# What Really Grinds Your Gears?



## Trollheart

What sort of things annoy you? Big or small, world-changing or trivial, personal or universal, vent here!

For me, I hate to see people at a pedestrian crossing/traffic light jabbing impatiently at the button, trying to make the lights change so that they can cross. Hey buddy! The circuit is completed only the once! Hitting it repeatedly won't make it work better!

What is this relatively new fad with films, where they don't give you the title or the stars until after the movie is over? "Carolco presents... Sylvester Stallone in "Rambo IX" or whatever. By then, who cares? You've seen the movie, you know who's in it. Why run the entire credits as if the movie is only beginning???

Payday loan companies: don't get me started on those parasites!

More later, probably, but what about you?


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## Winston

One word:  Censorship.
(I was just gonna post this in "How Did Your Day Go?"  But hey, more appropriate here)

I'm prepping two model planes that I bought.  Going over the parts, paint schemes and such.  Yeah, I'm a weirdo, reading instructions ahead of time.  
Anyhoo, I noticed the cover art on the box of my JU-87 Stuka.  They sanitized the swastika off the tail.  I checked the decal set... no swastika.
EVERY Luftwaffe plane had a swastika on it's tail!  EVERY SINGLE ONE!  So, let's just pretend that the Russians got triggered, sent a harsh letter to Herman Goering, and out of kindness he removed them?!  
Friggin revisionist history.  The truth circles the drain on it's way down the memory hole.   

My Russian MiG-3 fighter model is at least correct.  All the red stars were included.  Bolsheviks get a pass.  God, I need a drink.


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## KenTR

People always on their phones.

Inanimate objects that refuse to do as they're told.

Discourtesy.

Cher's voice.

Frigging tip jars everywhere. I slapped two dollars down in front of you for a newspaper which I had to pick up. Why should I tip you?

Politics.

People always on their phones.

Cher's face.

Any household product that says "Jensen", "Sunbeam", "Dyson" or "Libman" on it, to name a few. 

The public transportation system in my city.

Kids who blast their car stereos to bone shattering levels and drive around at four am. I get it...you're cool. You are mad bad and dangerous to know. This is obvious because your music is so kickass. You know what else? _Nobody cares._ 

People always on their phones.

Cher.


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## H.Brown

People who can't accept when they have made a mistake and take ownership of their mistake...that really gets me going.

When a knife or fork scraps on a plate, that noise goes right through me.


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## Ralph Rotten

People who don't use their cruise control. Their speed is erratic, and they are a PITA to share the road with. Amateurs!

Entrenched liberals and entrenched conservatives. As a centrist, I find either group to be most irritating. Essentially they have their heads so far up their asses that they cannot be bothered to pull it out long enough to realize that the rest of the world does not share their extremist views. The politically entrenched are the root of most of our problems in this world. They insist on having things their way, and compromise is not an option. I truly wish we could put them in an arena and make them battle to the death, then send in the lions to clean up the survivors. I hate being forced to choose one extremist group or the other. Where are all the damned centrists???


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## Amnesiac

I am a conservative-leaning centrist. I am conservative in federal fiscal responsibility, the use and deployment of the military, law enforcement, and foreign involvement. I am a lberal/libertarian in issues of personal, individual freedoms. If the two guys next door want to get married, I'll wish them a wonderful honeymoon. It's no one's business what kind of weapons I have or don't have, what capacity magazines fit those weapons, and what I choose to use those weapons for, as long as I am not harming others. Basically, my right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins, and vice versa. I think pharmaceutical companies shouldn't be allowed to run ads on TV. "Government that governs least, governs best." -Ronald Reagan.


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## Gumby

1. People who only use 'feelings' to guide them, while leaving logic and reason completely out of the equation.

2. People who think the Bill of Rights (2nd Ammendment) doesn't apply to modern day firearms, only to those that existed back when it was first written, yet they fully believe the 1st Ammendment applies to modern day technology such as TV, computer, radio, etc. and not limited to the type of press that existed back when it was written.

Of course, I guess that falls under the first thing I listed that bothers me. 

3. TV commercials 

4. Any song that gets stuck in my head


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## Umree

This is personal, lately all of my friends have been calling me at 1am to tell me about their problems. Don’t these people sleep?? What’s going on?


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## CyberWar

Entitled people. The kind who know everything about their rights (which they have done nothing to earn or deserve), but won't hear a thing about their duties.

SJWs. I get that it's cool to signal virtue by taking up the cause of the oppressed these days, especially when it can be done with zero effort and at no personal risk or social cost. More alarming, however, I find that the establishment which is supposed to consist of mature, reasonable people is actually humoring the delusions of these hypocritical professionally-offended crybabies with unresolved daddy issues.

Freeloaders and parasites. It doesn't take much skill or effort to feast at a table prepared and served by others, does it?

Technology addicts. My last attempt at dating failed miserably after I had to text the girl to either remove her nose from her smartphone and actually start paying some attention to me, or GTFO. Since then, I have pledged myself to never own a smartphone as a matter of principle - I don't want to become like that girl.

Political correctness. While I normally won't go out of my way to insult people simply because I can, start telling me what I can or cannot say, and I just might.

The notions of "white privilege" or "male privilege". I'm still waiting for mine.

Ignorant Westerners who still believe everything and everyone East of Berlin is Russian (and you might be surprised how many such people there still are). The Cold War is long over, people! Read some elementary-school geography books or learn to use Google, for crying out loud!

Communists, especially the self-proclaimed variety from prosperous middle-class families in the West. As someone from a country which enjoyed all the wondrous benefits for 50 years and will take at least until the end of the century to recover from the aftermath (with a good chance of not recovering at all), and someone with living family members who were persecuted by a Communist regime, I simply cannot overstate my loathing for that ideology. And especially for ignorant, smug college know-it-alls who call themselves Communists despite continuing to reap every benefit of their democratic free-market societies.

Excessive users of social networks. Seriously, get a life! If I shared everything I do with random people in real life the same way many do on social networks, I'd get my first three followers in no time - namely, two policemen and a psychiatrist. Frankly I don't even get why anyone would want to be on a social network in the first place, unless one has a business or product to advertise, in which case they really can come handy.

Conspicuous consumption. Frivolously spending on useless garbage that will be out of fashion in a few months simply because its currently trendy doesn't really make one look "cool", but more like "rich and retarded". Especially if the person in question isn't even genuinely wealthy.

Mainstream popular culture. A matter of subjective taste (or the lack of it), of course. But ever get the feeling that even the prolefeed has been steadily decreasing in quality and content for the past 30 years?

Pampered youth. When I grew up, we kids played with BB guns, high-powered firecrackers, resolved our disputes with good old-fashioned fistfights, and the only child psychologist in town was Mr. Strap, applying his painful but necessary lessons to our backsides through the loving hands of our parents. It was completely normal for elementary school-age kids to walk home on their own, and commonly linger out until late in the evening playing with friends, even though the streets were much less safe back in the 90's than they are today. Yes, some lost an eye, tooth or a couple fingers growing up, and a rare unlucky few ended up killed by accident or abducted by perverts, but the absolute majority of my generation grew up to be decent, upstanding people with all the parts they were born with. We grew up learning to be self-reliant, independent people who knew how to stand up for themselves, respected our elders and could answer for our words, even if the lessons were sometimes learned harshly at the receiving end of a fist. I don't see none of that in many kids these days, whose world seems to be limited to their social network echo chambers and safe-spaces.


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## PiP

- Parents who restrict their children's speech by using dummies. Dummies are pacifiers for bedtime. I feel alarmed when I see children running around in public with dummies stuffed in their mouths. Just watched a program on TV where children are now starting school and arrive with a dummy!
-People who are offended on behalf of other people.
- Able-bodied people who park in disabled parking spaces.
- Hospital/doctors receptionist who have no empathy and go out of their way to make life difficult.

ETA: people who smoke cigarettes while others are eating. They don't smoke the cigs they just pose with them while the smoke drifts on other diners. The smell of one person's cigarette contaminates a large area.


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## clark

1. Parents with their small kids in public places who think the howls of anger from their overtired, hungry, diaper-filled monsters are "part of life" to the point that they don't even HEAR the howls anymore

2. I'm in the left lane waiting for the light to change. When it goes green AND NO SOONER, the asshole in front puts his signal on for a L turn

3. four 13-year-old girls talking to each other about their lives, and I can't get out of the room

4. the poetry Wordsworth wrote in the last 20 years of his life

5 testicles and brains as food 

6. pizza

more coming ………………………….


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## Amnesiac

"Parents" letting their "little miracles" shriek at migraine-inducing levels and run amok in shops and restaurants -- This one pisses me off beyond all belief. People watching movies on their cellphones in public places like restaurants, with the volume loud enough so that everyone else can hear it...

Basically, people being thoroughly inconsiderate and acting like they are the only ones in the entire universe that matter, whether it's how they behave in public, or how they endanger everyone around them with how they drive -- These people SUCK.


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## PiP

clark said:


> 1. Parents with their small kids in public places who think the howls of anger from their overtired, hungry, diaper-filled monsters are "part of life" to the point that they don't even HEAR the howls anymore
> ….





Amnesiac said:


> "Parents" letting their "little miracles" shriek at migraine-inducing levels and run amok in shops and restaurants --



Yep, I had three children under three and when we went out they were seen but not heard. As parents, we only had to look at them and they were quiet. 

While I am appalled by the behaviour of some children and parents,  a few months ago it was a pleasure to observe an Irish family of five children and two adults at a local restaurant. The children spoke quietly amongst themselves, no playing on the mobile phone, getting up and down from the table, and their table manners impeccable. We were so amazed we spoke to the parents as they were leaving and said how delightful their children were. The parents beamed from ear-to ear.


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## Olly Buckle

People who drive up fast behind me when I am doing the speed limit and then sit right up close; I'm not going to break the law for you.

On the dual carriage way people who overtake when I am travelling at the speed limit, then cut in front and brake to about five miles an hour less than I have been doing. 

People who pull half way across a road to turn when they have no chance of getting into the traffic stream and so block one side of the road.

People who drive five miles an hour over the limit through villages, it's half a mile, a mile at the most, the gain is negligible, the increased risk and inconvenience to others considerable

People who drive at forty everywhere, in sixty limits, thirty limits, everywhere.

Mostly bad driving winds me up because the only sensible response is to drop back and let them get on with it without provoking a stupid response that will make things even more dangerous.


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## Ma'am

It seems to me there are far more terrible drivers than there used to be where I live, here in the U.S. I wouldn't doubt if it's because they stopped teaching drivers' ed. in the schools.


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## Ma'am

I can't stand lousy parents, and there are many of them around as I'm sure you all know. I would like to give them a nice kick in the butt whenever I meet one. \\/


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## H.Brown

That there are now 100 different genders apparently acording to a new BBC program, what the heck and they are teaching it to kids. Now don't get me wrong I am not against someone saying they don't feel like a girl or a guy, however I do not think it should be broadcast to kids who maybe haven't made up their minds, I believe that this will encorage kids to associate just for the sake of attention or because they have seen it on tv...


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## Aquilo

H.Brown said:


> That there are now 100 different genders apparently acording to a new BBC program, what the heck and they are teaching it to kids. Now don't get me wrong I am not against someone saying they don't feel like a girl or a guy, however I do not think it should be broadcast to kids who maybe haven't made up their minds, I believe that this will encorage kids to associate just for the sake of attention or because they have seen it on tv...



I don't know. We teach young kids about Henry Vlll, his multiple divorce record, and chopping his wifes' head off when he's not getting his way. Kids don't then go around wanting to rewrite the Magna Carter and chop off a few teachers' heads to get out of school. 

People chewing food with their mouth open: I have a washing machine at home to look at if I want to see what's tumbling around inside, thanks.

Cars that ride your ass: jeez, think consent, mate. And at least use a condom if you're gonna climb in and screw me like that.

Cars that cut corners: Need a pair of scissors and a hairdryer for that cut & blow job there, mate?

School girls who wear nothing but belts for skirts whilst at school. Seriously, if you're gonna spend all day pulling it down, why wear it in the first place, sweetheart?

School kids who throw snow at cars: Right, now it's my turn: stick your Xbox in the road and pass me a brick.

Dry sarcasm from kids: just proves how damn smart kids are today, lol.


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## SueC

> While I am appalled by the behaviour of some children and parents, a few months ago it was a pleasure to observe an Irish family of five children and two adults at a local restaurant. The children spoke quietly amongst themselves, no playing on the mobile phone, getting up and down from the table, and their table manners impeccable. We were so amazed we spoke to the parents as they were leaving and said how delightful their children were. The parents beamed from ear-to ear.



This was wonderful to read, Carol! We were those parents - LOL. Seriously, the kids dad and I agreed before we even had kids that we wanted them to be good to be around, well behaved and respectful, and just generally pleasant. It was a ton of hard work, but like you describe, we had often been stopped and thanked at restaurants and church, too, for our kids' behavior. They grew into adults that are well loved, too.

My pet peeves - 

The way some drivers stop six to ten feet before the line for a red light. I never know why, but it's annoying.

People who turn into a shop parking lot, but don't use the turn lane.

People who still write checks at the grocery store check out - LOL!

Just about everything everyone else mentioned!



> When a knife or fork scraps on a plate, that noise goes right through me.


 Me too, Hannah!


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## H.Brown

SueC said:


> This was wonderful to read, Carol! We were those parents - LOL. Seriously, the kids dad and I agreed before we even had kids that we wanted them to be good to be around, well behaved and respectful, and just generally pleasant. It was a ton of hard work, but like you describe, we had often been stopped and thanked at restaurants and church, too, for our kids' behavior. They grew into adults that are well loved, too.
> 
> My pet peeves -
> 
> The way some drivers stop six to ten feet before the line for a red light. I never know why, but it's annoying.
> 
> People who turn into a shop parking lot, but don't use the turn lane.
> 
> People who still write checks at the grocery store check out - LOL!
> 
> Just about everything everyone else mentioned!
> 
> Me too, Hannah!



I'm one of thise drivers  ut then I have only just begun to learn how to drive hahaha. I love it though.

Urg I shudder just thinking about that noise.


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## midnightpoet

People who let their kids run wild in stores (a couple of times nearly knocked down my wife (she was using a cane).  Connected, people who underestimate her intelligence (doctors, tradesmen, salesmen especially in those big hardware places) simply because she's of a "certain age" and she's, uh, female.

Lately, the heat here in Texas.  You can call it global warming, climate change or what not but I'm tired of it.  It's still in the mid-nineties.  Connected, the simple labels the media uses to name a complicated issue. Climate is always changing, it's just usually very slow.  Also connected, people who refuse to change their mind about issues despite evidence to the contrary.


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## Ma'am

People who spell "definitely" as "definately" or "defiantly." I always want to say, "It's '_definitely_.' See the "finite" in it, dum-dum?"


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## Amnesiac

"Your a looser." This one drives me crazy. Bunch of losers!


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## Trollheart

People who begin sentences with "so". "What do you make here?" "So we make computer chips." "What did you think of the game?" "So I thought it was a bit dull."
Jesus effing Christ on a hoverboard going too fast round the corner and meeting a semi coming the other way! "So" has to be qualified, doesn't it? "We were late so we missed the train" or "It's a bad neighbourhood to walk through at night so we took a taxi." In general, you can't begin a sentence with so. But every-effing-one is doing it now. Drives me over the edge.

And people who say "As I say" when they're not referring back to anything. Footballers are the worst offenders over here.
"How do you think you played?"
"As I say, we had our chances but didn't take them."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## RadioFerret

* How I get sucked into YouTube or something else distracting and waste time. I used to pride myself in a long attention span, but to my dismay I can feel it shortening. Yikes!

* Self doubt when it comes to writing, be it in the project, the prose, or anything in between. Can't say it's very helpful.


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## Umree

It’s 1am on a Tuesday and my neighbors are having a loud party, just blasting the stereo. We’ve called the non-emergency dispatch 3 times now, and this is still going on! :mad2:


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## charles003434

going to work


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## Irwin

What really bugs me is when I go to a website to read an article and the popups take up so much space, it's nearly impossible to read it. Multiple videos are playing at the same time and one of them has the audio on, but that one's not in the window, so you have to mute your volume to shut it up, and then when you scroll, the browser rearranges everything so you forget where you were. 

I have Javascript turned off for most news websites because of that, which allows me to read sites like the NY Times and Washington Post without subscribing, so they screw themselves. You don't see a lot of the multimedia crap and some of the formatting is off, but it's a hell of a lot better than having all that crap playing while you're trying to read.


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## Ralph Rotten

I cannot stand adults that constantly say how unfair things are, or how they are never treated fairly, or how they'd get a Nobel Prize if only the judges weren't unfair.
It sounds like a 12 year old..."Waahhh, it's unfair! Why am I in trouble, Joe did something just as bad...it's unfair!"


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## Amnesiac

I'd have soldiers say that things weren't fair, and I'd say, "Fair?! Fair is where you go to eat cotton candy and step in monkey shit!"


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## bdcharles

Ralph Rotten said:


> I cannot stand adults that constantly say how unfair things are, or how they are never treated fairly, or how they'd get a Nobel Prize if only the judges weren't unfair.
> It sounds like a 12 year old..."Waahhh, it's unfair! Why am I in trouble, Joe did something just as bad...it's unfair!"



Wee-ellll ... if someone said how unfair it was that their kid got cancer when  the Mollington-Biggses boy down the street didn't, I wouldn't want to tell them to zip it. Don't know anyone that's been in a position to complain about that Nobel being snatched though. I should probably find better friends.


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## Ralph Rotten

bdcharles said:


> Wee-ellll ... if someone said how unfair it was that their kid got cancer when  the Mollington-Biggses boy down the street didn't, I wouldn't want to tell them to zip it. Don't know anyone that's been in a position to complain about that Nobel being snatched though. I should probably find better friends.




I'll give you a hint who I was talking about: He's orange.


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## Olly Buckle

Ralph Rotten said:


> I'll give you a hint who I was talking about: He's orange.



Mr Tickle ?


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## bdcharles

Ralph Rotten said:


> I'll give you a hint who I was talking about: He's orange.



Lol, ok, yeah, in that instance I'm with you


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## SueC

Ralph Rotten said:


> I cannot stand adults that constantly say how unfair things are, or how they are never treated fairly, or how they'd get a Nobel Prize if only the judges weren't unfair.
> It sounds like a 12 year old..."Waahhh, it's unfair! Why am I in trouble, Joe did something just as bad...it's unfair!"



I know! I know who it is. "Orange" you say? Yep, I know who it is.


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## velo

*orange is the new jackass*

Sooooo...y'all really want to impeach the tangerine in chief (the TIC) and put a religious zealot from the early 18th century who, unlike his current boss, is not an idiot in power????


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## Ralph Rotten

Really, we'll be putting Mitch in charge.
The choirboy is a noob, and he'll be led around by the old-timer.


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## Irwin

He's not going to be removed from office because Senate Republicans will never in a million years find him guilty--no matter what. But House Democrats need to do their jobs, anyway.


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## Trollheart

Irwin said:


> What really bugs me is when I go to a website to read an article and the popups take up so much space, it's nearly impossible to read it. Multiple videos are playing at the same time and one of them has the audio on, but that one's not in the window, so you have to mute your volume to shut it up, and then when you scroll, the browser rearranges everything so you forget where you were.
> 
> I have Javascript turned off for most news websites because of that, which allows me to read sites like the NY Times and Washington Post without subscribing, so they screw themselves. You don't see a lot of the multimedia crap and some of the formatting is off, but it's a hell of a lot better than having all that crap playing while you're trying to read.


Have you tried pop-up blockers? I think they're often built-in to the browser, if not they can be added. Works for me. Ads too. Sites are constantly "noting you have an ad blocker installed. Would you consider unblocking it so we can show you our crap?" Yeah, that's exactly what I got it for guy: so that the first idiot who wants to bombard me with ads can just do so. Suck my.....


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## Olly Buckle

Trollheart said:


> Have you tried pop-up blockers? I think they're often built-in to the browser, if not they can be added. Works for me. Ads too. Sites are constantly "noting you have an ad blocker installed. Would you consider unblocking it so we can show you our crap?" Yeah, that's exactly what I got it for guy: so that the first idiot who wants to bombard me with ads can just do so. Suck my.....



It seems mad, but I would bet that often works, it always amazes me how much people do what they are told. I always think of an incident in a bus station up north when a guy came off his scooter. His ankle was at right angles to his leg and he said 'Help me up' and a couple of people instantly started to. My mate said 'Put him down!' and they did, obeying a long haired teenager with a southern accent. Both things were counterintuitive, but they obeyed orders, amazing how often people do.

Read my article DIY in non-fiction and make a comment,   (Has to be worth a try   )


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## bdcharles

Olly Buckle said:


> it always amazes me how much people do what they are told..... Both things were counterintuitive, but they obeyed orders, amazing how often people do.



Social dymanics. If humans didn't have that ability to be unquestioningly led, we'd have likely died out aeons ago. People think it's a weakness but it's actually our greatest strength. We can't really run, we're a bit shit in the water, and we can't fly, but put a bunch of us together and we'll go to the moon (supposedly).


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## velo

I would say cooperation is our greatest strength, not being led around like sheeple.  The line between the two can be very thin.  Those that follow blindly are the reason shitty leaders can come into power.  

People today are lemmings, I think in no small part to the entertainment explosion that started in the 80s and then the internet a couple decades later.  The phone-in-their-face minions ever in the thrall of the like button dopamine hit have lost most of their ability for critical thought.  Added to critical thought no longer being taught in schools people have no idea how to function autonomously or even vet information in any useful way.


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## Irwin

Trollheart said:


> Have you tried pop-up blockers? I think they're often built-in to the browser, if not they can be added. Works for me. Ads too. Sites are constantly "noting you have an ad blocker installed. Would you consider unblocking it so we can show you our crap?" Yeah, that's exactly what I got it for guy: so that the first idiot who wants to bombard me with ads can just do so. Suck my.....



Yeah, I use AdBlock. A lot of the ads, though, play in the same video player as the news outlet's videos, so they're not blocked. And a lot of other crap that's just part of the website's design that are overlaid over content using Javascript that are just plain annoying when all you want to do is read the article.


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## velo

I use every adblocker known to modern science, including a vpn service that automatically blocks ad domains.  When I look at sites on other people's systems I barely recognise them.  

I'm also that guy that is less likely to buy something the more you sell/advertise to me.


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## Amnesiac

velo said:


> I'm also that guy that is less likely to buy something the more you sell/advertise to me.



Ditto. The more pressured I feel, the more I resist. My thought is, "If your product isn't a piece of crap, why are you trying to shove it down my throat?"


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## Winston

Amnesiac said:


> Ditto. The more pressured I feel, the more I resist. My thought is, "If your product isn't a piece of crap, why are you trying to shove it down my throat?"



Because most people swallow.  That grinds my gears.  
Not even a gag reflex from most anymore.


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## tepelus

What's grinding my gears lately are these high rollers who play hundreds or thousands of dollars on the casino floor, and yet steal the toilet paper and facial tissue from their hotel room. Yes, I'm a housekeeper in a casino hotel.


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## The Green Shield

Writer Rant Ahoy:

You know what sucks about historical fiction? How sometimes there's not a whole lot of information to go on with a historical figure.

Like take this standalone story I'm writing set in 1821 Paris, France. Amos Garnier (my fictional character) meets Louis Braille (an actual historical figure) and while Louis doesn't play a huge part in the plot (besides showing off his invention to Amos) researching him led me to think back on biographies I've read about Louis in the past.

For starters, some biographies had his mom dying of cancer, others had his dad being the one that died. Then there are figures whom I'm not entirely sure even existed (like the presence of a 'Dr. DeFou' dude in one of the biographies, and a love interest named Denise in another. Look, I don't doubt he had a girlfriend, just..I don't think making up your own characters in a biography is a thing to do. It's like me having Abraham Lincoln meeting Issac Foller, a random name I just came up with.)

So awesome, two biographies who can't decide which of the parents died (if they even did die) and we've got people running around who may not have even existed.


But the worse offender is how they depict Louis. One had him being a kind, compassionate man always striving for curiosity and discovering ways to solve problems. The other painted him as a sort of self-absorbed martyr. The latter even goes as far as to say Louis dies alone in a hotel room when the former had him dying in his home surrounded by family and friends (of which Pierre Foucault was one of them, but he certainly didn't appear in the biographies. Insert 'Am I A Joke To You' Meme Here.) 

You'd think for a guy who basically gave the blind and visually impaired the keys to success, his biographers would actually try to keep in sequence rather than going, "lol nope" and seemingly making up things as they went along.

*sighs*

Point is, when biographies can't even agree on certain things, it makes trying to write a historical fiction in which your legit fictional character(s) meet said historical figure rather difficult.

Sorry for the rant. It's early in the morning and this has been churning in my head for years.

*
EDIT:
*Wow, even I got it all wrong. I am ashamed to be a history major now. 


-> Louis' father did, in fact, die in 1831.


-> There actually was someone named Pierre DUFAU (not DeFou, wtf) who took over as director in 1842 after basically fabricating lies to get his predecessor (Pignier) removed. He was the dickwaffle who tried to suppress Louis' invention.


-> In 1821, Guillie was the director of the Royal Institute of Blind Youth who was...basically a dickwaffle who abused the students and had an affair with a woman (like you do) so he was fired and replaced by Pignier who was the exact opposite.


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## tepelus

Totes know how you feel.


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## Trollheart

I got that, too. When I was researching Billy the Kid, virtually every source I checked had him born as Henry McCarthy, and later took the name (for no good reason) William H Bonney. But one book supposedly written by a guy _who rode with him _started off by saying he was born to Martha* Bonney, therefore his real name would have been Bonney, not McCarthy. Kind of makes sense, cos if your name is William you're more likely to go by Billy than if your name is Henry. Then again, he seemed anxious to erase his father's memory, so maybe. But apart from this one, seemingly authoritative account, EVERY OTHER source (including his official history website and museum or something) says no, Henry McCarthy. So I don't know what to believe. You're right though (not withstanding your own discoveries that the facts were correct) - biographies should not have incorrect or conflicting information in them. If you don't know, say so, or don't write the damn thing.

* May not have been Martha, not sure, but definitely Bonney.


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## The Green Shield

Trollheart said:


> I got that, too. When I was researching Billy the Kid, virtually every source I checked had him born as Henry McCarthy, and later took the name (for no good reason) William H Bonney. But one book supposedly written by a guy _who rode with him _started off by saying he was born to Martha* Bonney, therefore his real name would have been Bonney, not McCarthy. Kind of makes sense, cos if your name is William you're more likely to go by Billy than if your name is Henry. Then again, he seemed anxious to erase his father's memory, so maybe. But apart from this one, seemingly authoritative account, EVERY OTHER source (including his official history website and museum or something) says no, Henry McCarthy. So I don't know what to believe. You're right though (not withstanding your own discoveries that the facts were correct) - biographies should not have incorrect or conflicting information in them. If you don't know, say so, or don't write the damn thing.
> 
> * May not have been Martha, not sure, but definitely Bonney.


For this, I would ask myself a few questions about the author who supposedly rode with the guy. Questions like how well he knew Billy and how he felt about him. If he had a grudge, or just straight up hated him, he probably most definitely would make up bullshit when writing about him as a big 'F-you'. Also, how late in his life did he write the book? Whether he hated Billy or not, the ravages of time may have done wonders to erode his memories so while he wrote, his brain filled in the gaps not knowing if it were accurate or not (and Billy, obviously, wasn't around to verify, what with him being dead and all.)


----------



## Trollheart

In my case it wasn't hugely important. I just wanted the Devil to keep calling him Henry, and Billy to be saying "my name's Billy. Why do you keep calling me Henry?" Then the Devil would say "I tend to prefer to use the name people are given at birth. That's why I call myself Lucifer." etc. But if he wasn't born Henry McCarthy then that wouldn't have worked. In the end, I decided to go with it. After all, it's just a story and the perceived and accepted wisdom is that Henry McCarthy was his birth name, so if it got published I was more likely to get stick from people saying "but he was born Henry McCarthy, not William Bonney!" than otherwise, and in the case of the latter, ninety percent of my research backed that fact up.


----------



## The Green Shield

Trollheart said:


> In my case it wasn't hugely important. I just wanted the Devil to keep calling him Henry, and Billy to be saying "my name's Billy. Why do you keep calling me Henry?" Then the Devil would say "I tend to prefer to use the name people are given at birth. That's why I call myself Lucifer." etc. But if he wasn't born Henry McCarthy then that wouldn't have worked. In the end, I decided to go with it. After all, it's just a story and the perceived and accepted wisdom is that Henry McCarthy was his birth name, so if it got published I was more likely to get stick from people saying "but he was born Henry McCarthy, not William Bonney!" than otherwise, and in the case of the latter, ninety percent of my research backed that fact up.


Right. :3 I do think your novel sounds interesting. Let me know when it's ready to be published so I can read it. 

As for my thing with Louis, well, now I finally got the basic facts down (i.e., his dad and Mr. Dumbass McDickwaffle who wouldn't have even been the director of the Royal Institute in 1821) so that's good.  As far as the character Denise goes? Well, that raises another question. If she weren't real, then that means she was the fictional product of that biographer who wanted to give Louis a love interest. Which means if I borrowed her and had her be Louis' girlfriend, I'd be committing theft. Guess my options for that are either to not include a girlfriend, or give that person another name.  Or remove the love interest and put in Louis' buddy, Pierre Foucault. They would've had to have known each other since their childhood days in the Institute. Possibilities! :applouse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-François-Victor_Foucault

Hmm... *conducts more research*


----------



## Trollheart

The Green Shield said:


> Right. :3 I do think your novel sounds interesting. Let me know when it's ready to be published so I can read it.



It's not a novel, just a short(ish) story. About 20,000 words I think, or close anyway. I'm nearly finished it, just a few things to tie up, but if you want, here's an extract. Glad to hear what you think of it. By the way, sorry about the spacing and indents; that happened when I copied it into Google Docs and I couldn't get it sorted. Real headache.

