Really trivial stuff that bugs you

[KaiYeves]

I usually put on my sunscreen when I’m in my underwear, so none of it gets on my uniform. Today was my day off and I did as I usually do before going for a cycling trip. Unfortunately, the shirt I was wearing had shorter sleeves than my uniform shirt, so I got a sunburn on my upper arm.

[Extravoice]

Internet browsers have been around since the early 1990s, but I have yet to encounter one that correctly prints what I see on the screen.
I placed an order with a big-box hardware store for local pickup and neither Firefox, nor Chrome, nor Edge would print the receipt page correctly.
Each screwed-up something different.

[Trebuchet]

A US Navy warship, the USS Bonnehomme Richard, is on fire in San Diego. It's probably a total loss.
And when the news first hit, the "cable news network" my wife had on called it a "battleship". No, you morons, it's not a battleship. It's an Amphibious Assault Ship. The US Navy has had no active battleships since 1993, which was about 40 years after any other nation.

[Trebuchet]

Internet browsers have been around since the early 1990s, but I have yet to encounter one that correctly prints what I see on the screen.
I placed an order with a big-box hardware store for local pickup and neither Firefox, nor Chrome, nor Edge would print the receipt page correctly.
Each screwed-up something different.

WYSINNWYG!
(What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get)

[Jens]

A US Navy warship, the USS Bonnehomme Richard, is on fire in San Diego. It's probably a total loss.
And when the news first hit, the "cable news network" my wife had on called it a "battleship". No, you morons, it's not a battleship. It's an Amphibious Assault Ship. The US Navy has had no active battleships since 1993, which was about 40 years after any other nation.

I suspect that they probably meant to say "warship" and didn't realize that "warship" and "battleship" are not equivalent, despite sounding like they should be equivalent.

[pzkpfw]

A US Navy warship, the USS Bonnehomme Richard, is on fire in San Diego. It's probably a total loss.
And when the news first hit, the "cable news network" my wife had on called it a "battleship". No, you morons, it's not a battleship. It's an Amphibious Assault Ship. The US Navy has had no active battleships since 1993, which was about 40 years after any other nation.

Nothing new :-) every vehicle with armour is a "tank", apparently.



(Edit: I was watching that fire on the news and wondering what repair would cost vs building a new one. Total loss wouldn't surprise me.)

[KaiYeves]

I suspect that they probably meant to say "warship" and didn't realize that "warship" and "battleship" are not equivalent, despite sounding like they should be equivalent.

Yes, it’s a very, very common mistake.

[Extravoice]

Nothing new :-) every vehicle with armour is a "tank", apparently.

There is an Internet meme chart that the media allegedly uses to identify guns. Apparently every handgun is a “Glock” and every rifle is a “AK-47”.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jim]

There is an Internet meme chart that the media allegedly uses to identify guns. Apparently every handgun is a “Glock” and every rifle is a “AK-47”.

Eventually we'll drop the capital letters and genericize them, .

[Jim]

For those who don't know it already, I like soccer. So it was nice when the Premiere League started back up. And now MLS are playing, too.

Of course, the stands are just about empty … team staff, sports journalists, that's about it. So to improve the experience for the TV audience both leagues are playing background crowd noises. The Premiere League has it just about right, but MLS has the volume cranked up and it tends to drown out the announcers. Plus the crowd noises sound like a crowd far larger than ever attended any MLS match EVER.

(Interestingly, Sirius broadcasts the matches, too, sans crowd noise. You can hear the players talking to each other.)

[grant hutchison]

I quite liked the "Fan In The Stand" idea of Australia's National Rugby League--fans submit photographs that are displayed as cardboard cutouts in the stands during matches.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be impossible to police the submitted photos. The UK's own dear Dominic Cummings (a divisive political adviser) may well be an NRL fan, but the odds are against Harold Shipman, the UK's contender for most prolific serial killer in modern history, having submitted a photo. On account of his being dead.

Grant Hutchison

[The Backroad Astronomer]

I could see a row of Doctors, who knows how many maybe 13.

[Van Rijn]

There’s a Taco Bell a short drive from the house. I decided to get some quick food last night and used a Taco Bell ordering app. You enter what you want and pay with the credit card and either drive to pick it up or have it delivered. I wasn’t buying a huge meal and it was late, so I did a pick up. I said in the app I wanted it immediately and I waited a little to drive over to give them time to prepare.

When I got there, it took them time to look it up, and it turns out they don’t start preparation until you arrive no matter what you request in the app. It would have been faster just to go there and order in the drive through. The app is a complete waste of time for pickup, unless you have a very complex order you might have trouble remembering.

Also, sometime back I tried to use the app for a delivery at a more reasonable time. They have a minimum purchase amount for delivery, which I managed by purchasing a party pack of stuff I could reheat to eat later (a party pack has way too much for one meal).

Turns out the drivers don’t seem to like delivering minimum purchases presumably because the tip is small unless you raise it so much it matches the cost of the food. I was generous but I wasn’t going to be that generous for cheap food. So when requesting delivery it seemed there never was anyone available to deliver.

On that note, I’m deleting the Taco Bell app.

[Solfe]

I am 99.99999% sure that my join date is wrong. I know I didn't have children when I joined the BABB. And today... it's my oldest's 18th birthday!

Wow. I feel old. It does feel great though. Good friends and family.

Have a wonderful day!

Phil

[Swift]

<snip>
Turns out the drivers don’t seem to like delivering minimum purchases presumably because the tip is small unless you raise it so much it matches the cost of the food. I was generous but I wasn’t going to be that generous for cheap food. So when requesting delivery it seemed there never was anyone available to deliver.

