Minor things that bother you

[1995hoo]

^^^^

Heh. I'm reminded of a Boy Scout trip we took to Prince Edward Island for the Canadian Jamboree. My father was our Scoutmaster and he got angry that two of the guys were horsing around during the singing of "O Canada"—he felt, quite rightly, that because we were guests in their country we should show respect for their national anthem. He later told me that he restrained himself from the urge to smack one of them.

I responded, "If you ever hit me at a Scout event, I would go to the people in charge and say my Scoutmaster touched me in a way that made me feel uncomfortable." (I was 16 at the time, so whether that would have been believable might have been a different question.)

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

People who walk up escalators.

[Max Rockatansky]

People who walk up escalators.

People who don't get over to the right for people walking up escalators.

[1995hoo]

People who think that because they don't walk on the escalator, it's OK for them to stand on the left and refuse to move when someone who does want to walk says "excuse me" and asks to be let past.

(I'm not necessarily accusing I-57/Route 66 Fan of that behavior. But I certainly see plenty of tourists doing that sort of thing on the Metrorail escalators here in DC, which is damn annoying during rush hour, especially for the people who may have a tight amount of time to connect to a commuter train at Union Station or to a bus at the other end of a subway ride.)

[Big John]

People who walk up escalators.

especially the down ones.

[kphoger]

As I mentioned earlier, the August–May school schedule works out great around here because of the harvest schedule.  But a September start date would have been nice growing up, if for no other reason than that the classrooms didn't have air conditioning.  I remember multiple occasions on which class was dismissed a few hours early because the temp was so high.

[Scott5114]

School calendar discussion split to: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=37369.0

[Scott5114]

Along the same lines of my earlier gripes about the media's turning away from the use of the phrase "committed suicide," I'm likewise minorly aggrieved by the increasing use of the phrase "child sexual abuse material" instead of "child pornography."

Wikipedia says:

In the 2000s, use of the term "child abuse images" increased by both scholars and law enforcement personnel because the term "pornography" can carry the inaccurate implication of consent and create distance from the abusive nature of the material. [...] In 2008, the World Congress III against the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents stated in their formally adopted pact that "Increasingly the term 'child abuse images' is being used to refer to the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in pornography. This is to reflect the seriousness of the phenomenon and to emphasize that pornographic images of children are in fact records of a crime being committed."

There is also the issue that not all material depicting abuse is necessarily pornographic in nature.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

When a certain years product comes out months early e.g. the 2027 Rand McNally Road Atlas coming out in April 2026, just call it the 2026 edition at that point. Or car companies doing the same thing e.g. I just saw an ad for a 2027 car model already, just call it the Q3 2026 model at that point. The biggest offender in my opinion is Madden, the official Madden video game for 2026 is Madden 2027. Another thing is when people or publications do year-in-reviews before January 1st, and New Year's predictions after December 31st.

[Max Rockatansky]

When a certain years product comes out months early e.g. the 2027 Rand McNally Road Atlas coming out in April 2026, just call it the 2026 edition at that point. Or car companies doing the same thing e.g. I just saw an ad for a 2027 car model already, just call it the Q3 2026 model at that point. The biggest offender in my opinion is Madden, the official Madden video game for 2026 is Madden 2027. Another thing is when people or publications do year-in-reviews before January 1st, and New Year's predictions after December 31st.

John Madden can do no wrong on this forum.  This has been a long established objective fact.

[kkt]

I think we're missing the real point of that comment.

Plot twist!  |LilianaUwU| is actually worried about getting shot in the head, being under the mistaken belief that the USA is chock-full of gun-wielding psychos who go around shooting anyone they don't like at the drop of a hat—when, in reality, it's just Florida.

if only it WAS just Florida.

BY  GENE JOHNSON AND HALLIE GOLDEN
Updated 11:34 PM PDT, July 27, 2026

SEATTLE (AP) — There were at least three suspects involved in a shootout at a crowded food festival near Seattle's Space Needle over the weekend, police said Monday. One of them was among those killed in the violence.

In a document filed in juvenile court in Seattle, where a 15-year-old arrested in the case waived his initial appearance Monday, police said they believe there were at least three shooters: the 15-year-old, an acquaintance who died at the scene and "at least one other unknown suspect." Authorities had earlier said they believed there were two.

(story continues)

https://apnews.com/article/seattle-center-shooting-food-festival-space-needle-90548c65364e742a97fb7cb0fea31209

[kphoger]

shirt tags that won't stay down
when someone's else's shirt tag is visible
shirt tags that are scratchy

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

Me having to skip my Senior Skip Day because I had practice that night.

