Mickey is home

In ,
CatNipped typed:
On 8/20/2011 6:25 PM, cshenk wrote:
CatNipped wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

Oh Jill, don't ever feel bad about posting a recipe - remember, this
is the one topic not about cats that is not off-topic. And as I
told someone else, I've even printed out your recipes so Ben would
have the to use. It's just not something I read through avidly -
but that doesn't mean I object to your posting it.

Grin, I think you missed the point.

We post recipes back at trolls or trollish behavior. Catlady doenst
'get it' that pain meds this time were groing to most likely cause
constipation which is the *last* thing this cats needs. You've been
on enough of them to understand that side effect.


Ohmygawd, how right you are! I totally didn't think about that and
I'm the *first* person who should have. My only excuse is that I
haven't had to worry about that with the ileostomy - I will, however,
once they do the reversal.

Yeah, we do use recipes as a troll-b-que, but about recipes and
food... I don't know if you were reading here way back when (but even
if you did it's a good tip to the newbies anyway) the group, as a
whole, decided that recipes and food are never an off-topic post so
you don't have to put an OT in the subject line. For a while we were
allowing biking to be on-topic subject as well because there were so
many bikers here and it was discussed so much (before all this I used
to bike up to 30 miles a day), but I think all or most of the bikers
moved to FB or other greener pastures (like Helen and Monique to
name too) and abandoned the group for the most part.

IIRC, having been reading RPC before it split (couldn't post till after the
split, though), no topic was actually disallowed, however, declawing, the
indoor/outdoor debate and general animal cruelty posts were strongly
discouraged simply because the first two always seemed to turn into flame
fests, and the latter one was just too upsetting to people.

However, (again, IIRC) there were an odd few subjects that ended up on the
sort of 'honourary' on-topic. Any anecdote about an animal - even if they
weren't strictly a cat - was welcome. Most d-pets ended up being considered
honorary cats - mostly because they were well trained by the resident feline
masters anyway. There are no other 'anecdote' groups in the pet heirachy, so
this one sort of covered all critters, although the funniest anecdotes are
almost always about cats anyways.

There was and will always be threads about food. Any 'social' group will
always end up talking about food, because in the end, its one of the rare
things that all humanity has in common: eating. As so many regions and
nationalities were represented in this group, food was always a popular
topic, especially around stuff that is entirely unique to one particular
region (like the discussion regarding 'hominy' and 'grits' at the moment)
Finding common language to communicate about food can often be amusing in
itself, and trying to figure out what some taken-for-granted ingredient is
in your own country can be quite entertaining. For example, I had no idea
that half-and-half, a very common thing in the USA, is half cream, half
milk - something we simply don't have here in Australia. Then there was the
great 'turnip' debate - whether turnips, swedes and rutabagas were actually
different words for the same thing (like courgette and zucchini). Etc etc.
It makes life interesting.

Going back some ways, the second 'honourary on topic' subject that I
distinctly remember was books were were reading. The group at the time
clearly had a penchant for sci-fi novels, but books in general were very
popular. We even, at one time, had a book club. (Wonder what happened to
it?)

The third honourary topic, IIRC, was a sort of meta-discussion about The
Mothership and being probed etc etc that originally came about via the use
of Yahoo chat.

The fourth, again, IIRC, was ensuring that any of the Daves (which includes
Mark) were behaving themselves, and not making their respective spouses too
'interesting'.

The fifth honourary topic I remember was and is 'Significant life events',
such as engagement, marriage, barekittens, significant anniversaries, RPCA
meetups, and sadly, deaths. As a group of friends - family even - we shared
these events with each other as a matter of course. We wouldn't be friends
if we didn't, coz thats what friends do.

There are no doubt many others subjects that were pretty much considered
'honourary on topic' at the time, that have now passed into history. For
example, the Grace's-ear-bug, or the church-of-the-porcelain-three-three
threads were very much part of the group's shared psyche and no-one would
have, at the time, dared mention that they were off-topic, but are now fond
memories rather than perpetual 'honorary on topic' subjects.

