# It's the Great Minirants, Charlie Brown! (October minirants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997 "2020-10-01T23:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/241 "2020-10-29T13:52:50Z")
I love the texture of Greek yogurt. I wish I could learn to like eating it plain, but it’s just a little much. I don’t imagine spinach would be the answer! 😄 They’ve put a woman next to me at work who is obsessed with food. I can hear her talking about it constantly. She prepares her breakfast here every morning, stocks her candy dishes, and then starts pondering what to order for lunch. After lunch, we get to hear about dinner possibilities. It’s like working next to Winnie the Pooh. Lady, we are _all_ hungry. Please shut up. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/242 "2020-10-29T14:02:12Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I love the texture of Greek yogurt. I wish I could learn to like eating it plain, but it’s just a little much. I like mine with a little cranberry sauce (with walnuts, etc) added. _But_, so does Rocco, our African Grey, so I have to share. The thing is, he gets it all over his beak, then shakes his head. I wind up with specks of yogurt and cranberry through my hair without realizing it. I need to look in the mirror more often. ☹ ---
**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:** [October 29, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/243 "2020-10-29T14:23:57Z")
I’ve been getting inexplicable texts for someone named Lashada over the last few months. They were either texts from various Democratic Party-related organizations (confusingly enough, some that I’ve had previous contact with, so they already had my number), or blatantly spammy things (“you have money waiting!”). Over the last week, however, I’ve been bombarded with texts from credit agencies. The spam reporting function on my phone is just now starting to recognize some of the texts and dispose of them accordingly, but a lot of them are still getting through. 😡 I’ve had this number for twenty years; changing it would be a massive hassle, but it’s starting to look like my only option. I’ve checked my credit reports, and I even added the number to an identity theft protection/monitoring service. There’s nothing to report there at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/244 "2020-10-29T14:25:30Z")
> [@slalexan](#): > > Since bananas are challenge approved, I skipped it this time. Since bananas are NOT challenge approved. Goodness! ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/245 "2020-10-29T15:26:15Z")
It is very windy today. I prefer days that are less windy. That is all… ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/246 "2020-10-29T15:56:18Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > It is very windy today. I prefer days that are less windy. That is all… You sound like **Dung\_Beetle’s** cow-orker. 😆 > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > It’s like working next to Winnie the Pooh ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/247 "2020-10-29T21:03:49Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > So the professor reported you to the health authorities, you not only are now in quarantine for 10-odd days, you drug your roommates into this as they, too, have to enter quarantine as well. Betcha a box of donuts that the prof didn’t believe her and decided to make it a learning experience for her. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/248 "2020-10-29T21:11:37Z")
I wouldn’t touch that bet for all the donuts in the world! 🤣🤣 ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/249 "2020-10-30T04:27:18Z")
A friend’s son-in-law works at a dispensary in Scottsdale, AZ. A while back, he came down with COVID, which caused the entire dispensary to close down for 2 weeks while it was cleaned and all of the employees were quarantined. Today, I was at a different dispensary in New River, AZ. Its allergy season and my sense of smell is pretty much shot this time of the year because I’m so congested. I couldn’t smell the product we were discussing through my mask, so I turned away from the young man helping me and pulled my mask down for a sniff. I don’t think I could have gotten a more shocked and outraged response if I had kicked his puppy! It was amazing! This is Arizona, COVID isn’t a thing here and never has been. I’m one of the three out of ten folks who choose to wear masks around these parts. As it turned out, he wasn’t as worried about getting sick as he was about having two weeks off with no pay like son-in-law’s dispensary did. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/250 "2020-10-30T14:03:24Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > This is Arizona, COVID isn’t a thing here and never has been Except for 242,000 total cases and over 1000 new cases a day. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/251 "2020-10-30T17:08:03Z")
My neighbors let their sweet little black kitty roam the neighborhood, with no collar and no chip. 😕 He reappeared this morning after nearly a month’s absence…I had started to think he was really gone this time. My mini-rant: Like many engineers, I have a membership in a professional society. For this year’s membership renewal, they offered a special perk - for an extra $189, you could select two bonuses from a list of services. I picked a course (professional development hours, woo!) and a download of a software package. The software package was particularly appealing, as it’s design software that I’ve never used before, and it included a year’s worth of guided and self-paced training. Turns out that the software is for Windows only…specifically, Windows 10. Work has yet to upgrade us beyond Windows 7, so that’s out. Looks like I’ll be purchasing a memory upgrade for my rarely-used Windows 10 PC at home. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/252 "2020-10-30T17:24:36Z")
cochrane, are you suggesting that our President, Arizona’s Governor and most of Arizona’s other elected officials might be wrong? According to them, even if COVID was a thing, which it wasn’t, it went away the first time individual 1 said it would. Those pesky deaths people keep talking about were all unproductive old people and Native Americans. Besides even if the numbers are right, how do we know those people died of COVID? It’s very frustrating being surrounded by non-believers. I drink a lot. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/253 "2020-10-30T18:57:19Z")
I’m so irritated at myself. Against my better judgement, I allowed a friend to talk me into having my taxes done at Liberty Tax for last year. Now the IRS is telling me there is a form missing and Liberty tells me it will cost me $50.00 for them to handle this problem. They are assholes. I’ll never use them again. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/254 "2020-10-30T18:57:25Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > It’s very frustrating being surrounded by non-believers. I drink a lot. Yeah, believe me, I’d like to join you. I cast my vote, so there’s nothing else to do for the next four days. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/255 "2020-10-30T22:23:29Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I’m so irritated at myself. Against my better judgement, I allowed a friend to talk me into having my taxes done at Liberty Tax for last year. Now the IRS is telling me there is a form missing and Liberty tells me it will cost me $50.00 for them to handle this problem. They are assholes. I’ll never use them again. I would escalate the problem with Liberty Tax as a matter of principle, and failing that, with the applicable consumer protection bureau. The whole, entire point of paying for a tax preparation service is that they take responsibility for any mistakes or omissions, unless they can somehow make the point that it was due to something you forgot to give them or tell them about. I’m unfortunately not familiar with US tax preparation software but here in Canada there are a number of excellent packages, including some free ones, and one of the free ones (with of course a new version every year) has worked very well for me for many years. It’s certified for automatic online submission so is really convenient, too. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/256 "2020-10-31T12:36:06Z")
WTF Halloween already! As bad as 2020 has been it seems to be moving quickly. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/257 "2020-10-31T14:26:12Z")
We (Boston area) got snow yesterday. The forecast was for ‘a dusting to one inch,’ but it just kept snowing. And snowing. Basically until late afternoon. Today the TV weatherman said we got more snow yesterday than we had gotten the entire MONTH of JANUARY this year. Which southern/southwestern state is least obnoxiously red, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/258 "2020-10-31T14:27:18Z")
Texas, especially the central/south central parts (Austin, San Antonio, RGV). ---
**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:** [October 31, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/259 "2020-10-31T16:42:09Z")
The western side of NC is nice. I wouldn’t venture east of Raleigh if you’re wanting to avoid the red areas. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997/260 "2020-10-31T17:20:22Z")
Holy shit, Sophia completely Karened her way through the St John’s _and_ State of New York health bureaucracies and was released from quarantine _this morning_ for her and her roomies. Halloween parties are saved! I gotta tell you, I’m pretty fucking impressed. Good job, Sophia! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-great-minirants-charlie-brown-october-minirants/921997.md?page=14)