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strongmisgiving.bsky.social
RRRMMM
@strongmisgiving.bsky.social
960 followers 480 following 8.7K posts
Ross. He/Him

Writer. Poet. I believe in repetition and Carly Rae Jepsen. Refill the Nor Loch! All hail the sun!
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strongmisgiving.bsky.social
scene from mad men with 7 guys in suits. one of them is vomiting on the floor. due to a transfer to 4k or something you can now see the guy from the grew working on the machine and tubes that make it look like the vomiting guy is actually working. over this guy i've put "poetry" on the vomiter "the poet" and on the vomit "the poem"
December 2, 2025 at 4:23 PM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Incredibly good poem in the latest @perversemag.bsky.social
Tom Blake Haiku Against Loneliness pspspspsps pspspspspspsps pspspspsps
December 1, 2025 at 4:20 PM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Got this pamphlet by Rishi Dastidar from @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social and am loving every minute of it
Cover of A hobby of mine by Rishi Dastidar published by Broken Sleep Books A hobby of mine is leaving post it notes with obliquely inspiring messages on them: "Write the ghosts". A hobby of mine is talking about infinity like I know what I'm talking about. A hobby of mine is taking up new hobbies. A hobby of mine is taking up new hobbies with one eye to monetising them as part of my side hustles. A hobby of mine is taking up new hobbies after watching them on the telly.
December 1, 2025 at 2:08 PM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Moving in the right direction
Amazon listing for the book for the minimum sum of £77.54
November 29, 2025 at 12:34 PM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Right ok, who's chipping in for this?
A crop of an Amazon listing of a signed copy of the book that indicates that it is approximately £350 to buy.
November 29, 2025 at 12:29 PM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
A possibly legit reading goal for 2026 would be to acquire and read Amazons by Cleo Birdwell, a fictional sports memoir pseudonymously co-written by Don Delillo
Cover for Amazons, a novel co-written by Don DeLillo, published under the pseudonym Cleo Birdwell in 1980. The subtitle is An Intimate Memoir by the First Woman to Play in the National Hockey League. At the bottom of the pic is a bunch of ice hockey gear on a bench. There is also a pair of high heels and a bra
November 29, 2025 at 12:26 PM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
This is fair I think
The results of the previous YBTJ We asked if Dave should leave his home comforts behind when he travels abroad, as his girlfriend would like. 15% of you said yes – Dave is guilty 85% of you said no – Dave is not guilty
November 28, 2025 at 10:07 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Point/Counterpoint
Explosions of moka pots aren’t common, but they have been documented. Hamad’s patronising aside about it being “simple physics” shows he doesn’t actually understand the physics and is classic mansplaining. Laura, 34 Why can’t Hamad get his way, some of the time? I highly doubt the machine is going to explode. People are probably doing this all over the world – millions of mokas are being overstuffed as you read this ... and there’s no epidemic of exploding pots. So why worry? Joshua, 51
November 28, 2025 at 10:02 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Incredible things are happening on the jury this week
It’s the sort of slovenly micro-obsession you develop when life is otherwise fine, symptomatic of a wider malaise of self-obsession and the decline of the west. The only way out of this is to bin the moka and have a lovely cup of weak tea. Dan, 35
November 28, 2025 at 9:56 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Median response in my mentions
Why doesn’t Hamad just let Lucia’s culinary philosophy rule and follow her method? If he insists on pressing down the coffee, he should get a new machine and use that – not hers! Although I wonder, is the coffee the real issue? It may be that Lucia is annoyed with Hamad about something else and is using the coffee issue to vent. Belinda, 64
November 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Fuck sake
The jury of Guardian readers Is Hamad making a moka-ry of the situation?
November 28, 2025 at 9:54 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
"you're not allowed to tell me I'm doing something wrong even when I am and anyone who does this is a fascist"
But I don’t like being told my method is incorrect, and I don’t like it when she tries to get support from food fascists. If you have to use groupthink to prove your point, it means your argument is weak. I will continue making good coffee, and If I want to press down in the moka pot, then I will.
November 28, 2025 at 9:52 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
"she knows what she's talking about but I'm right" ok
Right now, Lucia and I are travelling together, and I’m making filter coffee, so we aren’t arguing. However, there is no proof that pressing on the grounds makes it worse. Although I do think Lucia is better at making Italian coffee.
