Off Topic

Bruno

Administrator
Staff member
Hah, well, I guess that would depend on how we calculate.
We could do it by % of posts in the past year, or divide by the number of active users, or...

Hosting is about 180+ for a year, and the software license I think under 100. I think that's about it. Hm. Maybe another 50 for the domain names I've registered.
I appreciate you asking, but the cost is low enough that I can still pay for it without too much effort as a business expense because it is razor related. I've seen too much problems caused by money. For now it's just me paying the bills but I'd rather pay and not have to be beholden to anyone about this place. I simply chalk it up with the other costs of doing business, like my snailforge hosting, domain names, PO box, etc.

As long as I am not the only one here I do think it's worth it, simply for having a place to hang out and chat with the handful of regulars, far away from any forum drama.
 

cangooner

Cheese enthusiast
Well, after some 3 or so months, I finally snapped and hacked off the lockdown beard. While my better 3/4 liked it, it was just driving me nuts, so it finally had to go. One of my most satisfying shaves ever, going from a full on beardo to clean shaven in two passes. :D
 

RezDog

Member
I am currently staying clean shaving. When I cut my hand and had a split on for three weeks, I chose to not to try to try shaving with a splinted hand. I was lucky that it was only three weeks and things could have been so much worse. I did get to mow it all down in a very satisfying shave.
 

32t

Active Member
My Covid shave only allows a stache. I was married for 18 years before my wife or children saw me "relatively" clean shaven.
 

32t

Active Member
I found out this last weekend that my judgement and reflexes are up to speed in relation to driving.

2 kayaks flew off the truck in front of me at freeway speeds. I missed them both!

I think this is a good question about autonomous vehicles.

I saw them starting to come loose/wiggle and reacted. ( Are computers programmed to see a kayak wiggle?]

Many cars/semis etc at speed behind me and if I would have hit my brakes I probably would have gotten rear ended.

I made it through fine and saw that many stopped behind me.

Nothing I could do at that time so I kept going.
 

cangooner

Cheese enthusiast
As I understand it, autonomous vehicles are meant to be much safer overall but that in specific situations, nothing beats human intuition, experience, and (thankfully in your case!) reflexes. So in 100 situations, it might prevent say 30 accidents, but not recognize situations that lead to five others. (numbers totally made up, so take them for what they're worth, i.e. nothing :)) So on the whole, there's a net benefit, but it's still shitty for those five.

My folks are in their mid to late 70s, and they find things like the lane assist and adaptive cruise control to be really helpful, so I can see how at least some aspects of this new tech is ready for the real world and quite useful.
 

Bruno

Administrator
Staff member
I found out this last weekend that my judgement and reflexes are up to speed in relation to driving.

2 kayaks flew off the truck in front of me at freeway speeds. I missed them both!

I think this is a good question about autonomous vehicles.

I saw them starting to come loose/wiggle and reacted. ( Are computers programmed to see a kayak wiggle?]

Many cars/semis etc at speed behind me and if I would have hit my brakes I probably would have gotten rear ended.

I made it through fine and saw that many stopped behind me.

Nothing I could do at that time so I kept going.
Humans would definitely be better still at spotting and interpreting anomalies. But the thing is that autonomous vehicles are vastly better than human at not losing focus or getting bored or distracted.

So while it's true that there are freak accidents where your reaction is 'how could it have missed that!', mile for mile, autonomous vehicles are much safer than human drivers
 

verndahl

AKA tintin
something else to consider is the studies that show things like round a bouts have less accidents than stop lights. Seems that when we have to pay attention we are safer than if something else "pays attention" for us. Another would be all the improved safety equipment foot ball players use to prevent (head) injury. It only allows them to hit harder. Studies show when people wear motorcycle helmets they tend to take corners faster etc. Seems no matter the safety measure that are put in place we tend to do what ever we can to maintain the same thrill we are seeking.
 

RezDog

Member
I often wonder if for the average driver, that all of the enhanced safety features simply leads us to pay less attention. I can see how they would seriously aid some people and are great for people with physical limitations, but texting in traffic is not a physical limitation.
 

Mike Blue

Member
I think blame for this incident rests in the kayak driver's Grandmother's hands. She should be spanked for not taking birth control. What's exceptionally sad is that the kayak driver, in Minnesota (the land of 10,000) lakes of all places, had no clue about how to lash a floatie to the top of a vehicle. Canadians are way ahead of anyone in the US:

You're lucky you were behind the loose gear. The cars riding bumper to bumper on your tail had no chance of seeing what was happening much less time to react. Everyone is in a hurry.
 

cangooner

Cheese enthusiast
I think blame for this incident rests in the kayak driver's Grandmother's hands. She should be spanked for not taking birth control. What's exceptionally sad is that the kayak driver, in Minnesota (the land of 10,000) lakes of all places, had no clue about how to lash a floatie to the top of a vehicle. Canadians are way ahead of anyone in the US:
We are, after all, a nation with a superhero called "Mr Canoehead". :D

Mr Canoehead

Les Stroud has done some interesting stuff. He's probably still best known for "Survivorman", a series in which he was plunked in the middle of nowhere with minimal survival gear and a pile of cameras. Think Bear Grylls, but neither sensationalized nor fake. And legitimately on his own. Good stuff, IMHO.
 

Mike Blue

Member
I like Les Stroud for the same reasons. I find it interesting that of all his shows about "life or death" issues in the back country, he takes the time to make Two videos about lashing a canoe to the top of a car. That makes me think that in Les' mind, a canoe on a car is a life or death issue. Or it's a simple matter of taking care of one's gear.
 

32t

Active Member
You're lucky you were behind the loose gear. The cars riding bumper to bumper on your tail had no chance of seeing what was happening much less time to react. Everyone is in a hurry.
Reminds me of a time a "few" years ago.

I was following a tandem axle farm truck down the road on my Suzuki.

I wasn't tailgating and saw the truck do a little jog.

The next thing I know a skunk comes from in between the duel tires on the right side.

A little jog of my own and no damage done.

Until I stopped downtown and no one wanted to sit next to me. They asked me what happened.

I had driven through a cloud of skunk juice! LOL
 

Mike Blue

Member
When I was kid...of the Jack Pine Savage variety, northern Minnesota type, we ran the woods and everywhere including the town dump a couple miles into the woods. The local animals used that as a feeding ground including plenty of black and white stripey kitties. There was a local dog named Frosty that hung around the dump too. He was a large white Malamute hybrid and was heroic enough to have taken on a sow bear and cubs protecting his owners. Aside from his reputation he was a dumb brute. He made no association with killing skunks and odor. We kids got the jobs of moving skunk corpses away from the resorts whenever they ran out of play for him.

The city folk all had to be warned about Frosty. He was gleefully affectionate with strangers. "Hey Mister, don't pet that dog, whatever he's got on him won't wash off easy...you won't like it." usually too late as he could put both front paws on an adult man's shoulders and his tongue was big enough to lick two dinner plates. If he started after wise children we ran for all we were worth or learned to climb quick.
 

32t

Active Member
I am sure we could go on and on about skunks.

At one time in my life they were worth skinning to sell the hides. I never got into saving the scent sacks.

No matter how hard we tried there was always that odor!
 
Top