# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636 "2024-02-16T02:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 72
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1422 "2024-05-22T01:06:11Z")
I don’t have a problem with there being some sort of dress code. If they wanted to keep her from playing in her unshowered and pajamaed condition, that’s okay with me. However, I can’t imagine why they would let her play and only _then_ ask me to disqualify her. Thus, I voted to “Award her first prize.” ---
**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 22, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1423 "2024-05-22T01:15:06Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > However, I can’t imagine why they would let her play and only _then_ ask me to disqualify her. That’s why I voted “other”. I know, I’m probably fighting the hypothetical, but I can’t imagine why they would let her get on stage dressed like that in the first place. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2024, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1424 "2024-05-22T01:17:00Z")
You’d think someone with that combination of talent and mental illness would have someone to help make them presentable. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1425 "2024-05-22T01:22:03Z")
I realize now that I was making the not-unwarranted assumption that a “prestigious piano competition” was about who could play the piano the best. But I suppose, hypothetically, that the competition could have been at least partly about appearance or fashion or who could _play the part_ of a pianist the best. But if it really is about whose best at playing the piano, a dress code, if any, would be about a requirement to participate, not a requirement to win if one was already a participant. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1426 "2024-05-22T04:31:10Z")
I found the music question about Maynard James Keenan the most difficult to answer. I liked Tool and A Perfect Circle back in the day, and I discovered Puscifer around 2 years ago and really dig them now. I ultimately picked Tool, but ask me again in a couple of years and my answer might change, especially if Carina Round remains involved with Puscifer. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1427 "2024-05-22T05:06:49Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > For our unspeakably skilled but unable to comply pianist, I, like a lot of posters selected other. Yes. I would just ask some stagehands to take her aside and a costumer get her into the right gear. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > However, I can’t imagine why they would let her play and only _then_ ask me to disqualify her. Thus, I voted to “Award her first prize.” Right- if you let her play, then give her first prize. If the costume is so critical, dont let her play in the first place. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2024, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1428 "2024-05-22T05:17:37Z")
The transit question doesn’t have _quite_ enough options: I would have said On foot (including wheelchairs for those whose feet aren’t going to serve: land, local) On horseback (or equivalent animal, land, medium distances) Rail (light or heavy, I don’t care, medium & long distances) Boat (water) but that’s four at a minimum. ---
**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 22, 2024, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1429 "2024-05-22T11:33:16Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > You’d think someone with that combination of talent and mental illness would have someone to help make them presentable. This reminds me of an [episode](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0512546/) of “The Andy Griffith Show.” mmm ---
**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:** [May 22, 2024, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1430 "2024-05-22T13:02:14Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > but that’s four at a minimum. Yeah, I don’t think only three works in practice. Even if we posit, as I think we’re positing, that any of them will work over water as well as over land. But I can’t imagine\* telling everybody they can’t walk or bicycle. And if railroad were the only other option, I’m presuming there would then be massively better and more available passenger rail service. \*OK, I can imagine it. But it’s a pretty unpleasant imagination. ---
**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 22, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1431 "2024-05-22T13:48:00Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Unless there is a specific **safety** reason for particular attire, the dress code can get stuffed. The whacko gets the win, and the organization can fire me if they wish. Yup. Chaotic good here. Maybe neutral good. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If they wanted to keep her from playing in her unshowered and pajamaed condition, that’s okay with me. However, I can’t imagine why they would let her play and only _then_ ask me to disqualify her. Thus, I voted to “Award her first prize.” That’s a good point, too. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1432 "2024-05-22T16:42:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@ParallelLines](#): > > > > For our unspeakably skilled but unable to comply pianist, I, like a lot of posters selected other. > > Yes. I would just ask some stagehands to take her aside and a costumer get her into the right gear. > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > However, I can’t imagine why they would let her play and only _then_ ask me to disqualify her. Thus, I voted to “Award her first prize.” > > Right- if you let her play, then give her first prize. If the costume is so critical, dont let her play in the first place. These answers along with @puzzlegal’s and other are good, but IMHO are fighting the implicit hypothetical of the poll. Somehow everyone let this happen and all I get to do is judge. ☹ Really, as many have said this was a problem that was easier to fix before it happened. ---
**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 22, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1433 "2024-05-22T16:57:36Z")
And if all i get to do is judge, i give her the prize, because she was the best pianist. And I’m not really into rules. ---
