# July is the longest month for mini-rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 1, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957 "2015-07-01T15:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/341 "2015-07-21T20:05:45Z")
Goddammit, Apple. It’s bad enough that the music app in the just released IOS 8.4 is uglier than a naked mole rat and cluttered with bullshit I don’t care about (“For you”\>, “Radio”?, “Connect”?), will never, ever use, and can’t delete. But why, in a device whose whole _raison d’etre_ is being intuitive, do I have to get on the fucking internet to figure out [how to shuffle music?](http://ios.wonderhowto.com/how-to/shuffle-all-songs-apples-new-music-app-ios-8-4-0162796/) And why is the answer: “Well, you can’t do that anymore”??? OK, yes, you can shuffle, if you do some counter-intuitive bullshit. As opposed to the previous method which was “Scroll to the top of the music list and pick Shuffle”. What the fuck? Did the GUI genius who decided to discontinue the Start menu on Windows go to work at Apple? Seriously, everyone who worked on this update should be summarily fired. Which would probably be a _lot_ of people, because this hideous abortion was clearly designed by a committee. Of idiots. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/342 "2015-07-21T20:12:09Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Doesn’t matter. The Conservative Business Model **Chimera** is describing is a template; it will be applied in any situation to which there is the most remotely plausible excuse, and will include as standard equipment a claim that the libruls are demanding an apology. I guess I’m lucky that most of the people on my FB feed aren’t into politics. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/343 "2015-07-21T23:14:13Z")
Most of my relatives who are on Facebook are very, very into both politics and religion…especially when they can be combined. What fun. \>.\< ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/344 "2015-07-21T23:28:47Z")
Ditto JP. Ditto. I took Girl 2.0 to the mall today. I survived, but there were moments when I considered sending out a mass text, telling folks I love them, and that my body could be found, covered in cobwebs and dust, on the bench inside the dressing room at whichever store. I think my child found the passage to Narnia in the dressing room at the last store - I swear, it took her a half-hour to try on seven items. Thank God today’s trek was just the local, tiny mall (I live in a town that starts with the letter S. The mall is inevitably referred to as the “S’mall.” If we’d gone to one of the big malls in a nearby city, I’d probably be sending that mass text right about now.) Someone could make lots of money by opening one of those Japanese pod hotels, with rooms by the hour, room service, and a video uplink for teenage daughters to send photos of her outfits for a “yeah” or “nay.” Loooooots of money. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/345 "2015-07-22T01:27:15Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Ditto JP. Ditto. > > I took Girl 2.0 to the mall today. … Many years ago, when I was just barely out of my teens, I took my then teenage niece cloths shopping. :eek: Swore I would never ever do such again. Sadly, I have a poor memory and when my own daughters became teenagers I repeated my mistake. Once. Only once. I realized my opinion on their clothes choices were meaningless and useless anyway so I sent them off with gift certificates. When granddaughter comes of age Grammy plans to gift a wad of cash and hit the coffee shop. I am looking forward to ten or so years from now when Auntie and mommie get the pleasure though. 😃 ---
**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:** [July 22, 2015, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/346 "2015-07-22T11:28:36Z")
Heh, I took my daughter and a friend of hers to the mall clothes shopping when she was 15 or so. We went from store to store, they’d pick out things to try on; we’d eventually move on to the next store and repeat. On the way home they admitted to being penniless. At no point did they actually plan on buying anything!! ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/347 "2015-07-22T12:16:16Z")
I’m fed up with 5 minute unless resident parking. Virtually all of the roads I could park on for free for an hour have been made 5 minute parking instead. As I refuse to pay for parking, all this has done is force me and my business away from the town centre. It’s not like it was hard to find a space before, (maybe not _right_ outside your house, but close). Fuck the residents who must have lobbied for this and fuck the council for enacting it. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/348 "2015-07-22T12:45:07Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Friend found out that he got a STD from this crazy guy he’s been seeing, and now is using that as justification for staying with him, despite the numerous red flags that have been apparent throughout the month or so they were dating (off-and-on). > > “Who is going to want me now? I don’t want to have to have the ‘disclosure’ conversation with someone else…” Oh, that is so wrong. If it’s the incurable but non-fatal one I’m thinking of, the chances of meeting 1) someone who already has it or 2) someone for whom it’s not a dealbreaker are so high that it’s no excuse for staying with someone inappropriate. Yes, the disclosure conversation isn’t fun, and yes, some people won’t want to take the risk, but it’s nowhere near the end of the world. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/349 "2015-07-22T13:26:13Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Ditto JP. Ditto. > > I took Girl 2.0 to the mall today. I survived, but there were moments when I considered sending out a mass text, telling folks I love them, and that my body could be found, covered in cobwebs and dust, on the bench inside the dressing room at whichever store. I think my child found the passage to Narnia in the dressing room at the last store - I swear, it took her a half-hour to try on seven items. Thank God today’s trek was just the local, tiny mall (I live in a town that starts with the letter S. The mall is inevitably referred to as the “S’mall.” If we’d gone to one of the big malls in a nearby city, I’d probably be sending that mass text right about now.) > > Someone could make lots of money by opening one of those Japanese pod hotels, with rooms by the hour, room service, and a video uplink for teenage daughters to send photos of her outfits for a “yeah” or “nay.” Loooooots of money. Absolutely BRILLIANT. ---
