This is one of those German science stories that make you sit and wonder how things got to a commercial point of production.
During this summer's World Cup....the soccer folks had this nifty new "toy" that they made us of....for the series of games in Brazil. It was a can of what you'd perceive as.....shaving cream. Umpires needed to mark the field at times....telling players where they could or could not stand. It was a quick moment.....marking the field with the cream, and it dissolved.
Everyone came away amazed....fantastic idea. It came in a can and cost was around thirteen Euro.
So the German soccer league was going to do the same thing. But the TUV guys got involved. TUV investigates just about everything that you want to introduce into Germany. It's a government agency that checks out flashlights, cars, aircraft, motorcycles, etc. So they got some cans of the stuff.
Oddly enough.....they came back and said.....it contains parabens, which relate to the cosmetic industry. And, it actually disrupts hormones in some fashion.
Plus, it has some ingredients which if exposed to fire.....flare up.
Naturally, this was a pretty big negative for the TUV guys, and the whole idea of introducing the same stuff to German soccer.....end right there on the spot.
The soccer league guys? Well....I've noticed that they've kept kinda quiet since this came out, and probably are wondering who the heck started this gimmick and how it was allowed into the World Cup games without some discussion.
And why add this stuff related to cosmetic industry? Why add the flare-up ingredients? That's a curious question. You'd think that a guy with a great idea like this shaving cream stuff.....would have done some simple research, and made sure it was all pure and environmentally safe.
So, TUV.....as much as everyone hates their intense checking of new hardware, or equipment.....taking weeks and weeks to evaluate an item.....saves the day once again.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
The Thing About the Ninety-Seven Percent Slogan That Rubs Me the Wrong Way
I'm not much of a rocket-scientist, physicist, chemist, theologian, doctor, nurse, astronomer, computer scientist (I actually knew a lady who who had certifications and proclaimed herself via business cards as such but I'd never take any advice from her on what to buy from Dell or HP), inventor, naturalist, geographer, urban planner, interior decorations expert, environmentalist, or art expert.
I've traveled more than most folks. I can quickly spot a pickpocket, a gypsy, or a drugged-up thug on the street in front of me. I can jump on a plane without any hotel reservations and readily accept what fate will deliver upon me. I can sit in a Turkish cab with no suspension or springs....cursing the curves taken at various speeds and get a thrill from the adventure.
I've read between four and five thousand books (I don't count much anymore). As a kid, I read the Encyclopedia Britannica three times over. I consider the first page of a Tale of Two Cities to be the best written piece of literature ever....even if written by a French guy.
I read an awful lot on history and failures of cultures. I know that history books are worked up pieces of slanted commentary.....that usually work to make something look great, or something look woeful or terrible. I've spent vast stretches of my life reading over civil wars, exploration, discoveries, low points of human society, and heroic efforts by a few men with only luck as their reason for success.
I have a love-hate thing about the Bible and it's history of revisions. The revisions, sadly, might make it better than the original written document.
I probably know more about European history than ninety-nine percent of American society. I can lead you around to a short and concise discussion over Prussia, the Kaiser and the entire decade prior to World War I.
If directions are provided, I can tear apart a printer or computer to replace a part, but won't claim I know much about why things work or fail on a piece of hardware.
I respect Socrates, Plato and Aristotle more than any human of the past two thousand years....believing they expanded the thought process a thousand times over. Shockingly, none of the three ever got award for anything or any Nobel Prize.
I think H L Mencken, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and Eric Hoffer probably understood the minds and common pitfalls of people more than anyone of American history over the past one-hundred-and-fifty years.
So I come to this odd prevailing tactic that I occasionally in German intellectual circles and climate change enthusiasts. "Ninety-seven percent of scientists have proclaimed consensus on it". End of discussion.
It was MEANT as a "ace of spaces". Once put down, this was the end of all arguments. Yeah....even if Socrates were sitting at the pub and asked one more damn question....he was ruled out of order.
You just aren't meant to question anything, because scientists overrule debate at that point.
Einstein would likely be weeping over such positive news like this....if he were around today. He could voice something, note some consensus, and that was the end of criticism over his science figures jotted on some blackboard.
I went looking at the whole 97-percent episode and how it got generated. Someone already did the homework.....(30 May 2013, Forbes Magazine). Basically, you write a standard of support on the wall, and then you find 12,000 reports that fit. The fact that some of the 12,000 reports are deemed to question the direction of analysis....didn't bother the guys doing the original 97-percent profile. You were either for something, or against something. If you questioned the outcome.....it doesn't mean you were against it.
Yeah, it's hard to match this up to some logical profile of research. Einstein's original concepts? It was probably a three-percent group who believed in his thoughts, and ninety-seven percent who questioned how he arrived at such an erroneous position. In one case, a university ran up an entire publication that had over a hundred known scientists in this period who questioned him and his logical outcomes or ideas.
Where does the ninety-seven percent deal lead onto? Mostly a dead end, as perceived by those who want to believe in this.
The sad thing? Once you put down the argument....start to analyze facts and data....question trends....push out lobbyists and agenda-tied-down enthusiasts....we might actually be able to come to two or there rational ideals.
I have no doubt that urban centers are now heat-tubs, and the amount of concrete, asphalt and building structures are producing a heat source that didn't exist a hundred years ago. It wouldn't take a mass of analysts or contrived data to establish this fact. Nor would the solution be difficult to imagine....we go to building materials with different or less heat-attraction. We put a massive amount of shrubs and trees across an urban area. We lessen concrete pads....greening them instead. All of this is simple and workable within a hundred years.
I have no doubt that our knowledge on solar winds and the influence of the sun are marginal. There are those who could talk for hours on the subject, yet continually hit some point where you know there's just nothing else they can say or add. The knowledge has a limit.
Instead of a massive number of people running off to some university program and becoming environmentalists......we need some of these people to reprogram their efforts in life, and refocus on solar science. I know....it won't have anything to do with environmentalism, saving lakes, or changing cultures. But we seem to have prioritized things to fit what agenda science demands.
Finally, history says alot about the warm era of Rome, and the cold period of the 1300s-to-1700s in Europe and America. I just don't see much in terms of research to say something over this. It's like a cloak of invisibility has descended and it's best for environmentalists to just skip the topic. If you can't flip this into your theory....don't waste time on it. It might be interesting if we could convince the model gamers to flip over and take the historians along for a ride.....looking at two critical periods and note various reasons why this happened. Maybe it has nothing to do with climate change, mankind, or environmentalism. It might be worth knowing.
So, if I come off as negative against the common German theme of absolute climate change.....it's mostly because I'm of the idea that we might want to ask questions. If this were merely a debate about the clutch versus automatic transmission, and we were going to dump one and force everyone to go to the other.....folks would stand up to voice concern.
The same is true if we suddenly felt compelled to tax sugar usage in all sodas or candy bars....saying the debate was over, and the health conscious-minded society folks were in the right.....folks would stand up to voice concern.
The same is true if we felt an urge to tax all foreign cars entering Germany on the autobahn, and simply mandate they buy a little sticker and pay some maut-related fee at the border.....to make everything "right and fair". Well....folks would stand up to voice concern.
The same is true if we felt a German TV tax was right and fair, just urging everyone to accept the seventeen Euro a month fee, and don't question the way that ZDF or ARD spend the money they receive in whatever way they desire. Germans would stand up to voice concern.
Limited debate....marginal debate....unfocused debate....no debate....usually ends up with a comedy of errors or a false sense of accomplishment.
History will note that a percentage of the Catholic Church hierarchy of the 1500s....believed the Earth was flat. Denying this usually meant a visit by some physical thugs, who made sure you got the right message. Today? We might actually end up with "verbal thugs" who want you to step along with some climate change agenda that they bought on, without asking any questions.
If this didn't have an affect on my electrical rates, airline taxation games, fake carbon exchange gimmicks, or fake gas tax strategies.....I personally wouldn't care, and neither would most people in society. By inflecting these little tax gimmicks into the situation.....you've invited me to act like Socrates and ask stupid questions or comment on where an agenda-laden strategy is taking us. I'm willing to play your game.....the question is....would you allow such an open game?
I've traveled more than most folks. I can quickly spot a pickpocket, a gypsy, or a drugged-up thug on the street in front of me. I can jump on a plane without any hotel reservations and readily accept what fate will deliver upon me. I can sit in a Turkish cab with no suspension or springs....cursing the curves taken at various speeds and get a thrill from the adventure.
I've read between four and five thousand books (I don't count much anymore). As a kid, I read the Encyclopedia Britannica three times over. I consider the first page of a Tale of Two Cities to be the best written piece of literature ever....even if written by a French guy.
I read an awful lot on history and failures of cultures. I know that history books are worked up pieces of slanted commentary.....that usually work to make something look great, or something look woeful or terrible. I've spent vast stretches of my life reading over civil wars, exploration, discoveries, low points of human society, and heroic efforts by a few men with only luck as their reason for success.
I have a love-hate thing about the Bible and it's history of revisions. The revisions, sadly, might make it better than the original written document.
I probably know more about European history than ninety-nine percent of American society. I can lead you around to a short and concise discussion over Prussia, the Kaiser and the entire decade prior to World War I.
If directions are provided, I can tear apart a printer or computer to replace a part, but won't claim I know much about why things work or fail on a piece of hardware.
I respect Socrates, Plato and Aristotle more than any human of the past two thousand years....believing they expanded the thought process a thousand times over. Shockingly, none of the three ever got award for anything or any Nobel Prize.
I think H L Mencken, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and Eric Hoffer probably understood the minds and common pitfalls of people more than anyone of American history over the past one-hundred-and-fifty years.
So I come to this odd prevailing tactic that I occasionally in German intellectual circles and climate change enthusiasts. "Ninety-seven percent of scientists have proclaimed consensus on it". End of discussion.
It was MEANT as a "ace of spaces". Once put down, this was the end of all arguments. Yeah....even if Socrates were sitting at the pub and asked one more damn question....he was ruled out of order.
You just aren't meant to question anything, because scientists overrule debate at that point.
Einstein would likely be weeping over such positive news like this....if he were around today. He could voice something, note some consensus, and that was the end of criticism over his science figures jotted on some blackboard.
I went looking at the whole 97-percent episode and how it got generated. Someone already did the homework.....(30 May 2013, Forbes Magazine). Basically, you write a standard of support on the wall, and then you find 12,000 reports that fit. The fact that some of the 12,000 reports are deemed to question the direction of analysis....didn't bother the guys doing the original 97-percent profile. You were either for something, or against something. If you questioned the outcome.....it doesn't mean you were against it.
Yeah, it's hard to match this up to some logical profile of research. Einstein's original concepts? It was probably a three-percent group who believed in his thoughts, and ninety-seven percent who questioned how he arrived at such an erroneous position. In one case, a university ran up an entire publication that had over a hundred known scientists in this period who questioned him and his logical outcomes or ideas.
Where does the ninety-seven percent deal lead onto? Mostly a dead end, as perceived by those who want to believe in this.
The sad thing? Once you put down the argument....start to analyze facts and data....question trends....push out lobbyists and agenda-tied-down enthusiasts....we might actually be able to come to two or there rational ideals.
I have no doubt that urban centers are now heat-tubs, and the amount of concrete, asphalt and building structures are producing a heat source that didn't exist a hundred years ago. It wouldn't take a mass of analysts or contrived data to establish this fact. Nor would the solution be difficult to imagine....we go to building materials with different or less heat-attraction. We put a massive amount of shrubs and trees across an urban area. We lessen concrete pads....greening them instead. All of this is simple and workable within a hundred years.
I have no doubt that our knowledge on solar winds and the influence of the sun are marginal. There are those who could talk for hours on the subject, yet continually hit some point where you know there's just nothing else they can say or add. The knowledge has a limit.
Instead of a massive number of people running off to some university program and becoming environmentalists......we need some of these people to reprogram their efforts in life, and refocus on solar science. I know....it won't have anything to do with environmentalism, saving lakes, or changing cultures. But we seem to have prioritized things to fit what agenda science demands.
Finally, history says alot about the warm era of Rome, and the cold period of the 1300s-to-1700s in Europe and America. I just don't see much in terms of research to say something over this. It's like a cloak of invisibility has descended and it's best for environmentalists to just skip the topic. If you can't flip this into your theory....don't waste time on it. It might be interesting if we could convince the model gamers to flip over and take the historians along for a ride.....looking at two critical periods and note various reasons why this happened. Maybe it has nothing to do with climate change, mankind, or environmentalism. It might be worth knowing.
So, if I come off as negative against the common German theme of absolute climate change.....it's mostly because I'm of the idea that we might want to ask questions. If this were merely a debate about the clutch versus automatic transmission, and we were going to dump one and force everyone to go to the other.....folks would stand up to voice concern.
The same is true if we suddenly felt compelled to tax sugar usage in all sodas or candy bars....saying the debate was over, and the health conscious-minded society folks were in the right.....folks would stand up to voice concern.
The same is true if we felt an urge to tax all foreign cars entering Germany on the autobahn, and simply mandate they buy a little sticker and pay some maut-related fee at the border.....to make everything "right and fair". Well....folks would stand up to voice concern.
The same is true if we felt a German TV tax was right and fair, just urging everyone to accept the seventeen Euro a month fee, and don't question the way that ZDF or ARD spend the money they receive in whatever way they desire. Germans would stand up to voice concern.
Limited debate....marginal debate....unfocused debate....no debate....usually ends up with a comedy of errors or a false sense of accomplishment.
History will note that a percentage of the Catholic Church hierarchy of the 1500s....believed the Earth was flat. Denying this usually meant a visit by some physical thugs, who made sure you got the right message. Today? We might actually end up with "verbal thugs" who want you to step along with some climate change agenda that they bought on, without asking any questions.
If this didn't have an affect on my electrical rates, airline taxation games, fake carbon exchange gimmicks, or fake gas tax strategies.....I personally wouldn't care, and neither would most people in society. By inflecting these little tax gimmicks into the situation.....you've invited me to act like Socrates and ask stupid questions or comment on where an agenda-laden strategy is taking us. I'm willing to play your game.....the question is....would you allow such an open game?
Ultrasonic AG Update
I've blogged once or twice in the past two weeks. Ultrasonic is a German-Chinese sports shoe company. It was a company on the German S-DAX and riding along at 6.5 Euro roughly a couple of weeks ago. Then, the CEO/COO disappears over a weekend....price of the stock drops in a dramatic fashion....and seven days later, the CEO reappears trying to comfort everyone.
The pricing of the stock today is around 2.14....better than the 1.6 pricing from two weeks ago.
The latest that I can find over this German-Chinese company is that the owner kinda admits that he used some part of the sixty-million for a company project (from a Hong Kong bank) for a personal project. He says....he intended to repay the loan. Based on commentary from the various business journals.....most are leaving the story at that point. They can't really put anything together on the guy, his need for the loan, his need to "disappear", or what this whole thing was really about.
