# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380 "2022-09-28T11:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 199
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3962 "2023-05-08T08:10:08Z")
@squeegee in the Schengen countries visited poll, how are you defining visited? I was supposed to visit Prague on a long layover but just got stuck in the airport overnight; does that count as visited? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3963 "2023-05-08T08:20:37Z")
Is it like, “I [doctor] handle menstruation well, so you [patient] have no excuse to be weak like this?” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3964 "2023-05-08T11:34:57Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > In the Schengen list, I included some countries that I visited before they joined Schengen, but not since. Not sure if that’s cheating. Same. I also included Iceland, which i haven’t really visited. I’ve just been to the airport. I did set foot outdoors, because we walked outside to board a plane. “Walked outdoors” is my usual criterion, but in this case, it feels like a cheat. > [@Loach](#): > > The Cheesecake Factory has a 20 page menu. It’s the easy choice Yup. I don’t want to live in any of them, either, but at least there’s some variety of food at the cheesecake factory. > [@Velocity](#): > > Is it like, “I [doctor] handle menstruation well, so you [patient] have no excuse to be weak like this?” I once had a female gynecological nurse poke me really hard on the cervix, doing a rough pap smear. And when i said, “ouch”, she told me i don’t have any nerves there and couldn’t feel anything unless there was something seriously wrong with me. It was a bizarre experience. But I’ve had lots of female ob/gyn doctors since, and they’ve all been fine. They certainly all had a good bedside manner. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3965 "2023-05-08T13:10:50Z")
Definitely going with teleportation. Instantly most nukes are tossed into a distant star, and a small grain of sand is enough to cause someone’s head to explode ala Scanners if you get a few molecules to try to occupy the same space. I have a little list… ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3966 "2023-05-08T13:12:10Z")
I was looking for the invisibility option. mmm ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3967 "2023-05-08T14:40:22Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > @squeegee in the Schengen countries visited poll, how are you defining visited? I was supposed to visit Prague on a long layover but just got stuck in the airport overnight; does that count as visited? I’d define it as actually leaving the airport. But you do you. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3968 "2023-05-08T14:58:18Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I was looking for the invisibility option. Who said that? ---
**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 8, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3969 "2023-05-08T15:03:44Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I was looking for the invisibility option. > > mmm I couldn’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3970 "2023-05-08T15:53:27Z")
I picked Olive garden because I ate there once and know there’s a decent selection of OK food. The only others I was familiar with were Waffle House and Pizza Hut. > [@Loach](#): > > The Cheesecake Factory has a 20 page menu. It’s the easy choice I’ve heard of them but had no idea it was a regular restaurant. The name made me think it’s a dessert place - maybe like a fancy ice-cream parlor. If the sign said _Fred’s - Now Ptomaine Free_ I would at least recognize it as a restaurant and might be inclined to check it out. It’s like Panera Bread - for years i thought it was a bakery chain. ---
**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 8, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3971 "2023-05-08T15:53:53Z")
The “Is gnocchi pasta or dumplings?” poll appears to be missing a “yes” option. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3972 "2023-05-08T16:13:33Z")
I’m taking the AI moneybot. If I read that right, it’s basically an unlimited supply of cash; the bot maintains my account at one trillion no matter what I spend. I can house every homeless person, feed the hungry, fund cancer research, build solar and wind farms, clean the oceans - the list goes on and on. Whatever will help the world, I’m paying for it. I’ll also be the guy buying dinner for the whole restaurant or groceries for the whole store, because why not? And at the same time, I’m living _my_ best life. I can have and do whatever I want, whenever I want, without regard to the price tag. I can be selfish _and_ selfless, all at once. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3973 "2023-05-08T16:18:58Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > > > I was looking for the invisibility option. > > > > mmm > > I couldn’t see it. I don’t see what you did there. mmm ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3974 "2023-05-08T17:00:49Z")
I’ve been to all but Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania. And I woulda been to those on a tour, too, if it wasn’t for you meddling covids! _shskes fist_ ---
