That moment when yo...
 

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That moment when you find out that a close friend has some bizarre beliefs.

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On the phone to a riding buddy today, discussing upcoming off-road credit card touring trips planned for this year.

He points out that his current bike isn't really suitable as the tyres (27.5 plus) are too big and draggy, and he'll need to sort it out.

I make the point that it's an excellent reason to get himself a 29er.

His reply:

"Oh no, that would just mean another bike that I'd have to maintain."

WTAF.

You think you know someone...


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 1:28 pm
droplinked, dove1, oldnpastit and 7 people reacted
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The usual at the start of the covid epidemic, found out quite a lot about his beliefs - now ex friend.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 1:33 pm
Murray and Murray reacted
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I know a smart funny, well adjusted woman. She's a senior lecturer in film studies and the Arabic presentation in Western media, all round super person I'm glad to know her and call her a friend . She's also convinced (and I mean unshakably) that the moon landing were faked.

Proper WTF moment.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 1:42 pm
 IHN
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In the late 90s, I went to visit my university girlfriend for a free days in the holidays. One night she was working in the local village pub, and we arranged that I, another friend of hers and that friend's new boyfriend would spend the evening in the pub, so we could all have a chat when she wasn't serving.

Anyhoo, friend and new boyfriend arrive, and we're chatting away fine about usual stuff - sport, music, local gossip etc etc. Talk turned to the then-being-built Millennium Dome, which you may remember was in the news a lot at at the time because of the amount of money being spent on it. I said something along of lines that it seemed mad to build something that will only last a year (as that was the plan at the time), when at the turn of the last millennium we built things like cathedrals that are still standing.

"Yeah", new boyfriend said, "they should have spent the money building a bridge back to Africa".

The rest of the evening was considerably more awkward.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 1:45 pm
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He wasn't a close friend at all, he was a work colleague - and this is in a scientific role.

But he was well into all sorts of conspiracy theories and then his FB page became a hotspot of anti-vax / 5G shite and I unfriended him.

What was even more weird was that we had, in the chemistry labs, both been involved in a vaccine project (way way before Covid).


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 1:45 pm
Murray and Murray reacted
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My best man thinks the moons orbit means it’s in a random, unpredictable, spot in the night sky every night.

He also thinks the sky is blue due to sound waves.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 1:58 pm
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Yeah, covid.

A good friend had just lost his mum last year to cancer.
Earlier in the year she had caught covid whilst in hospital. He was sure the Chinese had released it for population control purposes and the NHS had deliberately spread it in the hospitals. Not sure how he thought the Chinese government had made this deal with the NHS.

He's a good friend though and obviously was having a crap year. I just moved the conversation on. It wont effect our friendship.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 2:01 pm
bearnecessities, anorak, bearnecessities and 1 people reacted
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Ex-colleague who was an ecologist...

Put my foot in it with his Christian beliefs when I found out he believed in theological evolution...

Apparently god created the world in his 6 days with the 7th to rest, but all of evolution happened within those 6 days.

I didn't want to probe to ask if he thought no other evolution had happened since Saturday 6th January 0000.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 2:30 pm
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Last night my friend tells me he can't get a job because someone has an evil eye on him, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud, 62 works in IT.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 3:06 pm
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what even is that????? (evil eye)

a good mate of mine spent too long relaxing with none tobacco based smoking products

had faked moon landings, flat earth, faking of Musks rocket landings....

he has asked valid questions on the back of these, and with careful explanation i think he has taken it in, prime example being if the earth is spinning why aren't we getting pushed over by the wind or being throw into space etc

I think the thing is, if you have no facts at the base of the pyramid of knowledge, you end up making some crazy mufti dimensional shape out of it all, then follow that up with bloody tik tok and a slightly relaxed mind... bang


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 3:25 pm
zbonty and zbonty reacted
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I live in Brighton and Hove.

Practically EVERYONE has a slightly bohemian view..

Be it from the benign and sweet, such as a crystal will recharge in moonlight and offer prosperity… to the slightly more odd (no joke - i was chatting to a friend of a friend in the pub last night, who helped a banger that was hit by a car via reiki healing. It died, but hey ho).. to the downright dangerous and mean (a friend of my OH blamed a relative’s miscarriage on the C19 vaccine. Also believes all sorts of other dangerous shite…!)

