Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 16:23:10 +0200
From: Jan Lissens W 51737 <lissensj@access.bel.alcatel.be>
To: Balloon Twister`s List <balloon@balloonhq.com>
Subject: The Balloon Predictions of Nostradamus...The Ludwig Files continue

Greetings, my fellow twisters...

I am in awe. I am amazed. My research into the vast amount of documents
and manuscripts left to me by my great-uncle Ludwig von
Pumpodermundblasen has sent me on a trip through time itself. Many of
you have read about the origins of balloon twisting. So far, I had
balloon twisting tracked down to the nineteenth century.

I have now uncovered evidence that it goes even further than that. Among
the multitude of what I have come to call the Ludwig Files, was a scroll
written in some sort of latin-based code. Carbon dating the document
revealed it to have originated in the sixteenth century.  The hand it
which the scroll was written looked vaguely familiar, but I could not
place it. I therefor called in the help of a couple of university
buddies. There was Oliver Sudden, the famous graphologist and Claude
Yereyesout, the french historian,. I also recruited the help of Arlov
Taholdya, a Czech professor in literature, and Gopher Aride, a
decryption specialist. I also need to credit the curators of the
Hongkong Museum of History, Shi  Thappens and Thenyu Dai for their help
in determining the age of the manuscript.

Together we discovered who the originator of this document was and
translated part of it. It was a collection of quatrains written  by the
sixteenth century visionary Michel De Notre-Dame, better known as
Nostradamus. What all these quatrains had in common was that they seemed
to predict balloon events. A rather cryptic sidenote of Nostradamus
himself indicated that this manuscript was copied from a larger
collection of predictions, that were stolen by a group he refers to as
`L`ennemi  Noir` - The Dark Enemy. He somehow managed to smuggle this
scroll out of Paris, but at this moment, I do not know what happened to
the original lost volume, who this Dark Enemy was, or why Nostradamus
feared them so.  I think however that some caution may be necessary. I
am posting all relevant quatrains in the hope that should anything
happen to me, this knowledge will not disappear...Please note that I am
using a modern-day english translation of the original medieval french.



Century 1, Quatrain 324

On the Millenium`s Morning Rays
The king appears on low growth
Many shall gather to their side
And the Great Work shall be written into History`s Records

This one had me puzzled for a while, but it is actually quite clear.
`King` refers to royal, low growth refers to moss. Clearly Nostradamus
must have had a vision of Royal ( Sorrell) and (Larry) Moss. `The
Millenium`s Morning Rays` means the beginning of the Millenium. Many
twisters didindeed gathered to their side and the `Great Work` is none
other than the world record attempt, written into the Guinness Book of
Records...



Century 1, Quatrain 136

Forty times a thousand tripes, and more
All bound into one
They are woven into the fabric of creation
For the Giants to emerge

`Tripes` is actually the french word `tripes` meaning intestines.
Balloon historians know that the early balloon twisting was done with
animal intestines, since latex balloons did not yet exist. Nostradamus
would not have understood the concept of latex balloons, and therefor
associated them with  intestines. `Forty times a thousand (...)and
more`. More than forty thousand balloons were indeed used for the world
record sculpture. The were all bound and woven into each other, creating
two giant figures.

These two quatrains prove that Nostradamus not only predicted the world
record attempt, but even who participated in it, and how many balloons
were used for it. Amazing, is it not. But, lo and behold, there is
more...He even predicted what it would represent


Century 1, Quatrain 657

From the field where the nations of Europe battle
To capture the spotted globe
Two, both rivals, shall be the giants` cast
From Europe`s Heart and to its North

The field where the nations of Europe battle is the soccer field, the
Euro 2000 Soccer Tournament. In this sport, two teams try to capture a
spotted globe, a ball with black and white patches. Two countries are
used as a cast, a model for the giants` images or sculptures. One
country is located in the heart of Europe. This is none other than
Belgium. The other country is a rival, and is located north of it. These
are the Netherlands. Amazingly, the Belgian and Dutch Soccer Team colour
were used in representing the soccer players for the sculptures. So
Nostradamus succesfully predicted the scene represented in the giant
sculpture.

