# 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:** 30
**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 26, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/581 "2014-01-26T04:27:58Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Ha. Ha. Ha. Most of them contain at least some cat hair. > > 😃 You say that like cat hair is an unusual ingredient. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/582 "2014-01-26T04:58:56Z")
Famous astronaut Chris Hadfield recently gave a presentation here in Montreal. No, that’s not what I’m ranting about - I think it was a lovely thing to do. However, a local newspaper reported on the presentation, saying that Hadfield had “literally transported the crowd with him on board the space shuttle for a tour of the world.” Umm
 I wasn’t at the presentation, but I’m pretty sure that that didn’t literally happen. :rolleyes: Actually, I found that more amusing than annoying. 🙂 ---
**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 26, 2014, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/583 "2014-01-26T05:31:51Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > Expurgated Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys? Say it ain’t so! Unfortunately. > [@](#): > > The Hardy Boys volumes were extensively revised beginning in 1959 at the insistence of publishers Grosset & Dunlap, and against the wishes of Harriet Adams. The revision project, which also encompassed the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, was sparked largely by letters that parents had been writing to Grosset & Dunlap since at least 1948, complaining about the prevalence of racial stereotypes in the books. Volume 14 in the Hardy Boys series, The Hidden Harbor Mystery (1935), was singled out for particular and repeated attention for its portrayal of a black criminal who organizes a gang of black boys and treats whites disrespectfully. As one parent put it, the books were “ingraining the old race-riot type of fear.” As such letters became more frequent, Grosset & Dunlap informed the Stratemeyer Syndicate that the books must be revised and such stereotypes excised. The end result, however, was less the removal of stereotypes than the removal of non-white characters altogether and the creation of an “ethnically cleansed Bayport”. By the 1970s, however, the series began to re-introduce black characters. > > An additional rationale for the revisions was a drop in sales, which became particularly significant by the mid-1960s. Accordingly, the revisions focused on streamlining the texts, as well as eliminating stereotypes. The books were shortened from 25 chapters to 20 and the writing style was made terser. Difficult vocabulary words such as “ostensible” and “presaged” were eliminated, as was slang. As a result of the new, more streamlined writing style, the books focus more on non-stop action than on building atmosphere, and “prolonged suspense [is] evaporated.” The books were also aimed at an increasingly younger audience with shorter attention spans. For this reason, many commentators find the new versions nothing less than “eviscerated”, foremost among them being the first Hardy Boys ghostwriter, Leslie McFarlane, who agreed with a reporter’s statement that the books had been “gutted”. > > In the course of revising and modernizing the series, many plots were completely re-written. The Flickering Torch Mystery (1943), for example, was changed from a plot involving an actual flickering torch used as a signal by a gang to a plot featuring a rock group called “The Flickering Torch”. When plots were kept, their more lurid elements were eliminated; Vilnoff, the villain in The Sinister Sign-Post, was changed from a criminal who compulsively sculpts miniature models of his own hands to a car thief without such eccentricities, and another villain, Pedro Vincenzo, who branded his victims no longer does so in the revised version of The Mark on the Door (1934, rev. 1967). ---
**Author:** ![Tracyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@Tracyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracyfish)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/584 "2014-01-26T16:41:04Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > That’s what happened. Huge knife slipped from his hands and fell on his toe while he was chopping some veggies. Four stitches. Thankfully all he got was a bandaged toe out of it. I’m just glad I got him to agree to go to the ER. It took over half an hour of pleading on my part and some seriously gushing blood first. > > My dad is like that. I remember my mom finally got him to go the ER two hours after a nasty head wound he got when tripping over some branches in a public park. Also four stitches on that thing. > > I think it’s a male thing. I’ve gone to the ER over a fever. Granted it was a very high fever less than a week after giving birth but still it felt a little silly. I think women in general are just more comfortable seeking medical attention. You may be right about it being a male thing. The day after Thanksgiving last year, my father-in-law got hit in the face while playing racquetball and got a gash near his eye. After mopping up some of the blood with a towel, he wanted to keep playing. The other guys insisted he to go to the hospital, where they used glue to close the wound and told him it would have needed eight stitches. And now my husband tells me that he didn’t think his father needed to go to a hospital but at least needed to stop playing for the time being. Fast forward to this month when he had cataract surgery. The doctor told him he needed to wait two weeks to play racquetball. The day after the surgery, he had his bag all packed expecting my husband to take him to play. He did start playing before the two weeks were up even though he didn’t play that day. Then there’s my husband, who collided with another player during racquetball a week ago and got a knee to the thigh. He came home limping and wincing. I asked him if it happened near the end of the night. No, it happened in the first game. Did he keep playing? Of course! He limped for several days. Maybe it’s more a “Nothing will keep me from racquetball” thing in the males in my husband’s family
 ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/585 "2014-01-26T18:51:50Z")
