I’ve actually found it to be quite good for building dexterity - but duly noted!

Streetpass was one of the coolest features a portable device could have and they did it so well. It was always so exciting to see that little green light

Thank you - that’s absolutely it, which is why I’m not engaging with the other comments on this anymore, because it just feels like feeding the trolls at this point. I thought I was being quite polite and respectful in my response above. I have a lot of patience for people that don’t get it - but not a lot for intentional closed-mindedness. I’m trying to help make this place a more positive and welcoming community, that’s all. The EDC community here on Lemmy is too small to already start with the gatekeeping, it won’t do anyone any favours to be all ‘post what you carry and consider essentials… but not like that’

Aha yeah I know AO2 can be a little pricy, though they do have some great ones in the cheaper range: the Mini Hydras in SS/Delrin being one of them, which are $20. Great starter set, but it’s also impossible to outgrow them, pros. use them still. The weight (18g) is basically the goldilocks weight for most people, the bead shape is excellent

You probably could get a pair from amazon or ebay for like $15 that would serve you well, but I’ve found those to be either way too light or way too heavy and the beads just kinda feel… shitty, and they might even be unbalanced because quality control is nonexistent.

I don’t mean to sound like an aroundsquare shill, I just do genuinely love their products and the owner, Matt, is one of the coolest guys ever

Yeah a lot of people love their homemade ones, and I’ve made a few myself, but at least for me the beads specifically designed for begleri are worlds better. I feel like it’s easier to make a really nice set when you already know what your bead shape, size, and weight preference is - if that makes sense

Lmaoooo no one? I’m just trying to get people to be a little more open minded and maybe make this community a little more welcoming to people who carry more than the basic ‘keys wallet knife’ template

I tend to be verbose 🤷🏻‍♀️

*Skill toy

I totally understand that it’s the kind of thing where if you get it, you get it and if you don’t, you don’t and that’s 100% fine.

But to simply call these just fidget toys is very reductionist. They’re a hobby, just like anything else. You work at it and you build new skills, new tricks, etc. You can’t just use it right out of the box without spending a decent amount of time practicing

Do you see a yo-yo or kendama as ‘fidget toys’ similarly? If so then at least you’re being consistent, but if you see that as a skill based hobby then you should try to reframe begleri into that category as well. It’s essentially a yo-yo on a smaller scale

I personally don’t see the point in spending 1-2k on a set of golf clubs, but I don’t knock people for doing so - it’s their hobby. Whilst I can’t imagine spending ~400 on a watch, I have spent that amount for a fountain pen. Some people invest loads of money working on their car to be super cool, when someone else may look at that and think ‘and my car also gets me where I’m going at the cheaper base model’.

Everyone has an interest that someone else would likely deem ‘a waste of money’, and that person in turn almost certainly has a similar hobby that will be judged.

I try not to yuck other peoples yum. If it makes them happy and it’s not hurting anyone else, that’s what matters, that’s a positive thing

The dice bead is just tactile. It could be used as a begleri if I had another one and set them up as one, but it would probably be too heavy - at least for my play preference

On Lemmy, sadly there’s not too many yet. I’m personally working on getting !idlehands@sopuli.xyz (general skill toy and fidget community) and !begleri@sopuli.xyz going, and there’s also !begleri@lemm.ee

I mainly participate on Instagram, since that seems to have the most contributors begleri community wise. I can link awesome people to follow, if you’re on instagram

There’s a few Discord servers that are active too, a begleri one and an Aroundaquare one. I can get you links later on if you like

In terms of resources for learning:

• begleritricks.com has a lot of tutorials, trick database, and trick index, plus a good intro on vernacular
• This Google Sheet I found that links to youtube tutorials
• Aroundsquarehave a big playlist of tutorials
• Musclebones has great tutorials as well
• Nate Martsolf has tutorials and combo video how-tos
• TGP posts a lot of good begleri videos, though he doesn’t go super into them as a tutorial, but it’s good for quickly seeing a lot of different tricks for inspiration
• And as much as I hate to link it, the begleri subreddit does have some good info too

I got my first set in 2018, and stopped for a bit because I wasn’t really getting anywhere with it. For me what made a difference when I picked it back up again in 2021 was trying different physical combinations: bead shapes and weights, cord diameters, joiner lengths, etc. as well as finding a few clips online and downloading it to my phone so I could put it in slow motion and try to replicate it. It’s also a lot easier to learn if you’re just sat on a bed or carpeted floor or something similar. With dropping it, you’re just right there it’s a lot less frustrating when you don’t have to crouch down every two seconds to try again and it’s a lot easier to adjust the timing and whatnot when the attempts are closer together - I think I learnt at least half of the tricks I know being sat outside on the grass during a nice day. I would also recommend just having a set with you and doing rebounds when you have a chance, because getting a feel for how the momentum is carried will really help with getting the timing for other tricks

Hopefully some of this is helpful!

