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Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#111

Post by aasasd »

8ytecoder wrote: post #26
317070 wrote: post #14

This is so ironic. There is already a movie (Rien a Declarer / Nothing to declare) whose main premise is a guy spending his nights slightly moving the border between France and Belgium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6MljTh0kws (This extract is French only unfortunately :( ) Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piQPaxlZWu4 (With English subtitles) But, as someone who grew up less than 100 meters from this borde…

One of the most complex borders with hundreds of enclaves and people living there with no clear idea on which country they belong to used to be the India-Bangladesh border. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93Bangladesh_encla...

Belgium has such a place of its own: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog

However India-Bangladesh has enclaves of a higher nesting order.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#112

Post by macintux »

bigmattystyles wrote: post #88
yosito wrote: post #47

Serious question: why does anyone but the farmer care? A 2m move in the middle of a field hardly seems to make much of a difference to anyone else.

Because you have to draw the line somewhere!

I’m conflicted: HN frowns on humor, but this really is a brilliant reply.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#113

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 »

speedgoose wrote: post #60
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaah I was going to post that :D! It stars one of my favorite comedic actors, Benoît Poelvoorde who is belgian. I'd encourage anyone with a taste for foreign films to check out "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" (Man Bites Dog in english) another great movie of his (features lots of violence and serious themes, not a family movie).

Wikipedia says that they removed the woman rape and the kid murder scenes on the American version, 30 years ago. I don't know if people would appreciate such a movie today.

Game Of Thrones has rape, child murder, and torture. I think it'd do fine in that respect.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#114

Post by macintux »

bombcar wrote: post #94
Invictus0 wrote: post #43

Borders are shifting all the time based on how the water flows: [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_border_r... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_river_borders_of_U.S._...

Rivers are an incredibly convenient border and also incredibly flexible over time. "Go west until you hit the river" is easy to understand and convey, and when things are measured in square miles or local it doesn't really matter, but over time that river moves and the exactitude of the boundaries matter more and more.

My uncle argued such a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: the Ohio River is gradually migrating south into Kentucky, so more of that state is now on the Indiana side of the river.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#115

Post by markvdb »

smnrchrds wrote: post #45
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaah I was going to post that :D! It stars one of my favorite comedic actors, Benoît Poelvoorde who is belgian. I'd encourage anyone with a taste for foreign films to check out "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" (Man Bites Dog in english) another great movie of his (features lots of violence and serious themes, not a family movie).

> Benoît Poelvoorde It looks like a very French first name and a very Dutch last name. Is that common in Belgium? Is there a significant overlap between the linguistic communities of Belgium?

I initially started writing half an encyclopedia here, but I scrapped that. Some random bits:

- There's rather limited contact between the linguistic communities of Belgium.

- Knowledge of nl is generally extremely limited in Wallonia. I have a feeling it's improving a bit, even if nl is not obligatory in education there.

- Knowledge of fr is clearly worsening with the youngest generation in Flanders, even if fr is obligatory in education there.

- Mixed nl/fr work environments used to be fr.

- Friends from outside Belgium often tell me they notice absurd humor as a common trait.

- Lots of interesting things to say about language community history too. Long story short, the language border hardly moved the last few hundred years, except for Brussels turning majority nl-> fr in the last ~100 years [0].

- Did you know Belgium has large ar, ber, de (official language!), it, ku, ln and tr communities too?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francization_of_Brussels

P.S. If you like Poelvoorde, watch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brand_New_Testament .

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#116

Post by gumby »

elliekelly wrote: post #79
gumby wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend who grew up in France (well, except for her kitchen which was in Belgium); she went to school in Belgium, crossing the border (which in those days had a gate) twice each day. I just imagine the guards opening the gate for a little girl with a school satchel. The bollards which held the gate are still there.

Have you considered moving them a few meters into France? Maybe your friend can squeeze in a Belgian living room, too.

These are serious bollards, and I think she'd rather move them into Belgium.

Hmm, her husband is Belgian, if moving is involved you're right: he might want them to head into France.

Perhaps they could each move one of them!

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#117

Post by koheripbal »

csunbird wrote: post #21

> A local history enthusiast was walking in the forest when he noticed the stone marking the boundary between the two countries had moved 2.29m (7.5ft). How do you even measure that effectively? Aren’t the stones more than hundreds of meters away from each other? edit: for example, can I do that as well with minimal equipment (e.g. with just a phone)?

A "local historian" - he likely knows the specific marker and has been walking past it for years.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#118

Post by NicoJuicy »

317070 wrote: post #14

This is so ironic. There is already a movie (Rien a Declarer / Nothing to declare) whose main premise is a guy spending his nights slightly moving the border between France and Belgium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6MljTh0kws (This extract is French only unfortunately :( ) Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piQPaxlZWu4 (With English subtitles) But, as someone who grew up less than 100 meters from this borde…

Just by curiosity, i grew up in Alveringem ( Belgium, about 30 minutes from Dunkerque. Next to the French border) and still regularly go to Hondschote ( water :p ).

Where did you grew up and are you still regularly there?

Ps. If it's near, here's something unique about the neighborhood: https://www.google.com/amp/s/sniperinmahwah.wordpress.com/20...

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#119

Post by foobarian »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #36
csunbird wrote: post #21

> A local history enthusiast was walking in the forest when he noticed the stone marking the boundary between the two countries had moved 2.29m (7.5ft). How do you even measure that effectively? Aren’t the stones more than hundreds of meters away from each other? edit: for example, can I do that as well with minimal equipment (e.g. with just a phone)?

GPS. The border was likely digitized a decade or two ago. Someone noticed the stone didn't match the database.

"One does not simply use GPS to mark a spot..."

I tried this at home and it turns out that easily available GPS devices have huge amounts of error, especially without unobstructed line of sight like in woods. I left a phone on a stump recording a walking trail, and it wandered around multiple tens of meters. There is value in what the surveyors do :) Although I guess they would use markers like this as references, so unless they crosscheck with multiple markers and fancy GPS they could make mistakes too.

Edit: and the whole while the GPS receiver is reporting a misleading "5ft" or similar accuracy.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#120

Post by koheripbal »

ilamont wrote: post #57

If you want to see a messed-up peaceful border situation, there is a Mohawk community straddling the U.S./Canadian border with the actual line going through NY State, Ontario, Quebec, Cornwall Island, and the St. Lawrence River. The convoluted rules inhabitants have to follow to see relatives, go to school, get medical care and conduct daily business are extreme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akwesasne

They actually have fewer regulations and can usually cross the boarder very easily.

It's one of the reasons that the area is extremely popular for smuggling.

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