For example, I’m incredibly confused about how you’re supposedly to measure liquid laundry detergent with the cap. At least the kind that I have sits on it’s side, so if you measure it with the cap it just leaks everywhere and makes a mess.
Or at my parents house they have a bag of captain crunch berries that has a new design, where instead of zipping along the top of the bag like normal, it has a zipper in the front slightly beneath the top. That way when you poor it you can’t see what you’re doing cuz the bag is in the way. Like what the heck who’s idea was that?
Why the hell do i have to know which way to put the batteries in at this point ?
A bridge rectifier circuit for each battery slot would solve the issue and, at the low currents of things like remote controls, would be pretty tiny and introduce inconsequential power overhead bbbuuuuuuuuu-uuuuuu-uuuuutttt it would cost money, precious pennies per device. And it would be tricky to market it, educate users, and so on. Such things are too good for this world.
Batteries have a plus and a minus, the spring is generally the flatter end which is generally negative, they’re designed that way to be stackable, although we could probably come up with a slightly more intuitive design.
Everyone seems to have a cup plunger made for sinks next to their toilet instead of a toilet plunger near their toilet.
A toilet plunger has flanges:
I have seen this plunger close to zero times when visiting people and using their bathroom.
For the topic of the thread I’ll throw in “toilets that are so bad at flushing that you need to keep a plunger next to them”
The only time I’ve owned a plunger was in a house with a broken clay sewer pipe that was about to kick the bucket.
I redid the bathroom when COVID hit (was walking around home Depot the day before the shut down frantically buying 3 of everything so I had a chance to do this without being able to make the customary mid-project visits)
The toilet we got was not the one I wanted, it was 4 or 5 on our list of "toilets the Internet says are good " and boy howdy the Internet was wrong. This toilet wouldn’t flush piss. I’m not kidding I didn’t notice at first but a couple days into “man this toilet didn’t like to flush our shits, they must be mighty” I had a pee that was dark enough that once I flushed I read like “wtf”. 3 flushes for the water to be “clear” as I could tell.
This isn’t a 2 button eco toilet.
I ended up finding a guy online who had extended the tube inside the tank to be just shy of the rim, thus allowing the tank to fill up more and more water to be sent down with each flush. Whatever eco feature it had in sure it’s now among the worst water waster in town.
And it’s still a terrible toilet. It has some sort of extra funnel port in the front that I guess some of the water flushes through to help direct the shit and water down the pipes. But it gets dirty and is unreachable with every toilet brush I’ve tried, and not visible even if you jam your head down as close to the water as you can and look back. This means that the flush stops working and then I have to go in with disposable chop sticks and chip away and the shit fossils blindly until the port is clear again.
Yes I tried soaking with green goblin and leaving the blue duck to soak, still need to physically mine the area clear…
Do you have a multi use one? Some can invert the flanges into itself to become sink plungers.
Every toilet should have these next to them. They are cheap and useful, so there’s no excuse to not have one. Especially if you plan on having guests over! :p
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a plunger of any kind kept in someone’s toilet.
Is this an American thing?
I feel like it’s a more middle class/poor US thing. They often also keep their toilet cleaning brush out in the open, displayed in a fancy caddy.
Might just be lack of closet space? Perhaps the plumbing is so shoddy it makes sense to keep it out for easy access.
I think most places keep a brush in the toilet in a fancy caddy. That’s because the expectation is that everyone scrubs any skid marks before leaving.
I suspect that the plunger is to do with standard sewage pipe guage rather than just “shoddy” workmanship or whatever. That’s why bidet spray is more or less mandatory in South East Asia, the sewage pipes just aren’t wide enough to handle toilet paper.
Countertops should be just a couple of inches higher, they are calibrated for a 1930s housewife but most of us aren’t 5’2" and it’s easier to stand on a stool if it’s too high than to stoop because it’s too low.
OP I hate those low ziploc bag openings too, they are so stupid.
Or you could be my house, previously owned by a maniac, with counters in the kitchen at 3 different heights. I wish I could say that was the stupidest thing the previous owner did.
I have beef with counter tops too, especially where I’m at right now. I’m around 6 foot so and on top of that I live in a handicap accessible apartment (although i am not handicapped, i think they just gave it to me because it was the one that was available i guess), so they’re lowered even more. Anytime I’m in the kitchen cooking or doing dishes i always leave with back pain
Weird take on counter tops.
Things designed for many people to use need to be the best height for most people. I feel confident that most countertops are the best height for most people.
I acknowledge that they are too low for a tall person, and that they’re too high for a short person.
