Random Wikipedia #criticism (rant?)...

One of the things that bugs me about (English) #Wikipedia is how aspects of it are controlled by, for lack of a better word, #pedants, without consideration of the actual #readers - without considering the purpose of an encyclopedia.

One example of this is how, when an article features aspects of another language or dialect - for instance, something from Old English, or Arabic - where the reader will not be familiar with how to pronounce something presented transliterated to a modern Latin/English alphabet, or with a word shown in a non-Latin script entirely.

It used to be common in reference works to give a simple #pronunciation key that was at least close to the correct pronunciation, but was easily understood by a normal literate reader. You know; the stuff that looked like "ED-joo-KAY-shun" or "SHEH-joo-ull" or whatever.

Well, that's not good enough for Wikipedia most of the time. Instead, they give the pronunciation in International #Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), so you get stuff like "æɪ" and "aʊ" and "/ɔː/".

These are absolutely more #accurate guides to how a word should sound. And they are absolutely, completely #useless and #uninformative to 99% of people reading the article.

You know who already knows and is completely comfortable reading #IPA?

#Linguists. Students of language.

You know, the people who *already know* how to #pronounce the words. The people who don't actually need it.

#FFS.

Need to vent, sorry. I just reached the top of frustration for today!!!!1111oneoneone

The entire fucking day I have been busy preparing the servers (again) for new backup and staging for disroot. And, boy it’s been going horrible. Working with old server is just such a fucking pain. I feel like an alchemist or some nuclear physicist Those machines are so fragile, that one minute everything is fine and the second it’s not booting. Or the memory breaks or some other shit…. I have bunch of the oldies and parts and trying to ducttape two working and stable servers and it’s fucking impossible! Not to mention no fucking firmware available anywhere (g11) cause dell decided to just remove ‘em (no mirror no nothing, just gone and fuck you!).
And now just as I thought I was ready to install OS, one just started spinning Fans like crazy and got slow as hell, probably due to faulty cpu or ram. And second one, upon adding secondary SAS cable, just stopped POSTING! Fuck! I hate this old shit!!! It’s been great but it’s time to annihilate ‘em and throw it into a bin damn it! Wasted entire day on this and looks like I have not move a bit. Didnt do a mountain of other work piling up in the meantime, I just could spend entire day in bed playing games and doing nothing and I would be in the same place I am right now after working the entire day! Feel like crying myself to sleep right now, with a pillow over my face screaming until oxygen cuts off! #rant

<#rant>
My employer issued me a #Mac laptop when I got here. It's a nice one. M3 MBPro 16" with plenty of RAM and storage.

When I'm at home, I mostly use a #Dell PC desktop running #Windows/ #ManjaroWSL2 or #Ubuntu #Linux.

I realized something this morning, as I was exchanging #iMessages from the comfort of my keyboard and large screen, and unlocking @1password with my Apple Watch:

The ONLY things I truly love these days about the Mac experience are those things that also represent huge vendor lock-in that should be downright illegal.

There is zero reason that we shouldn't have an interop protocol so I can send messages that my family can see from my keyboard, and there's also no reason my watch shouldn't be able to use an interop protocol to unlock my computer and password manager - NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF COMPUTER OR WHAT OPERATING SYSTEM IT'S RUNNING.

It's a great example of how Capitalism can hurt consumers in the absence of strong regulation. I don't begrudge Apple making a buck off their hardware and software! They make GREAT laptops and IMO their phones and tablets are pretty nice too! But making things that should be easy and work across platforms ONLY work with their hardware and software just feels wrong to me.

Dear men: I cannot believe that this needs saying, but please do not approach me and engage me in conversation while not only *filming me* but also *live streaming me* without my knowledge or consent.

Good grief.

#rant

I think modern software/interface designers hate their customers.

I deal with endless complaints from confused folks wondering where stuff has gone, why shit’s moved. What happened to XYZ feature?

How would a designer feel if their car’s steering wheel were suddenly located in the trunk, or their toilet were 12 feet tall, maybe their bed upright against the wall? That’s how those “innovations” feel to people.

Moving and changing shit just to make it look different is fucking stupid.

Meine Güte, gerade beim Duchstöbern des Kleinanzeigen-Angebots für Fahrräder mal wieder gemerkt, wie provinziell #Kiel und #SH doch ist. Was hier so angeboten wird klingt wie ein Radio-Jingle: (leider nicht) das Beste aus den 80ern, 90ern und 2000ern. Kaum irgendwas Freshes, Interessantes oder gar halbwegs Modernes. Kein Vergleich mit süddeutschen Städten, geschweige denn Grosstädten! #2ndhand #buy2ndhand #Fahrrad #NordSüd #rant

Manchmal wirkt es, als sei die größere Sünde nicht mehr das Problem selbst, sondern dass jemand wagt, sich darüber Luft zu machen. Dann kommt die Stunde des radikalen "Positiven Denkens", das als Meta-Instanz für sich beansprucht zu entscheiden, was echtes Anliegen und was zu unterlassendes Gejammer ist.

Dear $person_who_isn't_on_here: Stop giving me unsolicited emotional labour because you know that people are more likely to respond positively if a plan is proposed by me rather than you. I'm busy and exhausted. kthxbye.

(And now your message is going to lurk in my inbox making me feel guilty until I do something about it. Marvellous.)

#Rant #SubToot

google's paternalising play store gatekeeping went straight insane. they want a *video* justifying data sync permissions for an app before publishing an update. BECAUSE YOU CAN'T FUCKING DO A BACKGROUND UPLOAD LONGER THAN A FEW MINUTES WITHOUT ANYMORE AND TRANSFERRING A LOT OF THINGS IS AT THE CORE OF WHAT THIS APP DOES, IDIOT FUCKWADS. imagine if they put all of this effort into removing malicious fake apps and malware distributing ads. #rant

I love cats, but I am extremely allergic to them.

There are no cats at the house I stay officially, but there is a pack of stray cats that roam around and show up at night when our dog isn't roaming around the yard.

They really like chilling on the couch back there I discovered...

... I fell asleep with bare arms on the couch for a while as it was warm outside last night. I now have hives all over my arms, and need to go get itch cream before I scratch my skin away.