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Why some people mow a lawn better than others
71–80 of 203 posts
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#72This is a very different problem than actual efficiency when mowing a lawn or vacuuming a rub. Turning takes more work and time, and you miss a part of the 'square' when you are turning (the arc of the curve is not a straight line). In addition, vacuums especially have an area at the edge of the machine that is not cleaned as well, which is why you want a bit of overlap in your lines. Plus, when mowing a lawn, you of…
> and you miss a part of the 'square' when you are turning (the arc of the curve is not a straight line) This can heavily be mitigated through technique. If you walk straight and just turn? Yeah, the corner is missed. If you explicitly come to a stop and do your best to do a full 90-degree turn before moving? The only curve there is going to come from the shape of the blade, and is almost guaranteed to be a tighter c…
I do the outside/borders and around the trees first. Then the turning is over the already mowed area.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#73Reminds me of Zachtronics: Take a computationally difficult problem, reduce it to a game, and then score people against each other. Pure genius and nerd snipe marksmanship. Did you know multi-robot exploration pretty much as laid out in Exapunks has loose but well studied bounds on number of agents, bits of information, and exploration steps? For example, one agent with only one pebble cannot explore all graphs? http…
This is exactly the trick one of my colleagues uses to teach Theory of Computation, a notoriously boring subject (for your average CS student). Instead of motivating reductions by blathering on about how knapsack and TSP are the same, let them choose a fun video game and show how it can be solved using integer programming or something. Students have way more fun and end up actually enjoying the proofy parts, because they have actual practical value.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
wat. Causing damage to the grass you're hitting with a (relatively) blunt object in the first place? All you did was waste three times the gas.
>All you did was waste three times the gas. They don't mean do all those cuts each time you mow. You mow the grass in one direction one day, and then a few days later when it needs cut again, you mow a different pattern.
When I used to mow neighbor's yards as a kid, I'd do a crosshatch pattern that I'd rotate 45deg each week, orthagonal vs diagonal. Just doing one direction looks fine but a crosshatch looks even better, especially if they have thick, healthy grass. I wouldn't be as meticulous on the side and backyards, those would just get a single, slightly overlapping pass in whatever direction was convenient unless they had a really nice backyard, then I'd do extra there.
People like that golf course look and I'd get nice tips for doing it.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#75Seems like the most optimal path would also account for returning the mower to its storage space...
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#76Dig that lawn out and start growing food, ffs.
You first.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#77Fun article, but this didn't actually answer the "why" question for me...
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#78This is a very different problem than actual efficiency when mowing a lawn or vacuuming a rub. Turning takes more work and time, and you miss a part of the 'square' when you are turning (the arc of the curve is not a straight line). In addition, vacuums especially have an area at the edge of the machine that is not cleaned as well, which is why you want a bit of overlap in your lines. Plus, when mowing a lawn, you of…
You should see how optimal the poster's first dates are! Meet at a location with premade bottles of Soylent while they ask 15 questions. Done in 30min. Optimized away the cost and time "wasted" at restaurants or mini-golf type activities.
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Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#79> Sarah, an avid gamer, seemed to recognize this strategy immediately.
As soon as I read this, I immediately thought of the puzzle in the last gym of the Gen 3 Pokémon games (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald). It was a big ice platform that cracked after stepping on it once, and backtracking meant falling through the ice and having to start all over again.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#80This is a very different problem than actual efficiency when mowing a lawn or vacuuming a rub. Turning takes more work and time, and you miss a part of the 'square' when you are turning (the arc of the curve is not a straight line). In addition, vacuums especially have an area at the edge of the machine that is not cleaned as well, which is why you want a bit of overlap in your lines. Plus, when mowing a lawn, you of…
Plus mowing a lawn is meditative Copying another comment I made earlier When I was laid off a couple months ago, the first thing I did was go out and mow my lawn. One hour of simple, clean labor, with clear progress, goals, and solitude. It helped me stay out of a bad mental frame, and when I finished I went inside and sent out a few hundred applications Over the next several weeks, I spent a lot of time that wasn't…
I would agree with you if I wasn't so allergic to grass.