For decades....German public-run TV (ARD/ZDF) would buy the Olympic game coverage for Germany. They'd send their crews out to provide verbal comments and get Germans to be all enthusiastic.
Rarely did anyone else in Germany try to compete for the Olympic coverage. When the RTL guys did compete....the ARD/ZDF folks would simply throw more cash into the deal and end up as the winner.
Well....yesterday, things came to an end.
The Eurosport-channel folks won the 2018 to 2024 Olympic coverage for Germany.
The likely scenario? I'm guessing that for each two-week period.....Eurosport ends up with a significant amount of viewers. ARD and ZDF will both realize the viewer impact and run mostly re-runs or more older movies during this period. At some point, viewers will ask the big question.....why are they paying the TV tax? The only thing that the public-run TV folks can do is smile and say it's a necessity.
The sports department at ARD and ZDF? They might sit down and review the future after this loss to their situation. What if Eurosport goes after the various other venues? Could the sports department at the state-run TV operation suddenly be under a major threat?
Maybe in some way....this might evolve into a game-changer for state-run TV.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
More Greek Opera
If you stand back and observe the Greek opera unfolding.....you'd be mostly in amazement at the various schemes underway.
Number one. Imagine you bought a new car and the dealer hands you a 200-page operators manual. For most folks, there might be three or four problem areas which they'd read up on (the instrument panel, or light control for example). Maybe ten-percent of people would actually read the whole document in its entity.
Well, in the Greek episode.....as complicated as the EU-Greece agreement reads....there are pages and pages of economic and financial information which lays out the path that Greece would take, in order to get the new money.
Greece wants to hold a quick national vote on Sunday, to see if the public agrees with the agreement or not.
How many people will actually read the EU-Greece document? My humble guess is that less than two percent will do it, and only half of them will clearly understand the obligations involved or the consequences if you decline.
Here in.....lies a fairly serious problem. Taking a complicated problem to the public is awful risky. Lets say out of a hundred registered voters.....only a few read the whole thing. More eighty percent are probably going to vote the way that their particular political party suggests to vote (Greece has literally dozens of parties). But let's say all of this is so stupid in the minds of people....that half the registered voters simply stay home.
Even if the current party in charge of the government says to vote "NO" (they've already come out and suggested that's the push right now)......enough "YES" votes might accidentally exist to throw things in entirely the opposition direction.
I read a piece this morning that says the political party running the government is saying that they will quit....if the vote goes toward "YES". You'd typically shake your head and then ask why did they bother with the stupid vote, if they've already decided the action they will take? It makes no sense.
Number two. Across the business news items this morning.....the Greeks hinted that if the EU tries to throw them out of the EURO.....they will sue in court. Oddly, they note that nothing was ever written into the EU constitution to use as a method to throw someone out. I suspect they might be right about this. Keeping Greece tied into the EURO? Well.....you could, but how would Greek banks continue to operate without any capital (if the EU doesn't provide loans)?
Number three. If you look at normal business operations in Greece today (Tuesday).....things are open and running except for the banks. People are fearful over transactions and limiting purchases....if you read through the local guy on the street. As Monday arrives next week.....the effect of the vote will fall into place. Without any more help from the EU....I don't see how banks would open for several weeks. They'd have to keep some backdoor situation going for electronic transactions (tourism will survive on and they will spend at least a million a day around Greece with debit and credit cards).
Can a nation survive this way? With only electronic cash and marginal EU bills in play? I've never seen any business professional discuss a scenario like this.
Number four. For some odd reason, I just don't see this political in charge of the government sticking around too long. It seems like they advertised to provide some type of leadership and the bulk of Greek voters went with them. The impression now is that they are there to lead them away from austerity (the big negative with most Greeks) to something else. The thing is.....no one from the political party has said what the world of non-austerity will be like or how it would affect the typical guy on the street.
My humble view is that it all will come to some falling out and another election occurring by December.
A soap opera? Yeah. Although I'd take it to the next level.....a Greek-tragic-and-epic-thriller.
Number one. Imagine you bought a new car and the dealer hands you a 200-page operators manual. For most folks, there might be three or four problem areas which they'd read up on (the instrument panel, or light control for example). Maybe ten-percent of people would actually read the whole document in its entity.
Well, in the Greek episode.....as complicated as the EU-Greece agreement reads....there are pages and pages of economic and financial information which lays out the path that Greece would take, in order to get the new money.
Greece wants to hold a quick national vote on Sunday, to see if the public agrees with the agreement or not.
How many people will actually read the EU-Greece document? My humble guess is that less than two percent will do it, and only half of them will clearly understand the obligations involved or the consequences if you decline.
