Why did they design it like that?

[John Webb]

Batteries……

Need to replace a watch battery. The exhausted battery has 371 stamped on it. I have spare strips of batteries but on inspection non have 371 on them. On Googling it appears that there are many 371 equivalents from different manufacturers. These are:

SR920SW, SR69, SR921, SB-AN, 280-31, V371, D371, 605, S921E, GP371, AG6, AG-6, CX921, SR290SW, SR69, SG6, LR921, LR920SW, L921, 371A, 371X

I thought AA batteries were all called AA but it appears not. Even AA batteries go under different names depending on the maker. These are:

LR06, Duracell MN1500, R06P, SUM4, LR6, LR6A, HP7, Varta 4106, 824, Kodak KAA K6A, Toshiba LR6N, BA3058/U, NEDA 15A, 15AC, Varta 4006, Rayovac 815, AA, Panasonic AM3, Energizer E91.

Why do batteries need to be so complicated?

Possibly because there is no international standard (ISO) for batteries, or if there is, there is no compulsion to abide by it? I assume by manufacturers giving their own 'names' they hope to bamboozle people into always buying their batteries, not realising cheaper versions may be available!

 

[edwin_m]

Batteries……

Need to replace a watch battery. The exhausted battery has 371 stamped on it. I have spare strips of batteries but on inspection non have 371 on them. On Googling it appears that there are many 371 equivalents from different manufacturers. These are:

SR920SW, SR69, SR921, SB-AN, 280-31, V371, D371, 605, S921E, GP371, AG6, AG-6, CX921, SR290SW, SR69, SG6, LR921, LR920SW, L921, 371A, 371X

I thought AA batteries were all called AA but it appears not. Even AA batteries go under different names depending on the maker. These are:

LR06, Duracell MN1500, R06P, SUM4, LR6, LR6A, HP7, Varta 4106, 824, Kodak KAA K6A, Toshiba LR6N, BA3058/U, NEDA 15A, 15AC, Varta 4006, Rayovac 815, AA, Panasonic AM3, Energizer E91.

Why do batteries need to be so complicated?

Each supplier will have their own part number but I'd expect them all to have AA or 371 written on them somewhere and, as you have found, they all come up on a search. I think HP7 and LR6 are obsolete equivalents of AA (anyone remember the old system with SP2, HP2 etc, and didn't we also have C cells and D cells at one time?) but all the others look like supplier part numbers.

 

[AM9]

Each supplier will have their own part number but I'd expect them all to have AA or 371 written on them somewhere and, as you have found, they all come up on a search. I think HP7 and LR6 are obsolete equivalents of AA (anyone remember the old system with SP2, HP2 etc, and didn't we also have C cells and D cells at one time?) but all the others look like supplier part numbers.

Batteries are created by manufacturers to satisfy the market for replacements in gadgets. Until a few decades ago, the battery type number was designated by the dominant manufacturer, - in the UK it was Ever Ready. The C,D,AA and AAA designations are from an obsolete ANSI standard.
As for 'button' cells, the IEC designated these 1,5V 'ish* single cell batteries as 'SR' for silver oxide types and 'LR' for alkaline. One manufacturer decided to change these to SG and AG respectively, which is confusing as the chemical element code for silver is ag! Those numbers seem to have become the most common in recent years

* silver oxide are 1.55V and alkiline batteries 1.5V

 

[Ediswan]

Each supplier will have their own part number but I'd expect them all to have AA or 371 written on them somewhere and, as you have found, they all come up on a search. I think HP7 and LR6 are obsolete equivalents of AA (anyone remember the old system with SP2, HP2 etc, and didn't we also have C cells and D cells at one time?) but all the others look like supplier part numbers.

LR6 is the IEC name, in common use.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Hand washing facilities in any toilet where soap, water and drying are combined into one, in that order only, and you have much less control over how much of each you use.