**Author:** ![Dunkelheit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkelheit/32/248_2.png) [@Dunkelheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunkelheit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/350 "2015-07-22T13:55:47Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I went to the kitchen to ask my Caretaker friend where extra rolls were as it was all gone, and she explained that on Pantry days they have to remove all the extra stuff from the bathroom because it all disappears throughout the day. Toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, lotion and soap all get stolen, and more than once if it’s replaced. I never knew - I’ve been here since 2003. > > I don’t know what to make of it. The food we give out is donated (though we have supplemented in the past with purchased food when donations ran too low for demand, hasn’t happened much), so take all you need (I mean, it’s rationed, Pantry clients have to be approved and on the list, but we reliably give two weeks worth for every pet in the house for as long as needed, the life of the pet if that’s how long they come). Our cost in that case is employee time to help the clients and repackage donations throughout the week. > > But the bathroom supplies we have to purchase, it’s not like people are taking stuff that was otherwise donated. Unless they rationalize that all our income is donated, therefore everything we purchase is donated too?? My workplace has meeting rooms that we rent out to other organisations and groups, and when one particular group comes in all the amenities in the Ladies’ room disappear, including the toilet rolls that are already on the holder (just an ordinary holder, not an industrial one with a cover or anything). I don’t know if the same happens in the Men’s room, but probably. I don’t know if there’s any real rationalisation involved in either case beyond “I need this and it’s here.” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/351 "2015-07-22T14:00:33Z")
> [@Dunkelheit](#): > > My workplace has meeting rooms that we rent out to other organisations and groups, and when one particular group comes in all the amenities in the Ladies’ room disappear, including the toilet rolls that are already on the holder (just an ordinary holder, not an industrial one with a cover or anything). I don’t know if the same happens in the Men’s room, but probably. I don’t know if there’s any real rationalisation involved in either case beyond “I need this and it’s here.” Time to include a $50 charge for each roll of toilet paper that completely disappears, etc. Bill the fuck out of them and put it all under the subheading of “Looting”. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/352 "2015-07-22T14:21:20Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Stupid HVAC system. My bathroom as of right now is around 52 degrees. The rest of my house is around 84 degrees. This is partly because I closed the bathroom door for some reason after my shower. But it is mostly because of some goddamn thing in my vents which routs nearly all the air to the bathroom, and has been pumping it full of cold all afternoon apparently. > > It feels… odd… to set up a network of fans to try to blow bathroom air over the house. My house is like that. The A/C is in the basement, immediately below the first floor powder room. So the duct feeding the powder room is immediately off the main duct, just as it comes out of the A/C unit. It’s the coldest room in the summer and the warmest room in the winter. Meanwhile, the way the house is ducted, the warm or cold air (depending on the season) never quite makes it to the end of the duct run in an upstairs bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/353 "2015-07-22T14:42:31Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > My house is like that. The A/C is in the basement, immediately below the first floor powder room. So the duct feeding the powder room is immediately off the main duct, just as it comes out of the A/C unit. It’s the coldest room in the summer and the warmest room in the winter. Meanwhile, the way the house is ducted, the warm or cold air (depending on the season) never quite makes it to the end of the duct run in an upstairs bedroom. I have a quite old house that was refitted for central heating. Which meant that they had to squeeze the ducts in wherever they could. Some of the duct work got trampled on when I remodeled. The net result is that there’s a fairly massive duct that shoots air up into the unused bedroom at the end of the hall, and an anemic, tiny duct that services the room in which I spend most of my time in the winter. It’s all very cozy. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/354 "2015-07-22T15:41:31Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I’m fed up with 5 minute unless resident parking. Virtually all of the roads I could park on for free for an hour have been made 5 minute parking instead. As I refuse to pay for parking, all this has done is force me and my business away from the town centre. It’s not like it was hard to find a space before, (maybe not _right_ outside your house, but close). Fuck the residents who must have lobbied for this and fuck the council for enacting it. Yeah, really horrible for people to want to park somewhere near their actual homes when returning from grocery shopping and such. I’ve lived in a neighborhood that had “time limit except resident” parking, and we bloody well NEEDED a chance at parking that wasn’t taken up by people coming into the area to hit the bars a few blocks away! During one monthly alleged art event (if it ever did have anything to do with anything other than bar crawling, it was before I lived in that neighborhood), we were effectively trapped and unable to go anywhere by car if we wanted to be able to park within a MILE on return. One major reason we moved. I know, poor cheap baby, opening your wallet is awful, but try lugging a week’s worth of groceries from four or five blocks away because there’s NO closer parking to your home. