Just now I was making a post elsewhere about my having experienced a particular online social evolution pattern "since I was on the ARPANET". Along with my longstanding computer geekery, I'm a huge Tolkien fan, and it struck me that being a developer who used the ARPANET is equivalent to being an elf who lived under the light of the Two Trees in Valinor. In the late Third Age of Middle Earth, or in the 2020s, we are rare, wise, and immensely powerful. 🙂
The Fellowship of the Ring, the 1st volume of #TheLordoftheRings, was published #OTD 69 years ago (29 July 1954). Upon receiving an advance copy #Tolkien wrote:
“The book itself is very presentable indeed.” (Letter 147)
This is what the 1st edition looked like 👇
I’ve handled first editions once or twice - and only once a signed one by #Tolkien. A real thrill to hold!
Bio was too big, and I didn't yet make an #Introduction:
Hi, I'm Leonard/Janis (like Cohen/Joplin respectively), I use they/them pronouns, he/him (Leo) and she/her (Janis).
I'm a #genderqueer#hacker from #Berlin. I'm a professional procrastinator, don't expect me to stick to one project :'-)
Outside of computing I love #running, #handball and #rollerblades, adore cats, have a passion for #teaching and spend too much time following politics. I listen to #Blues but my musical taste has since widened to also embrace R'n'B, Rock, Funk, and a lot of modern stuff. I read classic #fiction and my favorite authors are Terry #Pratchett, Douglas Adams, J.R.R. #Tolkien, Robert Harris, and Sjöwall & Wahlöö (rather male dominated, send recommendations!).
I'm politically left #AssignedCatAtBirth but not settled on the specific question of government.
I'm a #privacy and #security fetishist (these aren't the same, sometimes even oblique). Some see a gray space here, I consider the right to data self-determination a fundamental right. Also, free #housing, #publicTransport and a livable environment are fundamental. #Learning and #teaching are crucial for individuals and society. Tech won't solve our core problems, merely highlight them and perhaps provide tools for change we can use.
A very large American sycamore (platanus occidentalis). They always remind me of the White Tree of Gondor, which was in turn inspired by Telperion, that silver tree of the First Age that became the moon. The base of this one is so big I can wrap my arms only about a third of the way around.
Shalom, friends! Welcome to #DafReactions Bava Kamma 11: FOOL OF A TOOK! In which I say goodbye, no thank you to Seder Nashim, and hello to…tort law, which is, I regret to inform everyone, not about Tortellini AT ALL. 😭 #dafyomi#tolkien#talmud
Today is #Tolkien#Reading Day! I'm re-reading "Farmer Giles of Ham" (1949) for the first time since the 1980s. I have since become a Medievalist, very much not stepping into the same river twice.