The mashup mission

Thought.

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 10:01:00 +0200

Seems like autumn is creeping up.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Cottage life: The ultimate Canadian experience

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:28:00 +0200

If you ever get a chance to visit Canada, you will have to go to a cottage, for a weekend at least. Cause honestly, if you've never been to one, you wont know what the Canadian way of life really is about.

There simply is no arguing about it: Being at a cottage is the Canadian experience. Hanging out in the Canadian wilderness, nothing but woods, lakes, animals and bonfires to experience.

Talking about animals: The squirrels in Canada must be on anabolics. They look as if they've just eaten three South Tyrolean squirrels. As a little snack. Before they have a South Tyrolean badger for supper.

And! There are flying squirrels in Canada. Yes, they are squirrels. And yes, they fly. Or rather glide between the trees. I used to think, that this kind of animals lives in Madagascar only and has big parties singing "I like to move it". Well, that's how wrong one can be...

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Polymer bills: The Canadian Dollar goes plastic

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:03:00 +0200

On my last visit to Canada, I saw something rather particular: banknotes made of plastic. They look different, they feel different, they even smell different.

So acting like the little mountain-girl from the European province I admittedly am, I was quite astonished by this apparently futuristic plastic money. I - frankly - felt like I was catching a glimpse of the distant future.

Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit. If I made it sound as if we were paying in kind or that we were engaging in countertrade around here, let me assure you: That is not the case. (Although, who knows, how long good old paper Euro will make it?!)

Researching a bit about the super-modern Canadian bills, I found out, that they aren't even that new: The so-called polymer notes were first issued as currency in Australia in 1988! And before the Bank of Canada introduced polymer banknotes in 2011, quite a few other countries had the same idea, such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, Zambia, Nigeria, Nicaragua and many more...

The first European country to introduce a full set of circulating polymer banknotes was Romania in 1999, a country that is not specifically known for its role as a pioneer in modern technologies.

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The world explained by two cows

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 12:14:00 +0200

SOCIALISM

You have 2 cows.

You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM

You have 2 cows

The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both and sells you some milk.

BUREAUCRATISM

You have 2 cows.

The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other and then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

VENTURE CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has died.

A CHINESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You have 300 people milking them. You claim that you have full employment and high bovine productivity. You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You worship them.

A FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You go on strike, organize a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.

A SWISS CORPORATION

You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you.

You charge the owners for storing them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION

Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.

You tell them that you have none. Nobody believes you, so they bomb the crap out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows but at least you are now a Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Business seems pretty good. You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION

You have two cows.

The one on the left looks very attractive.

A GREEK CORPORATION

You have two cows borrowed from French and German banks.

You eat both of them. The banks call to collect their milk, but you cannot deliver so you call the IMF. The IMF loans you two cows.
You eat both of them. The banks and the IMF call to collect their cows/milk. You are out getting a haircut.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are.

You decide to have lunch.

I got this text from a very dear friend. I have no idea who owns the rights to it, but I just had to share it.

Have a nice weekend, everyone!

:-[===0

Munich Oktoberfest - warm up follies

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:09:00 +0200

Leading up to the 2 weeks and 3 weekends of traditional buzz during the Wies'n, there are quite a lot "Wies'n Warm Up Parties". At those bashes the theme, dresscode, music and food are, as expected, Bavarian Dirndl/Lederhosen style.

Nothing surprising so far, but today I stumbled across yet another pug dog story linked to Oktoberfest and the related Warm Up Parties. Remember, in 2010 a poor little puppy ended up in the lost and found office.

This year a quite fancy Wies'n Warm Up Pug Dog Party was organized. 74 female pug dog owners payed 100 € to enter the event, themselves dressed in rather exotic Dirndl and botox, their dogs in Lederhosen. Makes for an unforgetable group picture! Host of the event was dog "Sir Henry" and his dog-mommy Uschi Ackermann. (The two even have their own homepage.)

