This is topic The "What makes me go insane!" thread in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 08-26-2009, 10:42 AM:
 
Credit to Joe for inspiring the idea for this thread with his "What did you buy today (or recently)?" thread.

Houston, bumper to bumper, traffic

 

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Posted by Jake Spell (Member # 5294) on 08-26-2009, 11:16 AM:
 
Complete incompetents that can not do their job worth a F@$%
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 08-26-2009, 11:39 AM:
 
And they are your boss, or co-workers that you depend on.
 

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Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-26-2009, 11:47 AM:
 
Someone hitting their 2 outer on the river!
 

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Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 08-26-2009, 01:05 PM:
 
People who think Jethro Tull is just a member of the band. (Armageddon)
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-26-2009, 01:31 PM:
 
Having my brand new car damaged to the tune of $1200 by rocks flying out of a dump truck on the freeway, and the dump truck owner's insurance company denying my claim because there's no way that could possibly happen and also because I didn't throw up a roadblock on the freeway and get statements from witnesses.
 

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Posted by Jake Spell (Member # 5294) on 08-26-2009, 04:02 PM:
 
You just gotta love insurance. Here to deny your claim 24/7/365.
Have A Nice Day!!!!
 

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Posted by Jarret Chessell (Member # 5077) on 08-26-2009, 04:05 PM:
 
Megan Fox not returning my calls!!!!
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 08-26-2009, 04:28 PM:
 
Marketing departments.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 08-26-2009, 05:25 PM:
 

quote: Andy Bajew

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Houston, bumper to bumper, traffic

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Come on up to Northern VA for some REAL traffic.

 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-26-2009, 05:27 PM:
 
The outragously costly and totally unnecessary "capital improvement project" that the local and state governments and the bureaucrats at City University of NY have come up with to squander 75 million dollars, most of it tax payer's money, because they think it's a good idea in these economic times to to completely DEMOLISH one wing of our performing arts complex which contains 2 perfectly sound, functioning theatres -- one a 500 seater (half stadium, half slope) with a fly system and proscenium stage as well as a 150 stadium seater, plus an office complex that was rebuilt only 8 years ago due to a major fire. And what will these people plan to rebuild in its stead? a SINGLE 250 seat, slope theatre, period (at one point they even were touting a FLAT floor with moveable chairs -- goes to show the pervasiveness of their diseased brains.

In summary, they are spending 75 million to replacing two theatres with a single one with a net loss of 450 seats (although they thought it would be a great idea to have a lobby twice the size of the 200 seat theatre) and we are loosing a complete 20 room office complex as well. PLUS they have not consulted with the people who have to use this space, who would gladly tell them they are making huge mistakes which all the tech people and managers and stagehands will have to live with forever and spend years trying to fix after these imbeciles are long gone!

Mistakes like a shop where large sets won't be able to turn sharp corners to get onto the stage and costumes will need to be taken OUTSIDE the building to get them to the theatre, etc., to name a few not to mention that with the size of the huge lobby, they have no provisions for a House Manager's office or storage for table and chairs or a concessions area.

With less that even a 3rd of that money, they could refurbish those two theatres to make them look spectacular. These people are certifiably brain dead.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-26-2009, 06:22 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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squander 75 million dollars, most of it tax payer's money

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We have that going on here. The state highway dept is replacing the decking (the "road") on three bridges near here, all of which look to be in perfect condition according to a lot of people who know about such stuff. Meanwhile the streets in this town are falling to pieces. We could pave the whole town twice for what they're spending on those bridges. Your stimulus (tax) dollars at "work."
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 08-26-2009, 06:42 PM:
 
Oh I don't know, in the context of $10 trillion deficits, $75 million is loose change under the sofa cushion.

A block from where I work, they're spending federal stimulus dollars to repave part of the Amtrak station parking lot. There's a big sign that says "PUTTING OREGON BACK TO WORK AGAIN!". I guess I've been imagining going to work every day. The best part is Amtrak is always in danger of imminent shutdown due to lack of funding. But dammit, they'll have a new parking lot now.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-26-2009, 07:04 PM:
 
Dave, I am not so much crazed about the fact that they are spending 75m on a facility that potentially is the place where I will be working, but that it is TOTALLY, UNEQUIVOCALLY unnecessary. The building is in tact; it's operational; no major systems failures, i.e., everything freakin works and works well. Seats in the theatres are new, in the larger fly theatre, the rigging is all in excellent shape and the roof was replace only a decade ago. There is no reason whatsoever that this building needs to be razed and replaced, but replaced with LESS rather than more. I am crazed that they money is being totally WASTED.

Our office space was built from scratch after a major fire 8 years ago in that wing and it's actually the nicest looking office space on campus. That WON'T be replaced in the new building. As I said, useless spending and getting LESS in return.

These existing two theatres mount all the concerts, recitals and plays of the Theatre Department and the Concervatory of Music. This amounts to over hundreds of events in two facilities. Yet when the chairpersons of these two departments pointed out that there are not enough days in the semester for performances in TWO theatres, let along trying to do that in a single space, they were told that was an imagined problem and the departments would just have to work it out. The Theatre Department has already realized that instead of FOUR fully staged performances a season, they now will only be able to do TWO, short changing theatre majors of the experience of producing theatre pieces.

These people need to be taken out and have very nasty things done to them.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-26-2009, 09:57 PM:
 
Here's another one. In NYC they instituted a recycling program where everyone is supposed to separated their garbage into multiple garbage cans -- bottles, aluminum cans, paper/cardboard, glass and then everything else. If you don't to this, you get fined $50.

I am all for this -- I had a vision of all the plastic and glass and metal going to recycling plants and being reused, turned into useful stuff like weak airplane parts. Conservation -- a great thing. Recycling a great thing.

Then one day I was at the curb when the garbage truck came along and I spoke to the two garbage men. I asked what kind of recycling plants does the recycled glass go to and what do they make out of it. At first they kind of gave each other knowing looks and chuckled a bit, then said my idea about this material being processed and recycled into new products was a bit naive.

They explained that the trucks take the different types of garbage back to the very same garbage dumps they alway took them to, or to the barges. They said, yes the materials are dumped in different areas of the dump fields, but, NOTHING IS RECYCLED....EVER. They said, nothing has been recycled since they started the program. What they HAVE done is use this program to generate income for the city in the way of fines for those poor schlubs who get caught mixing stuff together.

What's worse, they now send THREE garbage trucks around to pick up these different pails of separated stuff, effectively adding 2/3rds more polution to the air, more fuel comsumption and more overtime, which the sanitation union loves. It's a disgrace.

Yeh, I separate my garbage....I make sure I always separate anything in my regular garbage that has my name and/or address on it and then I stuff bottles, plastic, glass, cans, EVERYTHING together just like I always did. I shred all the stuff with my name.

I live in an apartment building so unless the Sanitation Police catch me coming out of my building and putting my garbage bag in the cue AND they make me open it up right there in front of them, they will have to just realize their scam has been thwarted. And I hope they dig thru all my garbage looking for evidence of who to fine.

Screw them and their recycling scam.

As for the
 

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Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 08-26-2009, 11:18 PM:
 
Threads like this one.
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 08-27-2009, 07:02 AM:
 
That's mean.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 08-27-2009, 10:37 AM:
 
Anything on the phone that involves entering digits after the phone is answered to reach the right department; hopefully not a recording. Louis
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 08-27-2009, 01:42 PM:
 

quote: Louis Bornwasser

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Anything on the phone that involves entering digits after the phone is answered to reach the right department; hopefully not a recording. Louis

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And adding to that: Getting the automated message where you HAVE TO PRESS "1" or whatever to get ENGLISH!!! Usually at the very start of the call, and the option message is already in English!! Screw the people who can't speak English, make THEM have to choose!!

Another thing is people who don't return calls when they say they're going to...
 

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Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 08-27-2009, 04:27 PM:
 
Cold Fries from McDonalds, that and a certain distributor that will remain unnamed.
 

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Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 08-27-2009, 04:43 PM:
 
Voicemail.
 

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Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 08-27-2009, 04:55 PM:
 
Drivers who forgot how to use their turn signals.
 

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Posted by Luke Anderson (Member # 5316) on 08-27-2009, 06:12 PM:
 
Being stuck at a red light when no traffic is going through the green light direction of the intersection. Don't we have better technology then this.

Business' that leave their open sign on all night when they closed at 5pm or such.

Wal-Mart I hate Wal-Mart

-Luke
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 08-27-2009, 09:22 PM:
 
Have you seen Penn and Tellers "Recycling Is Shit" video? Very good and totally accurate.
 

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Posted by Robert John Jeromson (Member # 2559) on 08-27-2009, 10:02 PM:
 
Having your broadband down for a week and after four phone calls being told that the reason a technician hasn't visited you yet is because they are on strike
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 08-27-2009, 11:23 PM:
 
What makes me go insane?

Cowardly drivers who come to a dead stop at the end of a superhighway on ramp. It's always loads of exciting fun when that on ramp is a long curving one where you can't see what's coming up ahead of you -such as some one PARKED in the fucking acceleration lane!


I have a general level of disdain toward anyone using a cell phone hand set while driving. That disdain is exchanged for pure hatred for the reckless jerks who text while driving. My response to those who want to be able to text while driving: fuck you, you're going to kill someone doing that. Might as well drink a fifth of Wild Turkey or smoke a bowl and then get behind the wheel. Same damned thing.

A few months ago I saw some asshole driving a Honda Civic, using his knees to steer the car while he used both hands to thumb a text message into his phone. Man. If only I had a 2 million candle power spot light handy at that time. I swear I would have shined that bastard right into that dude's car. Let some Close Encounters level of intense light disrupt his texting activity and get him involved in a new activity: screaming as his car heads into a light pole!

 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-28-2009, 12:54 AM:
 
I hate when you go into a restaurant to eat, order an item that could need ketchup or mustard, and then the server brings the food but you still don't have any condiments, so you ask for them, then your food is sitting there getting cold while the damn server takes forever to bring the condiments.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-28-2009, 03:47 AM:
 
You're in a drive through at a famous "Choke and Puke" fast food eatery at night, and some douchbag in a SUV, or high-wheeled "don't scratch my truck, or I'll cry to mommy" 4x4 that you know has never seen any dirt trails, doesn't have the decency to turn off his lights when he's behind a CAR that rides much lower than his SUV and you have to reangle your mirrors so his bright lights don't blind you.

Course, I take care of that sometimes: if he's high enough. I can angle a mirror to get him right back in the face with his own lights...or hit him with a spot light.

-Monte
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-28-2009, 04:21 AM:
 
From a list on my website:

--Going to sleep
--Waking up
--Dandelions
--Stupidity
--Fake boobs
--People smoking anywhere near me (this includes any kind of smoke, not just cigs)
--Cheap asphalt
--Any and all Apple iApps (such as iTunes, iMovie, etc)
--People in public who don't seem to realize that there are other people besides them who may need to navigate by/around them
--PETA
--People who cannot spell "definitely" correctly
--Interlacing
--Cowboy hats
--50Hz (the refresh rate, not the audio frequency)
--Composite video
--Constipation
--WMV & WMA formats
--People who drive under the speed limit
--The sun
--Lossy audio compression, like MP3
--All MPEG video or any compression scheme that uses interframes
--People who stretch 4:3 video to fit a 16:9 screen
--Wasps, hornets & yellowjackets
--Flies
--Explosions without a death toll
--Gnats
--Mosquitoes
--Dog slobber
--Parallel ports
--Sunburns
--Carls Jr commercials
--Celery
--Power Point
--Excel
--Dust
--People who spend time looking for a close parking space
--Optical media burned at too high of a speed
--Static electricity
--Geese
--Shipping via UPS
--Those lame AIDS/Breast Cancer ribbons (they won't help cure you or anyone else)
--Command prompts
--Those who have no respect for punctuality
--Apple/MicroSoft updates breaking more than they fix
--Sticker residue
--Bose
--Real Player/Media
--Soccer, baseball and other sports where excitement is extremely rare
--Home theaters in a box
--Zapf Dingbats, Webdings and other retarded non-fonts
--Audio clipping (levels, not content)
--Long-sleeved shirts
--Circuit City
--Interpolated frames on 120Hz TVs
--Firecrackers
--Automatic transmissions
--Blind faith
--Buildings less than 100 stories tall
--Thin walls
--Dolby "A"-Type
--Knowing that there is a project that I have not yet completed
--Those lame "tramp stamp" tattoos on the small of the back (right above the ass) that almost every female my age and under seems to have
--Books that are fiction
--Being offered countless warranties and miscellaneous "reward zone" nonsense when being rung up by a cashier
--College sports
--2001: A Space Odyssey (watching turds flush is more entertaining... and has better editing)
--Sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.
--Salad
--Roundabouts
--Mayonnaise
--Klipsch
--Unskippable previews and menus on DVDs

And lately:

--Screenvision
--Poor projectionists
--Film-Tech database going all wonky
--Film-Tech mail not functioning at all
 

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Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 08-28-2009, 09:55 AM:
 
Bobby, your going to really love this one.

Texting and driving
 

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Posted by Christian Volpi (Member # 2370) on 08-28-2009, 10:07 AM:
 
Guys that wear ties with short sleeved shirts and people that cruise in the left lane.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-28-2009, 10:08 AM:
 
Damn Joe, you are 99.99% my hero -- every one of them with the exception of celery and maybe salad (at least one with big huge chunks of barbecue chicken and CHEESE) are indeed hateful and vile, BUT I had to hang my head when I saw 2001 on your list. Although I've heard you rag on it before so it wasn't a total surprise, but it is painful to see my super hero Annoyance Slayer take such a hard fall. 2001: A SPACE ODESSEY reigns supreme -- always has and will and even you, oh great one, cannot bring it down.
 

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Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 08-28-2009, 10:15 AM:
 
What makes me go insane?

Fair weather patrons at the drive-in
The ones who will only come if it's 85 degrees and clear and sunny during the day and clear and mid-70's in the evening... unless there's something better they'd rather do. In order for them to come, your establishment must be absolutely spotless, lawns and parking areas well manicured, they must be able to park in the dead center of the field (usually in the middle of two parking spaces), they arrive at 7:45 for the movies that start at 8:00 p.m. and demand that there be no line at the concession stand to feed them. A nice selection of all "G-rated" movies would help them out a bunch. Oh, I forgot... that No Alcohol sign down on the ticket booth really doesn't apply to them... just the other people.

I have at my place.... "The Barn People" (i.e. ... by their actions they must've been raised in a barn.) Spit their gum on the sidewalk, stick it on the concessions counter, etc. When it rains, instead of walking the gravel driveways they will tromp thru the mud and muck then complain that WE ruined their shoes. Upon arriving at the concessions building, the men will scrape their shoes on the lobby walls, while their female companions will go into the women's restroom - take off their shoes and wash them in the white porcelain sinks. After washing their shoes in the sink they will bust open the paper towel dispenser to use most of the roll to dry their shoes. When done, they will throw the paper towels on the floor, leave the mud, gravel and grass in the sink - then stop by the concessions window and complain about "how nasty our restrooms are".

The "You know what ya'll need to do?" people. These are the people who stop me in the lobby and proceed to tell me...
a.) Ya'll need to have old classic horror movies and B-movies every week.

b.) Ya'll need to have carload pricing all the time.

c.) Ya'll need to give free refills on drinks and popcorn.

d.) Ya'll need to give out free passes to the elementary school to all the kids.

e.) Ya'll need to have karaoke and x-box nights on the movie screens.

f.) Ya'll need to have at least one G-Rated movie every week.

g.) Ya'll need to have concerts out here before the movies on weekends.

h.) Ya'll need to pave over the entire lot and get rid of all of this grass and mud.

i.) Ya'll need to put them automatic flushers on all of the toilets.

j.) Ya'll need to put about 10 more stalls in the ladies room.

k.) Ya'll need to have a full time restroom attendant like they do at the night clubs.

l.) Ya'll need to play more Christian films and let the church people in for free and give them discounts on concessions.

m.) Ya'll need to let my daughter sing the Star Spangled banner over the radio... she's really good.

n.) Ya'll just need to raise that screen up about 10 feet higher so we can just park any damn-well place we wanna park. How hard could that be?
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-28-2009, 11:16 AM:
 
People who read our sign which says "Balcony reserved for ADULTS ONLY (21 and over) due to insurance and safety reasons" and then ask, "Can the kids go upstairs if they're WITH ME?"
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 08-28-2009, 12:18 PM:
 
All of the road rage ones reminded me of another...

People who drive around with their fog lights on all the time.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-28-2009, 01:47 PM:
 
Ya know what really grinds my gears? People who write:

-- "loose" or "looser" when they mean, LOSE or LOSER
-- "then" when they mean, THAN
-- "than" when they mean, THEN
-- "them" or "that" when they mean, WHO, HIM or HER, HE or SHE (sorry Christian )
-- "your" when they mean, YOU'RE
-- "quiet" when they mean, QUITE

And people who still haven't figured out the difference between THEIR, THERE, and THEY'RE.

Many more.
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 08-28-2009, 01:54 PM:
 
People who mix singular and plural pronouns:

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion." <--- wrong!

"Everyone is entitled to his opinion." <--- correct!

"All people are entitled to their opinions." <--- correct!
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-28-2009, 01:55 PM:
 
People who tailgate instead of growing enough balls to change lanes. Seriously, if you're willing to drive way over the speed limit I don't see why you'd be such a eunuch that you can't decide to also use one of the open lanes to do so.
 

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 08-28-2009, 02:01 PM:
 
For myself: practically anything having to do with the travel industry. Airlines and rental car companies especially, to hell with them and their pricing policies, lies and bullshit. I spent three hours sitting on the taxiway at DFW last summer sitting next to a woman who had bathed in patchouli oil that morning, and I vowed to myself: never again unless I absolutely have to, or I can get there on Amtrak. I used to love to travel, too, but these days, it's just infuriating.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-28-2009, 02:40 PM:
 

quote:

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People who mix singular and plural pronouns:

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion." <--- wrong!

"Everyone is entitled to his opinion." <--- correct!

"All people are entitled to their opinions." <--- correct!

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quote:

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2. (used after an indefinite singular antecedent in place of the definite masculine form his or the definite feminine form her): Someone left their book on the table. Did everyone bring their lunch?

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quote:

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2: his or her : his, her, its —used with an indefinite third person singular antecedent <anyone in their senses — W. H. Auden>

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-28-2009, 02:40 PM:
 
I hate it when people write:

"Pour" when they mean PORE
"Phase" when they mean FAZE

I saw that last one in Newsweek a while ago, for Pete's sake!
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 08-28-2009, 02:57 PM:
 
Heh heh, people who can't figure out the difference between TO, TOO, and TWO.

Oh, and DOWSER and DOUSER.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-28-2009, 03:13 PM:
 
Paul! I told Barco about that one, as one of their control screens displayed "dowser". Don't know if they fixed it yet or not.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-28-2009, 03:14 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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2001: A SPACE ODESSEY reigns supreme -- always has and will and even you, oh great one, cannot bring it down.

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quote:

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Complete incompetents that can not do their job worth a F@$%

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quote: Paul Mayer

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And they are your boss, or co-workers that you depend on.

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quote:

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Ha, I just went through a spell of that problem but I managed to leave it behind!

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quote: Mark Lensenmayer

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I agree that the "slit scan" section is too long

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I think that would depend on just what you've been smoking.


 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-28-2009, 09:21 PM:
 
I saw 2001 many times, ran it many times as well and I NEVER read the book and I probably never will. I never thought it SHOULD be explained beyond the language of the film. Whatever you make of it should come ONLY from the film. A novel and a movie are two very different art forms. And why CAN'T some of the film remain ambiguous rather than literal? That aspect never bothered me. As for shortening it, if anything needed to be shortened, it MIGHT have been the space walk to repair the module. But there is so much that’s right….I would even say that's brilliant about this film that who am I to tell the director, hey, you should shorten this scene 'cause I would like it better. Maybe he WANTS to make me feel the ponderous boredom of life in space. Oh, and to keep this On Thread.... I HATE when people say about any movie, “oh, I read the book and the movie isn't as good." (which I know you did not say, Joe).

quote: Joe Redifer

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The whole ending sequence pissed me off. He turns into a giant baby and floats to Earth. WTF? People will say that's beyond brilliance because it is so artsy-fartsy.

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quote:

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used after an indefinite singular antecedent in place of the definite masculine form his or the definite feminine form her

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quote: Clint Koch

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Back on topic...people who think they know all.

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quote: Steve Guttag

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Yes, yes...those of us that actually know it all really hate those that "think" they know it all!

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 08-30-2009, 08:09 AM:
 
Good one Steve but I'll add to that. People that DO know it all but are not in the least bit humble about it.

Drivers... you guys should come to You-Tah and experience the brain deads behind the wheel here. If you thought Florida or southern AZ are bad... .

Clint... Zoos... Another bad thing here in SLC is the Hoogle Zoo. The zoo which animals are dying to get out of!!
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 08-30-2009, 08:13 AM:
 
- Dr. Watson errors.

- Banks that charge a fee to cash their own checks.

- America's Next Top Model.

- Abends.

- People who don't realize that the brim of the hat goes in the front.

- Completely made up words like "imparticularly".

- One page Microsoft Publisher files that are 427.6 MB.

- People who say "gender" when they really mean "sex".

- Smoking.

- People who speak in broken, mush-mouth, limp-tonged, incomplete, unintelligible riddles using some foul-language based dialect.

- OS/2.

- People who take foul shots with invisible basketballs at non-existent hoops.

- Low fat milk.

- Real Housewives of <insert-some-city-here>.

- The Blue Screen of Death.

- People who swing at invisible golf balls.

- New Jersey.

quote: Joe Redifer

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Roudabouts

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quote: Frank Angel

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Trailers that specify "Coming" Dates

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and trailers that specify "3-D."

Also, people who think it's just wrong for a company to earn a profit.
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 08-30-2009, 09:10 PM:
 
1) People who ask if I can fast forward trailers

2) Employees who say "Projectionists don't do anything!!"

3) Management
 

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Posted by Jake Spell (Member # 5294) on 08-30-2009, 09:54 PM:
 
People who want me to rewind movies because they came in 30 minutes late
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 09-01-2009, 03:24 PM:
 
SOME of the things that make me CRAZY ...in no particular order:

People who argue with me when I'm right!

Bagpipes.

People letting their dogs piss and/or shit in my yard...may they die and rot in hell!

Having to use more than one remote control (one for TV, another for the DVD player, etc.).

When you adjust the volume of the TV and the volume display blocks the subtitles during important dialogue.

Walking into spider webs.

Having a bunch of unknown cords, transformers, adapters, etc. Trying to figure out what goes with what!

Air Guitar...don't do it. You look like a dork.

TV shows and commercials with ringing doorbells or phones which make you think the sound is coming from your house.

The Food Channel's "Ace of Cakes"(or ANY cake-making show), ANY show with that dickhead Guy Fieri, "Iron Chef America", and those super-slurpy love-bugs on that POS show "Down Home with the Neelys."...YUKKIE POO-POO!

People who don't know the difference between 'Yield' and 'Merge'!!

Martha Stewart

Keith Olbermann

Sylvester Stallone

Brendan Fraser

People who haven't found a balance between idealism and realism.

Grocery carts with a bad wheel.

A toilet paper roll that the tissue unwaps from the under side of the roll rather than over the top.

And last, but NOT least: "Dowser" when it should be "Douser"!!!!!!!

(I'm sure I'll think of more...)
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 09-01-2009, 04:43 PM:
 

quote:

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And last, but NOT least: "Dowser" when it should be "Douser"!!!!!!!

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quote: Andy Bajew

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...I read had it spelled "Dowser" not "Douser...

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quote: Frank Angel

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Soy Milk (which is not even milk...how do you know that? Because that it doesn't come from a tit).

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quote: Frank Angel

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Soy Milk (which is not even milk...how do you know that? Because that it doesn't come from a tit).

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quote: Lewis Black

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There’s no such thing as soy milk. It’s soy juice. But they couldn’t sell soy juice, so they called it soy milk. Because anytime you say soy juice, you actually start to gag… We all know why there’s no soy milk, don't we? Because there’s no soy titty, is there? I was always told that in order to have milk, you must have breasts, and I have yet to see a soy bean with breasts!

---

quote:

---

Soy milk is there for folks with a lactose intolerance. I don't think it's meant for folks with normal digestive tracts like yours!!

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quote: Lewis Black

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Lactose intolerant milk? Kiss my dick! If you're lactose intolerant you can't drink milk. So what's in the fucking carton? Get it out of there, get it away from my milk. It is talking to my milk and making it feel bad about itself.

---

quote: Sally Ann Burgess

---

Neil Diamond

---

Whats wrong with Neil? He has some good tunes.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-03-2009, 04:52 PM:
 
Due to my divorce, I have to find a new place to live in the next month, so here's my peeve for today:

People who charge $1,000/month rent for shit holes.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-03-2009, 08:56 PM:
 
Tim,

Sorry to hear about the divorce... not a fun thing by any means but in reality it is the road to a brighter future.

Mark
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-03-2009, 09:39 PM:
 
That's what everybody keeps telling me. I sincerely appreciate the thought, Mark.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 09-03-2009, 10:54 PM:
 
Me too, Tim - sorry to hear about a divorce.

As a kid I got to see several of them up close. Not fun even when both sides agreed on things. My dad finally got the hang of it (marriage) by his fourth try. Mom never did get the hang of it, even after four tries.

Tim, I wish you all the best!
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 09-03-2009, 11:02 PM:
 

quote: William T. Parr

---

Whats wrong with Neil? He has some good tunes.