I don't remember biking being an 'honorary on-topic' subject, but perhaps
thats because I didn't have any interest in it at the time. This group (and
I) go back for over 15 years and things have kinda mooshed together over
time. Other people will remember different things, and the archives are
always there fore anyone to peruse (I like going 'back in time' sometimes,
just for the heck of it)

The point is, *ANY* subject that attracts a decent amount of interest from
the majority of current members of an unmoderated news group may as well be
considered for all practical purposes on-topic, at least for that period in
time, because they get people *communicating* with each other, which surely
is the point of Usenet. Over time, the group will develop its own unique
culture, its own etiquette, its own 'feel' - which will also evolve as
people come and go, even as people grow older and life changes. What was
acceptable then may not be so now, and vice versa. Providing there's a
community of people here who are still enjoying and contributing to the
group, whatever the group deems appropriate is whatever the group deems
appropriate. Such is the way of unmoderated groups - the name of the group
is merely a 'suggestion' and the group itself determines what is and what
isn't acceptable content.

Yowie

On 8/21/2011 10:58 PM, Yowie wrote:
In ,
typed:
On 8/20/2011 6:25 PM, cshenk wrote:
CatNipped wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

Oh Jill, don't ever feel bad about posting a recipe - remember, this
is the one topic not about cats that is not off-topic. And as I
told someone else, I've even printed out your recipes so Ben would
have the to use. It's just not something I read through avidly -
but that doesn't mean I object to your posting it.

Grin, I think you missed the point.

We post recipes back at trolls or trollish behavior. Catlady doenst
'get it' that pain meds this time were groing to most likely cause
constipation which is the *last* thing this cats needs. You've been
on enough of them to understand that side effect.


Ohmygawd, how right you are! I totally didn't think about that and
I'm the *first* person who should have. My only excuse is that I
haven't had to worry about that with the ileostomy - I will, however,
once they do the reversal.

Yeah, we do use recipes as a troll-b-que, but about recipes and
food... I don't know if you were reading here way back when (but even
if you did it's a good tip to the newbies anyway) the group, as a
whole, decided that recipes and food are never an off-topic post so
you don't have to put an OT in the subject line. For a while we were
allowing biking to be on-topic subject as well because there were so
many bikers here and it was discussed so much (before all this I used
to bike up to 30 miles a day), but I think all or most of the bikers
moved to FB or other greener pastures (like Helen and Monique to
name too) and abandoned the group for the most part.

IIRC, having been reading RPC before it split (couldn't post till after the
split, though), no topic was actually disallowed, however, declawing, the
indoor/outdoor debate and general animal cruelty posts were strongly
discouraged simply because the first two always seemed to turn into flame
fests, and the latter one was just too upsetting to people.

However, (again, IIRC) there were an odd few subjects that ended up on the
sort of 'honourary' on-topic. Any anecdote about an animal - even if they
weren't strictly a cat - was welcome. Most d-pets ended up being considered
honorary cats - mostly because they were well trained by the resident feline
masters anyway. There are no other 'anecdote' groups in the pet heirachy, so
this one sort of covered all critters, although the funniest anecdotes are
almost always about cats anyways.

There was and will always be threads about food. Any 'social' group will
always end up talking about food, because in the end, its one of the rare
things that all humanity has in common: eating. As so many regions and
nationalities were represented in this group, food was always a popular
topic, especially around stuff that is entirely unique to one particular
region (like the discussion regarding 'hominy' and 'grits' at the moment)
Finding common language to communicate about food can often be amusing in
itself, and trying to figure out what some taken-for-granted ingredient is
in your own country can be quite entertaining. For example, I had no idea
that half-and-half, a very common thing in the USA, is half cream, half
milk - something we simply don't have here in Australia. Then there was the
great 'turnip' debate - whether turnips, swedes and rutabagas were actually
different words for the same thing (like courgette and zucchini). Etc etc.
It makes life interesting.

Going back some ways, the second 'honourary on topic' subject that I
distinctly remember was books were were reading. The group at the time
clearly had a penchant for sci-fi novels, but books in general were very
popular. We even, at one time, had a book club. (Wonder what happened to
it?)

