HN user
I know these experiences as “Type 2 Fun”[1], which I’d say a lot of high-level athletics qualifies as due to how much strain one’s body takes on in the moment.
1: https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/fun-scale?srsltid=AfmBOoqIBZR...
This is why I always tell engineers to not give two fucks beyond 9-5 or fixing structural issues.
Addressing structural issues in my organization directly affects how much my job does or doesn’t suck. If I turn a blind eye to every gripe I have in a job, I feel like I can’t complain about how much of a drag it is to work there, because _I haven’t even tried to fix it_. Furthermore, it feels like a disservice to others if I don’t speak up — if I don’t say something because I think my manager/director/CTO is apathetic, I’m indirectly making my coworkers’ experiences worse as well.
I live in SF and have experience taking cruise rides so I can provide some (obviously anecdotal) information. Overall I'm a big fan of the autonomous vehicles companies but there are downsides with their current abilities. Pros: - As mentioned in the article, the cars generally follow traffic laws. I see a lot of drivers run red lights around my apartment, but at this point I'm fairly confident that a Cruise won't accidentally run a light and hit me. The article starts with a story of a Cruise ignoring dangerous road conditions and caution tape, but that behavior could be hopefully be fixed by working with SDC companies to standardize how road hazards are marked. - They're electric. We've got some serious climate issues to deal with and if these companies can give people more non-ICE ride options, then I think we should be working to normalize them. I feel similarly about the electric scooters in the city. - There's no one in them but me. I definitely fall in the camp of people that prefer not to have to talk to my Uber/Lyft drivers so that's a plus in my book. I also like the tagline mentioned in the article that the cars never drive drunk, drowsy, or distracted. I don't have to worry about who my driver is or what state of mind they're in. - Cost. The rides are cheaper than equivalent Uber/Lyft rides in my experience. One could argue that they're going to make driving for ride-sharing companies unviable as a way to make a living, but that's true for most new automation in a given industry.
Cons: - I'm a cyclist, and I often make eye contact with drivers to ensure they're aware of me. Without a driver, there's not a good way to ensure the car knows I'm there. That being said, I've personally never had a close call with one on my bike. - As mentioned in the article, they can get in the way of first responders. I don't think that's justifiable and should be something that these companies prioritize before expanding their operating hours and range. So yeah, a couple anecdotes and thoughts from someone in the area. They're not perfect, but I think the upside potential is great and the city should be working to accommodate them and get human drivers off the roads as much as possible.
I've been leaning pretty heavily on Discord during COVID to stay in touch with friends. I play D&D with some of them and wrote a Discord bot for dice-rolling since we already used Discord for audio/video during our sessions. It's not very complex, but it was good practice for using the Discord bot API, and I can host it on my Raspberry Pi in my apartment.