Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[Vincent]

People who can't, and especially don't want to, figure out how a freaking reverse vending machine works.

Y'know, the kind that just throws the can in the opening repeatedly despite the display showing "Do not throw container". Machine spits out the can, rinse and repeat. Eventually one of the cans lands at a dead angle against the door, then machine blocks. For the fourth time. 

You would expect professional soda can pickers to operate these machines like freaking pros, but nope.

[PlainName]

Don't know what a reverse vending machine is, but the problem sounds a lot like what's around this house: the persons are expected to conform to how the machine works rather than vice versa. So, for instance, if the door doesn't latch unless one slowly and carefully turns the handle as it's closed then surely the door needs fixing rather than having the person trained to be slow and more careful.

[pcprogrammer]

My guess is he revers to the machines you can put your empty soda or beer cans in to get your deposit back. There have been problems with these kind of machines in the Netherlands where they stop working due to contamination by the remaining liquids in the cans.

I have my doubts by putting any confidence in the "professional soda can pickers" to do things properly though 

[PlainName]

Ah, thanks. I reckon they'd need to refund more or less the cost of the contents to get people doing that around here

[themadhippy]

I reckon they'd need to refund more or less the cost of the contents to get people doing that around here

worked ok 40 years back, finding an empty bottle with a deposit was like finding treasure.

[EPAIII]

My pet peeve!

My electronic pet peeve!

People who draw schematics with the signal flow in all directions. Signal flow should be left to right first and then top to bottom. The entire idea of a schematic is to make the functioning of the circuit EASY to comprehend. Otherwise you might as well just take a photograph of the rat's nest of wires or connections.

That's my electronic pet peeve!

[jonovid]

My pet peeve!

My electronic pet peeve!

People who draw schematics with the signal flow in all directions. Signal flow should be left to right first and then top to bottom. The entire idea of a schematic is to make the functioning of the circuit EASY to comprehend. Otherwise you might as well just take a photograph of the rat's nest of wires or connections.

That's my electronic pet peeve!

the Chinese do it in reverse.
right from the bottom up, at 5% of the cost

[Bud]

The KiCad crowd loves doing it different way. No more left to right or top to bottom. In fact no more wire connections. Just drop component symbols randomly on a sheet and terminate with ports.
How anyone would follow signal flow in such garbage I do not know.

[Zeyneb]

The KiCad crowd loves doing it different way. No more left to right or top to bottom. In fact no more wire connections. Just drop component symbols randomly on a sheet and terminate with ports.
How anyone would follow signal flow in such garbage I do not know.

There are also different kinds of circuits. For opamp stages for example it make much sense to have signal flow from left to right. But when you have a schematic with a big FPGA on it. You might want to split it in many blocks. And make connections based on net names rather than drawn wires. Then with PCB layout you might want to change the order of many connections and change the FPGA signal to pin order accordingly.

[nonlinearschool]

Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2020, 02:22:00 pm »

And back in the 1960s the general public would often call a portable radio a transistor. 

No, NO,
Portable radio was not called that.  They called them Transistor Radios Because they were the first have transistors which allowed them to be portable hand-held size.  Context, history my friend

[kjpye]

And back in the 1960s the general public would often call a portable radio a transistor. 

No, NO,
Portable radio was not called that.  They called them Transistor Radios Because they were the first have transistors which allowed them to be portable hand-held size.  Context, history my friend

And which the general public called "transistors", at least here in Australia.

As you say, history.

[shapirus]

And which the general public called "transistors", at least here in Australia.

+1 here.

[Circlotron]

https://www.quora.com/Why-was-the-radio-called-a-transistor-while-a-transistor-refers-to-an-electronic-component

[rdl]

From day one they were called Transistor Radios here in the US. It seems kind of odd that anybody would call them something else.

[PlainName]

'Transistor radio' is too long and unwieldy when speaking informally, particularly when the 'radio' part, as already mentioned, was superfluous. It's why 'hoover' took off as a synonym for 'vacuum cleaner', 'IBM Personal Computer' (or even just 'personal computer') is and always has been a 'PC', etc.

[RJSV]

   Three minutes of ADVERTISEMENTS, before I can figure out, if I've found the correct video...
This time YouTube has done a 'take down' of some copyrighted material (likely reason, I've guessed).  Video has the '!' symbol signifying that it got taken down by yt.
   Any technological reason, they can't notify upfront, rather than a user experience that breeds contempt and begs for mis-trust.
Swell, then....teach your kids. (That's my snark, sorrrry).

[vk6zgo]

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2020, 02:22:00 pm »

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And back in the 1960s the general public would often call a portable radio a transistor. 

No, NO,
Portable radio was not called that.  They called them Transistor Radios Because they were the first have transistors which allowed them to be portable hand-held size.  Context, history my friend

Maybe in the USA, but in Australia, calling them a "transistor" was annoyingly common.
In a similar manner, people in the UK commonly called a "motor car" a "motor" when I first visited there in 1971.

Meanwhile people in the USA referred to"automobiles"as "autos".

[vk6zgo]

One of my pet peeves is the way people confuse the words "purposely" & "purposefully" when they mean quite different things.
"Purposely" means "intentionally", whereas "Purposefully" has a meaning similar to "resolutely."

If this was only something done by ordinary members of the public, it would be bad enough, but journalists & public figures who should know better do it as well.

[lezginka_kabardinka]

One of my pet peeves is the way people confuse the words "purposely" & "purposefully" when they mean quite different things.
"Purposely" means "intentionally", whereas "Purposefully" has a meaning similar to "resolutely."

If this was only something done by ordinary members of the public, it would be bad enough, but journalists & public figures who should know better do it as well.
[/quote

How about people on YouTube who "review" ( ) phones ALL day EVERY day, and yet don't know to say "Milliamp HOURS", and say "Milliamps" ... 

[nonlinearschool]

Interesting.

I always heard "transistor radio" that that is what I was always told here in the US. (New York, Chicago, and Oakland.) now wonder about other parts of the world.
using "handheld radio" was used, but I never heard just "transistor" 

[nonlinearschool]

Maybe in the USA, but in Australia, calling them a "transistor" was annoyingly common.
In a similar manner, people in the UK commonly called a "motor car" a "motor" when I first visited there in 1971.

Meanwhile people in the USA referred to"automobiles"as "autos".

LOL!! and the US German auto manuals always spoke of the "boot" repeatedly confused me!
[/quote]

[themadhippy]

Maybe in the USA, but in Australia, calling them a "transistor" was annoyingly common.

And around here at least,often shortened further to tranny.

[coppice]

In a similar manner, people in the UK commonly called a "motor car" a "motor" when I first visited there in 1971.

That's mostly a low class London thing. However, internationally a lot of car makers use that term, like Mitsubishi Motors being the car making division, and not one of the divisions making motors.

[vk6zgo]

In a similar manner, people in the UK commonly called a "motor car" a "motor" when I first visited there in 1971.

That's mostly a low class London thing. However, internationally a lot of car makers use that term, like Mitsubishi Motors being the car making division, and not one of the divisions making motors.

I fort they said "Mo-uh!"
 
Strictly speaking, or so I was told many years ago by an Automotive Engineer, the big cast metal thing that drinks fuel is an "engine".
The only "motors" in the automotive lexicon at the time were "electric motors".

That was probably a reaction at the time to the obsessive use of "motor" by the public at the time, & after all, he was an engineer!

[PlainName]

The things under the bonnet have always been engines, AFAIK. And electric motors have always been motors. I think the distinction is that engines have moving parts whereas motors don't (other than the rotor, of course). But cars en bloc have been known as motors to chavs.