---

quote:

---

-A restaurant closes at 10:00. You arrive at 9:40. The staff are already vacuuming and scrubbing the floors in an attempt to hurry out the doors. They certainly do not look thrilled to see you.

---

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

About Neil Diamond: His best two recordings ever are "Cherry Cherry"

---

quote: William T. Parr

---

Any recommendations on a good steakhouse?

---

You want a good steak, go to cattle country. Go north on I-25, drive 400 miles, take I-90 to Sheridan, then go north 125 miles to Forsyth, turn right, go 17 miles on the old highway and eat at the Longhorn Steakhouse in Rosebud. Probably just as good as you'll find in Denver, but less costly. (Well, unless you count the gas.) You can see a movie at the Roxy after you eat - also cheaper than Denver (but hopefully better).
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-04-2009, 11:43 PM:
 

quote:

---

Tim, I wish you all the best!

---

Thanks, Paul. I know you are going through some issues, too. We are agreeable, but I don't honestly see how I'm going to make it, with all the alimony I'm paying.
 

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Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 09-05-2009, 01:13 AM:
 
When someone says "I have a quick question." I want to punch them in the face. These people never have a quick question...it drags on and on and on. They just say that to pretend like they are not really going to waste anybodys time, but they do at length. Just shut up and ask a question like a normal person.
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 09-05-2009, 01:19 AM:
 
I say that all the time so that management will believe exactly what you just said.

I hate when people say no comment..."no comment" is a comment..

I also hate when people say they don't have all day..how is it possible that you don't have all day..?
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 09-05-2009, 06:11 AM:
 

quote: Tim Reed

---

I don't honestly see how I'm going to make it, with all the alimony I'm paying.

---

I feel your pain buddy! When I got divorced, my ex took the kids and moved 1500 miles away. She pretty much got everything. I had to give my Jeep back to the bank, couldn't afford the payments anymore. I sold my corvette and gave her all that money. Bitch

Rick
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 09-05-2009, 09:16 AM:
 
Chris Rock has one of the best takes on alimony I have ever heard
 

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 09-05-2009, 01:32 PM:
 
I’ll tell you something that’s starting to make me more and more nuts: keeping digital media codecs and file extensions straight. This last week I took an IMX50 camera original and loaded it into an Avid server in the .MXF format. When the editor was done with his conform he sent it back to me as an .AAF file which contained an .MXF, .WAV, and an .EDL file. The .MXF file, in order to work in my device (a Nucoda FilmMaster HD) had to be converted into its native .DPX format. When I was done grading the .DPX, I dumped the .WAV and exported the .DPX to an Avid Nitris in two streams: a DNxHD30 file for offline and editorial review, and a DNxHD 145 stream for mastering (DNxHD being, of course, Avid’s take on the SMPTE VC-3 standard). Meanwhile, another guy pulled the same .AAF file and ran the .WAV thru ProTools, and exported that to the same server as an .AIFF file. It was married to the DNxHD 145 file via time code, and the whole thing was laid off onto HDCamSR.

What the fuck happened to just pushing “record” and “play” together?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-05-2009, 03:25 PM:
 
Yet another:

-Starbucks coffee. While I personally hate coffee with an extreme amount of passion (note, this is why the sides of my teeth are still white), I went to go get a Starbucks for my mom who is all but crippled because she wanted one. Lo and behold Starbucks has these lids with holes in them so that coffee can splash out over every little bump you hit. Now my car smells like coffee. I feel like cementing my nose shut as I cannot stand that smell. But why would Starbucks create such an insidiously stupid lid design? There should not be a god damn hole there unless the customer punches through the plastic, y'know, like every other beverage lid from every other restaurant. This is the best design they could come up with after all of their years in business? I hope every corporate member of Starbucks gets gonorrhea. They deserve it. And all employees while I'm at it. And their families and all of their children from now until forever.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 09-05-2009, 09:19 PM:
 

quote: Eric Robinson

---

When someone says "I have a quick question." I want to punch them in the face.

---

quote: William T. Parr

---

Any recommendations on a good steakhouse?

---

quote: Chris Slycord

---

With me, it's when someone says "Can I ask you a question?"

---

quote: Phil Hill

---

That bugs me too. I answer with "What's your 2nd question?"

---

 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-06-2009, 03:48 AM:
 
-Children soliciting items. They do it so that they can win a prize for some lame organization they are part of, like Boy Scouts. When these children are related to you, you are expected to buy their shit because they are family. It is supposed to be oh-so-cute when these li'l tykes come up to you with a clipboard and ask you to buy some schlock. Then their idiot parents tell you that if you want more than one item, put them under different names so the li'l hoser can get more points or some shit. I never, ever give in. I don't want what you are selling. Come back when you are selling a specific TV I am interested in at a deep discount and can provide immediate delivery. Until then, get out of my face!

-Children in general.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 09-06-2009, 08:18 AM:
 

quote: Chris Slycord

---

With me, it's when someone says "Can I ask you a question?"

---

quote: Joe Redifer

---

But why would Starbucks create such an insidiously stupid lid design?

---

Recently designed and added to all Starbucks stores-

 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-06-2009, 03:26 PM:
 
Yeah, they didn't give me one of those green things.
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 09-06-2009, 03:33 PM:
 
Joe, perhaps you can be the next big lawsuit. First the guy burning himself with McDonalds coffee, then Joe Redifer suffering emotional damage from not receiving his lid blocker from Starbucks..

Sounds like a plan to me..
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-06-2009, 03:53 PM:
 
I don't know if you are joking or not, Andy, but you are beginning to piss me off.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 09-06-2009, 03:59 PM:
 
Thanks for the laff, Joe! As usual, you're right on target!
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 09-06-2009, 05:35 PM:
 
The turds on craigslist who:
--Don't Respond
--Don't show
--Don't produce
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-06-2009, 06:08 PM:
 

quote:

---

-Children soliciting items.

---

Even though they know darn well I own the movie theatre, the Boy Scouts come in yearly wanting me to buy 16 ounce cans of popcorn from them for around $7. I have to laugh because we buy 35 POUND bags of the stuff for $12, but I also have to admire their balls for soliciting me, so we usually buy a can or two and dump it in with our regular popcorn.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-06-2009, 06:49 PM:
 
LOL! That's good, Mike.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 09-07-2009, 02:10 PM:
 
Aholes who abuse reserved handicap parking spaces. Sign sez it all:


 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-07-2009, 05:30 PM:
 
I was a little annoyed by some stupid behavior I saw at "Wally World" earlier today. Exactly what is it with some people that they have to enter Wal-Mart using the exit doors? What the hell is wrong with the doors labeled "entrance?"

Do these people not know how to read? Are they just plain stupid? Is their eyesight so exceedingly bad they cannot read the 8" tall Helvetica Medium letters that say "EXIT?" Do they think they're somehow more "cool" by doing the opposite of what the sign above the doors suggest? Do they think it is fun to block the path of others trying to leave the store? Are they looking for a fight?

The more time I have to spend inside Wal-Mart means more work my ego and superego has to do in keeping my id from saying or doing something a little harsh. The id gets stronger in its resolve when you're standing in the 20 items or less "express lane" stuck behind someone with a cart filled with a lot more than 20 items. Of course they have to do all sorts of things to drag out the amount of time it takes to complete their transaction. I think some people consider a trip to Wal-Mart a form of entertainment, like I would a trip to Cancun or Las Vegas. They don't want the trip to end! This is compounded if the customer is some rhino sized person riding one of those Wal-Mart scooter things. By the time you're making an escape through the "EXIT" doors the goofy people walking the opposite direction blocking your path could be enough to make you finally lose it. Your id is telling you to use that new shower curtain rod as a club to beat the folks who can't enter through the "entrance" doors. Thankfully the ego and superego have control of your arms and your mouth.

 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-07-2009, 06:30 PM:
 
Here's something that doesn't make me go insane, but is kind of annoying:

-Tangled hangers. When I pull my shirts out of the dryer I grab a hanger which is inexplicably tangled with the one next to it. How they get like this, I will never know. Maybe I should invest in some plastic hangers. Or just store my shits on the floor where they belong (not a lot of my closet space is mine any more).
 

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Posted by Robert John Jeromson (Member # 2559) on 09-07-2009, 07:06 PM:
 
How about the only time you get good service in a supermarket is when you use the automatic checkout, at least it says "please" and "thank you" and "have a nice day", not the usual vacant "I have just worked an 8 hour day on minimum wage" stare, or worse the quickly raised eyebrows followed by "Sup?". Most of the checkout operators can't even bring themselves to speak to you, you can go through the whole transaction without exchanging a single word and when it's all done they knob towards the final total on the till as if to say "pay now and piss off".

And another thing, why is is that people have to bring their entire f**king family to do their grocery shopping, I can't really understand why it is necessary to have your six kids, grandma and your Aunt Agnus who can't hear very well and calls everybody "Sonny" crowded around your trolley and blocking up and entire aisle arguing over what brand of Mayonnaise doesn't give your Uncle Jack gas because at 93 he's developed a nasty case of lactose intolerance.

Just get the f**k out of the way and let me get on with it.
 

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Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 09-07-2009, 09:27 PM:
 
Robert, I hear ya. I was at the grocery store later than usual today, just after 5pm, and there were tons of families just loitering around, in front of items I wanted, side by side blocking the entire aisle, dashing out of the aisle to get in front of me and stopping immediately. At least the store actually had the store brand raisin bran this week. Apparently I shop just after all the old people, and there is no way I'm paying an extra buck a box to get the brand name cereal, so I just stocked up for a month. I'd better start doing the same for the store brand prunes.
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 09-07-2009, 11:51 PM:
 
When did gross obesity become a "legitimate" handicap where the heffers can legally park in the handicap spots and tool around in the store in the scooter?
Wal-Mart IS a fat heffer's paradise, where they literally get shoes, large underpants, new dvd's and Little Debbie snack cakes all under the same roof.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 09-07-2009, 11:57 PM:
 
.....and have the gall to buy a 2 litre bottle of Diet Coke ....
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-08-2009, 12:27 AM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Tangled hangers. When I pull my shirts out of the dryer I grab a hanger which is inexplicably tangled with the one next to it. How they get like this, I will never know.

---

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Maybe I should invest in some plastic hangers. Or just store my shits on the floor where they belong (not a lot of my closet space is mine any more).

---

quote: Robert John Jeromson

---

And another thing, why is is that people have to bring their entire f**king family to do their grocery shopping

---

It's an entertainment outing. Some people like to eat at a restaurant and then see a movie. Some people like to see a football game. And a few love an afternoon adventure visiting Wal-Mart! Entertainment the whole family can enjoy!
 

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Posted by Dylan Houdeshell (Member # 5415) on 09-08-2009, 12:33 AM:
 
I HATE it when the comercials are louder than the actual show that I'm watching. When that happens I don't even care to watch anymore TV
 

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Posted by Eric Robinson (Member # 2966) on 09-08-2009, 02:59 PM:
 
Whats frustrating is that people wait around all day until I go into the bathroom to call me.

Oh...I mean it makes me go insane in the litrane.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-08-2009, 03:51 PM:
 
Dylan, that's why when I watch I always MUTE the commercials. Well, that and commercials tend to be obnoxious at any volume level. I haven't watched any TV in probably 6 months now.
 

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Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 09-08-2009, 03:56 PM:
 
I hate it when people complain about being duped or scammed on facebook, twitter, or myspace.

In this day in age, why would you put so much personal information on the internet for anyone and everyone to see? Someone will eventually try to exploit your ignorance. It seems the traditional ways of keeping in touch and socializing are being eliminated.

Those people who were scammed only have themselves to blame.

If someone wants to know me well enough to see all of my "friends" and family, as well as aspects of my life they wouldn't normally see....they can meet me in person, get to know me, and become a physical part of my social circle.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-08-2009, 05:26 PM:
 

quote: Tristan Lane

---

I hate it when people complain about being duped or scammed on facebook, twitter, or myspace.

---

quote: Tristan Lane

---

Those people who were scammed only have themselves to blame.

---

quote: James Westbrook

---

When did gross obesity become a "legitimate" handicap where the heffers can legally park in the handicap spots and tool around in the store in the scooter?

---

And since when did scooters become a thing that was considered good for people are unhealthy? If you can't walk around due to weight and lack of exercise, the scooter WILL ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE.

I just love the ad that has a guy hawking one of these pieces of shit saying "As a nurse by profession..." and goes on his spiel, as if real nurses who aren't paid to say so will say that scooters are awesome when reality tells us that real nurses go absolutely against giving away these products.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-09-2009, 12:57 PM:
 
I don't think there is much of any excuse for a doctor or nurse to be obese. More than a few in my area of the country are huge. It kind of makes it difficult to take medical advice from someone who looks like they could keel over dead any minute.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-09-2009, 03:59 PM:
 
Yes, but just because they don't practice what they preach doesn't mean that what they're preaching is wrong.

RE: scooters. For the past three years, I've been going to the Dayton Hamvention event. It is three days of solid walking.. for miles, if you want to even attempt to see the whole show. Every year, though, I keep thinking more about those scooters that a lot of guys rent. My legs and feet kill me after a short time... but then I think, the day I have to get a scooter is the day I give up. I know it'd be all over for me then - might as well hang it up.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-19-2009, 10:37 AM:
 
We just got back from Disney World. I am against the scooters there, because 99% of them are ridden by people who are just too damn lazy to walk. You can tell that by the slightly-embarrased-but-still-"I deserve this" look on their faces.

I'd hate to be there and ride on one of those things, because looking at all the other peoples' butts just doesn't seem very Disney to me.
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 09-19-2009, 12:26 PM:
 
I agree on this one completely...the PROBLEM is the scooter, not the solution. Those that are on scooters are, by and LARGE (and I do mean large), are the ones that need to WALK to the most. Those that are truly disabled (through illness, disease...etc...not by stuffing one's self) are the ones that need the scooters/wheelchairs.

One of the things I like about going to Disney is all of the walking I do! Most of my (and I would guess most tech's lives) is spent in the car, a chair or walking very little. The Megaplexes are probably the best thing to happen to projection fitness!

Steve
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 09-19-2009, 02:15 PM:
 
Those damn LED tail/brake lights that strobe so fast you can't see it until you turn your head or shift your eyes and you end up seeing a bunch of bright red dots in your vision. I guess they're saving energy or whatever, but damn it's distracting on a highway.
 

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Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 09-19-2009, 04:31 PM:
 
It should be easy enough to add a location sensor device to the supermarket scooters that prevent them going down some of the aisles containing the food that made the user the size they are.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-26-2009, 03:31 PM:
 
Here's more:

-Blu-ray players that let you remove the disc (BD or DVD) and then continue to play from the point where you stopped it when re-inserted. I go to watch a movie that I haven't watched in over a year and suddenly it starts playing the end credits because that's where I stopped it before because I was finished. SO FUCKING ANNOYING, especially if you have it set up for auto-play! There is no way to disable this, either. You go to the disc menu and select "PLAY MOVIE". It goes straight back to the credits! AAAAA!!!! Whoever thought up this feature deserves to be shot in the face. Multiple times. The RESUME feature must be able to be turned off in the hardware options. I do NOT appreciate being unable to turn this "feature" off!

-Animated menus on DVDs and Blu-rays. Especially the ones which make noise. So useless.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-26-2009, 04:10 PM:
 
Stupid people.

Mafia Wars and other Facebook/MySpace applications.

People who walk down the center of aisle at stores at snail speed who are completely oblivious to their surroundings.

Those USELESS phone calls from Deluxe and Technicolor "Hi, by now your special screening of (insert movie name here) should be about an hour into the presentation. I am just calling to make sure everything is running ok and the movie is on screen." Ummm, I know you're just doing your job, but seriously I would have effing called you if the key didn't work or if there was a problem we were unable to resolve on our end. Duh!

Credit offsets for digital movies that aren't actually at the first end credit.

People that walk into my screening room and say "wow, like cool like can you like play video games / watch football on that thing?"

People that find out what I do in the industry and say "oh you must just LOOOOOOOOVE movies! I'll bet you see them ALL!" Ummm no, movies suck these days.

And because it is the most important I will repeat myself, stupid people.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-26-2009, 08:46 PM:
 
If this hasn't been said already:

Scratched prints

Prints with more than two scratches in two different spots

D-Cinema as the solution for these problems instead of competent training.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-26-2009, 10:22 PM:
 
Lately, people who make me go insane are people who seem to be gravitationally pulled to get in my way. Seriously, big booty Judy, get the hell out of my way and keep your double-kid stroller out of my way too.

Friday evening and earlier this evening I visited the 30th annual International Festival here in Lawton. Yeah, I agree I have a short fuse. Nevertheless there was no amount of pretending to be blind morons just walking in front of me at the last minute. I get a mug of a substitute for Shiner Bock from the beer tent. I'm trying very hard to stay as far away from other people as possible so as not to risk spilling my beer. It seems like people have to literally run to get in my way. But they still manage to do that anyway, succeed in bumping into me and spilling some of my beer. I was so close to sloshing my entire mug of beer into the face of yet another blind passerby while yelling the comment, "go ahead and have the whole damned thing while you're at it, doofus!" Again, stay the hell out of my way. I know you can see me coming, asshole.

quote:

---

Whoever thought up this feature deserves to be shot in the face. Multiple times. The RESUME feature must be able to be turned off in the hardware options. I do NOT appreciate being unable to turn this "feature" off!

---

Blame that on certain PS3 fans who insisted on having the auto-resume feature resumed in the PS3. For awhile the PS3 had the auto-resume feature disabled, but somehow that made the PS3 less cool compared to certain standalone Blu-ray players that had it. So Sony put it back into service.

I agree, I don't like the auto-resume feature much at all. It's really strange when you insert a BD you haven't watched in months only to have it jump to wherever you were watching last (often the end credits). The only time this is convenient is when you're watching only part of the movie one evening and then resuming it the next evening. I rarely ever do that.

It's worth it to note most Blu-ray movies are not compatible with the PS3 auto-resume feature. Any BD-Java disc won't allow it. The BD has to be a "BDMV" not based on Java. I have like 42 movies on Blu-ray and only a handful of them work with the PS3's auto resume feature for Blu-ray. And that makes the PS3 auto-resume feature, in its current design, completely irrelevant. The guys at Sony need to give PS3 owners a customizable auto-resume feature that works or doesn't work with all movies on Blu-ray, even the BD-J ones.

One thing I do like with the latest PS3 firmware, it's not the Rainbow Brite™ disco sparkles theme. Rather, the PS3 no longer automatically starts playing a Blu-ray movie if you happen to have a BD in the optical drive when you turn on the system. I prefer to select the movie on my own.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-26-2009, 11:55 PM:
 
You've always been able to turn Auto-start off. I turned mine off nearly 2 years ago.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-27-2009, 12:24 AM:
 
OK. I didn't know you could do that. At least with the new PS3 firmware they have the "let's launch whatever BD is in the drive at startup" thing disabled.

Here's another thing that really makes me go insane. It's something I'm sadly having to deal with right now: an eyelash hair impossibly stuck on my right fucking eyeball! I cannot get that Goddamned hair off of it! Aaaaaaaarrrrrgggh!

Seriously, I began to endure this anger-inspiring thing while watching the season premiere of SNL. Maybe one of my eyelash hairs had a bad reaction to seeing this week's host and her live acting ability. Doesn't matter what the cause may have been. The result is me actually thinking seriously about shaving off all of my eyelashes. Yeah. That would look pretty damned strange. Let's do away with the eyebrows while we're at it. We'll say we've been doing amateur volunteer fire-fighting or failing at operating a mobile meth lab or some other excuse that would sound more legit. I fucking HATE eyelash hairs on my eyeballs. Shit! This might as well be some sadist pouring dry sand into my eyes for all I care. Dammit!!!

 

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Posted by Gavin Lewarne (Member # 5397) on 09-27-2009, 03:22 AM:
 
work thing that annoys me:

why oh why, out of 2 identical machines, does one always play up and the other one never goes wrong??? WHY???

life thing that annoys me:
my partner who sleeps too much, and gets angry with me for getting out of bed when i cant lie down any longer waiting for her to wake up!!!! arrrgh. Seriously, why does she NEED 11 hours of sleep a night?????? cant make plans, she will always be asleep. sorry but if fucks me off.

*end rant*
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-27-2009, 03:40 AM:
 

quote: Karl Borowski

---

Prints with more than two scratches in two different spots

---

I just caught this one. Yeah, prints with more than two scratches piss me off as well. Just one or two scratches is perfectly acceptable by any standard, though. I doubt anyone has ever run a print that didn't have at least one scratch, even brand new. After all, it is film. We advertise on our marquee outside "Never any more than two scratches in any given movie!". The crowds love us.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-27-2009, 09:38 AM:
 
Well, Joe, if you want to take one item out of what is obviously a list of things I hate in progression, and then be bitingly sarcastic about it, go for it.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-27-2009, 10:03 AM:
 
Joe is very witty and often pokes fun (just look at his profile pic, for cryin' out loud!). He isn't being mean. Most everyone here enjoys his "take".
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-27-2009, 10:47 AM:
 
Without an emoticon, it looked like a cynical, sarcastic attack.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-27-2009, 11:06 AM:
 
Perhaps when anyone is new to this forum it may be slightly difficult to tell when Joe is joking. Far more often than not, he is joking.

There's a lot of times when I post something meant to be taken in a funny light, but unfortunately they come off more serious when they're not supposed to.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 09-27-2009, 11:12 AM:
 
Joe, likes to be sarcastic? Oh....that explains a lot!
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 09-27-2009, 12:42 PM:
 
Asking if Joe is sarcastic is like one friend I have that's back in Seattle asking me if it was hot in Houston during summers.

All I said was "Does a bear shit in the woods?"
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-27-2009, 01:17 PM:
 
Joe should really come out with "Joe's Joke Book" so people comming on board will understand him before they get here!!

This quote irritates the bear shit out of me...

quote: Karl Borowski

---

D-Cinema as the solution for these problems instead of competent training.

---

Well Karl, Competant training is easy actually however first you have to come up with enough competant people to train... finding them is the hard part. Finding them for 7.60 an hour is near impossible because McDonalds is paying them 7.80 to start! On top of that very few truely competant people exist today !!! So in short...yes, going to digital will very definately rid the exhibition industry of film scratching problems...
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-27-2009, 03:35 PM:
 
Karl, if I "attacked", there would be no doubt whatsoever and Film-Tech would probably lose all of it's sponsors. I figured you were talking about a specific incident or two about discovering prints that were scratched big-time by others. I just twisted the way you worded it to make it look different.
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 09-27-2009, 03:38 PM:
 

quote:

---

Joe should really come out with "Joe's Joke Book" so people coming on board will understand him before they get here!!

---

No, because it's WAY funnier for the rest of us when they don't.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-27-2009, 05:53 PM:
 
Perhaps some code could be written into every post Joe makes to solve this once and for all. After every period, question mark or exclaimation point there could be automatically inserted a . Thus the earlier post would have not confused Karl.

I've re-inserted the said post as it would then have looked using the new process.

quote: Joe with the new 'Joe-O-Matic' textifier switch on

---

quote: Karl Borowski
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prints with more than two scratches in two different spots

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just caught this one. Yeah, prints with more than two scratches piss me off as well. Just one or two scratches is perfectly acceptable by any standard, though. I doubt anyone has ever run a print that didn't have at least one scratch, even brand new. After all, it is film. We advertise on our marquee outside "Never any more than two scratches in any given movie!". The crowds love us.

---

 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 09-27-2009, 06:39 PM:
 
John,
I say no...let Joe post as he has for the last 10 years...it's all funny. He has a great sense of humor and cleaver insights to many things.

Just because some F.N.G. doesn't "get it" and wants to spout-off about so called "slams", without reading and/or observing the history and personality of other members for awhile before they yap, doesn't mean they should be offended...or pardoned.

I suggest they keep their mouth shut for awhile and observe whether the person posting (such as Joe) is being sarcastic and/or humorous and in good humor. DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU YAP!

OBTW: I also many times don't add Smileys to my posts...it's much funnier without them and keeps all guessing!
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-27-2009, 06:43 PM:
 
Sorry Phil, I should've added a ' ' for me at the end too. Unfortunately, I'd already used up my '8 picture limit' quota for that post with all the other silliness.


 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 09-27-2009, 06:43 PM:
 

 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-27-2009, 06:49 PM:
 
We ate lunch at a restaurant today.

What makes me go insane: When a guy walks up to our table while we are chewing and says, "How's it going?" And then just stands there. GO AWAY WE'RE EATING!
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-27-2009, 07:17 PM:
 
He's just making sure he's going to be tipped. I think I hate it more when you need a waiter but can't find one.
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 09-27-2009, 07:28 PM:
 
Phil you forgot this one:
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 09-27-2009, 08:00 PM:
 
Sorry Mark, but I used up my 8-Smiley limit quota for that post.

Perhaps I can find a way around that limit...sorta like drinking at a 18+ club to pick up guys...
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-27-2009, 09:11 PM:
 

quote: John Wilson

---

He's just making sure he's going to be tipped.

---

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Nearly every single time I eat out, the waiter/waitress swings by as we are chewing asking "How is everything?" or something of that nature. I think they do this on purpose so that you can't respond.

---

OMG, I have thought this same thing for years. I'm sure they do it on purpose, because they start walking away before you have a chance to respond. What I do when they (very rudely) do that, is I hold my finger in the air, as if to say 'wait a second'.. take my time, finish chewing, swallow, and say, "fine."

