# How's February shorting you? ~ 28 days of mini-rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815 "2019-02-01T23:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/1 "2019-02-01T23:08:02Z")
I live in Beijing. I hate, despise, and loathe cold weather. I have an especial dislike of snow. So I’m on vacation in Busan. It snowed the day before I arrived in town. Snow is a rarity in Busan, unlike in Seoul. The idea of coming here was to get away from such weather. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/2 "2019-02-01T23:32:13Z")
oh that sucks…y ou could take a trip to aus instead …… [MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/australia-is-sweltering-through-record-breaking-heat-and-the-worst-is-yet-to-come/ar-BBT1vrQ?li=BBnb7Kz) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/3 "2019-02-02T01:02:42Z")
I’m alone for most of this month. Mr.Wrekker is off on a fishing trip to Mexico. I have to admit I’m kinda looking forward to it. Of course I wish he were home. He gets so antsy with nothing to occupy his hands and head. It’s like watching a caged Lion, pacing and looking, pacing and watching. He is just one of those people. I, otoh, can sit for hours and just daydream. To each his own. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/4 "2019-02-02T05:23:44Z")
Rants Daughter was just in the hospital for 5 days. She is home now, and we will watch and see if the treatment helped. She has had persistent problems since 2 concussions last year. On the way home from the hospital tonight, husband called and said dogs had fought and little dog was bleeding a lot. I was driving home in the rain, at night, in Bay Area rush traffic, which was already not fun. I had an anxiety attack the rest of the way home. Little dog is fine. It looks like he was chasing a cat and got scratched. 'Beamer confirms this is what happened. That’ll do for now. The list goes on. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/5 "2019-02-02T05:36:12Z")
A complete self-pitting: Step 1. Buy little 3 oz bottle of contact cement. Step 2. Begin using it inside apartment. Step 3. Start worrying about the LEL of the VOCs in the bottle halfway through. Step 4. Start calculating worst possible outcome assuming the bottle was only full of the solvent with the lowest LEL present and possible concentrations depending on how dispersed the vapor is assuming various fractions of an approximately 300 square meter apartment with, on average, about 3 meter high ceilings. Think you’re okay by a factor of better than 300 with your assumptions, but start worrying about validity of said assumptions. Step 5. Turn off thermostat, open the damn window, and turn the ceiling fan on like you should have to begin with you idiot. Yes, you should be safe but why did you even let it come to that in the first place? Step 6. Call yourself an idiot for not taking your stuff outside to work on to begin with and avoiding the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/6 "2019-02-02T15:44:12Z")
What’s that in Murrican? I don’t speak LEL and VOC and metric. Public schools, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/7 "2019-02-02T16:28:28Z")
Fluorouracil My face burns and I look like I tried to put out a grease fire with my face. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/8 "2019-02-02T16:39:10Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > What’s that in Murrican? I don’t speak LEL and VOC and metric. Public schools, sorry. LEL = Lower Explosive Limit VOC = Volatile Organic Compound 300 m[SUP]2[/SUP] is almost 4000 ft[SUP]2[/SUP], so I’m guessing he meant 30. 3 m is a bit close to 10 feet I didn’t know the gasses from contact cement were explosive. I thought the most you had to worry about was possibly poisoning yourself. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/9 "2019-02-02T17:33:31Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > LEL = Lower Explosive Limit > VOC = Volatile Organic Compound > 300 m[SUP]2[/SUP] is almost 4000 ft[SUP]2[/SUP], so I’m guessing he meant 30. > 3 m is a bit close to 10 feet > > I didn’t know the gasses from contact cement were explosive. I thought the most you had to worry about was possibly poisoning yourself. Combination of a typo and applying the conversion wrong. I meant 30 in the last post, which would be too small. Plus not normally thinking in metric for area, so the error wasn’t immediately obvious. Try 90 square meters for the apartment, give or take. Anyway, I knew it was probably a stupid thing to worry about, but I still felt stupid about doing something in such a way that I would even start worrying. I know better than to do that after all these years working with chemicals. So definitely angry at myself. And yes, potentially explosive. Recalculating, with the worst-case assumption of basically 90 g of toluene as a proxy, with the resulting 25 L of gas (assuming complete mixing) spread throughout 270,000 L of air, for a concentration of basically 0.01%, well under the 1.1% LEL. But, of course, that diffusion would take time and until fully diffused the gradient could be dangerous with localized concentration. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/10 "2019-02-02T17:38:52Z")
