#hobby enthusiasts

[sandboxworld]

Guinness World Record for the Largest Brick Collection

Some folks collect comics, stamps, or coins—classic, respectable hobbies. Others, well, they take collecting to an entirely different level. Honestly, if it exists, someone out there is probably collecting it! But let’s talk about the unsung hero of the collecting world: bricks. Yes, you read that right. Good old-fashioned, heavy-as-a-small-dinosaur bricks. Enter Clem Reinkemeyer, a dedicated…

[orangerosebush]

Recently, I did a re-read of the AF series, and I am working through some thoughts I have on the Fowls and what allowed them to maintain power -- especially in the sense of being landed -- in Ireland after arriving during the Norman conquest in the 12th century.

Colfer establishes that Hugo de Folé and Virgil Butler arrived in Ireland during the first Norman crusades in the 12th century (1169).

“The first record of this unusual arrangement [between the Fowls and Butlers] was when Virgil Butler had been contracted as servant, bodyguard, and cook to Lord Hugo de Folé for one of the first great Norman crusades.” From: Artemis Fowl. By Eoin Colfer.

At once, these origins of the Fowls would make them ambiguously part of the Old English, a term from the modern period (post-1600) used to describe the descendants of the first Anglo-Norman conquerors who largely inhabited the Pale (Dublin and surrounding areas) and surrounding towns. Hugo de Folé and Virgil Butler would have likely been Catholic.

However, the origins of Fowl Manor complicate this.

The original Fowl castle had been built by Aodhán Fowl in the fifteenth century overlooking low-lying country on all sides. A tactic borrowed from the Normans. From: The Arctic Incident. By Eoin Colfer

In the 15th (c. 1401-1500) century, Aodhán Fowl acquired land for Fowl Manor in the Pale (Dublin and its surrounding areas); the estate has remained in the Fowls' possession ever since, which is important to note.

The Fowls' historical proximity to the Pale likely was what allowed them to maintain power over the centuries.

Between the 12th and 16th centuries, the Lordship of Ireland (1177-1542) placed swaths of Ireland under the control of Anglo-Norman lords loyal to the King of England.

However, by the 14th century (1300s), English rule of Ireland beyond the Pale (Dublin and its surrounding areas) was weakening. Beyond the Pale, (Catholic) Hiberno-Norman lords' fiefdoms had a degree of independence from the English, often adopting elements of Gaelic language and culture.

This changes around the 16th century with the Protestant Reformation and the Tudor conquest of Ireland. In 1536, Henry VIII of England decided to reconquer Ireland and bring it under crown control. Charles II, Henry VII's son, made the re-established Church of England even more explicitly Protestant.

Between the 16th and 17th centuries (c.1550s-1620s), Irish land was transferred to a new wave of (Protestant) settlers from Great Britain and Scotland to strengthen the Crown's weakening control over Ireland and Anglicize (and thus "civilize") the island; the land transfer was facilitated through the creation of plantations, such as the plantation of Ulster.

The Old English, which would have included descendants of de Folé and Virgil Butler, were supplanted by the New English, the Protestant landowners introduced by the Tudors in a number of ventures at plantations.

It is important to note the historical nuance that:

There was no equivalent in Ireland to the English Test Act of 1672, and there were plenty of precedents for exemptions to the Act of Supremacy. The legal position of Irish Catholics was, in many practical respects, better than that of English Catholics; many fines and penalties fell into abeyance under Charles [II], and the Catholic hierarchy co-operated openly with the Dublin administration. From James's [James VI and I] accession, the Church's position was obviously improved; priests emerged into the public eye and were allowed salaries, though they were not as yet endowed. Protestant superiority remained, in many areas, axiomatic; Catholics continued to occupy a curiously edgy position of formal inferiority combined with tacit toleration. But the ambiguities of their situation reflected the logic of local conditions just as much as the shifts in central policy. [...] But the 'Test clause in the 1704 [Popery] Act, obliging holders of public office to take sacraments according to the usage of the Church of Ireland, gradually excluded Presbyterians from town corporations even in Ulster. Despite the regium donum and the Toleration Act, their equivocal relationship with the civil power remained, and would provide a key theme in the radicalization of the Irish political world after 1780, when the threat of Catholic disaffection apparently receded. [From: Modern Ireland, 1600–1972. By R.F. Foster]

Still, the Popery Act would have had consequences for the historical Fowls and Butlers as Old English families. Beyond the Test clause in the Popery Act, it also limited Catholics' ability to buy/lease land, as well as limited inheritance from a Catholic to be by gavelkind i.e., divided equally, and thus shrinking with each generation, the estate between all sons, rather than according to Primogeniture.

