# Is June bugging you yet? (June mini-rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 2, 2024, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409 "2024-06-02T05:11:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/301 "2024-06-24T20:43:57Z")
If your standards are different than the standards of the board, that’s you’re fucking problem, isn’t it? Thanks for ruining what I’d hoped might have been an interesting discussion about property taxes, you fucking performative dumbass. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/302 "2024-06-24T20:48:57Z")
UPS just left a laptop for 4 hours in hot sunshine. I had asked UPS to send email notifications, per their tracking tool. Their website said “in progress of delivery” hours after the package was already delivered. I took every precaution imaginable to make sure I’d be told when the package was at home, so I could go and get it. Nope. Now the laptop’s Li-On battery may be an issue. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/303 "2024-06-24T21:05:41Z")
Your claim to know what I’m thinking and my motivation is astounding. Have you applied for the Randi prize? My standards were different from those of the board on trans issues. Enough other posters felt as I did. The board’s standards were changed. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/304 "2024-06-24T21:32:38Z")
Omg. Your. Not you’re.🤪 ---
**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:** [June 24, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/305 "2024-06-24T22:13:24Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@DocCathode](#): > > > > I find that term both homophobic and misogynist > > I find you to be thread-shitting and exercising perfomative outrage. There is a thread you could take this to… > [@For bitching about language pedantry, other posters' language, and language in general](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-bitching-about-language-pedantry-other-posters-language-and-language-in-general/1003135): > > @kaylasdad99, I like your contributions in general. But please, cut the annoying pedantic corrections of people’s spelling and grammar. Is there a risk of misunderstanding? Is it something that posters will be genuinely thankful to learn? If no, then keep it to yourself. No one is reading posts like the below and thinking, wow, this conversation is really improved by that correction. Shrank. I might not have bothered if you hadn’t written “shrunk” twice. Your initial thought to not bother… ---
**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:** [June 24, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/306 "2024-06-24T22:22:57Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > > [@wolfpup](#): > > > > motherfucking cocksucking bastards > > I find that term both homophobic and misogynist With the caveats that (1) I’m not sure you’re wrong, and (2) this may deserve its own thread, I’d like to play Devil’s Advocate and defend @wolfpup’s use of these words here. It’s common for people to reach for profanity—forbidden words—to express extreme emotion. If I say something like “Those fuckers who ran me off the road…” or “That fucker who stole my wallet…” I’m not implying that they are literal fuckers nor that there’s anything wrong with literal fucking. The literal meaning of the word “fucker” is totally irrelevant. We use words like those in such contexts precisely because we “can’t” say them. It’s their taboo-ness, not their meaning, that we’re thinking of and using them for. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/307 "2024-06-24T22:26:22Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Allow me to explain then. Gay men (presumably) felate other men. Thus c_cks_ck\*rs is a derogatory term for them. Women (hopefully) also felate men. The insult is that a man is degrading himself by taking on the role of a woman- because women are less than men. Thus, the term is misogynist as well. I don’t follow or agree with this logic at all. That women will hopefully suck your duck, men too but with exceptions and to call any sucker of ducks a cocksucker is demeaning to gays men and wonen and by default straight men. Who if they close their eyes might not care who is cocksucking. If youre saying it’s misogynistic for a man to expect a woman to give him head? Then I agree. It’s the pit fuvk ,yntypis. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/308 "2024-06-24T23:06:47Z")
People who answer a question with a question are rude and disrespectful and clearly were raised by a pack of howler monkeys with chlamydia. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/309 "2024-06-24T23:10:09Z")
> [@chela](#): > > That women will hopefully suck your duck, men too but with exceptions and to call any sucker of ducks a cocksucker is demeaning to gays men and wonen and by default straight men. A cock is a chicken not a duck. Pretty close though. I’ve sucked some ducks in my day, especially when the duck is cooked just right so that the skin is nice and crispy. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/310 "2024-06-24T23:10:15Z")
