Etc...

Got you to notice, didn't it?

If you own a multinational company that makes valves, pneumatic devices, and other unglamorous industrial products, how do you attract a lot of attention to yourself? Well, you could sponsor a race car . Or, like Germany's Festo Group, you could fly a hot-air balloon upside down. In fact, it did just that earlier this month in the skies near Berlin. There, on a sunny afternoon, it floated, its passenger basket perched on top instead of dangling underneath. But the blue-and-white-striped balloon emblazoned with Festo's logo was something of an illusion . The basket was fake; a real one was hidden by a special skirt that hung down around it. For perspective, a second Festo balloon that was a perfect match, floated with it - rightside up.

Summer camps do much more than keep boys and girls off the streets. They teach respect for and enjoyment of the great outdoors in an era when experiencing those is increasingly an alien activity to urban youth. The origins of this rite of passage in the US date back 144 years and are credited to Frederick Gunn and his wife, Abigail, who operated a school for boys in Washington, Conn. In 1861, they decided to take their charges on a two-week field trip: hiking, boating, fishing, and trapping. A timeline of firsts in organized camping, with dates, locations, and names of camps (where available):

Organized camp: Gunnery Camp, Washington, Conn. 1861
YWCA camp: Sea Rest, Asbury Park, N.J. 1874
First camp to charge tuition: North Mountain School of Physical Culture, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 1876
YMCA camp: Newburgh, N.Y. 1885
Boy Scout camp: Silver Bay, Lake George, N.Y. 1910
Girl Scout camp: Savannah, Ga. 1912
Accreditation standards for camps adopted: 1948
- American Camp Association