Friday, August 5, 2011

7,000 costumed warriors battle on a field in the Conquest of Mythodea

7,000 costumed people take part in the Conquest of Mythodea role-play battle

Participants wearing costumes take part in a fight as part of the 'Conquest of Mythodea' Live Action Role-Play on a field in Brokeloh, Germany, 04 August 2011. According to the organisers, about 7,000 people from all over the world attend the world's second biggest interactive game which takes place in an old castle for several days

Participants wearing costumes take part in a fight as part of the Conquest of Mythodea
role-play battle on a field in Brokeloh, Germany. According to the organisers, about
7,000 people from all over the world attended the world's second biggest interactive
game which took place in and around an old castle, over several days

Picture: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Image 1 of 13

Police roll out new transportation for patrol... and 3-inch heels.

3 August 2011, 14:27

Cops get skates on to catch crooks

A squad of roller-blading policewomen has been launched to chase down villains at 25mph in a Chinese city.

The eight officers patrol Chengdu's prestigious Tianfu Square, a magnet for pickpockets and drunks who prey on tourists.

And when they're not patrolling on skates, the squad has been issued with 3inch high heels "to make them elegant but with authority", say officials.

Recruit Chen Fengyu, 19, said: "I like watching the policewomen in the Hong Kong TV series very much.

"So when I saw the advertisement for roller skate police, I had to have a try. It's so cool."

Scheme organiser Song Bin explained: "It's efficient, effective and more environmentally friendly than patrolling in cars."

NY flat on sale as a 'Jules Verne meets Tim Burton' wacky interior...

'We all live in a New York submarine': Flat converted to retro-futuristic fantasy with giant Zeppelin... and it's yours for $1.8m

Impressive property converted by Jeremy Noritz in Chelsea, Manhattan
Features submarine-style door and giant Zeppelin that dangles from ceiling
Property attracting interest from retro-futurists known as ‘Steam Punks’

By MARK DUELL

Last updated at 12:20 PM on 5th August 2011

Some of the world’s weirdest properties can be found in New York City - but this really could be the craziest of them all.

Jeremy Noritz, 32, has created an amazing retro-futuristic submarine fantasy inside an apartment in the trendy Chelsea region of Manhattan.

The two-bedroom property is on the market for $1.75million and has already been generating attention since it was listed on Tuesday.

Unique: Jeremy Noritz, 32, has created an amazing retro-futuristic submarine fantasy inside an apartment

Trendy: The two-bedroom property in the Chelsea region of Manhattan is on the market for $1.75million

The impressive apartment is described by real estate brokerage Core as having ‘a Jules Verne meets Tim Burton sensibility’.

It features a submarine-style door and a giant Zeppelin that dangles from the ceiling and produces white light at day and rainbow light at night, reported the New York Post.

There are also pulleys, antique pipes, wrenches, tools designed as cabinet handles, miniature planes and big old wooden casts.

Fabulous: The impressive apartment is described as having ‘a Jules Verne meets Tim Burton sensibility’

The property is expected to interest retro-futurists inspired by author William Gibson, known as ‘Steam Punks’, reported the New York Post.

The movement, which imagines a world run by 19th century computers, is coming back after it faded out in the 1990s.

Mr Noritz said he is selling the property because he is going on a journey to Oregon and California, driving a camper van.

'Steam Punks': The property is expected to interest retro-futurists inspired by author William Gibson

Goodbye: Mr Noritz said he is selling the property because he is going on a journey while driving a camper van

He told the New York Post he will be accompanied by his two cats and bought the flat for $1.3 million four years ago.

The screenwriter previously worked as a welder, which gave him the inspiration to create the 500ft ‘workshop where I could live and work’.

‘The space plays with your expectations,’ he told the New York Post.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Fashion secrets of the Stasi undercover agents... you'd never know they were there!

Spies in disguise: Fashion secrets of the Stasi revealed (and it's not quite as incognito as you might think)

By ALLAN HALL

Last updated at 4:30 PM on 4th August 2011

For a profession as covert as theirs, you might have thought the Stasi would kit out their spies with an inconspicuous wardrobe to aid them in their secretive work.

