Thread 5 - TalkExiles: "The Planet Goes On Being Round"

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous lifeboat threads (thread 4).

Gather here all ye refugees from the JTT Flat Earth Society, welcome to the reassuringly oblate spheroid of MN! Ye all already know the answers to the questions "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

So really we're all here just to chat randomly.

SqueakyDinosaur · Today 15:22

4.5 minutes of baby stoat bliss here:

I'm fairly sure that he's the weasel guy, either that, or they were on the same programme. The stoat managed to survive and have pups, I seem to remember.

What a lot I've missed today - JTT, stoats and weasels. We see stoats and weasels in the woods from time to time and I once found a dead one in the garden at home, which I suspect had been poisoned as there was no damage to be seen.

My dad told me a lovely story about a stoat dancing, that he saw as a boy:

Well, when I was about 12 I used to stay with my grandparents in Staveley sometimes, and I spent a lot of time wandering in the hills nearby. One of my favourite solo trips was a hill called Reston overlooking the village, and I used to lie on the top watching the trains going up to Windermere. They were steam engines of course, and when they pulled out of the station the first few puffs of steam came a few seconds before the sound reached me about a mile away, demonstrating that light travels faster than sound.

One sunny afternoon I was thus occupied when I spotted a movement nearby, and there was a stoat standing on his hind legs with his arms up, dancing and turning like an elf. I was absolutely transfixed, and watched him for several minutes until he noticed me and was gone in a moment. I'd never heard of this before, and it seemed quite magical and almost unbelievable, so I don't think I told anyone about it for a long time, but I shall never forget it.

From all that's been said about JTT I remain resolved to never return. I can't forget the vicious way we were turned out, it all felt very 'Never darken this doorstep again' to me and JtS's last jab just makes me roll my eyes. Anyway, I prefer this place now, there is far more going on and we're allowed more than one thread on FWR. Only allowing one thread on such an important issue is absurd beyond belief.

Even that one thread is there under sufferance or at best apologetically. The site's completely down now but this morning's launch included references to plans to implement earlier suggestions such as being to ignore whole threads (clearly to avoid the upset some people expressed at even seeing the title of That Thread appear on their screens because it was active).

Best wishes to the (I'm sure) genuinely good people who have taken on the running of the place, but as others have said, this was never just about the person or people at the "top." I'm still there for the football predictions and the odd random post but unlikely to spend more than 1% of the time there than I do here now overall. My experience here on MN remains as it was at the start - posting less but reading more than I did in the other place. And that's all good.

All of that. 👍

I LOVE weasels. Perhaps unsurprisingly

@Tricyrtis2022 I loved your father's writing! What a lovely thing to have seen.

Agreed about @Tricyrtis2022 ’s dad’s writing. Brilliantly evocative and a great ear for storytelling!

That’s a lovely story @Tricyrtis2022

I particularly like that a little physics lesson about light travelling faster than sound is thrown in before we get to the dancing stoat!

I agree, it's a wonderful little excerpt!

I thoroughly enjoyed that little story @Tricyrtis2022 - beautifully told!

So much here!

The stoat kits were lovely and I'm so glad he raised them to live in the wild. He's a better man than me because I'd have been SO tempted to just have them as my own which is hugely selfish.

@MissLawls I've been to Leek! We visited the town when we were staying just over the border in Derbyshire.

Re, JTT. Everything was a shitstorm back when I left, it's just a different shitstorm this time. I was maligned long after I left. Fairplay that it's managed to keep doing filled with that much toxicity - which I say as someone who still has friends there - but I'd be amazed if it ends up with any new posters because it has literally nothing to offer that can't be found elsewhere and has too many downsides to be at all inviting. My full stop? As far as I'm concerned, JtS has been an utter piece of shit for a very long time. Fuck him and the shitty ship he sailed in on.

