No Ordinary Model Train Set

A work of art and German engineering! 
 
  
     
   This is unbelievable - I've never seen anything like it ever. 
   Check it out, you will be amazed and please make sure to watch the video at the bottom of this blog to see this in action - you won't believe it! 
     
   GERMAN TRAIN SET
  
   This is the world's biggest train set which covers 1,150 square meters (12,380 square feet), features almost six miles of track and is still not completed.

          

Twin brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun, 41, began work on the 'Miniatur Wonderland' in 2000 
 


The set covers six regions including America, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Germany 

and the Austrian Alps 

 


 

The American section features giant models of

the Rocky Mountains, Everglades, Grand Canyon. 
 

 

..and Mount Rushmore 



The Swiss section has a mini-Matterhorn 

 
The Scandinavian part has a 4ft long

passenger ship floating in a 'fjord' 



It is expected to be finished in 2014,

when the train set will cover more than

1,800 square meters (19, 376 sq ft) 
 and feature almost 13 miles of track,

by which time detailed models of parts of

France, Italy and the UK will have been added.



It comprises 700 plus trains with more

than 10,000 carriages and wagons.



The longest train is 46ft.



The scenery includes 900 signals, 2,800 buildings,

4,000 cars - many with illuminated headlights... 



..and 160,000 individually designed figures.



Thousands of kilograms of steel and

wood was used to construct the scenery... 



The 250,000 lights are rigged up to a system which mimics night and day by automatically turning them on and off.



The whole system is controlled from a massive high-tech nerve center.



In total the set has taken 500,000 hours and more than $8 million to put together, the vast majority of which has come from ticket sales.



Gerrit said: "Our idea was to build a world that men, woman, and children can be equally astonished and amazed in".



Frederik added: "Whether gambling in Las Vegas, hiking in the Alps or paddling in Norwegian fjords - in Wonderland everything is possible".

    

   The world's biggest model train set. 

    

    TALK ABOUT YOUR SECOND CHILDHOOD ! "BOYS" AND THEIR TOYS.... 

   
It comprises 700 plus trains with more than 10,000 carriages and wagons.The longest train is 46 ft long.  The scenery includes 900 signals, 2,800 buildings, 4,000 cars - many with illuminated headlights and 200,000 individually designed figures. Thousands of kilograms of steel and wood was used to construct the scenery. The set is on display to the public and is so big that they employ more than 160 people to show visitors around their creation. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_532463&feature=iv&src_vid=PN_oDdGmKyA&v=ACkmg3Y64_s   
 

Medicare Part "X"

NEW SENIOR MEDICARE PROGRAM

  

  

 You're a sick senior citizen and the government says there 

is no nursing home available for you. So what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. 

You are allowed to shoot four Politicians.

Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will 

get three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating, 

air conditioning and all the health care you need!

  

Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That's great. 

Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They're all covered.

As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now.

And who will be paying for all of this? It's the same government that just told you that they cannot afford for you to go into a nursing home.

And you can get rid of 4 useless politicians while you are at it.

Plus, and because you are a prisoner, you don't have to 

pay any income taxes anymore.

  
Is this a great country or what?

   

The Day Japan Bombed Brookings, Oregon

   

Brookings, Oregon By: Norm Goyer

September 9, 1942, the I-25 class Japanese submarine was cruising in an easterly direction raising its periscope occasionally as it neared the United States Coastline. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor less than a year ago and the Captain of the attack submarine knew that Americans were watching their coast line for ships and aircraft that might attack our country. Dawn was approaching; the first rays of the sun were flickering off the periscopes lens. Their mission; attack the west coast with incendiary bombs in hopes of starting a devastating forest fire. If this test run were successful, Japan had hopes of using their huge submarine fleet to attack the eastern end of the Panama Canal to slow down shipping from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The Japanese Navy had a large number of I-400 submarines under construction. Each capable of carrying three aircraft Pilot Chief Warrant Officer Nobuo Fujita and his crewman Petty Officer Shoji Okuda were making last minute checks of their charts making sure they matched those of the submarine's navigator.

  

  

The only plane ever to drop a bomb on the United States during WWII was this submarine based Glen.

September 9, 1942: Nebraska forestry student Keith V. Johnson was on duty atop a forest fire lookout tower between Gold's Beach and Brookings Oregon . Keith had memorized the silhouettes of Japanese long distance bombers and those of our own aircraft. He felt confident that he could spot and identify, friend or foe, almost immediately. It was cold on the coast this September morning , and quiet. The residents of the area were still in bed or preparing to head for work. Lumber was a large part of the industry in Brookings, just a few miles north of the California Oregon state lines.

 

The aircraft carried two incendiary 168 pound bombs and a crew of two.

Aboard the submarine the Captain's voice boomed over the PA system, "Prepare to surface, aircrew report to your stations, wait for the open hatch signal" During training runs several subs were lost when hangar door were opened too soon and sea water rushed into the hangars and sank the boat with all hands lost. You could hear the change of sound as the bow of the I-25 broke from the depths, nosed over for its run on the surface. A loud bell signaled the "All Clear." The crew assigned to the single engine Yokosuki E14Ys float equipped observation and light attack aircraft sprang into action. They rolled the plane out its hangar built next to the conning tower. The wings and tail were unfolded, and two 176 pound incendiary bombs were attached to the hard points under the wings. This was a small two passenger float plane with a nine cylinder 340 hp radial engine. It was full daylight when the Captain ordered the aircraft to be placed on the catapult. Warrant Officer Fujita started the engine, let it warm up, checked the magnetos and oil pressure. There was a slight breeze blowing and the seas were calm. A perfect day to attack the United States of America . When the gauges were in the green the pilot signaled and the catapult launched the aircraft. After a short climb to altitude the pilot turned on a heading for the Oregon coast.

