# Winter's a-coming! Season of Death Mini-Rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2010, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833 "2010-09-18T09:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**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:** [October 20, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/621 "2010-10-20T23:06:48Z")
Update: I now have fully-functioning AutoCAD 2011 LT _and_ Inventor on my work computer! šŸ˜ƒšŸ˜ƒšŸ˜ƒ Oh yeah!!! ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/622 "2010-10-20T23:09:51Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Oh sure they can. What you going to do? Sue them? > > I looked and I see it is Rogers who just changed that. One of the worst providers in the world. I had to call Rogers once on behalf of a customer. I was transferred 7 times in 20 minutes before I gave up. Yeah, theyā€™re a pain in the ass, but they are the best option in terms of pricing/coverage/handsets. I wonder if the change in these terms might allow me to cancel my contract without penalty. Their Service Agreement says: _Unless otherwise specified in this agreement, we may change, at any time, any charges, features or other aspects of the Services or any provision of this agreement, upon advance notice to you. If you do not accept a change, you may terminate this agreement and your Services upon at least 30 days advance written notice to us (unless we specify a different notice period for a particular change)._ ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/623 "2010-10-21T01:05:25Z")
> [@niblet\_head](#): > > Iā€™m going to try that tonight, thanks. I know I should get up and out of bed and go read or somethingā€¦ itā€™s just so hard to ā€œgive inā€ and admit that I really am wide-fucking-awake and itā€™s 3:14AM. I will also pit early morning insomnia. I haz it and I hates it. Not as much lately since I started my new job, but it still rears itā€™s ugly head. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/624 "2010-10-21T01:58:37Z")
These things Iā€™m finding in my seedless watermelon look suspiciously like seeds. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/625 "2010-10-21T13:10:03Z")
I had an interesting discussion with a co-worker yesterday; somehow we got onto the subject of driving while talking on the cellphone, and not only does he think that if you use a handsfree device youā€™re good, but he also thinks that other people shouldnā€™t talk on the phone because they get distracted, but heā€™s okay - heā€™s never had a problem talking on the phone and driving. I pretty much told him that all the studies say heā€™s wrong and dropped it. You know what everyone who talks on the phone while driving thinks? That it doesnā€™t affect them. I would be willing to bet if you asked the other drivers around them they would disagree, however. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/626 "2010-10-21T16:13:05Z")
Nobody ever thinks anything negative applies to them. Fact of life. Itā€™s a good thing Iā€™m perfect and brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/627 "2010-10-21T19:45:40Z")
This didnā€™t happen to me but it certainly deserves a ā€œlife sucksā€ mini-rant. A friend of mineā€™s husband has been out of work for about eight months. Heā€™s older and although he has a good background in retail it was a big uphill struggle to get a job. But with a lot of work and a lot of pavement pounding he successfully interviewed and got a job as a bookstore manager. He started today, and he and my friend were feeling pretty good about things. Then about an hour ago we got the news that his father died. Damn, that was just bad timing. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/628 "2010-10-21T20:27:50Z")
Speaking of bad drivers ā€¦ goddamn Dallas drivers. Iā€™m doing, what, 10? 15 over the limit? I shouldnā€™t be passed like Iā€™m standing still! Also, seriously, WTF is up with people about lane changes? I put on my blinker to let you know Iā€™m coming over, and you _speed up_ to block me?!? Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyou. Wanna guess how many times that happened just on the drive in to the office? It takes me maybe 15 minutes to get here - these things shouldnā€™t be THAT frequent of an occurence!! ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/629 "2010-10-21T22:11:48Z")
Also, ow. I just split my lip. Feels like I got smacked in the face. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/630 "2010-10-22T00:50:38Z")
Hey, [folks who link to NSFW stuff](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582624), you know that not only thereā€™s a box you can uncheck to break the links, handily called ā€œAutomatically parse links in text,ā€ but also spoiler tags are allowed? Stop it with the annoying spaces in the URLs, already. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/631 "2010-10-22T03:07:45Z")
Dear Retailers, The average height for women is between 5ā€™4" and 5ā€™5" not 5ā€™10" like men. If I cannot reach something Iā€™d like to buy because your shelves are above my reach and the object is set way back so I canā€™t even swat at it, you lose money because itā€™s not always possible to track down one of your employees or to find a kind stranger to pester in order to get the damn thing off the shelf. Instead, as happened today, I leave pissed off without adding anything to your bottom line. So, if you insist on having shelves that are 6ā€™ high so you can cram more stuff onto them, make sure someone who works for you is **regularly** tasked with the chore of pulling things on those shelves to the front so people can at least have the chance to knock them off and buy them. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/632 "2010-10-22T03:19:35Z")