Oh, tomatoes. I agree that by and large British tomatoes are not very good and I think it would be great if we went back to seasonal vegetables but I doubt we will. The issue is all about how we've fucked farmers/farming so much that we are in this insidious position we currently face. Today in Morrisons, zero tomatoes. I didn't want any, I just wanted to see if there were some. Oh, and my favourite vegetables are definitely among the brassicas, leeks, spring onions and potatoes. I basically love green vegetables and when we had cabbage when I was a child my mum would let me have a cup of cabbage water seasoned with a bit of pepper to have with my food and it was bloody lush.

What will I do without my updates on showbiz Chloe's and The GC on the H*tlers Slebrities thread

I think tomatoes are a bit more important to me than Chloes. As a veggie, I do find them a major part of my diet. But the Chloes were one of those small pleasures.

I had a cup of cabbage water just last week! One of those things the 'old people' always said was a tonic. Another thing they endorsed were nettles - my grandmother said you should eat them three times in spring to clean the blood. The tips are emerging now, so I must make some soup.

That looks like something tiger paws on the other side would post. I must admit she made me laugh, an old fashioned and harmless troll who really pissed off the mean boys and girls, and who didn't side with the mob.

That looks like something tiger paws on the other side would post. I must admit she made me laugh, an old fashioned and harmless troll who really pissed off the mean boys and girls, and who didn't side with the mob.

I never knew what to make of TP - sometimes that individual would come out with a nugget of proper information or a good point. I came to enjoy the spluttering outrage from the Hive Mind in the end.

Hive Mind. Perfect description.

I agree about Tricy's father's and the stoat - was very struck by the 'like an elf' bit. I often wonder how I would have experienced the world if I'd lived at a time before specs were available - I'm very short sighted. People seeing things and interpreting them in their own way - in that situation would some of them have thought they'd seen an actual elf? Maybe only children, or townies who didn't know about stoats.

But a lovely description of a wonderful encounter.

I think in theory we aren't meant to misgender here, hence some rather elaborate wording in some posts.

Yes, although MNHQ clarified early on that that didn't generally apply to rapists etc. I was already committed to not using opposite sex pronouns when they brought the current guidelines in 5 years ago, so I generally just find a way around using pronouns at all, or use "they" if it's very difficult to do that.

Same here. Being gender critical doesn't mean being rude to or about individual genderists.

@NotDrowningJustCrowing delighted to hear you've been to Leek. Hope you had a nice time. I love my little town. 34 years now since I left London to live here. A whole lifetime. Never looked back.

It's more about self preservation for me, but it's just easier to do it all the time here to avoid slipping up. But I won't ever call male people "she", that's a line in the sand. I don't like having to participate in gaslighting myself. This fairly well known, uncompromising essay originally started out as a post here, by a brilliant former FWR poster:

fairplayforwomen.com/pronouns/

@DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry

Can I ask about nettles, was going to buy some nettle tea on Amazon, how do you make nettle soup from fresh nettles?

Glad you liked my dad's story. He sent it to me years ago and I revisit from time to time and read it again. I've never been to that hill but the words somehow make everything familiar, even the steam engine.

@Ereshkigalangcleg, you don't need to buy nettle tea, they grow everywhere. Just put on some gloves and pick them. Dry the leaves and crumble or chop them up a bit and use as tea. You can put them in soups too.

Thanks @Tricyrtis2022

For nettle soup, pick the tips, ideally as they emerge at this time of year. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES WHILE DOING THIS! A double handful is plenty for soup for two people. Make the soup like a spinach or other green soup - sweat an onion (and if you're going to thicken the soup with potato or courgette, that too) in a little oil, when they've softened put in the nettle tips, add stock, cook for fifteen minutes or so, then whizz in a blender or zap with a stick blender until smooth. If you haven't used other veg to thicken it, do that now with a little cornflour in milk. I'd add some milk at that stage, and serve with a blob of cream and a scatter or fresh chives.

My grandmother didn't make soup with them, she cooked them, chopped them up, added them to a bechamel sauce and served them with ham and potatoes.