I've noted similar problems with restaurants around here that use services like Grubhub and and Doordash. Either the restaurant website or the service website will list delivery as an option, but you go through the whole process of placing an order, and when you try to complete the order, they'll tell you that no drivers are available and delivery is not possible.

I assume that's less of a problem in a major metropolis, but in the outer suburbs of Cleveland/Akron Ohio, it seems to be the normal situation.

[Jens]

A US Navy warship, the USS Bonnehomme Richard, is on fire in San Diego. It's probably a total loss.

Rather than nitpicking, I just wanted to point out that the spelling of the ship name had seemed odd to me, and I was wondering if it was real or just a typo. The reason is, "homme" is (naturally) a masculine noun, so the adjective before it should be "bon" rather than "bonne" (which is feminine). I wondered if it was just a quirk, but actually the correct form is indeed Bonhomme ("good man").

[PetersCreek]

It is the USS Bonhomme Richard, I believe.

[Rolling Stone]

We just had a general election here. So I am hoping the new government repeals the law that requires pedestrians to walk exactly down the middle of mixed-use walking/cycling trails.

[Jens]

We just had a general election here. So I am hoping the new government repeals the law that requires pedestrians to walk exactly down the middle of mixed-use walking/cycling trails.

That sounds like an odd law. What happens when people walking in opposite directions have an encounter? Do the people walking in one direction have to hop over the others?

[Rolling Stone]

That sounds like an odd law.

It does indeed, but the practice is observed so strictly, there must be legal compulsion behind it.

What happens when people walking in opposite directions have an encounter? Do the people walking in one direction have to hop over the others?

That issue had not occurred to me. I’ll have to watch for it the next time I’m out riding.

[grant hutchison]

I'm hoping they repeal the law in the UK that requires cyclists using such paths to remove the bells from their bicycles and to maintain strict silence while approaching a pedestrian from behind.

Grant Hutchison

[ozduck]

I'm hoping they repeal the law in the UK that requires cyclists using such paths to remove the bells from their bicycles and to maintain strict silence while approaching a pedestrian from behind.

Grant Hutchison

Unfortunately, that seems to be a world-wide rule and happened to me yesterday when I was walking on a path with my grandkids. There must be a similar rule applied when I am riding my bicycle and a faster rider overtakes me without warning. (I always ring my bell before overtaking anyone - and often have to ring it when pedestrians facing me are too busy talking to see me coming.)

[Gillianren]

I've noted similar problems with restaurants around here that use services like Grubhub and and Doordash. Either the restaurant website or the service website will list delivery as an option, but you go through the whole process of placing an order, and when you try to complete the order, they'll tell you that no drivers are available and delivery is not possible.

The problem being that they don't really pay their delivery drivers enough to make it worthwhile--and of course they're also taking what ought to be an illegally large cut of the restaurants' profits.

[grant hutchison]

Unfortunately, that seems to be a world-wide rule and happened to me yesterday when I was walking on a path with my grandkids. There must be a similar rule applied when I am riding my bicycle and a faster rider overtakes me without warning. (I always ring my bell before overtaking anyone - and often have to ring it when pedestrians facing me are too busy talking to see me coming.)

I was favourably impressed by a walk along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail in Anchorage, Alaska, a few years ago. Every single cyclist who approached us from behind called out, "Passing on your right!" with plenty of warning time.

Grant Hutchison

[Extravoice]

I was favourably impressed by a walk along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail in Anchorage, Alaska, a few years ago. Every single cyclist who approached us from behind called out, "Passing on your right!" with plenty of warning time.

Grant Hutchison

Part of my bicycle commute to work used to be on a multi-use path. All too often, shouting “Passing on your left!” would result in the pedestrian moving toward the left


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Extravoice]

From another thread:

"Five years after New Horizons flyby, scientists assess next mission to Pluto"

No, no, no! It can’t possibly have been that long ago.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[grant hutchison]

Part of my bicycle commute to work used to be on a multi-use path. All too often, shouting “Passing on your left!” would result in the pedestrian moving toward the left

Ah, that reminds me of the old "safer to give no warning" argument. That's what the cyclist who knocked over my mother told her, as they lay on the ground side by side. My mother had sufficient presence of mind to reply, "Well, I'd hate to see 'more dangerous', then."

Grant Hutchison

[Rolling Stone]

I'm hoping they repeal the law in the UK that requires cyclists using such paths to remove the bells from their bicycles and to maintain strict silence while approaching a pedestrian from behind.

Grant Hutchison

I used to live in a country where the typical custom was to shout "on the left" or "on the right" when coming up from behind.

Now I have moved to a place where ringing the bell is the norm. It took me a while before I could ring the bell without feeling slightly weird about it.

I still have to master proper distancing. Too far, and they don't hear it, too close, and they become startled and move suddenly in unpredictable ways.

Perhaps I could get one of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH9cXq-nFW8

[Rolling Stone]

but you go through the whole process of placing an order, and when you try to complete the order, they'll tell you that no drivers are available and delivery is not possible.

This reminds me of a somewhat analogous situation, in which I would go through the entire ordering process at amazon.<several different countries>, only to get at the end, "sorry, this item does not ship to your country".

They seem to have changed this so that now you get the "not for you" message at the beginning, rather than the end.

[headrush]

I used to live in a country where the typical custom was to shout "on the left" or "on the right" when coming up from behind.

Now I have moved to a place where ringing the bell is the norm. It took me a while before I could ring the bell without feeling slightly weird about it.

I still have to master proper distancing. Too far, and they don't hear it, too close, and they become startled and move suddenly in unpredictable ways.

Perhaps I could get one of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH9cXq-nFW8

When I was a kid we had one of these hanging from a beam


Endless fun creeping up behind people with it. Unfortunately low beams and sudden jumps don't really mix (as I found out to my cost, ow)

Lovely sound though.