DrP


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 3:39 pm
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I feel I ought to change the thread title to That moment when you find out that a close friend has some bizarre beliefs. noone actually bothers to read your original post.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 3:45 pm
hightensionline, crossed, droplinked and 31 people reacted
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if the earth is spinning why aren’t we getting pushed over by the wind

Has he never been in a car? Pinned back into his seat doing 70, was he?

I think the thing is, if you have no facts at the base of the pyramid of knowledge

I'm of the mind that they essentially fall into two camps.

1) The Dunning-Kruger brigade. Thick as a whale omelette and have been told so repeatedly throughout their life, so eventually they overcompensate by suddenly grasping onto a belief that they know something that others don't. Then they find like-minded souls and hey, they're part of a social club. The Netflix documentary "Behind The Curve" is a great watch here, there's an entire global counterculture walking among us like normal people.

2) Trolls.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 3:51 pm
 LAT
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noone actually bothers to read your original post.

I’m not really sure of what the point of your opening post was? Were you looking g for recommendations on 29er wheels for B+ bike?  I think they were interchangeable to a large extent

I saw someone with a rocky mountain pipeline recently. It looked fun


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 4:00 pm
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I feel I ought to change the thread title to That moment when you find out that a close friend has some bizarre beliefs. noone actually bothers to read your original post.

God you think you know someone but it turns out they've never read any of the other threads


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 4:00 pm
reeksy, doomanic, daviek and 29 people reacted
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I’m not really sure of what the point of your opening post was?

That my friend didn't see the point of having another bike.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 4:09 pm
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You can buy some pretty fast rolling 650B+ tyres anyway, so he was probably just trying to be kind and let you down gently. Face it, he's looking for an excuse not to have to go on holiday with you 😉


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 4:57 pm
cerrado-tu-ruido, reeksy, jacobff and 5 people reacted
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You can buy some pretty fast rolling 650B+ tyres anyway, so he was probably just trying to be kind and let you down gently. Face it, he’s looking for an excuse not to have to go on holiday with you

Was about to post exactly the same 😁

Point 1 - 2.8 Msxxis Reckons. Fast rolling and still decently grippy.

Point 2 - what have you done? 😮😉


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 5:29 pm
fatmax and fatmax reacted
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My in-laws are raving Tories :-O

Found out how right-wing Nazi they were during Brexit voting.  Best was being at a family get together in South Wales when they were the only 'Leavers' in the room for the whole weekend.  Brilliant!!!


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 6:31 pm
Poopscoop and Poopscoop reacted
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I feel I ought to change the thread title to That moment when you find out that [s]a close friend has some bizarre beliefs.[/s] noone actually bothers to read your original post.

Won't that get a bit confusing after re-naming every. Single. Thread?


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 6:46 pm
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What tyres for @Kramer's mate?


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 7:06 pm
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He wasn’t a close friend at all, he was a work colleague – and this is in a scientific role.

The two nuttiest people I know I both hold PhD's in molecular biology and went on to do postdocs at respected institutes in the US.

The first one was relatively harmless , but always looking for 'answers'. While in London he was wrapped up with these lovely people who are basically a religious cult. When he went to the US, he instantly became a devout Mormon. Later he cropped up on Facebook with all the usual conspiracy bollocks - chemtrails seemed his particular favourite. He now works, and the could not be anymore perfect, as an osteopath.

The other I didn't know as well, but seems to be a genuinely nasty little sh*t nowadays, grifting away as a full covid conspiracy loon.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 7:41 pm
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For me it's the people you've known for ages, and shared some definitely ungodly deeds and drunken chats with, that you discover are closet god botherers - apparently always were. One in particular that had a relationship with a 'girl' that raised eyebrows then and would probably get the attention of the police now but today has some pretty straight-laced and preachy opinions about sex before marriage. Nowt as hypocritical as a god botherer.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 8:13 pm
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noone actually bothers to read your original post.

I read it at least 4 times trying to figure out what bizarre behaviour before giving up and moving on to read the much more entertaining replies.

You need weirder friends!


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 8:30 pm
anorak, fatmax, cheese@4p and 9 people reacted
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Nowt as hypocritical as a god botherer.

Username checks out.

When he went to the US, he instantly became a devout Mormon.

One of my old apprentices' lecturers was a Mormon. I discovered this when he came in one day sporting a beard, when I commented on it he told me that god had told him to grow it.


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 8:33 pm
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I used to work for Mormons and it was somewhat bizarre at times. It did make me laugh when, after the company went under and was bought up, the new owner commented that he'd expected such outwardly religious people to be more honest...


