Minor things that bother you

[1995hoo]

^But it still takes longer to wash the dishes than hand washing. Unless I'm misinterpreting.

The one in my apartment typically takes a couple hours to run, which yeah is probably longer than it'd take to wash the dishes by hand, but it's so much less effort and time that I spend dealing with the dishes. I can go be productive in other ways while the dishwasher is running, or I can run it while I'm sleeping late at night.

These two points are the key. We usually put our dishwasher on "delay start" for when we're asleep so that we don't have to hear it running if we're watching TV or reading on the other side of our kitchen/family room space. But even if we ran it immediately, the idea that the dishwasher "takes longer" is somewhat misleading because using it frees up your time. When you wash dishes by hand, you're limited in what else you can do while you're doing that–I suppose you can turn on the TV (though I find it hard to concentrate on watching something and I have to turn up the volume because of when I turn on the water) or listen to music, but there's not a whole lot else you can do. So while from a hypertechnical standpoint the dishwasher itself might take longer depending on how much you have to wash, it's somewhat of an apples-to-oranges comparison because it doesn't account for what you can do with your time. You can go take a dump, for example, which you probably can't do while you wash dishes unless your living space has a very unusual arrangement. (I'm now visualizing the Seinfeld episode when Kramer turned his shower into a kitchen.)

(We normally set the dishwasher to "Air Dry" too. No reason to use the heated dry because we run it at night and the dishes can then air-dry in the dishwasher overnight. At most we have to dry off the bases of upside-down top-rack stuff like coffee mugs or bowls.)

[SectorZ]

I certainly have trouble believing that a dishwasher uses less water than washing dishes by hand.

https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/how-much-water-do-dishwashers-use/

"Getting them clean in the sink can use up to 27 gallons of water per load. An Energy Star certified dishwasher can use as little as 3 gallons per load"

[ZLoth]

One of the things I did two years ago was get some 7.5" Round White Plates. This got my mother unhappy because I was "wasting money", but later saw the value. Smaller plates meant more room for plates, especially when microwaving small items. I usually wait with dishwashing until I'm out of plates, cutlery, or pet food bowls, then do it at night. It takes 3½ hours to do a load, and I end up emptying the dishwasher when I wake up at 2:30 AM. (damn those six years of being on overnight).

[Scott5114]

There's also the issue of volume.  I can only hand wash so much at once due to limited drying room.  Plus the soap only lasts so long before the sponge has mostly water.  I'm probably not doing it right (I put some soap on either my spatula or a plate depending on whether I'm using the dishwasher for most things or not; I always have to handwash some because the frying pan I use for eggs is non-stick and I need both it and the spatula everyday anyways; and then I just re-use the now soapy sponge until I'm done), but that's what happens when you teach yourself with no reference.

If the dishwasher is not actively being used for its intended purpose, it is basically just a huge drying rack.

I certainly have trouble believing that a dishwasher uses less water than washing dishes by hand.

https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/how-much-water-do-dishwashers-use/

"Getting them clean in the sink can use up to 27 gallons of water per load. An Energy Star certified dishwasher can use as little as 3 gallons per load"

For those wondering how this is possible, it's because instead of going through the rinse cycle with water fresh from the tap (as is your only choice when washing by hand), it recirculates water through the machine.

^But it still takes longer to wash the dishes than hand washing. Unless I'm misinterpreting.

The only reason this would matter is if I need a specific dish (usually a cooking utensil or pan) right away. That's on me for not running the dishwasher right after using the pan, though. I'll let the sink fill with dirty dishes, then when I have a washer load, I'll just run it and walk away. I normally run it after all of the meals for the day are likely to be done.

[J N Winkler]

Today's minor thing:  files that have digital signatures attached, so file associations will not launch them for casual viewing.