[hotdogPi]

Me having to skip my Senior Skip Day because I had practice that night.

Senior Skip Day existing at all.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

Me having to skip my Senior Skip Day because I had practice that night.

Senior Skip Day existing at all.

Why do you say that?

[hotdogPi]

Me having to skip my Senior Skip Day because I had practice that night.

Senior Skip Day existing at all.

Why do you say that?

It goes against the point of the concept of a school. Since the few people that don't participate are not enough for teachers to teach new material, that effectively shortens the school year by one day, which leads to (slightly) worse academic outcomes.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

Me having to skip my Senior Skip Day because I had practice that night.

Senior Skip Day existing at all.

Why do you say that?

It goes against the point of the concept of a school. Since the few people that don't participate are not enough for teachers to teach new material, that effectively shortens the school year by one day, which leads to (slightly) worse academic outcomes.

So do you also have a problem with Freshmen starting one day early, or Seniors getting out, and graduating 2 weeks early?

[Max Rockatansky]

Me having to skip my Senior Skip Day because I had practice that night.

Senior Skip Day existing at all.

Why do you say that?

It goes against the point of the concept of a school. Since the few people that don't participate are not enough for teachers to teach new material, that effectively shortens the school year by one day, which leads to (slightly) worse academic outcomes.

I wasn't even aware there was a name for ditching for the day.  There was a specific number of days you could do that back when I was in high school that you could get away with.  I don't recall what the number was (maybe three or four a semester?) but I would always use the full count. 

In college my biggest takeaway was that attendance was overrated.  I just showed up to the minimum number of lectures which were required on the class syllabus.  Having to pay for the classes out of pocket was a sufficient motivator to do well.

[kphoger]

For my senior skip day, we students were encouraged to go a few blocks away from school and donate blood where there was a blood drive set up for the day.  Never having donated blood before, I decided to do so.  That's when I found out I suffer from vasovagal syncope, although I didn't know till years later what that was or what it was called.  I went in, sat down in a donor chair, completely greyed out almost to the point of fainting, then got up and went back to school.

[kkt]

Me having to skip my Senior Skip Day because I had practice that night.

Senior Skip Day existing at all.

Why do you say that?

It goes against the point of the concept of a school. Since the few people that don't participate are not enough for teachers to teach new material, that effectively shortens the school year by one day, which leads to (slightly) worse academic outcomes.

Shortens the school year by a day, but only for graduating seniors.  Once skip day rolls around in June, most of the students hoping to go to college already got their acceptances and rejections a few months ago.  AP tests are over.  They are 17 or 18, so they're not forcing a parent to stay home from work to take care of them.  If they do show up at school, they'd probably just get shown a movie.  Possibly another chance to make up a missing assignment or flunked test, but they should have taken care of those things weeks before.

The best part of senior skip day was thinking about all those poor freshman, sophmore, and junior devils who are stuck in class.

[kphoger]

Yeah, the whole last week of senior year—two weeks, really—was kind of a joke, and the teachers knew that full well.  Students aren't missing out on anything with senior skip day, because they wouldn't be getting anything out of class anyway.

[Max Rockatansky]

In my Junior high school year we watched a bunch of Monty Python movies during the last week of history class.  I showed up just for the entertainment value.

[gonealookin]

It's not Christmas decorations just yet, thank goodness, but I see that the "Spirit Halloween Store" has its banner sign up, on July 30, on one of the vacant big boxes and is getting ready to open.

[Max Rockatansky]

It's not Christmas decorations just yet, thank goodness, but I see that the "Spirit Halloween Store" has its banner sign up, on July 30, on one of the vacant big boxes and is getting ready to open.

Care to take a guess about which seasonal stock items our store had delivered last week?

[Scott5114]

Yeah, the whole last week of senior year—two weeks, really—was kind of a joke, and the teachers knew that full well.  Students aren't missing out on anything with senior skip day, because they wouldn't be getting anything out of class anyway.

Honestly, the last week or two of just about every school year was like that for me. There comes a point where there's not enough time left in the year to start a new unit and get all the grading and tests done and finalized by the last day of class. Even if you could figure out a light subject to fill a week or two, people are missing class left and right because extracurriculars are cramming in events to finish up before school ends. Our school usually had a good softball team, so there'd invariably be a day where most of the school would leave early to go to a state finals game or something. And everyone, student and teacher alike, is mentally checked out thinking about summer already. So most teachers would just give up and show movies or have us play vaguely educational games.