Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Artemis]

On 1/6/2023 at 4:11 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I'd be fine right up till a major holiday (Thanksgiving or Christmas especially), but then I'd get some kind of flu, and spend my holiday break in bed.

That was me as a kid.  I'd get a terrible flu or strep throat or something on either Thanksgiving or Christmas, every year without fail.  It didn't stop until I reached young adulthood.  It still does happen once in a while, but not every year anymore.

I'm sorry you were sick for Christmas, FL!  I hope you are feeling better now.

 

[besleybean]

I was always ill in school holidays and even now as an adult, I seem to follow the pattern of many of those who work in school-

always ill during holidays.

I was only glad I got my Italian holiday feeling well this year, for a change.

Unfortunately, my poor daughter-in-law is really unwell.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think one reason a lot of people get sick during breaks is that they've been very active (which stimulates their immune system) and then all of a sudden they relax.

I hope your daughter-in-law is feeling better very soon!

 

[besleybean]

Yeah, we are thinking it is looking like neuralgia...

hopefully she will get both an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment this week.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Without saying what it is (sorry), I need to rant.

Someone tried to fool me. No monetary gain, no life lost or anything. But it is something that I value related to impression for my works.

 

So this person was trying to convince me that she had done something for me. Her attempt was lousy, one glance I know she was lying and faking them. The timing wasn't telly, the result was as glaring as Shelock being pantless in Buckingham Palace.

 

It was laughable, anyone with a quarter of brain would be able to see through that. But I suppose, no one ever challenged her. Again, she was 'helping' and it is known that things could backfire if you make a peep because that is how unfair the digital world is.

 

Against my better judgement, I confronted her. I let it sit for the whole day but I can't let her think that her cunning stupidity should be rewarded by another ignorant party who choose not to say anything. I would die regretting this.

 

If you want to fool me, make more effort and make it convincing, please!

So I confronted her, it was obvious but just like what I had expected, she insisted that she did eveything honestly (which means she has the speed of Superman, flying around the world twice without farting in less than two hours if that helps you understand the audacity of her lie).

It's fine. I did my part. I just thank her politely after pointing out another two times that she was a liar without saying so.

She could retaliate and try to destroy me tomorrow, she totally could. But f that.

 

I just, very pissed about it. Gah.

If you want to do something wrong, do it right, for John Watson's moustache's sake!!!

[Artemis]

I don't know what you're talking about, but I sort of understand what you mean.  Manipulative people who only think they're clever are almost more intolerable than manipulative people who are actually clever.

I don't usually confront manipulative people on their manipulations.  There's no advantage there for me; letting them know I'm onto them only gives them the upper hand.  Down the line they may realize they've made fools of themselves, or they may not.  Either way I've decided I don't care.  Such people are already convinced of their superiority, there's no talking them out of it.  You could serve them the biggest slice of humble pie, and somehow they'll rationalize it into French silk.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

5 minutes ago, Artemis said:

Such people are already convinced of their superiority, there's no talking them out of it.  You could serve them the biggest slice of humble pie, and somehow they'll rationalize it into French silk.

I'm afraid you're probably right about that.  However I think VBS's motive was primarily her own peace of mind, and that can be worth quite a lot.

 

[Artemis]

3 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

However I think VBS's motive was primarily her own peace of mind, and that can be worth quite a lot.

Yep.  I hope it all works out.

 

[Van Buren Supernova]

11 hours ago, Artemis said:

Manipulative people who only think they're clever are almost more intolerable than manipulative people who are actually clever.

Exactly

11 hours ago, Artemis said:

I don't usually confront manipulative people on their manipulations.  There's no advantage there for me; letting them know I'm onto them only gives them the upper hand.  Down the line they may realize they've made fools of themselves, or they may not.  Either way I've decided I don't care.  Such people are already convinced of their superiority, there's no talking them out of it.  You could serve them the biggest slice of humble pie, and somehow they'll rationalize it into French silk.

