# ...Bring May Glowers (Monthly Mini-Rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** monthly-mini-rant\ **Created:** [May 1, 2025, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737 "2025-05-01T05:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2025, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/261 "2025-05-20T23:24:52Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > If you’re registered R you can go & vote for only R candidates. > If you’re registered D you can go & vote for only D candidates. Huh. Here in Mass we Independents can vote in either primary. Then as we exit the poll we have to do something that re-enrols us back from whatever we voted as to Independent. Sometimes it just matters more to vote against the guy on the other ticket. Or maybe your friend, who is a really good person in spite of being an XXXXX, deserves your vote. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/262 "2025-05-20T23:31:44Z")
I like how Washington State does it. For state and other local primaries, you vote for whoever you want in any race. The top two candidates go to the general election. They might even be the same party. They’re called “nonpartisan primaries”. For the presidential election (and only that one), you have to check a box to say which party you support, and then you pick one candidate from that party. If you don’t check that box, and that box doesn’t match the party of the person you voted for, your vote in the presidential primary doesn’t count. But it’s one ballot for everybody. Nobody has to register for a party. It seems to work pretty well. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2025, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/263 "2025-05-21T07:58:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Not that this _is_ one of those situations, but it’s sure what the other side will claim. Years ago my Jeep was rear ended while I was waiting at a stop sign. I was very surprised at the number of times the other driver’s insurance company (the gecko one!) called asking me to repeat my version of events. I guess the pictures looked strange? The damage to my Jeep looked minor, but his car was a smashed-up mess. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/264 "2025-05-21T11:52:08Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I guess the pictures looked strange? The damage to my Jeep looked minor, but his car was a smashed-up mess. A few years ago I was the rear-end **er** in a similar situation. During a 2 → 1 merge approaching a stop sign traffic accordioned and I got caught in the sudden compression with more speed than space. At the collision she was stopped and I was in full antilock braking doing WAG 15-20 mph. Her elderly Volvo sedan ended up with a broken tail light lens. The whole front of my BMW 435 was destroyed, all the airbags deployed, and the car was totaled. I’ve seen the aftermath of a lot of car crashes. For something involving just two vehicles and no roadside obstacles that was probably the most extreme difference in outcome I’ve ever seen before or since. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/265 "2025-05-21T13:14:01Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > If you’re registered R you can go & vote for only R candidates. > If you’re registered D you can go & vote for only D candidates. We have open primaries in Tennessee. That doesn’t stop people from posting outside the polling place that it is illegal to vote in another party’s primary. I helpfully write “FALSE” on these notices. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/266 "2025-05-21T15:38:21Z")
Going to put it here because it’s not really worth its own thread. How many more geriatrics are going to insist on dying in office this year? ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/267 "2025-05-21T15:48:12Z")
> [@Maus\_Magill](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > In the vid it seems like their front end was undamaged. I hope that implies that your rear end damage is relatively slight & cosmetic. > > I’m hoping so. The expensive thing will be recalibrating the parking sensors. I dropped off my car and got the rental yesterday, so I can take my father back home this weekend. That’s a load off right there. My car just texted me to tell me it had been unlocked. Hopefully, that means the appraiser is looking at it now. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/268 "2025-05-21T16:05:59Z")
Which ones have already? What am I missing? Or do you just mean the late Pope Francis? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/269 "2025-05-21T16:18:13Z")
Gerry Connolly today. Raul Grijalva and Sylvester Turner earlier this year. Eight total in the last three plus years. All Democrats. [The Last 8 Members of Congress to Die in Office Have All Been Democrats - Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/8-members-congress-died-office-democrats-2025-5) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/270 "2025-05-21T17:40:06Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > If you’re going to narrate videos as a job, learn how to pronounce words first. Same thing with audiobooks. I listened to one of a series involving an FBI agent, and one narrator kept pronouncing the FBI training academy location as “kwan-TEE-koh” (it’s “KWAN-tih-koh”). Another said “dais” like “dye-is” versus “day-is” which is apparently valid but not the most common, and I found a bit jarring. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/271 "2025-05-22T01:29:59Z")
