# 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:** 9
**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, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/161 "2026-07-14T19:09:47Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > 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. Oh yeah, that’s totally different. ---
**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 14, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/162 "2026-07-14T19:34:07Z")
> [@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. Wow, the book was inspired by the authors keeping a block of my beloved Schwartz’s Montreal smoked meat hot by placing it on the car engine! They may be weird but they have great culinary taste! Today of course right now all you’d need to do for a hot smoked meat sandwich is place it outside for a few moments! 🌞 ---
**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, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/163 "2026-07-14T19:48:02Z")
There was a time when I was very poor and was living in a roach-infested apartment building full of people who were mostly on drugs and unemployed. (I did not do drugs and was working as a computer salesman, and sort of stood out.) I only had a stove top and oven to cook with (no microwave). Reheating leftovers was not easy. However, I also had a massive Packard Bell CRT monitor, and it had a huge neck (the part that stuck out the back). It had big vents on the neck to release heat, and so the top of the neck would get **really** warm. I figured out that if I tilted the monitor forward, the neck would then be level and I could put leftover food on it to heat it up. It worked really well for things like pizza and burritos. Being poor led to being creative. It got so warm that I could evenly heat up some food in minutes. It actually worked really well. It wasn’t warm enough to actually _cook_ anything, of course, but pulling something out of the fridge it worked great. (Because of the roach situation, _everything_ edible had to be in the fridge where it was sealed up.) ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/164 "2026-07-14T21:06:59Z")
What Baywatch provided is a device that hangs on the doorknob and looks like an oversized padlock with four dials (kind of like I’ve seen on briefcases). I set the dials with a four-digit code which opens it up to allow access to the key to my deadbolt. After I set the code I notified Baywatch what it is, and then if they have to send EMTs to my house they give the EMTs the code. This has the added advantage that if I want anyone else to have access to my house I can also give them the code. ---
**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, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/165 "2026-07-14T21:36:08Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > What Baywatch provided is a device that hangs on the doorknob and looks like an oversized padlock with four dials (kind of like I’ve seen on briefcases). I set the dials with a four-digit code which opens it up to allow access to the key to my deadbolt. Now _that_ sounds just like what I’ve seen realtors using. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/166 "2026-07-14T22:43:57Z")
Do you ever feel like the world is conspiring to stop you from getting work done? Yesterday was some kind of emergency. This morning I got blindsided by PTSD, also had to run out and do a conference, and I wrote a grant report, and I guess I should be happy I got anything at all done today given the difficulties with my mental health. But I have a federal grant that is incredibly imminent, so it’s lost productivity yet another day. I think I can kiss my weekend goodbye. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/167 "2026-07-14T23:27:27Z")
This is definitely in Mini-Rant territory: My county offers a website for crime mapping. It’s continuously updated, and I’m in the habit of taking a look at it daily just to see what’s going on in the neighborhood. I’m motivated mostly to notice if there are a lot of rural thefts occurring in my area, and occasionally I learn rather shocking things about my neighbors. Since the end of June, the map is just a big blank. So ok, June 30th is the last day of many fiscal years, and perhaps something is going on with their funding. Or is it something else? After checking daily for nearly 2 weeks, the Sheriff’s Office finally posted a blurb on the splash page that said they were experiencing technical difficulties and that they were working “promptly” to correct the situation. Well, good sirs, it’s not feeling very “promptly” to me! How am I going to keep track of whose mailboxes are being vandalized? Where are thieves stashing stolen vehicles? Where have shots been fired? And what about those several “strangulation” events you guys have noted recently? Nosy citizens want to know! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/168 "2026-07-14T23:39:40Z")
> [@saje](#): > > My sweet kittyboys … 😢 Oh, @saje, I missed this before. I am so, so, sorry. I wish I had a better way to soothe your heartbreak. What an awful thing to have happened. Big hugs to you. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2026, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/169 "2026-07-14T23:57:35Z")
@saje I’m so sorry. That’s just awful 😢 Someone in the office today was wearing flip-flops. We have a **very** lenient dress code at work but I’m pretty sure flip-flops are still not allowed. And this person sits in the pod of desks behind mine and walks past my desk multiple times a day. I hate the sound of flip-flops… ---
**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 15, 2026, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/170 "2026-07-15T00:27:38Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > I hate the sound of flip-flops… If you lived in Texas I’m sure the "they needed shootin’ " doctrine would apply. It’s about the only reason anyone would want to live there. ---
**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 15, 2026, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/171 "2026-07-15T00:55:14Z")
Had a meeting at the firehouse; was planning on staying there & watching the All-star game; however, we didn’t have anyone in the kitchen tonight so now I’m home, alone, & hungry ---
**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 15, 2026, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/172 "2026-07-15T01:11:51Z")
At least the game is now on. After interminable yakyak. My last home-cooked hot meal was last night: popcorn. ---
