The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2011-01-07 Reply Admin

I can't believe nobody pointed out yet that the sub is FIFTEEN inches, not fourteen. It's just there is no room to put the number fifteen on the ruler.

2011-01-07 Reply Admin

Buffalo:
Peter:
boog (unregistered):
I'm pretty sure I would have strangled the penguin before they got the whole phrase painted on the side of the van
Is "strangled the penguin" some sort of euphemism?
Yes. Every possible phrase constructed like "(verb) [the/a/my/your] (noun)" is a euphemism for masturbation.

Obligatory song lyrics:

I used to flog the dolphin Used to choke the chicken Used to spank the monkey Used to fool with the tool I used to whip the bishop Used to wax the weasel But now I learned one they never taught in school

You can't come in I hear you knockin' but you can't come in I hear you knockin' but you can't come in 'Cause I'm firing the Surgeon General

P.S. Kismet thinks this post is spam. Apparently posts aren't allowed to have urls in them?

hoodaticus · 2011-01-07 Reply Admin

airdrik:
Yes the US and UK use two different floor numbering systems, but to include both within a single building is a WTF.

Well said; it is analogous to making an indexer that is both zero-based and one-based at the same time.

Which is about as WTF as you could possibly get.

2011-01-07 Reply Admin

MRAB:
jb:
Andrew Queisser:
where did the US get their incorrect numbering scheme? Or did the UK switch sometime after the founding of the US?

I can't find how the US scheme came to be different from the UK scheme, but wikipedia says that the UK convention

"can be traced back to Medieval European usage. In countries that use this system, the floor at ground level is usually referred to by a special name."

I don't find this particularly enlightening, though, as the first floor in the US can also be referred to as the Ground Floor. It's just a matter that the floor above it is the 2nd floor instead of the 1st.

It's UK-centric to call the US convention "incorrect". I find the US way more natural, as it's more strictly numeric than the UK convention.

As a programmer, I would disagree. The ground floor is floor 0, positive floors numbers are above, and negative floors numbers are below. :-)

Which is a valid third convention, but not what they do in either the US or UK. But note I said "more" strictly numeric, and not just "strictly numeric".

What number is "G" again?

jb (I'm a programmer as well)

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

"Russian Testing" caption isnt a WTF. It can be a WTF, considering that the billboard blocks the elevators doorway. But as a native rusian i can say that in old buildings like this elevators dont work (due to many reasons) - so it doesent matter if smth. blocks the doorway - most probbably it was intentional.

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

Buffalo:
Peter:
boog (unregistered):
I'm pretty sure I would have strangled the penguin before they got the whole phrase painted on the side of the van
Is "strangled the penguin" some sort of euphemism?
Yes. Every possible phrase constructed like "(verb) [the/a/my/your] (noun)" is a euphemism for masturbation.

Every possible alliterative or rhyming phrase. Even "strangled the penguin" is alliterative.

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

Ice Cream? pffft. The laptop repair shop here has a massage parlor (yes, THAT kind) in the other half of the duplex.

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

MRAB:
jb:
Andrew Queisser:
where did the US get their incorrect numbering scheme? Or did the UK switch sometime after the founding of the US?

I can't find how the US scheme came to be different from the UK scheme, but wikipedia says that the UK convention

"can be traced back to Medieval European usage. In countries that use this system, the floor at ground level is usually referred to by a special name."

I don't find this particularly enlightening, though, as the first floor in the US can also be referred to as the Ground Floor. It's just a matter that the floor above it is the 2nd floor instead of the 1st.

It's UK-centric to call the US convention "incorrect". I find the US way more natural, as it's more strictly numeric than the UK convention.
As a programmer, I would disagree. The ground floor is floor 0, positive floors numbers are above, and negative floors numbers are below. :-)

Look, it is pretty easy: The US elevators are programmed in Fortran, and the UK/European elevators are programmed in C.

Obvious to me!

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

Spotted Dick is the perfect ending to an English meal that begins with another traditional dish, Faggots in Rich Gravy".

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

me:
The lift isn't a WTF - the buttons use the UK floor numbering, and the labels use the US floor numbering system. It uses both standards to keep everyone happy :)

So the US system starts on the second floor?

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

The elevators in my building must have been programmed in Visual Basic. 4.

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

neminem:
P.S. Kismet thinks this post is spam. Apparently posts aren't allowed to have urls in them?

Only if they're actual spam.

toshir0 · 2011-01-08 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
then please just bin them.

Please bin yourself instead. We enjoy reading these, even when it is "one good, two bads".

