Author Topic: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.  (Read 452930 times)

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Online nali

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #150 on: September 26, 2020, 08:05:56 am »
I've got a rechargeable torch/emergency light that has that going on.

Does anyone know what solvent might dissolve it without causing too much electronic upheaval?

I've got one of those wind-up torches with the same, also had a camera and one of those cheap USB microscopes suffer from it; in both cases some wiping with cloth & IPA got rid of it which leaves the shiny ABS or whatever plastic lies underneath.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2020, 08:11:26 am by nali »
 
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Online tom66

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #151 on: September 26, 2020, 09:20:57 am »
When you drive on a two-lane highway/motorway/dual-carriageway  and two trucks try to overtake each other, one going 55 mph and the other going 56 mph, only for the overtaking truck to hit a hill and maintain its position and make no progress for the next two minutes.
 
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Offline temperance

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #152 on: September 26, 2020, 12:38:03 pm »
Webshops with a "Customers also bought" section. The Customers also bought section is pretty useless on website like Farnell, Mouser,... if the only thing it can show you are completely unrelated things.

You put the housing for a connector for which you also need crimp terminals in the shopping basket on the Farnell website. Guess what I will need next dear website? Crimp terminals of course and perhaps the PCB part for that same connector series in whatever orientation and maybe crimping tools and perhaps some stranded wire. I do know other people are buying screws, soldering stations, semiconductors...Otherwise they would be bankrupt.

Other things:
Conspiracy channels on YT and people believing what's being said on those channels who go off like a raging bull when you try to explain them where they are wrong.
People with backwards logic. You can't change how they think.
YT channels with people who speak slow because it makes them sound like an expert giving opinions and advise on something they clearly don't know anything about.
Engineers with an ego problem. Every tech company has at least one or two.


« Last Edit: September 26, 2020, 01:07:31 pm by temperance »
Some species start the day by screaming their lungs out. Something which doesn't make sense at first. But as you get older it all starts to make sense.
 

Offline Bud

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #153 on: September 26, 2020, 01:25:07 pm »
Man made climate change.
Facebook-free life and Rigol-free shack.
 

Offline joseph nicholas

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #154 on: September 26, 2020, 01:45:53 pm »
American Plumbing
 

Offline E-Design

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #155 on: September 26, 2020, 01:51:33 pm »
In the checkout line and the person in front of you pulls out a checkbook and proceeds to fill it out to pay.  :=\
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.
 
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Offline Sal Ammoniac

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #156 on: September 27, 2020, 11:25:04 pm »
In the checkout line and the person in front of you pulls out a checkbook and proceeds to fill it out to pay.  :=\

The person ahead of you in line at a fast food place takes ten minutes to get to the front of the line and only then looks at the menu and takes a few minutes to decide what to order.  :palm:
Complexity is the number-one enemy of high-quality code.
 
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Offline Halcyon

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #157 on: September 28, 2020, 06:56:55 am »
That soft-grip stuff they put on electronic goods and some tools which after a couple of years de-vulcanizes or decomposes to a sticky goo.

What a delight!  >:(

I've got a rechargeable torch/emergency light that has that going on.

Does anyone know what solvent might dissolve it without causing too much electronic upheaval?

Orange Power air freshener from your local supermarket. Honestly, it's been my go-to sticky stuff remover for years. It absolutely strips anything sticky or gooey (be careful on labels as it will probably take the printing off as well). I use this stuff to get the bulk of whatever substance off, then finish it off with some IPA, you don't need much at all.

I have a microphone stand with those "rubberised" adjustment knobs and the Orange spray (a combination of orange oil and ethanol) stripped it right back.
 
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Offline Ed.Kloonk

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #158 on: September 28, 2020, 07:49:57 am »
That soft-grip stuff they put on electronic goods and some tools which after a couple of years de-vulcanizes or decomposes to a sticky goo.

What a delight!  >:(

I've got a rechargeable torch/emergency light that has that going on.

Does anyone know what solvent might dissolve it without causing too much electronic upheaval?