Example:

001_DPBO0329-D-20-T00-EG00-GEN-EE01-J.pdf.p7m

instead of

001_DPBO0329-D-20-T00-EG00-GEN-EE01-J.pdf

This means I have to unpack compressed archives (if they come to me inside zips) and then fire up OpenSSL to strip off the signatures just so I can look at them.

Code Select Expand

"C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-Win64\bin\openssl.exe" smime -inform DER -verify -in "001_DPBO0329-D-20-T00-EG00-GEN-EE01-J.pdf.p7m" -noverify -binary -out "001_DPBO0329-D-20-T00-EG00-GEN-EE01-J.pdf"

[roadman65]

The fact you can't use certain characters in a file name like this one "/" as the computer will refuse so dated files have to be 1-1-23 for January 1, 2023.

[1995hoo]

The fact you can't use certain characters in a file name like this one "/" as the computer will refuse so dated files have to be 1-1-23 for January 1, 2023.

I would use hyphens, never slashes, to write the date anyway. But for purposes of dating a file, I find the ISO standard of year-month-day works better (e.g., 2023-02-08) because it forces Windows to sort properly if you sort by filename. If you use month-day-year, it'll sort all the Januarys (Januaries?) together regardless of year, then all the Februarys (Februaries?), etc.

[ZLoth]

The fact you can't use certain characters in a file name like this one "/" as the computer will refuse so dated files have to be 1-1-23 for January 1, 2023.

This goes back to the MS-DOS days when we used Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) instead of GUIs (Graphic User Interface), and Microsoft having to be different. The forward slash "/" is a directory separator on non-Windows systems while on Windows, its a command line argument (e.g. dir /-D /P) instead of dashes. Microsoft uses backslashes "\" as directory separators. Unix systems uses dashes to pass command line arguments.

I would use hyphens, never slashes, to write the date anyway. But for purposes of dating a file, I find the ISO standard of year-month-day works better (e.g., 2023-02-08) because it forces Windows to sort properly if you sort by filename. If you use month-day-year, it'll sort all the Januarys (Januaries?) together regardless of year, then all the Februarys (Februaries?), etc.

I actually have the ShareX Screenshot Utility set up to dump my screen captures to the %y\%mo subdirectories with a %y-%mo-%d %h-%mi-%s for screen captures and %y-%mo-%d %h-%mi-%s %t for window captures on my personal computer. So, if I took the screen shot today, it would be named 2023-02-08 14-20-35.png and stored on the directory \\truenas\screenshots\ShareX\2023\02\ on my TrueNAS server. I know, very technical, but works great when set up.

[Scott5114]

Yeah, if I had a file named "Bank Statement 2/8/23.pdf" that would be a file named 23.pdf in a folder called "8" in a folder called "Bank Statement 2".

As other posters mentioned, I just don't use slashes for dates and it solves the problem. (I don't use spaces in file names either, just hyphens or underscores, because spaces are used to separate commands and their arguments on the shell, and handling file names with spaces in them is therefore awkward.)

[MultiMillionMiler]

I actually had a problem recently reagrding pumping gas. Is it normal for a pump to constantly click off every half a gallon that goes in? Many times I was almost empty, and almost immediately when starting to pump it would click off as it it was full. I have tried very gently squeezing it so that only .1 gallons/second were going in, or slower (in case it was backwash) and it still does the same thing. No matter how I adjust the angle or position the nosel, it does the same thing, and I have had this problem across many pumps. It takes me up to 15 minutes to finish getting gas with this problem.

[Max Rockatansky]

I actually had a problem recently reagrding pumping gas. Is it normal for a pump to constantly click off every half a gallon that goes in? Many times I was almost empty, and almost immediately when starting to pump it would click off as it it was full. I have tried very gently squeezing it so that only .1 gallons/second were going in, or slower (in case it was backwash) and it still does the same thing. No matter how I adjust the angle or position the nosel, it does the same thing, and I have had this problem across many pumps. It takes me up to 15 minutes to finish getting gas with this problem.

Does what you drive have a cap-less fuel filler?