I just can't understand why people can be offensed at a web content.... just... go... elsewhere... ? you're free ! you're on the interwebs ! enjoy life ! (or of course, as I started, bin yourself)

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

me:
The lift isn't a WTF - the buttons use the UK floor numbering, and the labels use the US floor numbering system. It uses both standards to keep everyone happy :)

Maybe... except, where's the "ground" floor? (Or, why would you call the ground floor, "L", and why would it also be "L" in the US?)

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

Lorens:
No idea if it actually has a meaning in German.

It's just a surename. Ethymologically a "Häcker" used to be a worker in a wineyard thad hoed (sp?) the soil.

MRAB:
As a programmer, I would disagree. The ground floor is floor 0, positive floors numbers are above, and negative floors numbers are below. :-)

That's exactly how the department of computer science in my university numbered the floors/rooms. Non-programmes tended not to appreciate the difference between room 114 and room -114 ;-)

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

fnord:
Lorens:
No idea if it actually has a meaning in German.

It's just a surename. Ethymologically a "Häcker" used to be a worker in a wineyard thad hoed (sp?) the soil.

MRAB:
As a programmer, I would disagree. The ground floor is floor 0, positive floors numbers are above, and negative floors numbers are below. :-)
That's exactly how the department of computer science in my university numbered the floors/rooms. Non-programmes tended not to appreciate the difference between room 114 and room -114 ;-)

Shows what they know. They would have been livid if you had used room 114 and room 429496729514.

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

jb:
MRAB:
jb:
Andrew Queisser:
where did the US get their incorrect numbering scheme? Or did the UK switch sometime after the founding of the US?

I can't find how the US scheme came to be different from the UK scheme, but wikipedia says that the UK convention

"can be traced back to Medieval European usage. In countries that use this system, the floor at ground level is usually referred to by a special name."

I don't find this particularly enlightening, though, as the first floor in the US can also be referred to as the Ground Floor. It's just a matter that the floor above it is the 2nd floor instead of the 1st.

It's UK-centric to call the US convention "incorrect". I find the US way more natural, as it's more strictly numeric than the UK convention.

As a programmer, I would disagree. The ground floor is floor 0, positive floors numbers are above, and negative floors numbers are below. :-)

Which is a valid third convention, but not what they do in either the US or UK. But note I said "more" strictly numeric, and not just "strictly numeric".

What number is "G" again?

Gee, it's a number.

2011-01-08 Reply Admin

Spotted dick is a national double entendtre. We thrive on smut.

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

jb:
MRAB:
jb:
Andrew Queisser:
where did the US get their incorrect numbering scheme? Or did the UK switch sometime after the founding of the US?

I can't find how the US scheme came to be different from the UK scheme, but wikipedia says that the UK convention

"can be traced back to Medieval European usage. In countries that use this system, the floor at ground level is usually referred to by a special name."

I don't find this particularly enlightening, though, as the first floor in the US can also be referred to as the Ground Floor. It's just a matter that the floor above it is the 2nd floor instead of the 1st.

It's UK-centric to call the US convention "incorrect". I find the US way more natural, as it's more strictly numeric than the UK convention.

As a programmer, I would disagree. The ground floor is floor 0, positive floors numbers are above, and negative floors numbers are below. :-)

Which is a valid third convention, but not what they do in either the US or UK. But note I said "more" strictly numeric, and not just "strictly numeric".

What number is "G" again?

jb (I'm a programmer as well)

G = 0 of course! Try this in PHP:

Echo g+1;

Should I say more?

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

L probably stands for "lobby".

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

Oh my, that should have been GNU/BathFixer!

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

Buffalo:
Peter:
Is "strangled the penguin" some sort of euphemism?
Yes. Every possible phrase constructed like "(verb) [the/a/my/your] (noun)" is a euphemism for masturbation.

I see the point. We appreciate your input. You've answered my question.

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

me:
The lift isn't a WTF - the buttons use the UK floor numbering, and the labels use the US floor numbering system. It uses both standards to keep everyone happy :)

Oh yeah, it's not confusing at all now...Everyone is happy.

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

Chris S.:
Romeo's Pizza obviously uses baker's inches. <snipped to satisfy mr Akismet>

Or perhaps the makers of the ruler use metric inches: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_inch#Metric_or_decimal_inch

If we can get this through mr Spam Bot.....

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

Neville Flynn:
Woo:
I heard that there were penguins around before Linux. Can we please stop associating anything penguin-like with computers? It's starting to get annoying. Thanks.
(damnum.. how appropriatum..)

Not sure if you're trolling, but I'll bite: That specific penguin graphic on the van is known as Tux and it was designed with Linux in mind.

