Humor Random Comments Thread

[steph]

So, upon hearing Microsoft was hiking the price of the GamePass, I did what any sane person would do. Canceled my subscription right before the price hike went into effect, went to the supermarket and got a 3 month GamePass Ultimate gift card at the old price (actually got it cheaper than I would have normally paid at the old price, loyalty card and they had offers because they were celebrating x.years of existence as a brand).

Got home, entered the code, everything checked out and I had GamePass again.
Not even a month later, I fire up the ol' Xbox and discover that I don't have a GamePass anymore and it was urging me to get the Ultimate again.

I swear, this is utter bs. I get that they nerfed the online prices to the gift cards as well, but buying one in-store, having the code work and then get nerfed several.weeks later is just cruel. I sure hope they don't expect me to pay the increased price for it ever again

 

[jedidia]

having the code work and then get nerfed several.weeks later is just cruel.

It might also be breach of contract...

 

[Linguofreak]

It might also be breach of contract...

Just what I was thinking...

 

[Fabri91]

Bought a new (to me, it's from early 2023) car two weeks ago and yesterday while it was parked this happened :

 

[Urwumpe]

Bought a new (to me, it's from early 2023) car two weeks ago and yesterday while it was parked this happened :

Ouch. Looks like a very dangerous area to park.

We have a guy around here, who walks around at night and sprays industrial glue on parked new cars, which results a very costly repair job. The police is trying to catch him for years, but somehow, he is still there, striking at random, in every quarter of the town.

 

[Fabri91]

Ouch. Looks like a very dangerous area to park.

We have a guy around here, who walks around at night and sprays industrial glue on parked new cars, which results a very costly repair job. The police is trying to catch him for years, but somehow, he is still there, striking at random, in every quarter of the town.

I kinda got lucky in that the handle seems to be the only damaged part beyond some very minor signs on the door that I honestly don't know if they were there before.

And the handle is inexpensive and super easy to replace, thankfully.

 

[Urwumpe]

I kinda got lucky in that the handle seems to be the only damaged part beyond some very minor signs on the door that I honestly don't know if they were there before.

And the handle is inexpensive and super easy to replace, thankfully.

Thats good if it isn't more damage. I thought there was also a deep scratch on the door itself, which might require repainting, if it the scratch goes to the primer.

 

[Notebook]

80 years of Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope.

About - Jodrell Bank

www.jodrellbank.net

and it gets a tune.

Archive on 4 - Jodrell Bank at 80 - BBC Sounds

Brilliant stories told using archive from the BBC and beyond

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[N_Molson]

Why is some basic made-in-PRC (like many things) smartphone much better (twice much bandwith, much more stable too) at receving WiFi network than a TP-link wireless PCI adapter for PC ?

I can tether the phone to the PC and literally compare the two. The PCI adapter performance is quite bad, often it drops the signal completely. I have no problem with the tethered solution.

 

[Urwumpe]

Why is some basic made-in-PRC (like many things) smartphone much better (twice much bandwith, much more stable too) at receving WiFi network than a TP-link wireless PCI adapter for PC ?

I can tether the phone to the PC and literally compare the two. The PCI adapter performance is quite bad, often it drops the signal completely. I have no problem with the tethered solution.

Well, first of all, the PC card have a worse antenna. Or have the antenna in an unfavorable location. Also how old is the card?

 

[N_Molson]

I have the feeling that the phone antenna is way better, yes. The card has the classic 'rabbit ears' dual antenna layout. I installed it in mid-2023, but obviously it was manufactured before that.

I found a recent driver, which added a few options in the 'Advanced' tab. But I fear I am quite clueless about them (it is quite a mess of a mix between Eng and Fr too), and the performance isn't drastically better with the new driver.

 

[Urwumpe]

What you should also check is, if the antennas are in different places and if the card is in a bad WiFi zone. The signal strength is not uniform or strictly obeys the inverse square law inside a building. It could also just be, that just a group of channels of WiFi is affected badly there.

Mobile phones are usually placed in better parts of the town than the back of a PC.

 

[steph]

I wonder if it isn't the FCC emission power thing. In theory, that shouldn't happen in the EU, but most of it is software limitations and I'm not sure they always bother implementing it.
I know someone who couldn't get a signal inside a building with a flagship Samsung model, yet literally the cheapest Xiaomi model worked flawlessly.

I had something similar happen with wi-fi repeaters. A NetGear model, not only did it work so-so, it started having occasional breakdowns, disconnecting and all that. A while later I also got a Mi model to provide wi-fi to a timelapse camera in the yard, and it worked flawlessly for casual use as well, despite being further away than the first one.

I digress, but, back in the day, there were some good-ish drones controlled via classic wi-fi, and the usual trick would be to get one of those cheap chinese usb stick repeaters, plug it into a powerbank, tell it via the app that it's in mainland China and use that to connect to the drone, and watch the usable range go from dozens to hundreds of meters.

That being said, most things today are manufactured at least in Asia, if not PRC, and smartphones have a tendency to be faster at internet/connectivity stuff for quite a while now, could be just that

 

[Notebook]

For some reason this making news in the UK.

Hundreds of sheep cross German city during annual tradition

The event, which saw about 600 sheep cross the Nuremberg's historic centre, took place on Sunday and has become a popular annual tradition.

www.bbc.com

Thought we had plenty sheep here?

 

[N_Molson]

Yeah, Great Britain (also true for Ireland) should have little to learn about sheep breeding

Actually I had this book as a X-mas present several years ago and it really gives an accurate depiction of what sheep-breeding in Ireland is, not funny everyday, but it's a job :

Listening to the Animals: Becoming The Supervet : Fitzpatrick, Professor Noel: Amazon.fr: Books

Listening to the Animals: Becoming The Supervet : Fitzpatrick, Professor Noel: Amazon.fr: Books

www.amazon.fr

 

[N_Molson]

Also while speaking of books I recently read 'The Year of the Hare' by Finnish author Arto Paasilinna. great read. If you like animals, philosophy and wildlife, this is for you. Not spoiling, but I didn't see the end coming!

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1994102277993566508

 

[Urwumpe]

Hopefully they improved the mixture ratio in the following years.

 

[N_Molson]

Of course, if you cook your poultry with what almost look like an home-made combustion chamber...

 

[Kyle_E]

Of course, if you cook your poultry with what almost look like an home-made combustion chamber...

It's a turkey fryer, which is basically just a gas burner on legs. They're pretty common over here: that one at least has some shielding around the flame. They are a huge source of accidents around thanksgiving, generally from tipping over and spraying boiling (and possibly burning) oil everywhere.