During the event some German folk singer performed his new Wies'n hit song called "Scharfe Möpse". For all the non-German-readers here, that translates into either "Spicy pug dogs" or, using more colloquial German language, into "Hot bo*bs". Hmmm yeah, one hell of a classy party entertainment I'd say...

Sir Henry himself

But not enough with the pugs. Her significant other is Gerd Käfer, owner of a successful gourmet food business in Munich and the dog fever in combination with Oktoberfest must have gotten also to him rather severely. While she was organizing the party, Mr. Käfer wrote recipes with Bavarian culinary specialities for - yes, who else- dogs! I'll try to find out if those cook instructions with names like PUG DOG SUSHI (is it just me or does that more sound like a sliced up puppy??)or WOOF PIZZA are bestsellers...

Bavarian pug dog (the gourmet, not the ingredient!) recipes

I can just agree with the author of a southern German newspaper who asks himself, if there is no limit to the lunacy grasping people as Oktoberfest time approaches.

Munich Oktoberfest in numbers

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:55:00 +0200

This year's Oktoberfest, or "Wies'n" as the locals call it, is coming up.

For quite a while now it hasn't just been a local thing anymore, people from all over the world come to say "Prost!" and "Mahlzeit!" which results in some crazy numbers:

95 gastronomical companies feed the visitors

Oktoberfest employs 8.000 fixed and 4.000 changing workers

the biggest tent is the "Hofbräuzelt" with 10.000 seats available (including the beergarden)
all in all there are 14 big tents and 21 little ones (the smallest has 60 seats available) and together they offer 105.000 seats

2011

had 6.9 million visitors
7.5 million liters of beer (Maß) were consumed
522.821 chicken and
118 oxen were eaten
4.750 things landed in the lost and found office including a Viking's helmet and some fake teeth

Wies'n Hendl

entrance of a tent called "oxen roaster"

even crazier: in the previous year 2010 the same office had to deal with a pug dog, a bunny, riding crops oh hello Christian Grey! and more hearing aids and fake teeth.


the poor dog found in 2010 - who would even bring one to Oktoberfest?!

200 people ask here for their lost phone DAILY!

Thought.

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 15:42:00 +0200

Have a nice weekend, everyone! Hope, all of us get to hear the music.

Flying with Delta part II: Never again

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:21:00 +0200

So, we arrived in Ottawa one day later than we had thought. Spend 10 great days there, visiting family and friends, hanging out at cottages, eating, drinking and relaxing.

When the day of departure came, we were driven to the Ottawa airport, which is very nice, clean and you even go through customs there already, so you don't have to do that after your actual arrival in the US, waiting in lines for hours. Super convenient.

You might see it coming: After three hours of waiting, our flight was delayed and then -surprise!- cancelled. Due to a storm in NYC. Well, we were quite bummed out, but at least we knew we could just call family and stay with someone until the day after, for our rescheduled flight in the early morning.

This time, we were smart enough to recheck our flight online in the evening. And again -who would have guessed?!- it was cancelled. At least we didn't have to go back to the airport, waiting there for nothing. Our next flight was supposed to leave the same day at 2 pm, but checking again online on both airport's and the airline's homepages, it appeared to be cancelled on one of them. So we called the airline and the airport but nobody could help us. Nobody knew what was going on. So we went there anyways, but we were pretty pessimistic about the outcome of this anew attempt. We felt like we were just not supposed to go to New York.

And we were surprised again: This time the plane took off almost on schedule. We made it to New York, had two wonderful days there and there was no problem whatsoever with our flight back to Europe.

By the way, asking our cab driver in New York about that storm, that was supposed to have caused the cancellation of two of our flights, he said, that there was one in the morning the day before, but since then the sun had been shining. And other airlines flights had gotten in just fine and on time.

What remains is our declared intention to never fly with Delta Airlines again and an odd allergic reaction hearing the word combination "air traffic problems".

A nightmare comes true: Flying with Delta part I

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Fri, 7 Sep 2012 09:40:00 +0200

Well. Well. So far I have been pretty lucky travelling around, I guess. I've never had a flight cancelled or delayed. I have never been stuck at an airport. My travelling plans have never been interfered by giant ash clouds or similar. Really lucky, I know!