[FONT=&Verdana]II: Between the Devil and the deep blue sky
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Without looking back, he snapped his fingers in the air and to Billy’s amazement they were no longer on Boot Hill surrounded by tombstones and the smell of death, but high on a mountain, the sky as blue as Billy could ever recall seeing it. Nor was it night any more; the sun shone brightly in the hot summer sky, the wind whistling in his ears, the air chill but very fresh. Over to the southeast, a golden eagle wheeled in the sky, its wings effortlessly manipulating the updrafts to allow it to glide through the air. As he watched, the predator dipped below one of the lower hills and was gone. Following its path with his eyes though showed him how high up they were, and his stomach lurched as his feet involuntarily scrabbled for purchase.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]How – how in the hell did we get here?” The gasp that was torn from his throat was the more ragged due to the effort it took to get the words out, given the thinner air up here in what almost seemed the very sky itself. The Stranger, far from being disoriented or throw off-balance, had his hands thrust into the pockets of his jacket and was standing very close to the edge, looking over the steep precipice with a sort of casual interest.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Precisely,” he grinned, which made no sense to the Kid. He did, however, feel compelled to warn his companion of the danger, about which the black-garbed man seemed oblivious.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Watch your footing there, mister. It’s a long way down.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]A short bark of laughter issued from the man’s throat; Billy didn’t quite get the joke.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Oh, don’t you worry about me, Henry,” he assured the Kid. “I’ve fallen from a far greater height than this, oh yes. This?” He waved an expansive arm out over the cliff, in the kind of sweeping motion that might have sent a less sure-footed man plummeting over the edge. “This is nothing, believe me.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Feeling less than reassured, Billy asked “Wh-where are we?”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]The height was indeed dizzying. He could not recall ever being at such an elevation; mountains were for hiding from posses, not for climbing for sport. The wind whistling around the face of the cliff they stood on seemed like some sort of elemental monster, anxious to pluck him from the mountainside and hurl him over the edge. Dream or no dream, he felt his heart quickening in his breast, and sweat stood out on his forehead, dripping down his back and soaking his already wet shirt.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]They call this the Sierra Nevada,” the Stranger told him, hands thrust deep into his pockets as he looked out over the edge with as little caution as if they stood on some old low stone wall, where falling would be nothing more than the merest inconvenience and would occasion no harm except perhaps a slight loss of footing. “Know what that means, Henry?”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]The Kid nodded. “I got me a little Spanish, mister,” he affirmed. “Sierra’s mountains, and nevada is... snow, I reckon?”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]The Stranger nodded, grinning. “Snowy mountains,” he agreed. “You can see some of it way up there, on the higher peaks there in the distance.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Billy craned his neck upwards, his stomach suddenly flipping as he realised that, despite the great height at which they stood, they were not at the top of the range. The upper peaks, which he could just about make out, wreathed as they were in low-hanging cloud, were indeed dusted with a frosting of snow which sparkled and flashed and reflected the morning sunlight. He briefly wondered what it might be like to stand at such a towering height, looking down on the world below.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]I ain’t much for geography, mister,” Billy told him slowly, “but from what I recollect, the Sierra Nevada’s in California. That’s a hell of a ways from Fort Sumner.”
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Details, mere details.” The Stranger waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t waste time worrying about how we got here, Henry, or how you appear to be alive when you know you’re quite definitely dead. Look over the edge, and tell me you don’t find that view breath-taking!”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]There was no doubting the vista was awesome, but Billy’s natural sense of self-preservation, even in a dream, kept him from coming close enough to the edge to properly observe the panorama spread out below him. Reluctant to show fear in front of any man, he resorted to irritation, snapping at his companion “Why in tarnation do you keep calling me Henry, mister? That ain’t my name!”
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Ah.” The Stranger raised one finger, wagging it gently at him. “But it was, once, was it not?”
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]I was born with that name, sure.” Billy seemed a little uncomfortable discussing it. “But I left it behind long ago, like I left my old life behind.”
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]And you took the name William Bonney. Yes, I’m acquainted with your past, Henry,” the black-garbed man told him, performing a sort of slow one-legged dance, such as Billy had once or twice seen the dancing girls do in something they called a ballet. Except those ladies did not execute such a delicate manoeuvre many thousands of feet up in the sky, on the edge of a mountain! The Stranger did not seem concerned, suddenly jumping high into the air and landing on his tiptoes, almost at the very extremity of the cliff. Instinctively, Billy closed his eyes, thinking the man had leapt to his doom, but on opening them again he was both relieved and amazed to see that the Stranger was still with him, and describing increasingly dangerous movements closer to the precipice. It was, thought Billy, as if he was taunting death, and the Kid watched in a kind of rapt bemusement.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]But you see,” he explained, “it’s my belief that a man’s true power, his heart, even his soul if you will, is in his name, and so I tend to prefer to use the name for a man which he was born with. After all, I have many names by which I’m known, but I prefer the one I was, if you will, born with. My original name. It means “light bringer,” you know. Or some translate it as “morning star.”
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]What does?” Something Billy had once heard – he had no idea where – was scratching at his brain, closing icy fingers around his heart, hole and all.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Why, Lucifer, of course.” The Stranger beamed. Billy took a step backwards, realised that his feet were about to take him over the edge, but realised this too late and went sprawling out into space, his arms windmilling as he fell.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Oh dear.” Instead of plummeting to his death (or, more likely, being shaken awake from this awful dream) Billy found himself rising. Something had him in an almost claw-like grip, and the sound of beating wings was loud in his ears. He didn’t dare look up to discover their source, lest his suddenly fragile sanity shatter altogether, but a moment later he was back on the mountain, feet firmly on solid ground, and the black-clad figure was standing before him, just as before, smiling, a wicked glint in his (red?) eyes.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]On reflection,” Lucifer noted, as if talking to himself, “perhaps not the best environment in which to reveal my identity to you. My apologies, Henry.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Billy, his legs having given out and he now on his knees in the dirt, struggled to his feet and, reacting naturally for him, went for his gun.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Get thee behind me, Satan!” he growled.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Oh dear,” said Lucifer again. “Why does everyone insist on using that name? You should know, I really hate it. And after all, I’ve done you the courtesy of using your true name, why can you not do me the same honour? At any rate,” here the grin broke out on his face again, “I thought you were the kind of man who preferred an enemy to be in front of, not behind him. Apart from which, I’m not your – now stop that! That’s just silly! What do you think that’s going to accomplish?”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]This last followed the discharge of the Colt in Billy’s hand and the subsequent ineffectual impact of six bullets, fired off in rapid fashion, none of which penetrated Lucifer’s body. One did, however, have some effect, knocking off his hat and sending it over the side. This elicited a dark scowl from the Devil.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Mighty unfriendly act, that,” he grated, his eyes definitely flashing red now, though outwardly there had been no change in his appearance. “You ain’t got no call to be deprivin’ a man of his hat.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]He snapped his fingers in irritation, and another hat appeared on his head. It was identical to the one he had just lost, minus the bullet-hole Billy had drilled in it. Seeing his gun was of no use to him, the young gunfighter fell back to his knees.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]Lord God Almighty!” He threw down the revolver, pressing his hands together and raising them to the sky. “Save my wretched soul! Saints in Heaven, preserve me!”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Lucifer gave him a disgusted look. “Oh don’t do that, Henry! Don’t be one of those people! Don’t be a sheep!” He lowered his voice, turning away as if talking to someone else. “Why do they do this?” he asked. “What is it that makes them think that no matter what they’ve done, praying is going to make God come to their rescue?”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]He turned back to face the now-sobbing Billy the Kid. His face was twisted in a sneer of derision as he looked down on the desperado. “You think He hears you?” He shouted and pointed up at the sky. “You think He cares? What is it about you mortals that makes you think you have some sort of open-line connection to the Almighty? That all you have to do is ask, and He will answer? You think He’s listening, watching you? He has a whole universe to run! He’s a busy man! He don’t care about you, Henry. He ain’t gonna rescue you. He ain’t gonna banish me or send flights of angels to sing you to your rest.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Softening his tone a tiny bit, Satan hunkered down beside Billy, just as he had done beside the gravestone of the unlucky cowboy whose only name was Jonah. The Kid’s head was bowed, bowed in prayer, bowed in fear, bowed in supplication. Lucifer tilted his head up, forcing him to look into those deep, dark, fiery eyes.
[/FONT]
“[FONT=&Verdana]You’re already damned, Henry,” he informed the Kid. “You’re lost to Him, even if He cared, which He don’t. You ain’t never gonna see Heaven.” He frowned, genuine puzzlement on his features, which somehow were more terrible in their ordinary humanity than they would have been had he manifested as a snarling red-skinned demon. “Surely you must have known that, deep down?”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve, angry at having been so unmanned, Billy snuffled and nodded. “Reckon I always knowed I was bound for Hell,” he admitted. “But those preachers, they always said that if you was to repent on your deathbed...”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Lucifer nodded, cutting him off. “And do you repent, Henry?” he asked gently, almost like a parent trying to get their child to admit to wrongdoing. “Are you sorry you killed all those men? Really, in your heart, in your soul, can you say you regret what you did?”
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]Billy was silent, and his silence told its own tale. He knew everyone he had killed – he had heard folks had run the number up to a score or more, but it was only eight in all – had deserved it, or had been about to kill him. Joe Grant, he had been warned that the guy was out to get him, but Billy got him first, jamming up his revolver and then shooting him in the head. Bob Olinger and his deputy James Bell, well they had been holding him prisoner, prior to his hanging. All he did was break out, killing the two of them in the process. And nobody who died in the Lincoln County War at his hands deserved the slightest iota of sympathy; they had killed the only man who had ever come close to being a father figure to him, and every one of them paid for the death of John Tunstall.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&Verdana]So no: there was no repentance in his soul for killing any of those men. They didn’t deserve it.
[/FONT]
Lucifer nodded. “Makes no never mind anyway,” he drawled. “I’m not sayin’ there’s not room for forgiveness in Heaven, mind you now, it’s just there ain’t no-one there to dole out that forgiveness. Shoot! Most times there ain’t even a welcoming committee for the newly-dead, and Saint Peter just sits there with a book, waving the souls through without a word. Not like it used to be, no sir. They sure have let standards slip.”


----------



## Ma'am

I am not happy about how bi-weekly means both twice per week and once every two weeks. Same with bi-monthly.


----------



## The Carcosan Herald

Incels. They give such a terrible name for socially awkward or anxious people, and reading about their antics on Reddit enrages me like little else. I'm thankful I haven't met one in real life, and I can't guarantee I won't try to punch them out if they have the complete misfortune of spewing their misogynistic crap within my earshot.

On a lighter note, crowds of people who bimble along a walkway at half the average person's walking speed, thus blocking the path for everybody else. Also, people who use the phrase 'cultural Marxism' for _anything_. While we're on the latter topic, general ignorance too.


----------



## J.T. Chris

Impatient drivers irritate me. Relax buddy, you'll get there.

On the contrary, slow drivers also annoy me. I clearly can't be pleased.


----------



## Irwin

Families with small children out panhandling. WTF are they doing having all those kids if they can't support them? And why do they need to have the words "GOD BLESS" on their signs? Does that increase their yield?


----------



## Olly Buckle

The book I am reading jumped from page 134 to 156, bound perfectly, they have not been ripped out, but left out by the publisher. It was very good on the peninsular war, but the return of Napoleon and Waterloo just aint there. Grrr.


----------



## Ralph Rotten

What really pisses me off?
When the orange idiot abandons people who have been our allies for more than a decade, people who have been paramount in fighting ISis, the Taliban, and AlQuaida.
He just abandoned them, knowing full well that Turkey is going to roll in there and murder them.
All because he has two buildings in Istanbul.
So to protect his own fortune, the stable moron has left the Kurds to be slaughtered.
America no longer has any credibility among our allies.
I hate that draft-dodging, rapist. It amazes me that so many people still endorse him.
They say half of the world has an IQ below 100.
Now we know who they voted for.


----------



## tepelus

J.T. Chris said:


> Impatient drivers irritate me. Relax buddy, you'll get there.
> 
> On the contrary, slow drivers also annoy me. I clearly can't be pleased.



Bumper humpers are the worst.


----------



## Irwin

Yesterday, it hit 80 degrees and was sunny. Today, it's 21 degrees and snowing hard--almost blizzard conditions.

Meh, that's Colorado fall weather in a nutshell.


----------



## Amnesiac

Bumper sticker on my rock-crawler: "God was my copilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him."


----------



## The Green Shield

When my brain wants me to be passive-aggressive and nasty to people. I'm not that kind of person, and I know what would happen if I did act like that (re: I'll feel horrible and hate myself.) So why does my brain want me to be that way?


----------



## Amnesiac

The Green Shield said:


> When my brain wants me to be passive-aggressive and nasty to people. I'm not that kind of person, and I know what would happen if I did act like that (re: I'll feel horrible and hate myself.) So why does my brain want me to be that way?



Because you've been socially repressed and programmed that, "Nice people don't act that way, and I'm a nice person, ergo, I don't act that way."


----------



## Winston

I can't stand "office politics".  Just do your damn job and stop gossiping.  Worry about yourself, and not everyone else.  
At work, I sometimes forget where I am, and imagine I stumbled onto the set of "Mean Girls".


----------



## tepelus

Winston said:


> I can't stand "office politics".  Just do your damn job and stop gossiping.  Worry about yourself, and not everyone else.
> At work, I sometimes forget where I am, and imagine I stumbled onto the set of "Mean Girls".



You too, huh?


----------



## The Green Shield

Know what drives me crazy? I just got over a stomach bug last week and now Lamar, whom I'm convinced has a cold, keeps trying to be near me. 

For God's sake. 

I'm beginning to understand why tuberculosis was so rampant in the old days. It was because the sick kept trying to get all close and cuddly with the not-sick


----------



## Olly Buckle

The Green Shield said:


> I'm beginning to understand why tuberculosis was so rampant in the old days. It was because the sick kept trying to get all close and cuddly with the not-sick


No, I caught it at work from a very proper lady who never came within six feet of me, it is because it is a very nasty disease.


----------



## KenTR

Tourists. They mill about like they're at a theme park, or a whole bunch of them will _slowly_ walk along together taking up the entire sidewalk. You can't get past them. When they're not violating sidewalk etiquette, they're just standing there like a fire hydrant, looking at the sky. And then there are the ones who come all the way up here just to stand in doorways (or at the bottom of busy staircases) staring at their phones.

Sometimes they ask for directions. Rarely do they thank you for them.

Worst are the college guys; tipsy at 11:00 AM, congregated in the middle of the sidewalk while eating the city's worst pizza, whooping and hollering while occasionally looking to see if anyone is watching them because, you know, they're having so much fun, this is, like, their city, man, their home away from home; a whole bunch of Mr. New Yorks with their wallets out and open.

Go back to South Dakota. Them there cows aint gonna tip themselves.


----------



## Olly Buckle

KenTR said:


> Tourists. They mill about like they're at a theme park, or a whole bunch of them will _slowly_ walk along together taking up the entire sidewalk. You can't get past them.



The large group of Germans who stood refusing to cross the road because the pedestrian light was red; Never mind that the whole road was blocked off to traffic with bloody great orange plastic barriers, that was taking obeying signs to extremes, and I had a train to catch.


----------



## Amnesiac

Tourist season: What's the bag limit? Size limit? Any ammo or caliber restrictions? No? All righty, then. Time to start pickin' 'em off!


----------



## Ma'am

What really grinds my gears right now is know-it-all blowhards who just don't quit. On another forum, some stupid guy is "following me around" arguing with everything I say, when there's really nothing controversial about my posts or even the topic. He demands to be acknowledged as the Answer Grape so I'm ignoring him, which seems to have enraged him, ha ha! I wish there was a "shut up, a**hole" button.


----------



## Irwin

What's grinding my gears today? The fact that I can't watch the AL Championship games, since I don't get FS1. WTF? Money grubbing bastards. 

I could only get standard definition NL games with basic cable, but at least I was able to watch them. With all the tax dollars going to professional sports, the least they could do is broadcast the championship games so even people with just OTA access can watch them.


----------



## KenTR

Olly Buckle said:


> The large group of Germans who stood refusing to cross the road because the pedestrian light was red; Never mind that the whole road was blocked off to traffic with bloody great orange plastic barriers, that was taking obeying signs to extremes, and I had a train to catch.



I've found european tourists to be better behaved. They don't seem to be as fixated on making sure everybody sees (and hears) how much fun they're having.


What's gotten my day off to a bad start was checking my newsfeed before I've been properly caffeinated. Aside from the obvious tomfoolery that's dominating the headlines today, there were the usual links that inadvertently showcased the arrogantly puerile sense of entitlement that social media users splay in each other's faces like a wad of used toilet paper. This time it concerned the Breaking Bad movie, "El Camino". Sems it wasn't good enough for a lot of Twitter users. Seems most of them expected to see the awesomeness of six seasons of "Breaking Bad" condensed into a two hour movie. They didn't like this, they didn't like that. So, naturally, the whole thing was "pointless", "a waste of talent", and my favorite, "A waste of my time"...eloquently written by some choad who tweets fifty times a day. 

They all sounded like five year old kids who didn't get enough candy after dinner; ignorantly realized high expectations + disappointment = public temper tantrum. Like many times before, I was tempted to open a Twitter account just to retort, but that would have had dire consequences since everybody knows social media use corrodes your soul. No offense meant to any social media users here, although I assume most members of this forum prefer to spend their writing time working on their own personal creative projects rather than some endless rant about how the waitress who served them breakfast had absolutely _no_ fashion sense. 

I watched "El Camino", and I liked it just fine. What I didn't like were the few moments that betrayed the dialogue or plot in order to condescend to the very same idiots who were complaining about it: too much bending over backwards to include characters and/or references to the original show. But we all know children require repetition and familiarity to be satisfied. It's as if they wanted Walter White to come back as a zombie or something. He frigging _died, _you morons, what did you expect?? Sheesh.

Sure, I was excited to see it, but I didn't get my hopes up. I was happy enough just to go back into that world for a couple hours. It was nice to see Jesse Pinkman emerge (finally) as a man; the result of his experiences with Walt and the Nazi gang finally wiping away the last of the reckless ignorance that always got him into trouble in the past. I thought the series finale left his character arc unfinished. Sure, he escaped, but what then? Now I know. For me, it offered a nice sense of closure for both his character and the show. I was completely satisfied. _*bends over and moons the entire Twittersphere*_


----------



## Ma'am

Why do I find myself saying things over and over again? Am I the #%@ing wind blowing?!

I will get revenge. Yes.
 :sylvestertweety:


----------



## Olly Buckle

Ma'am said:


> Why do I find myself saying things over and over again? Am I the #%@ing wind blowing?!
> 
> I will get revenge. Yes.
> :sylvestertweety:



I bet it isn't just you it's winding up    Seriously, if it is over and over it is not working, so blow from a different direction, forget 'Please scape your plate, honey', throw it at him; never mind 'Put your shoes on the rack', drop them in the bin. Okay, that may not be your approach, but when something doesn't work don't do it again, try something different, tears, hysterical laughter, complete deadpan; work out at least six alternative options for next time that comes up, then try the one you can imagine yourself doing best. Could be fun


----------



## Ma'am

Olly Buckle said:


> I bet it isn't just you it's winding up    Seriously, if it is over and over it is not working, so blow from a different direction, forget 'Please scape your plate, honey', throw it at him; never mind 'Put your shoes on the rack', drop them in the bin. Okay, that may not be your approach, but when something doesn't work don't do it again, try something different, tears, hysterical laughter, complete deadpan; work out at least six alternative options for next time that comes up, then try the one you can imagine yourself doing best. Could be fun



Thank you. I will!


----------



## Amnesiac

Dog owners who just let their little darlings bark and bark and bark all fooking night, without one shred of consideration for their neighbors. People who litter. People who let their dogs shit on other peoples' lawns. Parents who allow their "little miracles" to shriek at migraine-inducing levels in restaurants.


----------



## Amnesiac

Really, I guess it boils down to consideration, because as a society, we live in close proximity. When there's a glaring lack of consideration, it's upsetting. Another one that angers me is when walking down a crowded sidewalk. I'll move a little to the side so I'm not shoulder-slamming people coming in the opposite direction, but they don't do the same, or they still hit me because they have no sense of cooperation, decorum, or idea of how to behave in a civilized manner in public.


----------



## Frostmobi

I think this thread is A. M. A. Z. I. N. G!

And to continue the spirit of ranting.... 

1. The last wave of feminism (or nazifeminism? Neofeminism?). I am a woman and hey I absolutely support feminims at its roots, without it I wouldn't be able to get an amazing education and work without getting judged by the fact that I am not making babies, so wooho for feminism! 

But today?

Jesus. Christ!
Why are women fighting for words such as patriarchy and all that craziness in a country that allows for feminism to exist (yeah mainly the west) when we can spend all that energy in helping women around the world that do have horrible conditions or live still under outdated social normatives (like how japan regardless of how technologically advanced is the system and support for women is almost... Neglible, or how girls in africa are still being mutilated at their private parts). Really people, we do not need to antagonize men either jikes!

2. Political Correctness! Why? Why? Just whyyyy? A month ago an actor from disney was fired because he was taken a photo where he showed the signed ok (which apparently now is a sign of racism againts jews that symbolizes white power)..... The heck! Can't we just be decent human beings? Or teach people what is right and wrong rather than drill someone with political correctness about everything?

3. Extremists! And I am not refering to terrorists, but to every person who thinks they are better than anyone because they think their believe is the unique way of life! Religion, politics, countries.... And so and so, why? Why can't there be a middle point instead of, I don't know, think that everyone is wrong because they don't believe in what I believe? Ugh!

4. Tech addicts.... Can I drink my coffee while it is still hot in peace without feeling like I am talking to a wall? 

And finally... 

5. Stupid people... Yep... Nothing worse than stupid people. 

Rant over.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Whilst I can see that much of that could be frustrating , on the whole I feel these are not 'bad' people, just a bit carried away. Where I have to disagree is with 'Stupid people'. People really can't help being stupid, if their arms or legs did not work very well you would probably feel sorry for them, so why not when their brain is not as efficient as most people's? Most of them are still cleverer than almost every other species of animal, dogs are really stupid, but quite lovable, for example.


----------



## Frostmobi

I never considered them to be bad people, to me a bad person would be someone who commits a despicable act, the rest are like you said carried away and hey we all get carried away by something at some point in our lives.

But in terms of stupid people, perhaps I didn't express myself properly, I am refering to the ones who have all their capabilities in perfect condition yet decide to remain useless (I know this woman who is beautiful and has all the means in the world to become someone amazing, you know to study, work, learn something or even travel, yet wastes her life away drinking herself silly and partying, and no she has no trauma or any reason to bury herself in sorrow and alcohol, and goes around thinking she is the smartest cookie in the room; Her blurps are the caliber such as "china and japan are the same thing" "all asians look the same" "europe is a country" and so and so). 

So yeah... Stupid people that decide to remain stupid grind my gears.

At least puppies are adorable and make great companions and cuddle buddies!


----------



## Amnesiac

"Hell is other people." -Albert Camus


----------



## Sustrai

What really gets me going, what makes my blood boil and sets my teeth on edge is when someone hits a dog.  A neighbor was hitting his dog with the metal end of a garden hose (of all things).  I superman leapt across the yard, grabbed the hose from his hands, raised it high above my six-foot-five in elevation head and was about to bring it down on this balding shrimp when my wife's voice carried through the neighborhood.  "Stephen!" she cried.  "He isn't worth it!"  I realized I was about to land myself in jail and dropped the garden hose at the miscreant's feet with a glower, then huffed back home.

Do not hit a dog in front of me.  It could be the LAST thing you ever do. :lone:


----------



## idreamofalan

When I get a story idea only for it to disappear from my brain as soon as I start to work it out in my mind. Ugh.


----------



## Olly Buckle

idreamofalan said:


> When I get a story idea only for it to disappear from my brain as soon as I start to work it out in my mind. Ugh.



Get a notebook, then jot down a few words and phrases that express the main idea. I sometimes find a single word is enough to remind me, but you are right, it is very easy to get distracted by the detail and lose the main plot.


----------



## Irwin

Cold fronts. Why don't they just stay up in Canada where they belong? We don't need them here. They don't do anything but come down here and take advantage of government programs that have to clean up the snow they bring with them. We need a wall to keep them up north. Damn immigrant cold fronts.


----------



## Winston

People that drive / pass other motorists in the center lane.  That lane is for merging or turning.  It is not a personal "diamond lane".


----------



## Amnesiac

People who are hellbent for leather to pull out in front of me, and then drive 5-10 mph slower than my original rate of travel.

When I'm waiting to make a left turn, (American roadways) and there would ordinarily be a break in traffic, but the oncoming car doesn't use a blinker, and then makes a right turn, thus causing me to miss the opportunity to enter the roadway. Inconsiderate.... :mad2:


----------



## SueC

Mine is traffic-related too!

On the highway, people who doggedly stay in the passing lane as if it was assigned to them. Its wrong to pass on the right, but what can you do? And they also seem to go under the speed limit.

Anyone going under the speed limit.

Oldsters who think the route number (Route 25) is the speed limit in a 45 mph zone! LOL!


----------



## Ma'am

What grinds my gears the most is myself. I could soar so high in so many ways if only I didn't constantly have to wrestle with the spoiled inner two-year-old lol. It's exhausting. Workout time. Cookie! Writing time. Nap! Cleaning time. Toys! I'd spank myself but then I'd just be even weirder.


----------



## Amnesiac

I've done a lot of ah... _interesting_ things in my life, however, self-spanking has not yet been one of them. I might try it. LOL


----------



## Olly Buckle

Horse hair vests are more conventional, but still weird in my book.


----------



## Olly Buckle

I sometimes drive home down the A21. It is an old style two lane main road down our way. The 60 mph national speed limit applies through most of it, but it still goes through a couple of places that are 30 and 40 mph limits. What really grinds my gears are the people who drive at about 45 in the sixty limit, and the forty limit, and drive about 5-10 mph over the limit in the 30limit. If they find it best to drive twenty five percent under the limit on a country road what makes them feel confident to go thirty percent over amongst human habitation? Why do they think they know better than the professional who set the limit? It is based on what is on either side of the road, not how straight or smooth it is.


----------



## KenTR

SueC said:


> On the highway, people who doggedly stay in the passing lane as if it was assigned to them. Its wrong to pass on the right, but what can you do? And they also seem to go under the speed limit.



Imagine this on a staircase: 

I'm hoping to catch a train. Everybody's climbing the stairs, slowly, as if they're marching toward their deaths. I can't get past anyone without being rude. Suddenly, the person in front of me spots a clear, zombie-free stretch of stairs. He moves to the right where the space is and keeps the _exact same pace. _Can someone explain this to me?

Also, people who chat up the clerk selling movie tickets for what seems like ten minutes. What could they possibly be asking? I can hear it now: "Uhh....derp...what's this movie about? How does it end? Are there boobies in it?" Maybe they're asking if it's suitable for kids? Do your homework! Life is too short to deal with perpetually unprepared idiots.


----------



## Amnesiac

Standing in line to order from McDonald's. Yes, I know: It's poison. (Tasty, tasty poison... Don't judge me!) Anyway: Standing in line at McDonald's, and the moron in front of me stands at the register and gazes up at the overhead menu, as if he's never ever seen a McDonald's menu before in his entire life, and neglected to take the opportunity whilst HE was standing in line to peruse the menu before arriving at the register to place his order. I wanted to kick that fella in the ass so hard, he'd wake up last Tuesday.


----------



## NeutralGoodNormie

The sheer stupidity of progressives. Ya know, SJWs; the people whose idea of “increasing diversity” is trashing white men, think that you can’t be racist to whites or sexist to men. Put bluntly, they promote racism and/or sexism yet advocate against them.


----------



## Irwin

Bacon. Why is it that restaurants put bacon on almost everything these days--even salads!  WTF? Not only is it unhealthy, it's gross.


----------



## PiP

Irwin said:


> Bacon. Why is it that restaurants put bacon on almost everything these days--even salads!  WTF? Not only is it unhealthy, it's gross.



Hey, lardons are meant to be trendy. 

What grinds my gears is when they serve unpeeled prawns with no finger bowl or wet wipes


----------



## PiP

Another thing that grinds my gears is when you invite friends to supper they won't take the hint you are tired and knackered (After 6 hours) and go home. How do you politely tell these people to go?


----------



## Ma'am

PiP said:


> Another thing that grinds my gears is when you invite friends to supper they won't take the hint you are tired and knackered (After 6 hours) and go home. How do you politely tell these people to go?



It really does grind my gears that there often doesn't seem to be a polite way to stop impoliteness from others. It's easy to see how some people get used to plowing over everyone to get what they want- it works!

Anyway, I recommend flopping over and snoring. Maybe they'll catch on to that!


----------



## jamie65672

Lots of things grind my gears (my gears are thoroughly grindable) but lately it's been how at work, co-workers don't check the coffee cups to make sure they're clean out of the dishwasher.  Actually had several complaints about that.  I DO check, but it makes me look bad when I turn over a cup to pour coffee into and it's dirty.  I mean, it's not hard, it takes literally one half second to check each cup.  Laziness!


----------



## clark

other people's babies. "Would you like to hold the baby?" she asks, face glowing with love and happiness (obviously mistaking me for a NHB [Normal Human Being]). Baby is cross-eyed, twitching uncontrollably, and drooling some green goop it intends to projectile-vomit any second. "are you out of your fucking mind?" I reply grimly, backing towards the impromptu bar in the corner. Mercifully, I am not asked back.
 out-of-control kids, their parents smiling indulgently as the little monsters toddle around the restaurant, wreaking havoc
immigrant drivers from villages where the only motorized vehicles are the trucks that bring in supplies from time to time. Many of these new drivers are a terrible hazard, sometimes a fatal one
'empowered' millennials who cry if they're inconvenienced or reminded in any way that the world owes them only a few basic rights for deigning to be alive
WF members who receive a two-screen, detailed, professional critique that took well over an hour to prepare and who respond by ticking Thanks.
governments that forget how they got there and where their salaries come from


----------



## Winston

Easily offended people.
If we can't speak honestly to one another, are we even really communicating?
If we change the meaning of what we say to spare potential hurt, there is no future for a civil, functional society.


----------



## KenTR

Winston said:


> Easily offended people.
> If we can't speak honestly to one another, are we even really communicating?
> If we change the meaning of what we say to spare potential hurt, there is no future for a civil, functional society.



Some people today believe they have the right to not be offended. What a frightening world they must live in.

Me, I can count of being offended within three minutes of leaving my house. It strengthens my resolve.

I'd say the first response to being offended should be a brief self-examination. Why were you offended? Is it because of some internal self-conflict or deficit that the offender couldn't possibly have known about? That's usually the case. 

If not, then use it as an opportunity to take action. AND NOT ONLINE.


----------



## Amnesiac

Me: "Have I offended you?"
Her: "Uh.... No."
Me: "Would you _like_ me to?"


----------



## Foxee

When the other person at an intersection clearly got there first and I'm planning to make a left-hand turn right in front of them. So instead of sensibly just heading on their merry way when I stop, they try to wave me through. If I try to get them to go (since it's their turn anyway!) they still sit there and wave and blink their lights. 

It's your freakin' right of way, just GO.


----------



## Ma'am

Days when things just don't go well. Not just one or two things but just about everything.


----------



## PiP

Ma'am said:


> Days when things just don't go well. Not just one or two things but just about everything.



Yep. _Stop the world I want to get off_, days


----------



## Olly Buckle

That people are still dying of leprosy when we have had the means to wipe it out for years. It is not just that, I am seeing it all the time during the current election campaign, people moaning about what we don't have, but they are all talking about 'us' 'here'. They don't even want to be Europeans, let alone part of 'mankind'. The guys that fought Trafalgar and Waterloo were discharged to starve on the street, or die of cold half naked, we have got past that here, we even give everyone an education of some sort. But there are big chunks of the world where that sort of thing is still going on, and really 'they' are also 'we'. It's about time we started thinking of 'we' as everyone, everywhere.


----------



## Amnesiac

Alien: "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't wipe out the entire human race."
Me: "Yeah... Ah.... Maybe I'm not the person to be answering that question!"


----------



## KenTR

Alien: "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't wipe out the entire human race."
Me: "Uhh....chocolate covered pretzels? Sorry, that's all I've got." (runs away covering head)


----------



## Olly Buckle

KenTR said:


> Alien: "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't wipe out the entire human race."
> Me: "Uhh....chocolate covered pretzels? Sorry, that's all I've got." (runs away covering head)



Good reason, the technology required to mass-produce something like that is amazing, as is the understanding of organic chemistry which is cooking. And that's before you get to the packaging. These are aliens, they will have a different mind set for 'awesome' than us, that we would spend a year growing wheat to make bagels, then import chocolate from a totally different source and blend the two could well give them pause for thought. That we then eat, and appear to enjoy eating, and cope with the side effects of eating, such stuff might well be enough to make them back off. 
"You think that's bad ass alien, try blue stilton. Fermented mammalian gland secretions that are then partially rotted. We eat anything, be afraid, very afraid." Picks up knife and fork and starts to advance.


----------



## KenTR

Olly Buckle said:


> Good reason, the technology required to mass-produce something like that is amazing, as is the understanding of organic chemistry which is cooking. And that's before you get to the packaging. These are aliens, they will have a different mind set for 'awesome' than us, that we would spend a year growing wheat to make bagels, then import chocolate from a totally different source and blend the two could well give them pause for thought. That we then eat, and appear to enjoy eating, and cope with the side effects of eating, such stuff might well be enough to make them back off.
> "You think that's bad ass alien, try blue stilton. Fermented mammalian gland secretions that are then partially rotted. We eat anything, be afraid, very afraid." Picks up knife and fork and starts to advance.



Never before have I seen chocolate covered pretzels so nicely legitimized. I suppose something like Hot Pockets, with it's seventy-five word ingredient list, would completely blow their minds.

Just don't try to explain veal cutlets to them...

"Well, we domesticate these animals called cows, force them to betray their natural reproductive cycle, steal their calves and trap them in tiny crates until they get all fat, then we kill them and grind them up and--"

*BOOM!!!*


----------



## Ma'am

I've never really understood the reason for pretzels anyway but I don't think they go with chocolate. What's next, chocolate covered potato chips?

I make an exception for the big soft pretzels, hot from the oven, naturally.

I'm sorry, what was the topic? Ah right, what really grinds your gears. Not much at the moment but the day is far from over.


----------



## Olly Buckle

KenTR said:


> "Well, we domesticate these animals called cows,
> *BOOM!!!*



Worse than that, we created this species 'cow' from huge things called Aurochs, that are now extinct thanks to us, purely to exploit for food in one way or another ...


----------



## Olly Buckle

People asking 'What do you want for Christmas?'  I thought presents were supposed to be a surprise, my missus wants 'This one in size fourteen please'.  I give up, I have started telling my family that I have enough material possessions and what I really want is something like an Oxfam 'Education for girls', so some poor, oppressed , female learns to read and finds out about thinking for herself, or a bit of help for someone like 'Medecins sans frontier' who bring real change to people's lives by giving them their health back, or like the BlondeAverageReader said, pay for someone to buy a bit of land and plant some trees to slow global warming down a bit. If Christmas is for giving give me something that gives, something that improves someone's life.  AND NO MORE BLOODY SOCKS.


----------



## Ma'am

I try to make it easy on my family and friends by telling them (if they ask) that I like scented candles, bath stuff and chocolate. That's easy for them to find, fits any budget, and the list remains the same because I use it up. 

