Really trivial stuff that bugs you

[ozduck]

A long time ago I added a sturmy archer gear hub to my back wheel, needing shorter spokes. In those days it was assumed you would do it yourself! After replacing every spoke I recall tightening until they had the same ping then spinning the wheel to true it adding a bit of tension to the obvious side. Cut off the exposed thread and add tape to protect the tube. It was a proud moment for a twelve year old! Never did it again. I think I lost the spoke spanner.

Well, you have certainly done far more than I ever have.

[PetersCreek]

I have now picked up the wheel. I had a talk to them about doing it myself and the guy said that if I had the tools the spoke replacement is pretty easy and the spokes were only about $2 each from them. He also said that if the wheel is still pretty true you can do it all by eye. With regards to fitting the spokes myself and having them true the wheel he said that it may not be all that much cheaper due simply to time costs.

I also had to get a new tyre fitted due to some damage. Taking the cost of the tyre off it cost me around $34 (US$27) for the (3) spoke replacement, trueing up etc. The minimum wage here is $19.84 (US$16) per hour and then you have to allow for their profit margin.

No, that doesn't sound like a bad deal, all things considered, even if spokes themselves are significantly marked up (100% and up) as I suspect.

I've trued a wheel on the roadside on an occasion or two, using the brake pads as a reference but that was only "good enough for now." One typically has more leeway with a leisure bike but my brake pads were adjusted to within a couple of millimeters from the rim, so I'd either hae fuss with it a bit with or readjust the brakes for the trip home...or both.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Because of an issue with the keyboard mot of last week I did some research into an upgraded system for doing videos and such and found out about a video editor that was suppose to free except for a few features. Did one quick video and put on youtube and tried one with music and the feature that allow for video formats other than the programs own format does not work now. Here is the one that worked.

[Trebuchet]

How does the screensaver detect that I've just sat down and put my hand on the mouse so it can kick in right then and hold me up for a few seconds?

[Jim]

This is why the Graphical User Interface is correctly pronounced "gooey."

[DonM435]

Possible derivation of the backronym.

[PetersCreek]

How does the screensaver detect that I've just sat down and put my hand on the mouse so it can kick in right then and hold me up for a few seconds?

Maybe this?

Private Sub Screen-Wake
'  Exit screensaver when user detected
'
On Error Resume Next
With ActiveSeat
If .Kiester.Detect = TRUE Then
With Screensaver
.Status = OFF_almost
.Delay.Stat = let_him_get_comfy
.Delay.Dur = rand_whatever
.Delay.Rsn = cuz_saidso
.Status = Off_finally
End With
End If
End With
End Sub

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Right now I have to do a background check to work for the census and hoping there is no letter s needed.

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

I've trued a wheel on the roadside on an occasion or two, using the brake pads as a reference but that was only "good enough for now." One typically has more leeway with a leisure bike but my brake pads were adjusted to within a couple of millimeters from the rim, so I'd either hae fuss with it a bit with or readjust the brakes for the trip home...or both.

I wouldn't even know how to begin Although I have disc brakes now, maybe that allows a bit more leeway.

[grant hutchison]

Confined to a small, urban Local Authority Area by current lockdown restrictions, I've had to get creative to motivate myself to keep taking my usual long walks.
So today I was following the line of a disused railway that passes close by my childhood home. At one point I caught sight of small building that seemed puzzlingly familiar, so I stopped and stared at it for a while--then realized what it was and suddenly found myself short of breath, with a thumping heart-rate around 120. I'm fortunate enough to have never had an anxiety attack in my life up to now, and this was a very mild one, quickly resolving, but there's no doubt that's what it was.
It's the first time I've seen the public hall where local Scout meetings were held, back in the 1960s, since the night I walked out of the building in the middle of a meeting, after being bullied by the supervising adults (actually ex-Scouts and ex-Guides in their late teens and early twenties). If I'd been called upon to find it, I'd have looked somewhere different--but it was quickly evident to me as I explored the area farther that my recollection of distances and sizes was hugely distorted by my own short stature at the time I was last in the area.

It bugs me that the place can have such a strong emotional effect on me, after more than half a century.

Grant Hutchison

[Extravoice]

Wow, adults bullied you, as well as the kids? I can understand the emotional response you had.

I suffered a considerable amount of bullying as a kid, but never from adults.

[grant hutchison]

Wow, adults bullied you, as well as the kids? I can understand the emotional response you had.

I suffered a considerable amount of bullying as a kid, but never from adults.

