# August August minirants! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 1, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068 "2012-08-01T16:21:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/301 "2012-08-16T02:54:30Z")
Christ Flatlined, that’s awful :(. Can he be institutionalised because of this? That poor dog… I know Tony isn’t well, but killing a dog with a bat??? No. He needs help, he needs to be put out of harms way. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/302 "2012-08-16T03:28:36Z")
**saje** , I don’t know what to do about Tony. And honestly, there is nothing I can do. When he’s well medicated, he is almost normal. After his stay he will probably come home and be horrified about killing the dog. When I left, he was straped down on a hospital bed, with an IV filled with drugs. And sobbing over his cat…raging that his cat had been dug up and violated. I’m not joking about him climbing up a clock tower. I know this will happen. Tony can’t have guns…so he likes to play with stuff that blows up. He also likes to wire things up to give big electric shocks. What can be done for him? He can’t be locked up because we all know that he will blow up. He can’t be forced to take his meds. Tony will be charged, get fined and have to go through probation. Tony will go to court ordered anger management classes and will take his meds for the blood work. After he is done…nothing will change. This is NOT his fault. Tony can’t help how he is. I buried the cat, and the neighbor is going to take the dog to be cremated. The other cats and kittens are fed and litter boxes have been cleaned. I’m not very happy right now. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/303 "2012-08-16T03:43:16Z")
((((flatlined))))) Prayers & good thoughts for you & Tony. Mental Illness sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/304 "2012-08-16T16:01:28Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > \ > > This is NOT his fault. Tony can’t help how he is. \ I feel very badly for Tony, but I also feel very badly for the victims of his behaviour that you post about (past, present, and future). I truly wish something could be done to help him, but barring that, he really does need to be locked up - he’s hurting other people now, and as you say, that’s just likely to get worse. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/305 "2012-08-16T17:52:20Z")
Man, that’s a tough sack of shit all around, **flatlined.** If he gets (temporarily) better and then is “horrified about killing the dog” would that be some sort of wake-up call that he needs to take his meds whether or not he wants to do so? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/306 "2012-08-16T19:45:20Z")
> [@slalexan](#): > > I broke the underwire in my bra. Boobies? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/307 "2012-08-16T21:07:35Z")
Two months to get in to see the referral doctor, three months after that is the date booked for my surgery, and now I get the email that the doctor won’t be doing surgeries that day - can we move it back by another month? Sure, why not? I’m just a patient - I understand I don’t have any rights or say in anything that happens to me in my healthcare system. :mad: ETA: I forgot the crap icing on this shit cake - when I found out about the month-long delay, my mom who is visiting chastised me for using bad language. In my own house. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/308 "2012-08-16T23:02:51Z")
If your sinuses are completely clogged, be extra careful if you decide to drink milk that “looks okay.” (Where’s the barfy smilie?) * * * \<\< When cats feel nauseous they think, “I hope I can make it to the couch.” \>\> ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/309 "2012-08-16T23:41:26Z")
Uncle, please stop calling me at all hours and not leaving me a message. I work during the day and can’t always get to my phone. This should not come as a surprise to you. I’m a little shocked you’re even calling me at all, since you’ve barely spoken to me since last summer. Apparently in your mind it’s reasonable to expect someone to cut short a trip and drive six hours home to get Grandma’s mail when you’re living in the same town. If it’s something important you want, leave me a damn message when you call. If not, leave me alone please. I’ve been just fine with you not talking to me. While I’m here, prednisone sucks elephant balls. I had a scary allergic reaction to something yet to be determined the other day and the doctor put me on this evil drug to clear everything out. To quote my Granny, I feel like I’ve been drug sideways through a knothole. Headache, feel like I’m gonna barf every time I eat, alternating between freezing and broiling. The worst part is my complete inablility to focus. It took me three tries to dial a phone number at work today. If the preceding rant was incoherent, blame the drugs. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/310 "2012-08-17T04:20:13Z")
