Germans and Electricity Woes

News reports in Germany indicate this idea of a nuclear power plant insurance policy.....is moving ahead.  The general concept is that some cost would simply be passed along to consumers, and some billion-Euro policy would be created.  In the event of massive chaos and complete failure, the policy would pay out and help the government pay for the problems.

Now, a guy could look at this for a while and believe in some ethical true values for such a policy.  Course, then logic would kick in.

This policy would be completely paid by the consumer....nothing by the company itself.  No one has grasped this....but it has to be a fairly substantial amount over a ten-year period for a family to donate their part into the pot of money.

Then we come to this oddball situation.  There's a firm belief that all nuke plants in Germany will be shut off within ten to fifteen years.  Things could change, but currently....that's the plan.  What happens to this billion-Euro pot of money then?  If I were guessing...the government intends to absorb the money and march onto some other chaotic planning episode, where the billion disappears quickly....with no oversight.

It's a gimmick fund.....let there be no doubt about that.

Another note that accompanies this entire story.....utility prices are expected to continue on the six-percent a year climb.  Some speculate even at the ten-percent a year pace.  If you were wondering about German grumbling over energy costs?  Well....yeah, there's a fair amount of negative talk and people are to the point of turning off lights, buying new refrigerators with lower energy usage, and doing the impossible in using less energy.

Then at the backdoor of this mess....there's the battery-car business which is about to erupt.  In a decade, you can envision twenty percent of all cars in Germany being plugged into some electrical box and charged up.  Where does this power come from?  And just how expensive will power be around 2020?

The Snowball of NSA

This afternoon, I came to read on an article via Stern.  I dislike Stern for general reasons.  Most of what they publish....ends up as an extreme view of what the truth might be.  It's like admitting that you stopped at the coffee shop and had a piece of cake.  They'd write up your visit and hint that you possibly had a 2,000 calorie piece of cake, sipped possibly several shots of booze, and were in the company of possible criminals.  All of this is possible.....but almost all false.

So, we have the newest piece of the NSA episode.

The Stern folks wants you to know that there are 90 companies in Germany....working for the US government, and possibly passing German information along to the US government.

I was curious about this and Stern led into a listing of companies that basically have contracts with EUCOM, USEAUR, and USAFE.....all US military headquarters based out of Germany.  They all have IT, intelligence and support personnel who work for them....supporting missions that extend out into Africa, the Middle East and the rest of Europe.

Ninety companies?  Well....Germans rarely understand how contracting works.  You say you need five specially trained folks to handle the baselining of computers at some particular building and they need to have these capabilities.  The head company puts out a requirement and finds a 3rd-rate company that will do the job for ninety-percent of what the US government will pay the primary company.....so the 3rd rate company gets the requirement for five folks.....giving the primary a chance to profit off the ten percent of savings.  Yeah, it's a stupid method of running things......but it's business operations for the US government.

How do I know all this?  I spent a decade working for USAFE via a contractor company or two.  Did we ever gather data against Germany?  That's a joke.  Other than arguing against customs idiots at the Frankfurt airport, or arguing with German Fedex to deliver a package to the right building, or arguing with delivery drivers to unpack the box as it was delivered.....that was the extent of my work against Germans.

In fact, I just can't think of a single contractor that I ever worked with....that had much of anything to do with something against the German government or German private data.  We had real jobs....against a real threat or enemy.....and the mere suggestion of something otherwise by Stern....just makes me laugh.

Stern's article is mostly creative writing.....fictional....and goes to the extreme.  But, it's creative, and I give them credit for that.  Tomorrow?  The Burger Kings at every military post and base.....were secret NSA listening posts.  Next week?  The bowling alley over at Sembach was a secret meeting point for spies....mostly to sip coffee and tell wild stories.  The old American hotel in Wiesbaden?  It was a CIA joint that was run for years and years....mostly with secret Budweiser flown in by the CIA's private jet.

The NSA Mess: If It Couldn't Get Any Bigger

This morning, across Germany.....Germans kinda found out that the BND service (the CIA/NSA of Germany)....was apparently watching a minimum of 300 Americans or residents sitting in the US.  The purpose or reason?  That was left blank.  The source?  The Washington Post, via their "sources" (likely NSA folks).

Naturally, this would trigger some folks to ask what exactly the BND is looking for or against.  Business deals?  Tax evasion?  Real estate and corrupt deals?  Mafia operations?  Promi divorce scandals?

This will simply stir the pot.

Where was the Snowden guy in telling this story?  Well....he likely knows the story and merely was waiting a month or two to tell this and get folks all peppy for another round of Snowden-news.

Those 300 folks?  Well....they might  like to know what was going on....the extent of their surveillance....the phone calls recorded....the number of BND guys in the US....and how their privacy and records are being maintained in Germany....by some Snowden-like character waiting to defect to Russia.

Yeah, after a while, it's soap opera entertainment.  NSA guys, BND guys, and news media guys.  All working to create chaos.

Limburg Graffiti

I'll sometimes point out graffiti which has turned out to be decent artwork.  There's a vision in some guy's mind, and he actually does a good job.

This piece is across the street from the Limburg train-station, as you look toward the church.  Religious feeling, city landscapes, the bus stops nearby, etc.

Sadly, it's one graffiti out of three hundred....that does the artist justice and the guy on the street can appreciate.

Kiel's Mayor

Quote of the day:

"There is no democracy in the election monopoly; just officials, lawyers, and particularly hard men."

-- Susanne Gaschkes, former mayor of Kiel

Roughly a year ago.....Gaschkes rode into office in Kiel with ambitious ideals.  She was a journalist...not a political figure.  She was well liked by the public and most figured she would be around for a number of years.

It took eleven months for Gaschkes to make the decision to leave office.  She's a bit bitter, angry, and frustrated with politics.

