Whereas the "Pet Peeves" section is limited to abuses of the English language, this section contains short essays about some of life's other annoyances.  My goal here is to complete, sometime before I die, an encyclopedic account of everything that ticks me off – and this, as anyone who knows me can testify, is a formidable undertaking.

	Phone-y Tips for Politicians What this grouch does about political phone calls.
	Automated Idiocy at "The Economist" A respected and respectable magazine shoots itself in the foot with its automated system and incredibly incompetent customer service.
	(Eureka!) Electrolux Sucks We discover that what's labeled Electrolux is really Eureka as a result of brand-name machinations by the two companies.  An inferior product poses as something better, and both companies are complicit in the deception.
	Cell Phones and "Multitasking" I observe a form of insanity that has apparently become an epidemic.
	Gassed The curmudgeon suggests that there are better ways to do something about gas prices and gas dependence than to have a symbolic "gas-out" day.
	Headlights (Again) An update to the "Grumble" posted in August 2004.
	E-Mail Isn't Instant Messaging, Folks If your e-mail messages make you look like a stupid slob, people will conclude that you are a stupid slob.
	Hoodia Hooey In case your common sense is on vacation, here's a piece about the latest "spam scam."
	Cell Phones in the Air: Please, No The authorities are considering permitting use of cell phones on airplanes in flight.  This is one of the worst ideas to come along in a long time, and here's why.
	"Experts" Who Aren't Experts A diatribe about the incompetence of people who are hired to be helpful – from sales clerks to telephone representatives.
	E-Mail Aggravations Reasons why one should not forward e-mail attachments of unknown origin.
	DirecTV Customer Service DirecTV isn't the worst service provider, but their telephone runaround ranks right down there with the losers.
	The PO SNAFU Another reason why the U.S. Postal Service is losing our confidence and our business.
	The Case Against Retail Sales An example that explains why more people are shopping online and shunning brick-and-mortar stores.
	Copy Protection Overkill We learn that Sony's copy-protection on CDs makes computers on which they are played vulnerable to viruses, and we reflect upon the recording industry's paranoia about private copying while professional pirates remain untouched.
	Gateway to Digital Hell Subtitled "Why Not to Buy a Gateway Computer," this article describes in detail the hell that one goes through after a Gateway computer dies, as it most likely will.
	It Pays to Grumble An exhortation to storm the corporate barricades, with a case study of how to do it and what may happen if we do.
	Let's Pass Another Unenforceable Law New Jersey legislators love silly laws.  The latest proposal is to ban smoking while driving.
	The Curse of Auto Reply Ranting about machine-generated "nonanswers" to Internet problems.
	Cell Phone-itis Revisited More than a year after composing "Cell Phone-itis and Other Technological Diseases," I continue to shun the cell phone and to curse the millions who abuse it.
	Bigotry 101 A really scary post on an Internet Q&A board says that it is the divine responsibility of Christians to annihilate all those who disagree with them.
	Bankers' Incompetence Although we have plenty to worry about with regard to identity theft, this experience suggests that we need to worry about the competence of the credit card companies as well.
	Promotional Clutter Isn't it time we had a public backlash against the advertising epidemic that has infected our society?
	DVD Renters Why do people abuse the discs that they rent?
	Dial 1-800-CONFUSE About the "time-saving" device of making words out of phone numbers.
	Yo, Hotmail! Why can't Hotmail do a better job of waging war against spammers, especially the Cialis freaks?
	Loud Music A rant about behavior that defies tolerance – not a diatribe against the music itself but a protest against noise.
	Sportscasters Some derogatory observations about a group of annoying egomaniacs.
	Really, Really Stupid People Conclusive evidence that some individuals have no more sense than a fish.
	Teachers Who Can't . . . An e-mail from Arizona, citing messages from our grandson's third-grade teacher, prompts me to reflect on where the "dumbing down" of America begins.
	Customers = Unpaid Employees How long do we put up with stores that turn customers into unpaid checkout clerks?
	Headlights It's not just high beams anymore; it's "four-eyed" vehicles and "halogen" headlights as well.
	A Plague of Spam Sounding off about the scum of the Internet.
	Cell Phone-itis and Other Technological Diseases A rant about the cell phone, a private convenience that has become a public nuisance.
	Speak English, Please Sounding off on why I think that people who live in the U.S. should learn English – along with some grumbling about how "political correctness" stifles opinions such as this.
	Argumentum ad Googlum We debunk the idea that something is correct just because it yields thousands (or millions) of hits on Google.
	Why Are We Discontented? A look at why, when we live in comparative luxury, most of us still have good reason to grumble.
	A Marriage of Incompetents The Curmudgeon reflects sardonically on Comcast's attempt to engineer a hostile takeover of Disney.
	Pass the Crowbar (Again) Opening the package to the 60th anniversary DVD of Fantasia sends me into another twit, but (as a brief review here states) it was worth the effort.
	Cable Con Game Why I think a major cable company is ripping off its customers.
	Pass the Crowbar Some reasons to commit the desigmers of packages to the insane asylum (before they drive all of us there).
	Magazine Inserts What I plan to do with the postcards that come in my magazines.