# Damn Dirty April! (Monthly Mini-Rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 1, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679 "2024-04-01T14:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/181 "2024-04-18T20:21:28Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Now that I think about it, I’m not sure that they did. They may have just said “your debit card” and I just assumed that it must be my bank. Also, I believe that as with credit cards, the first four digits of a debit card number identify the issuer. And it’s quite possible that they didn’t know the debit card number at all. They’d quite helpfully have asked you to read the number back to them to confirm that it was right. “Fun” would ensue. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/182 "2024-04-18T20:39:50Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Now that I think about it, I’m not sure that they did. They may have just said “your debit card” and I just assumed that it must be my bank. That’s how “psychics” work too; they give out vague details that would apply to anyone and let the mark fill in the blanks without realizing it, and then what the person’s faulty memory recalls is that the psychic somehow knew all of this personal info through supernatural means. I mean, psychics, phone fraud, they’re all just con artists, they just choose different schticks. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/183 "2024-04-18T20:44:13Z")
Nitpick- John Edward, Sylvia Browne and most psychics are conssious frauds. Other psychics genuinely believe they have a gift and are confused by our stubborn scepticism. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/184 "2024-04-18T20:46:31Z")
I just got an email from the bank’s fraud investigation unit. They confirmed that the telephone number I was supposed to call was not a legitimate bank number, and now they’re on the case like a dog with a fresh beef bone! 🙂🐕 ---
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/185 "2024-04-18T20:48:32Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Other psychics genuinely believe they have a gift and are confused by our stubborn scepticism. Those other “psychics” are clearly not relevant to my point if they are not engaging in that behavior. My great aunt worked as a psychic and even consulted for the police on occasion. I don’t think she was a fraudster. I also don’t think she was psychic either, I think she was convinced she had powers and got lucky enough that she convinced authorities she did too. I’m talking about people who show off their powers on TV or work on “hotlines”. I had a friend once who in her past used to work for a Miss Cleo phone service. She read stuff from a script and flirted a lot with male callers, that was the extent of her powers. She was the first to admit it’s a scam, but she needed cash. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/186 "2024-04-18T20:49:36Z")
[Emily Litella] Oh, then nevermind [/Emily Litella] ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/187 "2024-04-18T21:09:07Z")
I was a little disappointed in CBS News because their Sunday Morning program presented an [uncritical story on Tyler Henry](https://www.cbsnews.com/video/psychic-tyler-henry-hollywoods-biggest-medium/), who claims to be a medium able to talk to people’s dead relatives. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/188 "2024-04-18T21:50:42Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@BobLibDem](#): > > > > but she wouldn’t have gotten as many had she faced men playing defense. > > And Michael Jordan wouldn’t have gotten so many points if he’d been facing hockey players with sticks, or NFL linemen on defense. This is 100% the best reply I have seen on this type of irritating topic. You get the Gold Cup for replies! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/189 "2024-04-18T23:01:40Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > There may be ways to stop the texts… Ooh, thanks! I’ll try it. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/190 "2024-04-18T23:21:29Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I just got an email from the bank’s fraud investigation unit. They confirmed that the telephone number I was supposed to call was not a legitimate bank number, and now they’re on the case like a dog with a fresh beef bone! 🙂 🐕 … or [Bacon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k4JS4M-DHs)… ---
**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:** [April 19, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/191 "2024-04-19T01:24:50Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > > [@digs](#): > > > > > [@BobLibDem](#): > > > > > > but she wouldn’t have gotten as many had she faced men playing defense. > > > > And Michael Jordan wouldn’t have gotten so many points if he’d been facing hockey players with sticks, or NFL linemen on defense. > > This is 100% the best reply I have seen on this type of irritating topic. You get the Gold Cup for replies! Wow, an accolade a week later. Nay, not a mere compliment, but a Gold Cup! And all because I was astounded that anyone would make a “Caitlin Clark’s not as good as a man” comment. ---
**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:** [April 19, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/192 "2024-04-19T23:40:32Z")
I’ve spent the last three months trying to become more enlightened. Fuck it’s exhausting. Some moments it’s nice to be more present for, but a lot of it has been, “Shit, I never noticed before how much that hurts.” 1. I cleaned the house last weekend, like hard-core, wall and cabinet scrubbing, dusting etc. but I like _did_ something to myself. Parts of my body are still sore. I’ve been in pain all week. 2. And I think it’s possibly just worsening post-COVID shit. I got the long COVID. Which means most of my productive days end by 2pm. I become utterly confounded by screens and have to go put away laundry or something. It absolutely fucking sucks to have your work day cut in half every fucking day, especially when, like me, you struggle to get started in the first place. 