Refund cards Mar 20, 2023
I moved recently, and I had the distinct pleasure of interacting with my local cable/internet company.  They pre-bill, and I moved about halfway through the month.  So they said, "Oh hey, no big deal, we'll send you a refund."  This was a little difficult because, like I said, I moved, but they eventually found my new address and sent me a thing.  Why in the name of holy fuck they couldn't just refund my credit card directly, since that's the payment method I used dutifully for years, I'll never understand. 

Or maybe I will.  So instead of sending me a refund check, they sent me a refund debit card, which is apparently a common thing these days.  A refund debit card works like a regular credit card, or at least that's the idea.  I activated it and tried to use it at a store but it wouldn't work.  I'm 99% sure that's part of the grift -- these debit cards charge ridiculous fees and have a bunch of small print, very likely in an attempt to make it too frustrating to use.  And that's the whole business model of companies that issue refund debit cards.  It's apparently "too expensive" or "too difficult" for cable and other companies to directly issue refunds to customers, so they contract that process out to a third party company which makes things difficult and unpleasant enough to make customers just give up and abandon their money.  Thankfully there was an option to transfer the balance to my bank account, which I'm still not entirely sure isn't a scam.  But either way, I got my money, and I haven't gotten an influx of spam (yet). #money
Moving risk Mar 9, 2023
I recently moved, and the moving company refused to take things like cleaning chemicals, petroleum products, and compressed gases like propane tanks.  I get it:  it's dangerous and moving companies can't handle the liability or whatever.  But I ended up just transporting it in my car, so the risk was absolutely still there, but it was all on me.  The moving company didn't mitigate the risk in any way, they just transferred it to me.  And yes I realize I could've just snuck some of that stuff into boxes (and I did) since I was paying multiple thousands of dollars for this service, but it's the principle.
Ownership responsibility Mar 9, 2023
Sometimes owning things is a responsibility.  I recently moved, and I took a bunch of plastic stuff to the dump to recycle it but was told it couldn't be recycled.  So I brought it all back home and put it out on the curb on garbage day.  I felt a little guilty throwing out plastic stuff, but I didn't realize when I bought it that I'd be responsible for its lifetime and eventual demise.  There wasn't any info from the store or on the receipt saying something like, "Oh hey you're responsible for disposing of this properly."  Ideally this should be handled by the manufacturer, but hey that's not the kind of world we live in.
Six-on-six basketball Mar 5, 2023
This 99% Invisible podcast episode about girls six-on-six basketball in Iowa is fascinating.  I'd never heard of the sport, but it's basically full-court three-on-three, but with separate offenses and defenses.  The Title IX legislation of the 1970s unintentionally favored classic five-on-five basketball like the boys played.  I was particularly floored by this statement: 
Title IX is a federal civil rights law passed in 1972. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that receives federal financial assistance.

It was motivated by explicit discrimination in colleges -- such as women being barred from certain programs and courses, as well as the mistreatment of female faculty members. People weren't even thinking of sports when Title IX was passed because the disparity was so taken for granted.