[Scott5114]

There may just be something particular about your gas tank that causes that. I have to struggle to fill my Pontiac more than 7/8 full, no matter where I fill up, whereas the same gas pumps had no problem overfilling the Chrysler I drove before.

[MultiMillionMiler]

I actually had a problem recently reagrding pumping gas. Is it normal for a pump to constantly click off every half a gallon that goes in? Many times I was almost empty, and almost immediately when starting to pump it would click off as it it was full. I have tried very gently squeezing it so that only .1 gallons/second were going in, or slower (in case it was backwash) and it still does the same thing. No matter how I adjust the angle or position the nosel, it does the same thing, and I have had this problem across many pumps. It takes me up to 15 minutes to finish getting gas with this problem.

Does what you drive have a cap-less fuel filler?

No, there's a cap that you twist on.

[J N Winkler]

I had a similar issue with my 1986 Nissan Maxima:  the shutoff on some pumps would trip prematurely, sometimes after pumping just two gallons into the almost-empty 15-gallon tank.  This happened more frequently when pumping gas fast, so I always set the trigger on the detent that corresponds to lowest flow rate.  On some pumps this was just not slow enough to avoid problems.

My suggestion would be to try hand-feeding at a slow trickle and see if the behavior goes away.

[Max Rockatansky]

When I had this issue on my 2012 Fiesta the problem was a bad sensor.  The sensor thought my car was full at all times until I was able to get a replacement.  Filling up took a similar amount of time as described above. 

[MultiMillionMiler]

I had a similar issue with my 1986 Nissan Maxima:  the shutoff on some pumps would trip prematurely, sometimes after pumping just two gallons into the almost-empty 15-gallon tank.  This happened more frequently when pumping gas fast, so I always set the trigger on the detent that corresponds to lowest flow rate.  On some pumps this was just not slow enough to avoid problems.

My suggestion would be to try hand-feeding at a slow trickle and see if the behavior goes away.

That is what I do. At the pumps I've gone to, I've never been able to use a switch/lever to lock it in place. So I would squeeze it just barely so it would take several seconds just for a tenth of a gallon to go in at a time, and it still does it. Maybe there's something blocking the intake tube? Like a layer of metal that came loose and is dangling in the way?

You can imagine the frustration in Jersey, where you can't even pump it yourself, leaving woth only 8 gallons when I know for a fact there was room for 12 lol

[J N Winkler]

That is what I do. At the pumps I've gone to, I've never been able to use a switch/lever to lock it in place. So I would squeeze it just barely so it would take several seconds just for a tenth of a gallon to go in at a time, and it still does it. Maybe there's something blocking the intake tube? Like a layer of metal that came loose and is dangling in the way?

A plugged tank vent is one possibility.

Jalopnik article on various causes of premature shutoff

You live in a state and an area of the country that tends to be quite heavily regulated, so it doesn't surprise me gas pumps don't have nozzle trigger detents.  I don't think I have ever seen them in Canada or Britain either.

You can imagine the frustration in Jersey, where you can't even pump it yourself, leaving with only 8 gallons when I know for a fact there was room for 12 lol

Many years ago I left Bend, Oregon eastbound on US 20.  I had to start backtracking at Brothers when I realized the only gas station in town was closed and I didn't have enough fuel to make it to Burns.  Back at Bend, the attendant at the gas station handed me a receipt for about two gallons' worth of gas and was all ready to say goodbye, clearly thinking the tank was full when in fact it needed at least another 11 gallons.  (Oregon at the time had mandatory full-serve everywhere.)

[hbelkins]

Y'all may have noticed that a lot of my entries are language-related.

Heard/read one not long ago that grates all over me like the proverbial squeak on a chalkboard.

"For all intensive purposes..."



It's "intents and purposes."