3. Which means I’m at peak brain fog and fatigue when my son comes home from school, which means I’m not Fun Mom, I’m “Let’s sit on the couch and look out the window” Mom. Bless that boy he just wants to sit right beside me. 4. At some point, I stopped doing things for fun. I’m trying to remember how to have fun. Not that I’m Miss Fun or anything in the first place, but I stopped doing activities I used to find enjoyable. 5. Tonight is my organization’s annual gala. Everybody at work is insane and unavailable for a month, including my boss, who is very nice but very stressed. I’m not going tonight, but I was volunteered for set-up at 9am. I got up at 5:30am in the foulest mood, get the kid ready, get me ready, I am almost out of my subdivision when someone texts me, “oh you don’t have to come in until 10:30am.” 🤬 So I went back home, returned, did some set-up, left early, and allowed myself to listen to podcasts and work on puzzles. But it doesn’t matter what you do. Life is suffering. Etc. Which means tomorrow I’m getting up at 5:30am again to take my son to swim class, a process I find incredibly stressful no matter how I try to tweak it. My husband graciously offered to start taking him instead, except not tomorrow, for reasons. We’re all going to die btw. Those moments where I can get out of my head and just exist, they are beautiful. But I am all too human in my drama, and pretending that I don’t have that drama isn’t helping me any. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/193 "2024-04-20T00:14:31Z")
Mini Rant About MAGA Ad This isn’t about the message of the ad (which is ‘Biden lets in Mexicans who rape and kill our women and children’). This is about the cites in the ad. The Washington Times is a rag and is owned by the Reverend Sun Yung Moon’s Unification Church. I know nothing about the Washington Examiner. I’m assuming it’s also a rag. For a reputable, respectable DC paper look to the Washington Post- a cite conspicously absent in this ad. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2024, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/194 "2024-04-20T00:45:03Z")
I love my cat, Even when she’s a brat. She knows that But won’t say. Cat. Sometimes I have to clip her claws A task she does not like at all. Her face looks appalled. After, she’ll plunk to the floor free fall. Cat. I never cut her feet; I clip her daggers neat She’d punch me out complete unless I shake the bag of treats. Cat. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/195 "2024-04-20T22:29:14Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > And I think it’s possibly just worsening post-COVID shit. I got the long COVID Pretty sure I do too. Ever since I had COVID I don’t think I’ve ever had a single day when I don’t feel tired, like I am ready to fall asleep at any point. It doesn’t matter how much sleep I get. My entire life that has never been a problem until I got COVID. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/196 "2024-04-20T23:33:00Z")
Covid sucks. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/197 "2024-04-21T03:06:59Z")
As if enough isn’t going wrong with my body, I find a hard bump inside my nose that hurts to touch. My doctor is going to get tired of me. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2024, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/198 "2024-04-21T20:01:16Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Ever since I had COVID I don’t think I’ve ever had a single day when I don’t feel tired, like I am ready to fall asleep at any point. It doesn’t matter how much sleep I get. > > My entire life that has never been a problem until I got COVID. I feel like that every day, and I’ve never had COVID. For me I just think it’s my body saying “hey, you’re 60 now, this is what it feels like.” ---
**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:** [April 21, 2024, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/199 "2024-04-21T21:03:54Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > For me I just think it’s my body saying “hey, you’re 60 now, this is what it feels like.” Well, I’m not yet 50, and it went from never being like that to always being like that, with COVID as the point where it changed. I’m tempted to say it’s just me getting old, except it happened suddenly like a light switch. When I got sick it wiped me out and it just didn’t go away after all my other symptoms stopped. It has been a couple of years now. ☹ Though it’s true that it probably would have happened anyway, I’m not a kid, but it just came early. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679/200 "2024-04-21T21:25:46Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I know nothing about the Washington Examiner. I’m assuming it’s also a rag. Media Bias/Fact Check rates it as Right Biased and of Medium Credibility - mixed on factual reporting due to several failed fact checks. So it doesn’t sound like the sort of news organization whose articles one should accept without careful confirmation. Regardless, it’s better to take the extra step of debunking what such outlets report rather than just dismissing them because the source is perceived to be unreliable. I’m currently pissed off at the number of social media posters who think it’s fine to dismiss scientific evidence because “you can’t trust major media or fact-checkers”, not to mention the CDC, WHO, professional organizations, public health officials, researchers, the vast majority of the medical community, etc. etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/damn-dirty-april-monthly-mini-rants/999679.md?page=11)