The third honourary topic, IIRC, was a sort of meta-discussion about The
Mothership and being probed etc etc that originally came about via the use
of Yahoo chat.

The fourth, again, IIRC, was ensuring that any of the Daves (which includes
Mark) were behaving themselves, and not making their respective spouses too
'interesting'.

The fifth honourary topic I remember was and is 'Significant life events',
such as engagement, marriage, barekittens, significant anniversaries, RPCA
meetups, and sadly, deaths. As a group of friends - family even - we shared
these events with each other as a matter of course. We wouldn't be friends
if we didn't, coz thats what friends do.

There are no doubt many others subjects that were pretty much considered
'honourary on topic' at the time, that have now passed into history. For
example, the Grace's-ear-bug, or the church-of-the-porcelain-three-three
threads were very much part of the group's shared psyche and no-one would
have, at the time, dared mention that they were off-topic, but are now fond
memories rather than perpetual 'honorary on topic' subjects.

I don't remember biking being an 'honorary on-topic' subject, but perhaps
thats because I didn't have any interest in it at the time. This group (and
I) go back for over 15 years and things have kinda mooshed together over
time. Other people will remember different things, and the archives are
always there fore anyone to peruse (I like going 'back in time' sometimes,
just for the heck of it)

The point is, *ANY* subject that attracts a decent amount of interest from
the majority of current members of an unmoderated news group may as well be
considered for all practical purposes on-topic, at least for that period in
time, because they get people *communicating* with each other, which surely
is the point of Usenet. Over time, the group will develop its own unique
culture, its own etiquette, its own 'feel' - which will also evolve as
people come and go, even as people grow older and life changes. What was
acceptable then may not be so now, and vice versa. Providing there's a
community of people here who are still enjoying and contributing to the
group, whatever the group deems appropriate is whatever the group deems
appropriate. Such is the way of unmoderated groups - the name of the group
is merely a 'suggestion' and the group itself determines what is and what
isn't acceptable content.

Yowie



Thank you Yowie, I was hoping you'd pitch in, I think the only one who
might have a better memory of the group is Tak (I haven't seen a post
from him lately, does he post on FB?). I think I may have accused him
of being an AI he has such a good memory for even the smallest of
details. He's also the only man I might even consider leaving Ben for,
but the cad won't have me!!! ;

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, created by "Yowie", maintained by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.net/rpcablog/

Email: L(dot)T(dot)Crews(at)comcast(dot)net

On 8/21/2011 11:20 PM, CatNipped wrote:
On 8/21/2011 10:58 PM, Yowie wrote:
In ,
typed:
On 8/20/2011 6:25 PM, cshenk wrote:
CatNipped wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

Oh Jill, don't ever feel bad about posting a recipe - remember, this
is the one topic not about cats that is not off-topic. And as I
told someone else, I've even printed out your recipes so Ben would
have the to use. It's just not something I read through avidly -
but that doesn't mean I object to your posting it.

Grin, I think you missed the point.

We post recipes back at trolls or trollish behavior. Catlady doenst
'get it' that pain meds this time were groing to most likely cause
constipation which is the *last* thing this cats needs. You've been
on enough of them to understand that side effect.


Ohmygawd, how right you are! I totally didn't think about that and
I'm the *first* person who should have. My only excuse is that I
haven't had to worry about that with the ileostomy - I will, however,
once they do the reversal.

Yeah, we do use recipes as a troll-b-que, but about recipes and
food... I don't know if you were reading here way back when (but even
if you did it's a good tip to the newbies anyway) the group, as a
whole, decided that recipes and food are never an off-topic post so
you don't have to put an OT in the subject line. For a while we were
allowing biking to be on-topic subject as well because there were so
many bikers here and it was discussed so much (before all this I used
to bike up to 30 miles a day), but I think all or most of the bikers
moved to FB or other greener pastures (like Helen and Monique to
name too) and abandoned the group for the most part.

