Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[TerraHertz]

full date like YYYYMMDD

Isn't it about 20 years since we needed '20' to differentiate from the last century? My file prefix is 'YYMMDD' and I reckon that's going to suffice a lot longer than my data will be relevant.

Ha ha ha... Are you aware that some people alive now, will become immortal? (Assuming there isn't an ELE.) Seriously. The technology of life extension is proceeding very well, you just aren't hearing about it because it isn't in the MSM. For very obvious reasons, if you think about it.

Incidentally there's one practical result of impending potential immortality, very impactful on all of us worldwide atm... can you guess what it is?

But anyway, I was born in 1955, have files from pre 2000, and like them all to sort time-sequentially. So four digit years are fine by me. I am not so *incredibly* lazy that I can't type "20" in front of dates. Leaving that off is what I'd call really stupid optimization.

Besides, I take the long view. The people who don't plan and strive for immortality now will NOT be among those who achieve it. I likely won't make it but not because I didn't try. And I don't want to be kicking myself for file date laziness in another 80 years. Or 5000 years. I do wonder slightly if I might be annoyed in 7978 years from now. But hell, I can just partition all those old files off in a backup archive. Or do an AI-automated global rename, but I can think of a few risks and downsides. Deal with that problem if it ever arises.

Relevant short SF story: http://everist.org/texts/Fermis_Urbex_Paradox.htm

[AaronLee]

All online forum and news sites, that date current articles in the form 6:30pm TODAY (or YESTERDAY) and only include an actual numeric date if the item is at least two days old. Result: if you save the article locally, later it contains no useful date.

This (and because the file creation date attribute is ephemeral) is why I manually prefix filenames with the full date like YYYYMMDD, but I still wish that 'today' or 'yesterday' if someone feels it *must* be mentioned, would be placed in brackets after the absolute date.

What I really hate is when some author dates an article with the month and day, but leaves off the year. The year is by far the most important part of the date. I mean, really, do they think that something they put on the internet is just going to magically disappear in less than a year? Anyone who writes an article on the internet and doesn't include the year should receive an automatic lifelong ban from ever writing anything again. Those kinds of people are just complete idiots! I guess you can figure out what my pet peeve is.

Regarding date format, YYYYMMDD (with the option of putting delimiters in between the year and month and between the month and day) should be the only allowable date format for all uses. First of all, for computer use, YYYYMMDD can be sorted easily in chronological order. YYMMDD cannot. And any other "standards" can also not be easily sorted. But the computer sorting of a date is but a minor point. We live in a global world. How is one to know if it's MM.DD.YYYY or DD.MM.YYYY just by looking at a date? Example, 10.11.2021, is that October 11, 2021 or November 10, 2021? Depending on which country you live in, you'll assume one way or the other. In order to correctly determine the date, you first need to figure out which country it came from, which in some cases might not even be possible. I see this constantly at the supermarket with imported foods that come from various countries. In order to check the expiration date, I first need to check which country it came from. Any country not using YYYYMMDD needs to change and stop showing their stupidity / lack of living in a global world. Just look at time. AFAIK everyone writes time starting with the most significant hours, then minutes, then optional seconds.  Ignoring the AM/PM, it makes total logical sense (I almost always use a 24-hour time base, myself). So why when it comes to the date do people do it differently, and not put the most significant part (the year) first? It's totally illogical! I grew up with the standard being MM/DD/YY, with YY being optional. Once I was exposed to YYYY.MM.DD, I immediately recognized how stupid my country's standard date method was/is. Just for kicks, if it's not something critical, whenever I fill out a form that asks for the date format in something else, I'll just write it as YYYY.MM.DD. Anyways, I don't hold out any hope for it to ever change. If even in the USA they cancelled the conversion to the Metric system, after it was well along, there's really no hope of standardizing dates.

