General Discussion Thread

[Purple Wyrm]

Do you think it works for finding lost things, as well?

You can certainly try! Although I believe the correct form for finding lost things is to politely ask whatever may be listening to return the item, and then go off and do something else. It should reappear shortly, at which point you should politely thank whatever was responsible.

[Nietos]

I got lost once during a 100 meter walk with no turns. For 40 minutes.

[Róisín]

Asterales: as to what that weird being lost thing felt like: normally there's this solid little nugget of 'me', with the landscape around me. Directions are easy if one can see the sky, the slant of the light, where the sun is, even behind clouds - and at night, of course, the stars and moon. So I know where I am in terms of physical directions. Then there's - I guess the proprioceptive sense? The bit that says 'I am here, and I am just this shape, filling just this much space, and where I am going is ahead and a little left, where I have come from is behind and a little right'. Whatever was going on, that proprioceptive bit - wasn't there? Didn't work? It was strange, like leaning on something that is always there, and falling over when it suddenly isn't.

No idea what it was about that area. It was on the southern side of the MacDonnell Ranges, if that's any use.

[Mélusine]

I'd be far more worried if I got lost in a city than in a forest, for some reason...

I may have something like zero knowledge on "what to do if you got lost in a forest"... And my fascination for forest wouldn't help me ^^
I went to Fontainebleau forest with a friend last spring. We entered into the forest at one point, followed the indications (You know, some signs painted on trees.) and ended at a completely different point when we wanted to go back to the railway station

[urbicande]

I'd be far more worried if I got lost in a city than in a forest, for some reason...

It's a lot easier to ask for directions in a city, though, and you can usually grab a taxi and say, "Take me to $PLACE, please."

[Gwenno]

Ah, I absolutely love getting lost, it's the only way I feel that I know a place ^_^ Mostly it isn't possible to get very lost in the places I roam (the UK doesn't really have many places left where you can get completely and utterly lost, and my area in Japan has a few too many people to make it easy. No wonderful Finnish forest or Australian outbacks in this history), but gosh darn it I do try! A funny thing I've found is that by getting lost I tend to wind up exactly the place I need to be (I'm trying and failing to think of a good way to explain this). Not so much a place I plan, or want to be, but ending up at the perfect place at the perfect time. This has resulted in finding people, festivals, ceremonies, wild bears and perfect views for shooting stars. Anyone else find the same thing to be the case?

My coworkers here are still a little confused when they find me in random spots far from home, and my impulse train/bus/bike rides to wherever the day feels like dragging me has become a bit of a joke, but I think it's a good system

[urbicande]

Ah, I absolutely love getting lost, it's the only way I feel that I know a place ^_^ Mostly it isn't possible to get very lost in the places I roam (the UK doesn't really have many places left where you can get completely and utterly lost, and my area in Japan has a few too many people to make it easy. No wonderful Finnish forest or Australian outbacks in this history), but gosh darn it I do try! A funny thing I've found is that by getting lost I tend to wind up exactly the place I need to be (I'm trying and failing to think of a good way to explain this). Not so much a place I plan, or want to be, but ending up at the perfect place at the perfect time. This has resulted in finding people, festivals, ceremonies, wild bears and perfect views for shooting stars. Anyone else find the same thing to be the case?

My coworkers here are still a little confused when they find me in random spots far from home, and my impulse train/bus/bike rides to wherever the day feels like dragging me has become a bit of a joke, but I think it's a good system

I'm with you.  One of my favourite things to do in a city that I don't know is wander around randomly.  I'll learn my way around, find little spots that I've never been to, places to eat and drink, live music, what have you.  It's great

[Róisín]

Works for me, Gwenno. And not just 'for me'. My wanderings often lead to my turning up just at the place and time somebody else needs me to be.
Lots of the other kind too - perfect spot to watch the lunar eclipse, or randomly make camp just where the cicadas are about to emerge from the ground, or be in the secondhand book store just in time to save the book I've been seeking for years from being thrown out, that sort of thing.

[Noodles]

I usually have a pretty good sense of direction, but I also live in a place where the streets run n-s and e-w (and have different names based on which) and there is a mountain range west and another east, plus The Mountain southeast. But usually if I've seen a map of a place, I can match up physical things, as long as it's not dead flat and heavy cloud, with which way's which. I also don't usually use street numbers or whatever, I just have like an image of the place to turn in my head marked "turn left/right here" and/or a .... slideshow? of the route. But also sometimes I'm inside and I just Know which way's north, so who knows...

[Purple Wyrm]

Wikipedia has just informed me that today (Wednesday January 20th) is 860 years to the day when the original Lalli beheaded Bishop Henry on the ice of lake Köyliönjärvi.

[TicTac]

Wow. Original Lalli was intense.

[Laufey]

Wow. Original Lalli was intense.

Well, the Finnish side of the story has that the bishop and his men ransacked Lalli's home while he was away (or that his wife first sold them some extra food from the storage and then for some reason that never gets explained lies to Lalli that the house was ransacked instead), which would have meant death by hunger for the whole family since it was winter.
In reality there's no record that bishop Henry ever came to Finland at all. Sweden was quite good at keeping records of who they sent east so missing an actual bishop's visit is a little bit unbelievable, but since Sweden and Finland both liked the idea of having a saint no one let this fact get in the way of things.

[OrigamiOwl]

Small cat news: Today Mitzi was promoted to Grade B Cat, for somehow sniffing out an inchman nest, sitting there, and meowing a lot; alerting me to their presence. U__U

I guess she must have noticed how much I hate giant ants?

The ants are dead now. The garden is safe.

[Purple Wyrm]

but since Sweden and Finland both liked the idea of having a saint no one let this fact get in the way of things.

Saint Lalli, patron of vigilante justice!

(Yes, yes, I'm sure they sainted the Bishop...)

[Rabbit]

Small cat news: Today Mitzi was promoted to Grade B Cat, for somehow sniffing out an inchman nest, sitting there, and meowing a lot; alerting me to their presence. U__U

I hope you've rewarded her with a snazzy collar!

Saint Lalli, patron of vigilante justice!

I actually grew up pretty close to where this supposedly took place, and yes, they have a statue of Lalli in the middle of the village They do also have a chapel dedicated to the bishop, but it's tucked safely out of the way.