The little things that piss you off

[Dra508]

Since Yom Kippur is on a different day each year, this whole thing makes zero sense. Of course.

I actually think this is the best holiday. Everyone atone together, forgive together, move on together, all in one day. None of this shame, sit in a box and confess every week crap that my people do.

Having said that, working for a company with all it's R&D in Israel that takes practically the entire month of September off, little thing that pisses me off. I'm sure they feel the same way in November and December.

[allegro]

I actually think this is the best holiday. Everyone atone together, forgive together, move on together, all in one day. None of this shame, sit in a box and confess every week crap that my people do.

G and I laughed at the same thing, the Jews have it right, one day of guilt per year, but we were raised as Catholics with guilt EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, lol.

But, yeah, I'm really pissed off at my boss for taking TWO days off for Rosh Hashanah (I'll give him the whole day for Yom Kippur since only "bad Jews" -- even non-Orthodox -- work on that day) but I *know* he's not THAT FUCKING RELIGIOUS, it's just more days off to stick ME WITH THE WORK. Even our Jewish clients were pissed at him for taking off two whole days for Rosh Hashanah. When I worked in a mostly-Jewish law office, those guys would go TO THE BOAT on that day (gambling in Elgin), they weren't in a Temple praying. In December, we take ONE day off for Christmas, most companies are NOT off for Christmas Eve, sometimes people get to leave early. And I ain't NEVER off for any "religious" holiday in November, that Thanksgiving shit is an AMERICAN holiday that's just a food orgy and all my bank clients are open the Friday after TG. But religious Jews? I swear, they have 150 holidays per year.

[aggroculture]

@aggroculture, I run a bunch of air cleaners in my house and I have a HEPA vacuum cleaner and they do seem to help.

What kind of air cleaners? air purifiers? I am thinking of getting a dehumidifier, but not sure how effective it might be in the humid climate I live in. Also going to get anti allergy covers for bedding, and need to slowly get rid of all upholstered furniture.

[elevenism]

@allegro you can always say you joined one of those Herbert Armstrong Church of God churches.
My dear friend and old boss is in it, and they take all the biblical holidays off, including 2 weeks right now for the feast of tabernacles, because they are Real Christians and follow the One True Way or whatever.

He always got like 100 days off

[allegro]

What kind of air cleaners? air purifiers? I am thinking of getting a dehumidifier, but not sure how effective it might be in the humid climate I live in. Also going to get anti allergy covers for bedding, and need to slowly get rid of all upholstered furniture.

I have about SIX of these in my house, constantly running, one in pretty much every main room in the house. Despite the description, there is some argument as to whether or not they are "true" HEPA (I have not found a HEPA filter in it but I have not taken the thing apart, either), but they are a HELL of a lot cheaper than a true HEPA machine and we think they work pretty good, and the filters are easily cleanable with a vacuum cleaner, and they have three different speeds; the most quiet speed you can barely hear, and it works great in our master bedroom to "mask" my tinnitus! You won't BELIEVE the crap you vacuum out of this thing. And it also works for mold spores. I think I've had one that has gone bad in a five-year period (started making a noise and I had to go smack it to stop it then gave up and threw it out and replaced it) but it's so cheap, it's disposable. Plus, we splurged and got a really good Miele HEPA vacuum cleaner and it's worth every penny, IMHO, it doesn't just blow the allergens and dust back out into the room. Now, we have two of those Mieles.

I run DEHUMIDIFIERS during the summer months since my biggest allergy is MOLD (and right now the mold count in our area is fucking OFF THE CHARTS, it's medium where you are but it could be higher inside your house), and our furnace has a built-in humidifier for the winter which really helps keep the dust down and our sinuses from going nuts. We have anti-allergy covers on all the beds and pillows.

And all but ONE loveseat in my office is leather or just plain wood and/or glass. Leather, I have found, does wonders for not attracting and housing dust and pet hair and dander, and it's easy to clean and dust. Eventually, the cloth-upholstered loveseat has to go bye-bye. We also have NO carpet and all hardwood floors and some vinyl in the basement and tile in the bathrooms.

