Washing Machine Linky

So, if you didn’t already, you wanna go read Cal’s blog about the washing machine repairman. It’ll start your day off right.

The washing machine itself – well. I grump about design a lot, sometimes on this blog even, and there’s a reason for that: poor design creates problems. Case in point. Poor design here is not with the washing machine itself, but with the manual. We sent for a repairman because when I tried to follow the manual’s instructions to check a filter myself, I was stymied. Here’s the instruction they give :
(full manual here)

So I pull off the service cover and I see the round thingy on the right, like in the illustration, and I look for the hose on the left. No hose. Nothing at all. Featureless washing machine casing. What the hell?

Turns out – have you figured it out yet? – the round thingy on the right *is* the hose on the left.

(I actually suspected that it might be and tried to loosen it. But it was locked in there very tight, and didn’t want to create two problems if it was something else that wasn’t meant to come undone, and the problem might not be anything to do with this filter anyway. So I figured, let the repair guy deal with it. Maybe you would have unscrewed the hose with more confidence. Fair play to you, and good luck with your future warranty claims.)

[EDIT: no, Cal informs me this is still wrong – the hose is actually around the rear of the machine. The round thingy is a separate filter. You drain the hose *then* open the round thing. Or something. THE MANUAL IS COMPLETELY WRONG. My brain cannot comprehend why this level of fail is commonplace.]

Anyway, I don’t need to tell any more of that story. Poor design is a pain in the backside. That’s it.

So, linky!

Inception – all the dream layers, unfolding in time relation to each other

Regarding the same movie, a bunch of images and infographics.

From Theron, the Map of Metal, which is thoroughly metal. (NB: like YouTube, this starts playing automatically)

1930 article about a flea circus

Learn about the various Hulks on Twitter.

Via Craig Ranapia, papercraft Howl’s Moving Castle

Why the ghosts in Pac-Man behave as they do. Incredibly detailed; I didn’t read anywhere near all of it, but skimming it was fascinating.

More Star Wars as modern mythocultural iconography: Star Wars family portraits. Dr Seuss does Star Wars. A is for Ackbar.

Adam Curtis on behaviourism, class, and identity. Comments are really good.

I’m delighted to see, via Cat, that the Australian Museum website has a page about the Drop Bear. It’s about time this threat was given the scholarly attention it deserves.

On the IMDB, Spinal Tap is not rated out of 10, but out of a different, slightly higher number. Perfect.

Speaking of the importance of design – check out these magic wallets. They’re all very gimmicky, but’s there’s some extremely clever insights buried in these.

Mad Men characters on D&D alignment chart.

And speaking of D&D, how weird is it that this is a real thing: people cramming into a room to watch other people play D&D. The players are all geek celebrities, but that aside – playing D&D to an audience. We are in strange aeons now, dudes.

Did you like Anya out of Buffy? The actress, Emma Caulfield, is releasing her mockumentary Bandwagon in parts on YouTube. I love the self-sendup of LA industry types, and the Buffy cast/crew cameos. (That said, the foil character makes me uneasy.)

And finally… all of Billy Joel’s hits played at once!

no i dont know either