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Thursday, October 09, 2014

#418: Sign Language "Interpreters" for National Anthem

I'm all for being inclusive, but I see no point in having someone sign the national anthem when it's the same song every time.  If you are deaf, you know what the person is saying, so what purposes does the signer have unless they are able to accurately convey the screech of Rosanne Barr's version but I think her crotch-grab got the picture across on that rendition.  Severity: 2

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

#417: Can't Cancel Online Orders

Lately, I've had a few incidents with Amazon and Home Depot where I placed an order and then immediately wanted to either change the payment used or cancel an order (on a weekend so before it was shipped) and they don't allow it.  I understand that for efficiency if an item is shipped super fast like at Amazon, this might be the case that technically they can't stop or change an order, but it's stupid to be so inflexible, especially with Home Depot where I had an item that is not scheduled to ship for 2 weeks yet they say they can't stop it.  And with Amazon, why can't I change the payment method?  They said to do so, I'd have to actually send it back and reorder it.  Idiotic.  Unless it's intended so you just keep things you don't want, then it's good business, but dishonest.  Severity: 5

Saturday, January 11, 2014

#416: Crowd Noise as an Advantage

I don't like that crowds yelling at an NFL game can actually affects the game.  It's not like I think there should be a rule against it, I just don't like it because to me it's no different than throwing snowballs at the players to mess them up.  Also, it encourages fans to be quiet during the home team's offensive drives which stifles excited fans.  The solution will be for offenses to adapt so that they can run plays fine without being about to communicate audibly, but in the meantime, I think it's dumb that games might be decided because the scoreboard tells fans to yell and makes them feel like they have some purpose in life being the "12th man".  Severity: 3

#415: Too many NFL Analysts

I never watch them because they annoy me, but I find it rediculous that Fox needs 5 windbags competing for laughs on their pre-game / halftime NFL shows.  They just talk over each other and compete for biggest goofball awards.  Get rid of at least 2 of these fools.  Severity: 2

#414: Duck-under Foul Move in Basketball

I've really not been into basketball for many years, but recently I went to my first Warrior's game in 20 years and enjoyed it so I have been watching them a bit lately.  One of my peeves of basketball is the arbitrary foul calls, which seems to have improved somewhat from what I recall.  But they still do this thing I can't stand where a player fakes a shot, get a defender to jump, and then the shooter leans under the guy to take a shot and get a foul called on him.  This is so dumb and should be outlawed.  It's like in hockey if you purposely put your face in a spot so a guy hits you with his stick to get a penalty on him.  Or in the NFL, a quarterback moved his head so a pass-rusher would hit him there and get a penalty flag.  Get this stupid "duck-under" maneuver out of basketball.  Severity: 4

#413: Transbay Bus Terminal Between-Pole-Squeezers

OK, this one is a bit obscure, so will take some explaining.  At the San Francisco Temporary Transbay Terminal, they require people crossing the road to get to the inner loading areas for various bus lines to use designated crosswalks manned by staff to ensure people don't get run over and the busses can get out of the place.  My stop is luckily on the outskirts so don't have to be subject to this, but in an effort to keep people from crossing where they shouldn't, my stop has placed these benches strategically to discourage people from going between poles.  The result is that when there is a line for my bus, if you don't squeeze between the poles and the benches, you have to circle around and walk further.  I personally walk further because I don't like to squeeze and brush against the pole and the time savings is minimal.  But, I don't begrudge those that do so when there is a line.  However, when there is not a line, the opening to the bus door is so close to where you come around the blockage, there's no benefit in making the squeeze.  It save maybe 2 steps.  So when I see people do it, it makes me annoyed they are not properly doing a cost-benefit analysis in that the effort to squeeze and possibly get dirtied up is outweighed by the 2 steps of saving time.  I think this annoyance is a bit related to people that try to always get a close parking space.  It comes down to people always needing to get "the most" even when careful consideration would show a person it's not worth the effort to maximize in that situation. Severity: 2

Monday, January 06, 2014

#412: Downton Abbey Women Referring to their Father

Something about the way the Downton Abbey chicks says "pa-PA" to refer to their dad annoys me.  So snooty.  Severity: 1