15 votes

What are some of your recent "little" failures?

What have you tried lately that hasn't quite worked out? Small things like hobbies gone wrong, or social experiences that were slightly awkward.

Sometimes it can be cathartic to both get these things off your chest and to hear what others have struggled with as a reminder that no one is perfect.

12 comments

  1. [2]
    Durinthal
    Link
    I set off the smoke alarm while cooking earlier this evening. No actual fire or other issue, just had the heat too high for butter so it made for a lot of smoke.

    I set off the smoke alarm while cooking earlier this evening. No actual fire or other issue, just had the heat too high for butter so it made for a lot of smoke.

    8 votes
    1. ShroudedScribe
      Link Parent
      I remember this happening to my family when I was a kid. My mom wasn't a frequent baker, and due to that, things usually went wrong. The smoke alarm was connected to the house alarm system, so it...

      I remember this happening to my family when I was a kid. My mom wasn't a frequent baker, and due to that, things usually went wrong.

      The smoke alarm was connected to the house alarm system, so it set off a flashing light and siren outside of the house too. No one came to check on us, but I'm sure it was a WTF moment for our neighbors.

      This honestly scared me out of baking, thinking my family was cursed. My partner has since helped me prove that is not the case, as we bake many things successfully!

      3 votes
  2. [2]
    artvandelay
    (edited )
    Link
    I not too long ago locked myself out of my home server through SSH as I was setting up a reverse proxy and things. Forget exactly what setting I had changed but I realized my mistake the moment I...

    I not too long ago locked myself out of my home server through SSH as I was setting up a reverse proxy and things. Forget exactly what setting I had changed but I realized my mistake the moment I sent a ctrl-C over and I just went "fuck". Luckily I wasn't totally locked out, I just needed to plug a keyboard and monitor upto my server and update the broken config file. However, that was a few scary minutes while I pondered what to do.

    Another fun one was when I was traveling in Japan. After a week in Tokyo, my next destination was Nagoya. I stayed up late the night before doing laundry and then woke up early to rush to the train. After arriving in Nagoya, I dropped my bags off at the hotel and returned at 4pm to check in. I was desperate to charge my phone, which was at 14%, and it wasn't until I opened my bags that I realized I had left my charger back in Tokyo. Hurriedly called the hotel and they graciously agreed to hold my charger for me until I returned a week later on my last day. However, I had forgotten about this arrangement until I'd gone through security at Haneda airport on that final day. Thankfully, a friend of mine was also visiting Tokyo and he picked up my charger in the end but it was a difficult time without my fancy 4 port brick haha. I made it through the remainder of my journey by picking up a smaller brick at a nearby Anker store which I now keep solely for travel.

    7 votes
    1. xk3
      Link Parent
      I've done something like this before but I was too lazy to move the monitor across the room so I ordered a HDMI to USB-C cable to use my phone as a monitor. Surprisingly, it worked! But it...

      I've done something like this before but I was too lazy to move the monitor across the room so I ordered a HDMI to USB-C cable to use my phone as a monitor. Surprisingly, it worked! But it requires special apps like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=infinitegra.app.usbcamera which uses the same protocols that webcams use.

      Then a few months later I broke /etc/security/limits.conf on a server that I didn't have physical access to as it was all the way across the world. This broke sudo and a lot of other things so I couldn't edit the file again. The normal services that the server was running were working fine but I spent two weeks trying to fix it when I had a new idea. pkexec su --session-command, etc... Nothing worked until I discovered that systemd-run somehow bypassed the problem: systemd-run sh -c "cat fixed.conf > /etc/security/limits.conf"

      A little while after that I locked myself out of ssh and had to ask someone to type in reverse mapped colemak (as the system keyboard layout wasn't set to qwerty) into a virtual console...

      5 votes
  3. DeaconBlue
    (edited )
    Link
    I have mentioned before my kids' media player. We also have a Toniebox. I thought "well of course I can cross contaminate these and use the Tonie figure to play movies on the player" Turns out...

    I have mentioned before my kids' media player.

