A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods • Hacker News Board

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#91

Post by benj111 » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 9:35 AM UTC

donkeyd wrote: post #90

benj111 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Our entire country (The Netherlands) measures roughly 161mi by 93mi.....Consequently it's impossible to get really lost" You aren't really lost until you aren't in the country you thought you were in. Its possible to lose yourself to Greece say, without crossing a hard border. So the area to get lost in is quite a bit bigger.

It's really obvious when you cross the NL/BE or NL/DE borders though, signage becomes different, houses look different. So unless you cross the border in a wooded area, you will definitely know.

"houses look different"

Really? Just over the border? I would have thought cross pollination over the years would have rendered housing styles identical. Plus aren't there streets where one half is Dutch, the other half Belgian?

Edit: Like here for example

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

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#92

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 9:41 AM UTC

benj111 wrote: post #91

donkeyd wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really obvious when you cross the NL/BE or NL/DE borders though, signage becomes different, houses look different. So unless you cross the border in a wooded area, you will definitely know.

"houses look different" Really? Just over the border? I would have thought cross pollination over the years would have rendered housing styles identical. Plus aren't there streets where one half is Dutch, the other half Belgian? Edit: Like here for example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog

[deleted]

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#93

Post by Aaargh20318 » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 9:53 AM UTC

benj111 wrote: post #91

donkeyd wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really obvious when you cross the NL/BE or NL/DE borders though, signage becomes different, houses look different. So unless you cross the border in a wooded area, you will definitely know.

"houses look different" Really? Just over the border? I would have thought cross pollination over the years would have rendered housing styles identical. Plus aren't there streets where one half is Dutch, the other half Belgian? Edit: Like here for example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog

Yes, just over the border. I live really close to the German border and you instantly notice, everything suddenly looks, well.. German.

A lot of things don't cross-pollinate because they are decided on a national level. So things like the style of signage, traffic lights and other 'street furniture' are all different. Germany also still uses a lot of above-ground cabling which is another instantly obvious difference. Building codes are probably different too, which affects how buildings look.

It's not just the country, it's the people too. Living in a city near the German border we get a lot of people from Germany shopping on weekends. Often you can spot the Germans simply by how they are dressed, especially older people. I can't really put my finger on what is different (as an IT guy I'm kind of oblivious to fashion) but there must be some subtle differences as even I subconsciously pick it up.

> Plus aren't there streets where one half is Dutch, the other half Belgian?

It's even easier to spot when you're crossed the border into Belgium, if you suddenly feel like you're driving off-road you're in Belgium.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#94

Post by gdfasfklshg4 » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 9:57 AM UTC

pacaro wrote: post #32

We regularly did this in Scouts in the UK in the eighties. We would have map and compass and know where we were supposed to get to, but there was general disorientation and disinformation about the starting location. IIRC we were always dropped somewhere such that the obvious path would lead us away from roads and there were certainly adults and/or venture scouts (16-21?) keeping some kind of track of us, but usually…

We did it in the late 90's/early 2000's as well.

I hope they still do it but I guess they don't.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#95

Post by black_puppydog » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 9:59 AM UTC

benj111 wrote: post #88

tom_mellior wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no universally accepted definition of what a mountain is. For whatever it's worth, Wikipedia says things like "official UK government's definition of a mountain, for the purposes of access, is a summit of 600 metres or higher", and "At one time the U.S. Board on Geographic Names defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet (300 m) or taller, but has abandoned the definition since the 1970s".

"is a summit of 600 metres or higher" I didn't think this had been officially metricised (metricated?), I was wrong. Anyway, found an interesting related article. http://metricviews.org.uk/2008/09/what-is-a-mountain-mynydd-...

Broken link, has a quote at the end that's too much. Here's the right one: http://metricviews.org.uk/2008/09/what-is-a-mountain-mynydd-...

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#96

Post by cerberusss » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 10:06 AM UTC

cr1895 wrote: post #89

tdons wrote: post #58

Don't think of this as dropping your kids in say, the High Sierras or Death Valley ;-) This is actually an extremely safe thing, nothing much can go wrong. Some supporting facts: Our entire country (The Netherlands) measures roughly 161mi by 93mi and is densely populated. There's always a dwelling nearby. Consequently it's impossible to get really lost. We also have no natural dangers to speak of, no deadly animals,…

>We also have no natural dangers to speak of Except for the eikenprocessierupsen

For the English speaking folks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_processionary

This particular caterpillar has seen explosionary growth and when it sheds its copious hairs, they cause extreme irritation.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#97

Post by vectorEQ » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 10:07 AM UTC

ddnb wrote: post #64

tdons wrote: post #58

Don't think of this as dropping your kids in say, the High Sierras or Death Valley ;-) This is actually an extremely safe thing, nothing much can go wrong. Some supporting facts: Our entire country (The Netherlands) measures roughly 161mi by 93mi and is densely populated. There's always a dwelling nearby. Consequently it's impossible to get really lost. We also have no natural dangers to speak of, no deadly animals,…

>> (we don't have mountains). Woah, you forgot about the Vaalserberg?

we just call that a mountain :')... it's hardly a hill :D

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#98

Post by benj111 » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 10:10 AM UTC

black_puppydog wrote: post #95

benj111 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"is a summit of 600 metres or higher" I didn't think this had been officially metricised (metricated?), I was wrong. Anyway, found an interesting related article. http://metricviews.org.uk/2008/09/what-is-a-mountain-mynydd-...

Broken link, has a quote at the end that's too much. Here's the right one: http://metricviews.org.uk/2008/09/what-is-a-mountain-mynydd-...

Thanks, fixed mine also.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#99

Post by vanderZwan » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 10:24 AM UTC

kieckerjan wrote: post #81

I did that a couple of times in the last classes of primary school and it was fun. One time the organizers, seeking to spice up the proceedings, had planned a mock-kidnapping. One of the kids (who was in on the joke) disappeared during the hike and soon enough we received something of a ransom note. Kids excited, kids crying. At the climax one of the organizers jumped out of the bushes with a nylon stocking over his…

It's kind of the same with "apekooien", no? At least I heard that's no longer done either. I don't know why adults don't understand that if there is one thing kids love more than running around screaming, it's running around screaming while risking sprained ankles and other minor injuries

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#100

Post by mettamage » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 10:36 AM UTC

This isn't done in other countries (except Belgium)?

Who knew!

I did droppings many times as a kid. Never did I feel unsafe. We did walk quite far. I remember it was 4 hours, we walked next to a highway for quite a while once. Since I was a kid, I have no clue whether we actually walked 4 hours.