Or, the thing I like to do that lets them know I'm in on their little game: If I catch her hovering around, waiting for the right time to pop the question, I'll pretend like I'm chewing a big hunk of food. Then, we she slides in for the attack, I fire right back with a crystal clear "fine". A grin, and she knows she's been outed. >

Another thing I've noticed them doing recently, is they're now asking, "How does everything taste?" Not how IS everything, but how does it TASTE? Your steak could be cold and tough, and your cake soggy... but how does it TASTE?! I resent this tact.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 09-28-2009, 09:49 PM:
 
Laugh tracks.....freaken LAUGH TRACKS!! Phony howling laughter as if something is hilarious going on yet the people watching don't even break a smile. Sometime just look at your family as they watch these sitcoms. Everyone in the room watching this garbage has got stone cold, expressionless faces, yet the laugh track sounds like they just heard the funnest joke ever written.

Tonight I was walked thru the living room and the nephews were watching The Big Bang Theory or whatever they call it. And laugher was issuing from the soundtrack like it was the funnest stand up comedian ever. When I glanced at the tv, what supposedly was so funny? There were two characters in the scene -- one throwing up in the toilet bowl (hysterical laughter), the other was throwing up in the sink (more hysterical laughter) and with EACH heaving sound the actors made....you guest it, HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER. Freakin gross.

The laugh track -- it's the lowest form of deception ever was invented and the hightest form of insult to the viewer.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-28-2009, 10:04 PM:
 
I agree it can get annoying if a restaurant server visits your table a couple times too many, especially when you're just trying to eat your meal and/or have a semi-private conversation with others at your table.

Still, I have to give servers a bit of slack. They have to put up with people far more rude than me on a somewhat frequent basis. Not to mention having joyous experiences like getting stiffed on a tip by a group of customers.

Servers are stuck in a sort of can't win situation. If they visit your table once or twice too often the customer will feel like he is being pestered. If the server doesn't visit the table often enough the customers may not feel like the server is doing his job and stiff him on the tip.

Regarding Hooters™, I have no problem with the place. But I prefer Buffalo Wild Wings or Wing Stop.
 

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Posted by Michael Voiland (Member # 5386) on 09-29-2009, 12:04 AM:
 
managers....
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 09-29-2009, 01:48 AM:
 
You mean at Hooters one of the gals will sit at your table and talk to you?
I wasn't interested in going there before...now I kinda am.
Oh...I always wanted to get some laugh tracks on mp3 so I can edit laugh tracks in, say...an episode of Cops where someone who's been arrested starts crying.
Oliver Stone used a laugh track in Natural Born Killers, where Rodney Dangerfield was berating his daughter "Mallory." (I forgot the actresses' name.)
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-29-2009, 02:05 AM:
 
I hate it when a waiter/waitress sits down at your table. You aren't our friend, get the fuck up and do your job! I had this happen at Outback Steakhouse once. We all just gave him a very odd expression. I am content if the server is quick and efficient. Take our order and be as timely as you have the power to be. Don't make me ask for anything twice. If you can do that, I'll be generous with the tip. Just be friendly, but not our friend.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this here before, but Red Robin pisses me off a lot because I ask for mustard to go with my burger (for some reason they have ketchup at each table but not mustard). I almost always have to ask for it again when the food comes. I mentioned this on their website feedback thingy. The last time I was there I did not have to ask twice, but still no mustard at the damn tables.

Also, anyone who thinks that ALL Hooters waitresses are hot (or even have decent hooters) is sorely mistaken.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-29-2009, 11:22 AM:
 
I've been to a couple of Hooters restaurants and have always had enjoyable experience -- the waitresses are friendly and attentive, and that's exactly what you want. The fact that they are usually good-looking is icing on the cake.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-29-2009, 05:09 PM:
 
If they can keep my soda topped off, they're generally good to go with me.

Lone Star Steakhouse, near Lehigh Valley Mall in Allentown... there's one supervisor waitress or whatever there, and all she does is walk from the front of the house to the kitchen and back -- trying to look busy, or justify her job. With no one in the restaurant, mind you, just a few tables going. We watched her one night while she kept strutting past our table, annoying the piss outta me... she walked by more than THIRTY times in the hour, to hour and a half we were there!! Ridiculous!
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 09-29-2009, 05:13 PM:
 

quote:

---

Laugh tracks.....freaken LAUGH TRACKS!!

---

quote: Tim Reed

---

If they can keep my soda topped off, they're generally good to go with me.

---

Which Hooters is THAT?
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-29-2009, 06:21 PM:
 
Speaking of restaurants, what's up with the current bit of being "trendy" (the proper word for that is CHEAP) with the acoustics? Some restaurants seem to go out of their way to do nothing but have hard surfaces EVERYWHERE and then they play their music far louder than it needs to be over SHITTY speakers that accentuate the midrange frequencies (the same frequencies that people are trying to talk on). So of course everyone has to talk loudly to be heard by the other people at their table (that are only 3 feet away) and then everyone has to talk louder than the other people nearby so they can be heard, etc. It never ends! Its a domino effect of noise assault.

Oh and did I mention I hate places that serve Pepsi products? NOBODY likes Pepsi better than Coke (at least not anyone that has taste buds). The ONLY reason people serve Pepsi is because the Pepsi company will suck on their customer's asses until they sparkle giving them free towers, free service, free this, free that...and the cheap business owners out there go for it, yet they still charge $2-4 for that soda that cost them pennies. At the end of the year, unless it is a small mom and pop store, the difference in serving real Coke products amounts to nothing.

Oh and did I ever mention my love for the assholes that bring BABIES onto airplanes? Yes SCREAMING, SLOBBERING, PUKING, CRYING BABIES in an enclosed space that it is literally IMPOSSIBLE to get away from!!!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-29-2009, 06:28 PM:
 
Oh man, you hit on a sensitive nerve with me there. Places like Wing Stop, Jamba Juice, etc are INCREDIBLY loud and echoey with exposed ducts and tons of very hard surfaces all over. Often music or television sound is cranked way high. It is hard to hear yourself talk.

I agree, it is more cheap than anything, but they pass it off as trendy.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-29-2009, 06:28 PM:
 

quote: John Wilson

---

Which Hooters is THAT?

---

LOL! Actually, I've only been to Hooters once. I'm just not a wings guy... although I am a boobs guy. (I never cared for the name, either.) But there's something about chicks I know I don't have a snowball's chance with, fake flirting with me that just dampens my spirit. At least with a regular waitress, I can fool myself into thinking they're sincere.

Brad and Joe... I absolutely won't go into most sports bars for that reason! Plus, I'm getting to the age where noise really confuses my ability to distinguish speech, so I'm hyper-sensitive to it.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-29-2009, 06:33 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Also, anyone who thinks that ALL Hooters waitresses are hot (or even have decent hooters) is sorely mistaken.

---

quote:

---

The end result of too much tanning: rough, leathery, wrinkly skin. That shit does not look good on a woman crowning age 30 (or well past it) who happens to be waiting tables at Hooters™.

---

Welcome to 'Vegas baby!
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-29-2009, 06:48 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

---

NOBODY likes Pepsi better than Coke (at least not anyone that has taste buds).

---

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

We sold both Pepsi and Coke for about a year (1980 or so) and Pepsi kicked the shit out of Coke saleswise.

---

quote: Our Grand Poopie BAH

---

...over SHITTY speakers...

---

They were probably BOSE...
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-29-2009, 07:47 PM:
 

quote: John Wilson

---

Were they the same price?

---

quote: Brad Miller

---

Some restaurants seem to go out of their way to do nothing but have hard surfaces EVERYWHERE

---

Yep! And I go out of my way to avoid those places... Walls so hard you can hear your heart beat bouncing back to you whilst sitting there. It's funny because some of those places I;ve been to around here are very thin on customers. Anyway, I can cook better then alot of those places anyway since I regularly watch Phil's favorite cookin family... the Neelys .

Black eyed peas anyone????

Mark
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 09-29-2009, 08:04 PM:
 
We have one of those "hard surface" restarants and it is annoying as hell. And clearly designed that way to make the place feel full, even if it is not. Amusingly, it is not a sports bar - it's major audience is the Junior League lunch crowd in their tennis gear.

Of course, I have to deal with the hard bouncy surface noise everyday at the theatre has we have a round lobby with plaster walls. Get more than three people talking and it sounds like a really big crowd.

Oh, and as far as Pepsi goes, we had coke for years, until the local distributor was bought up by a regional bottler and they jettisoned all of their small accounts. They refused to service us, so screw em. Pepsi been berry, berry good to us. I don't drink bubbly sugar water anyway, so it all tastes like crap to me
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-29-2009, 09:21 PM:
 
Mike, I am quite sure you have a wonderful and lovely family...but I think taste buds must be missing in your genes. Even Coke tastes different depending on whether it is from a fountain properly brixed, poorly brixed, cans, 2 liter, etc. For that matter, a newer can tastes different than an older can, just like older BIBs.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-29-2009, 10:25 PM:
 
Even Coca-Cola sweetened with natural cane sugar tastes different than the usual stuff sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Good luck on finding any Coca-Cola in the United States sweetened with cane sugar.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-29-2009, 10:30 PM:
 
They sell the sugar stuff at the local grocery store (Kroger affiliate).
 

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Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 09-29-2009, 11:23 PM:
 
Costco warehouses in the Southwest USA sell Mexican Coke, sugar-sweetened and in glass bottles, for $18.99 a 24-pack. Expensive, yes, but well worth it.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-30-2009, 04:24 AM:
 
People who arrange a meeting for a certain time...then don't show.
 

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Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 09-30-2009, 07:20 AM:
 
Coke produces a special version of regular Coke during the Jewish Passover made with cane sugar. It is only available for a short time, and the word PASSOVER is in small black computer printed letters on the bottles. I've only seen it in the 2-liter bottles, not the cans, but they may make that also. It's available in most of the local grocery stores.

Mexican grocery stores around here also have cane sugar Coke.

And there is a definite taste difference.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-30-2009, 08:14 AM:
 
Haha, what is that called Mark, CoKosher, Coca-Kosher? :-)
 

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Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 09-30-2009, 08:21 AM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

The result: Nobody had 100% correct answers. The best anybody had, including me, was 50%. Some people had 100% wrong answers. To this day I don't know WHY that is, because there is still a big difference to me when I drink one or the other...but maybe it's more psychological than anything.

---

quote: Lyle Romer

---

Did the people taking the test cleanse the palate well between each cup?

---

I don't remember for sure, but maybe not...that could have affected the results. Maybe we'll have to try it again this year when we all get together.

Brad - you might think defective genes, but we're talking 3 different families here....me, my wife's nephews, and my sister in law were the testers. We're even differnt religions!

I have a book around somewhere about the New Coke fiasco. It was called "The Real Coke - The Real Story." Very interesting stuff.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-30-2009, 12:14 PM:
 
Randy & Chris: And I bet you believe that a cruise missile destroyed the pentagon too

That Coke phased out sugar in favor of high fructose corn syrup is irrelevant. The rest of the formula, however, is relevant.

Marketing and hype I'm not totally immune from, but Coke tastes essentially the same to me as it did before "new coke".

Perhaps they gradually phased in HFCS, but I think "New Coke" was more than just that. . .
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 09-30-2009, 12:56 PM:
 

quote: Karl Borowski

---

Randy & Chris: And I bet you believe that a cruise missile destroyed the pentagon too

---

quote: Karl Borowski

---

Perhaps they gradually phased in HFCS, but I think "New Coke" was more than just that. . .

---

Where did I say that "New Coke" was just adding HFCS to old Coke? If you bothered reading what I said, I clearly noted that what they did was (instead of working on a new formula) was take Diet Coke's formula and change the nutrasweet and replace it w/ HFCS. They were definitely using HFCS before they introduced New Coke.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-30-2009, 02:22 PM:
 
You're right. Never mind then. I'm a moron.

Oh, BTW, if you read the response immediately after yours, you'll see where the brunt of my objections lie.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 09-30-2009, 02:29 PM:
 
I did read it, which is why I responded like I did (since it's not fair to lump one person with another like you did). But whatever. Apology accepted.

It's also interesting to hear people refer to New Coke as if it instantly failed, when actually lots of people seemed to like it a lot, only with a vocal minority complaining to have the old recipe return. But I really don't at all remember what it tasted like.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-30-2009, 02:36 PM:
 
Wow, people will go to war for their Coke and Pepsi. My position: It's goddamn soda. Who gives a flying fuck?
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 09-30-2009, 02:41 PM:
 
I like Pepsi better than Coke but Diet Coke >>>>>>> Diet Pepsi.

Diet Pepsi is just plain vile.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 09-30-2009, 03:18 PM:
 
The cane sugar Coke/Pepsi is available at any grocery that is near a Jewish neighborhood before/during the Jewish holidays. Typically it is NOT near the rest of the drinks. Locally known as Kosher Coke, it is much smoother and foams up like real Coke used to.

Europe and the UK probably still use only can Coke. Pepsi was always corn syrup and so now is Coke. Louis

edit: whoops, didn't see the last page!
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 09-30-2009, 03:40 PM:
 
I have seen cane sugar coke at every grocery store I have been to in the last year. If they have an international aisle of some sort-it's right down there.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 09-30-2009, 03:42 PM:
 
God loves Coca-Cola. Satan loves Pepsi
 

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Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 09-30-2009, 04:08 PM:
 
A "Your Stimulus Dollars At Work" sign and the only thing there is the sign.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 09-30-2009, 05:00 PM:
 
Joe, you just made me laugh out loud.

Better yet, when there's ALMOST nothgin there, like a patch of flowers. Not that I dislike flowers, but how many jobs did *that* activity create?
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 09-30-2009, 09:15 PM:
 
An issue that has been driving me crazy the past few years is when we have some one in the Armed Forces come in and ask is we have a military discount. When we say we don't they usually comment about not "supporting" the troops or some other guilt trip. While I personally support our men and women in uniform in many different ways, it bugs the hell out of me when they assume that I have any control over the pricing structure and to imply that somehow I or the theatre owners don't support them.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-01-2009, 01:51 AM:
 
If they give you grief, just tell them: "I support you with my taxes."
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-01-2009, 05:28 PM:
 
Morons who setup restroom stalls where the toilet is off center to one side and they mount the toilet paper dispenser on the side without any room, forcing you to sit sideways on the seat. Then just to be extra annoying, they put the toilet paper dispenser real low to the ground under the excuse "we had to put it underneath the handicap access bars" so you have to lean way over to try and dispense any of the paper and keep it from getting on the ground.
 

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Posted by Luke Anderson (Member # 5316) on 10-01-2009, 07:25 PM:
 
Loading a program or update that has a % or time clock for how much is left. They always fly by until you get down to that last % or second and then that actually takes minutes.

It makes me want to slam my fist through the screen.

-Luke
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 10-02-2009, 07:30 AM:
 

quote: Jeremy Weigel

---

An issue that has been driving me crazy the past few years is when we have some one in the Armed Forces come in and ask is we have a military discount.

---

While I and my affiliates go way out to support the troops, I don't think that support means that everything must be discounted. If they want discounts they can go to a base theater same as they can go to the commissary to buy food.

I do believe in entitlements for veterans and members of the armed services but they are tied to government programs.

Expecting the business community to provide discounts with the notion of not to do so is not supporting the troops, is simply over the top.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-02-2009, 11:28 AM:
 
Public restroom annoyances:

Toilet paper dispensers that make you fight for every sheet.

Those new motion-detector paper towel dispensers -- when they don't work. You're standing there waving at it like a moron and nothing comes out, and there is no manual-advance lever.
 

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Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 10-04-2009, 03:45 PM:
 
On some automatic paper towel dispensers, tearing off a sheet is supposed to pull up on the cutter blade to re-arm the dispenser. Gently reaching into the dispenser slot and lightly pushing the blade upward should reset the unit if it fails to dispense. A light push is all that's needed; push hard and you'll cut yourself.

I use that reset technique to get a longer sheet on dispensers calibrated to dispense a short sheet.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 10-04-2009, 08:26 PM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

---

I'll bet you a nickel that, they are selling "New Coke" right now. They just don't advertise it.

When the backlash from the original "New Coke" campaign hit, they withdrew it, for sure. But I bet they gradually changed the formula back and are selling "New Coke" or something very close to it right now but it's just sold in "Regular" cans and bottles.

---

I was told by an employee whose father works for Coke here in OKC, that any Coke product labeled as "Coke" is the actually the "New Coke" formula and any product labeled "Coca-Cola" is the original formula. Example: Diet Coke= New Coke in diet form. So yes Coca-Cola Zero is actually the true diet form of the original formula.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-04-2009, 08:46 PM:
 
Hmmm... I'm going to have to look into that. Thanks for the tip!
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-05-2009, 04:05 AM:
 
I thought they completely and ignominiously abandoned "new" coke once their marketing guys realized that everyone to a person on the entire planet hated it.
 

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Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 10-05-2009, 06:44 AM:
 
people that walk over to their car in car park hop in start up select reverse then wait about 200 years before they back out ends up with one waiting for the parking space and several thousand cars piled up behind.

and iam with brad on those that dwell in the center of shopping isles.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-05-2009, 02:59 PM:
 

quote: Jeremy Weigel

---

any Coke product labeled as "Coke" is the actually the "New Coke" formula and any product labeled "Coca-Cola" is the original formula.

---

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

Which leads me to another pet peeve: Soda and candy manufacturers giving 'variant' names to new products rather than just coming up with a new name (they are saving marketing money and cashing in on an existing brand...I get it). Example: Snickers, Snickers Almond, Snickers Dark, Snickers Crunch, etc.

---

quote: Chris Slycord

---

Except with most of your examples, isn't the only change to the recipe being one ingredient?

---

Well then, how about the multiple different kinds of sodas? I think our local supermarket has 7 different "Coke" products. If they take out the caffeine and sugar, and add aspartame and cherry or vanilla flavoring, how is that still Coke?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-06-2009, 12:24 AM:
 
Going off the recent discussion of screaming babies in the random video links thread....

Yeah.

Screaming babies do make me go insane. Seriously. I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm pretty sure it is the main reason I chose not to become a parent. I just can't deal with that shit.

But yeah. Yes, I understand that is how babies are and I'm willing to overlook the screaming baby factor when the baby is screaming in an appropriate environment.

What makes me really go insane about this is when the parents make selfishly idiotic decisions to place the baby in a combination of time and environment where an infant, much less one screaming the air out of its lungs, should NEVER be present.

Example. Sometimes I choose to go grocery shopping at midnight so I don't have to put up with the hoards of people, which include screaming babies and ADD infected kids, clogging the aisles. Nevertheless, I could visit "Wally World" at 3:00am and still be guaranteed to be hearing some lady's 8 month old infant screaming like the end of the world if fixing to take place. Why is this kid awake at all, much less out of the house at freaking "Wally World?" WTMF?? The baby should have been in bed over 6 hours ago.

BTW, what the hell is it with so many parents these days that they never seem to ever have any set bed times for their damned kids? What the hell is that? I'll answer that rhetorical question: the parents are weak pussies.

When I was in elementary school, my bedtime was 8:00pm. It didn't matter if the sun was still up. If me and my brother farted around trying to delay heading to bed we got one hell of an ass whipping. No flexibility. None. Once I got to middle school age the bed time got extended to 10:00pm or 11:00pm. And that's where it stayed throughout high school. We only got to stay up late on weekends. That was it. These days it seems pretty normal to me to see elementary school age kids having no fucking set bed time at all.

And we wonder why the rest of the developed world is kicking our ass in terms of math and science scores (and probably kicking our ass in a growing number of areas we are too proud to admit).

I'm really glad I'm not stuck on long distance air flights very often. I think I'd flip my lid if I had to listen to a baby screaming for 6 hours straight while belted into a coach seat. If I knew I would have to put up with that nonsense I'd take some really serious drugs right after boarding the flight, my work place's company wide piss tests be damned!
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-07-2009, 09:38 PM:
 

"Fully freakin restored"....in every one of their DVD re-release ads, touted shamelessly as if it is even remotely true.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-07-2009, 11:55 PM:
 
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this one already: people who try to use $100 bills to pay for stuff at stores that cannot take $100 bills. What makes me insane is when the $100 bill holder gets all pissy and starts a scene with the cashier.

Several years I got into it with some dude at the gas station near my house. I was in there buying a soda pop. This guy ahead of me in line tries to pay for his fuel and snacks with a $100 bill, despite the signs at the register clearly stating they cannot accept bills larger than $20. When the cashier refused to take $100 bill man's C-note he flipped out and started yelling at the lady.

"You have to take this $100! It's legal tender! By law you have to take it," he shouted. The young lady behind the counter could only respond with the polite yes sir, no sir bit. He just wasn't backing down, despite several people standing in line behind him while he threw his shit fit.

I had enough of $100 bill man abusing this lady. So I said, "hey asshole. Yeah, I called you an asshole. She can't since she works here. Why don't you pull out a smaller bill or a credit card and pay for your stuff that way? You KNOW why they can't bills larger than a $20, yet you're trying to pass a $100 bill anyway. Are you trying to impress someone?" I'll bet that jackass likes entering stores through the exit door instead of the entrance.

The $100 bill man pulled some other money out of his wallet, paid for his stuff and left in a huff. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have said anything at all to the guy. Seriously, he could have punched out my lights or stabbed me in the neck for all I know. It just pissed me off that he wouldn't stop yelling at this lady when she couldn't yell back at him without being fired for it.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-08-2009, 12:52 AM:
 
Guys who stand and do their business in a toilet without lifting the lid, then shake off the remaining drops just in case they managed to not get any of their urine on the seat.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-08-2009, 01:41 AM:
 

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

signs at the register clearly stating they cannot accept bills larger than $20.

---

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

I'm really glad I'm not stuck on long distance air flights very often. I think I'd flip my lid if I had to listen to a baby screaming for 6 hours straight while belted into a coach seat.

---

quote: Chris Slycord

---

Like 105 is not "One Hundred AND Five." It is "One Hundred Five."

---

I guess that depends on where you live. Here, we were taught (and all say) the 'and'.

My gripe:

When you have a job on 200 miles away with Galaxy and it needs the screen atop the caravan. Then, the night before, when you go to attach the caravan to the truck for the early next morning drive you find someone has 'souvenired' the plug for the caravan lights and all you have is seven colored wires and a neat knife cut.

Pricks.

Next time go to the store and buy one like a normal person. At the very least, take the bloody thing but leave me a note to tell me you've done it.

Pricks.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-12-2009, 10:18 PM:
 
I hate it when people say (or write) something like: "I was taken back when I saw the size of the hole in that guy's forehead."

The correct expression is "taken aback" (unless you're talking about a fond memory).

Also, you don't pour over the document, you pore over it.

And, they are not vocal chords, but rather vocal cords.
 

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Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 10-16-2009, 07:55 PM:
 
"I have an ideal". I always stare at the person. An ideal what? Oh you have an idea. My wife used to say that when we were dating. Drove me nuts. Or maybe that was just from getting married.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-16-2009, 09:02 PM:
 

quote: Steve Guttag

---

I imposed a NO-FLYING for Gary until he could at least tell us what was hurting so we could tell him how to stop it (swallow or what not).

---

There's always Amtrack which in many cases can be alot of fun to travel aboard. The trip from SLC to Denver is especially amazing! Every one of my Amtrack adventures over the years has been very positive.

Mark
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 10-16-2009, 09:27 PM:
 
Karl
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-16-2009, 10:20 PM:
 
"Can I ask you a question?" (You just did, durp!)

Also that idiot the other day who made my soda by filling the ice to OVER the top edge of the cup, filled a few ounces of soda into it, paused to scoop MORE ice into the cup since some of it settled, then half-assed topped it off from there. To get the lid on he had to flick a couple of pieces of ice out of the cup.
 

---

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-16-2009, 10:41 PM:
 
People who think that calling a 30 minute show of non-stop commercials "Entertainment" actually makes the commercials entertaining.
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-16-2009, 11:51 PM:
 
Trailers that trumpet "3D!" thus forcing me to either trim them, or not play them at all.
 

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Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 10-17-2009, 11:50 AM:
 
Customers asking "Can you brighten up that picture? The movie is going to be hard to see."

You see that little itty bitty projector the light is coming from? Thats for the preshow. You see that big honking projector with the big honking lens on the front. That's what your movie is going to be playing on. Now sit down, eat your skittles, and stop showing your IQ to everyone.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-18-2009, 01:55 AM:
 
It's started already. I just heard on the evening news that we've got a nor'easter headed our way. Now that the cold weather has set in, we are going to have to suffer that really annoying thing they do on newscasts, where the weather geeks all call ANY damn cold snap a "nor'easter." Annoys the hell out of me. First off, what are we, some freakin Maine slang-slinging tug-boat mate with chewing tobacco in his mouth? First off, how lazy are we that we can't pronounce a "th" sound....it's not even a vowel? Or maybe they think it's cool to use sea-farin slang. Too tired or too cool to say "North"? And second, just because the temperature drops, it doesn't mean that it's a storm that comes from Canada and heads east. Since when is slang OK in a professional newscast? I don't know why, but it really pisses me off.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-18-2009, 02:09 AM:
 
Is that what that means? I always thought it had something to do with Easter. The one with the bunnies.
 

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Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 10-18-2009, 03:40 AM:
 
FT posts that I have to stop scrolling to be able to read.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-18-2009, 11:06 AM:
 
People who are "too cool for the room" annoy me. This syndrome seems to be more common with "fake and bake" women than dudes.

