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Minor things that bother you

Started by planxtymcgillicuddy, November 27, 2019, 12:15:11 AM

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GaryV

How else are they going to keep track of which snow-mageddon they are talking about this week?
"You mean the storm of the century that hit last week?"
"No, the storm of the century that we're predicting for Tuesday."


hotdogPi

Quote from: GaryV on January 17, 2022, 07:48:27 AM
How else are they going to keep track of which snow-mageddon they are talking about this week?
"You mean the storm of the century that hit last week?"
"No, the storm of the century that we're predicting for Tuesday."

Early January 2022, mid-January 2022, late January 2022. This naming system allows about 10 days between them.

(year not required when talking about the current one or one that just happened, but useful for those in the past)
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

1995hoo

Quote from: hbelkins on January 16, 2022, 09:56:34 PM
Government agencies that use Weather Channel winter storm names in their press releases.

Those annoy the crap out of me. I don't watch the Weather Channel, and NO weatherman I've heard on either the TV or the radio uses those stupid names. If the Weather Channel considers themselves to have such a high and mighty position, why don't they try to impose their own hurricane names instead of what the National Hurricane Center puts out?
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

formulanone

Quote from: cl94 on January 16, 2022, 10:29:52 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on January 16, 2022, 09:56:34 PM
Government agencies that use Weather Channel winter storm names in their press releases.

Oh god. Those stupid Weather Channel names can burn in a fire.

I hear this complaint every year, and yet it doesn't go away. Maybe the name is not that big a deal?

#noworsethananyothercryptichashtag

jeffandnicole

Quote from: formulanone on January 17, 2022, 08:37:16 AM
Quote from: cl94 on January 16, 2022, 10:29:52 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on January 16, 2022, 09:56:34 PM
Government agencies that use Weather Channel winter storm names in their press releases.

Oh god. Those stupid Weather Channel names can burn in a fire.

I hear this complaint every year, and yet it doesn't go away. Maybe the name is not that big a deal?

#noworsethananyothercryptichashtag

No, but the Weather Channel is nearly irrelevant in the weather business as they have switched to mostly 30 and 60 minute shows. It's basically free advertising if they can get people talking about their naming of storms.

Of course, notice that no one ever says, hey, do you remember snowstorm Carl? No. They remember they had 20 inches of snow to shovel.

formulanone

Quote from: jeffandnicole on January 17, 2022, 09:08:54 AM

Of course, notice that no one ever says, hey, do you remember snowstorm Carl? No. They remember they had 20 inches of snow to shovel.

That's why I think it's irrelevant, and not worth getting annoyed about it. I think there's a tendency to Give Everything a Name/Title, to give it "historic meaning".

People coin new words all the time; some catch on, some get forgotten, and others are lost to irrelevance.

ZLoth

The Weather Channel was a good channel until it's sale by Landmark Communications (now Landmark Media Enterprises) in January, 2008 to NBC Universal. In the months after the sale, they laid off many long-time meteorologists from that channel. It had gotten so bad that in 2014, there was a carriage dispute with DirecTV where, not only the per-subscriber fees cited as a dispute item, but also the complaints in regards to the programming at that time, including the high amount of reality programming.

I prefer to get my weather information from online sources such as weather.gov. When there are thunderstorms in my area, I have a Lightning Map on a second monitor. When there are tornadoes in the forecast, there are several YouTubers who I tune to to show the latest tornado tracks.

And, as for naming anything less than a hurricane, that is going to cause issues with kids who share the same name as the storm.
I'm an Engineer. That means I solve problems. Not problems like "What is beauty?", because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I solve practical problems and call them "paychecks".

thenetwork

If they ever name one of those snowstorms "Cantore",...


And speaking of the other weather channels,  I can't stand that they like running the same non-severe weather segments over and over for an hour or 2 before they do it again.  Pure laziness.

CtrlAltDel

The names don't really bother me, although I would prefer if they were given by a more official organization. I'd be okay with a numbering system or anything else along those lines, too, since it does seem helpful to distinguish among storms that occur near one another, in both time and space.

Quote from: ZLoth on January 17, 2022, 10:32:28 AM
And, as for naming anything less than a hurricane, that is going to cause issues with kids who share the same name as the storm.

I assure you, it causes problems with kids who share their names with hurricanes as well. I know, I have a cousin named Katrina.
Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)

ZLoth

Quote from: CtrlAltDel on January 17, 2022, 11:59:53 AMI assure you, it causes problems with kids who share their names with hurricanes as well. I know, I have a cousin named Katrina.

Still better than "Karen". (My mother is named Karin as well)
I'm an Engineer. That means I solve problems. Not problems like "What is beauty?", because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I solve practical problems and call them "paychecks".

