#Turn On Speedometer in Google Maps

[dickgraysonisnothereforthis]

Message Received

jason todd x reader, sequel to Outgoing Call

Big warnings for this one folks. Reader is an addict who relapses, there is a long stretch of fierce self-loathing. Please know yourself and what you can handle. Also, reader's father has died. Again, know yourself and what you can handle.

Also, vomit and swearing.

I don't know how long this is

——————

The night wind whips by as Jason races to Jess’ apartment, ripping through Gotham on his motorcycle. He hopes to god you're still there. He's got one eye on the road, the other on the speedometer. Squeezing the accelerator, he lets the dial tick up five, ten, fifteen miles per hour. He tears past cars and trucks, squeezes into tight spaces, takes turns dangerously fast. It's some of the most reckless biking he's ever done, but he doesn't care. The stakes are high, high in a way they haven't been before. High because this is his fault. Jason has to get to you before you relapse, before you hurt yourself too badly.

Most of his focus goes toward controlling the bike, but he reserves some for trying to figure out how to explain showing up unannounced at your friend's apartment 24 hours after he broke up with you. Over text.

And he only has to come get you because he knows from a bug Bruce placed in Jess' apartment that his text made you fall back into an alcohol habit he didn't know you had.

Jesus. He really fucked this one up.

Jason shakes his head. The excuse is a problem for later. He’ll think one up. Or he won't. It doesn't matter.

The road melts away under his tires, and soon he’s barreling up Jess’ street. He cuts the ignition, jumps off the bike, and scales the fire escape before he even realizes what he’s done. Crouching down, he peers through the windows. Fifth floor, west, rear apartment. Jason’s in the right place.

Through the first window, he has a view of Jess sitting in front of a computer, back facing Jason. He quickly moves onto the next. It’s a living room, empty, and the window is cracked open. Jason gently opens it further and slips inside, landing on the rug. He peers into the bathroom and then the kitchen of the shoebox apartment, but you’re not there. Shit. You must have already left.

He’s back through the window and on the street in seconds. You can’t have gone far, and Jason doesn’t have to guess where you went. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and hastily types “bar” into Google Maps. You’re at the first one he walks into.

Jason takes a moment to get his bearings. It's a dive bar, and mostly empty. Only five barstools are occupied, including yours. You're talking to the bartender animatedly, an easy smile on your face. You seem relaxed. To Jason's dismay, there's already a drink in your hand.

Fuck. He's too late. He has to stop you before you do any more damage.

Steeling himself, Jason moves toward you, silently positioning himself on your left side. It takes you a couple of seconds to notice him, but when you do, your eyes travel up his body slowly. When they meet his own your face is mean, your mouth set into a sneer. "Hey, sweetheart," you drawl, tone hard. You bring the glass to your lips.

Jason reaches out to stop you, laying a hand on your wrist. "Baby, don't. Don't do this."

"Fuck you.”

He winces. Not like he doesn’t deserve it.

“Let me take you home,” he pleads with you. “C’mon, let’s go home.”

You turn away from him, let him wait out the silence. Jason sighs, looks to the bartender. “How much has she had to drink?”

The bartender eyes you warily. “Seven shots of vodka in the last twenty minutes, plus that whiskey sour in her hand.”

Fuck. Fuck. He has to get you out of here.

“Sweetheart, we gotta go home,” he tries again, pitching his voice low. “Let me take you back to your apartment.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” you spit at him. Again, you try to take a sip of your drink, but Jason’s arm keeps yours in place. “Get off me,” you hiss at him. “Get the fuck off me!”

“Uh, ma’am, do you know this guy? Do you want him here?” the bartender cuts in, eyeing Jason. “Because if not, I’m gonna have to call the police.”

Jason almost rolls his eyes. Trust his luck to find the one bartender in Gotham actually doing a good job.

The bartender looks at you expectantly. So does Jason. Depending on your answer, things could get complicated. But he’s not leaving without you.

You roll your eyes, then wave a hand at the bartender. “Don’t sic the cops on him, he’s just my ex,” you mutter. Jason swallows down the easy way ‘ex’ had rolled off your tongue. Can’t get upset about that now. The bartender nods, then moves toward another customer, giving you some privacy.

Jason tries a third time. “I’m cutting you off, doll. You’ve had too much, too fast. Let me take you home.”

You glare at him, jaw working. Eventually, you sigh. “You’re not going to leave me alone,” you grumble.

“I’m not going to leave you alone." He won't.

“Fine. Whatever.” You hop off the barstool, flagging the bartender down to close out your tab. “Let’s go home, sweetie!” you say with mock cheer.

Jason follows you outside, briefly checking to see if you had brought a coat with you. You hadn’t, and it’s cold. Cold enough that you’ll feel it with your bare arms and t-shirt. Silently, he shrugs off his jacket, offering it to you.

“Are you fucking serious?” you say in disgusted disbelief. “Don’t make me laugh, Jason.”

Jason sets his jaw, turns onto the street to hail a cab. It’s too far to walk, especially in the cold, and odds are you’re not going to get on the back of his bike.

He observes you from his peripheral vision as he waits. You stare sightlessly at the pavement, expression blank, but your hands are curled into fists and the hair on your arms is standing up. You’re stressed, or cold, or both. Not a lot Jason can do to help.

A taxi pulls up, and Jason gives the driver your address before opening the door for you. You roll your eyes at him but slide into the cab. Jason follows, pulling the door shut behind him. You’re pressed against the opposite window, as far from him as you can get in the close space. Jason makes a show of putting on his seatbelt. You roll your eyes at him a second time before copying.

The driver pulls away from the bar, and you set your gaze resolutely out your window. Jason shifts uncomfortably in his seat, wondering what to do next. He’d gotten you out of the bar, but he can’t just drop you off at your apartment. What if you leave again, or god forbid you have some alcohol at home? No, he can’t leave you alone. He has to convince you to let him stay the night. How the hell he’s going to manage that, after he broke up with you, is beyond him.

Jason sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He’d really gone and made a mess for himself. Not to mention you.

“How did you find me?” Your voice slices into the silence of the cab. Jason’s not expecting you to talk, but he’s had time to think about this one. The bar was close to a safe house, the one he’d been pretending was his permanent apartment when you came over. The one you had seen through, apparently. “I was in the area, you know I’m just around the corner.”

You nod. “What were you doing at the bar?”

Jason holds his tongue. Here is an opportunity to lie again, to say that he just wanted to blow off some steam, or some other shit, and get you off his back. He chooses neither.

“I—I wanted to find you,” he admits. “I don’t know...how I knew,” he hedges, “but I was hoping you’d be there.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to—to talk.” You snort, turn back to the window. “Baby, please,” he starts, “I want to—”

“Stop.” You shake your head. “Stop.” Jason falls silent, stays that way until the cabbie reaches your building.

Immediately, you shuck off your seatbelt and slip out the door. Jason rushes to pay the driver and follow you, catching up by the time you’ve reached your lobby door. “This is your stop, Jason,” you say sharply.

He’s shaking his head before you’ve even finished. “Listen. I know. I know. But you’ve had a lot to drink, doll. Let me get you upstairs. Please. I want to make sure you’re okay.” This is unfair, and he knows it, but he can’t leave you alone.

You keep silent but step through your building's lobby and onto the elevator. Jason hits the button, and soon enough you’re on your floor, walking to your unit. Surprisingly, you don’t stop him from coming in, finding the click of the key of the lock and gently closing the door behind him.

“What do you want, Jason?” you say tiredly. “What do you want?”

He looks at you helplessly, tongue thick and heavy in his mouth as his words fail him. Sighing, you move toward your bedroom. Unthinking, Jason falls in step behind you, and you freeze, spear him with a look. “You’re a fool if you think I’m going to let you come in here again.”

Jason takes a deep breath. He's been dreading this. “Look, I know I hurt you, and I’m sorry but I—I can’t leave you like this. Please, baby, let me stay the night.”

“Why?” you say disdainfully. “You don’t care about me.”

Ouch.

“I know I said—what I said, but I was wrong. I was scared,” he admits.

You stare at him, narrowing your eyes, saying nothing. Jason takes it for the cue that it is.

“I was scared, and, and I’m scared now,” he says in a low voice. “You had a lot to drink, and on an empty stomach, doll.” And he has to make sure you don’t drink any more tonight. He has to.

You snort at him. “I’ll be fine. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

Jason keeps his eyes on yours. “Please,” he asks quietly. He’s not above begging, not for you. “Please let me stay the night.”

Staying still, you exhale slowly, breathing out through your nose. Your hard eyes don’t soften. “On the couch,” you order, then disappear into your bedroom.

Jason breathes a sigh of relief. At least now he can keep you safe.

—

You wake up in your bed.

There is no prelude. You don't get a soft, gradual ascent from your sleep. You aren't awake, and then you are.

Shame cloaks you like a vice.

More pressing, however, is the vomit you can taste in the back of your throat.

You stagger to the bathroom, slamming the door behind you and thumbing the lock. Your knees hit the cracked tile of the floor, the toilet lid smacks against the tank, and your face is in the bowl. You heave. The smell is vile, the retching tears your throat apart.

You cradle your head in your arms, elbows resting on the cool porcelain of the seat as your stomach empties itself. You don't move when it's over, although the smell fills your nose and the ends of your hair drip into the toilet.

Fuck. Fuck. You've gone and ruined it all.

Exhaling, you allow yourself to collapse to the floor, not bothering to flush. Curling your arms into your chest, you begin to sob. You'd gone and fucked it all up, just like you'd always known you would.

You knew, you knew, that you would end up back here. Sobriety was a sham. Everyone thought you could do it, but you're the one who has to sleep in your skin every night. You knew you didn't have it in you, that addiction was ground into your bones, a black hole emanating out from your center that you could never keep a lid on. You had always known that there was something awful inside of you that you would never quite be able to manage, and now here it was, crawling up your throat and spilling out into the toilet.

Quick as they started, your sobs leave you in a rush. You stay on the floor, smelling the vomit, staring at your bathroom ceiling. You were never going to be able to hack it.

The doorknob jiggles. "Baby?" Jason calls out cautiously.

"Don't."

That asshole. Of course he's still here, of course he gets to see you like this. It's not enough that he broke your heart over text, where at least you could hide, instead he has to show up in person and see what a mess he's made you.

The doorknob shakes again. “Baby, please—”

“Get out.” You squeeze your eyes shut. Please leave. Leave. Leaveleaveleave—

“No. Not until we talk,” he says stubbornly.

Fuck that. Suddenly, you’re furious, anger ripping through your gut. You greedily latch onto it, using it to distract from your self-loathing. That asshole thinks he can stay, thinks he has any right to be here, after what he did to you?

Fuck him.

“Get the fuck out of my apartment,” you snarl at him through the door.

“I’m not leaving,” he insists. You let out a shocked laugh, then inhale sharply, gritting your teeth.

Fine. Fine. Guess you’re doing this.

You pull yourself to your feet, survey your reflection in the mirror. Jason may have heard your retching, may have seen you at your lowest last night, but you will not, you will not let him see you like that now. You wash your face, run water over your hair to get the vomit out, brush your teeth. Flush the toilet. Your face is puffy but when your eyes are clear, you unlock the bathroom door and throw it open.

“What the fuck do you want?” you snap at him. As always, Jason looks gorgeous, even after spending a night on your couch. Hair a messy bedhead, clothes deliciously rumpled. You want him so bad it makes you sick. Then you think of your own appearance, last night’s clothes that reek of sweat sticking ugly to your skin, hair frizzy and unkempt, and you want to kill him. Fuck this motherfucker for looking so perfect while you look and feel like trash.

Jason holds something out to you. Pulling your eyes down, you realize he’s offering you a glass of water. You want to hurl it against the wall. Instead, you take it from him, turn, and dump it into the toilet. Handing it back, you stalk past him into the kitchen and get yourself a bottle of water. You’re not taking anything from him.

“Baby,” he follows. “Please, let me—”

“Get out of my apartment.”

“Wait,” Jason says. “Wait. I want to—”

“Get out of my apartment.”

“Sweetheart.” He starts to sound frustrated. Good. If he wants to stay, he's going to get the fight you're itching for. “Let me finish. I have to—”

“Get out of my apartment before I call the police.”

He’s angry now, you can see it on his face. You feel vicious. “You’re not listening. Listen, you have to listen to me.”

How dare he. “I don’t have to do anything!” you shout at him. “I don’t have to do anything for you, not after what you did to me!”

“I was wrong,” Jason presses on, raising his voice to talk over you. “I was wrong, I shouldn’t have said that, I was sc—”

“I don’t care!” you scream at him. “You ended it! It’s over!”

“I still care about you!” Jason shouts back, “I care about you, I’m telling you I made a mistake!”

“I don’t care what you think of me now! Too late! I don’t care anymore! You broke up with me!” You will yourself not to cry as your anger surges. “You made your bed, now lie in it!”

“I’m telling you I shouldn’t have done it, I’m telling you I was wrong, I’m trying to apologize! Why can’t you—”

"You can't just take it back! You already did it, it's too late, I don't want to—"

"Shut up!" Jason roars. "Shut up and listen to me, I'm trying to apologize!"

"No!" You stalk towards him, and something in your face makes him take a step back. "I don't owe you anything! You already said everything you need to say. You already hurt me, now I'm never going to trust you again!"

