[Trinidad]

barmar, on 2012-March-07, 16:11, said:

No. Suppose you write something like "Everyone does XXX" in an online forum. There will always be some pedantic nitwit who responds to this to point out the exceptions.

For example, I wrote "always" in that sentence, and now someone should point out that it doesn't really happen 100% of the time, just to prove my point. But if no one does, it doesn't disprove it, either.

That is why I "always" put these generalizations (nobody, every time, etc.) in quotation marks (""), except when I don't.

Rik

[Vampyr]

One of my chief pet peeves is people who play loud music on the Underground. I wish they would introduce headphone-free carriages.

[y66]

I work with a woman who has a pet peeve about deaf people using sign language in the quiet car. It really bugs her for some reason.

[gwnn]

I work as a TA this term. This guy wrote a solution full of unnecessary solution and finished in 4-5 pages of integrals and identities, seemingly arriving at the right answer. I was just about to write 'next time, look at the hint we gave you and you can do it in 5 lines!' when I realised that he actually wrote that version on the next page headed by 'alternative solution:'. So why hand in the long, ugly one??? Just to take up 30 minutes of my time? If he sends in two solutions, one correct and one incorrect, I will grade the incorrect one.

[barmar]

y66, on 2012-March-10, 22:45, said:

I work with a woman who has a pet peeve about deaf people using sign language in the quiet car. It really bugs her for some reason.

I think I can understand that. While it's not noise, the constant gesticulating can still be distracting. If you're trying to sleep I don't suppose it would bother you, but if you're trying to read it could.

[broze]

Ooh, another one of mine: people who tap cans of soda before they open them. I mean really, do they think it achieves anything?

[barmar]

There's apparently a common myth that tapping the can keeps it from spraying when you open it.

http://www.snopes.co...nce/sodacan.asp

[broze]

barmar, on 2012-March-11, 17:15, said:

There's apparently a common myth that tapping the can keeps it from spraying when you open it.

http://www.snopes.co...nce/sodacan.asp

Yeah, drives me nuts. I feel like shaking it and then handing it back.

[kenberg]

gwnn, on 2012-March-11, 03:24, said:

I work as a TA this term. This guy wrote a solution full of unnecessary solution and finished in 4-5 pages of integrals and identities, seemingly arriving at the right answer. I was just about to write 'next time, look at the hint we gave you and you can do it in 5 lines!' when I realised that he actually wrote that version on the next page headed by 'alternative solution:'. So why hand in the long, ugly one??? Just to take up 30 minutes of my time? If he sends in two solutions, one correct and one incorrect, I will grade the incorrect one.

I can suggest an explanation. Maybe he didn't at first see the hint, or didn't understand the hint. He worked it out on his own and then saw or understood the hint, but wanted to submit the solution that he did completely on his own. He might have mentioned this of course, but I'm sort of his side on this.

As a general rule I never liked problems with hints. Call it a pet peeve so that it qualifies for this thread. I felt that it intruded on my autonomy. The general consensus was that I was nuts.

[PassedOut]

kenberg, on 2012-March-12, 06:00, said:

I can suggest an explanation. Maybe he didn't at first see the hint, or didn't understand the hint. He worked it out on his own and then saw or understood the hint, but wanted to submit the solution that he did completely on his own. He might have mentioned this of course, but I'm sort of his side on this.

As a general rule I never liked problems with hints. Call it a pet peeve so that it qualifies for this thread. I felt that it intruded on my autonomy. The general consensus was that I was nuts.

I can remember a couple of times as a math student when I thought that my solution was too long and inelegant, but was all I could see. So when I did later see the trick, I really appreciated it.

[helene_t]

I can see this issue from both sides.

As a student I hated it when I had put lots of time into solving a problem in a way I invented myself, only to have the teacher put me down with a "sorry I can't follow your reasoning", while fellow students who took the easy route (using the hint or copying a solution to a similar problem given in the textbook) got top grades.

But as a teacher who is payed for spending no more than 10 minutes per test form evaluation, I didn't always have the patience to try to follow the complicated reasonings of the more independent students.

But maybe it is a good thing that the wanna-be Einsteins learn the hard way that they have to be very careful to present their original thoughts in a way that is digestible to a stupid/impatient audience such as for example teachers. Because it won't help you much in your future life (post school) to be a genius if nobody understands your ideas.

[gwnn]

But his "original way" of doing things was not clever at all. It amounted to a long unnecessary calculation, essentially proving a lot of known formulas (the hint was just quoting some equations from the textbook).

[y66]

barmar, on 2012-March-11, 16:43, said:

I think I can understand that. While it's not noise, the constant gesticulating can still be distracting. If you're trying to sleep I don't suppose it would bother you, but if you're trying to read it could.

Come to think of it, it bugs me when seat mates on airplanes, trains and buses are constantly fidgeting. I'll tell her I empathize now.

[gwnn]

Youtube ads.

[BunnyGo]

gwnn, on 2012-March-14, 03:39, said:

Youtube ads.

My pet peeve is people thinking all creative content should be free. And that everything on the internet in particular should be free. All that data and hosting, no money. WEEEE.

*this is not to say, I'm not a frequent user of sites that offer such content illegally for free, simply that I don't think I'm owed it and don't mind when these sites get shut down or try to go legit with ads.

[gwnn]

Can't I be peeved by something and recognise its necessity at the same time? At least a little bit?

[BunnyGo]

gwnn, on 2012-March-14, 04:45, said:

Can't I be peeved by something and recognise its necessity at the same time? At least a little bit?

absolutely...I was being honest, you'd just reminded me of a pet peeve of mine. I really do hate when people complain that megavideo is gone and youtube has ads, and all that.

[broze]

gwnn, on 2012-March-14, 03:39, said:

Youtube ads.

People complaining about Youtube ads also greatly peeves me but for different reasons. Why aren't they using Adblock if it bothers them so much?

[gwnn]

broze, on 2012-March-14, 06:20, said:

People complaining about Youtube ads also greatly peeves me but for different reasons. Why aren't they using Adblock if it bothers them so much?

laziness?

I'm not sure, though, whether adblock can actually block the little film ads from before the videos? Are we talking about the same ads?

[broze]

gwnn, on 2012-March-14, 06:28, said:

laziness?

I'm not sure, though, whether adblock can actually block the little film ads from before the videos? Are we talking about the same ads?

Yes we are, and yes it can!

I've been using chrome and firefox with Adblock for years now and I've never seen a pre-video ad.