It begs the question of how Fowl Manor remained in the hands of the family, rather than becoming the estate of a member of the New English.

As anti-Catholic sentiment was largely grounded in the political context of loyalty to the Crown (as opposed to the Pope), certain members of the Old English gentry could have (and did!) find ways to join the wave of the Protestant Ascendancy.

"The Anglo-Ireland of the day in fact encompassed sizable middle and lower classes -- a heterogeneity that Foster finds "exemplified by that quintessential Ascendancy institution, Trinity College: defined by Anglicanism but containing sons of peers, of shoemakers, of distillers, of butchers, of surgeons, and of builders" (Foster 1989, 173). And not all the "Anglo-Irish" were, strictly speaking, "Anglo." Early in Bowen's Court, Bowen's historical account of her family's Cork home, we learn that "Bowen" derives from the Welsh "ab Owen" or "ap Owen" (Bowen 1942a, 33). Other Anglo-Irish men and women traced their ancestry to the Old English and to Catholics who converted to Protestantism in order to reap the accompanying social, political and material rewards. Violet Martin (better known as Martin Ross) descended from the Old English Martins of Ross, who had owned land in Galway and had converted to Protestantism in the eighteenth century (McMahon 1968, 123). As Thomas Flanagan concludes, "there were many ways of being Anglo-Irish" (Flanagan 1966, 59). So what, then, defined Anglo-Irishness? In [R.F. ] Foster's view, it was Anglicanism. Anglicanism "defined a social elite, professional as well as landed, whose descent could be Norman, Old English, Cromwellian or even (in a very few cases) ancient Gaelic. Anglicanism conferred exclusivity, in Ireland as in contemporary England; and exclusivity defined the [Protestant] Ascendancy, not ethnic origin" From: An Anarchy in the Mind And in the Heart: Narrating Anglo-Ireland. By Ellen M. Wolff

And what do we find out in the first book of Artemis Fowl?

"Beside [Angeline] was a facsimile of [Artemis'] father, constructed from the morning suit he'd worn on that glorious day in Christchurch Cathedral fourteen years ago." From: Artemis Fowl. By Eoin Colfer

Christchurch Cathedral (in Dublin) is Anglican in denomination!

I just think it is so cool that across a few sentences from Artemis Fowl and The Arctic Incident, it is possible to situate the Fowl family within a semi-realistic history of Ireland.

[dirubtrentfree]

Toshiya sure pulls off hat looks, even when I dislike the hat he wears.

[declamationark]

Danny gets punted into the DC universe for some reason and proceeds to haunt Gotham because it’s gothic and there’s this hero cave with a bunch of cool tech (he misses Sam and Tucker) and this big family (he misses his mom and his dad and his big sis). He helps the vigilantes there with their battles and writes info he learns from spying on rogues on sticky notes (he misses clockwork) to leave by the files in the batcave. He thinks he’s being slick and stealthy but all the batfam realizes he’s there and basically pspspspspsps him into the family and somehow Danny never catches on

[amazingferret]

I am baking some things that need a good while in the oven, have memes and doodles in the meantime.

[muninnhuginn]

kazakami really is about obligations all the way. whether to himself or his parents, he's decided he's had his time in the first two years having 'fun' and now it's time to focus. but, the thing is, most of his 'fun' is just ticking off some checklist of all things you'd expect to do in highschool (and the one sport he did actually like, he had to stop because of injury). so, does that really count? isn't that just fulfilling a role regardless of his own wants and needs?

anyway, now he's 100% focusing on his third year. despite how kazakami is hitting all the points in the checklist, how he's showing how he's meeting expectations, it's still not enough for his parents. he has the one hobby to himself, his interest in tokusatsu, which he's into enough to have his own figures and to know obscure trivia off by heart. and his parents are just... dismissive of it. "it's for children", they say, as they ignore their own child's needs.

no wonder kazakami never lets on more about his hobbies in school and only portrays himself as the outgoing model student, if this is how he's treated for showing his genuine interests.

[oleworm]

People in the notes are upset at Umberto for not regifting or donating books as soon as he finished reading them. Ah...!

It's wild how people react to a dead man who liked to read and was not shy about it--as if he were shaming them for not doing exactly the same thing that he did. As a famous professor and author, it would be strange if he didn't fill his house with books, or if he didn't promote reading and learning. Would it be better if his house were empty? He did not say that you can't go to a library. What is the problem here?