The stumble?  It's best to say around fifteen years ago....some local doctor rigged up some real estate deal, which had a price tag attached to it.  There was a disagreement by the local city hall, and for well over a decade.....this went back and forth.  One felt the property value was "X" and the other felt it was "Y".  The difference in the disagreement?  Approximately 400,000 Euro ($500,000).  Well....it was there at the beginning, then interest got piled on.....and the modern day bill (with default fees) came to around 3.7 million Euro (4.4 million dollars).

If the good doctor had paid this all in the beginning....none of this would have come around as an issue.  But he simply didn't agree with the original city hall argument.  To be honest.....if you figure administrations in city hall....at least three or four mayors have come and gone since the beginning.

Sometime this last summer....the mayor sat down and worked up a deal that would help the doctor in some ways, and simply end the whole mess passed onto her.  The problem?  As this deal came out in public....it was attacked.  It was later deemed illegal in some fashion, and the various political figures used the moment to continually attack Gaschkes in some public forum.

Yes, it would have been better to simply allow the mess continue, and be fought month after month in court....until the doctor was either dead or bankrupt.  That's the reality of the situation.

The last month?  It was a daily dose of frustration.  Gaschkes woke up each day....found a new attack.....new questions....new hostilities.  In a sense, she was right.  Surrounded by bureaucrats, life-long political figures, and men heavily dosed in political extremes.....democracy has fled the real world and left us in the pit of sorrow and woes.

The NSA Saga Continues

Today, we get hints that the Germans are quietly discussing the idea of inviting Mr Snowden to come to Germany, testify in some court, and give evidence.  The weird idea here that if you offer a free deal that he can stay.....put all the information on the table.....and give a legal platform for charges to possibly come out.....Snowden might accept.

The other side of the coin?  It has to really disturb the US if Snowden moves to German.....gives a complete listing of everything he knows.....and then some court episode would unfold with various Americans listed as potential issues.

My belief is that none of this would happen.  Snowden likely is happy presently in Russia.  The Germans would stir up a huge pot if this unfolded and you have no idea where it would end.  And the US probably would view this as a great reason to put the French and Germans on a special list....promising never to prosecute anyone.

I will add this little note....if Snowden showed up and put a thousand pages on the table....then a year later....dropped more bombshells....the Germans ought to pack him up and ship him off to the US.  This might be another issue for Snowden in the end....having to tell all he knows.

Yeah, it's a nice little story that would make a five-star movie.  And a five-star mess.

The Window

Once in a while, you will be walking down some street in Germany and come to stop and marvel over a window.

This piece is on street leading from the river to the Dom....in Limburg.

You can imagine this artist/carpenter at work....maybe hundred to two hundred years ago....maybe four hundred years ago.  It took a fair number of hours to put the standing window in place.

Then you look at the artwork on the window....realizing this took several weeks for him to carve and ensure that it looked just right.  Nothing less than excellence....was demanded for projects like this.  If you screwed and tried to deliver a crappy work....your rating by the locals would decrease, and folks would note you were slipping.  It wasn't something you could order from China and it'd be delivered in five days.

In the practical world of German craftsman.....your end-product....means an awful lot....whether in 1650, 1750, 1850, or 1950.

This piece has probably been painted over and cleaned a couple of times, and it's still got another couple hundred years to go.   Someone will come along as it ages and starts to show problems.....to attempt another replacement one.  The building?  Three hundred years from now....it'll still stand there.

Yeah, it shows a determined crowd....with a slight flair.  They've done good, and don't mind letting their neighbor know that.

Another Bahnhof Story

I will occasionally bring up bahnhofs and train stations in Germany.

Back in the 1970s period, the city of Niedernhausen....around the corner from where I live....got the Bahn folks to rebuild a nice and modern bahnhof.

The original bahnhof?  From historical pieces, it apparently was destroyed toward the very end of the war, with a massive bombing (30 engines and dozens of cars were destroyed during that episode).

The curious thing is that while customers still used the hourly trains greatly.....operations around this train station really dropped off after the 1970s.  The original intent was to make the facility big enough to handle the one hundred employees who were based at the station.  By the 1980s....most all of them were gone.  About a decade ago....there was a ticket person and a station master.  Today?  It all operates with two ticket machines, and apparently a maintenance guy who tidies up and ensures things are presentable.

The building?  Useless and empty.  The parking lots around it?  Still used for daily customers who drive over....take the train into Frankfurt, and drive home at night.  One small freight building nearby is used as a pub/cafe, but the station looks entirely deserted.  Without any real parking....you can't rent the place out, and it's at a part of town that business operations wouldn't really work.

Kind of a sad way for a bahnhof to go.....but it really speaks volumes about changing times in Germany.

The Statue Story

Along the shopping district in Limburg....just around the corner from the city hall....is this statue.

It's an interesting story.

In 1358.....a local guy had done well at his business.  So well....that upon his death....he left what would be called a "trust" in today's environment.

The city was given the "trust" with the simple directions....to use the money to care and feed for ailing residents, the sick, and traveling pilgrims.  Oddly enough, the money was never wasted to any degree....no corruption was ever noted....and the "trust" did what it could...with the resources that it had.

The statue is probably a monument more to honest Germans....than the hospital work and lives saved....if you ask me.  A "trust" like this in the US....would have been depleted in twenty years with no explanation as to where the loot went and some mayor promising action...year after year.  

The Question of Wattage

Germans have a generally open attitude about the German government creating new regulations.  It's not that difficult for a German to hear about some change....ever how small or large....and generally embrace it.  You could say it's for the good of the nation, or society, and that's good enough for Germans.

Then, you come to EU regulations....which tend to get Germans all upset and frustrated.  The EU folks....tend to find things that no one ever imagined regulation necessary....and invent something.  Germans will get blunt about the approaching rules, and fight them in court if necessary.

This week....the EU came out and said that vacuum cleaners have reached a point of wattage and maximum capability.  There's this EU feeling that the current push for 2,000 watt vacuum cleaners....is a bit too much.  So, the rules coming.

