The Handy Tips Thread

[Trevp666]

I wonder if that's what Princess Margaret was doing?

 

[GNC]

Try pretending you're one of those Japanese macaques by waiting until it's snowing and pouring yourself a red hot bath with the window wide open. Put pieces of fruit around the edge of the bath for the full experience.

A photo of Japanese macaque was on Pointless Celebrities tonight doing that very thing! Coincidence?

 

[David Plankton]

A photo of Japanese macaque was on Pointless Celebrities tonight doing that very thing! Coincidence?

Uncanny. I should write in to Fortean Times if I were you.

 

[Stormkhan]

Oddly enough, a British You Tuber - Chris Broad in Abroad in Japan - recently visited those very springs ... and there wasn't a monkey to be seen, much to his disappointment.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

Only £2 in ASDA, it's labelled a 'Studio Box', can be found alongside the large storage containers with lids and is large enough to keep your remote controls plus other essentials conveniently close at hand.

 

[escargot]

Oddly enough, a British You Tuber - Chris Broad in Abroad in Japan - recently visited those very springs ... and there wasn't a monkey to be seen, much to his disappointment.

It was @Swifty's day off.

 

[escargot]

Only £2 in ASDA, it's labelled a 'Studio Box', can be found alongside the large storage containers with lids and is large enough to keep your remote controls plus other essentials conveniently close at hand.



View attachment 33389

Handy for the munchies!

I've lost track of how many baskets I've set up to keep track of our doofers. Techy fills them with other junk and the doofers slide unnoticed off the sofa and disappear underneath.

He's recently found out how to access Amazon TV on t'Sky box so that's one less tiny fiddly farty doofer to lose.
I'm told there are phone apps to control TVs etc. That'd be fun!

 

[Trevp666]

I'm told there are phone apps to control TVs

Yep. My Sony Bravia has an app which I put on my phone.
I've only ever used it the once though as the remote control itself is just easier cos it's got physical buttons to press instead of silly touchscreen buttons.
Which is also why I get annoyed with modern car designs cos they try to put everything on touchscreens but you can't look at a screen when you're driving - the old way of actually being able to feel around for the switch/button was much better.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

There's an app to control our LG telly - the coolest bit is if you find a Youtube video on your phone, you can 'throw' it to the big screen like they do in Star Trek and that.

 

[Souleater]

Handy for the munchies!

I've lost track of how many baskets I've set up to keep track of our doofers. Techy fills them with other junk and the doofers slide unnoticed off the sofa and disappear underneath.

He's recently found out how to access Amazon TV on t'Sky box so that's one less tiny fiddly farty doofer to lose.
I'm told there are phone apps to control TVs etc. That'd be fun!

I have always been wary of apps that control/open things in the house/car, it's not unusual for me to lose/break/mislay phones for one abd what happens if you have a smart house/car which you need your phone to open/operate and you run out of battery or lose your phone? Let alone someone hacking your house/car lock

 

[Lord Lucan]

Yep. My Sony Bravia has an app which I put on my phone.
I've only ever used it the once though as the remote control itself is just easier cos it's got physical buttons to press instead of silly touchscreen buttons.
Which is also why I get annoyed with modern car designs cos they try to put everything on touchscreens but you can't look at a screen when you're driving - the old way of actually being able to feel around for the switch/button was much better.

Does your car or t.v have voice control? We use the voice control to make calls and for simple navigation in the cars but I'm not going to talk to the t.v. Our Samsung has a simplified universal remote which it brilliant. Very few buttons and you can control your entire audio/visual setup with it (it also has an app, which we don't use).

 

[Mythopoeika]

Does your car or t.v have voice control? We use the voice control to make calls and for simple navigation in the cars but I'm not going to talk to the t.v. Our Samsung has a simplified universal remote which it brilliant. Very few buttons and you can control your entire audio/visual setup with it (it also has an app, which we don't use).

My TV has a separate remote that will use voice control. I've only used it once. Dunno where it is now.

 

[Mungoman]

I use a remote for the TV, otherwise, I get up.

 

[Trevp666]

TBH I just prefer things with actual buttons and switches, physical things to move.
I find 'voice activated' devices rarely recognise any commands I give unless I very....del---ib---er---ate---ly speak in an odd, dis---joint---ed way.
And I kind of hanker after the days when TV sets had buttons on the front cos it's so annoying when the battery fails in the remote control and, of course, you don't have a spare one, so you have to fumble around under the back of the screen, hopefully locating some tiny buttons designed for the fingers of chinese children.

 

[escargot]

Back to duvet covers: last year Techy bought me a posh new set. The opening was at the top end so my arms kept getting tangled up in it.

I bought some popper tape and created an opening at the correct end, and sewed up the top end. It's fine now.

 

[Souleater]

Back to duvet covers: last year Techy bought me a posh new set. The opening was at the top end so my arms kept getting tangled up in it.

I bought some popper tape and created an opening at the correct end, and sewed up the top end. It's fine now.

Why didnt you turn the duvet cover around so the opening was at the bottom?