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/355 "2015-07-22T15:53:15Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Yeah, really horrible for people to want to park somewhere near their actual homes when returning from grocery shopping and such. > > I’ve lived in a neighborhood that had “time limit except resident” parking, and we bloody well NEEDED a chance at parking that wasn’t taken up by people coming into the area to hit the bars a few blocks away! During one monthly alleged art event (if it ever did have anything to do with anything other than bar crawling, it was before I lived in that neighborhood), we were effectively trapped and unable to go anywhere by car if we wanted to be able to park within a MILE on return. One major reason we moved. > > I know, poor cheap baby, opening your wallet is awful, but try lugging a week’s worth of groceries from four or five blocks away because there’s NO closer parking to your home. I don’t expect to go bar-hopping, leaving my car there indefinitely. If I’m parking for more than an hour then it’s right I should go to a car park and pay. But before there were loads of 1 hour parking bays, and removing them just pisses off the people who need something from town that keep the town centres running. (There were always 5 minute bays dotted alongside the 1 hour bays, and plenty of spaces in the 1 hour bays as well, so residents weren’t getting stiffed before.) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/356 "2015-07-22T16:29:57Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > I just unloaded my dishwasher and I seem to be missing some spoons too. I live alone. My cat hasn’t sprouted opposable thumbs that I’m aware of. Where the hell did my spoons go? Must be a cutlery gnome or something. Speaking from experience, you will find them when you move. Sometimes these things can be found with a deep spring cleaning and reorganization, but other times only moving does it. > [@GargoyleWB](#): > > . . . Tears that combine both pain and sweet nostalgia are the tastiest tears of all… That sounds so profound. I can’t picture it on a button or bumper sticker, but I want to put it somewhere. > [@JcWoman](#): > > . . . So the duct feeding the powder room is immediately off the main duct, just as it comes out of the A/C unit. It’s the coldest room in the summer and the warmest room in the winter. Meanwhile, the way the house is ducted, the warm or cold air (depending on the season) never quite makes it to the end of the duct run in an upstairs bedroom. If you close the vent into that room, does the vent whistle? ---
**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:** [July 22, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/357 "2015-07-22T17:28:41Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Yeah, really horrible for people to want to park somewhere near their actual homes when returning from grocery shopping and such. > > I’ve lived in a neighborhood that had “time limit except resident” parking, and we bloody well NEEDED a chance at parking that wasn’t taken up by people coming into the area to hit the bars a few blocks away! During one monthly alleged art event (if it ever did have anything to do with anything other than bar crawling, it was before I lived in that neighborhood), we were effectively trapped and unable to go anywhere by car if we wanted to be able to park within a MILE on return. One major reason we moved. > > I know, poor cheap baby, opening your wallet is awful, but try lugging a week’s worth of groceries from four or five blocks away because there’s NO closer parking to your home. Who sells (or rents) residential real estate that doesn’t include adequate parking that’s NOT on the street? 😕 ---
**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:** [July 22, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/358 "2015-07-22T17:55:18Z")
A lot of landlords in downtown Sacramento, CA, for openers. Many apartment buildings simply do not have off-street parking (lack of space). Again, major reason we moved. Our current neighborhood isn’t exactly wonderful, but our complex does have parking, so a major improvement there. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/359 "2015-07-22T18:46:09Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > A lot of landlords in downtown Sacramento, CA, for openers. Many apartment buildings simply do not have off-street parking (lack of space). Again, major reason we moved. Our current neighborhood isn’t exactly wonderful, but our complex does have parking, so a major improvement there. As well as most of the Orange county communities that were built 40-50 years ago. We have two car garages and short little driveways , but that generally just means each house has parking for two regular sized cars. Most houses have more than that these days, so the rest park on the street and even among residents that’s tight. Add in an event at the neighborhood park, and there is no wonder that the parking in front of the houses near the park is resident only. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957/360 "2015-07-22T19:09:21Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > A lot of landlords in downtown Sacramento, CA, for openers. Many apartment buildings simply do not have off-street parking (lack of space). Again, major reason we moved. Our current neighborhood isn’t exactly wonderful, but our complex does have parking, so a major improvement there. Not just downtown. L.A. County also. Lots of places in the Valley and Hollywood do not have parking. I suspect it’s the same for San Francisco. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-is-the-longest-month-for-mini-rants/723957.md?page=19)