Minor things that bother you

[abefroman329]

Our town just got them for the first time last week (for an 18-month trial).  The city said they have "designated scooter parking area" to leave them at when done. 

I don't know how they distributed them around town on day one, but I have already seen some that look to be blocking the sidewalks they're parked on.

This is a huge problem in Fort Colllins, both the scooters, and the often drunk riders thereof.

Chicago controls for drunk riders by not letting you use one after midnight.

I think they're great for traveling distances that are too far to walk, but not far enough to justify driving a car.  I don't leave them in the middle of the sidewalk, but I've seen that happen plenty of times.

[thenetwork]

It's bad enough you can't get through a half hour of a show on cable or rabbit ears without running into an ad from a law firm....

....but I can't stand the ambulance chasing breed of lawyers who use the same "doomsday music bed" across all of their commercials. You'd know the eerie music if you heard it.

It's been used for well over a decade now, and likely these ambulance chasers are all a part of the same national network of lawyers.

[zachary_amaryllis]

It's bad enough you can't get through a half hour of a show on cable or rabbit ears without running into an ad from a law firm....

....but I can't stand the ambulance chasing breed of lawyers who use the same "doomsday music bed" across all of their commercials. You'd know the eerie music if you heard it.

It's been used for well over a decade now, and likely these ambulance chasers are all a part of the same national network of lawyers.

Frank Azar. And what's funny about his ads, is often it's some ... trailer-parky demographic that got rear-ended in her 92 Topaz, and is now a millionaire.

[ZLoth]

Thankfully, I only have to ensure those type of lawyer advertising when watching a live Dallas Cowboys game because I'm watching the game at a neighbor's house. That neighbor passed away on January 1st.

[D-Dey65]

There was one I heard recently while I was on my PC in one room while the TV was running in another. I was imagining all kinds of obnoxious scenarios with this commercial, that thankfully didn't happen.

[wanderer2575]

It's bad enough you can't get through a half hour of a show on cable or rabbit ears without running into an ad from a law firm....

....but I can't stand the ambulance chasing breed of lawyers who use the same "doomsday music bed" across all of their commercials. You'd know the eerie music if you heard it.

It's been used for well over a decade now, and likely these ambulance chasers are all a part of the same national network of lawyers.

I don't understand law firms advertising on national TV (actual firms, not referral networks such as Guardian Legal).  I live in Michigan.  If I want to sue the bejeebers out of someone, I'm not calling that attorney in Puerto Rico.

[GaryV]

It's bad enough you can't get through a half hour of a show on cable or rabbit ears without running into an ad from a law firm....

....but I can't stand the ambulance chasing breed of lawyers who use the same "doomsday music bed" across all of their commercials. You'd know the eerie music if you heard it.

It's been used for well over a decade now, and likely these ambulance chasers are all a part of the same national network of lawyers.

I don't understand law firms advertising on national TV (actual firms, not referral networks such as Guardian Legal).  I live in Michigan.  If I want to sue the bejeebers out of someone, I'm not calling that attorney in Puerto Rico.

Do some of our more famous (infamous?) SE Michigan attorneys advertise in other states? Like Sam, Mike and the ubiquitous GF (despite him supposedly being disabled and not able to go to court anymore).

[bugo]

The after-effect my dad had was that, for about two weeks, he could take half a dozen naps during the day and then still sleep all night long after that.

That's a feature, not a bug.

I have hypersomnia and other sleep issues, and trust me, there isn't anything good about sleeping that much.

[D-Dey65]

I just lost the ability to scan, cut, copy, paste or do anything with my mouse... again!

UPDATE: June 7, 2023: I gained it back. I have no idea why that crap happened.

UPDATE: June 8, 2023; Now, it's preventing me from right-clicking again.

[ZLoth]

It's bad enough you can't get through a half hour of a show on cable or rabbit ears without running into an ad from a law firm....

....but I can't stand the ambulance chasing breed of lawyers who use the same "doomsday music bed" across all of their commercials. You'd know the eerie music if you heard it.

It's been used for well over a decade now, and likely these ambulance chasers are all a part of the same national network of lawyers.

I don't understand law firms advertising on national TV (actual firms, not referral networks such as Guardian Legal).  I live in Michigan.  If I want to sue the bejeebers out of someone, I'm not calling that attorney in Puerto Rico.

See https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/979/attorney-advertising . Starting in 1908, the American Bar Association (ABA) barred advertising beyond business cards, and states passed laws prohibiting the advertising shortly thereafter. However, the Supreme Court in 1977 stuck down said laws as stating that "the disciplinary rule serves to inhibit the free flow of commercial information and to keep the public in ignorance."  However, false, deceptive, or misleading attorney advertising would not be protected.

It should be noted that eighty percent of the United States population lives in the eastern half of the continental United States. If you are a new cable station, for example, you would establish an East Coast feed first, and then a West Coast feed later. In terms of advertising, I remember seeing national advertising years ago for Sonic even though there was no franchises in Northern California on the USA Network. Likewise, it is possible for the large law firms to have offices in multiple states and agreements for referrals in other states.

