Snow, Lies, and Strikes

So no sooner than I say that we haven't had snow for ages and what happens? The sky clouds over and it begins to snow! Yes, we had about 30 mins of snow (which of course melted straight away) earlier in the week.

Ever thought that you understand the legal system? Okay, even a little bit? Well you'll have to rethink it again since in Italy the highest appeals court has just ruled that married italian women who are unfaithful are allowed to lie under oath to protect their honour. I wonder what the pope thinks about that...

On a rare occasion news about the strikes in Germany actually reach the international press. Normally you find full page spreads of how in France it's caused a tailback of hundreds of miles, but from Germany you only hear about a union strike affecting some transport. Well, finally the BBC has an article about the latest union strikes here. This hsa been happening every other week here since mid-2007, and is felt here as the trains are all delayed or cancelled, the buses and trams don't run, the kindergarten are closed, and the airport luggage handlers strike causing no hold luggage to be allowed on flights from German airports...it's weird that this doesn't make headlines outside of this country more often (maybe that's their way of making sure tourism isn't affected - don't let the news out of the country).

If you've ever been crossing a field and seen all the cow-pats along the route you've taken, I bet the only thing that crossed your mind was what a smell they cause. Well, a US dairyman took this thought further and created a bovine biogas plant from what comes out of the other end of his cows. It apparently can keep up with other power stations and provide enough gas for 1200 homes a day. Maybe there should be a government recycling initiative for manure collection...

Keep it green...