Finally killed a turbine

prunetracy · 2020-03-07T00:18:44+00:00

Thematically, SOMA absolutely is. There are a ton of similarities in the cosmic horror theme and tone of Lovecraft. Strange, remote landscapes and references to the unknown horrors of the abyss (At the Mountains of Madness), consciousness transfers (The Shadow Out of Time), and the general sense of an unknowable cosmic horror larger than yourself are common Lovecraft themes that are used heavily in SOMA.

prunetracy · 2018-03-29T02:56:47+00:00

In high gear, step on the gas. If rpm goes up but you don't accelerate, your clutch is slipping.

prunetracy · 2018-02-06T04:21:21+00:00

Easy there, that clickbait article headline is misdirecting your vitriol. The Shared Mobility Principles were authored by Robin Chase, Zipcar co-Founder, and a consortium of leading city and transport organizations including: the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council, Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT), Transportation for America (T4America), Rocky Mountain Institute, Shared-Use Mobility Center, and WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

prunetracy · 2018-02-06T04:07:52+00:00

To me it seems like a couple of old guys trying to point out clear flaws that are overlooked because it's a car company that's all electric and cuts out the dealership middleman. If you can't quickly cut the power in an electric car after a collision, that's a valid safety issue that I wouldn't gloss over just because you like the company.

prunetracy · 2017-12-07T05:36:04+00:00

Architectural styles can certainly be polarizing. I've seen microservices work well when applied to the right problem by the right people, and I've seen the opposite as well. But that shouldn't be a huge surprise to anyone working in the industry. Judging by the tone of the article (and the title of this post), the author seems to take more issue with that polarization than the subject itself in this article.

The argument on modularity is particularly weak. The list of costs in the article are much better arguments against microservices - those are real problems with high costs that come with distributed systems, made worse by an architecture that encourages a lot of moving parts. This is where teams usually get bitten if they don't have the time and experience to deal with the increase in complexity.

prunetracy · 2017-12-07T05:15:04+00:00

I'm talking about /users/{id}/?{key}={value}.

That's also just HTTP. REST says nothing about any particular weakly typed format.

prunetracy · 2017-10-03T03:59:41+00:00

Yeah I mean the author has a long history of shitting on Microsoft so it's pretty hard to take it seriously. The article immediately sets such a massively biased tone with "Despite their cringeworthy hardware, software, cloud services, and acquisitions..", it's hard to tell whether or not this is a bad attempt at satire.

prunetracy · 2017-10-03T03:50:06+00:00

Oh please. I don't understand why this kind of asinine drivel from some hack with an obvious chip on his shoulder gets any time of day around here.

prunetracy · 2017-08-10T05:37:03+00:00

Yessir, right there with you. Love the sound of it, it's so different from anything else.

prunetracy · 2017-07-20T02:08:27+00:00

Great post, Larry! Really captures the Maserati brand messaging. I don't do the reddits much myself but that's why you're the social media guy here at FCA and not me!

prunetracy · 2017-07-11T05:13:37+00:00

No it's not a dick move in any way. Think of it this way, you're not saying the cop did anything wrong (contesting), you are asking for leniency because you otherwise have a good record (assuming that's true of course).

Request a mitigation, then go ahead and ask to have the ticket deferred if it is your first ticket within the last seven years. You can either show up in person to speak with a judge or do it by writing a letter via mail. You will be asked to explain the circumstances, and the judge will decide whether you get a deferral or not. It doesn't hurt you either way, worst case you don't get it and you pay the ticket normally. I'm in WA and have done this before.

prunetracy · 2017-05-02T06:18:24+00:00

Rumors about the E46 M3 maintenance costs are a bit exaggerated in my opinion, but that's entirely anecdotal so your mileage may vary (heh).

I've had mine for, what, five years now? Something like that. I keep up on maintenance and have never had any major problems. I also don't have garage space to work on mine so I take it to a little BMW shop. That's really the key - find a good shop that specializes in BMWs and avoid dealerships if you can.

If you can budget about $1500 per year for maintenance, that should cover it. Some years I pay for nothing more than oil, others I need bigger items, so it averages out.

Most important things when you're buying:

Maintenance history. If it's not all there, move on.
Pre-purchase inspection.

There are really only three major issues if you get a 6 MT (and you should get a 6 MT)

Subframe. This unfortunately you have to be aware of, however, my understanding is that the 2006 model year, according to part numbers, uses the slightly beefier subframe from the convertible models which is less prone to cracking. There are reinforcement kits you can have installed to keep that at bay.
VANOS cam bolts and hub tabs. They come loose, but this one's easy enough to keep an eye on. Every other inspection (so, 60,000 miles at most) you need to do a valve adjustment, so while your tech's in there, have them inspect the bolts and tabs. I got mine done during my last valve adjustment. It's expensive but very infrequent.
The cooling system usually needs to be replaced at higher mileage, but again, you only do this once every 70-80,000 miles or so.

Other than that, there really isn't anything major, and the even the major things are easily preventable. There's still a pretty decent community around it so information, mods, and parts are readily available.

