Minor rant thread. Post your rants o' the day here!

In reading "New Music Friday" on NPR I noticed the pronouns used were always plural in this particular review.  Did I miss something? Husband, sister, brother, partner in the band. What?! So I looked this person up and- "xxxxx lives in New Orleans, is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns." I want to gouge my berking eye balls out. I get pissed just thinking about that stupid E36 M3. Maybe this rant will make it go away. I'll take a silly assed Beach Boys song getting stuck on the endless loop over this.

In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :

Eh. I know some nonbinary people.  To them (plural them) it's important, to me it's a word no different than addressing someone as Doctor or Professor as a title, I just make a note and move on.

SWMBO will not take advice about parenting -OF ANY KIND. It is to the effect of no, no, I know what I'm doing, don't tell me how to raise me kid, I'm a mom, you don't know what you are talking about.

Half assed trying a suggestion and then flailing your arms saying ,  "See?!?! I told you it won't work!" just says you're a bullheaded ass.

I know this because I do the exact same technique and it works. You just need to learn to be open to ideas. And not self sabotage it. And patience. Definitely patience. This kid will run you if you don't.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Yeah, it's not a big deal to me.

Toyman! said:

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

I know. That seems to be the general theme with many government entities. Let's make life suck for all the employees so they can then spread that E36 M3 far and wide to make as many people miserable as possible. I figured the gent I talked to must have been new. His coworkers will suck the life out of him eventually so he'll behave like the rest of them.

Larger corporations have the same affliction. 

It's certainly true of my agency. It's gotten exponentially worse the past few years as anyone with experience retires and papershufflers move into upper management. The actual moving of people, once our primary goal, has been replaced with meeting arbitrary metrics. (I know goals are important, and we had plenty, but now we collect so much data they have trouble deciding what is and isn't important)

Ideally I'd stay another six years and walk out with a 30 year pension at 55. More likely I'll leave in two years, work somewhere else for twelve and collect a bit less at 62, but most days I would settle for not waking up anymore. 

On the crapper on vacation in FL, poking through pics to post on the sightings thread. Scrolling past the scrubbed launch pics, the dolphin and manatee pics, huge water slide pics, mini golf with the family, cousins at the beach, my wife and I on the hammock... then I hit this random one from our back porch at home last week

I have no words for the disappointment I feel about going back to my overcast curse

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

I do wish "xe" had caught on instead of "they/them" which from a linguistic standpoint was already overloaded.

"Before you start the car, fill the new oil cooler with oil", they say.  Okay. fine.  First off, I generate a gigantic berkeleying mess because I'm pouring oil into a 4mm opening on the stupid fitting.  Then, when I go to put the adapter back on to the cooler, I get it just a little snug, and that... should..  be..  just...  enough...  for....   And then it starts turning real easy again.  Yep, stripped the everloving E36 M3 out of the aluminum threads on the cooler.  Of course the adapter is fine because that's the part I could go get somewhere.

In the last three months, oil coolers have been the absolute bane of my existence.  I'm starting to think that I just want hot oil.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Relevant to the foreign languages thread, Finnish doesn't even have gendered pronouns at all, just one pronoun.

What slapped me in the face trying to learn German was gendered nouns, and all the different modifiers for same.

I'll be vague but, in general, as society has gotten "smarter" we've also made some really dumb rules for ourselves regarding acceptable behavior.  New rules about what we can say and write would appear like a pointless juvenile maze to earlier observers (and some current ones).

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

In reply to wae :

Sounds like a job for jb weld.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

The bipolar and schizophrenic folks need a stronger lobby. 

eastsideTim said:

In reply to wae :

Sounds like a job for jb weld.

My main concern with that is how quickly it will empty the crankcase if that comes loose at some point.  By the time you know that it's leaking, you're re-grinding the crankshaft.

Remember back in the old landline days when you could hear a pin drop over the telephone? How far we have digressed and every year as they keep making smart phones, laptops, and even TVs thinner and thinner, the sound keeps getting worser and worser. I for one wouldn't mind a 1/2" thick phone or a 1.5" thick laptop.

I tried to make a youtube video tonight after reading a hilarious political text exchange between two women form Arizona which was a direct quote from a famous SyFy aliens attacking the Earth movie. Anyways, I recorded the video with my stupid smart phone but my laptop is tucked away from my remote screen so after making the video, it's impossible to hear anything. I had to crank up the giant stereo and video the big screen tv instead of my couch laydown work station. 

While taking a break figuring out how to upload videos to Youtube, I decided to mount small computer speakers to my 27" monitor so I could finally hear stuff off of my laptop. It worked out great until I one inch-itised the mounting holes that I have to fix tomorrow. You would think that after 27 years of carpentry and 20 years of architectural and engineering drafting and project engineering, I wouldn't make those kind of mistakes anymore. 

Regarding pronouns... they/them really annoys me because it should be plural. I get that it can be singular too, but it just bothers me. Xe bothers me because I don't know how to pronounce it - is it chee, zee, exeee, szchee? 
 

I don't mind the premise. All for it - I'll call you whatever you want. But the pronouns themselves really annoy me.

Insomnia, I had not missed you. Why did you come back?

A local group had a display at an event in the first weekend in November, where they said they were desperately looking for volunteers. I have gone on their website and submitted their volunteer application three times since then and have not heard a word back. 

In reply to NickD :

Sounds like some private pet rescues that set the bar so high for adoption that they apparently don't actually want to let any of them go.

In reply to P3PPY :

I hear ya on this one. It's the grey coupled with the cold that gets me every year. I've put a 3 year limit on staying in PA. It will be 3 years too many. 

I went into work today and they actually expect me to do things.  It's the worst.

In reply to mtn :

I wonder if it is partially a regional dialect thing.  I've used they as singular or plural interchangeably for most of my life, so it's not really a difficult transition for me to make.

Order from summit has been stuck on "moving through the network" for 4 days. It shouldn't take a week for usps to get a package 50 miles from McDonough to Marietta. And what's worse is it contains the last fuel fittings I need to get the lotus running. Ordered additional ones from Amazon, maybe they'll beat it here and I can get rolling

In reply to gixxeropa :

Our town of 40 thousand used to sort its own mail and deliver it. Now it gets collected, shipped 100 miles away, sorted, and then shipped back to be delivered 3 or more days later.

In order to brew a batch of beer, I need to schedule with a local farm to haul away our spent grain. I have a primary farmer, and a backup farmer. Primary farmer is usually available Tuesdays for pickup (sometimes Friday), so I plan on Tuesdays as brew days. If he can't do a week, I reach out to the backup.

I texted primary farmer, and still have not heard from him if he can do a brew tomorrow. I'm fine with "no". I just need an answer in order to plan my week.

I'll probably give him until lunch.