So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Zombie_61]

Meanwhile, this one really sets my bile to perking:

https://www.boston.com/cars/car-culture/2018/07/26/the-ordinary-license-plates-days-may-be-numbered

Now, I couldn't care less about the "tradition" of the license plate -- but I do care very much about being turned, ultimately, and against my will, into a mobile billboard for the Boys, or to having my whereabouts monitored and my travel habits monetized and sold to said Boys for purposes I do not, have never, and will never endorse...

I hope I'm dead, or at least too old to drive, before this nonsense becomes legally mandatory. It's just more unnecessary technology that will surely become a target for hackers and/or any number of people whose sole purpose in life is to make everything more difficult for the rest of us, and on the face of it the potential for disaster far outweighs the perceived benefits.

 

[Touchofevil]

We also have the dunderheads who are kind enough to stick their bottles in the nicely trimmed (by me) bush which acts as a barrier to the neighbors. I say "kind enough" as this does keep me from having to bend over. How courteous the dunderheads are.

 

[Touchofevil]

Meanwhile, this one really sets my bile to perking:

https://www.boston.com/cars/car-culture/2018/07/26/the-ordinary-license-plates-days-may-be-numbered

Now, I couldn't care less about the "tradition" of the license plate -- but I do care very much about being turned, ultimately, and against my will, into a mobile billboard for the Boys, or to having my whereabouts monitored and my travel habits monetized and sold to said Boys for purposes I do not, have never, and will never endorse. I refuse to carry a cell phone or any other mobile device for just this reason, and there's no way I'm going to sit still and have this kind of invasion of my right not to be sold like a commodity for the greater glory of Private Gain foisted upon me. Yes, I know it's just a "test" and "voluntary" and other such weasel language, but the only way to keep the camel out of the tent is to stomp hard upon its nose as soon as it pokes under the cloth.

I wonder how these Wonder Plates would fare if some street activist were to pour half a cup of brine into their workings? Just a thought.

I am for the most part a hermit. I am happy being a hermit. I have no desire to be connected to the world in such a way. Obviously, I am not the target audience.

 

[tonyb]

We also have the dunderheads who are kind enough to stick their bottles in the nicely trimmed (by me) bush which acts as a barrier to the neighbors. I say "kind enough" as this does keep me from having to bend over. How courteous the dunderheads are.

Litter in general annoys the hell outta me, and most especially when it is left for me to pick up in and around my residence.

Shortly after we moved in, going on three years ago, some anonymous member of the neighborhood welcoming committee left an ashtray-ful of cigarette butts in our driveway. It wasn’t that the litter was deposited by someone in a passing car. Nope, it was too far up the driveway and concentrated in too tall a pile for that. It was a deliberately hostile act directed at me and/or the missus for what reason I will never know.

 

[GHT]

Litter in general annoys the hell outta me, and most especially when it is left for me to pick up in and around my residence.

Shortly after we moved in, going on three years ago, some anonymous member of the neighborhood welcoming committee left an ashtray-ful of cigarette butts in our driveway. It wasn’t that the litter was deposited by someone in a passing car. Nope, it was too far up the driveway and concentrated in too tall a pile for that. It was a deliberately hostile act directed at me and/or the missus for what reason I will never know.

I keep a cutting insult specifically targeted at jerks like those that you described. It doesn't matter who I target, the response is always that I'm the cruel one. It goes like this:
Mother taught me to look for the goodness in people. "Sometimes," she would advise, "you have to look very hard indeed, but keep looking and I promise that you will find it." Then I add the killer touch.
Much as I loved my mother, in this case she was wrong. You see I think that the goodness intended for people like those described, must have run down their mother's leg at the moment of conception, leaving a disgusting stain on the bedsheet.
It's a remark that certainly divides opinion.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It was the thing in my town fifty years ago to dump your litter down the barrels of the two Civil War cannons displayed in front of the Odd Fellows lodge hall. Soda bottles, sandwich wrappers, paper bags, and all other sorts of debris would get crammed down there, and occasionally we'd poke down the cannons with a stick to try and fish out bottles to return for the deposits. Those cannons are still there, and though I haven't looked, I imagine they're still a popular municipal garbage disposal spot.

WHere I live now, there's a cannon displayed right in front of Dunkie's, and occasionally you'll see a Coolata cup protruding from the muzzle like a shell caught in mid-firing. Guess it's better than throwing it on the ground...