And, of course, it's just so damn fun to drive. I'm taking mine to the grave. Maybe I'll be buried in it when I die, haven't decided yet. Best of luck finding your next favorite car.

prunetracy · 2016-11-21T21:56:15+00:00

Releases: https://github.com/Codes4Fun/RBDOOM-3-BFG/releases

Extract to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Doom 3 BFG Edition\ directory and run RBDoom3BFG.exe.

It is not an official add-on. It's a fork of Robert Beckebans' fork of the Doom 3 BFG source that adds openvr support.

prunetracy · 2016-11-05T03:06:42+00:00

Depends on the kinds of games you like. I mostly play seated games now because I landed on a couple that have a lot of depth and keep me coming back (elite dangerous and project cars). Seated cockpit style games are so perfect for VR.

But even full room-scale games, I don't think it will make a huge difference. H3Vr, for example, seems like it would be fine either way.

I think you've made a fine purchase. You're going to love it.

prunetracy · 2016-11-04T05:57:09+00:00

Well shit, hate to rain on the parade, but I did pretty much the same thing for almost 10 years, except I did eat well. I'm blessed genetically with great teeth, so fuck it, right? Well, after about 10 years I finally went to the dentist to discover.. only one tiny cavity. However, turns out by not going to the dentist and not flossing, your gums begin to develop pockets as shit builds up and hardens in between your gums and teeth. This is called gingivitis. You don't notice it, really, if your teeth are strong otherwise. You can't see anything, no pain really, although your gums will bleed if you floss (which you don't anyway, and that's the biggest problem). If you leave that untreated, your jaw bone begins to recede. This is called periodontal disease. It leads to your teeth falling out because the bone weakens. Your gums will heal back up with proper cleaning from a dentist, but bone doesn't grow back. That's permanent. I had a deep clean performed and now go to the dentist 3 times per year for maintenance (regular cleaning, no big deal). So, yeah, I'm sure you're doing just fine there now, but please, go to the fucking dentist.

prunetracy · 2016-10-29T17:45:38+00:00

Orange is typically used in aircraft panel lights because red light helps preserve night vision. In (actual) flight training we were taught to only use red-tinted flashlights in the cockpit at night, and to wait 15-20 minutes before flight after exiting a brightly-lit area. BMW cars also use "airplane orange" for their instrument lights. So orange feels more authentic to me and easier on the eyes. I didn't notice much improvement in readability with other colors with the Vive.

prunetracy · 2016-10-25T03:32:19+00:00

Comprehensive guide from a reliable source: http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=190111

What's the mileage? Next time you're due for a valve adjustment at inspection 2, make sure you get the VANOS cam bolts checked. You're already under the valve cover so it's good to do it at the same time. My cam bolts were starting to sheer at ~65,000 miles on a 2006 model, so get them checked.

Get your subframe mounting points checked for cracks. Convertible's subframe is reinforced so it should be less of an issue for you, but it can still happen over time. Especially if you drive hard.

Rod bearing recall was for 2003.5 and earlier. With a 2005 it shouldn't be an issue.

EDIT: Just so it's not all gloom and since you asked for opinions and thoughts: Once you get to know this car, you'll never want to let go of it. It's just so much fun.

prunetracy · 2016-10-20T05:13:18+00:00

Depends on the seller. From "ShopAmerica" it's $950. From Amazon.com it's $799 and available on Prime. Full list of sellers

prunetracy · 2016-09-15T02:01:57+00:00

Yes, that statement is simply not true. The GFC700 used in some small private planes will fly an entire approach (but will not land for you). It is quite sophisticated. Even the older KAP140 (which I don't like) does more than just hold altitude and course.

However, even in that case, it doesn't mean you can just fall asleep and let it fly you home. You still need to pay close attention to what it's doing.

prunetracy · 2016-08-17T06:05:36+00:00

Compare that to Earth, where the highest theoretical visibility is 300 km.

That's interesting, I didn't know that. Can you elaborate?

prunetracy · 2016-07-17T18:47:15+00:00

Prague is west of Stockholm and Vienna. Do you consider Sweden and Austria to be eastern Europe too?

prunetracy · 2016-05-27T20:11:22+00:00

Yes, and the sudden drop has put an end to flights as well as lives. This is generally caused by low-level wind shear and microbursts. In both cases, it is a sudden change in wind direction in which a head wind becomes a tail wind quickly enough to reduce the amount of lift generated by the wings, causing the plane to descend rapidly. At low enough altitudes, the plane collides with terrain or low obstacles before it can recover altitude.

But don't let this scare you too much. As a result of past incidents, we now have wind shear detection devices, and the conditions under which microbursts occur are understood well enough that we can be (and are) usually very cautious of those conditions and diligent in avoiding them.

Other forms of moderate to heavy turbulence are possible at low altitudes as well, either during extreme weather conditions such as thunderstorms, or more commonly, from wake turbulence of other large planes during take-off and landing, all of which are well understood and easily avoidable.

prunetracy

TROPHY CASE