# Dio, at it again and raising the bar **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 20, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888 "2010-06-20T18:19:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/261 "2010-06-21T19:15:09Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I am torn between feeling amusement at the massive burn, and feeling totally awkward like when a married couple gets into a passive-aggressive fight at Thanksgiving in front of everyone else. Me too. Oh hell fucking no. I love it. Who am I kidding? I can almost hear that “deflating balloon sound” or maybe its that “screeching record needle being drug across the record sound”. Maybe I should invite his brother over to our place this thanksgiving so he has somewhere to go though. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/262 "2010-06-21T19:16:28Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > But if there’s one thing I hate more than **Conservative thinking** Cite? ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/263 "2010-06-21T19:17:44Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I think it’s poor form to call out Dio on some real world shit. We really didn’t need his brother to snitch him out to know that he is as human as anyone else. I actually agree with you, although I do not think that having used a cell phone once while driving is quite the smoking gun people think it is. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/264 "2010-06-21T19:21:21Z")
I don’t really get how I’ve supposedly been “burned.” I said talking on a cell while driving was irresponsible. I didn’t say I’d never done it. It was the Vikings again. My Achilles heel. One of these days I’ll figure out it’s just a game. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/265 "2010-06-21T19:22:20Z")
Do any of you people live up to your own standards? ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/266 "2010-06-21T19:24:39Z")
Hey, **Dio** , [this one’s for you](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/267 "2010-06-21T19:26:23Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I don’t really get how I’ve supposedly been “burned.” I said talking on a cell while driving was irresponsible. I didn’t say I’d never done it. > > It was the Vikings again. My Achilles heel. One of these days I’ll figure out it’s just a game. I tell myself that every August. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/268 "2010-06-21T19:26:33Z")
It’s a discourse problem. People don’t have to be people on the Interwebs, and they don’t have to treat other people as people. They can be indignant blowhards and treat anyone who disagrees with them like no-account losers. There’s no accountability because nobody knows who you are. You can make any outrageous claim you want – who’s going to call you on it? I begin to think the point of participating isn’t even to talk about x, and definitely not fight ignorance. It’s to blow off steam. The way some people use the road to be assholes, other people use a discussion board. At least nobody gets hurt. It’s amusing to think that any two people might actually be brothers. Or colleagues. Or neighbors. They have a pleasant exchange then go inside and call each other names. Good premise for a book, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/269 "2010-06-21T19:27:57Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > Do any of you people live up to your own standards? I am prettty damn sure nobody here that thinks Dio is a tool thinks they can live up to impossible standards like the perfection of never forgetting anything. Nor do they expect anybody else too. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/270 "2010-06-21T19:29:21Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Hey, **Dio** , [this one’s for you](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A). > > 🙂 HAAAAAAAAAAA!!! One of my favorite sound effects. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/271 "2010-06-21T19:31:01Z")
Yeah, sounds like a great book for FAGS! How’s your wife doing? Getting close now, huh? ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/272 "2010-06-21T19:34:14Z")
Still about ten weeks to go. And we have not forgotten him in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/273 "2010-06-21T19:35:04Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I felt sympathy for one or two of the people (the catatonic guy), but thoroughly detested the woman (Balfour?) whoi said “I don’t feel I have to forgive myself,” showed no remorse, denied that she’d done anything wrong, etc. The author acted like this bitch’s “impassivity” was something to be admired, when it’s really just callous, self-absorbed denial. It’s not admirable that she “got angry” about being prosecuted, or that she gets pissy and cunty with her husband (the father of the baby she killed) every time she thinks he’s questioning her parenting. Of COURSE he’s questioning her parenting. SHE KILLED HIS BABY. The worst thing about this woman is that she was getting artifical insemination so she could have more babies to roast in the car. She’s also a retard who thinks that God killed her baby because she had an abortion when she was young. The others I can feel for, but that woman makes me sick. It’s interesting that you mention that because the way Lyn Balfour came across in print reminded me of you. I don’t believe that there are many shades of grey in Ms. Balfour’s world. Also, it seemed her message was more important to her than being liked. I absolutely didn’t get the idea that she was in denial about what happened; rather, I thought that she was on a crusade to prevent such a thing from happening again. > [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The neuro-science stuff does not impress me. I get the auto pilot thing. It’s happened to me. It happens to me more than most. I’m a space cadet. I’m often oblivious to my surroundings and up in my head. It’s _because_ I