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camhead
Jul 26, 2011, 7:15 PM
Post #2 of 10
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Registered: Sep 10, 2001
Posts: 20939
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Holy shit. Over-reliance on technology is really making us dumber.
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qwert
Jul 26, 2011, 7:43 PM
Post #3 of 10
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Registered: Mar 24, 2004
Posts: 2394
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Why do people turn off their brains, and close their eyes, as soon as they turn on their GPS?
This year i did my first drives ever with a SatNav (no codriver, unknown area, unknown alphabet on the road signs), and yes, those things can be very usefull, but if that thing tells me "Do a u-turn" i first have a look if that is actually feasible. Or i actually try to look at the road it tells me to go to first. That avoided quite a few "going down a one way street the wrong direction" mishaps, that also seem to be way to common.
Oh i had quite a few fun conversations with the lady under the windshield  …
"Take the next road to the left!"
"No, i wont, that does not look like a road at all!"
"You missed your road, turn around!"
"no, i wont! Have a look out of the window, that path leads nowhere."
"You missed your road, turn around!"
"no, fuck you! I am driving how i feel i should, if you want it or not!"
"recalculating"
"finally you realized you where wrong!"
qwert
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petsfed
Jul 30, 2011, 4:22 PM
Post #4 of 10
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Registered: Sep 25, 2002
Posts: 8599
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I both love and hate them for backpacking. Love them, because it gives me good feedback of my distance to destination. Hate them, because I get sucked into this gear-head techno-geekery that makes me ignore everything I know about orienteering.
My rule of thumb is to completely ignore what my in-car GPS says if it wants me to leave a paved road. If I don't know how to get there once I leave the paved road, I'll pull out a damn map, because at least those will indicate if its a maintained road.
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climber49er
Jul 31, 2011, 8:47 PM
Post #5 of 10
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Registered: Mar 8, 2003
Posts: 1404
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Batteries die, signals get lost, and as the article pointed out, sometimes the info is BAD WRONG. Give me back my map & compass anywhere that accuracy is critical.
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binrat
Aug 12, 2011, 7:14 PM
Post #6 of 10
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Registered: Jul 27, 2006
Posts: 1155
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Did you hear about the lady down Kingston way who drove into a swamp because her GPS told her too?? Kingston Fire found her standing on top of a half submerged car about 4 hours later becasuse she didn't know where she was.
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Kartessa
Aug 13, 2011, 4:24 AM
Post #7 of 10
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Registered: Nov 18, 2008
Posts: 7362
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For a town with 2 universities and a college, the local population is pretty dumb.
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philbox
Moderator
Aug 14, 2011, 8:34 AM
Post #8 of 10
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Registered: Jun 27, 2002
Posts: 13105
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Then there was the dirty great semi trailer that bulldozed up a huge mound of dirt in front of his bullbar when he tried to follow a shortcut recommended by his GPS. My brother and his policeman mate were out riding in the state forest near my town. They came around the corner on this small dirt track to be confronted by this bizarre scene.
The truck had a HIAB crane on the back and the trucky had tried to pull himself through the bog with it. He'd destroyed every tree within reach. He pleaded with the cop not to tell his boss. There was no way that he was getting outta there without telling his boss. I'd have loved to have heard how he had gotten out of there. It would have been a major recovery operation.
Dumb is what dumb does.
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dan2see
Aug 14, 2011, 4:25 PM
Post #9 of 10
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Registered: Mar 29, 2006
Posts: 1497
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On our Sunday hike, a couple of guys had their own stories telling how dumb folks can be with their gps.
My Garmin eTrex Summit owner's manual says on page v (that's 7 pages before page one):
garmin wrote: Warning: For use in vehicles, it is the sole responsibility of the driver of the vehicle to operate the vehicle in a safe manner, maintain full surveillance of all driving conditions at all times, and not become distracted by the eTrex Summit to the exclusion of safe driving practices...
On page ix (that's 4 pages before page one):
garmin wrote: Note: You should always be prepared and capable of navigating without the eTrex Summit...
But the eTrex is a hand-held unit with no terrain map feature. This encourages you to carry a real map and compass, and actually use them.
On the other hand, most folks don't have anything. Nothing at all.
(This post was edited by dan2see on Aug 14, 2011, 4:26 PM)
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hafilax
Aug 14, 2011, 11:36 PM
Post #10 of 10
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Registered: Dec 12, 2007
Posts: 3025
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People are equally dumb with or without a GPS.
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