r/composting • u/bdnsms • Jun 07 '26
Humor composting Harry Potter books to give away with free native plants at a Pride event
happy to have finally found a secondary use for these. any tips for accelerating the process of breaking down paper?
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u/pipsqueakpanda4 Jun 07 '26
Did you include the spine of the book? Because that is likely held together with some sort of hot melt adhesive or polyurethane glue which will not break down.
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u/PaleontologistDear18 Jun 07 '26
Pee on it
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u/bdnsms Jun 07 '26
maybe I’ll include that instruction when I give out the containers with plants
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u/zombiejojo Jun 07 '26
You want to break it down before using it, otherwise the breakdown takes nitrogen so it's not available for the plants to take up. Cue some pale and sickly plants.
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u/bdnsms Jun 07 '26
This is very helpful advice — thank you!
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u/zombiejojo Jun 07 '26
And you know how to make the paper in the compost pile breakdown quicker...?
Pee on it.
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u/Llamaswithbands Jun 07 '26
Best tip for composting paper from books is to shred it as finely as possible.
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u/TheNerdE30 Jun 07 '26
Would water logging them, then stirring until disintegration then filtering out the water be ok or is adding moisture to compost not helpful?
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u/unknowingly_zooted Jun 07 '26
Compost needs moisture so I’d say it’s fine. You just don’t wanna add too much and have compost stew
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u/Rakathu Jun 07 '26
I'd be more worried about the ink
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u/trashmoneyxyz Jun 07 '26
It's carbon based usually, no?
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u/SophiaofPrussia Jun 07 '26
Most ink contains traces of heavy metal (and other toxic stuff) and I think colored inks tend to be the worst offenders. A major exception is newspapers. I think almost every major newspaper has switched to soy based ink which is safe to compost.
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u/HipHopAllotment Jun 07 '26
Fukken mad eh… just bonkers ‘statement’ ffs what absolute twattery to be relevant
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u/tremblingmeatman Jun 08 '26
Yes yes wiggly popsicle made the frooptyflim go tootertatter brickabrack, terrible stuff
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u/CheeseChickenTable Jun 07 '26
I love posts like this because then some people get all "I can't believe you made this political!" and shit and then I block them, and then I can go back to enjoying life with normal folk who don't/aren't so sensitive, so angry, so mean, so (insert whatever emotion brings one to hate on another person because of thier skin color, language, sexual preferences, etc.)
Also you should shred that paper up and mix it with pee to accelerate the composting process! Or worms, worms work well
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u/FyrestarOmega Jun 08 '26
Also you should shred that paper up and mix it with pee to accelerate the composting process! Or worms, worms work well
In general, yes. But in this context, at least a single readable, recognizable section at the top (and arguably larger sizes throughout) gets the attention of people and allows OP to talk about the composting process with someone who might otherwise have been less interested. Peeing on dirt? Take it or leave it. Peeing on dirt as a metaphorical flipping of the bird? LFG.
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u/Head-Discussion-8977 Jun 07 '26
I've started doing this with other books of no value. The clearance evangelical and RW politician aisles have never been so hot
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u/Nikobellic1111 Jun 07 '26
They did it, they made fucking compost political
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u/wozattacks Jun 07 '26
On what planet is anything involving sustainability not political?
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u/smackaroonial90 Jun 08 '26
My libertarian neighbor couldn't give two shits about compost. But then I told him "why are you bringing your yard waste to the dump. It grew on your property, it's yours. Don't throw it out or send it to a landfill to get composted and sold back to you. Compost it yourself. We don't need the government to intervene." And by God it worked. He started donating to my compost bin 🤣
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u/Data_Made_Me Jun 07 '26
It's more societal. Politics and the govenrment shouldn't have gotten involved with consenting people's sexuality to begin with but the small government group decided it did.
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u/cracksmack85 Jun 07 '26
Well the small government group held out longer and has taken crazier stances, but it wasn’t that long ago that both major parties opposed gay marriage. Not equating the two, just saying that it wasn’t like only a single party ever created the issue
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u/Data_Made_Me Jun 08 '26
Opposition to the legality of and opposition to the existence of are not equatable, so right on there. But for the record, it's a all a uniparty with a right and left hand. Both groups vote in lockstep with eachother on foreign policy almost always.
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u/willmasse Jun 07 '26
It’s only political if you’re a bigot! Otherwise supporting each other’s decision to be who you are and love who you want is just basic human decency!