For the financial market folks who control your participation in the DAX? Well....they avoid discussing such things in public but you would imagine that there's some questions out there and no answers. Ultrasonic might be able to survive and continue on within the S-DAX (the fact that it hasn't slipped back down below two Euro in the last week suggests that).
The curious thing about this whole deal is that Ultrasonic has a fair market in Germany (also in China) and was showing enough profit and sustainability to generate the sixty-million in the form of a loan for expansion. On paper, they say every year since 2011....they've shown growth on sales and profits. One might ask if this was true info on the sales and profits, and maybe that's part of the bigger problem here.
Ultrasonic AG's fate? They made a sports shoe product of a style that Germans wanted, and I suspect there's still a market trend for them. If they made stupid financial decisions and lost money on production and sales.....that's an entirely different topic. If their boss just dissolved some profits to disappear occasionally or did sloppy handling of money......that's an entirely different topic. Maybe Ultrasonic AG simply gets bought up by some other competitor, renamed and relaunched.
The pricing of the stock today is around 2.14....better than the 1.6 pricing from two weeks ago.
The latest that I can find over this German-Chinese company is that the owner kinda admits that he used some part of the sixty-million for a company project (from a Hong Kong bank) for a personal project. He says....he intended to repay the loan. Based on commentary from the various business journals.....most are leaving the story at that point. They can't really put anything together on the guy, his need for the loan, his need to "disappear", or what this whole thing was really about.
For the financial market folks who control your participation in the DAX? Well....they avoid discussing such things in public but you would imagine that there's some questions out there and no answers. Ultrasonic might be able to survive and continue on within the S-DAX (the fact that it hasn't slipped back down below two Euro in the last week suggests that).
The curious thing about this whole deal is that Ultrasonic has a fair market in Germany (also in China) and was showing enough profit and sustainability to generate the sixty-million in the form of a loan for expansion. On paper, they say every year since 2011....they've shown growth on sales and profits. One might ask if this was true info on the sales and profits, and maybe that's part of the bigger problem here.
Ultrasonic AG's fate? They made a sports shoe product of a style that Germans wanted, and I suspect there's still a market trend for them. If they made stupid financial decisions and lost money on production and sales.....that's an entirely different topic. If their boss just dissolved some profits to disappear occasionally or did sloppy handling of money......that's an entirely different topic. Maybe Ultrasonic AG simply gets bought up by some other competitor, renamed and relaunched.
New Sign in Wiesbaden
Yeah....they'd publish some list....probably build an "ap" to lead you to such places, and advertise such discrete locations where it'd be OK.
In some ways, it's the Americanization of Germany. Forty years ago....some German woman would be shopping with some young kid and need to breast-feed.....so she'd stop in some city-park, or sit on a bench somewhere in town....and just do it. German guys wouldn't say much.....mostly because the only guys walking around in the middle of the day were retirees. Everyone else was working.
It's not that way today, and women who happen to be somewhere where a need to breast-feed is necessary....will likely comment to German political figures that they feel "gazed-upon". How often does this happen? I walk a lot....around various German towns and cities.....and since July of last year....I'd say I've come across five women who were breast-feeding (one on board a local train). I don't frankly care. I see a thousand times that many women dressed in slutty outfits and that's way bigger of a topic than this breast-feeding stuff.
So, you can imagine the hours and days wasted on this. A couple of interns....a couple of city officials....walking around and asking coffee shops if they can allow a private curtain or wall to go up and help these poor ladies. Burger King, McDonalds, and various shops will be approached and asked to "go friendly" for breast-feeding. Certain areas of city parks might even get cornered off, with some environmentally friendly curtain for these type situations.
Yeah, I think it's a waste of time....but frankly....it's better they waste it on this than finding new things to get the public peppered-up on or disturbed about.
In the months to come....prepare to notice these little signs around Wiesbaden and comfort yourself....that they are getting themselves more accustomed to the American view of discreetness and avoid public views of boobies.
The Slanted News Gimmick (von der Leyen)
The emphasis of the piece was that the German Defense Minster (Ursula von der Leyen, CDU) was in serious trouble because of the recent revelations of how bad off the logistical side of the Bundeswehr (the German military) was in.
Cracks on helicopters, fighter jets of a fifty-odd percent operational rate, Ebola help mission delayed because of plane issues, etc. What journalists will say....wide flurry of talk now....is that the German military has stretched itself out, and the current problems are the results of bad management.
ARD went full-turbo....bringing in SPD 'experts', Green Party members, and even a Linke Party member talking up the dismal problems here. They end the piece with this shot of von der Leyen from six months ago while at a German post in Afghanistan.....showing her in composure against a dark sky. When the picture months ago....it was one of those things that you knew someone would revisit and use it for maximum propaganda value in the opposite direction. It begs for abuse.
The chief target? Merkel is in her last four years, and they all believe that Ursula von der Leyen is the one who will take up the Chancellor post in 2017. So they need to knock her a bit.
Blame on von der Leyen? Well...she basically took up the post around a year ago, after the election results. The issues over bad management? It's the same strategy in place by the Bundestag itself (doesn't matter on which party says what) that has been in place for years and years.
Here's the crux of the entire issue. After the Berlin Wall came down and the Warsaw Pact dissolved in the late 1980s....the German government decided to go for the "peace dividend". It's a bogus statement to such a dividend, but it's nice on paper. So you take advantage of the situation, and let things ride out.
1998 arrives with Gerhard Schroder, the SPD Party and the Green Party. For roughly eight years.....the dividend is continued to pay out. Less funding for the Bundeswehr....less requirements....less troops....less expectations. NATO can suggest otherwise, but you just set a strategy in place that shows a marginal logistical approach to military strength.
2005 ends with Chancellor Merkel and the CDU in strength. They press with some additional funding, but they also open up the front door and start to commit to Afghanistan deployments. Hardware gets utilized, and the lines of logistical support are stretched. The peace dividend still works to some degree. Why pay into a military structure, if peace is "at hand".....would be the typical German bureaucrat response when a journalist asks about funding. The SPD guy says this....the CDU guys says this......the Green guy says this.
Toss in a dozen-odd German missions today, and some peace dividend factor, and you've got various troops and hardware that have reached some maximum operational rate with issues.
The odd thing here? For SPD, Green and Linke Party folks to appear on camera and blast on von der Leyen.....they basically have to counter this with tax increases and the funding has to go up substantially for the German military. They have to also be agreeable to a larger quantity of troops....which is now all-volunteer....which means recruitment needs go up. None of the three parties can say much with a straight face because it defies their various comments of the past four decades.
The issue is that you can slant the news and tell some story with passion.....but if you throw facts into the mix.....the slant makes you look foolish. If you don't want fifty percent of your transport aircraft sitting and waiting for maintenance or parts....then you need to spend appropriate funding. If peace dividend talk is higher priority, fine....then learn to live with delays and excuses to the news media. It's that simple.
The German Power Game
There's a game that German electrical power producers have been playing for almost a hundred years.
There's a game that German political figures have been playing since the 1960s over nuclear power in Germany.
There's also a game that the German government itself has been playing since the Japanese Fukushima disaster.
This week....another game was started within the conventional power production sector of Germany......which may trump all the other games and create a massive problem.
Here's the simplicity of this game. The political figures of Germany have stressed for decades that renewable power needed to be the focus of German society. It would help to lead to a Germany without any nuke plants. After Fukushima....the attention became more acute and demanding. Adding to this formula....was the slanted view of evil coal-powered plants by the news media of Germany.
In the past year....between solar and wind power.....renewable power has began to hit seventy-five percent. The bulk of this achievement.....goes to wind power.
Last year, the Economist news magazine put out an interesting piece....talking of a half-trillion-Euro loss coming out of nowhere. You see.....German renewable power can only create brief periods of power, and there is no stability in their quantity. Tuesday might be seventy-percent production between 6AM and 3PM. Wednesday might be forty-percent production between 6AM and 3PM. And Friday might be twenty-eight percent production between 6AM and 3PM.
This means that the power grid in Germany must have coal-fired or nuke-power plants on-line and ready at a moment's notice to provide excess energy, when wind and solar can't perform at their peak.
The Economist folks sat down and discussed matters with the coal-plant designers, and came to this fantastic conclusion.....no one build coal-powered plants to just sit there and be working between twenty and forty-percent of the time. Their design and cost fit into a figure of maximum needs that you might require for a substantial period of time.
So, just keeping a coal-plant as a stand-by source for renewable power sources....doesn't work with the current scheme of things. In essence....it's a half-trillion Euro loss in investment strategy by someone.
This week, Focus came out with a new bit of information. The German power-plant folks have come to realize the game at hand, and pushed it to a new limit. They want to shut down around fifty power plants (coal-powered by implication of the article). The chief cause for the shut-down? Poor profitability. The companies didn't design the plants to provide stand-by sourcing of electrical power. They weren't built to just stand there and work at one-quarter or one-half power.
The German federal agency over electrical power is a bit concerned. They can finally see the whole pattern of electrical power and the implications of where renewable power is leading them. Nothing was ever guaranteed on hourly or daily power. People kept citing free power by the wind and sun....but they never considered how they'd cover the open periods when never could deliver the necessary requirements for the grid.
The implications? I'm not a rocket scientist or Einstein-like guy....but I'm of the belief that you as the consumer are in a pretty crappy position in Germany. First, the whole grid might be designed now to have brown-outs because no one wants unprofitable coal-plants as back-ups. Second, you as the consumer just might have to pay anywhere from ten-percent to forty-percent more for electrical power because there HAS to be a coal plant sitting there and running constantly and prepared to take over the load if renewable energy suddenly falls. And third, the non-renewable guys (the coal plant operations).....have you by the balls now.....with the ability to make your life cost more than it should.
The sad thing here? To actually beat the high cost of stand-by coal-plants and the gimmick game that they are improvising here.....you might actually have to buy stand-by nuke-plant power from France, Ukraine, or Czech.....because it's cheaper than this screwed-up coal-powered deal that German plants offer.
There's a game that German political figures have been playing since the 1960s over nuclear power in Germany.
There's also a game that the German government itself has been playing since the Japanese Fukushima disaster.
This week....another game was started within the conventional power production sector of Germany......which may trump all the other games and create a massive problem.
Here's the simplicity of this game. The political figures of Germany have stressed for decades that renewable power needed to be the focus of German society. It would help to lead to a Germany without any nuke plants. After Fukushima....the attention became more acute and demanding. Adding to this formula....was the slanted view of evil coal-powered plants by the news media of Germany.
In the past year....between solar and wind power.....renewable power has began to hit seventy-five percent. The bulk of this achievement.....goes to wind power.
Last year, the Economist news magazine put out an interesting piece....talking of a half-trillion-Euro loss coming out of nowhere. You see.....German renewable power can only create brief periods of power, and there is no stability in their quantity. Tuesday might be seventy-percent production between 6AM and 3PM. Wednesday might be forty-percent production between 6AM and 3PM. And Friday might be twenty-eight percent production between 6AM and 3PM.
This means that the power grid in Germany must have coal-fired or nuke-power plants on-line and ready at a moment's notice to provide excess energy, when wind and solar can't perform at their peak.
The Economist folks sat down and discussed matters with the coal-plant designers, and came to this fantastic conclusion.....no one build coal-powered plants to just sit there and be working between twenty and forty-percent of the time. Their design and cost fit into a figure of maximum needs that you might require for a substantial period of time.
So, just keeping a coal-plant as a stand-by source for renewable power sources....doesn't work with the current scheme of things. In essence....it's a half-trillion Euro loss in investment strategy by someone.
This week, Focus came out with a new bit of information. The German power-plant folks have come to realize the game at hand, and pushed it to a new limit. They want to shut down around fifty power plants (coal-powered by implication of the article). The chief cause for the shut-down? Poor profitability. The companies didn't design the plants to provide stand-by sourcing of electrical power. They weren't built to just stand there and work at one-quarter or one-half power.
The German federal agency over electrical power is a bit concerned. They can finally see the whole pattern of electrical power and the implications of where renewable power is leading them. Nothing was ever guaranteed on hourly or daily power. People kept citing free power by the wind and sun....but they never considered how they'd cover the open periods when never could deliver the necessary requirements for the grid.
The implications? I'm not a rocket scientist or Einstein-like guy....but I'm of the belief that you as the consumer are in a pretty crappy position in Germany. First, the whole grid might be designed now to have brown-outs because no one wants unprofitable coal-plants as back-ups. Second, you as the consumer just might have to pay anywhere from ten-percent to forty-percent more for electrical power because there HAS to be a coal plant sitting there and running constantly and prepared to take over the load if renewable energy suddenly falls. And third, the non-renewable guys (the coal plant operations).....have you by the balls now.....with the ability to make your life cost more than it should.
The sad thing here? To actually beat the high cost of stand-by coal-plants and the gimmick game that they are improvising here.....you might actually have to buy stand-by nuke-plant power from France, Ukraine, or Czech.....because it's cheaper than this screwed-up coal-powered deal that German plants offer.
Fake Cop Arrest
I've blogged a couple of times over the past year about a peculiar Wiesbaden crime episode that was occurring.....fake cops. Generally, a tourist (sometime German, but usually an out-of-country guy/gal)....would be approached after visiting an ATM machine and the fake cops would present a badge and note that the machine had been putting out bogus money....so they need to look at your billfold. After it's handed back.....the tourist walks off and discovers later that the money was lifted from their billfold.
Well....on Friday afternoon of last week in Wiesbaden....three fake cops came to some guy on the street and did the trick once again. This time, the accusation was that the guy was a drug-dealer and he had drugs.
The victim to some degree cooperated.....with the money removed from his billfold. Then, a friend of the victim appeared, questioning the cops authority. Two of the fake cops take off.....the victim and friend hold onto the third guy until the real cops arrive.
What the police say about the situation now.....the guy caught is Romanian, and they are looking at the idea that this guy was connected to all of the local fake cop episodes. The guy in question? They won't say if he's cooperating fully or stalling them. Nor do they indicate that they have they found his two friends yet. By the comments made.....the Romanian guy is still being held, and the investigation still continues.
So, my wise words here.....if you are in a German urban area and have just visited an ATM machine.....if someone appears suddenly and flips a badge out toward you....he might not be a real cop. If he's not in uniform....you probably have a bogus guy.
Well....on Friday afternoon of last week in Wiesbaden....three fake cops came to some guy on the street and did the trick once again. This time, the accusation was that the guy was a drug-dealer and he had drugs.
The victim to some degree cooperated.....with the money removed from his billfold. Then, a friend of the victim appeared, questioning the cops authority. Two of the fake cops take off.....the victim and friend hold onto the third guy until the real cops arrive.
What the police say about the situation now.....the guy caught is Romanian, and they are looking at the idea that this guy was connected to all of the local fake cop episodes. The guy in question? They won't say if he's cooperating fully or stalling them. Nor do they indicate that they have they found his two friends yet. By the comments made.....the Romanian guy is still being held, and the investigation still continues.
