Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[Ed.Kloonk]

People who think 666 is the number of the devil.

Hail Satan.

 

[SilverSolder]

Pet Peeve re. Android applications:

Why does EVERY developer seem to feel their app is so important that it needs to occupy a permanent slot in Android's notification area?  After loading a dozen apps, "real" notifications appear off the screen, after all the "fake" notifications that just sit there...  so you have to scroll to read actual notifications.

Developers:  Don't use the notification area as a kind of icon to access your app...   only put up notifications if you have something to say that the user cares about...  otherwise, STAY AWAY from the notification area!   

[Syntax Error]

Just a note for those driving in lefty countries like Australia, NZ, Japan and the UK; a right turn on red means you'll most likely be hit by oncoming traffic. Except in India, when turn right on green means, you'll most likely be hit by oncoming traffic.

@SilverSolder Right now I have four pointless app notifications that I'm about to dismiss... Gone. For the next two days.

[IDEngineer]

My first instinct would be to think of the yellow arrow as the same as a yellow/amber traffic light - i.e. you are at the tail end of the green, and shouldn't proceed!  Now that I know about it, I won't make that mistake...

Agreed except that this yellow arrow is flashing, which clearly indicates "something different" than the usual solid yellow round light. If the message was "do not proceed" we have an entirely different color for that... Red!

[james_s]

Pet Peeve re. Android applications:

Why does EVERY developer seem to feel their app is so important that it needs to occupy a permanent slot in Android's notification area?  After loading a dozen apps, "real" notifications appear off the screen, after all the "fake" notifications that just sit there...  so you have to scroll to read actual notifications.

Developers:  Don't use the notification area as a kind of icon to access your app...   only put up notifications if you have something to say that the user cares about...  otherwise, STAY AWAY from the notification area!   

That reminds me of another peeve, Windows software installers that poop a shortcut onto the desktop, enabled by default, or in some cases you can't even choose. My desktop is my work space, I do NOT want a bunch of shortcuts to software cluttering it up, there's a Start menu for that, or the quicklaunch toolbar for my most frequently used stuff.

[james_s]

I think part of what is going on is people whose risk tolerance is lower than yours.  While I have seen people sit through these lights when there is absolutely no opposing traffic, I have also seen many people pass up opportunities that I would happily take.  And when riding with my wife watch her take opportunities that make my hair stand on end.  She embodies the old phrase "A miss is as good as a mile."

I think our judgement depends on whether we are in control and driving the car or a passenger without control. I know that when I'm riding with people I often find myself just about making a divot in the passenger side floor with my foot, pushing where the brake pedal would be. It always feels like they wait until the last moment to start braking but maybe they'd feel the same if I was driving.

[TimFox]

By the way, US Highway 666 (originally numbered as being parallel to US 66 of musical fame) was renumbered to US 491 in 2003, partly because of superstition and partly because of highway-sign theft.  It runs near the "Four Corners" area, where the State boundaries of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet.

That's an interesting renumbering. Odd highway numbers are supposed to run north-south, while even highway numbers are supposed to run east-west. Yet here they changed from an even number to an odd number. I presume they didn't also physically move the highway.... 

The highway physically runs approximately N-S, but the old number apparently came from its connection (not parallel, my mistake) to US 66.

[CatalinaWOW]

I think part of what is going on is people whose risk tolerance is lower than yours.  While I have seen people sit through these lights when there is absolutely no opposing traffic, I have also seen many people pass up opportunities that I would happily take.  And when riding with my wife watch her take opportunities that make my hair stand on end.  She embodies the old phrase "A miss is as good as a mile."

I think our judgement depends on whether we are in control and driving the car or a passenger without control. I know that when I'm riding with people I often find myself just about making a divot in the passenger side floor with my foot, pushing where the brake pedal would be. It always feels like they wait until the last moment to start braking but maybe they'd feel the same if I was driving.

