Archive for 2017

Too Much Acceleration

I connected two different news stories about electric cars, and I wonder if anyone else sees the relationship.

First story: electric cars have incredible acceleration. You can go to Wikipedia for some general overview about it. But it seems that every month for the last couple of months, the electric car manufacturers (or electric car concept show-ers) have a press release touting that their car is the quickest from 0-60.

Second story: Electric cars are crashing through walls, with people claiming the car did it on its own. The ol’ “unintended acceleration” bit. The car maker, of course, says that its car is fine and the problem was the driver pressed the wrong pedal.

Now put them both together. People have the equivalent of 800 horsepower in their electric performance vehicles (I’m excluding electric commuter vehicles such as the Smart car because they’re not involved in the 0-60 war, staying north of 10 seconds). I’m guessing that most of the people who bought electric cars would not buy a car with an 800HP engine because they realize that it’s overkill and dangerous. It’s also fun, which they find out when they mash the accelerator pedal on their electric car and get all that acceleration. But they don’t realize how much power it is.

And then the electric cars don’t have to rev up. The power is there instantaneously, such as when you in a parking lot or approaching your garage (or even in your garage). And also couple that with the fact that electric cars do not creep along, and people need to be retrained for how to drive slowly.

With a normal car, the engine idles. If you let off the brake, the car will move along slowly. People are in the habit of handling slow maneuvers, such as parking, by lightly pressing the brake pedal and letting the idling engine overpower the light brake apply. Then when the car is in the right place, they press harder on the brake and stop. In other words, people use the same pedal to drive slowly and to stop.

Now jump in an electric car. There is no idle. If you’re not pressing the accel pedal, nothing happens. So to roll into a parking spot, you need to keep your foot lightly on the “gas” pedal. Now you want to stop. Your years of training have taught your foot to press down on the same pedal, so your mind doesn’t really even think about it – you creep along and then when you’re ready to stop you press down hard. Only, this is an electric car, so you had your foot on the accelerator. So you start to move. And it’s not like a gas-powered car, where there is a slight lag and a spooling up of speed. No, this is full instant power, so there’s no chance for your brain to recognize that the wrong thing is happening.

Electric cars need something like a Parking Lot Mode. Where it will move slowly and you can modulate your speed with the brake pedal. A number of electric vehicles have a one-pedal operation mode, but that’s with the accelerator, where you press it to go and release it to stop. They need the opposite, where the car goes when you let off the brake. But only for low speeds. I can see some liability issues there too. But everyone should already be used to cars behaving that way.

The alternative is that people need to be trained to drive cars two-footedly. That way, your right foot will never get confused as to which pedal it is pressing. Stop is left foot and go is right foot. The best part is that it will work in gas cars too. At least those with automatic transmissions.

Can anyone smash iron, Iron from the north, or bronze?

Jeremiah 15:12

Skeebowl

Here’s my latest idea: skeeball plus bowling.

image of skeebowl

It’s perfect for people like me, who never got the hang of spinning the bowling ball to make it curve.

I’m not going to get around to making this, so someone else can give it a try.

He who digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

Proverbs 26:27

Postpone

For some reason, I feel like discussing the word postpone.

I like symmetry, so it bothers me that no one ever uses the word prepone. There should be a matching word. Post means after, pre means before, so prepone should mean to move something earlier in schedule. Just the opposite of postpone.

I did some searching, and there was only one online dictionary that listed prepone as the opposite of postpone. Maybe it hasn’t caught on because no one ever does anything earlier than necessary. Things at work are always delayed, never opposite-of-delayed.

And while I’m at it, why don’t we use the word pone for schedule? It’s certainly easier to write and to say, but maybe people have a problem with Latin (where the pone from postpone originated)?

It’s not like we use all the forms for postpone currently, so we could just use pone as it is and not worry about ponam, ponemus, or ponendum.

So Amasa went to call out the men of Judah, but he delayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him.

2 Samuel 20:5

The 5 Hows: Carcassonne

This is a guide for how to play the game Carcassonne. It’s a fun, slightly involved tile game.

image of Carcassonne game
This is just a big-picture view; you will still need the rule book to learn the details of actually playing.

