Yeah same thing happens around here. A dude here bought some land which surrounded an old popular access road to Cleveland national forest (socal), and promptly put a gate up... For a while it was the only convenient way to drive into the mountains from riverside county. Alternative routes were either closed from fires, closed to vehicles, or located on the other side of the mountain range. Lots of Facebook drama between this guy and people in the area trying to access the national forest. He has a camera pointed at the gate and regularly posts altercations and threatens to shoot people.
I don't get why people do those sorts of things. If you own land your #1 enemy is the government. In that situation it behooves you to do things to endear yourself to the community, your neighbors, etc.
I've found it to be insanely productive when doing framework-based web development (currently working with Django), I would say it's an easy 5-10x improvement in productivity there, but I still need to keep a somewhat close eye on it. It's not nearly as productive in my home grown stuff, it can be kind of annoying actually.
I know far more people who ride bikes and I literally know 1 person that fell and was injured. I think it's very clear scooters are far more dangerous than bikes.
Shattered mine mountain biking as well (6 pieces). Ortho took one look at it and scheduled surgery for the next day. It wasn't a 'standard' break since it included my AC joint and coracoclavicular ligaments which needed a special type of plate. Ultimately it took 2 surgeries (ORIF, then plate removal). Total recovery was 9 months. My arm/shoulder is as strong as it was before, and it looks anatomically correct.
My shoulder immediately felt "better" after ORIF. I would suggest it if it's way out of whack... mine was drooping probably 2". I can't imagine how much it would suck if the bones healed that way.
Mine felt immediately worse after the ORIF. After two weeks getting comfortable in their new positions, all the ligaments really resented getting wrenched back into place.
Good illustration was that my run of the mill, 45 minute surgery ended up taking 4.5 hours.
It’s good to hear that everything felt good after your plate was removed. At 18 months post-surgery, I’m in a really good place where I can do most anything I want. Only occasionally experience discomfort if my son headbutts the plate or a backpack strap rubs on it. I was in two minds about having it removed as it would be a step backwards to post-surgical, but the likelihood of me doing something stupid again in the future means it’s worth it. Rather have the fuse that a clavicle is rather than fracture my sternum!
I should restate - mine definitely did not feel better post-surgery, the ORIF pain was worse than the break, but it felt good to have my bones secure with my shoulder in its anatomically correct place, and not have any more crepitus.
My plate was extremely uncomfortable, it was a "hook plate" which held my collar bone to my scapula. I couldn't raise my arm above shoulder height with it installed, it had to be removed after 6mo.
Plate removal was a bit tougher than anticipated (short term). I read accounts of it being a 'relief' but I was in quite bit of pain.
Ah, thanks for the clarification. That post-ORIF pain being worse than the break was my experience too. Even with the plate I became quite paranoid about shifting the screws because it provided so much immediate stability I was worried I was able to do things that may loosen the screws.
A hook plate sounds horrible! Mine is a simple straight plate, bent into a helix shape to follow the natural rotation of the bone. I've got almost full mobility, although that shoulder does seize up quite readily. Not sure whether that's the plate or just remnants of the reduced mobility post-crash and post-surgery.
I've been told to expect two weeks of surgical healing and a further 4 weeks of babying it and avoiding impacts. I'm hoping your removal being tougher was due to the different plates. Would quite like it gone and to get on with my life now.
Nah do it, it added a whole new dimension to my life. You can mitigate the risk a lot, I ride fast and am definitely a bit too ambitious at times, but you can aslo ride more relaxed and safely progress your skills.
Jumping is anecdotally where most noobs bin it hard, you don't need to do jumps at all if you don't want. Many people ride around them.
Shit's tough though. Most tradespeople have lots of injuries... smashed hands, bad joints, have to breathe in toxic shit all day, bad hearing. My 35yo friend can hardly stand from back pain. And, it can be _very_ skilled. Business/shop owners can and do make quite a bit more than the standard software engineer.
i have 35yo programmer friends who can hardly stand from back pain.
i don't want to diminish the risk of injuries, but in big part it's also a question of lifestyle. every once in a while even programmers need to lift something beyond their current capacity... and even craftsmen can become couch potatos who only lift at work when they must... and because of that lose touch with their limits.
