Minor things that bother you

[kkt]

Speaking of computers, 1 GB being 1024 MB instead of a round 1000.

1024 is round.  In binary, that the computer uses.

[JayhawkCO]

Speaking of computers, 1 GB being 1024 MB instead of a round 1000.

1024 is round.  In binary, that the computer uses.

Agreed. 1024 = 10000000000 in binary. Lots of round zeroes there.

[1995hoo]

I remember in ninth grade a teacher I didn't like (and who didn't particularly seem to like anyone) required us to maintain a grade sheet (not in itself a bad idea, of course), so to annoy her I kept mine in binary notation because my calculator allowed me to convert very easily.

[vdeane]

The most I've been able to do is use Snip & Sketch. I can't block license plate numbers or SunPass codes with it though. I also can't resize any photos.

Isn't there a pen tool that can be used to scribble over them?

That's part of paint.

On my work computer (still on Windows 10), there's a pen tool part of Snipping Tool.  It's right next to the highlighter and eraser.  Did Microsoft remove that functionality in Windows 11 or something?

[JayhawkCO]

The most I've been able to do is use Snip & Sketch. I can't block license plate numbers or SunPass codes with it though. I also can't resize any photos.

Isn't there a pen tool that can be used to scribble over them?

That's part of paint.

On my work computer (still on Windows 10), there's a pen tool part of Snipping Tool.  It's right next to the highlighter and eraser.  Did Microsoft remove that functionality in Windows 11 or something?

Nope. It's still there. Use it daily.

[ZLoth]

While Windows Snipping Tool is OK, my go-to tool for screenshot capture and editing is ShareX. As for image editing, it's Paint.net. Both are free.

Meanwhile, Google broke my email notification system because it no longer allows access to the SMTP servers via username and password. Instead, the access has to be via OAUTH2. Fortunately, my critical system, TrueNAS, supports that. As a workaround, I'm temporarily using a free plan of a SMTP service to send notifications until a permanent solution is found. I'm hoping to find a Docker container that can relay messages to Google so that I can send emails locally.

[mgk920]

Speaking of computers, 1 GB being 1024 MB instead of a round 1000.

1024 is round.  In binary, that the computer uses.

Agreed. 1024 = 10000000000 in binary. Lots of round zeroes there.

That is just like the 'odd' weight increments (in Elbs and Ozzes) that are used in Olympic weightlifting (that are most certainly in completely even 'kg' increments).

Mike

[hotdogPi]

Binary systems, such as bytes, fluid ounces to gallons and things in between, and India's pre-decimal currency, make at least some sense.

Very early on, there seemed to be a preference for numbers with a whole bunch of factors. This is why we had ancient base 60 systems, the word "hundred" in Germanic languages used to mean 120, and a pound was 240 pence. This fell out of favor a long time ago except for already existing systems; it survives in that "dozen" and "gross" are still commonly used words.

5280 is a multiple of 11. It follows neither of these.

That is just like the 'odd' weight increments (in Elbs and Ozzes) that are used in Olympic weightlifting (that are most certainly in completely even 'kg' increments).

Mike

Then you have the opposite: Canadian 355 mL soda cans that "just happen" to be 12 fluid ounces. Unlike in the US, it doesn't list both on the can.

[CtrlAltDel]

5280 is a multiple of 11. It follows neither of these.

231, the number of cubic inches in a gallon, is also a multiple of 11 and of 7 to boot as well.

[vdeane]

5280 is a multiple of 11. It follows neither of these.

231, the number of cubic inches in a gallon, is also a multiple of 11 and of 7 to boot as well.

Wasn't there some petty royal dispute or something that resulted in the inch or foot or something being redefined such that it resulted in 11 inches to a foot or something like that?  Maybe these are a relic of that, with other units staying the same.

[kurumi]

5280 is a multiple of 11. It follows neither of these.

231, the number of cubic inches in a gallon, is also a multiple of 11 and of 7 to boot as well.

