yial

I can’t speak to the person you’re responding to, but I can share that in the time period they’re discussing geocaching was harder for many caches.

I don’t remember ever not using gps for geocaching of course.

But I do remember that the phone gps of the time, especially in more remote areas, was semi accurate for car navigation, but all over the place at times when talking about 10-100 ft accuracy.

However, I also never really Experienced any major geocaching community in person outside of people I was already going with.

Any community would have been online.

In 2012-2015 ish, I was building FPV quads, planes for universities.

(I say quad because at the time we were staunch drones kill people….)

I really don’t think you need ai for any of this.

The stuff today is so easy plug and play. There’s so many groups you can connect with.

It’s also much more durable.

I don’t see a lot of discussion by the author about transmitter (TX) or receiver (RX) choices. Which are important.

Fatshark goggles are a great choice for most people.

If someone is having fun though, I don’t want to dissuade them. But focus on the fun. Practice flying. Practice flying line of sight. Then focus more on fpv.

But focusing on how the things work (and less worry about the batteries… quality charger, quality battery - high c rate for most small quads…)

Brushless motors help a lot for longevity.

All that said, in the hobby I’m back to los nitro planes, as that’s what I find most relaxing and enjoyable.

I’ll occasionally fly 200-450mm size quads, sometimes even fpv, but it’s just not as much fun to me.

In fact, I think the most fun fpv flying is with something more akin to a sky surfer, up a bit higher, longer flight time, etc.

But again— everyone’s fun is different - however I would still encourage not using ai, and trying to understand how different components are working together.

Truly the stuff today is so much easier , no bind plugs usually, no crystals, no lengthy manual pid tuning.

But I will stand by understanding the transmitter receiver tech, both for controlling and for video, and not so much focusing on what’s needed battery storage, but instead on how the power system as a whole is working, along with things like prop pitch, your motor type, etc will lead to a better grasp of what’s going on.

Simulator time as well, while good for some initial practice, tends to be very detached from The real world experience at the RC level.

I have fond memories of SCSI. I by chance had purchased a workstation, using almost all of the money I had saved at the time as a kid. While dated, and late in the SCSI days, the SCSI HDD and AGP video slot seemed mind blowing in their capabilities.

Though, I remember a lot of turmoil at times getting certain software to work on the processor configuration and the originally installed video card which was distinctly not meant for gaming despite huge amounts of memory. (Huge in context of the times..)

Long time member / supporter / donator of Longwood Gardens here… it’s a wonderful place to visit if able - while their Christmas display is well known - I personally prefer spring / early fall to be able to more easily walk around outside / when the fountains are open.

When they have larger bonsai displays they have been some of the best I have seen anywhere.

The Philadelphia Flower show recently had a bonsai display. I also know there is a bonsai focused garden somewhere near Philadelphia that I have yet to make it to.

As someone who has tried to grow bonsai and never quite succeeded - I always find them enthralling.

Through my professional / personal network, I know someone who advertises himself as being a “Best Selling Amazon Author in XYZ category.”

It is semi niche, but I did some ballpark math, and about 72 sales rapidly would put him in the top spot for that niche.

That number sounds about right when he’s mentioned the gross $ sales of his book.

I send and receive between work and personal probably 1,200-1,500 packages a year.

I’ve stopped using UPS except when I absolutely have to. I would say 10-20% of UPS packages have some delivery issue from damaged to lost.

USPS is sitting at 0 packages lost.

The 5D mkii (or mkIV) are fantastic cameras - the Mkii when coupled with magic lantern is a fantastic camera still in my opinion.

Glass is of course important, but I’ve taken nearly all of the digital shots I’m proud of on a mkii.

(Most of the images I’ve captured that I’m truly proud of were on tmax or ektar… various camera bodies usually coupled to decent lenses )

I started to write a stupid comment about how insanely fast the focus on the EOS R5 C is- only to remember it’s a non reflex !

The difference in focal time between my 5D mkii even with the best lenses, and the R5 C with a cine servo or vcm is insane. The R5 feels instant and only ever searches if it’s been locked to an inappropriate point.

I’ve self hosted a server for various things going back to somewhere around 2006/7? Whenever I finally had access to a non dial up connection.

I’ve not always used it for anything amazing, over the years it’s been just an ftp server, just http, just a Remote Desktop, a Minecraft server, email server, etc etc. (obviously sometimes combinations, and the hardware has changed from the original - the original being a motherboard without an enclosure I would start by shorting the pins with a butter knife ….)

