I work with a K9 search and rescue team now and then. The team is very good at going deep into the woods looking for missing and/or dead people on scent trails that are sometimes over 24h old.

One of the ladies used a black tactical rig full of pouches. But instead of gun stuff it held gps devices, radios, dog treats, toys, water, collapsible bowls and a dozen other things for her and her dog.

So we geeked out for like five minutes over how useful it was. It’s a Condor Ronin Rig if anyone is curious

I’m sorry for your loss

Doritos are triangles so sure

The heads up display isn’t something you see in front of you like most planes. The helmets are the heads up display, like augmented reality.

There are cameras all over the plane to help you see through the aircraft (see ground targets through the floor, nearby aircraft through your wing). Think of the resolution and bitrate needed to make it useful!

Just like how an apache gunner can simply look at a target to aim the gun at them you can do the same thing. And if you can’t hit it it’s still marked for every allied plane in the airspace to see. If you are out of missiles but you are tracking an enemy plane miles ahead, you can send the data to an F-15 miles behind you and let their missiles lock and fire from farther than they can engage alone.

With that in mind the radar is awesome letting it see threats from greater distances than the opposition, with the stealth capabilities good enough to keep them from easily doing the same.

I’m sure there are other surprises too, but the military obviously wants to keep those a secret

“We did our research!” (flat earthing intensifies)

I’m kidding I see your point

“tRuSt tHe sCieNCe!”

This is a joke of course…well kinda. When science is done well it can change the world. Who would be against that?

I don’t like the phrase because while the process of science seeks to be as factual and unbiased as possible those in the scientific community are still human. They are fallible, corruptible and can do things for their own personal gain or profit. So to me it could mistakenly misunderstood as “trust science blindly”

But “Trust the science that is validated by multiple reputable sources” just doesn’t roll off the tongue as nicely

It would suck if poison ivy tea tasted really good

I genuinely think the best practical use of AI, especially language models is malicious manipulation. Propaganda/advertising bots. There’s a joke that reddit is mostly bots. I know there’s some countermeasures to sniff them out but think about it.

I’ll keep reddit as the example because I know it best. Comments are simple puns, one liner jokes, or flawed/edgy opinions. But people also go to reddit for advice/recommendations that you can’t really get elsewhere.

Using an LLM AI I could in theory make tons of convincing recommendations. I get payed by a corporation or state entity to convince lurkers to choose brand A over brand B, to support or disown a political stance or to make it seem like tons of people support it when really few do.

And if it’s factually incorrect so what? It was just some kind stranger™ on the internet

All I know is that I use socials to get away from political bullshit

There’s something to that I think.

I ride a mountain bike. Not because I do hardcore mountain biking but because the flat country roads I ride are so full of potholes or simply unpaved it might as well be a trail. So I ride a bike that I know can handle the works parts of my riding. But I know I’m not riding the best bike for the majority of my use case.

Kinda (note I’m saying kinda) the same thing with trucks. People want potential capability wether or not they actually use it like it was supposed to. They use it for the same shitty roads, bad weather, and every so often actually moving things from place to place.

But they are way overkill for most people and most of them know it. There is a market for small trucks that is being ignored and I hope that changes in the future.

My area’s mall is pretty nice and like most malls it’s got plenty of area to walk, stores to explore, enough security to deter people from doing anything too crazy. It’s a great spot for middle school and high school kids! But if you don’t have a car how do you even get there?

There’s suburbs all around so it should be in easy biking distance and moderate walking distance. But it’s surrounded by 4 lane roads without a single crosswalk or even sidewalks. Busses don’t run there either.

So thanks to decades of car only design best non motorized way to get there is to take a kayak…yes a kayak…and use a creek to get to the area behind the mall and walk in from there. I only know that because my parents did it once to see if it could be done.

I got some of my trama from the TV cart! I watched 9/11 on that thing

Like what kind? Believing in higher powers doesn’t have to mean that you don’t belive in evolution/natural adaptation taking place over time.

If it was “God made everything in a few earth days and nothing changed” then yeah I feel you

I have traveled a decent amount. For new places using gps get around works but what’s key for me is building a mental map, especially when walking around on foot.

I’m going to rant a bit bear with me. Have you ever read a book that described a room (“The pub was cozy and small. A well cleaned bar gleamed along the wall to the side and the restroom door was across from it on the other”) only to give direction way later that throws off your mental image (“he took a sharp left and walked to the restroom”)? If it doesn’t match how things looked in your head it can be disorienting to the reader. I hate that feeling and the same thing can happen during navigation.

I make an effort to check maps of a city to get a lay of the land even though I know I have gps to help. I never fully memorise stuff but when I see any landmarks or streets they have some context and I know where it should go on the mental map. Sometimes I might be temporarily unsure of my exact location but I don’t get hopelessly lost.

NBC keeps trying to take down the footage from youtube but it’s out there

Yeah plastic is great for a lot of stuff. Car parts, backpack clips, buttons, trash cans etc. But one time use plastic is EVERYWHERE.

Right? Why do gatorade and pedialyte bottles have to be in crazy over engineered compared to cheap crinkly water bottles? Both one time use which isn’t ideal but thinner bottles would save the company money right?

I wonder if it’s a psychology thing, like having a high quality bottle means people thing whatever is inside is equally higher quality?

Sometimes it feels like we’re running in rhombicosidodecahedrons

I think Kamala has much better odds than Biden did this time around. The assassination attempt on Trump was crazy and solidified his supporters.

I think it’s a closer race than either side thinks

So the solar panel I have doens’t have an on board battery, just straight to usb. It makes it lighter and less bulky so I don’t mind.

I personally think most phones would be okay but I’ve read in a few places that some devices don’t play nice with the variations in electricity from the solar panel.

So the battery brick is the middleman.