totm nov 2023 Thread to discuss negative things in a very general way, just see where it goes y'know?

[DDE]

Alright, VK's just scaring me now. I don't know how it's aware that I've worked with people from [client redacted] where I don't have any 'friends', and has accurately suggested the main stakeholder first, followed by one of the team leads.

[kerbiloid]

38 minutes ago, DDE said:

Alright, VK's just scaring me now. I don't know how it's aware that I've worked with people from [client redacted] where I don't have any 'friends', and has accurately suggested the main stakeholder first, followed by one of the team leads.

Telegram, Wazzup, contact list..

***

The best UI evah.

Nothing excessive, nothing to be got wrong, always oriented correctly.

Spoiler

 

Edited May 31 by kerbiloid

[Nuke]

i found a new reason not to like touch screen interfaces. the lack of tool tips. unless an icon is obvious there is no way to determine what the function is without pushing it. equally disturbed by traditional point and click uis that dont have them. its a form of documentation that you dont miss until they take it away.

icons should totally be more consistent between different softwares. like the play button that has existed since the dawn of recording and playback technology. ive seen it on 8-tracks, reel to reel tape, movie projectors, etc. icons sourced from early cell phone interfaces confuse me by being completely unfamiliar. when various softwares start copywriting their own iconography it renders a lot of technology more cyrptic than it ought to be.

i also hate click/tap offs (where you open a panel to change a setting and there is no obvious way to close it other than to tap the thing behind it), infinite scroll, and common keyboard shortcuts being moved around (im looking at you windows). id rather have drop menus with highly descriptive text.

Edited May 31 by Nuke

[Superfluous J]

7 hours ago, Nuke said:

icons should totally be more consistent between different softwares. like the play button that has existed since the dawn of recording and playback technology. ive seen it on 8-tracks, reel to reel tape, movie projectors, etc

Even the stalwart play button isn't immune from that. I can't guess the times I've wondered, "does the play icon mean it's playing, or that I should press it to play?"

[Lisias]

Do you know that micro-wave popcorns?

Here in Brazil we have something similar (but pretty different): micro-wave pork rinds (we call it torresmo).

As popcorns, you just SHOULD NOT open the bag near your face, or the steam will burn you.

So I, smart of me, waited the pork rind to cool down a bit inside the bag before opening it - and then tried to smell it (I like the smell).

Man... I don't know what in hell they put on that rinds, but the smell was somewhat "corrosive" - the damned thing wasn't hot, but yet I "smelled" it down the throat. I thought I was done, "great! I just burnt my right lung". Fortunately, I was wrong.

TL;DR: never allows pork fat to burn inside the bag - and never try to smell anything inside the bag after opening, even if cooled down.

(And I probably will never buy microwave pork rinds again)

Edited June 1 by Lisias
Kraken damned keyboard...

[kerbiloid]

They just added some mustard

Spoiler

 

Edited June 1 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

On 5/18/2024 at 2:37 PM, DDE said:

So, this is an ersatz computer problem thread, right?

I've got a six-year-old GE75 Raider laptop. Before going away last week I figured I need to give its battery some practice for the first time in half a year or so. That morphed into looking for battery conservation methods, which mean capping max charge, which required me to update the Dragon control center app. I succeeded at that, with a few false starts.

Here's the problem: the laptop now idles with Fan 1 at 2400 RPM, and the fan makes a quiet but steady whine resembling a distant washing machine. My problem is that I'm not sure when it started. I think it's new and not me just noticing it after being away from it for a week. I'm also not sure if it's something new as a result of my nighttime meddling with the Dragon app - not the least because the actual washing machine was on downstairs.

So, this is an ersatz computer problem thread, right?

I've got a six-year-old GE75 Raider laptop. Before going away last week I figured I need to give its battery some practice for the first time in half a year or so. That morphed into looking for battery conservation methods, which mean capping max charge, which required me to update the Dragon control center app. I succeeded at that, with a few false starts.

Here's the problem: the laptop now idles with Fan 1 at 2400 RPM, and the fan makes a quiet but steady whine resembling a distant washing machine. My problem is that I'm not sure when it started. I think it's new and not me just noticing it after being away from it for a week. I'm also not sure if it's something new as a result of my nighttime meddling with the Dragon app - not the least because the actual washing machine was on downstairs.

It could just be a loose piece of dandruff or cat fur that fell in there during that one week the laptop was stored. The noise is particular to the idling RPM. I've excluded coil whine - which a lot of sources were talking about.

To be entirely fair, the laptop has not received any maintenance in said six years. And I dread having to deal with a notoriously fraud-ridden field...

Behold! My furry laptop!

Absolutely no temperature reduction from replacing five-year-old paste (jogged my memory of the age of the laptop by looking at the parts inside), but the fans definitely work a lot better now.

[LHACK4142]

Paperwork, emails, and more paperwork.  Why is concurrent enrollment such an absolute pain in the ass?  I just want to enroll in a class- let me push a button, not sign form after form and deal with person after person!  Ugh I hate emailing people.

