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

[Arcadia]

I think it's from Start Up, but don't quote me either. :p 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

As I recall I looked it up and saw it on IMDb as from start up.

[Pseudonym]

Yep, it is Start Up. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

I miss hiking.

 

 

Anyway, went to the mall for half afternoon yesterday, and I was struck with brilliant idea: unruly kids and their parents should be banned from public places.

[Pseudonym]

Yup, agree with that. Went towards a cafe the other day, realised it was a kids cafe, and swiftly veered away. 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I miss hiking.

 

 

Anyway, went to the mall for half afternoon yesterday, and I was struck with brilliant idea: unruly kids and their parents should be banned from public places.

Yup, agree with that. Went towards a cafe the other day, realised it was a kids cafe, and swiftly veered away.

Just remember that there are 3 types of unruly kids: 1) the ones that are spoiled brats and/or likely to end in jail types, 2) the ones that you happened upon during a meltdown and the mom was just happy that her kid finally said his first word ever that morning (or whatever other first that normally would have happened several years earlier), 3) and the kid who was having a bad day, but mom needed to get errands done and had no one to watch the kids regardless of being able to afford a sitter.

 

Agreed that the first ones should be banned until they learn some discipline because obviously the parents don't know how to behave in public to even teach their kids to, while the 2nd and 3rd ones need a lot of grace and mercy. The hard part is knowing which 1 of the 3 you have as the parent either hasn't gotten to their kid yet, or has tried multiple times for the latter 2 while the first one might remain purposely ignorant.

[Hikari]

I miss hiking.

 

 

Anyway, went to the mall for half afternoon yesterday, and I was struck with brilliant idea: unruly kids and their parents should be banned from public places.

 

It is a brilliant idea, but it would put me out of a job, so I can't support it . . as much as I might like to.

 

I propose an addendum:  Kids and their parents are still allowed in public libraries & special designated 'family events' but otherwise are banned from retail establishments, movie theatres and restaurants where childfree adults are trying to have a good time.

[T.o.b.y]

 

I miss hiking.

 

 

Anyway, went to the mall for half afternoon yesterday, and I was struck with brilliant idea: unruly kids and their parents should be banned from public places.

Yup, agree with that. Went towards a cafe the other day, realised it was a kids cafe, and swiftly veered away.

Just remember that there are 3 types of unruly kids: 1) the ones that are spoiled brats and/or likely to end in jail types, 2) the ones that you happened upon during a meltdown and the mom was just happy that her kid finally said his first word ever that morning (or whatever other first that normally would have happened several years earlier), 3) and the kid who was having a bad day, but mom needed to get errands done and had no one to watch the kids regardless of being able to afford a sitter.

 

Agreed that the first ones should be banned until they learn some discipline because obviously the parents don't know how to behave in public to even teach their kids to, while the 2nd and 3rd ones need a lot of grace and mercy. The hard part is knowing which 1 of the 3 you have as the parent either hasn't gotten to their kid yet, or has tried multiple times for the latter 2 while the first one might remain purposely ignorant.

I agree with you, Camper. And I prefer to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

[Hikari]

 

 

"Give him back."

"Okay, okay! God, touchy."

Isn't MF left-handed? (So is Amanda.)

 

This probably looked better for the shot.

 

Three Continents is much better with a handgun than a keyboard. John's blog posts must take about 2 days apiece to write at the speed he hunt-n-pecks. Doctors really should learn how to keyboard because of their terrible penmanship.

They keyboard skills are apparently as poor as their writing.

Remember that when Dr Watson types, his hunt and peck method apparently is a series of keyboard shortcuts for whole words and phrases.

 

Yeah, I want me one-uh them keyboards!  Though come to think of it, maybe it's just auto-complete?  (And I hate auto-complete.)

 

I don’t see how they can be that bad at typing, not the younger generations anyway. All the stuff you have to type just to get through uni would force you to speed up.

 

Yes, MF is left handed, but from what I remember he shoots right handed as John too.

 

Right, John always shoots right-handed.  Somebody pointed out (a while back) that soldiers are taught to shoot right-handed, regardless of their own dominant hand, because all military pistols eject their cartridges to the right -- meaning that if you shoot left-handed, the smoking-hot cartridge will be ejected into your face.  (That's presumably true of all guns, but don't quote me.)

 

But where is that scene from?  Is it even from Sherlock?  Am I losing my mind?  (Please don't answer that last question.)

 

 

Wow, I'm impressed, then, at the dexterity shown by left-handers in the armed forces.  If I had to shoot with my left hand, what a joke that would be.  I can't even use kiddie scissors with my left hand.  They must have to do special hand-strengthening exercises to be able to grip properly and hold their line with the recoil and stuff.  I'd be hopeless at shooting with my dominant hand, so nobody give me a gun.  Please--it's for your own safety.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Yup, the first kind.