Husband is still denying there was a much of a problem last night. He’s insisting that the problem was more my insisting that he get to an ER rather than I don’t know . . . HIS TOE WAS GUSHING BLOOD AND HE NEEDED FOUR STITCHES TO CLOSE IT UP. **Kolga** called the > [@](#): > > Man Medical Syndrome. “No, honey, it’s FINE, I can sew my thumb back on MYSELF.” They’re all nuts. If they could give birth half of them would demand an epi at the first sign of positive pregnancy test. The other half would be into the whole unassisted home birthing lunacy. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/586 "2014-01-26T22:25:50Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Husband is still denying there was a much of a problem last night. He’s insisting that the problem was more my insisting that he get to an ER rather than I don’t know . . . HIS TOE WAS GUSHING BLOOD AND HE NEEDED FOUR STITCHES TO CLOSE IT UP. > > snipped > > **They’re all nuts. If they could give birth half of them would demand an epi at the first sign of positive pregnancy test. The other half would be into the whole unassisted home birthing lunacy.** I am so cracking up in agreement with this. Don’t forget the bi-polar ones! When Bill had his heart surgery, his medical team all stressed how important it was for him to take his pain meds on schedule, not as needed. According to every person who talked to us, pain makes the body tense and he needed to relax and rest to heal. Of course Bill turned into some sort of idiot who didn’t want to take them because he had stuff to do. Said “stuff to do” included many of the things the doctors specifically forbade. There were times when I seriously considered just drugging his food. He caught a bug in a while back, not the flu, and turned into such a whiney assed crybaby that I was back to considering drugging his food again. Odd that this conversation is happening now. I’m in a new chapter of the same motorcycle riding club. We are all into fundraising and one of the ways we do this is by hiring out to do concert security. I love doing security, I get to wear a black SECURITY shirt, carry a can of mace on my hip and pretend to look intimidating. It makes me feel all badass and stuff. For the most part, we work concerts for aging rock and roll bands, and the fans are aging as well. Most people at a Pat Benatar concert, for example, are more likely to smoke their first joint in years and get all nostalgic than get drunk and start fights, so its easy work. Mostly we look for cameras and tell people they can’t record. And tell people where the restrooms are. Someone died last night. I wasn’t really involved except for keeping the area clear so the Corpsmen could work. The scream we heard when the poor guy collapsed was way different than the screams we usually hear, so every one ran that way. All of us who do security take regular first aid and CPR classes, but the Corpsmen reacted to the screams first. He was in his middle to late 30’s. He looked like he was healthy and in good shape. The Corpsmen worked as hard as they could on him and the paramedics were there very quickly, but he was dead before his date started screaming. We met up today and everyone is pretty upset. Security is a sweet gig, we can make easy money for the [Wounded Warrior Barracks](http://www.woundedwarriorregiment.org/index.cfm/wwbnw/), but we didn’t sign up to have people dying under our watch. So, this is a PSA
it doesn’t matter if you are young and in good shape, get regular check ups. This guy didn’t have to die. His body was probably giving him many distress signals that he just blew off as stress. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/587 "2014-01-26T22:45:29Z")
I (male) am faster to go to the doctor than my wife - her attitude is they can’t fix anything anyway, and I want it fixed as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/588 "2014-01-26T23:27:23Z")
My SO is much faster to take himself to the doctor or ER than I am. I have been the one with a gushing wound (on my hand), soaking through washcloth after washcloth, saying, “No, it’s just a scratch! I’m fine, look, it’s going to stop bleeding any second now!” - yeah, that one took 7 stitches when I finally DID go. I just REALLY don’t like doctors. Or hospitals. My rant of today is that I hate going clothes shopping. How have I lost weight (not a lot, about 7 pounds) and am now a size larger? I am wearing pants that are one size- they are quite comfortable, even loose, but I need a larger size at the store?? What the hell? I know, different companies, different cuts, different styles, etc, but man. I can feel bad about my body without the help of the clothing industry, thank you very much. Wrecks my whole day, it does. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/589 "2014-01-26T23:38:29Z")
You curvy guys, you’re doing it all wrong. Don’t put “going to the doctor/ER” in terms of going to be cared for, put it in terms of a problem that only they can solve, the doctor requires his advice in how best to proceed. Stupid? Sure, but it’ll work, and he’ll never know, so what do you care? ---
