A little more Berlin, two stories

1. There were really cool safe sex ads in Berlin, on the streets and in the subway (U-bahn and S-bahn). The tag line was “gib AIDS keine chance” I think, I think, instead of “eine chance” (Give AIDS no chance, instead of Give AIDS a chance). And the illustrations were, well, vegetables. In condoms. One poster had slightly elongated potatoes. Protected. Here’s two others:

There goes this blog’s pure G rating (via Mingle quiz). But the ads were really prominent; they looked effective.

(story 2, also brief, below the fold —>)

2. I’m just retyping this one straight from my travel journal. It helps explain why I wrote this other post.

…I walked [my friend] [to a meeting for research] then cut through Heisenheide (Neu Köln park) on the way back. Large, tree-y, with a grand meadow. On the way out, I saw mint, touched it [planning to tear a leaf and smell it], but it turned out to be a stinging plant. Youch. That was 2½ hours ago, and the tips of 2nd and 3rd left fingers still hurt…

It wasn’t a tickle sting, but like very sharp needles. And it wasn’t itchy; it was painful. I barely touched the leaf when my middle finger felt it, and I pulled away. The sharp sting spread down the finger, and a few moments later I noticed it on the next finger. Washing didn’t help. The pain faded after a few hours, but wasn’t completely gone until morning… I should know trees (and plants!) better. I didn’t brush into this one; I reached down to touch it.