1. How do I win?
You win by having the most points at the end of the game.

2. How do I get points?
By claiming various features of land. Features are buildings, roads, and fields. The number of points increases as the size of the feature increases (length of road, area of building/city, etc.)

3. How do I claim something?
By placing your marker (meeple) on it. You can claim only one feature per turn, and it must be on the land tile that you just played that turn.

4. How does the game end?
You play until all the tiles are gone. After someone plays the last tile, you add up final points. You should have some points before then, as you count the cities and roads as they are completed/closed during the game.

5. How do I share a feature with someone to get some of their points?
You can’t share a feature directly; if someone already has claimed it, you can’t also claim it. You’ll have to start a new item, claim it, and then connect yours to his (and hope he doesn’t block you).

There, now go play Carcassonne.

Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from its sale; his right of redemption lasts a full year.

Leviticus 25:29

The 5 Hows: Kingdom Builder

This is a guide for how to play the game Kingdom Builder. It’s a fun, slightly involved board game.

image of Kingdom Builder game
Now I have played it a few times and explained it a few times and so I will attempt to explain it here.

1. How do I win?
You win by having the most points at the end of the game.

2. How do I get points?
This is a tricky question. Big picture answer: you get points by fulfilling the conditions of the goal cards. Now what the goal cards are depends on what was dealt. There are many goal cards, but you randomly choose a few of them to be in play. So your goals and tactics will change from game to game.

3. How do I fulfill the goal cards?
By building houses. The game board is a set of land tiles (similar concept to Settlers of Catan, but different execution) and each turn you get to place a number of houses on the board. Everyone gets the same minimum number of houses per turn – there are no coins or resource to collect in order to buy houses – but you can earn an extra house or two per turn depending on what extras you have unlocked.

4. How do I unlock these extra thingies?
There are a few special locations on the board tiles. If you build a house next to one of these spots, you earn its ability (which is usually either moving or adding a house).

5. How does the game end?
You play until someone runs out of house tokens. Then you finish the round so that everyone has the same number of plays. Then you total up your points.

There, now go play Kingdom Builder.

See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.

Jeremiah 1:10

The 5 Hows: Machi Koro

This is a guide for how to play the game Machi Koro. It’s a fun, involved card game.

image of Machi Koro card game
Now I have played it a few times and explained it a few times and so I will attempt to explain it here.

1. How do I win?
You win by being the first player to build all your goal cards.

2. How do I build goal cards?
By buying them with coins.

3. How do I get coins?
You earn coins based on what business cards you have, combined with what was rolled on the dice.

4. How do I get business cards?
By buying them with coins. You start with a couple of businesses, and those can earn you coins. The more coins you get, the more businesses you can buy, which in turn lets you earn more coins.

Each card has a value (what it costs to buy the card) and a rank (what number must be rolled in order for you to use the card).

5. How would you describe this game?
It’s a cross between Settlers of Catan and Dominion. It’s like Settlers in that your prosperity depends on what numbers you and the other players roll on the dice. But the game is easier and quicker than Settlers. And it’s like Dominion in that you advance by gaining cards and those cards have different capabilities and you can choose what characteristics you prefer.

There, now go play Machi Koro.

Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed And founds a town with violence!

Habakkuk 2:12

The 5 Hows: Sushi Go

This is a guide for how to play the game Sushi Go. It’s a fun, simple card game.

image of Sushi Go card game
Now I have played it a few times and explained it a few times and so I will attempt to explain it here.

1. How do I win?
You win by having the most points at the end of the game.

2. How do I get points?
By having played cards that earn points

3. How do I play cards?
Everyone has a hand of cards. You pick one you want to play in that hand and turn that card face up. You do that several turns and when you’re done, you have a bunch of face-up cards. Those are your points.

4. How do I know which cards to play?
The cards have different point values. You’ll want to pick things with higher points. There are some combinations that earn higher points, so look for those.

5. How is that hard?
Because each time you play a card, you pass your cards to the left. So you can’t plan much because the set of cards you have changes each turn.

There, now go play Sushi Go.

So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.”

1 Samuel 16:17