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?
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.
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
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.
Laptops with no intake dust filters.
Actually, no, any computer with fans that doesn’t have a dust filter is a terrible design.
My laptop doesn’t have dust filters, but the fan almost never runs anyway. Like the heatsink is way overbuilt for the CPU it’s attached to. It’s actually quite nice. I’ve never seen it hit 70 degrees. I’ve cleaned it maybe three times since 2016. It really only spins the fan up when I’m watching 60 fps YouTube videos or playing games. And even then, it kicks hard for a very short time and shuts off again.
And again, I bought this thing nine years ago. It’s just a little Acer. And it’s not even a nice one. I paid like 500 bucks for this thing.
Now, my wife’s MacBook that she games on…yeah, I need to figure out how to get the back off so it can get a proper dusting. Fuck you, Apple. Let me work on my stuff, dammit.
A twelve year old computer in 2013 would have been utterly useless. Doesn’t matter how good is was in 2001 it would die under even a modest 2013 workload. But a decent computer from 2013 is still useful today. Not for triple-A gaming, VR, or 8K video editing, but still a decent productivity and media machine. I just bought my first handheld gaming PC and I made sure it had eGPU support since that’s the likely bottleneck in the future (i7 and 32GB RAM, so that should be good for a long while) and I fully intend to get a decade out of it. There’s no real appetite to upgrade your machine regularly any more, and the manufacturers hate that.
Any time there’s a ready meal from the supermarket and for some reason the adhesive is way stronger than the plastic film. You end up with loads of bits of film just sort of stuck to the rim of it. Super annoying.
I’ve dropped brands for that shit
Got a local one that puffs up to like 3x height in the microwave though and that pulls off a lot of the adhesive.
The glue gets weaker when it’s heated. They use the same film for oven meals as well. It comes off fine when you finished heating, but it’s a pain in the arse when cold.
is it a good idea to microwave that plastic container, though?
Garlic crushers. All of them suck.
Keep looking. Find one with a thick stainless steel construction. I have two that you could break a window with.
Buy jarlick. Join us in convenient garlic-in-a-jar nirvana.
I’ve found one that seems to suck less. It is at least sensibly designed, easy to clean, and hefty enough where I’m not going to break it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WHLDMNX
Any mug that has a really hemispherical, smooth handle. You put a hot beverage in there, and the weight is enough to make your fingers slide down the handle, and then you burn yourself on the main body of the mug unless you really squeeze.
Any faucet that just barely sticks out over the sink, so you have to touch the back of the sink to wash your hands (british sinks are even worse, though).
I’ve had these dual wall glass mugs at home for a few years. So civilised.
https://www.house.com.au/products/baccarat-barista-cafe-double-wall-thermal-glass-mug-2-pack
The parabolic bottom causes fridge water to shoot up and out causing a mess.
I bought a set of mugs like that recently. It’s a shame because they are pretty nice looking, and comfortable to hold when empty. But when full of hot liquid, the handle just is totally inadequate.
They are from IKEA, so at least they didn’t cost too much, but I am a little surprised because their stuff is generally pretty well thought out from an ergonomics and usability perspective–it’s only really the sturdiness/durability I ever worry about.
The best mugs I have are still a pair of the stereotypical featureless cylinder type I got from a giveaway 10 or 15 years ago–they are utterly boring, but the handle fits 3 fingers for a perfectly stable grip!
If you only put distilled water in it it really doesn’t seem like an issue
I’m going to go with that horrendous, non-absorbent, 1/8th ply toilet paper that gets stocked in public and office bathrooms.
I’m on Team Bidet now, so it doesn’t bother me as much as it once did… but the stuff should not exist.
I’m guessing that one day, the people who buy the stuff will figure out that it they’re not winning if it costs one-third the price of normal TP when everyone has to use ten times more of it, but who knows when that day will happen. Because it hasn’t happened yet.
Even with a bidet that paper sucks. Drying off you ass with it leaves so much paper crumble everywhere that you’ll need the bidet again…
Okay Team Bidet, how are they actually supposed work?
- Spray bum
- Pat dry with TP
The tricky part with phase 1 is managing water pressure. Too little is ineffective. Too much blasts shit everywhere.
Do a test squirt into the bowl so you know what you’ve got to work with. Start with low pressure to get most of it, adjust angle of necessary, then hit it with everything.