I know all the bus drivers. I get on and say You watching the debate Thurs? Oahh! I don’t know when its on. Gonna be watching him flub up. Me- both of them? Him-no, Trumps as sharp as a tack! ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/311 "2024-06-25T01:30:58Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > A cock is a chicken not a duck. Pretty close though. > > I’ve sucked some ducks in my day, especially when the duck is cooked just right so that the skin is nice and crispy. The meat is nice and the skin can be crispy… but I swear that there is often a layer of duck-fat between the two which has no taste and an awful ‘speadable jelly’ texture to it. Is there no way to marinate the duck sufficiently that some kind of flavor seeps into that…? Or, can the crispy duck skin be removed and served with an appetizer while the fatty goo is stripped/raked/scraped off of the delicious duck meat before serving? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/312 "2024-06-25T01:42:16Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > The meat is nice and the skin can be crispy… but I swear that there is often a layer of duck-fat between the two which has no taste and an awful ‘speadable jelly’ texture to it. Properly-cooked duck requires the skin be scored and the fat rendered properly or you’ll have exactly what you’re describing. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/313 "2024-06-25T03:04:31Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > What the actual fuck. Time to find a new carrier. Find an insurance broker who can quote you the best rates among lots of carriers (and also give their opinion as to reliability among the different carriers). They don’t charge for this. There a few insurance companies that aren’t represented by brokers, such as Geico and Progressive (last time I checked), which you might want to call yourself (although in my personal experience they’ve never had the best rates - all that advertising is expensive). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/314 "2024-06-25T03:21:30Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I have suddenly become well over $9000 poorer while just sitting here minding my own business. It took less than a second. > > OK, I admit it. I’ve been a Bad Dog. I’ve let my property taxes slide and they were now more than a year overdue. So … I took a deep breath, a huge swig of vodka martini, logged into my bank account, and just like that, I’m suddenly more than $9,000 poorer! So how much would your annual property tax have been if you’d paid it on time? > [@wolfpup](#): > > I have to wonder what the hell I got for my money. Two new schools nearby that I have no school-age kids to attend. A park I never go to. A very fancy rec center that nobody asked for and that I certainly have been even been inside of. Snowplowing in winter when it snows, which it almost never does. Garbage collection which costs almost nothing. So you don’t want to pay for schools once your own kids have finished attending? Or a community rec center that you can’t understand the value of? Pathetic. What you _should_ be pissed off about, if the system up there is like the one here, is that the taxable value of homes is drastically inflated due to property values being raised by real estate speculators. Yet you whimper about paying for schools and a park and a rec center. > [@wolfpup](#): > > Ah! But there is one new high-tech thing I’m paying for. They’re installing photo-radar cameras on some of our streets so that the motherfucking cocksucking bastards can automatically send me speeding tickets without having to deploy actual police officers. Pro tip: don’t speed. The cameras will generate income for the city and you won’t have to pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/315 "2024-06-25T03:35:41Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > What you _should_ be pissed off about, if the system up there is like the one here, is that the taxable value of homes is drastically inflated due to property values being raised by real estate speculators. Yeah, our home “value” is more than double what we bough it for a bit over a decade ago, which would be great if we were selling. But all it does is raise the monthly payments by a shit ton. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/316 "2024-06-25T03:46:43Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Yeah, our home “value” is more than double what we bough it for a bit over a decade ago, which would be great if we were selling. But all it does is raise the monthly payments by a shit ton I hear you! I have a hearing in August with the county property tax division to challenge the assessed value of my house, with comps and contractors’ estimates to show why my house is worth less than all the improved houses around me. I’m not holding my breath. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2024, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/317 "2024-06-25T08:20:34Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > The meat is nice and the skin can be crispy… but I swear that there is often a layer of duck-fat between the two which has no taste and an awful ‘speadable jelly’ texture to it. > [@Atamasama](#): > > Properly-cooked duck requires the skin be scored and the fat rendered properly or you’ll have exactly what you’re describing. I have a horrible confession…even when it’s cooked properly\*, I don’t like the texture of duck fat. Am I supposed to slice off a little bit of fat along with the duck breast and eat it? The texture just doesn’t sit right with me. I love the flavor of duck fat - I save it for cooking veggies - and I’ll nibble it when it’s crispy to the point of almost being dry. \* Or have I never encountered properly cooked duck fat, even in a restaurant? ---