That is why I think the parents should be banned too. Those I saw just played with their phones while their kids climbing on table, run around in crowded places, ruining merchandize displays and screaming sh*t, or bringing them to R rated movie and let them make all the noises as they pleased while parents played with phone in dark cinema with obvious facebook on screen. Well maybe they were busy participating in forum Does parent's resposibility stop at birth? They are not even trying to get their kids to behave and even 'awwwww aren't they adorable'.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Wow, I'm impressed, then, at the dexterity shown by left-handers in the armed forces.  If I had to shoot with my left hand, what a joke that would be.  I can't even use kiddie scissors with my left hand.  They must have to do special hand-strengthening exercises to be able to grip properly and hold their line with the recoil and stuff.  I'd be hopeless at shooting with my dominant hand, so nobody give me a gun.  Please--it's for your own safety.

 

It's my impression that a person will be good at doing a certain thing with whichever hand they learned that particular skill with, regardless of which hand is normally dominant.

 

I know a gal who was born right-handed, but broke her right arm just before her class learned how to write, so she learned left-handed, and still writes left-handed.

 

And my father was nominally left-handed, but his teachers forced him to write with his right hand.  He never liked his handwriting (though I thought it was fine), and blamed its "poor" quality on being forced to write with the wrong hand.  I asked why didn't he switch?  He said he couldn't write with his left hand any better than I could -- he'd have to learn all over again.

[Hikari]

 

Wow, I'm impressed, then, at the dexterity shown by left-handers in the armed forces.  If I had to shoot with my left hand, what a joke that would be.  I can't even use kiddie scissors with my left hand.  They must have to do special hand-strengthening exercises to be able to grip properly and hold their line with the recoil and stuff.  I'd be hopeless at shooting with my dominant hand, so nobody give me a gun.  Please--it's for your own safety.

 

It's my impression that a person will be good at doing a certain thing with whichever hand they learned that particular skill with, regardless of which hand is normally dominant.

 

I know a gal who was born right-handed, but broke her right arm just before her class learned how to write, so she learned left-handed, and still writes left-handed.

 

And my father was nominally left-handed, but his teachers forced him to write with his right hand.  He never liked his handwriting (though I thought it was fine), and blamed its "poor" quality on being forced to write with the wrong hand.  I asked why didn't he switch?  He said he couldn't write with his left hand any better than I could -- he'd have to learn all over again.

 

 

I'm not particularly good at anything with my dominant hand, either, which is my tragedy, though after 20 years of using the Internet I have finally become a decent typist.  Two typing classes and years of struggling through undergraduate essays failed to do that.

 

Everyone in my family is right-handed, but one of my sisters ties her shoes like a leftie, holding the bow in her right hand and looping over with her left.  It looks incredibly awkward to me and when I first realized she was doing it, I puzzled over why she was making things so difficult for herself by using what for us is the 'wrong' hand.  Then it dawned on me:  when her preschool teacher modeled shoe-tying, she was facing the kids so everything was mirror image of what she was actually doing.   My sister copied exactly what she was seeing . . and she ties her own shoes like a pro . . a left-handed pro.  It's the only thing she does left handed.

 

I work with preschoolers in story time, so I am now very conscious to, when we are working on body parts and directions and/or doing a song with them that I turn around so that when I raise my right hand, etc., the kids are oriented the correct way.  And if I ever have to teach someone to tie his/her shoes, the correct way to do it is to get behind the child so they can see which hands you're using.  If it's a left-handed kid, I will pass them off to my left-handed colleague because I might be able to tie a bow with my left hand but it ain't gonna be pretty.

[T.o.b.y]

Yup, the first kind.

That is why I think the parents should be banned too. Those I saw just played with their phones while their kids climbing on table, run around in crowded places, ruining merchandize displays and screaming sh*t, or bringing them to R rated movie and let them make all the noises as they pleased while parents played with phone in dark cinema with obvious facebook on screen. Well maybe they were busy participating in forum Does parent's resposibility stop at birth? They are not even trying to get their kids to behave and even 'awwwww aren't they adorable'.

That part about the speculative forum for parents gave me the giggles.

 

Around here, another type is actually more common that gets on my nerves a lot: parents whose children (usually small children) I would never have noticed at all if they weren't so busy broadcasting to the world how annoying they find them. I will hear a nagging strain of "No, no, stop that, stop that, stop that right now, you're being so horrible today, I will never take you shopping again, no, stop, no, behave!" Usually followed by the incredibly specific instruction "be reasonable". Then a whining, complaining meltdown on the part of the parent, going on and on about how impossible the kid is. Whom I can't even hear over the din they are making until it finally starts to cry.