    We also have a Toniebox.

    I thought "well of course I can cross contaminate these and use the Tonie figure to play movies on the player"

    Turns out some NFC tags are privacy protected? Okay, no worries, I have the hardware, I will just crack it so I can use it anyway. They probably all use the same password anyway?

    Following that, it turns out that the NFC reader hat that I was using for the player does not have the ability to use password protected tags at all. Well, if it does it is undocumented.

    I am now just spiteful. I paid through the nose for those figures and I am not going to lose this fight so I am looking into how I can get this board to do it anyway, and I am absolutely going to publish how for anyone else when I do figure it out.

    Until then, it is a failure that upsets me more than it has any right to.

    7 votes
  4. Hobofarmer
    Link
    Not really a mistake but I caught the flu and am forced to burn up sick days until my fever comes down.

    Not really a mistake but I caught the flu and am forced to burn up sick days until my fever comes down.

    6 votes
  5. ShroudedScribe
    Link
    I recently misconfigured a firewall rule at home that killed connectivity for all of my self-hosted applications. Thankfully I caught it pretty quickly, but it was a little embarrassing since I've...

    I recently misconfigured a firewall rule at home that killed connectivity for all of my self-hosted applications. Thankfully I caught it pretty quickly, but it was a little embarrassing since I've been working with OPNsense for many years now.

    5 votes
  6. terminal
    Link
    Fender bender caused by me. I didnt check my blind spot well enough and a compact car was hiding there. No injuries save to my wallet come next insurance contract

    Fender bender caused by me. I didnt check my blind spot well enough and a compact car was hiding there. No injuries save to my wallet come next insurance contract

    5 votes
  7. unkz
    Link
    I lost my glasses. No idea where. Fortunately-ish the prescription was getting a bit out of date so I was planing on getting some new ones but still inconvenient.

    I lost my glasses. No idea where. Fortunately-ish the prescription was getting a bit out of date so I was planing on getting some new ones but still inconvenient.

    3 votes
  8. JCPhoenix
    Link
    Yesterday, I went out to dinner with a coworker and his wife. Given that we still have tons of snow and ice piled up everywhere after a snowstorm last weekend, I opted not to drive. I wasn't sure...

    Yesterday, I went out to dinner with a coworker and his wife. Given that we still have tons of snow and ice piled up everywhere after a snowstorm last weekend, I opted not to drive. I wasn't sure if I'd find parking, since the restaurant is in a more residential area. Plus, I was planning to have a few cocktails since my coworker said they were excellent. Which was true!

    Anyway, since the restaurant was only a few miles away, I was planning to take public transit. But my timing was off. Or maybe Google Maps' was; not sure. When I looked at Google Maps again before I was about to leave, it all of sudden said I'd get there like 15-20min late. So ended up taking an Uber.

    It wasn't super expensive -- about a $10 fare + tip -- but it was still more than the <$3.00 it'd have been had I taken public transit. Oh well.

    3 votes
  9. lou
    (edited )
    Link
    Becoming the main person who puts my kid (2 years and 4 months) to sleep. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. My wife is putting him to sleep right now, and I'm a little frustrated about that. I...

    Becoming the main person who puts my kid (2 years and 4 months) to sleep. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. My wife is putting him to sleep right now, and I'm a little frustrated about that. I assessed the situation and determined that it would take way too long for him to sleep with me today, given his agitation.

    2 votes
  10. Carrow
    Link
    I keep not finishing characters I start to draw. I've just been getting into doing pixel art. And I enjoy it, I have done better with this media than any other I think, it seems to suit me. But...

    I keep not finishing characters I start to draw. I've just been getting into doing pixel art. And I enjoy it, I have done better with this media than any other I think, it seems to suit me. But characters, even stills, just seem so intimidating to get right in the details as I hone into the last third. I'm still practicing and early in my journey though

    I've been following lospec dailies to get inspiration and it's been really helpful! Sometimes the prompt alone doesn't inspire much but then I see the daily palette and an idea strikes.

    2 votes