Comment by hyperman1 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hyperman1 | Hacker News Reader

Hello guys,

I live in the region (West Flanders, Belgium) so here are some local stories.

* When my brother in law was a kid, he found an old bomb at the roadside and decided to take it home on his bike, saying things like 'Look what cool stuff I found'. Of course mom panicked and called the deminers. All friends came to look how the dismantling went.

* In fact I know plenty of people finding old grenades and stuff. People die every year messing with them at their kitchen table, even if everybody should know by now not to do that.

* Lots of farms have a heap of old bombs on the terrain. Once a year or so DOVO comes and picks them up.

* Polish people are used a lot as cheap builders and road workers. In general they dont understand Dutch (the local language) or even English. So while people try to warn them not to touch any strange metal things they find on building terrains, the message doesnt come trough (' Know nothing. Talk boss'). Nasty accidents happen as a result.

* A few years ago, an old lady dug up a hand granade from her vegetable garden. So she calls DOVO, the organisation that does the demining. DOVO responds something like no time, call back later. This pissed her off enough to throw the bloody thing in a bucket, drive to dovo, and give the bucket at the reception desk saying ' This is yours'.

While typing this, my wife asks why I'm typing on that nerd site of mine. So now she suggests going to the dunes 2 km from here and taking a photograph if I see one. Sorry guys, Im not messing with old bombs in the dark after the Brussels terrorist attacks, but yes, it's that easy.

Story in my own family: we had some relatives who lived in a village near Ypres. In their living room they had this giant iron stove. When the Germans invaded they buried some cash and jewels under a tile under that stove, and fled to France. After the war they returned to the village, in the hope of retrieving the jewels. However, they were unable to find back the stove, due to the fact that they could no longer locate the house... due to the fact that they could not find back the street. The whole village was literally dust.

Funny one: A nephew of mine bought a house in the region, and started clearing out the mess in the cellar. At the back, behind a fake wall, he found old bottles with a small fortune in DMarks. Unfortunately, the german mark was replaced with a new version after the hyperinflation between the 2 world wars, so it wasnt worth anything anymore. We assume they were left behind by german soldiers in WW1. No idea what he did with them.

I also live in the region. The fact is that the people have come so used to bombs they stopped caring much about it. A lot of people handle the bombs without much care and in fact even the people from DOVO just throw them in the back of the truck and store them in a hangar because the detonation/neutralization machine is broken (at least it used to be a year ago, but probably still is).

For dutch people: here's an already classic video of west-flemish farmers trying to explain to Polish workers they need to run away if they see a bomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWD3GqLOTgk Basically they suffix every Dutch word with -ios so it sounds Polish. The polish workers just nod without understanding a single word.

The video itself was meant as a joke, everyone knows that ;) - it was on a popular dutch show

"That nerd site of mine" That's funny. I'm not even reading the articles anymore. I get more info., and enjoyment out of the comments.

(And yes I know this is a serious subject.)

Yep, most of the articles itself are goddamn garbage, the comments actually have worthwhile content

Always nice to learn new things about your own country :] Though I'm kinda surprised by point 2 (people dying at home) and 4 (road workers dying). I saw 2 in the past (like 20 years ago or so) in the news but does it realy still happen every single year? And I don't recall ever hearing about 4: might be me (I don't read news on a regular basis) or does it not happen often or with only minor injuries or is it deliberatly kept out of the national news?

For 2) : I do programming in the healthcare industries, so I see sometimes the bills for care given to these people. They survive but generally need fake arms and legs. Generally kids who underestimate the danger, and find things in dunes, old bunkers, etc.... I presume some die too, but then I don't get to see the evidence. I think it's like car accidents: So common they don't get reported on anymore unless you start looking for them.

For 4) I hear the storys second hand, and i tried talking to them an dgot nowhere fast, so I can see it happening. I know a few year ago there was a scandal where hurt polish people were silently transported back to poland. In general, they are cheap and work in unsafe ways, and the builders hope like hell the authorities don't catch on, so bad news is hush-hush.

For the fans: Here is a local news article where a bomb was found and cleaned up recently. http://www.hln.be/regio/nieuws-uit-oostende/oesterbank-geeva... I live just above the map so didn't have to evacuate or stay away from the windows. These things still happen every 2 years or so. At this point, everybody stopped caring much.

Hey, this is off topic, but I will be in Belgium for my first time this November. I'd love to meet up with some folks from "that nerd site" of ours ;)

I'll be there for the Devoxx conference in Antwerp, and probably a bit of time before/after. Contact info is in my profile if anyone's interested in getting together.

>Polish people Well, that's just lovely. Because it is THAT hard to use google translator and write down "METAL THINGS IN GROUND BAD. CAN GO BOOM BOOM. NO TOUCHY"

I understand your feelings. However, * farmers in general are pretty conservative about things like computers

* you dont' always know when you hire workers from a temp agency that nobody speaks your language.

* Its only recently that there is GSM internet reception in most fields here.

* Even I, an ITer pure sang of the internet generation, didn't think about this when being confronted with them while doing a small walk around and meeting them unexpectedly.

None of these makes this right, of course. But, I can see how this happens.

It only takes one person to translate the message once and then it can be spread from employer to employer. It really would not be that difficult to get the word out in terms that the workers could understand. I don't see any legitimate excuse for not doing it.

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