Basically, you're at a party, some other kind of social event or a gathering at someone's house. You spot someone giving off the vibe he is superior to everyone else and insulted that he is having to breathe the same air others are using in that room. Dude, if you're embarrassed to be here either get the stick out of your ass or just leave already. We'll enjoy ourselves without you.
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 10-18-2009, 02:05 PM:
 
Frank,
Down here we call the first significant temperature-dropping cold front of the season a Blue Northern.
I get a charge out of watching the local TV meterologists almost have an orgasm on the air whenever we have any kind of severe weather.
*Weather guy, on TV, pointing to a stretch of Interstate Highway from video from the station's tower cam*
"You see this area right here? That's BLACK ICE, Dan!"
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-18-2009, 02:09 PM:
 
Old men who walk around the neighborhood carrying sticks.

What the fuck is up with that?

I don't mean a cane or a walking stick. I mean an ordinary hunk of wood or a piece of a tree branch. Typically, it's about 2 or 3 feet long. It would be too short to use as a cane or walking stick. Sometimes they tie orange construction ribbon on them or spray paint them orange.

I can't imagine why an old fart would think an old tree branch or a piece of one-by would make a good weapon. It's not heavy enough to use as an exercise weight. Besides, he'd need two of them. Visibility? Maybe, but wearing bright colored clothes would be better.

Is it just some kind of neanderthal instinct that gets triggered after age 70? They have to carry a "tool" of some kind to prove they are still "men?"

Why the fuck is it that old men who go out for walks have to carry sticks?
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 10-18-2009, 02:44 PM:
 
It's a baton. He's looking for some other old fart to pass it off to so they can collectively make it around the block.
 

---

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-18-2009, 04:36 PM:
 

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

People who are "too cool for the room"

---

Not that I go to parties any more (I've developed that phobia where I am afraid to go out of my house to places where there are crowds of insufferable people pretending to be having fun), but the too cool snots can be rather fun -- I see them as a challenge. The challenge is to see how you can maneuver over to them with a plate of your favorite dipping sauce (mine is spicy jalapeno tomato puree) so while offering it to them, you "accidentally" dump that dip anywhere in the chest area (for the oh too cool male jerks, sour-cream-and-chives dip looks really cool in the crotch). I then call up my considerable acting ability using my famous, "Oh, oh my, I am soooo sorry." How cool are they now, walking around with a big red sauce stain on her tits, or a "did he just, um, you know, in his pants" stain in his crotch? huh?

I will warn you though, if you do accomplish one of those missions, although everyone will secretly see you as a hero, you just might be crossed off the invite lists for future parties, phobia notwithstanding.
 

---

Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 10-18-2009, 09:36 PM:
 
I think I may have complained about this in some other post years ago but...

When CCA workers put their hands in the popcorn bag to open it. Bugs the out of me.
 

---

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-18-2009, 09:40 PM:
 

quote: Adam Martin

---

It's a baton. He's looking for some other old fart to pass it off to so they can collectively make it around the block.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

Why the fuck is it that old men who go out for walks have to carry sticks?

---

Perhaps they've outlived their dog?
 

---

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-18-2009, 10:28 PM:
 
I might have posted this before as well, but I can't find it, so....

People who should certainly know better who say ex cetera. I once heard Dan Rather himself misspeak it. And just this week I heard it on a news show. It's as bad as when someone says "ax me a question." I hear ex cetera and I yell at the TV, "Go watch THE KING AND I and listen to the bald guy." It happens often enough that my lady and I now have a thing where we both say that line in unison every time we hear some talking head use the "ex" mistake.
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-18-2009, 11:03 PM:
 
When I go to the bakery and they use a tissue to transfer my chosen pastries into a bag, and then they PUT THE TISSUE WITH THEIR GERMS ON IT INTO MY BAG.

This one dork at the bakery uses a different tissue for each donut.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 10-19-2009, 12:33 AM:
 
International/foreign "Film festivals" who show up the first oday of shows with 20 dvd's, most of which are screeners with watermarking or captioning stating such, no region-free dvd players (luckily we have one), no operators, no tech sheets or info, incorrect running times, and horrible prints without cores and expect said prints ready to go out immediatley after the show when they didn't even get their content to us to check by the deadline...
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-19-2009, 02:57 AM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

When I go to the bakery and they use a tissue to transfer my chosen pastries into a bag, and then they PUT THE TISSUE WITH THEIR GERMS ON IT INTO MY BAG.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

Why the fuck is it that old men who go out for walks have to carry sticks?

---

Are they walking softly?
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-19-2009, 01:14 PM:
 
What? You think they are doing a Teddy Roosevelt impression?
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 10-19-2009, 03:01 PM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

---

Old men who walk around the neighborhood carrying sticks.

---

Haven't seen it here. Could be they use the stick as a signal when they cross the street. You know, to waken those distracted drivers.
 

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 10-19-2009, 03:12 PM:
 
The stick is to fend off attacking dogs.
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 10-19-2009, 04:00 PM:
 
That makes sense.
Every so often there will be a glut of news reports of Pit Bulls attacking adults and children. Lubbock had a rash of these in the spring of 08. Dogs attacked some miniature horses just on the outskirts of town around that time, resulting in one of the horses having to be put down.
When I have taken my evening walks in the summer, I encountered several stray dogs of all sizes so I can easily see the advantage of carrying a stick.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-19-2009, 08:47 PM:
 
A few months ago here in Lawton, some dude's pit bull went running off the porch, charging down the street to attack a police officer investigating some sort of crime. When the dog got close enough, the officer drew his Glock 21 and shot it a few times. Then the officer walked up to the dude and ticketed him for having a dangerous dog running loose.

 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-19-2009, 09:13 PM:
 
There are no dogs that run loose in this neighborhood but that's still a plausible explanation.

I've been walking, jogging and riding a bike thorough every street in this neighborhood for almost the entire summer. I know just about every dog.

There are a pair of Mini Pinschers that run after and bark at everybody who walks by but they are inside an invisible fence. When they hit the boundary line they come to a skidding stop. It's funny to watch! There's a little Papillon that barks at people but he's tied up. There are a couple of little rat-dogs and a pair of Jack Russels but all of them are in fenced yards.

The only time I was ever chased by a dog in this neighborhood was by a black and white Sheltie but I turned, stomped my feet at it and yelled, "Go HOME!" The dog turned tail and ran.

There are coyotes in the area but they only come out after dark. I hear them howling late at night. I have never seen one in the day time. They would be way down on the threat list, AFAIAC.

However, if the guy doesn't know the neighborhood as well as I do or if he just wants a "security blanket" I can see the point. Over the summer, I've seen, maybe, a half dozen guys carry sticks when they walk but I've never seen anybody younger than about 70 who carries one.

If a dog ever came after me and I couldn't run it off by yelling at it there is a very good chance that I would either shoot the thing or I'd pull out a knife and gut it.

I don't think anything like that would ever happen. This neighborhood borders an FAA controlled airport. The airport police make rounds several times a day.
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 10-22-2009, 03:34 PM:
 
Guys who wear a Van Dyke and think it's called a goatee. Look, if you want to make your mouth look like a vagina, that's your choice - a discussion for another thread - but at least know what it's called.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-22-2009, 03:54 PM:
 
Automated self-checkouts at supermarkets which get easily confused.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-22-2009, 04:07 PM:
 

quote: Chad Souder

---

Look, if you want to make your mouth look like a vagina, that's your choice

---

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

A few months ago here in Lawton, some dude's pit bull went running off the porch, charging down the street to attack a police officer investigating some sort of crime. When the dog got close enough, the officer drew his Glock 21 and shot it a few times. Then the officer walked up to the dude and ticketed him for having a dangerous dog running loose.

---

quote: Chad Souder

---

I think many people buy pit bulls because they think it will make them look cool.

---

quote: Brad Miller

---

If the animal is attacking, the guy was justified to take any means he felt he had the time for to defend himself.

---

quote: Frank Angel

---

People who should certainly know better who say ex cetera.

---

That one, and asterICK bugs the hell outta me. It's ASTERISK, as in taking a risk... not 'RICK. News people say it wrong all the time.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-24-2009, 11:05 AM:
 
There was an interesting incident with a pet owner in West Jordon, UT in late September. His kids were playing with their yellow lab in their yard when a kid delivering flyers came around. The dog was not on a leash but in their yard... and apparently STAYED in their yard the whole time. The dog began barking at the flyer delivery kid, apparently scared of the dog the kid left. He soon returned with a baseball bat and started beating the dog with it and shoved the dog owner's daughter to the ground. This all went to court and the kid got off and the judge gave the dog's owner a fine for not having the dog on a leash even though it was in it's own yard and never left. Had I been the judge it woulda certainly been different. All I can say is the kid must have been wearing his funny underwear and the dog's owner probably wasn't. Thats how it goes around here sometimes. I think it would have been the other way round in any other State.

Article

Mark
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-24-2009, 11:05 AM:
 
Regardless of the type of dog, whether it be a Chihuahua or a Pit Bull, the owner is responsible for CONTROLLING HIS DOG AT ALL TIMES while in public.

If a dog goes after a person; it doesn't matter if that person is a police officer or an ordinary "Joe," walking down the street; he has the right to do what he believes is reasonable to defend himself.

If it is a small dog, it might be reasonable for a person to simply side-step it. A larger dog might need to be kicked, punched or hit with a stick in self defense. A large dog like a Rottweiler or a type of dog that is known to be fierce will certainly require more drastic measures in self defense. I'm sorry to say that shooting might very well be the best course of action.

If it can be shown that the owner of the dog either ordered it to attack or negligently allowed the dog to attack a person, the owner is JUST AS LIABLE AS IF HE ATTACKED THE OTHER PERSON HIMSELF. Yes, a dog can be considered to be a weapon in the right (wrong?) circumstances.

As such, a police officer has the right to act according to the circumstances. It is not out of the question to think that a Pit Bull might be trained to attack policemen. I don't know all the circumstances but it is reasonable to believe that shooting the dog might have been the safest course of action.

*****

So... This gets me to one of my pet peves: People who don't control their dogs when asked.

My wife and I were walking on the beach when we came upon a guy playing with his German Shepherd at the water's edge. The dog, being friendly, came running over to greet us.

My wife is afraid of big dogs. She started to freak out.
I hollered to the guy, "Control your dog, please!" but the dog kept running toward us and the idiot owner just stood there.

I stepped between the dog and my wife, grabbed it by the collar and hoisted its front legs off the ground. The dog yelped as I dragged it back to the guy. "Control your DOG!" I shouted. "She's afraid of dogs!"

The guy tried to get huffy with me for manhandling his dog.
"Leash laws!" I replied.
My wife and I walked off. The guy just gave us dirty looks.

Personally, I would have petted the dog when it came up but Melanie was having a shit-fit. I did what was reasonable under the circumstance.

It's a lucky thing she wasn't by herself! Melanie has a Concealed Carry Permit and she packs heat. If I wasn't with her, she very well might have shot that dog!
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-24-2009, 11:39 AM:
 
Another incident just yesterday. They said on last night's news that this little kid will probably have to have part of his face removed. HE is still too young for plastic surgery.
Article
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-24-2009, 12:08 PM:
 
Site rules on news stories Mark...

quote:

---

Dog mauls child in West Valley

By Nate Carlisle

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 10/23/2009 06:39:26 PM MDT

A pit bull bit and seriously injured a 5-year-old boy Friday in West Valley City.

The dog bit the boy on the face and head, said West Valley City police Lt. Dalan Taylor. A helicopter flew the boy to Primary Children's Medical Center.

The "attack," as Taylor called it, happened about 5 p.m. near 3000 S. Ray St. (4175 West). The boy lives across the street from the dog's owner and both the 5-year-old and the animal were on the street a few houses down.

Taylor said police had not yet found a witness to the attack and do not know what, if anything, spurred the dog to bite. The dog's owner said the dog was in a kennel and on a leash in a fenced yard when he left for work in the morning and does not know how the dog got loose.

Animal control officers took possession of the dog and are investigating the case. Taylor said no citations have been issued.

---

quote: Chad Souder

---

And what about the neglectful parents? If defenseless 5 year olds allowed to wander around in public unsupervised is the standard, then all dogs of all breeds that are seen off leash should be shot on sight. No questions asked.

---

quote: Chris Slycord

---

Can you say "non sequitur"?

---

quote: Chris in another thread

---

Can you say "nonsequitur"?

---

quote: Chris in another thread

---

Can you say "non sequitur"?

---

How's it go again?
 

---

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 10-24-2009, 08:30 PM:
 


Webster's says it is pronounced as "\ˈnän-ˈse-kwə-tər also -ˌtu̇r\"
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 10-24-2009, 10:06 PM:
 
Mark - Some guys just have the one barrel.

My point was that an unsupervised 5 year old allowed to wander around outside could get hurt or killed any number of ways. It's awful that he was attacked by a poorly trained dog, but had it been a rabid skunk or raccoon or whatever may be wild on the streets of Utah, people would be asking the parents where they were. Like with Bobby's original story, the only one I know wasn't at fault here is the dog. The dog's owner and the parents of the child need to come under heavy interrogation.

Bobby - I agree completely about your description of most pit bull owners. They look the same around here. It's not the breed's fault. I personally never buy purebreds - I have adopted all mixed breeds from the Humane Society - but while breeds may be predisposed to certain behaviors, it takes specific nurturing to bring out those behaviors and specific nurturing to keep them suppressed. Any breed can be taught to attack - some are just a lot better at it. Regarding Molly, she can be cured. Dogs very much live in the moment. They remember behaviors during which they were given affection and repeat those behaviors. They become dominant when nobody dominates them. It sounds like Molly was either traumatized then given affection to calm her down, which reinforced her current state of fear, or had nobody to be dominant after her trauma so she became her own leader. Either way, her owner isn't acting as a truly dominant owner and correcting her behavior - don't worry it's very common and I was the same not long ago. I am a HUGE fan of Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan. Yes, it's a cheesy title and he works with prissy celebrities and it seems to good to be true but his philosophy and methods work. I have completely transformed the behavior of my dogs just by following what he suggests and they are happier for it. The biggest problem is that people treat their dogs too much like their damn kids. They are not people and should not be treated as such. The owner needs to be the alpha. I would highly recommend the show to your coworker. It's on Nat-Geo, so many people don't get it, but I cannot overemphasize how well it works. If you don't get Nat-Geo he has books and DVD's too but I've never looked at any of those. He has covered dozens of cases like Molly's where the dog had a tremendous fear of something and through very simple but very persistent methods the dog will be fine. It's all about the owner consistently acting properly and Molly will be a much happier dog once she is no longer afraid.

Some time ago, I started a thread about my beagle being afraid during thunder storms. He would shake, pant and get up in my face, which made it very difficult for me to sleep. I thought petting him and giving affection was the way to go because it would sooth him. I thought that's just the kind of dog he was and there was no fixing it. I even tried playing a CD of thunderstorm sounds to desensitize him. Wrong answers. It turns out it was my wife's fault (she hates when I say that). She also gets frightened during severe storms when I'm at work and the dog at some point picked up on her energy, so he too became frightened. She would then coddle him to calm him (and herself) down, then when I would get home I would do the same, which only further encouraged the behavior. After watching Dog Whisperer (I really don't like the title) I tried simply correcting my beagle when he began displaying the same behavior during the next storm. My wife also corrected him. Literally during the first storm his behavior changed. Once he learned that behavior was not acceptable, he stopped doing it. My wife may still become afraid during severe weather, but she doesn't go to the dog for comfort. The beagle, I am happy to say, has no problems with thunder storms anymore. He just snoozes right on through.

I also agree with you 100% on dog fighting, Bobby. It makes me sick to my stomach. I don't understand how people accept it as cultural.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-24-2009, 10:10 PM:
 
6 months in jail was not enough punishment for that fat lady to go through after sicking her dog (oh look what a coincidence, a pit bull) on the officer. 2 years would've been more suitable, and regardless, the dog should've been put down. The officer was right in his comment, an attack with OR WITHOUT injury should be grounds to remove the dog from this world.

There are hundreds of GOOD dogs that get put down every day in shelters. There is no need to keep a dog that poses a potential risk to someone's well being. Had that dog tried to attack me or I witnessed it attacking someone else, it WOULD be dead.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 10-24-2009, 11:27 PM:
 

quote: Chad Souder

---

My point was that an unsupervised 5 year old allowed to wander around outside could get hurt or killed any number of ways. It's awful that he was attacked by a poorly trained dog, but had it been a rabid skunk or raccoon or whatever may be wild on the streets of Utah, people would be asking the parents where they were. Like with Bobby's original story, the only one I know wasn't at fault here is the dog. The dog's owner and the parents of the child need to come under heavy interrogation.

---

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

---

Chad,

You mis-understood that I absolutely agree.

---

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

The non-stop coverage of the "balloon boy" thing is currently driving me insane.

---

I concur Captain!
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 10-26-2009, 06:54 PM:
 
I haven't been watching any of the 24-hour cable news channels for the past few months. They're on the shit list of things that make me go insane. Piss yellow journalism. If it's a 24-hour news network, it's utter crap. Coverage of balloon boy proves that.

I haven't even been watching The Daily Show and Colbert Report on Comedy Central nearly as much either. That's because their insults of the 24-hour cable news networks are pretty funny, but at the same time pretty depressing as well. On top of that The Daily Show and Colbert Report are still being produced in crappy standard definition while much of Comedy Central's other programming is HD. I just end up watching Letterman, Conan O'Brien or something entirely different instead.
 

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Posted by Alex Edwards (Member # 5413) on 10-26-2009, 09:23 PM:
 
Bobby, you're saying that you prefer Letterman to Stewart or Colbert just because he's in HD? I could understand prefering to watch a sporting event or Discovery in HD to get the shows full detail but a talk show? Don't you watch them for the content and not just because they look better?
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 10-26-2009, 09:43 PM:
 
Letterman, Colbert and Stewart are pretty interchangeable.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-26-2009, 10:16 PM:
 
T.V. pretty much turns me off, in general, these days.

There are about a half dozen shows that I even care to watch. Even then, I don't worry about watching them on a regular basis. If I miss them the first time all I have to do is wait two weeks. I'll see them in reruns.

I don't have cable T.V. or satellite. I don't watch it enough to make it worth it. I've got an antenna on the roof. Because I am virtually line-of-site to all four major T.V. transmitters in this area, I get everything I could ever want to watch off-air.

For the rest of my entertainment needs, the internet is more than sufficient.

If it wasn't for 9/11 I wouldn't even own a T.V. The only reason I got one was in case of disaster, I might need to watch the news to find out what's happening.

(That assumes that T.V. news is any good in the first place... See "Balloon Boy" above. )
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-26-2009, 10:31 PM:
 
I haven't watched TV news in ages and rarely ever switch the TV on except to watch an HD-DVD movie... I even watch the shuttle lift offs on NASA TV on the web. I generally read the news on the net... But that dam balloon boy thing is still getting big coverage. A full article in this weeks Time Magazine to boot! Iddiotts! Youa ll watch... there will be a tv show or at least a dum made for TV movie about all this .
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-27-2009, 08:25 AM:
 
If these idiots get charged with and convicted of a crime (and if there is any justice in the world, they should serve hard time, not only for the hoax, but for making the rest of us GO INSANE having to listen to this tripe) then these media whores should be legally blocked from any profit whatsoever from subsequent media deals (books, TV movie, etc.). Putting hundreds of rescue workers at considerable risk for a media hoax certainly constititues a major crime. If they were to profit from, say, a TV movie, then the rest of the brainless hords will come out of the woodwork to try similar nonsensical stunts to get their ugly faces on the telly to annoy the rest of us even more.
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 10-27-2009, 06:27 PM:
 
This story really exemplifies just how copy-cat today's media has become.
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 10-28-2009, 01:36 AM:
 
Here's something that really cheeses me off.

All film reviewers who use the term "mise-en-scene" in reviews.

Why?

Because it's ing annoying, that's why!
 

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Posted by Betsie Beadling (Member # 591) on 10-28-2009, 07:50 PM:
 
This Stupid Mcafee Program my Father put on
my Computer, he thinks its better than the VCom Sys Suite!!!
NOT!!! I hate Mcafee its slowed down my Comp and that Sucks!!!


 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 10-29-2009, 04:18 AM:
 
Guys with ponytails! YUKKIE POO POO!
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-29-2009, 05:20 AM:
 
Soda straws that aren't cut cleanly (or have been flared out from having been carried around vertically inside a waitresses apron all day), and the fine little jagged edge keeps roughing up the inside of your lip.
 

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Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 10-30-2009, 01:41 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

---

Oh and did I ever mention my love for the assholes that bring BABIES onto airplanes? Yes SCREAMING, SLOBBERING, PUKING, CRYING BABIES in an enclosed space that it is literally IMPOSSIBLE to get away from!!!

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This article appeared in the local paper today. I thought it would fit this thread well.
San Jose Mercury News posted:

Pamela Root's 2-year-old son was screaming for the Southwest Airlines plane to "Go! Plane! Go!"

"I want Daddy!'' Adam shouted. Over and over again.

Despite her embarrassment, the stay-at-home San Jose mom remained confident that once the plane took off and she fed him, Adam would calm down and take a nap — just as he had on the half-dozen other plane rides with Mom.

The flight crew wasn't willing to find out.

Root and her son, Adam, were on their way home to San Jose when they were kicked off Monday's Southwest Flight 637.

"I left, rather embarrassed,'' Root said Thursday. "Then, I was so mad, I almost cried.''

With her luggage heading back home without her, Root was stuck in
Amarillo, Texas, and forced to buy a portable crib and diapers and stay another night with her parents. Still fuming, she wants Southwest to apologize and compensate her for the flight and things she bought. Adam's father, Mike Root, a software engineer at Symantec, who was waiting for them in San Jose, is also livid.

Southwest, with its fun and family-friendly reputation, immediately began looking into the matter on Thursday at the request of the Mercury News. Spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said it's "very rare'' to ask someone to leave a flight, and especially "unusual'' to remove a crying child.

Root, 38, said she thought she had a foolproof flying routine with her son. Wait until takeoff to feed Adam so his ears wouldn't hurt.
Then get him to take a nap on the flight. The routine always made him a bit cranky but never out of control, she said. There was always the bag of trucks and books about trucks for a backup.

Monday, Adam was more than a little cranky. There were annoyed looks from fellow passengers, Root said. Then the captain made a surprise announcement: The plane would return to the gate because of a "passenger issue.'' At first, she dreaded what sounded like a delay. Then, she discovered the passenger was Adam. Suddenly, they were being escorted off the plane by an attendant who told Root something to the effect of: "We just can't tolerate that for two hours.''

"He'll be fine once we take off,'' Root remembers insisting.

"We've heard that before,'' the flight attendant told Root.

Like most other airlines, Southwest gives its flight attendants discretion in determining what constitutes a "safe and comfortable'' flight, McInnis said. And they give attendants leeway in figuring out how to "resolve'' situations.

Other airlines have similar rules. United Airlines spokeswoman Sarah Massier said United has three pages of what they call "right-of-refusal" reasons. "But no,'' Massier said. "We don't have a policy on crying children.''

Tim Smith, spokesman for American Airlines, said it is "extremely rare'' for the carrier to deny boarding to a disruptive child — "far more rare than problems with disruptive adults, for sure.''

In June 2008, American Eagle removed a 2-year-old autistic boy and his mother from a flight in North Carolina because of a crying fit.

Still, Root might not get much sympathy from frequent fliers whose journeys often get bombarded with cries, wails and snores.

Palo Alto mom Kristin Loew, 32, sees both sides.

"This is a tough one,'' said Loew, who helps design the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.

On the one hand, Loew said that she definitely would have fed her girls, now 10 and 7, because she is hypersensitive to other passengers and remembers her pre-mom flying days with screaming kids on the flight.

On the other hand, Loew said, "I certainly never would have kicked her off the flight.''

"Kids can't help it,'' she said. "And it's so ridiculous that people can't understand that.''

Yes, she's mortified, but Root admits to learning a lesson herself. When she rebooked her flight home Tuesday, she chose a 5 p.m. departure and fed Adam well before takeoff. How did he do?

"He had his moments,'' she said. "I warned him what would happen if he acted up, that we'd get kicked off the plane.'' But soon enough, a nap kicked in and "he behaved beautifully.''
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-30-2009, 03:17 PM:
 
Why do people with kids need to be flying to and fro so much anyway? Stay at home where you belong! The kid doesn't need to go out of state. Make relatives come visit you. The first time I was on an airplane, I was too entranced with the sheer awesomeness of flying that I didn't make a peep, though I was 5 years old.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-30-2009, 05:01 PM:
 
Southwest Airlines is now my official airline of choice!

quote: foolish Loew lady

---

"Kids can't help it,'' she said. "And it's so ridiculous that people can't understand that.''

---

Again, if that is so, then LEAVE THEM AT HOME!!! They have no right to be flying. Any child old enough to actually remember the trip will be old enough to communicate via English and isn't a problem assuming the parent puts it to them, and if they aren't old enough to be talked to and controlled, they wouldn't have remembered anything about the trip anyway...so even if grandma had died and they were flying cross-country to her funeral, it doesn't matter because a screaming baby wouldn't remember it anyway. Leave 'em at home until they are old enough to fly.

The rule should be that every passenger must be able to speak English relatively fluently. (That rule also works well for the illegals. This is America. If you don't speak the language, get out. )

Seriously, one of these days there will be an airline that gets a clue and starts designating certain flights as "baby free" and they will ALWAYS sell out. Everyone secretly hates babies on planes. I'm just one of the few people that will actually speak up for what everyone is thinking.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-30-2009, 05:42 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

---

Seriously, one of these days there will be an airline that gets a clue and starts designating certain flights as "baby free" and they will ALWAYS sell out.

