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.

(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.

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..)

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.

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’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.

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 )

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 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 ….)

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.

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

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 )

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”.

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.

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.

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

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

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 ).