Minor things that bother you

[kkt]

Most NPR reporters seem to be sticking with "X, formerly known as Twitter".

[formulanone]

I recently heard a lady on NPR completely fall over herself when she realized she'd said Twitter.

You'd think NPR would be those who willingly refuse to say X to refer to Twitter.

I think a major tenet of journalism is to get easily verifiable information correct, explaining it on an eighth-grade level, and realizing everyone cannot possibly be "on the same page" at all times; even if you don't agree nor care.

I still don't get why one would take a major well-known brand – especially one that was nearly in the realm of genericized trademark – and rename it for any logical reason other than vanity or litigation purposes. I bet the average Joe knew exactly what a "tweet" was even if they had no account on that social media site. Whereas most social media uses "posts", which is an interchangeable word for many types in of user-supplied publicly-visible information on the Internet.

[Scott5114]

I still don't get why one would take a major well-known brand – especially one that was nearly in the realm of genericized trademark – and rename it for any logical reason other than vanity or litigation purposes.

It certainly seems like something that someone that isn't very good at running a business would do.

The name X itself is problematic, despite it having the cool factor of only being a single character, because it can be ambiguous or confusing in a sentence since it sounds a lot like the common prefix ex-. Even if you restrict yourself from using the former name, for clarity a lot of times you'd have to say something like "the website X" or "X, the social media site". I think we're in for the long haul with the phrase "formerly known as Twitter"—perhaps Elon should open a branch office in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

[ZLoth]

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?



This is the result of a 82yo mother watering the plants without me knowing about it because I've protested so many times that it isn't safe. Instead of bringing in a stepladder from the garage, she grabs a 1 foot riser to climb up to the counter, and her foot slipped. The cost of the repair will be $1,200 minimum, and will involve a plumber coming out to disconnect the sink and inspect for pipe damage, followed by a epoxy person to glue the sink back up, followed by the plumber to rehook up the plumbing. It would not surprise me if the original installation used the absolutely cheapest BLEEP around. The work will probably start Wednesday, which means that for a week, the dish washer is out of commission.

The sink repair was completed last Tuesday, and thankfully, no damage to the plumbing (I was worried about cracks in the drain pipe). In addition to re-gluing the sink, bracing was put into place to prevent the sink from dropping again. $850 total which I was surprised with, and the contractor was paid within 12 hours of the receipt of the bill.

[D-Dey65]

When did the first day of school move from "just after Labor Day" to "beginning of August"? I know that when I took community college ages ago, they moved the start of the fall semester two week to mid-August so that finals took place in December instead of the beginning of January. It also interfered with attending the California State Fair.

I always saw that as a regional thing more than anything else. I remember as a kid in the 1970's seeing news stories about schools starting in August and ending in May, mostly in the south and midwest, but some have been as far north as parts of New Jersey.

[kphoger]

Microsoft silently un-supporting certain hotkeys.

For example, in Word, I used to be able to insert a column break by hitting Alt+I (insert), then B (break), then C (column), then Enter.  Easty to remember, no need to even use the mouse.  Now Alt+I doesn't do anything at all.  So I have to hunt through the menus to try and figure out how to add a column break.

What would have been the problem with continuing to support the hotkeys?

[kphoger]

Why is it that, when I plug a kitchen appliance (electric skillet, blender, coffee maker, bottle warmer) into the countertop power outlet, the chance of my having to flip the plug around is well above fifty percent?

[JayhawkCO]

Microsoft silently un-supporting certain hotkeys.

For example, in Word, I used to be able to insert a column break by hitting Alt+I (insert), then B (break), then C (column), then Enter.  Easty to remember, no need to even use the mouse.  Now Alt+I doesn't do anything at all.  So I have to hunt through the menus to try and figure out how to add a column break.

What would have been the problem with continuing to support the hotkeys?

The one that drives me nuts is Alt+D+F to turn on a filter in Excel. No longer works.

Why is it that, when I plug a kitchen appliance (electric skillet, blender, coffee maker, bottle warmer) into the countertop power outlet, the chance of my having to flip the plug around is well above fifty percent?

I have a California king bed, so the length and width dimensions aren't too far different. Yet, if I try to put a random corner of a fitted sheet on it, I'm wrong 75% of the time.

[J N Winkler]

Why is it that, when I plug a kitchen appliance (electric skillet, blender, coffee maker, bottle warmer) into the countertop power outlet, the chance of my having to flip the plug around is well above fifty percent?

I'm going to assume that this is about a range of NEMA 1-15 (two-pin polarized) plugs and a NEMA 5-15 (three-pin polarized, with one of the three being for grounding) outlet.

