My mom gave me the Hobbit book when I was in early elementary school, and I loved it.

A few years later, the Lord of the Rings movies came out, though I was still too young to see them. Some of my classmates did though, but seeing them mostly imitating the “cool” characters fighting put me off of what I perceived was a generic Hollywood rip-off of the Hobbit (I knew there was a ring that makes people invisible, along with hobbits and elves, so understood that it was set in the same universe).

My godmother gifted me the first book around that time, and I realized that it was a real book by the same author. Hoping for a second Hobbit, I tried to read it but got stuck in the first twenty pages where Tolkien was describing the different types of hobbits, and gave up on it.

A few years later, the first movie was shown on TV. I didn’t have high expectations of what I still thought would be a shallow Hollywood adaptation of Tolkien’s world, but was (in hindsight predictably) blown away. I loved everything about it, enough to motivate me to give the books another try, and started looking for more information online about that world. The second movie came out on TV a little later, and I didn’t want to wait for the third one so I spent some of my precious allowance on the DVD collection and finally watched the whole trilogy.

Looking back, I don’t mind missing out on the movies the first time around; if anything, the absence of hype made it feel more personal (nevermind the slight mocking of classmates when I’d be googling “LotR” in computer class, three years after the movies came out and when the rest of my classmates were mostly over them).

And I am probably in a very small minority to have low expectations before watching the movie. The contrasting amazement and marvel I felt is something I still cherish to this day.

Same on Jerboa. Though given the apps’ fast development progress we probably won’t have to wait too long :)

Ähnliches ist mir auch aufgefallen, und ich glaube ich habe den Grund verstanden (bitte korrigieren falls falsch, ich habe keine direkte Ahnung wie das Fediverse auf einer technischen Ebene funktioniert):

Das Problem liegt nicht zwischen Browser und App, sondern zwischen Angemeldet und Nicht Angemeldet sein bzw. durch welchen Server der Inhalt abgerufen wird.

Innerhalb eines einzigen Servers sind die Dinge einfach - Kommentare usw. sind alle bereits dem Server bekannt weil auf ihm gespeichert. Wenn man aber von (/angemeldet bei) Server A eine Gemeinde von Server B aufrufen will, dann müssen die Posts und Kommentare erst von B nach A “gepusht” werden, wo sie dann eine Kopie von sich selbst errichten (daher haben sie dann eine URL unter Server A/post/123…).

Dieses Pushen scheint mit den Posts selber gleich beim Abfragen der Gemeinde zu passieren, sodass man die Posts alle gleich sieht.

Kommentare unter den Posts sind da etwas komplizierter: Sie werden von B nach A gepusht, wenn der Kommentar auf B veröffentlicht wird und A die Gemeinde in B in der kommentiert wird, abonniert hat (d.h., mindestens ein Benutzer von A hat die Gemeinde in B abboniert). Alle neuen Kommentare werden so nach A kopiert und dort angezeigt.

Was passiert mit den alten Kommentaren? Sie wurden zu einem Zeitpunkt verfasst, zu dem A noch nicht die Gemeinde von B abboniert hatte, also fand auch kein Pushen von B nach A statt. Also werden sie nie nach A kopiert, und Benutzer von A sehen sie nicht. Server B weiß natürlich um die Kommentare da sie direkt auf ihm leben, also werde alle Kommentare normal angezeigt.

Die Kommentare, die auf deinem Server nicht auftauchen, sind daher (falls die These stimmt) meist Kommentare, die veröffentlicht wurden bevor irgendein Nutzer deines Servers die Gemeinde des anderen Servers zum ersten Mal abonniert hat.

I have a similar background and went to Flanders for a Master’s, and have been very satisfied.

There’s several good universities, and most everybody speaks good English (even outside of the university environment) - to the degree that it can even be difficult to practice Dutch unless asking people deliberately to do so. Nevertheless, learning some Dutch helps with some everyday things like the supermarket, and should you aim for an intermediate+ level (think B1/2) it can give you an edge when looking for a job later.

Job opportunities are generally better than in most European countries, both in the industry and with all the organizations hosted in Brussels.

University fees are low compared to the UK (though similar to other European countries), but living costs are high. Expect to pay at least €400 rent for a small student room, and monthly expenses of another €400 if living in simple student conditions.

