Technological/practical "backward steps" we all just accept now

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i tend to think fraud or theft prevention -- but you are probably right

Along those lines when I'm asked to enter my ZIP code at the gas station down the street... From the name on the card, this would be the easiest thing to figure out.

Even without the name, a pretty good guess would probably work too.

pplains, Sunday, 20 November 2022 00:21 (one year ago) link

Nobody cards me cos I look like I died already

Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Sunday, 20 November 2022 02:37 (one year ago) link

Even without the name, a pretty good guess would probably work too.

― pplains, Saturday, November 19, 2022 4:21 PM (two days ago)

the likelihood that it's the same ZIP as that of the gas station is fairly high

sarahell, Monday, 21 November 2022 19:30 (one year ago) link

though I always feel absurdly "safe" because my go-to gas station is in an adjacent ZIP code ... sad lol

sarahell, Monday, 21 November 2022 19:31 (one year ago) link

I stopped being carded around 45-46. (I'm 52 now.)

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Monday, 21 November 2022 19:33 (one year ago) link

Nobody cards me cos I look like I died already

Same, no one cards the undead

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Monday, 21 November 2022 19:40 (one year ago) link

8 years in Quebec and have never once been carded for alcohol—I'm not sure how other provinces are.

Sort of like YMP's post but fancier, the funniest thing in the US is getting carded buying a single nice bottle of port for my dad or splurging on a pricey bottle of scotch or whatever

rob, Monday, 21 November 2022 20:22 (one year ago) link

Catherine Irwin (of Freakwater) had some great between-song banter about getting carded in middle-age; she was like "If I look like this and I'm under 21, then you should just GIVE me the alcohol".
I was hosting two British musicians once (in their 60s/70s) in the U.S. and they got carded during dinner, and one said that was the first time he had been carded IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

ernestp, Monday, 21 November 2022 20:30 (one year ago) link

I've worked the door at a friend's bar as backup, and generally card everyone that comes in. Once in awhile, I'll get the exasperated 50-something: "Really? Really? You really want to see my ID?" And in the back of my mind, I'm like "Don't flatter yourself, pops - just show me the ID."

It's really just a legal thing - should the bar get raided (unlikely), they get fined for anybody without one.

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 21 November 2022 20:31 (one year ago) link

not carding everyone is communist iirc

ꙮ (map), Monday, 21 November 2022 20:34 (one year ago) link

drinking age should be 8 IMO

Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Monday, 21 November 2022 20:39 (one year ago) link

UK drinking age is 5. at 16 you can drink with a meal and an adult, and 18 you can buy your own but actually drinking it is 5.

https://www.gov.uk/alcohol-young-people-law

koogs, Monday, 21 November 2022 20:45 (one year ago) link

I learned about the age 16 part from the In-Betweeners

Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Monday, 21 November 2022 20:46 (one year ago) link

UK drinking age is 5. at 16 you can drink with a meal and an adult, and 18 you can buy your own but actually drinking it is 5.

Yes, this is why I did Jaeger shots with my 5-year-old son. Gotta get him acclimated before kindergarten.

ooh I wanna take ya to Topeka (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 21 November 2022 20:52 (one year ago) link

at least give him Jamesson

Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Monday, 21 November 2022 20:52 (one year ago) link

US drinking age is for possession, not consumption.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Monday, 21 November 2022 20:57 (one year ago) link

Germany has children's low alcohol beers I believe

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 21 November 2022 21:12 (one year ago) link

we're really get off topic here btw

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 21 November 2022 21:12 (one year ago) link

*getting*

Andy the Grasshopper, Monday, 21 November 2022 21:12 (one year ago) link

ok then. supermarkets have stopped putting use-by dates on tomatoes. "to reduce waste". but what has happened is that *i* am throwing them away as unusable rather than the supermarkets (and they are a lot more expensive to me than to them)

koogs, Monday, 21 November 2022 21:19 (one year ago) link

(not sure that counts as technological but...)

koogs, Monday, 21 November 2022 21:20 (one year ago) link

fresh tomatoes?

rob, Monday, 21 November 2022 21:38 (one year ago) link

Why are you buying tomatoes and then not eating them?

lord of the rongs (anagram), Monday, 21 November 2022 22:17 (one year ago) link

yeah. cherry tomatoes. takes me 5 days to eat them. and I've no idea how long they've been on the shelf now.

koogs, Monday, 21 November 2022 22:17 (one year ago) link

I'm not eating them because they are sometimes mush by the time i get to them

koogs, Monday, 21 November 2022 22:18 (one year ago) link

xps Samsung Sound Assistant, and I'm guessing similar, has an option for allowing any apps to play sounds at the same time (and control the volume for each, like you would on a computer pretty much). Might be sort of a backwards step mess on its own, but I prefer it to interruptions.

― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 16:17 (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

Except it doesn't work on newer Samsungs? Would love an app that could do this again. Truly a backwards step on a backwards step.

Bellend Sebastian (S-), Tuesday, 22 November 2022 07:42 (one year ago) link

A common failing of the newer Sanyos

Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Tuesday, 22 November 2022 08:04 (one year ago) link

three months pass...

