Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[Circlotron]

Or food packages that either require the skill of a surgeon to open or are nearly impossible to open with arthritic hands.

or that will never open where the "open here" label is.

Several years ago we were getting these two litre milk containers that had a peel off seal under the plastic screw-on lid. They had a little section in the centre that you could grab between your thumb and forefinger and supposedly peel off the seal. But I kid you not, I kept a pair of pliers by the kitchen sink for this purpose. Many but not all were stuck on with industrial strength glue. There was no way on earth I could remove some of them and there is nothing wrong with my hands. I can’t imagine how a little old granny would have managed. Maybe poke a hole through it.

[IDEngineer]

Often the pull tab just rips off the seal, leaving now alternative but to poke a hole and then peel it off with your fingers.

Lately I've found that the bags inside cereal boxes are thermally welded in a way that makes them stronger than the material. Pulling those apart just rips the bag all the way down its side.

[james_s]

I often don't even try to peel it off, I just grab a sharp knife and slice around the inner circumference of the opening most of the way around and then tear off the loose piece.

[MrMobodies]

I remembered that happening frequently some years ago just before the covid lockdown where I ended up damaging a cartoons and packaging but I haven't come across anymore since.

[RJSV]

   Excessive LOG-IN / Password trivia.
Seems like every last atom, in the known universe is going to sooner or later, require a sign-in.

   "Just to order a bag of Cheetos ??!  (Enter password).

   Heck, if I did that you might say that is ridiculous:
...Require folks to give me a password and...wait... I'm getting an ERROR 490.  Please report, to administrator.
Why not 'adopt' all the irritating Web site behaviours, to make my point.

Part of my point being that lots of folks are going to need a notebook, of some sort.  Oh, and don't forget to write all your new passwords, in big, RED letters.
   ? What is a normal, expected number of handy passwords, that a person can remember ?  Possibly relates, to how many phone numbers a person usually can remember, in daily life.

Don't get me started, on keeping a 'Password File' list.

- - Rick

[shapirus]

   ? What is a normal, expected number of handy passwords, that a person can remember ?

Remembering more than a couple of passwords is either futile, or unsafe, or both.

Password managers plus file synchronization software is the way to go.

Code: [Select]

keepassxc/testing,unstable,now 2.7.4+dfsg.1-2 amd64 [installed]
  Cross Platform Password Manager


Code: [Select]

syncthing/syncthing,now 1.23.1 amd64 [installed]
  Open Source Continuous File Synchronization


[rdl]

I have something like 30-40 passwords I need to keep track of. I prefer to use a sheet of paper in my top desk drawer.


LastPass says employee’s home computer was hacked and corporate vault taken

[PlainName]

For something like the keys to your kingdom you really shouldn't rely on some cloud provider, precisely because of the potential for the hacking which your link notes, but also because you need them to keep existing and providing a free service (if you pay for the subscription, what about if you hit hard times?).

Fortunately there are alternatives, possibly the best know being Keepass. Unlike a sheet of paper you can backup your password database, sync it across your devices (hard to read the paper in your drawer from out on the road), etc.

[shapirus]

LastPass says employee’s home computer was hacked and corporate vault taken

- encrypted storage;
- master password kept in head only (and in a secure off-site location, if necessary);
- 2-factor authentication.

[paulca]

On cloud.  Just remember there are different types of cloud.  The kind of "cloud" a company uses is not the same kind of cloud that you, the consumer use.  The pecking order is usually...

IaaS company (AWS,Azure et al) -> large enterprise cloud services -> reseller -> you

Now.  The IaaS company will make the required security and quality/level of service and regulatory guarantees to the large enterprise... and they will pay for it.

The large enterprise will make no such guarantees to the reseller and the reseller nor to you.  In fact most, if not all, will make suggestions and marketing hype about reliability/SLAs etc.  However in the small print it says something very, very different.  It basically has a 0% liability clause.  No matter how deliberate or negligent your data loss or data breach is, the terms and conditions you agreed to free the provider from any civil liability.  They don't even need to refund your money.

