What did you do today?

[Guard Dog]

I received an offer on my townhouse. Pretty close to the asking price so I'm very pleased with that. Still a long way between now and closing though. 

[Blarghagh]

Congrats on your possible sale, GD.

 

Re: Self-driving cars, what's the timeline on getting people to give up cars they drive themselves? Without trying to turn this convo to gun control as we've done that one to death, but I can see the slogans now: "You can pry my steering wheel from my cold, dead hands". I can't see people giving that up, especially car enthusiasts. And self-driving cars probably won't work that well while people are in the mix.

[Keyrock]

I think there will be definite problems when it's a mix of self-driving and human controlled vehicles on the road, if for no other reason than AI's inability to account for the extent of a person's ability to do something remarkably stupid.

 

Once the switch over is complete and there are nothing but AI controlled vehicles on the road everything should run smoothly. Of course, by that time we'll have much bigger problems to worry about; namely, Skynet trying to kill us all.

 

save.us.john_connor

Edited October 2, 2018 by Keyrock

[Hurlshort]

Congrats on your possible sale, GD.

 

Re: Self-driving cars, what's the timeline on getting people to give up cars they drive themselves? Without trying to turn this convo to gun control as we've done that one to death, but I can see the slogans now: "You can pry my steering wheel from my cold, dead hands". I can't see people giving that up, especially car enthusiasts. And self-driving cars probably won't work that well while people are in the mix.

 

I'd imagine there would still be plenty of options for hobbyists and enthusiasts. I mean, you don't get to take horse on the freeways and it is rare for them to be used in busy city centers, but there are still plenty of places to ride them.

[Guard Dog]

I expect self driving cars will work if there is a traffic control system that guides them in urban areas. Something each vehicle interfaces with that acts as a cross between a traffic cop and air traffic controller. The amount of decisions to be made every second while driving with no data on the other moving parts around each vehicle will overwhelm any AI. With all the moving parts networked together it might work. I would imagine such a system only existing in the core of urban areas. Once you get to the outskirts the human driver takes back over.

 

Let's face it, the worst part about driving is dealing with traffic. I think most folks would love to give that part up and keep the rest. The thing is though, for that networked approach to work it could not be optional.

[Gfted1]

Self driving doesn't even work in inclement weather, right? It has to be able to "see" the lines on the roads, signs, lights, etc., none of which are perfectly visible during snow. *shakes fist at sky*

[Malcador]

Does seem they can handle snow via MACHINE LEARNING  -  https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/08/waymo-snow-navigation/

 

The way that is mentioned in articles reminds me of

 

[Azdeus]

It's not clear whether the car can distinguish lanes, but this would at least be enough to avoid collisions and get you home safely.

I don't think there's much traffic in ditches, do I'd call that cheating.

[LadyCrimson]

I've realized that some male voices speaking in Japanese or Korean (calm vocalizations, that is) make great "white noise" recordings for bedtime. The vocal tones are soothing/hypnotic when you don't understand the meaning being the verbalized noises so aren't distracted by that.

 

I've tried ocean waves, rain, thunderstorms, etc and most of the time the tones in things like that vary too much into pitch ranges my ears don't like. Rain comes the closest, as long as it's only rain and not thunder and wind. Having a fan on high works too, except I don't usually want air motion to go with white noise (especially since I have a spouse).

 

...and yes I've had trouble sleeping again. The past four days I think I've slept about 8 hours.

Edited October 3, 2018 by LadyCrimson

[ShadySands]

Super tired today as I only had about 4 hours of broken sleep because on top of the usual tossing and turning I woke up about 3 times drenched in sweat.

[Keyrock]

I hit the jackpot when I pulled in to the truck stop at Dandridge Tennessee to eat and shut down for the day today. Normally, I'm stuck with whatever crappy fast food is inside the truck stop and whatever food the convenience store has. Occasionally, there will be a Dennys or Iron Skillet or Country Pride restaurant, which is a small step up from your typical Subway or Hardees or Mickie D's. The Pilot I stopped at not only has a Subway inside, there are like 5 restaurants right next to the truck stop. I wound up eating at a place called Taste of Dandridge and got French Onion Soup and a Texas Melt. Pretty dang good. I gotta remember this place since I come through Tennessee a lot. I'll probably try the seafood restaurant next time.

Edited October 4, 2018 by Keyrock

[injurai]

I always wonder about the diet's of truck drivers. Once you get into a city food options really open up, but on those long stretches are like wastelands. I have food restrictions so it would be doubly hard for me put up with what's available.

[Malcador]

Ascended to Peter Gibbons levels of burnout at work. At least every interaction with my manager turns into him being like

 

 

So not all that bad

[Raithe]

I am frustrated. Gloriously frustrated. Fuming at the cat and angry at myself.

