Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 192
- 2
What is this place?
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently,
it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey",
originally identified by
philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial
but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens
this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for
the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired
propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
If in doubt, please post it!
Rules
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I hate it when my microwave beeps every minute after it's done cooking something. My old microwave had a menu/options button that allowed me to disable the beeps directly. Unfortunately, my new one lacked such a button, and the beeps drive me nuts, especially when I'm in the middle of something and can't get to the microwave in time to open the door to disable the beeps. I don't really know who made this a design standard--pretty sure life will go on if the interval between beeps is lengthened to 5 minutes rather than 1.
I googled my specific make and model, and the top result for the user manual was completely useless. I was ready to give up, but decided to click on a short 40s Youtube video claiming to have the answer, and it in fact did! You just press and hold 1 for 3s to disable button beeps, and press and hold 2 for 3s to disable the cooking-complete beeps. My sanity is restored.
Do reply and let me know if you hate them stupid beeps as much as I do, and if this trick worked on your machine! There must be dozens of us, right?!
I always called it AI, Artificial Impatience.
On the flip side, my new oven timer beeps once and then stops. Missed the beep? Too bad, hope you like fire.
More options
Context Copy link
Ugh, my air fryer beeps every two or three seconds for a solid half minute when it's done, and it's loud enough everyone in the neighbourhood surely knows my nuggets are done with the first beep. I am going to try to find a hack like this, that is excellent!
More options
Context Copy link
I have physically removed the piezo speakers from most appliances in my life. It's often not that hard.
More options
Context Copy link
Beeps were made even worse when I bought a humidifier that has polyphonic beeps just from the knowledge that there's another way. Instead of the flat monotonic beeep it chimes a piiing with the decay and everything, like a digitised rendition of flicking a china bowl. At least our washing machine has a volume setting, the microwave is brutal though and doesn't have a "2" button to try out your suggestion.
I'm just thankful I don't work in a hospital.
How...how do you operate it without a "2" button?
Is that the 2 button on a 0-9 keypad? This microwave doesn't have a keypad. IIRC it has +10s, +1m, +5m, maybe +1h, a button to cycle through power levels and a button to cycle through cooking modes (micro/combi/conv). And a start/stop button.
More options
Context Copy link
Presumably a dial
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
Holy shit, my in-laws have one with a brutal post-cook beep I haven't been able to eliminate. Going to try this next time I visit.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link