Redditor blankblank wanted to discuss all the things we are over but can't seem to shake.
They asked:
"What doesn't need to exist anymore but won't go away?"
Why are there STILL so many prongs and holes on the sides of televisions? I hate that.
Peeking
point pointing GIF by Shalita GrantGiphy"The crack in the door between stalls in a public restroom." ~ -Artrovert
Double...
"Double YouTube ads that you can’t skip." ~ DUCK_MAN25
"I have this trick, no app needed, that is if u only watch in mobile because I tried it in PC and it didn't work. When you play a youtube video and there's an ad playing. Click the ad word near the bottom left of the video and and something will pop up saying what's wrong with this ad and you can just choose whatever reason and it'll be gone faster than a 5 second-skip ad." ~ Main_Conference_1921
Zero Use
"Bedbugs. Zero ecological value, and an expensive nightmare to eradicate. I've never had them but I've heard enough horror stories to hope I never will." ~ 8679843_human
"Got them once, took an entire year to eradicate them. Threw away all furniture and mattresses."
"5 years later and I still have 5-6 bags of clothing and bedding in vacuum sealed bags. I check for them EVERYWHERE. It was a nightmare. Pro tip for anyone that might have to deal with them... Rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle kills them on contact, just don't mix with a flame. Don't burn your house down." ~ miniperez87
Cheap Problems...
"Those stupid ads about that cheap a** game where you pull the pins to move water or lava." ~ betterbachelor8
"Similarly, "this game no pay to win!" ads I get on Reddit non stop." ~ brainstrain91
"I got an ad from one of those games who seem to have ads absolutely bloody everywhere and on it it said "this game has no ads!" I was just sitting there like hmmm why don't I believe you here bud." ~ catbert359
Goodbye...
black veil drama GIF by UndergroundGiphy"Expensive coffins and embalming. Just throw me in a hole or burn me when I die. I will not come back as a ghost to haunt anyone, I promise." ~ Goldeverywhere
We're running out of burial room as it is. Cremate more!
Re-Sale
tickets GIF by Ticketmaster MéxicoGiphy"Ticketmaster convenience fees 🤢." ~ _eva_rosse_
"Ticketmaster certified re-sale as well. This has ruined ticket prices." ~ DikaCato
forced to file...
"In the US doing taxes every year. The IRS basically has enough information to file your taxes for you. In fact if you don't file your taxes they will do just that. This has been true for decades. The only reason Americans are forced to file taxes is to support the tax preparation industry."
"The system should be that the IRS sends you a statement at the beginning of tax season then you have until a certain deadline to account for anything they can't track. The overwhelming majority of Americans would just take the statement for what it is and either receive a check or pay the outstanding balance. People with more complicated tax situations could then do a more traditional filing." ~ CharonNixHydra
Levels...
"MLMS = Multi Level Marketing where people sign up to sell a company's products for a commission. You've seen them selling weight loss crap, makeup, essential oils, etc on social media. But they get more money if they recruit more people to also sell the products, basically recruiting their own competition."
"Those recruited people (level 2) have to give up part of their sales commission to their recruiter. But they can also recruit their own competition (level 3) to try to earn it back. This quickly becomes a pyramid scheme of selling crappy products." ~ Saphira9
PILES of numbers...
"Phone books." ~ rebeccamb
"I just inherited a home from an elderly family member that passed away. I just found a HUGE pile of phone books. And he was very tech savvy. He posted on Facebook two days before he died (he was in his 90s), used an iPhone, kept up with army buddies from the war online, but I guess he just couldn’t give up the phone books." ~ jdinpjs
Scored!
Giphy"Credit scores, why is my credit score going down just for having it checked?" ~ auschwitzmyself
Ticketmaster and credit scores... or as I like to call them... the AXIS of evil. More on that later.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
One Reddit user asked:
What is the most outdated technology still used today?
Like I said, it's a little worrying.
All You Can Be?
army GIFGiphyLike how all of the U.S. Army's systems run on Windows XP and they can't update because it would require converting so many files and programs and protocols that it would be very expensive to insure the process/be very hard make sure all their files transferred successfully?
I always loved how we can spend over a trillion dollars on building a modern aircraft with advanced avionics and stealth technology.
But we won't spend money to modernize the computers.
Completely Separate Desktops
I went out my local tax office a few years back, because I needed new plates for my car.
While waiting in line I realized that each teller had two desktop computers. I then discovered that one was for property taxes and one for automobile taxes.
I can't even imagine what archaic system they were using that required completely separate desktops.
- Hactar42
Medical Faxes
I work in healthcare: fax machines.
Sysadmin here. Laws may differ but where I live, faxes are in the same class as registered mail, so anything that can only be legally sent via registered mail can also go via fax.
Email etc don't have the same classification even though 90% of businesses who still use faxes do so electronically. Doesn't matter... so legally the fastest way the medical practice can send documents to you? Faxes.
This is starting to change and all the hospitals here have set up secure alternatives for sharing between one another, but random GPs and small clinics haven't caught up yet. Another few years and there will be less faxes but I'm guessing it's going to be around for a good while longer either way.