---

quote: an ignorant comment from Kristin Loew

---

"Kids can't help it,'' she said. "And it's so ridiculous that people can't understand that.''

---

Um, it is even more ridiculous for grown adult parents to stupidly gamble on whether or not their infant is going to have an id-driven psychotic shit fit in a place where adults are cramped and confined for 2 hours or more.

Yeah, I agree. Kids can't help it. Knowing that, you parents shouldn't bring them into that situation in the first place. Next time, try traveling by rail (where the screaming kid can be taken back to your private room) or better yet just leave the kid at home or even better still, make the other relatives travel to visit you. You have an infant child for crying out loud.

And while certain realities are being realized, please keep those damned screaming 2 year olds out of the movie theaters while you're at it. Don't assume my intensely hateful anger at movie theater cellphone users equates to any slack given to parents who bring an irritated baby into a movie theater. That shit is going to piss me off very badly as well.
 

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Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 10-31-2009, 01:47 AM:
 
Uh Oh...From the "Better tell them we're sorry so we don't loose customers department": The San Jose Mercury News updates:

Southwest apologizes, reimburses San Jose mom tossed from a flight with cranky 2-year-old

Mercury News
Posted: 10/30/2009 07:51:27 PM PDT
Updated: 10/30/2009 10:18:43 PM PDT

Southwest Airlines has apologized to a San Jose mom who was kicked off a plane along with her unruly 2-year-old son earlier this week.

But Southwest spokeswoman Marilee McInnis told the Mercury News the airline did not regret its decision to yank Pamela Root and her son, Adam, off the plane — which flight attendants made in the interests of safety, she said — just the inconvenience it caused the family.

Root said Friday she accepts Southwest's apology, "and in the future we just hope that children are not separated from their luggage."

The crew bounced Root and her son off a flight in Amarillo, Texas, on her way home to San Jose because passengers could not hear preflight safety announcements, McInnis said.

"We have to abide by FAA policies and be able to deliver safety announcements," she said, adding that the crew tried to soothe the child. "Our flight attendants gave the child juice and coloring books, and we're sorry she was inconvenienced."

Root will receive a refund for the flight and a $300 travel voucher to cover her expenses. She was stuck in Amarillo and forced to buy a portable crib and diapers and stay another night with her parents.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-31-2009, 02:17 AM:
 
At least they only apologized for the inconvenience. Now where is the apology from the mother for inconveniencing the rest of the passengers on that flight who were delayed?
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-31-2009, 09:19 AM:
 
Cinemas and churches solved this problem years ago with Cry Rooms.

Perhaps the last row of aircraft could be designated for such people. When they call for "people who need assistance" to board first, then the FA could usher them DIRECTLY to the sound isolated row. . . .the very back row. Louis
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-31-2009, 09:57 AM:
 
I guess on most flights, there's really only one person I want to talk to or hear from -- my wife. To take care of the rest, I have headphones and a good selection of tunes. I recommend that solution, because (especially as long as "Disney" is part of the landscape) people aren't going to stop bringing small children on flights.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-31-2009, 11:59 AM:
 
I've always been a fan of Louis' idea. To make it better, the inside of these cry closets should be lined with hard metal surfaces and NO padding anywhere in there so it can have Chili's acoustics and help to magnify the SCREAMING into the parent's ears so they will understand why they are bad parents to the child, and overall bad people for torturing others.

Mike, if you have found a brand of "noise canceling" headphones that blocks out the noise from screaming infants, please let me know. I have not yet found them. They seem to do a decent job of blocking everything BUT that noise.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-31-2009, 12:08 PM:
 
Good point, Brad....I guess the best solution is volume, and lots of it.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-31-2009, 01:30 PM:
 
Hearing a child cry breaks my heart.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-31-2009, 02:42 PM:
 
M. Nature has wired us to respond to the sound of a child crys -- they can't be ignored. Survival of the species kind of thing.

Parents who ignore it or subject others to what they should be attending to need to have their freakin DNA fixed.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 11-01-2009, 08:40 AM:
 
Drives me insane: people who speed up when you try to pass them!

You can be behind someone doing 60 mph for 20 miles, with no one else around, and the minute you decide to go around them, they'll speed up!! It's like everyone wants to play freakin' NASCAR or something! If I further increase my speed, they will increase theirs by a similar margin. If you stay with them to see how far they'll go with it, they'll do as much as an extra 20 mph, just to keep you from passing them. And, if you drop back behind them, they'll slow down to their previous speed. EVERY TIME!

Why do people DO that?

 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 11-01-2009, 10:07 AM:
 
double post.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 11-01-2009, 10:10 AM:
 
I'm with Tim on this one. . . or is this just a Kentucky thing?

Also, in Florida the center lane on the three lane southbound is the slow lane. The fast lane can't pass since ONE car matches the speed of the center lane. Hundreds (Thousands?) of cars snake over to the right lane to get around the slow ones. How inconsiderate! louis
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-01-2009, 10:47 AM:
 

quote:

---

Drives me insane: people who speed up when you try to pass them!

---

We already know you're insane but never ever come to Utah if you can't tolerate that style of driving! Out here everyone is wanting to be first to get to the Temple so that driving style is a way of life around here. Our expressways have four lanes... three that all go fast and one express lane far left and marked... it's hardly what I can an express lane though as they allow busses and motor homes to use it. Not many of you have ever experienced a "Mormon Blockade" either... .

Louis,

Florida is THE state for elderly drivers... Never a fun place to be driving around.

Mark
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 11-01-2009, 10:48 AM:
 
Ok, I hate kids as much as the next person (just ask me during out kids shows), but I am going to go out on a limb and at least partially defend moms with kids because my mother was one.

Back in 1970, back when not only you could smoke on planes, but they would give you cigarettes with your meal, my father got his orders from the Navy to transfer from Hawaii to Washington, DC. He and mom were 35 years old at the time (just kids from my perspective now) and had SEVEN kids, of which I was the oldest at 12. The youngest just turned 1.

We were on a commercial flight from Honolulu to NYC (my grandparents lived in NY). It was straight through with only a stop in SF -- none of us getting off the plane (this was in the days before hubs and deregulation, so thankfully no running from one end of the airport to the other). I think it was 13 hours.

Believe me, all of us were cranky and restless, some cried, most made noise and my parents (and the stewardi) did what they could. I'm sure the people around us hated us. Still, it was all my parents could do. There was no leave-the-children-at-home option (though I was pissed about having to leave Hawaii).

So yeah, they are annoying and shouldn't be brought to inappropriate places like theatres and (most) restaurants, but at least try to have a little sympathy for a mom (and dad) who have to go somewhere by plane with their kids. Just as flying sucks so much more than before for us, it is even worse when you HAVE to do it with kids.
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 11-01-2009, 10:50 AM:
 
People who cock block..

..Wait am I allowed to say that?
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 11-01-2009, 01:01 PM:
 

quote: Louis Bornwasser

---

I'm with Tim on this one. . . or is this just a Kentucky thing?

---

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

---

Our expressways have four lanes

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Oh, wow. Four lanes? I'll certainly have to make sure I never go back there, so I won't ever run into those again.

Utah roads were so inconsequential that I don't even remember them. Sections of the Garden State Parkway here have no less than TWELVE lanes in each direction.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 11-01-2009, 01:08 PM:
 

quote: Tim Reed

---

Hearing a child cry breaks my heart.

---

I have 3 kids and can recommend duct tape for controlling screaming kids. It is VERY handy! ...Ummmm on the mouth, NOT on the wrists!

It's also handy for securing bratty kids in their chairs to stop them from running all over the place while in a restaurant.


 

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Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 11-01-2009, 01:33 PM:
 
Tim, hearing a crying child boils my blood. Then again, I've been told I don't have a heart, so maybe they're similar physiological reactions.

Martin, while I find rare empathy for your story, the circumstances that you describe are fairly unusual today. Not only are the services smaller, but divorce rates among service members are high (though not as high as five years ago). Plus, an easy solution to that is to stick all the kids on a C2 performing a carrier takeoff. They'll cry so much after that, they'll never cry again, least of all at the relative comfort and luxury of commercial flying.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 11-01-2009, 01:47 PM:
 
I understand. I think it's different, though, when you have children. Plus, I have lost a child, so that affects me in a significant way.

Oh, I get annoyed, too, when I see parents allowing their children to run slip-shod in restaurants and other public places. But I don't blame the children for that - they're just little. It's the parents who spoil them.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-01-2009, 01:57 PM:
 
There is a difference between infants that cannot communicate any way other than to scream. In those situations it boils down to shitty parents not putting an ounce of thought into what their kids are going through and realizing that they are in pain flying. It is cruel to the child and passengers that have to endure their parent's stupidity and the child's suffering.

Then there are kids that are able to speak and communicate things like "my ears hurt" or whatever it may be. In those situations it boils down to shitty parents not paying attention to what their kids are telling them and never disciplining them when they are young to learn that screaming is NOT the way to get what they want.

Parents have to learn that when the kid screams because he wants a toy or something to NEVER give it to him. When the kid calmly asks for the toy, to let them have it (within reason). That sort of discipline will train them for their future life. NEVER reward a kid for throwing a tantrum. As the kid's parent, it is their responsibility to suffer on their own while the kid throws a tantrum outside of public earshot to teach them to behave.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-02-2009, 10:39 AM:
 
Brad, the proof of what you are saying can be seen every week on Super Nanny. The star of the show is a woman who simply applies exactly what you are saying in households where terror reigns. The kids in the show are literally terrorizing the parents, and these dunderheads are helpless to put a stop to it. The Nanny uses time outs, repeated reinforcements of consequences for unacceptable behavior and although it's sanitized and condensed for the hour show, she does get the little hellcats to behave and act like children are supposed to act, and by that I didn't mean like obedient little zombies, but fun-loving and happy, which CAN'T happen when a child has to throw fits constantly because it's the only way he/she's been taught to communicate. I am always very impressed with the seeminly simple solutions when applied consistantly and firmly. Parenting made simple; pregnant couples would do well to be required to watch this show.

But that's a bit off topic, so here....

Effin LEAF BLOWERS....at 8:45 in the freakin morning. First off, any manufacturer who can't design a blowing machine that can move air without making 190db worth of noise should be forced to close its door. I have been tempted to take out my old BB gun and test how good my aim still is from my apartment complex window to the jerk below. Or just go down and pose as an Immigration Agent and watch them scatter like the wind that they are poluting.

BTW, these thing do polute even more than lawnmowers which are known to spew huge amounts of what amounts to raw combustion engin exhause (no catalytic converter) into the air.
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 11-02-2009, 11:17 AM:
 
Does anyone spank their kids anymore?
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-02-2009, 11:36 AM:
 
You run a good chance of going to jail for child abuse/endangerment if you spank your kids nowadays, especially in public.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-02-2009, 01:20 PM:
 
No, they just force feed them Ridilin and a host of other supressive drugs. Doctors rarely go to jail for child abuse/endangerment when they over prescribe or unnecessarilly prescribe powerful supressant drugs just to keep a kid from acting out because of incompetent parenting.

My nephew was prescribed the powerful Xanax along with Paxil with the instructions to "take one whenever you feel anxious." The kid was up to 19 pills in one 16 hour period. The "doctor" barely saw the kid for 10 minutes before he gave him those scripts and insane instructions. The results were horrific. Seening a patient for 10 minutes and then writing a prescritions -- this isn't a doctor, this is an effin drug dealer.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-02-2009, 02:36 PM:
 
My sister works at a pharmacy. She said "You would be amazed" at the number of kids around here who are on Ritalin.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-02-2009, 03:09 PM:
 
Frank, the doctors get "incentives" from drug companies to prescribe their shit, so that's not surprising. That also explains why so many people in America are on drugs.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-02-2009, 04:18 PM:
 
lol @ Ritalin being called a "suppressive drug." That's a good one.

Not to say it isn't overprescribed and ADHD overdiagnosed (both of which are true; that, coming from someone who really does have ADHD), but to say it is "suppressive" shows a complete lack of understanding on how the drug works.

And it's not quite as simple as saying that drug companies give them incentives, because people are overprescribed even when an insurance company requires using generics (like methylphenidate instead of Ritalin).
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-02-2009, 06:35 PM:
 
I think that also people think that there is a drug to cure nearly everything and they probably demand prescriptions from their doctors. I hope that I am never on any drug (aside from the insulin I already take) because the side effects are so bad. Once you start popping pills, you are truly old.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-02-2009, 07:00 PM:
 
Makes me insane: People who post "just a link" in a web forum (Not this one, thankfully) and don't give a clue what it leads to.
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-02-2009, 07:24 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

My sister works at a pharmacy. She said "You would be amazed" at the number of kids around here who are on Ritalin.

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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People who post "just a link" in a web forum (Not this one, thankfully) and don't give a clue what it leads to.

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Link
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-02-2009, 08:22 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

I think that also people think that there is a drug to cure nearly everything and they probably demand prescriptions from their doctors.

---

I think it's more that they simply think that the doctor didn't "do anything" if they don't give them a prescription, even if it's something that needs no prescription. So partly because of people thinking like this we get antibiotic prescriptions for the common cold (which isn't treated by antibiotics since it's viral).
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-02-2009, 09:11 PM:
 
I've noticed that most people are pretty stupid about antibiotics. They get a cold and want them. I tell them that their infection is viral. Their response is "Better safe than sorry". Uh, no. You can actually damage your body's resistance to bad bacteria if you use too many antibiotics, especially when not necessary.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-02-2009, 09:57 PM:
 
The ipod commercial, more specifically the use of the "word" APPS in that commercial. Let's see how many times we can say APPS in 15 seconds worth of copy and still have enough time to show how totally awesome it is to move the screen with your finger. There's an apps for that....and there's an apps for that....yah, and theirs an apps for my foot up your ass.

Apple thinks it's soooo cool to use abreviated tech terms. It makes poor Chad Q. Can-I-Be-Any-More-Of-A-Vapid-Dimwit Public think he is just everso with-it that he knows those thirty two million applications on his cute little gadget are called APPS. He hasn't the foggest idea how any of it works nor does he have the faintest curiosity to find out....he's just glad it does and that someone somewhere is smart enough to make it all work for him. So he will happily keep paying and paying. Hey, nimrod....you like paying so you can look cool? There's an apps for that.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-02-2009, 11:11 PM:
 
Apple didn't come up with "app". People have been saying that for decades... just not in reference to insipid iPod programs.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-02-2009, 11:20 PM:
 
I hate it when I give people back their change, and they say "Just like McDonald's!"
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-03-2009, 12:32 AM:
 
WTF? Do they say that at every location that gives them change? Did McDonald's invent giving change?
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 11-03-2009, 02:27 AM:
 
That was a McDonald's positioning statement years ago, referring to their product being so inexpensive that you get change back from your dollar.

Along similar lines, I *really* hate it when ignorant people merely "count" your change, as in the amount they're giving you back - like that's going to help thwart errors.

For example, if something comes to $4.85 and you give them a five. They give you a dime and a nickel back and say, "Ten... fifteen." When they SHOULD go, "Four eighty-five... ninety-five... five dollars."
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-03-2009, 04:29 AM:
 
It doesn't matter to me how they count the money back. I have already done the math in my head before they ever even get my money in their hands.

What makes me angry is when they hand back the change by laying the bills in my hand and then dropping all of the change ON TOP!!! NO YOU MORON! PUT THE CHANGE IN MY HAND AND THE BILLS ON TOP SO I CAN EASILY GRAB IT INSTEAD OF POTENTIALLY DROPPING IT ALL OVER THE FLOOR YOU DIP!

Now everybody watch the box office cashiers and concession attendants and see just how many people in your theater retardedly hand back change in that manner...then slap them, for me.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-03-2009, 04:52 AM:
 
I knew that complaint was right around the corner, but it is spot on. It's always fun to drop coinage on the ground when going through a drive through (note that I did not spell it as "Drive-Thru").
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-03-2009, 06:56 AM:
 
Brad, I see your complaint, and I'll raise you one.

I hate when they give you the bills, then the receipt on top of the bills, THEN put the change on top of the receipt.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 11-03-2009, 07:36 AM:
 
Math skills really suck these days. Hand the cashier $5.03 on a $4.88 charge and they'll look at you with puzzled stare. No inkling whatsoever that you want .15 in change.
 

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Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 11-03-2009, 08:29 AM:
 

quote: Rick Raskin

---

Hand the cashier $5.03 on a $4.88 charge

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quote: Frank Angel

---

There's an apps for that.

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quote: Rick Raskin

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Math skills really suck these days.

---

Boy, you can say that again. I was passing thru Maine last week, and I went into a little ice cream shop, bought a cone. It came to $3.82, and I handed the kid behind the counter a five. He wound up miss-punching the transaction into the register or something, because it wouldn't display the correct change. And this poor kid was fucked. I'll never forget the look of frustration on his face. He called over to the girl he was working with for a calculator, but she couldn't find it. Finally I felt so bad for him I whispered "a dollar eighteen".

When caluclators first began to appear in the early seventies, I remember an algebra teacher saying "those things are going to breed a nation of idiots". And to some extant, they have.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-03-2009, 12:16 PM:
 
I've got a pretty smart bunch of kids working at the Roxy but every now and then one of them will really ask me a dumb question. My all time favorite is: "How many dollar bills does it take to make $20?"

(To be fair, he was really intending to verify how many bills make a BUNDLE of ones, but it was still hilarious.)
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 11-03-2009, 02:27 PM:
 
People who bundle anything other than $5 bills in 20s makes me insane.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-03-2009, 03:20 PM:
 
Thanks for posting Adam. The group understands you entirely.

(Group nods in agreement)
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-03-2009, 04:24 PM:
 
Math was my worstest subject.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-03-2009, 05:31 PM:
 
Like John, I simply can't thank Adam enough for posting. What the hell are we talking about, anyway?
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-03-2009, 05:33 PM:
 
Yes Joe.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-03-2009, 11:19 PM:
 
I wents to college and I gots a degree.
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 11-05-2009, 08:07 PM:
 

quote: Mark Ogden

---

"those things are going to breed a nation of idiots". And to some extant, they have.

---

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

I thought the word in that phrase was singular. On the commercial the guy says, "there's an app for that."

---

In the words of the late Mr. McMann, "You are correct, Sir." It is singular. But that doesn't make it any less annoying. They didn't come up with the word, but they certainly are trying to push it into the common vernacular by repeating it a million times. They want the idolitors of convenience and little electrial thingies to think that they are oh so cool cause they can talk tech, even though they might not even know from what word it is derived.

Same goes for the incredibly annoying Apply commercials pitting the cute young Apple guy with an older PC nerd. The commercial doesn't tell you anything informative about why the Apple is presumably better than the PC, other than one is better looking. What they REALLY want convey is that it's way cool to be young and good looking and own lots of shiney stuff that looks good because then YOU will look way awesome cool too.

Verizon must be using the same ad agency because they are using the same concept -- the nerdy, overwight, fairly homely and wittless cable guy pitted against a svelt, fairly good looking younger lad and of course the cable guy always winds up looking like an ass.

What Apple and Verizon may not count on is that there are a lot less than "good looking" people on the planet than hot, good looking ones. There are lots of average looking, overweight, even homely, older people watching these commercials who may actually identify with the nerd rather that the cool dude. There could be quite a backlash. I can day definatively that I back lash pretty much every time one of these damn things come on.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-07-2009, 02:32 AM:
 
I don't know. I think Apple would be doing better if their advertising centered on how great their products were instead of doing the now 25 years and running mud-slinging fest of how anything that isn't Apple automatically sucks.

I think a lot of people see the high prices of Apple products and the extreme narcissism in the company's advertising and just get automatically turned off by it. Chances are high a lot of people just say, "fuck it, I'll pay half or less than half for that icky PC and then spend another $50 for McAfee Virus Scan and be done with it. Fuck the obnoxious computer company."

I'm still trying to make sense out of Verizon's "there's a map for that" craziness. Again, some marketing dude at Verizon needs to be slapped hard for that. It kind of makes me want to buy an iPhone out of spite!

 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 11-07-2009, 09:01 AM:
 
Bobby, you could be right for people over say, 30. But I think the Apple marketeers are geniuses at getting each new younger generation to buy in. The higher price of Apple products is just The Cost of Cool.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-07-2009, 09:14 AM:
 
I totally agree with Martin. The young crowd "must" have Apple products.

quote: Frank Angel

---

What Apple and Verizon may not count on is that there are a lot less than "good looking" people on the planet than hot, good looking ones.

---

That's for sure, and especially older people. I'll never forget the first time I went to a beach in California, at age 23. I had been conditioned by movies and TV to think the place would be jammed with nothing but 22-year-old, gorgeous girls in tiny bikinis. There were a few of them there for sure, but of course there were far more "normal" looking people.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-07-2009, 11:23 AM:
 
With product marketing, the problem is that you either don't understand the product being sold, therefore it is virtually impossible to explain or else you already believe in the product, in which case, there's no point in discussing it.

Either you are preaching to the converted or you are preaching to "heathens."

What that does, is force the marketers to always talk down to the lowest common denominator of the audience. It never fully explains the product. It never really talks about the benefits of using the product. It's all about selling the sizzle.

With the case of Microsoft and Apple, you have Microsoft, which is mediocre at best, with flawless mass marketing techniques facing off against a a good (but not perfect) product which has historically had poor marketing.

Only now does Apple have a good marketing campaign but people from BOTH sides bash Apple for it!

What I'd like to see, regardless of the company selling the product, is a campaign that centered on how well you can get work done on a given system.

(Work being loosely defined as anything you want to accomplish on a computer. Anything from browsing the internet, maintaining your company's accounting records, doing scientific research or even producing video and 3-D graphics.)

I'd like to see an ad campaign where "Company A" shows how fast, easy and secure it is to complete a given task as compared to "Company B's" product.

In the end, it is superficial marketing that pisses me off!

(Although you do have to admit... Whether you like Apple products or not, some of those ads are pretty funny! )
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 11-07-2009, 11:40 AM:
 
Ran into another one today.

People who just decide to stop their car where ever they are and wait for --- whatever it is that they're waiting for, and then wave me to go around them when I pull up behind them. ESPECIALLY when they are in a PARKING LOT!

Someone did that to me today. The worst part was that he could have opened his door and stepped out into an empty parking space. Then turned left or right and walked straight through ten more empty spaces. If he had a passenger in the car, they could have done the same thing. He and I were two of about twenty cars in a parking lot with about 400 spaces in it. Instead I had to drive through the empty spaces to get around him.

Hey, Butt Head - if you're going to park, then GO PARK!
 

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 11-07-2009, 12:10 PM:
 
It may be true that the young crowd gravitates towards Apple. Is that because of marketing, or is it more that the stuff just works for them? Many of the young people I work with have MacBooks. Very few of them are what I would consider to be foolish or easily gulled. It is clear to me that if Macs were fundamentally flawed or unreliable products, they wouldn’t own them. The marketing is there, sure. But the quality obviously is as well. If they want to spend more than they would on a PC, and their purchase makes them happy, what’s wrong with that? Apple is a success story that makes attractive products, and gets what it can for them. Isn’t that the American way?

Then there’s me. I’m 56, and have been a happy Mac owner for years. I first bought Mac because of their reputation, because I am attracted by strong industrial design, and mostly because of my incredible frustration with everything PC. I by no means believe Macs are perfect devices; in fact my last iMac blew every cap on its CPU board twice. But I just ordered the new 27” iMac, with the Quad Core and 8 gig. Came to just under three large, even with our company discount. Am I trying to buy into coolness? Fuck no. I could care less from cool. I am buying what makes me happy. I am buying what works for me. Yet: I am not young. I am not emo. I do not drink lattes from Starbuck’s. I do not wear Abecrombie & Fitch, and I’m not any of the other bullshit things that usually get associated with Apple users. What I am is a happy camper, just getting his work done on a machine that pleases him to use, and I perceive that while doing so I am having an easier and more efficient time of it than I would have if I were using a PC. Could I have ordered a Windows machine of comparable speed and power for much less? Probably. But I don’t want to. It makes me happy, and I can afford it. I’d wager that every other Mac user feels the same. What could be wrong with that?
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 11-07-2009, 12:18 PM:
 
Agree with you about using Mac's, I've been a user since 1986. The marketing, however isn't aimed at us. 1) we're already hooked and 2) we have demo'd out of the prime advertising audience.

It's like the Nielsen ratings. you can have the number one show as far a viewership, but if that viewership is fifty and over (hell, 30+) the advertisers don't care about you because you are old and set in your ways Murder She Wrote was one of the top rated shows when it was cancelled, and I'm many of us other 50 somethings remember Freddy Silverman cancelling the CBS "country bumpkin" lineup, even though it was at the top of the ratings.

Contrary to John Waters, advertisers aren't going to cater to baby boomers for the rest of our lives
 

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 11-07-2009, 12:42 PM:
 

quote: Martin McCaffery

---

Freddy Silverman cancelling the CBS "country bumpkin" lineup, even though it was at the top of the ratings.

---

quote: Mark Ogden

---

I could care less from cool.

---

Here's something that drives me insane:
People who don't understand the difference between "could" and "couldn't."

Also, it pisses me off when I tear down a movie only to find one of the reels won't go onto the MUT because the core's lone exposed hole was made with a small screwdriver and the remaining normal size holes taken up by the locking mechanism.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-07-2009, 01:35 PM:
 
Yeah, the Apple commercials can be rather pompous. But you remember the commercials. What is the last MicroSoft commercial that you remember? I'll be damned if I can remember any. Ever. The point of advertising isn't always to make people run out right away and buy tons of product, it is to get the brand into the public consciousness.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-07-2009, 01:53 PM:
 
I definitely remember the ones where they taped the people who were purchasing laptops and only found the ones that met their specs and price range being PCs.