November 28, 2025 at 9:51 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
I've been thinking: if his technique is so good, wouldn't she have said something? It clearly isn't producing results?
I didn’t teach Noah my method on purpose, but he liked seeing the steam coming out of the pot and wanted to know about the whole ritual. It’s interesting to watch the steam in my opinion, but I’m indifferent to the hissing noise. What’s important is the quality of the coffee.
November 28, 2025 at 9:50 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Right ok but it sounds like you've guessed that this will work? You're not actually saying it's the proper technique
I am from south India, where we make coffee with filters – and the more you press down on the grounds, the better the taste. I was trying to recreate something similar with the moka pot.
November 28, 2025 at 9:49 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Italian "food fascists" lmao I don't think I need to say dump him, girl, she's gonna chuck him when she reads this
Different parts of the world have different coffee-making techniques, but Lucia thinks her method is the best. She even asked all her Italian friends what they thought of my technique. She sent a video of me pressing down the coffee grounds to her group chat. They are all food fascists, so of course they said what I was doing was blasphemous, but that’s just because I don’t conform to Italian norms.
November 28, 2025 at 9:48 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
This might be the angriest YBTJ I've seen in years
I don’t know why it annoys Lucia so much. I just did a barista course, and despite Lucia saying it’s not relevant to this style of coffee-making, I learned that if you want a stronger-tasting coffee you need more pressure. So that’s my reasoning behind compressing the coffee in the moka pot slightly. It’s simple physics.
November 28, 2025 at 9:46 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
This is so passive aggressive I'm elevating lmao
Yes, Lucia’s moka pot makes a hissing noise, but that’s not normal and it’s not my fault. I have my own pot in my flat and whenever I compress the coffee grounds down, it is fine and doesn’t hiss. Pushing the grounds down makes coffee taste much better.
November 28, 2025 at 9:44 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Well that's a good start lmao I'm sure we'll come out of this convinced they're an otherwise happy couple
The defence: Hamad Pressing down the grounds improves the flavour. Lucia is just being a coffee snob
November 28, 2025 at 9:43 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Learning far too much about their relationship from this paragraph alone
I never critique Hamad’s other methods. I am happy with the results when he makes coffee using a filter or coffee machine. We both like strong coffee – it’s just with the Italian moka pot you have to follow the rules, and he won’t do that.
November 28, 2025 at 9:41 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
Oh god he's absolutely fucked up here. No coming back from this
Also my son, Noah, who is 11, has started copying Hamad. It’s annoying because I taught Noah the proper technique: to let air into the container before gently putting the coffee in and heating it up very slowly to enhance the flavour. But now Noah wants to make coffee Hamad’s way.
November 28, 2025 at 9:40 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
I do not drink coffee so I have no idea if any of this is true but I love the intensity with which they are antagonising each other about this
I told him to stop, but he turned it into a socio-political issue. He’s from India, and said: “Italians aren’t the only ones who make coffee,” and “traditions can be changed.” But to me, it’s also a matter of safety. He compresses the coffee grounds so tightly that pressure builds up, and the machine starts hissing loudly. I don’t think it would explode, but it could damage the pot.
November 28, 2025 at 9:38 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
I do not, in any way, believe this is one of the first things you learn as a child in Italy
One of the first things you learn as a child in Italy is that you’re supposed to let some air into a moka pot – pressing down the coffee grounds creates the opposite effect. The coffee sometimes spills out with Hamad’s method, but when I make coffee that doesn’t happen, which shows you my technique is the right one.
November 28, 2025 at 9:36 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
This is so not about moka pots
Hamad did a barista course and likes to say that he knows more about coffee than me. But the course didn’t teach him about moka pots and traditional methods. He learned how to use modern coffee machines in cafes, where you have to compress coffee grounds. But I’ve been making coffee since I was nine and I don’t need a course to tell me how to use a moka pot.
November 28, 2025 at 9:35 AM
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
18 months and you're already in YBTJ territory? Oh they are not gonna make it
Hamad and I have been together for a year and a half, and this issue began when he started making coffee in my flat with the moka pot – the iconic, eight-sided stove-top coffee maker that brews espresso-style coffee. Every time Hamad uses it, he will pack the coffee grounds down tightly, which you shouldn’t do, as the pot will start hissing. The moka pot was invented in Italy, where I grew up, and there it is taboo to compress the coffee grounds.
November 28, 2025 at 9:34 AM