I don't have a big list of people to buy for now but I used to and it can be an impossible task. I wouldn't mind just skipping the gifts or all doing a charity thing instead of exchanging gifts, but I always feel like one person going against whatever the agreed on deal is makes it awkward for the others. (And yes, I'm thinking of one person in particular right now lol).

One friend did regularly request donations to a specific charity (also only when asked) so that was nice direction. The charity even provided a gifty notification card.

(I'm thinking if you're getting too many socks, your peeps may have no idea what sort of surprise you might like).

Little kids are the ones it's fun to buy for.


----------



## Ditchweed242

People that pull out in front of you and then go slow.

They were in a hurry to get in front of you and nothing else.
Whatever emergency they were responding to went silent. Grr.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Ditchweed242 said:


> People that pull out in front of you and then go slow.
> 
> They were in a hurry to get in front of you and nothing else.
> Whatever emergency they were responding to went silent. Grr.



I so know that, when I am on the main road it is dual carriageway, two lanes each way. I don't push it particularly so I am doing about fifty five mph and someone will overtake me doing seventy, pull in front, then brake to about five mph less than I am doing. Why! What did I do to them? It is soooo tempting to put lights on full beam and drive in their boot, but I don't, I drop back and try to think of the money I am saving on petrol and tyre wear. Actually it really is worth it, I always catch up at the next roundabout, traffic jam or whatever so I only lose maybe ten minutes on a longish journey into London and I will save about two or three quid's worth of petrol; twelve to eighteen pounds an hour is a lot when you are on a small pension.


----------



## Ditchweed242

Olly Buckle said:


> I so know that, when I am on the main road it is dual carriageway, two lanes each way. I don't push it particularly so I am doing about fifty five mph and someone will overtake me doing seventy, pull in front, then brake to about five mph less than I am doing. Why! What did I do to them? It is soooo tempting to put lights on full beam and drive in their boot, but I don't, I drop back and try to think of the money I am saving on petrol and tyre wear. Actually it really is worth it, I always catch up at the next roundabout, traffic jam or whatever so I only lose maybe ten minutes on a longish journey into London and I will save about two or three quid's worth of petrol; twelve to eighteen pounds an hour is a lot when you are on a small pension.




I catch myself wondering what they were thinking.
Then I get a bit frightened when I realize that they
are not thinking at all. Shudder.


----------



## Winston

(fill in the blank) Season.

A Holiday is ONE day.  Sometimes, it takes a few days to prepare for that ONE day.  It does not take six to eight weeks of inane, banal force-feeding of consumeristic crap.  Hype.  Stress.  
The only thing I detest worse than the puppet masters pulling these perverted strings are the sheeple that dance to their sick tune.  Seriously, get a life.  Shove your First-World-Problems to the side, and breath.  

Fun Fact:  You can be happy, and celebrate EVERY day!  Not just when they tell you.  Be patriotic July 14th.  Be reverent, or thankful a few days a year.  Or every day.  You choose.  The world is your oyster.


----------



## Foxee

Ditchweed242 said:


> I catch myself wondering what they were thinking.
> Then I get a bit frightened when I realize that they
> are not thinking at all. Shudder.


When my husband was an over-the-road trucker he saw all kinds of crazy things on the road. Maybe one of the scariest was a motorcyclist who blew past him going at least 80 mph, feet up on the highway pegs...texting.


----------



## Ma'am

Bath "bomb" is right. Does anyone want bright blood-red bath water, really?


----------



## Foxee

Ma'am said:


> Bath "bomb" is right. Does anyone want bright blood-red bath water, really?


That sounds a little off-putting.


----------



## Amnesiac

Discussing bath bombs with a buddy. It was a long and rather detailed discussion, and this is how I ended up on the FBI watchlist.


----------



## Irwin

I just bought a toy for my dog at PetsMart which seemed a bit pricey at $29 but it was exactly what I was looking for. When I got home, I checked online and the same toy is selling for $19 on Amazon. That's quite a disparity. I should have checked on my phone while I was in the store and if I showed them, maybe they would have discounted it. But I had my dog with me and he was yanking me this way and that trying to get at other dogs and people, so I guess I was distracted. I also have a case of diarrhea and just wanted to get back home. I know. I know. Too much information.


----------



## KenTR

Amnesiac said:


> Discussing bath bombs with a buddy. It was a long and rather detailed discussion, and this is how I ended up on the FBI watchlist.



Don't discuss urinal cakes in a bakery.

What grinds my gears are produce retailers who literally soak their spinach with water. Please do not tell me that it keeps it fresh longer because it does not. Spinach keeps best when only slightly wet and sealed in an airtight bag or container. 

What it does is add water weight, nothing more. So I'm paying for tap water only to bring it home and have it get wilty and then mushy within a day or two.

I'm still working up the courage to pay for my next bag of spinach and water with sopping wet dollar bills.


----------



## Olly Buckle

But spinach is nearly all water anyway...

In terms of the fruit and veg. dept. my main gripe is that in supermarkets almost everything is in plastic. We only ever buy the loose apples, oranges etc., but it is very restricting. There are also some things that you simply can't get other than wrapped in plastic. Then there are those little stickers they put on fruit. Sometimes they are completely useless, but sometimes they do have a function in that they carry a bar code for the cashier. But why do they have to be made from indestructible plastic. I find them sometimes when I am digging, they have spent a year in a compost bin, been put on the garden, left in the earth for God knows how long, and they still look brand new. Why not make them from biodegradable paper?


----------



## KenTR

Olly Buckle said:


> But spinach is nearly all water anyway...
> 
> In terms of the fruit and veg. dept. my main gripe is that in supermarkets almost everything is in plastic. We only ever buy the loose apples, oranges etc., but it is very restricting. There are also some things that you simply can't get other than wrapped in plastic. Then there are those little stickers they put on fruit. Sometimes they are completely useless, but sometimes they do have a function in that they carry a bar code for the cashier. But why do they have to be made from indestructible plastic. I find them sometimes when I am digging, they have spent a year in a compost bin, been put on the garden, left in the earth for God knows how long, and they still look brand new. Why not make them from biodegradable paper?



Yes, but that water is part of the spinach. You and I are mostly water, but if you sat in a bathtub for thirty six hours, a passing T-Rex might reject you as being too soggy. My point is that all that excess water hastens spoilage. If I'm paying $2.99/lb for spinach I want to be able to eat it all.

As for the plastic, I agree. Everything is wrapped in plastic multiple times. I buy a bundle of paper towels wrapped in plastic. When I take off the plastic, the individual rolls are wrapped in more plastic. Yet the onus is on us, the consumer, to properly sort and recycle all that plastic. If the government stepped in and limited the amount of plastic manufacturers use (much of which is non-recyclable) it would cut down on more waste than recycling does. 

And those little stickers grind my gears as well. They tell us there's no need to peel them off because they're "food grade". I don't consider paper, ink and glue to be "food grade" but I guess I'm just old fashioned.


----------



## KenTR

Really Youtube? You're going to make me sit through thirty seconds of ads for a sixty second video?

No. F**k you.


----------



## becwriter

Bad drivers! They just don't seem to understand that people's lives often depend on the decisions you make behind the wheel. And I don't just mean aggressive drivers. Hesitant, slow drivers are actually worse!


----------



## PiP

what annoys me are the drivers who overtake you on the brow of a hill or on a blind bend.


----------



## escorial

Women drivers putting lippy on at the brow of a hill and spraying hairspray on a blind bend


----------



## Ma'am

People who say offensive things and have no idea what they're talking about.


----------



## Phil Istine

Ma'am said:


> Bath "bomb" is right. Does anyone want bright blood-red bath water, really?



Sounds like a great Halloween prank.


----------



## KenTR

Phil Istine said:


> Sounds like a great Halloween prank.



I used to work in a restaurant. One morning, the prep person was opening a can of New England clam chowder, unaware that someone on the night shift (mostly kids) had switched the labels on the New England and Manhattan clam chowder cans. (NE is white, Manhattan is red). When she took off the lid and began dumping the bright red soup into the pot, she screamed bloody murder.


----------



## Irwin

Three things today:
1. The fact that the Broncos suck
2. I can't watch the Ravens/Bills or the Packers/Redskins games
3. The Patriots are probably going to win against the Chiefs


----------



## Deleted member 56686

Irwin said:


> Three things today:
> 1. The fact that the Broncos suck
> 2. I can't watch the Ravens/Bills or the Packers/Redskins games
> 3. The Patriots are probably going to win against the Chiefs




1. You must be from Denver
2. What do you mean you can't watch the Ravens/ Bills game? As a Ravens fan, I must protest!
3. They better not. :tongue:


----------



## Irwin

mrmustard615 said:


> 1. You must be from Denver
> 2. What do you mean you can't watch the Ravens/ Bills game? As a Ravens fan, I must protest!
> 3. They better not. :tongue:




1. Yep. (Actually a Denver suburb, but close enough)
2. The game's not available here with basic cable. I'm a fan, too! They beat the Patriots!  
3. We'll see.


----------



## Ma'am

I should have known better after the first bath bomb in the box turned the bathwater blood red. But I didn't want to waste them so I tried another flavor, which turned the bathwater yellow. Gross! Good thing there are only two more in the box. I draw the line at brown. Then I'll sue.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Does it stain anything but the water though? Are you yellow from the waist down?


----------



## Deleted member 56686

Irwin said:


> 1. Yep. (Actually a Denver suburb, but close enough)
> 2. The game's not available here with basic cable. I'm a fan, too! They beat the Patriots!
> 3. We'll see.




1. And the Broncos won too. You must be chewing the apholstery. :lol:
2. You missed a great game.
3. And the Patriots lost, Go figure.


----------



## KenTR

Ma'am said:


> I should have known better after the first bath bomb in the box turned the bathwater blood red. But I didn't want to waste them so I tried another flavor, which turned the bathwater yellow. Gross! Good thing there are only two more in the box. I draw the line at brown. Then I'll sue.



What color are you hoping for? Green? That would be unsettling. Pink might make you look like a failed suicide. Blue sounds nice but I can't help but think you'd feel like you were soaking in a toilet.

Are you saying you have no idea what color it will be until you drop them in?

If a soothing, relaxing cleansing is what you're after, just take a Xanax and hop in the shower. But use a bath mat so you don't slip.

Now, what color should that bath mat be?


----------



## KenTR

Interesting how for the last page, this thread has been toggling between bath bombs and football.

I wonder if there's a way to combine the two.


----------



## Ditchweed242

KenTR said:


> Interesting how for the last page, this thread has been toggling between bath bombs and football.
> 
> I wonder if there's a way to combine the two.




It could be a play in football. Would be akin to the Hail Mary but would
be called the Bath Bomb. Flood the field with your colors and bomb away.

Bath Bomb for the win!!!!*:cheers:*


----------



## Irwin

mrmustard615 said:


> 1. And the Broncos won too. You must be chewing the apholstery. :lol:
> 2. You missed a great game.
> 3. And the Patriots lost, Go figure.



Meh. These two wins for Lock and the Broncos could be just anomalies. I didn't watch either one. I saw the end of the 49ers/Saints game, which was a good game, and saw NE lose to KC. WHOOO-hooo!!! Great game!!!


----------



## Amnesiac

becwriter said:


> Bad drivers! They just don't seem to understand that people's lives often depend on the decisions you make behind the wheel. And I don't just mean aggressive drivers. Hesitant, slow drivers are actually worse!



Especially when trying to merge onto the freeway, and the jackhole in front of me only wants to go 40mph, when traffic is moving at 80+mph! Dammit!!!!


----------



## KenTR

People who insist in using only one eighth of their brain.

I go into CVS looking for Brita water filters. I had already looked in Walgreens and Rite Aid, and, aware that there is no rhyme or reason to where they keep this item, I decide to ask for assistance from one of the zombie employees that wander the aisles looking at pictures of sandwiches on their phone.

"Good day, dear sir," I say "Might you be kind enough to direct me to the Brita water filters?"

He looks at me like I just quoted some obscure Shakespearean line in Japanese.

"The Brita water filters. The filters that go into the water pitchers."

Blank stare. I swear I can hear the sound of birds chirping coming out of his ears.

"You know, those water pitchers you use to filter tap water. I'm looking for the filters you drop in."

"Water pitchers?"

Figuring this is as far as I'm going to get with this strange, numb creature, I say, "Yeah."

"Aisle four."

Success at last! Now, my water will no longer taste like I've been soaking loose change in it! Laughing maniacally, I skip like a girl over to aisle four, only to find nothing but soda, sugary fruit drinks, energy drinks, and spring water. Jugs of spring water. 

Jug = pitcher. I guess. Technically, he was right on target.

Being the courteous soul that I am, I congratulate him for being able to stand upright and leave the store in search of some iceberg lettuce I can maybe squeeze the water out of.


----------



## Irwin

Ken, Amazon.com is your friend.


----------



## KenTR

Why didn't I think of that? Thanks!


----------



## Irwin

Google took in over forty BILLION dollars last QUARTER. So why the !@#$% can't they fix the bugs in their software?


----------



## KenTR

Come on now, Irwin. If you expect Sundar Pichai to be the only one without two swimming pools on his fleet of yachts, you truly have no heart.


----------



## Winston

Morning people.  They are so wrong.  
Seriously, learn to regulate your 6:00 AM voice and enthusiasm.  It's unnatural, and disturbing.


----------



## The Green Shield

Winston said:


> Morning people.  They are so wrong.
> Seriously, learn to regulate your 6:00 AM voice and enthusiasm.  It's unnatural, and disturbing.



Never  

This appeared in my YouTube feed:







When YouTube videos do shit like this. They make a title, they show an image that's really obvious who or what they're talking about but then they put in a freaking circle or an arrow around said thing they're talking about!!


----------



## KenTR

*Good morning, Winston! It's 7 am. 

Are you up yet? How's your day been so far? I've already done two loads of laundry!

Howz about you? Winston?

WINSTON? WINSTON???

WAKE UP!!!!*


----------



## Ma'am

Hotels that put snacks in the room that they charge you for if you eat them, then replace them daily. Some of us are simply not capable of controlling ourselves when faced with candy bars and chips at easy access 24/7. I think I'll make them remove the snacks. Oh wait, I already ate all of them again.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Ma'am said:


> Some of us are simply not capable of controlling ourselves when faced with candy bars and chips at easy access 24/7.



You think they don't know that? Of course they do, that's why they do it. And that is why I find I can resist it.


----------



## Winston

People that step out, from the curb, in front of your moving vehicle.
Okay, hear this out:  

It's almost always when if the jerk simply waited 2.8 seconds, you would pass and not have to stop.  I think it's a passive-aggressive power thing.  I've seen people half-run, at an oblique, to position themselves in front of my vehicle.  
Here's the kicker.  Idling cars get ZERO miles per gallon.  Making a car stop, idle, then accelerate ways burns much more fuel than just waiting a second and letting it cruise past.  
You are helping destroy the planet.  Thanks.


----------



## Arcturus

When an expensive part that was replaced six years ago, blows up on my Packard Bell stereo made in 1963.


----------



## KenTR

FBI pirating warnings that seemingly last forever when you're watching a DVD or blu-ray.

I remember the days when you could sit down and watch a movie without being scolded first.


----------



## Arcturus

KenTR said:


> FBI pirating warnings that seemingly last forever when you're watching a DVD or blu-ray.
> 
> I remember the days when you could sit down and watch a movie without being scolded first.



that and non skippable commercials. That was a thing a while back.

Be advised that DVD as a format is slowly disappearing. I  just hope they don't rid of physical media altogether. The sound on streaming absolutely sucks, and isn't true 5.1. The quality isn't really Hi Def, it's more like standard DVD.


----------



## Dan Rhys

Ralph Rotten said:


> People who don't use their cruise control. Their speed is erratic, and they are a PITA to share the road with. Amateurs!
> 
> Entrenched liberals and entrenched conservatives. As a centrist, I find either group to be most irritating. Essentially they have their heads so far up their asses that they cannot be bothered to pull it out long enough to realize that the rest of the world does not share their extremist views. The politically entrenched are the root of most of our problems in this world. They insist on having things their way, and compromise is not an option. I truly wish we could put them in an arena and make them battle to the death, then send in the lions to clean up the survivors. I hate being forced to choose one extremist group or the other. Where are all the damned centrists???



I hate to bring up my experience on another forum (the only time I will), but I hate people who try to goad you into talking politics--even when you make it clear you don't want to--and when you finally cave and give your opinion, they lose their sh** and report you, trying to get you kicked off the site. My attitude is, don't insist on talking about something if you are that hypersensitive to disagreement. I ended up quitting that forum.


----------



## KenTR

Arcturus said:


> that and non skippable commercials. That was a thing a while back.
> 
> Be advised that DVD as a format is slowly disappearing. I  just hope they don't rid of physical media altogether. The sound on streaming absolutely sucks, and isn't true 5.1. The quality isn't really Hi Def, it's more like standard DVD.



Yep. Amazon is the worst that way. Plus, if you want to re-watch a moment, you have time to take a bathroom break before it reloads. God forbid you're fast-forwarding to find a specific point...it's like VHS all over again. 

I also fear the death of physical media. What worries me more is that manufacturers will begin to phase out dvd and blu-ray players. I can not and will not watch a film on a tablet or even a desktop. I need a couch and a big ass screen. 

More and more, I've been seeing people listening to music on their tinny phone speakers. Maybe transistor radios will be the next big thing. 

Consumer technology is capitalism's bastard child. One day a big ol' sunspot's gonna come along and wipe out everyone's data.


----------



## Arcturus

KenTR said:


> Yep. Amazon is the worst that way. Plus, if you want to re-watch a moment, you have time to take a bathroom break before it reloads. God forbid you're fast-forwarding to find a specific point...it's like VHS all over again.
> 
> I also fear the death of physical media. What worries me more is that manufacturers will begin to phase out dvd and blu-ray players. I can not and will not watch a film on a tablet or even a desktop. I need a couch and a big ass screen.
> 
> More and more, I've been seeing people listening to music on their tinny phone speakers. Maybe transistor radios will be the next big thing.
> 
> Consumer technology is capitalism's bastard child. One day a big ol' sunspot's gonna come along and wipe out everyone's data.



Another thing that's been floated is putting a paywall between you and your already owned media. Basically, you have a internet connected DVD/Blu Ray that does an update. After which you put in a movie, a dvd that you already own, and this screen pops up saying "Welcome To Play Fair. To continue playing this movie, you will be redirected to our payment processor." Hypothetical, but I'm afraid that's another thing that's coming.


----------



## KenTR

Arcturus said:


> Another thing that's been floated is putting a paywall between you and your already owned media. Basically, you have a internet connected DVD/Blu Ray that does an update. After which you put in a movie, a dvd that you already own, and this screen pops up saying "Welcome To Play Fair. To continue playing this movie, you will be redirected to our payment processor." Hypothetical, but I'm afraid that's another thing that's coming.



Doesn't surprise me.

This would be of the few instances where lawyers might actually be worth their weight in feathers.


----------



## Irwin

Netflix: let me count the ways


If you put more than about 10 videos in your streaming queue, Roku seems to run out of memory. The app gets real slow and often crashes.
There's no way to turn off the autoplay for previews. And I'll bet all the previews all get loaded into memory which causes Roku to run out of memory.
There's no way to report issues to Netflix. Obviously, they don't care. No other provider has as good a selection or even comes close. It's almost a monopoly, which is why they don't care.

We also have Amazon Prime, which is a much better experience, but they don't have near the selection that Netflix has.


----------



## Ma'am

Dan Rhys said:


> I hate to bring up my experience on another forum (the only time I will), but I hate people who try to goad you into talking politics--even when you make it clear you don't want to--and when you finally cave and give your opinion, they lose their sh** and report you, trying to get you kicked off the site. My attitude is, don't insist on talking about something if you are that hypersensitive to disagreement. I ended up quitting that forum.



A few forums (writing or otherwise) really are just vicious with their eagerness to mob anyone who is not in their little clique. I think it makes them feel all cozy like they belong to the "in" group to join in ganging up on someone, which some immature personalities just can't resist. Junior high never really ends for some people. I say just be glad you're not one of them!


----------



## KenTR

Irwin said:


> Netflix: let me count the ways
> 
> 
> If you put more than about 10 videos in your streaming queue, Roku seems to run out of memory. The app gets real slow and often crashes.
> There's no way to turn off the autoplay for previews. And I'll bet all the previews all get loaded into memory which causes Roku to run out of memory.
> There's no way to report issues to Netflix. Obviously, they don't care. No other provider has as good a selection or even comes close. It's almost a monopoly, which is why they don't care.
> 
> We also have Amazon Prime, which is a much better experience, but they don't have near the selection that Netflix has.



Netflix was quite helpful when I was having trouble setting up my account (because I am an idiot) but after that, they don't want to be bothered. I'm not sure what women's prison they hire their customer service reps from, but I suspect the woman I was talking to was counting drug money or something while we spoke. 

I asked her if there was a way I could disable that annoying booming sound that comes on when the app loads and she told me to mute my TV. 

The conversation went downhill from that point on...


----------



## TL Murphy

Large dogs that sniff your crotch. 

Dog owners that let their large dogs sniff your crotch.

Dog owners who say “Oh, he’s friendly,”  after their dog just bit you.

Dog owners who don’t pick up their dog’s shit.

Dog owners.

Oh, and did I mention dog owners?


----------



## TL Murphy

Writers who don’t know the difference between “lie” and “lay”


----------



## TL Murphy

I don’t.  But they’re everywhere.


----------



## TL Murphy

Plastic packaging.

Plastic packaging wrapped in plastic packaging.


----------



## Ma'am

TL Murphy said:


> Large dogs that sniff your crotch.
> 
> Dog owners that let their large dogs sniff your crotch.
> 
> Dog owners who say “Oh, he’s friendly,”  after their dog just bit you.
> 
> Dog owners who don’t pick up their dog’s shit.
> 
> Dog owners.
> 
> Oh, and did I mention dog owners?



ITA. My husband and I like to take an evening stroll and really hate it when someone's pit bull (or other large dog that could really do some damage if it wanted to) practically lunges at us, while the stupid owner, who obviously can't control it (demonstrated by the fact that it doesn't obey their commands), "assures" us that it's just fine. If you can't handle it, don't have it!


----------



## TL Murphy

I mountain bike.  My town is surrounded by parkland.  It’s illegal to have a dog off-leash in a park because dogs will chase wildlife.  But everyone does it.  I come around a corner on a downhill section and there is a dog in the middle of the trail.  My choice is to hit the dog or maybe crash. I have less than a second to decide.  I’ve hit a number of dogs and I’ve also crashed a few times. Either way, the dog owner is always pissed off at me.  Like it’s my fault.  Like I shouldn’t be there.


----------



## Robbie

Tim you must be the most coordinated skier on earth...and the healthiest. I am thinking of taking up vaping thc the for pain but checking it out for safety. I want to be healthy and limber too and if I can find something for pain other than opioids that is relatively non harmful maybe I can ski again. I was a pro at water skiing years ago...ok I know the difference but I have excellent hARMONY in muscle/brain structure and want to try again. My problem is I get overconfident.


----------



## TL Murphy

You just keep going Robbie. Get off the opioids and start walking every day.


----------



## PiP

Biro said:


> Be funny if somebody gets you a puppy for xmas.



Have you tasted puppy pie?


----------



## PiP

TL Murphy said:


> Large dogs that sniff your crotch.
> 
> Dog owners that let their large dogs sniff your crotch.
> 
> Dog owners who say “Oh, he’s friendly,”  after their dog just bit you.
> 
> Dog owners who don’t pick up their dog’s shit.
> 
> Dog owners.
> 
> Oh, and did I mention dog owners?



I'll add these to the list

Dog owners who ignore the 'No Dogs on Beach' sign. On a designated Blue Flag beach. The dogs then crap everywhere including on the kids sandcastles and over your bags and beach blankets.

Dog owners who refuse to take their dogs for a walk in residential areas on a leash. The dogs chase cars and when you stop the dog jumps up and scratches your paintwork. Now hubby refuses to stop.

Dog owners who let their dogs crap just outside your gates so it ends up in your car tires as your drive the car onto the drive.

Dog owners who despite you telling them you are terrified of dogs and beg them to take it away from you refuse to take control of their dog. All they say is 'It won't hurt you'. When a dog is growling and barking at someone who is terrified of dogs their response is indulgent and selfish.

Dog owners who leave their dogs chained on a short leash in their garden  all day while they are at work. The poor dog is left in distress and barks all day.

Believe it or not, I actually do like some dogs.


----------



## PiP

> Regards the beach....... well dog shite is nothing to what I have found in the sand and it didnt come from no animal.
> 
> Regards shiting on the beach.......dont think it always comes from doggies and I aint joking!!!



I know what you mean, I live in the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina .  which is a protected area of outstanding beauty.

Recently, we have become infested with wild campers some of them show no respect for this beautiful area. They crap everywhere and to add insult to injury they leave their soiled toilet paper to blow in the wind.


----------



## PiP

Wow, Biro. Have you set up CCTV that could be used to prosecute? What do the police say?


----------



## PiP

IT might be petty crime for the police but if it's ongoing and people are taking the 'pee' then surely it should be dealt with. Feel for you, Biro.


----------



## PiP

Is fly-tipping an offence? I thought the local council dealt with that. Your rubbish problem would certainly grind my gears


----------



## Amnesiac

Mankind, for all of his advances and technological prowess, has scarcely evolved beyond the level of the common beast.

In our scientific, medical, and technological abilities, we are light-years more advanced than we were as Neanderthals. In other, more concrete and everyday interactions, manners, civilization, and living within the framework of a society; yeah.... not so much.


----------



## Olly Buckle

We were not Neanderthals, that was a different species in the genus 'Homo'. There were about half a dozen of them back then, they all died out except for us. Unusual, most animals have several species in their genus, think of bears for example. But yes, one of the early homo erectus skeletons shows signs of vitamin poisoning, very painful, very disabling. they were showing signs that it had been a fairly long term condition though, so must have had some sort of support to have survived. The social group is old, and sometimes it still doesn't work, so not that much has happened.


----------



## Arcturus

Amnesiac said:


> Mankind, for all of his advances and technological prowess, has scarcely evolved beyond the level of the common beast.
> 
> In our scientific, medical, and technological abilities, we are light-years more advanced than we were as Neanderthals. In other, more concrete and everyday interactions, manners, civilization, and living within the framework of a society; yeah.... not so much.



Society is only three missed meals away from breaking down. It's true.


----------



## Arcturus

Biro said:


> I think it's less than that now.  I would say at most two and this is because most modern day people have to visit a supermarket, shop or fast food joint every single day for every single meal.
> 
> Also with the widespread use of coffee machines, as people have lost their ability to make a meal for themselves they will soon be unable to make a hot drink also.  Take away bottle drinks and some may even die of thirst.



At the risk of starting an off topic convo in this thread and I realize this was played for laughs but it's much deeper than that. No one knows  how grow and can vegetables, or how cook a meal from scratch. Most ten year olds today, it wasn't for prepackaged food and the microwave, they would literally, starve to death.  No one today knows how fix things, and that's the tip of the iceberg.


----------



## Ma'am

When they take your stuff away at the airport. I'm sure my tweezers and tiny manicure scissors are a great danger, though. I could go on a mad spree in the air, pinching people and snipping off their clothing tags, for example.


----------



## Arcturus

Biro said:


> Yeah but what you do not realise is that with audiobooks..............nobody will bother to read..........so you are all....DOOMED!!!!!
> 
> Tis true though, the average human in twenty years time will be as dumb as a post.  Half of kids today dont know what sex they are so what chance have they got?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just don't understand why nobody likes me:santa:



Ever seen the film Idiocracy?


----------



## PiP

Men who are too stubborn to go to the doctors when they are in pain.


----------



## Arcturus

Biro said:


> No but go on......



Its from 2005. It was supposed to have been a comedy but it's quickly becoming more like a documentary. A soldier with very average intelligence is transported about 150 years into the future. In the meantime, the country has fallen apart from mindnumbingly levels of stupidity. He finds he's the smartest person in the world.  The other problem is that stupid people outbred the smart one by the millions


----------



## TL Murphy

Arcturus said:


> At the risk of starting an off topic convo in this thread and I realize this was played for laughs but it's much deeper than that. No one knows  how grow and can vegetables, or how cook a meal from scratch. Most ten year olds today, it wasn't for prepackaged food and the microwave, they would literally, starve to death.  No one today knows how fix things, and that's the tip of the iceberg.



They google it.


----------



## Arcturus

TL Murphy said:


> They google it.



The point is that they would literally not know how to do the steps or even in some cases, be allowed around the stove.


----------



## Olly Buckle

PiP said:


> Men who are too stubborn to go to the doctors when they are in pain.



I wonder. Are they stubborn or afraid? 'If it has not been diagnosed you still haven't got it' may not be logical, but it is quite human.


----------



## Darkkin

People who do not understand what a massive inconvenience it is to always be the one who is always cold...


----------



## Arcturus

Biro said:


> This gets very serious now but it is part of dumbing down the population.
> 
> The thicker and less capable the people are the easier they are to control.  This is used by politicians and big corp to sell you stuff.
> 
> It has been used in the past by religion to great effect as nobody wants a thinker.
> 
> Really really treading the line.



Exactly. I'm currently listening to the Testaments. The followup to the Handmaid's Tale. One of the first things Sons of Jacob did was purge intelligent women, doctors, lawyers, etc.


----------



## Winston

Arcturus said:


> Exactly. I'm currently listening to the Testaments. The followup to the Handmaid's Tale. One of the first things Sons of Jacob did was purge intelligent women, doctors, lawyers, etc.



Not exactly a new concept.  It's a time-proven tactic for those in power to silence minority opinion and to establish the framework for "acceptable discourse".  Preemptively censoring those individuals that espouse counter-revolutionary thought is more efficient than combating the thoughts themselves.  Social pressure, re-education and then internment.  It's not science fiction.    
Yes, THAT grinds my gears.


----------



## Greg William

The holidays. Humbug.


----------



## Irwin

Gift giving. I think that's more to benefit the giver than the receiver since for most things, if there's something I want, I just go on Amazon and buy it. But on Christmas, I always get a bunch of stuff I don't want or need, and I have to act like I'm grateful, and then it just goes in a box with a bunch of other crap that people have given me that I didn't want or need.


----------



## Ma'am

Recipes that call for tiny amounts of expensive and/or unusual ingredients that are not sold in tiny amounts. 

They could at least include some reasonable substitutes.


----------



## PiP

Ma'am said:


> Recipes that call for tiny amounts of expensive and/or unusual ingredients that are not sold in tiny amounts.
> 
> They could at least include some reasonable substitutes.



Living in Portugal the challenge I have is finding alternative ingredients. The latest is tinned cooked green lentils. I did discover that chicory is called white brussel sprouts. Go figure


----------



## Dive Bar Casanova

My daughters love how neatly I write or print.
Our youngest son, a smart, honors student 16 year old was allowed to stay home for the first time while the wifie and I traveled.
I left him a note of this and that of course.
I had neatly written the note in cursive.

He couldn't read the note. They no longer teach cursive in schools out here.
Two things ground me. I never knew that fact and that they don't teach it anymore.

I was at Starbucks this morning and asked the Barista girls there, all around age 18 if they "_wrote or read cursive?_" Their answer was "_no_."


----------



## Ma'am

Employees who first cause you a problem with their mistake, then get smart with you, on top of it. Hope she enjoyed hanging up on me when I asked to speak to a manager because I just mailed a formal letter to the owner instead. :upset:


----------



## Irwin

More than one out of every four PCs run Windows 7, yet Microsoft no longer supports it. They want us to purchase Windows 10, which has huge security issues!

Update:
Apparently, a downloadable version of Windows 10 is available for free from Microsoft's website, which is highly unusual--especially since numerous companies are selling it for well over $100.


----------



## Deleted member 56686

Windows 10 is free. The idea is to update it frequently since Microsoft is apparently now in the advertising business,


----------



## Irwin

mrmustard615 said:


> Windows 10 is free. The idea is to update it frequently since Microsoft is apparently now in the advertising business,



Do you get Microsoft ads popping up when you run it?


----------



## PiP

What grinds my gears? Able bodied people who use designated disabled (washrooms) toilets. These private cubicles are larger so you can take your wheelchair in with you. Today I queued for ages for the WC only to find it was being used by a fit young man to take a dump. My goodness, it smelt so bad his insides must have been rotten... ffended:ffended:


----------



## Olly Buckle

There was nothing wrong with xp as far as I was concerned


----------



## Deleted member 56686

Irwin said:


> Do you get Microsoft ads popping up when you run it?




