Things That Make You Go...hmmmmm?!

Downloading and using an APP on my phone....

Finding a parking spot in my city and parking correctly. I read somewhere, "A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works."

Oh that is another one! Parking. I can reverse park perfectly but going in front first is really hard! I am terrified I will hit the car next to me

I am wondering what is making you go hmmmm about apps, Sharon?

I have the same problem with the clock in my car, Abbie. I remember this fall I figured out an easier way to do it than it tells you in the owner's manual, but I didn't write it down. Once we switch back to DST, I'm going to have to fight it again. Shouldn't take ten minutes to figure out how to set a clock!! Or in your case half an hour.....

I know! but it is not logical...until you read it and it is

Why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways?

hahaha in the UK we do not but that is funny

Looking for where that squeak is coming from, only to find out its a thing on my back pack rubbing, or some other metal in my pocket....

Same for when I think someone is following me, the sound the backpack taps my back is the same as walk, but it sounds like someone is following me.

The sounds of large chattering/squeaking in the basement. the sound it made, made me think there was a family of vermin living under my table. And I spent a day cleaning it out, a week of setting out traps, with a webcam to only find that one weird thing directly overhead was a piece of tubing that managed to wiggle itself free that was over my head, i'm thinking made that noise, that I can't reproduce but it had to be that. Of course now and then I seem to be the only person to notice a mouse out of the corner of my eye, every one of them, every time.

I keep some things in a deep storage area, an out of the way place where I will look there if I can't find it anywhere else. And i've hid things so well, I still can't find it. And some are bulky. I'm still looking.


----Mike Savad

'your call is important to us'.........10 minutes later.......'your call is important to us'.........20 minutes later.......'your call is important to us'.........30 minutes later.......'your call is important to us'..........Really?.........................

I had one where it was like, music playing, and then click (oh good they are answering), your call is important please stay on the line), and it happened every 2min. You think finally and no... Its another hold on message. Of course its worse sitting on hold and it answers to a busy signal or just the line signal.

Or that one tech guy who told me that the power going to my computer is faulty, and I needed to take everything from my desk and wheel it into a different room and plug it into a different outlet... It was then I hung up on that jerk and they replaced our motherboard and it worked fine after that.


----Mike Savad

Facebook... ha

oh and

PHONE - you are number 9 in the queue...

Google maps. Once it thinks I have arrived it takes the address away. This is especially troublesome of you have to circle to find a parking spot or on a busy highway and have to turn around. Now I have to reload the address while I am driving. I should be the one to say I arrived. It should at least speak the address and leave it up on the screen, so I don't have to search for it before I even arrived. Great app except for that it abandons you before you are done.

With google maps, if you are offline, you can't use it at all unless you download the maps. Thing is now and then when it updates the program it seems to erase my maps. So when I was offline expecting it to work (I stopped using my garmin), it couldn't find a thing. It only found where I was because I was at home and online. That's really annoying. So now I have to check if the maps are in place before I use it.

Also the same goes with android assistant, if i'm offline, I can't even get the time off the phone without it not knowing what to do. I saw no point in that. I should be able to use phone functions. Same with it understanding what I say, offline it guesses badly at what I said.


Also you can write to google. Sometimes they do add or fix things.


----Mike Savad

This is what instantly came to my mind:


Eddie Izzard had a brilliant show called 'Machines that lie', the snippet above is about printers, but showers, toasters and lots of other things are addressed as well :)
If you have time to watch the whole show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3LU2Ilx1GE

But I warn you, it contains the danger of spending the rest of the day watching Eddie's shows back to back...(well, in case if you like the Monty Python kind of humor)

The computer. Always something with the computer.

Baking anything that requires yeast...just can't do it.

Speaking of parking lots.

3 things send me over the edge, and someday, I will probably be that guy who gets arrested for parking lot rage.

First, people that take 4, 5, and 6 passes, holding everyone up to back into a parking spot. Right in front of the sign that says Do Not Back In!

Second, people who think the handicapped spaces are where you leave the shopping cart because they are too lazy to push it to the shopping cart return area.

Third, people who insist on turning left out of the parking lot, crossing heavy traffic right in front of the sign that says no left turn.

Things that are marked as - we used recycled plastics.... Can't be recycled. Bags made from soda bottles that can normally be recylced can't if its a bag. A cooler that is more money because they used flecks of other plastics, can't be recycled itself. So it will still end up in a landfill eventually.

We have a no bags policy in NJ, and everyone either forgets their bag and has to buy a new one, or the bag disintegrates into fine toner like dust in the sunlight If exposed for a little while. And those things uses more plastic than the single use. The single use is used a number of times more after it comes home. All to save landfills, of which are filled with plastic because there are no regulations in place to make just recyclable plastics so they all end up in the landfill, yet we still do nothing about it...