So, my wise words here.....if you are in a German urban area and have just visited an ATM machine.....if someone appears suddenly and flips a badge out toward you....he might not be a real cop. If he's not in uniform....you probably have a bogus guy.
The German Christmas Discussion
Around four weeks ago....first week day of September....I came to notice an odd thing at a local grocery. They'd put up Christmas cakes and cookies. In fact.....this week at another grocery, I noted the German Christmas cakes and cookies on discount already.
Yeah, even by German standards, it's awful early to start putting Christmas items up on any shelf area.
So, this brings up a topic pushed by the media.....banning Christmas items at grocery stores until November. They actually want German political figures to step in and use their commerce control authority, and ban Christmas sweets from appearing in public until a certain date.
An American would look at this and simply shake his head. The last thing on Earth you need to get some political dimwits involved in.....is controlling Christmas-item sales.
Last night....one of the commercial networks got involved in this business, and got their reporter dressed up in a Santa outfit and he appeared at a local mall. Late September.....and a Santa in full-swing.....waving at kids and handing out cookies.
The general take? There were actually Germans who told the early-bird Santa that this was definitely wrong, and he ought to hightail (a southern expression) it back to the North Pole. The kids enjoyed the early appearance of Santa, and this kinda gets them already into a hyper state about Christmas arriving soon.....well.....maybe a hundred days away. It might be a pretty long hyper state of waiting for Santa to deliver on the gift business.
Would the SPD, Greens, Linke Party, and CDU political players be willing to jump into committee talks of controlling Christmas commerce? It's hard to say. Usually, they prefer ironclad topics like rent reform, pension reform, refugee reform, autobahn speed reform, maut reform, or NSA investigations. Jumping into Christmas cookies or chocolate? This just makes them look stupid, if you ask me.
So, as you shop around a neighborhood grocery, and notice some delicious high-calorie Christmas cakes for sale.....you might want to pick one up and start getting into the festive occasion.
Yeah, even by German standards, it's awful early to start putting Christmas items up on any shelf area.
So, this brings up a topic pushed by the media.....banning Christmas items at grocery stores until November. They actually want German political figures to step in and use their commerce control authority, and ban Christmas sweets from appearing in public until a certain date.
An American would look at this and simply shake his head. The last thing on Earth you need to get some political dimwits involved in.....is controlling Christmas-item sales.
Last night....one of the commercial networks got involved in this business, and got their reporter dressed up in a Santa outfit and he appeared at a local mall. Late September.....and a Santa in full-swing.....waving at kids and handing out cookies.
The general take? There were actually Germans who told the early-bird Santa that this was definitely wrong, and he ought to hightail (a southern expression) it back to the North Pole. The kids enjoyed the early appearance of Santa, and this kinda gets them already into a hyper state about Christmas arriving soon.....well.....maybe a hundred days away. It might be a pretty long hyper state of waiting for Santa to deliver on the gift business.
Would the SPD, Greens, Linke Party, and CDU political players be willing to jump into committee talks of controlling Christmas commerce? It's hard to say. Usually, they prefer ironclad topics like rent reform, pension reform, refugee reform, autobahn speed reform, maut reform, or NSA investigations. Jumping into Christmas cookies or chocolate? This just makes them look stupid, if you ask me.
So, as you shop around a neighborhood grocery, and notice some delicious high-calorie Christmas cakes for sale.....you might want to pick one up and start getting into the festive occasion.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Denis-Deso-Abu
Some German stories are a bit difficult to lay out and understand via your normal news journalist. So it is.....with this episode.
Somewhere about a decade ago (2005, to be precise).....we had this rapper in Germany. His rapper name was Deso Dogg. Yeah, I know....it's not that catchy, but rappers can twist just about anything into some attraction.
Deso, or Dog......was actually Denis Cuspert. Denis hit the big time.....at least in Germany for rap....by 2006. I won't compare success for rappers in Germany to success for rappers in America. It just doesn't compare. Denis did three albums. The last in 2009. A rap career of roughly seven years, and an album period of five years.
Denis is this oddball kid who grew up in West Berlin, in the glory days of the cold war. Denis had a German mom and a Ghanaian father. From what some write of his early days.....things just didn't work, and the father just disappeared. Mom ended up with an American Army officer.....who appears to have been more of an authority figure, that Denis could not respect. Folks tend to say that Denis ended up being a frequent visitor of the local youth detention center....centering his efforts on crime.
Around 2002.....Denis had finally evolved himself into a rap guy. He had some talent, and was noted around Berlin, and started to get noticed throughout Germany. He was a second-tier guy.....meaning that he wasn't breaking into the top ten, and probably would never make it to the big money.
At some point, between 2005 and 2007....Denis was noted with psychological issues. There aren't a lot of details, and you have to wonder if his drug habits or usage was helping to bring out deeper issues.
Denis finally ends up around 2010 in some car accident. No one says much over the accident, except it was one of this "meet-up-with-death" episodes where you could have been killed so easily. A concussion....a visit to the hospital....released. Then Denis does this thing where he meets up with former pro German boxer, and converts to Islam.
Since 2011....Denis has been this rapper-turned-Islam-preacher. What the German cops say now is that Denis has moved onto pop-Jihadism....glorifying the Jihad war in Syria and openly making rap-like videos for recruitment of naive Islamic kids in Germany.
Denis.....has gone from Deso Dogg....to Abu Talha (his new Islam name).
The German cops? They've got an arrest warrant in the bucket and just waiting for Denis (or Abu) to return back to Germany. You can figure that this is a five-to-ten year sentence.....if he's stupid enough to return.
So, this brings us to the attraction now of Denis and his video game over pop-Jihadism. You throw some guns onto a video.....some dancing....some rapster comments....a few Islamic quotes....then pump up your chest and thrill these loser guys who aren't going anywhere in life. Bad school deal.....job is a loser....where in life can you go?
ARD (state-run Channel One)....ran a public forum chat last night at 9:45pm. Denis got mentioned a dozen times. Most Germans sit there and shake their heads. Loser kid drifts around in some neighborhood. Loser kid goes through evolution. Loser kid latches onto religion. Loser kid wants some recognition or prophet-like status. Loser kid is loser adult. Loser adult wants to attract other loser adults. For a German, there's not much else you can say.
Somewhere about a decade ago (2005, to be precise).....we had this rapper in Germany. His rapper name was Deso Dogg. Yeah, I know....it's not that catchy, but rappers can twist just about anything into some attraction.
Deso, or Dog......was actually Denis Cuspert. Denis hit the big time.....at least in Germany for rap....by 2006. I won't compare success for rappers in Germany to success for rappers in America. It just doesn't compare. Denis did three albums. The last in 2009. A rap career of roughly seven years, and an album period of five years.
Denis is this oddball kid who grew up in West Berlin, in the glory days of the cold war. Denis had a German mom and a Ghanaian father. From what some write of his early days.....things just didn't work, and the father just disappeared. Mom ended up with an American Army officer.....who appears to have been more of an authority figure, that Denis could not respect. Folks tend to say that Denis ended up being a frequent visitor of the local youth detention center....centering his efforts on crime.
Around 2002.....Denis had finally evolved himself into a rap guy. He had some talent, and was noted around Berlin, and started to get noticed throughout Germany. He was a second-tier guy.....meaning that he wasn't breaking into the top ten, and probably would never make it to the big money.
At some point, between 2005 and 2007....Denis was noted with psychological issues. There aren't a lot of details, and you have to wonder if his drug habits or usage was helping to bring out deeper issues.
Denis finally ends up around 2010 in some car accident. No one says much over the accident, except it was one of this "meet-up-with-death" episodes where you could have been killed so easily. A concussion....a visit to the hospital....released. Then Denis does this thing where he meets up with former pro German boxer, and converts to Islam.
Since 2011....Denis has been this rapper-turned-Islam-preacher. What the German cops say now is that Denis has moved onto pop-Jihadism....glorifying the Jihad war in Syria and openly making rap-like videos for recruitment of naive Islamic kids in Germany.
Denis.....has gone from Deso Dogg....to Abu Talha (his new Islam name).
The German cops? They've got an arrest warrant in the bucket and just waiting for Denis (or Abu) to return back to Germany. You can figure that this is a five-to-ten year sentence.....if he's stupid enough to return.
So, this brings us to the attraction now of Denis and his video game over pop-Jihadism. You throw some guns onto a video.....some dancing....some rapster comments....a few Islamic quotes....then pump up your chest and thrill these loser guys who aren't going anywhere in life. Bad school deal.....job is a loser....where in life can you go?
ARD (state-run Channel One)....ran a public forum chat last night at 9:45pm. Denis got mentioned a dozen times. Most Germans sit there and shake their heads. Loser kid drifts around in some neighborhood. Loser kid goes through evolution. Loser kid latches onto religion. Loser kid wants some recognition or prophet-like status. Loser kid is loser adult. Loser adult wants to attract other loser adults. For a German, there's not much else you can say.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Explaining the Apprenticeship "Shortage"
Over the last couple of months, I've noted various English and American news publications trying to hype up and explain Germany's current dilemma...fewer young people to take apprenticeship situations. The general story will be....lessening population and business fronts are realizing problems for the future because of this.
Well....let me introduce you to the system.
Around age thirteen, you as a German kid are 'invited' (directed by the school authorities) to start looking around at local companies for an apprenticeship. The first year this comes up....you basically funnel out a couple of opportunities that the school will have, and show up for a week at some establishment to "play" at being an apprentice.
What most kids figure out.....is that there's not much fun in this work environment, and you actually have to think, react, and behave. So, this is mostly a waste of time on the first visit. The next year....same thing comes up...except now you are getting closer to the point where you need to send out resumes and apply for a real apprenticeship.
At some point, you will get picked up. Now, I admit....it might occur off the the first five resumes yo send out. It might be closer to twenty to forty resumes. And it's possible that you might have to submit near a hundred resumes....to get one single offer. A lot depends on the urban or rural area that you live in, and your great or lousy grades of the past year.
As you are accepted.....there are a couple of interesting aspects. First, you actually get paid. It's your first real job in life, and you get a monthly check.....with limited deductions (you are still under Dad's health deal). The monthly payment from your company? It amounts to something between 300 and 600 Euro ($400 and $750 roughly)....before taxes.
The hours? Well....you spend roughly three days a week at the company, and two days a week at the local school-house. You can figure you work a minimum of twenty-four hours a week for the company. They might ask you to work on Saturdays.
The length of this deal? It differs from profession to profession. The least is a two-year plan. The most could go up to three-and-a-half years. At the conclusion, there is a test with the local chamber of commerce.....you get certified, and in most cases, you get offered a regular job with the company you did the apprenticeship with. In some cases, they don't offer you a job, and you need to get motivated rather quickly to find real work, or hang out with the Bundeswehr (the German Army).
So, here is the problem which the news people chat about. Germany is currently short by 120,000 for apprenticeship students. That's fourteen thousand more than last year (2013).
The shortage leads to two odd issues (not population as you'd sit and think). First, companies got smart and started to establish tests for their candidates....discovered that a fair number of the applicants had no idea what fifty-percent of one hour really was. No, I'm not kidding. I sat and watched a baker apply his simple twelve question test to a couple of kids. Simple math-related problems, and then he asked them who the Chancellor was. Most of the kids failed the exam.
The schools are producing kids, with certificates....but the kids are not all that bright. Would you want to waste three years on teaching some kid a trade.....then realize week after week.....he has marginal math skills?
So the companies are smart.....don't accept marginal apprenticeship candidates.
The second issue? Certain areas have lots of openings, and certain regions have few if any openings. You can't pack up and go drive two hours away by train or bus to some apprenticeship offer.
Large urban areas like Berlin, Frankfurt, and Mainz offer lots of apprenticeship situations. Rural areas an hour, or two hours away.....offer few if any apprenticeship deals. The kids are stuck.....they can't make enough to move away to some new location, and most are around fifteen years old anyway.
Fixing this? Most schools don't want to admit they are marginally educating students, and there's almost nothing that you can do about urban/rural apprenticeship offers.
I'll admit....the population problem is an issue....but it's simply one of the three. To be truthful.....there's not much you can do about this either.
So it is....with the great German apprenticeship shortage.
Well....let me introduce you to the system.
Around age thirteen, you as a German kid are 'invited' (directed by the school authorities) to start looking around at local companies for an apprenticeship. The first year this comes up....you basically funnel out a couple of opportunities that the school will have, and show up for a week at some establishment to "play" at being an apprentice.
What most kids figure out.....is that there's not much fun in this work environment, and you actually have to think, react, and behave. So, this is mostly a waste of time on the first visit. The next year....same thing comes up...except now you are getting closer to the point where you need to send out resumes and apply for a real apprenticeship.
At some point, you will get picked up. Now, I admit....it might occur off the the first five resumes yo send out. It might be closer to twenty to forty resumes. And it's possible that you might have to submit near a hundred resumes....to get one single offer. A lot depends on the urban or rural area that you live in, and your great or lousy grades of the past year.
As you are accepted.....there are a couple of interesting aspects. First, you actually get paid. It's your first real job in life, and you get a monthly check.....with limited deductions (you are still under Dad's health deal). The monthly payment from your company? It amounts to something between 300 and 600 Euro ($400 and $750 roughly)....before taxes.
The hours? Well....you spend roughly three days a week at the company, and two days a week at the local school-house. You can figure you work a minimum of twenty-four hours a week for the company. They might ask you to work on Saturdays.
The length of this deal? It differs from profession to profession. The least is a two-year plan. The most could go up to three-and-a-half years. At the conclusion, there is a test with the local chamber of commerce.....you get certified, and in most cases, you get offered a regular job with the company you did the apprenticeship with. In some cases, they don't offer you a job, and you need to get motivated rather quickly to find real work, or hang out with the Bundeswehr (the German Army).
So, here is the problem which the news people chat about. Germany is currently short by 120,000 for apprenticeship students. That's fourteen thousand more than last year (2013).
The shortage leads to two odd issues (not population as you'd sit and think). First, companies got smart and started to establish tests for their candidates....discovered that a fair number of the applicants had no idea what fifty-percent of one hour really was. No, I'm not kidding. I sat and watched a baker apply his simple twelve question test to a couple of kids. Simple math-related problems, and then he asked them who the Chancellor was. Most of the kids failed the exam.
The schools are producing kids, with certificates....but the kids are not all that bright. Would you want to waste three years on teaching some kid a trade.....then realize week after week.....he has marginal math skills?
So the companies are smart.....don't accept marginal apprenticeship candidates.
The second issue? Certain areas have lots of openings, and certain regions have few if any openings. You can't pack up and go drive two hours away by train or bus to some apprenticeship offer.
