For me it is just media. No things.
Renting a sewing machine from the library
201–210 of 244 posts
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#202I would love to have a place I could rent that kind of stuff. There are a lot of hobbies I'd like to explore, but I don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for equipment I'll never use again if I decide it's not for me.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#203 Finland's investment reflects this commitment: in 2025, the country spent nearly €371m ($430m/£321m) on its public libraries – that's €65.78 ($76/£57) per person, compared to the average £10 ($13.5) per person spent in the UK, and a total public library expenditure of $15.2bn (£11.4bn ), or $45 (£34) per person in the US.
In San Francisco, the 2025 public library budget was over $240 per resident per year.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A well managed library has a degree of supervision that allows the visitor to do something about harassment. Library staff in my city are instructed not to do anything themselves about homeless. If there's a problem then they just call the police, who are equipped to handle it. Same as the city bus drivers are not going to enforce paying fares or making sure no riders are causing problems. They just pull over and c…
Seems like such a confident, exact number here.. How do you arrive at that? I've lived around and been friends with homeless people my whole life.. I can't even think of one thing 9 out of 10 of them shared beyond there general circumstances. They are just people, how can it be alright or even really rational to talk about them like this?
GP wasn't talking about a random sample of homeless people, but a sample of homeless people who have been so disruptive that they have just been asked to leave a public library.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Sounds safe: https://ciceroinstitute.org/news-media/more-than-50-of-homel... "In 8 states, over 50% of unsheltered homeless individuals are registered sex offenders. National average: ~13% when including those with “unknown addresses.” "
Buried lede: this is, in large part, a self-created problem. Many states set restrictions on where people who are registered sex offenders are allowed to live (e.g. disallowing them from living close to schools and day care centers), and those restrictions can make it much more difficult for these people to find housing.
(Anecdotally, I've heard of situations where these restrictions effectively ban sex offenders from living anywhere in a city, because the overlapping exclusion zones leave nothing uncovered.)
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#206I always wanted to start a musical instrument library. I loved working in a music store, helping people pick out the right instruments for what they're trying to accomplish, but always constrained by their budget. We had a per-semester rental program for school band students, where we'd take a deposit and rental fees but we'd handle the maintenance and families could save a ton versus buying. Something similar where…
I think musical instruments, especially digital ones like synthesizers or effects but also guitars and other acoustic instruments, have become a lot more affordable the last decade without severely impacting quality. You don't really need the expensive stuff anymore when you can record a quality recording with a second hand iPad and a below $100 microphone. Rental of expensive stuff will always be expensive too due t…
There's still a lot of crap cheap guitars out there, and some truly dreadful cheap amps
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#207It's such an absolutely weird tension... The libraries in Belgium at least are absolutely amazing! They are filled with : - books (obviously) beautifully curated - comics - magazines - sometimes even audiobooks in the form of CDs - sometimes also events with authors on absolutely important topics like ... what it means to be human and they are also - basically free (few Euros per year, at most, and if you cannot pay)…
The fact that libraries are not full of people doesn't negate their function. A hard drive doesn't need to be continually read and written to serve its purpose either.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
They came on to the downhill MTB market 25-30 years ago now, spread into XC and from there into road and gravel. Sadly, they've now made their way down to the mid-low end of the hybrid/city/comfort market as well. Low-end hydraulic disc brakes are a huge downgrade from cable-actuated brakes. The components range from OK to outright crap and the labor to screw around with them easily adds up to a significant fraction…
I got back into cycling after 20 years off. Good hydraulic disc brakes are just so good. Sadly I need them more, I’m a chicken on the decent and there is a lot more of me to stop.
now that e-bikes are so prevalent, I wonder if we will see more regenerative braking.
i live in a place with large hills that have long descents over miles, and it would be nice to not be wearing out my brakes physically while controlling my speed.
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#209If 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 made a hat - an old one was getting threadbare so I used a seam ripper to take it apart, drew around the parts onto new fabric, and sewed the parts together. The brim was a bit tricky and the stitching isn't super straight because of the thick canvas (also, I wish I'd made it out of thinner material) but I get a kick out of saying I made it!
Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
I got back into cycling after 20 years off. Good hydraulic disc brakes are just so good. Sadly I need them more, I’m a chicken on the decent and there is a lot more of me to stop.
now that e-bikes are so prevalent, I wonder if we will see more regenerative braking. i live in a place with large hills that have long descents over miles, and it would be nice to not be wearing out my brakes physically while controlling my speed.
To have regenerative braking, you'd need a hub motor or a bottom bracket motor with a fixed hub and the freewheel on the crank, which admittedly does exist, just not in conjunction with a motor in the bottom bracket AFAIK.
You'd also need some way of controlling the regenerative and friction brakes together. No, it cannot be separate levers. A lot of casual cyclists don't use their front brakes because they're worried that they'll go over the bars.