No, but you do get ads on web pages that are supposedly suited to your interests (depending on where you surf). Plus they have the Microsoft Store they like to promote. At least it's cheaper than having to buy the next Windows 11 (they'll always revamp 10 supposedly).


Yeah, I liked XP too.


----------



## Phil Istine

mrmustard615 said:


> No, but you do get ads on web pages that are supposedly suited to your interests (depending on where you surf). Plus they have the Microsoft Store they like to promote. At least it's cheaper than having to buy the next Windows 11 (they'll always revamp 10 supposedly).
> 
> 
> Yeah, I liked XP too.



If drivers for newer hardware were readily available, I'd happily still use Windows 98SE - the last windows operating system before Microsoft decided to assimilate humanity.


----------



## Phil Istine

PiP said:


> What grinds my gears? Able bodied people who use designated disabled (washrooms) toilets. These private cubicles are larger so you can take your wheelchair in with you. Today I queued for ages for the WC only to find it was being used by a fit young man to take a dump. My goodness, it smelt so bad his insides must have been rotten... ffended:ffended:



I must confess to having done this, but only when in distress - a choice of crapping myself or using what was available.  I take more fibre in my diet these days.


----------



## Olly Buckle

PiP said:


> What grinds my gears? Able bodied people who use designated disabled (washrooms) toilets. These private cubicles are larger so you can take your wheelchair in with you. Today I queued for ages for the WC only to find it was being used by a fit young man to take a dump. My goodness, it smelt so bad his insides must have been rotten... ffended:ffended:



Disability is not always obvious, maybe he needed room to empty his colostomy bag


----------



## PiP

True, Olly. But there are normal toilets.  The sign clearly states wheelchairs.


----------



## Irwin

I was greeted with a message this morning that Windows had installed new updates and rebooted the computer. WTF? If they're not supporting Windows 7 any more, why are they installing updates?

After reading news online for a minute or so, Windows crashed--presenting me with the dreaded blue screen of death! Thanks for the updates, Microsoft!

Some of the news was critical of our wannabe king. Could it be that big brother is cracking down on reporting?


----------



## JonF

Irwin said:


> I was greeted with a message this morning that Windows had installed new updates and rebooted the computer. WTF? If they're not supporting Windows 7 any more, why are they installing updates?
> 
> After reading news online for a minute or so, Windows crashed--presenting me with the dreaded blue screen of death! Thanks for the updates, Microsoft!
> 
> Some of the news was critical of our wannabe king. Could it be that big brother is cracking down on reporting?



This is the primary reason I switched to Linux Mint for my home computer.


----------



## Irwin

JonF said:


> This is the primary reason I switched to Linux Mint for my home computer.



Yeah, I've thought about going that route, but it would all day to migrate, and some of the software I use isn't available for Linux, and there are things I'd rather be doing than farting around with the operating system.


----------



## JonF

Irwin said:


> Yeah, I've thought about going that route, but it would all day to migrate, and some of the software I use isn't available for Linux, and there are things I'd rather be doing than farting around with the operating system.



You can fart around with your operating system or it can fart around with you LOL...


----------



## REBtexas

Here in Texas many roads have a very wide margin on the right where if you want, you can dive in to let people behind you pass.  I hate it when I move over for one of these impatient drivers only to then have them crawl around me while I am having to drive extra careful inside this margin area.


----------



## Amnesiac

I usually hate people. Especially since I can never eat a whole one, myself. In a casserole, or browned and stirred into the chili, they're not so bad.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Coming to our village down the main road there is a steep hill with sharp bends. Coming home the other night and it had been pouring all day, there was water across the road deep enough to grab the steering. I was doing 50mph, which was maximum for the conditions, but there was nothing in front of me and I know the road. The guy behind was driving so close there were times I lost his headlights. He must have been totally blinded when I went through that water, didn't back off at all though.


----------



## Amnesiac

PiP said:


> True, Olly. But there are normal toilets.  The sign clearly states wheelchairs.



Which is really weird. I imagine wheelchairs would be difficult to fit in the toilet, and they probably wouldn't flush very well, either.


----------



## tepelus

Olly Buckle said:


> Coming to our village down the main road there is a steep hill with sharp bends. Coming home the other night and it had been pouring all day, there was water across the road deep enough to grab the steering. I was doing 50mph, which was maximum for the conditions, but there was nothing in front of me and I know the road. The guy behind was driving so close there were times I lost his headlights. He must have been totally blinded when I went through that water, didn't back off at all though.



I hate bumper humpers.


----------



## PiP

tepelus said:


> I hate bumper humpers.



What a great name!


----------



## REBtexas

Lately I have been watching Near Death Experience testimonies over on YouTube.  I just find them fascinating.  Plus, I'm no  spring chicken and gradually over time my attention has fallen upon my own pending demise.  So wondering about what "happens to you" when you die, these videos are about as close to first-hand, real-life reporting as it gets.  Many of these folks have a direct encounter with either Jesus, God, or both. Often the individuals say that the reason they didn't really die was that they were given a message to tell everyone back on earth.  If they weren't given a direct message, they just want to desperately tell everyone not to be afraid and of all the wonderful things they saw, heard, experienced,etc.  So far so good, and sure enough they write a book. Only $25. This is where I am confused.  This bugs me because if it were me, and I was given a message THAT important and THAT holy, I wouldn’t want to or even dare charge a dime for my book.  And many times these interviews take place in the person’s home and you can tell just by looking that they’re not broke. Anyhow, just something that bugs me.


----------



## Amnesiac

The best evidence that consciousness/Soul/spirit survives physical death, is personal experience. Lucid dreams, purposely having an out of body experience... There is no substitute for individual experience.


----------



## REBtexas

@Amnesiac, Well, these NDEs are about as a personal experience as it gets. As they say, certainly not like a dream.  One woman had drowned in the ocean off a small Hawaiian island.  She had been under the water for 30 minutes.  How amazing is that?  I personally had an experience when I was living in upstate New York with my grandparents. I totally stumbled into this experience.  I certainly wasn't trying to make anything happen or even really resting my thoughts upon any of this.  It just suddenly happened.  I was around 18 at the time.  So that's 55 years ago.  For me, it was some odd, random, curious questions I started to ask myself, rather than an accident of some sort. I was laying on my bed in my very small bedroom and I started to scan the room left to right: a dresser, a closet door, a picture of my dad's Army unit, a window and a small picture of three of us as children.  I noticed how crystal clear and positively conscious I was, stopping at each object to absolutely confirm that I was conscious of it and that it was in fact there.  Then for some odd reason I "pretended" to be in my late 20s and did the same thing.  Then I pretended to be 35 and 45 and 55 and 75.  Each time I felt myself older, but I was still looking thru the same eyes, the same body, and each time the same confirmation occurred. Then 85 and then about to die.  I was so old I could hardly open my eyes.  But thru slits of skin once again, one last time I scanned the room left to right, stopping at each object, confirming, yes, there it is.  Crystal clear. Then I pretended that I had died and my body removed.  But "I" was still there in my room.  "I" started to scan the objects again.  The first was the dresser.  Yes it was there.  Crystal clear. I then lowered my chin to look at my body but nothing was there.  Yet I looked up and all was there.  Crystal clear.  I then went into ecstasy. This personal experience has never left me. I wonder if anyone reading this has had a personal experience?


----------



## Amnesiac

Very cool! I awoke one Sunday morning, after a dream of pastel light; hues of light blue, lavender, soft pink, and pale yellow... I awoke, bobbing about two feet from the ceiling. I was ecstatic! I grew too enthusiastic, and it caused me to slowly, inexorably be drawn back to my physical body. I re-entered my body, and after a moment of darkness, I awoke for real! I was so happy! I actually KNEW/KNOW beyond any shadow of a doubt, that consciousness exists independent of the physical body. In other words, death is an illusion!

Recently, I had a lucid dream. I was walking near some brick buildings. It looked like a university. At the end of the path I was walking on, there was a wrought iron gate and a cherry blossom tree. The wind began blowing blossoms off of the tree, and at the same time, I began walking like I was on the moon: Each step, I grew lighter and lighter until I finally became aware that I was dreaming, and I exclaimed, "Up!" and began soaring into the sky like Superman, higher and faster, until stars began whizzing by and I fell into sleep again.


----------



## Ma'am

What grinds my gears is insect invasions my pantry. 

After the first pantry infestation a few years ago, I started putting all containers of dry goods into either Tupperware containers or at least heavy duty freezer bags (which is a PITA, mind you). I also clear out the old stuff regularly. 

Still, now and then I get another infestation anyway. Last night, I finally found the source of my latest visitors, tiny moth-like creatures. They were in the popcorn kernels, which were in a Tupperware storage container. Apparently, the amount of air inside the container is enough for them to live on.

A couple of months ago, the culprit was some fancy lentil pasta. 

Granted, these infestations don't get far since, as mentioned, everything stays sealed up pretty well. But they are still disgusting! I think they must be coming from the damn grocery store. I would like to see the conditions in their warehouse. Yup, that grinds my gears.


----------



## Irwin

Lying politicians and their lying lawyers as well as lying pundits and the lying populace who, without their support, all the lying wouldn't be so lucrative.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Lying will always be lucrative for some. Lying is used to manipulate and screwing money out of people is one of the commoner manipulations.


----------



## Amnesiac

Mylar bags, and sealable plastic buckets are a tad expensive, but eventually, they pay for themselves in salvaged rice, flour, and sugar that you don't have to throw out.



Ma'am said:


> What grinds my gears is insect invasions my pantry.
> 
> After the first pantry infestation a few years ago, I started putting all containers of dry goods into either Tupperware containers or at least heavy duty freezer bags (which is a PITA, mind you). I also clear out the old stuff regularly.
> 
> Still, now and then I get another infestation anyway. Last night, I finally found the source of my latest visitors, tiny moth-like creatures. They were in the popcorn kernels, which were in a Tupperware storage container. Apparently, the amount of air inside the container is enough for them to live on.
> 
> A couple of months ago, the culprit was some fancy lentil pasta.
> 
> Granted, these infestations don't get far since, as mentioned, everything stays sealed up pretty well. But they are still disgusting! I think they must be coming from the damn grocery store. I would like to see the conditions in their warehouse. Yup, that grinds my gears.


----------



## Ma'am

Deleted. Ugh. Must be positive and think happy thoughts!


----------



## escorial

Standing waiting for a bus when one always comes on the other side of the road first....


----------



## Olly Buckle

'Them and us', rather than 'We'


----------



## hvysmker

From ma'am 





> What grinds my gears is insect invasions my pantry.



In Honolulu in the 70s it was roaches. They were everywhere. In city buses, grocery stores, taxis,offices.  I'd get home with sacks of groceries. When unpacking, roaches would run out.

Every few years the landlord would cover buildings with tarps and spray inside and even into the ground. A week or so later ... they were back.

In my little thatched roof home in Japan and in The sewer pipe I lived in in Vietnam the problem was rats. They’d live in the ceiling, fight, and drop down onto my bed. I learned to live with them. They never tried to bite or hung around inside.


----------



## Ma'am

Unsolicited grossness on TV. I don't want to see a graphic ad for the Dr. Pimple Popper show, or the show about the podiatrist treating nasty feet, the commercial for shelter dogs that plays sad music and shows dogs with ugly wounds, or the new ad where the girl puts a blackhead-extracting pad on her nose then shows us a close-up of the results.


----------



## Ma'am

Nosey neighbors!

I was clearing stuff out of my house and taking it to the street, when a neighbor woman barged right into my house and took a tour! I had to rush back in to keep an eye on her.

Why would people you are not friends with think they should run straight over whenever they see anything going on, and ask a bunch of nosey questions anyway?!


----------



## Amnesiac

Watching TV with my sister or mom, as a teen, and now, as the father of a teen girl, and commercials for tampons or other "feminine hygiene products" comes on the TV, or, worse yet, watching TV with any of the aforementioned females, and a fairly graphic sex scene comes on.  Come on, man!!!!

In the late 90's, "Herbal Essences" ran a commercial that had a woman in the shower, using their shampoo, and the girl is scream-moaning, "YES! YES! YEEEEESSS!" so I was washing my three-year old daughter's hair, and she starts the whole, "YES! YES YES!!" routine. "Herbal Essences" got a really pissed-off email from me, and whaddya' know: The commercial was pulled. I'm sure I'm not the only one who complained about it.

By way of example:

[video=youtube_share;UsfNXj9s-iY]https://youtu.be/UsfNXj9s-iY[/video]


----------



## escorial

people who take drugs..especialy custom officers and police


----------



## Amnesiac

By _take_, you mean, _confiscate_?


----------



## escorial

if i have to explain it...


----------



## JohnCalliganWrites

...


----------



## JohnCalliganWrites

There is something funky going on with my last post. I wanted to edit it because the link is no good, but I can’t see it. I’m still listed as the last too post and I can see the post in my own history, but it’s not on the thread.

edit: it finally appeared. I’ll fix it later when I’m not tired.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Amnesiac said:


> By _take_, you mean, _confiscate_?



Those who take the ones they confiscate. Unspeakable people.


----------



## Amnesiac

I don't know. In the years I worked as a sheriff's deputy, I never knew anyone that did anything like that. Your mileage may vary, of course. I don't know what the UK is like...


----------



## Irwin

Who donates money to build a tennis pavilion on the White House grounds? Oh, yeah... somebody expecting something in return.


----------



## SueC

There are so many things on TV that are annoying, it's really difficult to find just one. However . . .

I'm with Amnesiac on the feminine hygiene products. There are so many, I guess they feel they have to be really annoying to assure that everyone remembers their name. The one - can't remember which - where they assure their audience of the reliability of their product by showing the back end of a girl riding a bike. I mean seriously. 

Has anyone else noticed how emotional commercials are these days? Okay - the worst is the one with Matthew McConaughey while he's at a lake, supposedly ice fishing. What he's really doing is sitting on the back bumper while some poor schlep has to go out into the middle of the lake, drill a hole, stick the pole in and then take a hike as if he was never there while Matty looks up with pleasure when a fish takes the bait - as if he did it. Sheesh. What about that commercial is supposed to make me want to buy a freakin' car?

I'll stop now, but I could on and on . . .


----------



## Olly Buckle

SueC said:


> There are so many things on TV that are annoying, it's really difficult to find just one. However . . .
> 
> I'm with Amnesiac on the feminine hygiene products. There are so many, I guess they feel they have to be really annoying to assure that everyone remembers their name. The one - can't remember which - where they assure their audience of the reliability of their product by showing the back end of a girl riding a bike. I mean seriously.



Some one should tell them that 'Blue blooded' is not a factual description, And any middle aged woman who leaks blue urine when she laughs should get straight down the doctor's.


----------



## escorial

from a small packet you can go skydiving,climbing,skiing..swimming..sounds like value for money


----------



## Ma'am

However, I love the insurance company commercials. The Geico gecko, the Aflac duck and the Liberty Mutual emu. Adorable!


----------



## Foxee

I've never had cable TV and I pay Hulu a bit extra to leave the commercials out. It's a quiet life...until I get on You Tube...and they put advertising all through a video I'm trying to watch. *grump*


----------



## hvysmker

Foxee said:


> I've never had cable TV and I pay Hulu a bit extra to leave the commercials out. It's a quiet life...until I get on You Tube...and they put advertising all through a video I'm trying to watch. *grump*



I've noticed that in the last week. Some only have space savers for later ads. It looks like the free ride is over. 

You can try network web sites or maybe Internet Archives. I don't know about tv, but they have thousands of old public domain movies:
https://archive.org/details/movies


----------



## Amnesiac

I... I bought one of those packets and I put it in my pocket. Now I'm feeling really free, like...... like I wanna' go play tennis, or ride horses on the beach, or... or something like that. I feel amazing. Why didn't I think of this YEARS ago?!


----------



## RWK

People who drive below the posted limit and ignore the vehicles stacking up behind them.


----------



## Amnesiac

I drive on a two-lane highway to and from work. Left lane is for people driving the posted 70mph or faster. There are signs asking slower traffic to keep to the right hand lane.

Big trucks are limited to 55mph. Joe big rig driver decides that rig in front of him is only doing 53mph, so he yanks his whole rig into the fast lane, causing everyone to cram on their brakes, and then he takes the better part of a mile to pass the guy he's wanting to pass, and then, when he pulls back into the right hand lane, everyone else has to expend the fuel it takes to get back up to speed. And this happens every. fucking. day.


----------



## Ma'am

It really grinds my gears when people think they don't have to write a story for the weekly Lean and Mean flash fiction challenge. Grrrr!!!

The prompt this week is "a color (your choice)." Details are in my signature below.

Come on, Amnesiac and RWK!


----------



## Irwin

People who let you down. Oh, well. They provide things to write about.


----------



## Olly Buckle

The title of this thread always puts me in mind of driving.

People who don't follow the rules of the road. Most laws protect property and privilege, traffic laws started being introduced to protect pedestrians who were being slaughtered. The same ethos has prevailed, it doesn't matter if you drive the cheapest ford or the most expensive Ferrari the same traffic laws apply and they are designed to make sure it all happens safely.

There are people who are selfish enough to do anything they think they can 'Get away with'. There are people who simply don't know the rules, they indicate wrongly on roundabouts, stuff like that. There are also the good natured and pleasant people who don't want to push their rights, it may be their right of way but they beckon out the car wanting to turn in front of them, and he takes out the motorcycle overtaking them. That sort of thing. If people observed rights of way, speed limits, recommended distances, stop signs, road markings, pedestrian crossings etc. journeys might not be quite as exciting, but a lot of people wouldn't die before their time.


----------



## RWK

Ma'am said:


> It really grinds my gears when people think they don't have to write a story for the weekly Lean and Mean flash fiction challenge. Grrrr!!!
> 
> The prompt this week is "a color (your choice)." Details are in my signature below.
> 
> Come on, Amnesiac and RWK!




Sorry, I'm working on my next novel. But I have some old stuff I could post. Where do I post it?


----------



## DennisP

Thread Count -

What really grinds my gears is that I have to post 30 threads before I can post the opening scene from my romance novel for critique in the Romance Forum. 

So here I am posting this nonsense in the Lounge to get my thread count up, like I'm some cheap hotel fabric. 

Okay, a poor attempt at humour. Unlikely to be appreciated even by those who realize a 500-count Egyptian cotton sheet is probably just as good as a 1000-count. Me, I prefer flannel, which is sold by weight rather than thread count. Flannel sheets grip the body, so I'm less likely to slip out of bed than with some fine linen.

Gotta go. Eighteen more threads to post.


----------



## PiP

DennisP said:


> Thread Count -
> 
> What really grinds my gears is that I have to post 30 threads before I can post the opening scene from my romance novel for critique in the Romance Forum.
> 
> .



It reverted to ten posts some time ago. Please let me know if you experience any further difficulties posting


----------



## DennisP

PiP said:


> It reverted to ten posts some time ago. Please let me know if you experience any difficulties.






Same message, but at 15 posts, I'm halfway there.


----------



## Darren White

That's a strange bug, we will look into this. 
We reverted to 10 posts quite a long time back, and we haven't had this problem until now. Let's see if we can solve it.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Knee jerk government. They take no measures to stop people associating, and say we mustn't panic buy. Then when people start taking their own measures they tell us that over seventies are going to have to stay indoors for a month or so. Let's hope they did a bit of panic buying first, and the person who collects their meds from the chemist every week because they can't go out doesn't fall ill. Good chance of that actually, chemists must be more exposed to sick people than most.

The other one is the 'wartime' analogy, the bloody 'Dunkirk spirit' is not going to 'See us through', this is the language of morons without knowledge or a plan. Sorry about the swearing, but really!


----------



## Phil Istine

I've stopped visiting my friend across the road already.  He's only 65/66, but has health problems that the virus can adversely affect.  He's in agreement with me on this.  I was meant to be taking him to a non-urgent hospital appointment next week, but I can't see that happening now.  At least he got the cataract removed from his 'good' eye a while back - the bad one will probably have to wait.  The bad eye is very bad anyway.


----------



## luckyscars

Olly Buckle said:


> [strike]Knee[/strike] jerk government.



Fixed it for you!



Olly Buckle said:


> The other one is the 'wartime' analogy, the bloody 'Dunkirk spirit' is not going to 'See us through', this is the language of morons without knowledge or a plan. Sorry about the swearing, but really!



Ye gods, yes. There is literally nothing more insufferable than a moronic English person bringing up Dunkirk and/or World War Two with wet-knickered masochistic glee at the thought of some avoidable hardship. It's the British equivalent of Americans prattling on about 'freedom' whenever anybody brings up guns or healthcare.

Anybody who mentions these things as a straight-faced response to 21st century problems deserves to have the Statue Of Liberty and/or Big Ben inserted up their ass. Give me the gloves, I'll help.


----------



## PiP

luckyscars said:


> Anybody who mentions these things as a straight-faced response to 21st century problems deserves to have the Statue Of Liberty and/or Big Ben inserted up their ass. Give me the gloves, I'll help.



and the Eiffel tower.

Your words are the first to make me smile in days.


----------



## alice_attarado

Trollheart said:


> I hate to see people at a pedestrian crossing/traffic light jabbing impatiently at the button



gee whiz, I should not have seen that.  I do jab'em a lot, almost on every crossing. I confess I even try to get closer to the pole to reach the little pushy I'm longing for. The only excuse I can offer is that I do it very gentely, barely touching it - like a piano player ending a long scale


----------



## Olly Buckle

Crossings should be 'On demand', instant. Pedestrians are out there in the weather and drivers are sitting down in warm, comfortable cars. That would also cure the annoyance of people pressing the button, then crossing when the road is clear and stopping the traffic after they have gone.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Bloody complacent incompetents in charge!

China had six new cases of coronavirus yesterday, people who had come from Europe. They have taken control and wiped it out.

Meanwhile I am being told "Everyone's going to get it', 'Wait for 'herd immunity'.', 'Many of you will lose loved ones.'  What they mean is 'My boss has a private island I am invited to when it gets really bad and in the meantime you lot keep working and making him money because we don't give a shit about the proles.'
So tell me, who actually has 'Government for the people'? Of course people are panic buying, there is no one in charge any sane person would trust, it is everyone for themselves, just like them.


----------



## luckyscars

Olly Buckle said:


> Bloody complacent incompetents in charge!
> 
> China had six new cases of coronavirus yesterday, people who had come from Europe. They have taken control and wiped it out.
> 
> Meanwhile I am being told "Everyone's going to get it', 'Wait for 'herd immunity'.', 'Many of you will lose loved ones.'  What they mean is 'My boss has a private island I am invited to when it gets really bad and in the meantime you lot keep working and making him money because we don't give a shit about the proles.'
> So tell me, who actually has 'Government for the people'? Of course people are panic buying, there is no one in charge any sane person would trust, it is everyone for themselves, just like them.



Well I for one have been talking for years about bringing back the guillotine and using it to murder the rich & powerful, along with all of their families, before drinking their blood and making their flesh into McNuggets. This is all 100% carbon neutral and fully costed in my manifesto. 

Can I count on your vote this coming election?


----------



## RWK

Olly Buckle said:


> Bloody complacent incompetents in charge!
> 
> China had six new cases of coronavirus yesterday, people who had come from Europe. They have taken control and wiped it out.
> 
> Meanwhile I am being told "Everyone's going to get it', 'Wait for 'herd immunity'.', 'Many of you will lose loved ones.'  What they mean is 'My boss has a private island I am invited to when it gets really bad and in the meantime you lot keep working and making him money because we don't give a shit about the proles.'
> So tell me, who actually has 'Government for the people'? Of course people are panic buying, there is no one in charge any sane person would trust, it is everyone for themselves, just like them.



In the USA more people died in car accidents in the last 24 hours than the USA has lost to the virus since the start.

More suicides in the same period.

More murders in the same period.

These numbers will continue to hold steady as the virus burns itself out.

This much ado about nothing (as a society, of course; individual victims are still victims, of course).


----------



## Irwin

What grinds my gears? Online, we can block ignorant, annoying people, but real life doesn't have that option.


----------



## Irwin

My doctor just canceled my prostate procedure due to the coronavirus. The urology center is closed all week. I was hoping to get in before the pandemic got really bad, and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.   !@#$%


----------



## luckyscars

RWK said:


> In the USA more people died in car accidents in the last 24 hours than the USA has lost to the virus since the start.
> 
> More suicides in the same period.
> 
> More murders in the same period.
> 
> These numbers will continue to hold steady as the virus burns itself out.
> 
> This much ado about nothing (as a society, of course; individual victims are still victims, of course).



This is a special kind of stupid. I'd ordinarily leave it alone, but this shit is plain irresponsible and is, right now, 'grinding my gears'.

The death toll from the virus will increase exponentially as transmission increases -- *that's how infectious disease work*. 

Suicides, murders, and car accidents will not increase exponentially because the number of suicidal, homicidal and drivers do not increase hugely from one day to the next. 

When there were only 80,000 cars on the road, the number of people who died in car accidents was also very low. The problem was when that became 200,000,000 or so, the number of accidents went up. 

Math.

If there are 200,000,000 people infected with coronavirus there are going to be more deaths from that then there are from cars, assuming the current ~2% death rate. 2% of the world's population (7.53 billion) is 150.6 million. That's more than the Bubonic Plague. That's more than the population of Brazil. *That's more than the death toll of World War 1 and 2 combined*. That is, to use the technical phrase, a _shit ton_ of people.

The rate of death from cars is less than 0.5% of cars present in the United States (260 million cars/100 = 2.6 million, but there are average 1.25 million car deaths each year). Suicides and murders is even less. Additionally, not everybody drives (super old people and babies certainly don't) so driving risk is mitigated. Therefore the comparison is bullshit.

Please stop.


----------



## Amnesiac

The Spanish Flu after WWI killed people in record numbers, the world over. In fact, it killed more people than all of the major wars of the past 200 years combined.


----------



## luckyscars

Amnesiac said:


> The Spanish Flu after WWI killed people in record numbers, the world over. In fact, it killed more people than all of the major wars of the past 200 years combined.



'Much ado about nothing'.


----------



## Irwin

Amnesiac said:


> The Spanish Flu after WWI killed people in record numbers, the world over. In fact, it killed more people than all of the major wars of the past 200 years combined.



You might want to check your numbers. 75 million people died in WWII alone.


----------



## luckyscars

Irwin said:


> You might want to check your numbers. 75 million people died in WWII alone.



I interpreted the '200 years - major wars' as the 200 years _prior _to the Spanish Flu, not 200 years to today. In which case, it may likely be correct.


----------



## Olly Buckle

luckyscars said:


> Well I for one have been talking for years about bringing back the guillotine and using it to murder the rich & powerful, along with all of their families, before drinking their blood and making their flesh into McNuggets. This is all 100% carbon neutral and fully costed in my manifesto.
> 
> Can I count on your vote this coming election?



I don't think waiting for an election is an option, it is also possible you would not win. Leave nothing to chance, get the tumbrils rolling now. May I suggest black pudding and nuggets and sell them to China/Saudi Arabia? Revolutions need finance.


----------



## Irwin

Congress is now putting together a trillion dollar "stimulus" bill that will bail out rich people and multi-billion dollar corporations with a few dollars thrown in to help small businesses and workers, but like previous bailouts, its main purpose is to help rich people. God forbid, CEOs miss out on their multi-million dollar bonuses. After all... they work hard for their money.


----------



## SueC

Irwin said:


> Congress is now putting together a trillion dollar "stimulus" bill that will bail out rich people and multi-billion dollar corporations with a few dollars thrown in to help small businesses and workers, but like previous bailouts, its main purpose is to help rich people. God forbid, CEOs miss out on their multi-million dollar bonuses. After all... they work hard for their money.



Just saw a news conference where it was pointed out (not by Trump) that the recipients of any funds of this type would not be given to the very wealthy in our country. I don't know if I believe that, but we'll see.


----------



## bdcharles

A non-coronavirus gripe: I cannot overstate how much what I call "the tyranny of the normal" piffs my paffle. My youngest daughter is ... I guess she's a little different. She doesn't always react appropriately, she is a little oddball. We call her "our little Wednesday Addams". But she speaks her mind, she is hilarious, she's fair-minded and sensitive beyond her years, and she's sung solo with nary a blink in front of about seventy people at the age of eight. I guarantee none of her little miss perfect lets-exclude-the-weirdo-and-take-her-one-remaining-friend-with-us dullard conformist unimaginative shitbag classmates have done that.


----------



## Amnesiac

It may be that Trump's initial reaction was a miscalculation. Okay. But I'm so tired of the left's screedy enthusiasm in gleefully seizing every chance to blame and beat on Mr. Trump. And I was just as tired of people talking smack about Obama. At least, right now, can someone drop the cudgel? We're all in this pandemic together, and partisan politics and wholesale attacks on someone may make people feel better -- as if "X" politician is the effigy for every ounce of frustration and fear that people are feeling, but it's NOT productive, and it's NOT going to fix anything. Just...... stop.


----------



## Irwin

Ignorant, opinionated people who think they have the right to tell everyone else what to do.


----------



## Amnesiac

"Hell is other people." -Albert Camus, "The Stranger"

And Irwin, if your comment is directed at me or what I've written, you're more than welcome to continue bashing whomever you wish. It just seems... juvenile, to me. Especially at this juncture. Your mileage may vary. (And I've never been accused of being ignorant, but carry on, if it makes you feel better about yourself.)


----------



## Ma'am

May I suggest taking the political debate to Dante's Inferno?


----------



## Amnesiac

Good suggestion. I'm done, though. I've said my piece, and I'm sorry it got political. I honestly meant it as an olive branch...


----------



## Olly Buckle

Bad phrasing from people who should know better.

100% of money donated will go to life saving cancer research.

If it is research how do they know it will be life saving? What is the point of researching something if you know it works?


----------



## Olly Buckle

Biro said:


> Well it keeps them in a well paid job anyways.



I am not against the research, ultimately lives may well be saved, but the whole point of it is to discover if something is lifesaving or not. If you already knew what you were proposing would work there would be no point in researching it.


----------



## SueC

Amnesiac said:


> It may be that Trump's initial reaction was a miscalculation. Okay. But I'm so tired of the left's screedy enthusiasm in gleefully seizing every chance to blame and beat on Mr. Trump. And I was just as tired of people talking smack about Obama. At least, right now, can someone drop the cudgel? We're all in this pandemic together, and partisan politics and wholesale attacks on someone may make people feel better -- as if "X" politician is the effigy for every ounce of frustration and fear that people are feeling, but it's NOT productive, and it's NOT going to fix anything. Just...... stop.



Sorry if I appeared to be targeting. I only said "not by Trump" because it was someone else who had made that statement, even though Trump had called the news conference. I'll "just .........stop" doing even that. Didn't mean to offend.


----------



## Neetu

I'm sorry to hear this, Irwin, but it might be safer if it was not urgent. Hospitals, doctor's offices, and surgery centers are high-risk places right now. And if it's a urology center, a small scale center, they probably don't do life-saving procedures and I guess, that could be one of the reasons. I had to go to my doctor last Friday and it is usually full of patients, but there was just one other patient. I think even sick people are avoiding a visit to a medical facility unless they are really very sick! Hang in there! 



Irwin said:


> My doctor just canceled my prostate procedure due to the coronavirus. The urology center is closed all week. I was hoping to get in before the pandemic got really bad, and it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.   !@#$%


----------



## RWK

Olly Buckle said:


> Bad phrasing from people who should know better.
> 
> 100% of money donated will go to life saving cancer research.
> 
> If it is research how do they know it will be life saving? What is the point of researching something if you know it works?



Simple: if you have a condition that kills, be it yellow fever, cancer, or heart failure, any research into it will ultimately be life-saving. 

Even if your particular project fails, it will add to the sum total of knowledge.

And there's also finding a cheaper, safer cure, such as we have seen for rabies in our lifetime.


----------



## Irwin

Neetu said:


> I'm sorry to hear this, Irwin, but it might be safer if it was not urgent. Hospitals, doctor's offices, and surgery centers are high-risk places right now. And if it's a urology center, a small scale center, they probably don't do life-saving procedures and I guess, that could be one of the reasons. I had to go to my doctor last Friday and it is usually full of patients, but there was just one other patient. I think even sick people are avoiding a visit to a medical facility unless they are really very sick! Hang in there!



The crisis is only going to get worse, which is why I wanted to get in as early as possible. Plus, I'm maxed out on my deductible (which was $6,000), so it won't cost me if I get in before the summer. Otherwise, I'll have to pay for the entire procedure out of pocket.


----------



## Neetu

Oh dear, I understand all about the darned deductibles! Is there any other provider you can go to? If the center is closed, is there no other option available to you?


----------



## Amnesiac

SueC said:


> Sorry if I appeared to be targeting. I only said "not by Trump" because it was someone else who had made that statement, even though Trump had called the news conference. I'll "just .........stop" doing even that. Didn't mean to offend.