Jason looks like you've knocked the wind out of him. Some part of you grins cruelly. You want to do it again. "You hurt me, so I'm never going to trust you again."

Jason exhales, remains of his anger sliding off his face. You're still breathing heavily, glowering at him, waiting for what he’s going to say next.

"You're right," he says eventually, voice low. "You're right, you don't owe me anything. I—I'm sorry I yelled at you. You don't owe me anything."

You stare at him through narrowed eyes, coming down off your own fury. Jason isn't looking at you, he's looking at the floor, jaw flexing as he chews on the inside of his cheek. He looks...he looks upset.

You slam your eyes shut before you can register the thought. Who cares if he looks upset, you think to yourself harshly. Who cares? The motherfucker deserves it, after what he did. Still, the savagery that burned bright inside you dwindles to a candle with a single wick, threatening to go out entirely.

Maybe he's just tricking you, manipulating you, you try and remind yourself, but you don't really believe it. That was never Jason's style. You crack your eyes open. If anything, he looks even worse now, but he's still not looking at you, not analyzing you to gauge your reaction, to see if his words had any pull. He's not pleading with you anymore, either. Jason must really be upset. Now you have to figure out what to do with that.

You sigh, clearing your throat. Jason flinches and tries to school his expression into place before giving up and meeting your eyes. He doesn't say anything, waiting for you to make the next move. The ball is in your court.

You stare at him for several moments, trying to work out what to do. Jason stares back silently. "I'll leave," Jason says, voice cracking. You open your mouth, then close it, unsure of what to say. "Do you still want me to go?" Jason's face is a mess, but his brow is furrowed as he tries to figure you out, figure out what you want him to do.

You run a hand across your face. Damn it. Damn this asshole for the hold he has over you. The same idiocy that has you reaching for the bottle moves you to offer him another chance.

"I don't want to talk here," you whisper. Jason sucks in a breath, but you talk over him. "We can talk later. Another time."

"Today?"

You shake your head. "No. In a couple days. I'll text you." You leave yourself an out you can slither through if you need it. You won't give him anything else.

Jason's looks like he's going to argue, but you give him a warning look. He shuts himself down. "Okay," he says quietly. "Okay. I'll wait for your text."

You nod, exhausted. "Get out of my apartment," you say, but without heat. This time, Jason goes. You shut the door heavily behind him, then rest your shoulder against it as the tears start to fall. You bite your tongue sharp enough to draw blood to keep the sobs inside you.

Fuck him, you think again, but this time with despair instead of anger. Fuck him for sending you back to that place, for shoving you a thousand steps backward. You're faced again with how you slipped last night, self-loathing threatening to pull you under. But you're not on the bathroom floor anymore, and you realize that cleaning yourself up has put you back in control, if only slightly. You take a deep breath, reaching for the strategies you practiced with your therapist. You force yourself into positive self-talk. It’s okay, you resolutely assure yourself. It’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes. Everybody slips. This doesn’t have to mean the end. It doesn’t. It doesn’t mean you’re going to fall back head over heels into addiction. You’re not twenty-two anymore. You’re not…where you were, when things got really bad. When you broke yourself on the alcohol because you couldn’t tell when a bad habit became a crutch, couldn’t recognize when a few drinks here and there became active addiction. Your family is much closer now, your mom and your sister are back in touch and they know what you’re struggling with. Your friends and family have supported you before, they’ll do it again.

You put your face in your hands and take deep, measured breaths. You’ve pulled yourself out of active addiction before. You can do it again. That doesn't mean you'll have to, but you can. If you need to.

You stand up off the floor, pick up your water from where you left it on the counter. Take a long drink, then wipe your hand over your mouth. You can do this. You can do this. You can take a shower, find some breakfast, go to work in the morning, and move on. You can text Jason. Maybe.

But first, you need to get through the next fifteen minutes. You pick up your phone and call your mom.

—

Jason sits on a park bench, drumming his fingers anxiously on his thigh. He’s ten blocks south of your apartment, in one of those fancy new city parks Bruce had funded. It’s a cool, crisp fall day in Gotham, and Jason was supposed to meet you here thirteen minutes ago.

He’s been here for nearly thirty minutes. He was fifteen minutes early, nerves driving him out of his apartment and onto his bike. Since he left your place last week he’d waited anxiously for you to text him about meeting up, but after 72 hours of radio silence he’d nearly given up hope. Your text had almost come as a surprise, a terse message telling him when and where. Jason had fired back a reply instantly, he had no room left to be suave. He was just grateful you’d decided to give him a second chance.

And now here he was, searching for your face in the people that walk past, waiting again, hoping you didn’t stand him up.

But no, there you are, moving resolutely toward him with a face that gives nothing away. Jason stands almost before he decides to. As anxious as he is, he’s thrilled to see you again. “Hi, sweetheart,” he says, unable to stop the grin from splitting his face in half.

You nod. “Sorry I’m late.”

Jason waves you off, sitting back down. You eye him before sitting down carefully, perched just close enough to have a conversation with him but no closer. You look at him expectantly.

Right.

Jason takes a deep breath to steady himself. “I—I’m so sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have—shouldn’t have sent you that text.” He digs his fingernails into his palms. “I—I really care about you, and I got scared, and—”

“If you’re about to tell me that you were scared by how much you care about me, I’m walking out of here right now,” you interrupt with a warning. “I won’t be manipulated.”

“I’m, I’m not trying to manipulate you,” Jason says gently, afraid that you think he ever would. He lies to you when he has to, and he's not proud of it, but he’d never mess you around like that. “I’m not. I wouldn’t do that, doll. I’m telling the truth.” You stare at him, gaze hard. “Honest,” Jason adds, hoping you believe him.

“Are you saying you regret breaking up with me over text, or you regret breaking up with me?” you demand.

“I regret breaking up with you!” The words tumble out of Jason’s mouth. “I messed up, I was a fuckhead who got scared of my own feelings. Not trying to manipulate you,” he adds hurriedly. “Just telling the truth. It’s—it's been a long time since I’ve been serious with someone. Actually,” he takes another deep breath. “This is the only time I’ve been serious with someone. Being with you is the longest relationship I’ve been in to date.”

He stops here to see how you’re taking his words, and to give himself a break. He's doing so shockingly well at sharing his feelings with you, he's almost surprised.

He's glad he showed up for himself. You're worth it.

Jason peers over at you from his side of the bench, trying to gauge where you're at. Your eyes haven't softened, but the line of your mouth has loosened, jaw more relaxed. Jason pushes onward.

"I—I've got some shit, sweetheart," he says quietly, carefully. "I grew up in Crime Alley. My dad wasn't around, and my mother was a druggie. She died when I was ten." He closes his eyes. Jason is so far removed from that life, so distant from that distant past, but it doesn't get any easier to talk about. It's—it's hard. It's still hard.

"I went into...foster care," he says. He has to lie here, he can't chance you putting together the Jason Todd that went to live with Bruce Wayne and the Jason Todd that died tragically two years later. He isn't ready to tell you about that, not yet. He figures he's allowed this much. "At first, it was great with my foster father, but then...it wasn't. I ran away a few years later." Jason maneuvers around the snarled timeline. "I was on and off the streets for a bit there. I got into some...bad shit. But things are better now. I'm trying to be better," he finishes stubbornly. He is, despite what Bruce might say.

Jason can't get himself to look at you, not after depositing all that shit into your lap. Instead, he glares emptily into the horizon until you sigh, then clear your throat.

"Thank you for telling me that," you say evenly. Jason whips his head up to stare at you. "I appreciate you..." You pause, sucking on your teeth as you choose your words. "You giving me some background."

Jason is silent, still. He doesn't want to move, doesn't want to breathe until you've finished. Until you tell him...what you want to do next.

If you're even considering staying with him, after all this.

You sigh again, swallow thickly. "I've...you're not the only one who has shit." You go silent, looking away. He waits patiently, guessing at what's coming.

"I'm a recovering alcoholic," you say, matter-of-fact. Jason winces, even though he already knew. Still, he has to ask.

"Does that mean...last night..." he trails off.

You look at him steadily. "Yeah. That's what that was."

"Fuck, princess, I'm...I'm so sorry," he says brokenly, guilt spilling out. "I'm so sorry I did that to you."

"Thanks," you say quietly. "Look, I, I want to explain. Uh..." you look away, blinking. "It got really bad when my Dad died. It was really sudden, car accident. Hit and run."

Shit. Jason grips the sleeves of his jacket, tension rippling through his forearms.

"My family just kind of...fell apart, after that. My sister and my mom got really distant, and I was away at college and I just...yeah." You suck in a breath. "A couple of years later, I got into a car accident. It was a DUI. I was okay, but it kind of...woke my sister and my mom up, I guess. They helped me recover."

Jason waits a couple of moments after you go silent, making sure you're finished. "Thank you for telling me," he says, copying you. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, that you lost your father like that," he says gently. "That...that sounds really bad."

You shrug. "We all have our shit, you know?" Yeah.

The two of you fall silent, chewing through your confessions. Jason runs a hand through his hair, across the back of his neck. He didn’t realize you were carrying all that on your shoulders. It makes him view you differently. You’re…tougher, than he thought. You’re made of stronger stuff. He needs someone like that, he thinks. Someone who might understand. Maybe the two of you are well-suited for each other.

That is, if you’re still willing to try.

He clears his throat, and you glance at him. “So, what, uh,” he coughs awkwardly. “What happens now?” Jason holds his breath.

You stare at him for a moment, eyes narrow. Then you sigh, slide over to him. “Now,” you let your shoulders bump against his, “you’re going to take me to the coffee shop across the street and buy me an overpriced latte. As an apology.”

Jason’s heart soars. “Not one of those stupid flavors,” he snorts through a grin.

“Yeah, one of those stupid flavors. It’s going to be a large, and I’m going to add, like, four extra flavor pumps, because you were being such an ass. And I’m getting a cookie.” You raise an eyebrow at him, daring him to comment.

Jason stands up, offering you a hand. “Anything for you, doll.”

You accept his hand, but then surprise him, pulling hard enough to make him stumble, legs hitting the bench. He regains his balance as you laugh at him, hopping up. “That’s right,” you look at him meaningfully over your shoulder. “Anything for me.”

Raising his eyebrows, Jason nods at your challenge. Yeah. He can do that.

Satisfied, you slip your hand in his and lead him towards the coffee shop.

----

anyway. that was fun. i hope you had fun.

tagging: @candlewitch-cryptic @somenerdydancer

[redtail-lol]

To add context to how little these electronics stand that heat, I left my smartphone in a tent last summer and it completely ruined the phone. Like it's completely gone because the heat did such extensive damage that it can't read it's own battery levels or power on anymore. It was not very hot out that day, but inside the tent it was very hot.

This is similar to a car. Cars also get much hotter inside than outside. It can be a nice, mildly warm day outside and the inside of your car can be oven hot. Any phone-like components inside of the car could also be damaged beyond repair, where they will slowly degrade from a literal nothing nuisance to being completely destroyed. Designing a car with a touch screen like this is inevitably going to end up being phone-like, and not very heat resistant. A hot enough day not in the shade will literally be enough to cut your car's lifespan to the next 2 months before it's computers literally will not work anymore, and up until that point it's just progressively getting harder and harder to use.

With my phone, it started with clicks down on the volume buttons every once or twice in a day which turned into aggressively always turning down the volume all the way, which then turned into repeatedly getting stuck in Safe Mode (because my charger would initiate restarts so it would get opportunities to put itself back into safe mode) and not leaving safe mode for anywhere between 5 minutes and a week, to not being able to read it's own battery percentage or power on, to finally just being completely gone now.

Imagine what heat could do to your CAR. Imagine your gas gauge going out like my volume button, or your speedometer. And that's just the systems you can technically be okay without - you can use google maps as a speedometer after all - imagine a car where the steering wheel was connected to a computer, the same computer the touch screen is connected to, and now your steering wheel isn't registering inputs (or giving false ones!) Imagine that with your pedals! And because of how this heat damage works - which is, slowly - you're gonna be on the road when it goes from your steering wheel taking you slightly off center from your lane to making sudden turns and not responding to your inputs to try to correct these veers. If you couldn't start your car because you overheated the computer and that was it, then touch screens would still be a bad idea but it wouldn't be half as bad as the slow death, where you'll be in danger whenever you drive that car because it's just degrading constantly as the damage from the heat keeps getting worse, all the while people who have never been through an overheat saga with a phone or anything else before will tell everyone that the damage wasn't that bad. Yeah this thing is annoying but it'll go back to normal eventually and it's hardly an issue as it stands. They'll drive with false assurance that it wasn't that bad but it was.

Touch screens on your cars are such a bad idea. Overheating is not what most people think it is when it comes to electronics like this. It's such a slow process, that just suddenly gets so much worse, that if these screens are connected to anything that controls the car at all, then they're going to get somebody killed. And they're thinking about putting that risk into the most famously hot place in the modern world.

