SPQR obin

—  Wikipedian ♂ —
Born	Vilvoorde
Name in real life	Robin
Nationality	Belgian ( EU)
Country	Flanders
Time zone	UTC+1 / UTC+2
Ethnicity	Flemish
Eyes	Brown
Handedness	Left-handed
Blood type	A
Sexuality	⚣
Family and friends
Siblings	1 sister
Education and employment
Occupation	Student, Procrastination
University	Ghent University
Hobbies, favourites and beliefs
Religion	None ( "culturally" Catholic, see religion in Belgium)
Politics	Very interested in, but difficult to put a single term on... (generally liberal with social, green and conserv ative aspects)

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

Found thanks to [1]

The sum of all knowledge? That includes things like:

• Justin Bieber on Twitter
• 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
• ...

Userboxes

Writing systems	Latn-N A This user has a native-like understanding of the Latin script. Grek- 2 Ω This user has an intermediate understanding of the Greek alphabet. Cyrl- 2 Д This user has an intermediate understanding of the Cyrillic script. ipa-1 ə This user has a basic understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Wiki	This user is a bureaucrat on Wikimedia Incubator. ( verify) This user has a page on Wikimedia Incubator. This user loves userboxes.
WikiProject	This user is a participant in WikiProject European Union. This user is a member of WikiProject Belgium.
Geography - Politics	This user supports the United Nations. This user is from Flanders. This user supports the independence of any nation that wants it. This user does NOT support the unification of Flanders and the Netherlands. This user supports Flemish independence. This user supports the European Union. This user wants Brussels as the only seat of Parliament.
Software - Computing	This user uses Google as a primary search engine. This user loves using Google Earth. This user contributes using Firefox. PHP-N This user is a fluent PHP user. < html> This user can write HTML. W3C This user believes in compliance with W3C standards.
Other	This user supports the legalization of same-sex marriage. This user is a Pisces. This user loves pizza. This user enjoys contributing to Wikipedia without wearing clothes. This user wants to stop global warming. This user is nocturnal. This user believes the world would be a happier, safer and saner place without religion. This user is aware of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Y This user is a member of Generation Y.

Useful, interesting or nice pages

Templates

• Template:Distribution_of_languages_in_the_world

Templates

• {{ outdent}}
• {{ like}} SPQRobin likes this.

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)

• Vlaams Parlement in Brussels
• Belgian Federal Parliament in Brussels
• Bundestag in Berlin
• European Parliament in Brussels & Strasbourg
• Riksdag in Stockholm

Only seen from outside:

• 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:   Province of Flemish Brabant >   Flemish Region >   Kingdom of Belgium >   European Union
• 1980-1995: Province of Brabant >   Flemish Region >   Kingdom of Belgium >   European Union
• 1950s-1980: Province of Brabant >   Kingdom of Belgium >   European Union
• 1830-1950s: Province of Brabant >   Kingdom of 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

Flemish

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).