[theimage13]

Since I'm gone for months at a time, my place gets dusty as hell and gets me all sneezy. Then cleaning it to get the dust out makes me sneeze like all hell (not to mention the sore throat) and there's nowhere to go. This is getting ridiculous.

[theimage13]

I have about SIX of these in my house, constantly running

I'm *this* close to pulling the trigger on one of those. I guess the main question is whether it would be of any use for keeping a room reasonably dust-free when unoccupied for weeks or months at a time. Every time I come up, the whole place has to be cleaned; clothes need to be washed before I can wear them, and just moving anything in the room kicks up so much junk that I go into fits. If I had something like this running on a timer say a few hours a day, or maybe 12 hours at a time 2-3 times a week, would that be likely to leave the room in noticeably better condition upon returning home?

[sentient02970]

My house is completely flea infested.

[halloween]

my house is completely flea infested.

flea bomb!!!

[playwithfire]

Friend of mine was very very depressed and having suicidal thoughts the other night. Apparently she was also cradling a hammer against her skull while this was going on.

She posted a status (among several clear cries for help that night) that said: "unfriend me now if you dont wanna watch me self destruct because im fucking determined this time"

And on that status a "friend" of hers said: "Remember, across the veins for show, lengthwise with the veins for results."

I reported the comment, and Facebook was like "this doesn't violate our community standards." Oh, fucking really?

"We prohibit content that promotes or encourages suicide or any other type of self-injury, including self-mutilation and eating disorders."

And obviously there's no where to reply to them. Facebook is such a "necessary" evil.

[eversonpoe]

Friend of mine was very very depressed and having suicidal thoughts the other night. Apparently she was also cradling a hammer against her skull while this was going on.

She posted a status (among several clear cries for help that night) that said: "unfriend me now if you dont wanna watch me self destruct because im fucking determined this time"

And on that status a "friend" of hers said: "Remember, across the veins for show, lengthwise with the veins for results."

I reported the comment, and Facebook was like "this doesn't violate our community standards." Oh, fucking really?

"We prohibit content that promotes or encourages suicide or any other type of self-injury, including self-mutilation and eating disorders."

And obviously there's no where to reply to them. Facebook is such a "necessary" evil.

is your friend ok? that's horrible and it's hard to do anything constructive to help, but that person is a fucking asshole.

[Khrz]

I take that as a very poor defense mechanism.

[sentient02970]

flea bomb!!!

Trying that today, hope it works!

[allegro]

I'm *this* close to pulling the trigger on one of those. I guess the main question is whether it would be of any use for keeping a room reasonably dust-free when unoccupied for weeks or months at a time. Every time I come up, the whole place has to be cleaned; clothes need to be washed before I can wear them, and just moving anything in the room kicks up so much junk that I go into fits. If I had something like this running on a timer say a few hours a day, or maybe 12 hours at a time 2-3 times a week, would that be likely to leave the room in noticeably better condition upon returning home?

I leave one running on "low' 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The fan is such a low power-pull, you barely hear it, but it's amazing how much dust, cat hair, etc. this thing pulls in. Since it's so small, it doesn't cover a hell of a lot of square footage, though, (160 square feet isn't a lot) so I have one for the bedroom, one for the living room, etc. I think it's nearly impossible to keep any room "reasonably dust-free" for very long these days. I completely clean my house using a HEPA vacuum, I dust my furniture using damp clothes or anti-allergy cleaners, and I swear two days later the house is dusty again. I heard that dust is mostly from our shedding skin but I have a hard time believing that considering there are only TWO people living in this house (and you get a residence full of dust with nobody IN it). But, I guess that air-tight houses are worse because they don't "breathe" and we are exposed to VOCs inside the house, vs. houses that aren't air-tight (allowing in more dust from outside) "breathe" and let OUT the VOCs.

I guess if safety of running an appliance while you are out of town is an issue, a timer would be a good idea. I would run it on a higher speed during the time that it's on, though?