IIRC, having been reading RPC before it split (couldn't post till
after the
split, though), no topic was actually disallowed, however, declawing, the
indoor/outdoor debate and general animal cruelty posts were strongly
discouraged simply because the first two always seemed to turn into flame
fests, and the latter one was just too upsetting to people.

However, (again, IIRC) there were an odd few subjects that ended up on
the
sort of 'honourary' on-topic. Any anecdote about an animal - even if they
weren't strictly a cat - was welcome. Most d-pets ended up being
considered
honorary cats - mostly because they were well trained by the resident
feline
masters anyway. There are no other 'anecdote' groups in the pet
heirachy, so
this one sort of covered all critters, although the funniest anecdotes
are
almost always about cats anyways.

There was and will always be threads about food. Any 'social' group will
always end up talking about food, because in the end, its one of the rare
things that all humanity has in common: eating. As so many regions and
nationalities were represented in this group, food was always a popular
topic, especially around stuff that is entirely unique to one particular
region (like the discussion regarding 'hominy' and 'grits' at the moment)
Finding common language to communicate about food can often be amusing in
itself, and trying to figure out what some taken-for-granted
ingredient is
in your own country can be quite entertaining. For example, I had no idea
that half-and-half, a very common thing in the USA, is half cream, half
milk - something we simply don't have here in Australia. Then there
was the
great 'turnip' debate - whether turnips, swedes and rutabagas were
actually
different words for the same thing (like courgette and zucchini). Etc
etc.
It makes life interesting.

Going back some ways, the second 'honourary on topic' subject that I
distinctly remember was books were were reading. The group at the time
clearly had a penchant for sci-fi novels, but books in general were very
popular. We even, at one time, had a book club. (Wonder what happened to
it?)

The third honourary topic, IIRC, was a sort of meta-discussion about The
Mothership and being probed etc etc that originally came about via the
use
of Yahoo chat.

The fourth, again, IIRC, was ensuring that any of the Daves (which
includes
Mark) were behaving themselves, and not making their respective
spouses too
'interesting'.

The fifth honourary topic I remember was and is 'Significant life
events',
such as engagement, marriage, barekittens, significant anniversaries,
RPCA
meetups, and sadly, deaths. As a group of friends - family even - we
shared
these events with each other as a matter of course. We wouldn't be
friends
if we didn't, coz thats what friends do.

There are no doubt many others subjects that were pretty much considered
'honourary on topic' at the time, that have now passed into history. For
example, the Grace's-ear-bug, or the church-of-the-porcelain-three-three
threads were very much part of the group's shared psyche and no-one would
have, at the time, dared mention that they were off-topic, but are now
fond
memories rather than perpetual 'honorary on topic' subjects.

I don't remember biking being an 'honorary on-topic' subject, but perhaps
thats because I didn't have any interest in it at the time. This group
(and
I) go back for over 15 years and things have kinda mooshed together over
time. Other people will remember different things, and the archives are
always there fore anyone to peruse (I like going 'back in time'
sometimes,
just for the heck of it)

The point is, *ANY* subject that attracts a decent amount of interest
from
the majority of current members of an unmoderated news group may as
well be
considered for all practical purposes on-topic, at least for that
period in
time, because they get people *communicating* with each other, which
surely
is the point of Usenet. Over time, the group will develop its own unique
culture, its own etiquette, its own 'feel' - which will also evolve as
people come and go, even as people grow older and life changes. What was
acceptable then may not be so now, and vice versa. Providing there's a
community of people here who are still enjoying and contributing to the
group, whatever the group deems appropriate is whatever the group deems
appropriate. Such is the way of unmoderated groups - the name of the
group
is merely a 'suggestion' and the group itself determines what is and what
isn't acceptable content.