Got an inlaw on my Facebook feed who just “liked” Paul Ryan’s page. This is a woman who has had both an ectopic pregnancy, and a scare that her unborn son might have had Trisomy 18, and recounted how she explained to her pro-life mom, “You are going to have to respect my decision; if this baby is Trisomy 18 I will be getting an abortion.” (Her son turned out to be fine.) Ryan of course is the man who sponsored the Sanctity of Human Life act, which had it any chance of passing would have outlawed all abortions. Her stated reason for wanting to vote for Romney/Ryan? Gas prices are too high and it’s Obama’s fault. I don’t think I have to explain to this board the irritation I’m feeling here. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/311 "2012-08-17T04:30:40Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Got an inlaw on my Facebook feed who just “liked” Paul Ryan’s page. This is a woman who has had both an ectopic pregnancy, and a scare that her unborn son might have had Trisomy 18, and recounted how she explained to her pro-life mom, “You are going to have to respect my decision; if this baby is Trisomy 18 I will be getting an abortion.” (Her son turned out to be fine.) Ryan of course is the man who sponsored the Sanctity of Human Life act, which had it any chance of passing would have outlawed all abortions. > > Her stated reason for wanting to vote for Romney/Ryan? Gas prices are too high and it’s Obama’s fault. I don’t think I have to explain to this board the irritation I’m feeling here. Wow. What a fucking hypocrite she is. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/312 "2012-08-17T04:32:00Z")
I agree that Tony needs to live in a structured and supervised environment. The problem is that when Tony is on his meds, he’s functional enough to go through the legal system. Tony is then forced to stay on his meds because the Probation Officer is on his ass. Once Tony does his time, he doesn’t have anyone who can put the fear of going back to jail in him and he stops taking his meds because they make him feel funny and he doesn’t really need them anyhow. :smack: I’m going to be a disloyal friend. Tony “only” killed a dog and did some property damage. Tony will go to court and be contrite and functional. His Public Defender will have him cleaned up and will remind the Judge that Tony is low risk and that he is a good probationer. I will know the Court Reporter for the Judge who is trying the case. I say it that way because I don’t know which Judge will be involved…but I know all of the Court Reporters. I think that Tony should be on probation for the rest of his life. I doubt that I can talk the CR into telling her Judge to do that…but I might be able to convince her to do 10 years. Dang, that was long. I only came online to see how Mr. Shoe was doing, then tell everyone that Tony is still in the hospital. He’s been moved to observation now. They will keep him for another 2 days and then he will go to jail. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/313 "2012-08-17T04:49:36Z")
Question for California Dopers: do you regularly get calls too early in the morning from people on the East Coast who don’t understand time zones? I just moved to LA five days ago and it has happened twice already. Not from people who didn’t know I’d moved, but from people who were aware I was on the West Coast and were just apparently too dumb or thoughtless to figure it out. First call, Monday, 6:50 AM, from an insurance agent after I’d priced some car insurance on their website the previous evening (including inputting my CA address) Me _sounding drugged and half asleep_: H’llo? Insurance Woman: Hi, this is Blah Blah from Allstate, is this chizzuk? Me: Yeah. Insurance Woman: I was just calling in reference to your quote and wanted to give you some more information. Me: Uhhhh. Insurance Woman _obviously reading screen_: You sound very tired. . .wait, are you at this California address? Oh, gosh, it’s really early out there, isn’t it? Sorry, I’ll call you back later. Me: Bye. Next call, my family dentist in Maryland, 8:00 this morning: Dentist: Hi, chizzuk! Your brother told us that you moved to California! Me: Uh, yeah. Dentist: Well, we just wanted to wish you luck and invite you to drop in for a cleaning whenever you’re back here. Me: Mmm. Dentist: But you should probably find a dentist out there as well. Me: Uh-huh. Dentist: How is California so far? Me: Fine. Dentist: Wait, what time is it out there? It must be pretty early. Me: It’s eight in the morning. Dentist: Oh, that is early. Well blah blah blah _keeps chattering for several minutes_ Good luck! Me: Thanks. Bye. At least the insurance agent had the decency to apologize and end the call immediately when she realized what she’d done. I hope this will stop as I get more settled in. I use my cell phone as my alarm clock, but if this keeps up I’m going to have to turn it off overnight and use an actual clock. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/314 "2012-08-17T05:20:28Z")
