Serrendipity in Travel, OZ

There was this time during the Easter holiday time that someone, was it "little w.g?" (I didn't realize this was considered offensive at the time) was having a birthday party in Sydney. That was all the information I had.

I was coming up from Tasmania and met with Mick Burrell the week of the Port Aurthur Massacre I toured the Port the Sunday before with Samantha, a red headed fireball of a woman I met at the Hobart airport when I landed (Our meeting, travels and subsequent meeting in London two years later is another fun story). So anyway, I convince Mick that we can find our Top Bassett friends if we go to Sydney. After all I knew they were probably eating at an "Italian restaurant," I mean, how many of those could there be in Sydney? We decide to take the several hour ride in from the Blue Mountains. On the train Mick asks me where I am from originally so I tell him about my hometown and how it was 80 miles from a good pizza place. "Ahh, the Pizza Cave in Abilene Texas."

My storytelling must have been exuberant however, as the one of the only other passengers in the train car came over and said "I used to work at the Pizza Cave - 18 years ago!" Of course, this incredible coincidence furthered my absolute conviction that finding our friends from Top Bassett would be no problem. Once in Sydney, surrounded my lights and (italian places) Mick looks at me and asks "How are we gonna find them?"
"We will!"

From my earlier wanderings around Sydney I remembered an Italian restaurant in a plaza in the "Rocks" part of town. I remember it well as I had to duck in there as I simply walked into the middle of a colorful musical dance production that was being filmed for an Asian movie! (having been alone on a new continent for less than 24 hours I was already overstimulated, so I thought it was simply the magic of Sydney... until I saw the cameramen and guy who seemed to be in a leadership position and he wasn't so happy looking)

So on the way to this restaurant we stopped by another place that I had eaten kangaroo as a boneheaded tourist. Of course our friends were not there as they were not tourists, nor boneheaded, well.... Mick was restless as it was getting late. I had not even considered not finding them or the consequences of not finding our friends. Sure enough, we go into the Rocks and Mick asks "where could they be?" right as we near the Italian place. I looked into the second story window and there was someone I recognized from TB. "There!"

And the rest was delicious.

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Dawn Figman

As some of you know, I am the creator of the nickberg.org site. I am also not credulous when it comes to conspiracy, Internet sounding boards that bad mouth people or things, or various offers that come through email. Having the experience of answering all the email that came through the Nick Berg website, I can tell you that well meaning people often become so engaged fantasy as to believe their own emotions on a topic true, in spite of their obvious leaps of logic. I will elaborate on the amazing conspiracies of Nick Berg later.

For the past several years I have recieved unusual email from an undisclosed source who never identifies herself. The following are examples of the email I receive regularly and for a special treat, I have audio from the same person below:

Hello. How are you?
I e-mailed about a victim Dawn.

You do not really grasp what is occurring: their names are known and they are feigning "law enforcement"--they are using patterns of anti-Semitic crimes feigning "law enforcement," feigning complaints for their crimes-not simply Judaic defamation and unlawful detainment--what you do NOT grasp is that you are reading about individuals that are very sick and very criminal--one might say bags of marbles, not simply very bad--and they additionally frame victims. Very important that additional individuals are aware BECAUSE "law enforcement" employees will put you on and they will plan and cause any harm to victims and some of them are "lawyers" -- they will put anybody on while victims sustain wanton harms and death. I will e-mail.

They are causing death for their crimes that are patterns in excess of a decade because they are sick and very criminal and some of them are "lawyers."

And

They will say that they planned such mean and malicious harms because
they knew a victim is good with children and educated in child
development and of recent years working on victim prevention to prevent
the harms they plan and cause.to victims: they planned their crimes against victims and planned the crimes because the victim is Judaic. They plan to pretend TO YOU that they did not know---they plan patterns and patterns of put ons because they planned to put you on previously and they are repeat offenders.

I wrote to you about a victim, Dawn. Some of them are FBI employees that planned to cause patterns of bodily harms to cause death: they will say that they planned to use "relatives" for criminals because they estimated that "relatives" planned to cause very violent harms years and years back and planned some of the crimes using low level "law enforcement" to additionally pretend that victims are "whistle blowers."
In other words, if a criminal plans to cause harms (and they do), and they knew a "relative" did, they will use either individual to plan to cause harms for criminals, including such as a Volpe sort and say: "'WE did not 'mean' to rape Mr. Louima: the object in his body was not as it seemed" of themselves at DOJ and the FBI--that they describe themselves as Cutts Jr. and Volpe animals.


They will pretend that they "love" them that they additionally planned
to use a "relative" of DOJ for public corruption crimes and that a
"relative" planned to harm any victims for others--they planned to use
them for their crimes and pretending that victims are "whistle blowers"
as they would use any criminal thug for their crimes.

They plan framing public corruption crimes to harm the futures of victims.

