Traffic lights were hand operated.
The small town where I grew up had one pedestrian traffic light for crossing the main road. There was a small brick shed next to that traffic light with no windows and a little door. When I was little I was convinced that was an operation’s center where someone worked to turn the lights red or green.
In reality it was a power substation for the neighborhood, but I was seriously convinced that behind that door was a man looking at a TV screen and operating the traffic light at the right moment.
When we went to a larger town nearby, where there were traffic lights without a convenient mysterious building nearby, I told myself that the traffic light people were most likely working under ground, peeping through the drains.

I… was good at making up answers for myself instead of just asking my parents.

Prompt: high-angle, sci-fi movie, a cluster of colossal aerostats, drifting above menacing purple lighting clouds in a violent alien atmosphere, a spacecraft is on approach to land at the aerostat, dramatic lighting, shot on 35mm film --ar 3:2 --v 6.1

In the violent upper atmosphere of a gas giant, aerostat research outposts allow scientists to observe weather patterns up close and collect gas samples. Supply runs are a lethal endeavor and can only be performed when lightning activity is at its lowest.

The first house in my city is from 1976, the entire city is built on reclaimed land. It went from 100 residents back then to more than 220,000 now.

A fun fact is that they still find stuff in the ground from old shipwrecks to crashed WW2 bombers.

Time is up and here are the scores:

@Trollivier@sh.itjust.works, you can choose your favorite and select a winner.

You’re welcome :)

I have two ways of explaining. The first one is just saying “I work with data” followed by some hand waving and shrugging.
The other is where I really go into detail and explain everything. Going gaga over some minute aspect that I find awesome but couldn’t even interest one of my coworkers.
Neither seems to really work, but I don’t get follow up questions which suits me just fine :)

Maps and compass. I like the reliability of finding my way no matter where I am. Plus it’s fun!
Especially the trick of using two landmarks to pinpoint my location on a map makes me feel like an old-fashioned navigator :)

Following someone else’s comment, I made another one using “tattoo someone took because of a stupid internet challenge”

Even nicer if you ask me :)

I just used “tattoo”

Huh, that’s actually really pretty. I mean, if i had to get a tattoo, I wouldn’t mind it being this one.

So nice to hear that someone used it as a wallpaper! :)
I made it in Midjourney so thankfully it’s still around. I think it’s this one, right? I’ve upscaled it for you.

Oh and here’s the original, if the upscale is not to your liking. I just noticed that it makes it a little too clear and neat.

Prompt: colossal scale, godzilla wearing a pink suit with lots of bling and fur trimming, strutting through a destroyed city with a fancy cane, ultra low angle shot --ar 3:4 --v 6.1

Somewhere on Skull Island sits a miserable shaved giant ape :)

This really creepy Czech Alice in Wonderland movie. It used stop motion with animal skeletons, fish heads, and tons of other things.

My mom put it on when I was little in an attempt to keep me occupied.
“Would you like to watch Alice in Wonderland, Thelsim?” She’d ask.
“Yea!” I would shout enthusiastically, thinking she meant the Disney movie.
Half an hour later I’m crying and hiding under the blankets.

I never did watch that movie again. Maybe it’s not so bad now, but the screenshots still make feel very queasy.

Time’s up!

Congratulations to @Trollivier@sh.itjust.works for an awesome entry and a very well deserved first place! I really love it, it’s just perfect.

And a special mention to @UpUpAndAway@sh.itjust.works for the original misuse of tropes :)

Actually, all of you did great, thanks so much for participating!

Yes, that was kind of the entire joke :)

A slipknot works great! It’s done in a second and easily undone as well.

You posted this image three times in a row with different titles.
I removed the other two and will leave this one in.

Please don’t do this again, it’s considered spam.

In Dutch it’s called a trouwring, which as a verb literally translates to wedding ring, but as a noun also to loyalty ring.
Which I find rather sweet.

That could be an alternative, but it would make the whole process a lot more involved.

Maybe a new post could be made after the seven days are over with all the entries added as replies for people to vote on? Then after 24 hours a winner can be declared. It would at least give everyone an equal chance as far as exposure to the Lemmy algorithm goes and everyone can submit their entry at their own speed.

1. Open submission post
2. Let participants add their entries to the post as replies
3. Close submission post after 7 days
4. Create voting post with all entries as replies.
5. Wait 24 hours
6. Tally upvotes and other points to declare winner.

That would basically be an instant disqualifier, I don’t want to kick people out of the challenge altogether.

But I realize this -1 doesn’t work that well either when a lot of people post anyway. Maybe the whole upvote system just doesn’t work that well.

:D
I was wondering where those came from, well it adds to the image so I’m not complaining :)