Granted, that was the first memorable ad they'd done in recent memory.
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 11-07-2009, 02:15 PM:
 
I have vague recollections of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld wandering around, or am I imagining things?
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-07-2009, 03:30 PM:
 
I remember that one too... and man did it suck.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-07-2009, 03:38 PM:
 
I agree Microsoft has not been very good with advertising and marketing its products. The several flavors of Windows 7 is yet another example of this. IMHO, there should only be one version.

This issue is complicated by the ad campaigns of many different PC vendors, such as Dell, HP/Compaq, Sony, etc. On the Mac side there's only Apple. Pretty simple.

quote: Randy Stankey

---

What I'd like to see, regardless of the company selling the product, is a campaign that centered on how well you can get work done on a given system.

---

quote: Martin McCaffery

---

Agree with you about using Mac's, I've been a user since 1986. The marketing, however isn't aimed at us. 1) we're already hooked and 2) we have demo'd out of the prime advertising audience.

---

Actually, I think this is an area where Apple is missing an opportunity.

Apple's youth-oriented marketing works great in terms of selling iPods and iPhones. People under the age of 30 are the biggest demographic for those products. People over 30 buy more computer systems, especially in terms of business use. The highly lucrative business computing sector has its buying decisions largely dominated by middle aged customers. The vast majority of those customers are still choosing Windows-based systems.

I also think this is a very critical reason why Windows-based PCs are targeted by malware-writing crackers. The black hat cracker has a far better chance of making money off infiltrating a business user's PC than he does by hacking into some college kid's MacBook Pro.

Apple has made some previous attempts to market to business users, but with mixed results. The 1985 "Lemmings" Super Bowl ad for Macintosh Office only worked to insult potential customers. I think the current "I'm Mac/I'm a PC" ads are doing the same thing. Only youthful, cool people are worthy of buying a Mac. Older people and "nerds" make up the PC crowd. Apple is reinforcing the idea that Macs have no place in a straight-laced business environment.
 

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Posted by Galen Murphy-Fahlgren (Member # 4535) on 11-07-2009, 03:39 PM:
 
Microsoft has historically left advertising to the hardware vendors while practicing their dubious brand of "salesmanship" to get their software bundled on that hardware. There was an article in the New York Times a few months ago about it, which says that in 2008, Apple (with its ~8% market share) outspent Microsoft (~90% market share) on advertising by 71%. I wonder why Macintoshes cost so much. Now, in all fairness, Microsoft has since vastly increased its advertising budget.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-07-2009, 03:58 PM:
 
Unfortunately, Microsoft only seems to be helping Apple with its latest round of advertising. The current "I'm a PC" thing, showing a wide variety of different, not so nerdy computer users is nice in some respects, but it only reminds the viewer of the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads from Apple that inspired the campaign.

Why can't Microsoft allow an ad agency to come up with something cool and original to promote its products?

And just what the hell is up with Microsoft having a Microsoft store? Or more specifically, why are they trying to copy Apple's approach?

 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-07-2009, 04:31 PM:
 
Because that's what they always do. They copy other people's work. They bring it to market about 5 years late and it's always done half-assed.

I don't think Microsoft has done anything on their own. Hell, they didn't even invent MS DOS.

Microsoft have never really been big innovators.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-07-2009, 05:01 PM:
 
The whole who invented/innovated what thing is another can worms (Xerox really deserves the credit for inventing the graphical user interface, not Apple).

Nevertheless, Microsoft's first retail store in Arizona is quite an embarrassment, IMHO. And that's because it reminds people too much of an Apple store. Clearly Microsoft just doesn't know the demographics of its customer base. They could have come up with something better, or jobbed out the process to someone with a clue (like they have done with XBox/XBox360 product design and development).

There are so many other visual possibilities Microsoft could have pursued with a new retail store. Did it ever occur to them it might be good to do some research about design trends in the PC gaming community? There's a lot of wild stuff going on there. Windows PCs have a more utilitarian image. Why not play off that and go for a more mean looking industrial visual theme? Hell, even make it evil and tough looking like Alienware does with their computer systems. Microsoft could actually have some fun playing up the "evil empire" part of their corporate image in doing that. Middle aged business men dig the hell out that shit.

But no. They make their store seem eerily like an Apple store -or at least they've made it feel like walking into a Gap store that happens to sell computers.

 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-07-2009, 06:06 PM:
 
I've never used a Mac or any other Apple product except my iPod. Our local newspaper is fully staffed with Mac users, but they can't produce a nice-looking ad to save their lives. So I make 100% of my own ads on various PCs over the years. Not to mention posters, flyers, in-theatre signs, etc. I'm no Bobby Henderson, but I think I do a pretty fair job. So, a product is only as good as its user.

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

Apple's youth-oriented marketing works great in terms of selling iPods and iPhones.

---

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

Our local newspaper is fully staffed with Mac users, but they can't produce a nice-looking ad to save their lives. So I make 100% of my own ads on various PCs over the years. Not to mention posters, flyers, in-theatre signs, etc.

---

This reminds me of one thing that really makes me go insane:
When someone at the newspaper, magazine or phone book publishing company CHANGES my design. Oh man, that really pisses me off.


A few years ago we ordered a half-page phone book ad. I composed the ad to the company's points/pica sizing specs. The background imagery was an embedded CMYK TIFF with the proper color profile set. All of my type was converted to outlines to avoid any font substitutions. The only thing the phone book people had to do was drop the EPS file into the phone book layout. When we received the new phone book a few weeks later we only found out then the design dept. there had other ideas.

Someone there had to have creative happy camp fun with my layout. Everyone is an artist! We all get a gold star! That "designer" changed all my type to clunky weights of Futura and didn't have it spaced worth a damn. If the images in the background weren't flattened into a single TIFF I'm sure the little bastard would have moved around those elements too!

I blew my stack when I saw that ad. I raised hell with the phone book company's management and made them give us a refund.

There definitely is a syndrome in place where if one uses a Mac and some Adobe graphics software that person just automatically considers himself to be a graphics professional regardless of how much he sucks at graphic design.

Small town newspapers (and even more than a few big city papers) suffer from the same problem -certain hacks who think they're great because of the fleet of Macs in the room. The Macs are only there by default, not because the newspaper company is more professional. Newspaper production is still a very Mac-oriented thing because the infrastructure of industry specific tools has been in place for so long. It would be a logistical nightmare converting a newspaper production from Mac to PC. It's possible, but it would be a giant pain the ass.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-07-2009, 07:34 PM:
 

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

There definitely is a syndrome in place where if one uses a Mac and some Adobe graphics software that person just automatically considers himself to be a graphics professional regardless of how much he sucks at graphic design.

---

I see that a lot but it's not entirely a Mac thing. It happens a lot with Macs but not exclusively.

I see the same thing with video too.
That's the reason we got the two Power Macs in the office here. To make video.

Once I teach kids the workflow from start to making a finished DVD, they all think they are Cecil B. DeMille!

For cripe's sake, they don't even know one aspect ratio from another! And, YES! I teach them! They just don't listen because they are too wrapped up in putting themselves on TV.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-07-2009, 07:55 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

I remember when Lockheed Martin was exclusively a Mac company back in the early 90's. Maybe around 96 or so or a bit later, they switched out to Windows. Not sure why they did.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

I see that a lot but it's not entirely a Mac thing. It happens a lot with Macs but not exclusively.

---

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

I just wish it had a built in Blu-ray burner (not to mention Apple-based BD movie playback software).

---

Hey! That's right! This is supposed to be a "What pisses me off?" thread. Isn't it?

Yeah, that pisses me off!

Hey Jobs! WTF is up with that? Why no Blu-Ray?
Get your shit together! Will ya'?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-08-2009, 12:29 AM:
 
You know what pisses me off -or rather, "makes me go insane" (to put it more nicely)? A lot more types of people than just the Geritol-chewing crowd are loitering their vehicles when the traffic light has turned green.

Have I already griped about this? Too bad if I have. This bitch deserves an encore!

Normally I have a very easy commute, most of which takes place on I-44 skirting around downtown Lawton. That's no longer the case because a big construction project has the interchange of I-44, Cache Road and 2nd street closed until the fall of 2010. Now my daily commute takes me past Lawton's largest middle and high schools as well as lots of stop and go bullcrap in downtown Lawton down to the town's industrial south side.

This commuting path leaves lots of opportunities for assholes of all kinds to obstruct the flow of traffic. And that flow of traffic is growing much more congested, thanks largely to a massive expansion on Fort Sill that is adding 20,000 new residents to Lawton's 100,000 metro population.

Basically, when the light turns green the driver at the front of the line needs to move his ass already. I'm accustomed to certain members of Lawton's large retirement community to be a bit tentative in advancing forward through a clear intersection. I cannot get used to some chick who has her head buried up in the digital version of her asshole (her cellphone) or is yakking away to the other kids in her vehicle and being totally ignorant of the pretty light being a certain shade of green. The light doesn't get any more green than that, Lady. Freaking move already! HONK!!

Isn't it fun to have a team of slow poke idiots obstruct the way for your entire commute from the front of your workplace all the way to your own driveway? I have that pleasure now! It's like one slow poke asshole turns out of my way only so another asshole can pull in front of me to resume the task of obstructionist driving. Sometimes I wonder if there is a conspiracy of obstructionist drivers working as a team. They coordinate their slow poke driving attacks to maximum effect to waste as much of your time as possible. "No Edith, you need to park on the Rogers Lane ramp to I-44 West. We have a team of 7 drivers already obstructing Bob."

The traffic situation in my town used to be a piece of cake. Laughably easy. Now it is inspiring some of the same kind of anger I felt in certain driving adventures around Beltline Road in North Dallas. This is only Lawton! Traffic shouldn't be this difficult here!

 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-08-2009, 12:50 AM:
 
I don't have a problem with slow drivers. That's why God invented the passing lane.

Drive whatever speed you want so long as it's not illegal. If you want to drive fast, get in the left lane. If you want to drive slow, the right lane is for you.

What really frosts my shorts is when two old farts are having a "slow race" in front of you!

There's one old fart in the right lane going slow with another old fart in the right lane, right next to the first one, going the same speed.

WTF? One of the two of you either speed up or slow down. I don't give a fuck which one of you does what. Just quit blocking BOTH doddgamm lanes. Will you, for cripe's sake?!
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-08-2009, 01:32 AM:
 
The problem is I don't have so much in the way of 4 lane streets available as alternatives to not being able to drive on I-44. 11th Street and Lee Blvd. is about it and that path is just messed up with lots and lots of traffic lights.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-08-2009, 01:55 AM:
 
I might've said it before but this discussion reminds me that I can't stand people who are afraid of passing someone. It's like I'm going along at the speed limit and there are open lanes on either side, so the person tailgates me not having the balls to change lanes. Then if I get tired of it and change lanes, the person zooms ahead somehow not realizing that if they'd changed lanes they'd be far ahead of me already.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-08-2009, 02:05 AM:
 
I always tap my brakes if someone is tailgating me, perhaps even slowing down a bit. What I really want is for them to freak out at my brake lights due to their proximity to me, slam on their brakes, roll over, crash, then die.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-08-2009, 09:18 AM:
 
I get really cheesed off when somebody doesn't have the balls to pass a truck!

You know... Somebody who will pull up along side a semi-truck and cruise there, right along side.

Don't these fuckin' idiots understand that the driver probably can't see them? If that truck was to try to change lanes or, worse yet, had to swerve for any reason that they'd be nothing left of them but a red splotch on the side of the road where the paramedics hosed their bloody remains off the pavement?

Jeez! If you're going to pass a truck, grow a pair and PASS THE FUCKIN' TRUCK! Will ya' for cripes sake?!

I, personally will not pull up along side a truck unless I have a clear path to get all the way past and pull ahead. The only time I will run along side is when there is a traffic jam and there is no other choice. Traffic is stopped or traveling at low speed. Conditions are different in those circumstances.
But, as soon as traffic speeds up again, I will get my ass out of the crease at my first opportunity.
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 11-08-2009, 09:32 AM:
 
The primary artery in my commute to/from work is a five mile stretch of four-lane 55mph highway where people regularly hog up both lanes going no faster than 40 with NOTHING in front of them as far as the eye can see.

Stupid fucking Iowans.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-08-2009, 09:40 AM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

---

You know... Somebody who will pull up along side a semi-truck and cruise there, right along side.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

If you want to drive fast, get in the left lane. If you want to drive slow, the right lane is for you.

---

That's what they do here. Of course, either is illegal here too.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-09-2009, 02:10 PM:
 
Hurricanes are not nearly as dangerous as the drivers in Florida. They are insane. And it's not just old people. It EVERYONE. They drive 20 mph over the speed limit on I95 and tailgate at less than a car length behind you. And at that same 80 - 85mph speed, they zoom back and forth across three lanes with virtually not car lenth for any safety margin of error.

In my entire driving career in NYC -- not typically know as an easy city to commute -- I have seen 2 vehicle crashes with fatalities. I was in Fort Lauderdale for 10 days and in that time I saw 3 fatalities on I95. THREE! one where a motorcyclist's body was about 100 yards away from the crushed cycle and his leg about 10 feet from the rest of his body. I nearly crashed myself when I saw it, uncovered, just there on the road. You take your life in some other Floridian idiot's hands when you travel on the I95 corridor.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-09-2009, 03:22 PM:
 
People in Billings, MT don't know how to city-drive. You can sit there for a long time signaling, trying to make a lane change, and not one of those people will let you in. WHereas in a real big city like Denver, Chicago, Orlando or Salt Lake, normally within five seconds of putting the blinker on, somebody will open up a space. At least that's been my admittedly limited experience.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-09-2009, 06:19 PM:
 
Some large cities, New York City in particular, have public awareness campaigns on eliminating traffic problems.

"Don't block the box" is one I heard often on the radio when I lived in NYC. It was an effort to fight gridlock situations that can and do occur in Manhattan traffic. Some guy drives out into the intersection as the light is about to change. The traffic ahead of him doesn't move. So he's stuck out there blocking traffic for the crossing street. As more people copy the same selfish behavior the gridlock situation grows.

This same problem can occur in ANY city. Right now I see it happening at certain intersections in downtown Lawton thanks to so much traffic being detoured off I-44. The driver knows the chance he's taking going out into the intersection, but he takes the gamble anyway.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-09-2009, 06:44 PM:
 
Amazingly, people don't do that very much in Denver, though it has been known to happen. Drivers do lots of other pointless crap here, though.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-09-2009, 07:18 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

WHereas in a real big city like Denver, Chicago, Orlando or Salt Lake, normally within five seconds of putting the blinker on, somebody will open up a space.

---

Don't expect that here. If you signal for a lane change here, the following drivers will close up any and all spaces. 'Vegas drivers do not like having anyone merge in front of them. In fact, they don't like anyone in front of them period. Signaling here is considered a sign of weakness, and of a loser.

And Las Vegas loathes losers.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 11-09-2009, 07:43 PM:
 
Could be worse. . .

In New Jersey and South Carolina they don't use blinkers
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 11-09-2009, 07:53 PM:
 
Indicators?

We call them Confimicators here in Queensland.

Used only AFTER the maneuver has been performed.
 

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Posted by Karl Borowski (Member # 5424) on 11-09-2009, 07:59 PM:
 

quote: Paul Mayer

---

And Las Vegas loathes losers.

---

I thought it relied on them to fund its government and education system. . .
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-09-2009, 10:41 PM:
 
It's a love/hate thing...
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-10-2009, 12:01 AM:
 
When I'm in Vegas, I'll be sure to cut you off since the people there seem to appreciate it.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-10-2009, 12:36 AM:
 
Oh we do, we do... You guys make excellent Florida-8 pistol targets.
 

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Posted by Michael Voiland (Member # 5386) on 11-10-2009, 12:37 AM:
 
People not letting me do my job.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 11-10-2009, 01:54 AM:
 

quote: Karl Borowski

---

Could be worse. . .

---

It could be raining
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-10-2009, 06:53 PM:
 
Insane: The media grousing that "A Christmas Carol" performed "below expectations."

YOU IDIOTS, it's not even the Christmas season yet! The real grosses are yet to come...didn't any of you media learn anything from Polar Express? Oh that's true, most of you were probably still in high school then.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-10-2009, 07:06 PM:
 
The movie will be out of theaters before the Christmas season comes.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-11-2009, 08:16 PM:
 
People who return your email but don't include the previous correspondence but instead remove it.

Do they think they are saving money somehow??

They seem to think they are the only ones emailing me yet I have many on the go with the business and it pisses me off to have to go back and find what I sent them to keep track of their individual needs.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-11-2009, 09:41 PM:
 
I sometimes delete previous e-mail correspondence in responses if it starts to become too long when I am going back and forth with someone. It gets way too cluttered if I don't and sifting through previous responses becomes useless because you can't tell anything apart from the other. This usually takes 5 or more back-and-forths before I do this, though, and I usually leave the most immediate things intact (ie: what I am replying to).
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-12-2009, 04:16 AM:
 
Guys who replace their car headlight bulbs with Supertrouper followspots. For some reason they think that as long as they can see the road 30 miles ahead of them, somehow it will protect them from the on-coming drivers who are veering off into their lane because their retinas have been MELTED by those 290,000 lumen headlights shining directly at their eyes.

When is there going to be a regulation that limits the brightness of headlights? In most municipalities you can get a ticket for driving with your high-beams on, whilst these super-bright headlights stuck in the low-beam position can be many times the brightness of the high beams. Surely there has to be a level at which they become a menace.

Besides, it is a scientific fact that aholes who feel the need to have the super brightest headlights on the road are just compensating for unusually miniscule sex organs. Or ED. Or impotency. Or incontinence....both No. 1 and No. 2.

Many times I have told JoAnne that she is going to have to learn how to use firearms so she can be my side-kick, riding shotgun with me who can just shoot the damn things out as we drive down the highway.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-13-2009, 12:44 AM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

---

When is there going to be a regulation that limits the brightness of headlights?

---

There should also be legislation regulating the loudness of train whistles. Damn those things get louder and shriller every year. There comes a point where people are going to do something stupid, no matter how much their ear drums have been shredded by the oncoming trains.
 

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Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 11-29-2009, 01:56 PM:
 
All those people on YouTube who post videos of them trying to thread projectors in lighting speed trying to show off. Most of the times they screw it up bigtime and in any case nobody cares how fast one threads the projector but how precise one threads a projector.
Demetris
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-29-2009, 03:51 PM:
 
Did you see the one I posted threading at lightning speed?
 

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Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 11-29-2009, 04:17 PM:
 
No Joe. I saw yours threading at hyper speed!


 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-29-2009, 05:43 PM:
 
Aw, I gave up on speed threading contests years ago! That's for noobz!

No, real men thread with their left hand, keeping their right hand in their back pocket. Then, when they get bored with that, they do it blindfolded.

My record time for threading is 93 seconds... Blindfolded and using only my left hand. PLUS I got it right without any fuck-ups!
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-29-2009, 06:15 PM:
 
As opposed to "getting it right with fuck-ups"?
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-29-2009, 06:27 PM:
 
As reported by the Department of Redundancy Department.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-29-2009, 08:34 PM:
 
It really depends on what type of equipment you have. If you have a Dolby Digital penthouse reader or anything else to go through and you have to rewind a media cleaner, then it may take you up to 20 or 25 seconds from lifting the ring out to completely done. That makes your time look artificially long.
 

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 12-01-2009, 07:42 PM:
 
Joe, do you use a cordless drill to rewind your cleaning media? Just that step takes my fat fingers 30 seconds or so...
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-01-2009, 09:46 PM:
 
When I was a noob.. 18 seconds was my record. We always started timing when the 20-minute reel was placed on the spindle and the lock flipped shut (go!). Retrimming the lamp didn't count.
 

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Posted by Jarret Chessell (Member # 5077) on 12-02-2009, 12:09 PM:
 
D Cinema will take the fun out of speed threading. I really hate watching some of the peeps at work trying to thread quickly. I usually say "what's the rush". Yanking that film off the platter as fast as you can has proven deadly to my leaders and house trailers.

Anyways, I thought of a peeve yesterday. I hate it when you're walking behind someone and they just stop instantly to check or send a text message on their cell phone, and you just about plow them over because they were a step or two ahead of you. Plus side to this: Cute girl does it and you get momentary body contact. Down side: Phil Hill stops in front of you and you get momentary body contact
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-02-2009, 12:23 PM:
 
Oh, the same thing with carts in the grocery store! People just stop in the middle of the aisle and take up the whole space, milling one side to another, while giving no acknowledgement that there are people behind and in front of them.

These selfish individuals probably drive the same way. They think they're the only ones there!
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-02-2009, 02:38 PM:
 
I've just stopped looking out for people in the grocery store. I just cut in front and smile at them while I do it.

If there is a collision, THEY crashed into ME!
I have no problem just saying, "Excuse me." and pushing past.

Going to the grocery store has been a lot more enjoyable since I stopped giving a damn about other people.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-02-2009, 02:58 PM:
 

quote: Jarret Chessell

---

Plus side to this: Cute girl does it and you get momentary body contact.

---

Downside is they complain to the cops...

And I wouldn't say the people in question are being selfish, per say. They're just too dumb to realize that others are around them... or they're spacing which can go along with the same thing.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-02-2009, 04:46 PM:
 

quote: Jarret Chessell

---

Down side: Phil Hill stops in front of you and you get momentary body contact

---

Hey Jarret, we ***ALL*** KNOW YOU LUV IT!

Bend over and touch your toes...I'll show you where the wild goose goes.
 

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Posted by Jarret Chessell (Member # 5077) on 12-02-2009, 07:59 PM:
 
Goose? What happened to the Kielbasa? did the Goose eat the Kielbasa? Did the cops take the goose? What's your fader setting?
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-02-2009, 08:05 PM:
 
The PC authorities took the kielbasa. Apparently it was an offensive word to those easily offended by nonoffensive material, and such.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-02-2009, 10:10 PM:
 
What about "schnitzingrubin?"
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-03-2009, 01:19 PM:
 
Or my favorite, "Gutentight."

What's currently making me go insane is my body acting up..doc gave me meds for stress that made things a LOT worse...felt like I was having a heart attack. So I stopped taking them and feel somewhat better.

I would give almost anything to go back about four years when I was totally healthy.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-03-2009, 06:51 PM:
 
Schwanzstucker?

Kishka?
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-04-2009, 12:31 AM:
 
Shvartzer!
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-04-2009, 03:47 AM:
 

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr

---

What's currently making me go insane is my body acting up..doc gave me meds for stress that made things a LOT worse...felt like I was having a heart attack. So I stopped taking them and feel somewhat better.

---

Not to advertise or anything (since I go to school for this), but have you considered trying acupuncture? As weird as it seems, it can help people with stress management. Just food for thought.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-04-2009, 12:29 PM:
 
The fact that I always seem to have to sit next to this guy with screaming children front and behind of me when flying.


 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-04-2009, 12:35 PM:
 
That's gotta be really painful, sitting on the unmovable aisle armrest.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-04-2009, 12:38 PM:
 
Are you suggesting that the armrest is rated for 400 pounds?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-04-2009, 03:22 PM:
 
He's using the armrest to dislodge rotting food inside his colon.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-04-2009, 03:42 PM:
 
The armrest serves as a centering/locating device. It fulfills a niche function appropriate for that person for an even weight distribution of his fat ass...

I give the airline kudos for the "crack" insight and clever solution...
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-04-2009, 05:02 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

---

Are you suggesting that the armrest is rated for 400 pounds?

---

All 400 wouldn't be on it but as you can see from the pic, the arm wasn't pulled up (and those ones can't be anyway).

Obviously that side of his body would still be beyond the thing's rated threshold, but the attendants might not really care. If the thing breaks, they're not the one that has to fix it.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 12-04-2009, 05:38 PM:
 
You'll soon see a mock seat setup at check-in labeled "If you can't fit, you can't fly".
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-04-2009, 06:56 PM:
 
They actually charge the person double. Either it's for possible repairs to a seat like in the picture, or they simply (if not booked too full) give them 2 seats to take up.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-04-2009, 08:04 PM:
 
Airlines should enact a "One seat = One ass" policy.

Every seat gets one ass. Every ass gets one seat. If there is more than one ass per seat or one seat per ass, the ass responsible has to pay the difference.

No crying babies in a mother's arms unless she pays for the second seat.

No fat-assed passengers unless they pay for the second seat.

Kills two birds with one stone.
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 12-04-2009, 08:31 PM:
 
What airlines have you flown where policy was someone who required two seats only had to pay for one? All the 'big' airlines that fly in and out of Houston have a policy where you are required to buy a second seat.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-04-2009, 08:51 PM:
 
Most airlines do have a "one seat=one ass" policy, more politely called a "person of size" policy. The definition of needing to buy a second seat is that if the "person of size" can't get the movable armrests down around him/her they must by a second seat. But (or "Butt!" as Phil would say ) they only have to pay child's fare for the second seat, and that fare will be refunded if the flight operates with empty seats.

Notice how that poor seat unit is bending under the "load" (the legs are under the middle armrests). It'd be my luck if I was an AMT there, I'd be the one called out to R&R it.

As pictured, the cabin is not legal even for pushback due to the aisle being blocked and it doesn't look like the person has his seatbelt fastened. Fortunately, boarding is still in progress. There's no way an FAA-certified air carrier (American Airlines in this case) would allow that cabin condition to move, let alone fly.