----Mike Savad

Convoluted instructions for ANYTHING. I went to Massachusetts for Christmas to my son's house as usual, but this year my daughter and I drove there. The tolls are now billed by license plate number and there are no booths. I got the bill from Massachusetts last week (still waiting for the bill from New York), and the instructions for online payment were so confusing, I gave up and mailed them a check. It wasn't worth the stress of trying to figure it out.

Every time I want to write :"photographer", I write "photogrpaher".. Every single time! (I had to correct this sentence) I have a few other words like that, but with photographer" I go hmmm.....

Or trying to refold the instructions. Doesn't matter how fresh its in my mind. I end up with one side folded in the wrong direction. Its like a Rubik's cube with a single color wrong.


----Mike Savad

The vacuum cleaner that could be assembled in 3 easy steps.........only to find out each of the 3 steps had 20 steps.......

Baking. I'm so freaking bad at baking and I don't know why.

Remembering passwords is the bane of my existence.

Everything with figuring how to sign up for Everything and learn everything to sign up with GoFundMe and FAA PIXELS and Protonmail and still need to do PayPal signup and probably Kickstarter soon and maybe YouTube because in for a Penny in for a Pound. Not complaining but a steep hard learning curve for a not quite "Reformed" Luddit. Actually still paying Kinkos to convert images to usable jpg because learning that comes after signing up for PayPal and a few other things. Still I am surprised I have got this far since suddenly deciding on July 6 2023 that my new goal in life is to both become rich and infamous American dissident degenerate artist Mr Dodo B Bird while not letting anyone succeed in making me go homeless.

Explaining to AI generator that you want a full-body portrait, wearing clothes and the generator returning it saying "Unsafe Image Content detected" and won't give an image. It's not unsafe! I swear! She has clothes on lol grrrr

Full body is usually used when they want to see something naked. Instead say something like a portrait of something with shoes. And then it will give a full body. Either that or download Easy Diffuser and get a model and make what you want without it bugging you about nonsense.


----Mike Savad

I dont use Windows, I'm on Linux. Thanks though. And, I don't have enough memory GPU for the Stable Diffusion 1111 as I already found out. So I just have to be creative with my prompting and sometimes it works and sometimes, well...it takes a while.

If there is a linux version, you can run it on the pc, but it will take a while. 10min for a 768px.

The ai has weird tricks to get it do what you want it do, and usually involves props. Like maybe full view, usually it likes the waist up.


----Mike Savad

Parkinson's Disease has no known cause, and there is no definitive test to determine if you have it. There are conditions that mimic Parkinson's but are not. Yet a neurologist has told me I definitely have Parkinson's. GAAA.

Oh James! What a horrible thing to have. Terribly sad to read that

People who have their turn signal on but don't turn and people who turn without giving a turn signal ( who also generally tend to have smashed up fenders, go figure )

Why they can't make a decent middle of the road vacuum cleaner. One that's not too expensive, but lasts more than a year.

"Please listen closely as our menu options have changed" seems to be a default menu option.

LOL, Roger! :D

When you call the doctor’s office and listen to three minutes’ worth of information and menu options, AFTER which they say, “If this is a true medical emergency, please hang up now and call 911.” Maybe say that part FIRST? Besides which, I can figure out myself when I need to call 911 and when I need to call the doctor’s office.

There are people that call 911 because they can't find a pencil or open a jar of pickles.

Https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/stupid-reasons-people-called-911

i've been on phone choices that had like 9 choices on each menu set, and if you didn't choose within 7 seconds, it started all over again. Often hitting zero over and over or saying operator, human, person etc will get you through. But not this one. It reset each time, and you had to guess what best fit you. I was on this system for 15m trying to figure out the route to get to a human. Up to the point I chose anything and hoped they would patch me through.


----Mike Savad

Circular websites:

Try to log in......forgot my password......send me a new password.

Response.......you don't have an account.

So you try to set up a new account.......

Response.......you already have an account.

And around we go......send me a new password.

Response.....you don't have an account

So you try to set up new account.......

Response.......you already have an account.

Its weird how it always takes me 3 tries to get a USB plug in

face up. Wrong.
Face down. Also wrong
face up again. Correct.


----Mike Savad

Why does bad mean good? Why does sick mean cool? (and so on)

Seriously, Mike. How is it that there is a 50/50 chance of having the flash drive oriented correctly for the computer USB plug, and yet it takes three or more tries to make the connection???

Never reaching a live person when you call ‘any’ office for help or an appointment. Always a recording or ‘please call back’ message. I guess their time is much more important than mine.

Waiting for my 1099 ?

Always 3 times. No matter how right it is, it takes it a few times to get It right, its just the laws of usb. It sounds like its 2 but its 3.

And the laws of an sd card - you will always install it the wrong way the first time.