However far from blending in, a new exhibition has revealed that operatives from the secret police of former East Germany looked astonishingly like, well, spies.

Dodgy fashion secrets of the Stasi show how they seem to have taken a leaf out of the book of many a Hollywood screen spy.

Work wardrobe: With upturned collars and, fur hats and sunglasses, these Stasi operatives could not look more like spies if they tried

Fur hats, upturned collars and sunglasses were the order of the day for spooks sent on missions to the hated west.

The photos were found in the miles and miles of paperwork found in Stasi offices across East Germany that the agency's shredders and furnaces did not have time to destroy in the hours and days following the collapse of the regime in 1990.

More...

See more on the Stasi chic exhibition

They show, starkly, how the spymasters' idea of 'inconspicuous' was divorced from reality; most of their 'art of disguise' training photos show operatives looking like... spies.

Berlin-based artist Simon Menner unearthed the images while exploring the archives of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) in Berlin.

He was authorised to reproduce the photos and they are now on display in an exhibition entitled: 'Pictures from the Secret Stasi Archives.'

Blending in: The extraordinary images form part of the Stasi secret police course on the 'art of disguising'

Blending in: The extraordinary images form part of the Stasi secret police course on the 'art of disguising' and are now on display in Berlin

Morgen Contemporary, the Berlin gallery hosting the exhibition, said; 'Many of the snapshots seem absurd and they may even be amusing. And yet we ought not lose sight of the intention that led the Stasi agents to take them.'

The Stasi fashion collection was no theoretical exercise. The agency sent thousands of spies into West Germany and had access to vast amounts of cash to buy western goods to equip agents with.

But the photos show their operatives clad, for the most part, in the drab utilitarian garb of their state which excelled in little but shortages.

Covert: The pictures show how the spymasters' idea of 'inconspicuous' was divorced from reality and made operatives look like... spies

'Orwellian': The extent of the Stasi's snooping is seen in other photos running in the exhibition, including snapshots agents took of houses and people under suspicion of being 'harmful to the state'

The Stasi turned one in three of the 17 million people of the German Democratic Republic into an informant. Children sneaked on their parents at school, wives informed on husbands, lovers betrayed one another.

The extent of their snooping is seen in other photos running in the exhibition. They include snapshots agents took of houses before they were to be searched for contraband or material 'harmful to the state.'

The Stasi always took photos of rooms they ransacked so they could put everything back in its place and the victims would not know they had been to visit them.

Menner said; 'I have always found the concept of the Orwellian Big Brother society fascinating, and they didn't come much more Orwellian than the Stasi.'

Magician gets black eye from flying pizza delivered by Sooty

Sooty apologises for Paul Daniels pizza-throwing injury

The puppet master behind Sooty has apologised for injuring Paul Daniels with a flying pizza.

Paul Daniels, the magician, was taken to hospital with head injuries after being hit in the face by a pizza thrown by the puppet Sooty. Photo: PA

10:02AM BST 04 Aug 2011

73-year-old Daniels was filming a scene for ITV's The Sooty Show when he was struck by the pizza, leaving him dazed.

Daniels suffered a black eye and was taken to hospital for treatment, The Sun reported.

Now Richard Cadell, who operates the puppet, has apologised for the incident.

"Sooty's very sorry for what happened. He never intended to knock Paul out, but he hopes Paul enjoyed the pizza.

"He didn't know his own strength - but no one can accuse Sooty of having a limp wrist.

"Sweep said Sooty was so shocked by it all that he was speechless afterwards."

It was claimed the incident happened after Daniels complained that in a first take of the scene, the pizza had not been thrown hard enough.

But as the puppet - operated by co-star Cadell - hurled the Italian dish a second time, Daniels was injured.

Chris Davis, Daniels's agent, said: "It damaged his eye. We had to go to hospital and cancelled a gig, but he's made a full recovery."

