Crazy kite surfing thrill seekers Lewis Crathern, 24, and Jake Scrace, 25, used the recent stormy weather that has hit the UK to propel themselves over Worthing Pier, in England.
In this video Lewis and Jake talk about how they used mother nature to fly 70 feet over the pier.

I’ve seen people kite surfing at our local beach here in France and it looks like a lot of fun, but as I’m not a fan of water, or heights, I don’t think I’ll be flying high anytime soon!
I’m sure Lewis and jake enjoyed the thrill, but rather them than me.

Posted on Zeitgeist

LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE

Patrick Roger, the Paris confectioner who built his own Berlin Wall made of chocolate, has knocked it down.
The chocolate wall reportedly weighed over a ton.

What a crazy mixed-up world we live in.
I hope the chocolate didn’t go to waste.

Posted on Zeitgeist

The Wine Connoisseur

A chimpanzee riding a segway.
No doubt health and safety will be happy as the chimp was wearing a helmet and overalls!

I only watched this video because Tim Lovejoy mentioned it yesterday morning on ‘Something For The Weekend’ which is why I am blaming him for the segway song now being stuck in my head for the rest of the day!

Posted on ZEITGEIST

ZOQY ~ Zeitgeist Opinions Questions Yatter

Shaun Clark, a former soldier, has had the names of every British soldier killed in Afghanistan tattooed on his back.

Shaun Clark, 43, served with the 8th Battalion Light Infantry Regiment from 1989 to 1996.
The first name was inked on to his body on Wednesday morning, the 11th of November, at 11am, just as the traditional Armistice Day two-minute silence began.
Shaun said, “I don’t mind suffering for a few days if I can let the lads know that people really care about what they’re doing out there, and raise some money for the guys coming home wounded as well.
“The family thought I was mad to begin with, but they’ve come round to the idea now, and my wife is backing me all the way.”

Shaun Clark, a married father-of-two from Doncaster, England is hoping that his challenge will raise £500 for the charity Help for Heroes.
Speaking before the tattooist started working on him Shaun said, “It’s going to be painful business but it’s nothing compared to what the troops are going through every single day on the front line.”
He added, “I know it’s a bit extreme covering the top half of your body front and back with 223 names, but it’s my way of honouring all those men and women and it’ll be there as a memorial for as long as I live.”

Speaking about his aim to raise £500 for the Help for Heroes charity, Shaun Clark said, “I wanted to do something to raise money for the heroes who still need help and to honour the memory of the fallen.
“I’ve still lots of friends from my days in the Army over in Afghanistan and there’s lots of Donny lads out there as well.
“Lots of people do things to raise money but I wanted to do something different and something permanent.
“It’s not just about raising money - it’s also about letting these lads know that people care about what they’re doing.”

Shaun Clark served in Denmark, Gibraltar, and Norway before he left the Army in 1997.
He says he has received lots of messages of support from his from former colleagues and soldiers who are still out in Afghanistan.
Shaun has set up a page on the Just Giving fundraising website and has raised £165.
His page is full of supportive comments from well-wishers.
One supporter wrote, “Good luck Shaun it means a lot to me what you are doing as my husband is there soon.”
Another supporter wrote, “Top bloke. We will remember them.”

A spokesman from Help for Heroes said, “We are used to people going the extra mile, but this goes far beyond the norm.
“Shaun was in touch a few days ago to confirm everything was going ahead.
“It turned out to be a very poignant conversation because the volunteer who took the call lost her husband in action earlier in the year and, of course, his name is among those on the list.”

The tattoo artist Kevin Kent, donated his services free of charge, and said, “We’re going to start just as the two minute silence begins at 11am on Wednesday, and I’ve told Shaun that’s it’s going to be a slow and painful process.”
Kevin Kent drew up a list of all the British casualties in Afghanistan since April 2002 with the help of the Ministry of Defence.
Shaun Clark and Kevin Kent have said they will update the list of names each year if necessary.

Help for Heroes is a charity that raises money to help support members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded.
In just over two years Help for Heroes has raised over £30 million from over than 10,000 individual events.

Posted on ZEITGEIST

ZOQY Zeitgeist, Opinions, Questions, Yatter

I love Armstrong and Miller. I think the RAF airmen characters are my favourite.
This sketch from last Fridays episode is very funny.

Ben Millers character, “They want to go to Switzerland or something.”
Alexander Armstrongs character, “They does all skiing and shit and snowboarding there isn’t it.”
Ben Millers character, “For real.”

Posted on ZEITGEIST

Life in France

It’s a chocolatey affair! A fashion show where all the designs are made using chocolate.

Posted on ZEITGEIST

RICHARDS REALM

A confectioner in Paris, France has built a chocolate replica of the Berlin Wall to mark the 20th anniversary of its fall.

