I’m in Fargo, North Dakota, where I’ve been participating in Traditional Local Customs.
Yes, this is the actual wood chipper used for body disposal in the movie Fargo. Oh ya, you betcha! 🙂 It’s now the star attraction at the Fargo Visitor Center. You can bring your own body parts.
| I’m in North Dakota, visiting the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site. It’ a real (retired) Minuteman control silo. It’s one of several Minuteman sites that were closed down under the START treaty ICBM limits.
A giant freight elevator takes you down 52 feet to the command level, then there is a 7 ton blast door leading into the armored command capsule, mounted on giant shock absorbers. The original command consoles are intact. Please don’t press any buttons. It was fun to visit the launch controls, but, unlike with my visits to the Titan Missile Museum or the Pervomaisk SS24 museum, they don’t let you simulate a launch. But this one definitely scores extra credit for being a museum representative of the many still-active Minuteman Missile sites in the Mid-West, which are still very much alive, manned, and ready for service. Gulp. |
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I’m on a short tour in the Papua New Guinea Highlands
| I‘ve dutifully attended various cultural demonstrations of Traditional Highland Customs.
These included things like the Huli Wigmen who use spells to grow out their hair and then make ritual wigs from it; the ghostly Mudmen who wear heavy clay masks to scare off enemies; various spirit dances; the use of spirits to hunt down a pig thief; etc. The guides and the locals freely admit that these are only tourist demonstrations, showing the Old Traditions, and that no-one actually does this for real anymore. I also strongly suspect that like certain other Old Highland Traditions (ahem) they may have been enhanced over time. I did joke a couple of times with the performers that they should visit Scotland and see our Old Highland Traditions too! A couple of the performances were in the form of short plays. The best of these was definitely the Mudmen, who acted out “ghostly” figures sneaking up on invaders and chasing them off. Both the masks and the click-click of bamboo “claws” were used to great effect! |
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The PNG Highlands vary a lot. I’ve been in both the relatively modern Mount Hagen area and the rather wilder Hela province, near Tari.
Hela Province is in the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” category as “there is a heightened risk of civil unrest from tribal violence throughout the region”. I was with experienced guides and saw no trouble. But from chatting with the guides, it did come across as an area where it is still considered fairly normal to use violence to solve disputes. Afterwards, things can be damped down by paying compensation (in cash or pigs)
We passed an organized chanting/marching squad of men that I was told was collecting money from the local community to pay compensation for an inter-tribal killing. Looking closely, they were mostly carrying machetes and a couple were carrying rifles. Hmm. On the road we passed a couple of informal checkpoints which were quietly reviewing incoming vehicles. Fortunately no one seemed at all interested in a random foreign tourist.
Because Hela is a bit of a backwater, it actually preserves more of the old day-to-day lifestyle. For example, farming is handled entirely differently from the Mount Hagen area. So I’m glad I got to see both areas.
I’ve been visiting Australia Zoo (aka Steve Irwin’s Zoo) near Brisbane. I’d arranged three interactive Animal Encounters.
| Naughty Wombat Encounter
Elle the wombat was cool, and happy to be patted, but she also made it very clear she was only in it for the snacks, and dragged her keeper off as soon as all the goodies were gone. |
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| By Jingo Dingo Encounter
The dingoes were a little more sociable, or maybe they were just sizing me up for a snack. These two have both been DNA tested as 100% pure dingo. (Apparently white is a normal natural dingo color.) The keepers said they behave more like cats than dogs, and can be either aloof or charming as they feel like. |
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| Spiky Little Echidna Encounter
This short-beaked echidna is 24 years old and quite mellow. He was a rescue animal who was found sick. They discovered his illness was due to an allergy to ants (!), which isn’t a great thing for a wild echidna, so he’s living the good life on an ant-free diet at the Zoo. |
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| Bonus Crocodile
The crocodile statue was a gratuitous bonus. Crikey! |
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I’m in Thimphu, Bhutan, where I’ve been visiting the Royal Takin Preserve.
Takin are strange looking creatures. As every Bhutanese child knows, they were created centuries ago by Drukpa Kunley (aka the Divine Madman) who glued the head of a goat to the body of a cow. A fine combination to be sure!
Wild Takin are very shy of humans. But the Takin in the Preserve are placid and very used to posing for photos.
Apparently there was an attempt a few years back to close the Preserve and release the Takin back into the wild. Unfortunately no-one had consulted the Takin, who did not approve. They rather liked the idea that human servants should provide them with food and so they made a nuisance of themselves wandering around Thimphu looking for hand-outs. So the Preserve was re-instated. And the Takin have now been blessed with an excellent coffee shop too.
Beautiful Berlin! City of Culture, Museums, Galleries, and … “Ritter Sport Colorful World of Chocolate“!
This is the flagship store of the Ritter Sport Chocolate Empire. Unlike the Lindt Home of Chocolate in Zurich, it doesn’t have a museum, but it does have a delicious all-you-can eat chocolate fountain. And the store sells the full range of Ritter Sport delicacies including some specials that aren’t widely available yet, such as the yummy new “Crispy Banana” flavor.
You can also design your own custom chocolate mix, with your own cover art. I did some quick jpeg wrangling and created the Baby Wombat Special Blend. (Chocolate with extra added chocolate droplets.)
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