Aw, Sue... My comments were NOT directed at you, or anyone else. I'm seeing it all over Facebook and everywhere else. So much blaming, and there's a sector of society that never misses a chance to turn anything, no matter how awful, into a partisan political hatchet-job. They even did it in the wake of 9/11. /smh....


----------



## MzSnowleopard

People who ignore the rules of courtesy.

Using this site as an example- the rule says 'give constructive criticism' and yet, I've read comments that were just criticism.

nit-picking

One particular comment comes to mind- 'all of these sentences begin with 'the'. and there was no suggestion for revision.

People who do not practice what they preach. If you're going to claim to be something- you'd better prove it by showing it. 
This is not limited to Christians.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

All of my past four and five-star reviewers who are now requesting money from me to review my latest book. This Grinds my gears something awful. First they loved me. Now they feel they can stick it to me. My heart is heavy and I've lost faith in the industry.


----------



## SueC

Chris Stevenson said:


> All of my past four and five-star reviewers who are now requesting money from me to review my latest book. This Grinds my gears something awful. First they loved me. Now they feel they can stick it to me. My heart is heavy and I've lost faith in the industry.



Chris, it's always so upsetting when people disappoint. Don't lose faith, just take it with a grain of salt - a lesson learned. I've done that many times in my life, but because of the type of person I am, it never gets any easier. I am way too trusting for my own good, but I just never seem to be able to see people any other way. I hope you find a way to move off of this spot, Chris. There are some really good folks out there yet to be found.


----------



## MzSnowleopard

That is a sign of people today. Fewer and fewer people today will do something out of kindness, friendship, or generosity. No, they want to be compensated.

My position is- how reliable can we be in a review by someone who was paid for it. For all we know that person was paid on the terms / condition of giving a good review.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

SueC said:


> Chris, it's always so upsetting when people disappoint. Don't lose faith, just take it with a grain of salt - a lesson learned. I've done that many times in my life, but because of the type of person I am, it never gets any easier. I am way too trusting for my own good, but I just never seem to be able to see people any other way. I hope you find a way to move off of this spot, Chris. There are some really good folks out there yet to be found.



Thanks for that up-lifting sentiment. I trust too, and I guess I'll never stop. I'm critically ill and all I'm trying to keep my spirits up through all this. And this just breaks my heart.


----------



## Olly Buckle

MzSnowleopard said:


> That is a sign of people today. Fewer and fewer people today will do something out of kindness, friendship, or generosity.



I am not sure this is true, there have always been plenty of jerks. Is it maybe that the kind and decent ones stand out and we remember them? If you think that might be so and you would like to be remembered  ...


----------



## Irwin

Olly Buckle said:


> I am not sure this is true, there have always been plenty of jerks. Is it maybe that the kind and decent ones stand out and we remember them? If you think that might be so and you would like to be remembered  ...



That's exactly right. People haven't changed. Being an asshole may be an advantageous evolutionary trait if it doesn't exclude you from the tribe.


----------



## The Green Shield

Oh God, I'm going to sound so bigoted against my own kin (the deaf and hoh community) but...here we go:

Background: I have a co-worker who is elderly,  as in mid-70s. He has hearing aids but refuses to wear them to work thus making him profoundly deaf. As such, we have to constantly repeat ourselves. Sometimes three or four times. We have to yell at him.

And again, he refuses to wear the hearing aids. And it's more out of stubbornness than any notion of Deaf pride (he doesn't even know what that is.) His excuse for not wearing hearing aids? They'll get dusty. 

I know he gets to choose what he does with his hearing aids, I know that's his deal, I just need advice on how to curtail the frustration. 

I mean, I'm HOH for God's sake. I wear hearing aids, why? Because I want the world to have a fighting chance of communication with me. I want to help them help me, not have to fight just to get me to hear them.

And again, this is just from old stubbornness, not out of a sense of Deaf Pride. He knows he has the hearing aids. He knows they could enhance his life but he won't wear it. He seems perfectly content living in the silence and having the rest of us scream at him just to talk to him. Sometimes we have to scream his name twice before he realizes we're trying to get his attention.

So, to put it bluntly, how do I make myself get the fuck over it and curtail the frustration? D: I feel like such a hypocrite where I, a person with a hearing disability am getting all worked up about this. I mean, I've even caught myself thinking: I am so sick of working with hearing impaired people who refuse to help themselves! Like seriously! D:


----------



## bdcharles

The Green Shield said:


> Oh God, I'm going to sound so bigoted against my own kin (the deaf and hoh community) but...here we go:
> 
> Background: I have a co-worker who is elderly,  as in mid-70s. He has hearing aids but refuses to wear them to work thus making him profoundly deaf. As such, we have to constantly repeat ourselves. Sometimes three or four times. We have to yell at him.
> 
> And again, he refuses to wear the hearing aids. And it's more out of stubbornness than any notion of Deaf pride (he doesn't even know what that is.) His excuse for not wearing hearing aids? They'll get dusty.
> 
> I know he gets to choose what he does with his hearing aids, I know that's his deal, I just need advice on how to curtail the frustration.
> 
> I mean, I'm HOH for God's sake. I wear hearing aids, why? Because I want the world to have a fighting chance of communication with me. I want to help them help me, not have to fight just to get me to hear them.
> 
> And again, this is just from old stubbornness, not out of a sense of Deaf Pride. He knows he has the hearing aids. He knows they could enhance his life but he won't wear it. He seems perfectly content living in the silence and having the rest of us scream at him just to talk to him. Sometimes we have to scream his name twice before he realizes we're trying to get his attention.
> 
> So, to put it bluntly, how do I make myself get the fuck over it and curtail the frustration? D: I feel like such a hypocrite where I, a person with a hearing disability am getting all worked up about this. I mean, I've even caught myself thinking: I am so sick of working with hearing impaired people who refuse to help themselves! Like seriously! D:



Lol maybe he doesn't want to hear the world. Can you ping him on Skype instead or something? I deal with a lot of guys in China whose spoken English is not great (better than my Mandarin though) and yet, over IM, we get a lot done.

Failing that though, my response would be to start to ignore/avoid.


----------



## The Green Shield

I’ve decided to just get the fuck over it


----------



## Olly Buckle

The Green Shield said:


> I’ve decided to just get the fuck over it


Glad about that. My mother had a favourite cartoon of a woman talking in the background and a man with a book, a pair of scissors and a wicked smile in the act of cutting the wire to his hearing aid.
Must be good to be able opt out sometimes.


----------



## SueC

The Green Shield said:


> I’ve decided to just get the fuck over it



You might as well. My guess is vanity. Some people just do not age gracefully, or willingly, or even when common sense dictates the use of "appliances," they will remain stubborn about such appearance of aging. I have recently been gifted a walking stick. Even though I know it would could be helpful to get used to using it, I consistently ignore it as I head out the door for a walk. Looks too much a cane. I look too old using it. Heck, when I fall and hit my pumpkin head I'll probably not care a whit about what it looks like!

Alternately, Green, you could just continue to speak in your normal tone of voice until he misses out on something important.


----------



## Amnesiac

I have combat-related hearing loss and tinnitus. The Veterans Administration has given me hearing aids. I can get along without them. My reason for _not_ wearing them has nothing to do with vanity. It has everything to do with the fact that ALL sounds are amplified, and they ALL sound like they're coming from the bottom of a well; very echo-y and... artificial sounding. Additionally, I wear glasses, and the hearing aids going over my ears, beneath the stems of my glasses, becomes profoundly uncomfortable in a very short amount of time.

My hearing loss is such that I can hear someone eating a carrot at the other end of the house, but if there's a fan running, or any background noise, it all turns into one great big wall of noise, and I can't differentiate at all. Hearing aids amplify ALL sounds, so it's no help for conversation. (i.e. if a fan is running, the hearing aids ALSO amplify the sound of the fan!)

I compensate by reading lips, watching TV with the captions turned on, and occasionally asking someone to repeat themselves, if need be.


----------



## Foxee

Olly Buckle said:


> Glad about that. My mother had a favourite cartoon of a woman talking in the background and a man with a book, a pair of scissors and a wicked smile in the act of cutting the wire to his hearing aid.
> Must be good to be able opt out sometimes.


Ha, my great-grandmother totally did that with being able to see. She had cataracts and she had surgery but still wore very thick glasses and insisted that she couldn't see well. God forbid you were within her line of sight from two rooms away snitching a cookie, she could see _just fine then._


----------



## Olly Buckle

Foxee said:


> Ha, my great-grandmother totally did that with being able to see. She had cataracts and she had surgery but still wore very thick glasses and insisted that she couldn't see well. God forbid you were within her line of sight from two rooms away snitching a cookie, she could see _just fine then._



I had cataracts, the surgeon explained they have a library of lenses and had selected the best ones for my eyes. I am slightly astigmatic so still wear glasses, but I am not short sighted anymore. I have been wearing them since I was a kid and it is really strange when I take them off and can still see pretty well.


----------



## Ma'am

We had to go to a store today. We followed the little markers of where to stand in line so as to be the recommended space apart from others. Then we had to wait at the counter for the clerk to straighten something out for us. No less than four different people passed right by behind us, close enough to touch. As if the whole space idea didn't apply if they were passing by rather than standing there. Stupid.


----------



## Olly Buckle

I can just hear them "But I was behind you!"  

It's like the guy doing a three point turn in the middle of the fast moving main road, "But I had my hazards on!". Yeah, that's another thing, you are not supposed to have them on when you are moving! That grinds my gears. I wonder if they are the same people?


----------



## RWK

TV shows and movies where the police drive everywhere with lights and siren on.

The only time you use your emergency equipment while moving is to signal a vehicle to pull over, or to clear traffic ahead of you on an emergency call, ie, where lives are in danger and a fast response is essential. 

You don't go to make an arrest with lights and especially siren going; for one thing, you don't want to warn the suspect you're coming.


----------



## Olly Buckle

The theory is good, but years ago I used to work serving in a petrol station for a bit. It was bang opposite a police station and every night about half four a police car would cone down the road with blues and twos on. Call me cynical, but I reckon their shift finished about five   

An ex ambulance man I worked with said they used them on the way to a 'shout, but with a qualified ambulance man there the emergency was usually past and they went back to the hospital without them.


----------



## RWK

Olly Buckle said:


> The theory is good, but years ago I used to work serving in a petrol station for a bit. It was bang opposite a police station and every night about half four a police car would cone down the road with blues and twos on. Call me cynical, but I reckon their shift finished about five
> 
> An ex ambulance man I worked with said they used them on the way to a 'shout, but with a qualified ambulance man there the emergency was usually past and they went back to the hospital without them.



To be clear I was referring to US police,but yeah, there's a thousand uses fora siren. Like lighting it off behind a fire station at 2am.:twisted:

We always tested the lights and siren at the start of a shift.


----------



## Ma'am

When people try to claim moral credit they don't deserve.

The latest thing I see around the 'net (not here) is people letting everyone know that they ordered a pizza or other restaurant food "to support their local businesses." Um no, you got restaurant food because you didn't feel like cooking. You know, just like you always did. When you donate a meal to the homeless, call me. :evil:


----------



## Olly Buckle

"Chinese virus", "Wuhan flu". It's looking round for someone else to blame. China got on top of their infection far quicker than those pointing the finger with less loss of life and with no previous experience to draw on. Don't blame them, learn from them. Oh, and it was about a week ago they sent a medical team and a load of much needed supplies to Italy, haven't seen them getting much credit for that, well, I'm cheering them.


----------



## RWK

Olly Buckle said:


> "Chinese virus", "Wuhan flu". It's looking round for someone else to blame. China got on top of their infection far quicker than those pointing the finger with less loss of life and with no previous experience to draw on. Don't blame them, learn from them. Oh, and it was about a week ago they sent a medical team and a load of much needed supplies to Italy, haven't seen them getting much credit for that, well, I'm cheering them.



TheflugotawoprldwidelegupbecausetheChinesedelayedreportingthesituationtointernationalagencies.

Their cultural habit of minimizing failure and embarrassment makes any of their statistics highly unlikely.

Given that Italy's problems (and NYC's) stem from Chinese illegal immigrants brought in for the fashion industry (from the Wuhan region), they need all the goodwill they can get.  

Currently Chinese companies are flooding the markets with fake hand sanitizer.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Well, I don't see the Chinese as being unique in any of that, plenty of prevarication and delay here. They do have the excuse that it was the first major outbreak though, it wasn't instantly clear what they were dealing with. Our Govt. has Italy saying 'Come on, you are two weeks behind us, look where you are going , get your act together'  They don't seem to be still, in fact they are talking about bringing home thousands of people stranded in corona hit areas. No way they are going to quarantine them, bet they just walk through Heathrow and go home.

Dodgy statistics also seems to be an international norm. Every time the death rate climbs the Govt. here starts using a new method of counting, surprisingly (not) one that gives a lower number. I bet the US govt. has to go back on a few things they have said before we are done.

I have no idea about fake hand sanitizer, I don't think the people who put new date stickers on out of date masks were Chinese, there is always someone ready to cheat for a quick buck. There are also people working hard everywhere to provide adequate protection equipment of good standard, including China.

Guess what? The filthy commies are actually people, some good , some bad, as always.


----------



## RWK

Olly Buckle said:


> Well, I don't see the Chinese as being unique in any of that, plenty of prevarication and delay here. They do have the excuse that it was the first major outbreak though, it wasn't instantly clear what they were dealing with. Our Govt. has Italy saying 'Come on, you are two weeks behind us, look where you are going , get your act together'  They don't seem to be still, in fact they are talking about bringing home thousands of people stranded in corona hit areas. No way they are going to quarantine them, bet they just walk through Heathrow and go home.
> 
> Dodgy statistics also seems to be an international norm. Every time the death rate climbs the Govt. here starts using a new method of counting, surprisingly (not) one that gives a lower number. I bet the US govt. has to go back on a few things they have said before we are done.
> 
> I have no idea about fake hand sanitizer, I don't think the people who put new date stickers on out of date masks were Chinese, there is always someone ready to cheat for a quick buck. There are also people working hard everywhere to provide adequate protection equipment of good standard, including China.
> 
> Guess what? The filthy commies are actually people, some good , some bad, as always.



:-({|=


----------



## Gofa

Filthy Commies
have they not been washing their hands like we are told too 

a bit of soap and water and what do you get
Just a commie i expect 

and then you can gave a full commie and a semi commie
or is that punctuation rather than sanitisation


----------



## Irwin

Liars. Filthy, stinkin' liars. 

Somebody offered to do something for me
 a month ago
just out of the blue
I didn't ask for it
and never expected it
I was thrilled
and told my wife
She said, "That's great!"
But then it fizzled out
Never happened
What the fuck?
What is wrong with people?
Why are there so many assholes out there?
I'd prefer to like people
but so many have let me down
that I'm unable.


----------



## Gofa

Alas per Irwin
he’s got it right
arseholes to the left
more to the right

in the grandstand of life
They are packed in
and much to blame
for the shit we are in


----------



## Olly Buckle

"They are old, they are sick, we have to pay pensions and medical bills for them, if we do nothing they will die and save us a fortune"

Seems now that the reagent that is not available to make testing equipment with is actually there, but no-one has asked the firms that make it if they will supply it. Your neighbours are small beer, Irwin. Some people lie to millions at a time.


----------



## Gofa

Ollie
Pensioners  its easy for them
 every day is Sunday 
when i grow up and get old
 I am gonna be a Pensioner 

oh Dear its too late 

alas poor Pensioner
I know me not
I am paid often
and i have forgot

cup of tea
and a lie down
thats the cure


----------



## RWK

Biro said:


> An old person/pensioner is only of any use to a care home, oldie holiday company, young-un with it's hand out and a funeral director.  To everyone else they are a drain on resources and a pain in the backside.  Today they are even a target for hate.



Damn. Ireland really has gone downhill.


----------



## KenTR

Biro said:


> An old person/pensioner is only of any use to a care home, oldie holiday company, young-un with it's hand out and a funeral director.  To everyone else they are a drain on resources and a pain in the backside.  Today they are even a target for hate.



What the fuck, Biro?


----------



## Firemajic

Biro said:


> An old person/pensioner is only of any use to a care home, oldie holiday company, young-un with it's hand out and a funeral director.  To everyone else they are a drain on resources and a pain in the backside.  Today they are even a target for hate.



Where I come from, my Elders are revered, honored, respected and loved... My GrandMam started reading me poetry at the age of 2.... she had time for me when no one else did... she listened to me... snuggled me on her lap and made me feel safe... she is gone now... but the things she taught me will stay with me for the rest of my life....


----------



## KenTR

My apologies, Biro. I wasn't quite sure where you were going with that post...

We forget that just a century ago the average life expectancy was in the mid fifties. We take for granted that it's just common practice that once we start getting older, our doctors are going to prescribe all sorts of drugs and medical procedures so that we may live longer...long enough so that we may get sick in ways that were unheard of before...long enough so that we may become dependent on our families and caretakers, lose our memories, our teeth, our eyesight. It's practically expected of us.

Who asked for this? The medical and pharmaceutical industry, that's who. The aged practically fund the healthcare system. The same healthcare system that is there for us when our kids break an arm, or when we develop cancer at age twenty five.

But society has not kept pace with the greedy monster that is medical science. Too many of us see old people as a burden. Or they don't see them at all. From the food we eat to the TV programming we watch, everything is geared toward catering to the young. They spend the money. They spur the trends. They're so pretty and fuckable and whether we realize it or not, we enjoy their youth vicariously because on the other end of the spectrum are the aged, and nobody wants to think about _that_. 

So in going through this pandemic, if there are any old people in your neighborhood who you think might be alone or cast aside, give them a call. See if they need any food, or someone to talk to. Maybe they can tell you about living through the smallpox pandemic, or what it was like to walk down the street in a world before capitalism turned most of society into a herd of greedy, thoughtless, short attention-spanned cads.


----------



## RWK

Biro said:


> Well if I live long enough you wont get me in a care home reeking of pee and having my bum wiped by a man from Uganda.   I even have some sleeping pills from a relative just for that purpose.  My school friend was 16 and he had two pints that night but took just one sleeping pill so he could sleep for our exams the next day.  He never got any 'O' levels.
> 
> I'll be a burden to no one.  And I will not take all the shite from the snowflakes either.
> 
> We could arm ourselves and make a stand against them.  It would be a turkey shoot.  They wouldnt know how to fire a gun without some help from their friends on Facebook and a Youtube buddy.  Thats of course if you could get one out of bed.  What a 'legend' he would be.



I can see it now:

"Local police arrested Hadley Biro, 68, of #14 Sheepshagger lane today after the pensioner was found wandering in the street in his underwear; apparently under the influence of sleep medication and alcohol, Biro was staggering down the center of the lane raving about African men and rectal health. 

'He was a quiet sort', says neighbor Nancy Stiles. 'He kept to himself. You would only see him on occasion, piddling on azaleas and shouting profanity at teenagers.'

Local Guarda subdued Biro after a brief struggle, and he is expected to be released tomorrow. If found guilty, Biro faces community service and mandatory substance abuse counselling. In other local news..."

Live long, and prosper, B. The end comes soon enough as it is. :untroubled:


----------



## Ralph Rotten

Biro, they have *MORE* of a right to be here than you.
They arrived first...but you are the new guy on the block.
They have been paying taxes for 70 years, and I have shoes older than you.
They built this world, you are only inheriting it.

Why on earth did you think you deserved life more than them?


----------



## Olly Buckle

Ralph, post 348 is only a statement of how things appear to be, he doesn't approve of it, see post 352.

Hey, Biro, the old folks home is not inevitable, my Dad kept his garden until his eighties, after he died Mum lived on there another seven years. It is partly keeping your brain active, she started an Esperanto group and gave her last French lesson about a month before she died.


----------



## RWK

Biro said:


> A man I once knew Ralph always used to say that ...."youth is wasted on the young".
> 
> What would we all do if we could go back?



Man....I don't if I would. That was an exhausting time: at the bottom of the career ladder, learning the ropes, starting out relationships, struggling for money, trying to find my place in the world.


----------



## RWK

Biro said:


> You mean you would bother again!!!!!!!!
> 
> Jeez you are a sucker for punishment.  At least the snowflakes stuck staring at their phones 24/7 will not have that problem possibly?



Actually, everyday I am amazed at how blessed I have been for the women in my life, most especially my wife of 27 years and counting.


----------



## Amnesiac

I would definitely go back. With the exception of my childhood, I've had a GREAT life! It's been an absolute BLAST!!!

And now, off to work.....


----------



## RWK

Biro said:


> But does she say the same?  :courage:



I don't know. A big part of a successful marriage is the ability to tune out what is being said while looking supportive...


----------



## Olly Buckle

My missus will talk to me from the bedroom when I am in the bathroom with the tap running cleaning my teeth, or I am in the kitchen with the kettle on and she is in the front room. When I say I have not heard she tells me I am going deaf in my old age (I am not). The other one is that books were sacrosanct when I grew up, if you were reading nobody disturbed you. I can have my head in a book and the missus will launch directly into a conversation. By the time my head is back in the room I have missed the first part, ask her to repeat it and she gets offended because I was not listening. Pretending I heard, smiling and looking supportive, is tempting, but it is too much like a lie for me, I would rather tell it as it is even if she does huff for a bit.


----------



## Justin Attas

Inspired by some of the other great replies to this thread. I absolutely cannot _stand _when a person actively chooses to go for a personal attack, rather than admit they have lost a dispute. Like did you seriously never learn not to do that as a child?


----------



## Winston

Do I wear a mask, or no?  I thought we were saving them for the health care professionals.  And don't they have all of them now?  Where am I supposed to get one?
So, I'm supposed to wear a bandana around my face like an 1880 train robber?  Will I be shot by a Pinkerton man?


----------



## RWK

Winston said:


> Do I wear a mask, or no?  I thought we were saving them for the health care professionals.  And don't they have all of them now?  Where am I supposed to get one?
> So, I'm supposed to wear a bandana around my face like an 1880 train robber?  Will I be shot by a Pinkerton man?



The US Surgeon General announced that masks don't work. He later backpedaled, but not entirely.

The trouble with cloth over your mouth is that it can absorb the airborne viral fluid and thus dramatically increase your exposure chances.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Biro said:


> Possibly not if you sprayed it with alcohol above 60% proof every 30 minutes.  :congratulatory:



It would evaporate very quickly, but you have me thinking. I have the ancient brass Primus stove we went camping with when I was a kid, perhaps I could adapt it so I could wear goggles and spray a fine mist of alcohol in my face.


----------



## Amnesiac

I've just been drinking bleach. If I stir it into my coffee, it's not so bad.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Doctor said I mustn't drink alcohol because with the drugs I take it would give me liver failure, he didn't say anything about inhaling, it's been a while


----------



## Olly Buckle

Biro said:


> Ollie ...... lose the drugs.



It really does grind my gears, some of them are not very nice, unfortunately without them my life expectancy would be about two (unpleasant) months.


----------



## Foxee

Amnesiac said:


> I've just been drinking bleach. If I stir it into my coffee, it's not so bad.


You'll either die tomorrow or never. Shame on you for even kidding about doing that to the sacred Jitter Juice!


----------



## Ma'am

It really grinds my gears that everything's closed in the middle of the night when I have a snack attack. I WANT PIZZA!!!


----------



## Ma'am

I sort of feel like I'm grounded, like when you were a kid and your mom would say, "Go to your room and think about what you did!" Except it's for, like, a year instead of a week but at least I get to wander around the whole house. 

I wonder if whoever ate the fried bat in China or whatever, knows that they started it.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Every time I want to get into my phone I have to press twice then type in my password. Too much gardening, my fingerprint is unrecognisable.


----------



## MzSnowleopard

flat out criticism,.. and people who ignore the rule 'constructive criticism.' They seem to forget the word 'constructive'.


----------



## Xander416

This is more of a funny grinding, but ... being called a traitor to America by a guy flying a Confederate flag on his truck. :rofl:


----------



## dither

Problems with my computer.


----------



## dither

Olly Buckle said:


> Every time I want to get into my phone I have to press twice then type in my password. Too much gardening, my fingerprint is unrecognisable.



You need a password for your phone?:nightmare:


----------



## Irwin

People who misspell words and use homophones in a writing forum, although sometimes the spell check doesn't work here, so it's excusable, but it still bugs me. Actually, it bugs me that sometimes the spell check doesn't work, but people should know the difference between whether or weather, and you're and your if you're going to be a writer. Or a righter if you're a superhero whose power depends on weather or not the weather in your area is conducive to righting wrongs or writing wrongs if you're an investigative reporter.


----------



## Ma'am

Irwin said:


> People who misspell words and use homophones in a writing forum, although sometimes the spell check doesn't work here, so it's excusable, but it still bugs me. Actually, it bugs me that sometimes the spell check doesn't work, but people should know the difference between whether or weather, and you're and your if you're going to be a writer. Or a righter if you're a superhero whose power depends on weather or not the weather in your area is conducive to righting wrongs or writing wrongs if you're an investigative reporter.



I know! For me, that's on any forum. I frequently have to slap my own hand because I get the urge to correct them but I know it would just look rude. Extra hate points for misspelling "definitely." It's de-FINITE-ly, NOT "definately" or "defiantly," stoopid-heds! There! I said it! Ha!


----------



## Olly Buckle

dither said:


> You need a password for your phone?:nightmare:



Christmas present, i-phone seven. It was an old style Nokia, so it is taking a bit of getting used to, but WhatsApp with my family is great as are podcasts.


----------



## hvysmker

Amnesiac said:


> I've just been drinking bleach. If I stir it into my coffee, it's not so bad.



When in the US Army we once had only unsafe water and purified it by filling new garbage cans and mixing bleach with the contaminated water. It WAS considered palatable.

Not for me without more input but I can see two or three drops in a litre of water.


----------



## Olly Buckle

hvysmker said:


> When in the US Army we once had only unsafe water and purified it by filling new garbage cans and mixing bleach with the contaminated water. It WAS considered palatable.
> 
> Not for me without more input but I can see two or three drops in a litre of water.



Now, if you had been British you could have boiled it and made tea.


----------



## Ma'am

I am trying to sell my condo and whenever there's a showing, I sit in my car where I can watch the building, so I'll know when I can go back inside.

I've had three showings in the past week and every damn time, some unappealing person has popped up RIGHT then to hang around and scare off my potential buyer. It's like they've orchestrated it.

Yesterday, some very large guy wearing a bullet-proof camo vest (with pockets for ammo, naturally) decided to do weird exercises with great vigor right out front. 

The day before that, it was a scary looking guy covered in jailhouse tats, with a pit bull, standing there smoking and glaring. 

The time before that, two older women with a cigarette, a can of beer and a large dog apiece, which they let take nice dumps and left them there, of course, too busy weaving around, whooping drunkenly. Well, the "Mimis Gone Wild" t-shirt one of them had on _was_ adorable but still not a good impression in the middle of a weekday.

I rarely even see or hear anyone here, let alone have any trouble but I don't think it would take much for a newcomer to think it's not somewhere they'd want to invest in. I wonder if I could offer them a twenty next time to go inside for a half hour. I just have to think of how to politely explain that I fear their presence brings down my property value.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Glide up, slide the shotgun out of the clips on the dash and say "F*** off or die". Trouble is the potential buyer would probably choose just that moment ...


----------



## Gofa

Look at it as a glass half full
if your target market demographic 
is gun totting exercise guys with jailhouse tats
Wih their women and pets
you advertising money is being spent well


----------



## Ma'am

Just joined an expat forum and replies to both of my questions so far have included obvious misinformation served with an attitude. I get so tired of jackasses who hide behind screen names and run their mouths.


----------



## Amnesiac

I hate how Americans are always painted as stupid, crass, uncouth, and uncultured in European pop culture, particularly in the UK. To be sure, we have that element in our society, but it's not the majority, nor is it even a large sector. It just seems like a cheap and stupid literary device to score points with UK readers/viewers. Enough, already. We get it. You think we're stupid. Can we move on, already?


----------



## dither

I may have  posted something this in here already but.....

I was up the top of my back-garden at around 8.00. this morning, quietly chipping away at my private little jungle, a snip here, a chop there, the almost silent wing-beats of a robin as he fluttered around  looking for pickings where I'd been two seconds before, when I suddenly heard my neighbour unlocking his shed, jeez I wish I had a shed. I just carried on snipping and bagging, as quietly as I possibly could, he might not realise I was there, maybe he wasn't stopping, then all of a sudden I heard "MORNIN". ugh! ](*,) I returned the greeting of course, then packed up my cutters and went back into my house. People! ARRRRGH!

Don't ask about the shed comment, my wife is not keen on the idea, I think  she thinks that I might move home if I get one.

When we had that hot-spell a few weeks back, I spent quite a few mornings out there staining my fence and so what did he do? Yep, you guessed it.:roll: Get a life eh?

-----------------------------------

And, in the time it took to type the above, guess what? Yep, I can see the padlock on the shed-door and there's no sign of my neighbour. Might just have a few more minutes out there.


----------



## River Rose

dither said:


> I may have  posted something this in here already but.....
> 
> I was up the top of my back-garden at around 8.00. this morning, quietly chipping away at my private little jungle, a snip here, a chop there, the almost silent wing-beats of a robin as he fluttered around  looking for pickings where I'd been two seconds before, when I suddenly heard my neighbour unlocking his shed, jeez I wish I had a shed. I just carried on snipping and bagging, as quietly as I possibly could, he might not realise I was there, maybe he wasn't stopping, then all of a sudden I heard "MORNIN". ugh! ](*,) I returned the greeting of course, then packed up my cutters and went back into my house. People! ARRRRGH!
> 
> Don't ask about the shed comment, my wife is not keen on the idea, I think  she thinks that I might move home if I get one.
> 
> When we had that hot-spell a few weeks back, I spent quite a few mornings out there staining my fence and so what did he do? Yep, you guessed it.:roll: Get a life eh?
> 
> -----------------------------------
> 
> And, in the time it took to type the above, guess what? Yep, I can see the padlock on the shed-door and there's no sign of my neighbour. Might just have a few more minutes out there.




D...
you are doing better than you give yourself credit for.


----------



## River Rose

dither said:


> I may have  posted something this in here already but.....
> 
> I was up the top of my back-garden at around 8.00. this morning, quietly chipping away at my private little jungle, a snip here, a chop there, the almost silent wing-beats of a robin as he fluttered around  looking for pickings where I'd been two seconds before, when I suddenly heard my neighbour unlocking his shed, jeez I wish I had a shed. I just carried on snipping and bagging, as quietly as I possibly could, he might not realise I was there, maybe he wasn't stopping, then all of a sudden I heard "MORNIN". ugh! ](*,) I returned the greeting of course, then packed up my cutters and went back into my house. People! ARRRRGH!
> 
> Don't ask about the shed comment, my wife is not keen on the idea, I think  she thinks that I might move home if I get one.
> 
> When we had that hot-spell a few weeks back, I spent quite a few mornings out there staining my fence and so what did he do? Yep, you guessed it.:roll: Get a life eh?
> 
> -----------------------------------
> 
> And, in the time it took to type the above, guess what? Yep, I can see the padlock on the shed-door and there's no sign of my neighbour. Might just have a few more minutes out there.



This lifetime is short. 
Get the shed. 
I never ask the man I live with if I “can do” this 
I never ask for his approval 
I just do.


----------



## dither

A shed ? Now ? Too much hassle, and all that newness. Yes I would like to have had one to grow old with but not now.

Lol! I dither and "just don't"

Rose, I have a roof over my head, a full belly, and somewhere to sleep, it'll do.


----------



## River Rose

dither said:


> A shed ? Now ? Too much hassle, and all that newness. Yes I would like to have had one to grow old with but not now.
> 
> Lol! I dither and "just don't"
> 
> Rose, I have a roof over my head, a full belly, and somewhere to sleep, it'll do.


----------



## River Rose

:redface2:


----------



## Olly Buckle

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...4D1DFE28D92796098&selectedIndex=74&ajaxhist=0

I also found one with a rising sun, but I guess that doesn't count.     There were also a couple of restored ones, but again ... and the other markings differed.


----------



## Attak88

The media gets my blood boiling.  The whole farce of BLM and the left destroying the U.S. history of the South.  The Dixie flag, the Confederacy did not go to war for slavery.  They wouldn't join the union. And all the relatives of killed Confederates are watching their families legacy destroyed.


----------



## Irwin

Irrational, argumentative people. Thankfully, there's an ignore feature in online forums. If only there was something like that in real life.


----------



## dither

Irwin said:


> Irrational, argumentative people. Thankfully, there's an ignore feature in online forums. If only there was something like that in real life.




If only.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Attak88 said:


> The media gets my blood boiling.  The whole farce of BLM and the left destroying the U.S. history of the South.  The Dixie flag, the Confederacy did not go to war for slavery.  They wouldn't join the union. And all the relatives of killed Confederates are watching their families legacy destroyed.



