The Journey East
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
You may also recall how, in the 1980s, microwave ovens gained a spectacular and well-deserved reputation for doing a really ****-poor job of cooking food properly. Meals would come out burned on one side and frozen on the other, cooking times would seem to vary wildly from one oven to the next even for the same wattage, and so on? It wasn't until the 1990s that things like diffusers, carousels, and the ability to modulate the tube to something less than 100% duty cycle, became commonplace.
Also, geek props for remembering the Speedy Weeny.
Garmin is unveiling what it calls Real Directions, which attempts to humanize the cold voice prompts we're all used to from standalone navigation devices. Instead of just saying things like "turn left in half a mile," Garmin devices with Real Directions will add comments about recognizable landmarks, buildings, traffic lights, and stop signs, such as, "turn left at the Starbucks," or "bear right at the light."
See "Genuine People Personalities" at Sirius Cybernetics Corporation:
Most of the technology mentioned in the series are products of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, a decidedly inept company responsible for the design and creation of a wide range of robots and labour-saving devices, such as lifts, automatic doors, ventilation systems, and the infamous Nutrimatic Drink Dispenser. In the novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, the problem with all the corporation's products was summarised by the Guide:
It is very easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of [their products] by the sense of achievement you get from getting them to work at all. In other words - and this is the rock solid principle on which the whole of the Corporation's Galaxy-wide success is founded - their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws.
The only profitable division of the company is its Complaints division, which, according to the series, takes up all of the major landmasses on the first three planets in the Sirius Tau system. The theme song for the Complaints division is Share and Enjoy, and has since become the theme apparent for the company as a whole. The main office building and headquarters for the company was originally built to represent this motto, but due to bad architecture it sank halfway into the ground, leaving the upper halves of the motto's words to read in the local language "Go Stick Your Head in a Pig."The Sirius Cybernetics Corporation invented a concept called Genuine People Personalities ("GPP") which imbue their products with intelligence and emotion. Thus not only do doors open and close, but they thank their users for using them, or sigh with the satisfaction of a job well done. Other examples of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation's record with sentient technology include an armada of neurotic elevators, hyperactive ships' computers and perhaps most famously of all, Marvin the Paranoid Android. Marvin is a prototype for the GPP feature, and his depression and "terrible pain in all the diodes down his left side" are due to unresolved flaws in his programming.
Nor had I. Those three stainless steel tanks in the front contain liquid nitrogen- apparently these fish prefer their environment to be chilly.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Some much prettier roads getting here:
This was kind of amusing. It's so cute how they think that 2,250 feet constitutes some kind of mountain:
When suddenly:
Interesting stuff around here:
Total miles traveled: 3,074
Total fuel consumed: 211.7 gal
Overall average MPG: 14.5
Total drive time: 51 hours, 11 minutes.
This next one is especially amusing. You know how, when planning a trip, there's a tendency to say things like "well, assume that on average I maintain 60 MPH..."
Somehow, I actually did average precisely 60.0 MPH over the course of > 3,000 miles and 5 days.
I think that probably means that I'm a boring a predictable person...
This was kind of amusing. It's so cute how they think that 2,250 feet constitutes some kind of mountain:
When suddenly:
Interesting stuff around here:
Total miles traveled: 3,074
Total fuel consumed: 211.7 gal
Overall average MPG: 14.5
Total drive time: 51 hours, 11 minutes.
This next one is especially amusing. You know how, when planning a trip, there's a tendency to say things like "well, assume that on average I maintain 60 MPH..."
Somehow, I actually did average precisely 60.0 MPH over the course of > 3,000 miles and 5 days.
I think that probably means that I'm a boring a predictable person...
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That's actually pretty amazing unless you were just barely off the highway during your pit stops. It doesn't take much stop and go driving to crush average speed.
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Why was it imbalanced?
It's actually more amazing when you consider that I spent a far bit of time on local scenic roads rather than the freeway proper.
Remember, however, that the speed limit in most of the western US is 75 MPH, and since I didn't have a trailer attached this time, I was actually doing 75 for much of the trip. (This worked out rather conveniently, since the governor on the truck was also set at 75, so I didn't have to pay attention to my speed.)
Remember, however, that the speed limit in most of the western US is 75 MPH, and since I didn't have a trailer attached this time, I was actually doing 75 for much of the trip. (This worked out rather conveniently, since the governor on the truck was also set at 75, so I didn't have to pay attention to my speed.)
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Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 34,402
Total Cats: 7,523
From: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 5,718
Total Cats: 830
From: Detroit (the part with no rules or laws)
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 19,338
Total Cats: 574
From: Fake Virginia
I still want to know what the standard deviation of this trip is (based on "straight line" globe surface arc--constant radius is acceptable).
Also, I still want to know WTF.
Also, I still want to know WTF.
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