A disappointing number of eligible Britons turned up to vote for their MEPs this spring, and those who don't vote are often those who whine the most about our involvement with Europe.
I've saved face without appearing to whine with those gems ever since golf balls were made of balata and shrunk in the cold (another good excuse for poor outcomes).
"Why did you whine about those girls?" you demanded.
And the Republicans didn't whine the way the Democrats did as if they were entitled to those votes.
While the men mostly preen, make promises or whine about how those tactics are received, the women juggle more complicated emotions, trying to balance desire and practicality, kindness and self-esteem, anger and forgiveness, hugs and kiss-offs.
That death was preceded by the shooting death of a 16-year-old African-American boy in Florida, Trayvon Martin, by a self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, George – who whined about those "fucking punks" to a 911 operator before shooting the unarmed boy.
It dies silently, drowned in the endless echoes of incessant cyberspatial whining by those conspiring, ignorantly, to kill it.
They learn to operate within the constraints imposed by their idiom, and they don't whine or complain about those constraints.
A couple more things to ponder coming out of the weekend: BoingBoing points out that the state of Washington - which is facing a budget deficit of almost $3bn - could give Microsoft a $100m tax break and an amnesty on $1bn in unpaid taxes; and Robert Scoble manages to argue pretty successfully why those who whine about the TED conference being too exclusive should stop moaning.
And for those who whine that they can't get Versus in their hotel rooms, it's time to try Slingbox or the new ZeeVee ZV-100, a kit that will allow you to stream on your television set what you can access from your computer.
