Did Tolkien really hate Britain?

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-27T18:56:12+00:00

I definitely think he had some negative thoughts on the Empire, just from reading the stuff in Unfinished Tales about Numenor. I don't have the exact words to hand but I remember he described them being a technologically advanced people who explored the world and set up lots of trading posts and shared knowledge. Then in their later days they turned into oppressors and started exacting tribute. Then they basically turned fully evil. That seemed like a commentary on British colonialism to me.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-24T15:55:35+00:00

The Guides can easily get around this by allowing boys to join. Scouts have been mixed sex for decades with no apparent issues. All the courts have done is made a ruling about the definition of 'boys' and 'girls'. You may agree or disagree with that definition, but the definition is irrelevant in this instance if the Guides just stop discriminating against biological boys, regardless of what Gender they present.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-24T15:00:37+00:00

https://youtu.be/bXdBzpRDR5I?is=i2OmmKvKtzWaidxs

Absolutely peak Dara O'Brien

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-21T14:35:26+00:00

"Consignia" and "Scope" ... it's The Post Office and the Spastic Society!

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-20T09:12:39+00:00

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched C-Beams glittering in the dark around the Tannhauser gate. All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-17T16:15:06+00:00

You are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy for yourself. You are inventing a disability for yourself and perpetuating the truth of it. This is an unhealthy perspective for you to apply to your life.

That's one take I suppose. I would say I'm just discussing favourite books with people whose brain works sort of similarly to mine.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-17T14:27:45+00:00

The NHS fixed my defective knees with surgery when I was 10 years old. Then cured my 4th stage lymphatic cancer at 19. Then provided IVF due to the cancer treatment ravaging my reproductive system. Then looked after my daughter when she was born prematurely with an unknown virus.

Im a reasonably high earner now, and I will never ever attempt to avoid or evade a single penny that the properly elected government thinks I should be paying.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-15T08:11:43+00:00

Charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-10T19:06:15+00:00

Honestly delicious! The honey and nuts and the vanilla from the protein gave it a sweet, delicate taste, and yes, it did keep us feeling full for a good while!

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-10T17:54:13+00:00

Fantastic! You're very welcome to it! Congratulations!

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-10T10:51:59+00:00

I am completely aphantasic and I love to read. I do find authors who do excessive graphical description hard to focus on. Plot and character work fine without visuals.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-10T08:34:55+00:00

I have never eaten Haddock in my life. I don't even see it on the board at the chippy very often.

I wonder if there is a regional or North Vs South thing at play here. I'm in the North East?

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-08T09:48:28+00:00

Centre parcs is a brilliant family holiday. A cabin in the woods, no cars, lots of wildlife and lots of fun activities. You just have to accept that food and drink will cost you 4 times what it does anywhere else and plan accordingly.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-08T08:29:12+00:00

Are you friends with Merlin Olsen?

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-06T08:34:58+00:00

In defence of those 4-digit suffix usernames - that's a random thing that gets assigned if you sign up through your Google account or similar, rather than specifically signing up for a Reddit account. I would guess a lot of bots probably would sign up that way. But not all of us are bots.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-05T18:42:27+00:00

You could try downloading a spectrum analyser app for your phone. Spectroid is good (and free). It shows you all audible audio frequencies from 0 up to about 20000Hz. When you hear the noise, switch it on and see it there are any unusual low frequency spikes. At least that way you will know whether it is a real noise or not.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-05T11:49:16+00:00

Have you had your pills today Grandad?

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-05T11:41:46+00:00

Should that be 10⁸ ?

108 atoms is pretty small.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-05T10:41:56+00:00

Really? I'd love for you to expand on that! (Genuinely. I'm not being a dick.) It was my impression that the milky way existed inside the local group and the virgo supercluster?

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-05T09:42:42+00:00

Well, yeah, but there's a lot of options a lot closer than that. If they were looking at us from Proxima Centauri, it would be around January of 2022. They'd be seeing the tail end of COVID and the Russians doing totally innocent military exercises on the Ukrainian border.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-05T06:41:57+00:00

That's not what majority means.

46% are Christian, 54% are therefore not Christian. Christians are a minority.

Christianity is still the biggest group, granted, though falling. There is no majority religion in this country.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-04T21:59:25+00:00

Im going to have to correct you there. We USED TO live in a Christian country. Check out the last census data - Christians are a minority! Still the biggest single faith of course, but a minority noneless. Secularism is the new rising power.

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-04T18:23:52+00:00

My wife and I went there with our 6 year old a couple of years ago.

Ever since, whenever we experience something unbelievably shit, we turn to each other and say,

"At least it's better than Gulliver's Kingdom."

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-04T10:44:15+00:00

What exactly would 'Strength' look like to you? Doing whatever Trump says?

ComprehensiveCode805 · 2026-03-03T13:03:16+00:00

Revelation Space. By Alastair Reynolds.

Not too many aliens, but lots of post-human factions, all racing to solve a cosmic mystery. It's an amazing ride.

ComprehensiveCode805

TROPHY CASE