In most North American homes I have lived in or visited, NEMA 5-15 outlets have been installed with the grounding slot on the bottom, but the NEMA standard governing this configuration actually calls for it to be on the top (as is also the norm for the three-slot BS 1363 outlet design used in Britain).  In other words, most NEMA 5-15 outlets--including, presumably, the one in your kitchen--are upside down.

In spite of this, however, I suspect that most appliances intended for the North American market are designed so that if the cord is fully unspooled and laid out in the minimum-torque position, the NEMA 1-15 plug at the end is oriented so that the wider blade is on the right when it needs to be on the left to slide into an upside-down NEMA 5-15 outlet.  Thus, you find yourself zigging when you need to zag most of the time, unless you adopt a protocol of finding the wider pin and holding it to the left as you straighten out the cord.

This type of confusion is far less likely to occur in Britain because it is the norm for the cord to connect to the plug from the side and at the bottom (away from the grounding pin), not from the back as in North America.  Wall-mounted BS 1363 outlets are also invariably installed right side up.

[dlsterner]

Why is it that, when I plug a kitchen appliance (electric skillet, blender, coffee maker, bottle warmer) into the countertop power outlet, the chance of my having to flip the plug around is well above fifty percent?

It's like trying to insert a USB stick into a computer.  Seems like 75% of the time it's upside down.

[GaryV]

Why is it that, when I plug a kitchen appliance (electric skillet, blender, coffee maker, bottle warmer) into the countertop power outlet, the chance of my having to flip the plug around is well above fifty percent?

It's like trying to insert a USB stick into a computer.  Seems like 75% of the time it's upside down.

It has to do with why a dropped piece of toast always lands buttered side down.

[kphoger]

the NEMA standard governing this configuration actually calls for it to be on the top

Source, please?  I was under the impression that, notwithstanding a chart illustrating common receptacle types that indeed shows the ground pin on top, no such NEMA standard actually exists.

ETA:  In fact, I'll double-down on this.  If you can find me any rule in the NEC or NEMA standards that specifies which orientation to install a 5-15 outlet, I'll buy you a cup of 100% Colombian arabica coffee with real dairy cream.

[J N Winkler]

the NEMA standard governing this configuration actually calls for it to be on the top

Source, please?  I was under the impression that, notwithstanding a chart illustrating common receptacle types that indeed shows the ground pin on top, no such NEMA standard actually exists.

ETA:  In fact, I'll double-down on this.  If you can find me any rule in the NEC or NEMA standards that specifies which orientation to install a 5-15 outlet, I'll buy you a cup of 100% Colombian arabica coffee with real dairy cream.

This image from Wikipedia cites NECA 130-2010.

This said, I don't know if this means that an upside-down outlet would be considered noncompliant with the standard, and from the vantage point of plug design, I don't think that matters.  If the standard specifies grounding-pin-up as the default, even if outlets in the wild with pin down, left, or right are all considered compliant, then an appliance designer is going to design the plug so that the grounding pin is up or the wider blade is on the right (as applicable).

In Britain, I suspect a BS 1363 outlet installed upside down would be considered noncompliant.  But I haven't actually checked this against any edition of that standard.

[Dirt Roads]

^^^^
There's nothing in the National Electric Code (NFPA-70) that specifies the orientation of the ground pin.  The traditional theory is for household uses, the ground pin is located on the bottom because most people wrap their finger around the bottom of a three-prong plug and if their fingers slip, they would contact the ground pin.  For industrial uses, the ground pin should be located on the top because if a loose conductor comes down on a loose plug (or pulls it out) it would contact the ground pin first (hopefully causing a short-circuit and tripping the power in the loose wire).   For receptacles mounted on a cross-brace (most people think of this as sideways), the ground pin would then be on the left side for household use (finger wrap around the ground pin for right-handed individuals); but then the ground pin would on also be the left side for industrial use (in this case, the grounded neutral wire would be in the upmost position). 

[kphoger]

the NEMA standard governing this configuration actually calls for it to be on the top

Source, please?  I was under the impression that, notwithstanding a chart illustrating common receptacle types that indeed shows the ground pin on top, no such NEMA standard actually exists.

ETA:  In fact, I'll double-down on this.  If you can find me any rule in the NEC or NEMA standards that specifies which orientation to install a 5-15 outlet, I'll buy you a cup of 100% Colombian arabica coffee with real dairy cream.

This image from Wikipedia cites NECA 130-2010.

This said, I don't know if this means that an upside-down outlet would be considered noncompliant with the standard, and from the vantage point of plug design, I don't think that matters.  If the standard specifies grounding-pin-up as the default, even if outlets in the wild with pin down, left, or right are all considered compliant, then an appliance designer is going to design the plug so that the grounding pin is up or the wider blade is on the right (as applicable).

