💗 Schengen
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As bad as the US looks at the moment, there has always been an influential group of mostly privileged people in the UK who wish that Britain would adopt a similar approach to America's far-right.
....worth remembering here that there were significant factions in both the US and the UK that supported Fascist Germany in the 1930s.
@vfrmedia @metaphil @fj@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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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
@CannaParts @stf @fj My kids did this! We were there three years ago. https://ohpiglet.github.io/ohpiglet/2023/05/10/multiple-quick-visits-to-the-netherlands-germany-and-belgium/
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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 Schengen is great. I crossed the Swiss–French border almost every day for 4 years. Not sure how many times I got stopped on the public border (we also had a private border crossing with a gate) but it was maybe once or twice a year.
My office was in Switzerland, but I usually ate lunch in our cafeteria just up the road in France.
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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
That's a net summary.
I think Germany's experience was an object lesson to fascist groups, but the vast number of battle hardened and military-trained service men returning from a war and wanting social reform was a factor too.
The post-WW2 consensus was built on an Establishment fear of old institutions being deposed in favour of new socialist states.
....afterall, the economic reforms of the 1980s coincided with the collapse of the USSR.
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like this:
in the beginning of 1963, the town of Elten was Dutch, but on August 1, it became German
Dutch and German traders moved their trucks into Elten with all sorts of cargo in late July that was usually subject to import tax (butter, coffee, etc)
so when the borders shifted Aug 1, there was no import tax, because the goods hadn't moved
the event became known as "Eltener Butternacht": Butter Night
it was so huge they had to do road repairs
Eltener Butternacht maakte exporteurs rijk
Op 31 juli 1963, vandaag 47 jaar geleden gebeurde het: De Eltener Butternacht, een bijzondere anekdote in de Nederlands-Duitse geschiedenis.
Duitsland Instituut (duitslandinstituut.nl)
There was a porous border in WWII in Konstanz on the Swiss/German border. People were allowed to pass small packages from CH to DE like coffee, sugar & clothing in sight of boarder guards. I knew some Milwaukee German families who’d emigrated to the US in 1860s that sent packages there.
This probably happened in several places. Basel, CH is the juncture of CH, DE & FR. -
M mttaggart@infosec.exchange shared this topic
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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
Are there border controls? -
R relay@relay.publicsquare.global shared this topicR relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
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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 "Swing state"
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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
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I suspect locals are more likely to stand — it is styled after a traditional swing
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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 love these symbols of unity and community. Makes me feel hope that someday we would have world peace.
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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
-
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.”"
