Minor things that bother you

[1995hoo]

What is even the point of replacing the keypad with a dial?  Are they actively trying to make it more work to use the microwave?

I assume, but I don't know, that it's to free up space for other buttons without making the device larger overall, especially if, like ours, it's an over-the-counter model designed to fit above the stove (for which I assume there's probably an industry standard as to the most common width). I just went over to look at it. Buttons this one has that our old one didn't include Convection Bake, Convection Roast, Combination Fast Cook (which I've never used; I assume it combines microwaving and convection), Turntable On/Off, Steam Clean, and Chef Connect (sone sort of proprietary GE thing for linking multiple appliances, probably to sync up cooking times).

[kurumi]

You are no longer able to provide feedback about Google AI results. You have to just live with the factual or logical errors Google AI generates and can't either report them for human review or submit feedback to train the AI tool to give correct results.

What a shame. It still insists that Bridgeport ends in "D"

This morning's Google search:

{us cities ending in g}

Results:

Common U.S. Cities Ending in "G"
* Washingtong (DC)
* Colorado Spring (CO)
* Springfielg (Multiple states, including IL, MA, MO)
* Arling (VA, TX)
* Anchorag (AK)
* Long (CO)
* Englewoog (CO)
* Lansing (MI)
* Reading (PA)
* Eugggg (OR)
* Gilberg (AZ)
* Garlang (TX)
* Gaithersburg (MD)
* Golg (IG)

I'm not seeing whag the probleg is herg, @kphogeg

[vdeane]

The fact that I can no longer use the "picture in picture" feature of my browser for embedded YouTube videos.  Google changed the code and now the button no longer appears.  Also, Vivaldi dumped their own code for the feature in favor of the half-baked Chromium code, which doesn't remember the size/position of the PIP window and will have a header and black translucent gradient on the top unless I pause, resume, and then mouse over and out of the PIP window.

I really wish they'd bring back the old code and make it work on all video sources.  It doesn't work on streaming sites either, which would make streaming TV shows a lot less annoying.  Instead, I have to mess around with hooking up a HDMI cable to the TV because I don't have a dual monitor setup (or room on my desk to add one).  And then when I have another browser window on the TV, if I'm not careful, sometimes tabs will open on the TV.  And one place I would appreciate it for Vivaldi to copy Chromium is on the tabs, since for some reason they removed the ability to drag tabs into/out of windows.

[The_Ginger]

You are no longer able to provide feedback about Google AI results. You have to just live with the factual or logical errors Google AI generates and can't either report them for human review or submit feedback to train the AI tool to give correct results.

What a shame. It still insists that Bridgeport ends in "D"

This morning's Google search:

{us cities ending in g}

Results:

Common U.S. Cities Ending in "G"
* Washingtong (DC)
* Colorado Spring (CO)
* Springfielg (Multiple states, including IL, MA, MO)
* Arling (VA, TX)
* Anchorag (AK)
* Long (CO)
* Englewoog (CO)
* Lansing (MI)
* Reading (PA)
* Eugggg (OR)
* Gilberg (AZ)
* Garlang (TX)
* Gaithersburg (MD)
* Golg (IG)

I'm not seeing whag the probleg is herg, @kphogeg

It's concerning that I didn't notice "whag" until my second read through.

[7/8]

I just purchased an ergonomic mouse with a more vertical hand position. So far I like it, but one thing I never thought about it was when I move my hand from my keyboard onto the mouse, I keep smacking the top of the mouse. It might take a bit of time to get used to raising my hand higher to avoid hitting it.

[JayhawkCO]

I just purchased an ergonomic mouse with a more vertical hand position. So far I like it, but one thing I never thought about it was when I move my hand from my keyboard onto the mouse, I keep smacking the top of the mouse. It might take a bit of time to get used to raising my hand higher to avoid hitting it.

I've been on ergonomic mouse only for 5 years. Can never go back.

[vdeane]

Facebook's new video system sucks ass.  Used to be, you click play, video plays.  Now it's not so simple.  Oh, the video plays... but muted.  If you want audio, you have to click to unmute.  But that doesn't actually unmute the video; it just open a pop-up reel view.  Then you have to click again to actually unmute.  By this point several seconds have gone by, so you have to start over.  And it's like this for Every.  Single.  Video.

Also, a while back they got rid of the code to have the video automatically stop when finished.  Now they just loop.

[Max Rockatansky]

People use Facebook for videos?