Speaking on a radio show about the pizza incident, Daniels said: "I got pizza in my eye, it stung, so on the way home that evening I called into a local village hospital. I am fine."

Daniels, who was appearing on the show as a special guest alongside his wife and assistant Debbie McGee, 52, apparently insisted that producers use the take in which he was injured.

A source added: "Paul was such a good sport and so professional. He's insisted they use the scene where he got injured, not the first one."

The episode will be screened later this year.

Cownsil workers make gaff of rode sines.....

Blundering road painters make spelling gaffe that couldn’t be any clearer

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 5:02 PM on 4th August 2011

Council workers have been left red-faced after making a glaring mistake when painting these new road markings.

A road painter seems to have been particularly careless after a 'Keep Clear' instruction ended up rather garbled.

Much to the embarrassment of the local authority, the vowels are jumbled, now leaving the instruction 'Keep Claer' in large white letters on the road surface in Kingswinford, West Midlands.

Claerly wrong: A bungling worker misspelt this simple message on the road

Disgruntled residents could not believe the 'stupidity' of the workmen who made the error on the road at the junction with a foot and cycle path.

Irene Willis, 76, who lives nearby, said: 'I can't believe they could be so stupid - a child could spell that.

'Their mistake will probably end up costing the taxpayer money as they will have to come back to do it again.'

Neighbour Bill Chapman, 56, added: 'It did make me laugh when I saw it because if you say it in a Black Country accent that's pretty much how it is pronounced.'

'Stupid': Locals are baffled by the elementary error

Dudley councillor Patrick Harley, cabinet member for transportation, said: 'We have been made aware that our contractor has spelt the word 'clear' incorrectly.

'The mistake will be corrected as soon as possible by the private contracting company at no extra cost to the council.'

The bungling worker can take comfort in the fact that he is not the first creator of the comedy road sign, as other examples from around the UK show.

Road painters misspelled a word a school child could have got right recently where markings in two-foot high, neon yellow letters at a bus lane in Canning Town, East London, spelled out 'Sus Stop'.

Oops! This blunder in East London may be even more embarrassing

Fantastic cloud formation that had neighbours terrified....

Terrifying moment vast cloud threatened to engulf whole street

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 3:05 PM on 4th August 2011

This is the terrifying moment a cloud threatened to develop in to a full blown tornado and engulf a whole row of family houses.

Brave photographer Pat Kavanagh took this shot of an explosive black storm from the roof of his house in Taber in Alberta, Canada, last month.

Expecting the sunny weather to take a turn for the worst, he watched intently as the billows started spinning into a furious funnel.

This cloud was captured by Pat Kavanagh from the roof of his house in Taber, Canada

The image was taken in Taber, Canada

WHY ARE STORM CLOUDS DARK?

Storms are created when a centre of low pressure develops, with a system of high pressure surrounding it.

This combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds, such as 'cumulonimbus'.

When clouds are white, that means the water droplets in the cloud are tiny and very close together.

This format tends to reflect most of the light that hits it, making the cloud appear white.

As time goes on, the tiny droplets gather together into bigger droplets (the cloud is getting ready to rain).

The bigger droplets are farther apart. This format allows light to penetrate farther into the cloud. More light is absorbed by the cloud instead of reflected, so it appears darker.

The father-of-three said: 'It was a nice evening and the sun was shining when I suddenly heard claps of thunder, which was strange.

'My wife went to look out the front door and saw the clouds blowing up from the south.

'I took one look and headed back into the house to get my camera.

'We watched the storm for a few minutes when I noticed that the cloud was starting to spin.

'I got my ladder and climbed up on my roof to get a better view.

'It never got the momentum to create a tornado, but it did look like it was going to happen before out eyes.

'We watched for 45 minutes as it slowly moved back into cloud formation.'

Tornadoes are very unusual in Taber, so this picture, taken on July 17, was a once-in-a-lifetime sighting for the Human Resource manager.

He added: 'Our area of the country seldom sees Tornadoes so this was a rare sight indeed and with the rainbow underneath it, made it even more special to see.'

The Quirky Globe

Pages