# 'Twere the Rants Before Christmas (December Mini-Rants) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** monthly-mini-rant\ **Created:** [December 1, 2025, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280 "2025-12-01T05:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**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:** [December 12, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/161 "2025-12-12T23:37:17Z")
Investigate the power settings. The lid close and power button behavior and the transition from sleep to hibernate are all configurable. The sleep - hibernate transition and the press and hold power button are probably Dell-isms, not raw Windows. They’re at least hardware specific. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/162 "2025-12-13T00:10:11Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > I tend to avoid getting Dells and HPs. The de-crapification process just keeps getting harder. The last Dell I bought (around 15 years ago) overheated and died within 30 minutes of being plugged in; after spending almost 3 hours trying to get it exchanged, and ultimately just getting my money back, I switched to HP. Around the time the hard drive failed on my second HP, I was thoroughly sick of Windows, so that was the end of that. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/163 "2025-12-13T01:19:02Z")
I have I guess a very first world rant. It started back in October here: > [@Season of the Kvetch (October mini-rants)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-of-the-kvetch-october-mini-rants/1023563/166): > > I have a fresh rant. ~18 months ago I refurnished my life after leaving my tiresome ex-wife (hereafter TXW wink ) and letting her keep substantially all my / our worldy goods. In the course of that I applied for several store-specific or store-branded credit cards who had “0% APR for umpteen months” come-ons. One of which, the subject of this thread, is for an upscale housewares chain. Not Williams-Sonoma but in that league. The folks who buy their overpriced trendy stuff are not poor and pro… As noted, it took 2 billing cycles to get the balance to zero, but by mid Nov I was done with that. Then I was going to close the card with prejudice. Then I got to reading the fine print terms. Which says there is the typical grace period on purchases. Which means that they should not have charged me the stupid 39 cents of interest in the first place. And also means that the card is a lot more useable for ordinary stuff going forward than I had thought. It’s not an interest timebomb booby trap as I had thought. I also launched this thread to get advice about the credit rating consequences of cancelling a card: > [@When to Cancel Unused Credit Card(s)?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-to-cancel-unused-credit-card-s/1024019): > > Continuing the discussion from [Season of the Kvetch (October mini-rants)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-of-the-kvetch-october-mini-rants/1023563/172): I’ve been meaning to make a thread on this, and @icon has helpfully led right into it in a reply to me in the linked thread quoted just above. Rather than clutter that thread with a digression, I’ll start afresh here. TL;DR: As a general matter for all of us consumers, when and why is it advantageous or disadvantageous to close unused credit cards vs. keeping them open but unused? How does the answer change when consi… Which produces not a lot of citeable fact, or industry insider opinion, but mostly leaned in the direction of don’t do it. So I didn’t close the card. I don’t use it & don’t have an immediate need to buy the stuff they sell. OK; that’s a decent truce in this war. Fast forward to now. It’s monthly statement time again. Of course their email says nothing about the key facts, like balance due or due date. Just [click here] and a lot of marketing puffery. Sigh. So I click there. Instead of the expected zero balance I have a balance: -0.39. They’ve credited back the 39 cents in interest from 3 cycles ago that they should never have charged. And now I’ve got a credit balance of 39 cents. They undid the mistake that set this whole chain of stupidity in motion. And triggered 2 manual payments when it should have only been 1. And and and. Gee thanks; you really shouldn’t have. So I can ignore their 39 cent gift and let it ride, I can go buy something with their card and pay the new balance (my purchase minus 39 cents) next month, or I can cancel the card. Sigh. Of course I don’t care about 39 cents as monetary value. But it upsets my inner fussy accountant to have a stupid credit balance sitting out there month after month. Gee thanks; you shouldn’t have. Which I suppose many other posters will be saying about gifts they receive in the next weeks. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/164 "2025-12-13T01:23:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Instead of the expected zero balance I have a balance: -0.39. They’ve credited back the 39 cents in interest from 3 cycles ago that they should never have charged. And now I’ve got a credit balance of 39 cents. This might be actual irony. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/165 "2025-12-13T01:27:07Z")
