# 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:** 8
**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 13, 2026, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/141 "2026-07-13T21:11:11Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I was planning to make oven-baked sausages tomorrow – just perfect: my oven fighting with the A/C in record heat while nuclear generating stations go into overdrive to try to keep up with power demands! So instead I’ll bake them tonight in the relative cool of the night when the temperature is less than that on the surface of the sun, and just nuke them tomorrow. > [@romansperson](#): > > Or just throw 'em out on the pavement tomorrow … Or stick them in a parked car. I can recommend the 2016 Dodge Dart or similar as a terrific solar oven. Haven’t actually cooked in it, but I’m sure I could. ---
**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 13, 2026, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/142 "2026-07-13T21:32:55Z")
It probably can’t be made to smell any worse than it already does. Sizzling sausage aroma would be an improvement. ---
**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 13, 2026, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/143 "2026-07-13T22:32:45Z")
Solid line is current Ontario electricity demand, by hour. Shaded green area is the top 10 historical peak power demands. Dotted line is projections. Tomorrow will exceed anything we’ve seen before. Normally nuclear plants provide the majority of power, but they tend to be relatively constant. At periods of extraordinary demand, gas-fired peaker plants come online, adding even more to air pollution. [![](https://i.imgur.com/q5d4bGr.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/q5d4bGr.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/144 "2026-07-13T23:17:13Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Or stick them in a parked car. I can recommend the 2016 Dodge Dart or similar as a terrific solar oven. Haven’t actually cooked in it, but I’m sure I could. There’s a cookbook, [Manifold Destiny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifold_Destiny_(cookbook)), about cooking on the engine block of a car. I had a copy and it’s rather interesting. ---
**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 13, 2026, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/145 "2026-07-13T23:34:26Z")
I own a copy myself (my cookbook collection does have a humor subsection). I also own a couple of cookbooks devoted to roadkill and one purporting to be a course in trailer-park cuisine. ---
**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 14, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/146 "2026-07-14T00:06:28Z")
Muskrat fricassee is always a crowd-pleaser. ---
**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 14, 2026, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/147 "2026-07-14T00:17:22Z")
This fucking year. Can I buy a break please? I just lost one of my cats to a coral snake bite. I didn’t realize they’d found one to play with until many hours later, and I freaked out when I realized what it was. I called everyone in and counted noses but couldn’t find my beautiful floofy Moose. After tearing the house apart I found him in the laundry room, gone for quite a while. It’s so goddamned unfair and I just can’t deal any more. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2026, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/148 "2026-07-14T00:17:50Z")
I once consumed something cooked on the engine block of a car (or truck rather). It was rum. Do not recommend. Rum shouldn’t be so crunchy. ---
**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 14, 2026, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/149 "2026-07-14T00:25:50Z")
In the military we heated a lot of field rations using the engines of our vehicles. But that’s _heated_, not cooked. Big difference. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/150 "2026-07-14T00:47:56Z")
> [@saje](#): > > It’s so goddamned unfair. Yes it is and I’m so sorry. I hope the other cats are able to comfort you. I imagine they miss their friend too. ---
**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 14, 2026, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/151 "2026-07-14T01:57:34Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I own a copy myself (my cookbook collection does have a humor subsection). I also own a couple of cookbooks devoted to roadkill and one purporting to be a course in trailer-park cuisine While shopping at my local Pakistani grocery store years ago, I was perusing the spinning racks of inexpensive Pakistani/Indian paperback cookbooks (the size of regular paperback books). In the back of one of the books I was looking at were several pages of other cookbooks by the publisher you could order. One was entitled “ **Good Foods From Waste Products** ”. I was so disappointed they didn’t have a copy on the rack! ---
**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 14, 2026, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/152 "2026-07-14T07:14:04Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Weather news from the Great White North, the Land of Ice & Snow. Tomorrow will likely hit a record 100°F or more. I don’t recall ever experiencing three-digit temperatures before. I recall experiencing three-digit temps once in Toronto. Summer of 1974, I think it was, or maybe 1975. Anyway, my friends and I had gone to the CNE, and my mother made me take a jacket, because “it’s always colder near the lake.” Well, I sure as hell didn’t need a jacket that day. The Shell Tower was displaying 103F, and being Toronto, it was humid, so the “feels like” temperature was probably 110F. I tied the arms of my jacket around my waist, and never properly wore it at all that day. Jeez, Mom, if the temperature at the lake is 103F, and “it’s always colder near the lake,” then what was the temperature uptown? Maybe 105F? 106F? So it was colder by the lake; Mom was correct, but it’s all relative. After that, I decided that I was going to make the call. If I was going to be near the lake, and it was 90F at home, then it would likely be 86F at the Island. So, no jacket necessary. Sorry, Mom. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/153 "2026-07-14T08:43:15Z")
> [@saje](#): > > I just lost one of my cats to a coral snake bite. I’m so sorry to hear this. I know you also lost one around the same time I lost my Summer a few months ago. At least you were prepared for that one. Unexpected is a different kind of pain. Hugs to you. ---
**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 14, 2026, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/154 "2026-07-14T11:29:23Z")
> [@saje](#): > > This fucking year. > > Can I buy a break please? The snake got Russell, Moo’s brother, too. At about 11 pm he became really lethargic and ataxic, and we rushed to the ER vet. Unfortunately the closest antivenin is in Florida, a solid 5 hr drive from me. With no guarantee that he’d live through the drive, and a probable cost of 10-12k after that, we made the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye to him. These were two of the family I found as brand new babies under a car in our yard a few years ago. Mom Hester and Sis Stubbs are just fine, thank goodness, as are the rest of the cat herd. My sweet kittyboys … 😢 ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/155 "2026-07-14T11:53:25Z")
Damn. Very sorry to hear this. I dread to think of my Meave going… ---
**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 14, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/156 "2026-07-14T12:32:59Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > There’s a cookbook, [Manifold Destiny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifold_Destiny_(cookbook)), about cooking on the engine block of a car. I had a copy and it’s rather interesting. When I drove a pea combine for Del Monte, I would occasionally cook a foil-wrapped hamburger on the engine. It was slow and I’m certain not food preparation rules safe, but it worked. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/157 "2026-07-14T13:28:30Z")
how horrible! i’m so sorry. ---
**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 14, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/158 "2026-07-14T17:28:39Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I also have a lockbox on my front door so the EMTs don’t have to break down the door to get to me. Our standard is [Knoxbox](https://www.knoxbox.com/products/residential-knoxboxes), where we have a key in the apparatus that’ll open the box & then you place your own key in that keyvault. Same concept except ours is a mechanical lock instead of an electronic one that you were using. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/159 "2026-07-14T17:38:43Z")
I’ve seen a lot of realtors doing something like that with houses they are trying to sell. I usually associate that sort of device with them. (I saw a lot of them the couple of times I was in the market to buy a house or condo.) ---
**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 14, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/160 "2026-07-14T18:42:13Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I’ve seen a lot of realtors doing something like that with houses they are trying to sell. I usually associate that sort of device with them. That’s usually something temporary attached to the door handle, what I was referring to is something permanently mounted to the side of the building somewhere near but not on the door. I believe what you’re referring to have a combo on them so that any realtor can get in to show the property; however, we have a keycode #; if you want one in our town, we tell you to order one with key #1234, so that we can open it whereas the next town over might have key #5678. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327.md?page=9)