 

[Fading Fast]

Meanwhile, this one really sets my bile to perking:

https://www.boston.com/cars/car-culture/2018/07/26/the-ordinary-license-plates-days-may-be-numbered

Now, I couldn't care less about the "tradition" of the license plate -- but I do care very much about being turned, ultimately, and against my will, into a mobile billboard for the Boys, or to having my whereabouts monitored and my travel habits monetized and sold to said Boys for purposes I do not, have never, and will never endorse. I refuse to carry a cell phone or any other mobile device for just this reason, and there's no way I'm going to sit still and have this kind of invasion of my right not to be sold like a commodity for the greater glory of Private Gain foisted upon me. Yes, I know it's just a "test" and "voluntary" and other such weasel language, but the only way to keep the camel out of the tent is to stomp hard upon its nose as soon as it pokes under the cloth.

I wonder how these Wonder Plates would fare if some street activist were to pour half a cup of brine into their workings? Just a thought.

Us crazy libertarians are always against being tracked by the gov't (or anyone else).

As to littering, since that is one person harming another person's or the public's property, I'm all for higher fines / penalties and stricter enforcing (there's a role for gov't and it should be beefed up when needed - and paid for by taxes if the fines don't cover the increased cost of enforcement).

When they started enforcing littering and vandalism laws in NYC in the '80s, the game changed. It's slipped a bit the last decade, but I'm hoping that since NYC knows how to fix the problem, it will once it gets bad again.

 

[tonyb]

Confusing subjects with objects.

And online forums that don’t allow a poster to correct grammar and usage errors after a couple hours.

 

[Fading Fast]

The "Moviepass" thing. How do they get off starting a business that requires theatres to cooperate without even asking if they want to be involved? And then when something goes wrong with the card or the transaction won't go thru, we have to take the blame. Nuts to that.

MoviePass outage due to inability to make required payments, Helios and Matheson says in filing
From MarketWatch:
Published: July 27, 2018 11:05 a.m. ET

By SARAH TOY
REPORTER

MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. HMNY, -48.29% said a "service interruption" occurred on Thursday due to its inability to make required payments to its vendors, according to a Friday Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company is now trying to raise $6.2 million cash to pay its vendors. The comapny implemented a 1-to-250 reverse stock split earlier this week, but the stock has fallen dramatically since then, falling from over $20 to $3.50 a share. The company has been struggling for months, burning through its cash holdings and disclosing in an April filing that an auditor had expressed "substantial doubt" about the company's ability to continue. Helios and Matheson shares have fallen 100% this past year, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.28% has gained 6%.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

MoviePass outage due to inability to make required payments, Helios and Matheson says in filing
From MarketWatch:
Published: July 27, 2018 11:05 a.m. ET

By SARAH TOY
REPORTER

MoviePass parent Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc. HMNY, -48.29% said a "service interruption" occurred on Thursday due to its inability to make required payments to its vendors, according to a Friday Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company is now trying to raise $6.2 million cash to pay its vendors. The comapny implemented a 1-to-250 reverse stock split earlier this week, but the stock has fallen dramatically since then, falling from over $20 to $3.50 a share. The company has been struggling for months, burning through its cash holdings and disclosing in an April filing that an auditor had expressed "substantial doubt" about the company's ability to continue. Helios and Matheson shares have fallen 100% this past year, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.28% has gained 6%.

I guess math isn't a required topic in journalism school. If "... Matheson shares have fallen 100% this past year, ..." the price would be zero. At 12:21 EDT, it was $2.77.

 

[Touchofevil]

Litter in general annoys the hell outta me, and most especially when it is left for me to pick up in and around my residence.

Shortly after we moved in, going on three years ago, some anonymous member of the neighborhood welcoming committee left an ashtray-ful of cigarette butts in our driveway. It wasn’t that the litter was deposited by someone in a passing car. Nope, it was too far up the driveway and concentrated in too tall a pile for that. It was a deliberately hostile act directed at me and/or the missus for what reason I will never know.

The idiots were courteous enough to save you the trouble of walking the length of the driveway.
What motivates people to act this way?

 

[tonyb]

Dishonesty without quite lying. You know, failure to fully and clearly disclose pertinent information.

Case in point ...

Route 66 memorabilia are almost always reproductions. No person who has done even the most minimal of research will sell you an authentic period Route 66 highway sign for 40 bucks. The real deal might fetch thousands from a well-heeled collector. But fakes abound, some of which are pretty darned convincing to all but the truly well studied.

On eBay is a listing for motel key fobs (I got a modest collection of the things) looking to be from a motel outside St. Louis on Route 66. I saw the BIN price of $10.95 (I think) and knew they were reproductions. Of course, several available with the same room number was a red flag as well.

But the seller lists them as “used.” In the fuller description he relates some history of the motel and identifies the merchandise as “novelty” key fobs.

So, maybe not-quite lying. But still sleazy.

 

[tonyb]

...
What motivates people to act this way.