 

The "Glen" was launched via catapult from a I-25 class Japanese submarine.

Johnson was sweeping the horizon but could see nothing, he went back to his duties as a forestry agent which was searching for any signs of a forest fire The morning moved on. Every few minutes he would scan low, medium and high but nothing caught his eye.

The small Japanese float plane had climbed to several thousand feet of altitude for better visibility and to get above the coastal fog. The pilot had calculated land fall in a few minutes and right on schedule he could see the breakers flashing white as they hit the Oregon shores.

Johnson was about to put his binoculars down when something flashed in the sun just above the fog bank. It was unusual because in the past all air traffic had been flying up and down the coast, not aiming into the coast.

The pilot of the aircraft checked his course and alerted his observer to be on the lookout for a fire tower which was on the edge of the wooded area where they were supposed to drop their bombs. These airplanes carried very little fuel and all flights were in and out without any loitering. The plane reached the shore line and the pilot made a course correction 20 degrees to the north. The huge trees were easy to spot and certainly easy to hit with the bombs. The fog was very wispy by this time.

  

  

 Warrant Officer Fujita is shown with his Yokosuka E14Y (Glen) float plane prior to his flight.

Johnson watched in awe as the small floatplane with a red meat ball on the wings flew overhead, the plane was not a bomber and there was no way that it could have flown across the Pacific, Johnson could not understand what was happening. He locked onto the plane and followed it as it headed inland.

The pilot activated the release locks so that when he could pickled the bombs they would release. His instructions were simple, fly at 500 feet, drop the bombs into the trees and circle once to see if they had started any fires and then head back to the submarine.

Johnson could see the two bombs under the wing of the plane and knew that they would be dropped. He grabbed his communications radio and called the Forest Fire Headquarters informing them of what he was watching unfold.

The bombs tumbled from the small seaplane and impacted the forests, the pilot circled once and spotted fire around the impact point. He executed an 180 degree turn and headed back to the submarine. There was no air activity, the skies were clear. The small float plane lined up with the surfaced submarine and landed gently on the ocean, then taxied to the sub. A long boom swung out from the stern. His crewman caught the cable and hooked it into the pickup attached to the roll over cage between the cockpits. The plane was swung onto the deck, The plane's crew folded the wings and tail, pushed it into its hangar and secured the water tight doors. The I-25 submerged and headed back to Japan .

This event ,which caused no damage, marked the only time during World War II that an enemy plane had dropped bombs on the United States mainland. What the Japanese didn't count on was coastal fog, mist and heavy doses of rain made the forests so wet they simply would not catch fire.
  

  

This Memorial Plaque is located in Brookings, Oregon at the site of the 1942 bombing

Fifty years later the Japanese pilot, who survived the war, would return to Oregon to help dedicate a historical plaque at the exact spot where his two bombs had impacted.

The elderly pilot then donated his ceremonial sword as a gesture of peace and closure of the bombing of Oregon in 1942.

((( THE BELL )))

    

 Christ’s Bell
 ~ 

 : 

 : 

 : 

I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God's child (John 1:12)
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ.  (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3 :20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God  (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good  (Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13 )
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16).   I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).. I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child 

(Eph.1:5) 

Buzzard, Bat and Bumblebee

 

THE BUZZARD

If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top,

the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner.

The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet.

Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly,

but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

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THE BAT

 

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air,

cannot take off from a level place.

If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and,

no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air.

Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

-----------------------------------------------

THE BUMBLEBEE

 
A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out.

It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out
through the sides near the bottom.

It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

-----------------------------------------------

PEOPLE

 
In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee.

We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up!

That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem...

just look up!

 

------------------------------------------------
Sorrow looks back,

Worry looks around,

But faith looks up!

Live simply,

love generously,

care deeply,

speak kindly, and

trust in our Creator,

who loves us.

 

Share this with a friend... I just did.

 

(( ANGELS ))

What Some Kids Said About Angels 

 

 

Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it. 

  

   -Olive, age 9 

 

It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die.
Then you go to Heaven, and then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes.

-Matthew, age 9 

 

Angels work for God and watch over kids when God
has to go do something else.

-Mitchell, age 7

  

 
My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science.

-Henry, age 8

Angels don't eat, but they do drink milk from Holy
Cows 

  -Jack, age 6 

 

  
Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up
to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead.

Daniel, age 9 

  

When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath again, somewhere there's a tornado.

-Reagan, age 10 

 

 

Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy.
If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go south for the winter. 

  

 

  Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his
son, who's a very good carpenter.

-Jared, age 8

All angels are girls because they gotta wear
dresses and boys didn't go for it. 

 

 -Antonio, age 9 

     

 
My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got
a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth.

-Ashley ~ age 9
   

 

Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal
sick animals and pets. And if
they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it.

-Vicki, age 8

  

 

    What I don't get about angels is why, when someone
is in love, they shoot arrows at them.
-Sarah, age 7 

  

 

May the God of love and peace delight 

 

and dwell with you forever.