I had eight years of bullying by my noxious little peers as a child, but in that particular setting the adult supervisors were pretty much the entire problem.
As a child who had absolutely no interest in earning merit badges or participating in competitive activities, I was a source of bafflement to a group of young adults who had clearly enjoyed their Scouting experience. Their solution to this "problem" was to try to shame/threaten me into participation, because it would be "good for me". (This was a recurring theme in my childhood, it must be said. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the ten most terrifying words in my young life were, "I'm a grown-up, and I know what's good for you.")
A more mature group of adults might have recognized that the Scouting movement was very much not going to be good for me, and might have taken the initiative of communicating that to my father, whose daft idea the whole thing was in the first place. But these guys just decided to make a man of me or kill me in the attempt.

Grant Hutchison

[Jens]

I had eight years of bullying by my noxious little peers as a child, but in that particular setting the adult supervisors were pretty much the entire problem.
As a child who had absolutely no interest in earning merit badges or participating in competitive activities, I was a source of bafflement to a group of young adults who had clearly enjoyed their Scouting experience. Their solution to this "problem" was to try to shame/threaten me into participation, because it would be "good for me". (This was a recurring theme in my childhood, it must be said. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the ten most terrifying words in my young life were, "I'm a grown-up, and I know what's good for you.")
A more mature group of adults might have recognized that the Scouting movement was very much not going to be good for me, and might have taken the initiative of communicating that to my father, whose daft idea the whole thing was in the first place. But these guys just decided to make a man of me or kill me in the attempt.

I'm sorry to hear about that. Actually, I had a very similar experience, save only the bullying by adults. I was also sent into scouting, and didn't give a darn about earning merit badges and that kind of stuff,. and I hated the discipline. The one good thing I guess that came of it for me is that it was at a jamboree that I and a group of other misfits decided to start a band, and it became a lifelong pastime.

[schlaugh]

I enjoyed scouting at first - camping, learning stuff, hiking, making stuff, fishing...and then our troop was handed some knucklehead leader who thought that we needed to march! march! march! each week that we met. And thus endeth my Scouting career.

[grant hutchison]

I'm sorry to hear about that. Actually, I had a very similar experience, save only the bullying by adults. I was also sent into scouting, and didn't give a darn about earning merit badges and that kind of stuff,. and I hated the discipline.

The problem in the specific setting I encountered (though it was far from unique at that time in Scottish culture) was that Scouting did all that good stuff of encouraging self-esteem and independence only in those who conformed to the Scouting "ideal"--essentially Baden-Powell's particular take on Muscular Christianity. If you weren't disposed to play that particular game, then undermining and bullying were the order of the day until you either fell into line or left. For children at that time, in that culture, there were only a small number of approved routes to self-esteem, assertiveness and self-reliance (all key character traits in protecting oneself from bullying), and attempting to pursue a different trajectory meant that adults would move in to "correct" the child's attitude. (If I sound bitter about this it's only because I'm bitter about it. )

Grant Hutchison

[profloater]

I find Grant has explained where the discipline side and muscular Christianity side of Baden Powell ‘s scouting can go very wrong. It has its good side in what are now called social skills. I left scouting before either might affect me but my wife decided to become a leader in our village near Cambridge UK. As a side note Cambridge parents were already very down on competition such as school running races and therefore scouts too. in the village we found children were very low on skills like first aid, using the telephone (!) ( the telephone was in a box with button A and button B, how things change), plus stuff like sewing, boiling an egg, etc.. the scouts were just combining boys and girls at the time in a progressive place like that. I think the results were positive for those children. this was around 1980 time. Later, living near London’s river I found the Sea Scouts there very impressive and adventurous, with none of that bullying culture. So much depends on the character of the leaders.

[Nicolas]

I hav bought my oldest son an electronics experiment kit. It was quite a search to still find something that uses individual resistors and transistors. This kit uses some IC's too. And I really miss that they did not label the connector pins of those IC parts. Now you always have to dive into the front pages of the manual to see which pin has which use. Agreed, it does teach an 8 year old the importance of datasheets...

Speaking of 8 year olds, I have to admit to being a bit proud when seeing him tracing with his finger "from + to the switch, to the lamp, and onwards to - so the lamp will burn when I push the switch." OK we're not exactly at the point where I bother him with conventional vs physical current direction, never mind a floating ground issue with the trigger pin of one of the IC's, but he already knows more about electricity now than some of his teachers. And he's having loads of fun. WIN! Just keeping an eye out for short circuits; he grasps the concept slightly but doesn't recognize the non-obvious ones yet.

[Noclevername]

Being bullied by adults was such a "routine" part of my childhood that I was surprised anyone thought it odd. But I was disbelieved every time I complained about it, so I assumed at the time it must have been uncommon. Since that time I've seen it happen to other kids, so I know now how common it is.

