# A Day Late But Not A Rant Short (March Mini-Rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 2, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343 "2024-03-02T03:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/261 "2024-03-28T23:02:32Z")
> [@NegativeZer0](#): > > so not only will I be the one who looks bad for the delay, but I will end up working late to get it done because someone else screwed up and didn’t listen to instructions. Ooo, I’ve got one!! How about the inspector at my workplace who saw ‘extra’ items on a job, didn’t bother to _read the fucking line item notes_ which detailed why those ‘extra’ items were there, and went screaming to sales to have the items removed from the job. Then he went to complain to my supervisor about the ‘extra’ items. 🙄 Now I get to sign off those items _again_, adding notes that won’t be acknowledged. This is the same inspector who kept demanding that I issue some inspection forms for parts on another job…I finally had to open the inspection procedure and show him where it explicitly stated that the damn parts don’t require individual inspection forms. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/262 "2024-03-29T01:06:45Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > > [@Monty](#): > > > > Weather in Beijing: How can a place that gets as brutally hot in the summer as this town does get so lethally cold in the winter? > > I noticed you didn’t say anything about pollution so bad that it is hard to see and breathe. Has that improved? Sort of, I guess. Yesterday’s weather alert was for yellow dust coming from the north. All day it was beautiful. And this morning, it was decent temperature (10C) when I went to hop on my scooter. Of course I had to spend a few minutes getting about a quarter inch of said yellow dust off the scooter seat so I could ride the thing without trashing my trousers. Reminds me of my first summer(ish) weekend in Beijing. The weather report said the air quality was something like the mid-thirties. I could barely see three feet out my living room window. Then it hit me. The report (government regurgitated information, of course) wasn’t wrong; it was just adjusted. When I was a kid, the weather report in the winter included something called a wind chill factor. If that factor was 7 and the actual temperature was 8, then the resulting “feels like” temperature was -1. Getting back to the air quality, what you need to do is _add_ the _corruption factor_ to the government information. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/263 "2024-03-29T17:06:40Z")
#1 I missed a call from my tax people during my lunchbreak. I just saw their e-mail saying that they need to call me to review. Now, I’m stressing about when and if they’ll call back today. I work in a virtual call center. I have to go offline when they call and I don’t know how long it will take. #2 I just got a text from my sister saying I need to call her when I get off work. I have no idea what’s going on but expect rage, stress and frustration. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/264 "2024-03-29T19:38:22Z")
Once again, I did **not** win the lottery. No, I’m not talking the billion dollar MegaMillions, though that would have been nice to win. I’m talking about the one where I get to spend my money to run 26.2 miles through all five boroughs of NYC on the first Sun in Nov. Based on averages & what I’ve been led to believe are acceptance rates, this should be my third or fourth time not further continuation of my zeroth time. . . > [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > It’s all BS until the Intel Services look at it… Well, since the Intel Services are looking at it 🤫, it _must_ be true. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/265 "2024-03-29T19:58:26Z")
Macaroni and Cheese. Has anybody, ever, in the history of digits, ever simply inserted their thumb into the side of that goddamned box? I say no. You either whip out a knife and stab that fucker or just rip the top off the box altogether. Am I right here, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/266 "2024-03-29T21:53:37Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Well, since the Intel Services are looking at it 🤫, it _must_ be true. I’ll let the suits who get breakfast from Shoney’s handle it. It’s their job, not mine. ( If they want to make it my job, they can damn well hire me & pay me for it. ) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/267 "2024-03-30T03:16:02Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Macaroni and Cheese. > > Has anybody, ever, in the history of digits, ever simply inserted their thumb into the side of that goddamned box? I say no. You either whip out a knife and stab that fucker or just rip the top off the box altogether. Am I right here, or what? YES!! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/268 "2024-03-30T03:38:51Z")
at Walmart the 60 egg box we get every month or so has been holding steady at about 7.50 or so we bought two for easter aunt realized we’ll need some for cooking after easter and found out Today that same box is 12.50 a bit of incredulous swearing was had ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/269 "2024-03-30T11:32:36Z")
I hate FireTV! I didn’t know when I bought ours that it wasn’t just a smart TV. It’s not a TV we use all the time, so maybe it resets itself or something, but I spent waaaaaaaay too much time yesterday trying to find a movie my granddaughter wanted to watch and the damned thing kept taking me back to the home screen. She never did get to see her movie and I’ve started shopping for a non-Fire TV to replace it. Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!!! I’ve googled all the terms I can think of to see if there’s a way to un-Fire it and just have a Toshiba smart TV, but apparently not. So I think I’ll just sell the stoopit thing for cheap and get a proper unit. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/270 "2024-03-30T12:18:16Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Basically, she can afford a new roof and figures “while they’re up there”. Plus, this way when we downsize in ten years the house will have a relatively new roof for resale value. > > I knew nothing about this “downsizing”. maybe she will put on a smaller roof? ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/271 "2024-03-30T12:28:46Z")