By the fall of 2014, no vacuum in the EU (Germany included)....can be sold new and above 1700 watts, period.  By the fall of 2017, the limit of new vacuum cleaners sold.....will be 900 watts.

An American would look at this, shake our head, and ask....is this really necessary?  Do you really need to get in my face and screw with the necessary wattage of vacuum cleaners?  A law?  Enforced by government officials?  Oh please.

You can imagine the action going on.  Several companies.....are in a bad position because their technology line was going to more wattage.

I imagine some companies will comply and build a 900-watt vacuum.....then market a turbo device that you can buy via another company, and bring the vacuum up to 2,000 watts....thus bypassing the EU regulation.

Somewhere behind all of this....is the idea of saving electricity, and that massive wattage just wasn't the solution to a clean house.  Selling the limit on wattage?  It's hard to say how people will react, and if they can take this serious.

A Thousand Foot Dilemma

It's a shocker....at least to a German.  Today, the Suddeutsches Zeitung (a liberal paper in Germany)....claims that the eavesdropping onto Chancellor Merkel's cellphone....may have occurred from the US Consulate there in Berlin.

Evidence?  There's not much there, and that's really the other side of this shocking news.  Basically, they simply look at the options and how the eavesdropping would work, and then note the locations.

I pulled area up on Goggle World, and you can judge for yourself.  When the US came to realize that a new united Berlin would exist there in the late 1980s, and that the Bundestag would open in the same old location....they wanted prime real estate to show the great relationship between the two.  Germany.....over twenty years ago...made a decision to put the new consulate (to be built a decade later)....less than one thousand feet away.  It was prime real estate....worth hundreds of millions.

So, for reference....on the center of the top of the map is the building with the round top, next to the river....the Bundestag.

The four-lane road cutting across the park left to right?  That leads to the Brandenburg Gate.  Just south of the Gate....maybe 200 feet...is the US Embassy.

The problem here....is that there's no actual evidence....just speculation.  So, this feeds the German imagination.  The political figures will ask the technology folks and they will simply state that if you operate a Blackberry or unsecure phone....within that thousand feet area.....yes, it probably can be compromised.  Did the US conduct eavesdropping?  No one has yet to show any of this to be factual.....just imagined.

We have a hyped out German public.....a couple of political parties feeding off the chaos.....all feeling negative about President Obama, the massive NSA machine, and fallen American standard of the 1960s that they knew and loved.

What next?  Secure phones for all the political folks?  Maybe a jammer parked on the street in front of the US Embassy?  German eavesdropping trucks parked at all four corners of the US Embassy?  One could go run through some crazy scenarios, and just laugh over how we got this far into a fairly screwed up mess.

You can't move the US Embassy.  You can't move the Bundestag.  The Russians and Chinese have to both be laughing their ass off at the various games being played out.  No one seems worried that both might be spying on both the Germans and the Americans.  

This weekend ought to be interesting for the German political chat enthusiasts.  The evil Americans, the failed Presidency, the spies, the eavesdropping, a chaotic NSA, etc.  Man, you'd think it's 1936 all over again.  Duju Vu!

The Empty Tank Scenario

I've only seen this once or twice in all my years in Germany....where someone in the office (during my Air Force years)....ran out of gas on the autobahn.  It's an odd predicament to get into, and it's not like episodes of a similar nature in the US.  So this is advice over a random act of stupidity....if you ever get into this episode.

When driving on the German autobahn....you are expected not to pull over unless your car breaks down, period.

If you have a broke gas gauge, and you merely track the tank values by guessing when to refill....and you run out of gas one day.....it's a thirty to seventy Euro fine, if the cops stop to ask questions.

Running out on a back road somewhere?  Much better and less likely to be a fine.  Generally, if the gauge is messed up.....figure somewhere over the next two or three months, you need to fix this solution in a permanent way.  Guess the mileage and refill the tank every two hundred miles.  But don't sit there and pretend it will go away.

So if you run out of gas on the autobahn?  If you are confident that this is the problem....call your ADAC number ASAP.  Hope like heck that they get there in an hour and will give you two or three liters to get you started to the gas station.

If the cops stop?  Act dumb.  Tell the same story....it just broke down....you know nothing else...and you called ADAC.  Don't let the cop sit in your car or try to check things.  This only gets to the step where the German cops will ask if you ran out of fuel.

By law, you violated a clear piece of German driving law.  Paying a thirty Euro fine is stupid and simply not necessary.

Just two cents over a little episode that can get an American into trouble.  And no, I've never ever....ran out of fuel in any car...ever.  I've had brakes give completely, and that was thrilling enough for me.

The Eternal German Topic of Another Tax

Around eight hundred years ago in Europe....some smart guys came up with toll operations.  Toll roads, toll paths, and toll bridges.  It was a nifty idea.

In the 1700s, a number of cultures and countries got into tolls, and it expanded.

In the past six months, Bavaria came up and suggested that Germany ought to finally assess tolls....for foreign folks passing through Germany.  For the campaign, Chancellor Merkel downplayed this, and noted that it wasn't Europe-friendly.  Well.....it's time to forge the collation, and the topic came up with the CSU folks, and it's apparently something that the SPD would talk about (no promises beyond that).

Some folks think that all of the political parties (except the FDP folks)....would agree to some kind of toll in Germany for foreign vehicles passing through.  They just don't want to admit that.

The EU has some strong stances on tolls.....because it really gets folks upset when the topic is discussed and the amount is in public view for the fee involved. For public record, there are some EU rules to forbid tolls, unless it's a private bridge or a private road.  Course, some countries have tolls already in  place and it's just plain accepted that they continue on.