Large urban areas like Berlin, Frankfurt, and Mainz offer lots of apprenticeship situations. Rural areas an hour, or two hours away.....offer few if any apprenticeship deals. The kids are stuck.....they can't make enough to move away to some new location, and most are around fifteen years old anyway.
Fixing this? Most schools don't want to admit they are marginally educating students, and there's almost nothing that you can do about urban/rural apprenticeship offers.
I'll admit....the population problem is an issue....but it's simply one of the three. To be truthful.....there's not much you can do about this either.
So it is....with the great German apprenticeship shortage.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Shooting Episode in Munich
Reports out of Munich from early Thursday morning....indicate that the cops got called to an American at a local hospital (Grosshadern). The American was acting "nuts". He had been picked up for some reason....probably related to alcohol/drugs and dumped at the hospital for treatment.
At some point, he'd pulled down a fire extinguisher and just started 'firing' it at folks in the emergency room area.
At that point, after giving the guy ample warning....the German cops pull out a pistol, and shot the guy in the leg.
Now, some Americans might get touchy about such reactions, and think it's overuse of a gun, and just plain wrong, but this is Germany. One of the little things that you learn after a while....is that when a German cop asks you to cooperate, answer questions, and be rational.....you do it, period. No games, or nutty behavior. They have full authority to pull out the club and knock you in the head.....or pull the pistol and disable you.....as they did in shooting this guy in the leg.
I should also note.....German cops get ample practice with pistols, and if they aim for the leg....they tend to hit it.
The American? Stable, and resting. There's no comment yet over if he's an American G.I stationed in Germany, or just an American tourist in the middle of Oktoberfest.
Yeah, we are in the middle of Oktoberfest, and Munich tends to be a rough place for cops during this period. Lots of drunks, doped-up folks, and just bad behavior. I doubt if any cop in the Munich area is allowed leave during this period, and they probably beef up the force as necessary.
Drugs involved with this guy? I'm pretty sure they are testing him and seeing if he was using some strong stuff.
Charges? Well....yeah, I would imagine that he'll get a charge or two. If he's US Army....his unit will be pleased to charge him and the Germans will let them do their own punishment. Tourist? I suspect they'd want him to leave the country, after he's paid some fine and at least appeared in court.
UPDATE: Well....yeah, he was a US Army soldier, and the US military is investigating the episode. And it took two shots (not one) to force him on the ground. Drug-testing? I'd be taking a pretty strong guess here that they have asked him to provide a sample and he might have been drunk and high as he did his stuff. And, within the actions at the emergency room.....he accidentally assaulted an old guy who was apparently there, so you'd expect some interesting charges on the Army's side when they bring this guy into court.
At some point, he'd pulled down a fire extinguisher and just started 'firing' it at folks in the emergency room area.
At that point, after giving the guy ample warning....the German cops pull out a pistol, and shot the guy in the leg.
Now, some Americans might get touchy about such reactions, and think it's overuse of a gun, and just plain wrong, but this is Germany. One of the little things that you learn after a while....is that when a German cop asks you to cooperate, answer questions, and be rational.....you do it, period. No games, or nutty behavior. They have full authority to pull out the club and knock you in the head.....or pull the pistol and disable you.....as they did in shooting this guy in the leg.
I should also note.....German cops get ample practice with pistols, and if they aim for the leg....they tend to hit it.
The American? Stable, and resting. There's no comment yet over if he's an American G.I stationed in Germany, or just an American tourist in the middle of Oktoberfest.
Yeah, we are in the middle of Oktoberfest, and Munich tends to be a rough place for cops during this period. Lots of drunks, doped-up folks, and just bad behavior. I doubt if any cop in the Munich area is allowed leave during this period, and they probably beef up the force as necessary.
Drugs involved with this guy? I'm pretty sure they are testing him and seeing if he was using some strong stuff.
Charges? Well....yeah, I would imagine that he'll get a charge or two. If he's US Army....his unit will be pleased to charge him and the Germans will let them do their own punishment. Tourist? I suspect they'd want him to leave the country, after he's paid some fine and at least appeared in court.
UPDATE: Well....yeah, he was a US Army soldier, and the US military is investigating the episode. And it took two shots (not one) to force him on the ground. Drug-testing? I'd be taking a pretty strong guess here that they have asked him to provide a sample and he might have been drunk and high as he did his stuff. And, within the actions at the emergency room.....he accidentally assaulted an old guy who was apparently there, so you'd expect some interesting charges on the Army's side when they bring this guy into court.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
The Dog Story
Sometime on Tuesday....over in Russelsheim.....about twenty miles south-east of Wiesbaden....cops got called. It was in the midst of the day, and some folks out on the street were being harassed by two dogs. These were Staffordshire Terriers....an officially identified breed in Germany that is noted for aggressive behavior.
By the point where cops arrived....a couple of folks on the street had been "nipped" and bitten. No owner in sight, although the locals appear to know the guy, and they were his "guard dogs" (kept inside the business).
The cops showed some patience, with some locals trying to help in the situation. The cops eventually called the animal welfare folks, but the best they could do is say they'd come but it wouldn't be immediately. Meanwhile, the dogs aggressive behavior on the street continued. So, the cops did what you'd expect.....they shot both dogs.....dead.
This got caught on video, and naturally....dog lovers are pretty upset by the action of the cops involved. Over 50,000 folks have have hit the facebook profile over the incident. The police department? They are seriously looking at the owner and the lack of control over the dogs....allowing this to happen.
Germany went through an episode or two back about a dozen years ago....one of them involved a young kid who was attacked and killed by dogs in a city park. At the conclusion of review....they sat down and identified a number of dog breeds that just weren't going to be allowed in public parks anymore, and went even further. If you had a felony background, there are certain breeds of dogs which you are forbidden from owning. In some urban regions....the tax on certain breeds of dogs reach around a 1,000 Euro a year.
On the other side of this mess.....is a large contingent of Germans who are pro-dog. These are the ones who take their dog along to the supermarket....the drug-store....the pub....and the restaurant. They dislike anti-dog folks, and the amount of rules often put upon them. In Wiesbaden, I'd take a guess that you could walk the shopping district of downtown, and note fifty dogs on one afternoon....being led around by their owner.
This thing with the cops? I'm guessing it'll fester and turn into some type of review board. Eventually....the state will decide that someone with a dart-gun needs to be on immediate recall when dog situations occur, and be another added piece of the social structure of the community. Three-thousand communities in a state, and you can figure at least a thousand of these dart-guys somehow attached to the system.
By the point where cops arrived....a couple of folks on the street had been "nipped" and bitten. No owner in sight, although the locals appear to know the guy, and they were his "guard dogs" (kept inside the business).
The cops showed some patience, with some locals trying to help in the situation. The cops eventually called the animal welfare folks, but the best they could do is say they'd come but it wouldn't be immediately. Meanwhile, the dogs aggressive behavior on the street continued. So, the cops did what you'd expect.....they shot both dogs.....dead.
This got caught on video, and naturally....dog lovers are pretty upset by the action of the cops involved. Over 50,000 folks have have hit the facebook profile over the incident. The police department? They are seriously looking at the owner and the lack of control over the dogs....allowing this to happen.
Germany went through an episode or two back about a dozen years ago....one of them involved a young kid who was attacked and killed by dogs in a city park. At the conclusion of review....they sat down and identified a number of dog breeds that just weren't going to be allowed in public parks anymore, and went even further. If you had a felony background, there are certain breeds of dogs which you are forbidden from owning. In some urban regions....the tax on certain breeds of dogs reach around a 1,000 Euro a year.
On the other side of this mess.....is a large contingent of Germans who are pro-dog. These are the ones who take their dog along to the supermarket....the drug-store....the pub....and the restaurant. They dislike anti-dog folks, and the amount of rules often put upon them. In Wiesbaden, I'd take a guess that you could walk the shopping district of downtown, and note fifty dogs on one afternoon....being led around by their owner.
This thing with the cops? I'm guessing it'll fester and turn into some type of review board. Eventually....the state will decide that someone with a dart-gun needs to be on immediate recall when dog situations occur, and be another added piece of the social structure of the community. Three-thousand communities in a state, and you can figure at least a thousand of these dart-guys somehow attached to the system.
Rental Caps in Germany
There's a new rule going into effect in Germany....over rental prices and just how much you can raise the rent.
The deal would work this way. In a defined high density area (only metropolitan areas)....landlords would only be in a position to raise the rent by ten percent above the local average for similar style/age apartments. This would fall into play, when you rent to new tenets.
Wavered deals? Yes of course. If you build an entirely new building....for some period of time, it does not fall into the rent control situation. If you put your building under a major renovation, then it would be excluded for a period of time from rent control as well.
Fixing a problem? Well....no.
Germany has this major issue brewing in big cities like Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, etc. Appealing neighborhoods are magnets now for guys to come in and buy an apartment house.....put some cash into remodeling....then remark to the current tenets that the rent is going up. Old rent was 750 Euro....when this project wraps up....the new rent goes to 1,300 Euro.
Tenets jump up....hostile and frustrated. They can't afford another 550 Euro.
The fact that the building was built in 1966....never really renovated before, and the rent has been at 750 Euro for almost a decade hasn't really dawned on them.
The fact that six of the surrounding twenty apartment buildings have been totally remodeled and a whole new crowd appearing on the street....also has not been noticed.
A city project to put in some trees along the street...adding another bus stop and doubling the frequency of buses....and cleaning the local park up.....hasn't been noticed either.
Public attention has been drawn to this topic over the past two or three years. Political parties now have to pander to the issue, and do something....even if it's a fake solution that has no real weight to it.
In this case.....every single apartment building owner who wants to press the rent higher than ten-percent.....will bring in some renovation people and do something to put themselves in the waiver crowd. It might be a new paint job on the building....newer bathrooms in every apartment....or a roof-top terrace for summer use.
What this does.....is make the rental cap topic a non-subject for two years. Then some group will stand up and admit that this rental cap idea was pretty bogus. And we will get right back into the middle of this mess.
The deal would work this way. In a defined high density area (only metropolitan areas)....landlords would only be in a position to raise the rent by ten percent above the local average for similar style/age apartments. This would fall into play, when you rent to new tenets.
Wavered deals? Yes of course. If you build an entirely new building....for some period of time, it does not fall into the rent control situation. If you put your building under a major renovation, then it would be excluded for a period of time from rent control as well.
Fixing a problem? Well....no.
Germany has this major issue brewing in big cities like Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, etc. Appealing neighborhoods are magnets now for guys to come in and buy an apartment house.....put some cash into remodeling....then remark to the current tenets that the rent is going up. Old rent was 750 Euro....when this project wraps up....the new rent goes to 1,300 Euro.
Tenets jump up....hostile and frustrated. They can't afford another 550 Euro.
The fact that the building was built in 1966....never really renovated before, and the rent has been at 750 Euro for almost a decade hasn't really dawned on them.
The fact that six of the surrounding twenty apartment buildings have been totally remodeled and a whole new crowd appearing on the street....also has not been noticed.
A city project to put in some trees along the street...adding another bus stop and doubling the frequency of buses....and cleaning the local park up.....hasn't been noticed either.
Public attention has been drawn to this topic over the past two or three years. Political parties now have to pander to the issue, and do something....even if it's a fake solution that has no real weight to it.
In this case.....every single apartment building owner who wants to press the rent higher than ten-percent.....will bring in some renovation people and do something to put themselves in the waiver crowd. It might be a new paint job on the building....newer bathrooms in every apartment....or a roof-top terrace for summer use.
What this does.....is make the rental cap topic a non-subject for two years. Then some group will stand up and admit that this rental cap idea was pretty bogus. And we will get right back into the middle of this mess.
German Documentary
Last night, I sat and watched one of the regional public-run networks....HR (the Hessen Network). The show in question? "All Knowledge" at 9PM.
They were doing one of their global warming segments, which I usually find entertaining and always worth a laugh.
So, they put the concept of a normal German couple up....wanting their own house in the "burbs", how much property this one-family house would require, and then the carbon values of them having this one singular house.
Yeah, it was all a bad thing.
So, they wanted you to know....if you'd just give up on this idea of living in the "burbs"....you could live in the city instead. In the city.....you'd adjust your life to living in a common regular apartment building with twenty other families. You'd save the world in terms of carbon usage.
In this idealistic lifestyle....the apartment building would have ample space around it with personalized gardens, public transportation, and carbon usage would never be a problem.
The reality of this is that you end up living in a building where you have to cooperate with the others....meaning you give up some of your independence and force yourself to accommodate people that aren't agreeable with you.
The noise factor? Well....they pretty much skipped over the big problem of all apartment buildings built today....with potential noise going on twenty-four hours a day.
The garden? Frankly, you won't find hardly any apartment building built with this luxury. If you do find it....it was a special project for the mayor or city council...just to prove a point.
The problem with these German documentary-style programs run on state-run TV.....is that they want to tell one certain story, in a very slanted way. They act as though the public is naive and would not question the intent of the slanted story. All of this....under the disguise of science, or perceived global warming.
They were doing one of their global warming segments, which I usually find entertaining and always worth a laugh.
So, they put the concept of a normal German couple up....wanting their own house in the "burbs", how much property this one-family house would require, and then the carbon values of them having this one singular house.
Yeah, it was all a bad thing.
So, they wanted you to know....if you'd just give up on this idea of living in the "burbs"....you could live in the city instead. In the city.....you'd adjust your life to living in a common regular apartment building with twenty other families. You'd save the world in terms of carbon usage.
In this idealistic lifestyle....the apartment building would have ample space around it with personalized gardens, public transportation, and carbon usage would never be a problem.
The reality of this is that you end up living in a building where you have to cooperate with the others....meaning you give up some of your independence and force yourself to accommodate people that aren't agreeable with you.
The noise factor? Well....they pretty much skipped over the big problem of all apartment buildings built today....with potential noise going on twenty-four hours a day.
The garden? Frankly, you won't find hardly any apartment building built with this luxury. If you do find it....it was a special project for the mayor or city council...just to prove a point.
The problem with these German documentary-style programs run on state-run TV.....is that they want to tell one certain story, in a very slanted way. They act as though the public is naive and would not question the intent of the slanted story. All of this....under the disguise of science, or perceived global warming.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Ultrasonic Shoe Story Continued
Last week, I wrote up the unusual episode with the CEO of Ultrasonic (a tennis shoe company on the SDAX here in Germany). The CEO had disappeared, cash was missing, and the fear by the company was that he'd stolen the funds. The value of the stock went way south (roughly 75-percent down).
Well....a week passed. Yesterday....there's a new report. The CEO has identified himself, and noted that he was merely on holiday in China....going to the Philippines for medical treatment, and had lost his cellphone. So naturally, if you tried to call him.....you couldn't get him.
Coming immediately out of Asia to quickly fix this? Well....he simply said that he intends to do this....just not at the present time. Maybe he's in serious pain or in some discomfort from the medical treatment.
