Heidemarie Gave Up Using Money Fifteen Years Ago. She's Never Been Happier...

Sixty nine years young Heidemarie Schwermer from the little German town of Dartmund was shocked to find when she relocated there twenty two years ago to find so many homeless, poor and rejected people in the small society.
She decided to do something to help and in the process gave her life some extra meaning.
She considered empowering those who had either lost the ability through circumstances sometimes beyond their control or had simply fallen behind the demands of the monetary system to be the most important thing to do.
So Heidemarie started a little 'Swap Shop' called Gib Und Nimm, Give And Take.
Her little shop became a centre point of the community where anyone could trade 'stuff or skills' for things they needed and without any monetary transaction.
Heidemarie and her shop have become an oasis of love, caring and inspiration to thousands.
There's more about living with less here...

Have You Heard The One About The Muslim And The Jew And The Christian...

No this isn't a joke but it is something to give hope to the world and make it smile.
A dream is about to become a reality at Petriplatz in the heart of Germany's Berlin.
And when you consider the city's history, the event has even more amazing significance.
The city is preparing to host a structure common to the three main monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Designed by architect Wilfried Kuehn and named The House Of One, the brick structure will include a synagogue, a church, a mosque and
a common area.
Father Gregor Hohberg, Rabbi Tovia Ben Chorin and Imam Kadir Sanci are seen here holding symbolic building bricks while standing at the construction site in Petriplatz.
Perhaps there is a God...

French Workers Get Paid To Cycle To Work...

Much to the delight of some local commuters, the French government has initiated a six month experiment that pays people to cycle to work.
France joins other European governments trying to increase bicycle use, to improve people's health, reduce air pollution and
cut fossil fuel consumption.
Several countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and Britain already have bike-to-work schemes with incentives that include payment per kilometer, financial support to buy a bicycle and tax breaks.
In France more than twenty companies employing over ten thousand people have already signed on to pay their staff 25 Euro cents or 34 US per kilometer to cycle to work.
If the idea has wheels France is likely
to keep it rolling...

A Topsy Turvy World...

Real estate may be going through all sorts of upside down antics where you live but this upside down house built in Germany's Hamburg takes some beating.
Of course we living 'Down Under' are used to this sort of thing and learn at an early age to never stand under a toilet...