Here in.....lies a fairly serious problem. Taking a complicated problem to the public is awful risky. Lets say out of a hundred registered voters.....only a few read the whole thing. More eighty percent are probably going to vote the way that their particular political party suggests to vote (Greece has literally dozens of parties). But let's say all of this is so stupid in the minds of people....that half the registered voters simply stay home.
Even if the current party in charge of the government says to vote "NO" (they've already come out and suggested that's the push right now)......enough "YES" votes might accidentally exist to throw things in entirely the opposition direction.
I read a piece this morning that says the political party running the government is saying that they will quit....if the vote goes toward "YES". You'd typically shake your head and then ask why did they bother with the stupid vote, if they've already decided the action they will take? It makes no sense.
Number two. Across the business news items this morning.....the Greeks hinted that if the EU tries to throw them out of the EURO.....they will sue in court. Oddly, they note that nothing was ever written into the EU constitution to use as a method to throw someone out. I suspect they might be right about this. Keeping Greece tied into the EURO? Well.....you could, but how would Greek banks continue to operate without any capital (if the EU doesn't provide loans)?
Number three. If you look at normal business operations in Greece today (Tuesday).....things are open and running except for the banks. People are fearful over transactions and limiting purchases....if you read through the local guy on the street. As Monday arrives next week.....the effect of the vote will fall into place. Without any more help from the EU....I don't see how banks would open for several weeks. They'd have to keep some backdoor situation going for electronic transactions (tourism will survive on and they will spend at least a million a day around Greece with debit and credit cards).
Can a nation survive this way? With only electronic cash and marginal EU bills in play? I've never seen any business professional discuss a scenario like this.
Number four. For some odd reason, I just don't see this political in charge of the government sticking around too long. It seems like they advertised to provide some type of leadership and the bulk of Greek voters went with them. The impression now is that they are there to lead them away from austerity (the big negative with most Greeks) to something else. The thing is.....no one from the political party has said what the world of non-austerity will be like or how it would affect the typical guy on the street.
My humble view is that it all will come to some falling out and another election occurring by December.
A soap opera? Yeah. Although I'd take it to the next level.....a Greek-tragic-and-epic-thriller.
Monday, June 29, 2015
German Dress Code
It's a small story that I noted last week.....Bavarian folks were forced into making up an emergency housing situation for 200 Syrian refugees. It was a hastily-planned deal.....they ended up taking a local town's gym that was connected to the local school (the Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium, Pocking, Bavaria). It's a quick decision and has no real cost impact upon the community (meaning 'free'). As for how long this deal will last? No one really said, or at least the news journalists haven't gotten around to asking the long-term plan. I'd take a guess that this will be a three-month deal.
Why any of this is worth an essay? Well.....in the process of announcing this to the local folks and making up a short-term school policy.....the political folks and the school folks noted that local parents need to review how their girls are dressed and make sure it's not too inappropriate for these incoming Middle Eastern folks and their conservative views. If it sounds comical....well....that's the way it came across in their written correspondence. Some folks have questioned the suggestion here of inappropriate dress or the necessity of a dress code.
Behind all of this is what I commented on last year....a large crowd of people entering into a country which has moved on into history, culture, and behavior.....leaving the Middle Eastern crowd at least one generation behind....maybe even a hundred years behind. Oddly, you have a fair number of people who lived in urban areas of their former country and seen modern cultural differences. These people won't be shocked or complain. The others? Well.....if you choose to live in a very conservative lifestyle.....coming to Germany would be the wrong decision to make.
From day one, you will have to adjust your behavior to the idea that German female bureaucrats will be part of your process. German women will dress in a generally acceptable fashion, with ten-percent challenging the accepted trends. Alcohol and beer will be readily available and drunk on the street. Heavy-metal music is fairly popular in Germany. Roughly fifty-percent of Germany aren't very religious and ten-percent of society will let you know they aren't into any religion. If you were looking for shock value for some poor naive individual arriving and being dismayed.....I'd say Germany rates as a ten on a scale of one to ten.
So, I get to the beef of this short essay. Wherever you go in life.....you end up as a guest. And a guest has to settle for some behavioral changes in himself or herself to fit the occasion. If you aren't guest-material.....you'd best start to think about limiting your travels or to be fairly picking on your hosts.
A guest has to accept things.....as they are. English food is typically bland. French women dress between tramps, fashion models, and Goddesses. Dutch people likely orderly style. Italians put zest into every single home-cooked dinner. Germans drink beer like it's their last day on Earth. And Swedes like the color of red on just about everything. If this bothers you.....then you aren't good guest material.
Readjusting is part of life. If you haven't done much of this.....well....you might want to prepare yourself and accept what comes.
