# Rant, Write, and Boo (July Mini-Rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** monthly-mini-rant\ **Created:** [July 1, 2026, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327 "2026-07-01T07:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/261 "2026-07-24T19:29:29Z")
Fortunately I was only in the hospital for four days. And now that I’m home I’m feeling much better. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/262 "2026-07-24T19:35:55Z")
> [@What Rants May Come (Monthly Mini-Rants)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-rants-may-come-monthly-mini-rants/1029688/95): > > I just got a message on my cell phone about my upcoming MRI appointment. Trouble is, I’m not expecting an MRI appointment, and an even greater trouble is that my name is not “Jennifer”. > > I tried calling the number of the clinic, got a recorded message with some options (none of which were “speak to a human”) and then it cut off in the middle of a sentence. I tried again, and exactly the same thing happened. > > So someone named “Jennifer” somewhere might miss her MRI appointment, but the Good Lord knows that I did all that I could to deal with multiple levels of incompetence. Quoted from a previous rants thread. Jennifer apparently made it to her MRI appointment. Or perhaps a later one after she missed the message I got and tried but failed to forward to anyone who would listen. But she did get an MRI, because I now have a message with a number that I can call to get the results. I’m feeling a strange allegiance to this unknown Jennifer whose medical care staff keeps haunting my cell pnone. Maybe I should call the number and find out if she’s OK? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/263 "2026-07-24T20:00:12Z")
I here ya @wolfpup It’s kind of strange to get etwined in someone elses life. There is this young fellow that works at a taco joint that we have become friends with. Somehow the subjuct of bicycles came up. He’s a rider. He is about the same height as my wife. He wants to try an IronMan. My wife was an IronMan and has a great bike that she does not use anymore ($6000 bike). So, this guy is probably gonna get one hell of a deal on an all carbon bike. A Specialized. 22 gears. Iron man handle bars, the works. We will be happy, even if he just sells it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/264 "2026-07-25T00:16:56Z")
That’s a lot of tacos! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/265 "2026-07-25T00:26:10Z")
Like I said, we will give him a heck of a deal. My Wife no longer rides it. No longer races (thank god. Racing/training sent her to the hospital 3 times.) It should be ridden though. We are now on electric bikes. They’re pretty fun ---
**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 25, 2026, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/266 "2026-07-25T00:37:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Agree that ancient spare would be a near-instant failure _if_ they’d ever tried to drive on it. > > But I don’t think any shop was mounting the tire to wheel or the wheel to axle. It had just sat ignored and untouched baking in the sun on the back of the Jeep since the day the Jeep left the factory. 🤔 Don’t people rotate their tires anymore? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/267 "2026-07-25T01:22:06Z")
Evidently not. Since the advent of radial tires in the 1970s rotation is much less of a thing than it was. You cannot exchange radials side for side. Only front to back on the same side. With the later advent of most performance cars, and many ordinary cars, having different front and rear tire sizes, rotation went away completely. You cannot swap front for rear, nor left for right. Therefore, no rotation at all. The further advent of space saver spares along around 1980 meant for many cars, the spare cannot be in the rotation. Cars like that don’t have 5 tires, only 4 and a special purpose emergency roller. Fast forward to now; cars don’t have spare tires at all. Nor a place to store one if you wanted to buy an aftermarket one for whatever wacky reason. ---
**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 25, 2026, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/268 "2026-07-25T02:05:56Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Fast forward to now; cars don’t have spare tires at all. Nor a place to store one if you wanted to buy an aftermarket one for whatever wacky reason. Tell me about it. I have a full-sized spare in my hatchback that I’d love to trade in for a donut. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2026, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/269 "2026-07-25T06:19:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I don’t know if you polish your nails; I can’t see them from here. But it’s at least plausible that you might. Ah, now it all makes sense. Alas, I never got that gene. I have a bottle of clear nail polish for all my home nail polish needs. ---
**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:** [July 25, 2026, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/270 "2026-07-25T06:21:24Z")
I pit the manufacturers of defective pop-top cans of Caesar mix. I can understand that manufacturing defects happen, but when you try to open a can of the Canadian national beverage, and the pop-top ring comes off in your hand, it’s a national disgrace! I had to forage around and find an old-school can piercer thingie to get the precious beverage out. I acknowledge that this may not be the most serious rant in the thread, but it’s still annoying. I mean, I’m all set up with the vodka and ice and Worsestershire sauce and Clamato rimming, and then the fucking can won’t open. What kind of life is this? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/271 "2026-07-25T06:38:22Z")