Orange Power air freshener from your local supermarket. Honestly, it's been my go-to sticky stuff remover for years. It absolutely strips anything sticky or gooey (be careful on labels as it will probably take the printing off as well). I use this stuff to get the bulk of whatever substance off, then finish it off with some IPA, you don't need much at all.

I have a microphone stand with those "rubberised" adjustment knobs and the Orange spray (a combination of orange oil and ethanol) stripped it right back.

Good to know.

 :)
iratus parum formica
 

Offline KL27x

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #159 on: September 28, 2020, 10:48:03 pm »
People who take the exit lane as soon as it appears and then speed up to pass traffic on the left.

Some exits lanes go for half a mile or more before they split off, and not everyone else is keyed up on coke watching and waiting for the instant that exit lane appears.
 

Offline CirclotronTopic starter

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #160 on: September 29, 2020, 12:32:45 am »
Websites that make no sense.

 
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Offline james_s

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #161 on: September 29, 2020, 01:27:12 am »
I have so many pet peeves I could probably write a book about them.

One I came across lately, when somebody painting a room, exterior wall, etc spends a ton of effort masking around an electrical fitting, invariably making a mess and getting paint on the thing anyway instead of simply removing a couple of screws and getting it out of the way. A couple years ago and elderly family friend nearly had her house burned down because the painters wrapped plastic around a halogen motion sensor flood on the side of the house and taped it up, then when the sun set something triggered the light and it set the plastic and then the wall on fire.

Magically shrinking products and deceptive packaging to try to hide cost increases, for example a "gallon" of ice cream is nowhere near an actual gallon anymore. Especially when they try to spin it as something good for the consumer ("These candy bars are now only 100 calories, they're healthier!")

Outsourced tech support handled by people who have thick accents that are difficult to understand. Nothing against folks who don't speak my language fluently but when your entire job is to have a spoken conversation with me it is really an important skill for that particular job.

When software tries to guess what I want and be helpful, more often than not it is wrong and creates additional work rather than saving me work.

When software updates are automatic and rigidly enforced and nag Nag NAG NAG or even auto-reboot regardless of what I'm doing.

When software is excessively buggy, half baked, shipped half finished on the pretense that it will be updated "later" and I am expected to be the QA of a product that I'm paying for.

When a device containing a battery is sealed such that it is difficult or impossible to replace said battery.

People who ride my bumper when I'm driving, then aggressively pass me only to drive slower than I was going when they were behind me.

When people can't figure how how to get up to speed and merge onto the highway, making me either stomp on the brakes or floor it to get out of their way before they run out of onramp.

When I am not allowed to do something because some other idiot did it, found a way to hurt themselves and then sued over it.

When I hear of companies throwing good equipment into the scrap bin instead of making it available to someone who can use it.

When software moves to a subscription model in place of the option of a perpetual license.

Robocalls. I don't think I need to explain that one.

Excessive political correctness, the euphemism treadmill, people going out of their way to find something to be offended about or outraged over.

Corporate HR that actively filters out so many excellent candidates, passing along all the ones who's greatest skill seems to be gaming the system and sprinkling their resume with all the right keywords.

Well-meaning but poorly thought through regulations that invariably come loaded with unintended consequences.

I could go on but this is probably enough, contrary to how it may appear I am not an angry old geezer whose favorite pastime is yelling at neighborhood kids to get off my lawn.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2020, 07:02:50 am by james_s »
 
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Offline TimFox

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #162 on: September 29, 2020, 02:59:48 am »
Plastic "clamshell" packaging without tabs or cutouts to facilitate unwrapping without using a box-cutter knife.  They are downright dangerous, since the edges of the plastic can be sharp as you try to rip off the remaining package to get at what you spent your money on.  I'm surprised there have not been liability lawsuits reported for cut fingers.
 

