# The Rants Came Marching One By One (March minirants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 1, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588 "2014-03-01T13:23:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/181 "2014-03-10T20:46:02Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > My husband bought a stoplight. I’m not really sure what more to say. > > ETA - make that TRAFFIC Light. I did some googling and that’s it’s official name. We have one…supposedly from 1940’s or 50’s Chicago. Bought it at the antique market at Toronto’s harbour front 30 years ago. Don’t think it even qualified as an antique back then! Works too…sadly only all on or off. It has no timer. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/182 "2014-03-10T20:59:23Z")
> [@kbear](#): > > We have one…supposedly from 1940’s or 50’s Chicago. Bought it at the antique market at Toronto’s harbour front 30 years ago. Don’t think it even qualified as an antique back then! Works too…sadly only all on or off. It has no timer. [This is the one we got, exactly.](http://www.kbrhorse.net/signals/durasig5.html) This puppy is BIG! They look way smaller when they’re on the pole than when they’re in the back of a mini-van or in your damn garage! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/183 "2014-03-10T21:57:07Z")
About a third of the way home on the bus and… Oh My God Someone clearly shat their pants. The smell was horrific. Bus driver had some small fresh air flow going through, but it was not anywhere near enough. Sadly, I think it was my friend who is in a wheelchair (due to childhood polio). He’s not paralyzed or anything, but I think something happened. I’d like to think it wasn’t him, but someone clearly had a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/184 "2014-03-10T22:19:32Z")
Went for a drive this weekend up the New Hampshire coast. And I have a microrant to get off my chest. OK, folks, I know it’s been a long winter and you’re all thrilled that the temperatures have soared into the mid 40’s so you can all go out and jog. And I know jogging is boring as shit and you want to bring your friends with you and chat. But these are narrow, busy roads and they’re still choked with snow. So when you go jogging two by two (or even three deep), one of you is going to be in the middle of the road, and I don’t care how fluorescent your spandex is, if you jog in the road long enough, some unfortunate driver is going to be caught looking the wrong way and is going to body check you into the Atlantic ocean. Don’t they teach people to run single file anymore? I give a special shout out to the kid on the skateboard in the gray clothes and gray hoodie who was skating down the very middle of the lane at the entrance to the state park. This time of year, you blend into the road like a snowy owl on a sand dune, but with sort of the opposite effect on your life expectancy. And, not a rant, but an observation. There are a surprising number of people in New Hampshire who look outside on a sunny Saturday in early March and think “Hey, the water temperature is just about as cold as it’s ever going to get. Let’s slip on our wet suits and go surfing!” Even though there were no actual waves happening. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/185 "2014-03-10T23:58:34Z")
> [@kbear](#): > > We have one…supposedly from 1940’s or 50’s Chicago. Bought it at the antique market at Toronto’s harbour front 30 years ago. Don’t think it even qualified as an antique back then! Works too…sadly only all on or off. It has no timer. Check ebay for a Heathkit electronic switch. It seems like something that could make a cool project. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/186 "2014-03-11T00:14:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Don’t they teach people to run single file anymore? Heck, people can’t even be bothered to jog on the _sidewalks_ any more, even in places like California where there’s no snow on the pavement. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/187 "2014-03-11T00:53:02Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > Why does this school computer have to be so slow? It makes getting caught easier. Can you pin your open pages to the toolbar? If so, just do that and keep your pointer down there so you can change them really fast. > [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Ah, this made me laugh! Something I would totally do, probably from a Stephen King novel. Oh, he’s got some good stuff too. I used what I had 🙂 > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > People - what a bunch of bastards! I think I would have just changed seats - your idea is better. 🙂 It was late, the airport was crowded, I was tired and didn’t want to have to lug my stuff around to find another seat just because the child’s caretaker couldn’t be bothered to get off her fucking cell and expected a random stranger to read to the child she was supposed to be taking care of. I have the same attitude about children as I do about puppies. If the puppy is out of control and the owner doesn’t do something, I get rude and upset. Now, if the kid or puppy owner is doing their best but is overwhelmed, I will often try to help. > [@Chanteuse](#): > > :eek:😃 > > How about one from the other side? I heard a story from my dad about the time his aunt and her granddaughter (age 3-4) were in a waiting room and she (granddaughter) was trying to read her little book. A lady sitting next to her began trying to engage her in conversation–“Oh, do you like that story?” “You’re a pretty little girl!” and so on. Finally, exasperated, she looked up and snapped, “You’re a-worryin’ the shit outta me!” I keep thinking I want to get a shirt printed that says “I’m reading a book, just shut the fuck up and leave me alone!” That girl sounds like she would buy one. Hmmmm, I know that there are more than just a few people here who would buy one. Business plan!!! I went to the dentist today and the tooth couldn’t be saved. Damnit. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/188 "2014-03-11T01:05:15Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I went to the dentist today and the tooth couldn’t be saved. Damnit. Oh no. So sorry to hear that, and it sounds painful. Pull it and get an implant? Hope you have some good drugs in the meantime! ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/189 "2014-03-11T02:54:20Z")
Christ on a cracker, Mayme. I swear you are the highest fucking strung cat I have ever met. I have no clue what set you off today. Was it the smoke in the kitchen, when I burned the pizza? The stove fan? My opening / closing the back door rapidly, in a poor attempt to clear the air? Whatever it was, it should not have led you to another damn freakout, cowering under TheKid’s bed, growling and hissing at me after I looked for you for almost an hour. Now that you’re out, if I move too fast, you hunch up and growl. WTF. Seriously. You need Xanax or something, as this twitchiness is too much. And, if any of you remember from a year ago, she STILL cannot be around Lucy. Damn hairball. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/190 "2014-03-11T03:32:52Z")