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u/kilimtilikum Jun 08 '26
It’s political when you compost someone’s books because you don’t agree with their politics lol
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Jun 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/rakkl Jun 08 '26
For an individual to dispose of their own books? You're going to be upset to learn that a number of books that have been knocking around my house are getting biffed today too. I'm not even doing anything useful with them like composting, just tossing them in the bin. Some have political topics, or terrible authors! But they aren't useful and aren't in good shape to be passed on so I'm binning them. Truly scary stuff!!!
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u/kilimtilikum Jun 08 '26
Nuh uh. Mod said it’s not political.
Can’t be political if it agrees with Mod’s politics./s
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u/c-lem Jun 08 '26
I said it's barely political. I'll copy and paste what I said to someone else:
Of course the act is political, but OP has barely said anything about politics here. It's others who have chimed in with that.
Feel free to compost the communist manifesto or something and post about that. I'll allow it. Though I suppose the comments will devolve into something similar to this and it'll get locked again.
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u/Itsoktobe Jun 07 '26
I'm queer and I will love Harry Potter forever. Fuck JK Rowling, that shit doesn't belong to her anymore. It belongs to the hearts and minds of the people.
If the books were in such bad shape that they couldn't even be given away for free, obviously this is an acceptable use. Don't love the rest of the message, but you should still pee on it.
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u/livinlavidanacho Jun 07 '26
This is my mentality. In high school, there was a whole slew of people who weren't allowed to read the Harry Potter books in English class because of it including witchcraft. The parents who refuse these books are the same ones that are now pushing to ban books.
I understand not wanting to own the books, but instead of wasting the books they could have been given away for free to promote reading
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u/Unipiggy Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Have you heard the song Role Models by AJR?
EDIT: I'm assuming I got misinterpreted judging by the downvotes lmao
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u/bendroid801 Jun 07 '26
The only good thing to come from JKR's work. Love it. Obligatory pee comment.
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u/differentiatedpans Jun 07 '26
Sorry I don't understand what has J.K. Rowling or Harry Potter have to do with compost? Is this a joke I don't get because I never read the books.
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u/morbidmuffin62 Jun 07 '26
It's a "I don't want to have these anymore, but don't want to specifically not make use of it" thus, plant food
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/SilverVixen23 Jun 08 '26
"would probably kill her"
Seems a bit radical of an assumption bud
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u/jellybeanbonanza Jun 08 '26
"Would probably" is doing a lot of work here.
Never trust anyone who says that they're being punished for having a "different opinion" if they won't tell you what that opinion is.
Also interesting how the world's least compassionate people are constantly scolding the left for not being compassionate enough - but only to bigots.
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u/Nepeta33 Jun 07 '26
ah the right, funding conversion camps which have a documented history of physical and mental torture ON CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS.
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u/360No-ScopedYourMum Jun 08 '26
We, the compassionate left hate her because she is using her billions to fund a campaign to erase trans people from public life and directly endangering trans people's lives. Also, if you want to talk about book burning, do you know where the first one happened in Berlin? The Institute of Sexology. Before the socialists, before the communists, before the jews, they came for the trans people FIRST.
I dunno man, maybe we should speak out, we all know how the poem ends, eh?
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Jun 07 '26
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u/bdnsms Jun 07 '26
I am composting to reduce waste. These books were collecting dust on my shelf and were not in a suitable condition to be donated or sold.
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Jun 07 '26
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u/bdnsms Jun 07 '26
Thanks for the permission!
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u/cracksmack85 Jun 07 '26
Don’t post something with an intentionally provocative title and then be shocked when people have opinions
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u/brentspar Jun 07 '26
Letting kids read the books would have been the best use for the paper.
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u/bdnsms Jun 07 '26
visit any book store or second hand store and let me know if you still think kids are short of access to reading these books if they want. these were my personal copies which happened to be worn and stained, and chewed on by a pet at some point. I stand by this use! (I also recycle almost all other paper)
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u/brentspar Jun 07 '26
Ok, so no problem then. I was just worried that someone was trying to promote banning books. Just remember to pee on the pile ( not the books! )
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Jun 07 '26
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u/spiralhigh Jun 07 '26
This guy is MAGA, he doesn't want kids educated properly, otherwise they'd be able to say no.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/spiralhigh Jun 08 '26
Honestly I agree. I don't think anyone who is MAGA is composting - they look for shit to start a fight on. It's genuinely pathetic, imagine getting upset about a bigoted book written for 12 year olds?
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u/brentspar Jun 07 '26
Hate the sin, not the sinner
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u/spiralhigh Jun 07 '26
Children should not read the books, actually.
