c4countdown

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 2:39 pm**

I drive a Ford Mondeo, Which is pretty solid and reliable except for one major flaw. Every time we get heavy rain here I have to take a 3-mile detour to get into town (normally just over a mile). Why? Because one section of road on my normal route is prone to flooding,. Nothing most cars can't handle, but the Mondeo is different. The problem is that the air intake feed goes through the left front wing, effectively turning it into an upside-down snorkel. I was lucky that I'd been warned about this shortly after buying the car by a workmate who'd ruined his engine driving through 1 foot of water. This seems to me to be an incredibly stupid piece of engineering from people who really should know better. So, I was just wondering, has anybody else noticed dumb design flaws in things they've bought? Cars, tools, household gadgets, whatever? Not your run-of-the-mill cheap shortcut, but truly, colossally stupid? I'm sure there must be more examples out there.

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:04 pm**

I had some outdoor Christmas lights which had several different twinkly modes. They had a mains plug, then a good 30m of flex before the 12m of lights started. Where did they decide was the best place for the little control box to change the twinkly mode? Next to the mains plug you say? Nope. About 6 inches before the lights started. Idiots.

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:05 pm**

All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 5:08 pm**

Jon O'Neill wrote:All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?

I have quite an aspergic system of hot and cold ablutions I must adhere to and am heavily reliant on separate taps.

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:43 pm**

A 60 second clock you only use half of, a desk that's so long the contestants have to check each others solutions, a board that only reveals that they've got the conundrum right when you already know they have. Bad design is the lifeblood of the best TV.

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:52 pm**

I have a camera that goes to sleep after a few minutes if you don't press anything. Which is what happens when you're uploading pictures or videos.

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:53 pm**

Jon O'Neill wrote:All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?

Public toilets that only have a hot tap, that's too hot to be of any use.

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:12 pm**

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Jon O'Neill wrote:All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?
Public toilets that only have a hot tap, that's too hot to be of any use.

I came across a peculiar tap set-up in the public bogs at Leeds railway station near platform 15 coming back from Coventry last night. There were two standard looking taps either side of a bigger one in the middle. The two taps either side had the typical push down action going on. So I did that and nowt happened, tried again, nothing, eventually some pink soap flew out instead of the expected H2O. The tap in the middle had a motion/proximity sensor and dispensed water thankfully.

I particularly hate any automated hand washers that throw soap into that automated process. I'm sure there's a lot of people like me whose skin would likely be damaged by that soap.

Posted: **Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:28 pm**

Craig Beevers wrote:Coventry.

Posted: **Tue Jul 20, 2010 6:51 pm**

A lot of public toilets at stations have these weird turnstyles that you have to pull towards you so you can squeeze through the gap. They do also have the option of pushing them normally but you have to pay for that. First class turnstyles - whatever next?

Posted: **Tue Jul 20, 2010 7:41 pm**

Gavin Chipper wrote:A lot of public toilets at stations have these weird turnstyles that you have to pull towards you so you can squeeze through the gap. They do also have the option of pushing them normally but you have to pay for that. First class turnstyles - whatever next?

It's to discourage fat people from using the toilets, since clearly they take longer. Simple economics.

Posted: **Wed Jul 21, 2010 5:14 am**

I have a new Aortic valve that ticks.
I am sure it wasn't mentioned in the brochure.

Posted: **Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:36 am**

Gavin Chipper wrote:A lot of public toilets at stations have these weird turnstyles that you have to pull towards you so you can squeeze through the gap. They do also have the option of pushing them normally but you have to pay for that. First class turnstyles - whatever next?

Really? I defer to your greater experience of public toilets in the UK. I imagine it has broadened your horizon.

Posted: **Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:07 pm**

David O'Donnell wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:A lot of public toilets at stations have these weird turnstyles that you have to pull towards you so you can squeeze through the gap. They do also have the option of pushing them normally but you have to pay for that. First class turnstyles - whatever next?
Really? I defer to your greater experience of public toilets in the UK. I imagine it has broadened your horizon.

