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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • Was riding my motorcycle up to the races at Laguna Seca in Monterey. As a photographer I had all my gear on the bike. Everything, it was packed. It is a sportbike so I didn’t have a lot of luggage. Just a tankbag that was filled to the top, and a backpack I had strapped to the rear seat, which is pretty tiny. Anyway on the way up the 101 I come across another motorcycle who pulls onto the interstate and up next to me. We ride for a while, and then as we get to an exit he motions for me to pull off and points to his tank. I decided that was a good time to get gas myself so I peeled in behind him. We get to the station and he takes off his helmet and he’s definitely in his 70’s or 80’s. I was in my mid 30’s at the time so it was cool to see an older rider. We were filling up our bikes and he asked if I wanted to grab a cup of coffee and I said sure. So we went inside and started talking, and he too was heading up to Laguna Seca for the races. He asked if I had ridden the 1 up to Monterey and I said that I hadn’t. He insisted that it was something you don’t want to miss. I explained that I had to pick up my press pass and was on a little bit of a schedule. We finished our cups (I had oj) and walked back out to the bikes. He said if I wanted to ride with him it was cool and that he was taking the cutoff over to the 1 and would be taking that exit. We hit the road and miles passed. I saw him point to the exit over to the 1, and move over. I waved to him and pointed straight ahead. I was just going to ‘get there’. He nodded his head and headed off the exit. As I was right at the end of the exit something in my head said ‘screw it’, and I jammed on the brakes and whipped over. When I got to the stop at the end of the exit he looked over and pulled up his visor and yelled “you changed your mind?” I nodded and away we went.

    It was a beautiful ride, and we stopped again to get gas and were chatting again. We decided that we would stop up the road at a place he knew to eat. We then commented about each other’s bikes and for some reason we decided to swap bikes. I get on his bike, and he hops on mine, and away we go. About 2 miles down the road I am sitting there following him and had a realization… Everything I have is on my bike. Wallet, phone, camera equipment, clothes, etc. I started thinking, my bike is a lot faster than his bike and if he were to take off, I wouldn’t have any way of catching him. Then it occurred to me that I don’t even know his name. I could just imagine getting pulled over on his bike and trying to explain to the cops that this old guy let me borrow it, and then not being able to even tell them his name. I calmed back down and just got back into the ride and we swapped who led a couple of times. The view was/is absolutely spectacular so that kept my mind from going into overdrive. We got to the place to have lunch and pulled over. We both talked about the nice parts about each other’s bikes and we went in and he bought me lunch. We also exchanged names. I explained that when we got into Monterey I had to go over to a certain hotel to pick up my credentials. He was heading over to his hotel and then going to the track. We both hopped back on our own bikes and took off. When we got into Monterey we came to an intersection and I had to go one way and he went the other. We waved to each other and that was it. I really wish I could remember his name, but over time it has been lost in my mind. I think about him every once in a while and wonder things like what ever happened to him. I would guess he has passed by now, but think it would be cool to have one more chat and a quick ride on each other’s bikes if he was still around and riding. I just hope that one day some young kid remembers me as that old guy on the motorcycle.






  • It sure doesn’t say when that was updated, but for a long period of time the use of drone when discussing unmanned aircraft was reserved for military craft that were usually armed and used to kill people. In the attempt to demonize hobby rc use, the press started calling simple quadcopters (and other propeller configurations if we are being pedantic) drones and not what they were normally called by the people using and making them in the hobby. My point still stands, the press likes to change the wording of things, and will perpetuate their narrative in order to garner views. Manufacturing fear is part of their tactic, and is why I replied what I replied to the question of why the press continues to push the false narrative of these cars being “self driving”.



  • I see your edit, and would like to comment that you also haven’t mentioned which rpi you were going to try this on. I recently wanted to set up a quick little pc using a rpi, just so I could browse the web and maybe watch some videos. Tried a rpi2 I had laying around. No way. Moved to a rpi3, and while it would load most pages, youtube was a bust as it completely maxed out the ram and swap. I then went to a rpi4 with 8gb and it has been doable, kind of. Sometimes it’s pretty choppy with the video, but basic web browsing is ok. I did try my plex the other day through the browser and it was barely acceptable. Lots of stuttering and sometimes just hangs, but that’s not the ideal way to view plex on anything. Haven’t tried my rpi5 yet, but my point to all this is that I think you are on the right track setting it up on a spare pc he has. If you had given him a rpi as a ‘desktop’ replacement it might have just soured him on the whole idea.







  • If Linux cannot help me do them then in what way is it a widely suitable mass operating system as proponents are constantly claiming instead of merely a hobby tool that can do a very limited range of things.

    Not sure what you mean by this as I have used tons of linux machines to earn a living for the last 20 years or more. Just because you haven’t delved into it doesn’t mean it is just a hobby tool. No offense, but if that is your attitude towards this then it might be best to not switch. Things might not always be up to par with what you are used to, but I have seen some pretty cringy things go on in current mainstream windows. Try having an issue with onedrive and asking the team supporting it to help. First step is to reboot. If that doesn’t work they uninstall then reinstall. If that doesn’t work, well then I guess you are out of luck. When I asked them about anything in the log files, all I got was blanks stares. My point is, windows isn’t some pristine environment with no flaws that we should all strive to reach, it has it’s own issues.

    For instance, your Notepad++ question. I know you don’t want to use multiple tools to replace it, but I would venture to guess that the work I do daily, I would probably come up with solutions using vi, sed, and awk on the command line just as fast as you could using the gui. The thing is, I have been doing it for so long it’s just second nature to me. Would I want to switch to Notepad++, no.

    Maybe come up with some examples of what you do in Notepad++ and people can give you alternative solutions.