**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 22, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1434 "2024-05-22T17:04:15Z")
Coming in very late, and it was my own poll question, but re glasses? I have _two pair_. A set of progressives - my “social” pair that I really don’t care for. There’s sunglass inserts that snap into them. They’re for driving and socializing, and well suited. Around the house? Computer glasses with a bifocal cutout. _I love them_. I can see about 12 feet in focus, no stupid messed up progressive head tiltiing and blur zones. No nonsense. And the D-shaped bifocal cutout lets me view things like small parts or stamps or coins or whatever while I’m mostly wearing single vision. It’s awesome. It’s a system. But you can see how this might be problematic if I get absent-minded some morning. and have to fall back on my blasted hated progressives. Until I figure out what went wrong and find my fave optics wherever they’ve gotten to. I have two sets of progressives. You really have to - you can’t drive or see the stars or really anything with w/o a set of progressives, your life is over if they get misplaced, a second set isn’t even an option… I really must get a spare set of bifocals. Except the optician _won’t email me my own prescription_ . Snail mail only! Rent-seeking jerks. ---
**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 22, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1435 "2024-05-22T18:15:31Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Except the optician _won’t email me my own prescription_ . Snail mail only! Rent-seeking jerks. For real! I can now get my prescription in my patient portal, although it’s in a hard-to-find area. ---
**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 22, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1436 "2024-05-22T19:02:45Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I hope the results of the asparagus poll match the results of the [identical poll](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/4082) from last October. I think I voted “yes” in both. But really, my answer should be “Yes, now, but it never did until I read Unca Cecil’s column on the subject some decades ago - so I blame him for the problem!”. The same logic suggests that my mother is responsible for my getting motion sickness when reading in a car or on a train. Never a problem until she said “Don’t read in the car, you’ll get sick”. ---
**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 22, 2024, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1437 "2024-05-22T19:07:31Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I have two sets of progressives. You really have to - you can’t drive or see the stars or really anything with w/o a set of progressives, your life is over if they get misplaced, a second set isn’t even an option… I really must get a spare set of bifocals. Except the optician _won’t email me my own prescription_ . Snail mail only! Rent-seeking jerks. And if you try to order spares from, say, Zenni, they ask for “pupillary distance”, which is never written down on an eye glasses prescription. FWIW I think I answered “an hour or less” for whether I’d lost my glasses. My computer glasses, which are prescription, live on my computer desk; they go nowhere else unless we are travelling. OK, I do have a bunch of cheap reading glasses from Costco, that are scattered around the house, and I might not lay hands on them quite so easily. Before I got my eyes bionicized, I couldn’t function well without them, so at worst, I might have knocked them off the nightstand and had to fumble for a few minutes. This was my “room distance progressive” pair - that was good for everything but driving. The distance glasses, at that point, lived in the car and nowhere else, so I never lost them either. My daughter was recently trying to get her prescription for some ADHD medication filled, and running into shortages, and kept forgetting to follow up with the pharmacy (the pharmacy wouldn’t do a “backorder and call you when it’s in stock” because… reasons). I likened this to someone nearsighted who cannot find their glasses - you need to tool to be able to find / acquire the tool. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1438 "2024-05-22T19:12:55Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > they ask for “pupillary distance”, which is never written down on an eye glasses prescription. It’s not too hard to measure interpupillary distance yourself, although it’s better to do with a second person reading the ruler so you can focus your eyes at a distance while the reading is taken. Even better, there are now phone apps that can measure it. Glasses On is a good one, which I’ve used, and it gave a very accurate number. ---
**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 22, 2024, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1439 "2024-05-22T19:40:53Z")
I asked my optician. She gave me a lecture on how lousy the cheap mail order glasses are, but she also gave me my pupillary distance. It was close to what I’d measured myself, but I’m guessing she’s more accurate than i was. ---
**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 22, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1440 "2024-05-22T19:57:22Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Before I got my eyes bionicized Um, what? PRK? SMILE? LASEK? IOL? RLE? Multifocal replacements? Just curious - this stuff seems way invasive for me, but I’m interested in your experience. Also was it elective, or did you win the cataract lotto? I’m only 62 and have crap vision, i don’t know what’s going to happen to me. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I asked my optician. She gave me a lecture on how lousy the cheap mail order glasses are, but she also gave me my pupillary distance. It was close to what I’d measured myself, but I’m guessing she’s more accurate than i was. Yabbut, for the spare “I have pretty bad astigmatism and can’t locate the good pair” atm, any port in a storm. Can you rundown how this works? I’ve got the 8 numbers in the prescrip, I know I want bifocals with the small D cutout. No idea about pupils? Help? Thanks in advance. ---
**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 22, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/1441 "2024-05-22T20:15:25Z")
Ugh, missed the edit - My 25yo son pointed me at eyebuydirect. He seemed happy but he got single visions. But he said he paid like \<$50! _Lots_ of moving parts here, if you go beyond the basics. I’ve been buying from optician boutique nonsense and frankly getting ripped off for years. Like $1000 for a pair of glasses _with good VSP insurance_. Screw this, I just want a spare pair of specs! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=71) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=73)