Touchscreens do not belong in cars

[daveg65]

314 - Macstock Karaoke and Vision Pro Party

The latest In Touch With iOS with Dave he is joined by guest Kelly Guimont, Marty Jencius, and Ben Roethig. Apple Seeds First tvOS 18 Public Beta.We recap Macstock with some amazing presentations including Kelly giving us brain power by teaching us crocheting and fun Vision Po demos along with karaoke. Apple TV+ shows nominated in the 76th Emmy Awards.Apple Approves First Retro PC Emulator for iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro

The show notes are at InTouchwithiOS.com


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Our Host

Dave Ginsburg is an IT professional supporting Mac, iOS and Windows users and shares his wealth of knowledge of iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and related technologies. Visit the YouTube channel https://youtube.com/intouchwithios follow him on Mastadon @daveg65, and the show @intouchwithios

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Ben Roethig Former Associate Editor of GeekBeat.TV and host of the Tech Hangout and Deconstruct with Patrice  Mac user since the mid 90s. Tech support specialist. Twitter @benroethig  Website: https://roethigtech.blogspot.com

Marty Jencius, Ph.D., is a professor of counselor education at Kent State University, where he researches, writes, and trains about using technology in teaching and mental health practice. His podcasts include Vision Pro Files, The Tech Savvy Professor and Circular Firing Squad Podcast. Find him at jencius@mastodon.social  https://thepodtalk.net 

About our Guest

Kelly Guimont is a podcaster and friend of the Rebel Alliance. She appears on The Incomparable network as well as hosts I Want My M(CU) TV. you can find her on Mastodon and Instagram @verso

Here is our latest Episode!

[darlinrogue]

"You know,"—Kenny lifts his head, weary, from the window and glimpses Adam, exhausted as he drives through the vacant streets of whatever city he'd managed to drive to without Kenny noticing—"you mentioned a girlfriend before?" An incongruous question, perhaps, but Kenny, truthfully, has wondered often about Adam's sexuality. And at three o'clock in the morning, he and Adam have to stay awake somehow: introspection it is. "Do you, uh, only like women? You don't have to answer—"

Comfort for Sol after the Dec 2. Dynamite We NEED IT

Adam and Kenny

A light waltz rolled from the radio in three-four time. A Strauss, Künstlerleben op. 316, written in 1867, a jovial, ‘gay,’ piece. Interjected into a Vienne at the edge of disaster as Austria crumbled around the carnival city. The song infused with a melancholic melody and yearning string instruments. The decaying nobility dreams of a glory day long past and danced the inevitable fall of their dynasty away. So, explained the smooth voiced disc jockey that introduced the piece with all the confidence of a history nerd who probably got shoved in a locker in high-school. Adam wouldn’t pretend he was smart like that, this station wasn’t his first choice. After five hours in the car they had cycled through: Adam’s playlists, Kenny’s playlist, and every other radio station on air. Thirty minutes into a marathon of Norteña music, Adam cracked first and turned on the benign classical music, played on a public air wave. All just to eke out some variety from the bland monotonous strips of American highway and interstate. Besides, no words, and especially no Spanish that he only half-understood in his current state, meant it required less brain power to process. A resource that was in dwindling supply for Adam. 

Adam tapped his finger against the steering wheel in time with the waltz. Apparently, this was like old fashioned twerking. A dramatic, intimate dance where partners held each other close and danced vigorously. Despite the song being undeniably wonder bread white, Adam found a natural ebb and flow that sparked a desire to move in some way. Bob his head a little bit, tap his foot, all as he nudged the cruise control-up another notch. The car engine revved and the speedometer edged in at a solid eighty miles an hour. With no one else on the road Adam dominated the left lane. It was a pure head rush, breaking the speed limit with no restrictions and no witnesses. All while listening to a playful violin trill. Brights on, illuminating the tall cedar, oaks, and pines, twined with dense underbrush on the sides of the road. The, black, ominous trees walled the interstate, trapping them, forcing them the only way forward. The white and yellow marked pavement extended far into the twisted dark, with hints of gentle turns far off. A couple miles down the road, twin red taillights glowed like angry eyes. The mapping program on his phone noted their exit was next. He compressed the breaks, the cruise control flicked off and Adam coasted onto the ramp. 

Kenny shifted, and the movement drew Adam’s attention for a split second. Kenny sat in shotgun with the chair leaned back. His hands threaded through his hair and rubbed at his eyes. Best as Adam could tell he had spent the past three hours passed out and had not even been roused when Adam smack him for snoring. In a moment or two he was upright and alert, peering-out the window, his curly hair like the silhouette of a mop. Adam explained they were taking a diversion into Knoxville for the sole reason that Adam had to go pee. Kenny muttered his assent. 

Google Maps took them to a beat-up 24/7 gas station at the edge of the city. Moth riddled, flickering and humming, fluorescent lights illuminated the cracked pavement of the parking lot. Lined beneath the front windows was stacks of firewood, an ice machine, and a tire pressure gauge. Adam left Kenny to fill-up the tank while Adam lunged out of the car to make use of the facilities. Inside, an exhausted looking twenty-something attended the counter and her phone. Over the top of the rows of junk food riddled shelves, Adam saw the bathroom. After taking care of his physical needs, on his way-out he perused the aisle while Kenny took his turn in the Powder room. He bough a couple packages of cookies, crackers, and bags of chips. Then, a coffee from himself from a somewhat suspect machine and a bottle of 2% from the fridge, for Kenny. Adam paid at the register and sipped on his caffeine as he stepped-off the curb outside the station. Cars rolled by on the road, whispering with the heated Summer wind. Kenny, already back outside, stretched-out beside the car, his gold hair white-washed by the lights. Sliding into the front seat, Adam offered Kenny the milk on one stipulation: Adam could use it to thin his coffee. It turned-out that he had purchased mud water. Kenny agreed and they were back on the trail, navigating the downtown and suburbia, in search of the road North. The street lights faded, and into this darkness, as Adam waited for a red light to turn green, Kenny began his thought: 

You know. 

Green light, go, Adam hit the gas, and rolled through. For a second, once through the intersection, he glanced at Kenny. In the dark car, lit by the thin dashboard glow, Kenny peered at him, curious, bur not pressing. There was a glimmer in his blue eyes. Adam returned his gaze to the windshield and the passing silver screen of Knoxville scenery. A right took them back onto the highway and Adam merged with the sparse traffic as he processed what Kenny asked him. You mentioned a girlfriend before? Do you only like women? Back on the smooth sailing of the interstate, Adam sunk back in his seat and sought comfort from the shitty coffee. It tasted bitter and yet smoother with the milk. 

“You asked me two questions, there,” Adam observed, lifting a corresponding number of fingers. It’d be easy to only answer one, Kenny wouldn’t force it. He resolved, tongue darting over his chapped lips, to answer both. He reached-out and turned down the radio to but a couple notches. “And uh, well, I guess, the answer to both is it’s complicated.”

“I mean, yeah, these things usually are,” Kenny joked, he leaned back his seat a little bit and propped a foot on the dash. He glanced at the mapping program on Adam’s phone and the oppressive number of hours left, “We got time though, so take as much as you need. Like, I’m just curious is all, and if I keep sleeping in this chair I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow, Piz.”

“Well, to answer the first question,” Adam chuckled. “I did have a girlfriend, once, back in college.”

“Ah, a college sweetheart--” Kenny teased. “That’s classic.”

“Yeah,” Adam chuckled. A fond smile spread on his lips. Like those arrogant, dancing nobles in Vienne, he thought of a time long gone. “We’re still friends, you know, we talk every now and then, meet-up for lunch or something, she’s married now, pregnant, with her first kid.”

“Okay, but that’s all past tense, what happened? Give me the details, man,” Kenny said. He interlaced his hands behind his head, shifting in the car seat. “I mean, if it’s not too hard, or anything.”

Adam shrugged, one shoulder-up to his ear with casual dismissal. Maybe a few years ago it would’ve been 'hard’ but things had changed. He had changed-- or rather, something had changed around him. There was someone else now for him to be heartbroken over. The old stuff were all scars now, not wounds that leaked with the slightest prod. Not like they used to. 

“So, the deal is I went into college with like, two years of credit, yeah?” Adam said, he checked over at Kenny to make sure he was following. “You can imagine this kinda put me in a weird spot. I was a Freshman but also basically a Junior and I was taking the classes in my major right away. I didn’t make a lot of friends that way, though. So, yeah, she was a little older than me and her name was Amanda. Long black hair, dark eyes, kinda short, but pretty, she was an art student, so we met in like this advanced drawing class. And Kenny, holy shit, I have to show you pictures of some of the stuff she does, when we get to the hotel, it’s nuts. Like these hyper realistic watercolor and oil paint portraits, that look even better than the actual thing. She works as a like, a background artist in L.A., now, so she’s legit. Way better than anything I could do.”

Kenny hummed, low in his throat, and Adam took that as a cue to continue.

“So, we met in class, and, over the course of the next semester we got to know each other, really well,” he said. “Like, I was hanging-out in her apartment to do projects and she was hanging-out in my dorm. I moved in with her for my Senior year, after she graduated. She just needed a roommate, you know? And not long after that we just, kinda started dating. I don’t know, it’s-- it’s hard to describe, even now, how I felt about her. Like, just this intensity I never experienced before. I really thought I was sick, actually-- like my stomach hurt. I called my mom and she told me I was a dumbass, and that I had a crush. It’s just that I was never interested in dating in high school, like I talked to girls and stuff, went to prom with one of my friends, but nothing like, you know?” Adam made an almost helpless gesture with his hand.

He rested his palm against his thigh. His other hand guided the steering wheel. Then, real quick, Adam focused on setting-up the cruise control again. If he had to compress the gas for the whole trip, his right hip would be sore as hell by the time they reach their destination. A couple nudges and they were flying at a clean eighty again. Adam took that time to organize his thoughts. Kenny didn’t say a word, but Adam could tell he was waiting for the elaboration.

“I really thought,” Adam murmured, his voice softened, wistful. “That I was going to marry her. Like, I was going to jewlery stores, looking at engagement rings, trying to figure-out how to save-up.”

“What, really?” Kenny asked, he leaned forward in his chair, elbows digging into the arm rest. “Seriously, man?”

“Yeah, we dated for almost two years after I graduated,” Adam said. “I was working as a teacher and she was a freelance artist, it was really great. Of course, I was traveling a lot-- on account of the wrestling thing, and she came to some shows, I don’t think she really got it? Amanda was sensitive, wouldn’t hurt a fly and she didn’t really vibe with fighting. Which, is fine, I was fine with it. I mean she watched these soap operas that I didn’t get, so it was kinda even, you know? But I think all that time away from home didn’t do a lot of good for our relationship. You know I was young, Kenny, like twenty-two? And she-- she got a job in California, and we talked about it, and--”

“Just didn’t work-out, huh?” Kenny asked, voice low. 

Adam shook his head, lips pressing together into a thin line. He still recalled that conversation over the dinning room table. His hands interlaced in front of him, her on the other side, going through the logistics. She was so good at that, planning. That was something they shared in common, overthinking. This move was a dead necessity for her career. Texas just didn’t have the same opportunities that the City of Angels did. Except, Adam was training in Texas, fighting in Texas, teaching in Texas. It was the middle of the school year during his internship. He couldn’t pack-up and leave. The suggestion she came to was obvious but it didn’t make it easy. They break-up, go their separate ways, not try to force all of this to work to the determent of them both. For years Adam cursed himself for agreeing. He believed, as he laid in bed alone and cold, ruminating on his failures, he should’ve fought harder. Fought harder for them. Hung-up on what could’ve and should’ve been. It hurt more when she found a new guy in California. He still went to her wedding and was her best man. Because Adam still loved Amanda and he always would. 

And he was okay with being next to her, because their relationship, their bond, was more important than his wounded pride. 

“Yeah, it didn’t work-out,” Adam agreed. “I was, upset, for a while. A long while, actually, like, I really thought I’d never get another chance like her again, but--”

He paused, and ended the thought there. Amanda was so amazing, so brilliant, so awesome, and funny, and caring and kind, and she loved cats. She picked out local art for their apartment. Yet, Adam also remembered her occasional moods where she just couldn’t be talked to until the storm passed. The way she set her mind on things was sometimes endearing, sometimes frustrating. She wasn’t perfect, but she was great. It was apples-to-oranges, to compare her and Kenny. They were completely different people and Adam loved different things about them-- yet, it was still love. It couldn’t be measured or quantified. The only time he had ever felt this intensity before was with Amanda. He really didn’t think there was another person on this planet who could steal his heart like Amanda did. Then he met Kenny, and fell in love with Kenny.

And whoops, there was at least one other. 

“You know, you live, you grow, you move-on,” Adam said, he shrugged again and nodded to himself. “If we hadn’t split I probably never would’ve gone to Japan, or met you and the Bucks. Or, joined AEW, never been tag-team champion. It’s a real Robert Frost poem, I could be a teacher in L.A. right now, instead of-- well, driving eight hours to Chicago in the middle of the night, but my point stands! I-I imagine you get it, picking between your career and well, sometimes relationships.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get,” Kenny muttered. He looked out the window. His nails scrapped against his jeans. “You know how it was with me and Ibushi. How leaving Japan felt. Especially, after we reconciled after so many years-- but that’s how it is.” He trailed off, leaving the thought behind.

“So, like, were you two ever,” Adam interjected. He glanced over at the same time Kenny did. Adam darted his gaze back to the red, feeling his cheeks heat and rosette. A deep appreciation for the late hour filled him. “I mean, like, I don’t know how to ask this. Were, you and Ibushi, you know, together? Like, together, together. Obviously, it’s not my business, but I’m just, just curious, is all. Like, the Golden Lovers, man? There’s some crazy rumors out there.”