Scott5114

If you like what Weather Channel used to be, there's a WeatherStar 4000 emulator that downloads weather data from NWS and displays it in the format of a mid-90s Weather Channel local weather segment (what they now call "Local on the 8s"). Takes a little bit of tinkering to set up but it's pretty cool.

If I ever had the money to splurge on it, I would set up a Raspberry Pi or something with it running on a loop and hook it up to one of the HDMI slots on my TV, so I could have "the weather channel" without all of the bullshit.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

abefroman329

Quote from: Scott5114 on January 17, 2022, 01:50:42 PM
If you like what Weather Channel used to be, there's a WeatherStar 4000 emulator that downloads weather data from NWS and displays it in the format of a mid-90s Weather Channel local weather segment (what they now call "Local on the 8s"). Takes a little bit of tinkering to set up but it's pretty cool.

If I ever had the money to splurge on it, I would set up a Raspberry Pi or something with it running on a loop and hook it up to one of the HDMI slots on my TV, so I could have "the weather channel" without all of the bullshit.
If it also played instrumental Phish songs like they used to do in the early 2000s, I'd be in.

Big John

Quote from: 1995hoo on January 17, 2022, 08:13:04 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on January 16, 2022, 09:56:34 PM
Government agencies that use Weather Channel winter storm names in their press releases.

Those annoy the crap out of me. I don't watch the Weather Channel, and NO weatherman I've heard on either the TV or the radio uses those stupid names. If the Weather Channel considers themselves to have such a high and mighty position, why don't they try to impose their own hurricane names instead of what the National Hurricane Center puts out?
The Green Bay TV stations uses their own names for snowstorms.

Scott5114

Quote from: abefroman329 on January 17, 2022, 03:01:16 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 17, 2022, 01:50:42 PM
If you like what Weather Channel used to be, there's a WeatherStar 4000 emulator that downloads weather data from NWS and displays it in the format of a mid-90s Weather Channel local weather segment (what they now call "Local on the 8s"). Takes a little bit of tinkering to set up but it's pretty cool.

If I ever had the money to splurge on it, I would set up a Raspberry Pi or something with it running on a loop and hook it up to one of the HDMI slots on my TV, so I could have "the weather channel" without all of the bullshit.
If it also played instrumental Phish songs like they used to do in the early 2000s, I'd be in.

Good news–you can configure a playlist with whatever you want, including instrumental Phish songs if you have a copy of them. (I have mine set to play video game music.) It even has separate playlists for each season, so you can select music appropriate to the time of year.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

thenetwork

If they ever name one of those snowstorms "Cantore",...


And speaking of the other weather channels,  I can't stand that they like running the same non-severe weather segments over and over for an hour or 2 before they do it again.  Pure laziness.

Scott5114

Quote from: thenetwork on January 17, 2022, 07:29:12 PM
If they ever name one of those snowstorms "Cantore",...


And speaking of the other weather channels,  I can't stand that they like running the same non-severe weather segments over and over for an hour or 2 before they do it again.  Pure laziness.

I was about to delete this post as a duplicate, but then I realized that maybe you like running the same post over and over for 8 hours before you do it again.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

TheHighwayMan3561

#3341
When I want dessert and the server just brings the check without asking if I want dessert, which I'm not going to go to the hassle of telling them I'm not done, then forcing them to run off and get me dessert and a new check, etc. Their loss.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

Scott5114

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on January 18, 2022, 01:19:41 AM
When I want dessert and the server just brings the check without asking if I want dessert, which I'm not going to go to the hassle of telling them I'm not done, then forcing them to run off and get me dessert and a new check, etc. Their loss.

As someone who rarely wants dessert, I appreciate the waiters who show up with the check in hand, but ask if there's anyone who wants dessert before handing it over. That seems like the smoothest way to handle both answers to the question–dessert-getters are still presented the option with no fuss, but dessert-decliners get to have the check immediately so they can be on their way more quickly. Best of both worlds.

More annoying is when you're in a party that wants to split the check and the waiter presents a single check without asking if it's on one check or separate. This should always be asked–I have taken friends of the opposite gender out to lunch or something to celebrate something or catch up, and they put it on one check, I guess because they assume we're on a date. Bonus obnoxious points when they present the check specifically to the male instead of placing it midway between the two diners–when my wife and I went on dates before we were married, we would take turns paying.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

jeffandnicole

Quote from: Scott5114 on January 18, 2022, 01:43:50 AM
More annoying is when you're in a party that wants to split the check and the waiter presents a single check without asking if it's on one check or separate. This should always be asked–I have taken friends of the opposite gender out to lunch or something to celebrate something or catch up, and they put it on one check, I guess because they assume we're on a date. Bonus obnoxious points when they present the check specifically to the male instead of placing it midway between the two diners–when my wife and I went on dates before we were married, we would take turns paying.

