The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[BetterRed]

What don't I like today

Unsolicited apps appearing in Windows Startup.

Micro$soft… Nope.

Firefox and the [expletive deleted] European Commission!!

BR

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One couple that I know are still very upset after 4 months. They decided to go with a Tesla Model 3 as their new vehicle last summer. About a month after the picked it up, an atmospheric river passed through for about a week. After the rain had stopped, they went to pick up some groceries. Sadly their Tesla which was parked in their driveway wouldn't start. Finally got a tech sent out who told them the battery got wet and so it needs to be replaced. The fun part is that Tesla says this is not covered by the warranty and so they need to pony up ~$25K for the repair. They are now before the courts since since the lawyer they consulted said Tesla's documentation gives no warning that heavy rain could cause an issue. It's not as if the Tesla was in a flood, it was simply parked outside during several days of heavy rain.

The information in the second half of page 280 of ISBN 978-1-9821-8128-4 might be of interest.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

The information in the second half of page 280 of ISBN 978-1-9821-8128-4 might be of interest.

How would someone be able to find your page 280 if viewing the eBook?

[nana77]

Originally Posted by DNSB

One couple that I know are still very upset after 4 months. They decided to go with a Tesla Model 3 as their new vehicle last summer. About a month after the picked it up, an atmospheric river passed through for about a week. After the rain had stopped, they went to pick up some groceries. Sadly their Tesla which was parked in their driveway wouldn't start. Finally got a tech sent out who told them the battery got wet and so it needs to be replaced. The fun part is that Tesla says this is not covered by the warranty and so they need to pony up ~$25K for the repair. They are now before the courts since since the lawyer they consulted said Tesla's documentation gives no warning that heavy rain could cause an issue. It's not as if the Tesla was in a flood, it was simply parked outside during several days of heavy rain.

This was nice about (imho):

For those of us who understand that the obvious is not
always the solution, and that the facts, no matter how implausible,
are still the facts ...

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you
for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a
fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert
after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every
night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice
cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's
also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my
trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy
vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't
start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just
fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter
how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not
start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get
any other kind?'"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter,
but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised
to be greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man in a fine
neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time,
so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It
was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came
back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the
man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got
strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla.
The car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this
man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore,
to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the
problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down
all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back
and forth, etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy
vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of
the store.

Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at
the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were
kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took
considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.

Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start
when it took less time. Once time became the problem -- not the
vanilla ice cream -- the engineer quickly came up with the answer:
vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to
get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to
start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the
vapor lock to dissipate.

Moral of the story: even insane-looking problems are sometimes real.

(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37584399)

[Dylrob]

For the life of me I can’t understand why there’s no standard format for handwritten notes. It mostly just seems to be vector data underlying at all, but every device and app apparently has to have its own format. I appreciate that there are some additional features on some devices, like outlines on Boox, better just wish there was some way of exporting the basic written text data that wasn’t just converting to PDF or OCRing into plain text.

[Freeshadow]

but there is a standard format: it's called PEN AND PAPER.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

but there is a standard format: it's called PEN AND PAPER.

Nah, I still have to convert that into PDF in order to import to another device.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

Nah, I still have to convert that into PDF in order to import to another device.

It's easy to move it to another device. You just open the rings in the binder and move it to a new binder. It's that easy.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's easy to move it to another device. You just open the rings in the binder and move it to a new binder. It's that easy.

It’s easy if you limit yourself to the binder or notepad line of devices, yes. Then again, there are some compatibility issues even among certain devices in this line. Like when transferring a three hole left of line to a two hole top aligned binder. This requires the use of a hole punch converter. Oh, and then there’s the issue of the competing US letter and A4 formats

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

It’s easy if you limit yourself to the binder or notepad line of devices, yes. Then again, there are some compatibility issues even among certain devices in this line. Like when transferring a three hole left of line to a two hole top aligned binder. This requires the use of a hole punch converter. Oh, and then there’s the issue of the competing US letter and A4 formats

I checked on Wikipedia and although A4 (210mm x 297mm) is not exactly the same size as US Letter paper (216mm x 279mm), it's likely close enough that the same binder could be used for both sizes of paper since A4 is 18mm longer and 6mm narrower. All you'd have to do is adjust the guide tab to ensure the paper is centered.

Something you might consider is that for my notebook I use the Disc System. It's a system where you don't bind the paper in a notebook but via a series of plastic or metal discs. My current notebook is half-letter size (8.5 inches by 5.5 inches) and is bound by eight 3/4" plastic discs. The advantage of this system is you can easily add, remove, and reorder pages as needed. You can also increase the size of the pages by adding more discs, and can make the notebook thicker by increasing the size of the discs.

[pdurrant]

I get the last bit of hardware I need to access Firewire peripherals from my MacBook Pro..... and then I find out that Firewire support has been stripped from Mac OS 26.

Sigh.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I get the last bit of hardware I need to access Firewire peripherals from my MacBook Pro..... and then I find out that Firewire support has been stripped from Mac OS 26.

Sigh.

Linux will continue to get support til 2029 at least.

[jbjb]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

Oh, and then there’s the issue of the competing US letter and A4 formats

There's an easy solution to that. Consign US Letter to history, and use the much more logical ISO 216 sizes (e.g. A4 etc). Most of the world (outside North America) already does so.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jbjb

There's an easy solution to that. Consign US Letter to history, and use the much more logical ISO 216 sizes (e.g. A4 etc). Most of the world (outside North America) already does so.

I find A4 to be an odd size. Let Letter live and A4 go away.

[dandaman]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I find A4 to be an odd size. Let Letter live and A4 go away.

Oh well, change the entire world instead of just the US.