Not the person you’re replying to but backing up what you’re saying - I read a lot of fiction for pleasure, I can say with some assurance whether I’ve read a certain fiction book, or, any book I’ve read for pure pleasure. (Though as time goes on and I get older… I once started reading a book and about 15 pages in realized I had read it before )

As a hobby, I do a lot of wood working. Recently I was acquiring some books on wood finishes. I accidentally bought one book three times - not all at once but over a several year period. I realized this while trying to organize.

Mainly because they can have very similar / generic titles, and be by different authors. Since I’m using them as a reference, even if I know the author, I can’t always remember if I own this book by them or maybe I own this book with very similar title by a different author.

I also loved the number on the sign post from a while ago!

This post made my night - something about it feels so fun and easy to relate to.

The type of wire I suggested is easily found in the U.S. (apologies for my bias there) as large as 6g. 10-12g would be in the right range I believe.

The shielding might not be needed, the low cost for single conductor wire is why I mentioned it.

The person I was responding to was mentioning they can’t find appropriate “main power” cable. (So probably not in the USA )

Wouldn’t SOOW (or THHN/THWN-2 )in 14 or 16 gauge be appropriate for this?

There are different norms in the U.S. - where I am- generally 5 mph over the posted speed on side roads, and ~9 over on interstates / highways.

You are very unlikely to get stopped for either of those.

Another commented using an example of 8 and 9, but here it’s “9 you’re fine, 10 you’re mine”.

Apologies - you’re correct. I should have been more specific in that I was referencing the scenario of:

I’m car 2, waiting to pass car 1. (Who’s passing a car slowly ). I have safe following distance.

Car 3, passes me in the right lane, and then either follows car 1 closely, or, quickly passes them on the right. (Usually as they’re in the process of moving over, causing them to then swerve back).

I realize I communicated this in an absolutely abysmal fashion.

I don’t think what you’re describing is quite the same thing.

At least I hope not.

More concrete example:

He will be going 65 mph in slow lane. Come up on a car. (Left lane empty). Slam on his brakes. Follow them at 50 mph for 1-3 minutes <1 car length.

Pass, flooring it, if he stays in the left lane he’ll keep going until he now tail gates a car in front of him- usually with large speed variances.

The amount of traffic on the road doesn’t matter. It can be 3 cars and he will drive this way.

I’m not talking about trying to drive through major city rush hour traffic.

Submitting nothing and missing a deadline is probably worse than submitting something. It’s great in the way of good to an extreme.

I would say this trend started in 2019/2020 however.

The fast lane isn’t always faster is very true! Haha

What I will say is some of this may be the difference between manual driving - and automatic.

If I’m manually driving - where my follow distance fluctuates more due to speed / traffic - almost no one cuts in.

If I am driving where I’m using the vehicle to maintain a perfect set distance, people cut in.

Again, anecdotal

In the auto cruise example, it’s leaving perhaps 2 - 2.5 car distances. In close traffic the average human I would bet is leaving 1 or less then 1.

The issue is not that I can’t rebuild the following distance, the point I’m trying to make is that even if I constantly rebuild the following distance it sets off a cascading effect.

I’m following at set speed, car cuts in front, hits brakes, I now slow down, car behind me slows down, I rebuild following distance and car perhaps 7-8-9 cars behind me repeats because at some point the cascade magnifies to a larger slowdown behind.

Can I mitigate this by manually letting my distance be closer for a time, and slowly easing to larger ? Yes.

But if I allow the car to do it automatically, it will increase the follow distance at a rate that causes a cascade in tight traffic.

Though - I do think with these discussions on HN- it does depend on where you’re driving.

My experiences are centered on East Coast, thinking of route 80, 81, 83, etc. or Philly / New York City.

The driving experience is radically different in California, Florida , or the mid west.

I would say when driving in California people seem to navigate traffic better. (SF, LA) then on drivers on 80/81/83. (Or perhaps it’s due to better designed roads ).

I do drive in the slow lane frequently - and this still occurs. (My go to is to set my cruise 6-9 mph over the speed limit, if passing to smoothly pass and get back over, and spend as much time as possible in the slow lane. )

However - I will say most of the roads I’m on are 2 lanes of traffic. I will have to experiment and see if this doesn’t occur when there are 3 or 4 lanes.

I wouldn’t relate this directly to cognitive performance.