Totally agree on that one. That always feels to me like, the designer doesn't view us users as adults and has decided that they will decide exactly how we have to wash hour hands. Very annoying. (SouthEastern on-train toilets, looking at you here)

Public toilets/wash facilities seem to me in general to be full of badly designed stuff. My biggest bugbear is taps that only allow the water to flow when you are actually pushing them down - thereby making it impossible to wash both hands at the same time as well as forcing you to have prolonged contact with the tap with at least one hand after you've washed it. The ideal would be a tap that detects when you are waving your hand in front of it - except that on more than one occasion I've encountered such taps that give no indication of where you have to put your hand to activate them!

Then you have those toilets that take what feels like 5 minutes to refill after flushing and will not flush again until that period is up: Utter lunacy in a high-use public toilet. Thankfully those designs seem to be becoming rarer. But on the other hand there's a growing trend towards using toilets where the seat cannot be lifted, which makes no sense in the men's loos.

And finally, a problem that impacts women more than men - the longstanding tendency to allocate equal space for mens and womens loos, despite that women typically need to spend longer in them, resulting in long queues for the women's loos and no queues at all for the men's.

 

[jon81uk]

Public toilets where they provide eight sinks but only one drier. Who honestly thought that works? Needs to be 1:1 sink to drier.

 

[edwin_m]

Public toilets where they provide eight sinks but only one drier. Who honestly thought that works? Needs to be 1:1 sink to drier.

And next to each other, so you aren't walking around with dripping hands or having to choose whether to leave your bag by the basin or get it wet too.

 

[dangie]

And next to each other, so you aren't walking around with dripping hands or having to choose whether to leave your bag by the basin or get it wet too.

On a similar vein, going back to my younger days, I remember a pub in Stone Staffordshire, where the gent’s toilet cubicle was long & narrow. The toilet was at one end and the toilet paper attached to the door at the other. There must have been at least 6-10 feet between them.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Also on loos, the “touch a smiley face” satisfaction survey near the exit, as seen in many motorway services. Not likely mate, seeing how many people walk straight out after doing their business, without bothering the washing facilities.

 

[al78]

I'd rather that then a sensor one that's really oversensitive so it detects anyone sitting down on the toilet.
Toilet paper comes in handy for pressing that button... If there is any that is!

Or just wash your hands after flushing, I thought that was standard anyway.

Hand washing facilities in any toilet where soap, water and drying are combined into one, in that order only, and you have much less control over how much of each you use.

Like just about every such facility in the toilets on trains. One issue I have had is after washing my hands I sometimes cannot trigger the dryer.

 

[Zamracene749]

To what extent are some (overseas) 'wines' shipped around in big, bulky, cylindrical containers, and then individually bottled when it's arrived here in the U.K.?

More than you might think. When I first started work, I often had to fill container tankers bound for Europe with our product (methacrylate monomer, basically liquid perspex). An essential part of the job was inspecting the tanks for cleanliness and checking what the previous load was, since certain contaminants could easily result in the product polymerising. I was surprised to find lard and especially red wine imports were very common!

 

[Ken X]

And not only wine.

When I worked for the MOD we had an ISO Container test facility on our site. One day I took a phone call from an importer asking if we had an ISO sized oven on our site by any chance. "Unfortunately not, we thermally test in other ways", I replied, why do you ask? "Well", said the importer, "we have just taken delivery of an ISO Tanker unit which is full of South African honey. It was warm when they poured it in, in Jo'burg but, here, in England, in January, we have a slight problem!"

Ooops.

 

[eoff]

USA toilet design (the ones that have a lot of water in them, although this might be changing as I was in a hotel last year with what I consider normal UK design).

USA toilet stall design (large gaps between door and frame, door 5' high)

Plastic packaging that needs Geoff Capes strength to open.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Hand washing facilities in any toilet where soap, water and drying are combined into one, in that order only, and you have much less control over how much of each you use.

And in busy toilets where driers are separate, there's a flow of people with some washing their hands and some using the driers. When they're "all in one" you often have to wait for one to become free as people spend longer at them then they would a stand alone sink

Also on loos, the “touch a smiley face” satisfaction survey near the exit, as seen in many motorway services. Not likely mate, seeing how many people walk straight out after doing their business, without bothering the washing facilities.