[gonealookin]

An incorrectly bound book.  This one is Caro's The Passage of Power.

In my copy, following Page 138 are 16 pages of photos, after which the text resumes at Page 203.  Then it goes directly from Page 218 to Page 171.  After Page 202, the 16 pages of photos are repeated and we again resume the text at Page 203.

So Pages 139-170 are missing entirely, but I get those photos and Pages 203-218 twice.

On Page 138 we're wrapping up the story of JFK's selection of LBJ as his running mate, and on Page 171 the inauguration has already happened and JFK's presidency is in its opening days.

[vdeane]

People use Facebook for videos?

At least one page I follow posts them regularly; the only ones I really pay attention to are some of the ones John Kucko posts of his photography, particularly his "60 seconds of serenity" segments.  They're more like TikTok than YouTube; Reels is Facebook's attempt to keep people on the site rather than migrate to TikTok, which might be behind these changes; TikTok also does the "mute unless the user clicks otherwise" thing.

[Max Rockatansky]

People use Facebook for videos?

At least one page I follow posts them regularly; the only ones I really pay attention to are some of the ones John Kucko posts of his photography, particularly his "60 seconds of serenity" segments.  They're more like TikTok than YouTube; Reels is Facebook's attempt to keep people on the site rather than migrate to TikTok, which might be behind these changes; TikTok also does the "mute unless the user clicks otherwise" thing.

On our Facebook page Adam occasionally will use the Stories feature.  Those videos might get two dozen views at best.  We probably average around 10,000 views per post containing photos.  My thought has always been if we are going to get serious about videos then we need to open a TikTok account. 

[kphoger]

H.R. crap that makes me do something for something that I don't need/want.  For example...

If I don't want the life insurance or health insurance or contributions or whatever, then I shouldn't have to sign anything.  Signing for something I don't want is stupid.  Yet it's required, so I have to do it every year.

And I keep getting e-mail notifications from ADP telling me to verify my address for payroll purposes, with a button to click to review it.  Look, I haven't moved in 16 years, and my street address is visible right there in the e-mail notification anyway.  I ain't clicking that button.  So, of course, the e-mails will continue to hit my inbox once a week...

I understand why, from the H.R. side of it, this sort of stuff happens.  I just don't like it.

*grump*

[GaryV]

The credit card that sends me emails reminding me that I can sign up for automatic bill pay. Um, I've had that for 2 or 3 years now.

[kphoger]

My current computer setup at work is a laptop connected to two monitors by way of a dock and two HDMI-to-VGA converters.  The monitors are same same aspect ratio as each other, but not the same as the laptop.  The primary monitor mirrors the ratio of the laptop, which means there is a blank strip at the top and bottom of the screen—because the laptop's aspect ratio is a little more widescreen than the monitor.  The secondary monitor, on the other hand, fills the whole screen.  I can't figure out a way to make them match each other without losing some of one screen.  So it's impossible for me to line them up in such a way that the mouse cursor always glides straight across from one to the other.  I've got one monitor up a little higher than the other, such that it's as un-annoying as possible, but it still bothers me slightly.

[wxfree]

Some automotive complaints

Lots of complaints about touchscreens, moving on

One very new vehicle refuses to retain a list of radio stations.  There's no option to tune directly to a frequency without punching in numbers.  You have to select from the list of stations.  And the stupid thing forgets the list every single day.  Even if you don't leave the area, or rescan for stations, it forgets the list, and you have to scan again before you can listen to the radio.

On that vehicle, at least, there's a knob to select from a range of cold to hot.  Another vehicle has a digital temperature setting.  That's something I could live with, if it would do what it's told.  This thing decides its own temperature.  When you start the engine, it ignores the temperature you had put in and decides on one itself.  Sometimes you're driving and it gets too hot, and you realize that the thermostat changed from 70 to 78.  I hate that.  I'd rather have the knob from red to blue, but a self-changing thermostat is crazy.

Now for a computer complaint

My new computer came with a new keyboard.  I didn't throw it away because it isn't one of those short stroke keyboards.  Those hurt my hands.  It's one of the reasons I always get a desktop computer, laptop keyboards suck.  But the little ridges on the F and J keys, that let you know where to put your fingers, are too short.  Each key has a little lip around the edges and I can't tell the difference between the ridge and the lip.  Many times I've started typing and got a bunch of nonsense because my hands were in the wrong place.  After decades of typing, I'm not accustomed to looking to make sure I'm starting in the right place, but I may have to get into that habit.