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u/brentspar Jun 07 '26
Wow, perhaps we should burn the books. I bet you already have a lost of books to burn.
I do too. Here it is 1, no book ever 2, still no book 3, don't ever burn books
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Jun 07 '26
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u/Pineapple_Spenstar Jun 07 '26
True. They're anti-Christian propaganda
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u/fauxregard Jun 07 '26
How's that?
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u/Octospyder Jun 07 '26
lololololol if anything they uphold Christian values, they just involve fictional magic, which is upsetting for people who can't tell fiction from reality.
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u/socalyanki Jun 07 '26
That and giving them to school libraries who may or may not have all them ( except for cursed child i've heard that one is terrible )
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u/Nepeta33 Jun 07 '26
BAHAHAHAHAHA *dies laughing* oh this is beautiful! you, my dear Sir, are a masterfully wonderful person!
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u/TheftLeft Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Politics in a sub about composting. Reddit can't resist.
Edit :
Holy shit you sound insufferable. Everything is political if You make it political.
We're in a sub about turning food scraps, piss and browns into dirt for our gardens.
Yet here I am getting lectured about gender and government. This cancer affecting reddit really finds its way to reach all subs, no matter how removed or niche.
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u/Octospyder Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
everything is political. if you think it's not, it's just because that arm of politics let's you do what you please, so you don't notice that. while composting hasn't been banned or anything anywhere in the USA to my knowledge, there are local governments who allot money to subsidize compost bins (took advantage of that one personally). there are also governments who have communal compost piles, or compost pickup. whether or not these services exist is inherently political.
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u/Reasonable_Soft8373 Jun 07 '26
If you don’t get the metaphor, you can just say that.
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/heybigbuddy Jun 07 '26
Even the most basic, uncritical reading of 451 would offer little in response to someone repurposing a book they already own, let alone one written by a disgusting and unapologetic transphobe. This is the only way anything good will come out of the book. This isn’t a government intervening to suppress expression and communication.
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u/matthew_yang204 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
I forgot that JK Rowling was an unapologetic transphobe. Thanks for reminding me. Feel free to downvote me
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u/KembaWakaFlocka Jun 07 '26
Damn the left came up with their own version of book burnings!
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u/spiralhigh Jun 07 '26
Bro are you complaining about leftism in a composting subreddit?
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Jun 07 '26
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u/spiralhigh Jun 07 '26
Eh, well, they'll compost as well as all the rest of the shit, won't they lmao
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u/Unipiggy Jun 08 '26
I mean... It's the more ecologically friendly version of it vs releasing CO2 and harmful particles into the air.
Sooooo yeah
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u/_branchoftheVine Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
In the books, Hermionie tries to bring awareness and justice about the House Elf slavery that fuels Hogwarts, and everyone treats her like an annoying, stupid little girl, including her own best friends and and it is never resolved, In fact, the main character, protagonist and hero Harry Potter even acquires his own House Elf slave and he leans into it. The best thing we can do is discuss how these books are bad, and piss on the pages in our compost piles.
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u/spiralhigh Jun 07 '26
Exceptional point. Anyone defending the books is defending that storyline, and I don't respect people who think slavery is okay.
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Jun 07 '26
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Jun 07 '26
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Jun 07 '26
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u/Dr_Rockwell14 Jun 07 '26
They weren't forced to burn the books lmao. it was a group of students that decided on their own volition to burn the books. you're the same lol
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Jun 07 '26
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u/Dr_Rockwell14 Jun 07 '26
I know who it is and what they did. you're the same. gobbling propaganda for your side because you're the good guy. just like everyone else.
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Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Dr_Rockwell14 Jun 07 '26
rage lol. any mention of "muh notsees"and you pee your pants. all I said is I know what they did. I can't formulate an actual argument to anything that anyone says because we're in an echo chamber where the slightest deviation from groupthink results in an endless downvote fury and eventual ban because how dare anyone not think the same as the mass of pre Teens that populate this website is comprised of.
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u/PensiveObservor Jun 07 '26
I dispose of my own books in the way that seems best to me. Some people want to forbid me from reading or having certain books available at the library. See the difference?
Iirc Harry Potter books were among the early school board bans bc of Witchcraft!
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u/sapphicromantic Jun 07 '26
The problem isn't about books being destroyed; it's about large scale attempts to restrict anyone else from ever reading specific information, which isn't happening here.
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u/Matthew_A Jun 07 '26
I specifically said I agree on that point, just not on your specific cause being relevant.
