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.

Dresden and the Damn Bridge

There is a function within the United Nations....and it's a bit confusing why they exist...but apparently....UNESCO's big mission....is to run something called "World Heritage" effort.

It's like a five-star club, and certainly expensive campaign is involved in some fashion...you just have to trust me on that.

So for a long time...Dresden here in Germany....was a world heritage site. Apparently, they are about to lose their status.

What did Dresden do to lose their status?

For about one hundred years...they've been talking about building a bridge over the Elbe River....and help fix up a traffic problem. To be honest, I don't see how it was it was a problem 100 years ago....but the experts in Dresden say it's been talked about for a long, long, long time.

Apparently, a major part of the UNESCO effort is that you don't fix nothing, improve nothing or build nothing. And if you can do this for 300 years....you get bonus points of some unknown variety.

The humorous part of this deal....is that someone within UNESCO says a new bridge "will irreversibly tear apart the historic cultural landscape.”

It's bad enough that foreigners get involved in your business...but to hold some status up above your head, and then kinda jab you and say new bridges will destroy culture...well, you have to start laughing.

The curious thing for me....is this a German guy or two in UNESCO saying all of this? The press is very careful in attributing who says what and won't come out to say who runs this function of UNESCO.

Germany: The Cop Scanner Story

This week in Germany....there was a bit of amusement. There is a weekly comic that comes out via Disney....for kids....the Micky Mouse comic. Unlike the US version....and for years....this comic is pretty upscale and more expensive....but they insert a toy or a item of interest into the magazine. So the kid is willing to pay $4 for this simple $1 comic. Don't ask me about common sense here....I just report things. So this week....it was a radio the size of two match-boxes. It was supposed to be a AM receptive radio....cheaply made of course....in China. I doubt that its worth more than $1 at the most. At some point early in the week....up in Hannover....parents began to call up the cops and report the radio also picked up police chat over their radios. Naturally, because such receptive devices are forbidden and you just can't listen into German cop talk over the radio....the police got real upset. So starts the investigation. So far, from what everyone is indicating....its only up in the Hannover area....and its pretty random when the radio picks it up. They won't admit how close they have to be.....but I'm guessing within 500 feet of the cop's radio. The Disney folks naturally are saying that this has been tested completely and meets the spec's. My guess is that there are some cop radios there....which are a bit off the normal frequency but since they are all off just a hair....no one notices. If they drove over to Bremen....they probably would have issues talking to the Bremen guys. The kid's radio's? Just a cheap toy that does what its suppose to. Everyone will get peppy about this....and eventually someone will ask why the cops don't want anyone listening in....and then we'll have thousands of these receptive radios being sold.