# July mini rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 1, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887 "2016-07-01T20:38:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Mom-of-Andrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@Mom-of-Andrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mom-of-Andrew)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/301 "2016-07-20T04:42:28Z")
To the people who caption The West Wing: It is spelled “all right.” Two words. Always. It is never “alright.” You are working on a highly intelligent program. Act like it. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2016, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/302 "2016-07-20T10:18:39Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > He did exactly the right thing. He’s not paid to examine the contents of your bags, to determine whether there’s anything that might damage the card. It’s much faster and safer to put it into its own bag. That’s the way it’s always done. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/303 "2016-07-20T12:59:31Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > They control access to the building. If she or someone else working for her company comes back, they can be charged with trespassing. Really? I know you know more than I do about the situation, but it seems odd that the building owner can control who their tenants(? I assume your folks have a lease or something) can have visit them. Could the building manager ban you from visiting? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/304 "2016-07-20T13:29:31Z")
LEAVE ME KIDNEY STONE!!! It’s been over 2 weeks, and the damn thing STILL won’t pass. I feel it down in my right testicle, exerting its testosterone-draining grip, making me walk in a crouch and feeling as weak as a Donald Trump excuse. My next appt with the urologist is this Monday. If it’s not gone by then, he’ll use Lithotripsy and try to break it up with sound waves. If THAT doesn’t work, in comes the telescopic probe… ---
**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:** [July 20, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/305 "2016-07-20T17:57:57Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Really? I know you know more than I do about the situation, but it seems odd that the building owner can control who their tenants(? I assume your folks have a lease or something) can have visit them. Could the building manager ban you from visiting? No idea. I’ll have to get a few more details on that. I’m not sure how they work the professional assistance thing, if it’s something tenants have to arrange for themselves or something the building manager (owner is a corporation … somewhere) does for the building they manage. Up until Saturday, I didn’t care because my dad was being taken care of and mom didn’t have to worry about it. Now she does, and he isn’t getting the same support he was with the company they’d been using, so now I care. I intend to get to the bottom of this. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/306 "2016-07-20T17:58:27Z")
I’m kinda confused about this exchange. > [@Catamount](#): > > This is more funny than a rant: I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things, including a birthday card. The bagger asks me if I want the card in a bag. I say yes, thinking he’s going to put it in one of the other, already filled bags. He proceeds to put it in its very own bag and puts it in the cart with the others. > > Really, dude? Oh well. I have cats, I can use another plastic bag. But really, dude? I suggested maybe the bagger wanted to keep the card away from sweaty milk cartains and you replied > [@Catamount](#): > > I hadn’t bought anything like that. Mostly boxes of things. He looked like a high school kid with a Fisher Price My First Job ™, so I think that was it. > [@panache45](#): > > He did exactly the right thing. He’s not paid to examine the contents of your bags, to determine whether there’s anything that might damage the card. It’s much faster and safer to put it into its own bag. That’s the way it’s always done. > [@Catamount](#): > > :dubious: It’s always done that way where I live too and I have no idea what that “dubious” face is supposed to mean. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/307 "2016-07-20T18:45:20Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > That’s the way it’s always done. Except when it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/308 "2016-07-20T18:47:44Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > It’s always done that way where I live too and I have no idea what that “dubious” face is supposed to mean. “Dubious” face means it’s not always done that way everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/309 "2016-07-20T19:26:12Z")
Another wreck on the freeway. That’s 6 wrecks in 7 business days. It’s the new “normal”, I guess. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/310 "2016-07-20T20:32:04Z")
I pit myself for forgetting to turn the A/C on before I left the house today. That was an unpleasant mugginess to come home to. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/311 "2016-07-20T23:20:41Z")
You know what is awesome? Filing your taxes on MARCH 12th (Due April 30 in Canada) and finding out today that a “software glitch” means they were never electronically filed. I get about $300/month in a child tax benefit… it is wonderful to find out today that that payment won’t happen because of a mistake on the part of a tax service. (Not H&R block, they screwed us up so we have been going to a nice, friendly, small place.) ---
