Today is ...

… the day the Norwegian Prime Minister goes skiing to the south pole
… the day (1958) CCCP goes to the Antarctic Pole of Relative Inaccessibility
… the day (2008) George W goes to the place of hostile shoes
… the day (2006) USA-193 nearly goes to space
… the day (1995) leaders of various governments go to Paris

Says pibbur who goes nowhere

It's also the day Max Planck publishes something. Or not. Or both.
 
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From Wikipedia:

1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by leaders of various governments
 
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... the day pibbur went to Stovckholm. First by slow-train (160kph) from Bergen to Oslo, then by another slow-train from Oslo to Stockholm. Tomorrow things are speeding up because of the not-that-slow-but-not-that-fast-either (200kph) X2000 to Copenhagen.

Today is also the day (1801 years ago) roman emperor Severus Snape got sick and died. In York aka Eboracum, where he was doing military things. He was apparently in a bad mood, I quote "Let no one escape sheer destruction, No one our hands, not even the babe in the womb of the mother, If it be male; let it nevertheless not escape sheer destruction". Right.

In Tokyo aka Edo, exactly 309 years ago one Ronin did not seppuku. We probably don't need to know why (which is why this particularpiece of information is also posted on the things you don't need.... you know)

223 years ago George Washngtom aka George Washington is president (For the gops or the dems?)

1859: The Codex is disccovered in Egypt.

76 years ago, Radium aka Ra was invented.

13 years ago New Carissa went to shore, Which was kind of unfortunate as it was a ship. The old Carissa is a flower.

pibbur who is known by 37 altavistas, one of them is علم الميثولوجيا يثبت تحريف
 
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the day pibbur goes to Copenhagen, and the night he goes to Amsterdam, the city of grachts. At the moment he's north of Malmø where people shoot each other, but he'll stay hidden under one of the seats.

1631: Roger Williams goes to Boston.
1869: Ozzies (not of the Osbournes) welcomes a stranger.
1958: Anyone seen the Tybee Hydrogen bomb?
1985: Third Punic wart ends after 2131 years.
2009: United-States-Navy-guided-missile-cruiser USS Port Royal unwisely went ashore, on a reef. Both reef and said United-States-Navy-guided-missile-cruiser was injured.
2012: Anyone seen the Tybee Hydrogen bomb?

29000 Googles have found the bomb.

pibbur who doesn't like the fact that a freight train just passed his capable-of-200-kph-X2000-train.
 
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Today is Super Bowl XLVI. The Giants vs. the Patriots, a rematch of the Super Bowl in 2007 when the Giants prevailed and ended the Patriots bid for a perfect 18-0 season (had a friend who lost money betting on the game - ha ha, what a dope!). The Super Bowl is probably the biggest American holiday, even though it is not an official holiday. More colories in beer, pizza, hot wings, and other detestably fattening food will be consumed today than other well-populated nations consume in an entire year. You gotta love it!

Anyone got any predictions?
 
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I hate both teams, but I hate the Pats less, so I hope they win!!
 
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the day pibbur didn't go to Edinburgh. Because of a series of unfortunate incidences. First the night train to Amsterdam was 1.5 hours behind schedule before leaving Hannover, and considedring that he had only 1 hour transfer time in Amsterdam before departure for Bruxelles MIDI, he went for his second option, boarding a train headed for Köln at Dortmund, and from there take the 1143 to Bruxelles. The train from K. to B. was 10 minutes delayed, according to speaker.

So, when a train came in 10 minutes after that, pibbur boarded it, assuming it would bring him safely to the holy grail of eurostar (in Bruxelles MIDI) Which it didn't, in stead it brought him closer and closer to München, which was a bit inconvenient, since that's the opposite direction of where he needed to go Let it be known to pibbur's credit, that he discovered said inconvenience within minutes after departure. Unfortunately Deutsche Bahn don't stop just because pibbur want's to get off a train. He could of course have started behaving really badly, and thus getting thrown off the train, but there are repercussions against things like that, and actually, pibbur wouldn't know how to do it (the mere fact that he didn't think of this option until now says a lot). And since this was a fast train, it didn't stop on it's own until nearly 30 minutes had passed. Further, the train going back to Köln was a slow train which stopped and stopped and…

Through a series of train changes, pibbur made it to B. MIDI at 1700, just in time for the train to Edinburgh. If you're at Kings Cross in London. In general, pibbur doesn't have much to say against Bruxelles (and the few things he has to say against it won't be mentioned here), but if you want to go by train to Edinburgh, Bruxelles is definitely not the place to be,

I won't bother you with details here, but at the moment pibbur is in London, at the Park Hotel international. In the hlotel bar drinking a glass of Hendrickk's gin&tonic. He will probably go to Edinburgh at 1000 tomorrow, at least hopefully in that general direction.

