3 ms·

Great potato story. Loosely related story here. My late grandfather in Belarus (the land of potatoes) loved potatoes just like everyone around. Well, he was an

Great potato story. Loosely related story here. My late grandfather in Belarus (the land of potatoes) loved potatoes just like everyone around. Well, he was an electrician at the concrete/brick making factory for entirety of his career, from right after the war until he retired in the late 80ies. The amount of electricity used to fire the kilns for bricks is well known to be huge. He said that they'd see the rats scutter along the power lines on the wall and every once in a while they'd touch the rails wrong and disappear in the scintillating disintegration. Oh, and he let me weld random junk together with his own cobbled together electrical welding kit when I was like 8, oh I loved that so much. I miss him.

jve 4y ago
Touch with their teeth I suppose? I was working at some other factory where rats would "cut" data cables occasionally.
- michaelt 4y ago
  If they were uninsulated cables (like overhead powerlines) they might have just bridged two of them.
fredrikholm 4y ago
> he let me weld random junk together with his own cobbled together electrical welding kit when I was like 8, oh I loved that so much. I miss him. I think a lot of us have similar experiences with European (grand)parents born around the era of the two wars. Honestly think that them being born in horrible times yet living during (comparatively) great times helped form a generation of people that stood out. I miss them.
dunno7456 4y ago
The land of potatoes is Peru.
- h0l0cube 4y ago
  Not sure why the downvotes. A bit pedantic and distracting from a good story, perhaps, but accurate. > The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated by Native Americans independently in multiple locations, but later genetic studies traced a single origin, in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia.
  - recuter 4y ago
    Yes and it arrived in Europe by way of the conquistadors. However, it has evolved a bit since. I could be wrong, but much like with bananas the OG version would surprise you in terms of taste/looks.
    - TN1ck 4y ago
      As far as I understand it, Peru already had a lot of highly cultivated potato crops. They have over 4000 different kinds and had sophisticated methods for preservation[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu%C3%B1o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu%C3%B1o

jve 4y ago

Touch with their teeth I suppose? I was working at some other factory where rats would "cut" data cables occasionally.

michaelt 4y ago
If they were uninsulated cables (like overhead powerlines) they might have just bridged two of them.

fredrikholm 4y ago

> he let me weld random junk together with his own cobbled together electrical welding kit when I was like 8, oh I loved that so much. I miss him. I think a lot of us have similar experiences with European (grand)parents born around the era of the two wars. Honestly think that them being born in horrible times yet living during (comparatively) great times helped form a generation of people that stood out. I miss them.

dunno7456 4y ago

The land of potatoes is Peru.

h0l0cube 4y ago
Not sure why the downvotes. A bit pedantic and distracting from a good story, perhaps, but accurate. > The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated by Native Americans independently in multiple locations, but later genetic studies traced a single origin, in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia.
- recuter 4y ago
  Yes and it arrived in Europe by way of the conquistadors. However, it has evolved a bit since. I could be wrong, but much like with bananas the OG version would surprise you in terms of taste/looks.
  - TN1ck 4y ago
    As far as I understand it, Peru already had a lot of highly cultivated potato crops. They have over 4000 different kinds and had sophisticated methods for preservation[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu%C3%B1o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu%C3%B1o