Reading that, I thought "OK, that's an approximation", but I was wrong. 231 inches is the definition. Anything to avoid the metric system

[CtrlAltDel]

Anything to avoid the metric system

Well, to be fair, at the time this gallon was set, the metric system hadn't been fully adopted even in France.

[SectorZ]

This made me feel for Arizona taxpayers, and to an extent all of us with the trickle down effect of federal funding...

The Arizona State Police are running billboards to encourage police to move down there and work for them. I know this because I am literally seeing them 3,000 miles away in Massachusetts. I imagine the cost of this to potentially yield zero people is a colossal waste.

[Max Rockatansky]

Lateral transfers or new recruits?  Lateral transfers from one state to another aren't uncommon among police.  The city of Fremont in California is known for pushing similar adverts across the country.

[SEWIGuy]

This made me feel for Arizona taxpayers, and to an extent all of us with the trickle down effect of federal funding...

The Arizona State Police are running billboards to encourage police to move down there and work for them. I know this because I am literally seeing them 3,000 miles away in Massachusetts. I imagine the cost of this to potentially yield zero people is a colossal waste.

I wouldn't be surprised if this works better than you think. If someone has 10 years or so before retirement, wants to retire to a place like Arizona, and gets the new employer to relocate you to a potentially better job, I can see why it would be atractive.

BTW, my wife and I have had this exact discussion. I am probably retiring in ten years but we aren't staying where we are living now. I woulnd't mind one more job change that would take us where we want to retire.

[jeffandnicole]

This made me feel for Arizona taxpayers, and to an extent all of us with the trickle down effect of federal funding...

The Arizona State Police are running billboards to encourage police to move down there and work for them. I know this because I am literally seeing them 3,000 miles away in Massachusetts. I imagine the cost of this to potentially yield zero people is a colossal waste.

I wouldn't be surprised if this works better than you think. If someone has 10 years or so before retirement, wants to retire to a place like Arizona, and gets the new employer to relocate you to a potentially better job, I can see why it would be atractive.

BTW, my wife and I have had this exact discussion. I am probably retiring in ten years but we aren't staying where we are living now. I woulnd't mind one more job change that would take us where we want to retire.

If someone lives in a state where they must retire from law enforcement after 25 years or a certain age, and Arizona doesn't have such restrictions, I could see it being a definite enticement to work another 10 years and get another pension, and AZ benefits from not needing to train new officers on the basics.

[Max Rockatansky]

Also worth pointing out that most Arizona police departments pay to send recruits to POST Academies.  That isn't exactly cheap and you don't get a guarantee that recruits will pass.

[SEWIGuy]

This made me feel for Arizona taxpayers, and to an extent all of us with the trickle down effect of federal funding...

The Arizona State Police are running billboards to encourage police to move down there and work for them. I know this because I am literally seeing them 3,000 miles away in Massachusetts. I imagine the cost of this to potentially yield zero people is a colossal waste.

I wouldn't be surprised if this works better than you think. If someone has 10 years or so before retirement, wants to retire to a place like Arizona, and gets the new employer to relocate you to a potentially better job, I can see why it would be atractive.

BTW, my wife and I have had this exact discussion. I am probably retiring in ten years but we aren't staying where we are living now. I woulnd't mind one more job change that would take us where we want to retire.

If someone lives in a state where they must retire from law enforcement after 25 years or a certain age, and Arizona doesn't have such restrictions, I could see it being a definite enticement to work another 10 years and get another pension, and AZ benefits from not needing to train new officers on the basics.

Never thought about the double-dipping advantage with this, and it makes perfect sense. I know teachers who have done something similar.

[hotdogPi]

Teachers are only allowed to stay a certain number of years in some places? Here, they encourage you to stay as long as possible.

[SEWIGuy]

Teachers are only allowed to stay a certain number of years in some places? Here, they encourage you to stay as long as possible.