Yowie



Thank you Yowie, I was hoping you'd pitch in, I think the only one who
might have a better memory of the group is Tak (I haven't seen a post
from him lately, does he post on FB?). I think I may have accused him of
being an AI he has such a good memory for even the smallest of details.
He's also the only man I might even consider leaving Ben for, but the
cad won't have me!!! ;


OK, bad netiquette to reply to myself, but... I did what I should have
done before even posting about this, a google search, and got this:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.p...e195d81978aa18

or

http://tinyurl.com/3usmvnk

This must have been around the time we were talking about it because I
seemed to have deliberately put "On Topic" in the subject line "On Topic
- Biking - WTF???" And when searching the group for "bike" got back
2,130 results, but many, many of them seem to be by myself, Monique, and
Helen S. AKA wafflycat, so it's not even improbable that most other
regulars just ignored them.

Anyway, it's my own fault that there is even any controversy over off
topic posts. Actually, I think, just one topic of my off topic posts,
and for that I've apologized *several* times and have promised to cease
and desist from doing so in the future, so I'm ferociously hoping that
it will all just blow over soon (and, yes, I *do* see the irony of me
posting about something I wish people were not posting about ;).

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, created by "Yowie", maintained by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.net/rpcablog/

Email: L(dot)T(dot)Crews(at)comcast(dot)net

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
In ,
CatNipped typed:
On 8/20/2011 6:25 PM, cshenk wrote:
CatNipped wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

Oh Jill, don't ever feel bad about posting a recipe - remember, this
is the one topic not about cats that is not off-topic. And as I
told someone else, I've even printed out your recipes so Ben would
have the to use. It's just not something I read through avidly -
but that doesn't mean I object to your posting it.

Grin, I think you missed the point.

We post recipes back at trolls or trollish behavior. Catlady doenst
'get it' that pain meds this time were groing to most likely cause
constipation which is the *last* thing this cats needs. You've been
on enough of them to understand that side effect.


Ohmygawd, how right you are! I totally didn't think about that and
I'm the *first* person who should have. My only excuse is that I
haven't had to worry about that with the ileostomy - I will, however,
once they do the reversal.

Yeah, we do use recipes as a troll-b-que, but about recipes and
food... I don't know if you were reading here way back when (but even
if you did it's a good tip to the newbies anyway) the group, as a
whole, decided that recipes and food are never an off-topic post so
you don't have to put an OT in the subject line. For a while we were
allowing biking to be on-topic subject as well because there were so
many bikers here and it was discussed so much (before all this I used
to bike up to 30 miles a day), but I think all or most of the bikers
moved to FB or other greener pastures (like Helen and Monique to
name too) and abandoned the group for the most part.

IIRC, having been reading RPC before it split (couldn't post till after
the split, though), no topic was actually disallowed, however, declawing,
the indoor/outdoor debate and general animal cruelty posts were strongly
discouraged simply because the first two always seemed to turn into flame
fests, and the latter one was just too upsetting to people.

However, (again, IIRC) there were an odd few subjects that ended up on the
sort of 'honourary' on-topic. Any anecdote about an animal - even if they
weren't strictly a cat - was welcome. Most d-pets ended up being
considered honorary cats - mostly because they were well trained by the
resident feline masters anyway. There are no other 'anecdote' groups in
the pet heirachy, so this one sort of covered all critters, although the
funniest anecdotes are almost always about cats anyways.

There was and will always be threads about food. Any 'social' group will
always end up talking about food, because in the end, its one of the rare
things that all humanity has in common: eating. As so many regions and
nationalities were represented in this group, food was always a popular
topic, especially around stuff that is entirely unique to one particular
region (like the discussion regarding 'hominy' and 'grits' at the moment)
Finding common language to communicate about food can often be amusing in
itself, and trying to figure out what some taken-for-granted ingredient is
in your own country can be quite entertaining. For example, I had no idea
that half-and-half, a very common thing in the USA, is half cream, half
milk - something we simply don't have here in Australia. Then there was
the great 'turnip' debate - whether turnips, swedes and rutabagas were
actually different words for the same thing (like courgette and zucchini).
Etc etc. It makes life interesting.

Going back some ways, the second 'honourary on topic' subject that I
distinctly remember was books were were reading. The group at the time
clearly had a penchant for sci-fi novels, but books in general were very
popular. We even, at one time, had a book club. (Wonder what happened to
it?)

