17 votes

What is something that recently surprised you?

Maybe it was an unexpected new piece of information you learned. Maybe someone you've known for a long time did something very out of character for them. Maybe you came across a giant spider right above your head in your basement while you were doing laundry and it caused you to spill the hamper and hit your head on a pipe.

Whatever the surprise--good or bad, big or small, meaningful or throwaway--I'm curious to hear about it.

22 comments

  1. [7]
    Akir
    Link
    The same thing that always surprises me. Bad drivers. I am looking forward to a future where manual driving is illegal on city roads.

    The same thing that always surprises me. Bad drivers.

    I am looking forward to a future where manual driving is illegal on city roads.

    8 votes
    1. [3]
      izik1
      Link Parent
      As am I, sadly, I think we are still quite a ways away from this, and it isn't just because the cars aren't (quite) ready yet. Just about everyone I talk to doesn't want self driving cars, because...

      I am looking forward to a future where manual driving is illegal on city roads.

      As am I, sadly, I think we are still quite a ways away from this, and it isn't just because the cars aren't (quite) ready yet. Just about everyone I talk to doesn't want self driving cars, because "they're scary" or because "I want to be in control of the car" (this person has had bad experiences with other people driving, so... Fair). I think it will take quite a bit of effort to break through this barrier.

      Sidenote: Every single time I talk about something future-tech related, I seem to constantly have people tell me "But what about <entertainment thing that gets "obsoleted" by thing>" Such as (with self driving cars) "But what about racing?" Internally I'm thinking "riiiight, people are going to stop racing because of self driving cars..." Other times it's been "But I don't want to use technology" (IE: "I want to live on a farm ~100 years ago). Not sure if it's just the kind of people I tend to be around though.

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        Comment deleted by author
        Link Parent
        1. izik1
          Link Parent
          Fair enough, I just get kind of bothered that people think "this thing that I enjoy watching won't happen anymore, so lets not replace x with y" (where y is much better than x, keeping in mind...

          Fair enough, I just get kind of bothered that people think "this thing that I enjoy watching won't happen anymore, so lets not replace x with y" (where y is much better than x, keeping in mind that this is a conversation about the future, so even if y is worse than x right now, the hypothetical is that it's better)

        2. andre
          Link Parent
          Maybe we'll see a shift towards karting after manually driven cars are banned from public roads. Substantially cheaper than cars (think $5-10k for a top of the line shifter kart + $1-2k/yr to race...

          Maybe we'll see a shift towards karting after manually driven cars are banned from public roads.

          • Substantially cheaper than cars (think $5-10k for a top of the line shifter kart + $1-2k/yr to race 20 weekends. Even cheaper for slower karts)
          • Faster than most cars (it's honestly not even close between my kart and M3, either turning or acceleration)
          • More competitive wheel to wheel racing
    2. [3]
      banned
      Link Parent
      I was almost hit by someone yesterday. Look both ways before going into an intersection for fucks sake.

      I was almost hit by someone yesterday. Look both ways before going into an intersection for fucks sake.

      3 votes
      1. [2]
        legeri
        Link Parent
        Yep, never assume that a red light has some magical power to make cars stop. Always assume that there is some asshole a little out of your sight ready and willing to disregard it.

        Yep, never assume that a red light has some magical power to make cars stop. Always assume that there is some asshole a little out of your sight ready and willing to disregard it.

        2 votes
        1. banned
          Link Parent
          Not really that kind of intersection I'll try to draw up a quick sketch. https://i.imgur.com/Ur2WSTb.png The red street has priority over the yellow one. Along with it going uphill when turning...

          Not really that kind of intersection I'll try to draw up a quick sketch.

          https://i.imgur.com/Ur2WSTb.png

          The red street has priority over the yellow one. Along with it going uphill when turning left. I came from the bottom of it. The lady that almost hit me came from the yellow road and turned left.

          1 vote
  2. [5]
    NaraVara
    (edited )
    Link
    We just got a new intern at work who is a front end developer. The only available laptop right now is a pretty nice Yoga Pro that we usually give to senior developers so we thought she'd be happy...

    We just got a new intern at work who is a front end developer. The only available laptop right now is a pretty nice Yoga Pro that we usually give to senior developers so we thought she'd be happy to have it. Turns out she has literally never used a Windows PC before. She only knew how to navigate a Mac. So we've just repurposed an old Macbook Air that's significantly slower, cheaper, and heavier because we don't feel like shelling out for a new one to someone who doesn't work on a billable project.

    If you had told me when I first switched to Macs back in the OS9 days that a generation to follow would grow up ONLY knowing Macs I'd have thought you were high. The quirky, underdog Apple of my youth is gone I guess.

    8 votes
    1. [2]
      Omnicrola
      Link Parent
      IMO giving them the Mac was a mistake. As an intern, that's a great opportunity to learn one of the other major OS. They don't have to like it, but they should know how to use it. Same with...

      IMO giving them the Mac was a mistake. As an intern, that's a great opportunity to learn one of the other major OS. They don't have to like it, but they should know how to use it. Same with developers who have never used a Mac.

      9 votes
      1. NaraVara
        Link Parent
        Maybe. Our internships are fairly structured though and we give them specific projects and deadlines they have to meet. They get paid and get college credit, so it's really more like a short-term...

        Maybe. Our internships are fairly structured though and we give them specific projects and deadlines they have to meet. They get paid and get college credit, so it's really more like a short-term contractor gig only your contractor has zero experience functioning in a company or working on a team.

