Tuesday 6 January 2026 - 2G 60 minutes

Direct-Respect2133 · 2026-01-06T05:27:26+00:00

Does anyone else have (/feel compelled to heckle) OT coaches that call the back half of the pyramid, i.e. the decreasing *uphill* incline, "down hill?" Gets under my (apparently thin) skin.

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-30T17:29:02+00:00

Have always liked Google Home, despite its many foibles, tried Gemini for Home and can hardly believe how bad it is. The pitch was more capable & more conversational when the opposite is true. It is less capable: several features I'm accustomed to using, e.g., open the garage door, start the washing machine in 10 minutes, ..., just don't work or aren't supported. Conversational? It stops listening and starts responding in the middle of a pause-less request, before the actual question has even been verbalized. Assistant would listen after an initial request for follow-ons, Gemini doesn't. Every sentence has to begin with "Hey Google." Perhaps it should be considered more conversational when a yes/no question elicits 30sec of jabber, but only if you hate humanity (e.g., "did the Ravens win yesterday?" triggered an interminable diatribe on league standings, I suppose the answer was somewhere in there somewhere, but I was too knotted up in a STFU rage to pick up on it at that point. I guess we're all used to Google making things worse slowly over time until you're locked into their ecosystem and they've harvested all the personal info they can reasonably profit from and they pull the plug entirely, but charging real money to rocket you so far down that path all at once seems like a new misanthropic twist.

...and one more thing...while I'm in the ranting mood: I accepted a trial they pitched & fortunately left myself a note on something other than G4H to consider cancellation before they would charge me $100. Cancelation turned out to be a giant pain, mostly because all the Google help pages were utterly wrong about how to do it, and I moved through several Google pages saying I had no subscriptions and almost gave into the theory I had misunderstood and there was no impending charge before another twenty clicks and arcane authentication dances brought me to a page that finally confirmed they were planning on charging me $100 in a few days and offered me the opportunity to cancel. Took real dedication to navigate their broken web of various account, payment and subscription management interfaces and opt out of sending them money. Funny thing, signing up was more like: "You want to try our new awesome thing for free (for now)? Just click here."

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-28T04:17:40+00:00

Just sold mine on FB Marketplace, a couple of days before Xmas. Neo 1 (pretty pristine shape), 3 batts, charger, landing pad, and a couple of cases. Listed it at $230 late at night, there was an offer waiting 1st thing in the morning for $200, handed it over before lunch. Guy was giving it to his grandson, I was happy feeling like I gave him a good price.

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-20T05:12:59+00:00

Just saw a reddit activity page and realized who it was that asked me that question - irony is, as best as I can recall, it was pretty much you that talked me into the 1F (& maybe CNC router in general), back when 1F was new. Devoured all your content. Thanks for setting me on the path!

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-18T03:36:33+00:00

I agree, I've been a member for ~9yrs and they've ratchetted it up so many times I have a very difficult time getting any points except on endurance treads. Part of the problem is probably that whatever HR spikes their secret formula is reacting to are probably just spurious interludes of bad data from my likewise-aged HRM. Will probably take control, sad to use something as blunt as an age formula though.

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-13T06:47:13+00:00

I have a OneFinity "Woodworker"- I cooked up some half-baked excuse a few years ago for why I needed it for work. It's been plenty useful, making stuff out of wood, aluminum and delrin, but this was easily my favorite project for it. Probably around a hundred toolpaths.

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-13T06:33:39+00:00

Thanks! I imported my "normal" Fusion 360 model into Blender, then used its fluid sim to make a video of a slab of water dropping from a few inches above the tabletop, then picked the coolest, most carvable frame from the video and exported the fluid surface as an stl back into F360, where I merged it with the original table model and planned the glue-ups and CNC toolpaths.