This summer though - when I decided to fly with Delta Airlines - the travelling gods turned on me. And this is what happened:

We decided pretty late to hop over the big pond to visit friends and family in Canada and attend a wedding in NYC. The best choices we had for flights were with Turkish Airlines (really cheap, with a layover of about 9 hours in Istanbul, yuck!) and with Delta Airlines (affordable, direct flight Venice - New York JFK, airport change to La Guardia and from there to Ottawa). So we went with Delta - a direct flight from Venice, which is only a three hours car ride from our little mountain town sounded pretty sweet to us!

Our first flight was delayed one hour (ok, no biggy). We made it to JFK and from there to La Guardia in time for our connecting flight to Ottawa, checked in in no time and were just hanging out at a little airport restaurant, watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympic games in London. Then, an hour before boarding, our flight was cancelled. Back to the Delta counter, we met the girl who had already done our check-in - really nice, really helpful and sympathetic. She told us, that the flight was cancelled due to "flight traffic problems", cause there had been a storm on Tuesday (it was Friday?!).

Anyways, cause it was "out of the Airlines control", they wouldn't reimburse our expenses for the overnight stay in New York. The Delta-girl felt so bad for us, that she called a hotel and did a reservation with a little discount from her private cell phone. Saying goodbye, she tried to console us, saying: "You know, it's a hard night for me, too. I have to be at a date in 10 minutes, and I still have to get ready!" Yeah, but really: Thank you Delta-girl, you really made us feel a little better.

We made it to the hotel, slept for good eight hours and got our connection to Ottawa the morning after (which was delayed, too) with unbowed optimism.

:-[==0

September

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Thu, 6 Sep 2012 15:59:00 +0200

for some reason, always a sign of fall for me

Wow, it's already September!

I know, smart observation. Round of applause for me!

But apart from the big 9 in the calendar, there are some unmistakable signs creeping up, that fall is close.

fruit & vegetables

When I went shopping yesterday, I couldn't help but notice the highly visible change in the produce offered. Instead of cherries and strawberries, there were plums, pears, cabbage and grapes. And they all seemed to scream at me: Ya, summer is over, you sun-addict! Kind of scary. And before you all start to wonder now what the heck I must 've been doing before I went in the store to see blabbering fruit: relax! I have just been really busy the last couple days / weeks, so it came as a surprise to see the first signs of fall in the stores.

temperatures

For me, summer started when I came back from Denmark at the end of May. The weather in this northern kingdom was nice and sunny, but obviously nothing compared to the temperatures in the northern part of Italy. To make a boring weather report short, it just got really hot here in the middle of August and after about 3 darned hot weeks, there was some some rain recently and the temps fell significantly.

Funny enough, I was jealous the whole time when my man was in Canada and told me about the boiling hot weather ( he hates it). I thought it wasn't fair that the summer in North America should be warmer than in Italy, but being a nice person, I thought that at least he would be more comfortable when he finally came here. Guess what, few days before his arrival, summer heat got here, too.

view

We're lucky enough to live surrounded by mountains. Every year, usually in the end of August or the beginning of September, it rains for a day or two and the view over the mountains becomes much clearer. It almost seems as if they would have come closer. Im sure, there's some scientifical explanation for that phenomenon. Feel free to enlighten me, if you know!

view from my balcony today

Obviously, there are many many more signs of fall to come and to write about. And we will, as for example about the wine culture in this region, the ongoing harvesting, fall recipes and what kind of weird tradition"Törggelen" is.

What's a sign of fall for you?

Canada, eh!

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Wed, 5 Sep 2012 15:49:00 +0200

Obviously, this map doesn't show, what Canada is all about. In the upcoming posts, I'm gonna share some of my recent Canada-experiences with you; e.g. what a chiropractor does to you if you let him, that there really are fast food chains where you get delicious food (McDonalds & Burger King pale in comparison) & why I will never ever ever fly again with Delta, ever!