In Italy....most of the autobahns operate as a private deal, with tolls, until you get around the major cities where it's all free.  Some major autobahns in France work the same way.  Austria has a "card-system" where you as the foreigner stop in a gas station....buy a card for the window....and just keep driving.  The card is typically good for ten days and it's around eight Euro.....with a two-month card costing roughly twenty-four Euro.  Switzerland has the card for 33 Euro.....for the whole year.

Where does this go in Germany?  A debate will open and folks will talk over the income they expect, and how it would work, and finally.....if it was legal and fair in the EU.  My humble guess is that a card would be sold for around twelve Euro for a two-week period, or forty Euro for the whole year (thus encouraging you to buy the yearly card).

Here's the thing.....if you are Austrian, Swiss, north Italian, Dutch, Polish, French, or Danish....there's pretty good odds that you cross the border into Germany once a year.  For decades, you got a free deal and never had to pay for expensive road construction or renovation.  Now?  The Germans realize that in the midst of July.....there's a million foreign vehicles transiting the country as a minimum....and they want your loot (yeah, it's that simple).

The selling point for the other German political parties?  I suspect that the car tax for German consumers will be cut by forty percent (angering the Greens of course....they think it's a necessary evil).  With the car tax decreased, all Germans will embrace the foreign traveler fee, and life goes on.

The foreign reaction?  Well....they already pay something in Austria, Switzerland and Italy.....so they'd likely just pay the fee and accept it.  Court action will occur....at the EU level, and three years from now....it'd be decided by some court if this met EU rules or not.  Meanwhile, the tax would be collected while they wait.

The public's fear?  Around fifteen years ago when MAUT came along....the mythical and magical sensor on trucks to ID the truck and force truckers to pay a trucker tax based on autobahn mileage.....folks got this idea that MAUT would be forced onto the public eventually.

MAUT was to be the long-term answer that environmentalists sought....forcing people to drive less....pay more.....and bring absolute government control to a unrestricted audience.  MAUT in the initial four years was a failure.  It's best not to even bring up how many extensions were granted before it was implemented and deemed operational.

Today, truckers all use the MAUT system.....pay taxes by the hour.....and the costs are passed along to the consumer.  German consumers never grasped that part of the deal, but they pay entirely for MAUT.

So, when you hear the foreign road tax subject in German conversations....that's the whole deal.  Tax the foreigners....not Germans.  And yes, it would only apply to German autobahns....so if some foolish French guy wanted to travel via the backroads of Germany.....to Austria....it'd be tax-free and lengthen his trip by another eight hours.

A Different Kind of Bridge

In the late 1940s around Limburg.....they built a bridge to cross the Lahn River.  It was renovated at some point in the 1960s, and there's to be a replacement bridge....with this old bridge being torn down.  Well....that was the original plan.

The old bridge got brought up into topics of use, and there's been this ongoing episode in Limburg....over a radical idea.....turning the bridge....into a city center.

You would basically take the existing old bridge, add some support to it, then add several concrete building structures, and create an entire new city suburb out of thin air.....with four-star views of the river and the Dom.

I sat and watched the HR report last night where this was put on full display.  Locals are a bit shocked over the idea and most doubt that it'll come to pass....mostly because it is so radical.

Historically, bridges have a life, and eventually "die".....the safety guys won't swear on their absolute nature and it's simply a better idea tear them down....no matter what the cost is.  This episode raises a number of questions.  The bridge already exists, and no one argues about the taking away of some view.  Nor is there any question of ownership....the city would end up as the prime owner of the property.  Safety?  That might be a curious episode to prove or disprove.

The idea is that this new part of the city would have apartments, shops, and a theater.  People would pay.....mostly for the view of the valley and the river.

There's roughly a year or two before some decision has to be made and a plan forward to tear down the bridge or extend it out into another life.    My humble guess is that a large number of architects would like to see this bold idea go forward....just to prove a point.  Political figures might view it as a radical move that might work elsewhere....if this was successful.  The question is.....do you want a bridge....that isn't really a bridge anymore?

The Dom at Limburg and the "Jest" of My Trip

 I spent my morning today at Limburg....about an hour away by train.  Over the past month, there's been various reports over the Cathedral (the Dom), the Bishop, and financial pitfalls for the Catholic Church.

I figured I'd get the first-hand experience and see it all myself.

So, I'll report that the Dom is in fine shape and does look top notch.  If you were in the region....I'd strongly recommend that you stop and spend an hour touring the place.

The money spent?  Well....I might have some heartburn over excessive funds spent on this deal.  But, church taxes are paid by Catholic folks who want to stay in the church.  The locals are well-to-do....affluent....and they ought to see some of this money come back into the local community via jobs and renovation.  Maybe the Bishop was lousy at project management, but he might have done the whole town a favor....spending their money on them, and not shipping it out to some third-world country.

Now, that said, there was the issue of reporters.  Yeah, I walked up and the N24-TV crew wanted to interview me.  I stood for a second....the Bama in me suddenly clicked.

I'd best not speak.  N24 is the German version of CNN....mostly neutral but always looking for some chaotic German event to report to the public.

You see, I'm not going to condemn the Bishop, or his church, or it's use of it's own money.  Germans might have heartburn with that.  They see serious ethics violations here.  Me?   It's their Dom....they can spend money as they see fit, end of the story.

There's also one other little issue with me on some German TV deal.....my wife's cousin's girlfriend might have watched the interview, identified me, and then asked if I was a Tea-Party guy or something.  It's best not to get into a mess like that, and have the wife asking me what the heck I was doing on TV, and not in the basement cleaning it....like I was supposed to be.

As for Limburg?  Well, my suggestion is that it's worth a six-hour day-trip.  Arrive by train, and just walk straight out the door toward the protestant church across the street.  The walk-platz starts there and there's plenty of walking.  Old buildings are everywhere.  Fancy statues are obvious.  Italian coffee shops and pizza restaurants are in great quantity.

The three key things after the walk-platz?  There's the bridge....about twenty minutes walking from the train-station.  Next to the bridge is the "rapids"......worth sitting and seeing.  And finally, there's the Dom area.

