The Kaiserslautern Murder

For several weeks....folks have been wondering about the murder of a local gal over at the local lake in Kaisersluatern. The murderer involved.....tried to burn the body....to hide evidence over his crime.

Yesterday, based on what's in the local paper.....the cops have arrested their man. It's a guy who lived in the same apartment house as the gal involved. It appears that they had him as their prime suspect early on in the investigation. He was a train engineer.....who had lately been working as a security guard for some local firm.

The catch on this whole thing....was the DNA. At some point after she returned to the apartment, he apparently raped her. He reasoned the burning would take care of the evidence....and he guessed wrong. When the tests came back this week....he was no longer a suspect...he was the accused.

Ten Things About Picking a Car in Germany

1. BMW’s, historically, always have electrical problems by the sixth year. Don’t ask why. It’ll be a short here....a switch there....a broke cable here....etc.

2. If you find a car that’s ten years old....owned by one owner....always stored in the garage....low mileage...buy it. These guys who garage their vehicle....take better care than the guy who keeps it on the street.

3. If you find a guy who has a convertible that he only drove in the summer months over the past ten years....it’s probably worth the extra $3k he wants beyond the blue-book value.

4. A French car is a French car. Unless you buy it new....don’t anticipate getting something of long-term value.

5. If you decide to buy a Fiat over five years old...plan on knowing your mechanic on a personal basis. He’ll travel more....thanks to you.

6. Germans tend to have high expectations on cars and maintenance. So they tend to build cars that last. The British tend to be the opposite....having a fetish for maintenance on a week by week basis.

7. Buy what you need. If you just need a car to get back and forth to work only, then a SMART might be enough to do the job.

8. Germany has this legendary plateau.....you spend $1,500 on a 15-year old Opel...put $1000 into it (tires, battery, brakes, etc) over four years....it’s still worth $1,500 at the end.

9. If you live on top of a hill or mountain....and buy a rear-wheel drive vehicle....you deserve what’s going to happen this winter.

10. Finally, when you’ve accepted the idea of a 12-year old used car....don’t worry about color. It’s the rust content that matters.

Gondwana

About thirty minutes west of Kaiserslautern, there is this museum of sorts that opened about seven months ago. Its called: Gondwana, the Pre-Historic Museum. I ended up spending the day there yesterday....well....three hours anyway.

First those curious....the web site is here.

First, I would advise you to print the map out and utilize a GPS device if at all possible. There are few signs leading to the place....even though it's the only thing within ten miles worth seeing.

Second, it's not cheap...almost $20 for an entry ticket. Kids run around $12.

Third, this town where they built the facility....is a old coal town that was fairly desperate for any kind of money-maker. I'm sure that government funds were used to a huge degree.....it has a substantial amount of parking...although barely forty cars were there when I left.

Fourth, the reproduction of events from 250 million years ago was probably a great teaching tool. If you have a kid seven to twelve years old.....it ought to be mandatory in going to the place.

Fifth, after the tour ends....there is this pub of sorts with a garden area and lots of tables and chairs. It's actually a nifty place to sit and sip a cold beer. They have cake too....but skip it....it's third rate.

Finally, don't have huge expectations.

Oh, you ought to know this....they actually had enough money left over at the end of the construction phase that they could afford Al Gore as the grand opening speech dude. It was Al's first visit to the Saarland....back in December of last year.

Chinese Lanterns

Looks pretty nifty, huh?

Out in the civilized world....way beyond Ripley....the Chinese developed this thing called the flying lantern. The candle inside....helps to put out enough heat, and thus the balloon rises up into the air.

Naturally, a Bama guy would look at this for a while....after being amazed....and then asks "what happens at the end"?

The guy giving the show would likely be kinda upset.....what do you mean...."at the end"?

The Bama guy would respond....well....it's going to come down sooner or later....right?

The demo guy will say "sure", after the candle burns out.

The Bama guy would respond....I'm thinking that candle might not burn out like you think.

This week in German, up in the Hessen area....this couple got married and they wanted some 4-star way of making all the guests feel special. So they got a bunch of Chinese lanterns and everybody let these go up. Looked damn fine after dark and as they rose.

At some point....one of these kinda lost some of its hot air and began to "crash".....landing on some guys porch or balcony.....then all hell broke loose. The balcony caught on fire....then the roof caught on fire.....then the next house or two was in some chaos. So presently, there is around $300k in damages involved. The cops hint that the couple may be liable.

The funny thing is that a couple of German states realized the madness in this mess and forbid the sale or use of the lanterns. Sadly, Hessen wasn't one of them.

So, one of these days....as you and Cousin Snuffy are at the flea market, and you see this trailer load of Chinese lanterns.....and you end up buying fifty of them.....sit and think about this a while. What rises.....must come down....and then what? If this lands on some guy's trailer....you might have issues.

Accidents That Happen

Generally, even in Bama....you know when you've got a bad idea. This past week....in Germany....there was this guy who had a gardener's house out back. This is typically a one-room shed. Anyway, he had weeds...and he had a flame-thrower. We don't know if it was legal or just something that he rigged up....but needless to say...things got out of control.

The gardener's house? Left burnt. Apparently there was a hedge next to this house, and that caught on fire....and then the whole dang building was on fire. He kinda tried to stop the hedge fire with a with a garden hose, but then the blaze spread to the roof of the house.

The sad thing is that the fire department got called and seven dudes showed up for this fire.

This all happened up around Tangstedt...which is pretty near Hamburg in the north.

Playtime in Germany

So this is what we know....two German kids....both six years old.....triggered a regional alert here in Germany this week.

They apparently decided that they’d play a round of pretend work on a nuclear power plant....don’t ask how this came to their mind, but it did. As part of this effort, they needed nuclear signs, to make the proper play atmosphere.

So they went to a computer and did a search for signs...to make the atmosphere more realistic....and found these neat radioactive warning signs....then printed them....in color....and put them up on the door of pretend-work center.

Noisy German neighbors then came to see the odd signs....walk up....and then go into a panic after seeing the word “nuclear”. More than ten police and fire vehicles ended up reacting to the episode (as though they didn’t have enough crime or fires in the afternoon to handle).

The cops ended up closing off the roads and area.....just to deal with the “threat”.
All of this occurred after the two punk kids walked off for a break.

Naturally, I looked at my color printer for a while....a long while....and just a mischievous bit of thought crept into my mind. I won’t say what.....but one day....in my village....folks just might find 300 “nuclear work” signs up on the doors....and the whole village might be locked down for a morning.

The Italy Bonds, Updated

The current best believed scenario on the 135-odd billion in bond deal in Italy?

The mafia did it.....and it would appear more like this as each minute goes by. The bonds are bogus and the entire script that has fallen into place suggest the Mafia wanted to make the Italian cops look like fools. Even the US government, who viewed the bonds....strongly suggested that it was no big effort to determine they were fake.

So somewhere out there this morning....a couple of Mafia guys are laughing over this "joke". Every cop they come across....they probably ask if they have any "bonds"? The whole thing ought to be made into a movie.

The Italy Bonds

The Italian bond episode that I blogged a couple of days ago?

Bogus....the US experts have examined the bonds and declared them completely bogus. In fact, they suggested that the Italian experts should have come to that conclusion very quickly, so they must not have been even good bogus bonds.

Why? No one has any idea. The two Japanese guys? No comments.

Was it a test? Was it a hoax from the first minute....intended as so? It's a curious story with still no end.