This does not seem right. To say that black lives matter does not seem farcical, are you saying they don't matter? We could disagree seriously if you are. 
As I understood it the seven confederate states that initially went to war did not do so because they did not want to join the union, but because they wanted to leave it, a very different thing. Lincoln's name was not on the ballot in those states because he was anti slavery. Because of this they felt he did not represent them despite being elected overall. Admittedly it was the disunion that sparked the war, but it was the prospect of slavery being made illegal and the impact that might have on their economies that made them leave the union, so saying it was over slavery is not that far from the truth. They did have a point to some degree, the original constitution protected slavery and they wanted that honored and extended to the new Western frontier states.


----------



## Periander

Attak88 said:


> the Confederacy did not go to war for slavery



Yeah.  And the Titanic didn't sink because it hit an iceberg.


----------



## Irwin

What grinds my gears (today)? A bee got in the house and decided to join me late the other night while I was watching YouTube videos on TV in the living room, barefooted. When I put my foot down, the bastard stung my foot! Not expecting to get bit by anything in the house, I thought maybe I had stepped on something sharp. Since I wasn't wearing my glasses and couldn't see clearly, it just looked like a motionless little clump of something--perhaps that the dog drug in. So I reached down to pick it up and examine it, and the bastard stung my finger! DOH! I smacked it with a sandal that way lying nearby.

Bees in Colorado generally aren't aggressive and don't sting you, unless, of course, you step on them. This is the first time I've ever gotten bit by one.


----------



## SueC

I don't think anyone really believes that the Black Lives Matter issue is a farce. However, there are some out there who believe this entire virus thing is a hoax, so there you go. I'm guessing that Attak88 is just tired of the rhetoric, maybe; tired of the repetitive news stories that focus on this one issue. I guess the theory is that if this changes one person's mind, or their behavior, it's worth it, it's worth a negative reaction sometimes. I believe in their cause, I believe in what the protesters are trying to do.

As far as the flag and statue issue in the south is concerned, I hate to say I'm on the fence. If the statues only served as a reminder of misdeeds to northerners, would that mean they could stay put? Would there be value in them then? Its just that - at the time - they were honored for their work to maintain a life style that has come to be seen as unacceptable. It just seems extreme, but since I have not been impacted in my life by the deeds committed more than a century ago, I probably shouldn't even venture out with an opinion.


----------



## SueC

Irwin said:


> What grinds my gears (today)? A bee got in the house and decided to join me late the other night while I was watching YouTube videos on TV in the living room, barefooted. When I put my foot down, the bastard stung my foot! Not expecting to get bit by anything in the house, I thought maybe I had stepped on something sharp. Since I wasn't wearing my glasses and couldn't see clearly, it just looked like a motionless little clump of something--perhaps that the dog drug in. So I reached down to pick it up and examine it, and the bastard stung my finger! DOH! I smacked it with a sandal that way lying nearby.
> 
> Bees in Colorado generally aren't aggressive and don't sting you, unless, of course, you step on them. This is the first time I've ever gotten bit by one.



Ouch! I hear you - got stung by a wasp earlier this year. Brought it home in my shirt after a walk in the park. Stung me, then flew off into the bathroom where it died by swatter. Nasty beasts.


----------



## velo

Attak88 said:
			
		

> The whole farce of BLM and the left destroying the U.S. history of the  South.  The Dixie flag, the Confederacy did not go to war for slavery.   They wouldn't join the union. And all the relatives of killed  Confederates are watching their families legacy destroyed.



Are you a black person?  If not, you are not qualified to discuss the validity of the BLM movement because you have no context to understand the central issues they are addressing.  You are also completely wrong on your (revisionist) version of history.  


In the various rebel states that seceded from the Union slavery is a  common and primary theme in their documents of secession that slavery  was the reason for the conflict.  Some examples-

--
*
Mississippi-*

_A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify  the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union. 
_

 In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its  connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is  but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced  our course.


 Our  position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the  greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product  which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of  commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate  verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none  but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These  products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a  blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the  institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There  was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a  dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work  out our ruin. That we do not overstate the dangers to our institution, a  reference to a few facts will sufficiently prove.


*Georgia- *

The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with  the Government of the United States of America, present to their  confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation.  For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of  complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with  reference to the subject of African slavery. They have endeavored to  weaken our security, to disturb our domestic peace and tranquility, and  persistently refused to comply with their express constitutional  obligations to us in reference to that property, and by the use of their  power in the Federal Government have striven to deprive us of an equal  enjoyment of the common Territories of the Republic. 



*South Carolina- *

_Declaration_ _of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union _
 The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled,  on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent  violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal  Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the  States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal  Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other  slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right.  Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and  further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.

*Texas-* 

In all the non-slave-holding States, in violation of that good faith and  comity which should exist between entirely distinct nations, the people  have formed themselves into a great sectional party, now strong enough  in numbers to control the affairs of each of those States, based upon an  unnatural feeling of hostility to these Southern States and their  beneficent and patriarchal system of African slavery, proclaiming the  debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or  color-- a doctrine at war with nature, in opposition to the experience  of mankind, and in violation of the plainest revelations of Divine Law.  They demand the abolition of negro slavery throughout the confederacy,  the recognition of political equality between the white and negro races,  and avow their determination to press on their crusade against us, so  long as a negro slave remains in these States.


--

In these and many other examples, the issue of African slavery  was identified by the Confederate States as the central issue to their  disagreement and the cause of Southern Rebellion.  There is no real  question among historians that maintaining the institution of slavery  was the reason for the American Civil War.  These are snippets, you can  look them up and read the entire documents and you'll see the theme  populates their entirety.

Southern revisionist history and  Confederate apologists have tried to spin this issue in modern times in  which the concept of slavery has become abhorrent across all overtly  held political views but this is merely a red herring that has been  promulgated to minimise their social embarrassment and possible  disenfranchisement.  The Civil War was a war about slavery and that  attitude, in many modified forms, remains central to the views of many  in the south even though they may not realise it conscisously.  

The  confederate flag as 'heritage' is utter sophistry.  The Confederate  States of America lasted less than 5 years.  Rick-Rolling has lasted longer than the Confederate States did.  The Confederacy was a failed state and  eventually suffered total and ignominious defeat.  There is no heritage  associate with that that hasn't been completely manufactured from  vapour.  Where else in the world do people still display the flag of a  long-ago defeated foreign enemy?  At the core of that view is, hidden  under a century and a half of justification and political spin, the  belief that the slave-holders were morally correct and that African  people are inferior whose rightful role is chattel.  Saying that the Civil War was not about slavery is either willful deceit or pure ignorance.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Irwin said:


> What grinds my gears (today)? A bee got in the house and decided to join me late the other night while I was watching YouTube videos on TV in the living room, barefooted. When I put my foot down, the bastard stung my foot! Not expecting to get bit by anything in the house, I thought maybe I had stepped on something sharp. Since I wasn't wearing my glasses and couldn't see clearly, it just looked like a motionless little clump of something--perhaps that the dog drug in. So I reached down to pick it up and examine it, and the bastard stung my finger! DOH! I smacked it with a sandal that way lying nearby.
> 
> Bees in Colorado generally aren't aggressive and don't sting you, unless, of course, you step on them. This is the first time I've ever gotten bit by one.



Surprised you got stung twice. Honey bees have a barb so the sting usually stays in, wasps can keep going. Not sure about bumble bees. I know someone who got stung by one walking barefoot in a lawn with clover blossom in it. I think you are right, it's stepping on them that is the mistake.


----------



## Jp

Amnesiac said:


> "Your a looser." This one drives me crazy. Bunch of losers!



Someone at work had written a note and stuck it to the vending machine that was really out of order, the note read "This Vending machine is a loser," so I wrote underneath, Yeah, vending machine, go get a job and move out already. lol


----------



## noisebloom

Attak88 said:


> The media gets my blood boiling.  The whole farce of BLM and the left destroying the U.S. history of the South.  The Dixie flag, the Confederacy did not go to war for slavery.  They wouldn't join the union. And all the relatives of killed Confederates are watching their families legacy destroyed.



I'm a little concerned about the "88" in your username, given the context of your opinion regarding BLM, i.e.

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/88

Could just be referring to something else, but I would appreciate the clarification on this.

With regards to the Confederate Flag, let's hypothesize (for the sake of argument) that the Confederacy did not want to secede for reasons related to slavery. In the modern day, this symbol has been taken and used pervasively by white supremacists and hate groups; this is similar to how the Nazis _took_ the swastika and used it for their own purposes. Symbols can change over time and context is important; the modern-day context in America regarding the Confederate Flag is that it stands in direct opposition to groups that are fighting for their equality.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

As far as writing related, promotion and marketing really put me in a tailspin. Book sales are down and I've tried every thing in the book and outside the box to remedy it, and it has just gotten more and more difficult. I've never found a correct and effective solution to it.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

Biro said:


> Internet marketing is quite hard Chris.  One major problem is you are never in control of what you are doing until you can find away of gaining control.  Everybody you need to advertise your product is calling the shots and some are forever changing the rules.
> 
> Added to that I think 'reading' is on it's way out and now it is all visual and audio.  So your books may need to be narrated?



Thanks, Biro. And I would agree with this. I'm even competing with others who are purchasing or pursuing the same ad campaigns that I am. The competition is so fierce that it's very easy to be lost in the shuffle. I notice there has been a huge sway to sites that are very visual, like Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. I fall short here since I have no smart phone and cannot take photos or shots that might entice a reader to hang around long enough to read the blurb or back-cover matter. 

Although, I don't think it's been mentioned, but, personally, creating a pen name for my YA series was probably the worst mistake I ever made in my life. The third book in the trilogy is soon to come out, but the sales are absolutely flat dead, even with lots of glowing reviews and more ink than an octopus. Not to mention, the untold financial outlay in ads and even an award win on the first book in the series, which has been KU and 99 cents for a year. I chose a female gender pen name and she is only a year old. I did link my real name with the pen name whenever and however I needed to. Everywhere, and to nearly 5,000 FB friends. 

On the other hand, my real name has been with nine other books on the Internet for 15 years and the sales a good, right in line with normal and expected performance. The difference is night and day. All of the books are priced @ $2.99, save the first book in the pen name trilogy. It seems I didn't create a new writer for a fresh YA series. I actually created one who self-destructed. I'll NEVER pen name again.


----------



## Amnesiac

Funny thing about that: I've gotten sick of the technological navel-gazing and screen addiction. I've started reading books again. Just finished, "Mortal Fear," by Greg Iles. Crazy, scary, wonderful rollercoaster of a read! Getting ready to read, "Bad Love," by Jonathan Kellerman. I've been a huge fan of Tim Dorsey's novels for years... Great stuff! Maybe I'm showing my age, but I've rediscovered how much I enjoy just picking up a book and reading. It transports me in a way that the blue-screens can't.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

Amnesiac said:


> Funny thing about that: I've gotten sick of the technological navel-gazing and screen addiction. I've started reading books again. Just finished, "Mortal Fear," by Greg Iles. Crazy, scary, wonderful rollercoaster of a read! Getting ready to read, "Bad Love," by Jonathan Kellerman. I've been a huge fan of Tim Dorsey's novels for years... Great stuff! Maybe I'm showing my age, but I've rediscovered how much I enjoy just picking up a book and reading. It transports me in a way that the blue-screens can't.



Ya know, this sounds like a  pretty damn good idea, considering I'm pretty fed up with the same stuff on the Internet, and it certainly isn't very relaxing to plow through all of the discussions, which most are heated or overly profound in some sense. I think we all need a transport out of this currently reality for a bit and adopt some new and more positive perspectives. God bless us all, wot?


----------



## Joker

Needing job experience to get the job you need experience for.

**** off.


----------



## Olly Buckle

I keep getting letters from the government and from my doctor that start off with something like, "We know what a hard time you have been having due to lockdown ..."

They know nothing, it's been really great being able to get on with all the jobs I have indoors and around the garden without thinking, 'She wants to go to the supermarket', 'We are invited to the in-law's for dinner' etc. etc. Basically I am an antisocial b..... who has really enjoyed this release from any social duties. I am even quite enjoying needing a haircut and not having to go, I hate all that messing about and hair down the back of my neck. "Stay locked down just in case", that's what I say.


----------



## dither

I haven't had any letters likes of which you speak but I did say somewhere in here that I've been self-isolating for years, not a conscious choice on my part, life just worked out that way. I WOULD like to get my hair cut, I'm not comfortable with it how it is, if when I am able, I go out of town for my haircuts and I'm not keen on riding the buses right now, have no idea of bus-times anyway. I shall have it all cut off and go totally bald when I can get to barber's shop. Used to be once a year but now I'm retired I shall probably keep it close to zero. " Barbers ", showing my age there.


----------



## dither

Biro, why can't barbers just shut up and cut? Some people find silence difficult, but Why? 

I have electric clippers but don't trust myself to not mess it up, am a bit ham-fisted, used to have my sister do it, wife won't even consider it.


----------



## Irwin

I've needed a haircut for months now. I'm looking like an aging musician these days.  Another couple months and I'll be able to put it in a ponytail.  lol!

It used to be, when you went for a trim at a discount barber, you just risked getting a bad haircut. Now you risk getting a virus that could kill you!

Strange days.


----------



## dither

Irwin said:


> I've needed a haircut for months now. I'm looking like an aging musician these days.  Another couple months and I'll be able to put it in a ponytail.  lol!
> 
> It used to be, when you went for a trim at a discount barber, you just risked getting a bad haircut. Now you risk getting a virus that could kill you!
> 
> Strange days.



Yeah, don't when I'll be seeing the inside of one of those places again.


----------



## Joker

Good thing I just shave almost all my hair off.


----------



## dither

Joker said:


> Good thing I just shave almost all my hair off.



Almost?


----------



## Irwin

What grinds my gears? Bitchy people and whiners. And people who lie so they have something to bitch and whine about. WTF?


----------



## Olly Buckle

Biro, Dither, re talking barbers, this from an Ancient Greek joke book, so well over two thousand years old.

Barber, How would you like your haircut sir?
Customer, Silently.

Now to wind up Irwin I am going to have a bitch and a whine, but it's all true  

The missus knows I like jam doughnuts and brought home a packet of them. On the outside was a best before date 24/7, tomorrow. Now they were not particularly wonderful doughnuts anyway, but by then they would make a substitute for round shot. Any doughnut worthy of the name is best before it is about half to threequarters of an hour old; crispy on the outside, soft and almost gooey (but not quite) on the inside. Making my mouth water writing it. If it's two days old it isn't worth eating. And one thing I agree with Irwin about is I hate being lied to, even if it is about something relatively petty, like long life doughnuts. I reserve the right to bitch and whine about it, even if no-one reads it, so there!


----------



## Irwin

People who are full of shit.


----------



## River Rose

Irwin said:


> People who are full of shit.



Basically yes.


----------



## Turnbull

I can't stand audio learning.  I just want to read books or documents, and here someone comes with a video.  Hate.  I just want to read something and move on, not waste 15 minutes of time for 2 minutes worth of information.


----------



## Darkkin

Turnbull said:


> I can't stand audio learning.  I just want to read books or documents, and here someone comes with a video.  Hate.  I just want to read something and move on, not waste 15 minutes of time for 2 minutes worth of information.



Totally understand the sentiment.  Please be quiet and let me read...

People who will not stop talking at me.  I understand what they need, I know where to find it.  I go to get it and they are still trying to explain...


----------



## midnightpoet

Some of these new terms like "hack" and "woke."  I looked them up (it's always assumed, of course, that "everyone" knows what they mean) and immediately forgot what it said.  I know terms come and go, I'll be glad when these go.  I find them irritating and meaningless.


----------



## Joker

midnightpoet said:


> Some of these new terms like "hack" and "woke."  I looked them up (it's always assumed, of course, that "everyone" knows what they mean) and immediately forgot what it said.  I know terms come and go, I'll be glad when these go.  I find them irritating and meaningless.



Woke? Of course I'm woke. I'm woke 16 hours every day!


----------



## Amnesiac

bae is my personal pet peeve.


----------



## River Rose

Amnesiac said:


> bae is my personal pet peeve.



To funny. I have heard so many ppl say this one.


----------



## River Rose

Biro said:


> Whats that?



Generally a persons boyfriend or girlfriend.


----------



## Amnesiac

BAE: Before All Else


----------



## SueC

Slow Talkers, with long pauses in between. Ugh  Oh, and man buns.


----------



## Xander416

Biro said:


> Nothing cool in talking to someone and there is a bogie flapping about off a whisker.


An image I'm never going to get out of my head now thanks to you. lol


----------



## dither

Wanting to buy something that can only be found on e-bay and amazon. I won't have, don't want, won't DO those people and so, ultimately, I won't get what I'm looking for.


----------



## Irwin

dither said:


> Wanting to buy something that can only be found on e-bay and amazon. I won't have, don't want, won't DO those people and so, ultimately, I won't get what I'm looking for.



I don't deal much with ebay, but I buy almost everything through Amazon, including now, some groceries, since they bought Whole Foods. Why? They make it so easy. Amazon is an amazingly well run company. And as many complaints you hear about their working conditions, they start their employees off at $15 an hour, which is more than double the national minimum wage. They also provide tuition for employees who want to go to college.

So, if you're some poor schlub who wants to better him/herself, put up with the monotonous work for a few years while you get an education and then move on. As time goes on, more and more of those jobs are going to be automated, anyway, so you can't make a career out of working at Amazon unless you're a professional.


----------



## Joker

I despise Jeff Bezos as a person, but goddamn if he doesn't run a tight ship.


----------



## Xander416

Irwin said:


> I don't deal much with ebay, but I buy almost everything through Amazon, including now, some groceries, since they bought Whole Foods.


With the mail moving at a snail's pace these days, ordering online is becoming less and less reliable. I recently had a package sit apparently untouched in a USPS carrier facility for 3 weeks.


----------



## Cave Troll

People who can't take a joke, yet are liberal with the power hammer of expulsion.


----------



## Smith

The next semester starts in: three days. *face in hands*




Xander416 said:


> With the mail moving at a snail's pace these days, ordering online is becoming less and less reliable. I recently had a package sit apparently untouched in a USPS carrier facility for 3 weeks.



I've been ordering a lot of things through Amazon, and pretty much all of the packages have been arriving on-time or only a little late. USPS hasn't been good since the "pony express" days. If you have a stuck package, it might be worth filling out a short online form and submitting an inquiry. Sometimes this can "force" the package from being stuck.

I never received my absentee ballot in the mail for voting in the primaries, which is rather concerning. I have to go to my township hall and inquire, which makes me sigh with great annoyance.

Seriously thinking about driving two hours from school to my home-town so I can vote, and then driving back the same day. I don't want to take any chances that this happens again.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

People that have to be told that black lives matter.

Hell's bells, I ALWAYS knew that black lives mattered. I was brought up right.


----------



## Joker

Chris Stevenson said:


> People that have to be told that black lives matter.
> 
> Hell's bells, I ALWAYS knew that black lives mattered. I was brought up right.



Do I agree with the _statement_ that black lives matter? Ofc. And I'm perfectly cognizant that, on _average, _social injustices like violent crime and poverty are more likely to effect a black person.

But what annoys me to no end is when people freak out when you don't agree with Black Lives Matter the _organization. _The founders of it are literal communists. But almost no one has actually done any digging...


----------



## Chris Stevenson

Joker said:


> Do I agree with the _statement_ that black lives matter? Ofc. And I'm perfectly cognizant that, on _average, _social injustices like violent crime and poverty are more likely to effect a black person.
> 
> But what annoys me to know end is when people freak out when you don't agree with Black Lives Matter the _organization. _The founders of it are literal communists. But almost no one has actually done any digging...



Interesting point. I'll dig into that. I'm ignorant of its origins. I've been touting the importance of our First Nations Tribes and their cultural history, and have been doing so for a couple of years now. But would I dare say that on my major media sites at this time? I fear that I would be slaughtered for stealing thunder or something. 

BTW, LOVE your sig line quote and that author.


----------



## Joker

Chris Stevenson said:


> Interesting point. I'll dig into that. I'm ignorant of its origins. I've been touting the importance of our First Nations Tribes and their cultural history, and have been doing so for a couple of years now. But would I dare say that on my major media sites at this time? I fear that I would be slaughtered for stealing thunder or something.
> 
> BTW, LOVE your sig line quote and that author.



If a white person engages with a non-white culture, they're racist and guilty of fetishism. If they _don't _engage with a non-white culture, they're also racist.

You can't win with those types, so who cares? Do what you like.

Thanks, you can probably guess that Heinlein was a big influence on my political views from a young age.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

Joker said:


> If a white person engages with a non-white culture, they're racist and guilty of fetishism. If they _don't _engage with a non-white culture, they're also racist.
> 
> You can't win with those types, so who cares? Do what you like.
> 
> Thanks, you can probably guess that Heinlein was a big influence on my political views from a young age.



Yeah, I understand the double-edged sword in that. Completely.

I can see the influence. I am a dinosaur of those days and swapped letters with Robert via my SFFW access. My writing has been compared to his and Phillip Jose Farmer. You should see me cut loose on my Guerrilla Warfare for Writers blog. At times, you would think I was Harlan Ellison's' lil brother.

BTW, Joker. Did you send me a private message? For the life of me I can access that message and bring up your post. What am I doing wrong? Could you tell me how to do that in easy steps? I don't know what's happened. I'm running an Ad blocker, but I don't think that has anything to do with it. Thanks.


----------



## Joker

Chris Stevenson said:


> Yeah, I understand the double-edged sword in that. Completely.
> 
> I can see the influence. I am a dinosaur of those days and swapped letters with Robert via my SFFW access. My writing has been compared to his and Phillip Jose Farmer. You should see me cut loose on my Guerrilla Warfare for Writers blog. At times, you would think I was Harlan Ellison's' lil brother.
> 
> BTW, Joker. Did you send me a private message? For the life of me I can access that message and bring up your post. What am I doing wrong? Could you tell me how to do that in easy steps? I don't know what's happened. I'm running an Ad blocker, but I don't think that has anything to do with it. Thanks.



Nope, you just get a PM every time someone responds to you. It's the server.


----------



## Chris Stevenson

Joker said:


> Nope, you just get a PM every time someone responds to you. It's the server.



Oh, I see. Yes, my general email flags it, but calls it a "PRIVATE MESSAGE", which seems to be a quote only. FB and Twitter is a different method. I'm lax, I belong to way too many groups and display sites.


----------



## Gumby

Joker said:


> Nope, you just get a PM every time someone responds to you. It's the server.



Or possibly you are getting "Quote Notification" each time you quote someone or someone quotes you, the quoted member gets a PM notifying them that they've been quoted and a link to the post they were quoted in.


----------



## Darren White

Joker said:


> Nope, you just get a PM every time someone responds to you. It's the server.


You can disable the quote notifications in the settings.


----------



## Lee Messer

*You might be sane. lol.*

Agreed. It's like everyone's hair caught fire. I am now under the realization that I am a minority of sanity in this world. Be prepared at the voting booth this year. I'm seeing coordinated planning for attacks on youtube channels. It's for real.


----------



## Lee Messer

Racist people who accuse me of being racist.
Ignorant people who accuse me of being ignorant.
Hypocritical suggestions coming from busy bodies who have trouble finding things to do.
Grown-up babies who have no coping mechanisms that hate me for being calm.
Real actual psychopaths that believe victimizing others is justified by the helplessness of their victims.
Those who play hidden convoluted Machiavellian games to get at people, I don't play games, I finish them.
People who get mad at me if I don't listen to their every word when I am trying to drive.
Women who don't know what they want in a man, but can tell you fifty or so things they don't like about men.


----------



## Irwin

Whiners.


----------



## Olly Buckle

The misuse of the phrase "The survival of the fittest" . You know, those people who use it as an excuse to exploit other members of their own species. It always makes me want to reply "What makes you think you're fit to survive?"


----------



## Irwin

Olly Buckle said:


> The misuse of the phrase "The survival of the fittest" . You know, those people who use it as an excuse to exploit other members of their own species. It always makes me want to reply "What makes you think you're fit to survive?"



That just means that the person in question fits well into our sick society, which is nothing to brag about. 

Trump is a good example. He made a fortune through borderline illegal activities and screwing people over, which in some people's minds, makes him "fittest," and he may very well come out on top. Time will tell. But in a healthy society, with his abilities, he'd be lucky to be managing a Taco Bell.


----------



## Lee Messer

Ok, I'm sure people would want to know my take on Trump. Everyone seems to want to feel the water to see what everyone else thinks. It appears that way at least.

Don't want talk about the other side yet. No one mentioned them, but I have a take on the whole picture... because it is one giant shitshow to me. You see, I am what is called apolitical. I don't believe in politicians, and that is pretty much the end of it.

Trumps greatest achievement was to show what a farce politics is. Consider this, politics in america today is synonymous to the WWF of the 1980s and 1990s. For those of you not knowing what the WWF was, it was the televised professional wrestling of the time. It was as correagraphed and fake as sunday kung fu theatre.

Here's proof from the WWE era (2000s):
[video=youtube;tXodzjw4l1k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXodzjw4l1k[/video]

He had the same look on his face when he debated Hillary Clinton


----------



## Joker

Idiots who bring up Trump when the discussion has nothing to do with him.


----------



## A97

The two main things would definitely be slow walkers and people who cannot be off their phone for five minutes or whilst having a meal.


----------



## dither

Irwin said:


> That just means that the person in question fits well into our sick society, which is nothing to brag about.




Liked.


----------



## Winston

A97 said:


> The two main things would definitely be slow walkers and people who cannot be off their phone for five minutes or whilst having a meal.



That's ironic.  I wholeheartedly agree with the latter, and vehemently disagree with the former.

Maybe it's just that I'm blessed to live where I do.  We have eagles, hawks and blue herons, and I usually see all of them on my commute to work.  Bunny rabbits, and sometimes deer on the way down to the water.  You can't see them, but you can hear the seals barking on the buoys in the sound.  The snowcapped mountains, the smell of the pine trees...  I sometimes sit on my motorcycle, and listen to the rain for a minute.  The light drizzle is a sublime symphony.  

I don't know why people rush... everywhere.  I walk slow, and take it all in.  There is no where in the world more important than where I am at any given moment.  There is no need to rush anywhere.
People that zip past other humans, treating them like traffic pylon cones in a slalom?  Maybe not a gear grinding event, but I'll never understand it.


----------



## Joker

Winston said:


> That's ironic.  I wholeheartedly agree with the latter, and vehemently disagree with the former.
> 
> Maybe it's just that I'm blessed to live where I do.  We have eagles, hawks and blue herons, and I usually see all of them on my commute to work.  Bunny rabbits, and sometimes deer on the way down to the water.  You can't see them, but you can hear the seals barking on the buoys in the sound.  The snowcapped mountains, the smell of the pine trees...  I sometimes sit on my motorcycle, and listen to the rain for a minute.  The light drizzle is a sublime symphony.
> 
> I don't know why people rush... everywhere.  I walk slow, and take it all in.  There is no where in the world more important than where I am at any given moment.  There is no need to rush anywhere.
> People that zip past other humans, treating them like traffic pylon cones in a slalom?  Maybe not a gear grinding event, but I'll never understand it.



Japan would do well to remember this.


----------



## dither

The notice of renewal-form  for her pre-payment certificate for 12 monthly repeat prescriptions. You do it online, all the relevant details are there, and yes of course I shall take care of it, but there is no other payment option, no postal address, and no telephone number.

Not everyone has internet access or would want it. Not everyone is computer/internet-savvy nor would they want to be.

Inconsiderate S.O.B. s.


----------



## Olly Buckle

dither said:


> The notice of renewal-form  for her pre-payment certificate for 12 monthly repeat prescriptions. You do it online, all the relevant details are there, and yes of course I shall take care of it, but there is no other payment option, no postal address, and no telephone number.
> 
> Not everyone has internet access or would want it. Not everyone is computer/internet-savvy nor would they want to be.
> 
> Inconsiderate S.O.B. s.



My missus is fed up, she is a library assistant and although the library is mostly shut they are maintaining computer access for urgent things. She used to enjoy her job, part of which was helping people through just such problems. Now she says she doesn't mind sorting books left in drop boxes and doing all the 101 jobs that are needed like sorting stock, but she wants nothing to do with the general public on a face to face basis, "I don't want to bring something home that will kill you", I'm glad about that.

Anyway, yes there is computer access for everyone, and yes you can get help with it if you are computer illiterate, you go down the library.


----------



## dither

I can but I wouldn't and nor would many others I'm sure. It's why I don't have a bus-pass. Won't ask and wouldn't use if I HAD one. Would rather walk and when I can't walk I shall go without. My experience of librarians is well, best not go there, there's just something about those people, we're from different worlds, I'm sorry Mr.Buckle but there it is.

I can't even face anyone knowing that I donated to the local foodbank and again, those people. Apparently they're planning to have an online payment option, I can do that.


----------



## andrewclunn

People who would allow "their tribe" anything, so long as it helps their team.  Truth?  Integrity?  Compassion?  Mercy?  Freedom?  Introspection?  All values, all lines, all things are sacrificed for their team, their group.  There is no sin that cannot be justified if it's "for the cause."  Then whichever side in a conflict is more willing to self reflect and question... well they lose because it's not about being right, or even convincing people that you are right.  That's not how you "win" and winning is all that matters.  The saddest part is that the vast majority of people on a corrupted "team" will convince themselves that they are on the side of righteousness.  We are our own oppressors and we have no hope of escaping this prison built of human lies and constructed within our own minds.


----------



## Joker

You're telling me that India, a middle-income country with 1.whatever billion people that has only been a unified democracy for a third of the length of the United States, can count all their ballots and declare a winner in three hours while we still don't know who won half a dozen swing states?

Both parties are to be blame for this absolute farce.


----------



## Taylor

andrewclunn said:


> People who would allow "their tribe" anything, so long as it helps their team.  Truth?  Integrity?  Compassion?  Mercy?  Freedom?  Introspection?  All values, all lines, all things are sacrificed for their team, their group.  There is no sin that cannot be justified if it's "for the cause."  Then whichever side in a conflict is more willing to self reflect and question... well they lose because it's not about being right, or even convincing people that you are right.  That's not how you "win" and winning is all that matters.  The saddest part is that the vast majority of people on a corrupted "team" will convince themselves that they are on the side of righteousness.  We are our own oppressors and we have no hope of escaping this prison built of human lies and constructed within our own minds.



You describe tribalism very well.  And I believe the prison you speak of is what I call black and white thinking.  The inability to think through a fact pattern and make up one's own mind, however grey that may be.  But rather, force the facts into a pattern that supports your team's views.   The media are rampant right now!  And I know some of  you will read this and think: "yes", believing that it is the other team that is doing this, "not my team."  But, I agree, we are our own oppressors, because, no matter how hard we try to escape, we cannot change the way we think.  And we will quickly scan the fact pattern to see how we can make it fit our team's sense of righteousness.    

The one thing you say that I challenge, is that there is definitively only one corrupt team.  Doesn't each team think the other team is corrupt?


----------



## andrewclunn

Taylor said:


> You describe tribalism very well.  And I believe the prison you speak of is what I call black and white thinking.  The inability to think through a fact pattern and make up one's own mind, however grey that may be.  But rather, force the facts into a pattern that supports your team's views.   The media are rampant right now!  And I know some of  you will read this and think: "yes", believing that it is the other team that is doing this, "not my team."  But, I agree, we are our own oppressors, because, no matter how hard we try to escape, we cannot change the way we think.  And we will quickly scan the fact pattern to see how we can make it fit our team's sense of righteousness.
> 
> The one thing you say that I challenge, is that there is definitively only one corrupt team.  Doesn't each team think the other team is corrupt?



Sometimes both sides are wrong.  Sometimes it's just an honest disagreement, and "right" and "wrong" is a matter of perspective.  Sometimes however, the fault is indeed lopsided.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Impatient drivers, I don't drive as much nowadays but I have had headlights flashed and horns hooted at me for being cautious. The other day a boy was killed in our village, kids were coming out of school and witnesses said the driver didn't have a chance, he ran straight out into the road. I don't know the facts of the particular case, but I know when I am going through the village at that time of day  I am taking extra care, driving out from the edge of the pavement and dropping my speed by ten or fifteen mph. That's the sort of thing that earns me abuse, it is also the sort of thing that saves children's lives. It might be completely legal to do 30mph, but the chance of dying drops so dramatically at 20 that it becomes very unlikely. If one of my children had died age eleven or twelve it would have affected the whole of the rest of my life and several others, please don't be impatient.

