OT: Name some things that drive you fucking nuts

[Darkstone42]

Guys who share my lab space with me are both off. I am alone in my kingdom.

I had Yabo's Tacos for lunch. With sriracha.

As soon as I let it go, there was a knock at the door.

Are you starting a modern noir tale? Because that's how this post read to me.

 

[forty_three]

The Koch brothers' most recent self-serving political battle, trying to push out any attempts at green energy from taking over, basically on the argument that it's unfair to big oil as far as I can tell.

I don't see what it isn't obvious that solar is the way to go. I mean, it's the sun for crying out loud, how much more impressive a source of power could you need? Extra especially in Arizona where it's sunny 350 days of the year.

Yeah, they just started a campaign here to defeat a tax levy to benefit the Columbus Zoo. The zoo intends to expand with more sustainable habitats, clean up it's use of energy going forward as well as expand rescue programs and bolster it's return to the wild initiative for rehabilitated animals.

They are blasting out these mailers screaming about a 105% tax increase.

The average person in central Ohio pays $20 per year to support the zoo. If it passes, they will pay $44.


If there's any solace, they spearheaded the fight to defeat the NW Ohio wind farms plan a few years ago based on cost. The voters still passed it, and the mills occasionally have to shut down because they pass too much electricity back into the system for Toledo, and NW Ohio. I hope they build some wind farms closer to Columbus. They are cool to look at and we can use the energy. We have a hydro-electric dam nearby that is starting to struggle to keep up with growth.

 

[thedddd]

Right now someone in the plan next to ours is blasting Nickelback.

 

[thedddd]

The Koch brothers' most recent self-serving political battle, trying to push out any attempts at green energy from taking over, basically on the argument that it's unfair to big oil as far as I can tell.

I don't see what it isn't obvious that solar is the way to go. I mean, it's the sun for crying out loud, how much more impressive a source of power could you need? Extra especially in Arizona where it's sunny 350 days of the year.

Yeah I don't get it.

Want to hear some irony....

I was driving on I-94 from Fargo to Bismark ND. Yeah don't ask but I was up there for work and it had nothing to do with the Oil Boom- my work that is.

Anyway I past an oversized load that was hauling one of those windmill wings, looked like this:

Anyway I stopped off to get gas at some exit and the one lead truck was there for the getting gas. I guess it went ahead to check to make sure the oversized load can get to where it needs to go. So out of curiosity I asked him where they were going.

The guy told me they were taking/building the windmill in northern ND at one of the Oil Drilling areas to help give secondary/backup power.

So basically they are using Wind energy to aid for Oil drilling.

 

[elocomotive]

The guy told me they were taking/building the windmill in northern ND at one of the Oil Drilling areas to help give secondary/backup power.

So basically they are using Wind energy to aid for Oil drilling.

That is hilarious.

 

[Comeds]

Damn, there goes my Saturday night plans. After an hour drive I find my favorite adult amusement park - Bush Gardens - closed by the health department.

 

[forty_three]

The guy told me they were taking/building the windmill in northern ND at one of the Oil Drilling areas to help give secondary/backup power.

So basically they are using Wind energy to aid for Oil drilling.

Oy vey

 

[Darkstone42]

Yeah I don't get it.

Want to hear some irony....

I was driving on I-94 from Fargo to Bismark ND. Yeah don't ask but I was up there for work and it had nothing to do with the Oil Boom- my work that is.

Anyway I past an oversized load that was hauling one of those windmill wings, looked like this:

Anyway I stopped off to get gas at some exit and the one lead truck was there for the getting gas. I guess it went ahead to check to make sure the oversized load can get to where it needs to go. So out of curiosity I asked him where they were going.

The guy told me they were taking/building the windmill in northern ND at one of the Oil Drilling areas to help give secondary/backup power.

So basically they are using Wind energy to aid for Oil drilling.

That almost seems dirty.

 

[Comeds]

Dammit! I felt like listening to some good music so I took out my records and my 45 of 'The Curly Shuffle' has a scratch on it.

 

[elocomotive]

Slide shows on Web sites. We have a good 20 years of development of HTML and other programming languages on the Web now. Why in the $)#* do I have to site there and click to the side for different pictures or pieces of text content when I can see it all in one page?

It's a RIDICULOUS way to present content. Also, it's not good for advertisers, because I don't have time to get bored/distracted and look at the ads they want to show me.

It's like making people...

 

[elocomotive]

scroll uselessly...

 

[elocomotive]

.












...for no reason. Idiotic.

 

[dare2be]

Slide shows on Web sites. We have a good 20 years of development of HTML and other programming languages on the Web now. Why in the $)#* do I have to site there and click to the side for different pictures or pieces of text content when I can see it all in one page?

It's a RIDICULOUS way to present content. Also, it's not good for advertisers, because I don't have time to get bored/distracted and look at the ads they want to show me.

It's like making people...

On a related note...dynamic scrolling pages, where part of the content is loaded and additional content isn't loaded until you reach the bottom of the page. Usually is used on flash kindergarten picture-book sites like Hulu. Just give me a simple sortable text listing that can be loaded all in one shot.

The worst recent offender is Zap2It's tv listings, which just converted over to this abomination.

