# 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:** 390
**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:** [October 31, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7784 "2023-10-31T17:36:38Z")
Hard disagree. That song is boring and repetitive and something’s wrong with the prose. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s all terribly cliché. Also I hate bars. I’m not the least bit enthusiastic about voting for Biden. I have pretty high standards for what politicians get a ringing endorsement from me - I was pretty enthusiastic about Obama (for a while), I’d go bonkers over Warren, but Biden, when he doesn’t seem frail and confused, has consistently shown an unwillingness to take accountability for the shit he does wrong, and that bothers the hell out of me. I don’t trust him. But I will vote for him, [if I must.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGmXGkIr7w0) (YouTube). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7785 "2023-10-31T18:39:31Z")
God I hate piano man, for personal reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7786 "2023-10-31T18:43:13Z")
> **[John Moe’s Pop Song Correspondences: A Note Placed in the Pay Envelope of...](https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-note-placed-in-the-pay-envelope-of-billy-the-piano-man-joel)** > > Hi, Billy, > It’s hard to find time to talk at the club since I’m busy managing the place and you’re at the piano. And we need to talk. I’ve occasion... ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7787 "2023-10-31T18:58:43Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > God I hate piano man, for personal reasons. That song could depress a hyena. My Table returned a bottle of wine once, and the sommelier agreed. My input was just to say “Okay, sounds good to me”. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7788 "2023-10-31T19:19:16Z")
Ha! I forgot about McSweeny’s. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7789 "2023-10-31T19:58:18Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > God I hate piano man, for personal reasons. They needed another poll option- “I hate that fucking depressing song” ---
**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:** [October 31, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7790 "2023-10-31T19:58:32Z")
> _“There’s an old man sittin’ next to me, makin’ love to his tonic and gin”_ This is one of the reasons i HATE lyrics. It’s changed fron “gin and tonic” just so it rhymes. Lazy, lazy DRIVEL. Rant over, As you were. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7791 "2023-10-31T19:58:43Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > I am very surprised that more than half of those voting do not know of a name for the day before Halloween. > > I’ve never lived anywhere where there was anything special about the day before Halloween. I’m mildly surprised to discover that there is. Halloween itself is a “day before”, after all – it’s right there in the name. Devil’s Night in Detroit in the 1980s was a national news story. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7792 "2023-10-31T20:48:54Z")
Man does Billy Joel put my teeth on edge. All of it utterly unlistenable for me. I was at a corporate dinner event once that had a surprise guest, which turned out to be a famous Billy Joel imitator, who led the room in about 90 minutes of singalong. Just kill me. Fortunately I’d been having a running disagreement with another person at work, and he brought it up at dinner, and we took the argument it to another room to hash it out. The music was still audible, but at least I didn’t have to sit there with my fellow boomers and sub-boomers while they sang Billy Joel at the tops of their lungs. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7793 "2023-10-31T21:00:37Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I was at a corporate dinner event once that had a surprise guest, which turned out to be a famous Billy Joel imitator, who led the room in about 90 minutes of singalong. Just kill me I like about 10 Billy Joel songs. And that would be unbearable for me too. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7794 "2023-10-31T21:33:27Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > I’ve never lived anywhere where there was anything special about the day before Halloween. I’m mildly surprised to discover that there is. Halloween itself is a “day before”, after all – it’s right there in the name. > > Devil’s Night in Detroit in the 1980s was a national news story. I was alive in the 1980’s, but not paying that much attention to the news, especially the news from areas not near me. If I saw that at the time, I’ve long since forgotten it (and I might at the time have assumed they were talking about Halloween night.) > [@Procrustus](#): > > > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > > > I was at a corporate dinner event once that had a surprise guest, which turned out to be a famous Billy Joel imitator, who led the room in about 90 minutes of singalong. Just kill me > > I like about 10 Billy Joel songs. And that would be unbearable for me too. I rather like Billy Joel and I would have developed a sudden need to go to the bathroom and then to go get some outside air. Both of which would probably have been true well before 90 minutes of a corporation dinner event in any case; and certainly if the thing had turned into 90 minutes of a singalong to any artist’s songs. That’s absurd. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7795 "2023-10-31T21:35:31Z")
To answer the sleep poll, I have DSPD (delayed sleep phase disorder.) No matter what meds, activities or treatment/therapy I try, I usually struggle to fall asleep before 4 AM. I’m lucky if I get five hours of sleep a night. It cost me a job once. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7796 "2023-10-31T21:44:41Z")
I’m the opposite. I can sleep practically anytime anywhere. With no kids around anymore, I have no problem getting 8 solid hours per night. I’m grateful. On the rare occasion I have trouble sleeping, it’s brutal. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2023, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7797 "2023-11-01T00:14:23Z")
Where I grew up, the night before Halloween was called “the 30th”. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7798 "2023-11-01T00:25:41Z")
I might have misinterpreted “If you wake up while it’s still dark out, how often are you able to fall back asleep?”, because currently my alarm clock wakes me up while it’s still dark out\* so I’ll have time to get ready before the 8 am meeting at work. So falling back asleep is undesirable. But now I think what they meant was “If you wake up before it’s time to get up”. \*This will probably change when we go back to standard time next weekend ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7799 "2023-11-01T00:38:17Z")
Bob Dylan does that kind of crap all the time. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7800 "2023-11-01T00:38:25Z")
I can get back to sleep if I wake up during the night; but sometimes it takes me a while. I need less sleep than I used to. Most of my adult life I really needed 9 hours; and often found it difficult to get that, because the world didn’t seem set up to allow it. Now, I need seven to eight; but what I actually get is pretty erratic. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2023, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7801 "2023-11-01T02:04:19Z")
I sleep better than I ever have before. I used to be a chronic insomniac. Now I have a bedtime routine, a sundown sound lamp, and a whole sleep hygiene thing and I’ve dealt with the rumination part of insomnia. I do have PTSD which sometimes makes it difficult to fall asleep and sometimes wakes me up in panic. That’s what my Ativan is for. I usually need it once every four weeks for several days in a row. But I have been doing a containment visualization exercise my therapist taught me to just set stuff aside when I’m not in therapy. It worked so well for my PTSD I started using it for work stress! Now I do it every night before bed and I can put myself in a pretty chill state of mind. I was listening to a cool podcast about metacognitive therapy and realized that’s what I’ve been doing - choosing not to engage with the content of my own thoughts sometimes. Really neat stuff. Even when I sleep eight or nine hours I still wake up tired. But I’m doing better since I started getting up earlier. I know that sounds counterintuitive but I think there’s something to it. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2023, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7802 "2023-11-01T02:53:02Z")
We have a shitload of candy left over. It was cold and insanely windy this year. We had far fewer customers than last year. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/7803 "2023-11-01T12:02:06Z")
My gf always buys some candy “just in case”. We’ve _never_ had a trick or treater. Never. The bag of “fun size” candy bars remains unopened. And who is the advertising agency that decided tiny candy bars are “fun”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=389) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=391)