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The best & easiest pasta recipe ever

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Sat, 1 Sep 2012 10:49:00 +0200

Earlier this week, I promised to provide you with the easiest pasta recipe ever. So, here you go: This is not only the easiest, but also the best pasta recipe for Spaghetti al pomodoro for two people.

You need:

A 500 gr package of Spaghetti

(go for an Italian brand like Barilla or De Cecco. If you have any chance, buy them at an Italian importer, cause they make the pasta differently for different countries - in Canada e.g. the pasta is more doughy and it's a lot harder to cook it perfectly "al dente")

About 4 tomatoes
(or, if the season's not right a can of tomatoes, preferably "pelati")

Half an onion

1 garlic clove

Olive oil "extra vergine" (Actually, for cooking a lower quality level of olive oil would do it, too. But seen that I love adding another shot of oil to the pasta when it's done, I prefer this best of all olive oils)

Salt & pepper

You don't need any cooking skills in order to do the following:

Take a large and a small pot. The large one, you fill with water and add a handful of salt (yes, right, it takes a lot of salt). Put it on the stove at the highest temperature and cover it with a lid.

While the water is getting heated up, mince the onion and garlic and chop up the tomatoes. Put the small pot on the stove, and cook the onion and garlic in olive oil until they soften and turn goldish-brown. Then add the tomatoes, season to taste with salt and pepper and let the whole thing cook at medium temperature until the pasta is done.

When the water is boiling, put the Spaghetti in the pot and cook them as long as indicated on the package. It is important though to stir the pasta resolutely in the beginning, so it doesn't stick together. And you do wanna start trying single noodles 2 minutes before the indicated cooking time is over, to make sure it turns out "al dente" (= literally means "to the tooth" and refers to the texture of the pasta, that should show a slight resistance in the center when chewed). Once, you think the pasta has the ideal consistency, strain it and add a shot of olive oil.

Mix it up with the tomatoe sauce and here you go: super easy, super delicious Spaghetti al pomodoro!

A couple tips:

In order to make sure, whatever you cook turns out the way you like it, you have to taste it over and over again throughout the whole cooking process and then change it if it's not there yet!
There is nothing you can do, once you find out in the end, that the pasta is not salty enough. So make sure, there is a lot of salt in the water, you even might wanna taste the water, that should remind you of seawater. If then, the pasta turns out oversalted, wash it down with warm water after cooking (that might not take away all the saltiness, but at least make the pasta edible).
Sky really is the limit! You can modify this recipe according to your taste and cravings: Use more or less onions and garlic. Add whichever herbs you feel like, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, parsley...Add olives. Add capers. Spice it up with chilli. Add ricotta. Chop up some mozzarella and spread it over the pasta. Use your imagination!

I just thought I'd share this...

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:11:00 +0200

Look at this and try not to drool. Impossible huh?

It's a perfect example of a typical Italian breakfast. Most definitely not healthy (and it's a secret how the very same Italians often keep a Dolce & Gabbana runway silhouette) but so delicious!

Now imagine a foamy/creamy cappuccino with it and there you go with

la dolce vita.

chocolate croissant

"You talkin' to me?!"

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:39:00 +0200

...sounds familiar?

Spill the beans you movie lovers, whose famous words are these?

Well folks, there are some people in this world who just don't seem to believe in the most basic rules of courtesy. I could list at least 5 names right now. Looking at these people, I'm sure, the reason for this lack of manners is not always a foul character, but sometimes insecurity, arrogance, stress, no education...

...frankly, I don't care.

In my opinion, it should be known to and possible for everyone to greet, say "thank you" and "please" and it surely doesn't matter in which language. Just saying it, will be understood and positively noted. Internationally, overcoming all language barriers, cultural differences and diverse customs.That easy.

Do you agree?

bitte.

please; if you please
you're welcome
excuse me
here you are (when offering something)

danke.

wie bitte?

per favore / per piacere / prego / per cortesia / per gentilezza

grazie / grazie mille

prego?

please/ you're welcome

thank you

pardon?

Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.
{Arthur Schopenhauer}

If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world.
{Francis Bacon}

The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater ennoble it.