 

I know that being a parent is a very tough job, I really, really do. And try not to be judgmental. But in those cases, I can't help thinking, no wonder your child is annoying if it has you for a role model!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I think some people are simply annoyed by children (as a class).  Such people should never become parents, but alas many of them do.  I was helping out in a nutritionist's office one summer, and one client, a woman, had her young son with her.  The boy sat quietly during his mother's consultation, but answered in a friendly manner when spoken to.

 

After they left, the nutritionist asked me what I thought of the boy.  I replied that he seemed like a very nice, normal kid.  She agreed, then told me that his mother wanted to have him put on medication for his "hyperactivity." 

[Hikari]

Not really a rant. Just an observation on my own obtuseness.

#ThatAwkwardMoment

When you realize that someone you have been interacting with online for quite a while is the opposite gender than you have been assuming all this time.  How did I miss it?  I mean *it's right there* as Anime Sherlock says in one well-known Tube video (It's called 'Sherlock Spoils Everything' and it's cute.)  I honestly do not think this person had their gender listed on their profile avatar until recently.  LIke, maybe the day before yesterday, because I have been a daily visitor and I just found that out minutes ago.  It was a surprise.

Like most of us, I imagine, I read certain writing styles as feminine and others seem to have a more masculine slant, even if I don't know their gender right away.  That would be an interesting exercise we should try sometime--given a number of anonymous samples of writing, to what degree of accuracy can you guess the writer's gender?  The Internet strips away all cues except black & white text (or in the case of this site, white & black   . . . .that is, if you don't post gender-specific names and avatars and photos for a hint.  I have been mistaken for a man before based solely on my prose.  I think it's droll when it happens, because surely a man wouldn't use so many parenthetical phrases and ellipses as I favor.  I don't expect the average bear to be conversant in Japanese, but 'Hikari' is the female form and Star Trek fans have encountered the masculine.  This does not prevent some individuals in places I have cybervisited from calling me 'Sir'.  Rofl.  Some people I've met IRL think I'm Canadian as well, apparently because I 'don't speak like an American'.  I think I tend to enunciate more clearly than average owing to spending 6 years of my life teaching non-English speakers, but American I definitely am, Eh.  A lot of online people assume that I am a Japanese geisha girl in my 20s . . but my user name is a bit tricky that way.  I never encountered a Japanese person with quite my level (or verbosity, at least) of written English skills, unless they were in fact half American and grew up here for a significant period in their formative years.

This user read masculine to me, along with a rather masculine sounding name and a definitely masculine avatar . .so I did that *ss out of me and umption thing that Samuel L. Jackson warned us against.  It's not fatal.  I will certainly enjoy interacting with this person as before (no, I am not volunteering who it is, out of massive embarrassment (mine)) . . I just have to readjust my mind palace image that goes with the name.  Live and learn!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I wasn't sure about that person myself for a while. 

 

Added:  Oops!  I spoke too soon -- the member I had in mind still ain't telling.  So I could be wrong about them. .    And they aren't the person you're talking about.

[T.o.b.y]

I have no idea who you two are talking about.

I ususally assume that a user on here is a lady if I receive no other information, just because it is statistically more likely in an online fan forum.

Why is it so embarrassing though to have guessed wrong? Doesn't seem like a big deal to me...

 

[Pseudonym]

I don’t know who you are talking about or see why it’s a big deal either. Apparently everyone thought I was male in the beginning, didn’t bother me. 

[Pseudonym]

If there’s one thing guaranteed to tip me over into rage it’s problems with the internet. And guess what’s happening today.

[Hikari]

5 hours ago, T.o.b.y said:

I have no idea who you two are talking about.

I ususally assume that a user on here is a lady if I receive no other information, just because it is statistically more likely in an online fan forum.

Why is it so embarrassing though to have guessed wrong? Doesn't seem like a big deal to me...

 

I'm glad you have no idea who I'm talking about because that is the whole point of keeping them anonymous. 

Assuming that a user is female is a good strategy for this forum because at least 98.2% of the time, that is the correct answer.   I erred in the 1.8% this time.

It isn't a 'big deal', which I why I'm not going to mention it to the other person, though we could have a good laugh over my mistake.  It was momentarily embarrassing because I am like Mycroft Holmes in that we both like to operate from positions of certainty, especially about the most basic facts about somebody.  Whether an online correspondent is a woman or a man doesn't really matter in the least, as far as the quality/content of my interactions with them.  The only thing that has actually changed is the shift in my head.  What 'matters' is that I was wrong . . .and both Mycroft and I hate to be wrong. lol

[Pseudonym]

All of this week I keep thinking it's later in the week than it is. Today I keep thinking 'yay! Friday!' except, of course, it's not. 

I wish companies wouldn't screw you over in the guise of doing you a favour. My phone company sent me a message to say 'because you are a valued customer you can pay a fee to change your contract early!' I can pay an extra fee? Oh yes please! Where do I sign?

