smolZINE - Issue 31

2022-08-01

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Hidden (and not so hidden) Gems

Emanations

Recreation

Community Contributions & Discussion

Introduction

Greetings geminauts. Emanations have...emanated and the chess puzzle is back. Enjoy!

Hidden (and not so hidden) Gems

leafstorm's office

This capsule has a lot of the same kind of content that a lot of capsules have but presents it in a text adventure style.

leafstorm's office

Where in the World

From the creator of many popular gemini services comes another gem. This time a daily geography puzzle complete with ascii art visuals.

Where in the World

hnr.fyi

A nice new capsule with a tinylog and some haikus. You'll also find links to some of their things on the big web.

hnr.fyi

jdcard

This capsule has a number of thoughtful writings on varied subjects.

jdcard

alkali.me

A very nice personal capsule with a now watching and now reading section as well as links to some of their gaming related projects.

alkali.me

Emanations

Velomobiles

There is a class of bicycle/ebike called a velomobile that is something akin to a cross between an automobile and a bicycle. The key characteristics are generally 3 wheels, car-like recumbant seat and protective body panels. Some are fully enclosed and some are only partially enclosed. The idea is that they provide some of the desirable characteristics of automobiles while retaining the efficiency of a bicycle. Some of these are entirely human-powered and can even reach impressively high speeds with pedaling alone thanks to the aerodynamic efficiency. A great achievement, however, I think human electric hybrid drivetrains are the most promising from a general transportation perspective.

For the most part they have been focused around aerodynamics for extreme efficiency. This is very fascinating and worthwhile in its own right but I don't think this style of velomobile will ever see any kind of significant adoption. The reason being that they are too low and streamlined making them too difficult for those with limited mobility to get in and out of as well as lacking storage space for utility. No matter how amazingly efficient, a velomobile that lacks the necessary features for your daily needs of carrying items and/or passengers is just not going to be very useful. See some examples of this kind of velomobile in this excellent article from Low Tech Magazine.

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2012/10/electric-velomobiles.html

What would be nice to see is a more utilitarian approach that sacrifices *some* of the efficiency for better ergonomics and cargo space. There are some of velomobiles that are moving more this direction. The two that I find the most compelling are the Organic Transit ELF and the Better Bike PEBL. They sit a little higher than the extremely aerodynamic models and have more accessible side entry doors. There is also a space for a passenger or two and cargo. These velomobiles are essentially ebikes that can be pedaled with electric assist or driven with a throttle. While pretty expensive due to the small scale of manufacturing, I imagine the price would come down by an order of magnitude if they were to gain enough popularity.

https://www.better.bike/

https://organictransit.com/

I'm not sure velomobiles will ever gain significant adoption at all but velomobiles like the PEBL and ELF stand more of chance in my view because people would actually be able to use it for the things people use cars for like transporting a passenger, grocery shopping etc. Additionally it would be more feasible for someone unable to climb in and out of the more streamlined velomobiles. I can envision a world where the transportation infrastructure is geared more towards bicycles and other smaller, more efficient personal vehicles. As with bikes and ebikes, the idea of driving these small and vulnerable vehicles on our current roads with automobiles is not very enticing. Better and separate infrastructure for bicycles and these types of vehicles would be necessary to get more than a tiny fraction of people to switch. We'll just have to dream for now and keep pushing our communities' transportation infrastructure to evolve in the direction we want.

- kelbot

Recreation

Chess Puzzle

by carriunix

Solution

Stinky Pinky

by kelbot

To play Stinky Pinky you will need to read the two descriptions below. They each describe a word and the two words rhyme. Example: 1. Smelly, 2. Finger; Answer: Stinky Pinky. Get it? You can email your answer to the address found at the bottom of each smolZINE to confirm if you are correct. The first to answer wins...uhhh I haven't figured that out yet so my congrats will have to do for now.

1. Debris

2. Very short hairs

Community Contributions & Discussion

Please consider taking part in making this zine better and more diverse by contributing your thoughts and finds. If you are interested in contributing a short article or capsule picks email me at: smolzine (at) cyberbot.space.

If you have any feedback or just want to discuss anything related to gemini or smolZINE hit me up at the above email or ping me on the fediverse at kelbot@retro.social and/or use the #smolZINE tag.

Thanks

Thank you to the following geminauts for their contributions to this issue of smolZINE.

carriunix