# Happy New Bitchfest! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 1, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605 "2014-01-01T00:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 28
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/541 "2014-01-24T19:09:30Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > - but I studied _Taming of the Shrew_ in three different courses … dafuq? Similarly, I was assigned _The Scarlet Letter_ in 9th, 11th and 12 grades. Granted I went to a different school for 9th, but still…the same book two years in a row…at the same school? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/542 "2014-01-24T19:19:01Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I once got sneered at by a woman for reading Scifi in public. “Because it’s not true! It’s all made up nonsense!” > > \*As she was reading a romance novel… \* :smack: I used to volunteer at a charity bookshop, and once had one of the other volunteers (a minor pain in the neck at the best of times) go off on a long sneery rant to me about the fantasy/sci fi section, and how it was so stupid that _adults_ bought that childish rubbish. I let her witter on for a bit, then pointed out that I was the one who maintained that section, as they were my favourite genres. Watching the sudden mental lash of gears into ‘ohshitohshit’ backpedal mode was hilarious 😃 She only read romance novels, and admitted she’d never read a sci-fi or fantasy book, because “It’s all stupid stuff like aliens” :rolleyes: Anyway, while I’m here, I’m going to pit my sleeping habits- lying awake until about 5am? Not good. Finally crashing out properly around 8, then not waking up until nearly 2 pm? Also not good. Fingers crossed, the ezcema flare up is _finally_ dying down, (after finally working out that it probably was the ‘sensitive’ washing capsules that were gradually aggravating it, and rewashing everything I’ve worn since I moved here), and I think the almighty itchiness of it healing up was what kept me awake, so hopefully I should return to normal sleep patterns soon, but I’m working normal person hours this weekend, so I can’t have another night like that. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/543 "2014-01-24T22:11:32Z")
Quickly popping in here to swat at \*\*compositejoe \*\*(Join Date: Apr 2012) for resurrecting old-ass zombies left and right. WTF dude? Most of those threads died for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/544 "2014-01-24T23:45:45Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I once got sneered at by a woman for reading Scifi in public. “Because it’s not true! It’s all made up nonsense!” > > \*As she was reading a romance novel… \* :smack: :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: Owie! Rolled my eyes so hard I think I saw my brain. My grumble du jour is traffic in this area. I don’t know why one particular spot on the freeway I used for most of my trip home from work got seriously clotted up, but I spent several miles at a crawl, well below speeds I could have achieved on surface streets. Anti-grumble: I was still home by 3:30, when I get home by 5:00 on a GOOD day of public transit. Also was able to leave around 8:15 this morning (vs. 6:50) and still got there 20 minutes before my start time (vs. 45). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/545 "2014-01-24T23:50:18Z")
Low expected Sunday night: -18 High expected Monday: -12 Low expected Monday night: -20 With 22-25 mph winds the entire time. Wind chills will be a bitch. On the bright side, I haven’t been bitten since I bagged my mattress. So Sunday afternoon, I’m putting them out on the deck. Until Tuesday. Should kill off any of the little fuckers. But afterwards, I’ll leave them in the bags just to make sure they don’t get re-infested. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/546 "2014-01-25T00:02:13Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > My grumble du jour is traffic in this area. I don’t know why one particular spot on the freeway I used for most of my trip home from work got seriously clotted up, but I spent several miles at a crawl, well below speeds I could have achieved on surface streets. > > Anti-grumble: I was still home by 3:30, when I get home by 5:00 on a GOOD day of public transit. Also was able to leave around 8:15 this morning (vs. 6:50) and still got there 20 minutes before my start time (vs. 45). 😃 Yeah, there are some sections of the freeways around here that are seriously slow at times for no discernible reason. You heard about the W/X, right? I don’t know if that will affect you, but they are closing alternating sections of it starting in spring for a couple of months. I don’t usually have to drive it, but man, traffic is super really going to suck around here for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/547 "2014-01-25T00:23:11Z")
> [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](#): > > Turn some of that snow into rain and send it our way, we’re in a drought here in So Cal! Not just SoCal. Norcal is in horrendous drought. Folsom Lake is so low, the the town that was flooded when the lake was made is starting to reappear. > **[Morman Island at Low Water](http://www.folsomlakemarina.com/Mormanisland.html)** > > Pictures of the town of Mormon Island when the water is a elevation 372. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/548 "2014-01-25T00:42:02Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Yeah, there are some sections of the freeways around here that are seriously slow at times for no discernible reason. You heard about the W/X, right? I don’t know if that will affect you, but they are closing alternating sections of it starting in spring for a couple of months. I don’t usually have to drive it, but man, traffic is super really going to suck around here for a long time. W/X? I work near Watt & Auburn, live near Valley Hi & Mack. I use Business 80 and 99 for my commute. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/549 "2014-01-25T00:55:46Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > W/X? > > I work near Watt & Auburn, live near Valley Hi & Mack. I use Business 80 and 99 for my commute. It’s the elevated part of the interchange that runs between W and X Streets through downtown. I don’t think you will be affected by it. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/550 "2014-01-25T02:20:44Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Low expected Sunday night: -18 > High expected Monday: -12 > Low expected Monday night: -20 > > With 22-25 mph winds the entire time. > > Wind chills will be a bitch. > > On the bright side, I haven’t been bitten since I bagged my mattress. So Sunday afternoon, I’m putting them out on the deck. Until Tuesday. Should kill off any of the little fuckers. But afterwards, I’ll leave them in the bags just to make sure they don’t get re-infested. With temps like that, who needs a freezer? Shit, put out your flour and grains so you don’t have anything to contribute to the ongoing pantry-bugs thread. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/551 "2014-01-25T03:29:46Z")
