The Official Funny Stuff Thread™
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That one took a second.....
OH... Falling out of chair.... LOLOLOL
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Well, now I want to know, darn it. Did he have his little umbrella? Stupid newsless story.
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That sounds like a good idea for a project. Make a website that generates a fortune cookie message from Twitter, bonus points if the message has been run through @translator
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After 10 translations Bing says: It seems like this project. Create a Web page. You can create more Twitter to be sent to the @translator State.
Filed under: English(Confidence: 12.39 ) -> @translator">Vietnamese -> @translator">Slovak -> @translator">Chinese Traditional -> @translator">Catalan -> @translator">Slovenian -> @translator">Thai -> @translator.">Belarusian -> @translator.">Swedish -> @translator състояние.">Bulgarian -> @translator állam.">Hungarian -> @translator State.">English
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I'm convinced that Twitter was secretly designed to farm new phrases for fortune cookies.
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After 10 translations Bing says: «««@Translator plans new proposals, are convinced that Twitter secrets of fortune cookies.
Filed under: English(Confidence: 8.84 ) -> Arabic -> Polish -> Estonian -> Hungarian -> Korean -> French -> Dutch -> Ukranian -> Swedish -> Chinese Traditional -> English
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Just saw this now. Pretty sure I panicked because someone was in the pit.
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Taking a long trip with your electric car? Tow a generator!
That one is a bit short-coupled. It'll hit the car on tight turns, and backing it up would be a bitch.
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Stick the generator inside the car then. You wouldn't want the fumes in with you, so put it out in front of the driver with some sort of exhaust system pushing the gases out the back.
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That's actually pretty interesting. They have some sort of active steering with small retractable wheels when going in reverse. And when doing tight turns, it seems the coupling mechanism prevents it from touching the car.
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If there was an extra wheel on the trailer that made contact with the road and ran a dynamo, the range would increase to infinity.
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Stick the generator inside the car then. You wouldn't want the fumes in with you, so put it out in front of the driver with some sort of exhaust system pushing the gases out the back.
If it's in the car, then it's probably considered part of the car, and thus subject to all the corresponding regulatory restrictions. At the very least, then, you'll need to make sure it can tell when the EPA is trying to do an emissions test and go into low-emissions mode.
They have some sort of active steering with small retractable wheels when going in reverse
Looks like it just lifts it up with some hydraulics so the main wheels aren't touching and then rolls on one center wheel that can freely pivot.
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on one center wheel that can freely pivot.
Nope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnHX_L06Thk
it can tell when the EPA is trying to do an emissions test and go into low-emissions mode.
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At the very least, then, you'll need to make sure it can tell when the EPA is trying to do an emissions test and go into low-emissions mode.
(I think the first sentence might be but the joke redeemed the post)
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Nope.
...yes, that's exactly what it's doing. Hydraulic cylinder. Wheel that freely pivots. Just what I said.
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The one that isn't highlighted blue in my gif won't be touching the pavement.
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Just what I said.
You said it was one centred wheel. There are two wheels - if I understand it correctly the third (centred) wheel is raised when going in reverse and only used when the trailer is parked.
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The one that isn't highlighted blue in my gif won't be touching the pavement.
There's one that angle doesn't show. Watch the rest of the video.
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...wait. Okay, but in the section of the animation I captured in that gif, based on what you can see of the other small wheel (looking through the hub of the larger near wheel), it's not highlighted blue and it's not pivoting. You can definitely see it move up and down, though. So the video is .
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that can freely pivot.
You are probably right on this point though.
I initially misread "Patented self steering system in reverse. No prior art." in their presentation to mean something similar to what you have on articulated buses for example where the rear wheels are turned in the opposite direction than front wheels to help with steering. (Or even same direction for sideways movement on some vehicles)
If you are right, then I'd say a fucking shopping trolley is prior art.
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shopping trolley is prior art
That style of wheel is one thing, but what you do with the angle that it moves to is something else.
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the angle that it moves to
If it's pivoting freely, then it's exactly like a shopping trolley.
If the angle is controlled, it's active steering as I initially thought.
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If it's pivoting freely, then it's exactly like a shopping trolley.
Yes, but shopping trolleys don't measure the angle adopted by the free-pivoting wheel…
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measure the angle adopted
Why do you think this trailer does that and what does it do with this measurement?
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Comic in That's Jake not available on web, as close as I can remember it.
Neighbor, about the guard alligator in their back yard: "We don't think we've had any burglars since we got him. Of course, we'd have to cut him open to find out."
Continuing, "As a watch-animal, he's got a pit bull beat all to shucks. Matter of fact, he ate the pit bull next door."
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So it's dumb and over-engineered.
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If there was an extra wheel on the trailer that made contact with the road and ran a dynamo, the range would increase to infinity.
If they had Solar Freakin' Roadways they could use those to recharge!
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The concept itself is funny, though not necessarily dumb. If you already own an electric vehicle and have to make a long trip, this is an arguably better solution than renting a different car.
Regarding the over-engineered bit, you probably don't want people who would buy an electric car operating conventionally steered trailer.
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The concept itself is funny, though not necessarily dumb.
It just highlights the original dumb idea of having an electric car and expecting it to be a useful car.
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I agree in general, but I can see it as a useful secondary car.
Even if we disregard Tesla, many electric cars have 70 - 80 miles on a single charge, which would mean charging them once or twice a week for me.Now I don't need a secondary car as I am the only one with a license in my family anyway, so I don't really care about it.
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many electric cars have 70 - 80 miles on a single charge, which would mean charging them once or twice a week for me.
Once every 1.5 days for me. Before I even consider the 80 mile plus each way journeys I make most weeks. And I'd be driving a stupid-looking electric car because most manufacturers don't seem to have bothered making electric (or hybrid) cars which either look or perform like normal cars yet.
I'm not sure it's even possible to buy an electric estate car in the UK which possibly makes the whole thing for me anyway.
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most manufacturers don't seem to have bothered making electric (or hybrid) cars which either look or perform like normal cars yet.
While choice of pure electric cars is indeed limited and there aren't any strikingly beautiful for my taste, there are plenty of nice hybrids - Lexus LSh or Mercedes-Benz S e come to mind as examples. I hear performance for those two is not a problem either.
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Even if we disregard Tesla, many electric cars have 70 - 80 miles on a single charge, which would mean charging them once or twice a week for me.
Which is a bigger PITA than stopping by a gas station every couple of weeks as far as I'm concerned. Especially since the charging isn't a quick thing like filling a gas tank is, so the inconvenience of running low is much bigger.
Electric cars are useful as things like golf carts.
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Lexus LSh or Mercedes-Benz S e come to mind as examples
These aren't exactly cars for a typical car buyer though.
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I'll move them back. They're not:
electric
and they're not:
estate
cars.
Also the Lexus LS is:
stupid-looking
Also 504 error because Discourse.
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an electric estate car
I went looking for such a thing and came upon Passat GTE which is apparently what they call a "plug-in hybrid".
This seems like the best of both worlds - 50 km range in pure-electric mode, but otherwise it's a conventional turbodiesel.So it looks to be more efficient than traditional hybrid (e.g. Prius) and more useful than a traditional electric.
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That's a hybrid.
;)50km doesn't even get me to work and back. Might as well just drive a TDi - which is exactly what I do.