Posted on ZEITGEIST

World leaders are gathering in Berlin, Germany today to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago.
The fall of the Berlin Wall expedited the collapse of communism across eastern Europe, the end of the Cold War, and led to German reunification within a year

9th November 1989 ~ News Breaks of The Fall of the Berlin Wall

9th November 1989 ~ Celebrations at the Fall of the Berlin Wall

10th November 1989 ~ Celebration at the Berlin Wall

Today, 9th November 2009, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are among those expected to be at the Brandenburg Gate. A speech will be made by Angela Merkel, who grew up in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Thousands of tourists have arrived in the city for an occasion which Angela Merkel has described as, “A celebration of the happiest day in postwar German history”.
The Brandenburg Gate once loomed over the barbed wire barrier that divided East and West Berlin for 28 years until the night of 9th of November 1989.
239 people were shot trying to escape from East Berlin to a new life in the West. Over the years many people attempted to flee East Berlin, by various means including strapping themselves underneath cars and one man even manged to fly his family to freedom in a home-made hot air balloon.
5,000 people successfully managed to make it to freedom in the West.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on the centre of Berlin today to recapture the euphoria that was felt across Europe when the Berlin Wall fell two decades ago.
The commemoration Fest der Freiheit (freedom festival) which is reportedly costing £4.6m (€5.1m) commences events over the following days and weeks to commemorate the collapse of communism across Germany and central and eastern Europe.
The festivities in Berlin, which will be attended by European leaders and other world dignitaries, are expected to climax this evening with the falling of a line of 1,000 huge dominoes, which represent the chain effect of the events of 1989. This will be followed by a huge display of fireworks.

The conductor Daniel Barenboim, who was in Berlin at the fall of the wall in 1989, will conduct a concert on an outdoor stage at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate with his Staatskapelle orchestra.
The music of Beethoven and Wagner aims to capture the joyous mood of the 9th of November 1989, when at approximately 8:27 p.m. East Germans started to squeeze through checkpoints before falling into the arms of West Germans on the other side of the wall.
As well as the Staatskapelle orchestra concert, the descent of a swarm of human angels adorned with huge white wings, from some of the rooftops of the buildings which were constructed along the former line of the wall will help mark the anniversary.
The descending angels will be reminiscent of Wim Wenders 1987 film, Wings of Desire.

In churches across Germany services of thanksgiving are being held, as well as ceremonies remembering the 136 people killed whilst attempting to flee the GDR.
At offices of the East German secret police, the Stasi, candlelit vigils are planned to highlight the plight of all those people who were persecuted by what was once one of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence organisations.

Todays party is being backed by corporate sponsors. Images of Trabant cars driving across the borders will be projected on to huge screens at the Brandenburg Gate. The Trabant images are provided courtesy of German car manufacturer Audi whose logo ‘Vorsprung Durch Technik’ will also be flashing in large letters.

Not everyone is using this momentous occasion to cash-in, British artist Martin Butler has organised a flash mob via the internet. He wants to put the Berlin Wall back up, using bodies instead of concrete and barbed wire. Martin Butler hopes to gather 33,000 people to recreate the entire path of the Berlin Wall, which was about 100 miles in length.
Martin Butler’s project, ‘Mauer Mob 2009: Recreating the Berlin Wall’ intends to ‘reconstruct’ the Berlin Wall using a human chain. The Mauer Mob (Mauer means ‘wall’ in German) flash mob will see thousands of people will descending on the former route of the Berlin Wall to form a temporary monument from 8:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Speaking about his idea Martin Butler said, “It’s a very simple gesture. I’m not taking a strong political stance. It’s more about asking people to think about division.”
Martin Butler, who stages performance projects with an Amsterdam-based group called the Liminal Institute, has divided the route into 330 segments and is aiming for a total of 33,000 participants.
Apparently over the past few months about 9,000 people have already expressed their interest in taking part via social networking websites Facebook and Twitter etc.
According to reports approximately 4,000 people have said they will show up at event.
Will Martin Butlers idea work? I think it just might, and even if it’s not a complete success it will definitely be a great opportunity to take part in a very unique commemoration for the people of Berlin and visitors to Germany.

Posted on ZEITGEIST

Life in France

Famous French chefs give cooking lessons on the metro in Paris, France.

Posted on ZEITGEIST

Lauren McCarthy has designed a Happiness Hat.
The rather unflattering naff looking Happiness Hat was created by Lauren McCarthy to help train people in ‘Improved Social Interacting’!
The Happiness Hat, sounds like a sweet name doesn’t it? In reality it’s anything but sweet.
The Happiness Hat uses a bend sensor which is attached to the cheek to measure the size of the wearers smile, it then sends the information to an Arduino micro-controller. If the Arduino controller detects that the hat wearer is not wearing a large enough smile, it sends a signal to a servo motor on the back of the hat which drives a metal spike into your head!

Is the Happiness Hat a good idea? Or is it seriously barmy? Do we really want people smiling at us all the time just because they are wearing the Happiness Hat? Their smiles won’t be genuine, they will be false, based on the fear of receiving a sharp pain to their skull!

When I first read about Lauren McCarthy’s Happiness Hat, I thought it was a joke - actually I’m still not sure it’s real!
I am not the smiliest person, I have a naturally miserable face, but I don’t think I’ll be wearing the Happiness Hat, I think the mere thought of not having a spike driven in to my head is more than enough to put a smile on my face.

Posted on ZEITGEIST

The Wine Connoisseur