What does that actually tell anybody? If everybody says that they're unsatisfied, it doesnt say why people are unsatisfied or what can be done to make them satisfied

 

[edwin_m]

Nearly everything about the user interface in Microsoft Teams.

 

[johnnychips]

Nearly everything about the user interface in Microsoft Teams.

Agreed. Can’t find anything easily.

 

[32475]

Capital letters and numerals which look the same namely 1 and I, 0 and O. Also when spoken M and N.
How much misunderstanding, confusion and mistakes have those been accountable for over the years?!

 

[dangie]

Capital letters and numerals which look the same namely 1 and I, 0 and O.

Yes. Long serial numbers which contain those characters can be a right pain. There’s enough other characters available which would allow 1, I, 0, O not to be used.

.…Also when spoken M and N.
How much misunderstanding, confusion and mistakes have those been accountable for over the years?!

Agree with this as well.
My surname contains N & M in that order. It’s constantly taken down as M & N.

 

[52290]

Yes. Long serial numbers which contain those characters can be a right pain. There’s enough other characters available which would allow 1, I, 0, O not to be used.


Agree with this as well.
My surname contains N & M in that order. It’s constantly taken down as M & N.

My surname also contains these letters, I say Mike and November to avoid confusion.

 

[Strat-tastic]

My surname also contains these letters, I say Mike and November to avoid confusion.

Ok Mr. November, thanks for calling

 

[Gloster]

Ok Mr. November, thanks for calling

I frequently have to spell my first name out using the NATO alphabet as, although it is fairly common, it is sometimes confused with a similar one. On one occasion the woman on the other end thereafter kept calling me Romeo as she tried to be friendly in order to persuade me not to terminate my contract: leastways, I think that was why she called me Romeo.

 

[Strat-tastic]

I frequently have to spell my first name out using the NATO alphabet as, although it is fairly common, it is sometimes confused with a similar one. On one occasion the woman on the other end thereafter kept calling me Romeo as she tried to be friendly in order to persuade me not to terminate my contract: leastways, I think that was why she called me Romeo.

You're in there

 

[75A]

I have this trouble all the time, my surname is French and begins with a B not a P, and the 3rd letter is an i not the American way with a Y

 

[Purple Train]

This. There are no words.

(Image shows a packet of salami with the top slice on the other side of the packet to the "resealable" opening, meaning that you can't get at the salami without opening the packet more than you should, so it isn't resealable.)

 

[dangie]

This. There are no words.

(Image shows a packet of salami with the top slice on the other side of the packet to the "resealable" opening, meaning that you can't get at the salami without opening the packet more than you should, so it isn't resealable.)

I think this has already been mentioned, but yes, I totally agree with you.

As a bonus, the ‘resealable’ packets rarely do.

 

[bspahh]

I think this has already been mentioned, but yes, I totally agree with you.

On page 58 of 209 of the comedic things you would ban thread I wrote:

When I become a dictator, first against the wall will be manufacturers of sliced meat who put the slices in a packet, where the tab to open the film lid is on the wrong side to get the top slice.

Second against the wall will be designers of WWW pages where I select some text, press a button to format it as a quote, and find some unselected text has been formatted.

 

[Purple Train]

On page 58 of 209 of the comedic things you would ban thread I wrote:

Sorry...

(Though I hope I can be forgiven for not reading through the last 151 pages!)

 

[bspahh]

Sorry...

(Though I hope I can be forgiven for not reading through the last 151 pages!)

Perhaps, just this once, as it was a different thread

 

[Strat-tastic]

This. There are no words.

(Image shows a packet of salami with the top slice on the other side of the packet to the "resealable" opening, meaning that you can't get at the salami without opening the packet more than you should, so it isn't resealable.)

Yet another triumph of form over function

 

[gordonthemoron]

Hand dryers mounted so far up the wall that the drips either run up your sleeve or get blown onto the front of your light-coloured trousers (Doncaster station)

I came across a pretend Dyson hand dryer, the ones you put your hands in, that had been hung upside down in a Hamburg pub toilet