Mercedes-Benz plays twister

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People from Kansas probably won’t be too impressed, but Stuttgart, Germany, is now home to the world’s strongest artificial tornado. It’s in the new and fabulous Mercedes-Benz museum (well worth a visit if you’re ever out that way) and is used as a smoke eliminator in the event of a fire.

More than 110 feet high, the tornado is formed when 144 outlets along the museum’s walls blow jets of air into the building’s interior courtyard. Smoke is then drawn into the twister and whisked up and out.

On the day when the Guinness Book of World Records bestowed this accolade upon M-B’s perfect storm, it has been rumored that as the German dignitaries clicked their heels together in their typically Teutonic way, they were all transported magically back home. And there’s no place like home -- even if it is Stuttgart.

-- Colin Ryan