As we speak, a P8 Sub Hunter / Spy Plane is repeatedly circling NJ. Do we have a Red October off of our coast…? > **[Imgflip](https://imgflip.com/i/9usnsz)** ---
**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:** [May 22, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/272 "2025-05-22T02:05:08Z")
I bet it’s the mole-men in a subterranean attack vehicle. [![](https://sfcrowsnest.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/drillship.jpg) ](https://sfcrowsnest.info/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/drillship.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/273 "2025-05-22T17:55:37Z")
Last month I had a tooth extracted on the upper left side. Both before and after it was pulled, I had been avoiding the left side and chewing mostly on the right. I’m just now starting to try to chew more on the left, but it’s not easy with a big gap there. Now today, while eating lunch, a big chunk of molar on the lower right broke off! I called the dentist but they can’t get me in for another week. So I guess I’ll be sucking food through a straw for the next week. Fucking teeth… ---
**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:** [May 22, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/274 "2025-05-22T20:30:25Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Fucking teeth… You’re doing a good job of making examples of them, maybe the survivors will be intimidated enough to behave. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/275 "2025-05-22T22:57:03Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Fucking teeth… Luxury bones. \>.\< I feel for you; I defintely don’t miss the days of feeling a foreign object while chewing, then having to stop and feel around to figure out which tooth had lost a piece. (I still have almost all the actual teeth, just loads of crowns to reinforce them.) ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/276 "2025-05-23T00:50:43Z")
I had a disturbing medical experience last night that almost landed me in the hospital. Not looking for medical advice, just a rant about life and health. Every once in a long while, when eating, I’ll experience a very brief pain seemingly in the upper esophagus. It feels like choking, but is just momentary and passes in about a second. And it happens very, very rarely. Last night the same thing happened, but it didn’t go away. The feeling of choking persisted on and on, with my chest tightening and having difficulty breathing. You’d think water might help but I couldn’t drink anything. After about an hour I was ready to call an ambulance when the symptoms seemed to be slowly lessening. At which point I took a swig of Coke. It felt absolutely horrible going down, but I felt better almost immediately. I took another swig and the symptoms quickly improved. This happened just as I was starting dinner so I ended up hardly eating anything at all. I was pretty hungry by late today so decided after that ordeal to be lazy and treat myself to a very unhealthy McDonald’s, not sure how well that would go down. It was fine, though my throat was still a little sore because of whatever trauma it went through. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2025, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/277 "2025-05-23T01:56:08Z")
It’s like an April night out, mid-50°s & drizzly, so I appropriately dressed for run club in shorts, a t-shirt & a cycling rain jacket with fairly tight sleeves but big (& wide open pit zips). As is kind of typical, when I finished I think I was wetter on the inside than the outside. It was _disgusting_ putting it back on to go out to my car to go home. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/278 "2025-05-23T01:57:20Z")
That sounds really distressing. I’m glad it went away and hope it doesn’t come back. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/279 "2025-05-23T12:29:37Z")
You specifically noted you weren’t looking for advice, but this being the dope . . . I had something similar, which turned out to an esophageal ring (mine had someone’s name attached to it, but I can’t remember who (late memory bump, it was probably Schatzki)). Occasional ‘stuck’ feeling swallowing, cleared by time and/or water. Eventually, a sandwich clogged the pipe entirely (fortunately below the split between lung and stomach so I could breathe). Couldn’t swallow anything including saliva, so occasionally vomited, which was oddly not awful because of no bile. At any rate, had a procedure which stretched my esophagus, problem abated. Occurred a second time exactly two years later to the day, but I’m four or five years from that episode now. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737/280 "2025-05-23T13:36:15Z")
Hey @DocCathode, no rants this month ? I hope there’s a good reason for that ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-may-glowers-monthly-mini-rants/1017737.md?page=15)