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u/ImInClassBoring Jun 07 '26
Ding the used market so people just buy new to pay jk more?
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u/bdnsms Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
I checked several used markets in my area and each already had copies of at least a few of the books, in some cases multiple copies. I also spotted copies in little libraries and on FB marketplace in my neighborhood. There is no shortage of used copies for people interested in shopping second hand
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u/redlegsforever Jun 07 '26
You already bought the book; what good does this actually do?
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u/bdnsms Jun 07 '26
I did not! These were mostly gifted to me many years ago (read the series as a kid) and I kept them in storage. They were in rough shape
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u/AlarmingDetective526 Jun 08 '26
Yeah, growing grass is a huge waste of time. There was a tree here a few years about but it died and when I had the stump ground up I got the idea to put in a cacti garden. We expanded it this year, it’s 8 foot between the posts. There still a bit of grass around it but I’m thinking about creeping jasmine or another ground cover, waiting for it to grow in is annoying.
To keep it relevant to the sub, my girlfriend doesn’t understand that composting takes balance; I need a good source of greens and browns to add to her food waste sludge pit she created 😂
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u/FlashFreedom Jun 08 '26
I now want to get rid of my compost pile and never think about it again. Thank you for ruining compost.
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u/AlarmingDetective526 Jun 07 '26
Native, so you are giving away weeds?
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 Jun 07 '26
I didn’t know sunflowers were considered weeds 💀
Bro has no idea what the definition of weed is, the rage bait is weak and your brain is weaker.
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u/AlarmingDetective526 Jun 07 '26
How did you manage to grow sunflowers, the damn squirrels got all but one of mine.
But go on, talk trash about a joke. No skin off my back bro. Maybe one day you won’t need to feel offended by every little thing. 🫡
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 Jun 07 '26
lol, get your little feefees hurt?
Skill issue if you can’t plant something in its native range and have it flourish tbh
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u/AlarmingDetective526 Jun 07 '26
The triggered one here is you.
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 Jun 07 '26
NUHUH IM NOT MAD YOU ARE 😡
Whatever makes you feel better sweetheart <3
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u/AlarmingDetective526 Jun 07 '26
Have the life you deserve
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u/Nepeta33 Jun 08 '26
i have to deal with you, so i already am. but thats ok, you have to deal with me too.
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 Jun 07 '26
My life is only getting better, sorry I didn’t realize you were such a sensitive little snowflake, I’ll make sure to handle you with itty bitty kid gloves next time <3 if you can’t handle heat, don’t dish it out
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u/AlarmingDetective526 Jun 08 '26
Show me where I was mean or disrespectful, I’ll wait.
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 Jun 08 '26
If you’re unable to see how your joke was distasteful I think you could benefit from doing more introspection. But I understand if that’s hard for you to grasp. <3 For someone that TOTALLY ISNT MAD you sure are running right back to what, defend your perceived honor? I’d of respected you more if you just took it on the chin lmao. You’re kind of pathetic. It’s almost endearing.
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u/AlarmingDetective526 Jun 08 '26
A native plant in a designed and manicured yard is a weed. Have you never heard the saying that a weed is simply a flowering plant that you don’t want?
Of course this is compositing instead of gardening so maybe you didn’t know.
If you had simply stopped with “I didn’t know a sunflower was a weed” I wouldn’t have had to get this far into an explanation simply because you misinterpreted basic English.
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u/DepartmentBrief7894 Jun 08 '26
Dunning Kruger effect here lmao, need me to explain what that is to you sweetheart?
I do not like lawns, lawn grass is a weed to me ;)
Straight from Websters dictionary, plain easy to understand English,
WEED
a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth especially : one that tends to overgrow or choke out more desirable plants
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u/c-lem Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Edit 2: One more note just to take advantage of getting the last word: I like it best when we focus on what's the same about us rather than our differences. When we're not thinking about politics here on /r/composting, we get along pretty well even though in other ways we are clearly very different. I think the world needs more of that moving past our differences and getting along like we normally do here. Maybe even trying to come together for what's most important.
Sorry, but I couldn't resist. I get along just fine with people who are far left and far right, and I hate hate. Now a corny transition. Enjoy this music that happens to match what I just said to help you stop thinking about me being dorky.
Edit: This has clearly gotten out of hand. Locking as-is. No way are we capable of straightening this out (right, /u/smackaroonial90?). Sorry, /u/bdnsms, but enjoy the event.
Report this all you like, but this post is barely political. If you have a problem with someone supporting a Pride event or being against Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling, then just hide the post and move on.