.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#117

Post by stevekemp »

Havoc wrote: post #37

> 55% of Finns visit libraries at least once a month. Wait what? That seems insanely high even for a progressive society. As a reference point UK is at 30% on YEARLY STATS NOT MONTHLY >In England, 30% of adults aged 16 and over used a public library service at least once in the previous 12 months.

I moved to Finland, and starting when my child was about three years old I took him to Oodi every weekend.

The soft-play area was heaven for him, and he liked flicking through the donald-duck comic books.

Even now, when he's nine, I go every month or two with him for an afternoon. He has no shortage of books at home, but he gets to run around, look at books, and play with other kids. He enjoys himself enormously.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#119

Post by OliverGuy »

lostlogin wrote: post #113
xattt wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libraries of Things are a thing now. The items that are most useful are those that lend things that you use from once a year to every couple of years. My local library (PEI Library Service) has a telescope, radon detector, a basic (and I mean basic) toolkit, some gardening tools among other things. The collection has a couple of surprises, but mostly underwhelming. I did request something more practical, like a bicyc…

> a bicycle disc brake flushing kit With the right gear, the job is still horrible. SRAM brakes give me an unlimited number of maintenance chores.

To be fair SRAM are particularly a pain to bleed. Shimano, Magura etc are much easier

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#120

Post by probably_wrong »

ranger207 wrote: post #19
felooboolooomba wrote: post #7

If you went into programming because you like making things, odds are high you'll like sewing too. Speaking from experience.

What kind of stuff do you make sewing? About the only think I've ever wanted to sew was a new pocket on a jacket

I started sewing because I wanted to make a Guybrush Threepwood costume for Halloween. I'm currently making a bag and the next items in the pipeline are a couple summer shirts and a custom cover for a camera lens I have. I also brought my sewing machine to a kid's birthday party to make small plushies with the kids.

I've also repaired a non-insignificant number of clothes from friends and family. I know I used to roll my eyes when people used terms like "upcycling", but I have to say that I've come around since.

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