Offline CirclotronTopic starter

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #163 on: September 29, 2020, 03:38:57 am »
Technical drawings labelled "Rev 1" when they really mean "Version 1", which would actually be "Revision 0", which is grammatically ridiculous.
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #164 on: September 29, 2020, 04:06:11 am »
Technical drawings labelled "Rev 1" when they really mean "Version 1", which would actually be "Revision 0", which is grammatically ridiculous.
The "mirror image" of that is when people designate, in this case, RF amplifiers, amp 0, amp 1, amp 2, & so on.
We had some transmitters from the PRC, where the documentation was very sketchy, with some acronyms reversed, & so on.

When the LCD display came up with "OI" fault", we thought it was another one like that, & embarked upon a wild goose chase for a "IO" fault.(the display used capital "O" for zero).

In fact, the fault was that the low value series resistor for indicating the first ("number 0") amplifier supply current had gone high, triggering an alarm.
 

Offline Ed.Kloonk

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #165 on: September 29, 2020, 04:23:54 am »
Websites that make no sense.

Thank you, Gerry Harvey.
iratus parum formica
 

Offline vk6zgo

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #166 on: September 29, 2020, 05:43:00 am »
Google search results, where the brief resume' on the search page includes something about the subject of your search, then when you go to the website, there in nothing, nada, zilch, about it.

Searching Jaycar website----- a couple of things that match the search criteria, then lots of stuff which don't match at all!
 
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Offline james_s

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #167 on: September 29, 2020, 06:05:03 am »
That soft-grip stuff they put on electronic goods and some tools which after a couple of years de-vulcanizes or decomposes to a sticky goo.

What a delight!  >:(

I've got a rechargeable torch/emergency light that has that going on.

Does anyone know what solvent might dissolve it without causing too much electronic upheaval?

Uhg, I hate that stuff! My laptop is covered with that so I know it's only a matter of time, at least it's only on the outside. I have an old 486 laptop that was entirely covered in it and it became sticky all over like it was dipped in honey. My IR thermometer had it on the grip and around the nose and did the same thing. I found that isopropyl alcohol and a lot of elbow grease will take it off, but nothing I've found wipes it off easily without damaging the plastic.
 
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Offline Tomorokoshi

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #168 on: September 29, 2020, 09:41:46 pm »
Jira, Confluence, or any other rancid software produced by Atlassian.

Case in point:

I search for "blocking". Not "block", not "blocks"; "blocking". Everything with "block" or "blocks" shows up, and they can't be filtered out.
 
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Online PlainName

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #169 on: September 29, 2020, 09:54:56 pm »
Getting home with shopping to find some git has already opened and sampled an item.
 

Online NiHaoMike

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #170 on: September 29, 2020, 10:26:16 pm »
Getting home with shopping to find some git has already opened and sampled an item.
That was a problem with ice cream a year or two ago, I think a lot of manufacturers now added some sort of seal to the containers.
Cryptocurrency has taught me to love math and at the same time be baffled by it.

Cryptocurrency lesson 0: Altcoins and Bitcoin are not the same thing.
 

Offline CirclotronTopic starter

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #171 on: September 29, 2020, 11:04:06 pm »
Keeping something for forty years then finally throwing it out, then needing it in a week’s time so you have to go buy another.  |O
 
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Offline Tomorokoshi

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #172 on: September 30, 2020, 02:07:55 pm »
1. Altium changing the user interface every time they do an update. Moving options and features around. It's like they keep hiring new UI "experts" who can't help but to tinker and dabble with how it works.

2. "Engineers" who do everything on a 10 mil grid instead of 100 mil.

3. Cisco Webex.
 

steviefaux

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #173 on: September 30, 2020, 04:11:45 pm »
Anyone that says "To be honest" in a sentence.

What? So normally you're not honest?
 
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Offline james_s

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Re: Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.
« Reply #174 on: September 30, 2020, 05:27:13 pm »
Anyone that says "To be honest" in a sentence.

What? So normally you're not honest?

There are many times when it is the socially accepted norm to not be honest. For example if your wife says "Do you like my new haircut?" and you think it looks awful, it is probably not in your best interest to be completely honest.
 


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