10 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

I'm afraid you're probably right about that.  However I think VBS's motive was primarily her own peace of mind, and that can be worth quite a lot.

 

I agree with you. The thing is, it affects me; it falsely represents me, although it does not necessarily put me in a bad light (but false representation bothers me as much as that).

I don't know how to describe it better. Maybe something like this person tries to give a testimony about how I do here. She has never seen this site before, but ten seconds later, she is able to produce this: VBS has significant contributions to the forum with her general posts and a twist of many erotic romance rants. Have I ever talked about my romance life or ranted about anything erotic??? I am barely able to differentiate thumbs and carrots!

Wait that is probably not a good example.

It's so obvious she is faking it from the timing and her very wrong analysis. That tells me how not credible she is, but the fact that her 'resume,' which she must have obtained in a very short time by doing all these quickie nonsenses, is rewarded. No one would say anything because she could easily change her testimony with something like VBS sucks and her posts are all stupid nonsense about erotic carrots and carrots only.

Anyway, yes, it's too obvious and dumb, I wouldn't be at peace for not pointing it out. I felt lied to and used. So we went back and forth, I asked her to explain without actually accusing her (her responses are everywhere and even more ridiculous) for a while (private communications), and my responses to her were as polite as possible, with sarcasm up to the neck. Tbh, it ruined my day and could discourage my target audience, so I was actually holding it back instead of screaming at her virtually.

At the very least, I hope she would be more careful in throwing her very misleading words around, and I actually felt better once I did that. I hate the digital world and how easily it could be manipulated.

 

P.S. I just want to clarify there was nothing erotic about the actual incident. I just want to emphasize how dire the situation felt for me that time. 😁

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'm torn between giving that a heart (or a sad) and giving it a ha-ha, but the forum won't let me do more than one.  So here I sit, conflicted and unable to act.  

 

 

[Fantasy Lover]

On 1/7/2023 at 9:19 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

Thanks for the warning!  If I'm ever thinking of ordering vol au vent, I'll be sure to ask do they serve it with fish sauce.  I mean, seriously, some little detail like that can really make or break a dish.

 

Oh? Have you ever eaten it? BTW, the sauce is called mousseline.

On 1/8/2023 at 10:34 AM, Artemis said:

That was me as a kid.  I'd get a terrible flu or strep throat or something on either Thanksgiving or Christmas, every year without fail.  It didn't stop until I reached young adulthood.  It still does happen once in a while, but not every year anymore.

I'm sorry you were sick for Christmas, FL!  I hope you are feeling better now.

 

I am, I'm very glad.

Anyway, on the subject of scammers. I've had 57 emails in the span of 16 days from spam emails. Ranging from congratulations you've won a iPhone 14, to messages that a package wasn't able to be delivered and they needed me to resend my adres again, to fake messages from fake people from fake dating sites and the obligatory you've been chosen as an heir and you get this amount of money. Urgh, it pisses me off. Block and delete.

[Carol the Dabbler]

7 hours ago, Fantasy Lover said:

Have you ever eaten it? BTW, the sauce is called mousseline.

No, I don't recall ever eating that dish.  But even small  details can make a big difference, and the sauce is a relatively major difference.

7 hours ago, Fantasy Lover said:

I've had 57 emails in the span of 16 days from spam emails.

Good heavens!

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

This doesn't belong in a "rant" thread exactly, but we don't have a "grump" thread, so here goes --

I'm sometimes intrigued by links that pop up when I'm looking for something else.  I know they're probably just click bait, but some of them are interesting.  Well, I was intrigued by one today, so I opened it and clicked about a million times and finally got really close to the revelation of what was actually going on -- and the next click took me into a series of nothing but ads.

So I thought, well, that sort of thing is bound to have been covered by the news, so I searched on a few key words and found a very similar story on a local channel's website.  It was a bit different from the other one, but certain details in the TV version accounted for most of the differences.  There was one that wasn't covered, though, so I did another search, and found another site -- more click bait, but the account was very similar and even used some of the same photos as the first one.  I just kept clicking till I was finally able to read the explanation of that one point (though it didn't completely jibe with the news story).