Century 1, Quatrain 894

From Europe`s Heart, one shall come,
Spawned by the hereditory star
To briefly aid the Great Work
Weighted by the load of his labour


This is one that truly amazed me. The reference `Europe`s heart`  is,
again,  Belgium. `Spawned by the hereditory stars` is a cryptic
description. `Hereditory` refers to genes, or in fact, one specific
Gene, Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek (hence the `star`
reference. One spawned by Star Trek, is a Trekkie (or Trekker). So we
have a trekkie from Belgium helping on the construction of the
sculpture. THIS IS ME !
I was indeed `weighted by the load of my labour`: because of my job,
I`ve only been able to help for two days on the sculpture. So
Nostradamus predicted little old me as well ! This part of the
manuscript incidentally contained  many more quatrains, so I`m guessing
there is one for each twister that assisted on the sculpture. They are
hard to decipher. I will continue trying to do so. I do not remember all
of the names, though. When I get a list of the twisters that assisted,
this may help me  to decrypt the other quatrains and identify each
quatrain with each twister.



Century 1, Quatrain 292

In the Arena of the City of the Grounddwellers
The Giants` Stance encumbered by the Vault of Sky
Lo, they shall prevail
Frozen in a hero`s leap

Once my team determined the event these quatrains were describing, was,
this one was quite simple to decipher. The arena is in fact the gym hall
in which the scuplture was built. The scupltures were too large to stand
upright (their stance was encumbered, hindered). The ceiling (` the
vault of sky`) was too low, so it became necessary to pose them as if
they were leaping toward the ball.  Thus, the scupltures were frozen in
this position. Again a very accurate prediction by our french seer.


Century 1, Quatrain 108

Following the Rise of the Giants,
From around the world they will gather
All joined in the dark ritual
Their horrific yet beautiful creations a sore in the eye of God

This quatrain obviously refers to the excellent jamming sessions on
Millenium Jam. Many beautiful creations were indeed made. Interestingly,
this text clearly reveals how Nostradamus felt about balloon twisting.
His visions would reveal a lot of people twisting what in his view were
animal innards, and from them creating new `life`. To a religious man
such as Michel De Notre-Dame, this must indeed have seemed
sacriligious,. Hence he described a jam session as a `dark ritual`, akin
to the rituals of medieval satanic worshipping and dark magic practices
which also involved animal innards handling. This may very well be the
origin of the negativity that surrounded the early balloon twisters. I
will have to cross-reference this with other historic texts.


Century 1, Quatrain 512

From the Land that Once the Desert Held
The king of jesters cometh forth
His figure imposing, his name akin to a coiling snake
Bewitches the masses with a siren`s song

This wasn`t an easy one, however we figured it out. The `land that once
held the desert` is Las Vegas. The imposing figure, the name that
resembles a coiling snake, an S....Then there is the reference to the
singing... This quatrain is clearly about S Franck, who presented the
Stage show competition  and the gala, and gave, by the way, a terrific
performance. The purpose of his quatrain is unclear, unless it is
combined with the following quatrain :

Century 1, Quatrain 246.

On the eve before the Giants` Demise
The Coiling snake will come
And bestow upon the satanic bards
The gift of laughter.

The eve before the giants` demise. On friday, the scuplture was torn
down, so this is thursday night, the night of the closing gala. It was
indeed presented by S Franck, who did give us all a good time filling up
the gaps between some of the best acts I`ve ever seen. He made us laugh
and therefor bestowed upon us the gift of laughter. In this quatrain,
the animosity of Nostradamus against twisters resurfaces. He calls us
satanic bards. Entertainer were indeed called bards in those days, and
the satanic-reference clearly indicates how he felt about twisters.


So, to conclude, not only did Nostradamus accurately predict the guiness
record, Millenium Jam and many of its aspect, but it also shows once
again that the early twisters were associated with Satan. Some of uncle
Ludwig`s manuscripts document a great number of witch trials. I will
have to cross reference them, but I have this growing suspicion that
many of the early twisters ended up on the stake, which is probably why
so little information remains of the times before Olga. Indeed, the Art
of  Twisting may be older than anyone of us ever suspected.



This is Jan The Trekkie Twister, your friendly neighbourhood balloon
historian, signing off, for now...