Meanwhile, suddenly, all of my beloved Techny Arborovitae on the side of the house are suddenly turning brown. I am sick to my stomach. Our arborist, Art, is coming out on Friday. I hope they can be treated and aren't just dying.

[Jinsai]

is it just me or has click-bait gotten really out of hand? At this point, every major news source or "cool" site is now littered with bullshit links in the corners with captions like "25 celebrities you won't believe got fat! Number 15 will shock you!" You don't click on it, you ignore it, but lately it seems like it's just everywhere, clawing at the most basic and predictable aspect of your humanity. It's all a bunch of fabricated train-wrecks being shoved in your face, begging you to look.

It makes me want to go full-Walden and just cut myself off the grid entirely.

[Archive_Reports]

And obviously there's no where to reply to them. Facebook is such a "necessary" evil.

Why is Facebook necessary? It's this type of thinking that allows them to continue to act like shitheads.

[aggroculture]

anti-allergy cleaners

Thanks for all your advice on this, I think I will get one of those air purifiers. What do you mean here? Products, or cloths?

I reported the comment, and Facebook was like "this doesn't violate our community standards." Oh, fucking really?

Death threats don't violate their "community standards" either. It's clear that FB's default mode is leniency to violence, harassment, bigotry. But don't you dare post a female nipple.

[Jinsai]

Why is Facebook necessary? It's this type of thinking that allows them to continue to act like shitheads.

It's a modern utility... At this point, it's pretty much just as "necessary" as having a cell phone.

[allegro]

It's a modern utility... At this point, it's pretty much just as "necessary" as having a cell phone.

I totally disagree with this. A cell phone is necessary because you need it to call an ambulance if you have a stroke, or the police if you are robbed, or a tow service if your car breaks down, etc., because you can't find a payphone anywhere, anymore.

I've gone without FB for a long fucking time and it's useless; it's totally fucking stupid, and it's only so you don't feel like you're missing out on something or to "keep in touch" with your stupid and computer illiterate friends and relatives who don't know how to use the texting function on their fucking smart phone or who can't or won't use email. Believe me, before FB, people kept in touch just fine; look at how "useful" it was for this person who told her friends she wanted to commit suicide; just as useful as when I was in high school and people TOLD their "friends" they were going to commit suicide and their "friends" gave them the same fucking stupid advice. My "modern utility" in keeping in touch with my REAL friends is texting and email. FB only cares about ONE THING: Data-mining and making money.

[aggroculture]

In Spain people (or rather, the people I know) seem to use Whatsapp a lot more to communicate: you communicate in specific groups of people, you don't broadcast your shit to everybody you know. I think FB soon will be eclipsed by the next platform that is better at catering to people's wishes: when FB came along there was this whole "let's share everything with everybody" mentality, that I believe we've already seen is foolishly utopian and naive and is now being used against us to share our shit with everyone from advertisers to the government. As soon as better alternatives present themselves people will jump ship. No empire lasts forever.

[allegro]

Thanks for all your advice on this, I think I will get one of those air purifiers. What do you mean here? Products, or cloths?

I buy these things like crazy. They're washable, work way better than paper towels. Also, I like this stuff on a lot of surfaces so long as you don't go nuts with it. I use plain old water whenever possible on those shammies, though.

[Jinsai]

Believe me, before FB, people kept in touch just fine

Well, to be fair, people kept in touch fine before cell phones existed too.

I find it useful though, as much as I have a long list of things I hate about it. There's a lot of things I hate about cell phones too though... Sometimes I'm sick of the fact that we're always expected to be reachable at all times now. I find it kind of depressing to see people "hanging out" while ignoring each other and flipping through shit on their phones.

There's good things to having a connected line to everyone you know though, and for a lot of people it's a secondary form of email. It's maybe kind of weird, but at this point, email is more of a professional/formal means of communication for me. If someone wants to say hello or invite me to a party/show/event or whatever casual means of communicating, that tends to be via text or FB.

