tofubl

Of course, everybody is trying to develop tricks like yours to resist, but I don't think we should just accept as fact that we need to have those tricks to escape the attention grabbing behemoths with the endless money they throw at this optimisation problem.

It's not like algorithms designed to maximise engagement regardless of societal cost are a law of nature we can never escape. It's just unregulated power, which society has worked very hard to limit and align with "the common good" in the past. Free reign for technocrats that display beauty ads to teenage girls after they deleted their selfies, as a single heinous example, is proof that our control mechanism (democracy in the broader sense, I suppose) isn't working anymore, but that also doesn't mean we should roll over and accept it.

I'm with you that personal responsibility is of course important. The message of Johann Hari's book I tried to convey was (paraphrasing again) "Don't be too hard on yourself when you eventually slip up. It's a steep uphill battle."

It's not a problem that can meaningfully be dealt with on an individual level.

I recommend Johann Hari's book Stolen Focus. It goes deep into influencing factors of why we are having such a hard time of putting our devices down. The first he lists: giant tech companies are employing the smartest people on earth (i.e., smarter than you or me) to maximize engagement. The cards are heavily stacked against any single one of us trying to break free from these skinner boxes. The threat of social isolation you mock the blog's author for is of course another ace up Meta's sleeve. The book among other things tries to relieve the feeling of individual failure at this insurmountable task of constantly fending off the targeted attacks on our attention- I paraphrase: "You didn't fail, it was a losing battle to begin with."

If you yourself don't have this problem, I'm glad for you and I hope it lasts. Many, many people do, and there are ever more tragic news headlines to show for it. We as a society (or is that societies?) need to regulate the tech-oligarchs, and fast. I have some hope left at least for the EU coming around on it.

The occasional trail just to avoid traffic, sure. That's the gateway drug right there and suddenly you're climbing muddy 15% trails after heavy rainfall. Talk about a slippery slope! The disappointment in your dad's face.

You can certainly feel very fast on a gravel. Since my bike came out before Shimano's GRX groups did I have a regular 2x11 Ultegra road group on mine (fine, I swapped to the 11-34 cassette at some point, 36/52 chain rings in front.) 28mm slicks, and I'm pretty sure what I'd have is a road bike. (Hypothesis untested.)

I've actually never ridden a road bike, but I can say that I can fairly easily hold my own on my 2017 CX bike in a group ride with road cyclists on much newer and more expensive bikes. I'm sure it doesn't feel quite as zoomy in direct comparison, but in my experience that's a very relative thing.

Anecdotally, I swapped my trusty 33mm Schwalbe X One Speeds over to 40mm G One Allrounds last year, and for a few days the bike felt sluggish to me. But not only did that feeling evaporate very quickly; my reason for swapping - spongy steering on slightly deeper gravel and generally loose surfaces - went away and I can ride at least as fast or faster and safer on every surface as a result. And most of those surfaces my road cyclist friends can't even dream of touching.

There's ever more differentiation in gravel bikes. Some tuned for stiffness and speed, essentially road bikes with wider rims; others for carry capacity and comfort over long distances. I lean towards the speedy stiffness and higher tire pressures (my gravel friends mock me for it.)

While I'd certainly try a proper road bike when the opportunity arises, the choice is ultimately a very simple one for me: Whenever I'm out with road cyclists, I feel cramped by the routes that are simply off limit to the group and that would be very much on (as in: bring it!) for me. My bike can handle whatever comes my way, and the only limiting factors to speed are either my legs or my inner chicken.

If the woods and more technical passages have no appeal at all for you it's probably not a good fit, but if they do even a little (and I think they do, even if just a little), I think there's a wonderful world out there for you waiting to be explored. My heavily biased advice: Suck it up and get a cross/gravel bike. You might surprise yourself putting on 45mms one day and loving every minute.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent my love for gravel bikes.

What was the riddle?

Take a look at this: the open book

Trust Kenji

A Bambulab A1 Mini costs 200 bucks and churns out incredible prints with zero hassle. There's literally next to no barrier to entry anymore.

Well that certainly makes a lot more sense now. I wasn't familiar with Philips shavers with replacement blades. 🙄

Making their product live longer is not usually the top priority for manufacturers. I like the initiative, of course, but I'm sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sounds too good not to be a greenwashing gimmick.

I mean there are robot arms for a lot more than that, but that's not the point. It's like saying a Parol 6 costs 5 bucks, but it's actually the price of the mounting screws.

Their build instructions state 242 for a single arm. Lots of contradicting information. Maybe they are betting on insane economies of scale... 🙄

Edit: Haha, I think I figured it out. USD 120 are the 3d print parts alone. That's not a false promise at all!