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 8:49 pm
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had faked moon landings, flat earth, faking of Musks rocket landings…

There’s a good counter to the flat earth thing; if the Earth is flat, then why aren’t there millions of cats around the edge pushing things off?

Worth thinking about …


 
Posted : 11/02/2024 11:33 pm
burntembers, anorak, Poopscoop and 3 people reacted
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Is this a subtlety worded N+1 debate?


 
Posted : 12/02/2024 12:55 am
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I live in Brighton and Hove.

My sympathies.

Had a job a few years back where the project manager started trying to explain chemtrails to me and another guy at lunch. I walked off the job. The guy was an idiot.


 
Posted : 12/02/2024 1:40 am
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Is this a subtlety worded N+1 debate?

Somewhat. I’ve never met a cyclist who actually recoils at the thought of an extra bike.


 
Posted : 12/02/2024 8:40 pm
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What he needs is spare wheels with faster rolling tyres. Two of us switched to lighter tyres for our pub stay bike packing weekend.

Not actually the best decision as the Minions have far better grip than the tyres I swapped to and the terrain was rougher than I expected. Thank god we didn't do it on the CX bikes.


 
Posted : 12/02/2024 9:03 pm
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In reply to the op

He just needs a 29" set of wheels which fit his 27.5+ frame and fork


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 8:47 am
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Somewhat. I’ve never met a cyclist who actually recoils at the thought of an extra bike.

I know a couple, they're the type of rider though who actually uses their bike primarily as transport and would struggle to tell you much about the components on their bike.

I however am with you and lust after a new bike regularly. Although I'm not wealthy and hate to see waste, so am happy with the 5 bikes I have (would love a Brompton come to think about it 🤔).


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 9:05 am
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The two nuttiest people I know I both hold PhD’s in molecular biology and went on to do postdocs at respected institutes in the US.

My theory about this is that show enough facts and figures ('evidence') at smart people and they trust them as they're often trained to be sceptical of taking things at face value, regardless of whether the facts and figures make any sense if they just stood back a bit and squinted. Plus often (not always) they're used to being right about stuff, they think it sounds right and they've invested some of their intellectual energy in convincing themselves about a subject; it's harder to talk them down.

I’ve never met a cyclist who actually recoils at the thought of an extra bike.

[Waves] Too much stuff gives me itch, and that includes bikes. I recognise that I'm in the minority.


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 9:21 am
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His reply:

“Oh no, that would just mean another bike that I’d have to maintain.”

I mean, he's not wrong. And another bike you have to ride enough to justify, right?
(tin foil helmet on)


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 9:21 am
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I know someone who is a yoga teacher - I don't think I need to elaborate.


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 9:27 am
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It's entirely possible, probably preferable, to have yoga without the woo. If your teacher has to much woo, then just don't go back.


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 9:49 am
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I’ve never met a cyclist who actually recoils at the thought of an extra bike.

If you’d asked me a couple of years ago, I probably would have. Having just finished one that started out as a bit of fun using up spare parts but finished up being a year long ordeal of logistics management that almost broke me. I suppose it was the thought of building another one, rather than just an additional bike though.

I’m getting a bit itchy for another now though, and it’s my 40th next year…


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 10:12 am
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I know someone who believes in god – I don’t think I need to elaborate.


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 10:20 am
jp-t853, somafunk, jp-t853 and 1 people reacted
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If your teacher has to much woo, then just don’t go back.

Classes ! God forbid, never. I don't dare sniff (alergies) in this person's company for fear of a lecture on how my state of mind is ****ing up my health. 🙂


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 10:22 am
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A guy I've known since I was 17, was always a bit right-wing racisty but when I was younger I'd just mock him for it. Hadn't seen him for some years so met up just before lockdown in a small village pub. Throughout the evening it was a constant diatribe of racist ranting, dropping the N-bomb at full volume like it was confetti.

Made a decision then and there that there was a good reason I'd fallen out of contact with him.

Haven't phoned him since. Won't.

Some people you don't need in your life.


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 10:24 am
 Keva
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EdukatorFree Member
I know someone who is a yoga teacher – I don’t think I need to elaborate.

onewheelgoodFull Member
It’s entirely possible, probably preferable, to have yoga without the woo. If your teacher has to much woo, then just don’t go back.

^^ This ^^

I know and have met lots of yoga teachers, there's nothing woo about any of them - maybe Edukator you just met the wrong ones.


 
Posted : 13/02/2024 11:04 am
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Some people you don’t need in your life.

This.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 9:22 pm

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