[Gillianren]

If I sound bitter about this it's only because I'm bitter about it.

With good reason.

[Trebuchet]

Morty the Moose. But it's not his fault.
Around 20 years ago,we noticed that instead of the usual lighted deer, someone had a moose. That was awesome! So when we saw one at Sears, we bought one. About half the lights worked, so we took him back and got another. Morty.
We put him in our yard at the old-old-house for a few years. But then some of the lights died. So I put him back in his box, because I wasn't ready to give up on him.
This past November, I got him out with the goal of relighting him before Christmas. With LED lights, for more reliability. Turned out neither of the light strings on the body worked at all, although the antlers did.
Before Christmas didn't happen. But I've been working on him on and off and today, he's pretty much done. So, having decided to retain the original incandescent lights on the antlers, I checked them out. Fortunately, there was a little bag of four spare bulbs there. Unfortunately, about eight were out.
No worries, I've probably got a multitude of little incandescent bulbs down in the old garage. Except I don't. But there were about 200 that I took off the body before starting on the relight. Which are now in a landfill somewhere.
Morty's just going to have to make do with a few antler bulbs out.
Tomorrow I shall A) make sure all the new lights work;
B) Take a picture of him all lit up; and
C) Make sure my rewiring hasn't impaired his ability to fold up; and
D) Stow him away in his box for next year.
See you next December, Morty!

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

Morty the Moose. But it's not his fault.
Around 20 years ago,we noticed that instead of the usual lighted deer, someone had a moose. That was awesome! So when we saw one at Sears, we bought one. About half the lights worked, so we took him back and got another. Morty.

I was completely baffled at this point. Good thing I read the rest . . .

Will you be posting Morty pictures here?

[Trebuchet]

I was completely baffled at this point. Good thing I read the rest . . .

Will you be posting Morty pictures here?

Soon!

[The Backroad Astronomer]

For the first time this winter the pipes froze.

[Torsten]

^I hope they didn't burst.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

^I hope they didn't burst.

Nope they usually freeze in one of two point and usually have to ran a hairdryer over it. Tonight the big issue is when to go to sleep because I have to get enough rest to unload a truck for an auction before we go and get an estate.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

People who don't listen or think. During the last auction in another town someone from my town bought a large rug a 8X4 woolen carpet. The people packing the truck were told not bury it. This morning before staring to load at the house we were to load, we had to unload some stuff including the carpet 3 quarters down a tier.

[Extravoice]

Poorly designed software.

Part of Mrs EV’s job is coordinating the daily pickup of many packages at people’s homes and having them sent to a central location. The specifics change daily.

Her employer recently changed from one major package delivery company to another. There are two ways of entering the daily data - one manually intensive, and another not so much so. She had to use the manual one for several weeks, as the “”easier” method’s software installation kept crashing. Nobody in either the local or shipping company’s IT department could resolve the issue.

Last week, her computer was upgraded (for other reasons), and the software magically installed without issue. With some guidance from the shipper, she used the software to reduce a 2 hour entry task to about 15 minutes.

The next day, however, the program kept issuing cryptic error messages. The late-day support folks couldn’t help, so she had to resort to the slower method.

Today, a more knowledgeable support person identified the issue. A configuration file (with a cryptic name) must reside on her Windows desktop. You must not delete or rename it, and it cannot be kept anywhere else in the system.

She had deleted it, thinking it was clutter left over when data was migrated to the new computer.

[Trebuchet]

It's handy that the bag the dishwasher pods come in has a built-in zip feature. It'd be even more handy if it actually worked.

[Van Rijn]

I’ve had zip type packages that sometimes work. It reminds me of the “easy open” packages for hot dogs and such, which might just be possible to open if your hands are completely dry, but hardly easy. If you have any hint of water or oil on your hands, though, it’s impossible to get sufficient grip on the slick plastic, and your hands usually aren’t completely dry, since it is a kitchen. Don’t bother trying to dry them, that won’t be enough unless you’re willing to wait minutes or to find a blow dryer, so the packages regularly get stabbed and cut open with a knife.

[Trebuchet]

I’ve had zip type packages that sometimes work. It reminds me of the “easy open” packages for hot dogs and such, which might just be possible to open if your hands are completely dry, but hardly easy. If you have any hint of water or oil on your hands, though, it’s impossible to get sufficient grip on the slick plastic, and your hands usually aren’t completely dry, since it is a kitchen. Don’t bother trying to dry them, that won’t be enough unless you’re willing to wait minutes or to find a blow dryer, so the packages regularly get stabbed and cut open with a knife.

At least it's now possible to by packages of hot dogs and buns with the same quantities!