Grumpy old buggers thread

[3toes]

Last time I was home I upgraded my mothers phone to a ‘smart’ phone so could use some apps like zoom for calls. Went through use of it and seemed to have the hang of it. Nephew was there and also helped. A bonus as lives not far away and calls regularly so ongoing technical support on phone use available

Now you might think all would be good and video calls now rather than phone. Not so! We still cannot break her habit of turning the phone off and not turning it on unless is going to make a call

[cuppabillytea]

The rot is setting in. They demoted me today, from HC to LR. I get to keep the Ryder though.

[Saitch]

This seems to be an appropriate place to air one of the complaints I have had for some time, but the reason it is so upsetting is only just sinking in.

I have only recently acquired a modern smartphone, and am gradually working out how to use it. Last weekend, I had a question about doing something on it (to do with email, but exactly what the question was is irrelevant).

I mentioned this to my niece, whom I was with at the time.

"Show me your phone!" "Unlock it!!" She takes the phone, faces it away from me, moves her fingers too fast to see what is being done - "There you are!"

So I have no more knowledge as to how to do something on my phone, but I now know one more person not to bother asking! (Added to all the others I have asked for help previously!)

Is it any wonder I am a grumpy old bugger with an antipathy to modern technology?

I have to admit that I have an almost morbid fascination with trying to work out tech problems myself.

This does annoy my wife somewhat, who would much prefer me to consult one of our much younger, family members, from the start, so the peace and quite of our home is maintained.

[3toes]

Car in front of me decides to go back the way they came. To do this they carry out a 20 point turn stopping each time they touched the gutter with a tyre. Car was a VW Tiguan SUV. They have some ground clearance so if they had just driven a little on to the footpath with a tyre would have done the turn in a three point effort. Why have an SUV if you are not prepared to at least jump over a suburban gutter?????

[Tins]

Car in front of me decides to go back the way they came. To do this they carry out a 20 point turn stopping each time they touched the gutter with a tyre. Car was a VW Tiguan SUV. They have some ground clearance so if they had just driven a little on to the footpath with a tyre would have done the turn in a three point effort. Why have an SUV if you are not prepared to at least jump over a suburban gutter?????

Happens a lot in the local village. Any car. Thing is, there's a roundabout 150 metres up the road,

[NavyDiver]

The headline is
"Drivers who speed up while being overtaken are breaking the law and creating danger

"
Details below. My non-funny bone was tickled watching a very fast mover picked up by a oncoming well equipped police car as he tried to overtake a very slow mover who was slowing me and the car behind me who got the ticket well below the speed limit.

The slow mover was Below the speed limit only Until the car over took me then tried to overtake the slow mover who sped up to about 130kph. Almost stopped to suggest the police got the wrong one!





Drivers who speed up while being overtaken are breaking the law and creating danger - ABC News

"Drivers on Australia's long and expansive roads may have experienced the "frustration" of trying to overtake another car, only to find the driver speeding up as they attempt to pass.
It is a common phenomenon that creates danger for passing drivers, and a conundrum — speed-up to overtake, sometimes past the speed limit, or stay trapped behind a slow-moving car, and repeat."

[Tins]

AFAIK it’s always been illegal, at least as long as I have held a DL. It’s just never policed. Preventing a merge is also illegal but…..

[V8Ian]

I'm not sure it's written into law, but it always been stated that when being overtaken a driver should maintain speed and position.

[Tins]

In all of human endeavour, has there ever been anything more frustratingly moronic than the YouTube algorithm?

[JDNSW]

I am the head of a subcommittee of a research foundation. Currently the subcommittee is assessing applications for research funds. I have just received the assessment from one of the other committee members. In it he notes :-

"It reads to me like it was written by AI (an issue we had with CAGE field camp applications!). Note that all of section 9 reads to me like it came straight out of a ChatGPT prompt and contains exclusively American English (a lot of 'z's in there). Then in section 10 (harder to write with AI) it reverts back to Australian English (analyse now not analyze). "

I'm afraid I did not notice that problem, but the fact that he is probably right leaves me more than a little grumpy!