Harpenden Highland Gathering
Last Sunday, the 14th, we played hooky from church and went to the Harpenden Highland Gathering. It was smaller than some other Scottish festivals we've been to. Even so, it was a lot of fun. The people on the weather committee did an especially good job - it was mostly sunny and the day was dry.
One of the first events was of dogs herding ducks. The dogs were brown, not black and white like the border collies that we usually see at Scottish festivals. But they behaved just like border collies - intelligent and obedient, and eager to please and to herd.
Someries Castle
Recently I biked to Someries Castle. It's made of brick, which is a bit unusual (at least in my book), and all that's left are the ruins of the gatehouse and the adjoining chapel. It's thought that the rest of the brick was used to build the farm buildings in the area. Indeed, the ones I saw nearby are made of brick. It's also thought that it wasn't really a castle, but a fortified manor house. Here's the sign:
Video of Someries Castle
As you can see, it's surrounded by a farm.
Reducing Food Waste
According to the USDA, “In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply.” Here's something you can do about it: Join TooGoodToGo. It's an app that you can use to buy food – at low cost – that would otherwise be thrown away, food from bakeries and restaurants -- food that you want to eat. We used TooGoodToGo a little in the Atlanta area, but it was not widely known there, so using it required a lot of driving. Here in the UK it is better known, and there are 5 participating restaurants and shops within walking distance of our house. The food usually needs to be eaten right away, but it's almost ridiculously inexpensive. Tell your favorite restaurant, bakery, coffee shop, that they need to join!
Here's what we got in a "hot food bag" from Wenzel's for £4.75.
Belfast Taxi Tour 2
One of our stops was at one of the walls separating Protestant from Catholic. As you can see, it is well decorated. Joe gave us Sharpies to add messages to the wall. What came to me to write was a quote from a hymn: "Love one another, word of revelation." Joe offered to take photos of us, so we posed. To be honest, in front of a huge wall that keeps once-warring parties apart, I didn't feel like smiling. This was the best I could do.
Here's another photo that shows just how tall the wall is. They had to make it tall because people were throwing things over it. Joe took us to the other side of the wall, and a row of houses was right up against it. The backs of the houses were draped with chain-link fencing to protect them from objects thrown over the wall.
Crumlin Road Gaol 3
The gaol has four three-story wings coming off of a central space. This is a panorama photo of this central space. Only C wing is open to visitors, and it had a lot of interesting exhibits. The cells were only 7 by 13 feet. In the 1970s, the gaol was overcrowded and cells sometimes held three prisoners each.
The rear of the gaol. Certainly doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy.
Crumlin Road Gaol 2
A benefit of having the courthouse across the road is that you can build a tunnel under the road to make it easy to transport prisoners. And that is what they did.
Nomadic: the last White Star Line ship
The Nomadic is called the last White Star Line ship in existence. It was a tender for the Titanic and her sister ship Olympic. A tender ferries "passengers, their baggage, mail and ship's supplies to and from large ocean liners moored offshore." (that's from Wikipedia)
The Nomadic has a long, interesting history. During its heyday it played host to nobility, celebrities, and the rich and famous. It was pressed into service during both world wars. Eventually it became a floating restaurant permanently moored in the Seine River in Paris. It was almost scrapped several times. In 2006, the Northern Ireland government Department for Social Development bought it at auction (I think it was the only bidder), and it was brought back to Belfast for restoration, and is now open to the public.
(By the way, the building to left of the Nomadic in this photo is the Titanic museum.)
Plastics recycling (or not)
2 questions
Hi !Friendica Support,
I've only been able to upload 1 photo at a time to Friendica. Is bulk upload available?
Since it's not possible to change the permissions of a post once it's been shared, I need to delete and re-share some posts in order to give them a different permission. Is there a shortcut to doing this?
Thanks!
Dirk
Two questions
Hi !TROM,
A user sent me a contact request. It shows up under “Contacts – Pending”, but when I click on the Approve icon, an error page comes up: “Service Unavailable, Friendica can't display this page at the moment, please contact the administrator.”
Also, how do I send a message? I create a message and address it, but when I click Submit, nothing happens.
Thanks!
No, the only place she shows up is on the “Contacts – Pending” page.
At the top of each page is a list of icons. The 3rd one from the left, at least on my screen, is an envelope. When I put the mouse over it, the word “Messages” pops up. When I click on the envelope, I'm taken to an almost blank page that says “Messages”. When I click on the + sign, the page is populated with fields to compose a message: To, Subject, and Your message, as well as a Submit button. I've filled out the fields, and tried various things in the To field, but regardless of what I've entered, nothing happens when I click the Submit button.