**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 27, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/590 "2014-01-27T03:09:28Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > My rant of today is that I hate going clothes shopping. How have I lost weight (not a lot, about 7 pounds) and am now a size larger? I am wearing pants that are one size- they are quite comfortable, even loose, but I need a larger size at the store?? What the hell? I know, different companies, different cuts, different styles, etc, but man. I can feel bad about my body without the help of the clothing industry, thank you very much. Wrecks my whole day, it does. It really does wreck your day, and sometimes even longer than that. Losing weight and needing a bigger size super sucks! Losing 20+ pounds, going shopping and finding you still need the same size you’ve been wearing also sucks. That happened to me not too long ago. Maybe they are making clothes smaller for the same size? I know in the past a size 10 was much smaller than a size 10 today. Maybe they’re going backwards? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/591 "2014-01-27T03:41:34Z")
Well that sucks. My oven died today. I made a pizza for lunch and went to make a batch of bars and got the crust baked, but then went to preheat the oven to bake the filling and it was a no go. The oven and preheat lights came on, but the elements didn’t. Then I tried the broiler and that worked, but still no oven. Damn, I really didn’t need the expense of getting it fixed or getting a new stove. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2014, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/592 "2014-01-27T03:56:31Z")
And in other weather rants, it was +10ÂșC yesterday, and -11ÂșC today. A 21 degree swing overnight - I was just getting used to the heat outside! (50ÂșF to 12ÂșF for the metric impaired). â˜č ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/593 "2014-01-27T14:50:05Z")
My former mother in law, grandmother of my daughter, passed away today. I suppose I should anti-pit my ex-bro-in-law for keeping me in the loop on her recent health, and telling me so promptly. But I’m just kind of angry at the world and everything about it, I’m surprised it’s hitting me so hard. She was a lovely woman, and I wish she’d not put off seeing her granddaughter again “till she was better”, and she never even got to see her walking and talking â˜č ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/594 "2014-01-27T15:22:54Z")
My condolences, **Imp** I’ve seen that happen too many times. Life should be lived now, not when things get better â˜č ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/595 "2014-01-27T16:15:19Z")
Hadn’t been bitten by bed bugs since bagging my mattresses. Had even put cups with diatomaceous earth under the legs for 5 days and found nothing. Since we plunged into the temperature abyss yesterday, put my mattresses out on the deck for 2 days of deep freeze to kill off the nasties. Then I pulled apart my dresser, which was next to my bed, and cleaned and vacuumed it out - every nook and crevice - better than it has been cleaned in the 40+ years I’ve owned it. Also vacuumed the edges along the walls and a few other areas. Turned out the bin in the tub to see if I’d gotten any bugs, and nothing. So thinking _whew_, only in the mattresses and the cold will take care of that. Well, the only thing I had to sleep on was a futon chair. Laid out the mattress from that on the floor in the living room, and since it is only about 4.5 feet long, grabbed a bunch of blankets from the linen closet for my legs. Which were promptly bitten up overnight. Goddamnitsomuch. They’re in the linen closet. â˜č And this morning when I drove out, I went around to make sure the mattresses were doing ok on the deck since the sliding glass door was frozen over and I could neither open it, nor look out. My neighbors below me had their mattresses on the deck too. Informed the management there is a bit larger problem and they should probably call my neighbors to ask. ---
**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 27, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/596 "2014-01-27T17:42:20Z")
That sucks, **Chimera**. Actually 
 I guess it bites. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/597 "2014-01-27T21:07:07Z")
Is it possible to catch a cold in the middle of another cold? Because I’ve had this cold for 9 days now and frankly, it’s getting old. ---
**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 27, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/598 "2014-01-27T21:10:09Z")
Heh-heh: an old cold. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/599 "2014-01-27T21:33:13Z")
Could I be so bold To ask if it’s mold? ---
**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:** [January 28, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605/600 "2014-01-28T01:07:23Z")
I walked over to my bank to do some banking today. I walked through an off-leash area as I often do; the area I walk in is an on-leash area - the off-leash area is beside it. The dog in [this picture](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Dog%20Problems/SAM_4977_zpsc6b8e224.jpg) ran towards me, ignoring his owner’s commands. As the dog approached me, I got nervous and pulled out my dog pepper spray, as I always do when strange dogs approach me. I ended up getting into a verbal fight with the owner - he got upset when I took my pepper spray out because he thought he was in an off-leash area, I tried to explain to him that the path was an on-leash area, but he wasn’t listening - he pointed at the off-leash sign beside the path and called me a fucking retard. We had a couple more exchanges after that, with him getting more excited, and I was worried about his dog attacking me then to protect his owner. He threatened me with bodily harm if I sprayed his dog, and then I walked away. He was still yelling things after me as I left. It took me a long time to stop shaking after being accosted like that; I was afraid of the owner as well as the dog, and I can see that argument going even worse than it did. I don’t think I’ll be walking through that area again, even though it is my most direct route to the local shopping centre. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-new-bitchfest/677605.md?page=31)