What is some of your Pet Peeve's

[BleedingOrange]

We have Shaw satellite service at our place in the country. Every channel has a different volume level, so if you are flipping between a couple of different sports channels, the volume needs to be adjusted every time, either up or down. Can they not control the volume to keep it the same for every channel. At while I,m at it, do the same for the bloody commercials. Also, pass a law that states ALL the print size has to be the same, and readable.

 

[Runner]

I do still often print construction plans, its easier to look at things, make note, look at two pages at once, ect than it is on a laptop, and its a heck of a lot easier to see/look at/carry; but i would say most guys now just use a tablet with the plans.

With that, basically 100% of what we deal with are 11x17, and not 24x36. Now, there are some projects that use "Nexgen plans" that arent meant to be printed, and are almost like an electronic version of scroll plans.

Edit/Note: thats linear or horizontal construction, not vertical (ie not buildings)

Electronic review of plans is a double-edge sword. Disadvantage is that it can be harder to flip back and forth in the set and harder to view the whole page at once (because the lettering in notes can be so small, you have to constantly be zooming in and out, even with big screens).

But the overall advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The main advantage is, obviously, document storage. Our city has so many old paper plans from building projects that they have to be stored in "the caves" which are, literally, storage warehouses in caves around the area.

Retrieval of these documents is a major PIA. For a while, they tried mico fische, micro film and digitizing, but these methods are astronomically expensive and take forever. Also, the required antique equipment is expensive and complicated and storage of micro fische/film is cumbersome.

So, now, virtually all building projects are required to be submitted electronically, except maybe the smaller "homeowner" type jobs.

 

[WinterDeere]

Are most building plans still done in 2D CAD, a’la 1987, or have architects finally reached stepped into the mid1990’s with 3D plans and renderings?

I spent a brief part of my career designing parts in 2D, early 1990’s, and shudder remembering the stupid mistakes and revisions that occurred, because so many missed details blatantly obvious in 3D. Less of an issue with architecture, excepting mechanically-complex commercial buildings, but awful useful for things like manufacturing plants or even visual renderings in residential applications.

One of my college jobs in the early 1990’s was for an architects’ office, where they were a mix of pen on Mylar hand drawing and 2D CAD. They used to have me do 3D photorealistic renderings for customers, which if I weren’t some cheap college kid, would have been awfully expensive redundant work, since all primary plans were fine in 2D, before having me repeat most of it in 3D.

 

[Oaktree]

I do still often print construction plans, its easier to look at things, make note, look at two pages at once, ect than it is on a laptop, and its a heck of a lot easier to see/look at/carry; but i would say most guys now just use a tablet with the plans.

Electronic review of plans is a double-edge sword. Disadvantage is that it can be harder to flip back and forth in the set and harder to view the whole page at once (because the lettering in notes can be so small, you have to constantly be zooming in and out, even with big screens).

Can't speak for building plans, but repair or assembly manuals in pdf form are another double edge sword. Nice in that they don't take up any physical space, but a real PITA when it comes to a mix of portrait and landscape orientation of pages (ie text vs schematics/parts blow-ups). Also not always handy when actually working on something and you have to keep running back & forth to a computer to reference.

 

[ultrarunner]

I am very close to having a new peeve. Need to verify this first, but the other day, I could SWEAR I saw a new police cruiser with a "dazzle" paint scheme, just like the ones they put on Navy ships during the war to make them hard to see. I just caught it out of the corner of my eye passing me the other direction, but I'm almost sure that's what is was. No excuse for deliberately making emergency vehicles hard to see.

Has anyone else seen one of these? I would post a pic, but I can't even find one on the internet (probably because it's such a bad idea, no one else has done it).

Several departments here are going to stealth cruisers and the exteriors are a mat finish with any logo non reflective…

Unless the lights are on most would never see one coming.

 

[Jstpssng]

Also not always handy when actually working on something and you have to keep running back & forth to a computer to reference

You can always print off the section that you need. I do that with the service manual to my tractor. Rather than getting the original dirty, which cost over a hundred bucks yet is on regular printer paper; I put it on the scanner and make a copy.

 

[ultrarunner]

Dying industry. I haven’t subscribed to a paper magazine in at least 20 years, maybe 25!

e-Digests are easier to pull up when you have that unexpected break to read, in a waiting room or stuck somewhere, no need to remember to carry your magazines with you!

Just cancelled parents 55 year home delivery subscription on auto renew… SF Chronicle now at $108 per month.

Dads first job was paper delivery…

 

[ultrarunner]

We suddenly started getting People mag. Neither of us has any interest it and no idea why we are getting them.

I found a phone number for them and found out they are complementary, and we owe them nothing.

I told them to stop sending them and the representative said she would stop them.

After years with no magazines for the hospital waiting room we are getting free magazines again…

 

[kenmbz]

We had some 3D plans for our buildings, but the Facilities people did not like them except for WiFI layout, so went back to 2D.
The WiFi access points we wanted some 3D as placement is key so you don't get a lot of signal to floor below or above.

 

[Oaktree]

Just cancelled parents 55 year home delivery subscription on auto renew… SF Chronicle now at $108 per month.

Can't speak for that paper, but here the Sunday paper (combined with Saturday to make a weekend edition) is about the size of a mid-week daily was not all that many years ago. Lots of content has been dropped over the years.
Haven't bought the paper in years now, but there's an IGA-type grocery store in a neighboring town that puts yesterday's unsold papers in a "free" basket.

Surprisingly, a lot of ads in most of the weekly papers.

After years with no magazines for the hospital waiting room we are getting free magazines again…

I've noticed that too, selection is still lousy though...