User:SPQRobin

Hello! I'm Robin. I am or have been active on other wikis as well: on Meta and Wikimedia Incubator to help with the creation of new wikis, on Wikidata, the Dutch Wikipedia, the English Wiktionary, ... See Meta for my central user page.

Some of my interests:
 * Languages (especially minority/endangered languages) and linguistics.
 * European Union; states/countries and their structure (political structure, infrastructure, ...)
 * Energy problem, renewable energy, global warming, ...
 * Internet, software (PHP, web apps), ...
 * LGBT rights

It usually changes from time to time on which wiki(s) and on what topics I am mostly active.

Below is mostly uninteresting random stuff that I once put here.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every brand of human knowledge. This is a work that cannot be completed except by a society of men of letters and skilled workmen, each working separately on his own part, but all bound together solely by their zeal for the best interests of the human race and a feeling of mutual good will. Found thanks to

The sum of all knowledge? That includes things like:
 * [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Justin_Bieber_on_Twitter&oldid=500738141 Justin Bieber on Twitter]
 * [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cannibalistic_attacks_in_2012&oldid=505346810 Incidents of zombie-like behavior in 2012]
 * List of lists of lists
 * List of animals with fraudulent diplomas
 * Puppy pregnancy syndrome
 * List of films that most frequently use the word "fuck"
 * List of bow tie wearers

Useful, interesting or nice pages

 * Templates
 * Template:Distribution_of_languages_in_the_world


 * Templates
 * outdent
 * like


 * Days
 * International Lefthanders Day (13 August) [I'm left-handed]
 * European Day of Languages (26 September)

Belgium...

 * ...is a country where almost all political parties are active in only one language area, which means the federal government requires a coalition of at least 2 parties, and usually more (6 are not uncommon)
 * ...is a country where French-speakers can vote for French-speaking parties in a part of Flanders, whereas Dutch-speakers cannot vote for Dutch-speaking parties in any part of Wallonia
 * ...is a country where political crises take several years
 * ...is a country with six governments and six parliaments
 * ...is a country where an area of 854 km² and about 73,000 inhabitants has its own government
 * ...is a country where our capital has its own parliament and government (with a Minister-President), plus 19 municipalities (with 19 mayors, 19 councils, ...), plus a Governor (and a Vice-Governor). Let's also not forget the Common Community Commission, French Community Commission or Flemish Community Commission.
 * ...is a country where a PS politician who is always drunk, has been minister of budget
 * ...is a country where a former Prime Minister, when asked to sing the French-language version of the Belgian anthem, accidentally sang the French anthem
 * ...is a country where that same politician said that "the only things common to all Belgians are the King, the national football team and some beers."
 * ...is a country which holds the record of longest government formation, lasting 541 days
 * ...is proudly represented on the list of helicopter prison escapes

Let's just get rid of this.

Visited countries
Lived in:
 * Flanders (the Flemish Diamond)

Visited countries: (places where I've actually set foot in; not just in an airport or driving through)
 * 🇪🇺 EU
 * 🇦🇹 Austria: Innsbruck, ...
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark: Copenhagen
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia: Tallinn
 * 🇫🇮 Finland: Åland Islands
 * 🇫🇷 France: Nord, Normandie, Provence, Paris, ...
 * 🇩🇪 Germany: Schwarzwald, Berlin, Köln, Aachen, Hanover, Düsseldorf, ...
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland: Dublin (very shortly)
 * 🇮🇹 Italy: Toscane, Rome, ...
 * 🇱🇻 Latvia: Riga
 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania: various
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg: various (multiple times)
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands: various
 * 🇵🇱 Poland: shortly in Białystok, Warschau and Breslau
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden: Stockholm, Uppsala, Malmö, Göteborg, Arboga
 * 🇪🇸 Spain [few days]
 * Catalonia: Barcelona
 * Madrid
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England: London, Canterbury, Dover, ...
 * Wallonia: various
 * Non-EU Europe
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland
 * 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland
 * Wallis, Schwyz, Basel, St. Gallen, Zürich
 * 🇧🇾 Belarus: Grodno
 * Americas
 * 🇨🇦 Canada: Toronto, Niagara Falls, Montréal
 * 🇲🇽 Mexico: Mexico City
 * 🇺🇸 United States
 * California: San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles
 * District of Columbia
 * New York: New York City, Niagara Falls
 * Texas: a few hours in Dallas
 * Asia
 * 🇮🇳 India: Mumbai
 * 🇮🇱 Israel: Haifa, Jerusalem
 * 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates [one night]: Abu Dhabi, Dubai
 * Africa
 * 🇷🇼 Rwanda [one night]: Kigali
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa: Cape Town