And just below that, the writer actually said that s/he had made it all up!  

 

[Caya]

Those clickbait sites are getting more annoying for sure. This might help: https://twitter.com/WeHateBait

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 2/7/2023 at 3:55 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

I'm sometimes intrigued by links that pop up when I'm looking for something else.  I know they're probably just click bait, but some of them are interesting.

That is exactly why it becomes clickbait, an interesting headline. From my experience, if you have to click more than once, then abort it. Most likely it would be nothing they advertise anyway.
What annoys me more is they also do this with the news. They post something like "Because of this, (something happens to someone/some company/insert object)" or "This is the reason why (something that affects you) is going to (something bad). And you have to click the bloody article to find out what is 'this'. However, there is a positive in that, most likely, you will find the answer + there is more chance that people will read the whole article and therefore understand the situation better, and not freaking out and spread it like hot fire from just the headlines, which is way too common now. Still, I think it's an annoying tactic.
Another way to spot clickbaits, they like to play with emotion. They are dramatic and sensational. 

On 2/7/2023 at 3:55 AM, Carol the Dabbler said:

And just below that, the writer actually said that s/he had made it all up!  

This would turn me absolutely monstrous!

[Carol the Dabbler]

4 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

Another way to spot clickbaits, they like to play with emotion.

Yup, which is what makes them sound interesting.  And some of them really are, if you click enough times.  I don't mind the ones that actually have a pay-off, assuming no more than a few dozen clicks.  It's the ones that leave me high and dry (one way or another) after all that.

It's not like the advertisers benefit from my curiosity, because I don't read the ads.  But I guess the advertiser pays the host site anyhow, because how can they tell?

19 hours ago, Caya said:

Those clickbait sites are getting more annoying for sure. This might help: https://twitter.com/WeHateBait

Thanks, Martina.  Explanation to those not familiar with that site: It shows the opening page of a click-bait item, along with a very brief explanation (sometimes just one word) of how it turns out, thus sparing you all the in-between stuff.  But that's no help when I'm curious about a specific item that I've come across.  *sigh*  Me and my insatiable curiosity!

 

[Fantasy Lover]

Okay, something happened to me. But it might too complicated to explain since I don't know if the problem could exist in other countries, but I will try to explain to the best of my ability.

Here I go. So at the end of the year you need to look at your meter and tell your energy company how much you used the entire year, then you get a paper that says you have used less you get money back because you payed too much, if have used more than last year you have to pay extra. 

I have used more so I had to pay extra, but I had to pay more than 1k so I was like I can't afford to pay that. So I asked for an payment plan, which means that I had to pay small amounts for the entire year. So I thought problem solved.

But then I got another end of the year bill, also more than 1k. Which meant I had to pay almost 2500€, so I called and it turned out they were two separate bills for two time periods so the company said they would cancel the current payment plan that I had and make the two bills one bill. But I was was like before I agree to this, tell me WHY it's so high in the first place. Turned out they forgot that I had a disability discount, so now I have to mail my company proof that I have a disability discount. Which I did, hopefully they got it and my bill is adjusted, I keep you all updated.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Good thing you asked them why!

[Fantasy Lover]

Indeed, I know that I used a lot more electricity. Because I didn't have heating in my bedroom, I used a portable heater and an electrical blanket. But to have to pay that much? Seems like overkill. Anyway, the bill is adjusted. I now have te pay almost 900€, so I'm pleased.

But the whole thing caused a discussion between me and my mom. She sweared up and down that my monthly bill will be higher and that I had to change my energy company. So I said they weren't going to change the monthly bill and that changing company wasn't going to change my bill because I have the cheapest bill possible. But did she believe me? Noooo! 

[Carol the Dabbler]

She presumably has some reason for saying that, but (like you) I have no idea what it might be.

I guess the problem arose in the first place because you're on what we call a "budget plan," where you pay a twelfth of the expected yearly total each month, then adjust at the end of the year according to what you've actually used.  That's generally the most convenient.

