Beseiged Bavarian village preps anti-millipede defences

The Bavarian village of Obereichstaett is constructing a foot-high wall around the entire hamlet to prevent the entry of thousands of millipedes which have each autumn "for hundreds of years" invaded the sleepy corner of Germany. Bernhard Koderer, 45, who lives in Obereichstaett with his wife and two kids, said: "Last year was …

[Rob]

WOW!

Want to see pics of this.... anyone?

[Darren]

Rail terminology

Good old One Railway would have such an event covered with their currently posted blanket excuse.... they are advising of Autumn timetable alterations due to "railhead adhesion performance"

You've just gotta love the British Rail networks :)

[Karl Lattimer]

Sounds like...

Someone at least is renewing screaming lord such's policy on national defense, albeit in a smaller way...

His idea was always to erect a foot tall wall all around the UK so at night any nasty invaders would trip over it.

[Ross Morton]

Giant Bug !

Aha - these must be the offspring of the Giant Bug of Arlesburg !

"Germany menaced by 50m insect"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/28/giant_insect/

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess blackberry season is over

The best excuse for train delays I've heard has got to be "what day is it? oh it's tuesday... then it must be that the driver is picking blackberries"

[J]

Title

Damn illegal immigrants!

(shaking one fist, crumpling Daily Mail with the other)

[Anonymous Coward]

Pictures? Pictures!

Somewhere in the middle of http://www.stern.de/wissenschaft/natur/:Obereichst%E4tt-Mit-Fleischkas-Tausendf%FC%DFler/600953.html you find some thumbnail images. Click on them.

[Brian Miller]

So why is it a problem now?

OK, the millipedes have been doing this "for hundreds of years." Why have the villagers decided to build a wall now? And why would anyone stay in the area after they noticed, hundreds of years ago, that it was millipede heaven?

[Marvin the Martian]

Cars?

Is it a car-free village, or does it have interesting, 100% vertical 1 foot humps in the road? If not, there's a flaw in this plan... as you prevent them from going out.

OTOH, these being german, well-disciplined crawlies, a policeman with a stop sign either exit of the village will suffice.

M

[lglethal]

Best delay message i have heard was...

"Bus 740 to Bondi Junction has been delayed due to a monumental cock-up at the depot"...

Some how i dont think it was the normal station announcer on the mic that day...

And i have to ask - if this has been going on for 100's of years why are they only now trying to do something about it?

[Graham Marsden]

Re: Best delay message i have heard was...

Even better was when a friend travelling on the London Underground realised that they'd left the Platform speaker microphone box unlocked.

The commuters were amused (or, perhaps, amazed) to hear the announcement that "We apologise for the delay in the arrival of the next service, this is because we're completely incompetent and couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery!"

He faded into the crowd as a number of LRT staff converged on the speaker system... ;-)

[skeptical i]

next up the food chain?

What eats millipedes? Are they tasty? What's the bag limit?

[Graham Marsden]

PS Where's the...

... Send for Chuck Norris icon?

[Nigel Hughes]

When Millipede Meets Train

Luckly the problem of Millipedes and trains has been covered by the greatest minds. The bright fellows at Improbable Research, givers of the Ig Nobel Prizes, have been looking at the problem since August 2000.

http://improbable.com/teach/lessons/millipedes-2000-08.html

[matt]

Re: next up the food chain?

Mmm good idea, maybe you could introduce a large frog that would eat them all!

[Eileen Bach]

Bavarian Millipede

You can tell from mine name zat I used to live neare there. Ve call them da BMW. (bavarian Millipede walkers). Das goot ya? Indistructable, dependable and expensive to fix.