I have no earthly idea. I maintain a level of tidiness in keeping with the neighborhood. I’m not obsessive about it, but I mow the lawn and sweep the pavement and don’t allow litter to just lie there.

So, beats me.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Always good to have a small bottle of mint oil at midsummer.

 

[GHT]

Dishonesty without quite lying. You know, failure to fully and clearly disclose pertinent information.

Reminds me of the time we were on a long flight. I asked my missus if she had finished her newspaper, she handed it to me. Long haul flights are about the only time that I would ever look at the classified ads. In the agony/dating column, a woman had described herself as: Adventurous. My missus had written underneath: "She means, slut." I just about styfled the guffaw.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Mother taught me to look for the goodness in people. "Sometimes," she would advise, "you have to look very hard indeed, but keep looking and I promise that you will find it." Then I add the killer touch.
Much as I loved my mother, in this case she was wrong. You see I think that the goodness intended for people like those described, must have run down their mother's leg at the moment of conception, leaving a disgusting stain on the bedsheet.
It's a remark that certainly divides opinion.

The look for the "inner beauty" thing. If it requires hammer and chisel and the wearing of hip waders or a hazmat suit to find it, no thank you. Mums, bless 'em, are often a fount of much fallacious wisdom, or in the very least, it was probably valid in a much kinder gentler time than our own.

My favorite nugget of "wisdom" from my mother regarding bullies was ignore them, don't give them the satisfaction. It takes two to make a fight. No Mum, all it takes is just one person or group with an ambitious, determined agenda to make a fight. Is there anything in the medicine cabinet for this shiner?


(Fortunately I never got beat up as a kid, but you get the idea )

 

[tonyb]

The look for the "inner beauty" thing. If it requires hammer and chisel and the wearing of hip waders or a hazmat suit to find it, no thank you. Mums, bless 'em, are often a fount of much fallacious wisdom, or in the very least, it was probably valid in a much kinder gentler time than our own.

My favorite nugget of "wisdom" from my mother regarding bullies was ignore them, don't give them the satisfaction. It takes two to make a fight. No Mum, all it takes is just one person or group with an ambitious, determined agenda to make a fight. Is there anything in the medicine cabinet for this shiner?


(Fortunately I never got beat up as a kid, but you get the idea )

Sorta like the “even Hitler had a girlfriend” line.

You’re right. The good in some people is buried under so much bad that seeking it out requires more than can be reasonably asked of anyone.

I make some exception for kids, having been more than a bit difficult in my early years myself. I don’t know who first said “kids who need love the most ask for it in the most unlovable ways,” but it rings true to me. I’m willing to give good odds that bullies are getting knocked around at home. Or neglected.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sometimes people are bad
And they make some people mad.
But they very same people who are bad sometimes
Are the very same people who are good sometimes
It's funny, but it's true
Isn't it the same for me -- and you.

-- Mister Rogers, who was relentlessly bullied as a child in the 1930s and 40s.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Meanwhile, I've returned home from my annual visit to Fenway Park with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth that has nothing to do with the quality of the hot dogs. I've always been annoyed by the increasing turn toward cheap jingoism in professional sports, but this year took the cake. I counted no less than five occasions when fans were exhorted to stand up and doff their headgear in honor of flags, ideologies, or the military over the course of the game -- and one of them, an egregious performance of a certain cheap Irving Berlin show tune during the 7th Inning Stretch stretched my patience with such bull-necked chest-pounding to the breaking point.

I go to a ball game to watch baseball. I do not go to a ball game to genuflect to a puffed-up, bellicose state religion. I go to Fenway Park, not the Nuremberg Zeppelin Grounds.

 

[Fading Fast]

Meanwhile, I've returned home from my annual visit to Fenway Park with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth that has nothing to do with the quality of the hot dogs. I've always been annoyed by the increasing turn toward cheap jingoism in professional sports, but this year took the cake. I counted no less than five occasions when fans were exhorted to stand up and doff their headgear in honor of flags, ideologies, or the military over the course of the game -- and one of them, an egregious performance of a certain cheap Irving Berlin show tune during the 7th Inning Stretch stretched my patience with such bull-necked chest-pounding to the breaking point.

I go to a ball game to watch baseball. I do not go to a ball game to genuflect to a puffed-up, bellicose state religion. I go to Fenway Park, not the Nuremberg Zeppelin Grounds.

Haven't been to Yankee Stadium this year, but for the past several, the 7th Inning Stretch was a hearty playing of the Village People's "YMCA" with the groundskeepers stopping mid-work and doing the YMCA letter making motions with their arms. It was / is very popular with the crowd and appears to be a fun time for the groundskeepers as they really seem into it.