They will say that they planned such mean and malicious harms because they knew a victim is good with children and educated in child development and of recent years working on victim prevention to prevent the harms they plan and cause.to victims. They are using many very mentally ill individuals to prevent any possibility of friends and dating anyplace-marriage for their crimes-to prevent any possibility of pregancy for their crimes-they will pretend simply to harm a victim's future. 5/10/09, they planned animal crimes and used patterns of battery hours and hours and hours, including anti-Semitic criminal harassment and anti-Semitic stalking crimes, including their using a mentally ill animal of vehicle #1225, that would thank any terrorist for their crimes because they are sick: they are additionally assisting individuals that are outwardly supporting Hamas with posters.


Some of the names of additional individuals of DOJ, are known and they planned death causing crimes: I did not include them because they will use you as they as they use animals and parrots if they assume they could use you to dupe you once. They planned to cause death in the end: some of them are "lawyers" --they will pretend simply to prevent a victim from "living" anyplace--to use federally protected activities crimes and victim tampering crimes--crimes that are theirs to prevent a victim's future because the victim is a girl and Judaic: -and using large numbers of "law enforcement" employees to plan to cause irreparable bodily and sexual harms to contribute to causing death for their crimes and did with patterns of anti-Semitic crimes as they planned previously and recently.

You should have the names Jennifer Smith and Kyle Courtnall, Kyle Smith.

So, I imagine you didn't really spend your time reading that... but perhaps you would rather listen? This individual no calls me up to eleven times a day...

DawnFigman5.mp3

So what to do?

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Elastic vs Inelastic Demand Curve

Forget all the visuals of underwear... lets replace elastic with another word that starts with e- exciting! If you lower prices and revenue increases, that would be exciting - both for you and your customers... remember exciting is elastic. If you lower prices and revenue also decreases, you are IN trouble- therefore remember that is INelastic. You only know if you do the math of PriceA(QuantityA) vs. PriceB(quantityB) so if you see a graph, do the mathphhhh

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autoantonyms

Am I winding up the argument...

What's left is left after what's left has left.
But if what's left is left after it left did it ever leave at all?

I am winding up the argument.

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Running out of Gas

Boy do I have experience in this! Several different cars, several times in my life.
But that's another story. - so is the story that AAA coverage doesn't mean squat in Perry County.

Anyway, why is it that if you notice you're running low you wanna rush or drive more aggressively to the next station? We all know that this simply accelerates the depletion of fuel...

...It's like doing something macho (and stupid) to impress a girl :)

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Afraid of Flying? You may need a Quiet Birdman.

An elderly gentleman stood next to me at the post office. He had a hat on with a wings and a QB emblem in the middle. I thought, "Hmmm, what's that?" So I asked him.
"Well it stands for Quiet Birdmen." he said with a smile. I asked what that was and he mentioned it was an organization of pilots but they all had more than 500 hours.

He looked like he had well over that. You could just feel it. This guy was more at home in the air than on the ground.

"So where'd you learn to fly?" I asked.

"Right here in State College, where the old airport used to be by the bend in the road out west, in 1937."

His wife, Alice, started flying solo in '39.

He said if I happen to be in Lock Haven and there is a car parked outside the west most blue hanger, I should stop in and he'd show me around.

I told him I learned to fly there in the late '90's- appearantly just a couple years after his wife stopped giving lessons. By then she had over fifty years in.

The rest of the chat I just wondered how many adventures this gentleman, William, had been on.
Why was he at the post office? He was sending in certification letters for a plane he just built. "The third one." he mentioned.

Would this guy make you feel more comfortable if you sat next to him on your next flight?

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Crazy Market?

So when are people most excited about investing in the market?
When the Market's up right?

When are people most likely to say the market doesn't work and boo hoo?
Oh, about now.

When is the best chance for getting good values?
When the market's up? Naaaa.... It just feels like it.

So when?
Oh, about now.

But no one feels like it.

I am reminded about the story I heard from Ol' Bailey.
He said that during the 1930's a Coca-Cola stock salesman drove through town and offered free samples of Coke and then allowed people to buy stock in the company. Ol' Bailey remembered his neighbor taking a sip - then promptly spitting it out and declaring,
"That {stuff} will never sell!"

How much do you suppose a share from the '30's is worth today?

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We helped the prince buy an Airbus!

"A Saudi Prince has purchased an Airbus A380 super jumbo jet for personal use"

...also in the NY times

Some would say "So this is why our gas prices are so high!"
Others "Flagrant ostentation!"

Few say, "I wish I was Prince. Uh, I mean The Prince."

Remember, he does not set gas prices nor oil profits. You do.

My favorite sign in State College, PA during the war protest on the corner of College and Allen streets is the "Honk for Peace" placard.

Think about the irony for a moment. - Especially when the supercharged Denali honks.

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Go to Europe and that's all I get?

"You go to Europe for the World Cup, hang out with millionaires, women who are desperate for your love, chill in the ambiance of south France, and peruse the wild side of Iceland but all you post is a freaking picture of Shea Stadium from 28,000 feet?
What kind of moron does that?"
To which I answer,

"What purpose is it to try and titillate you with generalities if I cannot tickle you with details?"

