Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[james_s]

That sounds totally obnoxious. The wipers on my cars are completely exposed, I don't mind the look at all and they're dead easy to service.

[tooki]

This is my current pet peeve and it fucking stinks.     

Scumbag companies who scam loyal customers by shrinking their product sizes but increase the prices. This is one of the dirtiest tricks in the book and made worse when they retain the same size packaging but reduce the contents for nothing more than profit.   

The regular can I buy on the left is 150gm and normally costs $3.15 on special, the new can on the right is only 130gm and cost me $3.75 also on special.   

While I wouldn’t call shrinkflation “scamming” except where they deliberately make the container look like the old one, I have one major objection: food packaging sizes. Why? Because so many recipes are designed around specific package sizes. So if they reduce a can from, say, 16 to 14 ounces, your old recipes may not work.

For example, the cheesecake recipe I got from my aunt back in 2000 uses 3 eggs and 3 packages of cream cheese. I haven’t made it in years, and who knows whether the recipe would still work unmodified.

[eti]

Literally ANY ads. Marketing people have become more and more arrogant and cocky, pushy, greedy, and untruthful. I will go many many miles out of my way to avoid ads, no matter the cost or time involves setting up the mechanisms to block them.

Tough shit if your YouTube video doesn’t make revenue from me, use your brain and find a better way.

[PlainName]

I understand it, it's a tradeoff between frequent asthetics vs. infrequent blade changes. Not completely irrational.

I don't think it is. On my Golf you have to do the engine off, flick switch thing for the wipers to move to the vertical position, and given the leaf-shedding trees around here I have to do it quite often to be rid of stuck leaves and such. ISTM there are two reasons:

1. Trying to switch off at peak wipe isn't conducive to good electrical practice, and also defeats any attempt at (I hesitate to use the word here) 'smarts' that manage the wipers after the ignition is turned off.

2. There are distinct 'parked' and 'maybe active' positions. I figure the parked position is to get the arms out of the airflow, thus improving drag coefficient and mileage. In use, between wipes, the arms aren't parked but just get more or less out of the way, and then after some period of unuse they automatically park. This is where 1. is significant - you can turn off the ignition and the wipers will move to the park position if they aren't there already.

tl;dr: seems to me to be practical rather than aesthetic. At least for a proper car like mine

[Bud]

It is totally impractical and especially in winter. Weather here can change on a whim. If snow is in forecast or has started and my car is parked in the driveway or company's parking lot,  i want to raise the wipers. With my old car i just walked to the car and raised the wipers. Now i need to go inside the building, get the car keys, go outside, START the engine, STOP the engine,  do that acrobatics with the wiper switch, only then can i raise the wipers. Efking idiots.

[tom66]

No problem on my Mk7 Golf.  Ignition needs to be 'on', but if car is not in drive then one tap of the wiper control will put the wipers into the service position.  In fact I'm sure my 2005 Peugeot 206 had a similar function (engine off, ignition on, wiper switch acts as 'service mode' rather than 'single swipe').  Since I need the key to unlock the car it's hardly a big deal to have to use the key in the ignition switch...

[james_s]

While I wouldn’t call shrinkflation “scamming” except where they deliberately make the container look like the old one, I have one major objection: food packaging sizes. Why? Because so many recipes are designed around specific package sizes. So if they reduce a can from, say, 16 to 14 ounces, your old recipes may not work.

It's absolutely scamming. They always try to make the package look as close to the old one as possible. If not for the fact that they are legally required to list the amount of product within you know they would not. The whole point of shrinkflation is to conceal price increases by making the product subtly smaller, knowing that many people won't notice for a while. In a way I think it would be worthwhile to legally mandate product sizes to prevent this.

[tom66]

It's absolutely scamming. They always try to make the package look as close to the old one as possible. If not for the fact that they are legally required to list the amount of product within you know they would not. The whole point of shrinkflation is to conceal price increases by making the product subtly smaller, knowing that many people won't notice for a while. In a way I think it would be worthwhile to legally mandate product sizes to prevent this.

Or, if a product size changes, require that a prominent label be added "PRODUCT SIZE REDUCED" for say at least 1 quarter from the reduction.   The effect would be that no manufacturer would want to include the label and therefore they would not use shrinkflation tactics unless it was utterly unavoidable.

You'd need to figure out how to avoid manufacturers creating multiple different SKUs or arguing one product under a slightly different name was a different product, though.

[coppice]

Who was that idiot who designed windshield wipers on Toyota Camry 2020 ? To raise the driver side wiper you MUST SHUT THE ENGINE OFF, then move the wipers control to a specific position and wait a few seconds. 
Really, Toyota? 

This is becoming common, and its not a bad thing. The wiper's resting position has been made very low in most modern designs. This improves aerodynamics (at least when its dry) and reduces noise.

[Bud]

Having concerns about aerodynamics driving in a city is silly. I am more concerned about convenience. As i said, when a snowstorm is coming I need to put the wipers in the raised position. The fact that i need to START and STOP the engine in order to raise wipers is pure debilism.

[coppice]

Having concerns about aerodynamics driving in a city is silly. I am more concerned about convenience. As i said, when a snowstorm is coming I need to put the wipers in the raised position. The fact that i need to START and STOP the engine in order to raise wipers is pure debilism.

I agree that starting the engine is a bit wacky. In my Volvo I just go to the menu item for "wiper service" and the wipers swing to the upper position, where you can lift them off the windscreen. I have to turn the car's systems on to be able to use the menus, but I don't need to start the engine.

