Futility Closet

In 1978 two families hatched a daring plan to escape East Germany: They would build a hot-air balloon and sail it by night across the border. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow their struggles to evade the authorities and realize their dream of a new life in the West. We'll also shuffle some vehicles and puzzle over a perplexing worker. Intro: In 1993 Tom Peyer and Hart Seely found that Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto's utterances can be cast as free verse. Jane Austen wrote three novels on a tiny table in her family's sitting room, subject to continual interruption. Sources for our story on the East German balloon escape: Jürgen Petschull, With the Wind to the West, 1980. John Dornberg, "Freedom Balloon," Popular Mechanics 153:2 (February 1980), 100-103, 150. Kate Connolly, "Film of Daring Balloon Escape From East Revives German Identity Debate," Guardian, Oct. 7, 2018. "Man Who Fled East Germany in a Homemade Balloon and Whose Story Was Made Into a Film Dies," Sunday Expre