[MrMobodies]

I see stuff like that whether it be webhosting or service as a convenience and expect it to be finite and necessary for a backup on standby waiting and a copy in house. I don't believe any marketing claim that guarantees the data will still be there as many things can happen out of their control.

Customer brings a laptop to me, says it is not charging, can I have a look at it. The person who gave them it to bring to me *didn't think I need a charger except, no voltage or current rating anywhere, just a name, Lenovo but no model number and the battery is dead.

* This was frequent many years ago, whether they'd forgot to bring them or the charger wasn't working or the charging pin (Dell) except all of them stated, the voltage and current rating and I had universal adapters for that.

Very stupid idea not to state the input rating or even a model number to find out so I don't have to guess.

[PlainName]

The IaaS company will make the required security and quality/level of service and regulatory guarantees to the large enterprise... and they will pay for it.

Presumably you've looked at the SLAs and wondered what use they actually are. Typically they guarantee to not charge you if the service is unavailable for some extended period (actually, you get a refund and maybe a few quid for the hassle if you're lucky), but there is no compensation for losing your data or having it stolen, or your business failing because you can't provide service to your customers.

[wn1fju]

rdl says: "I have something like 30-40 passwords I need to keep track of. I prefer to use a sheet of paper in my top desk drawer."

Only 30-40?  I have 120 passwords and I use a little notebook organized into 26 pages, A, B, ...., Z, indexed by site name.  Banks, shopping, bills, doctors, insurance, forums, etc.  The list is endless.

And don't get me started with 2FA which I now even need to get into my e-mail (Comcast/Xfinity).  Enough already.

 

[shapirus]

And don't get me started with 2FA which I now even need to get into my e-mail (Comcast/Xfinity).  Enough already.

That's not a proper way of doing 2FA. TOTP is.

[paulca]

The IaaS company will make the required security and quality/level of service and regulatory guarantees to the large enterprise... and they will pay for it.

Presumably you've looked at the SLAs and wondered what use they actually are. Typically they guarantee to not charge you if the service is unavailable for some extended period (actually, you get a refund and maybe a few quid for the hassle if you're lucky), but there is no compensation for losing your data or having it stolen, or your business failing because you can't provide service to your customers.

Your assuming the "company" signed "that" version of the contract.  When talking about "Enterprise" cloud use within AWS they do and will accept liability and penalty clauses to get the business.  They will also adhere to the correct level of regulatory encryption and data security which they accept liability for.

As I said, they will pay for it though.

However, even without going up to that level, just a basic AWS account provides you with far, far better security and privacy then any "Cloud service" reseller.

[eti]

When people answer a question that is SO basic, that there can only be a "yes" or "no" response, with an answer that becomes a speech, because "I interpreted what you asked me, as... X" - Erm, I make questions VERY CLEAR.

"Is this towel clean?"

"Yes" or "No"


"Is this plate red?"

"Yes" or "No"


My family suffer HUGELY from "story telling" and being garrulous. I form questions specifically, so that I am not subjected to "Story time" (I am autistic).

Reserve lengthy conversation and expanding on subjects to things which require it, not trivia like every day life household questions. It is EXHAUSTING!!!!

[wn1fju]

How about the non sequitur questions that my wife is fond of asking me.  Something like, "can you take a look at the noise my car is making, or do you want a salad with dinner?"

[SiliconWizard]

How about the non sequitur questions that my wife is fond of asking me.  Something like, "can you take a look at the noise my car is making, or do you want a salad with dinner?"

 

[eti]

There's also this bullshit (emotional manipulation):

"If you feel like being nice, would you X for me?"

and...

"Can I ask you a question" (The "big build up" nonsense - JUST ASK ME!)

[Circlotron]

When someone is about to ask you to do something for them and they start by asking "what are you doing tomorrow?" the idea being they are weighing up the relative value of their big plans for visiting irritating relatives versus your worthless brain surgery.

