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[WillowLuman]

Dark Souls cafe. Probably stands a reasonable chance of stopping people from having sex.

[i2amroy]

So by chance today I ended up looking at the Mac app store reviews for Microsoft Office 2011 (which I've been using for years). Apparently it has hundreds of horrible reviews, the main reason for which seems to be... that it was different from the previous versions of MS Office but people have had to upgrade to read .docx files. I even found at least one review of somebody complaining that it wasn't nearly as good as MS Office 1997! The contrast between all of them and the occasional review saying "Guys, it's Microsoft office. It works fine and it reads .docx, I'm not seeing what the problem is here" is hilarious.

[bahihs]

So by chance today I ended up looking at the Mac app store reviews for Microsoft Office 2011 (which I've been using for years). Apparently it has hundreds of horrible reviews, the main reason for which seems to be... that it was different from the previous versions of MS Office but people have had to upgrade to read .docx files. I even found at least one review of somebody complaining that it wasn't nearly as good as MS Office 1997! The contrast between all of them and the occasional review saying "Guys, it's Microsoft office. It works fine and it reads .docx, I'm not seeing what the problem is here" is hilarious.

Theres not much you can do to improve a word processor really. Text editors on the other hand...(Vim anyone?)

[IronTomato]

THERE'S EVIL AFOOT

[Flying Dice]

Ahahohohohoahahahaahahahahaahaahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I just got back a final exam grade from a low-level course I had to go back and take. The professor had spent all semester hammering a niche issue with personal appeal in a general overview course, and after we had already done evaluations dropped a final exam essay with a "choice" between writing something with no coherent theme and an argument as to why their pet favorite author's novel wasn't that good, or writing about the ideas that they were pushing.

I spent a page of prose detailing exactly the points that they were less than subtly pushing for, then wrote a two-page letter discussing how, while it was hardly unusual for professors to turn gen ed courses into courses on their pet topics, it was insulting and academically dishonest to pull that sort of shit on the final exam after evaluations were done, and that it was borderline abusive to do it to students new to the university and/or the department (just about everyone else in that unfortunate class was a freshman, a sophomore, or an exchange student).

How much was the essay worth? Almost exactly equal to the number of points I had taken off of the grade on the exam. LOLOLOLOLOLOL it's been four years and I finally had the time, opportunity, willingness, and lack of remaining shits to completely call a professor out on their bullshit. I can barely breath right now, ehehehehehehehehehe. This is even better than the other one I handed in today, where due to a combination of circumstances I turned in the completed exam about two minutes after the professor finished handing them out.

[Orange Wizard]

due to a combination of circumstances I turned in the completed exam about two minutes after the professor finished handing them out

storytime plox

* Orange Wizard pulls up a chair.

[SalmonGod]

This is especially funny to me, because this is me at work every day.  My co-workers get pissed off at how I make them look stupid by just walking up and observing, and stuff magically works.  Some people also call on me just to sit nearby when they're having trouble thinking through a problem.  I'll hardly have to say anything, and something will click just because I'm there.  It's turning into a running joke that everyone just needs a little Chuck clone perched on their shoulder all the time, and everything would be perfect.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Flying Dice]

due to a combination of circumstances I turned in the completed exam about two minutes after the professor finished handing them out

storytime plox

* Orange Wizard pulls up a chair.

Okay, so it was the other gen-ed I had to go back and take when I moved up to the new course bulletin for unrelated reasons. It was a music class, which meant a listening portion. The prof was also lazy and recycled an old exam, but because we had about two weeks of cancelled classes due to ice, we missed an entire unit, and he decided to just give us the answers to the questions with material we hadn't covered. There were only 50 questions to begin with, that cut it down to ~35.

Also, because it was a gen-ed pizzashit, the test was literally scantron-sheet multiple choice, and I've got that format down to an art, ~2-3 seconds per question. I had the first half done between the time I got mine and he finished passing out the listening portion answer sheet, got 1-2 in between questions on that, then finished the final dozenish questions as soon as the listening portion was done.

That's why multiple-guess is so retarded when it comes to looking for a good testing standard. The pattern used to write the questions means that you can automatically eliminate 50% of the answers in ~1 second, or all non-correct answers if it's a false None of the Above. The habits of question writers fall into the same patterns, too; leaving aside the one-right one-almost-right two-wrong norm the most common other pattern is one obviously false and three in the right area, each with at least one element in common with at least one other answer, which is slightly harder to guess but still doable.

You can literally ace tests in that format without knowing anything at all about the material, using nothing but your analysis of the way the questions are structured and the fact that four-option multiple-guess questions designed to take ~30 seconds for the lowest common denominator types are... less than complex. You can either arrive at the right answer in <10s by logical deduction or cut it down to a coinflip guess in ~1-2s and go with your gut. The only point where it can break down is identifying things like names with no other context who aren't well-known in general knowledge.

[miauw62]

got a package in the mail
these are the instructions to open it
https://www.dropbox.com/s/phzu9kxcsqo4e26/2015-05-06%2014.06.54.jpg?dl=0

[the1337doofus]

got a package in the mail
these are the instructions to open it
https://www.dropbox.com/s/phzu9kxcsqo4e26/2015-05-06%2014.06.54.jpg?dl=0

I'm going to paraphrase from Bill Engvall now;

"You know why those are on there? Because there's been people who've done it!"

Also.... is that a FLAIL  on the last one?

[KingofstarrySkies]

who the fuck burns a goddamn box to open it

[miauw62]

got a package in the mail
these are the instructions to open it
https://www.dropbox.com/s/phzu9kxcsqo4e26/2015-05-06%2014.06.54.jpg?dl=0

I'm going to paraphrase from Bill Engvall now;

"You know why those are on there? Because there's been people who've done it!"

Also.... is that a FLAIL  on the last one?

Seems to be.
I'm more confused by the wall painting thingie, though

[scrdest]

got a package in the mail
these are the instructions to open it
https://www.dropbox.com/s/phzu9kxcsqo4e26/2015-05-06%2014.06.54.jpg?dl=0

I'm going to paraphrase from Bill Engvall now;

"You know why those are on there? Because there's been people who've done it!"

Also.... is that a FLAIL  on the last one?

Don't be silly, a flail would be way impractical.

It's a depth charge hooked on a fishing rod.
Alternatively: it's a Do Not Whip Viruses sign.

[Dutrius]

Apparently, you are not allowed to open the box with a paint roller.

[Orange Wizard]

It's a depth charge hooked on a fishing rod.

That sounds incredibly badass.