I was at Liverpool Street station at the weekend and they have these people hanging around to intimidate you into paying for first class turnstyle usage. I think I was the only one there that opted for standard class.

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:06 am**

Tins of food that provide a pull on one end (which is relatively difficult to use for opening compared to a can opener), and a thickened based that precludes use of the opener on that end too.

Disadvantages:

1) The pull leaves behind a lip which makes it more difficult to get all the liquid contents out.
2) The violence of the pull increases the chance of injury.
3) Beans come out of the can quicker from the bottom, they remove this possibility.

What is the bloody point?

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:38 am**

Ian Volante wrote:Tins of food that provide a pull on one end (which is relatively difficult to use for opening compared to a can opener), and a thickened based that precludes use of the opener on that end too.

Disadvantages:

1) The pull leaves behind a lip which makes it more difficult to get all the liquid contents out.
2) The violence of the pull increases the chance of injury.
3) Beans come out of the can quicker from the bottom, they remove this possibility.

What is the bloody point?

I second that. Particularly on tiny tins of tomato purée about an inch and a half across: I can't get a purchase on the ring without almost severing my finger, and as often as not it (the ring) breaks off. Ring-pulls work OK on drinks cans, so where's the difficulty?

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:56 am**

Dead handy if you don't have a tin opener though. For the ring pulls, i suggest a heavy knife, slip it in under the ring and use the leverage to lift it enough to pierce the can, then you'll have no problem finishing the job by hand.

Any guitar players here use a Vox ac30 amplifier? I'm not very experienced with electric guitars but I was using one (at least i think that's what it was) for a performance in college there last year and went over to adjust it at the beginning of the song and was greeted with all the pots facing towards me with all the writing upside down! I mean... jeez, who's idea was that?

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:06 pm**

Ian Volante wrote:Tins of food that provide a pull on one end (which is relatively difficult to use for opening compared to a can opener), and a thickened based that precludes use of the opener on that end too.

Disadvantages:

1) The pull leaves behind a lip which makes it more difficult to get all the liquid contents out.
2) The violence of the pull increases the chance of injury.
3) Beans come out of the can quicker from the bottom, they remove this possibility.

What is the bloody point?

What! Fucking tin openers are ridiculous to use. These ring pulls are great, and can openers belong in the 1950s. I'd suggest storing your cans upside down if you really have a gripe about that last bean, which you probably do as you're worried about the minute quantity of liquid that gets caught under the rim.

Also, I've injured myself many a time trying to retrieve a can-openered lid from inside the can, where it always frigging falls, but I'm happy to concede that's down to my own retardedness rather than functional inefficiency.

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:37 pm**

Has anyone seen those mad new tin openers that you align parallel to the lid and don't ever fucking work properly? I thought I was just stupid but even proper grafters I know can't get them to work. I'm a fan of the heavy knife method of opening tins. Just stab it loads until you can get the lid off. It looks really violent, especially if you do it with tinned tomatoes, and the first time you do it it awakens dormant instincts of killing enemies so you have to make sure you're alone, but after that you can do it in front of people and scare them, all the while knowing that you and they are both safe. It's good to stab a tin of tomatoes and then just lob the tin and its entire contents in the bin. So yeah, tin openers are shit.

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:35 pm**

Ben Hunter wrote:Has anyone seen those mad new tin openers that you align parallel to the lid and don't ever fucking work properly?

I've had one of those for the last ten years or so and it still works perfectly every time. What is it with you young people and tin openers? Don't they teach tin opening in school these days? It's political correctness GONE MAD [/Jon Gaunt].

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:42 pm**

JimBentley wrote:I've had one of those for the last ten years or so and it still works perfectly every time.

Black magic.