Public services are mostly good, with decent education, excellent healthcare and mostly reliable public transport (trains are alright, but buses can have issues from time to time). Most places are safe (besides the occasional bike theft), and police are actually nice.

I’ve grown to like the people here. Coming from southern Europe they can appear somewhat closed, and indeed tend to keep to themselves mostly. But if you show genuine interest in the country and it’s ways, and even start learning some Dutch, it will be appreciated and you’ll find people to hang out with and even become friends (of course, the alternative to just mingle with internationals is very common). In general they’re polite, helpful and professional even when they don’t know you, it’s just that it takes a while to break this first “acquaintance” barrier. Sharing a dorm with them is usually a good way to get to know them better.

Quality of life depends on who you ask. The weather is pretty much what you’d get in England, and night life is limited to a few places and not too long either. But there’s a lot of opportunities for activities, sports, culture etc., and the region has a rich heritage with beautiful cities (also some nice nature in Wallonia). Work-Life balance is excellent which coming from the South is a very welcome change (Belgians will work well and efficiently until their shift is done, and then not touch work again until the next day).

If you have any specific questions, I’m happy to answer them :)

I’d heard about Frederick Douglass but this is the first time I actually read something from him. Excellent writing and points; a good example of criticizing a group while simultaneously framing it from a perspective of desiring the best for it. It’s all the more impressive by the fact he was self-taught.

Thanks for sharing!

Nice to see the community grow! I haven’t moderated a community before (in fact, never even had a Reddit account), but if that’s not a deal breaker then I’d love to lend a hand!

From the two TLDs, .world sounds like a great choice for something interest-related, like a small world that one can dive in temporarily to escape the real one. .life could also work, but sounds more all-encompassing, perhaps more suited to something that influences the majority of your life (like a profession or a life’s work).

Both hobbit and tolkien are good choices, like others have mentioned this can be used well to communicate the focus of the instance.

Good luck with the setup!

This looks great, very clean and consistent hand-writing!

Did you copy the letters from the books one by one, or are there any further sources you could recommend? I’d been meaning to dabble in calligraphy one day (hoping to create something like the above), but haven’t found anything directly focusing on Elvish yet.

I’d probably start with Tengwar transliterations of English to get a feel for the script, and perhaps after that try my hand at Sindarin/Quenya (which to my outsider’s eyes seem as daunting as they are beautiful).

Tecendil looks indeed handy, thanks for the tip!

I used to only get lower mid-range phones (~€250, and not latest models) and keep them as long as possible, mostly due to financial and environmental concerns. My last phone broke a few months ago so I got a Fairphone 4 as a replacement.

I’m very satisfied so far, but of course I’m not accustomed to fancy phones either so I’m aware that the bar is lower for me. Functionally speaking it does what I want it to, and feels good enough to fulfill my modest needs even in 4-5 years from now when requirements will have gone up.

The price is significantly higher than any other phone I’d bought - but I’m fine with that due to the extended warranty. I’ll save money from not buying another phone in 3-4 years, and the added peace of mind from not having to replace the whole phone if anything were to break is worth some money in itself too.

But all the above would only convince me of 80-90% of the price. The fair production and environmental/personal freedom aspect of the phone are both the reason for the higher price but also why I’m happy to pay the price. I’d rather know that €500 is supporting things I want to see more of, than €300 is encouraging and perpetuating things that dislike.

But I also fully understand that I happen to have a little money to spare - a few years ago I was very tight with money, so as much as I would’ve liked to support it I’d have to make do with what I had. There’s other ways to help if money’s tight: Like I think also FP themselves say, “the most sustainable phone is the one you’re already using” (or something along those lines).

In short, my advice from my personal (limited) experience would be:

• If you can afford it and don’t have very high needs, the FP4 is a good long-term investment.
• If you want a higher-end phone/even longer parts availability, go rather for the FP5.
• If you want a high-end phone but foresee that you’d like to continue switching to higher-end phones fairly frequently, a non-FP would make more sense.
• If you are very tight on money and the FP4 is too expensive, a cheap conventional mid-range phone would provide most of the same functionality (bar longevity) for a significantly lower price.

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Finally, one note on the warranties: iirc (do correct me if I’m wrong), the FP4 will allow for an extended warranty of 5 years only until the end of 2023, after that it’ll be 3 years. So if you’re going for a FP4 it’d make more sense to buy before the year ends. The FP5 continues to offer a 5 year extended warranty regardless of when you buy it.