Kenny laughed, a full chuckle that churned Adam’s stomach and yet set his face on fire. That sound made Adam feel warm, he wanted to hear it again desperately. “Yeah, Kota and I dated. We were together for like six years, and yeah, like you, if same-sex marriage was legal in Japan, I would’ve married him.”

It was such an upfront statement. a matter of fact If he could, he would, but the lack of gold ring on Kenny’s left finger told Adam he didn’t. Kenny nodded to himself but the silence lingered, the sentence wasn’t finished. The clock turned over to 3:23 and they passed an exit with bleeding, gold lights, with hotels, restaurants, and street lamps. 

Kenny continued, but his voice was softer and more raw. “But then-- well, I screwed it up. I mean, I really messed-up. It wasn’t like you and your girl, where it was a pretty understanding with a clean break. I didn’t trust him, like I should. I thought he was going to leave me and so, I left first. Then like an idiot, I lashed-out, and ruined everything we built, and it ended. Just. Like. That--” Kenny snapped his fingers-- “We never got back together but, we’re friends again, we made-up, you know that, but the things I did, the things I did to Kota-- it's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life.”

The night hid Adam’s expression. The darkness was a comfort. It hid the monsters in the back seat. The purr of the engine whispered in the absence of Kenny’s scathing indictment of himself. Like, he was judge, jury, and executioner, of his own tarnished soul. Adam could imagine what Kenny saw. His face in profile, the tree line whipping by the car windows, an impassive, emotionless, and neutral party, listening without comment to Kenny’s story. He wouldn’t  see the slight grimace or twisting of Adam’s lips. Remembering all the shit Cody said about Ibushi. Adam, twisting Ibushi, Kenny’s arms back, while Cody reared with a chair. Holy fuck, was he such an embarrassing idiot, a complete moron, a destructive piece of shit. If Kenny saw the guilt in Adam’s eyes their conversation would screech to a sudden halt. Akin to if Adam slammed the breaks on the car right now. Instead, Adam allowed Kenny to mourn and didn’t derail to his own bullshit. It was the only way he would’ve heard the next bit, whispered into open air. 

“He really was the first man I loved.”

Kenny sighed and leaned back into his seat, defeated, limp. Now, Adam realized, was definitely time to shift gears. Car analogies aside, Kenny couldn’t be left to ruminate. If there was a person who understood how much it sucked to obsess over an old ex, it was Adam Page. 

“So, you’re like, gay?” Adam asked. He placed both of his hands on the wheel. Shifting, he rubbed his fingers over the rubber and plastic, feeling the coarse texture. Sweat pricked his palms and he heard his pulse skip, skip, and then it was off to the races. “That’s cool by the way, I’m totally cool with that, I mean--”

“Close, but actually, I’m bi,” Kenny said. He chuckled and then nudged Adam’s elbow with his hands. The brief, familiar contact enabled Adam to crack a grin. “Bisexual, guys, gals, non-binary pals, it’s all good to me. I know I don’t talk about it a lot. It’s not something I really like to have out there, circulating. It could cause problems in Japan, and it could be a whole thing, but I trust you. We’re partners, and, it’s kinda something I want you to know, actually.”

Adam grinned to himself and nodded along with Kenny points. He straightened in his seat, wiggling his butt back so his shoulders were flush with the chair. With a crick of his neck he popped a vertebrae with a satisfying ‘clunk.’ 

“Yeah, I was, actually going to say,” Adam began, he swallowed. “I uh-- I am too, bi, I mean, like I think I am. I haven’t tested it but, I’m, pretty sure. I haven’t... done anything, with a guy, before? I just have these feelings? Right, you know how it is.”

“Yeah,” Kenny said, drawing-out the syllable. Adam could hear the smile in his voice. “I know how it is. I know, I get it, it’s all in your chest, right?” Kenny moved his hand over his heart to indicate what he meant. “You see a guy and it all kinda clicks in your brain, same way it does for a girl. I get it.”

“You know I don’t think I’ve ever really told anyone that,” Adam said, a little breathless. 

Kenny shifted and his chair cranked upright. A fleeting, fluttering touch on his left elbow drew Adam’s gaze down. Kenny placed his hand on the center console between them, palm-up. He wiggled his fingers, an expectant invitation. Adam steadied his grip on the steering wheel and wiped his right hand down his jeans to clean the sweat off. He laid his hand in Kenny’s and Kenny interlaced their fingers, then squeezed. Adam wondered if Kenny could feel his stuttering pulse through the connected vital points of their wrists. Or, if he minded that Adam’s hands were damp. Yet, his nerves and troubled thoughts soothed, mostly to a stream of ecstatic proclamations about how he was holding hands with Kenny. 

“I appreciate you being honest, Piz,” Kenny said. “I know it’s hard. Especially, when maybe you don’t have all the answers, but I’m glad you’ve figured some of it out. I don’t think I knew until I was in my twenties-- how about you?”

“Not long,” Adam admitted. Feelings, ideas since he was in high school, but nowadays he was totally certain. he rubbed his thumb over Kenny’s knuckles. Kenny had long, thin fingers, but a strong grip. Adam could feel his coarse callouses. The warmth of his hand. “In a way I always knew, this has always been a part of me. It was Amanda who helped me figure out the name for it, though.”

So, you’re bi, Amanda had said and Adam had stared at her like he was an idiot. Anytime Adam was around Amanda he felt like an idiot, but only because she was so smart. She had laughed at him and sipped on her beer. They sat outside on the porch, in cool Spring air, a rare balmy day at the outskirts of Los Angeles. She told him she was pregnant. He told her about Kenny. It was a fair exchange-- until Amanda asked him to be her kids godfather, or something similar, or whatever. And Adam had actually started crying, like a total sap. Yeah, yeah of course, that kid’ll be the best fucking horse rider this side of the Mississippi. She patted him on the shoulder and told him she’ll be cheering for him and Kenny. Next time she watched AEW-- because she did that every now and then these days. 

She really liked Sonny Kiss-- Adam always knew she had good taste.

“She sounds great,” Kenny noted.

“She is,” Adam agreed, nodding. “If you ever get to meet her, I’d think you’d like her.”

Adam cocked a slight grin. Something was lighter in him, the air a little clear. It felt better, it felt right, to say it. Adam Page is bisexual, he likes guys and girls, and other stripes of human beings. It was the only way he could feel what he felt for Kenny. Exactly like it was for Amanda. Stomach full of butterflies, every emotion magnified to a soul-aching need, so Adam was raw and on edge. This terror, nausea, built like a screaming tea-kettle, into agony the demanded a release to relieve the pressure. This time, though, Adam found no outlet. Amanda was the one asked him out first, to the movies, to see The Avengers. He remembered sitting in the darkness of the theater, alone and sweaty, until she laid her head on his shoulder. Amanda who confessed first and who drew-out of Adam the depth of his feelings. Now that Adam thought about it, it was Amanda who texted first, Amanda who called first, Amanda who kissed first. Amanda who broke it off first. Adam Page was not known for taking the initiative in his relationships. Yet, he always figured it out, caught-up learned, and followed her lead. If he could just do the same for him and Kenny-- that was a pipe dream so obscure it almost made Adam scoff.

He couldn’t ruin another good friendship, he just couldn’t. 

Adam was running out of bridges to burn. 

“You know, it’s weird,” Adam said. “Because it’s like, I’ve never done anything, with a uh, you know-- a man before. The opportunity has never really come-up. I just kinda wonder, how am I supposed to know these feelings are real?”

“Well, I don’t know if I can answer that one for you, Page,” Kenny said. “But I definitely didn’t know until I met Ibushi. Then, it was real obvious. Yet, I always had a sense of it.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Adam murmured. He squeezed Kenny’s hand and Kenny squeezed back. 

He definitely got it. At first, in the infancy of these feelings he’d thought they’d die or go away, like a bad head cold. Because Kenny Fucking Omega, could never love Adam Page. They were not in the same league, the best wrestler in the world and the weak link of the Elite. Then they were tag-team partners, and absence is not what makes a heart grow fonder, presence is. Long car drives,  where they shot the breeze about anything and everything-- just like this. Hours spent chilling in the same hotel room, showing each other stupid memes, or watching TV together. Plane rides with their heads stacked on each other and complaining about the pressure change. Working-out in the weight rooms and spotting for each other. Training together, practicing the Last Call ‘till they got it right and didn’t fucking hit each other anymore. The longer Adam spent with Kenny Omega, the more certain he was that he loved him. 

Loved him in a way he’d only felt once before. Loved him in a way that was different than how Adam felt about his mother. It was love, 100% all the way, love. True love-- wove, twue wove, to quote a good movie. Love that had all sorts of implications not just for his relationship with Kenny but Adam’s relationship with himself. How he understood himself and who he was. At twenty-nine years he was uncovering more and more about the person of Adam Page, the Hangman. Most of it, Adam didn’t like. Some of it, he did like, and he did like loving Kenny. Even if all he got to do was hold hands and talk. 

“There’s a pool at the hotel,” Kenny said, suddenly, breaking Adam from his introspection.

“Yeah?” Adam asked. 

“Yeah, I checked it out earlier,” Kenny said. “Listen, after we pass-out for a few hours-- you wanna go swimming? Of course, there’s the weight room and all that, we can do a few sets, blah, blah, blah-- but I wanna go swimming too.”

“I didn’t pack swim shorts-- did you?” Adam laughed. He had to wiggle his hand free, unfortunately, from Kenny’s grip so he could make a lane change. 

“Bro,” Kenny stated, and Adam could feel Kenny’s eyes drilling into the side of his face. Intent, focused, and dead serious, “We have large, ample salaries as the Tag-Team Champions of AEW that can fix that problem.”

“Fair point,” Adam admitted. He shuffled his hands on the wheel a little bit and then cracked a big grin. “But yeah, I’m down to work-out, I need to work on my bi-ceps.”

Silence, total silence, Adam shot Kenny the most shit eating grin. For a moment Kenny stared at him, wordless, as if processing that nuclear bomb. Adam had to return his eyes to the road. Then, Kenny smacked Adam’s shoulder. Adam laughed and then laughed harder, when he heard Kenny break into chuckles. 

“Do you think Tony Khan will let us change our team name to the Bisons?” Adam asked.

“No,” Kenny wheezed, his voice strained. He covered his eyes with his hands, shoulders shaking. “No, I don’t think so.”

In the wake of the laughter, Adam settled. Kenny leaned back his seat and despite his fear of cramps, was dozing in a few minutes. Dawn broke before they hit Cincinnati, a brilliant glow of purple, pinks, and golds on a distant blue horizon. It was right to Adam, to park on the 3rd level of the deck and to haul all their shit out of the car. Check-in, bleary eyed at the front desk, and then shuffle into the elevator, with a bagel, stolen from the breakfast, wedged in his mouth. Brush his teeth in the bathroom, kick off his shoes and pants, and then flop into bed. He vaguely recalled Kenny telling him good morning before they fell asleep. 

[greenbagjosh]

10th anniversary visit to New Hampshire and Vermont, Thursday 24 June 2010

Hi everyone,

Sorry not to have written for some time.  I have two stories for today.  The first one I will publish now, and the second one I will publish in about an hour or so.

Hi everyone Today is the tenth anniversary in which I started my road trip of New England.  I was planning also to go to Maine and New Brunswick, to visit family.  I had not been to New England since April 1993 when I went with both my parents and paternal grandparents to Boston and Newport, Rhode Island.  

For the time I would be in New England, I would make a sort of counterclockwise circle between Boston Logan, Concord NH, rural Vermont on I-91, eastern Connecticut, Cape Cod and back to Boston Logan, and then a round trip from Boston North Station / TD Center, to St. Martins NB via Bangor, Maine.  The entire journey took about thirteen days.

First I flew from DFW Airport on United Airlines to Charlotte, NC.  For lunch, I stopped by the Brookwood Farms Carolina Pit.  I remember in April 2005 when I first ate there, that they served a pulled pork sandwich with Carolina barbecue sauce, which is vinegar-based as opposed to tomato-based as is the case with Texas barbecue sauce.  I ordered a sandwich with a side of steak fries and a fried pickle.  At the time, the Chick Fil A that is currently next door, may have been located at a different part of the food court.  Both enjoy about an equal amount of patronage.

After I ate my sandwich, I boarded the connecting flight to Boston Logan.  It was a three hour flight.  I collected my rolling bag and boarded the shuttle bus to the pre-renovated rental car area.  Today it looks much different than it did in 2010, as it is multilevel.  At the car rental place, I was presented with a choice of three cars, one of which was a 2010 Volkswagen Jetta and another was a Prius.  I went with the Prius.  It had a battery for city driving and a gas engine for highway driving.  The speedometer was a digital number display, similar to the one I had in my 2007 Citroen C3 rental from when I visited Portugal.

Once I packed the Prius up, I headed south on I-90 after paying a toll of $2.50 (it may have been more), went under the Boston Main Channel on the Ted Williams Tunnel, changed to the I-93 which was also in tunnel until just north of North Station and Bunker Hill / Charlestown and then headed in spite of the poor traffic conditions, and with a thunderstorm with heavy rain, further north past Reading, Lawrence and Methuen, into Salem, New Hampshire.  I took a short break at the welcome center.  The New Hampshire state flag was flying.  That was the first time I had entered New Hampshire.  

