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Having arrived back in the Alps yesterday clearly the sad story of the crashed airline is in everyone’s minds and my condolences to all those who have lost loved ones. At the same time as this tragic event there has, however, been other news coming out of this region which I suspect has been overlooked by the international press. One of the big stories here relates to cruelty to spiders – and how the German authorities are taking a zero tolerance approach to people who make arachnids suffer. The other describes how a German drinks marketing company refused to deliver its new hetero-tipple to a local gay bar for fear of being misbranded by association with gays.

But first some pics of the mountains while they still have a little snow on them. The first is a photo of the Wendelstein mountain taken from my balcony:

By the way you can see high definition versions of my photos by simply clicking on the pictures. The next photo is the March view from my Kitchen – including the local church (with my rather cheap ‘kitchen’ clock):

Spiderman’s Prison Sentence

This week in the Ebersberg district court in Germany a prison sentence was handed out to a 48 year old man for mistreating spiders. The man had been keeping spiders in his apartment in the town of Grafing under ‘inhumane’ (my translation!) conditions. He claimed he was using the spiders for scientific experiments although more details of the nature of these ‘experiments’ were not obvious from the reports available.

As part of his defence the man claimed that other animals like pigs, cows and chickens are also kept in ‘inhumane’ conditions but the court did not accept this defence. Apparently the law in Germany addressing the treatment of ‘useful’ livestock is not as exacting as that protecting spiders and other animals like snakes and various insects. This means that a pig can be kept in a condition in which it can not freely move to ensure it satisfies the quality requirements of the food industry whereas for a spider or reptile this would be considered cruel. Presumably this is because we don’t (as a rule) eat them. There are exceptions to the last statement as you can read in my blog here (however that was in Holland!).

To help substantiate the claims of cruelty the court bought in as an expert witness the vet who had originally witnessed the conditions suffered by the spiders and other animals. However this was not considered satisfactory by the defence who wanted the court to seek evidence from experts who were more specifically qualified in spider behavioural science (a kind of Arachnid Therapist). The judge did not think this was necessary to reach a verdict.

It would appear that the man had a track record of mistreating animals. He was sentenced for keeping animals under ‘cruel’ conditions in his Munich apartment in 2000. At that time his apartment was home to several highly poisonous cobras, vipers and rattle-snakes. As a result of that case he was banned indefinitely from keeping animals in Germany. To avoid further sentencing he then set up shop for a period in Switzerland (were he added Boa Constrictors to his pet list).

In the latest case, which refers to an investigation made by the German authorities in 2008, the man had, in his modest apartment, hundreds of spiders and insects; 162 reptiles, 111 mammals ranging from mice to monkeys, 21 birds and a collection of poisonous snakes. This week it was decided that the ‘Spiderman’ should receive a custodial sentence of one year and ten months as well as completing a previous suspended sentence of 14 months. His partner received a fine for her part in the transgression.

If you want to read more about insects and hear a nice little insect focused song please follow the link to my article here.

Hetero Drink Marketing

The other major story hitting the local press recently relates to a gay bar in Stuttgart which goes under the name of ‘Boots Westernbar‘. They received a flyer from a local drinks supplier promoting their new offering called Waldmeister-Limonade. For those who are not familiar with herbs Waldmeister (Galium odoratum) is a herbacious plant often found in the forests of Europe. It is also known under the names of sweet woodruff or wild baby’s breath.  In parts of Europe it has been taken to ward off evil spirits (“dämonische Kräfte”). Apparently witches can be driven off using a cocktail of waldmeister with a mixture of other herbs. So clearly it is good stuff!

After placing an order for the new drink the proprieters of the Boots Westernbar were stunned when they received the reply from the Waldmeister-Limonade supplier which (rather roughly translated) said:

“Following some brief research we have become aware of the fact that the Boots Westernbar is a gay bar……in such a situation it would not be very appropriate for (our drink) to be available there“. Apparently they were trying to build up their brand and considered the right target group to be very important – the suppliers explained further: “One can slide very quickly down the wrong (market) track and then find one is associated with this (market)“.

It would appear that the marketeers behind the new drink considered their product very much a hetero drink and were keen to avoid it getting associated with gay customers for fear it might become known as the kind of stuff gays drink. Not surprisingly this created an uproar among the gay community in the German social media networks. There were calls for a boycott of this new drink’s company (which only started marketing the drink in February 2015).

The owners of the drink’s company quickly issued a formal apology through these same media, admitting that their over-enthusiasm for securing the right market niche had blinded them to important issues of humanity and dignity. They offered the gay bar 24 cans to make up for their error which was promptly refused – the bar had enough alternative sources and their business is booming.

