Obiter's recent trip to sunny Vienna for the IT Congress court technology conference was as riveting as one might expect from such inviting nomenclature. But buried within the EU-funded mutual back-slapping that these things almost inevitably become were a few moments of levity. One myth dispelled was that the Swiss train service is run according to an atomic clock by geniuses who make watches in quiet moments between playing chess against Gary Kasparov. In fact, one delegate pointed out, the Swiss train system receives several claims against it every day and the system used by Swissrail is struggling to cope. However, hope is at hand: 'If they can get this [system] to reject these automatically, then they can save a lot of money,' he suggested. Certainly it would, and although we suspect something was lost in translation, it sounds like just the kind of thing some UK train companies might do. The Swiss also managed to trot out Obiter's favourite IT buzzword bingo phrase of the conference. Without a trace of irony, the Swiss delegate said the disparate subsections of the Swiss nation need to 'constantly exploit synergy potentials' to achieve greater harmony. If any Gazette readers have a clue what this means, please let us know. Finally, in keeping with Obiter's recent foray into Lawyers Who Rock, one German delegate with his tongue firmly wedged in his cheek came up with a link worse than any ageing Radio One DJ could concoct. In discussing the status quo of court IT in Europe, he flicked to a Larson-style cartoon depicting a town called Status Quo, which hardly anyone ever leaves or joins. But this will not hold his country back, he said, as he flicked to a slide of an album cover showing the backs of, you guessed it, Francis Rossi and tousle-haired fellow rocker Rick Parfitt gazing over an urban skyline. 'The party ain't over yet, as Status Quo said,' quoth the man in the suit. Who said the Germans have no sense of humour?