Edited to add: I realize that people speak dates one way, and I'm not saying we need to change that. For example, in American English, a conversation about a date next month, such as "September 15", is fine with me. It's when it's not in a conversation, but in writing, and when that writing can be read at any time in the future, then it at least needs to indicate the year, ie. "September 15, 2021". And it's when we write dates using a totally numeric format that the YYYYMMDD format needs to be the standard. If you're speaking/writing and using the name of the month, use whatever format is common in your country. If you're using numerical dates that are to be read by people around the world, standardize it!

One humorous comment about times, from people around where I live. I often see the opening time for a store listed as 09:00 AM. I always laugh, being they obviously don't have a clue about why the leading "0" is added for military time, and not appropriate if you're using AM/PM.

[mansaxel]

I was born in the 60s, and am very old by my children's standards  . I have, as probably quite a few other members have, met and known relatives born in three centuries -- my great-grandmother was born 1899 and was a teenager during Gallipoli. Edit: She wasn't there, but she did certainly read about that lesson in the lecture series "Don't start a land war in Asia". (Yes, I know, it's on the western shore of the straits, so technically Europe, but the thesis mostly holds. Not that it helped, though, which is why my children learn about our current clusterfucks.)

4-digit years (at least, we don't have to write them "MCMLXIX" or "MMXXI", although "MM" is short and sweet. Variable length strings, oooh, buffer overflow time! )  are a no-brainer!!

[PlainName]

do they think that something they put on the internet is just going to magically disappear in less than a year?

Seems to be a general rule that something you really wouldn't want to be there for perpetuity will stick and be around forever, but stuff you once saw and need to access again will leave no trace.

[PlainName]

Relevant short SF story: http://everist.org/texts/Fermis_Urbex_Paradox.htm

Entertaining read, thanks 

But... so the name of the game is/was to gather up all the info, the genomes of all species, etc., and shove 'em in space arks so they survive for all eternity. But what then? Surely if you don't do something with them - like short-cut evolution and populate a barren planet - then there's no point in having them. It's just hoarding, for the sake of owning, on a galactic scale. On the other hand, if you do use it as a seed to restart things then you're just going to replay the end wars.

[TimFox]

A related peeve of mine is calling a time of day “12:00 AM” or “12:00 PM”.  In this abbreviation, “M” means “noon”.  US railroads avoid safety problems by shifting times to 11:59 or 12:01, and the proper 24 hour notation 1200 avoids the problem entirely.

[mansaxel]

A related peeve of mine is calling a time of day “12:00 AM” or “12:00 PM”.  In this abbreviation, “M” means “noon”.  US railroads avoid safety problems by shifting times to 11:59 or 12:01, and the proper 24 hour notation 1200 avoids the problem entirely.

As in many other countries, railroads brought order to timekeeping in Sweden;

• A single time zone was instigated; the difference of ~30 minutes between Gothenburg and Stockholm was to cumbersome to deal with so was erased. First the time in Gothenburg was chosen for railway use, but that did not go well with the Stockholm people, so in 1878 a compromise time was chosen. Then, in 1900, Sweden was adjusted to the global time zone system as GMT+1 (now UTC+1).
• 24-hour time format was standardised for everything except casual speech.

[TimFox]

Without US Federal legislation, the railroad companies assembled and arranged their own time zones (four for the "continental" US) in 1883 for their convenience (minimizing the number of zones per company, regardless of longitudinal rules).  There is a plaque in downtown Chicago showing where they met to do this.  For example, I believe that the State of Georgia was put in "Central" time (along with Chicago), but the later Federal legislation put Georgia into "Eastern" time (along with New York and Washington DC).  I understand that France did not have standard time at the beginning of WW I, which contributed to defense difficulties regarding railroad timetables.

[TerraHertz]

Relevant short SF story: http://everist.org/texts/Fermis_Urbex_Paradox.htm

Entertaining read, thanks 

But... so the name of the game is/was to gather up all the info, the genomes of all species, etc., and shove 'em in space arks so they survive for all eternity.

