๐ Schengen
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Schengen โHave 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.โ
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 don't think baarle-nassau ever had a proper border that schengen softened up. it is a very special place, look it up on osm: https://osm.org/go/0EuEZHA
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@ticho @Provincial @fj talking about OpenStreetMap, someone has already mapped it
@mdione @Provincial @fj Love the "source=common sense" tag on the changeset.
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@fj I love it. I just wonder how long will it take until this will be exploited for some kind of weird tax deduction fraud scheme buried deep in historic national and EU tax law (#CumSwingEx).
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)
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@fj they have this on the Estonia-Latvia border too, it may have inspired it, as it's been around quite a bit longer!
Valga and Valka get unique shared central square
The border cities of Valga in Estonia and Valka in Latvia now share a unique central square half of which is in one country and the other half in the other. The vision to restore the once broken historical space in a modern way came from Catalan architects.
ERR (news.err.ee)
#Estonia #Latvia #Schengen #Europe #eupol #borders #baltics #baltic #balticstates
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D drajt@fosstodon.org shared this topic
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@fj i don't think baarle-nassau ever had a proper border that schengen softened up. it is a very special place, look it up on osm: https://osm.org/go/0EuEZHA
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
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Schengen
โHave 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.โ
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 mean ur right that was never really high on my list of things to do in life but hey lowkey iโd do this just to say that i did
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@fj they have this on the Estonia-Latvia border too, it may have inspired it, as it's been around quite a bit longer!
Valga and Valka get unique shared central square
The border cities of Valga in Estonia and Valka in Latvia now share a unique central square half of which is in one country and the other half in the other. The vision to restore the once broken historical space in a modern way came from Catalan architects.
ERR (news.err.ee)
#Estonia #Latvia #Schengen #Europe #eupol #borders #baltics #baltic #balticstates
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Schengen
โHave 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.โ
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 It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing -
@mrtnsnp @fj @herbert_tiemens each period includes two border crossings, so 40 is pretty accurate
@jaseg @mrtnsnp @fj @herbert_tiemens
Nevertheless, 38 is below 40, not above 40, as stated in the OP.But looking at the picture, the chains seem to be shorter than 2.23 meters, so everything should be fine!
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Schengen
โHave 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.โ
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'm disappointed there isn't a landlocked piece of
or 
right in the middle of the swing set. -
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Schengen
โHave 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.โ
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)
-
Schengen
โHave 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.โ
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 Happy people, no ugly German border controls!
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@fj And if you fall off, can you go to hospital in either country?
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@fj Imagine this 80 years ago! It is remarkable how far we came from a continent always at war. Not everything is perfect, but we are on the right track.
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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)
and that is exactly *why* the EU exists (and why it was a daft idea for folk in the UK to vote to leave it and now we are all in a mess because of that decision)
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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
this is why I love Mastodon. Is there a chance that because it is styled after a traditional swing (see pic) as opposed to a child's swing, there may be some sort of exception? (e.g. not play โ though still looks to be high enough/enough of an injury risk)