The bank reaction over the loan they'd arranged? It's in the way of sixty-million-dollars involved in the new expansion for the company. The impression I get is that Cathay United Bank....wants their money ASAP, with interest (somewhere in the range of $180k). They've lost confidence in the whole company, I doubt it'll be regained with this bank.
No one from the tennis shoe company has said much else.
My guess as to what happened? I think the CEO ran pretty much everything, and the minute that they got the bank loan....he transferred it to a "safe" place where only he could utilize it. Maybe it was drawing interest while the company was in various stages of planning (the intention of the loan anyway).
This missing story? Well.....if you start calling or sending emails and no one responds for four days.....these days, folks start thinking the worst. That's the kind of society we live in now. They expect immediate contact. The sad thing here.....this type of mentality in this case....may have destroyed the company's reputation.
Well....a week passed. Yesterday....there's a new report. The CEO has identified himself, and noted that he was merely on holiday in China....going to the Philippines for medical treatment, and had lost his cellphone. So naturally, if you tried to call him.....you couldn't get him.
Coming immediately out of Asia to quickly fix this? Well....he simply said that he intends to do this....just not at the present time. Maybe he's in serious pain or in some discomfort from the medical treatment.
The bank reaction over the loan they'd arranged? It's in the way of sixty-million-dollars involved in the new expansion for the company. The impression I get is that Cathay United Bank....wants their money ASAP, with interest (somewhere in the range of $180k). They've lost confidence in the whole company, I doubt it'll be regained with this bank.
No one from the tennis shoe company has said much else.
My guess as to what happened? I think the CEO ran pretty much everything, and the minute that they got the bank loan....he transferred it to a "safe" place where only he could utilize it. Maybe it was drawing interest while the company was in various stages of planning (the intention of the loan anyway).
This missing story? Well.....if you start calling or sending emails and no one responds for four days.....these days, folks start thinking the worst. That's the kind of society we live in now. They expect immediate contact. The sad thing here.....this type of mentality in this case....may have destroyed the company's reputation.
"Hart aber Fair" (Tough But Fair)
I came across an interesting episode of ARD's "Hart aber Fair" last night. The driving topic of the show? An increasing number of German Muslims who pack up and go off to war in Syria. The German government, sensing a massive problem if they just let it go.....has put certain laws into effect that say.....if you run off to the Syrian war and Germany is not an active participant.....then you'd best just stay there because if you come back.....Germany will prosecute you.
The panel on the show was an odd one. First, the CSU interior minister for Bavaria....who has a pretty keen sense of the issue, and agrees totally on the motive of the German law. Then you had the German teacher who is of Middle Eastern background, but totally integrated into Germany, and really doesn't like the Muslim tendencies to slow-play integration. Then you had one of the senior old journalists who asked some pretty tough logical questions why the Muslim religion is being abused by it's players. Then you had the Green Party guy, who was pro-Islam and trying to act level-headed. Finally, there was the head Muslim guy for a Mosque in Leipzig.....who was pro-Islam all the way.
After a while, you started to notice the audience applauding the comments questioning the values of the Islamic trends.
The key point of the night? At some point, the journalist on the panel finally uttered the phrase "pop-Jihad-ism". It's like getting some new wild guy on M-TV with some outlandish act that draws massive attention, and suddenly everyone is peppy for this kind of music, and nobody asks if there's any real value or such for the music. A year later, you wake up....realizing you spent money on six albums and three concerts with this type of music and it's really all garbage. In a haze, you wonder what got into you?
Pop-Jihad-ism is where you are in the midst of a school program....thinking marginal grades, no future, no real job that pays....and seeking some mythical way to turn your personal failures into successes. Your buddy talks up some Mullah guy and his religious chatter. You wander over....hear the talk....and over three months....get all the enthusiastic feelings possible. You feel thrilled about the Islamic guys fighting wicked villains, hateful dictators, corruption in general, and any evil facing Islam.
Pop-Jihad-ism then draws you to drop your plans in life, and exit any resemblance to stability. You run off to Frankfurt....fly into Turkey, and within a day or two are sitting in some training camp in Syria. Somewhere over the next month or two......the thrills fizzle out. Some buddies of yours are killed in action. Some Islamic guy continually spouts off on pop-Jihad-ism....trying to keep your spirits up. By the end of three months, you kinda wake up and ask some stupid questions. No one back in Germany ever allowed stupid questions....which is one of your questions that really makes sense.
Toward the last five minutes of Hart aber Fair.....the Muslim guy on the panel finally reaches into the bag of commentary, and starts to spout off on Israel....condemning them. The German moderator realizing the situation....gracefully starts to bring down the curtain and end the show.
From an American prospective....it's the first show that has thrown out the topic and allowed a fair amount of discussion that was lively and informed. I'll admit, probably seventy percent of the show went against the Islamic front guys, who abuse the religion, and have turned it into Pop-Jihad-ism. Generally, I'd say a great portion of German society is shaking their heads, and wondering how they got suckered into bringing in so many Muslims, and where this is going to end up.
I'm also of the mind that while they've rigged the law to counter these Islamic guys returning to Germany.....prosecuting them and putting them into jail for some period......I think it won't survive a German Supreme Court test. Once they invalidate just one of the cases.....it'll bring a massive amount of pressure on the Bundestag for a law that really goes beyond the normal playing field that everyone has respected.
The panel on the show was an odd one. First, the CSU interior minister for Bavaria....who has a pretty keen sense of the issue, and agrees totally on the motive of the German law. Then you had the German teacher who is of Middle Eastern background, but totally integrated into Germany, and really doesn't like the Muslim tendencies to slow-play integration. Then you had one of the senior old journalists who asked some pretty tough logical questions why the Muslim religion is being abused by it's players. Then you had the Green Party guy, who was pro-Islam and trying to act level-headed. Finally, there was the head Muslim guy for a Mosque in Leipzig.....who was pro-Islam all the way.
After a while, you started to notice the audience applauding the comments questioning the values of the Islamic trends.
The key point of the night? At some point, the journalist on the panel finally uttered the phrase "pop-Jihad-ism". It's like getting some new wild guy on M-TV with some outlandish act that draws massive attention, and suddenly everyone is peppy for this kind of music, and nobody asks if there's any real value or such for the music. A year later, you wake up....realizing you spent money on six albums and three concerts with this type of music and it's really all garbage. In a haze, you wonder what got into you?
Pop-Jihad-ism is where you are in the midst of a school program....thinking marginal grades, no future, no real job that pays....and seeking some mythical way to turn your personal failures into successes. Your buddy talks up some Mullah guy and his religious chatter. You wander over....hear the talk....and over three months....get all the enthusiastic feelings possible. You feel thrilled about the Islamic guys fighting wicked villains, hateful dictators, corruption in general, and any evil facing Islam.
Pop-Jihad-ism then draws you to drop your plans in life, and exit any resemblance to stability. You run off to Frankfurt....fly into Turkey, and within a day or two are sitting in some training camp in Syria. Somewhere over the next month or two......the thrills fizzle out. Some buddies of yours are killed in action. Some Islamic guy continually spouts off on pop-Jihad-ism....trying to keep your spirits up. By the end of three months, you kinda wake up and ask some stupid questions. No one back in Germany ever allowed stupid questions....which is one of your questions that really makes sense.
Toward the last five minutes of Hart aber Fair.....the Muslim guy on the panel finally reaches into the bag of commentary, and starts to spout off on Israel....condemning them. The German moderator realizing the situation....gracefully starts to bring down the curtain and end the show.
From an American prospective....it's the first show that has thrown out the topic and allowed a fair amount of discussion that was lively and informed. I'll admit, probably seventy percent of the show went against the Islamic front guys, who abuse the religion, and have turned it into Pop-Jihad-ism. Generally, I'd say a great portion of German society is shaking their heads, and wondering how they got suckered into bringing in so many Muslims, and where this is going to end up.
I'm also of the mind that while they've rigged the law to counter these Islamic guys returning to Germany.....prosecuting them and putting them into jail for some period......I think it won't survive a German Supreme Court test. Once they invalidate just one of the cases.....it'll bring a massive amount of pressure on the Bundestag for a law that really goes beyond the normal playing field that everyone has respected.
Armed Hit and Run
We had an unusual crime in Wiesbaden that was finally reported late yesterday in the local news....from Friday evening. Apparently, two armed thugs came into a grocery store in the northern part of the city just before closing time.....waved a gun around, and got the chief of the grocery to open up the safe.
No comments via the reporters on amount taken. I'd take a humble guess it was probably in the range of a thousand Euro. Most groceries only have an armed courier pick-up once a day, and it'll never happen after 6PM.
The unusual nature of this? The gun-play. Generally, you can go and review most all robberies in the region, from Frankfurt to Bingen, and guns are rarely ever displayed. It's a different category of crime, and gets the cops pretty peppy about finding you, and getting you prosecuted.
Apparently, the cops reacted to the crime.....put out large numbers of cops in the neighborhood, and came up with nothing.
The bad thing about this deal? If they ever get caught....they get charged for a lousy robbery that only netted them something around a thousand Euro ($1200), which is nothing (it'll be spent on a weekend binge of drugs probably). The hefty accompanying crime will be the use of the gun, which might net them a couple of years in prison. So, they'd stand there in prison with some weird characters, and note a crime that didn't net them much and have to continually explain how they weren't really that stupid.
No comments via the reporters on amount taken. I'd take a humble guess it was probably in the range of a thousand Euro. Most groceries only have an armed courier pick-up once a day, and it'll never happen after 6PM.
The unusual nature of this? The gun-play. Generally, you can go and review most all robberies in the region, from Frankfurt to Bingen, and guns are rarely ever displayed. It's a different category of crime, and gets the cops pretty peppy about finding you, and getting you prosecuted.
Apparently, the cops reacted to the crime.....put out large numbers of cops in the neighborhood, and came up with nothing.
The bad thing about this deal? If they ever get caught....they get charged for a lousy robbery that only netted them something around a thousand Euro ($1200), which is nothing (it'll be spent on a weekend binge of drugs probably). The hefty accompanying crime will be the use of the gun, which might net them a couple of years in prison. So, they'd stand there in prison with some weird characters, and note a crime that didn't net them much and have to continually explain how they weren't really that stupid.
Monday, September 22, 2014
German Gun Laws
There's a fair amount of bogus stories told over Germans, Nazis, and gun control. So I sat down over the week and did a fair amount of reading, and it comes to being an interesting tale.
Through the 1700s and 1800s....people of German-background (Hessens, Bavarians, Prussians, etc)....were avid hunters and you'd find at least one gun in every house. Rifles and shotguns were more popular than pistols....for obvious reasons.
Tied into this picture is the fact that up until the early 1800s....there were 300 different city-states, countries, empires, or regions. Each had some formal or informal laws or rules on guns and their usage. It's safe to say....laws that were passed....weren't written in a cohesive or concrete fashion. Almost every law was written to be interpreted by the judge in a different way.
This meant that if you accidentally shot some guy with buckshot while hunting....while in one state, you might end up spending your life in prison, and if you were in another state...it'd be simply slap on the hand or maybe a fine.
All of this led up to 1914, and World War I. The chief hunting targets for Germans over this era prior to the war? Bears (up to the 1880s), wild boar, foxes, wolves (pretty much all hunted out by the war), rabbits, and pheasant.
With the war ended and the Kaiser out of the picture....the Wiemar Republic stepped up to the plate, and wanted to define laws in the proper way.
Strangely enough....their chief fear in 1920 was the possible political fight by the Communists. The stability of the new government after the Kaiser....was a major issue. So a law was drafted in 1920.....Law on Disarmament of the People. Basically, it identified weapons that were not supposed to be in the hands of regular people....such as guns left over from the war. The fear was that the Communist threat was bigger than people thought.
So included in this first round of gun control were five-round magazines. Single-shot guns were OK, and perfectly legit to hold.
Five years later....a more enhanced law came up. It required a license from your local authorities....forbid you from trading or selling guns at local sporting events or fairs, and required a license to assemble or repair guns.
A Nazi thing? No. This was still the Wiemar Republic, and still reacting to the Communist threat.
The secondary threat after the Communists? This was a curious thing....gypsies. Generally, anyone could get the license to own/shoot a gun, except in the cases of gypsies. They were perceived to be a national threat or at least deemed so by the news media of the time.
Weapons to be sold or traded? They were to be deemed for hunting only. If you were offering up a weapon that could be swiftly switched to some automatic capability? That was forbidden. Hunting and sports weapons were the only thing that seemed to be agreeable to the government because of the perceived threats going on.
Five more years go by, and the Nazi era has kinda arrived. You could say between 1900 and 1928....it was like night and day because laws were written to be effective in every state of Germany, and no possible way of having ten different interpretations. The Nazi era doesn't do much to initially change the laws already set into place.....until two Nazi officers are shot (supposedly by Communists).
Using the 28 Feb 1932 emergency decree, where the Chancellor (Hitler) sought emergency powers (from the German President).....that's the point where various normal laws just plain fell to the side, as the Nazi-government felt that the Communists were the big threat. Cops got authority to search without a judge being involved. Weapons under the ownership of a perceived Communist could be seized.
Gun seizure to started to generate itself into an everyday affair....eventually going past Communists. The chief target of seizure? Bolt-action rifles. Shotguns were still perfectly legit. What they were going after....were weapons that were left over from World War I.
The 1938 Law? This is the only real effort by the Nazis to change basic gun law in Germany. The chief effect? They wanted the gun industry itself....to clean up potential threats. They didn't want Jews in the gun industry, and it was generally a perceived thing that only Nazi members could be part of the industry.
Beyond the Jew issue....it was a repeat of the 1928 law, and simply enforced things to a slightly more marginal degree. The paperwork trail? Well....yeah, this is the point where gun manufacturers, salesmen, and ammo salesmen....got involved. Everyone had to have a book, and note actions.
In some general areas....the general public kept their guns, although it was an odd lot.....some WW I weapons and a large stock of hunting rifles.
So we come to 1945, the American arrival, and perceptions of the new leadership over defeated Germany. Basically, the American Army was shocked at the large amount of weapons in the hands of regular Germans (farmers, merchants, hunters, etc). A period starts, and for a while, there is some gun control put into effect by the American Army, and then that eases up.
This leads me to an odd feeling that maybe there's a bigger story over an unstable Germany coming out of World War I, and the Communist threat against the Republic was bigger than people think it was. I'm also of the mind that whatever gun control people think was going on in Germany in 1932.....was already be pursued immediately after WW I. And there's this question over gun technology development coming up early in the 1900-1914 period.....which shocked some folks at the extent of capability in WW I.
Through the 1700s and 1800s....people of German-background (Hessens, Bavarians, Prussians, etc)....were avid hunters and you'd find at least one gun in every house. Rifles and shotguns were more popular than pistols....for obvious reasons.
Tied into this picture is the fact that up until the early 1800s....there were 300 different city-states, countries, empires, or regions. Each had some formal or informal laws or rules on guns and their usage. It's safe to say....laws that were passed....weren't written in a cohesive or concrete fashion. Almost every law was written to be interpreted by the judge in a different way.