One thing I do not recommend doing in New Hampshire, is to drive without a seat belt.  Although for those 18 years or older, it is not obligatory to wear a seat belt, I personally do not feel it is safe.  And the Prius would constantly complain that my seat belt was not on, so I decided to abandon driving without a seat belt as a result.  If you saw the video of me in Concord, the state capital, you would hear the fasten seat belt chime and know how annoying it is.

After obtaining some free maps and information from the Salem NH welcome center, I went to Londonderry, and in particular Harold Square pizzeria, 226 Rockingham Road, NH route 28, for a snack.  Driving on I-93, the exit signs did not in 2010, correspond necessarily to the distance from the state line to the Canadian border.  The drive from the welcome center to exit 5 took about fifteen minutes.  To Harold Square it took another five minutes.  The place had very good pizza.  I heard that Harold Square had closed down in the last ten years or so, and has since become a Gabi's Smoke Shack, serving barbecue like St. Louis pork ribs, brisket, chicken, catfish, tacos, many more, so I thought it should at least get a mention.  I think it was 6:30 PM when I left for Concord.  It was about a half half hour drive on I-93 even with the toll at Hooksett which was just $1.00 in 2010.  Notable was also the liquor store at a rest stop.  It's not just a liquor store, but it's one that is run by the New Hampshire state government.

In Concord, downtown is just west of I-93.  It's not a particularly large capital city.  The state capitol building is a modest size, maybe half the size of the State Houses in Austin, Texas, Hartford, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts and Augusta, Maine.  I did not go to Montpelier VT that time, but Google Maps shows the Vermont State House as about the same size as that in Concord.  At the New Hampshire State House, there is a statue of Daniel Webster standing out front, as he was a politician who represented New Hampshire.  Nearby was the local office of then-US Senator Judd Gregg, R-NH.  It was on the second floor atop a medical supplies store.  Senator Gregg did not run for the US Senator office for New Hampshire that year, so he retired in January 2011 when his term ended.  I walked around downtown until about 8:30 PM when the street lights turned on.  It was then time to take I-89 west to Vermont.  It was an hour drive westward and in really nice countryside but it was getting too dark to really appreciate it.  New Hampshire is regarded as the Granite State, and there was plenty of granite to see.      

I arrived in White River Junction, and the hotel was in the northwest corner of I-91 and I-89, next to the VA medical center.  My original room had a running toilet and the staff found another similar room down the hall.  I went to bed and woke up the next morning to head south to New Haven, Connecticut.  As far as the Prius went, it used only one tenth of its tank.

That makes two states in the USA that I had not yet visited, off my list.  The 25th would include another state.  And Yale University.  Hope you will join me for that.

[quickitsupport]

How to Turn On Speedometer in Google Maps

Google Maps is considered as the best map and navigation apps by the masses. This is because it has a number of features and options. Google Maps provides new abilities to its users regularly. The most recent update is regarding a speedometer. Google has simply added a virtual speedometer in the app. This allows the users to keep track of their speed alongside the regional speed limitations.

Yes, Google has finally introduced the speedometer, which lets users track the speed at which they are traveling or driving. Let’s check out the process to turn on the newly added speedometer in Google Maps.

Turn on Speedometer in Google Maps

Launch the Google Maps app on your phone.

Tap on the menu icon.

Select the Settings option.

Now, from the list, tap on Navigation Settings.

The Speedometer option will be available at the bottom.

Turn the Speedometer option on.

When you have turned on the speedometer, you can opt to navigate between different points, and you will see that the Google Maps app will show a virtual speedometer at the lower left-hand edge of the screen.

This new addition will be very beneficial when more updates concerning the Speed Limits tool of Google Maps get rolled out. This is where the application knows the local speed limits and will warn the users when they exceed the set limit. The speedometer will be colored red and yellow when the user goes beyond the regional speed limit. This is a very useful addition.

Keep a Check on your Speed with Google Maps

With the rollout of the speedometer, Google Maps has become more powerful. While the app had an array of robust features, this new addition is definitely icing on the cake. A number of individuals had been demanding for such a feature for a long time, and finally, their wish has been fulfilled. This feature will help them while driving, and now users will not have to use third-party apps to check their speed during the course of navigation.

You should note that the speedometer is not broadly available at present. However, the individuals who have the feature hail from different nations across the globe, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the USA. The major problem is the absence of Android Auto support. Users will need to mount their smartphone and make use of Google Maps or Android Auto to view it.

Jason Bravo is a Microsoft Office expert and has been working in the technical industry since 2005. As a technical expert, Jason has written technical, manuals blogs, white papers, and reviews for many websites such as office.com/setup.

Source - http://guru-office.com/how-to-turn-on-speedometer-in-google-maps/

[lilbit-of-kizzy]

I drive for a living and let me tell you

If you don't think it's gonna cause a wreck (or make innocent's lives miserable), make people like this lives' hell

You were going 5 over and someone is so on your tail you can't see their bummper? Now you're going 4...3...2...1....-1 and on and on till they back off (they will pretty quick, it's fun)

They doing that stupid thing where they're using your speedometer by staying in your blindspot? (As long as no one's behind you) Break check time! Hard! (don't crash lol) then keep going like nothing happened. Listen to them slam their breaks and then go speeding past you to use someone else's speedometer. (Do not break check people on your tail, it's dangerous and rarely works. You can tap your breaks enough to light up your break lights but that's as far as you should go)

Also just some quick tips: the left lane, on the interstate the hwy whatever, is for passing. If you're not currently passing someone, or less than a mile from needing to turn, stay out of the left hand lane. I actually got pulled once, because I was in the left hand lane and the guy speeding was in the right. There's no need for you to be casually driving in the left lane. (It can actually be the cause of traffic jams too!!)

If everyone is passing you like you're holding still, try and locate a speed limit sign. (Or have someone check Google maps for you! They often have the speed limit!) It may just be that locals constantly speed, or it may be you missed the speed going up. Alternatively if you're passing literally everyone make sure to check for signs/your speedometer in case you missed a speed change. (To check your speedometer; find somewhere to legally go exactly 60 mph, watch for the mile marker, and time out how long it takes to go a mile, if it's less or more than 60 secs your speedometer is off! Adjust your driving accordingly!)

If you're uncomfortable going the speed limit for whatever reason, or there's a line of people behind you, and you have a chance to pull over (say there's a slow car pull off or a temporary passing lane) get over. Even if they shouldn't be harassing you, especially if you know you're going under the limit, be the bigger person (I know this is kinda hypocritical from my first point but circumstances differ)

Speaking of getting over, for those of you unused to mountainous roads, if there's suddenly a mildly straight 2 lane section, with a sign saying "slow traffic keep right" do not think, "oh thank God we're out of those curves! I can show these people behind me I do know what the speed limit is!!"

Those curves are not done, this is an illusion, please for the love of all that is holy, GET OVER. I really don't wanna be a lady for the next 10 miles and not ride your butt while you go 35 in a 55 thank you!!!

It's not your job to check other's speed/driving abilities. I've seen this a lot less lately but it does still happen. Let the cops deal with it. If you see someone very obviously drunk or very recklessly driving, you can call the local HPD (look up the number sometime and save it to your phone) and tell them where you are and give a description of the car. But if you think someone's speeding it's not your job to "slow them down" that's only going to piss them off and make things very dangerous for you and those around you. Let them pass you and send up a prayer or whatever.

Basically just remember you are not the only person on the road, and you don't know everyone's story. Drive kindly when you can, and be just a little petty when you can't 😉

Edit: tw death: since typing this out I heard a story about two cars who decided they'd slow down a speeder (independently of each other apparently) and caused a person to die. The car had already alerted authorities as to why they were speeding (apparently they started out in the middle of nowhere) and were meeting the ambulance halfway. Two cars were beside each other on the interstate and would not let the speeder past, even when they tried to use the shoulder. Even though they did manage to get around the cars eventually, the delay ended up causing the injured person to die on route and, when those two cars finally caught up, the cops were there waiting to arrest them.

So I'll reiterate: it is not your job to stop reckless drivers, at best you piss someone off, middle ground you end up in a wreck, worst case scenario you delayed someone seeking medical care.

ive literally been saying this

[innovation-technews]

How To Use Google Maps Speed Limit Warning Feature Via Android/iOS?

Google Map has been an important tool that let users find directions and understand the route which they want to visit. You can travel easily without worrying about upcoming turns of the route using Google Map. Whether you have to understand an area or find the best route for your travel, Google Maps never disappoint you. Here on this page, we are going to talk about the way to use the Google Maps speed limit warning feature on your Android or iOS device. This feature is to help you in controlling the speed limit while driving. It notifies you whenever you cross the speed limit. Now, this feature is available in all global markets and you can also get notified about the speed with the help of the on-screen speedometer feature. 

You can escape yourself from over speed charges using this feature. Now, if you are also looking to use the Google Maps speed limit warning feature via Android or iOS device. You can use the updated version of the Google Maps app on your Android or iOS device. So, without making any type of delay, let’s move forward to learn about the way to use the Google Maps speed limit warning feature.

The procedure to use the Google Maps speed limit warning feature via Android

If you are an Android user, you can easily find and install the Google Maps app from the Google Play Store on your device. If you are not sure how to use the Google Maps speed limit warning feature, follow the steps that are given below:

Open the updated version of the Google Map on your Android phone

If required, provide the sign in details to access the Google Maps account

Now, you are asked to visit the ‘Settings’ on your account

After that, you need to head to the navigation settings

From this section, you need to click on the ‘Speed Limit Settings’ option

Scroll down and get to the ‘Driving’ option

Here, you will find the ‘Turn on Speed Limit and Speedometer’ option and tap on it

Finally, you have enabled the speed limit feature in your Google Maps account

The process to use the Google Maps Speed limit warning feature via iOS device

Are you an iOS device user and looking to use the speed limit feature in your Google Maps account? If yes, you need to approach the steps that are given below to learn about it:

Launch the updated version of the Google Map app on your iPhone or iPad

Or visit the App Store to find and update the app quickly

Now, you need to go to the ‘Settings’ of Google Maps

Here, detect the ‘Navigation Settings’ option and tap on it

Now, you need to click on the ‘Speed Limit Settings’ option

Get to the ‘Driving’ option and click on it to find more options 

Then find and click on the ‘Turn on Speedometer’ option

Finally, you have enabled the speed limit feature in your Google Maps account

Conclusion

To sum up, to avoid the over-speed charges while driving your car and other vehicles, you can use the Google Map Speed limit feature. In case you are not sure about the way to use the Google Map Speed limit feature then you can easily do so with the help of the quick processes that are given above on this page. Make sure that your Android or iOS device has an internet connection and that you have installed the updated version of the Google Map on it to avoid the issues. For now, we hope that you have used the Google speed limit feature using your device.

[mcwater21]

2. Marsh Madness

The Sheboygan River/Lake/Marsh - Saturday, April 4th

It’s 5pm and Cindy and I have been kayaking on the Sheboygan River and Marsh now for 5 freaking hours!  And we just hit a devastating dead end (#L) on our way back to the St. Cloud put-in.  We’re now lost in the middle of the Sheboygan Marsh, both phones almost out of power, just a few sips of water left between us,  a few hours of sunlight left, Cindy’s shoulder in pain, and no place to land our kayaks.  The floating Marsh cattails surrounding us on all sides have no base for us to stand on.  If we can’t find our way soon back to the main river ditch we may have to sleep in our kayaks over night - and maybe on the 40 degree water.  Wow, could we survive the night in these bizarre conditions?  The Bear Grylls’ voice inside me thinks so but it could get dang cold and wet thru the night.  I couldn’t help but think of the two twenty year olds who died just a week ago fishing in Lake Winnebago when their canoe capsized late at night in windy and cold conditions.  Would this be another “what were they thinking” tragic story line?  Wow, how did we get here?

After an amazing 6-week snowbird trip to Florida (kayaked 12 times), Cindy thought the Sheboygan River from St. Cloud to the Sheboygan Marsh would be a nice 2nd waterway in our quest to do 21 Wisconsin waterways this year.  Sounded great to me.  We spent the night of our 2nd date (August) camping at the Marsh so it would be fun to revisit the area.  Hmm, maybe the violent lightning storm and large branch that just missed falling on me during that campout were signs that the Marsh wasn’t as friendly as it looked.   Oops, forgot about that warning.   I was too jazzed about breaking out my new wetsuit for this trip to worry about the evil Marsh.  Dammit, I was not going to drown of cold water shock if I fell into the nippy river today.  

Cindy had done some recon with her patio landscaper guy who recommended that we head down the north track of the river to get to the Marsh takeout.  Cindy mentioned that the cattails move around and the river pathways could get plugged up.  Moving cattails?  What does that exactly mean?  We didn’t have any stinkin’ cattails in Fox Point.  I checked out Google Maps during the drive out and it looked like both the north track and the main river routes were open to the Marsh take-out.  No worries.   It looked like a 6 to 7 mile river route which should take us around 4 hours.   Possibly leaving us time for a quick 9 holes of golf at Lancelot’s afterwards.  Right.

The route via Google Maps.  Looked clear on the map.