But my anecdotal experience working with younger employees / interns has been an uptick in situations where they become “paralyzed” by a fear of making a mistake, coupled with the inability to ask questions / seek out help.

They’ll google, or use ai, but if that doesn’t deliver an answer instead of asking a co worker, they will sit on an issue until someone follows up with them.

There also seems to be a huge fear of submitting “something” that’s not good enough where the preference seems to be “nothing” if they’re worried it’s not good enough.

I notice this in organizations I’ve been in leadership roles, but also have had this expressed to me by a half dozen peers in other organizations.

I would argue I can still say it /can/ cut off 50 minutes.

If you do a comparison of a 600 mile trip at 60 vs 55 you’re pretty close.

But yes, to be pedantic and more exact, you are spot on that it will get you 50 miles closer.

But in real world examples,

If you’re traveling 700 miles.

65 vs 70, 70 will reduce your time by 43 minutes.

So in certain scenarios, 5 mph difference must be able to save you 50 minutes ! ;)

(I do understand your point, and you’re correct. I’m just poking fun at it- my point with the mph difference is because 50 miles doesn’t have the same translation for most people at 50 minutes, but is a more accurate data approach. )

This is true - but it’s hard even for “good” drivers to always understand especially on roads they might not be familiar with.

Example: open space on either side of the road, tends to encourage people to drive faster.

Closing that space (whether by buildings, shrubbery, etc ) will slow the speed.

But I will say there are also “obvious” bad designs - the rare far to short on ramp to merge, where drivers don’t understand how to adjust.

Or the one I most frequently encounter are “blind spots” created by the speed of an intersecting road, where a mirror may be attached to a pole / tree, or a sign reminding people to look left right left, or even instructing where cars should be beyond for a safe pull out.

I know of one intersection near me that both has markers on the road(don’t pull out if cars are at or beyond this marker), and a reminder about looking, but still has a high frequency of accidents.

A cousin of mine is abysmal to drive with as a passenger. He follows too closely to the car in front of him, regardless of lane / speed. He will slow down, follow closely, and then aggressively pass. Repeating ad nauseam.

No smooth maintaining of speed and nice passes as able without slowing down.

Surprisingly, his accidents have mostly seemed to involve gas pumps, barriers, and other obstacles at low speed.

I concur with you regarding gamification. When I am aware of the gamification it fills me with exhaustion to annoyance to extreme frustration. This is especially true of things that I want to use for one purpose.

I also think some of the car sensors (Subaru especially) that are trying to make you safer are notoriously bad.

I also find the random “coffee break” notice on Subarus frustrating.

My personal examples: “eyes on the road” - triggered frequently by one pair of sunglasses I have, looking left to check blind spot, checking mirrors, etc.

“Hands on the steering wheel” - triggered occasionally on long drives when I have been giving input, but very light input.

It doesn’t - but people don’t necessarily make rational choices regarding speed and driving. There’s a tendency to de personalize other drivers.

A slight increase in average speed really only makes a significant difference over long drives. (5 mph increase over a 10 hour drive can cut off 50 minutes).

Otherwise we are talking about small differences in efficiency.

(I would be very open to another opinion here.).

My opinions are formed by nearly ~2 million miles driven at this point, two different driving courses, and the motorcycle safety course.

One thing I truly think that’s overlooked is how reduced road noise in the vehicle cabin can both reduce driver fatigue, but also frustration in traffic.

This is accurate in many ways. I use the auto cruise feature on my car frequently and I notice several things happen unless I set the distance as close as possible (which I don’t like to do. ).

1. In any amount of traffic above “a few cars” people will cut in front of me, sometimes two, negating the safe following distance. Regardless of speed.

2. If I have a safe following distance while waiting for someone to get over. (I e they’re going 60, I want to go 70), if I have my distance set at a safe following distance, people are much more likely to weave / pass on the right. (My theory would be that the distance I’m behind the person in front of them signals that I’m not going to accelerate / pass when the person gets over ).

Disclaimer: I don’t usually have to drive in any significant traffic, and when I do (Philly, New York City), I’m probably less likely to use the automatic features because the appropriate follow distance seems to increase the rage of drivers around me.

I have an HP-12C I keep In my laptop bag, and I also have a construction calculator I use on occasion.

The most valuable is usually the printing calculator I use for totaling sums on occasion.

I still use one of mine on occasion. I would say 2-6 times a month.