You can walk inside the Dom....no charges....just no pictures.  It's not big and grand like some others I've seen.....but it's worth the trip.

Limburg?  They have cash, fancy gift shops, fine dining, five-star wine, and plenty of art to gaze at and admire.  This isn't a poor town, and that's probably the reason why the Bishop spent the cash on renovation and plowed the funds back into where it came from.

Updated: spelling correct.  Thanks.

Slim Buildings

Once in a while....you come across a structure that some German bought and is renovating.  You look at the width of the structure and you just shake your head.  In this case, the building is roughly ten feet across.....I don't know the depth but I'd guess at around fifty feet.

Lots of cash poured into this project, and it does look awful nice from the front.  It's just that you gaze at square footage and it doesn't make any sense.

This structure?  On a back street of Limburg, around the block from the Dom.

The Bird Solution

Germans have this thing about balcony areas, over-hangs, or any place where a bird can land. They hate the bird crap that remains.

So they've devised these 'nail-like' devices and put them up in the millions.  Birds don't land anywhere on that overhang, period.

I stood a month ago at a renovation project at some downtown area and watched the guy place the nails.  A whole side on a building can be done in thirty minutes.

I guess it works....you just don't see this kind of stuff in the US.

The Ambassador Gets a Call

Well, yeah, Chancellor Merkel did ask the Foreign Minister....Guido Westerwelle....to call the US Ambassador over to his office and ask some funny questions over that phone call collection business with NSA.

Yesterday's phone call with President Obama?  One can only guess that it was a simple five-minute conversation and the German Chancellor said that she was a bit peeved and the US President just kinda paused and didn't say much.  Afterwards, she probably came to realize that he either doesn't know much about what is going on.....or acting pretty stupid.  So this request for the Ambassador to visit Westerwelle....is to lay out a couple of topics and just hint strongly that things aren't going well on any of these NSA topics.

The President?  I'm guessing he's feeling a bit of frustration over the Republicans, the government shut-down, the NSA mess, and the health care software platform failures.  Having some German Chancellor call up.....isn't in the top fifty priorities to worry about or fix.

The German side of this mess?  I think reality has sunk in that the American vacuum-cleaner for phone calls and emails.....is turned on turbo-full-up.  Anything you say.....even as an American on vacation in Berlin, or some Hamburg mayor, or some Russian billionaire on vacation in France.....is open for NSA property.  Years ago, folks just dreamed about such a day.  Well....it's arrived, and nothing is secure.

How bad does this get?  The next summit....could end up with five or six European bosses wanting NSA talks to prime subject.  You can imagine the President and his attitude about being jerked around.  This might be the occasion when he suddenly decides shutting down military installations in Europe is suddenly a priority.

Finally, for Frau Merkel?  After packing up and leaving the DDR, and all it's data collection efforts....and now?  The same thing all over again?  Yeah, I doubt if she has much patience on this stuff.

Limburg Church Episode, Phase II

Apparently....this morning in Rome....the Pope made a decision over German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst.  The Bishop is the one in serious trouble over bad planning and massive costs to a Catholic Church project in Limburg.  It's hard presently to find a single person in the Limburg region, or even in Germany....who supports the Bishop in some fashion.

The Pope's decision?  Well....the Bishop needs a holiday.  The Pope didn't say how long, or what happens after the holiday.....but the Bishop needs to get out of public sight, and rest up.

Where does a high-spending Catholic Bishop go for holiday?  Well....it won't be Thailand, the Nile, or a luxury resort in Greece.  I'm guessing some quiet mountain villa deal in the Alps of Italy will be the location, and this is probably for six weeks or so....to cool the guy off and lessen the bad publicity in Germany.

A return to Limburg?  I wouldn't bet on it.  Maybe retirement is written into this script.  I doubt if any area of Germany would accept the guy at this point.  Retain him at the Vatican?  He'd just spend money there.  Maybe it's time to send him off to deepest Africa and just give him $100 a month to buy booze and food with.

My humble guess is the next Bishop at Limburg....will own a Volkswagen Polo, sip cheap local wine, travel on the train, and keep his monthly budget at less than a thousand Euro a month.  Course, he will enjoy bathing in a 15,000 Euro bathtub, and continually speak of fine furniture in the deluxe house he inherits.

One of Twelve

I'm one of those foreign folks who are registered and visa'ed into Germany.  Yesterday, a statistical display was put out in Germany....talking up the foreigner numbers in Germany....for 2012.  We, the foreigners.....are now up around 7.2 million....meaning that one out of every twelve in Germany....are foreigners.

It's an amazing number....considering that roughly seventy years ago.....there would have been so few foreigners in the country.

Increasing in number?  Well...yes.  The Turks might be on the decrease....but other European cultures have arrived because of bad economic conditions....to find German companies looking for bold new fresh faces.

What the report left out....is the adaptability and the willingness to stay.  These are numbers which might be interesting to note.  My humble guess is that half the folks coming for the technology jobs....will leave within five years and return to their country.  The current economic downward trend will eventually clear up and things will return to a 'normal' balance.

One of twelve.  It's an odd feeling to walk down a German street and consider that one out of every twelve folks that I meet....really aren't German.  It's not the feeling you generally get in the US.  I'd admit there are fifty million residents in the US who are foreign or one-generation US citizens.  But it tends to be rare that you bump into such a person in most small towns.

The future?  Germans aren't really clear about where this is all leading.  They'd rather not think or dwell on this subject....it might be negative.  Germans tend to be trusting in the idea that Germany will always be German in terms of society and culture.  It might be a shock to wake up one day in twenty years to find the top ten German pop-singers are all foreigners....that the Chancellor is second-generation Turk-German....and that forty percent of the nation is made up of foreigners.

The One-Sixth of Germany Issue

Two weeks ago....the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) stood up and put out a report after surveying education around the world.  The report was referred to as....the PISA Report.