I get that’s the principle, but how long are you supposed to spray for? How much pressure? Is there a trick to it? In my own limited experience, it doesn’t actually do much more than dampen the poo.
You know you’re supposed to use the bidet after you’re done pooping, right?
Yeah, but how long do you have to dampen your crack in order to feel the equivalent clean of two dry wipes?
Just dont try to spray up your ass, its pretty hard but you dont wanna.
But now you only use three or four squares of TP to dry off instead of fingerpainting shit all up your asscrack until the point you’ve been conditioned to believe is clean enough.
One problem though, shitting at your workplace or anywhere else will be insufferable. My LPT is to take one of the better hand towels and wet it in a sink before hitting up a stall. Thank me later.
A water bottle with a sport cap is a sufficient travel bidet.
cups, glasses, bowls, anything that doesn’t have a spout and makes a mess every time you transfer liquids
Every time I spill something I’m reminded how much better lab glassware is (beakers etc)
When I was a kid cereal didn’t have no zippas! We rolled up the one end of the bag and watched it partially unfurl when we let go, and we were satisfied with that.
Roll the bag. Flip the box upside down. Put it in going up. Hold it in place and flip the box back over. Gravity holds the bag closed. This is a bad idea if anyone else accesses the box and isn’t on the same page as you.
I just fold it up and use a clothes peg ha ha
Y’know, I bought a bag of bag clips from Ikea years ago and I’m only now realising that they’re less suited to the job than a clothes peg. Smart.
How do you hold closed the bag that holds the bag clips?
Stupid question. With a bag clip bag bag clip, obviously.
The gravity-assisted bag roll is a staple for me. Cereal, bread, veggies, anything too big for a bag clip.
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.
Humidifiers.
It’s just a pool of water with a little nebulizer and a fan to blow the mist out a chimney.
Trouble is, they’re all made by the fucking plague demon Nurgle with the sole purpose of aerosolizing mold and bacteria by having the tiniest nooks and crannies than cannot be reached to be physically cleaned.
And before I get the “you gotta clean it with vinegar every week” comment, two points:
- You don’t soak your hands in soap and rinse them off and call them clean. You gotta scrub them.
- Am I supposed to fill a 5 gallon bucket with vinegar to soak the whole water tank every week? Because the chimney goes right through that bitch.
You better start showing Plague Daddy, Prince of Decay, God of Chaos Nurgle some goddamn respect
I’ve taken to using an old cake pan, a desk fan, and a towel. Fill up the pan with water, stick one end of the towel in the water, drape and clip the other end to the fan and let it sit running for a few days. Before the towel gets gross, toss it in the laundry when it’s dry and grab another towel
It works so well I’m completely confused as to how/why there isn’t a commercialized product like that, it completely solves the cleaning/highschool biology experiments problem
This is how the humidifier I used in the 90s worked. Tub with water, vertical sponge and a fan blowing over the sponge. I’m sure these are still out there but the little misters they call humidifiers now don’t work well.
That’s pretty much a swamp cooler
Lol yup, got the idea from a Technology Connections video on how one of the common humidifier designs are literally just large swamp coolers
Don’t use a mist humidifier. They suck. Use an evaporative one and add bacteriostat to the water.
Mine is a tub of water with a wick in it. It has a fan that blows air across the wick. That’s it.
i have a venta lw45. same principle, but instead of a wick, it has these rotating disks that the water sticks to (with a little soap in the water). Works incredibly well, still uses next to no energy (<8W) and the disks are super easy to clean. It’s a beast, goes through 9 liters of water in a bit over a day. All the parts are easily accessible for maintenance and there’s replacement parts if anything ever were to break (though i havent needed those yet).
the disks are especially nice when you have hard water, the calcium can be a pain to remove from a wick, but you can put the venta plastic disks (and lower housing, if you can fit it) in the dishwasher to get them good as new. And calcium does not stick to them weld, so a quick rinse under a strong showerhead is usually enough to clean the disks. Definitely one of the best appliance purchases i ever made.
You literally just use a sponge and some bleach spray and like a minute of your time. If you replenish it daily your normal water chlorine should keep most of the bad shit at bay.
Some toilets have a perfectly round bowl so they don’t stick out as far and take up less bathroom floor space - and they work fine, but only in bathrooms that anticipate the vast majority of its occupants to be equipped with a vagina. For those of us rocking a penis, those fucking toilets are horrible - sitting on that damn thing requires you to contort your junk around like some sausage-Houdini as you’re sitting, so that you can guide it through the remaining 2 square inches of open space not occupied by your legs or ass. Then when you’re actually seated, you still have to sit there and awkwardly hold the thing so it stays pointed straight down.