We dropped off my car at the Marsh take-out and headed southwest in Cindy’s car to the put-in (#A) around little St. Cloud.  We quickly inflated our kayaks and put in at 12:15pm.  After just 50 yards we  went under a gorgeous limestone arch bridge with the only little rapids we would encounter all day.   We quickly settled in for a very pleasurable ride eastward on the Sheboygan river.  There was a small current helping us along, the air temp was in the 60’s, virtually no wind, and the wild life was eager to entertain us.  Deer, cranes, blue herons, geese, and ducks were the main players and it was an awesome ride.  Very quiet and peaceful - no cars, no people.  Ah, nature.   Our new water thermometer showed the water at a cool 43 degrees and Cindy’s new GPS speedometer app clocked us at a 2 MPH clip.  We were cruising.   We both chuckled when Cindy said we should have brought her 14 year old granddaughter along with us.  Maybe a little later in the spring when the water warms up.

St. Cloud put-in with limestone bridge at the start

About an hour in we went past another little put-in (#B) by a farm side road.  A good spot to start from in the future for a little shorter trip.  A half hour later we hit a long east-west straight-away ditch that provided a shortcut to the Marsh.  Another half hour went by and we came upon a bizarre little hunting shack, which Cindy nicknamed Shit’s Corner (#C), alongside the river ditch route.  It could only be accessed from the river and it had 3 little docks. Cindy remembered this place from a previous trip where she and a friend had encountered some scary looking hecklers as they nervously passed by.  This time Shit’s Corner was empty so I docked my kayak to poke around and stretch my back.  I peered inside to see just a large fireplace and picnic table.  Very backwoods looking but it certainly could provide some warmth from the elements for those hunters.

Shit’s Corner - along the main ditch route

So far the river has been lined mainly with forest and a few beautiful cattails here and there.  Within another half hour we hit the start of the thick Marsh cattails section, with only cattails along the banks.  I wondered what they were resting on or attached to and how fast they moved around.   And how deep they were.  And, and, and.  We then hit our first big fork (#D), a major 3-pronger, in the cattails maze where Cindy’s patio guy advised us to go left .  That route would take us north of the Sheboygan Lake and in theory bypass the major cattail stuff.  After 20 minutes heading north our river path ended with a little 4-foot wide opening (#E) to the other section of this route.  This opening had just a few flattened cattails lining the top of the water and looked very passable.  No worries, right?  Cindy enthusiastically paddled into the opening but quickly got stuck.  Her kayak was resting on a floating cattails patch and there was no way to get any leverage to push or pull past it.  A very unique stuck kayak situation.  After 15 minutes of trying different pushing and pulling manuevers, I managed to pull Cindy’s kayak back out of the opening.  Argh, that was a lot harder than it first appeared.  What are these super cattails made of?  Do they have brains?   Are they networking?  Egads!

It looked so easy to pass thru...

Cindy really looked flustered.  Our recon info had failed us and we didn’t really have a good plan B.  No worries?  We backtracked to the fork and tried door #2 - straight east towards the Sheboygan Lake.  Now on the Google Maps this looks like a pretty good size lake but it’s really hard to tell how much water versus cattails there is in this lake.  But after a hundred yards this eastward section also ended up blocked by another cattail wall (#F) - this time without any little openings.  Solid cattails.  Are these things moving while we’re kayaking?  Now this is getting a little too interesting.  So we backed up again and tried door #3 to the south.  I felt much better about this path since I could see the larger part of the Sheboygan River in that direction and figured the more water the better chance of clear passage all the way to the Marsh take-out.  Sounds logical, right?

We popped down to the bigger part of the Sheboygan River (#G) and headed northeast towards the Marsh take-out.  After 30 minutes or so I could see the Marsh lookout tower across the lake and the park restaurant next to it.  Things were looking up.  The river turned into the lake at some point and we were kayaking in fairly big water for the next hour or so as we slowly made our way to our destination point.  We started getting quite giddy as we closed in on the edge of the lake.  We talked about stopping for a drink at the restaurant to celebrate our survival.   There were cattails fronting the shoreline but we could see a path jutting north in front of the cattails that would take us to the take-out.   Yay, we had made it.  An epic trip coming to a sweet end.   But what’s this?   As we finally approached the cattail wall, 50 yards in front of the shore (#H), we could NOT see a way north thru the cattail maze.  It was completely blocked!  Are you kidding me?

I said to Cindy “we’re going to have to turn around and head back to St. Cloud.  It’s the only path we know for certain and we don’t have any time to risk getting blocked again”.  It was now 4pm.  She couldn’t believe it. “Another 4+ hours to paddle back - and upstream?” she questioned.  As ugly as 4+ more hours of paddling sounded, there just weren’t any other alternatives in my mind.  I had little faith in that even if we could find a northern route that it would be open all the way to the take-out (#T).  So time to suck it up and head back before it gets too late - and dark.  And it will get dark soon.  The good news was that the air temp is fine, there’s virtually no wind, there’s not much current to paddle against, and we’re still feeling in decent shape.  Cindy’s really a trooper and while her shoulder is in pain, she’s not complaining about it at all.  But I’m worried that her shoulder may be hurting a lot more than she’s owning up to.  And that she’s getting really worried about our predicament.  

So as we head back southwest thru the lake to the Sheboygan River, Cindy is scoping out any northern exits which may lead us back up to the north ditch route.  The problem with following any of those routes if they do appear is that they may be blocked farther up and then we’ve lost more time with our daylight rapidly fading.  Classic risk/reward dilemma.  If we’re very lucky we could find a route which would get us out of the water in 30 minutes or so.    But if we try one of those routes and it doesn’t pan out, then what?  Seems like the low-risk route of retracing our steps seems the smart play now - even if it does mean another 4 hours of paddling, with some of it in the dark.  Without flashlights.  Cindy calls her sister Lisa and leaves a message informing her of our plight and plans to get to the Marsh restaurant later tonight.  Lisa is the now only one who knows we are out here.   But at least someone knows.  If she listens to her messages.

Google Maps satellite view shows paths open.  How old are these?

We take another hour getting thru the big lake again and back onto the river.  As the river narrows we realize that we didn’t go past this part of the river before and we must have missed our link back to the main ditch route.  But we’re going in the right direction and this part of the river will meet up with the ditch route farther down so we should still be ok.  Our phones are both very low on power but I am able to still look at Google Maps and verify our route.  We snake our way thru the narrowing river section and start heading north towards the ditch crossing which looks to be another 20 minutes or so away.  And then - we hit another freaking cattail wall!  (#L)  Oh my god!  Are you kidding me!  It’s now 5pm.  This was our lowest point.   I tried to stay positive but was worried that Cindy was really getting very anxious about our situation.  But she wasn’t showing it if she was.  Cindy’s a rock.  Strong German.  I checked Google Maps again and determined we had to backtrack about 30 minutes to get to the ditch route linkage.  We may have lost an hour by missing this exit earlier.   That was my major mess-up by not checking Google Maps earlier to make sure we didn’t miss this.  Trying to conserve phone battery by using my “guy-dar”.  First major “guy-dar” failure in a long time.  I had really sold Cindy on my “guy-dar” back in Florida.  She now wants a refund.  Lovely.  

We snake our way back east for 30 minutes and Cindy finds the original exit (#G).  Hallelujah!  My fears of the Marsh cattails quickly moving to close down our only exit and lock us in the cattail hell maze forever are gone.  Now it’s just a matter of hunkering down and paddling for another 2-3 hours, with limited water and phone power, daylight fading, and our bodies aching from 6+ hours of kayaking.  We could even “camp” overnight at Shit’s Corner if need be or take-out early at the farm take-out and walk back to the car.  At least now we had a few options that were much better than sleeping in kayaks on the cattail water.  

Around 6pm we pass Shit’s Corner (#C).  With adrenaline kicking in, there’s no desire to stop to stretch or pee.  Daylight is quickly fading with sunset targeted around 7:20pm.  The next checkpoint is the farm put-in (#B).  We put down another of our epic $100 bets with Cindy wagering we’ll hit that put-in around 6:30pm while I say 7pm.    Cindy already owes me around $1100 from previous adventure bets and this bumps up a bit more as we hit the farm put-in around 7pm.   She’ll never learn.   Still no need to take-out at this point as we still have some light to finish with.  And we’re not even sure where this country road leads to and how far it would be to walk to our car.   And we have no flashlights.

So now it’s the final stretch to the St. Cloud take-out (#A).  Cindy’s feet are dry and warm but her hands are starting to get wet and cold as the sun is setting.  I’m still worried her shoulder is really hurting but she insists she is ok.  I’m still doing fine with my wetsuit so nothing is too wet or cold for me.  I have my back brace on and while my back gets uncomfortable at times in the kayak, I was extremely lucky it hadn’t stopped me from being able to paddle during any part of the trip.  We’re both in pretty good shape for being in our early 60’s.

Go towards the light!  While there’s light...

This last hour leg seemed to take forever.  But we were rewarded with great sunset views along the western river bank.  Cindy was able to snap a few epic sunset shots on her phone’s last bit of juice.   Once the sun finally set around 7:20pm we had another 30 minutes or so of dusk where we continually searched for the limestone bridge right around the next corner.  At this point we had both sunk into a zombie-like state with our focus on the finish line - and a stiff drink at the Marsh bar afterwards.   8 hours of non-stop kayaking was getting very old.  And I was kayaking blind for the last half hour after I took off my prescription sunglasses in the dusk darkness.  Tree stumps on the river banks started looking like bystanders mocking us on our return.  Surreal experience.    

FINALLY, around 8pm the limestone bridge appeared around the last corner and Cindy quickly beat me to it.  BTW, my kayak is a heavy fishing kayak and Cindy’s lightweight kayak beats me to every destination.   Anyways, her excitement was quickly quashed when she got stuck going under one of the bridge’s archways.  The combination of a strong current and shallow passageway made it virtually impossible to paddle back under the bridge.  While she was stuck trying to get thru her archway, I tried all of the other 5 archways and ran into the same issue with all of them.  Can you believe this?  So close!  I finally heard Cindy shouting that she’s “had enough!” and was just getting out at the bank before the bridge.  That works for me.  It meant getting our feet and hands wet but this was the end for us.  It was time to freaking exit stage right.

We yanked our kayaks out of the water and struggled to pull them up a little hill to the road by the bridge.   Cindy quickly retrieved her car from the put-in around 50 yards away.  While my feet were still ok (wetsuit booties) my hands now were freezing.  I could hardly push in the nozzles on my kayak to deflate it.  Cindy was also freezing.  As we drove away we noticed how dark it was now and how close we were to kayaking in the pitch black darkness.  Wow, that was a rather close call.  Crank the heat girl!  

We drove back to the Marsh campgrounds, picked up my car, and headed to the Marsh restaurant for a well deserved drink.  To say the least.  We were pleasantly surprised to find Cindy’s sister Lisa and family there having dinner and expecting to see us at some point.  They bought us a couple of tall strong cocktails and listened intently to our harrowing story.  Hard to tell if they thought of us as tough adventurers or morons.  Maybe a 25/75 split.  We settled down for a little hamburger dinner, another drink, and caught some of the March Madness UCLA-Gonzaga epic semifinal game.  Our own Marsh Madness had ended in triple overtime and we had avoided elimination.  Success, sort of.  What a day.  What a lesson…

Satellite image from 2 days ago.  A much clearer picture of the blocked paths. 

Epilogue:  I learned that most Google Maps satellite pics may be 1-3 years old.  I scoped out some free satellite images websites and downloaded 3 day old satellite pics of the Marsh which showed the cattail blockages.   For future waterway adventures that involve risky paths we’ll be certain to check out recent satellite images to see if any potential dangers lay in our way.  Also it’s a good idea to plan a path that includes the riskier portions early in the trip.  For our Marsh trip, it would have been smarter to put-in at the Marsh and take-out at St. Cloud, even though that would have meant going upstream.   We would have encountered the cattail blockages early on and had plenty of time (and energy) to adjust our plans.  Live and learn.  Adventure and live!

