JUST STOP!
A symbol known around the world, the stop sign was first introduced in Detroit in the US in 1915. The iconic octagonal shape came in 1922, and in 1954 its red-andwhite colour scheme was made official across the US – and has since become recognised globally. Here it graces a T-junction in the desert near Moreeb Dune in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
This simple message has a clear meaning – no matter where it’s found
This little switch can bring the luxurious ‘Eastern & Oriental Express’ to a standstill. It has scheduled stops in places such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok – and unscheduled ones wherever a passenger or crew member flips this tiny lever.
Guiding an aircraft taxied by a pilot with a limited view is a big responsibility as the safety of passengers, crew, plane and airport are on the line. The crossed wands over the head mean either ‘stop’ or ‘STOP!’, depending on accompanying arm movements.
The very first signal lamp for controlling pedestrians was the idea of railway engineer John Peake Knight and installed in London in 1868. It exploded only a few weeks later and it wasn‘t until 1933 that the city of Copenhagen got this idea to work.
On August 23, 2020, a human chain spanning an impressive 32 kilometres was formed from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius all the way to the Belarusian border to protest this neighbouring country’s dubious election results. Unfortunately, this particular act of public demonstration didn’t stop anything.
End of the line! These two buffer stops unmistakably mark the termination of the railroad tracks at the Gulf of Aranci, in Sardinia, the picturesque Italian island in the Mediterranean. Coming in many shapes and sizes and using various energy absorption techniques, such as friction or hydraulic dampers, these stops are used worldwide to prevent slow-moving trains or cars from going ‘off their rails’.
Language barriers don’t exist with this gesture. Especially when administered by a uniformed police officer. Or do they? If his fingers were slightly more spread out, such an outstretched palm is understood as an insult in many cultures. For example the gesture is called the Moutza in Greece and has been an insult since antiquity. In Western countries, a similar gesture could be construed as “Talk to the hand” (meaning “I am not listening to what you say”).
What raises a red flag at the beach? Large waves, rough surf or other dangerous conditions. The most dangerous of those is probably the rip tide, which pulls swimmers out to sea, sometimes at speeds not even Olympic swimmers can counter. Strangely enough, even a wind-torn red flag like this one still indicates that the beach is closed and you should not enter the water.