The diners are responsible to say they want separate checks, and this should be done prior to any ordering. While some servers may ask large parties if they'll want separate checks, if it's two people, that would be treated as an insult to many couples.

It can also be difficult, along with time consuming, for a server to separate out a check at the end of a service. If the people at the table don't remember what they ordered and don't want to take the time to figure it out themselves, it shouldn't be expected for the server to do it for you.

oscar

Quote from: jeffandnicole on January 18, 2022, 01:59:39 AM
The diners are responsible to say they want separate checks, and this should be done prior to any ordering. While some servers may ask large parties if they'll want separate checks, if it's two people, that would be treated as an insult to many couples.

It can also be difficult, along with time consuming, for a server to separate out a check at the end of a service. If the people at the table don't remember what they ordered and don't want to take the time to figure it out themselves, it shouldn't be expected for the server to do it for you.

This became standard practice for road meets, after a rather disastrous experience with asking for separate checks at the end of lunch rather than the beginning. It took the server about half an hour to reconstruct separate checks, which the server was expecting to be covered by one check for our group. That meant a late start for our meet tour.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

J N Winkler

It sometimes happens that desserts are nominally on the menu but dessert orders are not welcome, at least at busy times, as the margins don't justify the added delay in turning over the table.  This is one of the things I typically play by ear.

The more serious problem, in my experience, is showing up hungry at an establishment that has an alcohol license, only to find--after being seated--that the kitchen has closed and no food (with the possible exception of microwave-reheatable finger foods) is available.  This can usually be avoided by showing up no later than eight PM (preferably seven PM in really small towns), but that can't always be arranged on long hauls that entail driving well into the evening.
"It is necessary to spend a hundred lire now to save a thousand lire later."--Piero Puricelli, explaining the need for a first-class road system to Benito Mussolini

Bruce

Speaking of naming weather-ish phenomena: wildfires are named for wherever they were first discovered and aren't usually updated to reflect the full scope (like earthquakes are). As such, names like the "Camp Fire" (named for Camp Creek Road) were used instead of something more logical "Paradise Fire" or "Butte Canyon Fire".

Scott5114

Quote from: jeffandnicole on January 18, 2022, 01:59:39 AM
The diners are responsible to say they want separate checks, and this should be done prior to any ordering. While some servers may ask large parties if they'll want separate checks, if it's two people, that would be treated as an insult to many couples.

It can also be difficult, along with time consuming, for a server to separate out a check at the end of a service. If the people at the table don't remember what they ordered and don't want to take the time to figure it out themselves, it shouldn't be expected for the server to do it for you.

It is always in the interest of someone who is owed money to ensure that the accounting is done correctly. If they fail to, they're apt to not get paid properly. (Who's responsible for adding up the total at the grocery store?)

In my experience, around here, if I'm in a group of more than about three or so, after the entrees have been delivered but before bringing the check, the server will ask at some point (usually during drink refills) "Is this all on one check, or separate?" Based on some of the receipts I've gotten, my understanding is that the register systems used by modern restaurants require the server to enter the ticket, separated by guest, at the time the order is initially placed (this process is probably also what communicates the order to the kitchen). Then when it comes time to print the checks, it is trivial to put "Guest 1" and "Guest 2" on one ticket and "Guest 3" on another.

I'm usually pretty forgiving about service mistakes, but botching the billing process is a sure-fire way to be dropped from our restaurant rotation. It's such a basic function of a restaurant that there are enough of them that can get it right, so there's no need to tolerate the ones that can't.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Scott5114

Quote from: Bruce on January 18, 2022, 03:02:47 AM
Speaking of naming weather-ish phenomena: wildfires are named for wherever they were first discovered and aren't usually updated to reflect the full scope (like earthquakes are). As such, names like the "Camp Fire" (named for Camp Creek Road) were used instead of something more logical "Paradise Fire" or "Butte Canyon Fire".

I figured whoever picked the name for the Camp Fire was probably thinking they were really funny at the time. (Notice it wasn't the Camp Creek fire.) Then it became a major disaster and it wasn't funny anymore.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

hotdogPi

Interestingly, it doesn't matter that much to me. While I've always almost had it as one check, I created a Python program that determines how much each person pays after tax and tip, rounded to the nearest dollar, using the Huntington-Hill algorithm. It also takes into account coupons and comped items (you're supposed to tip on the original). We almost always pay cash. This means that even if we did want it split and it came out as one check, it wouldn't make a difference.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.



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