We chose instead to pay the actual amount each month, which means our bill is higher in the summer (for A/C) and winter (for electric heat, which is all we have), and lower in the spring and fall.  But at least there's not much chance of a large cumulative error such as the one you encountered.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've been having a bit of indigestion now and then, and happened to see an article saying that chewing gum after a meal might help, so I bought some chewing gum today.  I've never been a frequent gum chewer, and I think the most recent time I had any was in the 1980s.

Anyhow I bought a random pack of gum today and popped a stick into my mouth after supper.  Gaaahh!!!  What have they done to chewing gum?  Well, according to the internet, they've replaced the chicle (from tree sap) base with a plastic substance similar to what they make innertubes from.  And I believe them!  I was determined to keep chewing for half an hour, to give it a fair trial in the indigestion department, and I managed to see it through, but I was pretty tired of chewing by then.

So I did some more searching on the internet, and found that a few companies still make chicle-based gum.  Gonna check into that!

 

[Fantasy Lover]

I have 2 rants, here they are:

So a friend of mine said Facebook does ads in its videos now, I checked and he's right. Effing adds on Facebook videos, as if YouTube wasn't enough. 

Either I haven't changed much since I was a child, or I have a very recognisable face or the people I've come across don't have face blindness. Due to sheer coincidence I have come across four people who I haven't seen in years, three of them I went to school with, though I wasn't close to any of them that all recognised me. They were all like: "Hey its been a long time that I last saw you, I was like who the fudge are you? Just one time I want to hear that I've changed a lot but I'll only get if visit my previous school, but was I young  and can't remember any of the teachers name. Oh well.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

9 hours ago, Fantasy Lover said:

Facebook does ads in its videos now....

Do they at least have a "skip ads" button like on YouTube?

9 hours ago, Fantasy Lover said:

Either I haven't changed much since I was a child....

Some people really don't -- my oldest brother is still recognizable from his baby pictures!  But even though there were only about 50 people in my high-school class,  there have been a few times at our reunions that somebody would walk in and the rest of us would say "Who the heck are you?"  (I'd quite willingly believe that one particular gal hired somebody to attend a reunion in her place.)

9 hours ago, Fantasy Lover said:

... or the people I've come across don't have face blindness.

There are degrees of face blindness.  My mother would seriously not recognize me if I parted my hair in a different way, even if she was expecting to see me.  My youngest brother is like the people you've been encountering, spotting people (in a big, crowded mall) that he hadn't seen in a few decades.  And I'm somewhere between.

 

[Fantasy Lover]

Wait, YouTube has a skip button? I didn't know.

Anyhow I have another rant, I hate children. I find them impatient, loud, obnoxious, insufferable and chaotic. But what I hate more than children is parents who don't reprimand their spawn!

I went swimming with my mother today and there was a bubble bath, we both entered it to enjoy it. But there was a child splashing water in the direction of her mother and us who didn't say anything about her behaviour, my mom got fed up and left to enjoy the sauna. Eventually she left, shortly after that three boys entered the bubble bath who started splashing in each direction, thankfully the life guard pulled them out of the water.

 

Then my mother returned and we went to a section that had back massage, and another child was splashing water with a mother who didn't say anything. She left briefly, while she left me and my mom got talking to the couple opposite us how we didn't understand that the mother failed to read the room. When she returned my mom returned to the section we went before, and there was another child splashing there and thankfully the mother reprimanded her child, after that we went home.

[Carol the Dabbler]

6 hours ago, Fantasy Lover said:

Wait, YouTube has a skip button? I didn't know.

Well, it looks more like an arrow, but you use it by clicking or tapping.  It's on the video part of the screen, toward the right, but doesn't appear till an ad has started.  Then (at least in the US) it says "Skip Ad" and if you click/tap it, the ad closes and the actual video resumes.  I have no idea if that feature is available everywhere, though.

As for kids running wild, I wonder if today's parents are afraid that telling them to stop it will traumatize them?  It would explain a lot.