The third honourary topic, IIRC, was a sort of meta-discussion about The
Mothership and being probed etc etc that originally came about via the use
of Yahoo chat.

The fourth, again, IIRC, was ensuring that any of the Daves (which
includes Mark) were behaving themselves, and not making their respective
spouses too 'interesting'.

The fifth honourary topic I remember was and is 'Significant life events',
such as engagement, marriage, barekittens, significant anniversaries, RPCA
meetups, and sadly, deaths. As a group of friends - family even - we
shared these events with each other as a matter of course. We wouldn't be
friends if we didn't, coz thats what friends do.

There are no doubt many others subjects that were pretty much considered
'honourary on topic' at the time, that have now passed into history. For
example, the Grace's-ear-bug, or the church-of-the-porcelain-three-three
threads were very much part of the group's shared psyche and no-one would
have, at the time, dared mention that they were off-topic, but are now
fond memories rather than perpetual 'honorary on topic' subjects.

I don't remember biking being an 'honorary on-topic' subject, but perhaps
thats because I didn't have any interest in it at the time. This group
(and I) go back for over 15 years and things have kinda mooshed together
over time. Other people will remember different things, and the archives
are always there fore anyone to peruse (I like going 'back in time'
sometimes, just for the heck of it)

The point is, *ANY* subject that attracts a decent amount of interest from
the majority of current members of an unmoderated news group may as well
be considered for all practical purposes on-topic, at least for that
period in time, because they get people *communicating* with each other,
which surely is the point of Usenet. Over time, the group will develop its
own unique culture, its own etiquette, its own 'feel' - which will also
evolve as people come and go, even as people grow older and life changes.
What was acceptable then may not be so now, and vice versa. Providing
there's a community of people here who are still enjoying and contributing
to the group, whatever the group deems appropriate is whatever the group
deems appropriate. Such is the way of unmoderated groups - the name of the
group is merely a 'suggestion' and the group itself determines what is and
what isn't acceptable content.

Yowie

Well said, Yowie!

I enjoyed reading some of the history of the group before I found it, and I
remember some of the things you mentioned. I especially remember the three
Daves, partly because I think I was the only person on the group who met all
three. Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to meet Mark. I've
met a few other members of the group, including you, Tish and a woman in
Melbourne whose name I've forgotten and who doesn't seem to post here any
more.

This group has evolved somewhat since I've been here, but it's still a great
group. Another group to which I belong hasn't fared as well. It has
"friends" as part of its name, and that's the way it started out.
Unfortunately, nowadays about 95% of the posts are political, and the
arguments get very vehement, with lots of insults and name-calling. This
group has done much better than that, in spite of the occasional differences
of opinion.

Joy

"Joy" wrote in message
...
"Yowie" wrote in message
...
In ,
CatNipped typed:
On 8/20/2011 6:25 PM, cshenk wrote:
CatNipped wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

Oh Jill, don't ever feel bad about posting a recipe - remember, this
is the one topic not about cats that is not off-topic. And as I
told someone else, I've even printed out your recipes so Ben would
have the to use. It's just not something I read through avidly -
but that doesn't mean I object to your posting it.

Grin, I think you missed the point.

We post recipes back at trolls or trollish behavior. Catlady doenst
'get it' that pain meds this time were groing to most likely cause
constipation which is the *last* thing this cats needs. You've been
on enough of them to understand that side effect.


Ohmygawd, how right you are! I totally didn't think about that and
I'm the *first* person who should have. My only excuse is that I
haven't had to worry about that with the ileostomy - I will, however,
once they do the reversal.

Yeah, we do use recipes as a troll-b-que, but about recipes and
food... I don't know if you were reading here way back when (but even
if you did it's a good tip to the newbies anyway) the group, as a
whole, decided that recipes and food are never an off-topic post so
you don't have to put an OT in the subject line. For a while we were
allowing biking to be on-topic subject as well because there were so
many bikers here and it was discussed so much (before all this I used
to bike up to 30 miles a day), but I think all or most of the bikers
moved to FB or other greener pastures (like Helen and Monique to
name too) and abandoned the group for the most part.