> [@MissTake](#): > > Christ on a cracker, Mayme. I swear you are the highest fucking strung cat I have ever met. I have no clue what set you off today. Was it the smoke in the kitchen, when I burned the pizza? The stove fan? My opening / closing the back door rapidly, in a poor attempt to clear the air? > Whatever it was, it should not have led you to another damn freakout, cowering under TheKid’s bed, growling and hissing at me after I looked for you for almost an hour. > Now that you’re out, if I move too fast, you hunch up and growl. WTF. Seriously. You need Xanax or something, as this twitchiness is too much. > > And, if any of you remember from a year ago, she STILL cannot be around Lucy. > > Damn hairball. She sounds like a cat that Jackson Galaxy treated for PTSD. I don’t remember what the treatment was, though; I do remember that the cat improved immensely. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/191 "2014-03-11T22:56:46Z")
There are two things I want to do this summer (a music festival and a music camp), and they’re both at the same time, so I can’t do both. Darn it. Though if I don’t make a decision soon, I’ll end up doing neither. Though this is even assuming I’ll be in some sort of job or school program that’ll give me the time off. I don’t know what the situation job-wise will be this summer. I don’t even know if I’ll still be working next month. Hmm. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/192 "2014-03-11T23:29:53Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > She sounds like a cat that Jackson Galaxy treated for PTSD. I don’t remember what the treatment was, though; I do remember that the cat improved immensely. I have seen a couple cats put on Prozac (fluoxetine) and they’ve done well. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/193 "2014-03-12T02:03:17Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Oh no. So sorry to hear that, and it sounds painful. Pull it and get an implant? Hope you have some good drugs in the meantime! While I am a big believer in better living through chemistry, they weren’t needed. The tooth was already dead and was crowned after a root canal. I think the implant will hurt more than the extraction did. I have a nice dentist, who has been very understanding during the whole braces thing. I’m just really tired of sitting in his chair. Lucky is getting to be an old kitty. My guess is that he is at least 12, but his muzzle is turning white. I sure do wish kitties lasted longer. He’s fine, I’m just whiney about it. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/194 "2014-03-12T02:23:39Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Erm… my understanding is that you never put meat, bones or grease in a compost heap (you’ll get rats and raccoons). > > Not sure if you were being serious. Nor bread. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/195 "2014-03-12T15:30:42Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I think the implant will hurt more than the extraction did. I just got an implant done where a tooth never existed and it didn’t hurt at all. It was really quite easy. The only part that hurt as such was when they did the local anesthetic with that ultra big and long needle dentists seem to love. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/196 "2014-03-12T15:39:06Z")
I have to Pit my husband and myself a little bit; we’re about two months away from putting our house up for sale, and we’re going to get the roof re-shingled. We had an estimate done yesterday, and the roofer told us that we should probably put in a claim to our insurance agent for hail damage up there. So now, two months away from listing, we’re looking at going through all the rigamarole of getting a hail damage claim done for a hailstorm that was a year and a half ago. It just never occurred to us to actually go up on the roof and look - we didn’t see shingles all over the ground, so we assumed no damage. :smack: After the insurance company inspects it and gives us a course of action, we might just go ahead and get it re-shingled and pay for it ourselves just to get it done on time, and see if the insurance company will re-imburse us at all. And a pre-emptive Pit - we have to go fight with City Hall today - I expect I’ll be expounding on that later today. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/197 "2014-03-12T16:15:26Z")
There is a leak in the ceiling above the corner of my desk. I wasn’t expecting rain last night, but rain it did. Right on top of a couple years of sign-in sheets for classes that had sorted to re-file. Fortunately (?) it only soaked through about 30 sheets. Well, the bright side is at least I didn’t leave another laptop open under the leak like I did last summer. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/198 "2014-03-12T16:39:42Z")
Not so much a rant as a WTF? Twice now, we’ve had vaguely creepy guys come to the door to welcome TheKid to the union for personal care attendants. The first time I requested her name be removed, as she never has been a PCA. Yesterday, she kind of freaked out and said she was not here and closed the door on him. Both times we’ve seen a member roster with her name/address on it. I called the union today to find out WTF. They’re having a huge membership drive and to get out the vote. Okay, great, if she was a member of the union. But she’s not. After calling a bunch of various entities, it seems that SOMEONE is acting as a PCA, using TheKid’s name. It’s not licensed in our state, so find out who she is supposedly a PCA for is impossible, it seems. Whoever it is, they’re using her nickname, not her legal name. So now she’s going through her friends, wondering if one of them may have done this - and why. And the union will “try” to update their roster. Sure. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/199 "2014-03-12T16:46:55Z")
Comcast has started calling me again about “Shannon”'s account. I’ve been over this ground too many times and told them repeatedly that I’ve had this number for a year, I don’t know her, and stop fucking calling me. Stupid motherfucker even asked me to get ahold of her and tell her they needed to talk to her. Gee, when I bought this phone from T-Mobile and they gave me this number, they neglected to introduce me to the previous number holder. Obviously their fault. What pisses me off even more is that while I am showing annoyance at their calls, I haven’t been swearing at them, and I’m still getting attitude from them about how _I_ need to keep the call professional when I’m only telling them that it’s been my number for over a year now, I’ve told this to more of them than I care to, and stop calling me now. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588/200 "2014-03-12T16:48:01Z")
For the love of all that is unholy - if you’re running a business, do not answer a call to your (alleged) business line with “hello?”.\* It also doesn’t add to an air of professionalism if you then explain that you’re a) driving, and b) thought it was your wife calling. It should be SOP to answer your listed business phone with the name of your business so I know I didn’t reach a random person by mistake. \*bonus points if there are screeching children or animals in the background. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rants-came-marching-one-by-one-march-minirants/682588.md?page=11)