Categories: uncategorized
Date: 25 December 2008 10:13:56
1. Status bars on computers when they are downloading/installing things. They bear no relation to anything. Particularly the % ones. Sometimes the time ones are in the right ballpark. But "% complete" means nothing. The first 95% can take one minute and the last 5% can take an hour. How do they quantify it anyway?
2. The beeper and display on my microwave. When the selected cooking time has elapsed, it beeps three times. Reasonable. Sometimes it then beeps three more times about 20 seconds later if you haven't opened the door - gimme a break! I know you're there! Other times it waits 2 minutes or so to rebeep. But what makes me most mad is the display that says "your food is cooked". How does it know that?! My food may be lukewarm or still frozen!
3. The idea of GPS for driving. I don't want no stinkin' machine telling me where to go! And taking a scenic route never did me any harm.
4. Devices that require the battery to be removed for recharging purposes. My camera is in this category. I like my camera. But I'd prefer it to just plug in to the wall.
5. The Sony phone that does not permit the user to turn off the "battery nearly dead" beep (probably multiple models? I thought the owner just hadn't looked hard enough. But if the option's there, it is hidden very very well).
6. Incompatibility of adaptors. I have a car adaptor for my phone that doesn't work with my phone. It fits into the plug hole, is the same voltage etc, is recognised as being a charger. But my phone puts up a message to tell me that my phone is not compatible with this charger. Then there are all these non-standard plugs. Why don't cameras all use mini-usb? Mine might actually... but my old one didn't.
7. Stingy USB port allocation on MacBooks. How is two USB ports enough on a laptop? Wireless modem + mouse = no room for camera cable! Or iPod cable!
In other news, Pooka's behaviour was exemplary today, in the face of two grandmothers, a cousin, an aunt and an uncle. And my grandmother likes her better than my cousins' dogs (2 giant poodles and now a Wolfhound too...) because she doesn't jump up. My other grandmother who doesn't really do dogs, is also quite fond of her. She has named her walking stick "Pooka" because it never does what it's supposed to. But having said that, when she told Pooka to sit, Pooka sat.