I agree that the lack of control changes our judgment.  But I can be relatively calm with some drivers, and some I have never ridden a second time with.  I knew one guy who literally was getting into the ABS on every stop.  Other driving maneuvers were equally close to the edge.  The occasional ping of a bumper kiss on lane changes.  I actually had no doubt about his skills, but he did not realize that conditions can vary and that his skills weren't the only ones that matter.  Fortunately for me my wife is not that extreme by a significant margin.

[PlainName]

I think part of what is going on is people whose risk tolerance is lower than yours.

Could well be. Here in London (well, there in London but here in the UK) you can drive in the bus lanes out of certain hours. But the hours differ, and with some lanes you can't ever. Given the small writing on the signs and the focus necessary to deal with ambient traffic, whenever I'm driving in London I always keep out of bus lanes, even if I'm sure this particular one is allowed.

It seems some lanes are OK but lead directly into another lane that isn't. Just ain't worth the fine for accidentally transgressing, or the insurance for sideswiping something as you realise you're about to be fined.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Definitely cabinet hinges.

[IDEngineer]

Here in London (well, there in London but here in the UK) you can drive in the bus lanes out of certain hours.

If you think THAT's fun, you haven't lived until you've enjoyed reversible lanes! I first experienced those in Tucson AZ, where the only freeway skirts around the west edge of town and therefore everything is surface streets. All the commute is in one direction in the morning, and in the other direction in the afternoon. So they took the very wide surface streets and made some number of the centermost lanes reversible... they go one way in the morning and the other way in the afternoon. Excellent use of available resources, right?

Except that a lot of the residents of Tucson were (at least back then) elderly folks escaping the northern snow. We're talking 70's, 80's, and up. Every single day - without exception - at least one of these folks would drive the wrong way in a reversible lane and end up nose to nose with a line of cars coming in the "proper" direction. Hilarity ensued. Folks would get out of their cars in 45 MPH traffic to gesture at the overhead signs that switched from green arrows to red X's depending on the time of day. Other folks, farther back, would try to switch lanes (there were no lane separators whatsoever) which meant cutting into 45 MPH traffic while trying to accelerate from zero, which often led to accidents which stopped up even more lanes.

My wife once got trapped in the middle of an intersection between two such streets for two whole light cycles. She was trying to make a left turn, and with all the wrong-direction cars and resulting frustration people were so fast off the line that she could not complete her turn. So the traffic went in straight lines on all sides of her and she couldn't get out of the middle of the intersection until finally she just anticipated the next green and punched it.

Fun times.

[SilverSolder]

[...] finally she just anticipated the next green and punched it. [...]

Isn't that standard operating procedure at a traffic light? 

[PlainName]

you haven't lived until you've enjoyed reversible lanes!

Yep, got one of those locally too. In the morning rush hour it's one direction, evening rush hour it's the other, and between times it's a free for all.

[RJSV]

Alright: I bet folks don't see this one coming:

   THE WEEKEND 'FLYING LESSON':
  You can tell, if you try, which small aircraft are involved in some sort of 'meandering / loitering flight.
(Aside from law enforcement or local government geo-mapping.)
   Listening, often you will hear a drastic backing off, of throttle, engine noise, as a plane drifts above, very low and sometimes moving in some lazy arc or circle.
My interpretation is like: "Honey! Can you see me (us)?", as the student flight lesson proceeds.
  The lazy throttle down sounds have become the hallmark, of flight lessons, for me. Not that irritating, it just seems obvious: Most other flights seem to be oriented on 'getting somewhere', rather than lingering.
  I've often assumed that some flights (lessons) are kids / older students, that made 'honor roll' or some such...
-- I'm just saying...

[james_s]

Well they have to do it somewhere. You don't just wake up one day an experienced pilot, and if it's a flying lesson you're probably not going to want to stray too far from the airfield.

[Sal Ammoniac]

Happened again today: "Drivers" who do not understand a blinking yellow arrow, and just sit there until the light turns red forcing you to wait for another entire cycle. Aaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhh!!!!

The blinking yellow arrows are pretty new, in fairness!