I moved into a new place with an LG-brand Internet of Things washer dryer combo with (*chortle*) "AI". It does decently with clothers and bedding, but it does not know how to wash a bathmat. Apprently I can't turn off the AI and just force a cycle with certain settings, instead it has to choose for you based on weight, etc.? I can't get the app to work with it, either, apparently there are more "options" throught the app

Alicia Silver Stone (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 26 February 2023 16:47 (one year ago) link

bit like the difference between my sisters microwave and mine.
mine - a manual dial for the timer, and a dial for choosing the power setting.
and that's it.
her's you need a bloody degree in computing to figure out how to heat a bowl of soup.

mark e, Sunday, 26 February 2023 17:24 (one year ago) link

Every time we get service on our 20-year-old appliances, the repair guys say we should absolutely keep them, because the new appliances are computerized and locked as fuck, and cannot be repaired without

Granted, they have a vested interest, but based on my parents' experiences with computerized washer/dryer type stuff I am inclined to believe the guys

nat king cole slaw (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 26 February 2023 17:51 (one year ago) link

...repaired without programming and software and internet connectivity and shit, I guess is what I meant

Also there's like some potentially pretty dire security/privacy consequences for internet-of-things devices.

I have seen at least three movies/tv shows where the plot revolves around an IoT thermostat or toaster or something.

Generally I am not paranoid but I am still a little leery of having my refrigerator talking to my toothbrush, and my car knowing what music I like.

nat king cole slaw (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 26 February 2023 17:55 (one year ago) link

iot things do get hacked a lot because there are a lot of them and they tend to be no so secure but i think generally the hackers are using them more as botnets ie computers from which attacks are launched rather than end targets cause theres prob not much of value on your fridge

lag∞n, Sunday, 26 February 2023 18:49 (one year ago) link

you could play some funny pranks tho

lag∞n, Sunday, 26 February 2023 18:50 (one year ago) link

washing machine begins playing All American Rejects tunes

waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Sunday, 26 February 2023 18:51 (one year ago) link

xp - they did that in season 3 or 4 of Silicon Valley i think?

sarahell, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 04:09 (one year ago) link

You all just reminded me that I still can't turn on the radio in my 28-year-old car.

The battery died this winter. After recharging, turning on the radio just displays the word C•O•D•E because it still thinks it's worth being stolen. I can't even listen to the 6-CD changer I've got next to the spare tire in the trunk!

The Internet says to call the dealership. Great, I'll just look them up in the Yellow Pages, I guess.

pplains, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 14:42 (one year ago) link

Send them a fax

Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 14:48 (one year ago) link

I found a couple useful tips when I searched, but I hope the one that said "hold the radio power button down for 40 to 50 minutes" meant seconds

mh, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 14:54 (one year ago) link

"alright, 39 minutes and 30 seconds, almost there....shit, FIDO, who let you out!"

*flings door open, finger comes off of button*

"ahh SHIT! let's try again"

waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 15:00 (one year ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BB6wj6RyKo

Number None, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 15:04 (one year ago) link

"hold the radio power button down for 40 to 50 minutes"

It's a Mercedes, so this may actually be the process.

pplains, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 15:41 (one year ago) link

I can't even listen to the 6-CD changer I've got next to the spare tire in the trunk!

Would love a 6-CD changer, preferable to trying to listen to Spotify in the car. would also love a spare tire in my trunk, tbh.

fetter, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 18:01 (one year ago) link

new cars with overly busy taillights! i don't need to see a fucking biryani crawl for a blinker signal on the freeway.

ꙮ (map), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 18:08 (one year ago) link

lol otm

waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 18:12 (one year ago) link

every time I get a rental car, I generally spend 15-20 minutes trying to figure out where/how to open the gas cap

Andy the Grasshopper, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 18:41 (one year ago) link

I hired a car a few months ago and it took me about 3 minutes to figure out how to start it. There was no key, just a Bluetooth fob, and the on/off button was hidden from my point of view by the steering wheel spoke (if that's what it's called)

nate woolls, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 18:53 (one year ago) link

It always amuses me that Alamo doesn't assign you a rental car at our airport, you go up and down the aisle of your car class, pick one, and get in!

I always wonder if the following has ever happened:

*Someone tries to get a more expensive car, is told to GTFO or pay the difference, and refuses, because they're already in their car.

*Someone driving off with someone else's stuff in the trunk cos someone put their stuff in, walked away to take a call for a sec, and came back to no car.

*Someone driving off with a baby in the car

*Someone changing their mind, forgetting to put the keys back in the original car, getting another, and driving off with those car's keys.

It's not a backward step though - you can even do the whole rental on a fucking kiosk with no humans trying to sell you unnecessary upgrades over and over.

But few of them have owners manuals inside, some don't even have a QR code that you can scan to pull a digital one up, so you gotta Google if you don't understand certain features.

Definitely rented one that I couldn't figure out how to start, but they'd brought it to me fully started, so I didn't realize I didn't know how to start it until hours later when I tried to drive back home

waiting for a czar to fall (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 19:19 (one year ago) link

So this is the opposite of the things in this thread as it's mindblowing (to me) that this works - but my other half used https://pimeyes.com/en yesterday -
took a photo of himself now and it searches the web for photos of you out there. It came back with one photo (which we were both in!) from 12 years ago at an event (you have to pay to see/find it properly but used a bit of sleuthing to avoid that).

The fact it can do this accurately with no incorrect guesses, from a photo 12 years later, different type of camera, different angle, lighting etc is incredible to me. I think there are probably more it could have found so might see if it can do that.

kinder, Saturday, 4 March 2023 11:07 (one year ago) link

Yeah, it's a bit scary that site

Stalking fears over PimEyes facial search engine

Alba, Saturday, 4 March 2023 11:44 (one year ago) link


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