Getting high over Germany
No group was more willing to take that risk than these two slackliners who recently took on the highest slackline walk ever – by traversing a rope suspended between two floating hot air balloons! The duo’s trek took place more than 1 mile up at 8,202 ft. This effort broke the previous record of 6,236 ft that had been established in 2021. Friedi Kühne and Lukas Irmler have both achieved record-breaking success in the field previously, with Friedi taking a highlining record in. As for this specific challenge the pair had to face a little trial and error. For instance, Lukas who attempted the feat first, fell off the slackline twice before being able to make it to the second balloon. Each fall ceased the validity of that attempt, so he would have to restart. Lukas said of his attempts: “The main attempt of breaking the world record was pretty difficult for me. “The pressure was really high. It was a great relief of pressure, and it was glorious moment.” Second to attempt the same walk was Friedi who watched each of Lukas’s attempts.
Friedi also faced challenges in his own right too, with weather and the movement of the balloons impacting his efforts to make it across the slackline. Friedi said: “Not only did the balloons spin the entire time, they also went up and down. “At one point we were walking kind of downhill – the next minute uphill. The tension of the line was going up and down. “Nothing could prepare us like that.” Eventually the pair came together to celebrate both their own and each other’s success. They lounged and played about on the line until it was time for them to descend, and in Friedi’s case, to parachute off the connected balloons after a walk across the line without a safety rope.
Did you hear a deer, Dear?
German hunters tried to convince a jury they can imitate a bellowing red deer most realistically. The unique tradition goes back hundreds of years and was initially aimed at feigning a stag’s rival during the rutting season so the deer comes out. The trick gave hunters a chance to better assess the stag before deciding whether to shoot it. The hunters used specially made ox horns, triton snail shells, glass cylinders, the hollow stems of the giant hogweed, and a number of artificially produced instruments to amplify the sound and resonance. The members of the jury listened with closed eyes in special cells to make sure nothing would distract them from the sound.
The calls made by the competitors were judged on their authenticity, with stags’ bellowing noises known to vary depending on the age of the animal, the mood of the herd, and the stage of the rut. The organizers explained that stags’ calls can range from the commanding, hoarse bellows of an old stag to the more subtle sounds made by younger males in search of a mate. Three distinct disciplines were featured in the championship. Fabian Menzel, from the small Bavarian village of Nüdlingen, claimed the championship for the fifth year running and will now go on to represent Germany at the European Stag Calling Championships in Lithuania this October. Stay tuned…
Hot Air Balloony
What do you put in a female balloon?
Shelium.
A chap is flying in a hot air balloon but is lost. He sees an Irishman below and shouts, “Hey, do you know where I am?”
Paddy says, “You can’t fool me, you’re up there in that little box.”
What do you call a balloon animal made out of a condoms?
A Trojan horse.
“How much longer do have to endure this volcano full of hot stinking gas,” asked the Hawaiian?”
“Why don’t you just turn CNN off.”
February 14th Birthdays
1988 – Asia Nitollano, 1998 – Madison Iseman, 1987 – Tiffany Thornton, 1988 – Eliska Sursova
1992 – Freddie Highmore, 1948 – Ray Teller, 1972 – Drew Bledsoe, 1818 – Frederich Douglas