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You're right about blackboards but they make a hell of a mess with all the chalk dust. The game updates situation... eesh. So many times when I've got maybe 20
by bartread 9y ago
You're right about blackboards but they make a hell of a mess with all the chalk dust.
The game updates situation... eesh. So many times when I've got maybe 20 minutes free to play a game and it wants to spend 10 of them downloading updates. One of the reasons I've come to love retro console gaming is that nonsense doesn't happen with PS1, PS2, Xbox, or Wii games.
For a lot of things dumb is often better and more reliable, especially at home: lights (though I do crave a master switch by my back door) and door-locks spring immediately to mind.
I haven't seen motion activated taps - the kind you see in public toilets - creeping into homes yet, but it's only a matter of time. Those things have always seemed pointless and overcomplicated to me, so if I ever move into a house that has them they'll be getting pulled straight out. What happens if you have a power-cut? I assume they'll keep working for at least a while, but sooner or later I imagine they'll run out of juice, and then what do you do?
- astura 9y agoThe motion activated taps in public bathrooms are to prevent people from wasting water, not for convenience.
- bartread 9y agoMakes sense, although I have to ask: are they a net saving in waste water and processing versus resources required to manufacture them (or price)? They've been around a long time now so I can believe they would be.
- achamayou 9y agoThey also make sense from a hygiene perspective, the less (humid!) stuff everyone touches, particularly after they washe their hand, the harder it is for bacteria to spread.
- gm-conspiracy 9y agoBut, not those Dyson hand dryers. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-hurl-60x-more-viruses-most-at-kid-face-height-than-other-dryers/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-hurl-60...
- bartread 9y agoI hate those things: like everything Dyson makes they're noisy, ugly, overpriced, underperforming crap. I must admit to being slighly joyous at finding they're also something of a health hazard: sort of the icing on the cake of a terrible product. If you can believe it, the Dyson Airblade V is even worse: it dries your hands by the clever trick of blasting the water from them and spraying it liberally over your trousers along with the wall and floor beneath the dryer whilst making enough noise to wake the dead. Total junk. EDIT: And don't even get me started on the stupid Airblade tap/hand dryer hybrid. What a travesty of innovation. Got large hands? Prepare to confuse the thing as it can't decide whether to douse you in water or blow a hoolie. Talk about a solution begging a problem.
- slfnflctd 9y agoI would bet money that the motion-sensor toilets are not cost effective in the long run. I have seen way too many of them in some kind of malfunctioning or non-functioning state, and I don't think just any random plumber can work on them until/unless they learn specific manufacturing details, which involve electronics and sensors (not your typical plumber stuff). I would never spec these in new construction unless they were the kind with a purely mechanical flusher incorporated as a failsafe.
- marcosdumay 9y agoMotion activated things on public spaces are there so everybody does not have to place their dirty hands on the same surfaces. It's a public health issue that does not make sense at all on private or even semi-private spaces.
- astura 9y agoWhile hygiene may be a auxiliary benefit if it were really about hygiene they'd give you more than a trickle of cold water. A normal amount of warm water encourages people to wash their hands correctly. I have to sit through around five on-off cycles to get a good hand washing.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jacobwilliamroy 9y agoA few years ago I was at a university whose motion taps and motion paper-towel dispensers were battery powered. There was one time I went into a bathroom and most of the sinks were dead.