[Scott5114]

An incorrectly bound book.

I have an algorithms textbook where a section fairly early on is bound upside down. The text is hard enough to follow already (because it was written by one of those people whose interest in writing a book seems to be to show off how much math notation they know as opposed to actually conveying information) but having to find the other end of that section so you can continue where it left off makes it even worse.

[The_Ginger]

On every JIF peanut putter container, there is a label that reads:

No Need to Stir

Yet it always seems that the peanut butter does need a good stir when opening it to use.

[formulanone]

One very new vehicle refuses to retain a list of radio stations.  There's no option to tune directly to a frequency without punching in numbers.  You have to select from the list of stations.  And the stupid thing forgets the list every single day.  Even if you don't leave the area, or rescan for stations, it forgets the list, and you have to scan again before you can listen to the radio.

It easier to change tire on a modern vehicle than it is to swap between "Car Play music" and "something on the radio". For whatever reason, the two are completely at odds; even though the knob is vaguely at the same location from the driver's seat as for the last six decades, since Apple (et al) do not know what terrestrial radio "is".

[bugo]

You are no longer able to provide feedback about Google AI results. You have to just live with the factual or logical errors Google AI generates and can't either report them for human review or submit feedback to train the AI tool to give correct results.

Good. I don't want to spend my own time doing free work for Google by training their AI models.

I used to use Google for searches, but I got fed up with the AI results showing at the top and switched to Duck Duck Go. You can turn AI off in DDG, so now I don't see AI results, so my stress level is much lower.

[Scott5114]

But the little ridges on the F and J keys, that let you know where to put your fingers, are too short.  Each key has a little lip around the edges and I can't tell the difference between the ridge and the lip.  Many times I've started typing and got a bunch of nonsense because my hands were in the wrong place.  After decades of typing, I'm not accustomed to looking to make sure I'm starting in the right place, but I may have to get into that habit.

Why don't you put a piece of tape or a sticker of some kind on the F and J keys, so you have something which feels obviously different?

[wxfree]

But the little ridges on the F and J keys, that let you know where to put your fingers, are too short.  Each key has a little lip around the edges and I can't tell the difference between the ridge and the lip.  Many times I've started typing and got a bunch of nonsense because my hands were in the wrong place.  After decades of typing, I'm not accustomed to looking to make sure I'm starting in the right place, but I may have to get into that habit.

Why don't you put a piece of tape or a sticker of some kind on the F and J keys, so you have something which feels obviously different?

I'm considering something like that.  Right now I'm more focused on complaining about it.

Keyboards are cheap, I might just replace it.

[kphoger]

Right now I'm more focused on complaining about it.

  This gentleman has reached a new level of self-acceptance!

[bugo]

I'll admit I grew up with "sherbert". Sherbet is probably a bastardization of sorbet anyway.

There are a number of cannabis strains with the word "sherbet" in them. I've been to dispensaries that spelled it "sherbert". I refuse to buy a strain with a misspelled name.

[vdeane]

On our Facebook page Adam occasionally will use the Stories feature.  Those videos might get two dozen views at best.  We probably average around 10,000 views per post containing photos.  My thought has always been if we are going to get serious about videos then we need to open a TikTok account.

Ah, yeah, I don't know if anyone uses Stories, especially since they're completely separate from the main feed.  I was thinking of videos attached to regular posts (which since seem to have been shoved into Reels, which I otherwise don't bother with).

H.R. crap that makes me do something for something that I don't need/want.  For example...

If I don't want the life insurance or health insurance or contributions or whatever, then I shouldn't have to sign anything.  Signing for something I don't want is stupid.  Yet it's required, so I have to do it every year.

And I keep getting e-mail notifications from ADP telling me to verify my address for payroll purposes, with a button to click to review it.  Look, I haven't moved in 16 years, and my street address is visible right there in the e-mail notification anyway.  I ain't clicking that button.  So, of course, the e-mails will continue to hit my inbox once a week...

I understand why, from the H.R. side of it, this sort of stuff happens.  I just don't like it.

*grump*

Reminds me of the "pre check in for your upcoming appointment" emails I get before each therapy session I have.  I actually clicked it once to see what it entails, realized they wanted me to make a ton of private information available in a computer database, and noped right out.

[Max Rockatansky]

The AAroads account did a live video tour of some new freeway recently in Facebook.  The presentation by the platform felt wonky at best.  For a bit the video was even angled sideways.