[T.o.b.y]

More a lament than a rant: RIP my faithful old car. I got a call from the garage today that began with the words: "I am afraid we have some bad news for you". It was only there for a routine inspection. 

I had hoped that it would make it to its 20th birthday but no. This is it. 

Aside from the hassle of having to get a new car much faster than we had hoped - we were planning to look around at leisure - I am really sad. I got that car while I was still in school, high school, and it has seen me safely through many adventures. Poor old car. And poor Toby who feels very old today and wonders how she is going to get around out here without a set of wheels. 

I hope we find a successor fast. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

What did they say was wrong with the car?  If I were you, I'd get a second opinion, or at least ask them if there are any options for repair.  Sometimes our garage has neglected to tell us that kind of stuff, maybe thinking we're like most people and can't wait for an excuse to buy a new car.

[Arcadia]

I remember watching my first car being hauled away; I burst into tears. Tears of guilt that I couldn't save it.

[Van Buren Supernova]

I'm about to get my first car in May. And I am 20 over years late from normal car age I suppose.

Reading about how you feel with your cars, maybe I should exercise 'Don't love it so you won't be sad when it's taken from you'? But it never works!

So I think I will just happily decorate it with Sherlock's stuffs. Planning to do block letter (as I love Scrabble) saying High Functioning Sociopath. Keep Your Distance. Is it too cute? . For my defense, I don't think most people here would get the reference, they probably just think I'm just a lunatic.

I have a Funko to put in front, but then the sun wouldn't be friendly to it, so I'm dreaming of mini Mycroft's umbrella for Funko Sherlock. 

 

On 2/14/2018 at 4:21 AM, Hikari said:

Not really a rant. Just an observation on my own obtuseness.

#ThatAwkwardMoment

When you realize that someone you have been interacting with online for quite a while is the opposite gender than you have been assuming all this time.  How did I miss it?  I mean *it's right there* as Anime Sherlock says in one well-known Tube video (It's called 'Sherlock Spoils Everything' and it's cute.)  I honestly do not think this person had their gender listed on their profile avatar until recently.  LIke, maybe the day before yesterday, because I have been a daily visitor and I just found that out minutes ago.  It was a surprise.

Like most of us, I imagine, I read certain writing styles as feminine and others seem to have a more masculine slant, even if I don't know their gender right away.  That would be an interesting exercise we should try sometime--given a number of anonymous samples of writing, to what degree of accuracy can you guess the writer's gender?  The Internet strips away all cues except black & white text (or in the case of this site, white & black   . . . .that is, if you don't post gender-specific names and avatars and photos for a hint.  I have been mistaken for a man before based solely on my prose.  I think it's droll when it happens, because surely a man wouldn't use so many parenthetical phrases and ellipses as I favor.  I don't expect the average bear to be conversant in Japanese, but 'Hikari' is the female form and Star Trek fans have encountered the masculine.  This does not prevent some individuals in places I have cybervisited from calling me 'Sir'.  Rofl.  Some people I've met IRL think I'm Canadian as well, apparently because I 'don't speak like an American'.  I think I tend to enunciate more clearly than average owing to spending 6 years of my life teaching non-English speakers, but American I definitely am, Eh.  A lot of online people assume that I am a Japanese geisha girl in my 20s . . but my user name is a bit tricky that way.  I never encountered a Japanese person with quite my level (or verbosity, at least) of written English skills, unless they were in fact half American and grew up here for a significant period in their formative years.

This user read masculine to me, along with a rather masculine sounding name and a definitely masculine avatar . .so I did that *ss out of me and umption thing that Samuel L. Jackson warned us against.  It's not fatal.  I will certainly enjoy interacting with this person as before (no, I am not volunteering who it is, out of massive embarrassment (mine)) . . I just have to readjust my mind palace image that goes with the name.  Live and learn!

How come I think I know who you are talking about? 

But most likely I'm wrong though, I only draw conclusion from little things I read.

Anyway, about gender stuff.

I find it's much more peaceful when I pretend to be male. I played a fun online card game with 3 strangers, just something harmless, no money involved. Whoever available could join. It's strategy card games I played for fun since college with real friends. When I used the generic female avatar, sometimes there were unpleasant interactions, some jerks would take offense when I did big moves that win the game, some tried to chat or talked impolitely. So this game could be played with two, three or four players, and sometimes other players left after a game or two so things could get uncomfortable. When I changed to male avatar, those sort of things were reduced 80-90%? It is much more peaceful.

The other game, Words, I purposely use male avatar and ambiguous gender username. Most players I encounter are serious players, no chatting, we just want to play, but sometimes there are chatters or over-friendly users. And it is nice that they think I am a male because I like to ignore their questions or just replies in shorts, and they don't get offended. I guess this is sexist comment, but in my experience, it's harder for woman to get away from being rude or quiet, in online and real world actually. Not sure if it applies to others.