[orbemnews]

The Future of Car Navigation Has Arrived The next time your car’s navigation system takes you right to the front door of a perfect little back-road barbecue joint, thank the U.S. military. The Global Positioning System — a network of satellites that enables location pinpointing — exists courtesy of the Defense Department. The Space Force and Coast Guard are now responsible for its operation. But motorists didn’t have to wait for the military to develop GPS for help in getting to where they were going. As far back as the 1930s, the Iter Avto, an aftermarket device, offered navigation guidance. With scrolling paper maps and a speedometer cable connection, the dash-mounted device could track an approximate route, as long as the driver remained on the straight and narrow. Going off route even momentarily would throw a wrench in the works. Such mapping technology evolved over the years, sometimes fitfully. But GPS is now a crucial driving companion. Smartphones use its satellite signals for navigation and other purposes. There are drawbacks to using a phone for navigation, particularly if it doesn’t tap into a car’s infotainment system. Positioning a phone just so can be tricky, and because smartphones rely on a cellular signal for map data, coverage can be lost in areas like mountains where reception is poor. But smartphones are convenient, and nearly everyone has one. Apple and Google maps are both automatically updated as necessary. Most newer vehicles allow for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to pop up on a big in-dash monitor. New aftermarket navigation systems, mounted atop the dash or installed in the dash, are a step up from a smartphone — and that Iter Avto. For example, the Garmin DriveSmart 61 LMT-S navigation system can be ordered with a 6.95-inch screen for good visibility. The Garmin provides spoken turn-by-turn directions using street names and landmarks. Points of interest and hospitality facilities are called out, traffic jam warnings issued, speed limits displayed and driver alerts provided. Other top models, from the likes of TomTom and Magellan, also offer full feature sets. All aftermarket navigation systems come loaded with localized maps, and wireless updates are generally provided. Many “best of” lists are available on the web. But better than smartphones and on-dash devices are the navigation systems that automakers are plugging into their cars. These factory-installed systems offer better accuracy, more features and better integration. The screen is usually beefier, and a built-in system won’t attract thieves like a unit suction-cupped to the dash. The integrated systems usually have more powerful chips than aftermarket models, and their antennas can be larger and better placed. The navigation system in the 2021 Cadillac Escalade is a good example of how far the technology has come. If you select audio driving directions in the system menu, the voice underscores the required action. When approaching a right turn, the voice comes from the right side of the vehicle. As you approach the intersection, volume increases. If you’d rather listen to the vehicle’s 36-speaker surround-sound system, you can turn off the voice and depend instead on the large, high-resolution display on the vehicle’s 16.9-inch infotainment screen. A heads-up display of route directions supplements it in the windshield. You get a well-defined map, of course, but the system also provides pictures of road signs at key intersections, indicating, for example, which way you should go at a fork in the road. Switch on augmented reality and the vehicle’s cameras provide a picture of the road ahead with a map superimposed. When you’re choosing a destination, and upon arrival, the system provides pictures so you know what to look for. It can also show you the surrounding area. Those pictures are provided courtesy of Google Street View, which includes millions of panoramic images sourced through Google’s own work and the contributions of ordinary people with cameras. Most vehicle navigation systems take advantage of Google mapping and photography. Tesla’s navigation system can even provide aerial views from Google Earth on its 17-inch screen. Luxury brands like Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac all offer feature-packed navigation systems, but you don’t have to spend six figures to get GPS guidance. Chrysler’s Uconnect navigation systems are looked on favorably by car owners, according to Consumer Reports, In a Jeep Cherokee, Uconnect can be easily set in motion by speaking an address. The system uses sensors to assist GPS in places like tunnels or parking garages where it might lose touch with the satellites. The 2021 Ford Bronco, a vehicle meant to explore beyond the end of the road, offers SYNC 4 navigation on a 12-inch screen in models priced at about $40,000 and up. This GPS-guided navigation system can help drivers find their way around the wilderness and provides camera views to assist those who might wish to scale a rock or two. While automaker-installed navigation systems have become complex in recent years, the first to appear in cars were more modest. In 1981, Honda, Stanley Electric and Alpine developed the Electro Gyro-Cator, which used a gyroscope to determine inertia and translucent maps on an illuminated screen to illustrate a route. Sold only in Japan, the system added the equivalent of $2,750 to the price of a car and worked marginally well. It demonstrated that given the starting point, speed and heading, a location could be calculated. It’s what engineers call a dead-reckoning system. Other dead-reckoning systems would follow, including some using digital maps stored on tapes or other media. But dead reckoning can never be absolutely precise, and the chances of going off course are considerable. Then came GPS, and navigation grew up. The first GPS navigation device offered by a carmaker arrived in the 1990 Mazda Eunos Cosmo, offered only in Japan. General Motors followed in 1992 with a system installed in rental cars. In 1995, it was offered as an option on the Oldsmobile 88. Using maps stored on cartridges, the system was first marketed with only California and Las Vegas mapping, but other cartridges followed. While automakers gradually added GPS navigation systems to luxury models, the aftermarket seized on the concept. Alpine offered a system that used compact disc maps in 1997, and Garmin followed suit in 1998. The roots of GPS technology go back to 1842 when the Austrian physicist Christian Andreas Doppler described how motion affects the frequency of sound waves. This Doppler effect is illustrated by the whistle of an approaching train. As it draws near, more sound waves reach your ear and the pitch increases. As the train moves away, the pitch decreases. In the late ’50s — those thrilling days of Sputnik — scientists demonstrated that an Earth-orbiting satellite could be tracked by bouncing a microwave signal off it and observing how its motion altered the frequency of the returning signal. In the mid-60s, the Navy needed to track submarines carrying nuclear weapons. Using six orbiting satellites, Navy scientists found they could observe changes in Doppler when radio waves from subs were bounced off the satellites, thus calculating the subs’ locations. The Defense Department expanded on the concept and in the early ’70s began development of a precise satellite navigation system. The first Navigation System With Timing and Ranging satellite was launched in 1978. A full complement of 24 Navstar satellites became operational in 1993. GPS technology once tracked submarines, and today a far more powerful system can help you hunt down a ham-and-swiss sub. Source link Orbem News #Arrived #car #Future #Navigation

[manuhd]

Google Maps API Alternatives You Should Try Out For Your On-Demand App [Top 10 Alternatives]

Digital maps on smartphones are a great innovation, and it is now apt to say smartphones have the ‘world’ in them. For years altogether, the use of these digital maps has enhanced. Be it the directions to a restaurant in a few miles or a long tour across the state, maps grant the assurance that we’re heading in the right direction. As an undisputed king of the proximity-tech world, Google’s Google Maps has been the predominant force steering people to move from one place to another accurately. 

However, are there any alternatives to Google Maps? With navigation becoming increasingly popular and inevitable, companies are coming up with better map applications. The on-demand app market forecasts exponential growth, and the core idea of these on-demand apps is accurate navigation and transparency in services.

Are you an entrepreneur eyeing to launch an on-demand app but hesitating to stick with Google Maps API? This blog discusses the top 10 best alternatives for Google Maps to try out on your on-demand app.

How are Map applications ruling the on-demand sector? 

Before stepping into the details, let’s look at how Map APIs are helping the on-demand sector. 

Integrating the API will help the admin manage resources wisely. 

Customers can track service providers in real-time, leading to accuracy and transparency. 

Service providers can navigate to customer locations effortlessly via the most-optimized route. 

Thus it is clear that the entire on-demand ecosystem depends on Map APIs for efficient functioning. 

What are the prerequisites before choosing a Map API?

Comparing different alternatives is an ideal way to settle for your best fit. However, there are specific prerequisites that can make your search more comfortable and efficient. They include, 

The number of app users: It is wise to identify and analyze the number of users who use your platform. This step is crucial because the functioning and efficiency of these APIs differ with the number of users. For example, the free limit of Google Maps API is 25,000 map views per day. 

Predetermine your budget: Many Map APIs come with the freemium model (partially free + partially paid). However, some are entirely free to use. Hence, predetermine your budget and take necessary action accordingly. For example, Google Maps follows the freemium model, and Open Street Maps are entirely free. 

User-friendly interface: Getting hands-on experience with the Map application will lead to better decision-making from the entrepreneur’s side. Ensure that that API is lucid, easy-to-use, and up-to-date. 

Top Alternatives

Now that you have a straightforward approach to why Map APIs are crucial and how to select them, it is time to look at the top 10 alternatives for Google Maps. Let’s dive straight in. 

#1 Bing Maps 

Arguably the most formidable competitor of Google, Microsoft, launched Bing Maps as part of the Bing Suite in 2005. Bing Maps comes with advanced attributes like the aerial view, road view, venue maps, and 3D maps. 

The software uses color variants like green, yellow, red, and black to display traffic updates in different regions. Features like entering additional stops, sharing routes across social media platforms, etc., make Bing Maps highly reliable among the audience. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS, Windows

#2 Waze

Although Google acquired the company Waze in 2013, Waze Maps is a different entity and not a part of Google Maps. Waze is best-suited for the driver community, and drivers can share real-time information on accidents, roadblocks, traffic, etc. The platform’s easy-to-use interface makes it easier for riders to understand navigation and access the best possible route. 

One of the notable aspects of Waze is that you can track other users’ activity in your community. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS, Web. 

#3 Here WeGo 

If you have been a Nokia user in the past/present, you would have come across Here Maps. Launched almost 30 years back, this Map application rebranded it as Here WeGo. The software is reliable and offers seamless navigation. Functionalities like voice guidance, offline maps to navigate, etc., enhance the user experience substantially. 

Users can switch between three views while using the application. They include, 

Satellite view – For an enhanced aerial view of a particular locality. 

Traffic view – To analyze real-time traffic information in different areas. 

Transport view – To get a detailed overview of different transport facilities. 

The app’s captivating interface makes it a tough competitor to Google Maps API. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS, Web. 

#4 Maps.me 

An entirely free application that encompasses almost every aspect of Google Maps comprehensively is the Maps.me software. One of the significant advantages of Maps.me is that it uses open-source data for its content. This attribute enables it to provide accurate results as the system updates in real-time. 

Other functionalities like turn-by-turn navigation, offline maps, etc., make Maps.me an excellent platform in the offerings. Besides, the platform enables you to browse via categories like cafes, gas stations, malls, etc. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS, Blackberry 

#5 MapQuest 

MapQuest is another popular Map application that is known for its voice-guided navigation and up-to-date satellite imagery. The platform comes preloaded with exciting elements like a calorie calculator, optimized hiking routes, live vector maps, etc. 

Besides, users can avail of instant roadside assistance in case of vehicle breakdown, leading to enhanced satisfaction. Moreover, it comes with a cab price comparison aspect as well. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS, Windows. 

#6 Citymapper 

Citymapper is best-known for its information on public transport, aiding people in their daily commute. The smart travel planner platform provides real-time data on bus and train stations and their departures. The platform includes features like favorite a particular station/vehicle, add additional stops, etc. 

Users can access the live timetable, the platform number where buses/trains will arrive, etc. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS. 

#7 CoPilot – GPS Navigation

Planning a route and reaching a destination has never been this easy. CoPilot GPS is gradually gaining the spotlight even though it is a paid application. The platform comes with full offline support and massive mapping data, making it highly reliable for navigation. 

Powerful route planning and user-friendly directions make the platform a ‘go-to’ option for most drivers. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS. 

#8 Polaris GPS Navigation 

Unlike other navigation apps, Polaris GPS Navigation turns the phone into a smart navigation hub and comes in handy during hiking, hunting, sailing, etc. The app is known for its accurate data and is entirely free to use. 

Cutting-edge features with GPS compass, waypoint photography, altitude, speedometer, etc., enhance engagement rates drastically. 

Compatibility: Android 

#9 Apple Maps

This map API comes preloaded on all Apple devices, making it highly popular. Launched in 2012, the app sailed past the gloomy phase after rectifying glitches and errors. Details of local businesses, turn-by-turn navigation, etc., are some advanced features that add quality to Apple Maps. 

The map app comes with Augmented Reality flyovers, detailed reviews on landmarks, etc. 

Compatibility: iOS 

#10 BackCountry Navigator TOPO GPS

The platform helps people retrace their location with smart location-sharing options. The platform’s excellent topography makes it hard to ignore for adventurers and hikers. 

Users can manually enter latitude/longitude coordinates into the platform as well. 

Compatibility: Android, iOS. 

Conclusion 

We hope this blog would have provided you with quality insights on some of the best Google Maps alternatives to consider during your Mobile app development company in bangalore. Our seasoned team of experts at Brillmindz is well-versed in providing end-to-end app development solutions, right from project ideation to app launch.

Reach out to us, and we’ll help you scale your on-demand app comprehensively in the shortest possible time.

[bh944]

2018 Honda Fit Sport 6MT Review

By Bradley Harris

So I'll admit... I ended up getting behind the wheel of my Lunar Silver 2018 Honda Fit Sport rather unexpectedly. I wasn't even totally sure about getting a new (to me) car, as I had no down payment, and have recently been making the majority of my income from Uber, which is a hard gig to get financing approval on. However, I got an email from a Honda dealer advertising financing for all, so I decided to give it a try at least.

When I arrived, I specified that if at all possible, I'd like a car with a manual transmission. As luck would have it, the only manual car available was a slightly used Fit Sport. After a quick test drive, I liked the look and was rather impressed with the transmission and unexpectedly peppy pickup, the space, and the Android Auto integration. On top of that, the dealer was willing to give me some time with the car to earn the down payment with Uber, so I said, "Let's make this deal happen!" As it turns out, I couldn't imagine many other cars making me happier to drive it with Uber than this car, and really, it is simply a solid automotive value - period.

In terms of exterior styling, I rather like the car a lot. This is where the "Sport" trim moniker makes the most impact, as exterior aesthetic upgrades are the only changes Honda made in creating the Sport trim, other than adding contrasting orange stitching to the otherwise very very black interior, which at least has varied textures and some metallic finishes to keep it from looking like a black hole of plastic. Honda added sporty-looking front and rear bumper caps with orange trim lines, as well as sill extensions, a roof spoiler, and gloss black wheels to achieve a sportier look, and by most accounts, it's successful. I've received a few compliments on the look of the car.

Overall, "Fit" is perhaps the most apropos name Honda could have given this car. It's diminutive dimensions, at 161.8 inches long, 67 inches wide, and 60 inches tall mean that it can fit in even some of the tightest parking spaces without issue, making it ideal for impacted parking areas in urban environs. Don't let its small size fool you, though, as its capacious interior, assisted by that 60 inch height, has 39.5 inches of headroom in the front seats and 37.5 inches in the rear, 41.4 inches of front / 39.3 inches of rear legroom, and 54.8 inches of front / 52.6 inches of rear shoulder room. I've regularly had people 6' - 6'2" sit in the front seat without complaint with someone comfortably seated behind them that was anywhere from 5'2" to 5'9". I myself, at 5'10", find the Fit accommodates me quite well seated behind myself, with 3 inches of additional kneeroom between me and the front seat no less! A very regular comment I get is, "Wow! What car is this again? It's so roomy in here!" Honda's designers and engineers have achieved nothing short of a small miracle getting so much space from such compact dimensions.