 

[ramonmercado]

Why didnt you turn the duvet cover around so the opening was at the bottom?

Snails use two brain cells to make "complex decisions", a team of scientists has found.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-36443264

 

[Trevp666]

The opening was at the top end so my arms kept getting tangled up in it.

Silly scargy........you should have just put the pillows at the other end of the bed and slept with your head at the bottom!

 

[catseye]

I have voice control for the Firestick. Unfortunately, it refuses to acknowledge me and then, when shouted at, finds me something completely random that sounds nothing like 'Buffy' or 'Time Team'. It's like working with a sullen teenager.

In handy tips - if you have a store rewards card and get given coupons for money off (as the Co Op still does, although we're moving towards the app now), wrap the coupon around your card, so you don't forget to use it.

 

[escargot]

Why didnt you turn the duvet cover around so the opening was at the bottom?

Because the elaborate design would then be upside down.

Also, as I can sew I didn't have to piss about like that!

Silly scargy........you should have just put the pillows at the other end of the bed and slept with your head at the bottom!

Silly Trev... that's where cats sleep.

 

[escargot]

Snails use two brain cells to make "complex decisions", a team of scientists has found.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-36443264

That's two more brain cells than certain other organisms one could mention.

 

[Souleater]

Because the elaborate design would then be upside down.

Also, as I can sew I didn't have to piss about like that!




Silly Trev... that's where cats sleep.

I see, seems like the manufacturer may have screwed up by putting the opening at the wrong end

 

[escargot]

I see, seems like the manufacturer may have screwed up by putting the opening at the wrong end

Yup, this was indeed the case. It was from eBay. Techy had jumped the gun by posting positive feedback before I'd found the problem.

The seller knew summat was up because he sent Techy messages asking if the goods were OK. Techy kept saying all was well. Then I noticed the fault.

I wasn't happy because I had to fix it! and Techy was embarrassed as he should have smelled a rat right away.

However, it's a lovely set and it's all sorted now. It has lurid images of skulls.

Should have been sold as a 'second' though.

I do buy seconds cheap, but when I pay top whack I expect top goods.

Some drill bits arrived last month with the plastic display case smashed. It had been packed in a regular thin cardboard Amazon envelope and obviously been stepped on. I complained and was sent a 30% refund which I found reasonable.

 

[Swifty]

If serving the public is your job, size the customer up as soon as they step into the room. If the first thing they do is either look up at the ceiling or study the corners of the room, they are going to be a pain in the arse so step backwards and pretend you suddenly need to go to the staff toilet and thus cruelly leaving the rookie staff member to deal with the high maintenance bullshit certainly coming. 'They' almost always look at the ceiling or the corners of the room first, I don't know why. A solid tip from uncle Swifty.

 

[feinman]

If you have a job working with the public, you can tend to value your solitude. I spend almost all of my time by myself (though with my dog) and really enjoy it. Without the dog it could become somewhat depressing, these days. The dog permits me the long hours alone necessary to create visual art, without the compromises necessary to keep a human. Unless you have a proper holding container! "It rubs the lotion on..." I used to be a very social party animal type, but am enjoying my existence better these days.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

If serving the public is your job, size the customer up as soon as they step into the room. If the first thing they do is either look up at the ceiling or study the corners of the room, they are going to be a pain in the arse so step backwards and pretend you suddenly need to go to the staff toilet and thus cruelly leaving the rookie staff member to deal with the high maintenance bullshit certainly coming. 'They' almost always look at the ceiling or the corners of the room first, I don't know why. A solid tip from uncle Swifty.

Yeah but you never dump on the noob staff surely?

 

[Swifty]

Yeah but you never dump on the noob staff surely?

I am the noob staff (if you don't count the dozens of places I've worked before). It's good for us. It's not my fault I know the score.

 

[Analogue Boy]

If serving the public is your job, size the customer up as soon as they step into the room. If the first thing they do is either look up at the ceiling or study the corners of the room, they are going to be a pain in the arse so step backwards and pretend you suddenly need to go to the staff toilet and thus cruelly leaving the rookie staff member to deal with the high maintenance bullshit certainly coming. 'They' almost always look at the ceiling or the corners of the room first, I don't know why. A solid tip from uncle Swifty.

Probably looking for cctv cameras to capture their rant from the most flattering angle

 

[Trevp666]

If you're planning on going into a shop and being a pain in the arse, especially if it's a shop where Mr McSwifty works, then, as soon as you enter, immediately look up at the ceiling and towards the corners of the room, thus enabling those more seasoned and knowledgeable workers to make a swifty swift getaway, leaving the less experienced staff members to take your high maintenance bullshit.

 

[Swifty]

Probably looking for cctv cameras to capture their rant from the most flattering angle

I've wondered if it's the same thing you see on documentaries when police are interviewing someone in the interview room .. when body language experts say if a suspect looks up and to their left, their bullshiting .. so a customers walks in, planning to be a handful for whatever reason and they'll look upwards (or at corners) before they try to approach you.