It all boils down to 'care'
Why some people mow a lawn better than others
161–170 of 203 posts
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#162This 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…
Exactly this! They should say more clearly up front what is the definition of efficiency. If they want people to think of a particular metaphor, but there are critical differences, those differences must be clarified up front. It seems the person designing the game/test has never really mowed actual lawns (at least lawns s/he actually cared about). I took the approach of efficiency meaning minimizing turns to save ti…
I agree. I assumed an optimal path would leave the mower on the outside of the property, to easily return to storage. But the “optimal” solutions in the article leave the mower wedged between three rocks. That seems rather sub-optimal to me.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Plus mowing a lawn is meditative Not when its >100F and >30%RH and a bright sun in the sky.
should you really have a grass lawn at that point? you might want something more native to those conditions that doesnt take much upkeep
It's not enjoyable in 80+ with RH 60%+ either. Grass grows pretty well. Too well actually but mowing it stinks.
In the morning the grass is still wet and sticky. By the time you can mow it properly, the sun is blaring down on top of this. The afternoon time is worst as things have heated up considerably. When the sun is out of the way, the mosquitos come out and make it even more unenjoyable.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#164geez, move those rocks first.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
I bought a real stinker of place to renovate & of course the yard is completely overgrown. Every wo/man and their dog is telling me to knock it down, have a bobcat to clear the yard and start fresh. I enjoy the work of clearing a yard by hand, and slowly cleaning the place up.
To be fair, equipment is pretty enjoyable to run, especially if you aren't burned out of it as a job. I miss running an excavator, all the time.
That’s fair, but it’s also not why I bought the place either.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#166While I know this just an experiment and an allegory to a path problem, there quite a few factors that this does not take into context.
1. It doesn't take into consideration the extra effort of turning/changing directions or the added efficiency of forward momentum in a straight line.
2. The cognitive load of keeping track of the sections left in a algorithmic path as opposed to a simple top to down or left to right approach.
3. The lawnmover/vacuum probably has to be returned to storage at the starting point so there's going some backtracking in that case in the optimal solution.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Funny enough the parts of the lawn that are still grass are what force me to go out and mow it before the seed heads start spewing pollen. Though if you’re allergic to the hay too (curiously, I’m not) you have my sincere sympathies. That said, even if I didn’t have bad grass pollen allergies, I’d still have to keep the grass from getting too big because deer/dog ticks will start to host there, especially with all the…
Fun fact: people are not "allergic" to pollen, they are having a legitimate immune reaction to pollen deploying enzymes that cut up proteins in your respiratory tract. This is because pollen is "designed" to chop up similar proteins when it lands on a flower.
[Citation needed]
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without JavaScript, there is literally no page text beyond that point until the footer. Thee is no indication that there would be any interactive content. There is also no discussion of what the interactive content demonstrates after it. There are no "results" to which a "skip to results" could skip.
Yeah I know. But "literally no page text" is only missing a couple words. The correct version is super short. The noscript version needs a button and a big box with an X. And even then the button would only be half-functional so I understand skipping it. It mostly just needs a "missing content" warning.
I don't follow. The title says "why some people mow a lawn better than others". Presumably, through getting people to play some interactive demo, they got some insight into the answer to that. Why can't they just use text to communicate that insight to me, instead of expecting me to go through the same demo? Why is there not any text after the demo describing the lesson learned? Or before, for that matter?
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without JavaScript, there is literally no page text beyond that point until the footer. Thee is no indication that there would be any interactive content. There is also no discussion of what the interactive content demonstrates after it. There are no "results" to which a "skip to results" could skip.
We get it, you're really proud that you choose to disable JavaScript, and need to let everyone know about it
It is not "pride". It is a constant annoyance that web site authors feel entitled to run their code on my machine, for purposes where it's egregiously unnecessary.
Re: Why some people mow a lawn better than others
#170The people who owned our house before us were really into decorative lawn borders, expensive ferns, etc. They spent so much money on it, that they neglected the mortgage, which is how we got the house cheap.
I still haven't managed to get it back to a nice, easy to mow lawn yet. 8(