[Dra508]

There's good things to having a connected line to everyone you know though, and for a lot of people it's a secondary form of email. It's maybe kind of weird, but at this point, email is more of a professional/formal means of communication for me. If someone wants to say hello or invite me to a party/show/event or whatever casual means of communicating, that tends to be via text or FB.

Word. Email is for old folk or sending a message to your professor that you can't get your darn paper uploaded to whatever web portal.

[allegro]

Well, to be fair, people kept in touch fine before cell phones existed too.

I find it useful though, as much as I have a long list of things I hate about it. There's a lot of things I hate about cell phones too though... Sometimes I'm sick of the fact that we're always expected to be reachable at all times now. I find it kind of depressing to see people "hanging out" while ignoring each other and flipping through shit on their phones.

There's good things to having a connected line to everyone you know though, and for a lot of people it's a secondary form of email. It's maybe kind of weird, but at this point, email is more of a professional/formal means of communication for me. If someone wants to say hello or invite me to a party/show/event or whatever casual means of communicating, that tends to be via text or FB.

Well, my actual BEST FRIENDS are college professors, computer consulting geeks, real estate and mortgage nerds, etc. and we send LONNNNNNNG emails and we tend to VENT and shit. I can count my number of friends on one hand. I hate people, but if I like them and they want to be my friend, they'd better use email and they'd better not call me and they'd better not expect me to use fucking Facebook.

I never talk on the phone, like, EVER. I use my smartphone as a minicomputer and search device and a traveling office. And FB to me is nothing but trite say-nothing know-nothing stupid bullshit. It's either an echo chamber or it raises blood pressure with shit you didn't want to know about your relatives, or it's people posting bad recipes. G's cousin, retired and on disability, posts about 20 "Minions" posts per day, honest to God. Or pedestrian clouds-and-sky quotes about how wonderful it is to have Grandchildren ("click LIKE if you agree!")

I use email all day long for work. I receive, no joke, at least 250 emails per day in my line of work. So I prefer using that medium because it's generally how I communicate, anyway. I type about 120 wpm, and NOBODY uses the phone anymore in my line of work. If the phone rings, we look at it and go WHO THE FUCK IS CALLING US??!? If my MOM wants to reach me, she emails me. I have, at any given time during the day, 3 email accounts open on my screen at the same time. And my husband is texting me on the side. My close computer geek friends and I rapid-fire emails so fast, it comes out faster than texts. I just don't have the time or patience to look at all that stupid shit on FB.

So who uses emails? Smart computer people and professionals who don't have time for stupid shit. Who uses FB? G's cousin, who's posting Minions quotes and 900-calorie recipes all fucking day long. Because she has nothing else to do, and she's an idiot. Or my friend Mary's cousin, who's profile pic is him with a rifle, and most of his posts and comments are nothing but grammar and spelling nightmares and him calling everybody a "Libertard" and Obama a "Muslim Nazi" and this guy's IQ makes my dog a Rhodes scholar. But, FB is SO USER FRIENDLY, even that guy can figure it out!

I do remember the days before email and cell phones: We got along great without cell phones, but LIFE SUCKED WITHOUT EMAIL. I. And early UNIX email had EIGHT FUCKING BANGS IN YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. Now, I can send emails from my smartphone (the size of the palm of my hand).

Anyway, G pretty much summed it up: FB is like AOL.

[ldopa]

succubi sucking the life force from your nearest and dearest. which in turn sucks yourself into the toxic vortex of shit.

[Substance242]

Speaking about e-mail, it pisses me off how ineffective it can be, compared to discussions at FIDOnet years ago. Back then, thanks to automatic quoting (using e.g. GoldEd editor), it was immediately clear what is response to what, redundant parts removed, etc. Now, if you have e.g. three topics in one e-mail, how do you make it clear what you are responding to. Typing "...and speaking about topic B, I think..."? Copying part of the text first? (And spending a while figuring out what happend to formatting or why the suddent indent...) Moving hand to mouse and clicking different color? Yes, e-mail clients nowadays also can do this "quoting", but the person on the other side will most certainly broke that up or don't understand what weird formatting that is. We need something better. Like going back to GoldEd. :-) (Also, not everyone could join FIDOnet just like that, and real names were used... no, I'm not against privacy, but that was part of the quality of discussions there.)