It's basically an intelligence test that looks at adults, and the education they accumulated in their earlier years.  It's basically measuring where you stand.....after finishing school and going out into the real world.  The test used to be the standard for kids upon ending school.....not for measuring adults later.

Most folks wouldn't care about this type of knowledge or how folks fit into the real world.  The supreme attitude by the education sector?  Get students to a point....test them....graduate them....and move on.  It's a simple attitude in Germany, and it works.

Well....the OECD came back with an interesting find.  Roughly fifteen percent or one-sixth of the German population of adults....can read or write or comprehend.....at the sixth-grade level.  Adding to the issue?  They can only understand orders or directions....if written in bullet-format and kept to a very simple level.

I read over the commentary, which led to some odd conclusions.  A fair portion of the German adult population can't really take a statistical situation or a simple problem requiring analysis......then turn it into a solution of sorts.  Graphics, pie charts, numerical displays?  You will find problems with a fair number of German adults.  So in turn, they turn to the university graduate or more highly educated guy.....to do simplier problems or analysis.....that a high school graduate ought to be able to handle.

In some ways....they are turning university graduates into problem solvers.....to a more extreme value.  If the ice cream shop on the corner isn't making a profit.....the folks running it, or the owner.....ought to be able to sense where profits are diminished.....fix the problem, and recover enough to find success.  If the German gift shop is on marginal profit status.....they ought to know enough to analyze and solve their own mess.  The truth is.....they'd have to hire someone to think for them....analyze.....and tell them in simple fashion what the changes need to be.

I've lived off and on in Germany for over twenty years, and seen countless examples of how a complex situation had developed and overcome a group of Germans, or a small business.  When you look at German financial bankruptcy issues (routinely featured on German reality shows).....you find a curious group of adults with no real ability to see what they have coming in (usually one or two pay-checks), and what is going out.  Experts have to be called in and spend half-a-day looking at bills to determine the monthly cost to the family.  

With this report, I can sense now what the overall issue is.  Course, it's hard to imagine what the German education sector will say about this.  Their job was to educate Huns to some point, test Huns, and then graduate Huns.  The fact that Huns forgot most of what they taught him over the next ten years.....isn't their problem or fault.

Then, we come to this odd problem with Germans understanding what is delivered on the nightly news.  If some journalist says you have problem X, Y, and Z.....in simple bullet texts.....then Huns sees the news and believes it.  Huns doesn't stop at that point.....question the journalist.....or ask for more evidence or statistics.  We can assume that one-sixth of German society (or more).....function only with this simple delivery process via the news.  They really don't want more information or knowledge over something....because they can't really handle it.

Where does this lead?  It's hard to say.  Germans aren't the type to jump up.....rush to conclusions.....or demand immediate fixes to a problem.  Sadly, this one-sixth of the population aren't worried about this issue because they've been doing fine over the past twenty to forty years with limited knowledge.  The education system?  Well...their primary question would be.....how would you fix it when some student twenty years later admits they forgot sixty percent of what was taught to them?

It's an odd problem for German society to face, and I doubt if anyone really wants to dive into it or fix it.

The Limburg Church-Castle

It reads like a cheap financial novel.  Catholic church bishop in Germany wants modernization effort on his cathedral.  He draws in various local contractor crews and settles on one price estimate.  Weeks, months, and years pass.  He doesn't really track the cost, or the changes to the project (many), and one day.....the simple renovation project is nearly done.....at twenty-six times of the original estimate.  The bathtub in his own residence was special, and was nearly $25k by itself.

The locals have gone on the offensive and can't believe the amount of waste in the project.  The German newspapers have done some investigative journalism this time....and this story will rank as one of the top ten stories of the year for Germany.

The Pope?  Well....this past week....he called the Bishop down to Rome and had a chat.  It's unusual for a Pope to fire a Bishop, and in this case.....it's hard to say what words were spoken.  Fixing this is almost impossible.  The Bishop could suddenly retire, but the Church still stands as a monument to massive waste.  You can't even throw out the $25k bathtub.

My suggestion?  Rent out the residence to VIPs and folks getting married, bring in some really cheap Bishop who drinks only tap water and eats baloney sandwiches, and finally....charge folks who want to tour the "castle" (note, it's just not a church anymore, if you ask me).

The comical side of this?  It ought to be only Catholics who complain about this episode.....because they generally are the ones who funded the mess.  Strangely enough.....a bunch of non-Catholics are in the stand-and-complain column.

So when you hear about the Limburg controversy.....it's the church that went beyond imagination on renovation.  If they'd had just one guy overseeing the project, refusing to make change upon change, and buying cheap bathtubs.....things would be acceptable.

The Tree Business

As Christmas season is approaching now in Germany......there are a variety of topics which come up within German society.  One of the topics....is the price of Christmas Trees.

The local newspaper....Wiesbaden Kurier....had a piece over the cost, and have calmed the nerves of most Germans by suggesting that prices will be stable this year over the cost of a normal tree.....with the exception of the Normann Fir (it went up a notch or two on price).

The general cost?  Per meter....roughly nine to fourteen Euro....for your average tree.

Germans are particular about Christmas Trees.  They'd prefer a real tree, and if it's a fake....it's mostly because there's no room in the apartment so they get a three-foot fake tree that sits on top of some table or bookcase.

There are two basic methods of procuring your tree.  First, you can go to a small village operation where the trees are still in the ground.....pay your money.....and cut it yourself.  I doubt if more than two percent of the population does it this way.  Most go down to the local grocery or sports-hall, and buy it from the tree sales guy, who then wraps it up, and the customer drives home with it on the roof on in the trunk.

As for when they buy it?  It used to be a time-honored event....where everyone got their tree about two weeks before Christmas.  It's shifted around in the last decade or two.....with a number of Germans now putting up trees in early December.

The 'Big' Bridge

Hessens will generally tell you that there are forty 'famous' bridges in their state....with pride.