Policemen call it 'Red mist', it is when people are thinking of something else than driving, they are late, someone is waiting, whatever, forget where you have to get to, don' let it spread a red mist over the here and now. If he is driving slowly and over carefully maybe he is taking himself to hospital, maybe he passed his driving test an hour ago, deal with the here and now, give him room and wait.

The police driving manual says 'Children are unpredictable', actually I would say 'People' rather than just 'Children' , they are just a bit less predictable. Give yourself room to cope with the unexpected.


----------



## Bilston Blue

Olly Buckle said:


> Impatient drivers, I don't drive as much nowadays but I have had headlights flashed and horns hooted at me for being cautious. The other day a boy was killed in our village, kids were coming out of school and witnesses said the driver didn't have a chance, he ran straight out into the road. I don't know the facts of the particular case, but I know when I am going through the village at that time of day  I am taking extra care, driving out from the edge of the pavement and dropping my speed by ten or fifteen mph. That's the sort of thing that earns me abuse, it is also the sort of thing that saves children's lives. It might be completely legal to do 30mph, but the chance of dying drops so dramatically at 20 that it becomes very unlikely. If one of my children had died age eleven or twelve it would have affected the whole of the rest of my life and several others, please don't be impatient.
> 
> Policemen call it 'Red mist', it is when people are thinking of something else than driving, they are late, someone is waiting, whatever, forget where you have to get to, don' let it spread a red mist over the here and now. If he is driving slowly and over carefully maybe he is taking himself to hospital, maybe he passed his driving test an hour ago, deal with the here and now, give him room and wait.
> 
> The police driving manual says 'Children are unpredictable', actually I would say 'People' rather than just 'Children' , they are just a bit less predictable. Give yourself room to cope with the unexpected.



Hi Olly, it's been a long time...

I agree with your point without exception. I've taught people to drive for twenty years now. People are mostly patient when they're behind us but on a daily basis I'm aware of those who aren't, whose impatience is betrayed by their use of the horn, aggressive positioning on the road, hand gestures when queueing and expecting us to move away from the lights in a split second. On occasion there's a horn from behind when our handbrake's barely halfway released. I try to take each learner on at least one school run, a lesson beginning about 2.45 and taking in half a dozen schools or so, both primary and senior. I ask them to take note of how many people around the schools are walking around and crossing the road while scrolling or typing on their phones. The scary thing is, at the primary schools it's the parents doing this. People _are_ unpredictable, drivers as well as those on foot. I've often wondered if those shared spaces they have in parts of Holland (maybe elsewhere) would work. It would certainly focus the mind. There's a place in West Bromwich town centre, outside the main bus terminal, where the pavements and roads are at the same level. It's not quite a shared space as the two are clearly marked as distinct and there are bollards at the edge of the road, but even being on the same level as those on foot makes me extra vigilant and less liable to consider myself as having priority on the road.

Good to see you around.


----------



## RhythmOvPain

Communism.


----------



## CyberWar

RhythmOvPain said:


> Communism.



This, especially of the kind that comes from middle-class college know-it-all Westerners who have never had the questionable privilege of living under an actual Communist regime.


----------



## dither

It's my age I know it, but:

I've got an old pair of heavy duty black leather boots, the sort that you might wear for work but without the steel toe-caps. They're so comfortable, I love wearing them but I've worn them for so long now, the soles  don't have much tread on them and the heels, you can see the hollow insides, I won't be wearing them for much longer. They'll be going out with the refuse and the leather uppers are perfect, they're not even scuffed. Why isn't there somebody out there re-soling these boots? It makes me so angry. Yes of course I shall buy a new pair when I am able to get out but why??? ARGHHH!

OKAY! Silly old bugger that I am, I hate throwing away things like this, I hate waste. I bet those uppers could see out another pair of soles and it drives me mad.


----------



## BornForBurning

> questionable privilege


It'll work this time CyberWar trust me I had this really enlightening conversation with a barista from Portland. 

In all seriousness I live in collegetown USA, right on the edge of the real urban jungle. Not gonna specify the actual municipality. But lately my little corner of the world has been feeling like the epicenter of cosmic unrest. Reality: most of these 'communists' are kids looking to get a high off of getting their name cheered. Plain and simple. There's a vague conception that they're fighting for something called 'human rights' that justifies the whole ordeal, but really, these are _just kids_. The real issue is insecurity and self-worship. That's what breaks my heart more than anything. That, and the death of the university as an institution of intellectual debate and its transformation into a platform for political activism. Yes, I know this has been going on since at least the 1800s, but it honestly still sucks. I generally don't find myself agreeing with the 'right-wing' perspective on much of anything, but one thing I _do _agree on is that genuine freethinkers are getting rare. People don't trust each other enough to think freely. It's dangerous. 

when you realize the Red Menace is basically a bunch of bewildered freshmen trying to fit in and not kill themselves due to crippling anxiety/depression/getting sexually exploited by some junior. Pray for these folks, honestly. The reality of their souls is so much worse than Communism it hurts. At least the old Communists really believed in something.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Bilston Blue said:


> Hi Olly, it's been a long time...
> 
> I agree with your point without exception. I've taught people to drive for twenty years now. People are mostly patient when they're behind us but on a daily basis I'm aware of those who aren't, whose impatience is betrayed by their use of the horn, aggressive positioning on the road, hand gestures when queueing and expecting us to move away from the lights in a split second. On occasion there's a horn from behind when our handbrake's barely halfway released. I try to take each learner on at least one school run, a lesson beginning about 2.45 and taking in half a dozen schools or so, both primary and senior. I ask them to take note of how many people around the schools are walking around and crossing the road while scrolling or typing on their phones. The scary thing is, at the primary schools it's the parents doing this. People _are_ unpredictable, drivers as well as those on foot. I've often wondered if those shared spaces they have in parts of Holland (maybe elsewhere) would work. It would certainly focus the mind. There's a place in West Bromwich town centre, outside the main bus terminal, where the pavements and roads are at the same level. It's not quite a shared space as the two are clearly marked as distinct and there are bollards at the edge of the road, but even being on the same level as those on foot makes me extra vigilant and less liable to consider myself as having priority on the road.
> 
> Good to see you around.



The general perception of shared space is that it does not work and is highly dangerous, this means that actually it does work, people are more careful when they perceive things to be dangerous. Serious accidents are much more likely on long, straight, open stretches of road than they are when the road twists and bends through woods with junctions and entrances. The exception is motorways, which are very safe considering the volume of traffic they carry, most people, however, are a bit daunted by them and drive carefully, where they might well get careless on a long straight of almost empty two lane black top. It is all a matter of attention, that's why accidents tend to happen in the first and last half mile of a journey, before people switch on and when they switch off early, "Almost there".


----------



## Olly Buckle

Leaf blowers. Noisy, inefficient and burning petrol. I am sure I can do better quicker with a wire rake.


----------



## Joker

BornForBurning said:


> It'll work this time CyberWar trust me I had this really enlightening conversation with a barista from Portland.
> 
> In all seriousness I live in collegetown USA, right on the edge of the real urban jungle. Not gonna specify the actual municipality. But lately my little corner of the world has been feeling like the epicenter of cosmic unrest. Reality: most of these 'communists' are kids looking to get a high off of getting their name cheered. Plain and simple. There's a vague conception that they're fighting for something called 'human rights' that justifies the whole ordeal, but really, these are _just kids_. The real issue is insecurity and self-worship. That's what breaks my heart more than anything. That, and the death of the university as an institution of intellectual debate and its transformation into a platform for political activism. Yes, I know this has been going on since at least the 1800s, but it honestly still sucks. I generally don't find myself agreeing with the 'right-wing' perspective on much of anything, but one thing I _do _agree on is that genuine freethinkers are getting rare. People don't trust each other enough to think freely. It's dangerous.
> 
> when you realize the Red Menace is basically a bunch of bewildered freshmen trying to fit in and not kill themselves due to crippling anxiety/depression/getting sexually exploited by some junior. Pray for these folks, honestly. The reality of their souls is so much worse than Communism it hurts. At least the old Communists really believed in something.



That's why I find myself laughing at conservatives who genuinely fear that these guys are going to come take their guns away in the middle of the night.

I'm not at all scared of the purple-haired crowd that doesn't know what gender they are.


----------



## Joker

Olly Buckle said:


> Impatient drivers, I don't drive as much nowadays but I have had headlights flashed and horns hooted at me for being cautious. The other day a boy was killed in our village, kids were coming out of school and witnesses said the driver didn't have a chance, he ran straight out into the road. I don't know the facts of the particular case, but I know when I am going through the village at that time of day  I am taking extra care, driving out from the edge of the pavement and dropping my speed by ten or fifteen mph. That's the sort of thing that earns me abuse, it is also the sort of thing that saves children's lives. It might be completely legal to do 30mph, but the chance of dying drops so dramatically at 20 that it becomes very unlikely. If one of my children had died age eleven or twelve it would have affected the whole of the rest of my life and several others, please don't be impatient.
> 
> Policemen call it 'Red mist', it is when people are thinking of something else than driving, they are late, someone is waiting, whatever, forget where you have to get to, don' let it spread a red mist over the here and now. If he is driving slowly and over carefully maybe he is taking himself to hospital, maybe he passed his driving test an hour ago, deal with the here and now, give him room and wait.
> 
> The police driving manual says 'Children are unpredictable', actually I would say 'People' rather than just 'Children' , they are just a bit less predictable. Give yourself room to cope with the unexpected.



There's a road just outside my house with a speed limit of 35. There's _no _reason for that next to a residential neighborhood. I've seen two horrific accidents _just outside my window _in the past several years. One woman literally ended upside down and uprooted a small tree!

Yet I get honked at for going 25. Smh...


----------



## Olly Buckle

People so often don't take account of what is next to the road. There is a village on the main road near here that has a thirty limit, and people are not bad during the day when there are obvious pedestrians about. Coming home late at night I have been overtaken by cars doing twice that, okay there is no-one about, but there are older cottages right up to the road, it must be horrible in their front rooms.


----------



## Joker

Olly Buckle said:


> People so often don't take account of what is next to the road. There is a village on the main road near here that has a thirty limit, and people are not bad during the day when there are obvious pedestrians about. Coming home late at night I have been overtaken by cars doing twice that, okay there is no-one about, but there are older cottages right up to the road, it must be horrible in their front rooms.




Yep. Several times a day I hear cyclists blasting their engines past at at least 60 MPH.

Fortunately, we all live on a hill.


----------



## TheManx

Poorly written instruction manuals...


----------



## Joker

TheManx said:


> Poorly written instruction manuals...



I bought a chair a few months back and the pictures for assembly were backwards...


----------



## TheManx

Joker said:


> I bought a chair a few months back and the pictures for assembly were backwards...



I interned at an ad agency -- one of their clients was a furniture kit company -- like a higher-end Ikea. The agency took on the instruction manuals and I got stuck with it. I wanted to impress, but also knowing how crappy most instructions were, I really wanted to do a good job. We had furniture shipped to a photographer, using their crappy preliminary instructions, we photographed the whole process step-by-step for each piece of furniture. I designed the manuals, but I also wrote them -- just constantly stepping back and looking at it from the perspective of the customer. It cost a lot, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost of the start up -- design, sourcing, manufacturing etc. In marketing research, people almost always mentioned the instructions first when asked about the overall customer experience...

BTW -- they didn't want the furniture back -- there was nothing they could do with it. I stored what I wanted in my parents basement -- when I got married, it was pretty much the only furniture we had...


----------



## BostonsOwn

Being in line at the convenience store ...behind the moron who has to not just play the lottery, but purchase as many scratch tickets as their salary can afford. “I’ll take aaaaaah a numba 6, 2 Turkey Trillionares, a numba 3 a numba 12 and oh yeah 2 more numba sixes...how many was that?”

Meanwhile I’m behind him pondering bad thoughts involving WD40 and a can of Red Bull.


----------



## PiP

The picker at the InterMarche supermarket who prepared our 'Click and Collect' order and gave us rotten fruit.


----------



## Olly Buckle

It's a pain, they get rid of stuff on you. We haven't had rotten stuff, but an aubergine a bit smaller than a satsuma is not a lot of use


----------



## TheManx

BostonsOwn said:


> Being in line at the convenience store ...behind the moron who has to not just play the lottery, but purchase as many scratch tickets as their salary can afford. “I’ll take aaaaaah a numba 6, 2 Turkey Trillionares, a numba 3 a numba 12 and oh yeah 2 more numba sixes...how many was that?”
> 
> Meanwhile I’m behind him pondering bad thoughts involving WD40 and a can of Red Bull.



Yeah, it’s annoying all right, but I went to college on a lottery funded scholarship, so I can’t complain...


----------



## matthew1959

I have a bit of a rant that is driving me nuts and I hope it doesn't get me in trouble.  Who cares if Trump concedes, or if the AP calls a race?  Once the votes are certified that's pretty much it.  You can try additional legal challenges, but the counting is over.  Anything a candidate does after certification usually reeks of desperation.  You lost, get over it, move on.  

As for the Associated Press, you are the press.  Your job is to report what happened, not decide who won.  We have bureaucrats who make that decision.  Specifically, I'm referring to a house race in Iowa that was won initially by 47 votes.  A recount tightened the difference to 6 votes, but didn't change the results.  The results have been certified, but the AP refuses to call the race until all challenges are done.  By that logic they shouldn't be declaring a winner in the Presidential election.  After all, even though the results are being certified by the people who count, Trump is trying all sorts of legal challenges.  

Despite all the hand wringing, the process worked and the voice of the people was heard.  In the end pollsters and news agencies found out they don't decide who gets elected, or installed into office.  The people go into a voting booth and decide who they believe should represent them.  That is the only poll that matters.


----------



## VRanger

The word "amazing". Not only it is overworked, it's almost always misused these days. Writers are too lazy to figure out a relevant superlative, so "amazing" it is.

"The food here is always amazing!" 

Nope. If you expect it, you can't be amazed by it.


----------



## Taylor

TheManx said:


> Poorly written instruction manuals...



Haha...me too!  I get a kick out of the ones that are created for consumer goods produced in countries that speak other languages. Somethings just don't translate well.

We once bought a frozen turkey with instructions to "barbeque turkey frozen".  I thought it was odd, but my husband went ahead and did it.  When we were ready to eat it was black on the outside and blood red on the inside...lol!  The microwave saved the day!

But seriously, I can tell you that writing good instruction manuals can be challenging.  I use to head up a team of writers to draft and publish tax audit procedures.  We had one group that developed a manual for "how to write the manual".  We had another team that wrote the procedures.  We put them in pairs of two so they could test out their draft with each other.  Then we had another group that checked for accuracy to the legislation and then yet another group that set up the manual and edited.  And finally we had to send it to a group of policy makers who decided what should be redacted, i.e. things that the general public shouldn't know.  After it was published, we were then subject to the scrutiny of the accounting firms who looked for ways to help their clients.  

Although, it was one of the funnest projects I ever worked on.  A room full of accountants discussing tax legislation can be hilarious...really!


----------



## RhythmOvPain

Fake ass Christians and philandering scum.

Also people who turn into beligerant idiots when they drink the smallest amount of alcohol. 

Also people who won't admit they're alcoholics.


----------



## Pamelyn Casto

Telemarketers. They invade my home non-stop, all day long, beginning at 8:30 in the morning. I am on the "no call" list but that doesn't stop the robocalls. I keep adding them to my blocked call list but there are too many so not all can be included (my phone has limits). It's bad enough my mailbox is stuffed with ads and the television churns out non-stop ads but to have my telephone constantly ringing due to telemarketers is more than I want to put up with. They have no business inside my home. Plus, they've already shown themselves to be crooks by breaking the laws that say "no telemarketing."  I get so annoyed when my telephone rings. (Yeah, I still have a land line.)


----------



## Olly Buckle

I keep getting letters from authority advising me about precautions I should take as a vulnerable person, and what sort of protective tier I am in, all that sort of thing. Most of it is a waste of paper telling me stuff I know or could figure, but I guess they don't know if I'm ignorant or stupid and they have to take precautions. I can forgive them that.

What really pisses me off is they invariably say "We know how difficult the last year has been for you." What do they know? They know nothing. Nobody pestering me to do stuff for them, "As Olly, he's retired, he's got plenty of time.' Spending the whole day in my garden, not anyone else's, when it's fine, and writing when it's horrid. It's been wonderful, it's been liberating. I have got so much done, created flower beds and vegetable beds, built a greenhouse, finished a book, started a YouTube channel. It has been a lovely year and I shan't be in a rush to socialise even if we do get the all clear, so you know nothing Mr Matt Hancock. Guess that was obvious anyway.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Socks. 
When I was young and single and washed my own socks I used to buy a dozen pairs of identical black socks, any two make a pair. Now the missus goes to work and I am home all day so I end up pairing the socks, what a piss off job; and there is always at least one odd one. What do you do with it? Keep it and you are never going to find the other one, chuck it out and the other one turns up as soon as the bin is emptied. If I still had all the same black socks I would just chuck it in the drawer and wait for the next odd one, but I have children. What do you buy Dad, bloody socks, all different colours and designs, amusing ones, Christmas ones, no two the same.


----------



## BrandonTheWriter

Writer's block.

Really sucks when you are motivated to write and you want to write but you are just not sure where to start. I can't wait until the words just start flowing out of me, it happens eventually.

I have not tried to write anything in a very long time, so the nerves and not knowing where to start makes sense.


----------



## Hector

Human beings.


----------



## Moose.H

At this moment most Economists. They tell you what went wrong according to their doctrine. A bit like religion. Lightening hitting shepherds and saying that they are being punished for bad thoughts and deeds with sheep. I have been trying to work as an economist who provides paths but companies and governments want economists who tell them what they want to believe. I also hate clowns - what is it with Clowns? Does calling your architect a clown infer stupidity or that he has a propensity to axe people?


----------



## Paularo

call of duty really grinds my gears!


----------



## RhythmOvPain

Paularo said:


> call of duty really grinds my gears!



Warzone/Cold War are being held together with bubblegum and staples.

China couldn't produce a decent game if a nuke was aimed at Xi's house.


----------



## BrandonTheWriter

YouTube channels that tell me to 'smash' that like button and subscribe.


----------



## RhythmOvPain

Antifa spends a month burning down an entire city: "mostly peaceful protestors"

Regular Republicans protest the vote certification: "violent rioters, a coup attempt."

What the fuck ever. 

This county is going straight to hell in a week or so.

I'm sorry, now they're calling the people standing outside waving flags "domestic terrorists."

Isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever heard?

They're afraid of flags.


----------



## PiP

Barking dogs are grinding my gears right now. (It's 22.40 and I want to go to sleep)


----------



## Olly Buckle

The missus is off to work, so before I sit down to the computer I go round tidying, then wash up the cups and plates from breakfast, empty the recycling bin and the compost bin and wash them out and finally sit down to have a look through the forum; and with all the washing my finger is so polished and slick the mouse on my laptop simply won't work, my finger just slides about doing nothing.


----------



## BrandonTheWriter

PiP said:


> Barking dogs are grinding my gears right now. (It's 22.40 and I want to go to sleep)



I used to live next door to someone who had a dog that barked constantly. It drove me nuts. It made me glad to not have a pet of my own, as much as I love dogs.


----------



## PiP

BrandonTheWriter said:


> I used to live next door to someone who had a dog that barked constantly. It drove me nuts. It made me glad to not have a pet of my own, as much as I love dogs.



I really don't know why the owners don't stop the dogs barking. Dogs can bark all night but you can't have music outside after 10pm.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Dogs are wolves at heart. Wolves howl to stay in touch when the pack separates, I think barking is a pack bonding thing too. Stick the dog outside, separate, and ...


----------



## BrandonTheWriter

Reading my own work. I'm such a negative self-critic of my own writing.

I guess it isn't a bad thing and means I should improve over time, but feeling like your work is always shit does suck.


----------



## BornForBurning

> Reading my own work. I'm such a negative self-critic of my own writing.


Brandon, assuming you aren't irrationally smashing every word on the paper, this is actually a positive. It means you are capable of discerning your own work's bad qualities, which is the first step to improvement. This is a valuable talent, a talent I myself am somewhat lacking in.


----------



## BrandonTheWriter

BornForBurning said:


> Brandon, assuming you aren't irrationally smashing every word on the paper, this is actually a positive. It means you are capable of discerning your own work's bad qualities, which is the first step to improvement. This is a valuable talent, a talent I myself am somewhat lacking in.



Thank you BFB. It is nice to hear that. I definitely do try to look at it as a positive trait now you mention it. I used to not be able to see anything wrong with my work when I was younger, but I now find myself criticising my own work and knowing it is far from perfect.

It also has helped me to grow. In a short space of time I feel that my descriptive writing has got a lot better. Being able to take criticism on the chin now is something I am glad I learned.

There are times when I'm really happy with what I wrote, but re-reading it too much makes me think it is really bad. I think that is just a case of me spotting more minor details.


----------



## Lumiiberry

Morning routine videos on YouTube. Most of them are completely unrealistic and are only there to show off how much better someone's life is than yours. No, I don't want to hear you talk about your green smoothies and Pilates class. Just let me eat my cereal and contemplate my life in peace.


----------



## estranguerro

Comparing my novice writing skills to authors I admire. I keep comparing my writing to a standard that I am far and away from achieving yet. It helped me set a goal in the quality of prose I want to achieve, but every time I look at my own writing I always get annoyed. Comparison is the death of joy, and I keep sending it to the ER.


----------



## Olly Buckle

estranguerro said:


> Comparing my novice writing skills to authors I admire. I keep comparing my writing to a standard that I am far and away from achieving yet. It helped me set a goal in the quality of prose I want to achieve, but every time I look at my own writing I always get annoyed. Comparison is the death of joy, and I keep sending it to the ER.



Awareness is the mother of excellence, head for maternity   Very few writers achieve a high standard with their first write, editing is everything. Worth reading through a few crits (Not the ones that simply say 'I like this') to get practice in seeing how things can be adjusted. I know it has helped me tremendously.


----------



## BrandonTheWriter

People not wearing their masks properly. If you are going to wear it below your nose, what is the point!


----------



## SueC

Has anyone else noticed how really gross commercials are becoming, especially the ones for personal products? I've seen most and even though Bears don't wear pants and they sure as heck don't poop on a toilet and use the softest paper ever - and the "down there" ads referencing an area we all have - this last one takes the cake.

It's an actual product, which focuses entirely on women's bottoms and the words "wedgie pickers," and "butt puckers," were really used in the ad to convince us that we would not only look so much better with this product in our pants, but we would never have to hide our ministrations in dark hallways or empty elevators again. Yikes - talk about TMI!  And like toothpaste ads of the past, we'll probably all be much more popular and have lots of dates. LOL!


----------



## Olly Buckle

SueC said:


> Has anyone else noticed how really gross commercials are becoming, especially the ones for personal products? I've seen most and even though Bears don't wear pants and they sure as heck don't poop on a toilet and use the softest paper ever - and the "down there" ads referencing an area we all have - this last one takes the cake.
> 
> It's an actual product, which focuses entirely on women's bottoms and the words "wedgie pickers," and "butt puckers," were really used in the ad to convince us that we would not only look so much better with this product in our pants, but we would never have to hide our ministrations in dark hallways or empty elevators again. Yikes - talk about TMI!  And like toothpaste ads of the past, we'll probably all be much more popular and have lots of dates. LOL!



Keep the remote handy and hit the mute button for adverts. Half an eye tells you when to come back from the forum. One is only left with the mystery of what the blue liquid leaked from women is? Antifreeze?


----------



## SueC

Olly Buckle said:


> Keep the remote handy and hit the mute button for adverts. Half an eye tells you when to come back from the forum. One is only left with the mystery of what the blue liquid leaked from women is? Antifreeze?



that made me laugh out loud! The color choices are limited - red, absolutely not. Yellow - ick. Green - mmm, no. so there's blue. But still - yeah, antifreeze is good. LOL!


----------



## Bloggsworth

Questions aked on the forum when no context is given. Example:

Two men each on opposite sides of the road, in the middle the number 6 at 90 degrees to the kerb. The two men walk towards each other, one askes 

_"What number is that"

"Six" says the other, "What number do you think it is?"

"It is obviously nine, I can see that it is nine."

"Don't be stupid, it is clearly six, I'm looking right at it."_

Which of the two is correct? Without context it is impossible to say.


----------



## PiP

Mosquitoes. I am sure one has adopted me ... I am covered in bites.


----------



## Pamelyn Casto

Catalogs that keep on coming. I ordered something from a company's catalog and now I'm bombarded with expensive extras (from six different companies). I get irritated every time I unload them from my mailbox. I have to _pay_ to have my garbage taken away and these catalogs are taking up far too much room. I never wanted them in the first place! Now I'll have to figure out how to get them stopped. Which will no doubt circulate my info to others . . .  and it just never ends.


----------



## JBF

Pamelyn Casto said:


> Catalogs that keep on coming. I ordered something from a company's catalog and now I'm bombarded with expensive extras (from six different companies). I get irritated every time I unload them from my mailbox. I have to _pay_ to have my garbage taken away and these catalogs are taking up far too much room. I never wanted them in the first place! Now I'll have to figure out how to get them stopped. Which will no doubt circulate my info to others . . .  and it just never ends.



Tape unwanted mail to a brick.

Mark _return to sender.  _


----------



## Foxee

My son got in-school suspension for a dumb bureaucratic reason.

I'll stay away from details so I don't spark a bitter debate but it does grind my gears that the lunatics are running the asylums.


----------



## TerraLiga

Accepting, supporting and even embracing mediocrity.

I don't understand that if something is stupid or pointless or unworkable it is not challenged by those who know better or are in authority.


----------



## Super Fantasy

Other gears LOL
But what really grinds my gears is my non elven ears, said a character from my book.
Forgetting what i was going to write about grinds my gears.


----------



## JBF

Incidental to previous discussions...

The U.S. Postal Service.


----------



## PiP

JBF said:


> The U.S. Postal Service.


Same here with deliveries sent via CTT.  The last delivery guy insisted he check my passport to prove my identity before handing over the parcel.


----------



## Gofa

The financial betrayal of a long time friend with whom it now becomes obvious I never knew at all
May he rest in pieces


----------



## PiP

Advertising pop-ups


----------



## S J Ward

Parking meters in public carparks, that require a degree to understand how to use.

Being told it's quicker to do it online than by phone, and while on the phone the call lasts years whilst they tell you all about their websites. You only want to speak to a receptionist to get a doctor's appointment.

A pretty village with thatched cottages, maybe in Devon or even the Cotswolds... and amidst is the shabby-(definitely not chic) Hong Kong House takeaway (others brands may be available) with its apparent total lack of trying to fit in at all. 

Children in pubs! What is wrong with leaving them in the car with a bottle of coke and a packet of crisps? They should not be at the bar in a pub.

Too many choices on the menu... and i always pick the worst one!

The last fifty-years in Britain where nothing seems to have improved. Everything is on the decline. The rich do what they want; the councils are untouchable; the politicians are in tune with the common-man, as long as he/she's rich. Beauty spots have been anhialated by scum and litter, bearing such British home grown labels as... Macdonalds, Burger King, Cafe Nero, Starbucks, Costa coffee, the list goes on...
 The people who expect everything placed in their laps and would never consider a days work to get it. The lazy, the stupid, the impolite, the darn-right rude. 

I think I know why we have a life expectancy, because there is only so much decay and change for the worst that one can take.

Rant over


----------



## Parabola

If someone is a pompous balloon, how do I "pop" them? An existential question that always bothers me--damn, I used the word existential in a post about pompous folk, haha right? But that's not quite what I mean.


----------



## bdcharles

S J Ward said:


> Cafe Nero … Costa coffee


Both British


----------



## PiP

@S J Ward This is exactly why we left the UK.


----------



## S J Ward

bdcharles said:


> Both British


Conceptually a foreign idea though, more than likely... with any luck!


----------



## NajaNoir

People who leave their dogs alone and outside the majority of the time. 

Whistlers,  ugh,  not a fan. Especially whistling roommate's. 

What use to drive me bananas though was the "who's this" phone game.  Back in my early 20s when I did the roommate thing, one of them was a popular guy,  people called non stop.  "Who's this?" They'd ask me when I picked up.  "You called me" is what I'd say.  Doesn't sound so bad now,  but it made me cranky until I made a game of it.


----------



## CyberWar

Hicks who can't tell the difference between a pedestrian entrance and a driveway.

I work as a security guard in a government establishment for a living. The said facility has a cars-only driveway, and a regular entrance for pedestrians. Most of the traffic is employees, but there are also frequent visitors who come on their business. Despite the entrance being clearly and obviously marked, there's always someone who tries to come in through the car driveway, requiring the guard posted outside to redirect them to the proper entrance near the security desk.

Sometimes I get the feeling we could paint the path from the street to the door brilliant-orange and circle the door with huge flashing neon arrows and text saying: "This is the entrance!", and there would still be some illiterate hicks who'd try to go in through the car driveway. Come on, people! This is a government building, not some damn sawdust joint!

On the bright side, at least no visitor has ever tried to pull a Karen with us (not that I know of, anyway). The sight of a couple burly guys with fully-kitted duty belts has a way of inspiring politeness, apparently.


----------



## JBF

CyberWar said:


> Hicks who can't tell the difference between a pedestrian entrance and a driveway.



Somewhere out there - right now - is guy pushing as hard as he can on a door marked PULL.

Today…I’m gonna be better than that guy.


----------



## PiP

JBF said:


> Somewhere out there - right now - is guy pushing as hard as he can on a door marked PULL.
> 
> Today…I’m gonna be better than that guy.


Were you a fly on the wall when I thought I‘d locked myself in a loo in France…. Door opened out instead of in.


----------



## JBF

PiP said:


> Were you a fly on the wall when I thought I‘d locked myself in a loo in France…. Door opened out instead of in.


 No.  But one of my flies might have been.


----------



## PiP

Dogs pooping on a blue flag beach and then cocking its leg over peoples towels, kids sand castles etc. etc. There is a BIG  picture sign as you walk down the path and onto the beach that should translate in any language: NO DOGS


----------



## The Carcosan Herald

People who are too busy looking at their smartphones to pay attention to who/what they're about to walk into. 

Groups of people who take up the _entire _footpath and walk really slowly so that people can't get past. WHYYYY???

The phrase: "We value your privacy".

People who get offended on others' behalf, especially if said other wouldn't be offended to begin with. You're not an angel - you're a squawking, patronising idiot.

Thirty-second long YouTube adverts that can't be skipped, because you _must _pay attention to whatever useless garbage they're peddling like it's a matter of life and death (usually TikTok).

Speaking of adverts, any site that produces a popup saying "Hi, we noticed you're using an adblocker, so can you whitelist us please?" No. Fuck off.


----------



## Joker

Motherfuckers who think it's okay to pass you on a one-lane road. Massively increased chances of a fatal head-on accident are worth it if it gets Sally McButtfuck to Micky D's five seconds quicker!

Yes, I broke out the fuck word to express my frustration on this one.


----------



## Parabola

I hope I didn't offend a fey french lord roaming the ether.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

The Carcosan Herald said:


> People who are too busy looking at their smartphones to pay attention to who/what they're about to walk into.



They get screamed at by me at work when they do this. I'm on 9000 pounds of bright orange death. I can't stop on a dime, even at 8mph with no load on my forks.


----------



## The Carcosan Herald

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> They get screamed at by me at work when they do this. I'm on 9000 pounds of bright orange death. I can't stop on a dime, even at 8mph with no load on my forks.


I'm normally on foot and even then I have to restrain myself from threatening to shove the offender's phone into uncomfortable places if they don't watch where they're going. I can't even _imagine_ how hair-raising it must be to encounter some careless twit while driving heavy industrial machinery.


----------



## Parabola

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> I'm on 9000 pounds of bright orange death.



I feel like you should use this line in your novel at some point.


----------



## JBF

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> They get screamed at by me at work when they do this. I'm on 9000 pounds of bright orange death. I can't stop on a dime, even at 8mph with no load on my forks.



Other vehicles in this series include _aircraft moving on the ramp, 5000-gallon aviation fuel tankers, operating farm machinery_ and, I shit you not, _Sherman tanks.  _


----------



## bdcharles

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> They get screamed at by me at work when they do this. I'm on 9000 pounds of bright orange death. I can't stop on a dime, even at 8mph with no load on my forks.





Parabola said:


> I feel like you should use this line in your novel at some point.


Do it from the POV of the fork lift. "I am nine-thousand-some pounds of orange death. You think I keep my motor runnin' as some kinda metaphor? You think these two arms are for embracin'? Think again, flat squish."


----------



## PiP

My crazy friend. She has just sent me a FB message asking if I want to try Stand Up Paddleboarding. Seriously. I had a total knee replacement just over two years ago and it went wrong so I am crippled. I need a walker (mobile seat LoL) when I go to large shops because I can't walk far or stand ... and I can't do Pilates because I can't get down on the floor or get up. This means I can't sit down on the beach or kneel on a paddle board ... let alone stand! Seriously  LoL Some people just don't listen.