 

Had to do an online timed Reading Verbal understanding test for a job application.   I'd spent 15 minutes or so playing with the cat, giving him treats. Settled him down.  Then went to start the test.

Cat went freaking mental. Singing the song of his people at full volume, and running up and over and demanding attention and doing the full pounce on keyboard type of needy cat.

Threw him in a room and shut the door. He somehow increased volume and started hammering on the door.

 

In my distracted annoyance I let myself get snappy and royally screwed up the test. I have never scored that low on a reading understanding test before.

[Keyrock]

^ That sounds like standard cat behavior to me. ;p

[Tsuga C]

Arose late, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, washed my pick-up truck, and scouted for deer rubs and scrapes. This archery season may very well prove more productive than the last one.

[Guard Dog]

Well look what the cat dragged in! How have you been Tsuga. It’s been a long time.

[LittleArmadillo0]

My dog is being an ass about going outside. It has been raining near every day and the one thing he hates most is being wet. I swear he turns into a cat whenever I open the door to let him out to do his business. Aside from how my dog has been acting I am looking forward to today. I am getting a deep tissue massage.

[Hurlshort]

Today I did a big climb. 3500 feet over about an 8 mile stretch. It was ridiculous. I kept turning the corner thinking this must be it, I must be at the top, but then it would keep climbing. I got to the top and the guy who was leading said, alright, let's get back down before our legs get cold. What the hell.

 

Overall I did a good 50 mile ride, but that one stretch of climbing was just a killer. I did hit 44 miles per hour on the way down, so that was cool. There were also a lot of tarantulas and deer on the road. Again, it was ridiculous.

[Gfted1]

I caught a big ass catfish yesterday. Had a momentary flash of terror when juuuussst as I was hauling him over the railing, he spit the hook and dropped within ~6 inches of falling back in the water. I would have been devastated. I estimate the length at 27-30 inches.

[Raithe]

I caught a big ass catfish yesterday. Had a momentary flash of terror when juuuussst as I was hauling him over the railing, he spit the hook and dropped within ~6 inches of falling back in the water. I would have been devastated. I estimate the length at 27-30 inches.

 

"I once caught a bass this big"   [holds fingers about 4 inches apart]

"That's not big for a bass"

"Ahh. That was the width between his eyes..."

 

 

Realised it's October, which also means birthdays of the ex's kids.

That awkward trying to figure out what they might like as presents when they're now turning into older teenagers and college aged people. That fun slice of "I'm not dating their mother any more, but I was in their lives for a few years so you don't just ignore/stop completely."

[Gfted1]

"I once caught a bass this big"   [holds fingers about 4 inches apart]

"That's not big for a bass"

"Ahh. That was the width between his eyes..."

 

Ill have you know that I used an indisputable scientific method to measure it. I put my size 13 (47 for you Euros) sneaker up next to it twice, and there was a little more tail hanging past, to reach the size estimate.

 

 

Seriously though, I wasted 5 minutes juggling the picture from my phone, to Dropbox, to email, to the forum, only to see the forum wont accept a .JPG 

[Tsuga C]

Well look what the cat dragged in! How have you been Tsuga. It’s been a long time.

 

How I've been is busy--new job, new (slightly used, < 11K miles) truck, no time for gaming to speak of as it's a backup for when the weather is too unfriendly. Finances are better than they've been in a decade. I've had several Twitter accounts suspended permanently for speaking my mind regarding a number of issues, so I'm not mellowing with age. I'm on the socio-economic Right because that's who I am and history has proven the futility of liberalism/progressivism. Signing off now before I segue into something that'll get this account locked, too.

 

Good to see that plenty of familiar names are still around.

[Guard Dog]

 

Well look what the cat dragged in! How have you been Tsuga. It’s been a long time.

 

How I've been is busy--new job, new (slightly used, < 11K miles) truck, no time for gaming to speak of as it's a backup for when the weather is too unfriendly. Finances are better than they've been in a decade. I've had several Twitter accounts suspended permanently for speaking my mind regarding a number of issues, so I'm not mellowing with age. I'm on the socio-economic Right because that's who I am and history has proven the futility of liberalism/progressivism. Signing off now before I segue into something that'll get this account locked, too.

 

Good to see that plenty of familiar names are still around.

 

You'd have to do a lot more than that to get banned here these days. It's a lot less uptight than in the past. Heck we're almost nice to each other now!  

[Nepenthe]

Not much, tbh. Went to buy some food for next week, tried to agitate people to vote for a lady friend in the Maxim cover girl competition, watching some Packers at Lions and decided to drop by at the Obsids forums fir a change.