[IDEngineer]

So far I've been able to run the wipers of every car with the key in the "ON" position but the engine unstarted. This powers up the electrical system, which is all that is necessary. However, given today's "smart" cars, I can easily imagine somebody thinking there's no need to power the wipers unless the engine is started.

Just another case of "trying to be too helpful". The electrical system is separate from the engine - let ME decide what I'm doing and how to do it. It's possible I'm dealing with a situation that didn't get listed on the whiteboard in the corporate boardroom.

Idea: Let cars have two modes, "Smart" and "Stupid". Smart can even be the factory default, where it does as much as possible and presumes the driver knows next to nothing (so the car needs to be "smart"). But Stupid mode eliminates all the helpful little details and lets everything run separately, requiring the operator to make the decisions (and importantly, NEVER OVERRIDING THE DRIVER'S INPUT).

[SilverSolder]

So far I've been able to run the wipers of every car with the key in the "ON" position but the engine unstarted. This powers up the electrical system, which is all that is necessary. However, given today's "smart" cars, I can easily imagine somebody thinking there's no need to power the wipers unless the engine is started.

Just another case of "trying to be too helpful". The electrical system is separate from the engine - let ME decide what I'm doing and how to do it. It's possible I'm dealing with a situation that didn't get listed on the whiteboard in the corporate boardroom.

Idea: Let cars have two modes, "Smart" and "Stupid". Smart can even be the factory default, where it does as much as possible and presumes the driver knows next to nothing (so the car needs to be "smart"). But Stupid mode eliminates all the helpful little details and lets everything run separately, requiring the operator to make the decisions (and importantly, NEVER OVERRIDING THE DRIVER'S INPUT).

It is really frustrating to fight systems or devices that some idiot has programmed to only work in sunny day scenarios.

For example, ignition keys.   To solve the very difficult problem of having to have a key in your pocket to start the car,  we now have a ton of electronics involved and a big, clunky key that you need a backpack to carry...   so many irrelevant dependencies have been introduced that you should actually stop and do a Thank You prayer to your favourite deity every time the car actually starts, because it is truly a miracle that the (beautifully packacked) Heath Robinson technology actually works at all!

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

One of my pet peeves: RF people focusing too much on S11 as a measure of bandwidth of a circuit. "Look, S11 <10 dB from 0 to 10 GHz, this filter thus has a 10 GHz bandwidth"...

[Ed.Kloonk]

Popped into a local chew and spew somewhere in Wheredefuqarewe.

"I'll have a hamburger with the lot."

"Ah, you mean a Works Burger."

 

[Circlotron]

Australian kids who sing a song using a fake eastern United States accent. 

[timenutgoblin]

Australian kids who sing a song with a fake eastern United States accent. 

A nuisance or a nuance?

[timenutgoblin]

somewhere in Wheredefuqarewe

Albuquerque?

Australian kids who sing a song using a fake eastern United States accent. 

Oh, hello there!

[Ed.Kloonk]

somewhere in Wheredefuqarewe

Albuquerque?

Nope. Northern NSW, believe it or not. Sign in the window said "Best hamburgers in town." It was the only hamburger shop in town. 

So technically, they also have the worst hamburgers in town.

[IDEngineer]

We used to kayak in a tiny little town at the confluence of three rivers. It had one, single, tiny little "store" and in its window was an award stating "Voted Best Business in Town". I asked who voted (an easily guessed topic) and the owner happily confirmed that his was the sole vote.

I love little business owners like that guy. Never going to be in the Forbes 400 but he's happy and surrounded by friends and customers who share his passion every single day. There are worse ways to live.

[MathWizard]

I can't remember seeing big outdoor garbage bins, shaped and painted like a classic treasure chest.

Someone should make and market them

[IDEngineer]

Some people already treat dumpsters like treasure chests. "The good stuff is always at the bottom."

[SeanB]

Most treat bins as religious deity's here, totally empty, with the offerings around them.

[tooki]

While I wouldn’t call shrinkflation “scamming” except where they deliberately make the container look like the old one, I have one major objection: food packaging sizes. Why? Because so many recipes are designed around specific package sizes. So if they reduce a can from, say, 16 to 14 ounces, your old recipes may not work.

It's absolutely scamming. They always try to make the package look as close to the old one as possible. If not for the fact that they are legally required to list the amount of product within you know they would not. The whole point of shrinkflation is to conceal price increases by making the product subtly smaller, knowing that many people won't notice for a while. In a way I think it would be worthwhile to legally mandate product sizes to prevent this.

No, they don’t “always” try to make the package mimic the old one. Standard metal food cans just got smaller. What I consider deceptive is with things like detergent bottles where they added larger air spaces in the foot of the bottle to make it appear the same size.

(To me, the word “scam” goes beyond simple deception, and shrinkflation doesn’t rise to that threshold, even if it is irritating as hell.)

[tooki]

Popped into a local chew and spew somewhere in Wheredefuqarewe.

"I'll have a hamburger with the lot."

"Ah, you mean a Works Burger."

 

I think that depends on whether the latter is the formal name of a menu item. It’s wise to confirm to the customer what they’re ordering, so if that is the official name of the menu item, you echo back the correct name, not the customer’s description. (Wouldn’t surprise me if staff are required to do so, if it’s a corporate chain.)