I could regale y’all with the tale from back around 1993 when I spent 4 _years_ wrangling with the IRS over about $45. That we both agreed I owed them. But getting them to take the money was harder than it looked. Much harder. By the end they paid me $45 instead. By mistake. 🤪 ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/166 "2025-12-13T02:10:24Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > back around 1993 when I spent 4 _years_ wrangling with the IRS over about $45. Interesting. My brother received a completely undeserved tax refund around that time frame. 4-digits for certain, possibly 5. As a lawyer CPA he knew better than to spend it, so dropped it into his savings account and sent the IRS a letter saying: 1. What the fuck? 2. How do I send it back? I don’t know the details (did they respond or just ignore him? were there multiple letters sent?), but eventually the money somehow became his (which was handy, because right around that time he was temporarily an unemployed lawyer in New York City, and the extra cash came in quite handy). ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/167 "2025-12-13T14:10:08Z")
I need the community’s opinion. Have you ever had or made a holiday drink called ‘Boilo’ ? Was it good? Did it make you go blind? Do you have a family recipe ( there are Many ) that you would dare share here…? Either public or private will do. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/168 "2025-12-13T14:58:38Z")
Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/169 "2025-12-13T15:26:10Z")
It’s supposed to be a coal region version of a hot punch ( and/or cold remedy ) but if no one knows it, never mind. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/170 "2025-12-13T17:30:32Z")
I’m not from the coal region, so my not knowing of it is hardly indicative. Lotta other Dopers may be aware of it. Give it time. Hmm, I just noticed … Why did you post your question in the middle of the monthly mini rants thread? If you really want an answer, make a new thread with a suitable descriptive title and body. I bet you’ll get lots off useful feedback that way. But not here. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/171 "2025-12-13T17:49:01Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If you really want an answer, make a new thread with a suitable descriptive title and body. I bet you’ll get lots off useful feedback that way. But not here. @Mundane_Super_Hero Cafe Society would be the best category too. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/172 "2025-12-13T18:42:52Z")
Last night I ate a half sandwich in the dark only to discover my bread was moldy. It wasn’t too bad so I finished it. Guess I need to get me to a grocery store. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/173 "2025-12-13T19:18:10Z")
From the “No good deed goes unpunished” files … I participated in this thread last week: > [@Do I \*need\* a vacuum breaker in my shower hose?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-vacuum-breaker-in-my-shower-hose/1025566): > > I replaced the hand-held shower head and its hose in our bathroom the other day. There was a part between the female end of the shower hose and the male fitting projecting from the wall. I removed it, installed the new shower head, and everything works fine. Today, after a fair amount of internet searching, I discovered that the part I removed is a vacuum breaker. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one as part of a shower like this in any of our previous homes. So, the question really is that simple;… In which I learned that when I added a dual hand shower head to my existing shower, the plumbing code here in FL (and most, not all, other states) requires a “vacuum backflow breaker”, a little gizmo you install between the main shower head and the hand shower hose. Which prevents dirty drain water from getting sucked back up the handshower line in rather unlikely, but still possible, circumstances _if_ the hand shower head is left sitting in drain water _and_ other building plumbing stuff malfunctions at the same time. Being a good citizen and not wanting to risk polluting my neighboring apartments’ water supply, nor get sideways with the building super, I ordered a hand shower backflow preventer from Amazon, taking care to get what seemed to be a good one. Damned things are $25 for a tube of metal and plastic ~5/8" in diameter by 1-1/4" long. OK. Welp, it might well break a vacuum in a plumbing emergency, but it also reduces the pressure and flow to the hand shower to a mere trickle vs. what it was before. Rendering the hand shower useless. Of course, me being an aging and now out of practice DIYer, I damaged my shower head installing the breaker. So I had to replace that too. And the new one is not as capable or as well-styled as the old one, which model has since been discontinued despite me buying it only ~15 months ago. If the old model was still available I’d have simply gotten another identical one. No such luck. So now I have a useless and unreturnable $25 ~~backflow preventer~~ forward flow almost-preventer and a new $100 shower head I don’t like as well as the old one I was perfectly happy with on Monday. One that had years of good use left in it. And I’m _still_ not code compliant and neighborly. Nor will ever I be. Gaah! The only good news is that unlike many of my not so proficient DIY projects these days, no blood was shed. So let that be a lesson to all of us: Good deeds often attract punishment. I’m not sure whether I should take that as a signal to do more or fewer good deeds. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/174 "2025-12-13T21:54:48Z")