This meant that if you accidentally shot some guy with buckshot while hunting....while in one state, you might end up spending your life in prison, and if you were in another state...it'd be simply slap on the hand or maybe a fine.
All of this led up to 1914, and World War I. The chief hunting targets for Germans over this era prior to the war? Bears (up to the 1880s), wild boar, foxes, wolves (pretty much all hunted out by the war), rabbits, and pheasant.
With the war ended and the Kaiser out of the picture....the Wiemar Republic stepped up to the plate, and wanted to define laws in the proper way.
Strangely enough....their chief fear in 1920 was the possible political fight by the Communists. The stability of the new government after the Kaiser....was a major issue. So a law was drafted in 1920.....Law on Disarmament of the People. Basically, it identified weapons that were not supposed to be in the hands of regular people....such as guns left over from the war. The fear was that the Communist threat was bigger than people thought.
So included in this first round of gun control were five-round magazines. Single-shot guns were OK, and perfectly legit to hold.
Five years later....a more enhanced law came up. It required a license from your local authorities....forbid you from trading or selling guns at local sporting events or fairs, and required a license to assemble or repair guns.
A Nazi thing? No. This was still the Wiemar Republic, and still reacting to the Communist threat.
The secondary threat after the Communists? This was a curious thing....gypsies. Generally, anyone could get the license to own/shoot a gun, except in the cases of gypsies. They were perceived to be a national threat or at least deemed so by the news media of the time.
Weapons to be sold or traded? They were to be deemed for hunting only. If you were offering up a weapon that could be swiftly switched to some automatic capability? That was forbidden. Hunting and sports weapons were the only thing that seemed to be agreeable to the government because of the perceived threats going on.
Five more years go by, and the Nazi era has kinda arrived. You could say between 1900 and 1928....it was like night and day because laws were written to be effective in every state of Germany, and no possible way of having ten different interpretations. The Nazi era doesn't do much to initially change the laws already set into place.....until two Nazi officers are shot (supposedly by Communists).
Using the 28 Feb 1932 emergency decree, where the Chancellor (Hitler) sought emergency powers (from the German President).....that's the point where various normal laws just plain fell to the side, as the Nazi-government felt that the Communists were the big threat. Cops got authority to search without a judge being involved. Weapons under the ownership of a perceived Communist could be seized.
Gun seizure to started to generate itself into an everyday affair....eventually going past Communists. The chief target of seizure? Bolt-action rifles. Shotguns were still perfectly legit. What they were going after....were weapons that were left over from World War I.
The 1938 Law? This is the only real effort by the Nazis to change basic gun law in Germany. The chief effect? They wanted the gun industry itself....to clean up potential threats. They didn't want Jews in the gun industry, and it was generally a perceived thing that only Nazi members could be part of the industry.
Beyond the Jew issue....it was a repeat of the 1928 law, and simply enforced things to a slightly more marginal degree. The paperwork trail? Well....yeah, this is the point where gun manufacturers, salesmen, and ammo salesmen....got involved. Everyone had to have a book, and note actions.
In some general areas....the general public kept their guns, although it was an odd lot.....some WW I weapons and a large stock of hunting rifles.
So we come to 1945, the American arrival, and perceptions of the new leadership over defeated Germany. Basically, the American Army was shocked at the large amount of weapons in the hands of regular Germans (farmers, merchants, hunters, etc). A period starts, and for a while, there is some gun control put into effect by the American Army, and then that eases up.
This leads me to an odd feeling that maybe there's a bigger story over an unstable Germany coming out of World War I, and the Communist threat against the Republic was bigger than people think it was. I'm also of the mind that whatever gun control people think was going on in Germany in 1932.....was already be pursued immediately after WW I. And there's this question over gun technology development coming up early in the 1900-1914 period.....which shocked some folks at the extent of capability in WW I.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
German Churches
It's interesting to step inside of a structure designed in the early 1800s as a village church.
What you have is a staircase deal pulpit, where the minister would climb up six to eight steps, and do his talking from very limited wooden platform. You basically had to make sure you didn't throw your hands around and do any foot action, or you'd end up on the floor with a concussion.
There's a table in the front of the room where you could throw up some candles or religious objects. And there's room for a couple of singers in the that side of the room.
The rest of the building? There's a built-up area around the room for people to stand above the crowd on the ground area of the structure.
At best? I'd take a guess that a hundred people might have crammed themselves into the structure.
The artwork? All saints and probably were part of the weekly service.
All in all.....there's a lot of carpentry skills that you to note as you stand there. Some guys put a lot of effort into the structure, and they did it with manual labor and just an eye for detail.
Heat? Well....I didn't see anything that was going to put out heat and you pretty much had to accept being bundled up for two or three hours on a cold day.
Anyway....if you had some time and wanted to observe the lifestyle of a German in the 1800s....I strongly recommend the Hessenpark.
The Problem with German Language
I've taken a couple of German language classes in my life. To be honest....each time....I pick up another 500-odd words.
The first couple of weeks of class....things run smoothly, and I pick up phrases and words. Then, I start to hit this curb....or ceiling....or fall into a pit over pronunciation, the die-der-das (the "the" fit), and start to find words which are mish-mashed into phrases and fit for a German situation. These would never work for an Englishman or American to define the moment and know when to just throw this one unique phrase out there.
The German word.....handschuhschneeballwerfer is a good example.
Yeah, it's a mouthful. It translates into something like....you were wearing gloves---messing around with snowballs---to pitch or throw. You'd gaze at this, and think it all means something about a winter day and not throwing snowballs around or it's cold for your hands to throw snowballs.
Well, NO.
It means that you came to criticize someone, but only from a safe distance.....such as the distance that someone could lob a snowball at you in retaliation for your ill-conceived comments or negative criticism.
For example, a German newspaper from the next town over might write a serious and negative commentary about your political speech. Or your German neighbor will comment over your choice of landscaping, but only at a certain pub, and only with certain people around him. Or it could fit into a situation where you condemn your German wife for stupidity but only in the company of the local Catholic Priest or your bartender.
Twenty-five letters.....tied together....with a phrase that even if you translate it in a figurative way....it makes no sense. Then you figure out....it has nothing to do with snowballs or gloves or throwing.
This is one of those points, where I'd get to....amazed at the complex nature of German thinking over words, and language. It's like Einstein strolled into a coffee house on a Monday.....pondered some moment of when a woman cooks a crappy meal while under the influence of alcohol, and the husband responds that her menu prepared for the dinner were lacking in "something" but tries to stay friendly. So, Einstein invents a word out of thin air that truly amazes you in creativity, and likely will only be used by three-percent of German society....maybe twice a year each.
This is where I started to fall off the language wagon each time.
A fourth occasion? Yeah, I'm bound in the next year to take another class and try to make up it to another level. And some moment will occur....where I really know I'm deep in a Einstein-conceived swamp, and need to get some fresh air.
The first couple of weeks of class....things run smoothly, and I pick up phrases and words. Then, I start to hit this curb....or ceiling....or fall into a pit over pronunciation, the die-der-das (the "the" fit), and start to find words which are mish-mashed into phrases and fit for a German situation. These would never work for an Englishman or American to define the moment and know when to just throw this one unique phrase out there.
The German word.....handschuhschneeballwerfer is a good example.
Yeah, it's a mouthful. It translates into something like....you were wearing gloves---messing around with snowballs---to pitch or throw. You'd gaze at this, and think it all means something about a winter day and not throwing snowballs around or it's cold for your hands to throw snowballs.
Well, NO.
It means that you came to criticize someone, but only from a safe distance.....such as the distance that someone could lob a snowball at you in retaliation for your ill-conceived comments or negative criticism.
For example, a German newspaper from the next town over might write a serious and negative commentary about your political speech. Or your German neighbor will comment over your choice of landscaping, but only at a certain pub, and only with certain people around him. Or it could fit into a situation where you condemn your German wife for stupidity but only in the company of the local Catholic Priest or your bartender.
Twenty-five letters.....tied together....with a phrase that even if you translate it in a figurative way....it makes no sense. Then you figure out....it has nothing to do with snowballs or gloves or throwing.
This is one of those points, where I'd get to....amazed at the complex nature of German thinking over words, and language. It's like Einstein strolled into a coffee house on a Monday.....pondered some moment of when a woman cooks a crappy meal while under the influence of alcohol, and the husband responds that her menu prepared for the dinner were lacking in "something" but tries to stay friendly. So, Einstein invents a word out of thin air that truly amazes you in creativity, and likely will only be used by three-percent of German society....maybe twice a year each.
This is where I started to fall off the language wagon each time.
A fourth occasion? Yeah, I'm bound in the next year to take another class and try to make up it to another level. And some moment will occur....where I really know I'm deep in a Einstein-conceived swamp, and need to get some fresh air.
Explaining Walled Cities
Nordlingen is a Bavarian village, to the far south of Germany.
You look closely and start to note a walled city that has developed over the centuries.
The way this starts....a couple of settlers come into the area....clear the land and start a community of maybe a dozen families.
Some thugs come in the middle of the night and assault some of the locals, haul off some of the harvest, and burn a house or two to the ground. So the families band together to put up a small fort. In the beginning, it might be a fairly small place to just withstand an initial attack of a small group.
Time passes....the community has grown out to twenty to forty families, and the threat to the group has expanded as well. They progress over the years to various forms of walls. This is meant also to be a practical thing against letting diseased individuals enter the city (a big thing up until the mid-1600s).
As these towns expanded out....you had city council men who sat and deemed various rules....to protect themselves, their craftsman trade, the economy of the village, and the general safety of residents. A front gate and a back gate would require guards, and a marginal individual with no craftsman trade....would easily fit as the gate keeper.
As you travel across Europe, you will notice various traces of walled cities still remaining. For an American, your observation ought to include the thought that these villages were left to their own protection. No one was going to come and rescue you....no cavalry, no king's knights, no army. You depended on the strength of your community, and a wall.
For this reason, this is why people had various farming plots, that weren't always next to the house, and might even have been an hour's walk from the community.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
A Poster I Remember
Over the next month, I probably noted it at twenty different places around base, the flughafen, the Frankfurt Bahnhof, and several public places.
The members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang....the Red Army Faction (RAF) were identified by most members of the German public as "gangsters". They were robbing banks, assaulting and killing business men and political figures. If your picture got onto the wanted picture....it meant you were a dangerous criminal and the cops wanted you bad.
As time went by in that two-year period that I was assigned to Rhein Main....the subject would come up in the shop every couple of weeks as BILD would feature a front-page article on the Baader-Meinhof Gang, and the German guys in the shop would talk about this.
None of them could lay out any rational reason for this brand of warfare, or figure a logical reason to act as a criminal to achieve political results. Most of these guys had been through the Nazi era of the 1930s or been solders in the 1941/45 era. They saw the behavior being more of crazy people than college kids on some agenda.
The vast majority of Germans today have forgotten the RAF era. If you approach some teenage kid in his late teens today.....they might remember it being brought up in school, but there's no connection to history, or what it all meant. An entire generation is passing the subject and remembers little to nothing. In twenty years.....I suspect it'll all be forgotten. Thugs on some agenda....pretending to be something they weren't.
Detlef
The guy? Detlef Steves. Vox found the guy, did some various various projects with him, and in 2013....his acting career finally took off. To be honest....he can't really act. What you see....is the real Detlef.
He's not the kind of traveler that loves adventure. He's the typical German who'd like to get picked up by a bus....taken to faraway lands on a scheduled tour with a guide....where everything is programmed and planned to happen like the assembly of a Mercedes limousine. The crew knows this.....and then plans out the most chaotic three-day trip possible, which would normally turn the typical average German into a frustrated mess after six hours.
The crew is back in action on the first week of October....taking Detlef to Paris. You can kinda expect everything to go wrong, and somehow Detlef will show a good strong German character, and find some way to survive until the last hours....then escape back home to the comfort provided by his dear wife.
A reality star? Yeah. But in some ways....he's the kind of German that you'd want to take along for a unplanned trip to South Korea, and just see how far you could go....before you woke up in a rice field with seven bucks on you and not remember much of the evening before.
So, 5 Oct 2014 (Sunday evening) at 7:15.....prepare for Detlef Must Travel on Vox. It's worth watching.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
The State of German TV and Entertainment
As an American, I can pretty well vouch on the fact that TV in America today.....is sliding downward in a spiral, and barely ten-percent of the programming is worth watching. One or two shows a year....show up and probably are notable.
In Germany, it's a different type landscape and you stand here...shaking your head.
Public-run TV has a standard balance of rules, and rarely will there be anything that you would consider "fresh".
The two big players of public-run TV (ARD and ZDF) will run the normal group of functionary shows. There's the cop movies (Tatort or books-turned-into-movies). Occasionally, a modern society dilemma (Chinese gangstas, missing Libyan wives, etc) will be thrown into the works to make it seem new, fresh, and really updated.
Then you have the romantic novels turned into movies. This usually involves the French madam who falls for a mayor of some town, an Irish lonesome ballad, a Italian mistress novel, or the mid-forties farmer widow who advertises marriage but discovers that some neighbor gal is interested in a lesbian relationship.
Then you have the game shows with either mental stress deals, promi-star pretenders guessing the capital of Peru, or some kind of physical game deal where some guy tries to climb a wall while his friend is guessing the winner of the 1970 FIFA World Cup.
Around 9:45 each evening....one network will cut to a lengthy news piece and the other will cut to a regular movie, or to a political chat forum....where ninety-five percent of the German public will automatically flip to commercial networks instead.
The commercial networks? There are around ten now. Some run old American shows (there are shows from the 1980s on now....in primetime....that Germans seem to watch. Don't ask me why Magnum is still that popular but he is.
They also run the game shows....although for higher amounts of money, and more physical action (racing bicycles or demolition derby being acceptable).
American wrestling? Well....yeah. At least one night a week....one of the networks will run two full hours of wrestling. Germans buy into this....knowing it's somewhat fake, but they like the stunts and the action.
Original programming on the German commercial networks? They've tried forty different type of cop show formats over the years, and there's just nothing new to get your interest.
Reality shows? They've done just everything from kid singers, to hopeless farmers hunting for hot lusty women, and cooking shows related to failed cafes, terrible cooks, or deadend towns with no consumers. They've gotten former B-star promi folks to agree to spend three weeks in some Australian jungle....half naked at times....without their cocaine, weed, cigarettes, booze, or bi-polar medication.....shocking the public with snakes and an almost starvation diet.
About once a year....one new fresh comedy arrives from one of the networks, that goes out to surprise the public. A loser house manager with dysfunctional family. A grocery check-out gal that seems to be brighter than normal. A husband and wife who spend every weekend at some camp-ground with a bunch of crazy folks.
