Erin @erincandescent@queer.af

Day 1 on new workplace's Slack: My cowokers have already found the yeemoji I uploaded. Indoctrination into the way of emoji with little cowboy hats on them is proceeding right on schedule

It feels like the Berlin trams have flooring designed to maximize the amount of noise walking with wet shoes makes

It feels like there's a 70s design revival going on right now and I don't get it

I guess this makes me officially old?

Dear people developing calendar apps: Timezones arer very important. It might be a feature I need to turn on (like it is in macOS' http://Calendar.app), but exposing timezones & the ability to work in multiple of them is *really important*

"Unfortunately, since the TCP and IP protocols were not designed by committee, all these header fields serve some useful purpose and it's not possible to simply omit some in the name of efficiency."

TL;DR Schuko sockets and plugs should all be rotated 90 degrees (pins vertical) so that they have the same "desired orientation" to Europlugs :P

And it's all just Mildly Annoying because Europlug and Schuko are both individually pretty good designs but the interaction between the two of them is suboptimal

Also these little things exist and are useful... But actually using the Schuko socket has a tendency to block one of the Europlug sockets...

But perhaps the most annoying thing is that this means the ideal shape for a Europlug device... Is 90 degree rotated from that for Schuko. Which means conflicts on power strips, though the typical 45 degree rotation

And power adapters tend to spill over into adjacent sockets too

But anyway: Europlugs. You want to stack them along their longer axis for density. This means things should extend to the side, and cables should exit either that way or to the top

And a bunch of these adapters do that! And a bunch of others... Don't.

There used to be issues back in the day caused by the physical size of transformer based PSUs, but thankfully those resolved themselves when everything moved to small switch mode power supplies

(Actually the ones which exit from the top of the plug are slightly annoying, since I have an 8-way extension cord where the plugs are placed top-to-top, but at least that case crops up less frequently)

This means you always stack sockets horizontally, and plug top adapters can extend up or down (with their cable leaving in either direction), and none of your devices conflict with each other

Of all the features of BS 1363 plugs and sockets, the one I wish everyone else copied is the plug being fairly flat with the flex leaving at a 90 degree angle to the socket

*looks at inconsistent pile of connectors and is sad*

More advanced complements would include things like the updates drivers give when the train is stuck at a red signal

(Particularly important I think are things that are likely to be said by somebody other then the person you initially interacted with - so any language context will be lost. The latte example is a real one - I accidentally stole someone else's drink once because of a mistake!)

There are various phrases typically said by service staff that its very useful to be able to recognise when traveling internationally. Some immediate examples:

* Do you want the receipt?
* (Shouted) one latte to go

Has anyone composed cheat sheets of these in various languages?

Although im cursed thoughts: I did once (in a desparate situation!) use vaseline (petroleum jelly) as deoderant substitute

It sorta works! Yes, it does feel gross!