Where do you recommend for pen purchases? In the past I've used Goulet but there was a post (maybe here?) awhile back about them that inclined me to not give them money any more.

Background : I teach a class about once a year and I like to gift my graduating students a pen because I find it unique and interesting - you don't see fountain pens much anymore. I usually go with a Lamy Safari (but am up for recommendations on similar starter pens; see bottom). In the past they (Lamy) sold a gift set that was the pen and 5 or so of the disposable cartridges in various colors (no Z28 included) and that was my go-to. They don't appear to sell that particular product anymore so I'd reverted to just the standalone Safari and including one extra disposable cartridge since I have quite a few but don't use them.

Preferably a US based distributor.

While we're at it, any suggestions for a good, comparable, starter pen besides the Lamy Safari? Around $30 USD is my max price range since some times I have up to 15 students and that gets... pricey : ) Main consideration is that it's a decent pen that won't frustrate new users but something nicer than a disposable (EG: Pilot Varsity).

That's it... It's a big permanent marker.

Follow up from https://lemmy.world/post/37310527

We did it gang, and we went even further to be able to enter the LUKS password from anywhere via Tailscale.

The general Dropbear info from the Debian wiki seems accurate though it included dropbearconvert usage that wasn't mentioned elsewhere. Unsure if that was needed or not but I did it anyway.

I also referenced this guide. I especially enjoyed the -c cryptroot-unlock param to Dropbear so it automatically prompts me for the password on login.

I've been getting familiar with Tailscale over the past few weeks and also just replaced my home router (immediately flashed with OpenWRT). Turns out you can run Tailscale on OpenWRT and cajigger it in a way that you can use the router as an exit node while allowing LAN access. So, I did that. Now, with Dropbear, the static IP in my initramfs, and Tailscale, if the server reboots while I'm away from home I can SSH via my phone and enter the LUKS password to allow it to boot.

... mostly it's just going to be when I don't want to dig behind my desk to plug in a keyboard, but the truly remote option is nice too.

Thanks for all the input.

I've done a little research but curious about first hand experience.

I've got a little home server that is full disk encrypted with LUKS (+LVM, of course). It's headless (no display, no keyboard, etc) and just lives attached to the back of my desk, out of the way.

If it gets rebooted due to a power outage, I can plug in a keyboard, wait long enough for it to get to the LUKS password prompt, enter password, hit enter, and assume it worked if I see the disk activity light blinking. Worst case scenario, I can move it to a monitor and plug it in to get display too.

Because lazy, I'd prefer to be able to enter the decrypt password remotely. "Dropbear" seems to be a common suggestion but I haven't tried it yet.

So, asking for your experience or recommendations.

I'll start. Recommendation #1 - get a UPS : D ... But besides that.

Addendum: either way, I currently need to be home to do this because I access it remotely via tailscale along with my desktop. Since both are full disk encrypted, neither will boot to the point of starting tailscale without intervention. But, I might repurpose a nonencrypted RPi with SSHd to act as a "auto restarts with tailscale so I can SSH to it, then SSH to server to enter the LUKS password" jump point.

My Buff Orpington laid this one yesterday. She often lays "oddly" textured ones but this is the weirdest by far.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31340928

The American Civil Liberties Union plans to challenge a new Arkansas law requiring Ten Commandments displays in public buildings.

Act 573 was passed by the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year. The law mandates a framed copy of the Ten Commandments be hung in all public buildings, including school classrooms. The ACLU is suing four Northwest Arkansas school districts, and not the state specifically, because Act 573 assigns enforcement to local school officials rather than a state agency.

The suit argues that the law promotes a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments and sends a message that students who don’t share those beliefs are outsiders in their own schools. Joining the suit are families of public school students in Northwest Arkansas. Some plaintiffs are Jewish or non-religious, while one family is Unitarian Universalist.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30410274

[Josh Duggar] cited “new legal theories and strategies [that] have emerged in public discourse” in documents that were filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas on Tuesday.

I've got several of these empty steel propane tanks from heating the chicken coop during the recent cold weather before I got an adapter to run the heater off of a larger refillable tank. Any ideas on what they could be repurposed for?

Seems like there should be some use for them besides tossing them in the recycling. I'd assume I'd need to poke a hole in them before recycling since they are/were pressure vessels.

I know there are adapters out there to refill them but now that I can use a larger, more easily refillable, tank I don't really have any inclination to do so.

My only thought so far was to cut the top off, drill some holes, and make a little stick burning camp stove. But, that's not something I'll ever use.

I've got a fairly extensive workshop and metal working tools so pretty much everything is on the table. I can even do really shitty welding if required.

We showing odd eggs now? Here's mine.

EDIT: Fixing post so the image is in the post instead of in the body. I'm dumb, sorry.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24626086

An Arkansas state representative filed a resolution Wednesday to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

If approved, State Rep. Aaron Pilkington’s resolution would also require all state agencies to use the term “Gulf of America.”

The Republican, who represents parts of Johnson and Pope counties in northwest Arkansas, said renaming the gulf would “reinforce the role it plays in supporting the prosperity and security of the United States.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21555013

Nearly 5,000 students who received vouchers in Year One continued into Year Two of the program. They were joined by more than 9,000 new enrollees who joined the program this year, for a total enrollment of 14,297. As with Year One, the overwhelming majority of the new enrollees — 83% — did not attend public school in the prior year.

Either way, the program has to date mostly provided vouchers to students who are not moving over from public schools. These results fit a consistent pattern in other similar statewide voucher programs nationwide. Most of the public cash doled out winds up boosting the bank accounts of families who were never in the public school system to begin with.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20459024

Morgan Nick was six years old when she was abducted from a baseball field in Alma in June 1995. In a news conference Tuesday, Alma Police Chief Jeff Horner said a former person of interest in the case, Billy Jack Lincks, is now the main suspect in Nick’s abduction.

“The most important thing here is Morgan is still missing, but we’ve reached a point where we can concentrate on one suspect to determine the circumstances surrounding Morgan’s abduction,” he said.

Lincks died in 2000 while serving a prison term for sexual indecency with a child. He attempted to abduct a child about 12 weeks after Nick’s disappearance, about eight miles away from where she was last seen.