No, the game was to personally survive for all eternity. The data collection... there are several ways to think of that. Nostalgic mementos, something to mull over on the long hops, potentially useful bits and pieces in the genomes, whole mind data captures ('souls' if you like), simulation experiments raw data, hoarder's compulsive piles of (data) stuff, data is compact so why not... and quite importantly, one of several things that story doesn't delve into: TRADING items.
He was hoping to find that kind of data, the library etc, in the glass marbles. Like the way he keeps his.

Think about it. At that level of physical existence, there are no material shortages. You can mine asteroids and planets for whatever materials you need. Now supposing you meet other travellers like yourself. What are you going to talk with them about? What are you going to trade with or gift to them?

Stories. And what better story that the entire history of a world that evolved life, intellignece, cultures, and you?
You'd have figured that out before setting off. And so you would want to archive EVERY. SINGLE. THING. you possibly could.

But what then? Surely if you don't do something with them - like short-cut evolution and populate a barren planet

Such activity is deeply, fundamentally forbidden. Haram on a level that has nothing to do with silly human religions. I won't try to explain why or how. But you could try examining why you (as a human) would even consider such a thing.

- then there's no point in having them. It's just hoarding, for the sake of owning, on a galactic scale. On the other hand, if you do use it as a seed to restart things then you're just going to replay the end wars.

You should try thinking some more about the objectives an immortal, self-engineering, star-travelling entity would choose for themself. In the context of what the actual Fermi Paradox says about existence. Also the potentials with unlimited computing power, possible quantum.

Btw, what is wrong with hoarding (on a galactic scale)? Bear in mind this is DATA hoarding, not physical. No similarities to filling up a small flat with stacks of old newspapers and ornaments, that then fall over and crush you.

[PlainName]

No, the game was to personally survive for all eternity.

Fair enough. I took that as a given and jumped to what the being would do for all that time.

What are you going to talk with them about? What are you going to trade with or gift to them?

You mean after having not wiped them out due to being technologically advanced, and technology not being entirely compatible with long-lasting civilisations? (You might not be that way inclined, but what guarantees that anyone you meet is the same? Is there some universal rule that you only make it to the end if you're a goody?). OK, that's a fair excuse for accumulating data. Indeed, wallowing in memories can be good. Or bad, depending on what they are.

[Kickstarting a planet]

Such activity is deeply, fundamentally forbidden.

By whom or what? Indeed, that would seem a quite reasonable pastime if you're around forever and stuck for something to do: planet-sized corewars. It's not a huge step from that to thinking perhaps we're at the wrong end of one.

Btw, what is wrong with hoarding (on a galactic scale)?

Initially, nothing. It becomes a problem when it's an end in itself, although being a more or less omnipotent entity does mitigate some aspects. In a similar vein, a deep dive into someone's life experience, taking a close-up look at their triumphs and failures, their feelings and desires, could turn into mental jacking off. Of course, that might only be a problem because it's something we abhor and an everlasting entity might feel differently. There is also the small question of 'so what' - who or what is going to complain or take them to task.

You should try thinking some more about the objectives an immortal, self-engineering, star-travelling entity would choose for themself.

Well, that's a bit tricky. But one thing that does spring to mind is boredom. I mean, once you've done everything and been everywhere - metaphorically speaking - what is there left to do? It's not a rare problem that people work hard, retire and then struggle with the lack of something meaningful to do. And they only have to put up with it for maybe 20 or 30 years (although it's not unknown for them to last just a year or two and pop off early).

[Red Squirrel]

I can't remember if I already mentioned this one, but the fact that every damn flashlight these days seems to use those stupid flash modes and every time you turn it on you hae to cycle through all of them until you get to a normal on mode.  Why is it so damn hard to make a flash light that has a simple on/off function and that's it?

Just bought a flashlight at Canadian Tire as an impulse purchase since it was on sale, and sure enough, when you turn it on, it's normal, but then you have to keep cycling through all the modes to turn it off.  So annoying!

It looks easy enough to take apart, so I'm debating on just stripping out all the electronics from it and then putting in my own.  It has a charge function though and I don't know if I trust myself to design a lithium ion battery charger.   