Uhm, google for 'Tux' and compare the pictures. Though similar (black and white, eyes, wings and a beak), they are definitely not the same (Tux is usually seated with wings {flippers?} at the side not standing with wings apart. Tux's head faces down and left, this penguin faces right, the feet are different, Tux doesn't have a hard hat tools etc.)

I think I agree with the original poster

frits · 2011-01-09 Reply Admin

Peter:
Buffalo:
Peter:
Is "strangled the penguin" some sort of euphemism?
Yes. Every possible phrase constructed like "(verb) [the/a/my/your] (noun)" is a euphemism for masturbation.
I see the point. We appreciate your input. You've answered my question.

Wow. You dirty, dirty man.

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

jb:
MRAB:
jb:
Andrew Queisser:
where did the US get their incorrect numbering scheme? Or did the UK switch sometime after the founding of the US?

I can't find how the US scheme came to be different from the UK scheme, but wikipedia says that the UK convention

"can be traced back to Medieval European usage. In countries that use this system, the floor at ground level is usually referred to by a special name."

I don't find this particularly enlightening, though, as the first floor in the US can also be referred to as the Ground Floor. It's just a matter that the floor above it is the 2nd floor instead of the 1st.

It's UK-centric to call the US convention "incorrect". I find the US way more natural, as it's more strictly numeric than the UK convention.

As a programmer, I would disagree. The ground floor is floor 0, positive floors numbers are above, and negative floors numbers are below. :-)

Which is a valid third convention, but not what they do in either the US or UK. But note I said "more" strictly numeric, and not just "strictly numeric".

What number is "G" again?

jb (I'm a programmer as well)

Obviously I'm missing the point....How is either 'more strictly numeric' than the other? Both start at L (50, perhaps?), and then 1 assumes the L was a 0, the other a 1. Not sure how either can be considered more numeric than the other - in fact I'm not sure what 'more numeric' even means - surely something either is numeric.

Since your a programmer it should be a simple concept. Does "V4837" fit into an integer type? Is it no more (nor any less) numeric than "SHOES" or "IO*^&%$"

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

toshir0:
Anonymous:
then please just bin them.
Please bin yourself instead. We enjoy reading these, even when it is "one good, two bads".
I just can't understand why people can be offensed at a web content.... just... go... elsewhere... ? you're free ! you're on the interwebs ! enjoy life ! (or of course, as I started, bin yourself)

++

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

Wodin:
me:
The lift isn't a WTF - the buttons use the UK floor numbering, and the labels use the US floor numbering system. It uses both standards to keep everyone happy :)

Maybe... except, where's the "ground" floor? (Or, why would you call the ground floor, "L", and why would it also be "L" in the US?)

'Lobby'

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

It does not say cross platform. It says platform neutral. That sounds true to me. It could care less if the code was based on a Java platform, a .Net platform, or win32 native. For web apps it does care care if the code is run on a Platform using Apache, or one using IIS.

The software should be capable of running a batch script that sends a build command over SSH, and retrieves the build logs when complete, which can be used to support OS X and Linux based builds. That might not provide as nice an integration as building on Windows (I've never used the tool, so I'm not sure of the details), but it would still work.

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

How is spotted dick a WTF???? Do some research before posting. I posted a WTF of Amazon selling books for $8 and an electronic version for $60 and mine never appeared on this website, obviously that's not a WTF, but a traditional pudding is. That's the real 'WTF'.

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

Attention all Brits: I'm sure someone cares to hear about your "pudding". Just not here. In America.

2011-01-09 Reply Admin

So, one cleans viruses and the other dispenses them

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Roll on comments about virus removal.

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Mike:
Ice Cream? pffft. The laptop repair shop here has a massage parlor (yes, THAT kind) in the other half of the duplex.

Complementary business practices, one removes viruses...

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

toshir0:
Anonymous:
then please just bin them.
Please bin yourself instead. We enjoy reading these, even when it is "one good, two bads".
I just can't understand why people can be offensed at a web content.... just... go... elsewhere... ? you're free ! you're on the interwebs ! enjoy life ! (or of course, as I started, bin yourself)

Ha ha, thanks for the laugh tosh! I love getting chastised by non-English speakers, it's fucking hysterical! Your broken insults are just so cute, would you mind telling me I'm naughty in that funny Asian accent of yours?!

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

neminem:
Buffalo:
Peter:
boog:
I'm pretty sure I would have strangled the penguin before they got the whole phrase painted on the side of the van
Is "strangled the penguin" some sort of euphemism?
Yes. Every possible phrase constructed like "(verb) [the/a/my/your] (noun)" is a euphemism for m----------n.
Obligatory song lyrics:
I used to [inappropriate song lyrics and url redacted]

P.S. Kismet thinks this post is spam. Apparently posts aren't allowed to have urls in them?