Yep. I still keep an old-fashioned piercing church key handy for just such occasions. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/272 "2026-07-25T12:30:30Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > What kind of life is this? The wonderful kind that prevents you from ruining good vodka? Please tell me you at least use good vodka?ri I think CTers are a bunch o’ wackjob nutters; however…there is one conspiracy that I _ **know** _ is true. The state DOT has a periodic backroom meeting where they bring in all of the various agencies (fed, county & local public works, utilities, tree trimmers, etc.) that can do anything on/under/over/around a street to coordinate their work, & I _ **don’t** _ mean that in a good way. I mean that in a, "Hey, we wanna work on Street A, who wants to do a project on Street B at the same time, which is the official detour for Street A _or_ who can work on Street C so we get _two_ streets of traffic flowing onto Street B, in addition to B’s normal traffic. Their other scenario is one that’s going to happen here in a week or so. The main road was just repaved, maybe 18 months ago, now there are signs out there that it’s going to be closed, during the days, in \< two weeks. When they replaced the water or sewer or gas pipes couldn’t they have done the other at the same time. How much you wanna bet when whatever utility is going to start digging it up is finished they’ll only pave over the area they ripped up instead of the whole street again, which means once we get into the winter freeze/thaw cycles those seams are the perfect place for potholes to form; so much for nice roads for a couple of years. I’m telling you this level of incompetence _can’t possibly_ repeatedly happen in an uncoordinated way & just by chance! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/273 "2026-07-25T12:39:46Z")
My late wife was a kindred spirit of yours. She never saw a makeup product she didn’t disdain. No silly complicated soaps or moisturizers either. _Au naturel_ FTW! My current GF on the other hand … hoo boy does she have a complicated skin care and appearance regimen. OTOH, random people are often amazed at how much older she is than she looks. Her lifetime of diligence certainly seems to be paying off now. So either way anyone chooses to do it, that tradeoff can work. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/274 "2026-07-25T12:44:27Z")
I’ve often thought the same thing. Tear it up and put down sewers. Tear it up again and put down water mains. Tear it up and bury the utilities that had been on a pole line. Tear it up and remove the islands to make bike lanes instead. Over and over and over. Of course the reality is all about the vagaries of government funding and the reality that the money shows up whenever it does. And that’s when that phase of the overall project can be done. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/275 "2026-07-25T13:58:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Of course the reality is all about the vagaries of government funding and the reality that the money shows up whenever it does Nope! it’s an evil plot by people who make Bond villains look like saints! ---
**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:** [July 25, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/276 "2026-07-25T16:25:40Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > The wonderful kind that prevents you from ruining good vodka? I guess there’s no accounting for taste. In Canada we have two national heroes – Tommy Douglas, who introduced universal health care, and Walter Chell, who invented the Caesar! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/277 "2026-07-26T13:23:13Z")
Exactly! He should have been run out of ~~town~~ county by an angry mob with pitchforks & torches, not celebrated ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/278 "2026-07-26T15:51:44Z")
We are still in July; I’ve seen my first two election commercials already…& for people I can’t even vote for based on where I live (one was for someone in TX); it’s gonna be a _loooonnnggg_ couple of months. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/279 "2026-07-26T16:41:07Z")
Why do some people, when asked a question, instead give a reply to a question of their own invention which is sort of based on your question, but fundamentally different? To explain, it’s not here, it’s a hobby veg growing board I used to frequent, which I have recently returned to looking for specific advice, which shall obviously remain anonymous. The specific question was; I’ve moved to Scotland recently from Southern England and the tomatoes I used to grow further south do not do well here. I have one Scottish-bred tomato, which is doing great, meanwhile all the other short-season ones from other places- Alaska, Russia, Scandinavia etc.- are looking a bit sad, with not many fruit. I suspect this is due to our changeable, largely grey summer weather. When I looked for more Scottish bred ones, I really couldn’t find any. So, I am asking if anyone knows of any other Scottish-bred tomatoes. Aside from being interested in growing more, It’s interesting that there are apparently so few available, even in Scotland. So far virtually every bleedin’ reply has been ‘My friend in North Sweden grows tomatoes, they’d know good short season varieties’, ‘\*\*\* variety (from Italy) does very well for me on the South Coast’. ‘Have you tried \*\* technique to give them a longer growing time?’ I dunno, have you tried _reading_ what you’re replying to? I’m sure these people are trying to be helpful, but ‘Do you know of any heritage tomato varieties bred in Scotland’? is not a difficult question to parse, but still, these people have clearly automatically mangled the question into ‘Give me advice on growing tomatoes in Scotland’, even though that’s not the question I asked. The board has no equivalent to the pit and I’d probably get banned for replying like that there (especially as one of the posters replying is the head moderator), but… seriously people… 2 days of posting on there and I remember why I gave up on it last time. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/280 "2026-07-27T12:46:02Z")
My employer switched one of the companies that handle one of our benefits, apparently because some people complained about the previous one or something, though for me it worked fine. Now, although I am getting reimbursed, I have no idea what is happening, nor when. I can upload documents fine. I get an email that says they have everything they need, but I don’t see the claim on their website anywhere. They set it up recently for direct deposit which is nice, but I get a nice EOB (explanation of benefits) via email which is a PDF protected by a password. What that password is, I have no idea. I tried the common ones, social security number, date of birth, my password for logging into the site, nothing. Fortunately it all works, but it is certainly worse than what I had access to before. I don’t mind mysterious money appearing in my bank account, but it makes planning expenses and bill payments more harrying that it should. `//i\\` [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327.md?page=15)