know that about myself that I regularly pull myself out of it and take inventory. I take particular care to do this when getting in and out of the car. I irritate my wife because I’ll check two or three times to make sure we locked the door and turned everything off inside. Before I get out of the vehicle (at home or anywhere else), I inventory the back and front to make sure I’m not forgetting anything. I make myself dpo these checks and double-checks BECAUSE I know I’m forgetful. Weingarten was making the point that people should have these checks in place (as you do, already) because our brains sometimes short in weird ways. Some of the preventative suggestions (stuffed animal in the car sear, briefcase or purse in back with the kid) were very basic, but could be powerful habits. You may not need them, having safeties in place already. Some folks have adopted them and found them helpful. One reader wrote into a later Weingarten chat and said that s/he’d helped prevent a kid being left in a car because of reading the article. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/274 "2010-06-21T19:43:02Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I don’t really get how I’ve supposedly been “burned.” I said talking on a cell while driving was irresponsible. I didn’t say I’d never done it. > > It was the Vikings again. My Achilles heel. One of these days I’ll figure out it’s just a game. I’d suspect more people have been injured or killed because some jackass has been talking on a cell phone while driving than babies have been boiled in the back seat. And not only that, babies being boiled is a result of someone UNWILLFULLY FORGETTING something. Folks getting killed by cell phone yakers is a result of someone WILLFULLY doing something DANGEROUS. And in your case its not even something remotely fucking important. A fucking sports game you can find out about when you get home. Basically fucking testosterone laden worthless, useless, totally unfucking important little old lady GOSSIP that doesnt mean shit. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/275 "2010-06-21T19:45:07Z")
Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/276 "2010-06-21T19:50:15Z")
Keith Brooking has his own children’s foundation. I bet he’d never forget a kid in a car … not even for a second. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/277 "2010-06-21T19:51:11Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Actually, the kid is always in mixed state of half dead / half alive back there until someone checks on it and collapses the wave function. So, technically ALL parents are child killers for some fraction of the time the child exists. My God, you’re right! > [@cricetus](#): > > Dio and I are brothers. I signed up because he was always talking about it. Now I mostly just sign in to argue with him. It’s easier than calling. That’s awesome. > [@billfish678](#): > > Next time just pretend to be his gay lover he keeps on the downlow. At least for a few posts 🙂 That would be even awesomer. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/278 "2010-06-21T20:10:58Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > I actually agree with you, although I do not think that having used a cell phone once while driving is quite the smoking gun people think it is. Maybe it was this: > [@](#): > > If there was a common thread among the cases in that article, I think it was self-absorbtion. People getting more caught up in their jobs or whatever than their kids. Also cell phones. They get distarcted because they’re yapping on a cell phone while driving their kids around. Talking on a cell phone while driving is irresponsible all by itself, especially when there are kids in the car. So he makes the assertion that those kind of people who’ve left their kids in the car are self-absorbed, distracted people; you know, the kind who talk on the phone while driving. And yeah, ok, he does that - but only once in a while! And only briefly! and he doesn’t MAKE calls while he’s driving. Except that once. That you had to remind him of. Because he forgot about it. And he made the call ‘cause the Vikings’ game was important enough to risk talking on the phone while driving. But he’s not at all like those irresponsible people who talk on the phone while driving and are forgetful! They are criminally negligent. And **Dio** , frankly, if you’d made that post that I pulled the quote from (where you say that you are a self-acknowledged space cadet and therefore double check every time) at the beginning of the thread I don’t think this discussion would have gone as far and as harshly as it has, because that’s the same thing people have been saying all along. You started off with “Nope, never, it could never happen to me” full stop, without a word of explanation as to WHY it could never happen to you. The truth is that you DO acknowledge it could happen to you and that’s why you double check. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/279 "2010-06-21T20:12:48Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > its not even something remotely fucking important. A fucking sports game you can find out about when you get home. Basically fucking testosterone laden worthless, useless, totally unfucking important little old lady GOSSIP that doesnt mean shit. Now wait just a goddamn minute. NFL football, useless? Unimportant? Worthless? Or did you mean soccer? Lord knows there’s plenty of threads about that going on for some weird reason… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888/280 "2010-06-21T20:37:01Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Dio and I are brothers. I signed up because he was always talking about it. Now I mostly just sign in to argue with him. It’s easier than calling. This may officially be the funniest thing I’ve ever read on the SDMB in over ten years. Congratulations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dio-at-it-again-and-raising-the-bar/543888.md?page=15)