You’re pretty much just saying you want things to be designed for you and that everyone else should adapt to you, rather than you having to make concessions for others like everybody does.
I am tallish for a woman, at least where I live, but not for a person. Countertops are too low for the average height person, they are still built at the 36" height that was in my old house, built in the 1920s. We are taller on average now, and both men and women use the kitchen now.
NOT FUCKING ACCEPTABLE WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS.
🚫
Those are gravity operated. Point the thongs grippers downward to open, point them to the ceiling to close.
Was a while before I found out. I like them better now.
Most of my tongs have a metal square that slides down the length to keep them closed, is that not normal?
My parents had one where it slid down, and my grandfather had one where it slid up. They looked otherwise identical.
Some thanksgivings we’d have both at the same table and it drove me up the fucking wall.
Don’t they fit in a draw?
Makes sense, i was more confused about the og pics but looks like heap of people have said the same thing i would of, I’ve never know a set of tongs that don’t have the locking tab at the back
Thankfully, there are some designs that improve on this! Here’s what’s in my kitchen:
The brand is OXO, for anyone curious.
I have that and they still are still a pain (I said something else here and it got censored! LOL) to get in or out of a crowded tool jar. Then I always bump that end switch and they pop open in the jar.
Leave the one tong hanging out. Ie. Straddle the side. Assuming youre not one that cares about aesthetics.
Try to find some that are made properly.
I have this drive if you look at the image you can see that the rear panel has a little semi circular nib of plastic at the bottom. It serves no purpose, but what it does do is make it nearly impossible to plug the DC connector in. You can’t quite tell from the image but it’s perfectly placed so that you can’t fit the requisite number of fingers needed to securely hold the plug and push it in to the cavity where the inputs of the panel are located. It actively encourages the otherwise pretty unlikely scenario of making only partial or near contact with the connector and not quite properly plugging it in. A dangerous possibility from a safety perspective but also a great way to lose a bunch of data by having it lose power or short out during operation. It’s one of the most exquisitely designed inconveniences hell’s engineering department could have possibly developed.
I have a truck where the oil drain plug is directly over the axle. I have to strap an offset funnel under the drain to get it to not splash all over the fuck, and of course, it’s not easy to get that stay put so inevitably I have oil everywhere. Same truck has the oil filter tucked up where I need a special oil filter wrench with a ratchet and extensions to remove it, and when you pull the filter out, you have to tip it so it spills the oil inside everywhere.
I had an idea a long time ago of a website where you can crowdfund a private investigator to find engineers that do shit like this, and a crew to go over to their house and beat them halfway to death.
Why stop there?
I learned long ago when something like this bothers me that it is irrational to get angry at objects, then I connected I am not angry at the object, I am angry at the dumb ass turd who designed it.
btw, I drill a hole in my oil filter before I remove it to drain it so it doesn’t spill all over the front of my engine.
Maybe all engineers should have to sign their work. Like have their license number or something embossed on it. That way we can find them and inform them of their idiocy.
I will often drive a screwdriver into the bottom a filter, but this one is impossible to get to and even if I did, it would dribble on the exhaust pipe.
About cars, and not necessarily designed poorly, but definitely designed by a man for men: cars that, by default, automatically, immediately unlock all doors when the engine is turned off. A man might be car jacked or robbed, a woman might be car jacked, robbed, or raped.
(Of course men can be raped too, but it’s not as likely to happen by a strange woman threatening violence than a woman is to be raped by a strange man threatening the same.)
Wat?
designed without thought to abnomal situations, when designing ot to handle them better would require almost no extra effort.
Cars are designed by people who don’t do maintenance themselves.
If we’re also talking about vehicles… I’m about average height (~180 cm) but have long-ish legs, and this means that I simply don’t fit well into the driver’s seat of most cars. Even with the steering wheel adjusted all the way up, seat slid all the way back and reclined all the way forward, my legs are hitting the steering wheel and yet I can barely reach it with my hands. Because of this, I sometimes have to take my shoes off while driving.
Also, almost every car has some annoying things like your oil plug; simply because a modern combustion engine is really quite complicated and there’s not enough space under the hood to give every component a convenient place. E.g. my Delica has the starter located below the engine and quite far back, so it’s mostly covered by the engine protection plate. Good luck banging on that starter relay if it sticks in the off position and refuses to start, while you’re stuck in the mud! However I do agree that making periodic maintenance painful, like in your case, is way worse.
Had an old Isuzu truck that to start, I sat in the drivers seat with the passengers seat up exposing the engine. Had a long steel rod that I would feed down thru the motor and bang on the starter motor while cranking the keys.
