💗 Schengen
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Schengen “Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.”
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj I do hope that anyone who uses the swing isn't going to need to mention every visit to a foreign country on something like the US immigration form.
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Schengen
“Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.”
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj Imagine how it used to be!
“Passport please”
“Passport please”
“Passport please”
“Passport please”
“Passport please”
“Passport please” -
Schengen
“Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.”
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj I love the title because the swing is definitely constructed
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@electropict @urlyman @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
i think scotland leaving should happen *as long as* it's framed as a return to the EU. then it's not about the usual right wing goal of disintegrating the west (like alberta) but about fixing a mistake of disintegration. then if the rest of the UK rejoins the EU, no biggie, welcome back into the fold
then again, i'm american and we're always opening our big mouths on things we should just keep quiet about
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Schengen
“Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.”
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj if the USA had this my gender and legal situation could literally rapid phase
tug of war where my tits alternate legality and which prison id go to
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@electropict @urlyman @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
i don't really like this graph. there's other dimensions of ideology. but what use is a 16 dimensional graph? and even then "you're forgetting the ideological divides of a,b,c,d,e,f..." so then you have a 738 dimensional graph. and even then...
left and right is fine
because that's the usual political axis across which people think. it's extremely rough, but we can't capture ideology this way so the approximation of 1 dimension is fine
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Lol. For a simple playground swing dangling on chains:
EN 1176-1 mandates that the free fall height over concrete or stone is max. 600 mm.
EN 1176-2 mandates a "minimal ground clearance" (distance between ground and bottom surface of the seat) of at least 350 mm.
EN 1176-2 also gives this formula:
free height of fall = length of the suspension member / 2 + height of swing seat at rest
If we consider that minimal ground clearance + thickness of seat = height of swing seat at rest, and generously ignore that seat thickness, we get, as a maximum chain length:
length of the suspension member = 2 * (600 mm - 350 mm) = 500 mm.
So, the maximum permitted length of the swing chains would be 50 cm
If there was a grass surface below, the max. acceptable free fall height would go up to 1500 mm, and the max length of the chains would go up to 2 m 30 cm.
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@ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
germany's (self made) wounds were so huge they had a culture shift
but usa and uk, where the same nascent fascism as germany also was, never had such a reckoning
for a long time the generations that saw the war recognized it and kept it in check
but those generations died off
and so it was just a matter of time before they hit upon a strategy that allowed them to come to the fore on minds that did not learn from history and do not understand the threat
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Schengen
“Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.”
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj "Among many European tourists taking pictures with the new attraction, one Belarusian family stood out.
With no direct flights from the EU to Belarus due to sanctions, they are living the consequences of human-made borders daily. As he watched his children on the swing, the father expressed a deep longing. “Hopefully, borders will no longer be necessary in the future.”"
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The US and the UK are alike in suffering vast consequences for this far right upwelling of stupidity. We both have a lot of fixing to do. I'm pretty sure the UK will slowly rejoin the EU piecemeal
Like this:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/uk/britain-erasmus-european-union-student-intl
All the ignorance and lies but what makes sense still and always will make sense and never goes away. Time and clearer minds will do their thing
@benroyce They've slashed international student placements here (under our supposedly Liberal gov) which has caused one of our local community colleges here in Manitoba to outright close, with a statement that it's because of losing the international students.
Smooth move, ex-lax. #FuckCarney
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@fj When I was fitter I managed to cartwheel across one of the borders at Vaalserberg. I can't remember which border, because I was full of Dutch bier at the time
@RupertReynolds @fj if it was Dutch beer, then you did it wrong.
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@RupertReynolds @fj if it was Dutch beer, then you did it wrong.
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@electropict @urlyman @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
i don't really like this graph. there's other dimensions of ideology. but what use is a 16 dimensional graph? and even then "you're forgetting the ideological divides of a,b,c,d,e,f..." so then you have a 738 dimensional graph. and even then...
left and right is fine
because that's the usual political axis across which people think. it's extremely rough, but we can't capture ideology this way so the approximation of 1 dimension is fine
@benroyce @electropict @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
All models are wrong but some are useful. And this one usefully shows a significant distance between where people place themselves and the positions taken by the representatives they vote for. Irrespective of values, that’s concerning
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@benroyce @electropict @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
All models are wrong but some are useful. And this one usefully shows a significant distance between where people place themselves and the positions taken by the representatives they vote for. Irrespective of values, that’s concerning
@urlyman @electropict @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
to be honest with you what i'm really saying is i resent the authoritarian - libertarian axis
1. libertarianism (in the usa) is not social libertarianism it's right wing economic libertarianism. useful fools for plutocrats since less economic control means the rich win
2. i don't believe in an authoritarian left. yes it's a thing but i see only fascists who haven't fully worked out the contradictions in their thinking. tankies suck
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Schengen
“Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.”
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
Sometimes in mid 1980s as teenager I was sking in Lapland. We made a trip to where borders of Finland, Sweden and Norway meet. I decided to make quick Nordics tour and clocked 12 seconds to go around the border marker with skis.
It was very different as the place where I had spent most of my summers was close to the border with Soviet Union. Heavily guarded hostile border then and now.
#borders
@fj
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Belgium has plenty crazy "borders" in the east, too - exclaves and enclaves with Germany - 1st & 2nd WorldWar related...
On the pic you can run/walk Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands also within a second.
It's a nice place to visit and btw. the highest point of continental Netherland (322m above sea level) - 30km south is Belgiums highest point with 694m
How about a carousel instead of or around that stone pillar?
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@fj @herbert_tiemens If we estimate the length of the swing at 2.5 meters, then the period of the swing is 3.17 seconds, so the back-and-forth is 18.9 times per minute.
Did you try it, or did you calculate it?
@mrtnsnp It's a quote from the article
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@benroyce @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
Me neither but this map of it has stayed with me https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/114437610906205685
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@ticho @Provincial @fj talking about OpenStreetMap, someone has already mapped it