The bridge that I generally admire of the group...is the Theodor Heuss Bridge.....going from Mainz-Kastel to Mainz.  To be honest....Mainz-Kastel ought to be named Wiesbaden-Kastel but there's some historical deal to this, and the folks in Kastel consider themselves more Mainz than Wiesbaden.  This apparently goes back a thousand or so years.....so you don't argue with the locals about this.

The original bridge?  Well, the Romans wandered into the area, and built a bridge around 27AD.  In 1865....a toll bridge went up at this point of the river.  Shockingly enough.....the tolls paid the bridge off within three years.  That was back when a Mark was worth a Mark.

Knowing a great deal....the locals pressed on with the toll for roughly another forty years.  No one says much about which pocket it went into or how much infrastructure in Mainz it paid for during this period....but it was a money-maker

Near the conclusion of WW II.....German engineers blew up the bridge to prevent it from being used by the advancing American Army.

The Germans went back to work in 1948 and rebuilt the bridge yet again.

It's been through various renovation periods, and likely to be there for at least another hundred years (Germans build bridges to last).

I would imagine that if the Romans were around today....they'd admire the bridge....but offer their advice that they could have built a better bridge.  The Germans would go into a fit of frustration, and a long winded debate would be stirred up.  Luckily, we don't have Romans wandering around today.

A Mainz Wall

Over in Mainz, along the main drag on the river...there's this overpass, with a four-star graffiti image.

I stood there one morning.....at least two minutes.  Whoever did it...put an awful lot of effort into it.  It's not something a guy by himself could do in one afternoon.

The positive of just walking around, rather than driving....is that you start to notice things like this.  There's probably a million people who've passed this over the last couple of years, and most just saw some something on the wall as they passed but paid no real attention.

The Square

Generally.....after you travel around Europe (at least most of Europe)....you tend to notice that small towns spend money on landscaping.

Creativity, and a fair amount of cash....creates something of a unique nature.....which draws tourists like flies.  Naturally, you put up a cafe, a coffee bar, and a dozen little shops selling tourist garbage....and you got a magnet.

This is a shot from a little village in Denmark that drove into around seven years ago.

I wouldn't really say that many tourists come to the town to appreciate the stone ball or this mini-river of sorts....but those who come....stay a while....sip a glass of wine.....buy something, and waste an afternoon there instead of somewhere else.

Maybe they figured out the best way of using their tax base, or may this was just some silly idea that someone slipped by the city council.....but it seems to have worked.

Would this kind of stuff work in US towns and cities?  I doubt it.  Folks would want it fancy.....bright lights....some mythical flame business....and a big dinosaur or bear as their trademark.

War Memorial

German war memorials....especially from WW I and II....are more on the rare side than all the memorials from the various victories in the 1800s.

This memorial is down in Worms, in the city center.

Defining Schnapps

After a while, an American in Germany will come around to this topic of schnapps.  It's basically a German definition of a distilled drink.  Usually, it's from cherries, apples, pears, or plums.  There are other choices....but these are the bulk of choice.

Apfelkorn?  It's a apple drink of sorts....up in the higher numbers of 30-proof range.

Himbeergeist?  It's a raspberry drink.

Goldschlager?  It's a cinnamon-flavored liquor.

I would imagine there are a minimum of three hundred varieties over Germany.....with countless other garage or basement-created versions as well.

The general advice I'd give is that you probably want to limit yourself to three of these, and try to stay more toward beer or wine.  After a big meal at a pub or restaurant.....the waiter may come around and offer you a small free glass as part of the deal (more likely to be found at Greek or Italian places than German).   It'll be a very small glass and there's no worry about getting a bit tipsy over that one glass.  Its the ones that come after that.....that you need to worry about.

Topics That Won't Work

An American comes to realize after a while....that certain American topics....will not fly on German TV very much.

So this is a list of sorts for the non-flyers.

UFOs.  There just isn't much of a group in Germany who puts any faith or belief in UFOs.  Privately, I'd even take a humble guess that barely five percent of the population has some serious belief in them.  So you don't see many UFO reports....UFO movies....alien stories....or such.  For a German, there has to be some serious drama and reality tied to such a story, with absolute facts.  Without that?  It just won't be seen or discussed.

Cult stuff.  It's generally hard in German society to start up a cult.  I'd be the first to admit that there's a fairly long list of acceptance factors you need to meet before you get any attention as a 'new' religion or such in Germany.  Just recruiting down in some city square....will get you odd looks....and if you were able to convince one guy out of a thousand....you'd be lucky.

Ghosts.  Ghost movies will play on German TV but beyond that?  Forget it.  Unlike the British who run tours in ghost-inhabited castles....the Germans tend to keep their old castles in a condition without ghosts.

Buried treasure.  On rare occasions....you come across some German guy who found some Roman coins or some buried Nazi-era loot.  It's exceptionally rare and Germans don't usually buy into the buried treasure routine very well.

End-of-times predictions.  About every year in the US....some figure or group is running up the end-of-times prediction flag.  Sometimes....millions are drawn into the discussion....until the mythical day arrives, and things just keep on going.  Germans aren't much into the end-of-times stuff.  It's hard to convince them that taxes are coming to an end.....that snow won't happen anymore.....or that the local pub won't be open Saturday night.  

Germans kind of demand some facts before they run off on some behavior change.  It's hard to sell a German on fake stuff.....without proof.

That Otto-Guy

There are a thousand characters out of German history....with the vast number not really being mentioned much in modern times.

For an American, Otto von Bismarck fits into an odd piece of German history.  Some historians would write a thousand pages over the guy.  Some journalists would try to spend an hour describing him.

For this blog....it is the simple and pure introduction only.  Bismarck ends up being this pure politician of sorts....who is the friend and foe of the Kaiser, but also the architect of modern-day Germany.  Everything you see today....is based off some simple taskings that Bismarck undertook, and achieved.  Most positive....some negative.