Sometimes it started straight away, sometimes it took 5 minutes of banging to get the pig to fire. Good Times.
Woke one morning to start work, went to hop in and saw someone smashed the drivers quarter window. Reckon they tried to start it but must have assumed it had a kill switch.
Pity they didn’t steal it, as the insurance payout would have been way more bucks that it was worth.
Oh, there’s a few engines like the Northstar and the Toyota 5.7 where the starter is actually under the intake manifold, effectively inside the engine. The amount of stuff you need to take off to even see the starter would make your eyes water.
US can openers. In other countries, they cut the sides of the can not the top, so the lid has no chance of falling in while dulling the edges. It also allows them to be much smaller and easier to use.
You can buy good can openers and bad ones in any country.
I bought this can opener after watching a Technology Connections video, and I kinda love my can opener.
Same. I should really learn to use a simpler one, but I love this model and it still seems rock-solid to me after years of use. The best part is not ending up with sharp, dangerous edges on the lid!
Same. Then I had to hear an endless stream of whining for over a year because my other half likes the old style for reasons. It got so bad I bought them a shit one for Christmas, and now I’m faced with the stupidity of having 2, but the sadness that I’m gonna end up putting the good one in the donation bin because reasons.
I don’t know what “other countries” you’re talking about, but where I’m from, a “can opener” looks like this:
(I’ve been using one just like this for my entire adult life, and guess what - it’s ok!)
I can’t find anything that matches your description of US can openers on DDG, do you happen to have a pic? Can’t picture it
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Came here to say can opener too. Not for the same reason as you mentioned just that more often than not a can opener is just plain shoddy. Slips, doesn’t fully cut, hard to grip, etc….
There are many, but my current bugbear is the wireless Apple mouse. It has a built in rechargeable battery and and a tiny little port for you to plug the recharging cable in. The port is mounted on the bottom of the mouse rendering it useless while it’s being charged. I guess it’s to make it look nicer but it’s so stupid.
Planned obsolescence. When the battery finally dies, you can’t use it wired.
That was a design decision by Steve Jobs to keep people from using them as wired mice.
If this is true what a dumb reason. Basically decided to make a device that could be used 100% of the time unusable for some fraction of time just because it looks the way he wanted it too.
It’s like that to push you to buy two of them.
Alec from Technology Connections is known for his extensive rants about household appliances: https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnections
As for me, I’m just trying to avoid things in general, and things I don’t enjoy in particular. Perhaps the only things that I find annoying at my home are:
- An awful flow-through gas water heater, which requires me to wait for like a minute before water gets up to temperature every time I need hot water (I’d go with an electric one myself, but unfortunately I’m a renter for now). It’s also a poor design because it’s going to fuck over humanity in a couple decades via climate change.
- Packaging on almost all processed food. I don’t need everything I buy to be in a plastic bag. It’s an incredibly poor design because it is almost always non-recyleable, either because it has a thin foil layer or it’s a mix of plastics or both, filling the landfills forever and contaminating everything with microplastics.
- Poor window frame design, combined with inevitable building settling, has resulted in a cracked window twice within the last year.
I have many more gripes about things, some of the most prominent:
- Most modern smartphones just suck. Gimme back the headphone jack, an SD card slot, and a back that I can open with my fingernails! (thankfully my current phone has all of those despite being only a couple years old and very cheap)
- Generally everything that has a battery which I can’t replace
- Bluetooth headphones without a headphone jack or at least audio-over-USB are an awful design, it would cost the manufacturer like a dollar do add that functionality that can come in really handy and yet they don’t
- Fuck clothes without pockets!
- Cheap plastic crap from wish.com or similar that’s designed to fail after one use, it just shouldn’t exist. I hope CPC bans this shit soon. (although I find it fun to pull out broken christmas lights from recycling, fix them and then get free christmas lights for every New Year’s)
- “Teflon” or similar frying pans. Just get a cast iron one. Lasts forever, doesn’t poison you, also allegedly enriches your food with iron
Why would a permanent lamp be socketed at all? If it’s permanent wire that shit properly.
to add to this, non removable cords just need to die, there is almost never significant cost to make the cord tetachable and it allows the user to replace the cord after it inevitably gets eaten by a vacuum or breaks of metal fatigue.
I can’t seem to pour out of my pyrex measuring glass without the water dribbling all down the front of the spout making a mess. You think they could have shaped the spout to prevent that better and it infuriates me every time.