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:07 pm**

Ben Hunter wrote:
JimBentley wrote:I've had one of those for the last ten years or so and it still works perfectly every time.
Black magic.

Jim's as white as they come, you utter racist.

Posted: **Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:06 pm**

AIDS. (I'm a creationist)

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:01 pm**

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:07 pm
David O'Donnell wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:A lot of public toilets at stations have these weird turnstyles that you have to pull towards you so you can squeeze through the gap. They do also have the option of pushing them normally but you have to pay for that. First class turnstyles - whatever next?
Really? I defer to your greater experience of public toilets in the UK. I imagine it has broadened your horizon.
I was at Liverpool Street station at the weekend and they have these people hanging around to intimidate you into paying for first class turnstyle usage. I think I was the only one there that opted for standard class.

This won't be a thing any more. Looks like it will be free for everyone and not just me.

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:10 pm**

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:05 pm All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?

But they do separate jobs. You might not use your laptop and wellington boots at the same time, but would you want to combine them?

But actually, I do not trust taps that mix these together using a single variable tape handle thing (one nozzle is probably OK though), in the kitchen at least. The cold water in the kitchen is supposed to be drinking water. Any other water is probably from a dirty old tank and not to be trusted. This includes hot water from the kitchen sink. So if you move from hot to cold using some sort of continuum device, do you really trust the cold water to be fully drinkable? I don't.

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:29 pm**

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:10 pm
Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:05 pm All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?
But they do separate jobs. You might not use your laptop and wellington boots at the same time, but would you want to combine them?

That's moronic and you know it. You can't blend your laptop and wellington boots together for some third, but equally important, task.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:10 pmBut actually, I do not trust taps that mix these together using a single variable tape handle thing (one nozzle is probably OK though), in the kitchen at least. The cold water in the kitchen is supposed to be drinking water. Any other water is probably from a dirty old tank and not to be trusted. This includes hot water from the kitchen sink. So if you move from hot to cold using some sort of continuum device, do you really trust the cold water to be fully drinkable? I don't.

Why is one nozzle ok? The water just gets combined at a different point. It's just two different ways of mechanically opening and closing two valves. In any case, it's unlikely that you do actually have storage tanks or lead pipes or any of the other stuff that makes drinking from such taps a bad idea, so just go for it.

Overall, a pretty poor post from you.

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:33 pm**

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:29 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:10 pm
Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:05 pm All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?
But they do separate jobs. You might not use your laptop and wellington boots at the same time, but would you want to combine them?
That's moronic and you know it. You can't blend your laptop and wellington boots together for some third, but equally important, task.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:10 pmBut actually, I do not trust taps that mix these together using a single variable tape handle thing (one nozzle is probably OK though), in the kitchen at least. The cold water in the kitchen is supposed to be drinking water. Any other water is probably from a dirty old tank and not to be trusted. This includes hot water from the kitchen sink. So if you move from hot to cold using some sort of continuum device, do you really trust the cold water to be fully drinkable? I don't.
Why is one nozzle ok? The water just gets combined at a different point. It's just two different ways of mechanically opening and closing two valves. In any case, it's unlikely that you do actually have storage tanks or lead pipes or any of the other stuff that makes drinking from such taps a bad idea, so just go for it.

Overall, a pretty poor post from you.

I think you misunderstand. I have a friend whose water in his kitchen sink comes from a single nozzle with a single controller. To turn on the tap, you have to lift it up, and you twist it one way for hot water and the other way for cold, or have it somewhere in between for somewhere in between. Because there's not a "switch" between the hot and the cold, you never really feel confident that it's fully over when it's twisted in the cold direction, especially with the up-and-to-one-side twisting you have to do. And it has more of a feeling of all coming from the same place. But with separate tap handles, you can be much surer, unless the tap was dripping already when you turned it on.

And my understanding is that you should only drink the cold water from your kitchen, because it's the only water that isn't stored in some tank even if you dispute this. The rest of the water generally goes through some water softening process first and then sits around waiting to be released out of the tap. And the hot water is generally preheated and sits in a tank. The cold kitchen water is supposed to be from the mains.

