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Post by flowerpower on Feb 2, 2012 12:38:40 GMT -5
The vote was heavily in favor of keeping the Soapbox, but you may eventually have to make some changes. The mods here will make changes when we feel it's necessary. The Soapbox is staying the way it is.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Apr 7, 2012 11:16:11 GMT -5
I understand the desire to have a soapbox forum and have a place where one can freely rant about anything they want, even knowing that someone might find it offensive. I understand that, and have probably used it myself on occasion. But i do wonder if the forum would be better without a soapbox. I've seen other sites erode because of their own form of a soapbox. But i dont know.
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Post by steev on Apr 9, 2012 0:14:01 GMT -5
There have been some very interesting threads here lately.
I am perhaps insensitive to the needs of some to express deeply-held beliefs that I could take as negative judgements on me, or my ethnicity, or my race, or my religion, or my world-view. It may be that I fail to grasp that other people's beliefs and practices are more valid than mine, and that they have every right to be offended if I express my belief, if it is at all in contradiction to theirs, especially when I don't assert that my beliefs, practices, or possessions are divinely bestowed.
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Post by MikeH on Apr 9, 2012 2:38:14 GMT -5
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Post by davida on Apr 9, 2012 8:26:39 GMT -5
There have been some very interesting threads here lately. I am perhaps insensitive to the needs of some to express deeply-held beliefs that I could take as negative judgements on me, or my ethnicity, or my race, or my religion, or my world-view. It may be that I fail to grasp that other people's beliefs and practices are more valid than mine, and that they have every right to be offended if I express my belief, if it is at all in contradiction to theirs, especially when I don't assert that my beliefs, practices, or possessions are divinely bestowed. Steve, And I, for one, enjoy your posts. Especially, the ones made after midnight. But mostly, I am becoming to realize you as a very good seedsman. David
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Post by johno on Apr 9, 2012 10:10:15 GMT -5
I'm not sure who locked it... or how to re-open it. I've heard from a few moderators (let's give the remainder a break - it was a holiday weekend, after all) and am going to try to resolve this tonight.
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Post by MikeH on Apr 9, 2012 12:06:48 GMT -5
Thank you. I was hoping that it hadn't fallen between the cracks. FWIW, I'm generally opposed to locking threads except as a last resort. That view comes from having spent a number of years as a moderator on a forum that was marked by a few who didn't play well with others.
Regards, Mike
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Post by steev on Apr 9, 2012 20:19:44 GMT -5
I must admit that I have been disturbed by this whole brouhaha. I am no fan of repression; I think it drives things down to fester and ferment until they erupt in too-often repugnant ways. To refer back to earlier posts, I think the suppression of unwelcome opinions was something the Nazis particularly indulged in. That someone expresses offense at another's opinion does not invalidate the opinion, per se. It only indicates sensitivity to the subject or manner of expression, and sometimes a desire to gain by the assertion of having been attacked, justifying attacking in response. One could reasonably conclude that sometimes the desire to attack preceeds the declared offense. One might further infer that the degree of offense is some measure of the pre-existing desire to attack. In short, victimhood is a double-edged sword.
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Post by johno on Apr 10, 2012 8:57:30 GMT -5
It is unlocked.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 23, 2012 13:29:42 GMT -5
It is very helpful to have a place to just vent. I've been absent for a long period of time due to "life crush". Now I'm back and working myself back in. I really missed having the input of all the people here, including those who are no longer here.
I was unaware of the "upset" (to put it mildly) until JUST now when I came to this particular section BECAUSE I need to vent.
So, well... that's how I see it. I miss Nuts, I hope he comes back. I think you all need some of my nice pan forte and a good cup of tea. THAT's how I like to solve problems. Food!
Now, I'm going to see if there is a neutral sort of thread for my vent. Otherwise I'll have to start a freshie.
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Post by steev on Apr 23, 2012 22:37:52 GMT -5
Mmm, pan forte and tea; I was wondering how you were doing in your bakerage. Well; it appears. Glad you're back. Oakland is much as it was and ever will be; world without end.
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Post by sandbar on Apr 23, 2012 23:50:36 GMT -5
MJ, welcome back. I've never heard of panforte before. May I have your recipe? And, keep the Soap Box open. We all need to vent once in a while.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 24, 2012 3:26:17 GMT -5
The bakerage is going, but it shall have to continue without me after the first of June. Not a bad thing, simply that I gave them my time for a while to help out and now my time has to be spent at home again. Oakland is forever Oakland. The Occupy protests caused a big stir here because we kept scanning the news reports for people we knew.
Pan Forte (Bread Strong) is an ancient relative of our modern day fruit cakes. I'm reformulating my recipe at the moment because I'm going to start selling it to raise the cash we need for several expensive needs that have arisen over the past year. My oldest needs braces, we need a new roof after Hurricane Irene, and we also need to replace a section of floor that is suffering dry rot from the leaky AC unit we had replaced last year.
Here is the original version:
Heat GENTLY in a medium saucepan 200 g white sugar 200 g honey
When it starts to bubble and sugar is dissolved add:
300 g nuts 200 g dried fruits 100 g flour 1 heavy pinch each cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg
Pour mixture into a prepared pan....
How to prepare the pan:
Use an 9" round cake pan. Butter it well. Line the edge with a collar of foil. Butter the foil well. Place a baking wafer at the bottom of the pan. MUST USE WAFER! If not, mixture will fuse to the pan! Spread mixture over the wafer. Dust top with about 50 g of flour. Bake at 300F for 40 minutes Allow to cool COMPLETELY before attempting to remove from the pan. Be careful removing the foil collar, if you don't use enough butter, it might be a bit tricky. Cut into thin wedges and enjoy!
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Post by bunkie on Apr 24, 2012 8:55:02 GMT -5
hey jo, glad to see you out and about! hoipe you get that roof fixed soon!
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Post by steev on Apr 24, 2012 21:10:37 GMT -5
Pan forte was often like C-rations during the Crusades. Approval of the food in no way is to be taken as approval of the activities. Its descendant, fruitcake, however, is too often fit only as ammunition for catapults. My great-grand-aunt 'Til, however, made excellect fruitcake (I think it was the rum), so aromatic and tasty; I'd never have considered throwing it at anyone I didn't like.
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