Airports I've been to: (that included any actual flight departure and/or arrival)
 * 1) 🇧🇪 Brussels Airport (BRU) multiple times
 * 2) 🇬🇧 London Heathrow Airport (LHR) multiple times
 * 3) 🇩🇪 Berlin Schönefeld Airport (SXF) multiple times
 * 4) 🇪🇸 Barcelona–El Prat Airport (BCN) in 2006
 * 5) 🇫🇷 Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport (PGF) in 2006
 * 6) 🇸🇪 Stockholm Bromma Airport (BMA) in 2009 and 2010
 * 7) 🇳🇱 Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) in 2011, 2015 and 2018
 * 8) 🇮🇱 Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) in 2011
 * 9) 🇺🇸 John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in 2012
 * 10) 🇺🇸 Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) in 2012
 * 11) 🇮🇳 Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (BOM) in 2012
 * 12) 🇫🇷/ EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL) in 2014
 * 13) 🇩🇪 Hannover Airport (HAJ) in 2015
 * 14) 🇺🇸 Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in 2015
 * 15) 🇺🇸 San Diego International Airport (SAN) in 2015
 * 16) 🇺🇸 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) in 2015 (mid-flight layover, with leaving plane shortly)
 * 17) 🇺🇸 Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in 2015
 * 18) 🇲🇽 Mexico City International Airport (MEX) in 2015
 * 19) 🇺🇸 O'Hare International Airport (ORD) in 2015
 * 20) 🇺🇸 San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in 2015
 * 21) 🇮🇹 Milan–Malpensa Airport (MXP) in 2016
 * 22) 🇧🇪 Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) in 2017
 * 23) 🇫🇷 Toulouse–Blagnac Airport (TLS) in 2017
 * 24) 🇩🇪 Düsseldorf Airport (DUS) in 2017
 * 25) 🇮🇪 Dublin Airport (DUB) in 2017
 * 26) 🇺🇸 Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) in 2017 (mid-flight layover, without leaving plane)
 * 27) 🇨🇦 Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in 2017
 * 28) 🇨🇦 Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) in 2017
 * 29) 🇮🇸 Keflavík International Airport (KEF) in 2017
 * 30) 🇩🇪 Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) in 2017
 * 31) 🇩🇪 Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) in 2018
 * 32) 🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) in 2018
 * 33) 🇿🇦 O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) in 2018
 * 34) 🇿🇦 Cape Town International Airport (CPT) in 2018
 * 35) 🇿🇼  Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (HRE) in 2018 (mid-flight layover, without leaving plane)
 * 36) 🇷🇼 Kigali International Airport (KGL) in 2018
 * 37) 🇨🇭 Zürich Airport (ZRH) in 2018
 * 38) 🇩🇰 Copenhagen Airport (CPH) in 2019

Visited parliaments: (random order) Only seen from outside:
 * Vlaams Parlement in Brussels
 * 🇧🇪 Belgian Federal Parliament in Brussels
 * 🇩🇪 Bundestag in Berlin
 * 🇪🇺 European Parliament in Brussels & Strasbourg
 * 🇸🇪 Riksdag in Stockholm
 * 🇫🇷 Assemblée nationale in Paris
 * 🇬🇧 Palace of Westminster in London
 * 🇺🇸 United States Congress in DC
 * 🇮🇸 Althingi in Reykjavík
 * 🇩🇪 Landtag Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf
 * 🇩🇪 Niedersächsischer Landtag in Hanover
 * 🇿🇦 South African Parliament in Cape Town
 * maybe more?

Links about languages

 * Indigenous languages of the Americas
 * Indigenous Australian languages
 * Language isolate
 * Extinct language

Renewable energy
Interesting to compare :-) See also list of renewable energy topics by country and Special:PrefixIndex/Renewable energy in.

Location
Overview of the historical rule over the area where I live; more or less:
 * 1995-present: Flemish Brabant >  Flanders > 🇧🇪 Belgium > 🇪🇺 European Union
 * 1980-1995: Province of Brabant > Flanders > 🇧🇪 Belgium > 🇪🇺 European Union
 * 1950s-1980: Province of Brabant > 🇧🇪 Belgium > 🇪🇺 European Union
 * 1830-1950s: Province of Brabant > 🇧🇪 Belgium
 * 1815-1830: Southern Netherlands > United Kingdom of the Netherlands
 * 1804–1815: Dyle (department) > French Empire
 * 1795–1804: French First Republic
 * 1477-1794: Duchy of Brabant > Habsburg Netherlands > Habsburg (Austrian Empire/Spanish Empire)
 * 1384-1477: Duchy of Brabant > Burgundian Netherlands
 * 1183–1430: Duchy of Brabant > Holy Roman Empire

Situation of Flanders
From my point of view, we are "threatened" (linguistically) from the north and the south.
 * Language is what people speak, not what people "should" speak. Our official "Standard Dutch" language is just standardised Hollandic. We speak Flemish in Flanders, not Hollandic. Either classify it as a separate language, or recognise the differences and make it a variant of the Dutch standard.
 * The frenchification has to stop.

Flemish in linguistics

 * Flemish (historical): spoken in the County of Flanders.
 * Flemish (modern): the language(s) and dialect(s) spoken in the Flemish Region. There are various dialects of this lect, but it's unifying (in a natural way, not forced), called tussentaal.
 * De Morgen
 * Brabantian: the dialect of Flemish (linguists prefer "dialect of Dutch") which has the most influence to tussentaal.
 * Belgian Dutch: the official standard of Dutch as used in Belgium/Flanders (not spoken by largely anyone).

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Notes on Flemish/Dutch people/ethnic group
It is impossible to define ethnic groups strictly. It's more a continuum like languages, so peoples are different but only to a slight extent, just as Flemish is different from Dutch but only to a slight extent (both in ethnic and linguistic sense). The page "Dutch people" is about the people of the Netherlands, just as "Germans" is about the people of Germany (the page does not include numbers of German-speaking Swiss or Austrians. Those Swiss and Austrians just happen to have independent countries, like the Flemish happen to live in Belgium. Take a look for example to Zeelandic Flanders or French Flanders which were part of the historical Flanders, whereas Limburg (Belgium) is more closely related to Limburg (Netherlands) than to other Belgian provinces. Similar cases exist with other counties / ethnic groups. So it is difficult to draw the line of an ethnic group, and I just want to say it is a continuum, so numbers of peoples/ethnic groups are based upon the number of inhabitants of countries for pragmatic reasons.