Perhaps there is a lesson here for other start-ups to consider – ‘don’t place marketing above humanity and dignity‘.

For any members of the LGBT community who would like a little musical solace just click on my videos below for a bit of ‘diversity focused’ fun:

• Pretty Boy Sally – Gay cross dressing peasant boy’s romantic adventures with a eunuch
• Lycra Larry – A young sports boy with a passion for expressive clothing accidentally exposes himself in public,

….and of course the album – Songs of Fun, Deviants and Eunuchs by the TRANSFORMATES 變 is available from the following suppliers:

• iTunes – here
• Spotify – here
• Google play – here
• Amazon – here

Well after all that excitement I think it is time to take the dog for a walk while we can still see some snow on the Alps. Have a great weekend.

Chris Duggleby

PS. Don’t let any one tell you the Germans don’t have a sense of humour. I am hoping they will support my song ‘Leck Mich!‘ when I get it accepted for the Eurovision song contest. If you haven’t already heard my bilingual German Licking Song the link is here. Apparently it is very popular in Vienna.

This week I would like to share with you some uplifting experiences which have reconfirmed my faith in humanity. Let’s start with the girls jumping from the rocks near Cape Towns unofficial nudist beach (Sandy Bay).

These days we are constantly hearing that young people spend too much time either playing with their cellphones, watching TV and generally finding new ways to avoid physical activity and play a full roll in supporting the obesity epidemic. Old folks are often heard saying “when I was younger we used to get out more often and……….”.

Well last weekend I saw some young people having some ‘old fashioned’ fun – and I was impressed.

As I was enjoying breakfast on my balcony in Llandudno, Cape Town, I was surprised to hear screaming coming from the direction of the ocean. Thinking there might be some kind of emergency I quickly jumped up and reached for my phone. However on closer inspection I realised the screaming was coming from a group of girls who were standing on the rocks in front of my apartment – there was no emergency they we just having a good time.

The four girls were taking it in turns to jump off the largest of the rocks into the ocean. As you will see from the photos below these are pretty big rocks. Regular visitors to my blog will know that these same rocks are also quite popular with the local whale community (see my earlier article here). Waiting on a surfboard in the sea was a teenage boy whose ‘duty’ appeared to be to collect each girl after she had reached the water (which is pretty cold here) and help her back to the other side of the rock. The girl would then swim back to the rock, join her friends at the jump-off point and encourage the next girl to jump.

As each girl jumped the other three let out a very large scream which is what had attracted my attention in the first place. After all the girls had jumped it was the time for the boy to also have a go. Who said the youth of today are all couch potatoes? If you want to see some fit Cape Town girls just get yourself over to Llandudno (actually Sunset Rocks is the precise name of rocks they were jumping off).

I would like to leave you with some sunset pics that I took in the last couple of days. Hopefully these will keep me going until I return.

Enjoy the weekend ahead and let’s hope those uplifting experiences keep coming.

Chris Duggleby

If you are interested in reading my other health focused articles try the following

Torture In The Shower – Face and Body Soap Allergies – Main Suspect: Pears Transparent Soap

Poison in your Washing Machine: Allergic Contact Dermatitis from Laundry Detergents, Softeners, Conditioners and Whiteners

Is Alzheimer’s caused by the Gum Disease Bacterium P. Gingivalis – A Dementia Prevention/Treatment Breakthrough?

Toxic Chemicals in Sex Toys – 18 Vibrators, Cock Rings, Love Balls Tested – Only 3 Get All Clear

My T-shirt Made Me Sick – Textile Allergies – Sinusitis From Your Underwear

While you read the following article why not listen to my e-baroque compositions – just click on the box below:

or if techno music is more your cup of tea here are my techno/ambient compositions:

I hope you find the article below interesting…please visit chrisduggleby.com again.

In this weeks action packed blog I will be sharing with you some of the exciting things that have taken place in the last couple of days at Sunset Rocks (Cape Town) including canoeing into the sunset, teenagers frolicking off the rocks and some stunning shots of the full moon setting over Africa. I will also introduce you to different ways English and German urine technologists are improving society by making good use of our wee-wee (yes peeing for society!). Finally this week I have completed another of my modern interpretations of Baroque masterpieces so prepare to be uplifted by Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah.

Let’s start with the week’s excitement on Sunset Rocks.

Regular visitors to my blog will remember last week’s pictures of the whales playing in the ocean around the rocks in front of my pad near Cape Town (and if you missed it the link is here).