Really? Where? I've had a driver's license for over 40 years and can't remember a time they weren't around. I've lived in the western USA most of my life, maybe they're new to the east?

Where do you live? I live in the SF Bay Area and have been driving here for 40 years and have never seen a blinking yellow arrow.

[Circlotron]

Speaking of flying, this one is *way* more than a pet peeve with me.
————
The sheer lunacy of doing aerobatics over a built up suburban area.
————
In Australia there is this group called the Roulettes that are part of the Air Force. They perform at air shows and are available for hire for special days of whatever sort. About ten years ago the local council had them doing loops and dives and such directly over our rooftops. At one stage they flew along the the creek adjacent to our place at about 200 feet altitude. Stupidity on steroids.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air_show_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_20th_century

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air_show_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_21st_century

https://www.airforce.gov.au/displays/roulettes

 

[james_s]

The most unusual signals I recall seeing are the blinking green lights they have up in Canada, at least in BC. I forget what they mean, something relating to a crosswalk I think?

[james_s]

Speaking of flying, this one is *way* more than a pet peeve with me.
————
The sheer lunacy of doing aerobatics over a built up suburban area.
————
In Australia there is this group called the Roulettes that are part of the Air Force. They perform at air shows and are available for hire for special days of whatever sort. About ten years ago the local council had them doing loops and dives and such directly over our rooftops. At one stage they flew along the the creek adjacent to our place at about 200 feet altitude. Stupidity on steroids.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air_show_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_20th_century

Aerobatic teams fly over suburban areas here too, the Blue Angels try to stay mostly over Lake Washington but it's not really possible to stay entirely over the lake. Never seemed like a big deal to me, people enjoy the show, accidents are very rare, it's an acceptable risk. Throughout large portions of the world we lack the luxury of a wide open unpopulated space, so you either do that stuff over houses and such or you don't do it at all. In Canada a year or two ago one of the aerobatic jets crashed in somebody's front yard a few blocks from where friends of mine lived, nobody on the ground was hurt though. If you think that's crazy, you should check out some videos of Group B rally racing in the 80s, 400+ horsepower modified production cars tearing through twisty public roads at crazy speeds with mobs of spectators literally diving out of the way as the cars barrel through.

[Bud]

The most unusual signals I recall seeing are the blinking green lights they have up in Canada, at least in BC. I forget what they mean, something relating to a crosswalk I think?

Here in Ontario fast blinking green light at an intersection means left turn is allowed  before the light turns solid green, that is where the traffic light does not have a dedicated left turn arrow light. Basically it is same as left turn arrow light.

In BC they have slow blinking green light, that one i do not know what it means.

[themadhippy]

Blown plaster.seems its only the wall paper thats holding the very thin skim coat onto the walls.

[SilverSolder]

The most unusual signals I recall seeing are the blinking green lights they have up in Canada, at least in BC. I forget what they mean, something relating to a crosswalk I think?

It's a way of implementing the US green arrow without an arrow!

[Syntax Error]

Blown plaster.seems its only the wall paper thats holding the very thin skim coat onto the walls.

I want to know how is it possible to skim between 1 to 3mm and still call it plastering? To the other extreme, we had a room where 30mm thick render was held together by decades of paint over 1960's wallpaper. Relining with drywall was our only option.

[james_s]

Blown plaster.seems its only the wall paper thats holding the very thin skim coat onto the walls.

Is that still used in current construction? Here plaster over lathe (thin wood slats with gaps between) was common up until sometime in the 1940s or so when sheetrock was developed and since then that has been used everywhere. There are still a few people around who do the old fashioned plastering but it's only used in historical structures.

[themadhippy]

Is that still used in current construction?

in the uk yea,even with plasterboard walls  its not uncommon to put a skim over them,although cheaper chuck em up quick new builds may only skim  the joints between boards.This place was built late 50's so all  the walls are brick or block work with 1/2" of rough plaster  on top,then a thin smooth skim on top of that