N 50.15089, E 8.65341

The nuance of travel makes it rewarding. For example, at Nam Viet Imbiss

Heddernheimer Landstr. 3
60439 Frankfurt, Germany

The little man doing his best to please you with a gourmet Chinese dinner in a cramped and secluded restaurant can only say chicken, though he means beef. He knows he will probably not see you again, but he's hopeful, because you came to see him and not the industrial Chinese warehouse eatery that couldn't care less if they see you again and couldn't care less if that little man dies bankrupt and worn-out due to his careful efforts. He even gave me a ten percent discount. Yes, it was good. Oh did I not mention- it filled the plate, was fresh, and was exactly what I ordered! _ I didn't know what I ordered and I don't know what I got! Perfect. Not far was a gelato bistro, and a couple of those interesting roadside markets with a smiling women in the window that you order a Snickers from after wedging through a couple retired men. And, conspicuously, a condom machine on the railing of the sidewalk. One Euro. I just happened to have one Euro. Another hidden treasure.
Why is it not in German?

My poor traveling companions... They only had Pizza Hut and industrial strength Chinese. Just outside the NordWestZentrum lay an undiscovered smorgasbord.

I know what you're saying... "A picture of a sign? You were in Germany during the World Cup. That's it?"

You are free to go to Pizza Hut.

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Germany Lessons The Flight

I understood Iceland Air would be a bit different. Brandi mentioned that he'd had the same rep for over twenty years, and that in all that time he'd been booking on the airline, no one ever complained. Ever. I figured that was a pretty good record, and besides, I trusted his opinion because he makes a damn good Bauernschmaus. Anyway, I book a flight to Frankfurt with a few days to spare in Iceland on my return. I had no itinerary, except I knew for five days out three and a half weeks I would be in Frankfurt, and one day I would be in Nurnberg for the World Cup match. Upon my arrival to BWI, I learned that at Iceland Air, you only need to show up two hours early for your international flight - because no one will be there until 1:45 before your plane is scheduled to board. If you arrive earlier, it will only give you time to order Buffalo wings, since you probably won't be eating those in Europe anyway.

The flight was packed with all sorts of travellers. The Icelandic language the stewardesses conversed in did not take away from their charm. The food was excellent and though I had never seen Lazytown on TV before, now I am a fan. Even though it was at night, I noticed that we were flying over NYC. You could clearly see the outline of Central Park. I mentioned this to the woman next to me who seemed more skeptical than interested. Then I saw a beautiful well lit green to the East. It must be Shea Stadium N40 45.309 W73 50.643.
I mentioned that I could see the park to my neighbor as now we had had (had had, You had to have had to love English class when they taught you past perfect tense) a little conversation. She asked in a condescending way what the score was; obviously, she wasn't a Mets fan. I found it interesting how I was simply pointing out an fact to make discussion, and she thought I was insulting her intelligence.

Needless to say the rest of our conversation was polite but terse. I recall being amazed with how many baseball fields you can spot while coming in for a landing, or taking off in the US.

Landing in Iceland is like landing on the surface of the moon. If fact, the only thing crustier than Iceland's surface is the toilet paper in Keflavik's bathrooms. Keep in mind that Iceland is very technologically advanced- they know how to take your money very efficiently. I bought a few candy bars and licorice. Cute! It's in Icelandic Krona! Surely 17,000 Krona for a couple of candy bars won't dent the pocket. Oops. I find out later: $21.75. Boy it was tasty. I found out later during my adventure that Icelandic licorice is great laxative. I also find out it's an aphrodisiac- but that's another story.

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Woman drives off Penns View cliff.

Perhaps you don't remember reading about Coburn and the Tunnel...





It turns out, there is a scenic overlook above the abandoned railroad tunnel. We didn't realize that is what we were looking at when we went traveling the Poe Valley.

Poe, as in Edgar Allen. We were enjoying the view until a woman and her companion rode up on horseback. "I ain't never seen anything mysterious in these woods!" she said. "But did you know about the lady who tried to commit suicide by driving off this cliff last week? She filled the car with her children's toys after checking out of the mental institution. She wrote a note, left some money on that rock and drove off the cliff! They didn't find her till the next afternoon and they had a heck of a time getting her out. She was complaining that she needed her medicine for three hours till the cop had enough and told her to shut the f- up."

The enthusiastic lady took another refreshing swig from her beer.

"She must have been pretty messed in the head to fly off a cliff, I mean a bullet woulda been a lot less dramatic! She's probably especially mad 'cause she only broke her leg!"

We talked for a bit. She was fun to listen to. Perhaps she was unaware that
the tunnel in the distance had its own share of macabre stories.

This is a 1998 Ford Explorer. I can only guess this is what she was in.












When rescued, she complained about not having her medicine.





The paper got it wrong. She was forty. The rest of her info has been distorted intentionally.





This car paused in a moment of silence before its owners and I travelled to the Eutaw House for wings, and the gas station for ice cream.

N 40.8338 W 77.4566

See what happens when you drive a Ford Explorer off a cliff...

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Yachta Yachta Yachta

We were standing in Boca Raton, in the private marina of the resort and the gentlemen from New Jersey gleamed,
"Here is that banker's yacht, that's the investment guy's 110 footer, and over there is the insurance man's Benetti -ain't it beautiful?"

Taking it all in, my friend ponders a moment and asks,
"Where are the customer's yachts?"

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