Someone had the bright idea a decade ago to build up a show that features unhappy Germans....who basically pack up and leave Germany. After a while, you began to realize that none of the folks ever had a plan, and fifty percent of them return to Germany within a year or two.
The same guys also worked up an episode where some blonde Marilyn Monroe-like German gal....slightly on the naive side....bumbling her way to LA to be shot for Playboy magazine. Yeah, she was willing to bare her boobs and show some stuff....but Playboy just didn't seem to answer the buzzer at the gate when she announced that she'd arrived. The gal....Miss Katzenberger....was an instant German reality star. She's got a full-time contract now, and bumbles her way through events and travels....and the German TV audience loves it. She's beautiful, pretending to be naive, and sparkling with witty sayings that seem to work.
Then someone had the bright idea that you could take a bald headed carpenter-renovation guy with a sense of humor and hated the idea of ever traveling.....turning him into an instant travel sent off to Iceland, Turkey or places where he's awful uncomfortable. You felt sorry for him....but it was some weird form of entertainment that Germans bought off on.
This past month? They took five entrepreneurs into a warehouse and put a hundred-odd folks up to sell their ideas to the entrepreneurs. The cash ran up to 400,000 Euro.
The commercial networks have run just about every single type of cooking idea possible.....even putting some big-name cook into a prison to develop the cooking talents of some pretty tough characters.
The bottom line? The state-run TV crowd and the commercial network crowd have just about hit the maximum limit. And there's Netflix standing there....preparing to enter the German market. They simply say they will take popular American shows.....add the sub-texts.....and research what Germans want to watch.
I'm thinking they will find that Germans have patiently been waiting for decently-produced German science fiction. They will find that wild and wicked comedy that hasn't been the trend of German for the past thirty years....is what the public wants.
So before you slam me....that it's not fair for an American to slam German TV.....think about my commentary. I'm already admitting that American TV has hit some barrier and is lacking. I'm already laying the problems of creativity today....no matter where you live. And I'm suggesting that the TV bosses....no matter if they are German or American.....have set up barriers where they just don't want new formulas.
Yeah, maybe it's time to bring back the Vikings, King Richard, King Ludwig, and soap opera shows on ancient Greece...just to be different.
In Germany, it's a different type landscape and you stand here...shaking your head.
Public-run TV has a standard balance of rules, and rarely will there be anything that you would consider "fresh".
The two big players of public-run TV (ARD and ZDF) will run the normal group of functionary shows. There's the cop movies (Tatort or books-turned-into-movies). Occasionally, a modern society dilemma (Chinese gangstas, missing Libyan wives, etc) will be thrown into the works to make it seem new, fresh, and really updated.
Then you have the romantic novels turned into movies. This usually involves the French madam who falls for a mayor of some town, an Irish lonesome ballad, a Italian mistress novel, or the mid-forties farmer widow who advertises marriage but discovers that some neighbor gal is interested in a lesbian relationship.
Then you have the game shows with either mental stress deals, promi-star pretenders guessing the capital of Peru, or some kind of physical game deal where some guy tries to climb a wall while his friend is guessing the winner of the 1970 FIFA World Cup.
Around 9:45 each evening....one network will cut to a lengthy news piece and the other will cut to a regular movie, or to a political chat forum....where ninety-five percent of the German public will automatically flip to commercial networks instead.
The commercial networks? There are around ten now. Some run old American shows (there are shows from the 1980s on now....in primetime....that Germans seem to watch. Don't ask me why Magnum is still that popular but he is.
They also run the game shows....although for higher amounts of money, and more physical action (racing bicycles or demolition derby being acceptable).
American wrestling? Well....yeah. At least one night a week....one of the networks will run two full hours of wrestling. Germans buy into this....knowing it's somewhat fake, but they like the stunts and the action.
Original programming on the German commercial networks? They've tried forty different type of cop show formats over the years, and there's just nothing new to get your interest.
Reality shows? They've done just everything from kid singers, to hopeless farmers hunting for hot lusty women, and cooking shows related to failed cafes, terrible cooks, or deadend towns with no consumers. They've gotten former B-star promi folks to agree to spend three weeks in some Australian jungle....half naked at times....without their cocaine, weed, cigarettes, booze, or bi-polar medication.....shocking the public with snakes and an almost starvation diet.
About once a year....one new fresh comedy arrives from one of the networks, that goes out to surprise the public. A loser house manager with dysfunctional family. A grocery check-out gal that seems to be brighter than normal. A husband and wife who spend every weekend at some camp-ground with a bunch of crazy folks.
Someone had the bright idea a decade ago to build up a show that features unhappy Germans....who basically pack up and leave Germany. After a while, you began to realize that none of the folks ever had a plan, and fifty percent of them return to Germany within a year or two.
The same guys also worked up an episode where some blonde Marilyn Monroe-like German gal....slightly on the naive side....bumbling her way to LA to be shot for Playboy magazine. Yeah, she was willing to bare her boobs and show some stuff....but Playboy just didn't seem to answer the buzzer at the gate when she announced that she'd arrived. The gal....Miss Katzenberger....was an instant German reality star. She's got a full-time contract now, and bumbles her way through events and travels....and the German TV audience loves it. She's beautiful, pretending to be naive, and sparkling with witty sayings that seem to work.
Then someone had the bright idea that you could take a bald headed carpenter-renovation guy with a sense of humor and hated the idea of ever traveling.....turning him into an instant travel sent off to Iceland, Turkey or places where he's awful uncomfortable. You felt sorry for him....but it was some weird form of entertainment that Germans bought off on.
This past month? They took five entrepreneurs into a warehouse and put a hundred-odd folks up to sell their ideas to the entrepreneurs. The cash ran up to 400,000 Euro.
The commercial networks have run just about every single type of cooking idea possible.....even putting some big-name cook into a prison to develop the cooking talents of some pretty tough characters.
The bottom line? The state-run TV crowd and the commercial network crowd have just about hit the maximum limit. And there's Netflix standing there....preparing to enter the German market. They simply say they will take popular American shows.....add the sub-texts.....and research what Germans want to watch.
I'm thinking they will find that Germans have patiently been waiting for decently-produced German science fiction. They will find that wild and wicked comedy that hasn't been the trend of German for the past thirty years....is what the public wants.
So before you slam me....that it's not fair for an American to slam German TV.....think about my commentary. I'm already admitting that American TV has hit some barrier and is lacking. I'm already laying the problems of creativity today....no matter where you live. And I'm suggesting that the TV bosses....no matter if they are German or American.....have set up barriers where they just don't want new formulas.
Yeah, maybe it's time to bring back the Vikings, King Richard, King Ludwig, and soap opera shows on ancient Greece...just to be different.
The Frankfurt Airport Story
An epic political battle of sorts is shaping up in the Rhine Valley region around Wiesbaden. One of the largest airports in Europe....the Frankfurt Flughafen.....is slowly approaching it's limit with the two terminals in operation. So, what they want to do....logically and with business thought in thinking....is to add terminal three.
Terminal three would be across the runway....and would involve somewhere in the neighborhood of three billion Euro, with a baggage system delivering bags from terminal one/two, and a subway or shuttle system bringing passengers from an area approximately three to four kilometers away.
All of this has to be pursued via the local state apparatus.....the Hessen state, and it's in front of the new government, which is run by the CDU (they like the idea) and the Greens (they hate the idea).
The Greens have been putting up a negative view of this for at least five years....knowing that this terminal subject was under review and locals have very mixed feelings. If you live within a mile or two of the runways (multiple now).....you have issues over the noise level. To counter that.....the airport has eliminated flights after 11PM, and forbid any flights taking off until around 5:30AM.
The recommendation to move forward and start construction? It's in front of the state-committee and the Greens have a fair amount of power to limit things.
Where does this go? Well....the Greens will look at the support around neighborhoods and regions of the area, and try to stall the whole. Maybe a year.....maybe two years.....maybe three years. I suspect in some ways that the FRAPORT (the flughafen management staff) team anticipated this, and just forced the hand of the Greens, and asked for early construction approvals when they knew they weren't required.
Here's the thing....the Frankfurt Flughafen is a billion-Euro enterprise. It makes tons of money for Hessen, Frankfurt, and employs well over 20,000 employees in the region in various related or semi-related jobs. It might be true that locals hate the noise level, but every year....they add more jobs....more tax revenue.....and it all benefits the state and local area.
The alternate plan? The FRAPORT guys say none exist....period. The Greens have been hinting for weeks now.....that whatever is put in front of the approval committee.....has to show some alternate concept. So, they simply avoided discussion on this.
Is there an alternate deal for expansion? Well....two curious airports exist outside of the nearby area....Frankfurt-Hahn (about 30 minutes driving west of Frankfurt), and Kassel (2 hours driving north of Frankfurt). Frankfurt-Hahn is marginally operating currently with probably forty flights a day, along with some commercial-hauling operations. Their 12,000 foot runway is one of the longest in Europe.
Utilizing Frankfurt-Hahn within the FRAPORT operation? Basically, you'd have to build a shuttle train deal to whisk passengers from Hahn to the flughafen operation in Frankfurt....figure a twenty-minute rapid rail deal. Not entirely impossible, but it is separate from the airport, and means some limitations. Oddly enough....Hahn has no hourly limits and would easily accept flights twenty-four hours a day.
The Kassel Airport? 8,200 feet long and surrounded by farms. Total flights a week out of Kassel? Roughly four....maybe another six.....during the week (we aren't even talking daily flights). No one in Kassel would complain about expansion or late-night flights. The shuttle train from there into the flughafen? Twice as expensive and likely taking 75 minutes as a minimum....to commute.
I'm guessing that FRAPORT really doesn't think they will get permission here and now.....but they are simply putting the paperwork up and waiting patiently for the Greens to fall out of favor in the next election. A delay of a year or two....won't matter, in my humble opinion.
Terminal three would be across the runway....and would involve somewhere in the neighborhood of three billion Euro, with a baggage system delivering bags from terminal one/two, and a subway or shuttle system bringing passengers from an area approximately three to four kilometers away.
All of this has to be pursued via the local state apparatus.....the Hessen state, and it's in front of the new government, which is run by the CDU (they like the idea) and the Greens (they hate the idea).
The Greens have been putting up a negative view of this for at least five years....knowing that this terminal subject was under review and locals have very mixed feelings. If you live within a mile or two of the runways (multiple now).....you have issues over the noise level. To counter that.....the airport has eliminated flights after 11PM, and forbid any flights taking off until around 5:30AM.
The recommendation to move forward and start construction? It's in front of the state-committee and the Greens have a fair amount of power to limit things.
Where does this go? Well....the Greens will look at the support around neighborhoods and regions of the area, and try to stall the whole. Maybe a year.....maybe two years.....maybe three years. I suspect in some ways that the FRAPORT (the flughafen management staff) team anticipated this, and just forced the hand of the Greens, and asked for early construction approvals when they knew they weren't required.
Here's the thing....the Frankfurt Flughafen is a billion-Euro enterprise. It makes tons of money for Hessen, Frankfurt, and employs well over 20,000 employees in the region in various related or semi-related jobs. It might be true that locals hate the noise level, but every year....they add more jobs....more tax revenue.....and it all benefits the state and local area.
The alternate plan? The FRAPORT guys say none exist....period. The Greens have been hinting for weeks now.....that whatever is put in front of the approval committee.....has to show some alternate concept. So, they simply avoided discussion on this.
Is there an alternate deal for expansion? Well....two curious airports exist outside of the nearby area....Frankfurt-Hahn (about 30 minutes driving west of Frankfurt), and Kassel (2 hours driving north of Frankfurt). Frankfurt-Hahn is marginally operating currently with probably forty flights a day, along with some commercial-hauling operations. Their 12,000 foot runway is one of the longest in Europe.
Utilizing Frankfurt-Hahn within the FRAPORT operation? Basically, you'd have to build a shuttle train deal to whisk passengers from Hahn to the flughafen operation in Frankfurt....figure a twenty-minute rapid rail deal. Not entirely impossible, but it is separate from the airport, and means some limitations. Oddly enough....Hahn has no hourly limits and would easily accept flights twenty-four hours a day.
The Kassel Airport? 8,200 feet long and surrounded by farms. Total flights a week out of Kassel? Roughly four....maybe another six.....during the week (we aren't even talking daily flights). No one in Kassel would complain about expansion or late-night flights. The shuttle train from there into the flughafen? Twice as expensive and likely taking 75 minutes as a minimum....to commute.
I'm guessing that FRAPORT really doesn't think they will get permission here and now.....but they are simply putting the paperwork up and waiting patiently for the Greens to fall out of favor in the next election. A delay of a year or two....won't matter, in my humble opinion.
The German Response to Ebola
I watched the 8PM news last night...via Channel One (ARD). They encapsulated a brief response by Chancellor Merkel that they were going to do SOMETHING over the Ebola mess in Africa. The details were: (1) offer air transport, although it wasn't clear what the heck they'd be hauling in or for that matter....out of Africa, (2) some clear-cut air package to get sick doctors out of Africa (meaning that they were going to be helped in a first-class way and not stuck there with marginal health service), (3) build more hospital wards but it was slanted to mean that they'd shuffle cash to them and let them spend as they saw fit or where they felt it ought to be, and (4) let the Bundeswehr (Army) do further study over what they might offer.
You kinda get the impression that the German leadership really doesn't want to get far into this role, and they question the idea of massive support being the logical way to go.
The Bundeswehr? They might go part of the way that the US has shown (3,000 US troops and one entire mobile hospital being sent). This might be some deployment of a couple hundred to several thousand Bundeswehr medical folks. The issue that I'd see....unlike the US with a major and robust military medical corps.....the Bundeswehr has a limited number of personnel and their contribution could not be a massive ongoing operation that exists for years (which I'd expect to occur).
So, this brings me to the continual video display that the media displays on the Ebola mess, their health situation, and reality. Every time a German news team displays the Ebola wards.....you see a row of beds, no IV-drip deals, and there's talk of marginal food and drugs for the patients.
I'm not a rocket-scientist or medical guy.....but I'd tend to think after a while.....if you had IV-drips for each person.....keeping them hydrated....survival rates go up. If you offered fever drugs....survival rates go up. If you offered liquid foods....survival rates go up. If you offered something beyond the marginal drugs.....survival rates would go up. If you had real health helpers (not these sixty-day wonders of basic training as they pretend will suffice in Africa)....survival rates would go up.
Yeah, in essence....the Germans might be sitting and looking at this in a different fashion. Rather than rush massive manpower or such into the problem.....maybe some changes in tactics would be change the death ratio and improve the outcome of such a disease. The fact that people do survive it....ought to beg for questions over how one guy lives and ten others die.
So, in the coming days.....German news will harp on what Germany did....maybe in a meager fashion and marginal sense.....but maybe massive help wasn't the real solution for this.
You kinda get the impression that the German leadership really doesn't want to get far into this role, and they question the idea of massive support being the logical way to go.