**Author:** ![cg16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@cg16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cg16)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/312 "2016-07-20T23:21:16Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > I pit myself for forgetting to turn the A/C on before I left the house today. That was an unpleasant mugginess to come home to. I used to do that years ago but now I want to avoid a high electric bill ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/313 "2016-07-21T01:01:33Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Others will do this better than I, but I feel obliged to say that your grasp of history is, shall we say, wrong. I keep hoping that someday we are going to move beyond the idea that we owe a group of people something because of injustices that happened many decades ago. Especially since we don’t seem to do the same for other groups that have had injustices perpetrated on them in the past. > [@](#): > > Who (among others) has been and is still subject to institutional racism, from policing to housing to education to access to health care, to access to decent food, and so on and on? And this only has to be the fault of non-blacks? They are the only ones this happens to? > [@](#): > > Whose neighborhoods have been dumping grounds for cancer-inducing toxic chemicals? Black people. Who has been experimented on directly by the government, without their knowledge and consent? Black people. These two I don’t believe I’ve heard before. > [@](#): > > On the other hand, what “all sorts of things” have black people demanded? Well, you could start with “black lives matter”, as if none others do. See, the thing is that WASPs have oppressed many different races/religions/whatever for the past 200 years, yet because of slavery the only group we have to continue to apologize and make reparations to are the black people. Which I believe has created a huge entitlement attitude and problem, not to mention ongoing resentment. > [@](#): > > Anyway, thank you for your post. I now have a much better sense of who you are. And vice versa. I am never tired of being amazed at how people can jump in with both feet and start stomping without bothering to get any details. Maybe that’s how bigots are made? > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Such as? See above. > [@digs](#): > > Ummm, **curlyqueue** , how is a serious discussion of racism a Mini-Rant? I didn’t start a serious discussion on it, I just responded to another post. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/314 "2016-07-21T02:47:56Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > I pit myself for forgetting to turn the A/C on before I left the house today. That was an unpleasant mugginess to come home to. A programmable thermostat is one of my few regret free purchases of the last few years. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/315 "2016-07-21T03:52:51Z")
> [@](#): > > These two I don’t believe I’ve heard before. You might want to get out more. > [@](#): > > you could start with “black lives matter”, as if none others do. Nobody ever says that, except for white people. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/316 "2016-07-21T04:11:41Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Well, you could start with “black lives matter”, as if none others do. > > See, the thing is that WASPs have oppressed many different races/religions/whatever for the past 200 years, yet because of slavery the only group we have to continue to apologize and make reparations to are the black people. Which I believe has created a huge entitlement attitude and problem, not to mention ongoing resentment. You missed (and I presume it was on purpose) the part where I discussed that the after-effects of slavery are ongoing, due to entrenched racism, through Jim Crow up to the current inequities of treatment by law enforcement (and in other ways as well). These are not things from 200 years ago (slavery ended 151 years ago, by the way). These things are going on now, because of entrenched and institutional racism. I know you don’t want to believe that this is true, and I can’t do anything about that. Anyway, I apologize to everyone else for contributing to the hijack of this thread towards politics. I won’t do so again. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/317 "2016-07-21T05:23:57Z")
Holding one end of a very small hair elastic while the cat swats and grabs at the other end is not a good idea. There was a nice amount of blood involved. You would think that after 20 years of living with cats, I would know better, but you would be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/318 "2016-07-21T05:46:50Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > I’m kinda confused about this exchange. > > I suggested maybe the bagger wanted to keep the card away from sweaty milk cartains and you replied > > It’s always done that way where I live too and I have no idea what that “dubious” face is supposed to mean. I suspect he’ll be back soon, ranting about his greeting card that got all bent and wet and stained, because he insisted it be packed in the same bag as his groceries. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/319 "2016-07-21T05:52:20Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > These two I don’t believe I’ve heard before. [You might want to read this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment). And to quote your own words . . . > [@](#): > > I am never tired of being amazed at how people can jump in with both feet and start stomping without bothering to get any details. Maybe that’s how bigots are made? ---
**Author:** ![Mom-of-Andrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@Mom-of-Andrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mom-of-Andrew)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887/320 "2016-07-21T13:05:10Z")
“If you force me to leave, that’s it. I’m gone. You’ll never get one red cent out of me” Seriously, dude? We’re in a no fault divorce state. I can’t force you to stay. I’ve been asking you to go to counseling for years. Telling you I’m not going anywhere is not forcing you to leave And that’s not how a divorce settlement works. I’ve been telling you to call a lawyer and find out what you’re getting into since the first time you mentioned divorce. Or talk to your best friend who has been through a divorce. You need to know more about this process than watching Serving Sara [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/july-mini-rants/758887.md?page=17)