Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border • Hacker News Board

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#121

Post by NicoJuicy » Tue, May 04, 2021, 4:52 PM UTC

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?

A lot of people in the north of france spoke Dutch/were Belgian.

Some old people in french speaking still speak dialect dutch. Not the "new" generation.

French Flanders: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Flanders

Additionally, Wallonië is also french speaking and not dutch.

So my guess is that it's pretty common ;)

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#122

Post by csunbird » Tue, May 04, 2021, 4:52 PM UTC

capableweb wrote: post #78

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)?

Where I was brought up, I was taught how to estimate/measure meters in steps when in school, so everyone had a specific gait that measures a meter. 100 of those steps ~= 100 meters. No phone needed :)

I do not think that steps have that good of a precision (2.29%) over 100 steps for measuring distance. Can a human achieve that?

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#123

Post by NicoJuicy » Tue, May 04, 2021, 4:56 PM UTC

cinntaile wrote: post #107

smnrchrds wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may ask, what is the story behind your name? For example, is one of your parents francophone and the other one Dutch? Do you speak both languages natively?

Very few people in Belgium speak both French and Flemish natively. It's one or the other, depending on which side of the language border you live on. In Flanders you have compulsory French classes while in Wallonia you don't have compulsory Flemish classes, but the compulsory classes don't get you anywhere near native proficiency. His last name doesn't sound very Flemish so his ancestors probably moved to Wallonia at…

I don't agree. My French is good enough for talking to French canadians ( native dutch).

And even french have trouble understanding the Quebec language.

Some that learned it never use it, so they forget it though. But they don't need it professionally.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#124

Post by dudul » Tue, May 04, 2021, 4:59 PM UTC

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #110

aasasd wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Searching the web immediately turns up: > Man Bites Dog is an intensely disturbing movie that, despite having frequent moments of dark humor, is shockingly violent and very difficult to watch. With 74% on RT, which is pretty good. I already have conflicting emotions from this. The descriptions evoke the spirit of Bret Easton Ellis' stuff. What I've seen of French film violence tends to be cinematic in an off-putting…

The quote is overstating it IMO. Maybe for its time it was shocking but if you compare it to game of thrones for example, which has rape scenes, torture and murder it's nothing to write home about in its depiction of those. I watched it as a teen with my family and it didn't shock me in the least. It's serious but not traumatizing.

I actually think it is easier to watch as a teen 5han an adult. I watched it a lot with my buddies when I was younger, it was one of our cult movies.

Today, as an adult and a dad I dont know if I could watch the kid murder scene.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#125

Post by wil421 » Tue, May 04, 2021, 5:06 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #13

aetherspawn wrote: post #7

A neighbor once moved the pegs marking our block a few meters so that he could move (and claim) the neutral strip. The most irritating thing, is that he more or less got away with it because he was old and persistent. In fact, he gradually built infrastructure on it, despite hundreds of complaints to the local council and authorities. In the end the council couldn't come up with a good way to settle the dispute, so t…

> In the end the council couldn't come up with a good way to settle the dispute, so they offered to auction the neutral strip and its contents between us to the highest bidder. Here in Germany, he would be issued a demolition order by the court that, in case of non-compliance, will be enforced even with armed police if deemed necessary. On top of that the affected party can sue him for damages.

Sounds like the US. The Sheriff would come if the court issued an order. In my county you can get the survey if it has been done on the property. It’s public records and details the property markers they found.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#126

Post by dmurdoch » Tue, May 04, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

smnrchrds wrote: post #58

_the_inflator wrote: post #32

This is funny. Even funnier are the so-called line houses along the USA/Canada border: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_house

The US-Canada border situation is more sad than funny in the post-9/11 world. I wish the borders were open between US and Canada as they are in Europe. But crossing the border, even though it is barely marked, is a serious crime and heavily enforced. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jogger-who-a...

This is only true in certain places. For example, in the thousand islands, the border between US and Canada is VERY nebulous. A line on a map exists, but you can drive your boat around the islands, entering and exiting the US dozens of times, and absolutely nothing will happen to you. The US Coast Guard is there boating around watching, but only rarely pokes around peoples boats.

Now I'm sure if you landed and somehow were talked to by the border police and didn't have a passport you'd be pretty screwed, but honestly thats pretty unlikely to happen. I know an old couple set in their ways who to this day just boat across the river sans passport for a favourite restaurant.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#127

Post by nucleardog » Tue, May 04, 2021, 5:16 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #116

elliekelly wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Sounds like the setup for some wacky sitcom hijinks.

Marc is from Belgium, Emma is from France. When it came time to decide where to live, they couldn't come to an agreement so compromised and live on the border. But what they didn't know is that neither of them ever truly gave up the fight. Tune in for their late night heists and hijinks as they try to move into their preferred country... by moving the border! Fridays at 8pm on the WEB.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#128

Post by foepys » Tue, May 04, 2021, 5:21 PM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #83

It looks like the farmer's land spreads across the border. How is that possible? Or at the very least his land goes all the way to the border line. Either way, in today's age when the line can digitally recorded, why do we need the stone? Both countries know where the line goes through. Could they not just ignore that one stone and let the farmer do his work? I was hoping they would just ignore it, instead I see that…

> How is that possible?

May I introduce you to the town of Baarle-Hertog? A town that is not only split between the Netherlands and Belgium but inside the Netherlands with Belgium owning most of the town with Dutch fragments inside it. Some houses have a Dutch as well as a Belgian address.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#129

Post by starik36 » Tue, May 04, 2021, 5:22 PM UTC

gumby wrote: post #52

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…

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.

> bollards

I've never heard that word till I started playing GeoGuessr.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#130

Post by gryn » Tue, May 04, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

csours wrote: post #46

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).

Maybe I was the only one confused but "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" means 'It Happened Near Your Home'. The movie was released in English as "Man Bites Dog"

it's very common to give unrelated titles to films when translating them, for some reason.

some times the 'local' title for films that are in English get another unrelated English title.