Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Final Destination

After reading the kind comments on my last post, I found Pradeep Nair's triggering a funny memory. He essentially noted that weather forecasting is an inexact science. Truer words could not be said.

GPS guidance can be inaccurate, as well. My husband and I learned that fact in the early 2000's on our way to an out-of-state Marilyn Manson concert.

An early handheld device led us a hundred or so miles, whereupon its guidance ended in the expected city. Dumbfounded, I parked the car not in front of our downtown hotel but outside some old cemetery gates.

"You have reached your destination," the mechanical voice cheerfully announced.

"Yeah. Our final destination," my husband stated, naming the horror movie franchise which kicked off mere months before. We still chuckle about it today.

I hope you enjoyed this silly tale. There are a few more surrealistic little anecdotes I'd like to share.

Do you think other hotel patrons experienced this? Would this have made you nervous?

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14 comments:

  1. Bwahahahahahahahaha. Might be your final destination, but not right now. That's a hoot and I'm glad you could laugh about it.

    Have a fabulous day, Darla. Big hug. ♥

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  2. That's a big oops. But technology, eh? Not surprising.

    Weather forecasting... There was a fascinating NOVA on that last season (or two seasons ago). They're better than they were, but they're not quite there yet.

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    1. I bet we'd enjoy that episode. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. That is funny. I think I would have been a little nervous :)

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  4. Early GPS was notoriously inaccurate; today's versions are much better. Because of some erroneous information given years ago, The Hubby refuses to use my iPhone mapping apps; he looks over a paper map, and does it his way, dammit!

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  5. That is hysterical. Final Destination!

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  6. Over time technology has gotten better, though nothing is infallible.

    I have had experiences when the Map showed the shortest route, but the road wasn't broad enough for the car to pass.

    I have found GPS has reasonably good at telling you which are one-way streets (where traffic is allowed only in one direction; there are many such in India) so that you aren't pulled over by the cops for breaking the rule. Some of these routes are longer.

    The Map has got its intelligence from the predominant flow of traffic.

    Recently, when I was out driving during one of the relaxations of the lockdown, I noticed that the Map had "forgotten" the one-way rule. Since I know the place, I took the correct road.

    But I wondered why the Map behaved the way it did. I guess it's because there's hardly any traffic on the roads nowadays, and the Map just shows the shortest route, but violating the one-day rule. I wonder if anyone got into trouble following the map!

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    1. That's interesting! I never thought about being directed to an impassable road. Here, similar issues result from construction. I'm glad you avoided trouble and hope nobody else got ticketed for the error. Be well!

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  7. I shudder to think of Final Destination, for some reason they made huge impact on me at the time.

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    1. I understand. Those were pretty creepy films. Be well!

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