I got a flu shot in October. Nevertheless, I have the flu now. It sucks. Nasal swabs suck, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/552 "2014-01-25T04:53:42Z")
Why does Google keep “fixing” YouTube? Every day there’s some new problem. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/553 "2014-01-25T05:02:22Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > This reminds me of the beginning of _Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_ when Arthur Dent is lying in the mud in front of the bulldozer trying to knock down his house. All the workers sit around and discuss how they can turn the situation into getting overtime pay. Cracks up happily. That’s just what Bill said when he told me about it. His crew was hoping that the LE wouldn’t get there until after they had stood around for 2 hours so they could leave and get paid for 8 hours. Bill is evil when that sort of stuff happens. He brings food and hot drinks and blankets for the protestors. He knows that nothing deflates the protestors faster than leaving them chained to the equipment and offering them comfort while waiting for the police. He also feeds the crew. They get their food and coffee first, whilst Bill is reminding them to be respectful to the people who are buying gas to drive out to protest a gas pipeline. > [@digs](#): > > I read a lot, and every once in a while, I’ll try an old classic (thinking it might be boring, but on the other hand, there must be a reason it’s a classic, right?). > > I’ve been amazed at how great some of them are _(thanks, Mark Twain, for understanding very different types of people, and listening to how they express those differences)_. > > But a lot of Ye Olde Dustye Bookes? Well, I’ve decided I don’t need to be _Silas Marner/Great Expectations_-level ‘cultured’. \*\*Life’s too precious to spend it finishing a painful book. \*\* I’ve just learned this lesson. And I didn’t learn it on my own. Bill is the one who told me that just because I started reading a book…it doesn’t mean I have to finish it if I don’t like it. I promptly threw my Latin/English copy of the works of Julius Ceasor into the recycle bin. That guy is BORING. I’ll learn Latin without it. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > This reminds me of a scenario from **The World According to Garp** :eek: That really was my first thought as well. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/554 "2014-01-25T09:17:39Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Not just SoCal. Norcal is in horrendous drought. > > Folsom Lake is so low, the the town that was flooded when the lake was made is starting to reappear. > > [Morman Island at Low Water](http://www.folsomlakemarina.com/Mormanisland.html) Those pictures are haunting. Interesting, but…I have no other words. That lake needs to fill up again. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/555 "2014-01-25T09:58:13Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > I once got sneered at by a woman for reading Scifi in public. “Because it’s not true! It’s all made up nonsense!” > > \*As she was reading a romance novel… \* :smack: I can’t stand people like that!!! I always carried a book with me as a kid, just so I wouldn’t get bored if we had to wait somewhere. I was reading a sci-fi book at a hair salon once; the lady who was cutting my mom’s hair asked what I was reading, and I told her. She launched into a rant that lasted the remainder of the appointment about how much she hated sci-fi, and that she just couldn’t understand it, and it was nothing but garbage…ugh. (If I remember correctly, one of this stylist’s favorite authors was Danielle Steele.) Now I carry my books around on my phone, so I can read in public undisturbed…everyone assumes I’m playing Angry Birds or texting. 😛 ---
**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:** [January 25, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/556 "2014-01-25T14:34:24Z")
The only downside of reading in public is _those_ people… the ones who ask you what you’re reading. Well, I pick up old Sci-Fi/Suspense anthologies at an antique store, partly because they fit in my back pocket. Well, I was a little embarrased to be reading _Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories My Mother Never Told Me_ in the park (“Hey, lady, this is full of Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl and F. Scott Fitzgerald, so shut up!”) So I made my own slipcover; did a quick Photochopping and made a nonsensical collage of images (one is Jesus as Ash, with a chainsaw for a hand). Titled the book _“Prognosis: Negative!”_ and … no one’s ever asked me about it! So, apparently, if they can’t get any clue from the cover, they won’t bother you with “Whatcha readin’? What’s it about? …Oh,\* I\* would never read anything like _that_…”) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/557 "2014-01-25T16:21:54Z")
When I was but a stripling lad, studying for admission to the penitentiary, I turned twelve. My mother sat me down, turned up the wick on the kerosene lamp, and told me: “You’re twelve now, so all bets are off. You still can’t do anything you want, but you can read anything you want. If the library won’t let you have the book, I’ll go get it for you…” A few weeks later, I was walking the halls of my junior high with Aldous Huxley’s _Brave New World_, when Mr Prissypants Fussbudget stopped me (not his real name) and asked “Does your Mother know you are reading this book?” “My mother _recommended_ this book.” Thank you, Jesus… ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/558 "2014-01-25T16:46:19Z")
Heh, my 5th (or 6th?) grade teacher was horrified to find me reading Catcher In The Rye. She was even more horrified to learn that not only did my parents know, they approved. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/559 "2014-01-25T17:06:59Z")
To the folks at Hulu– Yes, I understand the idea of targeted advertising, and I don’t have a problem with your tailoring your ads to be maximally appealing to me. And, yes, I’m a single woman who just turned 40. But that doesn’t mean I need tons of ads for cat-related products (especially kitty litter formulated for multiple cat households.) Nor do I want to see those awful, slimy-feeling ads for Gevalia and Bertolli, companies who assume that all single women my age have drab, colorless lives and secretly hanker for an unctuous, pretentious guy who comes on way too strong. Ick. I’m wondering if Hulu has teamed up with my mother to tell me something. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/560 "2014-01-25T18:00:14Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > He also feeds the crew. They get their food and coffee first, whilst Bill is reminding them to be respectful to the people who are buying gas to drive out to protest a gas pipeline. Oh, I bet that ticks the protesters off no end. 😃 Don’t you love when you have to point out the obvious to people? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605.md?page=27) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605.md?page=29)