[Lisias]

8 hours ago, LHACK4142 said:

Paperwork, emails, and more paperwork.  Why is concurrent enrollment such an absolute pain in the ass?  I just want to enroll in a class- let me push a button, not sign form after form and deal with person after person!  Ugh I hate emailing people.

Last time I got problems on College, I had to drive half the campus to talk to different coordinators - each one on a different building, each building about 5 to 6 KM from the other.

Send the emails and stop complaining - trust me on this one, you are good!

[kerbiloid]

The Xtro-verts are doing this intentionally, to turn the introverts' life into hell.

Spoiler

 

They invented the so-called "soft skills" to devalue the introverts' intellectual superiority.

They even deny the obvious fact that the cats are more clever than the dogs.

The cats have more simple brain, but better use the firmware software.

Upd.
While an introvert is calmly riding along the lovely night road and thinking about really important things, the Xtro-vert is trying to catch him and initiate the process of interpersonal social interaction.

Spoiler

 

Edited June 5 by kerbiloid

[SunlitZelkova]

My dad and I were talking about how he wants to buy an Insta360 (basically a GoPro but better) for when he rides his motorcycle, and then when I opened my phone 30 minutes later I was bombarded by Insta360 ads on Instagram, specifically for use with motorcycles... despite never having seen such an ad before and never searching for motorcycle related topics.

There's definitely a privacy issue with phones and it has nothing to do with whether the apps come from the US or China. This century liquides me off sometimes.

[kerbiloid]

It's strange that they never send rocketry or nuke ads, based on my browser story.

Though, about a year I was receiving Kazakh and so movies/music in the youtube right band, after once searching for a single movie in google.

***

Meanwhile, I keep receiving montly a phone call from unknown number and a anti-spam suggestion SMS from the phone provider, ringing together at once, in the very same moment.

[DDE]

Yep, I'm now officially convinced the Steam Community is ran entirely by hired bots.

Otherwise I can't explain the usual line-up of meaningless positive comments and emojis under a "Snowrunner DLC Unlocker" video. Oh, is that what they're calling it now?

[Iapetus7342]

4 Words. Corporations corrupting the internet. I cannot tell you how mad this makes me- in fact, i think i can.

These corporations try to ram ads into my face every single time i try to do something. And if you use adblocks? Well, try it on Youtube and you'll see what they might do in the future. Plus, they try to put AI, an already touchy thing, into everything. AND THEY AREN'T EVEN ACCURATE. Like, C'MON! At least try to not draw from joke Reddit answers! All they see you as is walking moneybags. So yeah, that's my vent for this forum post.

[DDE]

3 hours ago, Iapetus7342 said:

And if you use adblocks? Well, try it on Youtube and you'll see what they might do in the future.

Meanwhile, it's been over two years of Youtube refusing to show me or the entire country any ads... But I remember accessing it in various indirect ways and being shocked at the sheer amount of ads they plaster onto videos nowadays.

[Nuke]

4 hours ago, Iapetus7342 said:

4 Words. Corporations corrupting the internet. I cannot tell you how mad this makes me- in fact, i think i can.

These corporations try to ram ads into my face every single time i try to do something. And if you use adblocks? Well, try it on Youtube and you'll see what they might do in the future. Plus, they try to put AI, an already touchy thing, into everything. AND THEY AREN'T EVEN ACCURATE. Like, C'MON! At least try to not draw from joke Reddit answers! All they see you as is walking moneybags. So yeah, that's my vent for this forum post.

no ads, videos work. maybe stop using chrome.  using firefox and ublock. so far the adblockers are winning the arms race.

ive always questioned the psychological impact of constant ad bombing. im convinced some of the ads and cartoons aimed at children are making them autistic. and it makes adults with tons of money think they are poor. especially when the messaging is often "use our product or you are worthless".

Edited June 8 by Nuke

[kerbiloid]

Idk about the autism, but the cartoons are definitely a source of degradation at least for last two decades.

The children emulate the idiotic screaming voices, the mannered habits, the perverted logic, they can't focus on something longer than for several seconds, and so on. From the early childhood they use to be the typical cartoon characters.

It began in early XX, with the disgustingly unnatural, emphasized expression of emotions in the Disney cartoons, but is reaching its top nowadays.

Another part of it are the cartoon character suits, interacting with children in parks and other trading/recreational places.
They deform the kid psychics by ensuring it that it indeed lives in a cartoon world.

Cartoons are evil.

They replace real human world with cadavers.

[Nuke]

im convinced spongebob causes adhd. my sister is totally adhd, and she did nothing growing up but eat sugar and watch cartoons.

Edited June 9 by Nuke

[SunlitZelkova]

2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

They replace real human world with cadavers.

I was reading a book about psychology and the media and it talked about how if you sell something as being real, it can become real in the minds of those who see the video/movie/show/whatever.