As for Facebook, I actually liked it at the beginning, but then also other people discovered it :-) and as with everything, with quantity the quality went below my threshold "it gives me more anger than pleasure", so I quit. I use the same tactics with jobs, relationships, etc... not recommended. ;-)

Update: I am INTJ too, I was just currently thinking about this again, maybe I will get me a T-Shirt with four letters...? ;-)

[allegro]

with quantity the quality went below my threshold "it gives me more anger than pleasure", so I quit. I use the same tactics with jobs, relationships, etc... not recommended. ;-)

Not recommended?? That's pretty much my motto with everything in my life, as well! But I'm an INTJ, I have zero patience and socializing isn't one of my biggest priorities.

What I *hate* about email is probably what most people hate about email: (1) people who don't know how to read headers (come on people, wtf, my boss is like Helen Keller with email headers and he forwards email to me because he can't seem to grok that I was cc'd in the fucking email; because I have zero patience, my response to him is a copy of the header with my CC address in GIANT TYPE; thank God my boss likes me), (2) wanton "reply all" use (my boss is also guilty as charged), (3) not being able to cut-and-paste quotes, (4) not trimming replies which can be very dangerous, (5) people who don't bother editing subject headers, so I get subject headers that read "your email" or "this new deal" or "this attachment" or some stupid shit, although in personal email this is okay (sometimes email between me and my best g/f will have the same "hey, you!" subject header for 3 months).

I used to like the customizability of MySpace, that I could use CSS to customize my MySpace page, although that meant I risked having an epileptic seizure visiting a few of my friends' pages, LOL.

[playwithfire]

I'm a prolific Facebook user and it's brought a ton of good into my life. If the people I care about were actually on and using another social network regularly, I'd happily switch.

Here are some ways I can think of that make my Facebook experience so good.

1. My friends list is curated. I only have people on there I actually care about talking to, with only a few exceptions -- those exceptions being people I'd potentially have awkward interactions with irl if I unfriended them, generally I don't dislike those people (in which case I wouldn't care), I just dislike their views. I don't add coworkers without giving them a giant disclaimer, I'm very picky.

2. I post a lot, and I'm VERY, VERY open (doing this in a non-professional setting also does a great job of keeping the right people in your life). Going backwards, here's what I've posted about in the past 24 hours: This (funny timing), this quote “I don’t like the term because I’m uncomfortable with the implication that my identity should occupy a social position other than ‘default’.”, what inspired some recent eye makeup I did, a funny picture about people thinking you're straight, the bear kayak video, a dress I want to sell, a great tumblr exchange about misogyny, a great summary of the #MasculinitySoFragile" hashtag, a Patton Oswalt tweet about Cecile Richards, an article about Germany's decision to allow parents to opt out of choosing a gender on birth certificates. I facebook the way other people tweet, or something.

3. That extreme level of openness means that all of my friends can easily know what's going on in my life and where I'm at. Even though I maybe never see them, or we don't talk often, or they're states away, they probably know what I've been up to/what I care about/etc.

4. I'm friends with really smart people, and having a curated list + posting a lot means that some really amazing discussion happens.

The shit I see people gripe about when it comes to Facebook don't tend to be things I encounter. Facebook is an easy way for me, a very very open person, to express that in a way that my friends can see when they want, where I share space with people who have similar ideas, and have awesome discussions, and keep it touch with awesome people.

[tony.parente]

@playwithfire I kind of want you to add me on Facebook for some masochistic reason.
My name is Tony Balogna on there, you should add me for jokes.

[eversonpoe]

@playwithfire I kind of want you to add me on Facebook for some masochistic reason.
My name is Tony Balogna on there, you should add me for jokes.

@playwithfire don't do it. tony isn't that bad of a person but being friends with him on facebook made me incessantly angry, every fucking day.