In Wisconsin, teachers can retire with full pension benefits after 30 years experience and hitting age 57 or 58. So I know a number of them who retire and find some other way to make money. Yes, that does cost them more from their pension, but if they are burnt out of teaching...

I also know someone who retired, moved to Colorado, and is teaching there. Her and her husband always wanted to move there, and they intentionally waited until she could retire.

[jeffandnicole]

Teachers are only allowed to stay a certain number of years in some places? Here, they encourage you to stay as long as possible.

In Wisconsin, teachers can retire with full pension benefits after 30 years experience and hitting age 57 or 58. So I know a number of them who retire and find some other way to make money. Yes, that does cost them more from their pension, but if they are burnt out of teaching...

I also know someone who retired, moved to Colorado, and is teaching there. Her and her husband always wanted to move there, and they intentionally waited until she could retire.

Many states have minimums or full benefits, although it varies, and "full" may not be full.  It'll vary by pension fund, but in NJ, formerly one had to be in the pension system 10 years to be vested.  What was considered full was being age 55.  Being in the pension system for 25 years got other benefits.  But the longer you stay, the more you receive in your pension.  Employees that first started working in the pension system around 2012 have to remain until 62 to receive what's considered full benefits.  It'll keep people working longer, but the payouts will be higher for those people.

Once you leave, you're free to work elsewhere, especially in other pension systems.

[vdeane]

Working with images in LibreOffice Writer is a royal PITA.  I was taking screenshots from Google Maps and my photos to insert into the Brattleboro Roadmeet tour notes, which requires adding a caption for the citations on the Google Maps images, and every time I needed to move an image or make substantial changes to the text, it would be very disruptive and inconvenient because it would butcher the page organization in the process moving text would cause images to move too, and moving images would cause text to change not only in helpful ways but also profoundly unhelpful ones, assuming the image didn't even up covering text completely).  The Google Maps images were particularly bad, because there's no way to adjust captions once they're added; if I forgot to delete the "figure" notation, I'd have to delete the image and paste it back in (often requiring me to re-create directions or take a screenshot of the screenshot).  Same if I wanted to move the image, because the caption wouldn't move with it, and there appears to be no way to move the frame with the caption.

[hbelkins]

The way you have to update Windows and that there's no way to directly update Windows XP to Windows 11 -- and the fact that you have to buy another license key for Windows 11 instead of using the one that came with XP.

Apple got it right. Even when you had to buy MacOS installers, you could install it on an unlimited number of computers with no serial number or key required. Now you can just download whatever Mac installer you need.

The story behind this gripe -- I recently came into a free laptop that came with Vista and has XP installed now. Since XP is kaput and Windows 10 is going kaput later this year, I want to put Windows 11 on it, but the update process is so convoluted, and I'll have to buy a license for Windows 11.

[ZLoth]

The story behind this gripe -- I recently came into a free laptop that came with Vista and has XP installed now. Since XP is kaput and Windows 10 is going kaput later this year, I want to put Windows 11 on it, but the update process is so convoluted, and I'll have to buy a license for Windows 11.

If you are talking Windows Vista, then you are talking about a laptop that was released between 2007 and 2009. What is the processor and memory of that computer, and does it even meet the minimum specs of Windows 11 64-bit? I know my i7-4790K in 2013 also didn't meet the minimum specs. It might be better to put on Ubuntu rather that Windows on that old computer.

[Scott5114]

This made me feel for Arizona taxpayers, and to an extent all of us with the trickle down effect of federal funding...

The Arizona State Police are running billboards to encourage police to move down there and work for them. I know this because I am literally seeing them 3,000 miles away in Massachusetts. I imagine the cost of this to potentially yield zero people is a colossal waste.

The Clark County (NV) School District has job fairs in Oklahoma sometimes. Although in that case the pitch is more "Come work where we'll treat you better than you're being treated now." I can't imagine Arizona can provide a working environment, pay, and benefits better than they were getting in Massachusetts, though.