Fuck up any part of that, and the tip of your dick hits the seat or the inside of the bowl.
…and they must be like $3 cheaper than an oval toilet or something, cuz 99% of US apartments seem to be equipped with the round, vagina-only toilets.
Oval bowls are the way. No matter what’s in your pants, it gets the job done without the significantly increased biohazard risk.
I guess in fairness, the problem isn’t with their design, it’s with the people who purchase the toilets treating them as sex-neutral when no the fuck they aren’t!
I never really considered it was because the toilet might be rounder and less oval but I have definitely noticed those toilets because for some reason they’re ALL like that in every workplace and commercial building in this one suburb of my city. I have no idea why just that suburb decided they really enjoyed the idea of everyone having their penis touch the toilet bowl. I work freelance and because of agglomeration, most companies in my industry all set up shop in that particular suburb so I got to experience a wide gamut of different buildings who all made this same bizarre and infuriating choice.
I had to get a stupid round one because it was the only one with a 10" rough-in (distance from wall to toilet drain), standard is 12". House is from 1925.
I am a vagina owner from birth, I never imagined the toilet bowl shape would pose an issue to penis owners. From reading your comment I’m still unsure of which toilet bowls you’re talking about, I would appreciate if you (or anyone, really) could point to images of both so I, and potentially others, can compare. TIA
Space consideration is a bit more obvious with the seat though
How pronounced the difference is feels like it varies but the rounded ones are frequently just way too tiny.
Thanks for those! Clear as day.
I knew about different bowl / seat shapes, but I never thought about the issues for folks who have a penis.
Very enlightening. Thank you for bringing it up! It’s very interesting.
I just measured my usual toilet and while the hole is more squarish than the round one in the picture, the 16.5 length is about right. I don’t have any problem. I’ve got average sized junk, and have maybe a slender to medium build.
Maybe weight, whether one is a ‘shower’ vs a ‘grower’, or some particular anatomical proportion play into it, I don’t know. Maybe how far back one sits is key. Maybe people vary in their butthole to junk measurement. But I don’t think this is as universal a problem as OP thinks. But, hey I’m all in favor of a longer toilet standard for those for whom it is.
Round bowls with larger circumference is the clear winner. Elongated bowls also leave stains easier.
Tape a dildo to your vulva now sit down on a round bowl and see if it touches the rim. Now imagine you have to pee while taking a poop and you now have to shove the end down so it pees into the bowl. Do this without touching the rim.
It was the shape of the toilet what I couldn’t picture, not the usage
When your dick hits the bowl and you wonder what STD you just picked up.
STDs would be fairly difficult to get, most stuff requires blood or semen to transfer, or sustained skin on skin contact. STDs die pretty quickly once they leave the heat and wetness of the human body.
UTIs would be probably more likely, haha.
Just a little related PSA- you can get tested for STDs for cheap at wellness centers, university clinics, and planned parenthood clinics. The vast majority of STDs are curable, and even the more tenacious ones can be prevented via oral pills or shots like PrEP, whose pills give extremely high resistance to HIV, and whose vaccine has made people immune in trials (needed twice a year to maintain immunity).
At the end of the day, you want to catch STDs quickly, because they can do damage to your organs. Medicines can cure them. And if you are with a new partner, get tested, or wear condoms (or both!)
I hate those.
Sit where it is comfortable and you touch the front, fucken gross, or sit back far enough and stain the bowl.
TIL!
In my parent home there’s a octagonal toilet badly shaped so is uncomfortable to sit parallel(the same way you sit in a oval one) because the seat is too long and is uncomfortable to sit crossing the seat because is too narrow, you need to sit diagonally but because is octagonal your dick hits the bowl. Extremely annoying design.
Toilets seem to be getting smaller and I’m having trouble sitting on it without my penis touching the front.
Hey everyone get a load of this guy with his massive hog
Rounded toilets are the worst for this. Elongated is the way to go.
Given your instance, I’m guessing you’re not from the US… but here there are two generally standard shapes for residential toilets–round and oblong. The round ones fit better in small bathrooms, but man when you are used to the oblong shape it feels like sitting on a child-size toilet or something.