The Bundeswehr? They might go part of the way that the US has shown (3,000 US troops and one entire mobile hospital being sent). This might be some deployment of a couple hundred to several thousand Bundeswehr medical folks. The issue that I'd see....unlike the US with a major and robust military medical corps.....the Bundeswehr has a limited number of personnel and their contribution could not be a massive ongoing operation that exists for years (which I'd expect to occur).
So, this brings me to the continual video display that the media displays on the Ebola mess, their health situation, and reality. Every time a German news team displays the Ebola wards.....you see a row of beds, no IV-drip deals, and there's talk of marginal food and drugs for the patients.
I'm not a rocket-scientist or medical guy.....but I'd tend to think after a while.....if you had IV-drips for each person.....keeping them hydrated....survival rates go up. If you offered fever drugs....survival rates go up. If you offered liquid foods....survival rates go up. If you offered something beyond the marginal drugs.....survival rates would go up. If you had real health helpers (not these sixty-day wonders of basic training as they pretend will suffice in Africa)....survival rates would go up.
Yeah, in essence....the Germans might be sitting and looking at this in a different fashion. Rather than rush massive manpower or such into the problem.....maybe some changes in tactics would be change the death ratio and improve the outcome of such a disease. The fact that people do survive it....ought to beg for questions over how one guy lives and ten others die.
So, in the coming days.....German news will harp on what Germany did....maybe in a meager fashion and marginal sense.....but maybe massive help wasn't the real solution for this.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Crime in My Local Region
This is one of those oddball German business stories....a missing trailer with twenty tons of walnuts. Yeah....walnuts.
So, this is how it unfolds. About two hours north of Wiesbaden, along A44 (the autobahn), is a point where truckers can pull off (a rest-stop of sorts). So, this Turkish truck, with walnuts, pulls up, and the driver leaves for an hour.
The driver returns to the same spot, and the cargo is gone.....the whole trailer. Value? German cops say around a quarter-million Euro.
The German cops spent the evening driving around and looking for the trailer, but no luck.
What they tend to suggest is that it's awful odd.....leaving the trailer at that point, coming back an hour later, and it's gone. So, they suspect insurance fraud. Proving this? It'll be next to impossible, unless the driver screws up on his story or there's some telephone records found showing him calling a cellphone in the local area around the time he parked the trailer.
What do you do with twenty tons of walnuts? This would be somewhat difficult to guess, but my humble opinion is that middle-guy could take possession of the truck, and bag the twenty tons to sell around holiday season in Germany at the Christmas markets. Find a dozen guys....bag the whole truck into two-kilo bags....then sell them for cash. The original guys get their insurance money (if proven) and the middle-guy likely makes at 100,000 Euro off his game after he pays off his helpers.
Yeah, finding twenty tons of walnuts...now pressed to the top ten cop priorities of the week.
So, this is how it unfolds. About two hours north of Wiesbaden, along A44 (the autobahn), is a point where truckers can pull off (a rest-stop of sorts). So, this Turkish truck, with walnuts, pulls up, and the driver leaves for an hour.
The driver returns to the same spot, and the cargo is gone.....the whole trailer. Value? German cops say around a quarter-million Euro.
The German cops spent the evening driving around and looking for the trailer, but no luck.
What they tend to suggest is that it's awful odd.....leaving the trailer at that point, coming back an hour later, and it's gone. So, they suspect insurance fraud. Proving this? It'll be next to impossible, unless the driver screws up on his story or there's some telephone records found showing him calling a cellphone in the local area around the time he parked the trailer.
What do you do with twenty tons of walnuts? This would be somewhat difficult to guess, but my humble opinion is that middle-guy could take possession of the truck, and bag the twenty tons to sell around holiday season in Germany at the Christmas markets. Find a dozen guys....bag the whole truck into two-kilo bags....then sell them for cash. The original guys get their insurance money (if proven) and the middle-guy likely makes at 100,000 Euro off his game after he pays off his helpers.
Yeah, finding twenty tons of walnuts...now pressed to the top ten cop priorities of the week.
The Missing Shoe CEO Story
This is one of those odd German business stories that pop up occasionally.There's this successful sports shoe company in Germany....called Ultrasonic AG. They are actually listed on the SDAX, and generally turn around 100-million Euro of sales per year. They aren't big-big....but in the sports shoe industry....they are known around Germany. Up until Friday, they were listed and selling on SDAX at around 6.50 Euro per share.
So, something came up and people were trying to contact the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Operations Officer (COO). Both men are Chinese, but supervising and running the operation out of Cologne, Germany.
Neither guy can be found, period.
Then, the company officers started to track back on financial assets....discovering a fair amount of of it's cash in China and Hong Kong.....is gone. They avoided discussing the actual amount, but someone noted that the company had procured a loan around thirty days ago in the amount of sixty million dollars. So, logically, you'd assume that this sixty million is gone, and then whatever amount of capital that the company had in China.....probably a couple million minimum.....was the loot taken in this episode.
The stock fell on Monday, down to roughly 1.5 Euro (almost eighty percent drop).
Total failure? Well....the CFO stood up and basically said that the company had around a million in capital that these two didn't take, and this million was enough to cover the immediate bills.
What happens now? Stock-holders are going to be ballistic and demand a federal investigation in Germany.
The shoes themselves? That's the odd thing. The shoes sell well in Germany, and has taken up a big market in China itself (over 100 stores noted there).
The two guys? Qingyong Wu (CEO) and Minghung Wu (COO)? It's hard to say where they are hiding out.....likely some island resort in the Pacific, with no intention of going back to Europe or China. But if you had sixty-odd million in your possession..... could you live a decent life while staying hidden?
The odd part to the story? Ultrasonic Shoes were selling. In 2012, they took 30.8 million Euro net income, and 2013....they took thirty-five million Euro. Since 2009....every single year had shown growth and more potential. The loan from August was supposed to help build up more production capability and probably would have shown another ten-to-twenty percent in net income over the next two years.
Course, this brings me around to the odd question.....was this figure of thirty-five million Euro for net income in 2013 correct? Were bogus numbers being used for the past five years, and helped to ensure the sixty-million Euro loan, and this was all a game to trick a bank eventually into giving them cash for nothing?
The investigation by the German authorities? I'm guessing they will put two or three people on it....dig for two weeks and admit there's simply no trail for the cash that disappeared or the two guys, and file it under "unsolvable". And the two Chinese guys likely sit on a yacht parked in a bay around the isle of Tonga....sipping whisky and laughing over how the tennis shoe gimmick worked with those stupid bankers, and dimwitted German investors.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Regional All-Day Train Tickets in Germany
Hidden amongst all the mumbo-jumbo of Deutsche Bahn.....is the simplified all-day travel ticket. So, here is the deal.
One person - one price (44 Euro). Two people - one price (26 Euro a person). Three people - one price (20 Euro a person). Up to six people, but if you go this way......you all travel together.
Limits? Regional trains or U-Bahn/S-Bahn only. This takes out ICE (the high speed possibility). If you thought you could make it from Frankfurt to Berlin on regional trains in one day? Well....figure the high-speed deal to take roughly 3.5 hours. The regional deal? More likely to run up to twelve to fifteen hours.
How would maximize or use this ticket? You live in Stuttgart, and want to show someone downtown Frankfurt, and wind up in Wiesbaden for dinner, then travel back to Stuttgart on an evening train (getting back at 1AM). Total price for the day of travel? Fifty-two Euro for the pair.
Or you live in Stuttgart and want to head down to some fest which is a two-hour ride away....then return that evening on a 9:45PM train to stuttgart.
I would not recommend it for an event which is thirty minutes away by train.
Another good deal? The weekend pass, which allows you the same type deal, with kids under fourteen traveling with you free.
One person - one price (44 Euro). Two people - one price (26 Euro a person). Three people - one price (20 Euro a person). Up to six people, but if you go this way......you all travel together.
Limits? Regional trains or U-Bahn/S-Bahn only. This takes out ICE (the high speed possibility). If you thought you could make it from Frankfurt to Berlin on regional trains in one day? Well....figure the high-speed deal to take roughly 3.5 hours. The regional deal? More likely to run up to twelve to fifteen hours.
How would maximize or use this ticket? You live in Stuttgart, and want to show someone downtown Frankfurt, and wind up in Wiesbaden for dinner, then travel back to Stuttgart on an evening train (getting back at 1AM). Total price for the day of travel? Fifty-two Euro for the pair.
Or you live in Stuttgart and want to head down to some fest which is a two-hour ride away....then return that evening on a 9:45PM train to stuttgart.
I would not recommend it for an event which is thirty minutes away by train.
Another good deal? The weekend pass, which allows you the same type deal, with kids under fourteen traveling with you free.
The Fake Cops
Almost weekly now....in Germany....there's a fake cop episode. Here in Wiesbaden....we've had a couple of the episodes on various popular streets...mostly involving tourists. You start to take note of the fake cop stories now.
This week....it's highlighted about a curious fake cop episode that occurred in north Germany.....around two weeks ago.
Four guys appear at the doorway of a upscale house in a nice neighborhood. They produce badges and pronounce themselves as tax-inspectors. Yep, there is some type of suspicion by the tax authorities that the house owner has dodged taxes.
You can sit there and imagine the frustration, hyperactivity, and nervousness by the home-owner over this type of accusation. "Oh man".....they finally discovered me.....they got my name from that Luxembourg investment guy.....or my neighbor ratted me out finally over jealousy of the new Audi TT.
A search warrant is provided at the door....seemingly authentic and real. And so starts the perception of the tax inspectors doing their duty.
They even recite the rights speech to the home-owner....letting him know of civil rights and consequences if he doesn't cooperate.
Somewhere in the middle of this search....their professional behavior starts to dwindle, and they start to act less like cops or inspectors. And the home-owner starts to suspect something isn't right.
After they left.....the guy's daughter finally convinces him to call the cops to ask questions, and the whole episode unfolds then.
What they took? Roughly twenty-thousand Euro in a coin collection.
The German cops? They kinda admit it was one of the most polished and deceiving episodes that they've come across in years. They've posted pictures of the four, and kinda expect the four to pop up somewhere in the coming weeks.
Last year, I noted that a German guy and his wife....after having made a trip into Luxembourg for some type of banking business and retrieval of funds (he never wanted to admit how much he brought back into Germany) was pulled over once he crossed into Germany by the customs patrol. Oh, they said they were the customs patrol and used the blue light deal to flag them down and search their vehicle. But as they left....the guy and his wife noted that their envelope with cash.....was gone. Strangely enough....the guy gets irritated and calls the cops to report this, which basically is an admittance of some illegal banking outside of the country.
The start of a trend? I'm not sure. But you never saw episodes like this twenty years ago. The bad guys....in effect....are getting smarter.
This week....it's highlighted about a curious fake cop episode that occurred in north Germany.....around two weeks ago.
Four guys appear at the doorway of a upscale house in a nice neighborhood. They produce badges and pronounce themselves as tax-inspectors. Yep, there is some type of suspicion by the tax authorities that the house owner has dodged taxes.
You can sit there and imagine the frustration, hyperactivity, and nervousness by the home-owner over this type of accusation. "Oh man".....they finally discovered me.....they got my name from that Luxembourg investment guy.....or my neighbor ratted me out finally over jealousy of the new Audi TT.
A search warrant is provided at the door....seemingly authentic and real. And so starts the perception of the tax inspectors doing their duty.
They even recite the rights speech to the home-owner....letting him know of civil rights and consequences if he doesn't cooperate.
Somewhere in the middle of this search....their professional behavior starts to dwindle, and they start to act less like cops or inspectors. And the home-owner starts to suspect something isn't right.
After they left.....the guy's daughter finally convinces him to call the cops to ask questions, and the whole episode unfolds then.
What they took? Roughly twenty-thousand Euro in a coin collection.
The German cops? They kinda admit it was one of the most polished and deceiving episodes that they've come across in years. They've posted pictures of the four, and kinda expect the four to pop up somewhere in the coming weeks.
Last year, I noted that a German guy and his wife....after having made a trip into Luxembourg for some type of banking business and retrieval of funds (he never wanted to admit how much he brought back into Germany) was pulled over once he crossed into Germany by the customs patrol. Oh, they said they were the customs patrol and used the blue light deal to flag them down and search their vehicle. But as they left....the guy and his wife noted that their envelope with cash.....was gone. Strangely enough....the guy gets irritated and calls the cops to report this, which basically is an admittance of some illegal banking outside of the country.
The start of a trend? I'm not sure. But you never saw episodes like this twenty years ago. The bad guys....in effect....are getting smarter.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
A Local Murder?
We had an odd murder of sorts in the local area around Wiesbaden (Schwalbach).
An old guy passed away in August (in his mid-sixties). His wife had passed on earlier this year. The old guy had a garage space that he rented and stored different items....away from the house.
Relatives apparently decided to clear the garage, and came across some plastic barrels.....tightly clamped down....probably in the 35-to-40 gallon size. They undid the tops.....finding the remains of a woman....dead for several years. Cops kinda hint the body was in pieces.
Dating? No possibility. All they can say is that the containers have been there for several years. They will run DNA tests and see if any missing women from the past twenty years fit the situation.
The old guy? Unremarkable is the word repeated by those who knew him. He was a horticulturalist. From the neighbors interviewed on the news segment.....no one thinks he can be tied to the situation, but they can't figure the situation.
Killed by the old guy? Killed by the old guy's wife? Killed by a friend who simply asked the old guy if he could store the containers in the old guy's rented garage? There's a dozen odd possibilities. The barrels might have even been there from the prior renter of the garage space, and that renter might have asked the old guy to hold the barrels for a couple of months......but never showed back up to clear them from the garage.
It's the kind of mysterious scenario that a writer would take....write a five-star murder-who-done-it script and catch the attention of readers.
An old guy passed away in August (in his mid-sixties). His wife had passed on earlier this year. The old guy had a garage space that he rented and stored different items....away from the house.
Relatives apparently decided to clear the garage, and came across some plastic barrels.....tightly clamped down....probably in the 35-to-40 gallon size. They undid the tops.....finding the remains of a woman....dead for several years. Cops kinda hint the body was in pieces.
Dating? No possibility. All they can say is that the containers have been there for several years. They will run DNA tests and see if any missing women from the past twenty years fit the situation.
The old guy? Unremarkable is the word repeated by those who knew him. He was a horticulturalist. From the neighbors interviewed on the news segment.....no one thinks he can be tied to the situation, but they can't figure the situation.
Killed by the old guy? Killed by the old guy's wife? Killed by a friend who simply asked the old guy if he could store the containers in the old guy's rented garage? There's a dozen odd possibilities. The barrels might have even been there from the prior renter of the garage space, and that renter might have asked the old guy to hold the barrels for a couple of months......but never showed back up to clear them from the garage.
It's the kind of mysterious scenario that a writer would take....write a five-star murder-who-done-it script and catch the attention of readers.
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