Intentionally Impossible
Probably the 'computers' used in nuclear missile silos. Though kept that way, intentionally, they are really outdated.
You can't tamper with something you can't interface with.
Until just a couple of years ago, they were using 8 inch floppies in the nuclear silos. No, not even the far more common 5 1/4 inch floppy, the even older 8 inch. They were so old that it would be nearly impossible for someone to mess with it.
The government is tracking the few places that you can still get these components. Anyone who's buying more than just replacement parts for anything they already have (i.e., trying to assemble a whole working system) will get severe scrutiny.
Historical Legacy
The NYC subway system
It is one of the oldest train system around but it has never been updated or replaced for better technology. They keep updating train car designs but the rails and signal systems are f*cking trash.
There is no reason for us to be stopped in the middle of a tunnel for fifteen minutes because of signal problems or because there's "traffic".
The MTA's excuse for not replacing the entire system is because it's a staple of NYC and is considered a historical legacy.
Like f*ck you MTA! I would like to not get fired from my job because of you! I would like to not have to leave my house 3 hours early to avoid being late for work and appointments because of your trash system.
The trains weren't as bad before, but ever since that hurricane hit, the MTA was all "well, we tried guys. The hurricane said no. Let's just drain the tracks of water and f*ck renovating anything that needs fixing."
The trains run weirdly too. The D and F trains will randomly switch lines with one another due to construction work... WHAT CONSTRUCTION WORK!?!?? THEY'RE BOTH STILL RUNNING!!!!!
The B line stops running after 9:45pm but then at 11pm, when you're drunk off your ass and need the D train (which runs the same line as the B in Manhattan but separate onto a different line in Brooklyn/Bronx), you will get on the train without looking and then just as you cross into Brooklyn/Bronx, you realize "oh my god! I'm on the B train! Tonight's the night it's running late! I'm so f********cked!"
People living near stations with just one train line... like I don't even question it. When the train that pulls up, it's our train. It's the "f*ck it. I'll figure it out once I'm in Manhattan" mentality.
And then just as you're beginning to relax, the conductor gets on the intercom to tell everyone the train will not be going into Manhattan. No, it will be reversing back to Coney Island and you will need to take literally any other train line but the one you're on in order to get into Manhattan.
That's when you wonder if you should just throw yourself onto the tracks and get it over with.
- jtrisn1
Ancient Leatherworks
If you want really outdated technology, craft leather workers (and honestly a lot of craftspeople) are using basically the exact same tools they were in the BCE.
How we make the tools is slightly different, but a leather awl is a f*cking leather awl and has been for around 3000 years.
- Sethrial
Leather burnisher. Basically a polished bone that's not been significantly changed or improved upon in the past, oh, 40,000 years or so.
Leatherworkers still use them the same way today as back then.
- Warpmind
"Old Reliable" Is Just Old
green light episode 13 GIFGiphyTraffic light controllers.
In today's world we should have smart traffic lights that promote better flow of traffic- or at least don't make you sit at a red light for 5 minutes at 2am when there are no other vehicles on the road.
Only argument I've heard is that the older systems are tried and true, reliable, etc... Well as a police officer with lots of experience directing traffic when those old "reliable" systems fail, no. They're not reliable.
I work really early and leave the house at 4.30am. It feels really stupid sometimes when you're stopped at the traffic light for a couple of minutes when there's literally nobody else around.
I wish they'd turn the intersections in residential areas into a 4-way stop from midnight to 5am or something.
They Aren't Ineffective
A lot of militaries have very old airframes, with no retirement in sight. See: B-52 and Tu-95, F-5s and MiG-21s, and a whole lot more.
Also most 4th Generation jets were designed in the 70's (think F-15, Mirage 2000 MiG-29, etc.) and while modernized they're still Cold-War era frames.
The reasons those planes don't get retired is simple they aren't ineffective against the enemy they face.
A few rebel groups can't harm them so why not keep them flying.
I guarantee if America went to war with say China those machines, or the few that survive the first year, would be retired.
Just look at the tank in WW2, any pre war tank was made obsolete within a year or two of the start of the war, even tanks that only entered service slightly before the war.
- mrv3
Balancing That Budget
I just moved to Japan and I have a bank book now??? No credit or debit card, no app, a bank book that i need to keep updated at all times.. so far for my expectations of Japan being technologically advanced.
- wndrksnk
The tsuucho. I have them too. The bank uses dot matrix printers to update them.
Culturally, the Japanese seem to like things that seem important to be more tangible. The hanko is another example.
- label974
CCTV
CCTV Footage.
How in the hell is that 2mp looking stuff going to pretend it's the best we have when a rollercoaster can snap a clear image of you at like 80mph?
I can easily answer you that: they build for demand and the demand also has to worry about data storage.
Since COVID started, we've been recording our lectures. We generate about 15GB of footage in less than a week (And that's only for the classes/hours where we have permission).
Imagine if a story camera (running 24/7) would try to do this in the same/similar resolution
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.