Born in 1815....out of what is then Prussia....he will come out of a well educated family, and work his way into political life by his early 30's.

He is a foreign affairs guy....able to note relationships and occasions to drop the friendship.

By 1862, the Kaiser's position has been taken by Wilhelm I and he's come to some poor relations with the what is then the Bundestag.  He needs their cooperation, and the man for the job is Bismarck.  For the Kaiser.....it's pain.  For every achieve that Bismarck gets for the Kaiser and his goals....there's something that has to be given in return.  A yes-man....but always standing to ask for a second part to the deal.

Bismarck proves he has no problems in starting conflicts which are winnable.  He forges relationships....which are dropped when necessary.  Germany fights various small wars in the second half of the 1800s.  They win all of them.

Prussians tend to view Bismarck at the same level as the Kaiser.....which is obvious today when you note statues around Germany of Bismarck.

Education standards, economics, and infrastructure improvement....are all goals accomplished during the Bismarck era.

Then, Kaiser Wilhelm I passes on.  His son lasts roughly a hundred days, and Wilhelm II (the grandson) assumes the Kaiser position.  It's safe to say that he hates political figures, the Bundestag structure at the time, the on and off relationships that Bismarck developed for other countries, and the general attitude of Bismarck himself.

You can count the weeks until Wilhelm II has dismissed the services of Bismarck.  He goes off and has this odd feeling that he will be recalled....that he is indispensable and necessary for the operation of Germany.  Wilhelm II progresses on....without the old guy.

From this brief period of history....you can note prior to this day....the Hapsburg Empire (Austria-Hungry).....was a on-and-off friend of Germany.  They were mostly there to be used and Bismarck probably knew they were more of a dying empire than a thriving empire.  Wilhelm II was of the opposite mind, and stood by the idea that the Hapsburgs were of the best of friends with Prussia.

You can count roughly twenty years passing after Bismarck leaves office, and the start of World War I with the murder of the Hapsburg prince.

A thousand pages could be written over what Bismarck would have done differently to resolve things, avoid world war, and move Germany into a better situation.  Sadly, he's not there, and his wisdom is now forgotten.

So the best you end up with fifty years after his retirement.....is Germany's one and only battleship named after him.  It's hard to say if he'd been pleased or not over this.

Health care development, common law, university structure, worker rights.....all were part of the agenda for Bismarck....a guy probably years ahead of his time.  A thinker, a man of conviction, and someone capable of arguing to the ninth-degree if required.  Remembered now....mostly as some history icon, a statue subject, and a page on Wikipedia.

Legend of the Forest-Boy (Continued)

Every year, there's a dozen odd stories that pop up and make you scratch your head over.  The story takes a while to develop and often....you are a bit surprised over the eventual outcome.

In September of 2011....came the Forest-boy of Berlin.  Basically, this young guy walk out of the woods and uses broken English to claim that he's lived in the woods with his dad for years.  His dad has left.  The kid is now all alone.

It's a great newspaper story and spends weeks on page six of the daily news.  The authorities can't prove nothing.  No passport.  Nothing in the story makes any sense.

Roughly nine months pass, and the picture comes into more open press across Europe.  The kid is recognized.  He's around twenty years old, and the whole story he claims....fake.

This past week in Germany.....the authorities have gotten around to a court episode on this.  You see....they spend roughly thirty thousand Euro....or so they claim...on this kid while in their care.  It's hard to say if the amount is valid or acceptable.  Had he simply said he was an adult....they would have paved the way for significant funds on him....for a home, food, etc.  But they kept him as a 'ward' of the state.....waiting to figure out the whole thing.

The Berlin local court now says the guy (a Dutch guy of 21 years old).....must own up and do roughly one-hundred-and-fifty hours of community service.  It appears that the legal guys on the other side nudged the guy along to accept this....ending the whole mess.

The Forest-boy story is one of those that I expect a movie to be made about one day.

Public Transportation

To be honest, most of my humble life....I lived in non-urban areas.  So public transportation was never really a factor.  In Kaiserslautern, public transportation was a joke.  If I wanted to ride the bus from my village over to the base.....it was one brief window of opportunity....getting on a 5:35AM bus in my village, and spending almost two hours to cover eight miles.  Yeah, I could have walked it in almost the same time period.

Wiesbaden is a bit different.  Public transportation in the Hessen area is a reality.  A guy can step out of his house, and if he timed it right....he can be in the center of Wiesbaden in twelve minutes, at a cost of roughly two Euro.  If the guy needed to progress to Frankfurt?  Toss on forty minutes, but it's a simple and practical matter.

The local bus system came up in an article today, within the Wiesbaden Kurier newspaper, and admitted that they handle 50 million passengers a year.  Then they proudly noted that they think they can handle 65 million.....dreaming of this more enhanced and developed public transportation line.

But there is this little negativity brewing locally.  If you ride the bus system from mid-afternoon until 6PM, you'd swear that every single bus is packed and maxed out.  A 120-passenger bus is probably loaded with 130 passengers....possibly even 140 folks.

There are general complaints about this brief morning and late afternoon surge activity.  No one is happy, and most would still prefer to travel by car.  This all relates back to massive traffic issues for a region that doesn't have that many plan 'B' routes.

Studies have come and gone.  Experts dive into the topic and always talk of a S-bahn for Wiesbaden.....a light-rail service.  Then they get into the cost factor and everyone starts to laugh because no one is going to find hundreds of millions to finance something like this.  And if you did toss a light-rail up.....from where to where?

Mainz spent millions years ago, and has a very dynamic light-rail system throughout the city.  Travel patterns are standardized and most everyone in Mainz will tell you they are fifteen minutes from anywhere in town they desire to travel to.

In the end.....I doubt if anything much in Wiesbaden changes.  Maybe a few more buses, but whatever window of opportunity existed.....has closed.