As always, there is the matter of privilege. I have many books at home and I've only bought some of them. I'm lucky that I come from a family that valued reading, and also that we have enough space to keep them. That much is true! Not everybody has that. But having books around isn't something that should bankrupt you--there are plenty of secondhand bookstores and independent book dealers, and you can find a lot pretty cheaply, even where I live where new books are considered a luxury--and there's also the fact Umberto Eco lived before the time that you could easily find a good part of the books that have ever been digitised. That can be your library, if you're a minimalist or don't tolerate dust or move often or don't have the space for shelves upon shelves. You can fit a lot in a thumb drive, much more in an external hard drive, and though it's nicer to hold books in your hand, you can also skim your files to see what's up, I do that and often end up doing readings I would not have considered before.

I can't read anyone's mind but, outside of jealousy that Umberto has a nice house, it's as if some people have a bad reaction to the idea of reading a variety of things. We should ask, why is that? Do we feel lesser than others for not sharing their attitudes to life? Instead of bitterly going against it, we can consider whether their idea is any good or not. If it doesn't apply to you, discard it, but if it can benefit you in any way, why not take something from it?

[not-poignant]

Hey hey!

I have been thinking about Falling Falling Stars and UTB lately as I reread FFS recently.

Something that popped into my head was how important the Piano and music is to Efnisien in FFS.

I get the impression from UTB that this is similar.

I wondered if a love of piano specifically would appear in UTB or if UTB Efnisien would ever learn to play in the future?

Your stories make my brain very happy.

Hiya anon!

I don't see Efnisien learning to play an instrument (or piano) in Underline the Black.

What I like about Efnisien is his ability to get very passionate about something, and that in Underline the Black is his discovered love of photography.

Efnisien's hobbies in each story reflect something deeply personal about him. In FFS it's piano, because it's one of the only times Crielle was consistently kinder to him and also quiet. In UtB it's photography, because it's a vehicle through which he can prove that he's starting to live a new life that's his and his alone, that prioritises his view of the world.

So in some ways piano wouldn't make sense in UtB (though photography would make sense in FFS! But Efnisien went the poetry direction instead lol)

[markonpark]

Etsy, MARKonPARK: Father's hobby. Vintage snapshot photo of a man in a garage tinkering with a model train set.

[animalinvestigator]

Hi, Hello, I just want to let you know your art remains a constant inspiration for me. Unrelated, what digimon partner would you give Paul from petscop?

hello and thank you so much ;-; im really touched to hear that. i hope i can keep making works that have a place in your heart and i am very grateful that they do.. best of lcuk with your own artistic endeavors and im very appreciative of your support and the time you took to share these kind words :3

as for your question.. i actulaly have had discussions about paul and belle playing the original digimon world games on the psx, back when i was playing it...those old 90s games feel really brutal to a mid 2000s gamer like myself.... .. i think he would get really frustrated because he wouldnt understand the evolution requirements and end up raising numemon over and over again on accident..and in the meantime, belle, who is older and more adept at problem solving , would have already developed the most efficient digimon training pipeline and worked her way up to perfect stage ........................ but little brother is just , permanently stuck with numemon as a partner.....he gets really excited every time its time for the rookie level to evolve...and thenn its just numemon again..Unfortunate child

as for if he had a digimon partner that wans't just what digimon he'd have if he played the games, i think definitely toyagumon :3 it just feels right.

hope you're well anoynmous thank you again ~

[dirubtrentfree]

ok these hats get a pass from me

[nobodybetterlookatme]

I've never heard of emts working only at events? What's that like for you if you don't mind my asking?

Yeah, there are ambulance companies that staff certain events, but there's some event specific companies out there lmao. For me specifically, it's almost entirely college events, whether it's happening on a campus or not. It's not great, usually pretty boring, but it's better than being on an ambulance or in a hospital. We do get actual emergencies sometimes, but usually it's just getting drunk people to the tent or giving out water and bandaids lmao. Again, boring as fuck, but I chose this over working on a 911 rig, so that's on me 😔 if I'm being so real tho, other than my coworkers, the best part of the job is the food lmaoooo it's so good and all the food trucks/food booths give discounts or free food to us depending on the location and event. And there's almost always a ton of downtime, so I basically just get paid to sit there and vibe for the most part

[mousemannation]

so weird to be known as an artist in the community since ive always been more of a writer

[jihyocentric]

I've been missing my 97 liners lately 😞

a few days ago i remembered i did this fill and i've been thinking abt them since... i miss them too

[themaniacgarage]

10 Ways to Take Risks: How to Discover & Embrace the Unexpected!

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[itsza]

boi-