----------



## Parabola

bdcharles said:


> Do it from the POV of the fork lift. "I am nine-thousand-some pounds of orange death. You think I keep my motor runnin' as some kinda metaphor? You think these two arms are for embracin'? Think again, flat squish."



What POV would that be? First person Omniscient Machine?


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

Parabola said:


> I feel like you should use this line in your novel at some point.



Not in this one, but further down the series, Flakey is showing Chris (the MC) about how to dump an overfilled dumpster that's way over the forklift's lifting capacity on the lift's front two wheels. Flakey is having a _Zen_ moment and describes the forklift Chris is on as _9000lb pounds of ugly blue death_. This does nothing to reassure Chris that what he's doing is safe, natch.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

PiP said:


> My crazy friend. She has just sent me a FB message asking if I want to try Stand Up Paddleboarding. Seriously. I had a total knee replacement just over two years ago and it went wrong so I am crippled. I need a walker (mobile seat LoL) when I go to large shops because I can't walk far or stand ... and I can't do Pilates because I can't get down on the floor or get up. This means I can't sit down on the beach or kneel on a paddle board ... let alone stand! Seriously  LoL Some people just don't listen.



I'm sorry, did you say something?


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

bdcharles said:


> Do it from the POV of the fork lift. "I am nine-thousand-some pounds of orange death. You think I keep my motor runnin' as some kinda metaphor? You think these two arms are for embracin'? Think again, flat squish."



*Paging: @indianroads or @VRanger*

Eat your heart out, Stephen King!!!!


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

JBF said:


> Other vehicles in this series include _aircraft moving on the ramp, 5000-gallon aviation fuel tankers, operating farm machinery_ and, I shit you not, _Sherman tanks.  _



My brother in law drives a jet fuel tanker. Titanium cajones.....


----------



## indianroads

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> They get screamed at by me at work when they do this. I'm on 9000 pounds of bright orange death. I can't stop on a dime, even at 8mph with no load on my forks.


Cars have automatic driving modes - and I've seen forklifts programmed similarly. As artificial intelligence becomes prevalent, we will have sentient cars and fork lifts... and bulldozers... What if they collectively decided that they didn't like us. Would we be taken to strange destinations, or just run over?


----------



## indianroads

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> *Paging: @indianroads or @VRanger*
> 
> Eat your heart out, Stephen King!!!!


He's written a couple novels about evil-possessed cars.


----------



## Joker

indianroads said:


> Cars have automatic driving modes - and I've seen forklifts programmed similarly. As artificial intelligence becomes prevalent, we will have sentient cars and fork lifts... and bulldozers... What if they collectively decided that they didn't like us. Would we be taken to strange destinations, or just run over?



Automatic driving modes?

Disgusting. I don't even like automatic transmissions!


----------



## indianroads

Joker said:


> Automatic driving modes?
> 
> Disgusting. I don't even like automatic transmissions!


Me either - but it seems that it's coming.
People often forget that the inception of Artificial Intelligence necessitates the creation of Artificial Stupidity.


----------



## Joker

indianroads said:


> Me either - but it seems that it's coming.
> People often forget that the inception of Artificial Intelligence necessitates the creation of Artificial Stupidity.



Ugh. Thanks Obama.


----------



## PiP

the latest grind ... the daughter-in-laws have been messaging on whatsap all afternoon trying to organise Secret blooooooody Santa for the adults. You download an App, enter all the participants and it randomly draws out two people for you to buy a present for. What happened to writing each name on a piece of paper, folding it then putting in a hat? Now my email address has been given to God knows who and I've been stung for an extra £100 for the privilege. Normally we buy a small joint present for the adults and the rest is spent on the children. Bah humbug.


----------



## Joker

Trying to sell my 2006 S2000 for an older, slightly cheaper one in black. It's worth around 24k.

Highest offer I received from the mainstream sites was 13.2. 

Why not throw in a free buttfucking too while they're at it?


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

indianroads said:


> He's written a couple novels about evil-possessed cars.



Well, yeah, and here's your chance to one up 'em.

Evil.
Possessed.
Forklifts.

Just cut out of the _Maximum Overdrive _cheese, please....


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

PiP said:


> the latest grind ... the daughter-in-laws have been messaging on whatsap all afternoon trying to organise Secret blooooooody Santa for the adults. You download an App, enter all the participants and it randomly draws out two people for you to buy a present for. What happened to writing each name on a piece of paper, folding it then putting in a hat? Now my email address has been given to God knows who and I've been stung for an extra £100 for the privilege. Normally we buy a small joint present for the adults and the rest is spent on the children. Bah humbug.



My buddy at work is a Excel Spreadsheet fiend. He'd get his yah-yah's off coming up with a spreadsheet that would randomly do that for her. 

He did one for our friend's annual bocce tourney. random draw of the players, kept tabs of wins and losses, bye rounds, the whole shebang.

Currently having him help me with the spreadsheet I use to keep tabs of my Celebrity Dead Pool game/group (no, not joking). Scoring is complex. 1 point for every stiff/dirt-napper. First tie-breaker is age differential from 100. Second tie-breaker is chronological order. It's impossible so far to use formulas to implement.


----------



## indianroads

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> Well, yeah, and here's your chance to one up 'em.
> 
> Evil.
> Possessed.
> Forklifts.
> 
> Just cut out of the _Maximum Overdrive _cheese, please....


I read a lot of Stephen King's novels back in the 80's or so, but never grasped the idea of a scary haunted car.
There used to be a TV show (back in the 60's) called My Mother the Car.


----------



## Parabola

The fact that I have to get up to make a second cup of coffee.


----------



## bdcharles

indianroads said:


> I read a lot of Stephen King's novels back in the 80's or so, but never grasped the idea of a scary haunted car.
> There used to be a TV show (back in the 60's) called My Mother the Car.


I dunno man. Herbie used to freak me out long before Christine (who I thought was actually kind of sexy)


----------



## indianroads

bdcharles said:


> I dunno man. Herbie used to freak me out long before Christine (who I thought was actually kind of sexy)


What if the car is your mother-in-law?


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

Parabola said:


> The fact that I have to get up to make a second cup of coffee.



Thoughts and prayers


----------



## Parabola

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> Thoughts and prayers



Yeah thanks. It was a harrowing twenty minutes.


----------



## River Rose

Bully’s. 
From all walks of life 
Any type. 
They are crap. 
The meanest people 
And that I will never understand.


----------



## M J Tennant 2022

People that don't stop their cars when you are waiting to walk across a zebra crossing.  People that put the salt on before the vinegar in the fish and chips shop.  If you put the salt on first, the vinegar washes it off.  You put the vinegar on first, the salt then sticks to it.  What's wrong with some people!!!

*##Link removed by moderator##*


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

M J Tennant 2022 said:


> People that don't stop their cars when you are waiting to walk across a zebra crossing.



As a forklift driver, I hate it when people walk out in front of me without looking. 9000 lbs... wait, you're British... 4082.331 kg of bright orange silent death at 8 mp... WAIT.. hang on... 12.8748 kmph. 


M J Tennant 2022 said:


> People that put the salt on before the vinegar in the fish and chips shop.  If you put the salt on first, the vinegar washes it off.  You put the vinegar on first, the salt then sticks to it.  What's wrong with some people!!!



hashtag: first world UK problems.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

The cat deciding to sit on my lap just after using the cat box.  Excuse me while I go put on clean blue jeans....


----------



## Joker

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> The cat deciding to sit on my lap just after using the cat box.  Excuse me while I go put on clean blue jeans....



My mom says that it means it loves you, or something.


----------



## indianroads

When someone that can't do, tries to teach.


----------



## Parabola

Privileged people not knowing that they're privileged.


----------



## NajaNoir

Drivers that can't manage to stay in their lane when they turn.


----------



## indianroads

NajaNoir said:


> Drivers that can't manage to stay in their lane when they turn.


People texting while they are driving - I ride a motorcycle, and see drivers doing all kinds of weird sh!t.


----------



## PiP

Pedestrians texting, head down, oblivious .... and without looking step off the pavement and into the road. I've lost count of the times we've nearly collected a passenger on the bonnet of our car.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

PiP said:


> Pedestrians texting, head down, oblivious .... and without looking step off the pavement and into the road. I've lost count of the times we've nearly collected a passenger on the bonnet of our car.



Welcome to my world at work.

Hash tag: 9000lb pounds of silent orange death


----------



## Parabola

PiP said:


> Pedestrians texting, head down, oblivious .... and without looking step off the pavement and into the road. I've lost count of the times we've nearly collected a passenger on the bonnet of our car.



Yeah, the dangers of playing Pokémon Go. You might catch a Pikachu, then be flattened by a semi a second later.


----------



## CyberWar

Parabola said:


> Yeah, the dangers of playing Pokémon Go. You might catch a Pikachu, then be flattened by a semi a second later.


When I was in the army back in 2016, American soldiers stationed on our base would play Pokemon Go all the time. The brass eventually forbade them to after someone figured out that their Pokemon catches could be geolocated, neatly letting Russian spies to map our base.

Nonetheless, it was quite amusing to see two burly black Staff Sergeants cheerfuly brag to each other about their daily catch of Pokemon.


----------



## M J Tennant 2022

CyberWar said:


> When I was in the army back in 2016, American soldiers stationed on our base would play Pokemon Go all the time. The brass eventually forbade them to after someone figured out that their Pokemon catches could be geolocated, neatly letting Russian spies to map our base.
> 
> Nonetheless, it was quite amusing to see two burly black Staff Sergeants cheerfuly brag to each other about their daily catch of Pokemon.


I loved that game!


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

Parabola said:


> Yeah, the dangers of playing Pokémon Go. You might catch a Pikachu, then be flattened by a semi a second later.



<singing off key>
10 ‘lil, 9 ‘lil, 8 ‘lil speedbumps
7 ‘lil, 6 ‘lil, 5 ‘lil speedbumps
4 ‘lil, 3 ‘lil, 2 ‘lil speedbumps….


----------



## PiP

Doctors who stupidly prescribe unnecessary medication which has potentially serious side effects. So, I go and see a top knee specialist for my TKR  because the so-called surgeon who performed the original op has messed up BIG time. Long story short ... new guy gives me some meds to help with ... never caught what he said ... but said they will help. When I went to pick up the prescription the pharmacist seemed concerned and asked if had I taken them before. Nope. She said I could experience some side effects but as English is not her first language she could not explain. I looked them up on the internet and they are flipping strong anti-depressants. ... WTF? I am F***$#&%% fuming. I don't need this type of pill not only that he told me to lose weight so ... these pills make you put on weight! Also cause dizziness, nausea, headaches etc. etc. seriously and he thought these would help?  I am so glad I checked these pills before taking them.


----------



## c8p1lu

Nerdy people  jk


----------



## indianroads

PiP said:


> Doctors who stupidly prescribe unnecessary medication which has potentially serious side effects. So, I go and see a top knee specialist for my TKR  because the so-called surgeon who performed the original op has messed up BIG time. Long story short ... new guy gives me some meds to help with ... never caught what he said ... but said they will help. When I went to pick up the prescription the pharmacist seemed concerned and asked if had I taken them before. Nope. She said I could experience some side effects but as English is not her first language she could not explain. I looked them up on the internet and they are flipping strong anti-depressants. ... WTF? I am F***$#&%% fuming. I don't need this type of pill not only that he told me to lose weight so ... these pills make you put on weight! Also cause dizziness, nausea, headaches etc. etc. seriously and he thought these would help?  I am so glad I checked these pills before taking them.


Doctors that up-sell their patients by pushing unnecessary tests to get more money from my medical coverage.
I'm a bad patient, because I frequently tell the doctor, _No, I'm not doing that_. I often get incredulous looks, like _Vox Doctor, vox Dei_. They don't get that I own myself, and am the one in charge.


----------



## mistamastamusta

When other students shove me out of the way in the hallway while muttering vulgar comments when all I'm trying to do is get to my honors class man.


----------



## mistamastamusta

c8p1lu said:


> Nerdy people  jk


Man, I strongly dislike those people too _codes a game on my Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE Graphing Calculator_


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

mistamastamusta said:


> When other students shove me out of the way in the hallway while muttering vulgar comments when all I'm trying to do is get to my honors class man.



Slew-foot. Problem solved.

A.C., 
Resident a-hole forklift driver


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

mistamastamusta said:


> Man, I strongly dislike those people too _codes a game on my Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE Graphing Calculator_



POKE 53280,0: POKE 53281,0; bay-beeeee…..


----------



## c8p1lu

mistamastamusta said:


> When other students shove me out of the way in the hallway while muttering vulgar comments when all I'm trying to do is get to my honors class man.


Most teenagers are very rude in general because of a lot of pressure from society itself. High Standards can make a weak person even weaker. 


indianroads said:


> Doctors that up-sell their patients by pushing unnecessary tests to get more money from my medical coverage.
> I'm a bad patient, because I frequently tell the doctor, _No, I'm not doing that_. I often get incredulous looks, like _Vox Doctor, vox Dei_. They don't get that I own myself, and am the one in charge.


The medical industry was to help people and sustain a society. However as many good things don't last and greed is written in our source code, It wasn't so difficult to predict that it became this way. The dental part of medicine is way worse, I'm currently studying the human body more in depth as I became someone very cautious of my diet and sustainability, I noticed that my dentist (I live in the England) did way more fillings then needed.


----------



## c8p1lu

mistamastamusta said:


> Man, I strongly dislike those people too _codes a game on my Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE Graphing Calculator_


Hey! I mean I'm working on couple of projects myself however I do them for purpose and not for entertainment.


----------



## bdcharles

mistamastamusta said:


> When other students shove me out of the way in the hallway while muttering vulgar comments when all I'm trying to do is get to my honors class man.


Simply mutter the following back to them: "Ugh, God, the average mediocre non-honors student is so perfectly gauche! Don't you think so, Triskadelle?"

In fact, don't mutter it. Say it unREASONABLY LOUDLY. And never mind if you don't know anyone called Triskadelle. It's purely for drama.


----------



## mistamastamusta

bdcharles said:


> Simply mutter the following back to them: "Ugh, God, the average mediocre non-honors student is so perfectly gauche! Don't you think so, Triskadelle?"
> 
> In fact, don't mutter it. Say it unREASONABLY LOUDLY. And never mind if you don't know anyone called Triskadelle. It's purely for drama.


Hmm, I'll try that one day. lol


----------



## indianroads

c8p1lu said:


> The medical industry was to help people and sustain a society. However as many good things don't last and greed is written in our source code, It wasn't so difficult to predict that it became this way. The dental part of medicine is way worse, I'm currently studying the human body more in depth as I became someone very cautious of my diet and sustainability, I noticed that my dentist (I live in the England) did way more fillings then needed.


Dentistry is a scam IMO. I’ve never had a cavity and have all my teeth, including wisdom teeth. My wife insisted that I go to her dentist twice, and no cavities were found. 
if it’s not broke, don’t go to a doctor to fix it.


----------



## mistamastamusta

People who spew nonsense. If you don't have something intelligent to say then keep your mouth shut.


----------



## indianroads

Those that pontificate. Those the say they are experts in a field (like writing) yet have nothing to show that backs up their claim.


----------



## NajaNoir

Those who let a cup of milk sit out until it's warm...yuck!

Close talkers, I work with one, not a fan.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

mistamastamusta said:


> People who spew nonsense. If you don't have something intelligent to say then keep your mouth shut.



So… like…. I should leave here and never come back?


----------



## mistamastamusta

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> So… like…. I should leave here and never come back?


Haha 

No no, I was referring to the people I'm supposed to consider my peers.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

NajaNoir said:


> Those who let a cup of milk sit out until it's warm...yuck!
> 
> Close talkers, I work with one, not a fan.



We’ve got a guy like that who unloads the  11,000lb steel  coils I have to receive. Drives me nuts. Wants to talk about the weather. And you can figure out what he had for lunch and how many cigarettes he smoked. Ugh.


----------



## S J Ward

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> As a forklift driver, I hate it when people walk out in front of me without looking. 9000 lbs... wait, you're British... 4082.331 kg of bright orange silent death at 8 mp... WAIT.. hang on... 12.8748 kmph.
> 
> 
> hashtag: first world UK problems.


The British don't know what kmph is. They got so far with being all modern and adopting metrication, but a pint of beer will never be in metric; miles per gallon is still the norm. We have a lovely weight system... the doctor say 74kg, we ask what that is In English, and it's not 163 lb, it's 11stone 9lb.
We do however use centigrade; metres and centimetres alongside feet and inches, and yards! We can also get a yard of beer or ale!


----------



## c8p1lu

indianroads said:


> Those that pontificate. Those the say they are experts in a field (like writing) yet have nothing to show that backs up their claim.


People are hardwired to feel like they are above, some embrace it and make the best of it and some just believe that they got talent so no work is needed.


----------



## c8p1lu

S J Ward said:


> The British don't know what kmph is. They got so far with being all modern and adopting metrication, but a pint of beer will never be in metric; miles per gallon is still the norm. We have a lovely weight system... the doctor say 74kg, we ask what that is In English, and it's not 163 lb, it's 11stone 9lb.
> We do however use centigrade; metres and centimetres alongside feet and inches, and yards! We can also get a yard of beer or ale!


Britain is a weird world, I grew up in a foreign country up to the age of 7-8 then moved here and I can say that Britain might be more developed but people lack morality.


----------



## Bloggsworth

People who can't grasp the simple rules of writing a limerick...


----------



## Bloggsworth

S J Ward said:


> The British don't know what kmph is. They got so far with being all modern and adopting metrication, but a pint of beer will never be in metric; miles per gallon is still the norm. We have a lovely weight system... the doctor say 74kg, we ask what that is In English, and it's not 163 lb, it's 11stone 9lb.
> We do however use centigrade; metres and centimetres alongside feet and inches, and yards! We can also get a yard of beer or ale!


A bit broad! I'm 77 and know all about the metric system, I was taught it when young. We oldies grew up working in multiple number bases, not just the one - Tons, hundredweights, pounds, ounces; miles, yards, feet, inches, chains, fathoms; not just multiples of ten. British Imperial measurements were based on nature and natural measurements - One yard = the average pace of a man; one foot = the average length of a booted foot; one inch = 3 barleycorns; they are not daft measurements at all. _One metre is the fixed numerical value of the speed of light in vacuum c to be 299 792 458 when expressed in the unit m s-1, where the second is defined in terms of ΔνCs,_ try using that when you want to buy a length of wood...


----------



## indianroads

indianroads said:


> Doctors that up-sell their patients by pushing unnecessary tests to get more money from my medical coverage.
> I'm a bad patient, because I frequently tell the doctor, _No, I'm not doing that_. I often get incredulous looks, like _Vox Doctor, vox Dei_. They don't get that I own myself, and am the one in charge.


I'm at a break in my writing and would like to add a true story about this. Doctors in general are pompous know-it-alls that actually know nothing.
Here's the story.
_Around the time I turned 40 I suffered with cluster migraines... one heaped upon the other. It's debilitating. Since my mother died of a brain hemorrhage, I let my wife talk me into going to see a doctor.
So, I showed up, and the doctor looked in my eyes, asked a bunch of questions, then finally suggested that I get a colonoscopy. I stared at her for a long moment, then said, "A lot of people have said that my head is up my ass, but I never thought they meant it literally."
She stared at me without saying anything, so I got up and walked out. _


----------



## JBF

S J Ward said:


> The British don't know what kmph is. They got so far with being all modern and adopting metrication, but a pint of beer will never be in metric; miles per gallon is still the norm. We have a lovely weight system... the doctor say 74kg, we ask what that is In English, and it's not 163 lb, it's 11stone 9lb.
> We do however use centigrade; metres and centimetres alongside feet and inches, and yards! We can also get a yard of beer or ale!



Entirety of the civilized world: _America needs the metric system_

Murica: _Cool, but we’re only using this for cars and guns._

Civilized World: _Wot_

Murica: _Fight_ _me_, _bro_


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

JBF said:


> Entirety of the civilized world: _America needs the metric system_
> 
> Murica: _Cool, but we’re only using this for cars and guns._
> 
> Civilized World: _Wot_
> 
> Murica: _Fight_ _me_, _bro_


…. and drugs…..


----------



## JBF

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> …. and drugs…..



Touché.


----------



## Joker

JBF said:


> Entirety of the civilized world: _America needs the metric system_
> 
> Murica: _Cool, but we’re only using this for cars and guns._
> 
> Civilized World: _Wot_
> 
> Murica: _Fight_ _me_, _bro_



Nah man, muscle car purists still measure engine displacement by cubic inches.

Us filfthy Japanophiles use liters though


----------



## Mullanphy

Shifting into first without using the clutch. This also stalls the car. (another age check, here)
"Free" wellness visits that cost the patient $200.00.
Free "wellness" visits.
Being asked questions to which the inquirer already knows the answer because they are reading it on their computer's monitor.
People who think it is OK for them to try to force me to believe their myths but won't listen to mine.
Politicians.
Drivers who expect me to drive faster than the posted speed limit just because they are impatient.

Crap, I could write all day.


----------



## Parabola

Watching a show from the early 00s, where the ending is easily accessible. Don't ask me the show, since it's my secret shame.

Anyway, that doesn't stop me from wanting to know who this character ends up with, and why.


----------



## Parabola

Nevermind.


----------



## charles003434

The fact that we have not seen Tom Bombadill on screen.


----------



## Parabola

Too often writers talk about slaughtering sacred cows, while wanting to leave some of their own in the pasture.

Got milk?


----------



## Parabola

Being in the middle of a debate, but family duty calls, and my dad's going to take me out for a frosty and a drive in the country.

I shall return.


----------



## S J Ward

Still got the original ones but now I'm on the next level...

Those stupid carpark machines! I thought I'd teach them a lesson and pay my extortionate fee in the smallest denomination coins of the realm that they'd accept. £5 in ten-pence pieces... (this is a new machine on me, it uses anpr and recognises your number plate, letting you know exactly how much your parking has cost when you get back to the carpark) fifty  10p pieces in total. And I'm gonna fill this stupid machine till it can take no more! Forty-seven, I got into the machine then it wouldn't take any more. The slot jammed closed. I think 'I've broken it! Suddenly the machine spews the forty-seven coins back at me... it's got a ruddy time-limiter. The queue behind me smile, thinking I'll get out a credit-card. But I... I feed it faster until... success. The queue are actually highly amused, i think!. 
And, if you want a coffee in a British pub. If I'm stood behind you when you order it, I will 'tut' loudly. Coffee shops are where you buy coffee. Pubs are where you buy beer (other alcoholic beverages may be available)
In those coffee shops... Organic coffee! I'll not be trying that again!, and how come it takes half a lifetime to make the insipid concoction?


----------



## Parabola

Dealing with someone who has memory problems is one of the most frustrating things in the universe.


----------



## Taylor

When I go into the grocery store, and see a plethora of brands, flavours, and sizes for almost every food.  I don't need to choose from fifty different types of crackers.  And the more environmentally friendly we get the more wasteful packaging appears to be.  All the extra little plastic, spouts, tabs, etc.  So, I as a consumer have to regulate myself.

There should be tax incentives for food manufacturers who reduce waste and focus on getting fewer options to MORE people in this WORLD.


----------



## NajaNoir

When I overshare...ugh, really grinds my gears.

People who talk with a mouth full of food.

When others wear strong cologne and perfume.


----------



## ehbowen

Taken by a surveillance camera at our very small (<25 regular attendees) church last Thursday night:




Need I say more?

(He took our office computer along with some small items. Of course, we didn't have much to take....)


----------



## PiP

Can the police identify him?


----------



## Arsenex

ehbowen said:


> Taken by a surveillance camera at our very small (<25 regular attendees) church last Thursday night:
> View attachment 29767
> Need I say more?
> 
> (He took our office computer along with some small items. Of course, we didn't have much to take....)


He left some nice fat fingerprints on that door behind him. Can't be that hard to track down.


----------



## Sinister

ehbowen said:


> Taken by a surveillance camera at our very small (<25 regular attendees) church last Thursday night:
> 
> Need I say more?
> 
> (He took our office computer along with some small items. Of course, we didn't have much to take....)


Wow, Hi uhh, Hell?  I'd like to make one reservation, 4th circle or lower, please.  Thank you.

-Sin


----------



## indianroads

Taylor said:


> When I go into the grocery store, and see a plethora of brands, flavours, and sizes for almost every food.  I don't need to choose from fifty different types of crackers.  And the more environmentally friendly we get the more wasteful packaging appears to be.  All the extra little plastic, spouts, tabs, etc.  So, I as a consumer have to regulate myself.
> 
> There should be tax incentives for food manufacturers who reduce waste and focus on getting fewer options to MORE people in this WORLD.


Good idea, but that may put people out of business and jobs. I think a better option is to recycle.


----------



## Taylor

indianroads said:


> Good idea, but that may put people out of business and jobs. I think a better option is to recycle.


Tax incentives do not put people out of business and jobs; if implemented correctly they can create corporate wealth and employment.    And what about the fact that, we have so much and are so wasteful when people in other parts of the world have so little?    I drove by the grocery store today and saw a number of large stacks of pumpkins in the parking lot, left over.  I suspect they will be disposed of.  It hurts to see the waste.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

Sinister said:


> Wow, Hi uhh, Hell?  I'd like to make one reservation, 4th circle or lower, please.  Thank you.
> 
> -Sin


No kidding. Even a Godless Heathen like myself would never stoop to such… words fail me.


----------



## Parabola

The ability to focus is a fickle mistress.


----------



## ehbowen

Arsenex said:


> He left some nice fat fingerprints on that door behind him. Can't be that hard to track down.


And that's the thing. Jesus said that you should pray for your enemies, so we're praying that they do find him and hold him accountable. For elsewise...


Sinister said:


> Wow, Hi uhh, Hell?  I'd like to make one reservation, 4th circle or lower, please.  Thank you.
> 
> -Sin


...this is what he has to look forward to. Repentance is best for everyone all around. But it's unlikely to happen without consequences.


----------



## indianroads

Taylor said:


> Tax incentives do not put people out of business and jobs; if implemented correctly they can create corporate wealth and employment.    And what about the fact that, we have so much and are so wasteful when people in other parts of the world have so little?    I drove by the grocery store today and saw a number of large stacks of pumpkins in the parking lot, left over.  I suspect they will be disposed of.  It hurts to see the waste.


“If implemented correctly” is the issue. I’ve been walking around on this planet for 68 years, and have never seen a government edict implemented correctly - every time it made matters worse. ‘Government Efficiency’ is right up there with ‘Military Intelligence’ in the oxymoron elite.

The private sector can handle it. If they produce a product that doesn’t sell they lose money. Companies don’t like losing money, it’s a disincentive to keep producing an over abundance of that product.

Id rather that the government stay out of my life.


----------



## ehbowen

indianroads said:


> “If implemented correctly” is the issue. I’ve been walking around on this planet for 68 years, and have never seen a government edict implemented correctly - every time it made matters worse. ‘Government Efficiency’ is right up there with ‘Military Intelligence’ in the oxymoron elite.
> 
> The private sector can handle it. If they produce a product that doesn’t sell they lose money. Companies don’t like losing money, it’s a disincentive to keep producing an over abundance of that product.
> 
> Id rather that the government stay out of my life.


I agree with you. But you seem to be talking of a time before 'government' came up with the phrase, "Too big to fail."

Nobody is 'too big to fail.' Not even Washington. They may be about to find that out.


----------



## indianroads

A friend has a saying:
Our government does two things exceptionally well,
1) They take the money we earn.
2) They spend it foolishly.


----------



## Joker

ehbowen said:


> And that's the thing. Jesus said that you should pray for your enemies, so we're praying that they do find him and hold him accountable. For elsewise...
> 
> ...this is what he has to look forward to. Repentance is best for everyone all around. But it's unlikely to happen without consequences.



Yes, there's a concept of Buddhism in saving someone from their own bad karma. Jailing this man is more compassionate than letting him continue this path of self-destruction.


----------



## Taylor

indianroads said:


> The private sector can handle it. If they produce a product that doesn’t sell they lose money. Companies don’t like losing money, it’s a disincentive to keep producing an over abundance of that product.


I believe in a balance of tax incentives and Adam Smith's invisible hand in a free market.  They are not mutually exclusive.


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## Joker

Taylor said:


> I believe in a balance of tax incentives and Adam Smith's invisible hand in a free market.  They are not mutually exclusive.



I don't like corporations, the government, _or _anarchists.

What does that make me?


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## Arsenex

Joker said:


> I don't like corporations, the government, _or _anarchists.
> 
> What does that make me?


Lonely?


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## JBF

Joker said:


> I don't like corporations, the government, _or _anarchists.
> 
> What does that make me?



De-platformed.


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## Risto_Facko

I'm fed up with family members living irresponsible lives, dying way too early, and leaving me with their messes to clean up.

Death taxes, red tape, government paperwork.
Cancel culture, pro-nouns (dude, you look like a dude, and Ima going call you dude).
You do you, but don't force it on me.
People who invade personal space.
Large dogs that invade personal space, like my Cane Corso who thinks she's a lap dog and just pushes the ottoman out from under me.
People who are scared of large dogs.
Neighbors who know I have four large dogs but still walk their 10 pound snacks near my gate and get my dogs wound up.
College professors who have no business teaching.
Everybody who drives a car and not a motorcycle.
Adult children who live at home and haven't figured out the next step yet.
Listening to my son play whatever online game yelling from his room.
Most technology- I'm in college and every 18/19 yo doesn't know how to talk to anyone face to face.


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## indianroads

Risto_Facko said:


> I'm fed up with family members living irresponsible lives, dying way too early, and leaving me with their messes to clean up.
> 
> Death taxes, red tape, government paperwork.
> Cancel culture, pro-nouns (dude, you look like a dude, and Ima going call you dude).
> You do you, but don't force it on me.
> People who invade personal space.
> Large dogs that invade personal space, like my Cane Corso who thinks she's a lap dog and just pushes the ottoman out from under me.
> People who are scared of large dogs.
> Neighbors who know I have four large dogs but still walk their 10 pound snacks near my gate and get my dogs wound up.
> College professors who have no business teaching.
> Everybody who drives a car and not a motorcycle.
> Adult children who live at home and haven't figured out the next step yet.
> Listening to my son play whatever online game yelling from his room.
> Most technology- I'm in college and every 18/19 yo doesn't know how to talk to anyone face to face.


Agree - except I'm wary of dogs... we've had dogs and they're great... but,
When I was 11 years old my parents were visiting some people, and I got bored and went outside. They had two dogs, one a large floppy eared mutt, and another that was a half breed - German Sheppard and wolf. I made the mistake of petting the floppy eared one and the German Sheppard + wolf decided to attack. It took a chunk out of my left thigh. 57 years later, it's healed, but I still have a dent in my leg.


----------



## Parabola

Weaponized "incompetence."


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

Parabola said:


> Weaponized "incompetence."



I like that. Me thinks I’ll add that to “Irresponsible Speculation” and  “Malicious Compliance” in the book somehow.


----------



## indianroads

Parabola said:


> Weaponized "incompetence."


That’s a keeper. Thanks.


----------



## Parabola

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> I like that. Me thinks I’ll add that to “Irresponsible Speculation” and  “Malicious Compliance” in the book somehow.





indianroads said:


> That’s a keeper. Thanks.



Haha, well, it was a term I came across when researching psychology stuff. It does a great job "summing up" that kind of behavior.


----------



## Sinister

I just want people to be happy and to leave me and themselves alone.  When they fail to do that...then it grinds my gears.  That's a tragic condition, isn't it?

-Sin


----------



## indianroads

What grinds my gears?
People who preach virtue to others but have none themselves.
People who claim to be an expert, but can’t back up their claim.
People ask for advice, never take it, yet continue to ask.
People that criticize what they cannot do themself.


----------



## JBF

indianroads said:


> What grinds my gears?
> People who preach virtue to others but have none themselves.
> People who claim to be an expert, but can’t back up their claim.
> People ask for advice, never take it, yet continue to ask.



…you rang?


----------



## Parabola

No one respects "Chaotic Neutral." 

Whatever.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

Parabola said:


> No one respects "Chaotic Neutral."



Duh. The novelty of playing that alignment grows thin quite fast.


----------



## Parabola

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> Duh. The novelty of playing that alignment grows thin quite fast.



Especially in real life.


----------



## Parabola

I was going to resurrect that video game music thread last night, but now I can't remember what track I had in mind.


----------



## That Guy Named Aaron

Aaron, not Arron


----------



## Joker

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> Aaron, not Arron



A-A-Ron.


----------



## Parabola

That Guy Named Aaron said:


> Aaron, not Arron



Enron.


----------

