(TikTok screencap)

    • Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yeah, whats the deal with “white guy”? Guys like fucking with fire. Black, white, brown, blue. If theres an alien species on the other side of the galaxy, you can bet they have something very much like guys, and the love fucking with fire.

  • Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    There’s something really cathartic about placing shit in a firepit and just watching it burn away.

  • Ceedoestrees@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    This is the campfire equivalent of that one person who makes best friends with the family dog at every party. Some of us enjoy the group but our social skills are only on par with fires and dogs.

      • vocornflakes@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Ehhhh, even places like the Sahara can get below freezing temps at night. Of course we also shouldn’t forget that people native to the Asian steppe and American high plains would also need to deal with freezing temps. I just think that it’s a human trait in general to need to mess with fires. (That probably stems from a vast amount of people on earth being able to trace their heritage back to the Mongols)

  • VioletSoftness@piefed.blahaj.zone
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    3 days ago

    I absolutely adore keeping the fire going. I was a white man for decades so i’m not dodging the allegations. I have never been camping where i was not the last person awake and always keeping the fire just right until all the wood was gone.

    It’s all about the air flow. Too much and everything burns too quickly in a roaring furnace, too little and you have no light and not enough heat. By constantly adjusting the logs you can maintain the proper air flow to keep everything just right. Rotating a log to present fresh wood to an eager flame here. Squeezing two logs a little closer to reduce the oxygen and trim things up there. A proper fire adjusting stick (and a backup) is crucial.

    Give me a stack of seasoned wood, a k-bar, a magnesium fire starter and a comfy camp chair and i’m in heaven from the time the sun sets until the wood runs out.

  • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    I wonder if there is a genetic component to keeping fire for recreation or comfort.

    I think all societies have a cooking on fire aspect.

    The use of fire seems to play a much more active role in societies in cold climates. It seems to play a less prominent role in the tropics with warmer nighttime temperatures.

    • Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      This reminded me of something my dad told me when I was younger. It was mostly to justify saying that no, I did not need a TV in my room, but still kinda interesting:

      In many cultures (definitely the ones my family grew out of), the fire served as a gathering spot. People would talk about stuff, share food and jokes, and relax together. It was a shared experience and source of comfort that helped strengthen interpersonal bonds.

      His argument was that the family TV served a similar function (without the whole ‘also it’s the means for cooked food’ aspect, which shouldn’t be overlooked). It’s a point that made some sense to me at that stage of late 20th century mainstream society.

      Hmm…the 21st century, defined as billions of little fires, and many of us cold. There’s a really pretentious poem here somewhere.

      • BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yeah I miss the days when my entire family would gather by the TV at night to watch something, anything really, I could be laying on the sofa reading a book but still enjoy the company and finding something interesting while channel surfing was it’s own joy, now I can stream or download anything I want to watch on all my devices and I can’t find anything interesting that makes me feel the sense of peace I had back then as a kid

    • dustyData@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Survivalists like to boast of their skills to start a fire from scratch with no modern tool. But that wasn’t the main skill in ancient times. Most societies found it easier to start a fire once and then keep the flame going through several mediums. It was a practical, mundane but vital activity that everyone participated in. The calories gains from eating cooked food was our cheat code for unlocking brain power.

    • shynoise@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      The OP’s observation is that there is at least one white guy that fucks with keeping the fire going. There can be as many others as you wish!

    • TonyOstrich@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      That’s what I’m sayin’! I’m mildly autistic and not very good socially. Even if I want to be there it can be difficult. Tending to the fire is a way I get to participate.

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I kind of get that way but I’ve never really realized it was obsessive behavior until this meme pointed it out.