But WHAT WERE YOU GLUING TOGETHER? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/11 "2019-02-02T17:41:47Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > But WHAT WERE YOU GLUING TOGETHER? Foam for a miniatures case. Frankly, that seemed like the least important part of the story. The manufacturer suggested white glue would also work, so I’ll use that on the next tray. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/12 "2019-02-02T18:16:22Z")
Well, last night a hit-and-run driver clipped my mother’s car and then went on to destroy mine before vanishing into the darkness, I hope to suffer a more catastrophic collision in which he burned to death horribly. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/13 "2019-02-02T18:24:42Z")
I have a cousin whose son managed to break a compact florescent bulb on himself, prompting many calls to poison control and a lot of hand-wringing over how such a horrible thing could be sold. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/14 "2019-02-03T06:25:02Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Foam for a miniatures case. Frankly, that seemed like the least important part of the story. The manufacturer suggested white glue would also work, so I’ll use that on the next tray. I always try white glue first, so long as it’s not for something that will be hit a lot. We think of it as “weak” because it’s used by children, but it’s actually quite good. Back when I worked in a factory that had white glue among its products, it was one of the things of which people would “use the drops”. People would bring to the factory whatever they wanted to glue and we’d use stuff that would otherwise have been discarded, such as partial leftovers from a lab sample. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/15 "2019-02-03T06:27:31Z")
I’m starting yet another project. The hotel I’d picked was before having the exact address and ok, turns out that because of the local traffic patterns it was kind of far. But the one recommended by the boss is of the variety which limits internet access. Yes, I can Dope. But I want my games! I’m an adult, I ought’a be able to play games if I wanna! I can stream but I can’t game, seriously? ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/16 "2019-02-03T06:54:06Z")
Seriously lame, mini-rant: suddenly, and with no reason I can tell, all my fingernails are breaking or tearing. I’m cranky because they were looking so nice and now they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/17 "2019-02-03T07:36:11Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Seriously lame, mini-rant: suddenly, and with no reason I can tell, all my fingernails are breaking or tearing. I’m cranky because they were looking so nice and now they don’t. Do you possibly have a vitamin deficiency? Occasionally I take prenatal vitamins if my hair and nails start looking ratty. And hard-as-nails nail polish is good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/18 "2019-02-03T13:49:30Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Seriously lame, mini-rant: suddenly, and with no reason I can tell, all my fingernails are breaking or tearing. I’m cranky because they were looking so nice and now they don’t. I always have this problem in winter, and no, it’s not a lame rant. I think it’s due to the lack of humidity in the house. [This](https://www.amazon.com/Nutra-Nail-Growth-Calcium-Formula/dp/B000EH0NEC) Nutra Nail 5 to 7 day product works great. You just paint it on your nails and rub it in, even over polish. (Well, it does if you actually use it a couple times a day. I keep forgetting until my nails get really bad.) I’ve used this product for many years and they sort of keep changing the additive to be trendy; used to be “with green tea” and now it seems to be “with calcium” and “with acai”. All of them basically work the same IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/19 "2019-02-03T15:42:03Z")
Thank you **morgyn** and **asterion**. Now I have something new to worry about when I’m gluing stuff together. Usually I only worry about sticking my fingers together. Now I know I could explode! ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815/20 "2019-02-04T16:45:15Z")
Been on a new medication for just under a week, and doing the “ramp up” phase, where the dosage gets increased gradually through the first month. I didn’t eat much this weekend (thought I might go to a SB party, so wanted to save room), but ended up not going, so I can’t tell if my headache and queasiness are due to the side-effects of the pills, or if it is because I don’t have much in my stomach right now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-february-shorting-you-28-days-of-mini-rants/828815.md?page=2)