**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 15, 2026, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/173 "2026-07-15T01:56:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > My last home-cooked hot meal was last night: popcorn. Not a bad idea as I can’t watch the TV from the kitchen ---
**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 15, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/174 "2026-07-15T02:34:36Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@LurkMeister](#): > > > > What Baywatch provided is a device that hangs on the doorknob and looks like an oversized padlock with four dials (kind of like I’ve seen on briefcases). I set the dials with a four-digit code which opens it up to allow access to the key to my deadbolt. > > Now _that_ sounds just like what I’ve seen realtors using. It seems to be pretty much exactly the same thing. If I had a medical emergency and couldn’t get to the front door, I suppose I could give EMTs the code to the garage door to get in. The trouble is that the stupid thing isn’t wired – it’s basically a battery-operated remote control affixed to the side of the garage. I rarely use it, and if the battery’s dead, then I guess so am I! When I once called for an ambulance when my elderly mother was living with us and had a medical emergency, one of the instructions I was given was “unlock the front door”. Apparently EMTs don’t ring the doorbell and politely wait for someone to admit them. 😉 I would be **extremely** upset if they ever broke the expensive and hard-to-replace ornate bevelled glass window in my front door! ---
**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 15, 2026, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/175 "2026-07-15T03:42:43Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > > [@Atamasama](#): > > > > It’s a bit less than $3,000 (US) a month, which sounds expensive > > Good God, no! To me that sounds like a screaming deal, particularly as that is probably less than the cost of an average apartment around here. As an Olde Fart, not really capable of the kind of upkeep this house needs, I looked at the cost of retirement homes around here. It’s hard to get pricing, but I just picked one at random that was in the general neighbourhood and looked nice, and plugged in fake numbers in their questionnaire to get at the bottom line. I claimed that my monthly living expenses were $2000, and the response that came back was that **of course** I could afford to live there, it would only be an extra $3760 more! I have only four words for that, and those words are: Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Almighty. Nearly $6000 a month, for a random and possibly mediocre facility! I’m glad that my new-to-me Camry has an exceptionally large engine, because I think that realistically my retirement home is going to be a trailer. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/176 "2026-07-15T04:26:51Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I have only four words for that, and those words are: Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Almighty. > > Nearly $6000 a month, for a random and possibly mediocre facility! Yeah, I very mildly dread two things about aging. Not death, really - that one is coming for us all, no sense in getting aggravated about it. But one is any form of debilitating degenerative dementia, which I’m just hoping to luck out on avoiding. The other is an extended stint in assisted living in a lowest common denominator nursing facility. I’ve been to a couple - they can be a bit grim and in that situation you really need a younger, able-bodied outside advocate looking out for you. Which I may or may not have by the time it becomes necessary. I’m already in a condo, so I don’t really foresee having to downsize to a non-assisted living senior retirement complex. But in-facility nursing needs eventually come for a great many of us. A former co-worker went through this recently over a couple of years with 90+ year-old in-laws and it was “interesting” to watch the complexity and costs steadily rise. From ‘we can do this at home’ to ‘we can’t do it at home anymore but we found a nice enough place that is somewhat affordable’ to ‘steadily increasing add-on costs are making this rapidly unsustainable and we need to change facilities.’ Between my modest household equity and my quite decent steady retirement income I don’t think I will be relegated to said very lowest common denominator facility. But genuinely nice facilities that are “affordable” can sometimes be hard to come by and even mediocre ones can be pricey, because even lousy round-the-clock nursing doesn’t come cheap. Also good luck getting Long Term Care insurance in the U.S. these days if you didn’t apply when you were 35 with no pre-existing conditions and pay through the nose for decades. It’s a worry, but other than getting LTC insurance young (which few people think to do), there is not a lot of proactive planning you can put into it since you don’t know when and if it will happen. Well unless you have more money and assets to put aside than me 🙂. ---
**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 15, 2026, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/177 "2026-07-15T13:52:21Z")
At least around here there are gradations of support. For $6K/mo, I bet you were inadvertently asking for something with more extensive care and monitoring than you’ll need any time soon. Either that or there’s a severe shortage of basic care homes in your area and some of the big national chains are utterly overlooking an expansion opportunity near you. Another thought. As @Tamerlane alluded to just above, retired folks tend to forget the equity in their house or condo is a financial asset just like their brokerage accounts, savings plans, etc. If you found a place for $4K/mo, that’s $48K/year. If your house was saleable for e.g. $480K, that would fund 10 years of that rent without you needing to touch any other assets you may have. 10 years is a long time for someone already in their mid 70s. The fresh capital invested would probably return about the rate the rent went up year to year, so my very naïve calculation will still work out about right once you factor in investment returns and inflation. Further, all the household expenses you currently have will disappear. No groceries, household repairs, lawn maintenance, snow plowing, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, etc. Your only significant remaining expense is the fixin’s for Caesars and whatever your car costs in fuel, maintenance and insurance. And a few years hence the car expenses will fall away too. So all that money not spent ends up in savings / investments. Or as a further offset from the net cost of the facility. Bottom line: homeowners make a mistake when pricing an ordinary apartment or a care facility if they don’t consider the newly freed up financial capital of selling their house. ---