I think we often forget that history is just a story and TV shows are just made up.

So people in countries that have fortunate winds upon them think the road their ancestors took to get there is the only way to keep things good, lose creativity, end up basically slamming their head into a wall over and over again when confronted with a new problem, and of course it doesn't work and the society in question collapses. Story becomes reality (law) and we lose creativity when it comes to problem solving.

People see TV shows and think that what is depicted on TV is the only way to go about life. So people set unrealistically high expectations for relationships and can't keep up with the stress of... acting (wink wink)... in a certain way and eventually break up or divorce, or set high expectations for their own life (wanting daring adventures on yachts and snowmobiles, flings with pretty people, high physical fitness, eat delicious food, have satisfying job, etc.) and when it doesn't turn out that way they just become depressed and start making bad decisions.

Looking at the mess of the world makes me think when it comes to the humanities, looking back on past ideas has more negative effects than positive ones. I wish people could forget about whatever happened in the past, identify the problems now, and make new solutions for them from a clean slate, without the sort of chains or binders that seem to shape people's behavior. And I wish people would look at TV shows, movies, advertising, and even music and go "okay, cool" and then ignore it and make their own decisions about what their values are and what they want to do in life.

Unfortunately my wishes may not be realistic as learning from the prior generation may be the very way humans learn to live in the world, survive, and thrive. So every generation keeps making mistakes, and so does the next one, and then the next one, forever until the universe winks out of existence or the last malnourished human dies in 2978 or whenever humanity goes extinct.

Oh, that actually leads me to an interesting question: what if human-level intelligence is a negative trait in a species? Humans often make fun of dinosaurs for lacking intelligence and thus being unable to prevent their extinction, but they lived for 135 million years and humans have been around for like 2-5 million tops. We are literally in the middle of a major extinction event we caused and we might not escape it. I guess we can't say for sure until the day all humans actually cease to exist.

[Nuke]

it always amused me how environmentalists always seem to have the latest model of smart phone. or how you can find a "save the environment" bumper stickers on jacked up gas guzzling suvs and pickups. or how people with decent houses, jobs and cars still consider themselves poor.  people develop values and then ignore them out of convenience or desire.

[kerbiloid]

More newer = more greener.

They just care of the smartphone engine exhaust.

[Nuke]

2 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

More newer = more greener.

They just care of the smartphone engine exhaust.

funny ive been having this argument on hack a day about am radio. the old timey radio guys want to keep this ancient stalwart running while simultaneously complaining about interference from switch mode power supplies (which are now even more ubiquitous than am radio receivers). a case of clunky old tech vs efficient new tech.

[DDE]

4 hours ago, Nuke said:

how you can find a "save the environment" bumper stickers on jacked up gas guzzling suvs and pickups

Only because you can't stick them on a private jet.

So many climate conferences to attend, and the celebrity evangelists are in a great rush...

P.S. Go big or go home. If your private jet can't make Mach 2, I'm not interested.

[Nuke]

pretty sure the irony was intentional. the vehicle in question had an 18 inch lift kit and truck nuts. pretty sure the exhaust was modded too, no catalytic, cut out muffler, and huge pipes.

Edited June 10 by Nuke

[Nuke]

i watched the last season of star trek discovery. what can i say im a completionist, i dont like watching half shows.  while it is orders of magnitude better that the previous two seasons, its still trash. if you would have added a talking great dane and a mystery machine paintjob for the title vessel it might have worked. and then they ruined the breen on top of it. i am so sick of mystery boxes, especially season long mystery boxes (and basing it off one of the weakest two parters of tng's run). perhaps they should try opening the mystery box from the hellraiser franchise instead.

the first two episodes and the second to last were really fast paced to the point of requiring dramamine. the constant verbose dialogue during action sequences detracts from both. especially when its of a relationship nature. the fact that these people did not get past their high school drama before finishing at the academy is somewhat disconcerting. the lower deckers on the ceritos are more mature (lower decks does it too but in a much less annoying way). bonny and breen clyde ended predictably. as did the mystery box. especially the puzzles i solved immediately when they took half an episode. saving the iss enterprise (no bloody a) towing it back to the fleet and then never showing it again. the end was a long drawn out bit of fluff likely to promote a sequel which will likely never happen (i care very little for the post burn timeline). also trying to tie up that short trek that never went anywhere.

so i did like a few things. first off the new first officer (i never got his name or species, im sure it was burred in the excessively verbose mumbled dialogue somewhere). but its nice to have someone of a get stuff done nature in an ocean of inefficient undisciplined time wasters. saroo getting hitched was nice, but i dont like how they cut to the end and didnt show the ceremony. they brought back tilly but somehow made her more annoying than usual, but never made her a captain. the thing i liked most however was that this abomination of a show is now over and i can now purge it from my storage and eventually memory and thats going to require a lot of jim beam.

Edited June 11 by Nuke