TRWTF is that you post song lyrics about m----------n and a link to the site and you don't think that garbage is worthy of getting blocked?

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Mike:
Ice Cream? pffft. The laptop repair shop here has a massage parlor (yes, THAT kind) in the other half of the duplex.

When they charge your credit card, do they refer to the transaction as "laptop servicing"?

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
toshir0:
Anonymous:
then please just bin them.
Please bin yourself instead. We enjoy reading these, even when it is "one good, two bads".
I just can't understand why people can be offensed at a web content.... just... go... elsewhere... ? you're free ! you're on the interwebs ! enjoy life ! (or of course, as I started, bin yourself)
Ha ha, thanks for the laugh tosh! I love getting chastised by non-English speakers, it's fucking hysterical! Your broken insults are just so cute, would you mind telling me I'm naughty in that funny Asian accent of yours?!

Careful here: Stupid, blinkered or troll. Do not argue with this 'Anonymous' - or he will pull you down to his level and beat you with experience.

minkey · 2011-01-10 Reply Admin

me:
The lift isn't a WTF - the buttons use the UK floor numbering, and the labels use the US floor numbering system. It uses both standards to keep everyone happy :)

So if I told you to go to the third floor, which button would you hit?

MrBester · 2011-01-10 Reply Admin

minkey:
me:
The lift isn't a WTF - the buttons use the UK floor numbering, and the labels use the US floor numbering system. It uses both standards to keep everyone happy :)

So if I told you to go to the third floor, which button would you hit?

And if you were blind and wanted the first floor, you'd be hopelessly lost. There is no "1" in Braille or raised digit anywhere. Only a button with a number on it that you can't see.

Addendum (2011-01-10 09:29): The building I work in has a mezzanine floor above the ground floor. It's just like any other floor (instead of being the more traditional 1/2 way up) and is indistinguishable as a "mezzanine" from any other floor when viewed from the outside. So the lifts have G followed by M and only then do the numbers start. From 1.

frits · 2011-01-10 Reply Admin

jb:
What number is "G" again?
jb (I'm a programmer as well)

Not from the streets are you? Everybody knows a "G" is 1000, or 1/28 ounce.

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Cad Delworth:
I know that 'spotted dick' always raises a laugh from non-UK residents, but it is a very well-known traditional pudding here.

I never like WTFs when it boils down to "TRWTF is the tourist didn't get a local term"...

Locals trying to appease tourists by mucking up the tourist's language, that's another story.

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

There's a joke here about somebody dicking with your laptop while somebody dicks with your laptop, but I'M not gonna touch it!

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

So, you can get your lap top worked on while getting your laptop worked on?

Markp · 2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Well, it's official: We've gone from "smile at a technical blunder" to "giggle at something completely correct which shows our sad cultural ignorance."

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

I have hacked your Ice Cream, Pray I do not hack it any further.

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Markp:
Well, it's official: We've gone from "smile at a technical blunder" to "giggle at something completely correct which shows our sad cultural ignorance."

Sad because we are unaware of the culture of a country approximately the size of Philadelphia? ;P

2011-01-10 Reply Admin

Joel:
Obviously I'm missing the point....How is either 'more strictly numeric' than the other? Both start at L (50, perhaps?), and then 1 assumes the L was a 0, the other a 1. Not sure how either can be considered more numeric than the other - in fact I'm not sure what 'more numeric' even means - surely something either is numeric.
Since your a programmer it should be a simple concept. Does "V4837" fit into an integer type? Is it no more (nor any less) numeric than "SHOES" or "IO*^&%$"

Ah, I believe the difference in our understandings is that I was talking about the US vs. UK systems in general, without reference to the original picture, where both sets of labels start with the 'L'.

In the UK system, where the 1st floor above ground level is "1", the ground floor, by necessity needs some name. In the US, an 'L' or a 'G' can be used in the "numbering system" for a particular building, but, in general, the system is just numeric, starting at 1.

I won't get into underground levels, as it just makes me out to be more wrong.

jb

2011-01-11 Reply Admin

Mike:
Ice Cream? pffft. The laptop repair shop here has a massage parlor (yes, THAT kind) in the other half of the duplex.

As sketchy as that sounds, it's still preferable to ice cream bar combined with massage parlor.

That said I can't help imagining someone ordering a banana split with a happy ending or massage with a cherry on the top. An enduring image Ron, you'll have to agree.

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