I hunted it down.

NECA 130-2010
Standard for Installing and Maintaining Wiring Devices
An American National Standard

5 — Installation

5.5.2 — Receptacles

e) — Grounding-type receptacles mounted vertically should have the grounding conductor opening at the top. Receptacles mounted in the horizontal position should be mounted with the neutral conductor (long slot) up.

Casey's?  What date and time?

[jakeroot]

Our friend Technology Connections has a video on this very topic. I watched the whole thing when the video came out a month ago, so to suddenly see the topic spring up here seems like funny timing:

https://youtu.be/vNj75gJVxcE?si=91GAuAOQ24uTT5NA

[Big John]

 oh 

[kphoger]

Our friend Technology Connections has a video on this very topic. I watched the whole thing when the video came out a month ago, so to suddenly see the topic spring up here seems like funny timing:

Yes, I had watched it too, so it was still fairly fresh in my mind.

[hbelkins]

Why is it that, when I plug a kitchen appliance (electric skillet, blender, coffee maker, bottle warmer) into the countertop power outlet, the chance of my having to flip the plug around is well above fifty percent?

It's like trying to insert a USB stick into a computer.  Seems like 75% of the time it's upside down.

Or a Micro USB cable.

Our friend Technology Connections has a video on this very topic. I watched the whole thing when the video came out a month ago, so to suddenly see the topic spring up here seems like funny timing:

https://youtu.be/vNj75gJVxcE?si=91GAuAOQ24uTT5NA

My house, built in 1977, has its plugs like this. My office, built five years ago, has them flipped with the ground on top. So something has changed in the intervening 40 years.

[gonealookin]

"Crazy Train" is kind of everywhere, but I'm bothered that Ozzy has sold the rights to it to dreck like Applebee's.

[Rothman]

[1995hoo]

This is both somewhat annoying and weird: Whenever I use Google Maps to get walking directions, the software zooms the map way the heck out before I can put in the location for the other end of the directions. I was just looking at it to figure out the walking distance from the hotel for a business trip I'm taking to Seattle. I put in the work location and then clicked the icon for walking. Before I could click on the origin point or type in the address, it zoomed so far out that the area on the far side of the SR-520 bridge was visible on the map (it showed that as being an 8.4-mile walk, for whatever it's worth). What idiot programmer thought that made sense? Shouldn't the map zoom in closer if you click the icon for walking directions under the theory that most people will only want walking directions for shorter distances?

I suppose in this case it wasn't a major annoyance because I had the hotel's address written down and could type it in. It's more of a nuisance when you don't know the specific address and you just want to click in the general vicinity or on a location's map icon because then you have to zoom right back in to where it was before.

[kphoger]

This is both somewhat annoying and weird: Whenever I use Google Maps to get walking directions, the software zooms the map way the heck out before I can put in the location for the other end of the directions. I was just looking at it to figure out the walking distance from the hotel for a business trip I'm taking to Seattle. I put in the work location and then clicked the icon for walking. Before I could click on the origin point or type in the address, it zoomed so far out that the area on the far side of the SR-520 bridge was visible on the map (it showed that as being an 8.4-mile walk, for whatever it's worth). What idiot programmer thought that made sense? Shouldn't the map zoom in closer if you click the icon for walking directions under the theory that most people will only want walking directions for shorter distances?

I just don't like that it re-zooms when I do almost anything.  By golly,  if I zoomed in, I want it to stay zoomed in.

[kurumi]

Scheduling flu shots, etc. online with a pharmacy.

* pick a location
* pick a day
* "there are appointments available at this location, click to view"
* click
* "no appointments available on this date, try another"

The "show availability on a calendar" feature is something airlines and hotels figured out a thousand years ago. I should be able to find things like "earliest available slot, any day, within 10 miles" or "first morning appoinment, any day, within 10 miles", or at least "first available slot, any day, at this location".

But instead I have to play this insane guessing game

[kkt]

Scheduling flu shots, etc. online with a pharmacy.

* pick a location
* pick a day
* "there are appointments available at this location, click to view"
* click
* "no appointments available on this date, try another"

The "show availability on a calendar" feature is something airlines and hotels figured out a thousand years ago. I should be able to find things like "earliest available slot, any day, within 10 miles" or "first morning appoinment, any day, within 10 miles", or at least "first available slot, any day, at this location".

But instead I have to play this insane guessing game

Agree completely.  We're three years into the pandemic, and it's still insane to try to get an appointment online.

One of my neighbors told me that there was usually no wait early in the mornings at a specific pharmacy and I should just show up.  I did and it worked fine.