I just read that scammers are selling fake eclipse glasses. Honestly, how low can you go? You blind people just to make $2 by selling your counterfeit worthless zero protection glasses? $2 @ vs Causing Blindness to hundreds or thousands…? You Assholes…! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/272 "2024-03-30T14:44:53Z")
[![](https://i.imgur.com/InYgH3h.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/InYgH3h.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/273 "2024-03-30T17:25:02Z")
At some point the local paper (Raleigh News & Observer) decided as part of their effort to cut costs and screw over old fogies like me who still prefer to read a physical paper instead of having to get their news online that they would no longer print and deliver the paper on Saturday (without, of course, reducing the subscription cost). My paper subscription includes access to an online “eEdition” which is a reproduction of the daily printed edition, and even though they don’t deliver a Saturday paper they do include a copy of what they would have sent me as part of this eEdition. However, before you can read the “paper” for each day there are several pages of articles which for some reason would not have been part of the paper edition. So before I can read the Saturday eEdition I need to page through these. Now, I understand that college sports are supremely important. But this morning there were **seven pages** of college sports news - apparently both NC State and Duke have both advanced to something called the “Elite Eight” in the current basketball battle for supremacy. This is apparently the most important news of the day. I strongly suspect that if we had decided to nuke Moscow this would be reported on page three of the paper edition. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/274 "2024-03-30T23:08:13Z")
I’m pitting that my work week starts on Sunday. I’m exhausted from my weekend. I wish I thought this would get better, as I age… ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/275 "2024-03-31T00:03:10Z")
To reply to those who may ask why I’m a sort of pseudo-Luddite… wait, I know no one has asked that … but I’m just thinking that some may ask at some point because of all my ranting against smartphones. And I now have the answer! I was puttering about in the kitchen just now, making drinks and getting into the early stages of preparing dinner, when suddenly there was an enormous and fearful noise and clamoring from the garage. I had been fidgeting in my pocket as I thought about various dinner options and apparently accidentally pressed the “Panic” button on the key fob. Then I had to figure out how to turn the fucking thing off, because the car was going nuts with blaring horn and flashing headlights and just inserting the key doesn’t do it, you actually have to start the engine. So my conclusion is that technology is like a large dog that isn’t very well trained. It can be a faithful companion and a boon to your life, and they when you least expect it, it can bit you in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/276 "2024-03-31T00:18:50Z")
I had an argument with Google Assistant this morning that culminated with it telling me that I needed to be more respectful, and now I’m wondering if I need to go apologize to it, or just buy a HomePod mini. What a time to be alive. > [@LurkMeister](#): > > apparently both NC State and Duke have both advanced to something called the “Elite Eight” I don’t follow much sportsball but **GO PACK!!!** _sorry about that_ ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/277 "2024-03-31T00:29:28Z")
I don’t follow any sports, pro or college, but when I moved down to NC from Chicago I was warned that I was going to be asked whether I was a UNC or Duke fan. And sure enough, when I got my first haircut here the barber made a comment about the fact that the shirt I was wearing was, quite properly in his opinion, UNC blue. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/278 "2024-03-31T01:50:50Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I’m just thinking that some may ask at some point because of all my ranting against smartphones. What you posted has nothing to do with smartphones. Just saying. But I will say, I’m the opposite of a Luddite, I work with technology as a professional and embrace it wholeheartedly in my private life. Yet the scenario you described about the panic button on the car fob has also happened to me more than once and I fucking hate it. Bad tech design is bad tech design. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/279 "2024-03-31T02:20:17Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I had an argument with Google Assistant this morning that culminated with it telling me that I needed to be more respectful, and now I’m wondering if I need to go apologize to it, or just buy a HomePod mini. What a time to be alive. Get an Amazon Echo. I managed to get mine to call me “Master.” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343/280 "2024-03-31T13:43:27Z")
NO ONE in our family likes Alexa/Echo/Pods/Bunter or any "assist"ants. We thought my elderly mom, living alone, would like one. She never quite figured out how to control it (she’d allude to what she wanted it to do, rather than give commands: “Google, doesn’t this music seem loud to you?”), never warmed to it, and gave up. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I managed to get mine to call me “Master.” In a Barbara Eden voice? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-day-late-but-not-a-rant-short-march-mini-rants/998343.md?page=15)