Itā€™s funny how things trip you up in the world that were obviously made for men and havenā€™t been adjusted for women - as an avid gardener, I am always using [secaturs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pruning_shears), and they are always too big for my hands to grasp both handles and close them (and I have big hands for a woman). If I ever find a pair that have been scaled down for womenā€™s hands, Iā€™m buying five pairs. Hey, person tapping repeatedly at my door tonight - itā€™s nine oā€™clock, itā€™s pitch dark out, my husband is not home, Iā€™m not expecting anyone, I have a ā€œNo Solicitingā€ sign on my door, and Iā€™m in my pajamas already - get lost. Iā€™m not opening the door for you. I donā€™t care if you can hear the tv and see my lights on. ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/633 "2010-10-22T05:32:06Z")
One of the radio stations around here is playing Christmas music non-stop. It was bad enough listening to forced merriment just before Thanksgiving, but fucking OCTOBER? How could more than one person think this was a great idea? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/634 "2010-10-22T08:39:31Z")
I am a whisper above 5ā€™ even. I use a walking stick, not only for balance but to knock things down from the high shelves, if I donā€™t think that theyā€™ll be damaged. However, if I think that the item will be damaged, and I canā€™t find a helpful staff member or customer, or if I just donā€™t want it that badly, no, Iā€™m damn well NOT going to tryā€¦or perhaps stores WOULD prefer that us shorties would knock things down? Hell, my FATHER is short, heā€™s 5ā€™3", and heā€™s always had a problem finding things to fit him, everything from clothes to tools. As for answering the door, just take off the PJs, put on your chain mail bikini, and answer the door with a longsword and/or battle axe in hand. Personally, I always grab my husbandā€™s shotgun, but I live in Texas, land of crazy ass shooters. And Bill is trying to build up his own personal armory. I like Christmas music, despite being an atheist. Some of it is quite beautiful. However, I like it in SMALL DOSES, that is, play ONE Christmas song an hour or so. Because otherwise, someone is likely to go to the station and shoot the program director. Especially if they start this shit before Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/635 "2010-10-22T12:36:43Z")
And then on the opposite end, they build airline seats for small people and wonder why larger people have such a problem with them. 17 inches of shoulder space? Iā€™m sorry, my shoulders are about 21" wide. On my last two flights (which is not often), I had issues with the people next to me over our mutual shoulder spaces. Leg room? Seriously? Iā€™m only 5ā€™11" and I have problems with what you give us. Damn. I half expect us to roll up to the gate on landing, the front end of the plane to swing away and we get fed to the rotating knives. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/636 "2010-10-22T13:11:02Z")
This morning not one but two drivers threw lit cigarettes out their windows in front of me. And it was 35 degrees, so they had to roll down their windows to do it. I hope one day you forget to roll it down. ---
**Author:** ![Morella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Morella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morella)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/637 "2010-10-22T13:12:34Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > And then on the opposite end, they build airline seats for small people and wonder why larger people have such a problem with them. 17 inches of shoulder space? Iā€™m sorry, my shoulders are about 21" wide. On my last two flights (which is not often), I had issues with the people next to me over our mutual shoulder spaces. Leg room? Seriously? Iā€™m only 5ā€™11" and I have problems with what you give us. Damn. I half expect us to roll up to the gate on landing, the front end of the plane to swing away and we get fed to the rotating knives. Why donā€™t you buy a first-class ticket, or get your own plane? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/638 "2010-10-22T14:07:57Z")
My local small grocery store is awesome, except for their storage of glass canning jars (in cardboard boxes, thankfully, not loose) on top of their very tall freezers. Iā€™m 5ā€™9" and canā€™t even touch the bottom of one of these boxes without getting on tiptoe and stretching, much less reach them safely to get one down. At least thereā€™s usually a clerk nearby with a stepstool to grab one for me. ---
**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:** [October 22, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/639 "2010-10-22T15:25:17Z")
> [@Morella](#): > > Why donā€™t you buy a first-class ticket, or get your own plane? Heh - are you channelling **Shot With Guns**? šŸ˜ƒ Weā€™re hosting a Halloween party for our social group this year. The leader of the group has emailed me not once but twice now to check on how things are going. Dude, you donā€™t need to facilitate anything - everything is at my house, and weā€™re doing everything by email, which is between me and them; there is no need for you to keep butting in. Thereā€™s a _reason_ for it (interfering control freak), but no _need_. ---
**Author:** ![Morella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Morella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morella)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/640 "2010-10-22T15:35:56Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Heh - are you channelling **Shot With Guns**? šŸ˜ƒ > > Weā€™re hosting a Halloween party for our social group this year. The leader of the group has emailed me not once but twice now to check on how things are going. Dude, you donā€™t need to facilitate anything - everything is at my house, and weā€™re doing everything by email, which is between me and them; there is no need for you to keep butting in. Thereā€™s a _reason_ for it (interfering control freak), but no _need_. No, not interfering control freak. I just like to argue with people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833.md?page=33)