[zachary_amaryllis]

It's bad enough you can't get through a half hour of a show on cable or rabbit ears without running into an ad from a law firm....

....but I can't stand the ambulance chasing breed of lawyers who use the same "doomsday music bed" across all of their commercials. You'd know the eerie music if you heard it.

It's been used for well over a decade now, and likely these ambulance chasers are all a part of the same national network of lawyers.

I don't understand law firms advertising on national TV (actual firms, not referral networks such as Guardian Legal).  I live in Michigan.  If I want to sue the bejeebers out of someone, I'm not calling that attorney in Puerto Rico.

It should be noted that eighty percent of the United States population lives in the eastern half of the continental United States. If you are a new cable station, for example, you would establish an East Coast feed first, and then a West Coast feed later. In terms of advertising, I remember seeing national advertising years ago for Sonic even though there was no franchises in Northern California on the USA Network. Likewise, it is possible for the large law firms to have offices in multiple states and agreements for referrals in other states.

Which brings up another minor thing that bothers me.

In the mountain time zone, some of our channels are the 'east' feed, and some are the 'west'. Some channels, we get both.

Nowadays, DirectTV has it mostly right in terms of the onscreen guide being right.
Back in the day, it was either '2 hours earlier than the east time' or .. like '3 hours AFTER the west time' or some other such tomfoolery.

Even now on some broadcast channels, times are listed as '[something]:00 eastern & central, [something-else]:00, pacific. and screw all of us in the Mountain time zone.

[ZLoth]

In the mountain time zone, some of our channels are the 'east' feed, and some are the 'west'. Some channels, we get both.

Nowadays, DirectTV has it mostly right in terms of the onscreen guide being right.
Back in the day, it was either '2 hours earlier than the east time' or .. like '3 hours AFTER the west time' or some other such tomfoolery.

Even now on some broadcast channels, times are listed as '[something]:00 eastern & central, [something-else]:00, pacific. and screw all of us in the Mountain time zone.

Per 2020 population statistics and from this post in Quora:

• Eastern Time Zone - 154,892,174 (46.75% of the U.S. population)
• Central Time Zone - 95,774,455 (28.91% of the U.S. population)
• Pacific Time Zone - 55,503,963 (16.75% of the U.S. population)
• Mountain Time Zone - 23,001,711 (6.94% of the U.S. population)
• Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone - 1,413,013 (0.43% of the U.S. population)
• Alaska Time Zone - 733,676 (0.22% of the U.S. population)

Combined, that is ~75.66% of the United States population in the Eastern and Central Time Zone.

People kept wondering why ABC (when it had the rights from 1970 to 2005 instead of E$PN) started Monday Night Football at 9 PM Eastern instead of 8 PM Eastern, while other prime-time live coast-to-coast sports broadcasts were at 8:00 or 8:30 PM Eastern. Several key television markets, including (2002-2003 Television Rankings which is the oldest I have available):

2. Los Angeles (Pacific) - 4.987% of television households
5. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (Pacific) - 2.284% of television households
12. Seattle-Tacoma (Pacific)
16. Phoenix (Mountain)
18. Denver (Mountain)
19. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto (Pacific)
23. Portland, Oregon (Pacific)
26. San Diego (Pacific)

...were located in Pacific or Mountain Time Zones, and they needed an opportunity to get to a television set and watch the advertising. Seattle-Tacoma was notorious for airing MNF on a one-hour tape delay unless the Seahawks were playing.

Also, wasn't the television announcements like "8 Eastern/Pacific, 7 Central" and we forgot about Mountain.

[hotdogPi]

Add 4.5 million to Mountain because of Alberta.

In addition, subtract 6 million from Mountain during daylight savings time; Arizona leaves it (-7M), but Saskatchewan joins it (+1M).

[ZLoth]

Add 4.5 million to Mountain because of Alberta.

Alberta is in Canada, not the United States. Mind you, it's a very scenic part of Canada.

[thenetwork]

Nowadays, when the major OTA networks promote non-live programs, they usually say 9pm/,8Pm CENTRAL.  That Centtal time notation pretty much covers both the Central AND Mountain time zones as both are in the middle of the country and most markets in those zones start primetime at 7PM Instead of 8Pm.

.Eastern and western zones begin primetimes at 8PM

[hotdogPi]

Add 4.5 million to Mountain because of Alberta.

Alberta is in Canada, not the United States. Mind you, it's a very scenic part of Canada.

I was under the impression that Canadians watch the same TV shows Americans do. I can think of two exceptions, neither of which applies here: US sports (which don't apply because they're live events and therefore occur simultaneously everywhere) and French speakers (which are in a different part of Canada).

Nowadays, when the major OTA networks promote non-live programs, they usually say 9pm/,8Pm CENTRAL.  That Centtal time notation pretty much covers both the Central AND Mountain time zones as both are in the middle of the country and most markets in those zones start primetime at 7PM Instead of 8Pm.