Thanks for the help @TROM 😊
I see now. After the last update it seems that not everything updated correctly with our Friendica. We will investigate to see if we can figure it out. And we will let you know.
Edit: actually it does work if the person you are sending a message is in your contact list.
Newbie questions
Hi !Friendica Support,
I'm not finding much documentation about following and connecting.
Is this how it works:
If the only relationship between A and B is that A follows B, then:
- A is a fan and follower of B.
- A and B are not considered connected.
- There is a unilateral friendship between A and B.
If B also follows A, then:
- A and B are considered connected.
- There is a mutual/bilateral friendship between A and B.
Also, from this page:
When you receive a friendship notification from another Friendica member, you will have the option of allowing them as a "Follower" or as a "Friend". If they are a follower, they can see what you have to say, including private communications that you send to them, but not vice versa. As a friend, you can both communicate with each other.
How do you cause a “friendship notification” to be sent? What form does it take when it arrives? I've been experimenting with 2 accounts, but have not seen a friendship notification.
Thank you,
Dirk
Friendica Support reshared this.
Hi Dirk. It depends on the account type and network. For example my Fendica account is setup to accept all friends requests as "followers". So I get no notification when someone adds me as a friend. But if you follow a Mastodon account, and yo are on Friendica, perhaps they get a notification.
In Friendica you can tweak these things a lot. Let me know if you have more questions.
Friendica Support reshared this.
Thank you @Tio
Two more questions:
1. How do I set up my Friendica account to accept all friend requests as "followers"? And what are the other options?
2. I told my sister to take these steps in order to follow me:
a. Go to Contacts
b. Type my info in the “Add new contact” field and click Connect
c. On the page that comes up, click Submit request
She followed the instructions, and without any input from me, we are now mutual friends. Why didn't Friendica ask for my approval?
Thanks for the help!
Friendica Support reshared this.
Friendica Support reshared this.
Friendica Support reshared this.
Tio likes this.
Friendica Support reshared this.
Friendica Support reshared this.
No, she was not on any list – I knew she had an account, but that's all. I had tried to find her account, but could not.
Two unexpected things happened: (1) She became a follower of mine without any notification to me or input from me, and (2) I became a follower of her – again without any action taken on my part.
Friendica Support reshared this.
Friendica Support reshared this.
- Yes @anubis2814 is right. You can change it form there.
- It depends what kind of account you have. Maybe you have it setup to accept all friends requests by default. Please check that. And by the way to add someone as a contact is even easier: use the top search bar and paste someone's profile (url or name). Enter. Now you can submit a friend request. I just clicked to follow you did you get any notification?
Friendica Support reshared this.
Titanic Belfast 1
Titanic Belfast is the formal name of the Titanic museum. I got there about 10 am on a Thursday in late June, and there were plenty of people there. I was kind of surprised until I saw all the tour buses in the parking lot. Anyway, it was well worth the price of the ticket, even with the crowd. The focus, of course, is on the Titanic, but there's also a lot of great information on the history of Belfast, Harland and Wolff, ship building in general, working conditions in the early 20th century, how the wreck was found, and the Titanic in popular culture.
The museum included a ride, like an amusement park ride, that recreated the atmosphere of the shipyard. I took a couple of videos during the ride.
Maritime Mile
The next day, while Ellen was working, I retraced our steps to the Lagan River. There are a bunch of attractions along the river, on what Belfast calls the "Maritime Mile." The famous ocean liner Titanic was built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff, who, at one time, were one of the biggest shipmakers in the world. At their peak, they employed about 20,000 people in Belfast (if I remember rightly). Their 2 big gantry cranes, Samson and Goliath, are Belfast landmarks.
One of the attractions along the Maritime Mile is the Titanic Museum. You can see it in the background in the photo above. It's the strangely shaped building between the yellow cranes on the left and the apartment building on the right.
Trip to Belfast
We took a quick trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland for a meeting for Ellen's work. The only reason I heard about Belfast when I was growing up was when it was in the news because of The Troubles, and that was not infrequent. But according to the taxi driver who drove us into town from the airport, "We're all friends now." That was good to hear, but we heard a different story from a tour guide 2 days later.
On our first evening there we took a walk through downtown to the Lagan River.
Lany
in reply to Dirk • •All the bands looked sharp and sounded great!