perpetual disarray @astra-the-dragon - Tumblr Blog

Pedestrian traffic lights

Ooooh, we have a bunch of really fancy pedestrian traffic lights in Germany! I need to share:

Starting off with the difference between formerly Eastern German traffic lights (upper images) and formerly Western German traffic lights (lower images):

The city of Erfurt had some additions, like an umbrella or a heart:

Same sex love in Marburg (upper image) and Frankfurt (lower image):

Traffic light lady in Bremen:

Karl Marx light in Trier:

Face of Friedrich Engels in Wuppertal:

Elvis in Friedberg (Hessen):

A sparrow (for the Golden Sparrow film awards) in Gera:

Winemaker in Bad Dürkenheim:

Mainzelmännchen (mascot of the public broadcasting service ZDF) in Mainz:

Otto Waalkes (German Comedian) in Emden:

Town musicians of Bremen in Bremen:

A miner in Pirmasens, Rheinland-Pfalz:

Bishop in Fulda:

Source: Saarbrücker Zeitung

Enjoy!

translatingpoststogerman

And we call these "Ampelmännchen" ("traffic lights little man").

robot-roadtrip-rants

omg that's amazing! I wanna visit Germany just to take pictures of all the cute traffic lights.

oneheadtoanother

mokeonn

Here's the unedited comic for those curious:

letsnotandsaywewantedto

The original is from June 18, 1959.

Some have called "they pay me in woims" Sluggo's catch phrase. It's not. He said it once, and folks on Bluesky loved it so much they say it all the time, especially in response to the Nancy Comics by Ernie Bushmiller account. Here's the original "they pay me in woims" from February 22, 1978:

And, another mention of woims from September 13, 1949:

And the Woims Wednesday (aka Woimsday) image that gets posted almost every week because of the popularity of the word:

penny-anna

The thing is every step of the situation does actually make perfect sense if you follow it more closely. Why is Farage stepping down and immediately re-running? Well he's trying to delay the investigation into his finances and also pull a PR stunt. Why is no-one else running? Well they don't actually want him out of parliament yet because they want the investigation to continue. Why is his main competitor a man with a bin on his head? Oh that's just Count Binface, he runs every time there's a high profile by-election. Why is he Count Binface? Well he used to be Lord Buckethead but he had to drop the character due to a copyright dispute. Why was he Lord Buckethead? Well in 1977, Star Wars was released in cinemas,

mylordshesacactus

For all that the 1800s etiquette guides are--obviously--derangedly sexist from a modern perspective? They're also mindblowing in how casually they will assert things that MODERN DAY CONSERVATIVES would scream and cry and shit their pants about.

"People back then always married young it's natural!!!" Every single 1800s guide I've ever met casually mentions that, of course, you really shouldn't get married before you're at least 20, and waiting until 25 is usually better.

Or, like. Okay here's a long segment:

Just firmly going "it is crazy sexist to blame The Wife for overspending when thirty seconds of asking questions will immediately establish that her husband was outright lying to her about how much money they had. Talk to your wife like a normal person."

Or--okay, here. A section on being honest and not writing love letters in secret, because that's usually a good sign that there's something untoward going on....

....except that he then immediately acknowledges that sometimes, the reason you're hiding this from your parents is that your parents suck. That there are parents who frankly have not earned the right to approve or disapprove of your partner.

(I realize the phrasing there sounds a lot less strong than my summary, but--trust me on this. When you're familiar with the narrative voice of these kinds of books, this passage is downright radical. The mere acknowledgement that if you treat your kids badly, it's your own damn fault when they don't talk to you? I've genuinely never seen that before in this genre. Don't freak out over "properly trained", either. It's just a linguistic shift--at the time, "training" was used the way we would say "raising" a child today. )

yesterdaysprint

The Daily Times, New Philadelphia, Ohio, July 9, 1924

thank-you-everyone-deactivated2

whoever wrote this paper has the funniest phrasing possible

the-wave-finally-broke

happy turtle bit off a cop’s toe in the hudson river day for those who celebrate

saessenach

A CENTURY AGO

transmechanicus

6 hour workday maximum i’m not kidding, if it can’t be done in that timeframe it doesn’t need doing.

vmprblood

this doesn't apply to jobs like childcare

transmechanicus

If i worked in childcare and my 6 hours were up i would start putting babies in ziploc bags and shipping them to Turkmenistan listed as endangered fruits and vegetables

paperandpencilsandskips

fizpup

Get real.