As it turned out, the neighboring pax was given a ticket to fly on a later flight, and the big pax was given the entire three-seat unit plus seatbelt extenders.
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-04-2009, 09:51 PM:
 
Many aisle seats have a lever on the underside to release the armrest to flip up.
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 12-05-2009, 12:18 AM:
 
Brad, you must use the same travel agent that I have. I had 1 flight where I was sitting peacefully in my aisle seat, nobody next to me, just casually waiting to take off, when I see a 500 pound black lady waddling down the aisle. I do what any normal person would do in this situation, I frantically look around for empty seats and pray that she isn't going to be next to me. No such luck, I had flight attendents apoligizing to me because I was halfway in the aisle for the 8 hour flight. When they wheeled the food/beverage cart through, I had to stand up and squeeze out of the way for them to get through.

No offense to anyone on this forum, but fat people fucking stink, eveytime this woman moved, I threw up a little in my mouth.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-05-2009, 02:03 AM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

---

Airlines should enact a "One seat = One ass" policy.

---

They already have the little thing that says "if your bag cannot fit in here, you must check it". Why can't they have an actual airline seat at the gate...except instead of armrests there should be WALLS. People forget that even if their ass CAN fit between the armrests, their upper body is almost always WIDER than their ass, and that forces the person sitting next to them to sit sideways and leaning the entire flight like Richard had to endure.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-05-2009, 11:34 AM:
 
Oh, I can just imagine some big, fat lady finally wedging her lard-ass into the test jig and the agent stamps her ticket "Approved" just as the attendant at the gate announces, "Final boarding call!" Then the fun begins when the fat lady tries to UNWEDGE her lard-ass out of that seat but gets stuck and can't get out of the chair in time to make the plane.

There goes the fat lady, lumbering and jiggling her way down the concourse, waving her ticket in the air, shouting, "Wait! Wait!" She turns the corner and gets to the gate just as the plane pulls away from the jetway.

Some dirty, old man sitting in a seat across the aisle, reading a newspaper grumbles, "If you weren't such a tub of lard you might have made it!"

Things I'd like to see...

 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-05-2009, 01:06 PM:
 
Oh the small joys of life, Randy.

quote: Adam Martin

---

Many aisle seats have a lever on the underside to release the armrest to flip up.

---

True. The aisle-facing armrests usually can be released up, but only to allow a wheelchair pax to slide from a wheelchair into his/her assigned seat. It's not like the crew can allow those armrests to stay up in order to give more room to a person-of-size. Again, the aisle must be clear before the aircraft can move.

.....

What makes me go insane? Lately, it's been trying to get a check cashed when you no longer have a bank account and you don't have two pieces of "acceptable" ID. From here on out, as I sell my stuff, I'll have to insist on cash.
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 12-05-2009, 04:57 PM:
 
I quit using checks a few years ago. The only reason I have a bank account is for companies to wire me money so my ex wife can delete it all:mad:
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-05-2009, 05:19 PM:
 
Checks? Banks? Those are both from the stone age... I don't even carry cash hardly at all anymore. My credit union does not charge me for usinmg my debit card at all. Banks ... well they just plain suck no matter what. Banking at a bank is a loosing proposition no matter what angle they try to get you to look at it from. I haven't been at a bank in over 15 years.

Mark
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-05-2009, 07:28 PM:
 
Me too. Haven't written a check in years. But since I don't have a bank account nor a credit union account nor an ATM/debit card anymore, when someone pays me with a check these days... difficulties ensue.

This check I received is partial payment for a collection of plastic model kits I sold last week. It's drawn on a local Wells Fargo branch. But I can't cash it there without two forms of "acceptable" ID, which I normally would have if I knew where my current passport was at the moment (funny how I can't find the current one, but the expired one is in plain sight ). May have to get the buyer (local guy) to take his check back and pay me in cash.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-05-2009, 08:43 PM:
 
So if I am on a plane, and a 500-pounder is assigned the seat next to me so I can't sit comfortably, can I gripe to the flight attendant and get a pass onto the next flight without a penalty?
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-05-2009, 11:43 PM:
 
Why should YOU have to wait until the next flight? You paid for your seat and you are entitled to use the ENTIRE seat. If some 500 pound guy is hanging into your seat, it is HE who should have to wait until the next flight if there isn't an extra seat on the plane he could either buy or be moved to (so he has 2 seats).
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-06-2009, 01:15 AM:
 
Point taken - but I guess I didn't ask the question right. What I want to know is, is there any relief for ME if some huge person is taking up half of my seat? There's all this talk about whether it's fair or not to make the large person buy a second seat, but what about the poor people adjacent? Or are they just stuck?

------------
New "insane" item for me:

Icicle lights. They are ugly if not displayed properly and they look junky during the daylight hours.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-06-2009, 12:16 PM:
 
Yeah! El Gordo should have to fly in the cargo hold!

But seriously, the aggrieved party should get first choice of remedies, within reason.

The fat guy should have to buy two seats or else take another flight but if the guy sitting next to him complains she should be allowed to move seats or to take another flight IF he wants to. Otherwise, Tubby takes the next plane out.
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 12-06-2009, 01:22 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

Icicle lights. They are ugly if not displayed properly and they look junky during the daylight hours.

---

And really tacky by July 4th
 

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Posted by Alex Edwards (Member # 5413) on 12-06-2009, 02:09 PM:
 
I hate it when something I got from Best Buy doesn't work. Like this f#$@in piece of from Sony .
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-06-2009, 06:19 PM:
 
The "word" kitteh. It bugs me as much as "teh gh=y" bugs Brad.
 

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 12-06-2009, 06:31 PM:
 
Having to unplug my new Samsung Blue-Ray disk player when it becomes frozen and won't respond to any commands makes me a little crazy. It works again after a re-boot but still.... Might have to return it and get a PS-3
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-06-2009, 08:14 PM:
 
Yes, do! There isn't much Samsung is actually good for. The PS3 is BY FAR the best and fastest Blu-ray player you can get. The reason is that all other manufacturers sell their Blu-ray players for a profit, so not only are they more expensive, they have pathetic chips that are too slow to handle Blu-ray. Once you get rid of the Samsung, you will feel like you cn show your face in public again!
 

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Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 12-16-2009, 09:43 AM:
 
The daily emails from Canada selling bootleg Viagra and assorted similar goodies. Cant't the government up there stop this nonsense?
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 12-16-2009, 03:20 PM:
 

quote: Jonathan M. Crist

---

selling bootleg Viagra

---

What is Bootleg Viagra? On my first trip to China, the screen guy that we contracted was from the UK. His last day there, we stopped at a pharmacy, we were just walking from the bar back to the hotel. He bought 5 bottles of Viagra to take home. I forget, but he said that he could sell them back home for either $50 bucks a pill or $50 bucks a bottle. I wasn't really paying attention, I had my hot Asian girlfriend waiting for me back at the hotel( another story i will post soon!)
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 12-16-2009, 03:31 PM:
 
Any website that as soon as you open up the front page will automatically begin downloading 345,000 Mb of useless trailers, ads and other spam-porn with no way of cancelling that download and all the while chewing up my bandwidth.

This pisses me right off, ers



BOXOFFICE take note!

If I want to see a trailer, I'll click on it. DON'T automatically roll through them.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-16-2009, 04:51 PM:
 
I absolutely hate the latest trend in movies today where the camera moves in continuous circles around an actor or a group of actors. This is AWFUL cinematography! It is very, very annoying! The only thing I can think while this is happening is "STOP THAT!" Why do they do this?

People who make home videos of birthday parties are better than today's working cinematographers.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-16-2009, 06:15 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Why do they do this?

---

Because style over substance directors like Michael Bay and Tony Scott tell them to do so.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-16-2009, 06:33 PM:
 
But it's not even stylish. It looks BAD. Even The Dark Knight does this. And Star Trek (I believe).
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-16-2009, 08:29 PM:
 
I agree. Cinematographers who can only "follow trends" aren't exactly very creative.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-16-2009, 11:40 PM:
 
Again, I repeat, this isn't the fault of the cinematographers. It's the asshole directors who are behind this nonsense.

Nearly every Michael Bay movie has one of those silly circle pan shots. That's Bay calling it, not the DP of the month. Tony Scott had a circle pan of the top of a building shot from a helicopter in Spy Game. He had the aerial circle pan intercut with closeups of Brad Pitt and Robert Redford arguing. He probably had big sketchpad story boards with a shit load of swoosh marks all over the stick figures. CIRCLE PAN THIS PART, BITCH! Do it from the SKY!!! Aaarrggh!

While we're at it, "shaky cam" in the Bourne movies? I think that's more on the director, Paul Greengrass rather than whatever DP was hired for the shoot.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-17-2009, 08:47 AM:
 
Another thing that makes me go insane: when people confuse "dolly" with "pan". I really should have said circle-dolly rather than circle-pan. I'm such an asshole.

 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-17-2009, 09:48 AM:
 
Don't they also call it a "Carousel Shot?"

Yeah, it's way overused! (Whatever it's called.)
It's like what happens when somebody is just learning how to edit video with "Movie Maker" or "iMovie." You'll see them use every transition in the book when they aren't necessary.

You try to tell them to either use a simple cross dissolve or even just cut to the next shot but they insist on putting in every "ripple," "slide," "cube spin" and "page peel" effect they can get their hands on until the video looks like a damn circus!

The same thing happens when you are trying to teach people to shoot video and they keep zooming in and out all the time. You have to, pretty much, slap them upside the head and yell at them to keep their damn fingers off the zoom button!

I have a rule when I teach kids to make videos. They are only allowed to use an effect ONE TIME. If they want a zoom shot, they are allowed to zoom in or zoom out and that's it. If they want a ripple transition at the beginning or end of a scene, they are allowed to do it once and that's it.

I think there should be the same rule for the circle shot. (or carousel shot or whatever it's really called.) If he wants to use it, he's allowed to do it ONCE. If he wants to use it a second time in the same movie, he las to let some big, badass stagehand kick him in the nuts first!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-17-2009, 12:20 PM:
 
No, it should not be used in ANY movie, not even once. But whoever is responsible should definitely be kicked in the nuts just for considering it.

I think the concept behind it is that it shows a 360 view. You don't see the director, crew and equipment anywhere, therefore completely immersing you into the film's "world". Please...
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 12-17-2009, 12:55 PM:
 
and people who confuse "pan" with "tilt"
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-17-2009, 03:05 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

I think the concept behind it is that it shows a 360 view. You don't see the director, crew and equipment anywhere, therefore completely immersing you into the film's "world". Please...

---

1. "Adeste Fidelis"
   Sung in Latin by a huge choir.
   Accompanied by a monstrous pipe organ that plays so loud it makes you pee your pants when you hear it.
   And, of course, it would be impossible to faithfully record. You would have to attend a live performance.
   .
2. "Linus and Lucy"
   Played by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.
   But, since Vince Guaraldi is dead, you would have to listen to this on recording.

Other than that, all songs are crap, not Christmas.

Okay, Maybe I'd give in to "Veni, veni, Emmanuel" but only if sung by choir, unaccompanied, in Latin and arranged in its original antiphonal harmony. Again, a true rendition of this would be unrecordable.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-17-2009, 11:05 PM:
 
I'll give you that, Randy, but even the best of the best would drive you insane if you have to hear them starting at Halloween....Hallow EFFIN WEEN!.

Even I can't stand "The First Noel," more than a few times, and that is a song which my Mom said they sang especially for me on my birthday, given that I was born on the 25th of December and gave me the middle name of Noel (and yes, it's pronounced "noel" not "knoll"). I believed they did all those decorations for me too until I was about 6 yro. Then they broke it to me.
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 12-17-2009, 11:56 PM:
 
Worst Christmas novelty song: Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. I don't know or care who originally performed it.
Best Christmas novelty song: Christmas at Ground Zero by "Weird Al" Yankovich. (I think I spelled his name right...)
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-18-2009, 12:19 AM:
 

quote: James Westbrook

---

Worst Christmas novelty song: Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.

---

Oh come on, James! Where's your sense of humor? Don't be a Grinch!

It's been a traditional xmas tune for umteen years. I personally would NOT think of celebrating Christmas without it!

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-18-2009, 12:38 AM:
 
I prefer Grandma's Frozen on the Porch Swing.

Also:
-Let's Put the Lights on the Trailer.
-Is That Rudolph's Nose or Daddy's?
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-18-2009, 08:35 AM:
 
I always liked "Jingle Bells" by the barking dogs. Ever since I was a kid.

Also, in my radio days, I used to like to play "Santa's Rap" (the bleeped version, of course) from Beat Street. One day, the GM heard me playing it and came into the control room after it was over. He said, "what in the hell was that," asked me to give it to him, and he threw it away!
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-18-2009, 12:44 PM:
 
Looks like it's time to again post my favorite CD of songs for the xmas season:

Christmas at the office: harrassment

quote:

---

Quick! Someone cue up Santa Got Run Over By a Reindeer! [evil]

For me at this time of year it's got to be any of the tracks off of my favorite Christmas CD Bummed Out Christmas!:

1. Somebody Stole My Santa Claus Suit - Christmas Jug Band
2. Christmas Eve Can Kill You - The Everly Brothers
3. Santa Came Home Drunk - Cadillac Baby Specials, Clyde Lasley
4. Don't Believe in Christmas - The Sonics
5. Lonely Christmas Call - George Jones
6. Christmas in Vietnam - Johnny & Jon
7. Santa Got a DWI - Sherwin Linton
8. Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas? - The Staple Singers
9. Who Say There Ain't No Santa Claus - Ron Holden, The Thunderbirds
10. Christmas in Jail - The Youngsters
11. Christmas Spirit - The Wailers
12. Christmas in Prison - Ry Cooder, Doug Legacy, Legends of the West

Really sets the proper mood. [Smile]

---

 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-20-2009, 12:55 PM:
 
This movie would have been so much better had it been called "Babies on a Plane" and starred Samuel L. Jackson.


 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-20-2009, 12:59 PM:
 

quote: James Westbrook

---

Yankovich. (I think I spelled his name right...)

---

Nope. It's Yankovic.
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 12-20-2009, 03:38 PM:
 
Thanks, Mike. I stand corrected.
I thought I had Weird Al's "Living With a Hernia" in my collection but I can't seem to find it...
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-20-2009, 10:02 PM:
 
We saw a trailer for that "Babies" movie at the convention. It looked beyond cute, but I'll bet it'll be the most annoying movie of the year to play.
 

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Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 12-20-2009, 11:59 PM:
 
What's with this trend of doing movie posters as several long and thin pictures on top of each other, usually with a person at the far left or right of them? That got old real fast.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-21-2009, 12:25 AM:
 
Everybody loves babies? Um, okay.

Reality check: everyone does not like babies 100% of the time. I would be willing to bet everyone does not like babies more than 50% of the time.

Yeah, I agree, there are those special moments where babies are just magical with all the funny stuff they do and those little incremental steps they take with turning into a functional human being.

But let's be real. Most of the time the baby is doing his/her best to make your life a total living hell. He/she is pissing or shitting itself, throwing tantrums and breaking anything it can reach. Today's babies seem more sick than ever, resulting in an endless stream of wallet stomping medical bills. There is ever more shit for mommy to buy baby to keep up with all the other gossipy bitches who'll cite her for being an unfit mother if she doesn't spend at least $139,790.99 per year on baby oriented accessories. On top of that: your sex life gets totally shot to all hell by the new infant. It is a fact that babies function as a relationship wedge between the mom and dad. Lots of divorces occur because of new babies. There's no shortage of incidents where daddy skips out before the baby is even born!

So. Not everyone loves babies. I think very few people love babies. The United States of America doesn't have the culture or value system in place where babies can properly be loved. Right now we don't have what it takes in terms of priorities for babies to be truly seen in that "everybody loves 'em" light.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-21-2009, 06:33 AM:
 
Anyone who thinks they love babies needs to be forced to spend a coupla hours at Chuck E Cheese -- that will cure it.

As for "cute," first off, as Mr. Grant used to say to Mary Richards, I hate cute. I don't know what switch infants seem to be able to turn on in people....actually mostly women, who, when they see an infant, they invariably do this "Oh, isn't he/she "so cute" or "so beautiful"or "so adorable" nonsense, when anyone who is even marginally rational can see the thing looks like some ugly alien from another planet.

Women especially do this, mostly I think because in fact, they don't really think they are cute or beautiful or adorable either, they just feel the social pressure to say those things otherwise they will be seen as some kind of soul-less monster for not cooing and clawing at any newborn placed in front of them. Come on people, some babies are downright ugly as sin. But you can't say that, and I guess women dare not even think it.

One of our staff just gave birth and whenever she brings her little alien in, it's like all work stops because of the obligation everyone seems to feel to have to act enthralled with it. Not me; mostly because I fear that somehow someone is going to be able to read my face and body language and know what I am REALLY think about this wrinkled pink wiggly thing and I'll be stoned right then and there.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-21-2009, 09:41 AM:
 

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

throwing tantrums and breaking anything it can reach

---

Depends on the parents and the child. My daughter was a model child. I only had to spank her once or twice, when she was 2. I told her not to do something and she was obviously testing the waters to defy me. After that, she knew that daddy meant what he said and we never had a moment's trouble from her. Sure, children cry when they are disappointed or get their feelings hurt, but that's part of how they communicate.

You have to understand they cannot help themselves. When you actually have a child of your own, your perspective changes - all by itself. Today, the sound of a crying child makes me sad, because it indicates he or she is unhappy about something or its needs aren't being taken care of.

Crying because the child is spoiled, however, only makes me furious at the lazy-ass parents. I have no ill feelings towards the child.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-22-2009, 11:33 PM:
 
Getting a 172 minute Bollywood film on 2" cores in individual reel cans packaged in burlap boxes right before Christmas. And the reels being numbered 1,3,5,7,...17,19, then finding out that there are 2 reels per reel, so half the print isnt missing like you first thought. Then the distributor trying to figure out if they want the attached trailer on it or not.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-23-2009, 12:19 AM:
 
Welcome to Bollywood. We're so creative that we exchange the H for a B in "Hollywood".
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 12-23-2009, 01:36 AM:
 
I thought Grant said "I hate spunk!"
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-23-2009, 01:56 AM:
 
My first experience with a direct bollywood print. Wouldn't mind if I didnt see another for a while.
 

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Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-23-2009, 02:18 AM:
 
So, Jonathan, did they want the attached-in-the-middle trailers at the end of reel 10-11 and the beginning of 12-13?

--jhawk
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-23-2009, 02:33 AM:
 
No instructions, so I treated it as a regular film. I'm sure I'll get flak for it later. Oh well.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-23-2009, 04:54 AM:
 
Did you remember the intermission? There is ALWAYS an intermission.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-23-2009, 10:37 AM:
 
Yeah, 10 minute interval/intermission at the end of reel 9-10.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-23-2009, 12:54 PM:
 
LED signs... They are becoming ubiquitous.

Previously, there used to be plain, old letterboard signs. Somebody would stick up the letters and that was it. But, more and more, business are using these LED signs. I think they are stupid as hell!

1) You can't read the whole sign. You have to wait for it to scroll along to read the whole message.

2) There's too much flashing and blinking to be able to make out the words.

3) It takes so long to read the message on the sign, people driving by will never be able to read it.

4) There are so many of them that they are easy to ignore. Where once they were a novelty they are now boring.

As far as I am concerned, they are useless. The only people who benefit from them are the ones who sell them.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-23-2009, 01:48 PM:
 
I don't mind LED signs so much if they are fast enough. What I hate is a sign that leaves the same two words on for 10 seconds, so nobody driving by could possibly ever see anything meaningful.
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 12-23-2009, 03:40 PM:
 
Both Walgreens and CVS use the signs out here. One of the local banks have one by the freeway which is hard to read as trees are in the way (if one is on the access road as I am) and sometimes, due to a glitch, some of the area will have a black bar across the graphic. It's been like this since day one.
I should probably know this, but why are the leds on these signs red?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-23-2009, 04:29 PM:
 
The RED LEDs are also pretty ugly. Green would be much easier to read. They are also super-low resolution, like one light bulb per inch or so. Look at LED signs above auditorium doors. The letters are blocky like Atari 2600 graphics.
 

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Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-23-2009, 04:31 PM:
 
Red LEDs are the cheapest and easiest to manufacture and most-reliable. Though by this century, many of the others have caught up or at least gotten close. Blue is still really hard though.

--jhawk
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-23-2009, 05:53 PM:
 
How do those multi-color LEDs work? Is it just 3 LEDs in one, or is there some other process?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-23-2009, 08:23 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

How do those multi-color LEDs work? Is it just 3 LEDs in one, or is there some other process?

---

quote: Joe Redifer

---

The RED LEDs are also pretty ugly. Green would be much easier to read. They are also super-low resolution, like one light bulb per inch or so. Look at LED signs above auditorium doors. The letters are blocky like Atari 2600 graphics.

---

quote:

---

Previously, there used to be plain, old letterboard signs. Somebody would stick up the letters and that was it. But, more and more, business are using these LED signs. I think they are stupid as hell!

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

1) You can't read the whole sign. You have to wait for it to scroll along to read the whole message.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

2) There's too much flashing and blinking to be able to make out the words.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

3) It takes so long to read the message on the sign, people driving by will never be able to read it.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

4) There are so many of them that they are easy to ignore. Where once they were a novelty they are now boring.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

As far as I am concerned, they are useless. The only people who benefit from them are the ones who sell them.

---

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

That's a problem of end user error. Not at all a fault of LED message center technology itself.

---

quote: Joe Redifer

---

I don't think it is user error if the whole title cannot fit on the LED sign and must scroll.

---

quote: Randy Stankey

---

People forget the golden rule of outdoor advertising: The "Three Second Rule."

---

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Just like it is the projectionists' fault when you don't hear 5.1 sound at a theater which only has a CP-55 with A-type... after all he is the user.

---

quote: Bobby Henderson

---

You're only going to fit so many characters into a given space.

---

That's exactly my point. So if a title doesn't fit on the marquee whether it be digital or physical, it is not user error.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-24-2009, 10:53 AM:
 
Nevertheless that's still an issue of geometry, not a failing of LED technology.

At any rate, most people aren't going to care if a title like Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan doesn't fit in a 3' long 7 or 8 pixel tall single line LED module. They'll get the point by merely seeing "Borat" on the display.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-24-2009, 11:06 AM:
 
True, but some titles are just long, like "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" or the like. Some people would just put "Lord of the Rings" on a sign and call it good, but you take a small risk doing that because sometimes the "old" movie will play along with the "new" one, such as what happened recently with Twilight. Other people would put up "Fellowship of" or something like that, but that might confuse people. It's a just no-win scenario with long titles, I guess.

We have an old fashioned 80-year-old marquee with zipchange type letters, but I would seriously love to replace the readerboards with some kind of electronic signs, if I could get ones that would look as close to the existing readers as possible. I'm sure it's doable but would be prohibitively expensive, probably.
 

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Posted by Jarret Chessell (Member # 5077) on 12-24-2009, 11:14 AM:
 
LOTR FELLOWSHIP (that's still 15 characters).
I find abbreviating very easy when you have a suction cup pole and it's -30 degrees Celsius outside during a windstorm.
If the person were looking to see that specific movie, something like "FELLOWSHIP" might be enough to let them know you're showing it. If they just walk into the cinema to see what's playing they get to see all the posters anyways.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-24-2009, 01:58 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

True, but some titles are just long, like "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" or the like. Some people would just put "Lord of the Rings" on a sign and call it good, but you take a small risk doing that because sometimes the "old" movie will play along with the "new" one, such as what happened recently with Twilight.

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quote: Mike Blakesley

---

We have an old fashioned 80-year-old marquee with zipchange type letters, but I would seriously love to replace the readerboards with some kind of electronic signs, if I could get ones that would look as close to the existing readers as possible. I'm sure it's doable but would be prohibitively expensive, probably.

---

It doesn't cost anything to call reputable sign companies in your area to see what options are available.

Higher resolution message centers packing more LEDs into the available space will have a better capability to show lettering as actual letter styles instead of plain high school basketball scoreboard digits. The price does rise as more and more LEDs are added. And then the price goes up further when going from monochrome to color. Some theaters are able to go all out with the approach. The El Capitan theater in Hollywood had the static backlit faces on its fancy marquee replaced with full color LED message centers. Now they can show all sorts of graphics, animation and even video on the display.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 12-24-2009, 04:32 PM:
 
Freaking a**holes who don't understand that there is a f**king blizzard outside and that is why we closed early.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-24-2009, 05:12 PM:
 
Haha. We even got snow here in the Dallas area, but unfortunately not enough to close. It'd sure make changeover easier tonight.
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 12-24-2009, 05:29 PM:
 

quote: Jeremy Weigel

---

blizzard outside and that is why we closed early.

---

quote:

---

We even got snow here in the Dallas area,

---

A few years ago, I was doing an install in the Killeen/Fort Hood area and there was an ice storm. People in Texas don't know how to drive in bad weather The people at the University all left early, and the contractor for the theater (on campus)sent everyone home early. I was busy pulling wires and terminating a sound rack and stayed for a few hours after everyone left. The drive back to my hotel was amazing. The interstate was icy, and there was a shitload of cars that had slid off the road. I think I saw half a dozen cars slide into the median during my 5 minute drive back to my hotel. Rookies
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-24-2009, 09:13 PM:
 
It's not just bad weather, most people can't drive at all here in DFW. Luckily it was 60ish yesterday so nothing was sticking earlier today.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-24-2009, 11:15 PM:
 
I got out in it earlier this afternoon before anything started to stick, and to say Texas drivers in general don't know how to drive is a gross understatement.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-25-2009, 09:03 PM:
 
The only time we ever closed for a "natural" reason was when Mount St. Helens erupted -- the governor of Montana ordered all businesses except grocery stores to close at 4:00 that day due to the ash. We've never closed due to a snowstorm as far as I know, and we've had some really good ones....it's just plow it out and open the door.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-25-2009, 11:15 PM:
 
What makes me go insane is when the forum indicates new posts, but the list of threads does not, like right now! It always fixes itself magically, though.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-28-2009, 10:59 AM:
 
Magic is a wonderful thing, Joe.