In 1819 Otto became the first modern king of Greece, presumably replacing a bunch of old fashin ones, perhaps some Ottomans among then?
In 1952 Elisabeth became the second elisabeth of England, replacing George.
in 1998 Ronald Reagan National Airport. replaced Washington National

pibbur who thinks that the worst part of todays' ordeals wasn't trains not going where and when pibbur wanted them to, but that in Köln something reminded him of one of the terribla songs associated with the smurfs. AND HE COULDN*T GET IT OUT OF IT'S HEAD. He dosn't mind the hotel bar, where he's having a Hendricks gin&tonic, plays a lot of awful Rhianna stuff. That can easily be shut out using his iPod and some Dream Theater music

There are 1,050,000 googles for Hendrick's.
 
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Unfortunately Deutsche Bahn don't stop just because pibbur want's to get off a train. He could of course have started behaving really badly, and thus getting thrown off the train, but there are repercussions against things like that, and actually, pibbur wouldn't know how to do it (the mere fact that he didn't think of this option until now says a lot). And since this was a fast train, it didn't stop on it's own until nearly 30 minutes had passed. Further, the train going back to Köln was a slow train which stopped and stopped and…

Poor Pibbur ! If I had known of this, I could have warned you …

And yes, the Deutsche Bahgn is a place of morons and lunatics. And too much cost-saving as well.

In the press there were a few incidents like this : The ICE train (our fastest and highest-class train) just didn't stop at Wolfsburg (where the headquarters of Volkswagen are) - TWO TIMES ! Within a few months !

The local newspaper of Cologne here is currently overflowing with letters to the editor stating incredible horror stories - like trains "stranding" in the middle of nowhere, no emplyee to be seen, no idea where to go further on …

But not stopping in Cologne is new to me, to be frank. Can you geve me please the exact train number & time ? I might write a letter to the editor stating your case as well …

The slow train you have used afterwards might have been an "S-Train" ("S-Bahn"), with "S" presumbly standing for "schnell" = "speedy". This is the fastest train we have on the lowerst level of trains.

But - in fact, since the even slower trains of earlier times have dies out, the S-Bahn is also the slowest train here. What Irony !
Slower are only trains deep in the countryside.

The situation with the Deutsche Bahn is actually at the lowest point in its history. Within the whole country, people are angry. I just don't understand why I have had so much luck with the trains so far. But even my father has told me stories … He works by Berlin and is going home into the Rheinland via train every Friday, and back every Sunday … He has had his own share of these stories as well …

And here is why : One part of the problem is that the ICE trains always have the highest priority ! - All other trains must wait for them.

And now let's imagine such an ICE is late because of children playing on the railways (yes ! This happens !) or because of someone jumping down a bridge just before a train is there (yes, this sadly happens as well - in December a whole railway stzation in my own town was closed because of such an incident) - the ICE is late, out of shedule, but STILL all of the other trains MUST wait … At least for a certain time.

One example from the press (letters to the editors) was that of an older couple which … had certain problems with trains. They wanted to go to Hamburg. And the last sentence of their printed letter to the editors was : "And in Hamburg the last bus was gone". Sad.


One of the problem lies within the fact that the Deutsche Bahn wanted to go to the stock market(s) within the last decade.

What they did, was axing EVERYTHING that proved to be losses. And that means ESPECIALLY ALL local railways ! (We have two sorts of railways here : "long-range" and "short-range" aka "local".) So many local railways have been … not only closed down, but the metal rails were transported away, too … - Losses. Axed.

Okay, in the recent years private railway companies have begun erecting new railways for local services again - people in the province just rely on either cars of trains.

And the local trains between the town centres are often overcrowded. "The Sardines Effect" - Meant are sardines stuffed into tins.

But the Deutsche Bahn destroyed so much - and in the meantime, they built up a highly profitable business for/with the ICE ! - The ICE is nowadays the main "cash cow" for the Deutsche Bahn. It means luxury, it means fast travelling, it means high prices. And ALL of the low-cost products have been destroyed - with a few exceptions (S-Bahn, Regional-Bahn (RE) … I think that's it).