.Eastern and western zones begin primetimes at 8PM

"Central" is the name of a specific time zone. It doesn't just mean "the center of the US". Mountain Time is not Central Time.

[CoreySamson]

Add 4.5 million to Mountain because of Alberta.

Alberta is in Canada, not the United States. Mind you, it's a very scenic part of Canada.

I was under the impression that Canadians watch the same TV shows Americans do. I can think of two exceptions, neither of which applies here: US sports (which don't apply because they're live events and therefore occur simultaneously everywhere) and French speakers (which are in a different part of Canada).

Nowadays, when the major OTA networks promote non-live programs, they usually say 9pm/,8Pm CENTRAL.  That Centtal time notation pretty much covers both the Central AND Mountain time zones as both are in the middle of the country and most markets in those zones start primetime at 7PM Instead of 8Pm.

.Eastern and western zones begin primetimes at 8PM

"Central" is the name of a specific time zone. It doesn't just mean "the center of the US". Mountain Time is not Central Time.

Well, if you're going to add Alberta to Mountain time, you might as well add the other Canadian provinces to their respective time zones according to that logic.

[ZLoth]

I was under the impression that Canadians watch the same TV shows Americans do. I can think of two exceptions, neither of which applies here: US sports (which don't apply because they're live events and therefore occur simultaneously everywhere) and French speakers (which are in a different part of Canada).

True, but they are carried (and usually simulcast) on Canadian broadcast networks, not United States broadcast networks.

I also believe I was very specific when I stated U.S. Population, with U.S. being United States.

[vdeane]

Add 4.5 million to Mountain because of Alberta.

Alberta is in Canada, not the United States. Mind you, it's a very scenic part of Canada.

I was under the impression that Canadians watch the same TV shows Americans do. I can think of two exceptions, neither of which applies here: US sports (which don't apply because they're live events and therefore occur simultaneously everywhere) and French speakers (which are in a different part of Canada).

Nowadays, when the major OTA networks promote non-live programs, they usually say 9pm/,8Pm CENTRAL.  That Centtal time notation pretty much covers both the Central AND Mountain time zones as both are in the middle of the country and most markets in those zones start primetime at 7PM Instead of 8Pm.

.Eastern and western zones begin primetimes at 8PM

"Central" is the name of a specific time zone. It doesn't just mean "the center of the US". Mountain Time is not Central Time.

For the purposes of prime time TV, Mountain and Central may as well be one, at least for viewers.  Eastern and Central get one feed (hence things like "8/7 central"), while Mountain watches that feed on a one-hour tape delay.  Only Pacific gets its own feed.  So if you're in the Mountain Time Zone, whatever time is quoted for Central will also be your time thanks to the tape delay.

[Big John]

^^There are exceptions such as when The Drew Carey Show did a live show, it was done 3 times.

[1995hoo]

^^There are exceptions such as when The Drew Carey Show did a live show, it was done 3 times.

I seem to recall something similar when the West Wing did a presidential debate between Santos and Vinick–it was a live episode and they did it twice. Wikipedia confirms that (and I kind of doubt someone would have reason to vandalize or fabricate that material).

[ZLoth]

^^There are exceptions such as when The Drew Carey Show did a live show, it was done 3 times.

I seem to recall something similar when the West Wing did a presidential debate between Santos and Vinick–it was a live episode and they did it twice. Wikipedia confirms that (and I kind of doubt someone would have reason to vandalize or fabricate that material).

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0745691/
https://westwing.fandom.com/wiki/The_Debate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Debate_(The_West_Wing)

[CtrlAltDel]

^^There are exceptions such as when The Drew Carey Show did a live show, it was done 3 times.

I seem to recall something similar when the West Wing did a presidential debate between Santos and Vinick–it was a live episode and they did it twice. Wikipedia confirms that (and I kind of doubt someone would have reason to vandalize or fabricate that material).

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0745691/
https://westwing.fandom.com/wiki/The_Debate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Debate_(The_West_Wing)

30 Rock also did two live shows over the course of its run, each performed twice, once for the east and once for the west, with small changes between them.

[abefroman329]

I'm old enough to remember when ER did a live ep.

The cool thing about the live 30 Rock eps is that they deliberately added small differences between the broadcasts.

[vdeane]

The fact that I can no longer use my apartment as a sanctuary where I can pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist.  There's a family across the courtyard that is on their balcony CONSTANTLY at all hours of the day, and their view from their balcony goes directly into my living room window.  It's fairly random too, so I can't count on specific hours as being safe to have my blinds open without them looking at me.  It all started a month ago; I don't know where they were the first month I was in my current apartment, whether they just moved in or were on a long vacation, but it's really annoying.  I'm not sure what it is; the people in buildings 4, 5, and 6 don't use their balconies, but the people in buildings 2 and 3 do.  Unfortunately the people who use them the very most (to the point where I think they could save some money by renting only the balcony and letting someone else rent their apartment!) are also in a prime position to stare at me.