plentyblush

They churned me, Jerry

targetedknowledge

muffinlance

Calico out there putting tuxedo on the mats

do-you-have-a-flag

mapswithoutwyoming

Starting to think all the backlash to the idea of the trolley problem is just people trying to hide the fact that, deep down, they know they would be too scared to pull the lever.

astra-the-dragon

I suppose one of the advantages I've gained from having been in the military is that I went from a suspicion I would have the conviction to make those kinds of calls, an absolute certainty that I do have it. I've held lives in my hands, but thankfully I rose to my training and my convictions. I chose the best of the options I had available to me at the time.

There is nothing shameful about being too afraid of making the decision, in my view. But yeah, it's cowardice to project your anxiety by claiming the philosophical quandary itself is meaningless.

zaprowsdower27

No reason to wonder. A ton of people openly bragged about how morally pure they were for not pulling the lever in 2024. They just hate it when you contextualize it like that and insist they were taking a third option to sound less terrible when their actions are 1:1 compared to the thought experiment.

dragon-in-a-fez

actually I think you should be normal about ordinary citizens of authoritarian countries and yes that applies even to that country you're thinking of right now

imjunebitch

rent lowering gunshots ig: Israeli citizens should be viewed as what they are, captives of a fascist and authoritarian government, and while its morally correct and admirable to hope for the destruction of the government of Israel it is evil to hope for the death of innocent Israeli citizens, who are victims of theocratic fascists in the end.

astra-the-dragon

btw, while it's technically possible to draft dodge from the IDF, doing so basically ruins your entire life, even if you have the full support of your parents and one of the leftist NGOs who help those opposed to the occupation. it's not "just prison". you are asking a 16-17 year old child to spend the next 5+ years in a legal and social nightmare, and psychological torment, followed by a life where you've now been blacklisted from most of society.

most people who oppose the occupation try to get a "jobnik" position, ie in some kind of support role. they might refuse to serve within the occupied territories, they might deliberately do a poor job, or... they might simply try to keep their head down until their years are over, and pray they'll never have to face down the guilt and association that is impossible to escape.

Israelis get groomed into readiness to join the IDF from infancy. when you first get called into the drafting office you are still a child, a teen, trying to learn your place in the world. even if you've heard about the suffering of Palestinians, it's so very easy to decide, well, it's a necessary evil - surely we are only protecting ourselves?

it might be a straightforward choice for John American, 26 year old man, has never lost a family member to a suicide bomber. it's a much harder decision for Oren Yizraeli, 17 year old boy, still haunted by the ghost of the murdered Bibas children.

dragon-in-a-fez

actually I think you should be normal about ordinary citizens of authoritarian countries and yes that applies even to that country you're thinking of right now

dragon-in-a-fez

"but they support [dictator] and [violent action]!" okay is it possible that a combination of propaganda, election rigging, and authoritarian crackdowns on dissent could lead a population to look like it supports something most people would find distasteful under more reasonable circumstances

adventuresofanotsoteenagewitch

Funny how that's not Anti-Netanyahu or Anti-Likud Israelis like the other two are anti- their leadership.

Pretty sure you'll easily find millions of Anti Netanyahu and Likud Israelis, think you'll struggle more to find some Anti-Zionist ones.

astra-the-dragon

I live in Tel Aviv-Yafo. In person, I've met two Jewish anti-zionist Israelis. And I've directly encountered tens of thousands of anti-Likud protestors (among multiple millions, in a country of 10 million).

dragon-in-a-fez

actually I think you should be normal about ordinary citizens of authoritarian countries and yes that applies even to that country you're thinking of right now

dragon-in-a-fez

"but they support [dictator] and [violent action]!" okay is it possible that a combination of propaganda, election rigging, and authoritarian crackdowns on dissent could lead a population to look like it supports something most people would find distasteful under more reasonable circumstances

darnitjack

Yeah, I think being dissatisfied with your government, but too occupied with family, work and life in general to consider open, armed revolt is a pretty universal sentiment.

astra-the-dragon

and you're lucky if peaceful protest is safe

dragon-in-a-fez

actually I think you should be normal about ordinary citizens of authoritarian countries and yes that applies even to that country you're thinking of right now