StrangeSights

• Remember when, some time ago, StrangeSights ran a piece about odd theme parks? We may have a new contender with the proposed Napoleonland near Paris in France. While the focus of the proposed park will reportedly very much be about the victories of the former Emperor Napoleon (and built on the site of his last victory at the Battle of Montereau against the Austrians in 1814), a re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo (in which Napoleon lost to the Duke of Wellington) has been mooted as has a water show celebrating the defeat of his fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar (it was won by the British Admiral Lord Nelson, but at the cost of his life). Other proposed attractions include a re-creation of the guillotining of Louis XVI and a ’ski run’ through a battlefield.

• First there was a Lego man in space. Now a model of a space shuttle has flown close to the edge of space in an experiment involving a helium balloon. Built by a Romanian man, Oaida Raul, with the backing of Melbourne venture capitalist Steve Sammartino, the Lego space shuttle, which was superglued together, reportedly took off from Germany after failing to receive clearance to take off in Romania and soared almost 40 kilometres into the sky before returning to earth.

• Around 850 ‘human mattress dominoes’ gathered in New Orleans in the US earlier this month to smash the record for, you guessed it, the largest game of dominoes involving humans falling back onto mattresses. Apparently the previous record of 550 was set in Belgium in 2011. The record aside, another positive outcome was that the mattresses involved had been donated and were destined for charities.