And this cost-reduction has led to this desaster. People openly call it "the Deutsche Bahn has been … "bedgeted into oblivion", that's a translation someone at dict.leo.org proposes. The literal translation would be "saved kaputt" or "saved until it broke".

Which means that the savings / cost-reduction means were so heavy that the whole railway system is not healthy anymopre. Too few workers, for example, and those must work too much, so they become much more often ill, which enganders the whole railway system again because there are too few workers … When I was reading the novel "Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett, and he was describing the "clacks business", I had to think of the Deutsche Bahn.

The main driver behind the "Deutsche Bahn going to the stock market(s)", Mr. Mehdorn, is now working for another company. He had been "pressed" to give up his position because of the oh-so-many and sometimes outright unbelievable issues with the DEutsche Bahn (in 2 cases, youngsters who had bought the wrong ticket had to get out of the train deep within some wilderness !!! ), but he was clinging so much to his seat as if he had glued himself to it. When he finally went, it was a great relief everywhere. Because everyone knew - or had anticipated - that he was the force behind the destructive cost reduction scheme.

And of course : When the Deutsche Bahn had really gone to the stock market(s), he would have gained LOTS of bonus payments ! But that was revealed only after he had gone. Which made me even more angry. Since then I believe that the desastrous situation in which the Deutsche Bahn is right now is the result of a man giving in his greed, to put it cynically.

Travelling with Deutsche Bahn has become a lottery. Mostly, it goes well. But if it isn't … Oh, well … Good if you have friends or a Plan B or a Plan C or a Plan D …
 
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Oh, when I wrote about trains not stopping, I was joking. Pibbur expected (actually he didn't) them to stop stop whenever pibbur want to leave the train, at stations or outside stations. The trains did stop at the stations.
 
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the day pibbur went to edinburgh. Based on yesterday's experiences he was a bit anxious: Would the train he boarded take him to his selected destination. Fortunately, King's cross is a lot easier, because (with the possible exception of platform 93/4), contrary to Köln, you can only depart in one direction. Trying (again with the possible exception of 93/4) to go the opposite way with a train will very likely result in a Helena-train-wreck like situation, and might even injure humans.

So pibbur arrived, where he should arrive.

Others left:

1497: Thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books left Florence at the bonfire of the vanities.
1819: Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just one day(?)
1904: 1,500 buildings leave Baltyimore
1979: Pluto Leaves it's orbit (or the port of it's orbit) outside Neptune. Later it left the sun's planets completely.
1976: A Doc leaves Haiti

1,670,000 googles know about haggis
 
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the day after yesterday when pibbur and his youngest went there (Glasgow=…

1587: Queen Mary of Scots was excecuted for possibly planning to eliminate Elisabeth 1 (hereafter referred to as e^0). (I say this whispering. Since I'm in Edinburgh, and you know, the Scots and the English…)
1601: The above mentioned sad fact did not disencourage Mr R Deveraux from Essex to rebel against the same e^0. With the same outcome.
1693: The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is granted a charter by King William and Queen Mary (not the same as the one mentioned in 1587).
1855: A hysterical jumping devil may have followed a ballon on a snowy night in South Devon@uk.
1879: The England cricket team led by Lord Harris is attacked during a riot during a match in Sydney. I rest my case.
1952: e^0,693147181. Her 3rd surname i Mary.


… and back again (Edinburgh)

There are e^10 googles for 2.7182818284590

says pibbur, the silent man
 
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the day pibbur didn't do anything special, just drnking coffee, going around in town, taking pictures, drinking coffee, buying books, drinking coffee. And drinking coffee.

In the world, throughout history a bishop got burned, a pope got elected (by acclamation), the United States Department of Agriculture was elevated to a Cabinet-level agency (1889), people went out into space, people came back, Biju Patnaik of the Pragati Legislature Party is elected leader of the opposition in the state assembly in Orissa, India (1973). And people came back from space.

Approximateldy a million googles for nothing particularly interesting

pibbur who writes this while for all practical purposes doing nothing and knowing nothing
 
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Ahh. I knew I was missing something. However, several sites claim his birthday was on the 7th.

So, today is the 1st or 2nd (do I get 3?) day since Mr. Dickens' birthday.

says pibbur who still remembers his own birthday
 
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25100

pibbur who is a bit annoyed that google still wants to call him "pibber"
 
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