{Christian Nevell Bovee}

courtesy pays off

...also here.

easy enough, right?

Pasta al pomodoro: sky's the limit.

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:55:00 +0200

from

There are only a few dishes in the world, which I could eat every single day for lunch and dinner - maybe not for breakfast though. On top of that list stands the incomparable and inevitable pasta al pomodoro! This week we are going to provide you with the easiest pasta recipe ever. So stay tuned!

:-[==0

Rewrite the story!

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:38:00 +0200

Have fun with this amazing little game! And have a nice weekend, everyone!

Bartlmäh: the heyday of traditional celebrations on Ritten

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:20:00 +0200

After the 15th of August, the Kirchtag in Oberbozen, the 24th is another red marked day in the traditional party season here. I'd even say marked in all rainbow colors, blinking and with glitter as "Bartlmäh" is the biggest and most popular outdoor Dirndl or Lederhosen event in the area.

Historical background

The day, the animals were brought down from the alpine pastures where they spent the hot summer time, has always been a big celebration day. Not only had the lonely life of the herdmen, far away from family and friends on the mountain pastures an end, but of course all the peasants came to check on their animals and bring them home.

Shocking but true, this reunion of the sheperds, encounter of all farmers around and symbol for the nearing end of the summer turned into a cheerful celebration. Cattle, horses and other farm animals were traded, merchants offered their goods, everbody enjoyed food and drinks and the corner stone for marriages or the one or other scandal was laid.

On Ritten this "Almabtrieb", the day the livestock is chased down from the alpine pastures, falls on the 24th of August, the day of Saint Bartholomäus. And there we find the reason for the strange name, in the German dialect spoken around here, the holy man's name sounds like "Bartlma" or Bartlmäh".

And today?

Nowadays people in the area still pilgrimage up the alpine grassland. Not because many of them are interested in checking on their cows' health condition. Or because many would even touch a cow willingly. But because it's a big party with lots of good food and even more good beer. Cattle and Haflinger horses are still chased down into another and lower pasture, traditional music bands play and Alphorns' tooting is heard in the summerwind, accompanied by the rhythmical snapping of the whips.

15 impressions from the Kirchtag in Oberbozen

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:57:00 +0200

Lederhosen

One of the music groups taking part in the procession came from Bavaria, Germany.
That's how they were dressed:

Bavarian Dirndl

Bavarian musicians

Some important town personalities take part in the procession with that beauty of a historical carriage:

...pulled by Haflinger horses, a breed originating from South Tyrol.

Haflinger horses

you have to put up with less traditional peace signs in the pics if you know the "stars" :)

The blue apron is typical for Tyrolean peasants.
In the time, when they weren't allowed to wear their traditional costumes (due to the planned "Italianization" of the region by the government), the blue aprons were regarded as a secret backup costume.

traditional costume

A short Dirndl, maybe a little less traditional, but who cares when the legs are this mind-boggling :)

traditional costume Ritten area


traditional costume Ritten area women

Rocking the town: "Kirchtag" in Oberbozen

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:05:00 +0200

Every year, on the 15th of August, the whole town of Oberbozen is going wild. Thousands of tourists and visitors are invading our little town to celebrate the "Oberbozner Kirchtag", the Assumption Day.

Pretty much every town in the southern German-speaking area has their own patron saint, and on this saint's day the so-called "Kirchtig" is held. In Oberbozen that day is the 15th of August, the Assumption Day of Holy Mary and it starts with the celebration of a Mass and a procession. But right after complying all those formalities, the fun begins: Traditional celebrations, folksy music, lots and lots of traditional costumes and Dirndl dresses.

South-Tyroleans, Germans and Italians come together for a huge party, eating traditional foods and drinking considerable amounts of beer and wine.

Even though Italians have their own holiday to celebrate on the 15th of August: the "Ferragosto", which is the "turning point of the summer", and supposedly the hottest day of the year. Around Ferragosto, life in Italy shuts down for a little while, everybody goes on vacation (mostly by the sea or in the mountains) and celebrates this holiday first introduced by the Roman emperor Augustus and therefore is the oldest holiday in the history of mankind.