**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 15, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/178 "2026-07-15T14:16:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Bottom line: homeowners make a mistake when pricing an ordinary apartment or a care facility if they don’t consider the newly freed up financial capital of selling their house. IOW, spending your kids inheritance. 😉 ---
**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 15, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/179 "2026-07-15T20:33:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If you found a place for $4K/mo, that’s $48K/year. If your house was saleable for e.g. $480K, that would fund 10 years of that rent without you needing to touch any other assets you may have. 10 years is a long time for someone already in their mid 70s. The fresh capital invested would probably return about the rate the rent went up year to year, so my very naïve calculation will still work out about right once you factor in investment returns and inflation. My mom went through something similar. So just to give a bit of background… My parents divorced when I was a senior in high school, and then my mom lived alone for a bit, then got a boyfriend who she lived with for many years. They never married. When he died, she went into a depression and kind of shut people out. She’d talk with me, and (sometimes) come visit, but never let me into her house. For over 15 years. I knew she was a hoarder, but I didn’t know how bad it was because she literally would never let me enter her house _ever_. She eventually got into a situation where she went to stay in a hotel for MONTHS. Myself and her brothers (who unfortunately live on the other side of the country) kept pestering her to deal with her situation, but any time people pushed her, she’d shut them out. Eventually, I was the only person she talked to, and I had to walk on eggshells. Finally, she ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, because she was living in her minivan which was full of junk (I mean actual junk, including soiled pee pads, old food, etc.) and she got a lung infection. That was enough of a wakeup call for her to finally listen to me. I told her she needed to change her lifestyle or she would die. I let her live at my house for a couple of months while we got things fixed. She also at one point got tricked by someone who got into her bank account and cleaned it out (which fortunately she was able to fix, since banks are insured, and she got her money back). She wanted to sell her house but it was impossible to get into it. I could get in through the rear door at the porch, but was immediately faced with knee-deep garbage that quickly got to the ceiling before you got very far. She had somehow turned her house into a floor-to-ceiling landfill over the years. I’m amazed she never had stuff collapse on her and kill her. Her neighbor and friend is a realtor, who helped sell her house as-is, and she actually got a good amount of money for it, to my shock. Enough for her to pay off her mortgage (which she hadn’t paid in months and was facing foreclosure). When all was paid off and done, she had a very large chunk of money to put in the bank, and she also had her retirement from a lifetime of working for the Navy, half of my dad’s retirement from his time in the Navy (he was a sailor), and a 401K on top of it. She can easily and comfortably live in a very nice independent living apartment, which is insane when you consider that less than a year ago she was living in her minivan like a homeless person. Oh, and for years when I kept trying to get her moved into a place like that, she insisted that “she couldn’t afford it” but never let me or anyone else see her financials to do the math. Bottom line is, sometimes you don’t really know how much you can afford, you don’t really know what kind of equity you have, and until you really try, all you can operate on is fear of change. And that fear of change can cause you to be trapped in a prison of your own making. > [@Spiderman](#): > > IOW, spending your kids inheritance. 😉 I’ve told my mom I don’t want her money, or either of my parents’ really. I’ve built a good life for myself and I’m good. I want them to both be happy and comfortable, and enjoy what they earned for themselves. And I don’t think that’s anything special either, it just seems fair and sensible. ---
**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 16, 2026, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327/180 "2026-07-16T01:37:29Z")
Thank you, @Atamasama, I really appreciate that post and the background info. My house is nothing like what you described, but it’s pretty cluttered. The outside is quite nice, and thanks to my insurance company, after a fierce storm a few years ago it has a brand new roof with architectural shingles. If I could declutter a bit and get a thorough cleaning done, it would be quite saleable. The huge amount of junk in the basement is a different story. I absolutely cannot handle that on my own and would just have to supervise what gets thrown out, sold, or moved. I’ve been in jams before. In the previous house, there was a wall in the living/dining area that was covered in pine boards in alternating layers and pine moulding. I guess the previous owners thought it looked cool, but I thought it detracted from the sale value. I did what I could to create a level surface and then hired someone to paper it with grasscloth. When my long-time realtor, a wonderful woman who I’ve done business with for years, came in to look at it, she was kind but very frank about how horribly uneven the result was. But there’s always a solution! She recommended a couple of Iranian brothers who did renovation work (much like my current Ukrainian brothers) to simply drywall over the whole mess, and repaint the whole room. The result was absolutely outstanding. The area was so bright and shiny it could have featured in an issue of “Home Beautiful”! I ended up getting full asking price for the house within a couple of days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rant-write-and-boo-july-mini-rants/1031327.md?page=10)