**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:** [May 8, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3975 "2023-05-08T17:40:04Z")
Pretty much this but I picked Pita Pit because I’ve never been. I can always eat the contents and ditch the pita when I get tired of overly-dry bread. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3976 "2023-05-08T17:55:49Z")
I’m a huge Anglophile and, if I were British, would certainly be a monarchist. For all its faults, I think the monarchy is good for the UK, on balance, and I wish the new King well. I already have perfect love (coming up on our 33rd anniversary!), so I chose mind control. Given the 40-mile range, I’d go to Washington, D.C. a couple of times a year, especially close to elections, and make the politicians I hate most hold press conferences and admit to the most terrible, _but true_, things. If that didn’t make them lose, I’d make them poop on the flag in public or something like that. I’m appalled that _The Big Lebowski_ is only fourth in the Coen Bros. poll right now. All right-thinking people know that’s their best movie, dammit! I’ve had both male and female doctors over the years, and have never thought that the guys don’t listen as well. I like to sing but I’m not especially good at it. I’ve never had anyone complain, though, and was even once told in church that I ought to join the choir. On the continent, I’ve only ever been to France, for a long weekend visit with a friend who was studying at the Sorbonne. I saw Calais, Paris and the land along the rail line in-between. I’d like to go back someday (including to my family’s ancestral village near Rouen) and see much more. > [@Loach](#): > > The Cheesecake Factory has a 20 page menu. It’s the easy choice. _Exactly_. I wouldn’t want to live in any of them, but if I had to, that’d be the one. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3977 "2023-05-08T18:00:25Z")
Am I the only one who paid attention to the second word in the names of those restaurants? As in, would you rather live in a factory, garden, shack, hut, house, or pit? > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’m appalled that _The Big Lebowski_ is only fourth in the Coen Bros. poll right now. All right-thinking people know that’s their best movie, dammit! I’m a little surprised that _No Country for Old Men_ hasn’t gotten any votes at all, considering it’s the only one to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Admittedly I picked _Fargo_ myself, but that’s because I have relatives in the Upper Midwest. Some of the characters in that movie kind of remind me of them. ---
**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 8, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3978 "2023-05-08T18:50:34Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Is it like, “I [doctor] handle menstruation well, so you [patient] have no excuse to be weak like this?” Yes, that’s not uncommon. If you’re business as usual, it may not be as noticeable, but among my friends and I who have had to fight tooth and nail for our reproductive health problems to be taken seriously, it can be a real issue. I know multiple women who have had everything from endometriosis to cervical cancer who had doctors that just wouldn’t take their pain seriously until it threatened their lives. Now anecdotally I can’t lay the blame entirely at the feet of women doctors - I’ve only ever _had_ women doctors, and I’ve had some good ones. I suspect it’s often a function of just cultural attitudes toward women exaggerating their suffering, and those attitudes can come from both women and men. But maybe the man doctors have a bit more sympathy because they’ve never experienced these issues themselves, whereas a woman can say, “Yeah, PMS sucks, what’s the problem?” In reality menstruation and hormonal symptoms can range from “minor nuisance” to “completely debilitating.” People just don’t take women at their word when their issues lie at the debilitating end. It sucks. I think the average length of time it takes for a diagnosis of endometriosis is 9 years. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3979 "2023-05-08T19:39:18Z")
OTOH, I’ve heard of one male doctor that didn’t take hot flashes until he experienced them (medicine side effect) Now he explains to other male doctors how bad it is. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3980 "2023-05-08T21:48:38Z")
> [@TruePisces](#): > > I am a poor, broke American without a passport. I had one in the '90s, but I never used it. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > hist. For all its faults, I think the monarchy is good for the UK, on balance, and I wish the new King well. Ditto Never seen a Cheesecake Factory, though it seems there are two within an hour’s drive. Not enough variety at Pizza Hut, and the worst service I’ve ever had was at a Waffle House. I picked Olive Garden. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/3981 "2023-05-08T22:42:28Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Am I the only one who paid attention to the second word in the names of those restaurants? I think you might be. Have fun a the factory, everyone! 😄 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=198) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=200)