5 things from Canada

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:19:00 +0200

last week I got 5 "things" from Canada which I love:

50 % of The mashup mission

...have been in Canada and the USA for the last 2 weeks. Stay tuned for her stories

the man

...FINALLY came after a long time of training in his home country.

maple syrup

...of course! But not just any maple syrup, it's a special kind made on a Mennonite farm in Elmira, Ontario. Organic, amber and delicious!

Crabtree & Evelyn cosmetics

For the skin care products the firm with its holding company in Kuala Lumpur and day-to-day-operations based in the US and UK uses, according to the information on the website, more than 160 "natural botanical ingredients". I don't know if that is true, but I love the smell of the products and how soft they make my skin.

Reese's

It doesn't matter if you go for the traditional Peanut Butter Cups, the Reese's Pieces, which were even mentioned in the movie E.T. or the smaller Reese minis, they all are a dream of peanut butter and chocolate.

Thought.

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 22:18:00 +0200

from

Free Pussy Riot!

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:12:00 +0200

Our thoughts are with Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samucevich. A failure of the international community at saving these exceptional political activists from going to jail would be unacceptable.

Solidarity for Pussy Riot

from

Thought.

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 19:05:00 +0200

"What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?"

Bert Brecht, 1901 - 1956

Odd world

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 09:44:00 +0200

I just got home from a two week vacation in Canada and New York. It was a lot of fun and I will report more on it soon. I just wanted to tell you about a strange and highly contradictory event first:

I felt pretty safe on that whole trip, even though I was aware of staying in big cities with a certain crime rate. And coming back home to our little mountain town, we felt very relaxed and happy to be home again. It is this crazily safe world, kids playing all over the town every day, people rarely locking their doors...so you might be able to share our shock, when yesterday our little town's bank was robbed! At lunchtime, right before the employees of the bank left, a guy entered the bank with a gun, shot at a wall to prove that the gun was real and then escaped with about 50.000 €! What an odd world we live in...a bank robbery in a 1.400-people-town!

Anyways, they didn't catch the bank robber yet, even though he escaped on a bicycle, no kidding.

:-[==0

The Olympics 2012

noreply@blogger.com (the mashup mission) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:34:00 +0200

...are over. Did you watch?

here the official medal count:

Italy: 28 medals (8 gold, 9 silver, 11 bronze)

Germany: 44 medals (11, 19, 14)

Canada: 18 medals (1, 5, 12)

but what about some stars and stories?

After the German Betty Heidler threw her hammer 72,39 meters were shown but not put into the computer. While her competitors were running the lap of honor, Betty discussed openly with the judges. Finally the width of her hammer-throw was measured by hand: 77,13 meters and bronze!
Germany's men won Olympic-hockey-gold! The 4th time already! Try and work on the ice-hockey qualitites gentlemen, it's time to challenge Canada.
Germany's men won gold in the beach volleyball discipline as the first European team ever. Against Brazil the superheroes of beach volleyball.
The North Italian walker and Olympic gold winner in Bejing Alex Schwazer was banned from the Olympic games in London for being suspected of Epo-Doping. He was tested in June during training camp and admitted to the news that he made a mistake and wanted to be stronger this time (after he won gold at the last games) and that it was wrong. He also said, he got the doping in Turkey. And unfortunatelly in Italy you are prosecuted by the government authorities for doping. Not good.
Tiffany Foster and her mount Victor were disqualified from competing because the horse had a little cut on the front leg and was sensitive to touch. FEI hypersensitivity protocol states that in that case, regardless of the cause, the horse has to be disqualified. Even if Victor was most probably fit and ready to go, the rule serves to protect horses in general from tormenting procedures used to make horses perform better. Good rule and bad luck for Victor and Tiffany Foster I would say.
Canadian women are 2012 soccer bronze medallists! Italy? Germany? Soccer nations where are you? Oh ya right, Germany was busy with the men's hockey medal. Hello weird world!