Damnable stray cat is at it again. I’m curled up on the couch, in pain due to some lovely kidney issues. Lucy is in her usual spot- the front window. Dot and Mayme are sleeping on (yes, ON) my ankles, effectively pinning me to the couch. MROOOOWWWW Lucy goes into GTFO mode, growling out the window. The twits freaked the fuck out. Claws out, they go flying. My ankles are shredded. I had to spray Lucy with water to get her out of the window. Hard to do when Tweedledee and Tweedledum want to see what’s going on. Window and curtains are now closed, all felines appear to be calmed down. My ankles? Good thing I bought gauze today. Too bad it was meant for my mom, who had eyelid surgery yesterday. I’m also Mommysitting. Calgon. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/315 "2012-08-17T12:42:56Z")
**chizzuk** -You’d better start shopping for that alarm clock. I grew up in California, so I think I’m qualified to answer. 🙂 I now live one time zone further east and it happens all the time. I got to my office a little before 8 one day this week and came in to a ringing phone. The guy (calling from NY) was upset because he’d “been trying to get ahold of someone for two hours!!!”. He calmed down considerably when I told him I was in Colorado. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/316 "2012-08-17T13:31:33Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Wow. What a fucking hypocrite she is. Nah, I don’t think she’s a hypocrite. If I’m not mistaken, she watches mostly Fox News and ergo I wouldn’t be surprised if she genuinely had no idea of what Ryan’s position on abortion is. _sigh_ You know what I want to see? I want Murdoch to suddenly decide that moderate and liberal viewpoints are more profitable than whacko-fringe conservative viewpoints. Fox News would change over-fucking-NIGHT and a whole bunch of heads would explode, and then maybe some of those douchebags in Congress would decide that getting things done through compromise once in a while might actually be in their best interests. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/317 "2012-08-17T19:28:59Z")
Well, shit, if we’re wishin’ for things that ain’t gonna happen, can I sign up for some free money? I’m not greedy at all: 30 or 40 K would do. (Good luck going through those reporters, **flatlined**. Not sure how that makes you a disloyal friend, though. I mean, you do seem to have Tony’s best interests at heart.) There’s a [MPSIMS thread for Mr. Shoe](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=661847), but if you don’t feel like slogging through endless medical minutia: he’s stable(ish) but his lungs are still … I believe the technical term is **fucked**. He will be sedated and on an oxygen ventilator for quite some time. It was _finally_ confirmed yesterday, a solid week after I brought him to the hospital, that the official initial culprit was West Nile, although now he’s got a bunch of opportunistic secondary infections to battle as well. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/318 "2012-08-17T19:41:36Z")
Stable is good. Fucked up, not so much. TheKid and I send you both our thoughts and good wishes. She even did the finger woowoo thing towards the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/319 "2012-08-17T20:19:10Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > There’s a [MPSIMS thread for Mr. Shoe](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=661847), but if you don’t feel like slogging through endless medical minutia: he’s stable(ish) but his lungs are still … I believe the technical term is **fucked**. He will be sedated and on an oxygen ventilator for quite some time. It was _finally_ confirmed yesterday, a solid week after I brought him to the hospital, that the official initial culprit was West Nile, although now he’s got a bunch of opportunistic secondary infections to battle as well. That sucks that the test for West Nile takes that long, but it just **does**. One of the doctors I work for was talking about waiting on the results of the West Nile test versus other tests for things that might have essentially nearly blinded one of her patients. She was consulting with 3 other doctors about what treatments should be started in the meantime just in case it was (even though the patient was missing a lot of the standard flu-like symptoms) or in case it was some other culprits. I’ve been following the other thread too, and have both of you in my thoughts. (And in the spirit of other threads - fuck West Nile Virus!) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068/320 "2012-08-17T21:18:26Z")
Please stop using the phrase “an historic election” when describing the election of the President of the United States. They are all “historic” you idiots. Do you think if McCain won last time we would have said, “let’s not write this one down anywhere, just another old white man.” NO! EVERY SINGLE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS HISTORIC. IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-august-minirants/630068.md?page=17)