Well these very same rocks that are frequented by huge mega whales that sometimes leap out of the water (see more of my pics here) provided the setting for a couple of canoeists this week who decided to pop-by on their way to Sandy Bay beach. Not only did they paddle straight past the whale’s playground but they also did it just as the sun was setting. This gave me an opportunity, with a rather strong lens, to capture the event from my balcony as I enjoyed my sundowner aperitif. The following pictures have been selected from my archive of this stunning event. Please click on any of the pics to see the high definition version.

Now for those frolicking teenagers

Clearly a canoe is not going to provide you with much protection if a mega whale decides to surface just at the moment you sail past. You will therefore appreciate that I was a little surprised to see a couple of teenagers paddling to the rocks on their surf boards. I was even more surprised when I saw what this boy and girl had in mind once they landed on the rock.

They took it in turns jumping off the largest of these huge rocks into the very cold Western Cape ocean (one jumped while the other paddled round to wait for their partner to splash into the sea). Only one of them had a wet suit! Once again all this took place as the sun was starting to set – proving once again that sunset is a magic time at Sunset Rocks. Here are a selection of my pics capturing this brave sporting enterprise – Oh to be young (and this fit)!

and the moon set?

I am sure you noticed that we had a full moon this week. If you are a photographer you will know that moon shots are not always the easiest. This is compounded by moon sets tending to be very early in the morning when some of us struggle to get out of bed (apologies to any of my African neighbours who spotted the naked Englishman clicking away on his balcony before the sun rose – dressing, and breakfast came later). So without further preamble here are some of the photos I took of the full moon as it set over Sunset Rocks this week (next time I must remember to get the tripod out!).

Moving on to what the scientists have been doing with wee-wee

Germans and Brits have very different approaches when it comes to using urine in ways that will benefit society. The German approach is being field tested in Hamburg’s red-light district (the Reeperbahn or St. Pauli district). Their innovation involves spraying tourists with urine if they decide to misbehave themselves in public. Rather than go into too much sordid detail in this blog I have prepared a special report on the development which you can read using the link here (but be warned – it includes a video of tourists misbehaving themselves in the red-light district).

The British approach is somewhat different.  Under research leader Ioannis Ieropoulos, students and staff at the University of Bristol together with Oxfam, have developed a new toilet which includes a microbial energy generating cell. This cell breaks down the urine which is in wee-wee and uses the energy released to generate electricity. This power can then be used for lighting or, for example, to recharge cell phones. Oxfam is interested because these special toilets (€830 per unit including construction) can be used in refugee camps to provide a constant source of electricity. According to the handout describing the invention ladies in some countries run the risk of being raped if they go to the toilet at night – by using these new toilets to power lighting their security should be improved.

At the moment the British invention is being tested under the urinal at a student bar in an English university. The activity of the power generating cells in converting wee-wee to useful energy can be seen in action using an on-site CCTV monitor – providing students with a visual incentive to drink more and pee for a good cause (German reading visitors can read an article about this here).

Two countries with two very different approaches to ‘recycling’ wee.

And now Hallelujah!

Hallelujah – Yes it is nearly the end of this week’s blog. Since arriving at my Cape Town pad about 10 days ago I have been busy working on another of my baroque musical interpretations. Regular visitors to the blog will already be familiar with my interpretations of Vivaldi and Bach (you can see the videos and read about the pieces using the link here). Well now it is the turn of Handel.

 

In addition to taking photographs of fun on the rocks and reviewing the latest scientific developments in urine technology I have been busy rearranging 21 pages from the original score of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. This was necessary so that it could be performed as part of the TRANSFORMATES 變 Music Project. In my interpretation I have tried to preserve much of the original instrumentation (Oboes, Bassoons, Trumpets, Timpani and four string components) but have ‘reinterpreted’ the vocal parts. If you listen to the performance you will hear the different voices but you will not hear the words. I have used the voices as musical instruments and tried to create sounds which blend with the baroque instruments but are quite different to what we normally hear when we listen to this piece. The original notes are preserved – they are just presented with a different musical ‘texture’.

You can find out more about this piece of music and its history from my dedicated blog article here. As always I welcome any feedback or recommendations for further musical exploits. Here is the video:

You can find out more about the activities of the TRANSFORMATES 變 Music Project by visiting the dedicated website here. When I get a moment I will add a blog to that site with more information about my interpretation of the Hallelujah Chorus.

That’s it for this update. Have a great week ahead and remember if you do go jumping off rocks into the ocean – double check there are no large mammals swimming in the water before you leap.

Chris Duggleby