IIRC, having been reading RPC before it split (couldn't post till after
the split, though), no topic was actually disallowed, however, declawing,
the indoor/outdoor debate and general animal cruelty posts were strongly
discouraged simply because the first two always seemed to turn into flame
fests, and the latter one was just too upsetting to people.

However, (again, IIRC) there were an odd few subjects that ended up on
the sort of 'honourary' on-topic. Any anecdote about an animal - even if
they weren't strictly a cat - was welcome. Most d-pets ended up being
considered honorary cats - mostly because they were well trained by the
resident feline masters anyway. There are no other 'anecdote' groups in
the pet heirachy, so this one sort of covered all critters, although the
funniest anecdotes are almost always about cats anyways.

There was and will always be threads about food. Any 'social' group will
always end up talking about food, because in the end, its one of the rare
things that all humanity has in common: eating. As so many regions and
nationalities were represented in this group, food was always a popular
topic, especially around stuff that is entirely unique to one particular
region (like the discussion regarding 'hominy' and 'grits' at the moment)
Finding common language to communicate about food can often be amusing in
itself, and trying to figure out what some taken-for-granted ingredient
is in your own country can be quite entertaining. For example, I had no
idea that half-and-half, a very common thing in the USA, is half cream,
half milk - something we simply don't have here in Australia. Then there
was the great 'turnip' debate - whether turnips, swedes and rutabagas
were actually different words for the same thing (like courgette and
zucchini). Etc etc. It makes life interesting.

Going back some ways, the second 'honourary on topic' subject that I
distinctly remember was books were were reading. The group at the time
clearly had a penchant for sci-fi novels, but books in general were very
popular. We even, at one time, had a book club. (Wonder what happened to
it?)

The third honourary topic, IIRC, was a sort of meta-discussion about The
Mothership and being probed etc etc that originally came about via the
use of Yahoo chat.

The fourth, again, IIRC, was ensuring that any of the Daves (which
includes Mark) were behaving themselves, and not making their respective
spouses too 'interesting'.

The fifth honourary topic I remember was and is 'Significant life
events', such as engagement, marriage, barekittens, significant
anniversaries, RPCA meetups, and sadly, deaths. As a group of friends -
family even - we shared these events with each other as a matter of
course. We wouldn't be friends if we didn't, coz thats what friends do.

There are no doubt many others subjects that were pretty much considered
'honourary on topic' at the time, that have now passed into history. For
example, the Grace's-ear-bug, or the church-of-the-porcelain-three-three
threads were very much part of the group's shared psyche and no-one would
have, at the time, dared mention that they were off-topic, but are now
fond memories rather than perpetual 'honorary on topic' subjects.

I don't remember biking being an 'honorary on-topic' subject, but perhaps
thats because I didn't have any interest in it at the time. This group
(and I) go back for over 15 years and things have kinda mooshed together
over time. Other people will remember different things, and the archives
are always there fore anyone to peruse (I like going 'back in time'
sometimes, just for the heck of it)

The point is, *ANY* subject that attracts a decent amount of interest
from the majority of current members of an unmoderated news group may as
well be considered for all practical purposes on-topic, at least for that
period in time, because they get people *communicating* with each other,
which surely is the point of Usenet. Over time, the group will develop
its own unique culture, its own etiquette, its own 'feel' - which will
also evolve as people come and go, even as people grow older and life
changes. What was acceptable then may not be so now, and vice versa.
Providing there's a community of people here who are still enjoying and
contributing to the group, whatever the group deems appropriate is
whatever the group deems appropriate. Such is the way of unmoderated
groups - the name of the group is merely a 'suggestion' and the group
itself determines what is and what isn't acceptable content.

Yowie

Well said, Yowie!

I enjoyed reading some of the history of the group before I found it, and
I remember some of the things you mentioned. I especially remember the
three Daves, partly because I think I was the only person on the group who
met all three. Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to meet
Mark. I've met a few other members of the group, including you, Tish and
a woman in Melbourne whose name I've forgotten and who doesn't seem to
post here any more.