**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:** [June 25, 2024, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/318 "2024-06-25T10:42:22Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Time to find a new carrier. I’m very happy with AAA car insurance. It’s almost unbelievable how affordable it is. I had a AAA membership for years, then looked at their insurance and was surprised. ETA: I have it on automatic renewal on a credit card. Every six months I think they’re going to realize I’m being undercharged, but nope. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/319 "2024-06-25T11:22:39Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I have a horrible confession…even when it’s cooked properly\*, I don’t like the texture of duck fat. Am I supposed to slice off a little bit of fat along with the duck breast and eat it? The texture just doesn’t sit right with me. I love the flavor of duck fat - I save it for cooking veggies - and I’ll nibble it when it’s crispy to the point of almost being dry. > > \* Or have I never encountered properly cooked duck fat, even in a restaurant? That’s it exactly! I’ve had duck only in restaurants; restaurants that were rated very highly. The meat is ok ( I tell the little voice in my head that says I could have had filet mignon or lobster to STFU ) and the skin is crispy. It’s like the crispy skin from a really well done roaster. The fat though, like the fat from a roaster, is nothing I’d eat. It gets cut out and goes straight into the bowl with the bones. The trouble is that there is no polite way to ask a waiter for a ‘bone bowl’. Look, I get it… some people love it, some don’t. Years back an acquaintance loved them so much that he’d go hunting for duck and he said he’d take all mine if I got any. I politely said no. I knew he’d cook some and I’d be asked to eat it with a big smile to be polite. Also, that ‘Back to the Future’ scene with spitting shot out onto the plate kept coming to mind. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409/320 "2024-06-25T11:59:06Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > So how much would your annual property tax have been if you’d paid it on time? Approximately half that amount. The $9K+ includes current and back taxes plus interest. One of my privileges as a Retired Old Fart is that I can claim a rebate on the interest, but it doesn’t amount to all that much. > [@needscoffee](#): > > So you don’t want to pay for schools once your own kids have finished attending? Or a community rec center that you can’t understand the value of? Eh, to some extent I was just ranting. But allow me to clarify and atone for my sins. The real substance of the rant was that this town has a reputation for excessively high mill rates (the percentage of assessed value charged in property tax) and for lavish spending. That rec center really is rather grandiose for a small community. As for the schools, yeah, that was the old man in me yelling at clouds. In reality I’m genuinely proud of the quality of the public school system in Canada, which comes from being well funded, teachers well paid, and a strong sense of equity. The article below is one I’ve posted before. > **[How Canada became an education superpower](https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40708421)** > > Canada has joined the top ranks of the world's best education system - and its secret weapon has been fairness. > [@needscoffee](#): > > What you _should_ be pissed off about, if the system up there is like the one here, is that the taxable value of homes is drastically inflated due to property values being raised by real estate speculators. The system appears to be a little different here, though frankly I’m not completely clear on how it works. Property taxes are based on a fiction called “assessed value” which bears little relationship to market value and is both lower and more stable. In the roughly 12 years that I’ve lived here, the house value has tripled, but property taxes have increased only marginally. The problem is, they were always ridiculously high. IIRC, when I first moved here the property taxes were slightly higher than in my previous place even though at that time it was worth less than half of my old place. > [@needscoffee](#): > > Pro tip: don’t speed. The cameras will generate income for the city and you won’t have to pay for it. The speed limit on major streets is a reasonable 50 km/h (31 mph) but in residential areas it’s 40 km/h (25 mph). Everyone drives faster than that. And furthermore there are “community safety zones” where speeding fines are doubled. I never speed excessively, and am especially careful in residential areas, but whether these cameras are defensible depends a lot on how they’re calibrated. It’s fine if they help to catch dangerous speeders, and there are some around here. But historically, camera-based speed traps tend to be used as cash cows by money-hungry municipalities and not to genuinely improve safety, which requires police patrols and costs money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-june-bugging-you-yet-june-mini-rants/1002409.md?page=17)