I have to chime in here, as it’s a subject close to my heart. The old Pyrex measuring cups don’t do this. I went out of my way to buy some on eBay. I can’t imagine why they redesigned like this, but there’s a lot of things I can’t imagine.
It’s because they moved away from borosilicate.
Lightly coat the spout with olive oil
Why does it have to be olive oil?
Water has both adhesive and cohesive properties, and this bullshit is one of the results. I hate it so much. Basically the bit of wwater in contact with the surface of the spout likes to stick to that spot; and the above that likes to stick to the water stuck to the surface and so on, making it kinda roll along angled surfaces even when it seems like gravity should be yanking it right off.
And they absolutely could shape the spout in a way that stops this - they just choose not to.
Never heard of the oil coating trick @DontRedditMyLemmy mentioned, but it makes sense - oil is hydrophobic, so that could eliminate the adhesion part of the equation; and without that moving the stream initially, its cohesion won’t be an issue either.
Or do what they do in chemistry which is to take a rod (or in the kitchen anything like a dinner knife or handle) and place it against the spout and let the liquid then run down the rod.
Condoms should roll on either direction.
Spray on condom
Protip: Buy the XXXXXL size, throw it over your junk, then shrink-wrap it with a heat gun.
Just don’t use ordinary shrink tubing, it doesn’t seal properly in the front and may tighten too hard for comfort
Ahh, like 4 day undies.
Normal
Backwards
Inside out normal
Inside out backwards
Fred, is that you?
I’m curious about how you propose this would be done…
I don’t know,I’m not a cocksmith.
Lawd I did an actual laughing out loud.
The cap is a scam, it used to be the size of a soda bottles; now it’s a literal cup.
you don’t need to measure laundry liquid anyway,
just put the absolute minimum amount you can pour from the bottle directly in the machine and do 2 or 3 loads.
Or if you must use the cap, just drop the cap with the detergent in with the laundry. It will clean itself.
Most clothes, oddly gendered and sexist and it’s fucking weird having different clothes for people who identify differently, like clothes are clothes. Make them for everyone. It’s fucking wild.
Freesewing.org tries to do that, but just ends up awkwardly referring to “people with/without breasts” instead.
Yeah women’s socks don’t make sense to me. They’re socks. Why are they gendered?
no pockets
Oh wow, those really exist
That should be called a socket.
Women tend to have narrower feet.
We would all be better off if we just included foot width in shoe sizes though.
I’ve bought women’s socks for a long time if they were cheaper never had any issues with the fit
Wide foot owner here - can confirm shoe and sock should come in multiple widths not just lengths
Shoe sizes need to go too. Just measure it in centimeters. List all the measurements - length, width at forefoot, midfoot, rearfoot. Let people go online and look up a list of shoes that actually fit perfectly. Instead we have three or four different variants of shoe size numbers, gendered, that don’t even work with width, and half the time are too big or too small.
Yeah I hate having button downs that tuck only one inch into my waist (I’m a man)
Men and women have wildly different body shapes. Thus, gendered clothes.
I guess people who are non-binary don’t exist according to that. Or intersex people, or people who was born with differently shaped bodies.
Totally not the point, and it was obvious, but hey, if you want to be offended instead of engaging with the thread, that’s your perogative.
Why exactly do you even care?
I own women clothes (as a male), my wife owns many men clothes. We dress however we like, we don’t care for labels or what gender is put on there. If I’d feel like wearing a pink hello-kitty-dress, I’d do so. And we’re genX and gender-boring. I would even care less if I’d identify as something else than my pants contents tell me.
Why do you give a crap about how some store genders something? Pick what you prefer from wherever? Seriously asking, not mocking or anything.
The vast majority of people don’t fall into that and manufacturers will focus on the majority of customers.
I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t need the extra space for H-cups my ex needed. 😅 All depends on your specific body, but there are good reasons for all kinds of specific clothing shapes existing from extremely slim-fitting muscular shorts and super-spindly trousers all the way to saggy super-long shirts most people use for sleeping, Y-shaped t-shirts for big cup sizes and plus-sizes on suits.
🤷
People have different body shapes, you know? And sure, you could say “Buy why isn’t every design available in every shape then?!”, to which I’d say that I guess in an ideal world it would be but as a company you got to draw a line somewhere because manufacturing, logistics and storage costs are a thing. But if you look at say redbubble, they’ll sell you virtually any design on 50-80 different articles of clothing independent of which one it is.
There’s some… weird things though, granted. Like how you can tell “made for women”-trousers because a) the button is on the left and b) the pockets are ridiculously tiny.