This group has evolved somewhat since I've been here, but it's still a
great group. Another group to which I belong hasn't fared as well. It
has "friends" as part of its name, and that's the way it started out.
Unfortunately, nowadays about 95% of the posts are political, and the
arguments get very vehement, with lots of insults and name-calling. This
group has done much better than that, in spite of the occasional
differences of opinion.

Joy

I'm having one senior moment after another. First I couldn't remember
Flippy's name, and then when I saw a post from Tish, I told her she was the
one whose name I'd temporarily forgotten. Flippy is the one who lives in
Melbourne, and I haven't seen a post from her in ages.

Joy

On Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:14:27 -0700 (PDT), Catlady
wrote:

On Aug 19, 8:22*pm, "Pat" wrote:
"CatNipped" wrote

Did they give you pain medication for him?

No. We asked for them, but Dr. said the only pain he will have will be
during a BM and then only if the stool is not very soft. They gave stool
softener.

He really seems to feel fine. In fact if he slips out of Dave's room, he
wants to run all over the place and play with everyone.

**** you for not insisting on pain meds and not filing a board
complaint against a vet that refuses pain meds to a cat that just had
such an invasive surgery. Neither of you should be able to come within
100 miles of any feline. You are both animal abusers.

A bit harsh for someone who just had surgery for their cat that they
couldn't afford. Trolling aside, pain meds have their own problems and
should be avoided if possible. Perhaps the vet knows more in general
than you do and certainly more about this case.

On Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:27:26 -0500, "Pat"
wrote:

And he's eating! (beef baby food - can't say I blame him for refusing a/d)

He has a very long, ghastly looking (angry red) stapled up incision - will
post a pic of it later - but seems happy and comfortable.

We are thrilled that's he back and doing so well.


That is certainly good news - I'm always afraid that any obstruction
turns out to be cancer. That was all just a big hairball then? I
haven't heard of hairballs that actually block the cat and don't get
upchucked. It's so early in the morning and I already have learned my
new something for the day.

Nipsy was once acting very strangely and I took him to the speciality
vet since it was after hours for the regular one. Then did all kinds
of tests, xrays, and found that he had asthma. They give some pills
(probably steroids) for that, but a few hours after I took him home he
upchucked just a monster hairball. He was fine after that. I hate to
think what that hairball cost me - probably in the ballpark of
Mickey's surgery.

"dgk" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:14:27 -0700 (PDT), Catlady
wrote:

On Aug 19, 8:22 pm, "Pat" wrote:
"CatNipped" wrote

Did they give you pain medication for him?

No. We asked for them, but Dr. said the only pain he will have will be
during a BM and then only if the stool is not very soft. They gave stool
softener.

He really seems to feel fine. In fact if he slips out of Dave's room, he
wants to run all over the place and play with everyone.

**** you for not insisting on pain meds

(snippage)

A bit harsh for someone who just had surgery for their cat that they
couldn't afford. Trolling aside, pain meds have their own problems and
should be avoided if possible. Perhaps the vet knows more in general
than you do and certainly more about this case.


Tripsovercats is a know-it-all wannabe vet. He/she thinks because they
worked in a vets office they know more than anyone else here. He/she drops
into rpca every once in a while to try to prove superior knowledge. I'm
sure if Pat's vet thought pain meds were in order he would have offered them
to her. Based on the pictures she posted he's doing just fine. Mickey has
an e-collar so he can't lick the incision. Cats who are in pain (or
distressed) generally hide, they don't want to run around playing with other
cats.

Jill

Pat wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

"cshenk" wrote
Ever seen dried hominy?

Yes, it is sold in most Mexican grocery stores for making posoli.

Humm! Learn something new!

--

Matthew wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:
"cshenk" wrote
jmcquown wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

People often call grits "hominy grits" because hominy is corn and
grits are ground corn. It's hard to describe.

From life in the south. Thats what it was called in my areas. Ever
seen dried hominy?

Yep they call it grits ;-) j/k

Grin, they are considered a separate item in the parts of the south
I've lived in. Pat says there is a dried form of hominy in mexian
cookery.



--