That sounds like the sort of Bad Day that happens around here once in a while when everything goes wrong. I must say though that this thread is the first time I’ve ever heard of these backflow preventer thingies. I don’t know for sure if it’s required by code around here but I’m pretty confident that almost no one uses them, because thousands of handheld shower heads are sold every day (and certainly don’t come with them) and installed by DIY plumbers who also have probably never heard of backflow preventers. The situation in which those gadgets would actually do anything useful sounds pretty contrived and exceedingly unlikely. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/175 "2025-12-13T22:07:40Z")
It was a lot more vexing than actually bad. Lotsa 1 step forward, 3 back. Sigh. Even moreso for starting something that was utterly unnecessary. But yeah, if those things were that important, why aren’t they integral to hand showers? ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/176 "2025-12-13T23:37:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > starting something that was utterly unnecessary. I never touch plumbing unless it’s broke. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/177 "2025-12-14T03:41:48Z")
> [@Ellecram](#): > > Guess I need to get me to a grocery store. I’m subsisting on leftovers and cereal, because the wind chill is -10º (Fahrenheit) today. Had plenty of errands planned, but I’m putting them off for two days (-10º tomorrow as well). ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/178 "2025-12-14T04:18:25Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@Ellecram](#): > > > > Guess I need to get me to a grocery store. > > I’m subsisting on leftovers and cereal, because the wind chill is -10º (Fahrenheit) today. > Had plenty of errands planned, but I’m putting them off for two days (-10º tomorrow as well).. Wow that is really cold! Not quite that bad where I am. Upper teens (Fahrenheit) but about 4 inches of snow has fallen. Chores can wait a bit for you and me I guess. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2025, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/179 "2025-12-14T05:08:50Z")
> [@dougrb](#): > > I never touch plumbing unless it’s broke. Me, too, and even then I generally prefer to get a plumber to deal with it. Back in the day, I’d think nothing of installing my own dishwasher, or helping a friend install his. No more. The downstairs toilet flapper was leaking for 6 months before I got around to replacing it, but to be fair, I was under the false impression that practically the whole guts of it needed to be replaced. The flapper itself is a discrete unit and actually quite easy to replace. As for handheld shower heads, since I can’t stand fixed shower heads I took mine from the previous house, screwed it in in place of the fixed shower head in the ensuite shower, and called it good. A hose and a shower head, no fancy backflow preventers. > [@digs](#): > > I’m subsisting on leftovers and cereal, because the wind chill is -10º (Fahrenheit) today. > Had plenty of errands planned, but I’m putting them off for two days (-10º tomorrow as well). Temperatures here are pretty normal, just below freezing and will actually be above freezing later in the week. The problem here is that the cursed La Nina is bringing snow day after day. The forecast for tomorrow? “A few flurries”. For Monday? “Periods of snow”. So I haven’t gone out for quite a while, either. I still have lots of food but the liquor supply is a Code 1 emergency! There is no vodka, no Caesar mix, and no rum except for a bunch of single-serving miniatures of Bacardi Gold. An outing tomorrow is essential even if I have to hire a dog-sled! Liquor aside, it will be nice to get some fresh subs and maybe a couple of rice or noodle bowls, and creamy coleslaw to have with fish & chips. ---
**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:** [December 14, 2025, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280/180 "2025-12-14T05:30:51Z")
Speaking of liquor – and since this is a rant thread – a few days ago I was chopping onions and, perhaps due to an inordinate quantity of Caesars recently consumed, managed to cut my finger. It didn’t look like a big deal but it bled profusely, probably aided by the fact that I’m on an anti-platelet type blood thinner. I doused the cut with Polysporin antibiotic and put a bandage around it. This morning, about three days later, the bandage was getting loose and ragged so I took it off. And the cut started bleeding again! This has never happened before. This time I dabbed at it until it finally stopped and decided to leave it to heal in the open air. It currently looks like a pretty nasty cut but no sign of spreading infection. Apparently this was a bigger deal than I had thought! And I’m glad that about a year ago, my doctor gave me a tetanus shot after I fell and badly scraped my leg! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twere-the-rants-before-christmas-december-mini-rants/1025280.md?page=10)