I had a fairphone 2 years back. Had the battery replaced once, otherwise it worked fine. It was a bit clunky, a bit slow, the camera wasn't that great, it felt a bit out of date overall, but I'm not crazy about this sort of thing, I just need a basic smartphone. For me the environmental and fair trade aspect was the selling point, not the technical stats, so I can't really speak on that. It was .. a phone, lol. It worked fine. Friend of mine is using a newer one (not sure which one) and says they've done a good job to bring it up-to-date and especially make the battery last longer. I don't think they aim for super high perfomance cutting edge phones, so don't expect that. Oh, because you can take them apart, they are obviously not waterproof. Just something to know.

I've had terrible insomnia for pretty much my entire life. I've done it all ... the only thing that "works" is radical acceptance. I sleep, when/where/how I can sleep - time of day, place, other plans, doesn't matter. Or I'll just be tired, I'm used to that, I've stopped seeing it as a problem.

I used to sleep sitting in a chair in the kitchen for a while, because that's just what worked. Head down on the table, like I just dropped dead. Gave my daughter a good scare a couple of times, when she was getting up in the middle of the night to get some water, lol. But usually I get the most sleep throughout the day via little naps. It is what it is, there's worse problems one could have. :)

Children are very good at adapting to new things. I think the most important thing is to keep the lines of communication open - maybe you already have a ritual together where you decompress together and reflect the day, maybe expand that or introduce it, so she has a set "room" for her thoughts. More than "doing something", I would encourage you to listen and see what she needs (not that I think you're not already doing that, but sometimes it can feel like we have to ACT, when being attentive and react can be more helpful).

I personally would try to get involved in the school, as far as this is possible, get to know the other parents, get a feeling for how the community works, where/how we can socialise and hopefully get some ideas how to help her connect to the other children quickly and easy (events, clubs etc). Maybe the teachers already have some ideas on how to help integration - when a child from another country joined the school of my daughter, they did like a week or so of days where the children would show and tell something about their country or culture or family, all of them, not just the new one, so they immediatly found things they had in commonm and others to be curious about.

Be open, be curious - she'll pick up on your attitude towards the new situation, so make it a fun adventure more than a challenge. :)

This face scan age verification stuff is so funny to me (except for the potential horrible consequences and complete loss of anonymity). It's like - behold, we've found a way to create a digital version of a mildy stoned gas station clerk!!1 lamo Older brothers just got useful again.

Still working on my Twin Peaks original design cross stitch - what kind of madman made it so big ..?! 😩 😆

Sorry, I call it a rave for traditions sake, but it's an annual techno music festival - not like an actual rave-rave like we had in the 90ies. 😊

I'm very lucky in this regard. I have a second daughter, she's proper grown up and lives her own life - but she still calls me just to tell me about her day .. it's amazing. I never would have dreamed to do that with my parents, our relationships are so different... I mean, my younger one is a teen, so she rolls her eyes at me at least three times a day, but that's her job, right. 😄 All in all, we get along great. I mostly try to stay out of her hair, but still be curious about her - it's a balancing act for sure.

When I became a father, it really struck me how lonely lots of the other (straight) dads were. I made some good friends, but some men remain very emotionally unapproachable. It's tough for me, I'm a lovey-dovey type of person and I need at least some of the same energy back to maintain a relationship. So not that many straight male friends for me, but the ones I have are much appreciated.

That's great to hear!

I also like to think I have become a much nicer person to be around (about 10 years sober now). It's difficult for me to pinpoint it on one thing, since when I stopped drinking a whole lot of things happened and changed at the same time, but I do think alcohol had a corrosive influence on my personality. I was just angry all the time when I was drinking. I didn't act it out openly, but looking back there was an underlying (passive) aggressiveness in all my interactions with other people. I would feel like shit about it, drink a lot to make me happy, but the alcohol would jut make me more irritated ... rinse and repeat, for many years, until I finally started to face my feelings (all of them) head on and sober. I think I have become more "me", more the person I am supposed to be and feel comfortable with. I have had these sorts of sudden realizations, years into my sobriety, where I would suddenly stop and think, hey, I'm .. happy? Just happy and content with myself, by myself? That's new, lol. And I do think other people feel it and react positively to it.

Children love to help. It comes to them as naturally as play. "Chores" are just things that need to be done .. I think it's helpful to not think about something you have to do everyday as a burden, just for my own mental well being, haha. When my daughter was young and around me all the time, I would have found it weird to exclude her from everyday things that just need to be done. I didn't even phrase it as "help" - we would just do those things together, just like we played together. She's a teen now, and knows how a household works and she just does stuff that need doing, just like any other member of our household. I mean, of course her room is a mess, but that's just age appropriate.

Looks good on first glance. Here in Germany, the new government did the ministry shuffle and created a wholly new one, which was - and still is - pretty disruptive to the stafe-funded scientific organisations. It also came with budget cuts, so maybe the new EU programme at least will relief some of the burden.

Fiskars is mainly known for gardening tools (at least that's how I know them), but they also make cookware and cutlery.