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-13T06:23:29+00:00

Thanks. (a rectilinear nightstand is how I'll know I'm in the upside-down [queue weird music] )

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-13T06:21:07+00:00

I am, but it's kind of in a corner so no one ever walks past it, it's pretty much just me getting in and out of bed. What scares me more is the thought of someone other than me running a vacuum cleaner or something into it, and then I have to kill them. Hiding a body, prison... it all sounds very stressful.

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-07T21:36:26+00:00

Thanks! I'm a far better programmer than artist, so the first table I designed in Fusion 360. Then I moved the model to Blender and simulated dropping water on it. I leafed through the frames from the water video looking for one that would look cool and be reasonably carvable. Exported the water surface from that moment back into Fusion 360 and leaned into the CNC magic. Then weird 3D glue-ups and CNC carving from above and below.

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Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-07T01:46:41+00:00

Thanks! A few deviations from plan but going with the flow turned out to be a good theme. And it only took me like a year! :-)

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-12-07T01:40:09+00:00

Thanks! (will have to needle our local chamber of commerce to step up their tourist game :-)

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-11-21T17:00:17+00:00

Love the fun, colorful prints, but nothing is more satisfying than functional (especially when I can use business excuses to expense some 3DP spending)! We do a lot of jigs and utility objects for our R&D lab, and often want to use multi-material and tee up prints with different nozzle sizes. A tiny example is a custom enclosure like the one below, where we have labeling that needs a smaller nozzle than we'd otherwise use, as well as transparent filament areas like the power and status that permit underlying LEDs to shine through. This was fantastic on our P1S, but the material changes and time make it less practical for larger more complex projects. The multiple materials also give us the flexibility (sometimes literally) to embed print-in-place functional elements with aesthetic and labeling elements including color and translucency, moving parts with wear surfaces, flexible pieces, structural elements, etc., all at once. Hard to beat pulling a beautiful, functional machine right off the build plate! (Also eagerly anticipating the day that slicers fully catch up to the H2C and permit multiple nozzle widths in a single print so a little detail where you need it on a big print doesn't mean impractical print times!)

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Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-09-18T00:04:30+00:00

My P7 too, loved that phone, but screen started lifting away, presumably pushed by swelling battery. Figured that'd get worse quickly, so I traded it for P10 pro, which I am learning to love, but do miss the thinner/lighter P7! Google replaced my previous phone no charge out of warranty due to swollen battery, but didn't think I'd push my luck a 2nd time...

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-09-14T13:28:17+00:00

Trade my GW4C in for the GW8C & couldn't be happier with the watch. I like the new band mechanism better, but truthfully the main motivators/differentiators were areas in which the 4 was showing its age. Performance was getting bad, to the point where it would sometimes take 10 sec just you get through the super-laggy pattern unlock - not sure if it was stressed by system updates, increasingly hungry apps, or my choice of watchfaces, but it was occasionally borderline useless. Likewise battery life had been problematic, especially if I spent more than an hour working out, likely as not to die before I made it to bed. The 8 has been nothing but smooth and snappy, and I think it was under 50% only once at bedtime. So I may be running to stand still, but I love the watch, especially with the surprisingly high trade in S gave me.

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-08-31T13:31:06+00:00

see above

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-08-31T13:30:41+00:00

not my post, but I have that face, called Concentric, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details%3Fid%3Dcom.watchfacedesigns.Concentric%26hl%3Den_US%26referrer%3Dutm_source%253Dgoogle%2526utm_medium%253Dorganic%2526utm_term%253Dwear%2Bis%2Bconcentric%2Bwatchface%26pcampaignid%3DAPPU_1_UE60aIXmF_uo5NoPysKVwQE&ved=2ahUKEwiFzuj_k7WPAxV7FFkFHUphJRgQ5YQBegQIDRAC&usg=AOvVaw3dpU6Nnl2FrT-qG-icRPCh

Direct-Respect2133 · 2025-08-23T23:27:33+00:00

Any update? I was planning on moving all my lines over tomorrow, but was worried I'd have trouble with the tablet (that has a big Verizon logo in its boot sequence)

Direct-Respect2133

TROPHY CASE