[abefroman329]

"tow the line"
"touch bases"
to a lesser extent, "chomping at the bit"

And I don't care if it's grammatically correct, but I hate it when people use "ask" as a noun/synonym for "question" or "request"

[ethanhopkin14]

Y'all may have noticed that a lot of my entries are language-related.

Heard/read one not long ago that grates all over me like the proverbial squeak on a chalkboard.

"For all intensive purposes..."



It's "intents and purposes."

"Its a mute point"

butt naked vs. buck naked.  That one really infuriates me because I feel like it is the embodiment of my generation.  Hear something said, lazily repeat it and not really get it correct but think you nailed it, and never do the research on the saying and where it actually came from and why. 

[1995hoo]

....

butt naked vs. buck naked.  That one really infuriates me because I feel like it is the embodiment of my generation.  Hear something said, lazily repeat it and not really get it correct but think you nailed it, and never do the research on the saying and where it actually came from and why. 

That one is an example of a popular usage that is incorrect but that, in some ways, might not be such a bad change. The term "buck" was historically used as a way of referring to male slaves and acquired negative connotations as a result, such that "buck naked" often referred to slaves toiling naked in the cotton fields.

[abefroman329]

....

butt naked vs. buck naked.  That one really infuriates me because I feel like it is the embodiment of my generation.  Hear something said, lazily repeat it and not really get it correct but think you nailed it, and never do the research on the saying and where it actually came from and why. 

That one is an example of a popular usage that is incorrect but that, in some ways, might not be such a bad change. The term "buck" was historically used as a way of referring to male slaves and acquired negative connotations as a result, such that "buck naked" often referred to slaves toiling naked in the cotton fields.

Really?  Well, shit.  Glad I liked "butt naked" better anyway.

[formulanone]

....

butt naked vs. buck naked.  That one really infuriates me because I feel like it is the embodiment of my generation.  Hear something said, lazily repeat it and not really get it correct but think you nailed it, and never do the research on the saying and where it actually came from and why. 

That one is an example of a popular usage that is incorrect but that, in some ways, might not be such a bad change. The term "buck" was historically used as a way of referring to male slaves and acquired negative connotations as a result, such that "buck naked" often referred to slaves toiling naked in the cotton fields.

Really?  Well, shit.  Glad I liked "butt naked" better anyway.

When I was younger, I figured it just had to do with whether it was full-frontal nudity or just one's rear end visible. Gotta admit "butt naked" just sounds a little less serious or less embarrassing.

to a lesser extent, "chomping at the bit"

I was today-years-old when I learned this. Never heard "champing at the bit" before, and I can't think of an instance where I've heard it said that way, probably because I've not heard the word champ used that way (even among horse owners and riders). I guess the conjugated word changed and the phrase did too, although sometimes idioms preserve fossilized bits of language that way.

[abefroman329]

....

butt naked vs. buck naked.  That one really infuriates me because I feel like it is the embodiment of my generation.  Hear something said, lazily repeat it and not really get it correct but think you nailed it, and never do the research on the saying and where it actually came from and why. 

That one is an example of a popular usage that is incorrect but that, in some ways, might not be such a bad change. The term "buck" was historically used as a way of referring to male slaves and acquired negative connotations as a result, such that "buck naked" often referred to slaves toiling naked in the cotton fields.

Really?  Well, shit.  Glad I liked "butt naked" better anyway.

When I was younger, I figured it just had to do with whether it was full-frontal nudity or just one's rear end visible.

to a lesser extent, "chomping at the bit"

I was today-years-old when I learned this. Never heard "champing at the bit" before, and I can't think of an instance where I've heard it said that way, probably because I've not heard the word champ used that way (even among horse owners and riders). I guess the conjugated word changed and the phrase did too, although sometimes idioms preserve fossilized bits of language that way.

Yeah, I only learned it from Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock ("CHAMP, Lemon!  Horses CHAMP at the bit!")

[hbelkins]

Another phrase that irritates me is "all of the sudden."

I'm used to "all of a sudden."