    2. [2]
      Macil
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      I've never done much Windows development. I've always used Linux or MacOS (with Homebrew), which are pretty similar and straight-forward from the perspective of a frontend developer. What terminal...

      I've never done much Windows development. I've always used Linux or MacOS (with Homebrew), which are pretty similar and straight-forward from the perspective of a frontend developer.

      What terminal do people use? (This question feels so weird to ask since Linux and Mac have good standard terminals. Are there actually people who have used Linux/Mac terminals in the past, and put up with the windows command prompt for daily stuff? Honest question.) Is https://gitforwindows.org/ the correct git choice? It seems surprising to me that it bundles its own copy of bash with it. Do people use that git bash install for other stuff (docker, node, npm) too? Is git and that other stuff usable from a normal Windows terminal?

      I know there's some "Ubuntu for Windows" thing out, but it's new-ish and I've read that it's less performant and has its own filesystem, so presumably this isn't the standard development environment on Windows. I want to know the standard Windows workflow before I try more experimental things.

      Maybe I just have a much more terminal-centric workflow than most other people. Many of my coworkers use various GUI programs for dealing with git which surprised me.

      3 votes
      1. NaraVara
        Link Parent
        I think most of the younguns I work with work almost entirely through GUI based tools. They can be really good at very specific things, but they tend not to have as great of an intuitive grasp of...

        I think most of the younguns I work with work almost entirely through GUI based tools. They can be really good at very specific things, but they tend not to have as great of an intuitive grasp of how it all fits together. I think they've engaged with everything through enough layers of abstraction as they learned that they never had to build their knowledge up from first principles. It'll be interesting in a generation or so when even the lead/senior developers come from that cohort. It'll be like when society/culture transitioned from having to memorize everything to being able to write things down.

  3. [4]
    gpl
    Link
    I was at work the other day, and looked up from my computer for a moment to see a groundhog right outside my office window eating a plant. He was a big fat fellow, too. Surprising to say the...

    I was at work the other day, and looked up from my computer for a moment to see a groundhog right outside my office window eating a plant. He was a big fat fellow, too. Surprising to say the least, but I managed to get a video before he scampered off.

    6 votes
    1. [3]
      mrbig
      Link Parent
      I'd love to see this absolute unit!

      I'd love to see this absolute unit!

      2 votes
      1. [2]
        gpl
        Link Parent
        Here’s a picture I snapped. The perspective is a little weird and in my opinion makes him look a bit smaller than he was IRL.

        Here’s a picture I snapped. The perspective is a little weird and in my opinion makes him look a bit smaller than he was IRL.

        5 votes
        1. mrbig
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          That's awesome. We don't have those here. Brazilian urban environments have a lot less nature than most people seem to think. I do see monkeys on my local university from time to time, though...

          That's awesome. We don't have those here. Brazilian urban environments have a lot less nature than most people seem to think.

          I do see monkeys on my local university from time to time, though...

          2 votes
  4. The_Fad
    Link
    How effective and fast acting Aripiprazole is at evening out mood. It's made me privy to a slew of behaviors I didnt even realize were triggering my anxiety/depression simply because my entire...

    How effective and fast acting Aripiprazole is at evening out mood. It's made me privy to a slew of behaviors I didnt even realize were triggering my anxiety/depression simply because my entire life I'd associated them with that uncomfortable stomach drop and heart rate spike and thought that was the normal, appropriate bodily reaction to these stressors. All within the span of like...3 days of having started taking it.

    Not to sound too much like an ad man or anything.

    5 votes
  5. [2]
    euphoria066
    Link
    People don't actually use rhubarb for that much stuff, despite the fact that it's super prolific at growing, is perennial even in colder climates, and is pretty delicious? There's obviously all...

    People don't actually use rhubarb for that much stuff, despite the fact that it's super prolific at growing, is perennial even in colder climates, and is pretty delicious?

    There's obviously all the cobblers and pies that everyone knows about, but I was hoping I'd be able to track down a bunch of savoury recipes, but it's tricky. A lot of the savoury recipes I can find are still like "fish tacos with a rhubarb and strawberry salsa" which isn't really a savoury use of rhubarb - it's almost always treated as a fruit, which is strange, as it isn't one, and isn't remotely fruity tasting.

    I made a gallon of rhubarb wine to try, so hopefully that turns out nice, if it does I should still have enough rhubarb season left to maybe do a bigger batch, and I guess I'll be experimenting on ways to actually eat it as a vegetable!

    4 votes
    1. Omnicrola
      Link Parent
      Rhubarb wine? Could be interesting, let us know how it turns out!

      Rhubarb wine? Could be interesting, let us know how it turns out!

  6. [2]
    Bullmaestro
    Link
    How much I'm starting to appreciate exercise. I've started going to the gym again, partially because I want to bulk up and make myself look attractive, but also partially because I came out of a...

    How much I'm starting to appreciate exercise.

    I've started going to the gym again, partially because I want to bulk up and make myself look attractive, but also partially because I came out of a 30 day squat challenge imposed on me by my boss and ended up enjoying the journey.

    2 votes
    1. crdpa
      Link Parent
      Now to squat your bodyweight!

      Now to squat your bodyweight!

  7. Victoria
    Link
    I was fascinated to learn that Ibiza was the only place Nostradamus prophesized as being OK in the event of cataclysmic destruction.

    I was fascinated to learn that Ibiza was the only place Nostradamus prophesized as being OK in the event of cataclysmic destruction.

    2 votes