In terms of luggage space, it has 16.6 cubic feet with the "Magic Seat" second row up and 52.7 cubic feet with it down, so called magic because with one pull of the lever located on the back of each section of the 60/40 split folding seat, the seat goes down in one fell swoop to create a totally flat rear load floor. For reference, that 16.6 cubes of space with the seat up is as much as you'll get in the trunk of most mid-size family sedans, including Honda's own Accord, at 16.7 cubic feet, and it's incredibly useable, with only minor intrusions from the spaces for the rear shocks. I once helped an Uber rider cart home 7 large plants from Home Depot, folding the 60 section of the Magic Seat to accomodate it all. We both were impressed. (Funnily enough, she chose to ride in the 40 section of the seat in the second row amidst her small forest, rather than ride shotgun, because it would be weird sitting up front I guess... 😂)

All the controls and instruments fall easily at hand, and honestly, it's an intuitive and easy cabin to figure out. One niggle I've found, though, is that the center armrest is quite small and a bit low for my liking, which is too low for my right arm when not busy steering or shifting. Also, the only item I thus far have needed to reference the owner's manual for is the infotainment system. While I've not tested the old head unit with the digital adjustment for volume which was much maligned, the volume knob/power button is the only hard control for infotainment aside from the brightness button. Overall, it's a pretty easy-to-use system, but figuring out the display screen options was a bit of a head scratcher, even after I referred to the manual. It took some digging in online forums for me to finally understand how that part works, which is a frustration which shouldn't be the case, but which in the grand scheme, isn't all that huge.

The last niggle, and this is a rather large one, is that the system can be quite glitchy from time to time. I'll be driving, and the Android Auto will cut out saying my phone isn't compatible with Android Auto (me thinking, "Aaaaaaaaall of a sudden"). This one isn't much of a bother, as it just takes a quick unplug/replug of the cable into the phone to fix it. The bigger problem is that the system will completely shutdown at random, not often, but often enough that I've begun to think it has a mind of its own. Worse, it takes the system around 2-3 minutes to completely reboot and start up again, during which a lot of navigating would have needed to happen, and the silence which it creates can be defeaning when Uber riders are onboard. Thankfully, Android Auto does pickup the slack on the device at times, continuing to announce directions from it, and if it doesn't, the Uber app is showing the route as well. The system's excuse that it suddenly lost power is invalid, however, as this mishap happens most while in motion, and it's something Honda needs to address.

As for positives of the infotainment, while I don't have an iPhone to test Apple Carplay integration, the Android Auto integration is👌🏼. One can stream from any audio source on their phone when using Android Auto, and Google Maps is better than almost any nav system an automaker could integrate into the system. What's even neater is that with my Uber app set to navigate from Google maps, when I hit navigate in the driver app, it pulls up on Google maps in the center stack screen and starts navigating with only a second or two load time.

The upgraded audio available with the Sport and above, at 6 channels (two tweeters near the base of the windshield, and one full range speaker in each of the 4 doors) and 180 watts of total output, is rather decent for a car in this class, and can reach up in volume with little sound distortion aside from some bass muddiness. It has adequate connectivity too, with streaming Bluetooth audio as well as a USB port and 12V outlet lower in the center stack above a bin just behind the cupholders where one can store their phone. An additional outlet and USB port are in the center console. No AUX outlet means easy switching between your device and a passenger's for audio source duty isn't easily possible, though in most cases I think many will find that a plus. Additionally, there are no charging ports behind the console for the second row.

For everyday driving duty, the audio system is more than adequate for most, though if you're someone like me who LOVES the music they listen to, you'll want to upgrade this system beyond what Honda can give you at this price point. Price considered though, the system is quite good.

The shifter, which is leather covered and stitched like a baseball (nice touch!) in the aforementioned contrasting orange (same as the sturdily-upholstered cloth seats and steering wheel for added sporty appeal), falls easily at hand, fitting in the palm beautifully and comfortably. So does the leather-lined three-spoke steering wheel, which feels nice to hold, has just the right diameter, and contains easy to use controls for cruise control, audio, and Bluetooth phone functions.

The rev counter and speedometer are analog and are very legible, while there's a digital gauge for fuel economy and fuel tank level which also shows the odometer, trip information, fuel range, and a few other useful data points. The fuel economy gauge is fun to play with as you monitor accelerator usage, and there are lights next to the speedometer that change from blue to green as revs climb, fitting with the name "Earth Dreams" Honda has given to its latest set of engine tech. I personally feel adding a red light as one approached redline would be a nice-to-have addition, especially since this is the "Sport" model.

There's actually quite a copious number of beverage holders, with a spot for bottles on each of the four doors, as well as two reasonably-sized cup holders ahead of the shifter, and one cup holder that expands out of the dash up at the drivers left side near the air vent. That placement is very very convenient, I've found.

One last note on the cabin. Build quality is stellar! Panel gaps and trim fittings are all tight, and after about 18,000 miles of driving, there's been no squeaks, rattles, or other untoward noises.

Soooooo, finally, how does it drive?

Competent. Very competent. Its responses are mostly well-controlled, with quick, responsive steering and a composed ride quality; though, as can be expected for a car in this price range, sharp impacts are heard and felt, and there is a bit of float and flopping over on quick transitions that I wish the "Sport" moniker could have dialed out. Also, the rear end will stutter and skip a bit on broken pavement when near the limits of the tires' adhesion, thanks to its torsion-beam rear axle. As it is, all suspension and mechanical settings are the same across the board for the Fit from trim to trim. The steering is relatively numb, though there is a tiny bit of feedback coming through the steering right at the limit. You can feel the tires begin to break traction and push into understeer, but the buildup to that is quiet, as is the case with most electric steering setups these days. A bit of lift throttle will quickly reign in the front end, which otherwise will generally go where it's pointed with precision. The short wheelbase really helps with making the car lithe and responsive, as does it's low 2,648-pound weight.

The shifter is mostly a joy to work, with silken glides from gate to gate and a solid, mechanical feel as it enters the gear. However, from time to time, the shifts can get a touch balky, and even refuse to enter the gate, which necesitates a full clutch out/in to get it to cooperate. Pedal placement is also great for whether you heal-and-toe or not.

Overall, though, the Fit is a relatively slow car that can be quite fun to drive fast, as its limits are within reach on the street and can be explored without necessarily endangering your license. Freeway onramps become your skidpad, and feeling the 1.5 liter's i-VTEC cam changeover as you reach freeway speeds in the upper range reminds you why anybody makes a big deal about it. There's a noticeable increase in acceleration as it happens, at you really feel every one of its 128 horsepower working. It's acceleration, while not breathtaking, is surprisingly peppy. It has a rather delightful VTEC song, too, with a full induction sound that will give you flashbacks of some of Honda's greatest engines.

In terms of fuel economy, this little machine is a sweetheart. It's EPA-rated at 29 city / 36 highway / 31 combined, and in mixed driving, I'm getting anywhere between 32 and 35. Plus, with just a 10.6 gallon tank, I'm super happy paying only about $26 per fillup of 87 octane at current prices in my area hovering around $3.19. As an Uber driver, this kind of fuel economy/cost are a boon, as it means I can make a lot more money from each tank than I can in many other vehicles, and the expense doesn't cut too much into the profit.

The Sport trim includes none of the Honda Sensing suite of safety tech available on the EX and EX-L, but being an enthusiast, I personally don't want or miss any of it. While there are many consumers who find comfort in the extra safety, there's just no replacement for good driving, and I find that this car, with a manual, is great car for honing one's skills to become a better driver for everyone. The tall greenhouse on the Fit means that sightlines all around are phenomenal. A camera checking my blind spots would be redundant, as doing it in this car is easy to do myself. With my hands full between the shifter and steering and my feet with the pedals, my attention is squarely on my driving, and it makes me very aware of what I'm doing and how I can do it better. There's no room for distracted driving!

Honda has built a real winner with the Fit, and despite the Sport trim only looking sportier than its other trims, its driving dynamics, while not outright sporty, are at least composed enough to be fun in between serving commute duties. With a mixture of space, versatility (+1 for the hatchback), economy, and infotainment tech, the Fit Sport is a great car for enthusiasts on a budget who must make some compromises for life. Commuters on a budget will find they had to compromise very little, if at all, with the Fit, and with the extra safety tech of upper trims and niceties like leather, heated front seats, and a moonroof, the Fit is capable of fit-ting most people's needs and lifestyles very, very well at a price that won't break the bank.

[bigyack-com]

Google Maps’ lesser known features you must know - tech

Trapped somewhere or have to reach an unknown destination? Google Maps is one of the best possible options that guides and directs you to your location. It even gives you update on traffic congestion, shorter routes as well as estimated time to reach the destination.There are some lesser known features in Google Maps that you may not know yet. These features will just help enhance your experience of the navigation app.Here are some features of Google Maps that you must explore right away:Incognito modeWhen we do not want people to be aware of our browsing history, we often switch to incognito mode. To keep your Google Maps search private, you can use it in incognito mode too. This feature helps you to not save your activity to your Google account.According to Google support page, when the incognito mode is turned on, Google Maps will not save the browsing or search history to your Google account or send notifications. It will update the users’ location history or shared location (if there is any), also it uses the activity of the users to personalise Maps.How to turn on/off incognito mode for Google Maps on Android and iPhone/iPadOpen Google Maps app on your Android phone or tablet. In the top right, tap on your profile picture. Tap turn on incognito mode. To turn off, tap on turn off incognito mode.Street light availabilityTravelling post sunset is a daunting task as there are some areas which do not have adequate light, making them prone to accidents.According to a report by XDA Developers, Google is gearing up to introduce “lighting” on Google Maps that aims to highlight streets that are brightly lit and those which have low or no lights.The lighting layer will highlight streets that have good lighting with a yellow colour highlight and thereby help users avoid streets with low or poor lighting.TimelineAn user can view and manage information on location history with the Google Maps timeline option. Users can edit entries in the location history, delete information from ranges in time or delete all their data. The timeline is private so only the user can see it.SpeedometerThe speedometer feature on Google Maps functions like one on your car or bike. The feature shows the actual speed in which the user is driving a vehicle.The speedometer app will let the users know if they are driving too fast. The speed indicator will change colour if the users exceeds the speed limit.MessagesWith the help of messages option on Google Maps, users can directly communicate with businesses through their listings on the app.Once a user sends a message, the businesses will able to view the sender’s name and profile picture on the about me page. A user gets to decide what to share with businesses in the message.Here’s how you can turn on messages on Google MapsOpen Google Maps app on your device. Tap explore places icon and then select a category like restaurants or bars. To see more categories, like services or shopping, tap more.Select a business. If it has messaging turned on, tap message on their listing. Not all businesses will be able to send and receive messages. Type your message and tap send.Responses from the business will appear in the message thread. To check your messages in Google Maps, tap menu and then messages. A red dot will appear on the icon when you have new messages.To block messages from a business or report a business, open a message conversation and then tap more and then block/report spam.To delete a conversation from device, open a message conversation and then tap more, followed by delete.Create list of placesGoogle Maps users can create a list of their favourite places.Here’s how you can make a new listOpen the Google Maps app on your device. Tap menu and then your places and then saved. In the bottom right, tap add. Enter a name and description and tap save.Edit or delete listOpen Google Maps app on your device. Tap menu and then tour places and then Saved. Tap the list you want to edit or delete. To erase a list, tap more at the top and choose delete list.To change a list, tap Edit. From here you can edit the list by tapping the name or description you want to change.A user can add notes by clicking on the box below the place you want to describe. You can add up to 4,000 characters.A saved place can also be deleted by clicking on the remove icon.When you’re done, on the top right, select save. Read the full article

[freemindtech]

Google Maps Guide: How to Turn on Speed Limit Warning

Google Maps Guide: How to Turn on Speed Limit Warning

Google Maps speed limit function shows users the speed limit of the road they’re on and warns them if they are exceeding it. Google Maps also shows users the speed they’re driving at but advises users to check their speed on the car’s speedometer. The speedometer in the app is for informational use only and users should not solely rely on it. The speed limit is shown on the bottom left corner of…

[portalplugado]

ENGLISH / PORTUGUÊS

Learn how to use app that shows how will your face in the future / Como usar o app de envelhecimento que mostra como tu serás no futuro

Hubble captures gorgeous galaxy image in full 'growth phase' / Hubble captura belíssima imagem de galáxia em plena 'fase de crescimento'

Amazon Music grows more than Apple Music and Spotify / Amazon Music cresce mais que Apple Music e Spotify  

Google Maps: learn how to turn on the speedometer in the application / Google Maps: como ativar o velocímetro no aplicativo para evitar multas

Arsenal enter the dispute with Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich to buy player Everton Cebolinha, from Grêmio / Arsenal entra na disputa com Manchester United, Atlético de Madri e Bayer de Munique para comprar Cebolinha, do Grêmio

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Google Maps now Introduces Speedometer to Keep Check on Speed Limits Google Maps will now let you stay within the speed limit, as the latest update is coming with a live speedometer into the app. Feature aimed at allowing you to keep a check on local speed limits can be turned on and off by going to Settings > Navigation Settings menu. When turned on, the speed... [ This is a content summary only. Visit our website http://bit.ly/1b4YgHQ for full links, other content, and more! ]

by Aqsa Rasool via Digital Information World http://bit.ly/2KbXoyH