I think I will give up on buying off the shelf flashlights, and just look into making my own.   I kind of want to take a gas Coleman lantern and convert it to electric.  They are built better than the actual electric ones. 

[Sal Ammoniac]

we see Wally, starting work in 1975, long before he burned out.

When was that? Around 1976?

[james_s]

I can't remember if I already mentioned this one, but the fact that every damn flashlight these days seems to use those stupid flash modes and every time you turn it on you hae to cycle through all of them until you get to a normal on mode.  Why is it so damn hard to make a flash light that has a simple on/off function and that's it?

OMG that drives me crazy, I think there are a few open source firmwares out there to fix this issue. I cannot for the life of me fathom why anyone thought those stupid modes were a good idea, or why they are present in nearly EVERY flashlight. All I can come up with is some Chinese businessman took the term "flashlight" far too literally and then everyone else just copied it. I have never, ever wanted my flashlight to produce a seizure inducing strobe effect or flash out SOS, if they're going to have those extra modes please, Please PLEASE make it so you have to go out of your way to enable it, don't force me to cycle through all of them every damn time I just want to turn it on or off.

[james_s]

l, that's a bit tricky. But one thing that does spring to mind is boredom. I mean, once you've done everything and been everywhere - metaphorically speaking - what is there left to do? It's not a rare problem that people work hard, retire and then struggle with the lack of something meaningful to do. And they only have to put up with it for maybe 20 or 30 years (although it's not unknown for them to last just a year or two and pop off early).

I can't even begin to relate. As long as my health holds up so that I'm still capable of doing at least some of the things I enjoy, I have enough projects lined up already to keep me busy for at least 100 years assuming I stopped finding new ones. If nothing else I'd be content to sit in a chair all day and fly model airplanes or volunteer to fix broken electronics for people. Enough stuff with trivial faults gets thrown out that I wouldn't even have to bother with the tough dogs.

Regarding hoarding, I recognize a few of those tendencies myself so I actively try not to just hoard stuff but I know a few serious hoarders who have houses so full of crap that they can't even use any of it, it's all buried. At least the guys I know hoard reasonably interesting stuff, they just have far too much of it, it isn't literally garbage like the people who hoard rotting food or piles of old newspapers. When the guy who lived a few houses over from my mom passed away they found thousands of empty pizza boxes stacked floor to ceiling, he ordered pizza every day for years and never threw out any of the boxes. In my case I tend to hold onto stuff because most of the stuff that interests me is vintage, if I throw it out I can't just go get another one later and many times I've gotten rid of something and then regretted it in a few years when it caught my interest again but I can't keep everything.

[PlainName]

I'd be content to sit in a chair all day and fly model airplanes

In general, people think they would be content to do <favourite pastime> all day every day, right up until they actually do it all day every day. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that

[IDEngineer]

It looks easy enough to take apart, so I'm debating on just stripping out all the electronics from it and then putting in my own.  It has a charge function though and I don't know if I trust myself to design a lithium ion battery charger.

Idea: Just add a normally closed pushbutton in series with one terminal of the battery. This becomes your "Off" button. No matter what mode it's in, depowering it temporarily will return it to "Off". You can then use the "On" button to select the mode you want (generally the first one), and the "Off" button when you're done. Simple, easy, and no need to mess with their charging circuitry.

[james_s]

In general, people think they would be content to do <favourite pastime> all day every day, right up until they actually do it all day every day. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that

Well I have lots of favorite pastimes so that isn't likely to be an issue for me. If I get bored of one hobby I can do a different one for a while. And there's always other stuff I could take up given a surplus of time. I could get a boat and go sailing frequently like my dad did, or I could take up flying (full scale), or I could take some classes on other things that interest me like auto body repair or welding, or I could volunteer at an aviation museum restoring vintage aircraft or any number of other activities I don't currently have time for. I don't dislike my job but I freely admit I do it because they pay me. If I weren't getting paid I have lots of other things I could spend my time on.