Nothing reminds you of your mortality when on the weekend you feel the exact moment you were twisting just slightly the wrong way while moving something.
I subscribe to number of construction/trades-related sub-Reddits, mostly to learn since I'm starting to do a lot more DIY work on my house. It really is a tough job physically, both in overall strain and specific injuries. Many people on those groups (especially the older ones) talk about downing painkillers just to get themselves through the day.
Edit: Actually reading the article now, and...
> One slip and you get a hand or foot bitten off. A jack slipped once and smashed the side of his jaw, requiring $20,000 in dental surgery. “I kept working that day, though.”
That's insane and just toxic. I feel like so much of this "working with your hands" is joined with this idea of making people "tougher" because that's intrinsically better.
Edit 2: And this:
> You know, I’m more proud of being a journeyman bricklayer than being a college biology graduate. To know how to work with your hands is a great gift, good for your body and your heart.
Why? I get this is a politician saying this, but I see little reason why one should be mythologized more than the other.
I thought the problem with all of these metal air batteries is the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction at the air cathode. It just seems too slow for a high power density - need high surface area. The air cathode in this experiment is a gas diffusion layer embedded with trimolybdenum phosphide nanoparticle (seems common with these, others use platinum and iridium), with a current density of 0.1 mA/cm2. Need 1m2 of air cathode for 10 amps. I wonder how that ORR can be sped up or use smaller surface area. Could some kind of forced induction supercharger type thing work for these? I'm not a chemist.
Yes, AI team was created in our company to bring it in house, and I was invited mainly to integrate it into the web app, and to do some ops work. A year later and I'm fine tuning models, building datasets, working with PyTorch. Much different than webdev, not as rewarding sometimes, more unknowns, longer feedback cycles. The main issue is getting enough data quality and quantity, which can be a grind. Happy to have taken this opportunity though. Endless things to learn.
I made few of these when I was a kid. My pièce de résistance was a 10' 'coaxial piston launcher'. It scared the bejeezus out of most people... I usually shot ice slugs, which would throw a hole in a piece of plywood at 50 psi.
A golf ball with a chipped off shell fits perfectly in a 2" PVC barrel. The problem with chipping off the shell (along with an unrifled barrel) is that it makes it like a knuckleball - you have no idea where it's going to go. They would curve violently in any direction. One of the few times I shot one of these, it curved directly upwards, and I'm guessing landed a half a mile or so away. Hopefully it didn't hit anyone or anything. That was the last time I shot it.
I'm in that basket. I can't reliably commute due to a neurological disability that prevents me from driving. I've been WFH since 2015. It's harder to find WFH jobs that pay as well. I also rely on expensive drugs to manage the condition. I absolutely cannot take the risk of being without health insurance. It definitely makes it a lot harder. I can't really tell prospective employers about the disability, it will just scare them off.
Metal-air batteries/fuel cells. Made a mini aluminum air battery (you can easily DIY one with household items). It seems that most people consider metal-air batteries to be a dead-end, since they aren't green and are generally non-rechargeable, and air cathodes are tricky (sluggish, exotic materials, expensive catalysts). I dove into "alternative" battery and fuel cell research after looking into how to extend the range of my electric motorcycle. I love the electric drivetrain, especially on motorcycles, but lithium ion isn't up to the task as far as capacity for anything beyond an hour or two of high performance fun. If I could get a compact metal air battery or hydrogen fuel cell to output just 1kw for a hybrid drivetrain, range issues could be solved.
It's still more of an idea/crude experiment than a project right now. There are some neat videos of DIYers with similar projects though - small homemade metal air batteries and materials experimentation. Aluminum air seems to attract the most attention. There is also a lot of available research.