Compare these two pages and see what I mean. Old format:

http://tvschedule.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCGrid.do

New format:

http://tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZCGrid.do

 

[elocomotive]

Compare these two pages and see what I mean. Old format:

TV Listings Guide and TV Schedule, Where to Watch TV Shows - Zap2it

New format:

TV Listings Guide and TV Schedule , Where to Watch TV Shows - Zap2it

Plus, you can see 8 channels at once in the old format. Now - only five. Progress!

Functionality and simplicity should reign supreme. Sadly, they rarely do. When they do, those companies make billions (see: apple, google, facebook).

 

[Vadered]

Slide shows on Web sites. We have a good 20 years of development of HTML and other programming languages on the Web now. Why in the $)#* do I have to site there and click to the side for different pictures or pieces of text content when I can see it all in one page?

Slide shows are not there because computers used to vomit at the thought of 2 HD pictures on the same page, zomg. They are and nearly always have been there because every time you click to go to the new slide it increments the page view count, which is a key metric in determining how much money the sites can charge for advertising.

Those metrics are bullshit, of course - it's not reasonable to think an ad somebody sees twelve times clicking through a sideshow is as effective as twelve people seeing it once, and in fact at some point you are hurting your website by pissing off people who have to click through ten slides of dumb.

There are good uses for slide shows too; the problem is everybody puts the main content on them, which is forcing everyone to use a system most hate to access content.

 

[elocomotive]

Slide shows are not there because computers used to vomit at the thought of 2 HD pictures on the same page, zomg. They are and nearly always have been there because every time you click to go to the new slide it increments the page view count, which is a key metric in determining how much money the sites can charge for advertising.

Those metrics are bullshit, of course - it's not reasonable to think an ad somebody sees twelve times clicking through a sideshow is as effective as twelve people seeing it once, and in fact at some point you are hurting your website by pissing off people who have to click through ten slides of dumb.

There are good uses for slide shows too; the problem is everybody puts the main content on them, which is forcing everyone to use a system most hate to access content.

Yeah, agree with all of that, Vadered. That's part of what pisses me off about them - the motivation for them is generally short-sighted. Agree they can be useful for side content, ESPECIALLY when the page doesn't have to re-load for them and the buttons don't move. The only thing worse than a terrible slideshow is one where the entire page refreshes and the buttons constantly shift positions. Ugh.

 

[Darkstone42]

Getting emails from students which are poorly constructed drives me up the wall. Be it poor grammar, lack of flow, unprofessional formatting or language, general bad language, or--the bane of my existence these days--nonspecific, irrelevant, or otherwise somehow horrible subject lines, I have to take some time to shake my head and get over my disappointment before I can even consider responding.

I got one today with a subject "Please Read This!" The email included a complaint that no one else in my lab had responded. In my response, I told the student that it was likely due to the very spam-like subject line they used, especially since none of us actually knew them.

 

[forty_three]

Two months ago:
Me - I just made my payment, I don't want your newspaper delivered anymore. Cancel my account.
Dispatch - Okay

One month ago:
M- I am still getting your newspaper. Stop it. I want it cancelled.
D - Okay. You can cancel online.
*go online* "to cancel service, you must call" *call back*
M - CAN-CEL
D - Okay


Two weeks ago:
M - Listen. I don't want your newspaper. I have asked you to cancel it, yet you still send it. Stop.
D - You are past due by two months. You need to make a payment before we can cancel.
M - What the fuck?
*much cursing later*
D - Okay, I have credited your account showing you are paid up, and your account is cancelled.

Today:
*Mailbox holds nice letter thanking me for my new subscription to the Columbus Dispatch*



Seems that when they processed my "payment", the "system" automatically re-opened my account. And wouldn't you know it. I am PAST DUE again, and almost ready to be turned over to collections. Shucks!

That guy who answered and threatened me with collections is probably going to go home and kick the shit out of his cat. He has had a bad day.



And I don't know what I expected out of the place that employs twatwaffle and has never gotten even a single detail on any case I have worked correct, other than states of residence of the suspects or victims. Well, they are 90% on that.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

Hotel TV channels.

I spend between 70-90 nights per year in a hotel for work (plus probably another 7-10 for personal travel).

This week I'm staying in a very nice AAA 4-Diamond hotel. Great service, beautiful architecture, and generously sized rooms.

But the TV options suck. And this is always the case. Every hotel has about 10 different ESPNs (championship dodgeball on The Ocho, anyone?). Most have NFL Network. The one I'm in this week even has Fox Sports 1 and NHL Network. But none of them ever have NBCSN.

So last night, I go down to the hotel bar so that I can have some dinner and watch the 3rd period of the Rags/Pens game. With about 6 minutes left, I am very clearly watching intently, when the guy next to me asks the bartender to put on the basketball game (which is still in the 1st quarter, on TNT, and available in the rooms mind you) and the bartender complies no questions asked.

WTF? There's 6 minutes left. Poll the other patrons and ask if anyone wants to keep the hockey game on and then switch it when the hockey game is over!

 

[dash]

So last night, I go down to the hotel bar so that I can have some dinner and watch the 3rd period of the Rags/Pens game. With about 6 minutes left, I am very clearly watching intently, when the guy next to me asks the bartender to put on the basketball game (which is still in the 1st quarter, on TNT, and available in the rooms mind you) and the bartender complies no questions asked.

WTF? There's 6 minutes left. Poll the other patrons and ask if anyone wants to keep the hockey game on and then switch it when the hockey game is over!

So after they removed chards of broken beer bottle from buddy's torso, what happened next?