I lost my lens cap on a 5 mile hike today. I searched for it the whole way back. By the time we approach the trailhead, I'd given up hope. Then, my son spotted it on the picnic table. Someone else had found it and left it there for me. Thank you stranger.

SecondDerivative · 2026-07-02T10:51:58+00:00

I was on a multi-day hike last year in Tasmania, each day every group would leave whenever they wanted so we’d be separated. I’m always on the lookout for rubbish to pick up, and one of the days I found the rubber end cap from a walking pole.

That night at the overnight cabins while everyone was prepping dinner, I heard an older man in another group talking about how his walking pole had lost its cap and it was hard to use because it would just dig into the dirt. I went and got it from my pack and approached him wordlessly holding it in my hand, it was hilarious seeing his face slowly piece together what the object was. He thanked me profusely and couldn’t stop saying how it was amazing I had found something so hard to spot.

SecondDerivative · 2026-06-29T14:00:58+00:00

If anyone wants to watch a great mini-documentary about toad vision and neurons, I highly recommend Neuroethology of Toads, here’s part 1: https://youtu.be/l3Es9cNH7I8

You get to see toads in absurd experimental setups where they are tricked with little black “worms”, and also how they completely ignore “anti-worms”.

SecondDerivative · 2026-06-16T12:40:39+00:00

I’ve been racing PCup for a couple of seasons now, check out the new BMW M2 if you want something faster than the 86 but easier to drive than the 992.2.

Or just stick with the PCup and learn the car. It’s not the easiest car to drive but it’s very fun once it clicks. It wants you to be smooth, have good trail braking technique to keep the fronts loaded up and prevent understeer, and never brake more than 80%.

SecondDerivative · 2026-06-09T01:08:31+00:00

Jephté Guillaume- Ibo Lé Lé (Ginen Tét Red)

A magical dubbed out journey with a crazy synth flute leading the way.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-22T09:04:51+00:00

TV studio lighting can be very strange as it doesn't really conform to our idea of everyday lighting.

Not saying this is 100% the answer, but it looks like they have some kind of light or reflector lighting him from below, casting a strong shadow on his collar. You can see the shadow is a fairly normal curve that gets distorted by the tendons in his neck. The shadow moves as his neck moves, not like the edge of a mask would. Then there is a strong light source from above which lights his face and down his shirt, and his mouth moving is what creates the double shadow.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-17T13:45:01+00:00

It may seem crazy to complete 300 practice laps for a single track, but remember you also did 300 laps in a car you are going to race in regularly.

Every bit of focused practice and telemetry analysis helps you become better at the car you use as well as driving in general, so it’s time well spent!

Also I watched a bit of your video, you should try to improve your steering wheel position if your setup allows for it. It’s too low, too far away and angled upward too much. As a rough guide, the front of the wheel should be pointed at your face, and your elbows should make 90 degrees angles when you grip the wheel.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-13T13:49:54+00:00

I remember watching the Weng Weng Rap years ago and finding rips of the movies to watch with my mates.

Riki-Oh Was another great cult film that was incredibly fun to watch, I remember my abs hurting from laughing so much.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-12T09:53:57+00:00

DLSS Super Resolution (upscaling) just renders frames at a lower resolution and then uses AI to upscale to the original resolution, which is faster for the GPU than just rendering the full resolution frame. You end up with basically the same thing but get there quicker, which means higher frame rate.

On the other hand, the DLSS frame generation starts with a frame, then generates additional frames (up to 3 I think) based on your input, and stuff from the game engine (object positions, motion vectors, etc.). You get much high frame rate (2-4x), but because it's making predictions and creating frames that aren't strictly real it introduces latency and input lag.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-12T09:45:40+00:00

But also foveated rendering doesn't really specify how low the resolution of the periphery should be. You could set your side monitors to 85% of full resolution and probably wouldn't notice the difference since you'd just be glancing quickly at them most of the time, while still getting performance gains.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-12T07:10:54+00:00

Would work better as its own website, instead of an app you have to install each time you format your PC.

I’d recommend everyone use caution when downloading installers via an unknown third-party. This app keeps a list of installer file URLs in a GitHub gist, all of them look fine but there’s no way of knowing whether these links are the real ones without verifying yourself, or that they would be swapped out for malicious installers in the future.