Doesn't quite drive me insane, but close: that character that Progressive car insurance uses in all their ads. She's too damn perky and quirky and she just gets on my nerves; "Do you want that in a big bag or two not so big bags?" she sez. Cute, yah, maybe the first time (or not even) and enough to make you contemplate doing something illegal to her after the 20th time. And what's with that bulbious tumor looking thing sticking out of the back of her head? At first it looks like some kind of perky/quirky hair do, but on second look, it's got to be that her head is shaped like that -- reason alone to put her on this thread.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-28-2009, 02:09 PM:
 
You mean "Flo"? I'd wreck her shit.
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-28-2009, 07:43 PM:
 
I bet she has an insurance plan that covers that, Paul.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-28-2009, 08:17 PM:
 
I think the Progressive lady looks like she enjoys things just a little on the kinky side.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-28-2009, 08:48 PM:
 
One could certainly hope so!
 

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Posted by Alex Edwards (Member # 5413) on 12-28-2009, 08:55 PM:
 
When countless people ask this:



And then I feel like answering with this:


 

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Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 12-28-2009, 08:55 PM:
 
Ok, I have resisted posting this because I know some people here whose names rhyme with Bo Medifer hate all children...

But it drives me absolutely batshit insane when the fucking crayons roll off the table when you go out to eat.

You want to color, hold on to your fucking crayons! I mean it!!!

sigh
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-28-2009, 09:31 PM:
 
I don't know what ever happened to the idea of teaching kids to sit quietly without having to be 'entertained' with crayons, games, toys, etc.

I blame the disappearance of spanking.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-28-2009, 09:45 PM:
 
They took the crayons off the tables in most restaurants, here. And they don't put out paper placemats anymore either.

I used to always grab a crayon and flip the placemat over and draw pictures on the back side. I even got one of my pictures tacked up on the wall with all the other kid's pictures at a Perkins, one time!

Pisses me off when they take the crayons away!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-28-2009, 11:55 PM:
 
Geoff, I would have never thought to associate those crayons with kids (that would make me racist). I would have figured that it was you or your dinner date who liked to color.

And about the 3D thing. I always encourage everyone I can to keep the 3D glasses and NEVER EVER return them to the recycling thing. You pay extra for the ticket, you keep the damn glasses. I don't care if you throw them in the trash after you exit the building, just do not let the theater have them back. It is unethical.
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-30-2009, 01:51 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

And about the 3D thing. I always encourage everyone I can to keep the 3D glasses and NEVER EVER return them to the recycling thing. You pay extra for the ticket, you keep the damn glasses. I don't care if you throw them in the trash after you exit the building, just do not let the theater have them back. It is unethical.

---

LOL Joe, that reminded me of the years I worked at Knott's Berry Farm running the 3d "Sea Dream" in the Cloud 9 ballroom. We had one usher who was so militant about those glasses he actually would chase patrons through the park to get them back!!

That movie was so insipid, and sad to say I not only remember our exit tag spiel but most of the movie as well, and that was close on 20 years ago!!

The film was run on Century MDAW with 4k LP lamphouses, first on a Potts Alpha platter then I later sold them a Christie ELF. We had eight prints spliced together so you only had to thread at the start of the day, until we got the ELF then we had four prints with two kept as backups. Sound was originally 4-track mag, then I upgraded to stereo optical with an Ultra*Stereo processor. Image was over/under polarized. The projector was controlled by an LP automation, with a remote in the upstairs tech booth where we had the soundboard.

The original mag prints had a pre-recorded opening spiel which we never used, the usher would do it live. We had to start the projector when the usher came on stage and they had to finish talking before the dowser opened. The operator would monitor the muted center channel during the spiel to know if the film was running and also when to kill the mike and open the curtain. It was always interesting when the usher would screw around and forget the time limit.

What makes me go insane about that stint is that I still remember wayyy too much about it!!
 

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Posted by Julio Roberto (Member # 4976) on 12-30-2009, 02:16 PM:
 
I took Murray Lerner for lunch once in LA as I needed him to sign off a pan-and-scan to 1.78 (from 2.44) for that film. He is the guy that made Sea Dreams. Unrelated to that, but the guy had won an Oscar. I think we had Mexican

He wasn't very knowledgeable of stereoscopy (at least at the time) but since he was one of the first to do theme-park 3D stuff (Sea Dreams was 1978), he always landed all these 3D projects under non-disclosure for different parks.

That film had soundtracks in 4 or 5 different languages made. And it included some music (by the Beatles?) which was always a bitch to licence.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-30-2009, 04:33 PM:
 

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr

---

We had eight prints spliced together so you only had to thread at the start of the day, until we got the ELF then we had four prints with two kept as backups.

---

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr

---

Sound was originally 4-track mag, then I upgraded to stereo optical with an Ultra*Stereo processor.

---

quote:

---

-"Ergonomic" keyboards, especially the kind that are split down the middle and angled. Who thought of this shit?

---

Probably somebody who saw the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome?

And WRT checks, I would like to get rid of using them altogether but my apartment complex doesn't have a way to do payments online or on a debit card.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-04-2010, 10:38 PM:
 
Credit cards are often faster. At many stores like WalMart, it is possible to scan your card while the cashier is ringing up your stuff. All the cashier needs to do is press the credit/debit button on the register after hitting the total button. In fact, you don't even have to tell them anymore. When you scan the card, it shows up on the cashier's display. She just hits the total button and it automatically goes through.

Checks would be faster if they used MICR readers at the cash registers. They used to. I don't know why they quit doing it. All you had to do is hand the cashier a BLANK check. She would slide it through the MICR reader, the check would validate (using some version of "TeleCheck" service) then all she had to do was insert it into the printer on the register. The machine would print everything on the check, including the date. The cashier would hand the check back to you so you could read it and make sure it was right. You would then sign it and return it to the cashier. Sale complete.
I don't know why they quit doing that.

Optical mice often don't like faux wood grain desktops. Glass topped desks are often difficult for them to read as well. The best way to get a mouse to work under these difficult conditions is to use a mouse pad with a uniform pattern. My "MightyMouse" works best on a plain black cloth mouse pad. Mouse pads do help keep your mouse cleaner. If you are unlucky enough to still be using a mechanical mouse you will end up cleaning it a LOT less if you use a mouse pad.
This is unlikely to change unless/until laser mice which shine two lasers on the surface below and read the interference pattern of the reflected beams become more popular. If/when they become popular, they are supposed to be able to track even on a clear glass table with nothing underneath.
Haven't tried one yet. Only read about them.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-04-2010, 11:15 PM:
 

quote: Chris Slycord

---

Probably somebody who saw the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome?

---

quote: Mark Ogden

---

people who use credit cards to charge miniscule amounts make me crazy

---

when your on a business trip and have to do an expense report at the end of the month, a credit card statement is much easier than looking through faded cash register receipts.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 01-05-2010, 02:40 PM:
 
"I hate those meeces to pieces!"

I MUCH rather use Logitech's Cordless TrackMan® Wheel...


 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 01-05-2010, 03:05 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Not likely. Probably instead someone who thought he could make money off of scaring people about carpal tunnel syndrome.

---

quote: John Wilson

---

3D cures cancer

---

which apart from being inaccurate, is fucking annoying.

Go back and edit. It's not hard.

quote: Whacked out newspaper guy

---

3D cures cancer

---

quote: Chris Slycord

---

Of course, the poster can edit it to not be confusing but most people just copy the quote and click "add reply."

---

Which is my point. It is an inaccurate posting. A little effort and it makes for a much more coherent thread.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-14-2010, 03:49 PM:
 
People who don't understand the difference between a sentence and a paragraph.

Really, is it that hard to understand?

A sentence is well, just a sentence.

On the other hand, a paragraph is made up of multiple sentences in such a way that there is a "pause" of sorts between them.

But some people just don't understand what a paragraph really is.

And that often comes off online as being spoken down to.

Don't abuse that enter button.

See how annoying this is?

Ok I'll stop.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-14-2010, 05:47 PM:
 
I think it is even more annoying when paragraphs are too long. Two or three sentences is about the max in most cases. Even if you aren't "changing thoughts," a paragraph break is like taking a breath.
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-14-2010, 09:33 PM:
 
How about semicolon users; they really can make a sentence long.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-15-2010, 08:42 PM:
 
When a person wins the mayorial race, he becomes the Mayor.

When a person wins the senatorial race, he become the Senator.

So how come when a person wins a gubernatorial race, he doesn't become the Gubernor?

And how come when a letter is adressed to someone, they are the adressee, but when someone signs a lease, they are not the lease-ee but the less-ee.
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 01-15-2010, 11:07 PM:
 
Frank.

I feel your pain.
My partner and I went out to dinner one night in one of those exclusive restaurants where there is a waiter for everything.

We had our meal and the Drinks Waiter came over with some drinks, then the Food Waiter came over with some food and then the Head Waiter came over.

I hate that!

Apologies to Rodney Rude.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-15-2010, 11:22 PM:
 
Ian, never heard that one....freakin hilarious!

But on the other hand....oh, five fingers as well.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-29-2010, 01:14 AM:
 
Something that drove me insane tonight: The motor on my rewind bench died (old Nuemade PRT Ultra table). It was going fine and it just died (it can go a little bit if you give it a little shove, but not very fast and only for 10 or 15 seconds). Building prints up and changing trailers was a huge pain and took longer than ever, eating up lots of payroll. I hope I am able to get a replacement motor soon!

Ug!!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-29-2010, 01:19 AM:
 
Nah, check the motor brushes first.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-29-2010, 09:40 AM:
 
While that likely is the cause, I don't have any spare brushes lying around... unless they take the same exact brush that Strong platter motors use.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-30-2010, 01:10 AM:
 
By the way, the brushes were fine.
 

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Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 01-31-2010, 03:08 AM:
 
Two of the little grammatical blunders that makes me go a bit insane: "parallel to" & "perpendicular with"



Things cannot be parallel to each other.
Things cannot be perpendicular with one another.

Parallel with.
Perpendicular to.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-15-2010, 08:45 PM:
 
Used to be that CBS got Walter Cronkite to introduce the CBS Evening News once Katie Couric took over. And good ole Walter did the intro in his velvety, gravitas voice. And he PRONOUNCED HER NAME CORRECTLY -- i.e., Katie Cour-ick.

So Walter dies and the CBS News Division scrables to get another announcer to do the intro out of respect for the great Apollo of news anchors, not to mention it's a little creepy having a dead guy introduce the current anchor....I mean she's got enough trouble as it is; she doesn't need what some might consider a bad luck omen.

OK, so now they've got Morgan Freeman to do the intro and hel-LOOO, didn't anyone tell the guy how to pronouncer her name? When he reads the seven word/single line script, didn't anyone in the recording studio think to tell him, HEY, buddy, her name is COU-ric, not KA-ric. I mean is he THAT big an actor that even the producer of the newcast was afraid to correct him? Even Katie herself didn't feel it necessary to point out that he MISPRONOUNCES HER NAME!

What makes it even more glaring is that he says, "The CBS Evening News with Katie KARick," and 10 seconds later she is on screen and says, "Good Evening, I'm Katie COU-ric." Makes me scream at the TV the minute he says it. My lady gets reeeealy annoyed when I do that, but not nearly as annoyed as I get because this mistake screams right back at me.

It's like the Emporer's New Cloths -- everyone seems to be acting like they just don't hear it. I even went to the CBS website to see if I could leave one of my sarcastic comments but they either deliberately leave a comment page off or have hidden it so well that no one can find it.

The other thing that rubs me wrong about this -- there are hundreds, maybe thousands of voice-over artist in New York City....Morgan Freeman doesn't have enough work? He's got to steal a job from a REAL VO artist? I am sure he's a nice guy and all (except for the fact that he's not able to hear the way someone pronounces their name and then repeating that same pronounciation), but is he that hard up that he really needs to take a job away from some guy who needs it a lot more than him? How about you give someone else a shot, jackass.

Well, this is what CBS gets for not hiring a REAL VO artist....they wind up with an actor (with all the shortcomings THAT implies) who obviously needs a director to get him to do it right. VO artists know how to read copy without any help.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-15-2010, 08:55 PM:
 
I think there were 2 factors involved with their choice of Morgan Freeman:

1. They wanted a famous person to do it, not some unknown; and

2. Everybody seems to like Morgan Freeman. (Well...almost everybody!)

------

Back on topic:
I hate it when people say "EK-cetera." It is "ET cetera," boneheads!

I had a friend who instead of saying "except," would say "butcept." Drove me crazy. So I shot him. (Not really)
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 02-15-2010, 10:45 PM:
 
Everyone has fallen in love with Morgan Freeman's voice, especially him. He had 3 summer blockbusters in 2005, 2 of which he did VO work only.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-15-2010, 10:48 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

Drove me crazy. So I shot him. (Not really)

---

 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-15-2010, 11:00 PM:
 
People get words and phrases mixed up all of the time. It can be amusing, but it's not something that pisses me off. "But-cept" would have caused me to smile many times. I know a guy who used to say and write "mine as well" instead of "might as well". He has since learned and corrected himself. Now only if I could get him to stop saying "ran" when he means "run".
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-15-2010, 11:47 PM:
 
How about inserting "n,stuff", "uhhh" and "you know" in conversations.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-15-2010, 11:51 PM:
 
What DOES really get on my nerves is when people say "You know what I'm saying?" or "Know what I mean?" and the like. It's like the period to their sentences, know what I mean?
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 02-15-2010, 11:58 PM:
 
Morgan Freeman ought to know better than to mispronounce a name like that. After all, he's "Easy Reader!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u8MY7PjSXU
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-16-2010, 12:07 AM:
 
Burglars.
 

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 02-16-2010, 07:30 AM:
 
It drives me crazy when people end their sentence with "so." Maybe its just an "up north in the middle of the country thing" but I hear it all the time.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-16-2010, 11:09 AM:
 
We have a customer here (at my day job) who ends most sentences with "on there." I don't quite understand why, just a habit I guess.

"I think that might be the right part, on there"

"I'm going to have to get back to you, on there"

"It sure has been hot today, on there"
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 02-16-2010, 12:30 PM:
 
A maintenance controller I worked with always substituted the word "ideal" for the word "idea", as in "That's a good ideal!" The guy couldn't spell for shit either and constantly bugged everyone sitting near him with spelling questions. He refused to use any of the spell checker utilities available. Irritated the hell out of everyone in the SOC. We all wanted to take him out back, gave him a sugar cube, and shoot his loud dumb ass.
 

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 02-16-2010, 08:19 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

"I think that might be the right part, on there"

"I'm going to have to get back to you, on there"

"It sure has been hot today, on there"

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quote: Joe Redifer

---

Now only if I could get him to stop saying "ran" when he means "run".

---

 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 02-16-2010, 10:49 PM:
 
I hate it when people actually use the word "actually" more times than they actually should in any one actual sentence. I actually want to shoot them in the head!
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-17-2010, 01:41 AM:
 
Well, I couldn't stand it any more so tonight I called CBS Network and got to the News Division. I was polite, I was sweet. I explained that Mr. Freeman is not pronouncing Katie's name correctly. "Of course he is Sir; why would you say that?" she asked, almost as if I had spoken a sacrilege. I said, "Well, have you HEARD the CBS Evening News intro?"

"Yes I have, Sir " she said, "And there is nothing wrong with it."

So I explained that Morgan Freeman says, KAR-ic, not COUR-ic. At this she sounded incredulous -- "Of course he doesn't; I listen every night. He says 'Katie COUR-ic;' that's the correct pronounciation."

Now I am incredulous, "You're kidding, right?"

"No I am not," she answers (she's getting a little annoyed). "He says COUR-IC because COUR-ic is the RIGHT pronounciation."

"Oh, so you agree COUR-ic is the way Katie pronounces it, yes?"

"Yes." Now she's moved from a little annoyed to testy; I am matching her and going about ten ticks past testy.

"And you are saying you hear NO difference between the way it's pronounced in the voice-over and the way Katie pronounces it immediately after that?"

"No, there is no difference because we wouldn't have it pronounced wrong in the intro. Morgan Freeman was paid a LOT of money," she says like she's an insider in the know. Think about it, Sir (the word Sir now being said biteing thru her teeth (which I now envision as bucked); the implication of course that I am NOT thinking. "We just wouldn't have Katie Couric's name mispronounced in the intro to the CBS Evening News. "THINK about it," she says again. "There are over a hundred people up there who work on the show; they wouldn't let it be mispronounced night after night."

I started to say maybe there's mass hysteria up there causing everyone not to hear a mistake because that would just be too too embarassing for everyone, but she cut me off with a very stern and officious, "Sir, thank you for your interest in the CBS Evening News. I will relay your comment." Sure you will, I say to myself.

I said, "Fine; tell Katie KAR-ic I wish her the best of luck."

And it's a conversation like THAT which makes me go insane!
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-17-2010, 02:19 AM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

---

I had a friend who instead of saying "except," would say "butcept." Drove me crazy. So I shot him.

---

quote: Paul Mayer

---

We all wanted to take him out back, gave him a sugar cube, and shoot his loud dumb ass.

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quote: Randy Stankey

---

I actually want to shoot them in the head!

---

I never realized in was in such potentially violent company...
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-17-2010, 02:55 AM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

---

Well, I couldn't stand it any more

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quote: James. R. Deeter

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I wish I could tell you that Katie fought the good fight, and the Sisters let her be. I wish I could tell you that - but CBS is no fairy-tale world.

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Um . . . . yeah!
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 02-17-2010, 05:40 PM:
 
Solution: Don't watch CBS evening news intro or better yet the entire program.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 02-18-2010, 07:56 AM:
 
I attended to high school with the late Emily Couric and my brother attended with Katie. Morgan Freeman's pronunciation is so close to correct that it is really hair splitting to call it wrong.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-18-2010, 11:40 PM:
 
Sorry to throw in something not related to the Katie Couric pronunciation crisis, but here it goes:

What makes me go insane? Currently? Playstation 3 system "activation."

A couple hours ago I tried to download a movie trailer from the Playstation store, but was denied because my new PS3 could not be activated. I already have another PS3 activated on my account. That system must first be "deactivated" before the new one can be used to download movies, trailers, etc. Here's the catch: I can't deactivate the other PS3 on my account because the damned thing was STOLEN!

If Sony really needs to do this activate/deactivate bullshit why can't they simply go by the MAC address, machine ID, serial number of whatever else could be used to uniquely identify each PS3 system? Furthermore, why isn't Sony doing this sort of thing anyway whenever PS3 systems log into the Playstation network? It might help track down or at least remotely "brick" stolen PS3 systems.

I know Sony can fix this issue on their end. I've already e-mailed their customer service department about this, but I'll probably have to call them on the phone and talk further. I'll send them copies of the receipts for both stolen and new systems. I've already given them the serial numbers via e-mail.

BTW, Sony's PS3 system registration page on their web site doesn't work worth a damn. I don't know if they want the bar code number from the system or it's retail packaging box. It doesn't matter because none of it works. Not the bar code from the back of the PS3 system and nothing from the box either.

The funny thing is I was able to download and install all the games and themes I purchased from the Playstation store. I just can't download any movie trailers or other video related content. It seems the "DRM" stuff on video matters more than it does on games.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-18-2010, 11:49 PM:
 
I bet it was Katie Couric who stole your Playstation.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-19-2010, 12:00 AM:
 
Bobby, I don't know what your problem could possibly be, but I can sign into my PS3 account with multiple PS3s without deactivating any of them. I can sign into friends accounts and download what they had previously downloaded for free and even use it on my own account. Why you are getting this error is quite odd. However I never try to download video stuffs on any accounts. You did say that you called Sony and had them do something. Do you think this is contributing to the mess?
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-19-2010, 12:14 AM:
 
I've only e-mailed Sony about this issue thus far. No word back from them on it.

All my downloaded games and themes work fine. I just can't download any movie trailers because of this system activation nonsense. There's no way to deactivate the stolen system on my end. There's no option for it under "Account Management>System Activation." There's nothing available on Sony's Playstation web site either.

Basically my account details are fine. The machine hardware is the issue. I can't get the new PS3 slim activated because the old 80GB Motorstorm system is still activated on my account. Sony will have to deactivate that stolen machine on their end.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 02-19-2010, 03:45 AM:
 
People who write "none the less." It's one fucking word. It's not that hard to do.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-24-2010, 12:51 PM:
 
Maybe I am watching too much TV. The new VW campaign -- hasn't the population as a whole become loud and crass as it is? Do we really need this car company trying to start a global fad of people punching each other in the arm everytime they see a VW with the inane, "Red one," "White one," "Green one?" And in the ad, these are not gentle love taps, these are serious punches. How about the one where the kid punches his grandpa in the nuts? How uplifting.

I bet some of ad agency is hoping this will catch on big time. Well, they must have their headquarters in Chicago or LA or somewhere, because if that starts happening here in New York, or even worse, Brooklyn, there are going to be lots of people with missing teeth and broken noses and cracked heads showing up in emergency rooms all over town.
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 02-24-2010, 02:26 PM:
 
Punching someone when you see a VW Beetle has been around since at least the 1970s.
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 02-24-2010, 02:51 PM:
 
Ah yes, the dreaded "Punch Buggy".
Lilo and Stitch, we're looking at you!

Don't you just love commercialism?

What makes me insane are those web ads, and in particular that dopey looking frizzy-haired dork who's a fat lump of lard in one picture, and in the next he's buffed beyond belief, six pack and all- and complete with overly large head. Maybe a candidate for Photoshop disasters?

The other one is that awful Sony 4K video projector ad that vandalises the top of Boxoffice pages. It's interesting to note the girl's head is larger than the advertised product by a ratio of 4:1.

Pointless.

....and stupid.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 02-24-2010, 04:16 PM:
 

quote: Chris Slycord

---

People who write "none the less." It's one fucking word. It's not that hard to do.

---

Actually it is three words, so either way is correct.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-28-2010, 05:01 AM:
 
ABC's Nightline as well as 20/20 have been using this "dirty film" process to make video shots look like film -- dirty, scratched film. What the point of this is is beyond me. Do they think this adds credibility if what is obviously a video clip has the look of film? I guess filmphiles should be pleased, but come on, the amount of scratches and dirt (I am talking big chunks of hair and emulsion scratches) that is imposed on the video is something you would see in the worst girnd houses. What's the point. The other night they even applied the stupid effect to still photos. WTF? Why are people who work in and create video trying to make their stuff look like film? And dirty, scratchy film at that?
 

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Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 02-28-2010, 06:34 AM:
 
Rdgarding commercials, the new McDonald's commercial with that douchebag interrupting everyone with "Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee." He even interrupts the cheery McDonald's counter girl, and when she gets to finish her pitch, he is even MORE douchey with his "Talk to me." If I were her, I'd let that hot coffee to my talking for me, right in his face!

McDonald's comes off as okay, just that guy...
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-28-2010, 10:24 AM:
 
Wow, he looks like a complete douche. Who has a haircut like that? I mean, besides that guy? No one! Even his boyfriend looks like a douche, but less so.
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 02-28-2010, 10:40 AM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

---

ABC's Nightline as well as 20/20 have been using this "dirty film" process to make video shots look like film -- dirty, scratched film

---

quote: Martin McCaffery

---

Same with WWII, but at least there was sound in WWII (the footage was still shot silent).

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quote: Bobby Henderson

---

I'm getting more and more annoyed by certain stupid mistakes in grammar.

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quote: Frank Angel

---

the stupid recording says, "Hi, welcome to McDonald's, can I help you?" If you think that is a human being, which is a very easy mistake to make, given the lousy audio quality, and you start giving your order, well, it isn't a person and you will be talking to nothing.

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quote: Brad, the Grand-Poopie-BAH!

---

People who send out an email to 10 people and put half on the TO line and half on the CC line. Put one person on the TO line and the rest on the CC line!

---

Hey, what about those that send out 4 of each? Does that get your pink panties in a bunch too?
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-05-2010, 05:46 PM:
 
People who drop off a shipping label with the manager without bothering to check if the box is already there to be picked up. Doesn't drive me insane so much as it just annoys me.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-05-2010, 10:09 PM:
 

quote:

---

People who send out an email to 10 people and put half on the TO line and half on the CC line. Put one person on the TO line and the rest on the CC line!

---

I usually don't send to more than two people at any given time, but what difference does it make?
 

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Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 03-05-2010, 10:15 PM:
 


The cinema where I work began showing Crazy Heart a week ago, with the film continuing this week. What's irritating is that, in the same town, about 3 miles away, the local 10-plex opted to open Crazy Heart today. Not cool.
Also not the first time they've opened something were already playing.

It's hard enough to make it as a single screen, without the big guy purposely trying to you...
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 03-05-2010, 10:57 PM:
 

quote:

---

It's hard enough to make it as a single screen, without the big guy purposely trying to [sex] you...

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quote:

---

People who send out an email to 10 people and put half on the TO line and half on the CC line. Put one person on the TO line and the rest on the CC line!

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