[james_s]

Idea: Just add a normally closed pushbutton in series with one terminal of the battery. This becomes your "Off" button. No matter what mode it's in, depowering it temporarily will return it to "Off". You can then use the "On" button to select the mode you want (generally the first one), and the "Off" button when you're done. Simple, easy, and no need to mess with their charging circuitry.

Easier said than done. In many cases it isn't easy to open them up, and there isn't much extra space inside most flashlights, and if you add a button it has to be done carefully if you want to preserve the waterproof nature. Easiest thing if you can get it apart is probably just replace the firmware, but the fact that this is even necessary to contemplate is infuriating.

[Red Squirrel]

It looks easy enough to take apart, so I'm debating on just stripping out all the electronics from it and then putting in my own.  It has a charge function though and I don't know if I trust myself to design a lithium ion battery charger.

Idea: Just add a normally closed pushbutton in series with one terminal of the battery. This becomes your "Off" button. No matter what mode it's in, depowering it temporarily will return it to "Off". You can then use the "On" button to select the mode you want (generally the first one), and the "Off" button when you're done. Simple, easy, and no need to mess with their charging circuitry.

Good idea actually... For this particular flashlight, I think that might actually work. It always turns on to the same mode.  This is more of a "gun" style flashlight that's in a plastic package with screws.  Most flashlights are not this easy to take apart though.

I have another one that seems to turn on to a random mode each time which is quite annoying as it seems to use a capacitive touch to toggle modes but it's easy to trigger it by error and it just goes on the next mode each time you turn it on. That one is not easy to fix though but at some point I may just take it apart destructively and try to save the head, which has the LED and the zoom function. That part is actually kind of nice.

As mentioned, I actually do wonder if this all stems from a manufacturer in China that took the word "flash" literally and are pumping out billions of controller chips that end up going in almost every flashlight.

[DrG]

Extant weapons-grade nutbaggery (sorry, I watched the news tonight).

[Circlotron]

When using Zoom with multiple screens worth of participants there is a whole lot of waste space around the edge of the screen that could be used for either more participants or larger thumbnails. 

[PlainName]

Can't believe I haven't already mentioned this one. At least several times.

The address/search bar editing. Type in something, say, 'EE' and it autopopulates with 'EEVBlog...etc" with the non-typed part highlighted. Very useful, but suppose you actually wanted to type 'EV' for 'eveningpost.com' or whatever. No problem: just backspace the second E and retype with V, right? Wrong! The backspace just removes the highlight so you end up with 'EEV' again. In every app under the sun, except for browsers, a backspace deletes the last typed character.

Fine, so you think you can just double-backspace to get started. But now you type 'EX' and a double backspace deletes the lot because there was no highlight! It is bonkers, and annoying.

Can't believe no-one else has figured this is the stuff of broken monitors and PCs out of windows, but seemingly if they've even noticed they've thought "Wow, this stupid-ass stuff is cool! Going to add this to my browser address bar too".

[james_s]

That reminds me of another one, when I try to select part of a word to copy or edit and it "helpfully" automatically selects the entire word, it is infuriating. A related and equally maddening thing I run into frequently is autocorrect on my phone repeatedly replacing correctly spelled words with a different word. Sometimes I will backspace it and type again multiple times and it keeps replacing it until I specifically tap the selection for the original word. It frustrates me to no end, autocorrect is handy but I NEVER want it to replace a correctly spelled word with a different word it thinks I wanted to use instead. Just fix the misspelled words! There is no way to set it to do that.

[TimFox]

Several times on this site, when making an historical reference to the “Poulsen arc”, the system automatically corrected that to “Poulenc”.  It tried again on this post, but I expected it and was too smart for the corrector.  (I thought Poulenc was a bit obscure for this site.)

[Ranayna]

@james_s:
If you are on a pc, you can hold shift and use the cursor keys to exactly select what you want. I really got used to that, because many microsoft products, especially outlook, do not allow you to select all of a word except the last letter. As soon as you went to the second to last letter, the whole word got selected.

@dunkemhigh: I agree. That always throws me off when i mistype a URL.