Posted: **Sat Mar 03, 2018 12:36 pm**

The cold water from some bathrooms are also stored in a tank. Only drink from the kitchen taps or buy it.
I remember the days when water was free and porn cost money

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2018 1:29 pm**

Jon O'Neill wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:05 pm All separate taps are completely retarded. Why would I ever need hot water and cold water at the same time?

When you want warm water?

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2018 2:58 pm**

Took me a couple of re-reads as well Ian. I just managed to resist making the comment first.

Posted: **Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:28 pm**

Isn't the point that you want warm water to come from the tap rather than have to mix the hot and cold in the sink?

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:17 pm**

Mark James wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:28 pm Isn't the point that you want warm water to come from the tap rather than have to mix the hot and cold in the sink?

First world problem.

A problem with one tap (as demonstrated where I work) is that they are sensor-activated, so some bright spark has removed the option I had of just hot or just cold water. Especially in the summer, this is bloody annoying.

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:35 pm**

Ian Volante wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:17 pmA problem with one tap (as demonstrated where I work) is that they are sensor-activated, so some bright spark has removed the option I had of just hot or just cold water. Especially in the summer, this is bloody annoying.

Oh god yeah I hate those. Bad temperature control is better than no temperature control.

At work we had those ones where there was just one single arm and somehow this was supposed to control temperature and flow control (on/off as well as power) all at once, which I never really understood.

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:48 pm**

We've got this television where if you adjust the volume, you have to wait for the volume bar thing to disappear off the screen before you change the channel. That would be annoying enough but if you do attempt to change the channel, it seems to reset the timer on the volume bar so it will stay up even longer. Mental.

Posted: **Tue Mar 20, 2018 6:10 pm**

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:48 pm We've got this television where if you adjust the volume, you have to wait for the volume bar thing to disappear off the screen before you change the channel. That would be annoying enough but if you do attempt to change the channel, it seems to reset the timer on the volume bar so it will stay up even longer. Mental.

We recently bought one of these sound bar thingies for our telly and it's great. Only trouble is, if you link it to your TV remote, when you try to change the volume the TV flashes up a huge panel that obscures most of the picture for about 10 seconds warning you that it's connected to an external speaker. So you either have to keep swapping remotes, or (as I discovered by accident) point the TV remote at the wall behind you and the problem goes away. (I assume this is because the remote sensor on the sound bar is more sensitive than the one on the TV.) So now I end up pointing the remote at the TV to change channel and then holding it over my shoulder to adjust the volume. Douglas Adams joked about having to sit infuriatingly still if you want to keep watching the same programme and this feels like a variant of the same scenario.

Posted: **Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:50 pm**

Phil Reynolds wrote: ↑Tue Mar 20, 2018 6:10 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:48 pm We've got this television where if you adjust the volume, you have to wait for the volume bar thing to disappear off the screen before you change the channel. That would be annoying enough but if you do attempt to change the channel, it seems to reset the timer on the volume bar so it will stay up even longer. Mental.
We recently bought one of these sound bar thingies for our telly and it's great. Only trouble is, if you link it to your TV remote, when you try to change the volume the TV flashes up a huge panel that obscures most of the picture for about 10 seconds warning you that it's connected to an external speaker. So you either have to keep swapping remotes, or (as I discovered by accident) point the TV remote at the wall behind you and the problem goes away. (I assume this is because the remote sensor on the sound bar is more sensitive than the one on the TV.) So now I end up pointing the remote at the TV to change channel and then holding it over my shoulder to adjust the volume. Douglas Adams joked about having to sit infuriatingly still if you want to keep watching the same programme and this feels like a variant of the same scenario.

I recommend just using an amp. No direct interface with the telly, it's bliss.

c4countdown

Truly Dumb Designs.

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