This checkin to GC6GTY1 The Duck Pond reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
GPSr was spot on, but the nettles are tall and fierce age it was a bit of a battle to get to this cache, hidden beneath them. TFTC!
Dan Q
This checkin to GC6GTY1 The Duck Pond reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
GPSr was spot on, but the nettles are tall and fierce age it was a bit of a battle to get to this cache, hidden beneath them. TFTC!
This checkin to GC8Q7ZB Freeland Circular Walk - Geocache 1 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Found easily. Strange choice of container; not what I expected! TFTC.
This checkin to GC8Q3X3 Final cache of series reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
This one was a challenge. Finding myself on a path alongside a wooden fence, I propped my bike up against the fence to search what seemed to be the obvious candidates, but no look. I returned to my bike to retrieve my handlebar-mounted GPSr to try to get a better fix and soon found myself tramping through waist-high nettles towards to GZ. Oh! There’s another path over here! That makes more sense. Found the cache pretty quickly once I’d got my silly self into the right place! TFTC!
This checkin to GC35ZN6 AZKABAN reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Good sized cache! My GPSr pointed me into the field at first and I had to double back. Log dry, but has clearly gotten wet in the past as done pages have begun to moulder. Okay to sign still, though. TFTC.
This checkin to GC6FEXP Octocache reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Came near here on an evening’s cycle from Stanton Harcourt and, seeing that the path wasn’t too muddy, decided to come and explore the woods. Lots of birdsong tonight! Was glad of the hint which saved me poking in the wrong holes. TFTC.
Reassuring to see that @Firefox’s datetime-local
implementation is year 100,000 compliant. 😂 #Y100K
I love my electric car, but sometimes – like when I need to transport five people and a week’s worth of their luggage 250 miles and need to get there before the kids’ bedtime! – I still use our big ol’ diesel-burning beast. And it was while preparing for such a journey that I recently got to thinking about the mathematics of refuelling.
It’s rarely worth travelling out-of-your-way to get the best fuel prices. But when you’re on a long road trip anyway and you’re likely to pass dozens of filling stations as a matter of course, you might as well think at least a little about pulling over at the cheapest.
You could use one of the many online services to help with this, of course… but assuming you didn’t do this and you’re already on the road, is there a better strategy than just trusting your gut and saying “that’s good value!” when you see a good price?
It turns out this is an application for the Secretary Problem (and probably a little more sensible than the last time I talked about it!).
Here’s how you do it:
This is a modified variant of the Secretary Problem because it’s possible for two filling stations to have the same price, and that’s reflected in the algorithm above by the allowance for stopping for fuel at the same price as the best you saw during your sampling phase. It’s probably preferable to purchase sub-optimally than to run completely dry, right?
Of course, you’re still never guaranteed a good solution with this approach, but it maximises your odds. Your own risk-assessment might rank “not breaking down” over pure mathematical efficiency, and that’s on you.
Almost nerdsniped myself when I discovered several #WordPress plugins that didn’t quite do what I needed. Considered writing an overarching one to “solve” the problem. Then I remembered @xkcd comic 927…
This checkin to GC7Q96B Oxford's Long-Lost Zoo reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
This has been muggled hard. I no longer live very close, so I’m removing the cache: I’ve extracted the remnants of the container from the GZ.
Shame to lose such a beautiful container, but it had a good long life and told many people the unusual story of this site, so it’s all good.
This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
I won’t be plugging it in though, instead, the battery will be swapped for a fresh one, at this facility in Norway belonging to Chinese electric carmaker, Nio.
The technology is already widespread in China, but the new Power Swap Station, just south of Oslo, is Europe’s first.
…
This is what I’ve been saying for years would be a better strategy for electric vehicles. Instead of charging them (the time needed to charge is their single biggest weakness compared to fuelled vehicles) we should be doing battery swaps. A decade or two ago I spoke hopefully for some kind of standardised connector and removal interface, probably below the vehicle, through which battery cells could be swapped-out by robots operating in a pit. Recovered batteries could be recharged and reconditioned by the robots at their own pace. People could still charge their cars in a plug-in manner at their homes or elsewhere.
You’d pay for the difference in charge between the old and replacement battery, plus a service charge for being part of the battery-swap network, and you’d be set. Car manufacturers could standardise on battery designs, much like the shipping industry long-ago standardised on container dimensions and whatnot, to take advantage of compatibility with the wider network.
Rather than having different sizes of battery, vehicles could be differentiated by the number of serial battery units installed. A lorry might need four or five units; a large car two; a small car one, etc. If the interface is standardised then all the robots need to be able to do is install and remove them, however many there are.
This is far from an unprecedented concept: the centuries-old idea of stagecoaches (and, later, mail coaches) used the same idea, but with the horses being changed at coaching inns rather. Did you know that the “stage” in stagecoach refers to the fact that their journey would be broken into stages by these quick stops?
Anyway: I dismayed a little when I saw every EV manufacturer come up with their own battery standards, co=operating only as far as the plug-in charging interfaces (and then, only gradually and not completely!). But I’m given fresh hope by this discovery that China’s trying to make it work, and Nio‘s movement in Norway is exciting too. Maybe we’ll get there someday.
Incidentally: here’s a great video about how AC charging works (with a US/type-1 centric focus), which briefly touches upon why battery swaps aren’t necessarily an easy problem to solve.
This checkin to GC49ERR #5 Billy Wynt - Up Top reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Wow, definitely had to go off the beaten track for this one. I took a route up and tightly alongside the fence, and only after getting to the GZ did I discover the easier way. Still a tough thing to find with the foliage so verdant. TFTC and thanks for the walk and the view, too!
From the top of the folly I can just make out my hotel in the distance (see photo)! Better go get some breakfast!
This checkin to GC49ERC #4 Billy Wynt - Take a Seat reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Found after a brief search, but not in the (pretty obvious) hint location. Looks like it had been found by muggles and just “thrown” back. Log was blank. SL, TFTC. Great view!
This checkin to GC49EQW #3 Billy Wynt - Feeling Peckish reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Had to give up on this one. 😢
Between a great fix, a clear clue, and CO maintenance only last week I figured this was a sure thing. But somehow it wasn’t to be, no
matter how many nettle stings I endured in the hunt.
This checkin to GC49EQA #2 Billy Wynt - Little Home reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
A brief shower gave me cause for concern – I didn’t come dressed for weather – but I pressed on and was rewarded with this cool hide. TFTC.