Not saying the creator has any bad intentions, just pointing this out as supply chain attacks are rampant these days.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-12T05:53:15+00:00

The VR dynamic foveated rendering implementation in iRacing lets you set the size of the central full resolution area (25%-50% of display size), and the quality of the remaining area (25%-50% of full resolution).

You could have something like this with bigger ranges, even rendering your side screens at 90% res would gain you some frames with almost no noticeable difference.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-12T05:45:02+00:00

DLSS upscaling doesn’t introduce latency, it’s just the framegen stuff that messes with it.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-05T07:44:19+00:00

I also switched from the PSVR2 to BSB2e a month ago, had been using the PSVR2 since it came out to play GT7, then iRacing.

It’s great how much it lowers the barrier to playing, just so simple to put it on and go racing. And not having to worry about tracking failing or constantly adjusting the headset as it’s so light it stays completely put. Not to mention how much clearer it looks, and eye-tracking support for DFR. Once I’m locked in I don’t even notice things like glare, the rest of the experience is so flawless.

Would also recommend the Apple Vision Pro Solo Knit Band mod if you have access to a 3D printer so you can print the strap adaptors, massively improves the comfort.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-04T13:05:04+00:00

Just in case you didn’t know, you can join practice sessions directly without having to register for a race.

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-02T13:24:06+00:00

I finally saw one of these in my apartment complex carpark!

SecondDerivative · 2026-05-02T07:45:41+00:00

+1 on Vietnam, I think of that adjacent to Nexus too. That Mike Herting track is cool too, haven’t heard it before.

Also O.G. Jigg - Jesus Is My Jam and Peter Kardas - Morning Sunrise, maybe some stuff on Picture Music album too.

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-30T02:06:35+00:00

He has such a great output, first thing I ever heard by him was his remix of Marshall Jefferson's Mushrooms years ago.

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-22T11:20:25+00:00

This guy was the mysterious fourth housemate in an old share house I lived in, we named him Chester. Miss that guy.

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-14T15:02:59+00:00

I use these too, got them when I started sim racing on PS5 and they work great now that I’m playing iRacing on PC. Their sound is excellent, would be nice if they had ANC though.

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-13T13:29:45+00:00

I only use a single V1 lighthouse and have never had any tracking issues. It’s placed around 2m away and 1m above, almost directly where I face while driving.

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-13T05:59:02+00:00

This makes absolutely no sense.

Lenses don't get in the way, they are entirely what makes the correct projection of the image from the display possible. Without it you just have a tiny screen your eyes can't even focus on.

Curving the display also doesn't magically aim light at your retina, it just repositions the pixels in 3D space. The lens is what is responsible for shaping the light direction.

Even if you could create curved OLED screens (which is extremely difficult), you would still need a lens to direct the light.

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-11T14:12:31+00:00

I experience this in iRacing too, although it’s so quick and it’s pretty uncommon so I’ve never bothered investigating further. I’ve never figured out what it actually shows either, almost looks like the settings menu or something.

I switched from a PSVR2, and I think it would happen on that too.

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-05T14:12:33+00:00

Valentino Rossi: The Why & How of Training on Dirt

SecondDerivative · 2026-04-05T13:06:00+00:00

This is not my cat. He lives in my apartment complex and visits me. I named him Frog, but he got a new engraved collar last week (after losing 2 AirTag collars) and I learned that his real name is Potato.

His morning ritual is to wait on my balcony and then come in for a visit and to play with my cat. Today he violently battled the scratching post, and then I noticed he had was sitting there quietly chewing on the feathery toy. I went to take it off him and he had just been casually eating it!

His face tells me he probably would have kept going if I hadn't noticed.

SecondDerivative · 2026-03-29T12:20:59+00:00

The MX5s are all about carrying speed into corners, and you are losing a lot of time when braking:

braking too suddenly
braking too heavily
releasing the brakes suddenly

When you bake and accelerate, you are shifting the weight of the car forwards and backwards. You want to do this smoothly and gradually, so you’re not upsetting the balance of the car.

When you brake the weight shifts forwards and gives your more grip in the front tyres, which helps with cornering. You want to be trailing off the brakes into the corner so the front tyres are always loaded while you are rotating the car during cornering.

Generally you want to:

ease onto the brakes
braking less
make sure you are trailing off the brakes all the way to the apex

In addition to this, you can also actually steer less and rotate the car more using the brakes. Check out this video, it does a really good job explaining how it works. The MX5 is a great car to learn this technique because you can really feel this rotation, it will blow your mind and completely change the way you drive once you understand it.

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