[MrMobodies]

I use to get asked these questions at schools and a few work places I use to volunteer most of the time to give me something to do:

May I ask you a question please?
Yes...
*Have you ever been kissed by girl?
No.
Would you?
No and I don't want to be kissed by a girl.

Then they'd be behave all strangely after that.

Just at work:

Would you like a baby?
No, they need money and a stable job which I don't have.
Babies don't need money.
How else am I to afford its keep?

I just remembered another one I use to get asked:

Did you ever get hurt by a girl before?
In what way?
No answer
Nonsense, I got hurt by many people and it's called bullying and it happens regardless of what gender.

Have you ever been dating.
What is dating?
When you arrange go on trips with ladies. Do you like them like this and that... I can sign you up to some websites.
No interested, that is not how I get to know people.

Pretty much all of them who asked me this stuff had issues, bipolar, aggression and psychopathic tendencies:

I had one become abusive and swear when nobody was around, phone up their friends and family to say I was going to break the door down and physically attack them when on CCTV in the part of the building they came out of that locked room and started thing finger pointer at me and can be seen shouting their mouth off moving up and down in an agressive defensive manner.

I remember one sociopath at a school who kept on pretending and spreading this nonsense about me "that I was going out with them". At first before this she use to give me all strange looks in the lesson all the time, if I just looked at the board in my and I'd noticed in my peripheral then and when I look, she'd sling her arm down on the table violently, get up and in a dull voice, say "I hate boys I hate this school" and walk out the lesson and slam the door on the way out.

One day some lad from the younger years punched me in the back. I asked, aye' that hurt why you do that for? "Well if I smack you in mate I get to go out with that <girl>" Oh that, I said look it's a lie you could do that already there is nothing stopping you from "going out with that Scottish bitch", I didn't need to do anything so why shouldn't the same apply to you?, "she said I 've got to smack you in mate"

It ended up with me sitting on them in the hallway on their back, he had no strength, he was very thin and light but he was all angry and kicking his legs. I said "If you got your away she might do the same to you." There someone watching him obviously she sent them out to see if the job was done.

[IDEngineer]

"May I ask you a question?"

"You just did. Would you like to ask another?"

[Fixpoint]

Mathematical or scientific proofs which contain the following "Without loss of generality, it can be assumed that .....".
Most of the time, such proofs are very vague .

No, you just don't understand them   

[eti]

Here’s another:

This incredibly tedious modern trend that video editors (usually “YouTubers”) have of showing us a “triple replay” of some mundane aspect of the video from different angles (and we get to hear the audio 3x too, talk about grating) - it’s ALWAYS, ALWAYS done in threes.

“Here’s the ball falling! Did you miss it? Here’s the other angle!! Now the other angle!! And now fhe FINAL ANGLE!!!”

These young Dilbert “creators” all seem to blindly copy one another’s style, with barely any tangible original ideas. Did I NEED to see that shot of your ball falling, THREE TIMES? It’s always the SAME PATTERN.

Oh and the repeated “zoom—ZOOM—ZOOOOOOM—in—on—my—face—rapidly—as—I—feel—I’m—making—my—words—appear—more—profound” idiotic rapid fire zoom in and out jump cuts that younger people do on YouTube - likely the ones who’ve not yet developed the self-confidence to know how to articulate themselves in a subtle and meaningful, honest way, and so resort to cheap tricks like that.

Stop it. You insult your audience. I’ll be the one who decides if I agree with your sentiments or not, and that is NOT achieved with your silly iMovie editorial gimmicks.

[paulca]

These young Dilbert “creators” all seem to blindly copy one another’s style, with barely any tangible original ideas. Did I NEED to see that shot of your ball falling, THREE TIMES? It’s always the SAME PATTERN.

I used to be impressed by the effort some went to for effect shots.

Then I installed a demo version of  a few modern video editors and effect packs.

The reason they all seem to copy each other is because they are all using the same demo effect pack from the same video editor.