The Room 101 thread - for things you hate or just having a bloody good moan

[Wrathbone]

This week I decided to make some long-needed alterations to my sim rig. You'll note that post was from 2021, and I mentioned that I still needed to mount my racing pedals. Well, it's 2024 now, and I still haven't finished mounting my racing pedals. They've been attached, sure, but not in a particularly ergonomic position, and the reason I've been putting it off is because this is the most hateful thing to adjust I've ever owned. It's complicated by the fact that I have separate driving and rudder pedals. The rudder pedals are wide, and I can just about get the driving ones, which are fairly narrow as I don't use a clutch, mounted in a position in front where I can get my legs to either side to operate the rudder (I move the seat back for the racing setup, and forward for flight to make sure I can get my feet comfortably on either set). I have spent a total of around 4 hours over two nights attempting to get the position right. No word of a lie, 90 minutes of that was trying to get two bolts in, because the bolts that slide into the grooves in the aluminium profile will spring out of useable position at the slighted nudge, and I have to insert a bolt through an extremely heavy pedal mounting plate into said nut blind because of how it's all laid out and how close to the ground it is. There is absolutely no other way to do this that I can think of save for flipping the entire thing on its side, and to do that I'd have to disassemble all of my flight sim gear else the entire weight would be resting on it. I do not believe I have ever been angrier at an inanimate object in my life because the absolute simplest of operations took the length of a film to do.

I finish, I dejectedly throw all of the tools and bolts and detritus to one side because I'm exhausted and utterly fed up. I sit down in the chair. I can't reach the rudder pedals now. The entire endeavour has been a complete waste of time and I'm going to have to redo the whole thing. I'd scream, except I've basically already been yelling at it for 90 minutes at this point and my throat hurts.

[Raid]

Pretty much exactly that. At one point I was using my adjustable spanner as a hammer to try and force the pedal plate down as it had gotten wedged between two immovable parts and I couldn't put enough force behind it from the other direction. To say I've marked the paintwork would be an understatement.

[Wrathbone]

I think the closest I've come to that level of assembly disaster was at the start of the pandemic where I decided to reorganise the second bedroom as proper office / entertainment room. It's a tiny room, but there wasn't room to do DIY anywhere else upstairs so I ended up putting together two 6ft bookcases and a big L-shaped corner desk in less space than you could swing a rat. Much swearing ensued over several hours, culminating in me having put most of the desk's metal frame together, which had backed me against the wall. As I carefully tried to navigate over it (with zero room for maneuver), I completely stacked it, belly-first, arms flailing for anything to break the fall. I ended up bruising my torso from where it landed on a metal bar, and I'd managed to topple one of the empty bookcases on top of myself. Took a while to untangle myself from that, then discovered I'd cut my arm open and was bleeding everywhere.

It's one of the few times I can remember outright wailing in rage (and some pain), for lack of any other solution.

[Sly Boots]

[Animalmother]

Last week I cracked my right thumb nail somehow. Then I squashed two fingers in a window shutter (the pain was fucking awe inspiring), took a chunk out of my knuckle and finally cracked my other thumb nail playing with the dog. I might be cursed.

[Wrathbone]

This unbelievably patronising article that reads like it was written by someone who believes in the mystical power of crystal skulls.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68631692

Some choice dribble:

So what are these ghostly particles and why was a new approach needed to detect them?

But there's a problem: astronomers have noticed things in the heavens

Like ghosts, they pass straight through everything, and can't be detected by any earthly device.

The project's ghostbuster-in-chief, Prof Andrey Golutvin of Imperial College London said that the experiment "marks a new era in the search for hidden particles".

This is supposedly a science article.

[Raid]

Ehh, I think if the goal of the article is to get a layman interested in particle physics, then dressing it up in a flowery analogy is probably not the worst idea they could have had. If it were in a science journal, then I'd be concerned. I will concede that "ghostbuster-in-chief" is taking the metaphor a little far.

[Wrathbone]

Ehh, I think if the goal of the article is to get a layman interested in particle physics, then dressing it up in a flowery analogy is probably not the worst idea they could have had.

Anyone who isn't already aware of the concept of dark matter and dark energy is going to have zero interest in this, but even if that wasn't the case they could simply say that physical matter only appears to be 5% of the mass of the universe based on how gravity is expected to affect things in space compared to how it actually affects them, and the remaining 95% is currently unknown but designated as dark energy and dark matter. Why bring ghosts into it?

[Raid]

Ehh, I think if the goal of the article is to get a layman interested in particle physics, then dressing it up in a flowery analogy is probably not the worst idea they could have had.

Anyone who isn't already aware of the concept of dark matter and dark energy is going to have zero interest in this, but even if that wasn't the case they could simply say that physical matter only appears to be 5% of the mass of the universe based on how gravity is expected to affect things in space compared to how it actually affects them, and the remaining 95% is currently unknown but designated as dark energy and dark matter. Why bring ghosts into it?

Because people know what a ghost is and how it behaves, and it's a useful (if somewhat idiotic) cultural touchstone that helps to explain the concepts being discussed. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you that it's really quite inane, but I also like to think there's a way of getting people with zero scientific knowledge engaged with this stuff. Perhaps this isn't it, but I'd rather they tried than just assume people weren't interested.

[Raid]

Local facebook groups are a blessing and a massive curse. I live on an estate that borders farmland, and this evening one of the residents posted this image:



There's been talk of phoning the council on Monday to request pest-control deal with it. Just what the hell are they expecting the council to do? Our estate is particularly middle-class, we all have wheelie bins, we do not have any waste problem that I'm aware of. But oh no, a rat! Suddenly we're the lower half of a housewife stood on a stool in a 50s cartoon. Schools are crumbling and kids are getting rickets, but good heavens, a rat! Let's request a sniper team in a helicopter!

It's fucking wildlife.

[Wrathbone]

I largely agree, but on the other hand that’s one chonk of a rat! I’d expect boss music if the council take that on.

[Raid]

Perhaps. If I went outside and heard choral Latin, I'd maybe understand, but honestly I just think it's cute. I don't know why some people have such a problem with rats when they're clearly just existing.

[Drarok]

They just don't have the same PR as squirrels.

[Alan]

Rats are great. There’s a nest in the roots of an old tree trunk in our park and they’re so fun to watch and toss morsels to.



Cute little bastards.

[Animalmother]

I've no problem with rats either, highly intelligent and apparently giggle when you tickle them.

That rat in Raid's pic is an absolute unit! I'm wondering if someone's exotic pet may have gotten loose. The tail is weird looking.