----Mike Savad

I had a very small part break on one of my cars, so I decided, why not try to print it on my 3d printer? Someone had created a file of the part, I started up the printer, and got a bunch of spaghetti. Researched, took a portion apart, cleaned, tried again...more spaghetti. Three more cleanings and attempts. Even tried printing something I have printed successfully before. I am not one to give up easily, but at the end of the day, I have spent multiple hours on a $15 part. Things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

Spaghetti comes when its not sticking to the bed. I use a lightly sanded piece of garolite, with a pva coating (white glue and water about 50-50, should be a bit thick but brushable), or a glue stick. Heat the bed, depending on the filament used. Clogging is when you need to clean it, otherwise it may be the head has something in it, and its squirting it to the side, or its worn out. But this is usually due to it not sticking or its banging into the print in which case leveling the bed well is needed. Or the Z isn't rising because it needs cleaning and oiling and its bumping into it.

What material was it? PLA or PETG? Or something more exotic?

Edited... Also your program might be wrong, if its going too fast, its too hot, too slow etc, that could mess it up. My first program was so bad that all my boaty's were mutated. Just any old program won't do either, its all custom to the material, color and brand.

----Mike Savad

My life has been a HUGE hmmm this past 4 weeks, hence I have not been as active as normal

decamped from home due to asbestos in roof. All stuff in storage minus what we needed in a rental
got to rental and half rental boxes went into storage >:( Had to buy new
toilet there was blocked. got someone out. It was still blocked
called emergency plumber... never showed so had to pay for a hotel
went on holiday the next day as it would be days before they could come out
came back.. toilet fixed but heater broke
got heater fixed
temp washing machine was in and played disco across the floor when it hit spin had to get that fixed
was meant to have the place deep cleaned and decorated before moving back in
place was filthy
place was half decorated but they said it was finished
HUGE hole in ceiling still from asbestos work
moved back home yesterday anyway but storage stuff not back until today
Cant get into the back office at work but loads of work to do
Boxes EVERYWHERE
Hole got cardboard covering it until end of week
tumble dryer foot broke in moving

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Wao, Abbie, we are so sorry, very stressful! We think of you and hope everything will soon be sorted out!

Lets see. There was a spot of water on the rug in the bathroom, had no idea where it was coming from, it was rather cold and it wasn't a foot print, so we thought the worst. Our plumbing isn't that great, tiles on the wall in spots are loose, floor is loose in one corner, 2 layers of carpet are soaked. The leak has been going on for a very long time.

Thinking, maybe take off the escutcheon plate and peer in there with a light? Take off tiles and see what's going on. Where is there a leak. Should we call a plumber? They'll open the walls to find - nothing?

We have a shower enclosure with a door, it has a plate on the bottom that I thought was over flowing into the room. So I closed the doors and started spraying that one corner, and it was not that... Instead the water was getting underneath the plate, the caulk dried out over the many years we had that thing in there and it was seeping around and down the corner of the tub, soaking the wall there, and I assume the wallboard isn't absorbing any more. And so the carpet took the rest. It must have been going on for years.

Scraped up the bad stuff, got this caulk, its a non latex stuff that needed mineral spirits to clean. It was really thick, like it didn't come out of the tube thick, and I was squeezing with all my might. And made a horrid mess. It didn't really smoothly go on, it spread out in all directions, and it didn't clean with water so everything I touched has hand prints on it now... My arm got into one part and I didn't know.. So I have white stuff on the armrest of my chair, ruined a shirt. Despite having an apron on of which I got no caulk on at all somehow. Decided that if the tub is going to have a brilliant white clean spots, i'll treat the surround with some as well....

Only that the surround had silicone, which I didn't know about, so nothing stuck. So now it looks like a cheap motel, of uneven, large lines where parts don't stick at all. And I have to stare at this every time I use the bathroom. On the plus side, it did fix that problem and we don't need a new bathroom now. We were actually doing light research on rentable showers for the yard.



And the other hmmm is where I was using a particular die (as in tap and die), it fell out of the holder, I caught it sort of, I threw it actually, and I have no idea where it went. I had hearing protectors on so I couldn't hear where it might have landed... And I still haven't found it. Someday I hope too.


----Mike Savad

Oh no, Abbie. That's not good at all. Perhaps that could be inspiration for a piece of artwork (trying to look on the bright side). I recall the stress of having to move into temporary accommodation for 6 months after we had a house fire in 2011 (due to a faulty dishwasher that the manufacturer knew about, but failed to inform its customers). It was an excuse for a cull of much of our 'junk', but thankfully the most important things were saved: photos and my children's old schoolwork, which were in our fire safe.

Oh no :( Yes, we have had the storage boxes back now and I am literally sitting....But as we open them, half of them are going in bin bags LOL

Yours was WAY worse, you could have lost your lives!!

That is absolutely the most important thing -- that we survived. I hope you get sorted soon, Abbie. :-)