Octoberfest in Munich

With the traditional words "O'zapft is!" - "the barrel has been tapped" - the Munich major Christian Ude declared the Oktoberfest 2007 open.

From September 22 to Oktober 10 the world's largest beer festival will attract about six million people who are expected to consume innumerable litres ("Maßkrüge" in Bavarian) of the famous Oktoberfest beer.

In a related item, a German man who had been drinking heavily at Munich's Oktoberfest beer festival got stuck in a chimney for 12 hours while trying to climb into a friend's apartment, police said Friday.

7 year marriage contract?

More innovation from Bavaria. Conservative politician Gabriele Pauli is an authority on marriage: she has been divorced twice. Today she came up with a proposal that will resonate with anyone who has gone through a divorce:

Pauli had earlier raised some eyebrows by posing as a dominatrix for a magazine.
Her idea of the seven-year marriage contract surprised and angered several of her political rivals - including Horst Seehofer, who recently revealed he had a second family in Berlin.
I think she should export the idea to the United States and team up with Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani - a thrice-married Catholic.