Ahaha that definitely is something that’s part of the learning process

Sure! I appreciate you asking

So I’m a very texture based person (diagnosed adhd / generalised anxiety disorder and I suspect a little on the spectrum, but never formally diagnosed) and the three other things besides the leatherman and pen are heavily based around that

The dice (or die, I didn’t actually check before hand) is a nice weight and I like the feeling of rolling it between my thumb and index finger, and the two beads on each side are a phenomenal feeling bead to roll similarly. I like the contrast between the smooth SS beads and the sharper edges of the dice. Plus there’s something comforting in knowing I always have at least one die on me at all times (even though I keep a set of 6 mini dice on me in my pouch)

The bracelet looking thing, which is in fact a bracelet as well, is an mkultra from aroundsquare. Similarly as before, the texture and feeling of the beads is fantastic, with the added bonus of being able to wrap around my thumb a few times. That combined with them being good for bead counting / breath work, it’s very calming for me. It can also be used as a fidget / skill toy: see this video for a good intro

The beads on the paracord is a skill toy called begleri, and it’s just that: a skill toy. Video here. It’s a hobby, it’s something to constantly work at improving on and learn new tricks, it’s a way to keep busy, it’s a good way to pass the time instead of looking at my phone - there’s a lot of reasons why I refuse to go anywhere without a set with me. The begleri community is so wholesome and supportive too, which just makes it better

Hopefully I explained this well enough!

I know 😅 I saved up for a decent amount of time for these

Hey different strokes for different folks, by your perspective sure they’re not essentials, but I personally find these to be essentials. I’ve literally not gone a day without these since I’ve gotten them, because they help me with my anxiety and adhd- but if you don’t suffer from that I’m so glad for you

I do! It’s an edc wallet from Dickinson Trading and can definitely recommend

I never go anywhere without a set! (or two or three 😅)

Yep, loaning physical media with software isn’t a thing anymore for that exact reason. Any software or digital platform we offer (ancestry, language learning, ebooks, etc) we either have a ‘one copy one user’ licence which essentially functions like a physical copy, we’re directly paying for each time something is accessed, or we have a subscription specifically made for libraries. We can loan out things like Kindles loaded with ebooks that we’ve purchased, but there’s still a grey area with loaning out a tablet that has the major streaming services installed (with accounts paid for by the library), so we haven’t gone down that route yet

Slim Pickings from Covert Instruments, but the Riv pick and regular picks are available separately. Unsure what you mean by the sturdy part lol

Hardly surprising tbh! Here’s the store page for it, it’s a skill toy that you sling around your fingers. aroundsquare is the company that makes these, zircuti is the materials (zirconium and titanium), sigma is the model / bead name, begleri is the skill toy type :)

Absolutely amazing, though I will say the name made me do a double take

As an actual librarian, I love this. Freedom of information!

There’s better licencing options for libraries now that allow librarians much better control over getting their patrons the books they want, you should give it another go.

Libraries can buy metered access and one copy one circ, and depending on how the library’s consortium agreement is, usually home patrons holds will get advantage over same-system-but-different-home-library holds; so those will still have the ‘limited like a physical book’ restriction, but you’ll have priority if your library bought a copy. We also use Cost Per Circ, and so as long as our monthly budget hasn’t been met, any books I’ve added as part of our CPC collection can be taken out instantly by my patrons even if the wait time would’ve been months long due to how many people are on hold. If the budget has been met, those holds on CPC titles will be filled once the 1st of the month rolls around and the budget resets.

Give it another try, and put the books you want on hold. Librarians have a harder time knowing what their patrons want when they don’t have data because patrons don’t place holds. I’ll add books to CPC whenever I can, even if there’s only one or two holds on a title