That’s always fun. Some people will swear it can’t possibly work like that, but they have plenty of experience riding bikes. You wouldn’t be able to turn properly at speed unless you’re counter-steering, so they clearly have done this. The idea seems to be so incredibly intuitive that people don’t even realize they’re doing it, which is very interesting.

The idea behind clips is that you can pull up on the rising pedal instead of just following momentum from the other foot pushing down. It does work, but isn’t really necessary for commuter biking.

I got a used bike that had a hybrid pedal with a clip on one side and flats on the other. While the clip (heavy) side usually landed down, it didn’t always and it was weird to pedal with it. I just ride around on my bike, so I replaced them with cheap flat pedals and it’s fine. I also converted it to an e-bike, and I don’t need the extra pedal power.

It’s pretty common to bring up gyroscopes for this when people know a little bit about physics. It’s all over motorcycle forums, for instance.

As you say, it doesn’t work. Experiments have been done where they attach a counter rotating wheel to cancel out the gyroscopic effect, and while it’s a little wonky to ride, it works fine.

IIRC, we’re not 100% sure how bikes work just yet. Every time somebody comes up with a model that seems to be good, someone finds a counterexample that throws it in the bin. Even your explanation of bike trail isn’t all the way there; Razer-type scooters still work without trail on the front wheel.

It works on its own. If you push your bike along with a good run and then let go, it’ll stay upright until it slows down too much.

Learning to ride a bike is mostly about being confident enough to let the bike work itself out. It gets more stable as it goes faster, but it’s natural to be afraid to go faster when it already feels unstable at low speed. Then there’s a little bit to learn about countersteering, but most people figure that out without being told it’s even a thing.

I have the most boring “this edible ain’t shit” story. Tried a bunch, and it knocked me off to sleep for a good 10 hours. I think they had a lot of CBD in them. They were sold as sativa. While research says there’s no difference between that and indica, I suspect things labeled as one or the other tend to have other things in them, like CBD, which makes them live up to their reputation. There probably is no difference when you prepare them all the same under lab conditions.

Don’t start like that. Do your research, and start with a low dose and work your way up.

Later, on stuff labeled indica, I started having light forms of ego death. Not the melting into the universe that you might get from proper hallucinogens, but more like a feeling of becoming part of my environment. My tolerance levels are too high now to get that sort of thing, though.

Zombiecide has entered the chat.

Pretty much. The US military can take on any other nation state (China is trying to change this, but it’s not there yet). The initial fight against the organized militaries of both Afghanistan and Iraq didn’t last long, and was as much of a one sided curb stomp as you’ll ever see in history. It was the insurgency later on that was the problem.

This is what I expect to happen when AI gives solutions to climate change. Which is what Sam Altman bangs on about in interviews to justify all the power AI models are taking up.

The solutions are all sitting right there. What people actually want is solutions that cost about three fity and don’t require any lifestyle changes. ChatGPT will just tell us about all the solutions sitting there, but that’s not the answer people like Altman want.

There’s been some research into space-based solar power by the DoD for that exact reason. It was a while ago, but launch costs have come down substantially and the idea is possibly viable at this point. And even back then, IIRC it was projected to be less than we spent air conditioning the desert in Iraq.

From one of the few people who actually could squish Hulk Hogan’s face.

That one may be less contradictory than you think. Depends on the brand.

Historically, there were many Christian Zionists who thought “we should give the Jews their homeland so we can kick them out of Europe”. Likewise, certain white nationalists argue that every race should have their own homeland (granted, this may be a ploy more than a real conviction), and Bibi often finds himself in friendly company there.

But if it makes you feel safer, enjoy your bliss. I just hope for everyone’s sake you focus on steering the car to safety instead of pulling the parking brake if you ever lose control of a car.

If this is your version of “impersonal”, you need to recalibrate.

And no, I’m not wrong. Total brake failure still happens, and a separate system is still important.

Uhh, master cylinder failing would result in all brakes failing. Things these days are internally partitioned so that front and back are separated, and thus complete failure is unlikely, but still possible. It used to be all in one, and the e-brake is very, very important in vintage cars because of it. Less so now, but there was no good reason to change it besides manufacturing cost.

You’re making an awful lot of assumptions on my driving skill based on (checks notes) wanting a redundant system.

Yeah, it’s been pretty common the last few years. My wife’s 2021 Mini does it.

It’s caramel coloring, as in baked sugar. Old timey candies tended to put caramel more front and center than candies today.

There was “Crystal Pepsi” back in the day. People hated it.

Yes, it is. The fact that it’s often considered a “parking” brake doesn’t change things.

If the hydraulic lines spring a leak or the master cylinder fails, the mechanical line from the e-brake is still functional.

USB in 1996: Let’s make one connector that handles everything

USB in 2024: Let’s make one connector do thirty different incompatible combinations of things

That’s more a statement against car ownership in general. Repairs are going to happen. Making the e-brake into a switch that activates solenoids by way of a CAN bus to microcontrollers doesn’t change that. If anything, it’s likely even more expensive.

I just did this on my 2011 Miata. It has about 50k miles on it. Driven in Wisconsin, and while I’ve mostly kept it off winter roads, it’s inevitably going to have more corrosion than an equivalent car kept in a warmer/dryer climate.

$600 for the repair. Given how long it lasted, I don’t consider that too crazy.