Why any of this is worth an essay? Well.....in the process of announcing this to the local folks and making up a short-term school policy.....the political folks and the school folks noted that local parents need to review how their girls are dressed and make sure it's not too inappropriate for these incoming Middle Eastern folks and their conservative views. If it sounds comical....well....that's the way it came across in their written correspondence. Some folks have questioned the suggestion here of inappropriate dress or the necessity of a dress code.
Behind all of this is what I commented on last year....a large crowd of people entering into a country which has moved on into history, culture, and behavior.....leaving the Middle Eastern crowd at least one generation behind....maybe even a hundred years behind. Oddly, you have a fair number of people who lived in urban areas of their former country and seen modern cultural differences. These people won't be shocked or complain. The others? Well.....if you choose to live in a very conservative lifestyle.....coming to Germany would be the wrong decision to make.
From day one, you will have to adjust your behavior to the idea that German female bureaucrats will be part of your process. German women will dress in a generally acceptable fashion, with ten-percent challenging the accepted trends. Alcohol and beer will be readily available and drunk on the street. Heavy-metal music is fairly popular in Germany. Roughly fifty-percent of Germany aren't very religious and ten-percent of society will let you know they aren't into any religion. If you were looking for shock value for some poor naive individual arriving and being dismayed.....I'd say Germany rates as a ten on a scale of one to ten.
So, I get to the beef of this short essay. Wherever you go in life.....you end up as a guest. And a guest has to settle for some behavioral changes in himself or herself to fit the occasion. If you aren't guest-material.....you'd best start to think about limiting your travels or to be fairly picking on your hosts.
A guest has to accept things.....as they are. English food is typically bland. French women dress between tramps, fashion models, and Goddesses. Dutch people likely orderly style. Italians put zest into every single home-cooked dinner. Germans drink beer like it's their last day on Earth. And Swedes like the color of red on just about everything. If this bothers you.....then you aren't good guest material.
Readjusting is part of life. If you haven't done much of this.....well....you might want to prepare yourself and accept what comes.
Greece and This Epic Week
To an American, there's not much to really put your hands around and grasp the significance of this event unfolding in Greece. If you watched strictly US news....you get the idea....Greece is broke and it will default shortly. Some US analyst will talk about the problems with socialism, and some think-tank guy will chat over tax avoidance by most Greek millionaires.
If you watch German or British news.....you get a bigger picture and more details. Over the past month, I'd take a guess that between the morning news cycle and the evening news cycle.....there's probably 90 minutes a day minimum dedicated toward Greece on Channel One (ARD).
Last night, the political chat forum for Gunther Jauch, you got a full hour-long chat forum that got fairly heated with a mix of Jauch, one fairly smart and clever Greek guy, a news guy, a retired conservative political figure from Bavaria, and a financial expert. At some point in the discussion.....the Greek suggested that Germans ought to go and do a pension reform deal and cut their pay-outs to Germans (that would never happen). His emphasis is that Germans can't expect Greeks to make an impossible cut either.
If you look over the vacation information sites....they all emphasize as of today (Monday), if you are traveling to Greece....you'd best carry your Euro from home with you because the ATM machines will likely all be shut down. If you do find some operating.....the max you can remove on any day is 60 Euro (enough eat off of but that's about it). Cashless transactions (credit cards) still continue on and folks tend to think tourists will simply shift to the credit card and pay the small fees involved. For Americans who haven't traveled much around Europe.....a lot of folks will accept credit cards, but a fair number will charge you for this service.
What makes this week epic? Well....there is a deal from the EU to Greece on the table. It involves cutting the budget and making some hard changes to Greek government spending. The government of Greece didn't want to make the decision (yeah, it's that bad). So, they are taking the package to the public and there will be a vote next Sunday in Greece. Only after the vote....will you know the outcome and direction of the Euro.
A bad week for stock markets in Europe? Yeah. I'd expect a minimum of a three-percent drop by Friday. They've already announced today that the Greek stock market will be shut down for the whole week. Tumbling across and affecting the US stock market? I'd go ahead and prepare myself for at least two days this week of 250-point per day downward trends.
As for what happens if Greece says 'no' on the vote? Monday of next week would be a very curious day. As for all the money loaned by Germany to Greece so far? If it goes 'no'.....I wouldn't expect any of the money to ever come back. Some Germans will be testy about that, and fairly frustrated. Even if they vote 'yes', I'd have some doubts about loans ever being paid back.
If you watch German or British news.....you get a bigger picture and more details. Over the past month, I'd take a guess that between the morning news cycle and the evening news cycle.....there's probably 90 minutes a day minimum dedicated toward Greece on Channel One (ARD).
Last night, the political chat forum for Gunther Jauch, you got a full hour-long chat forum that got fairly heated with a mix of Jauch, one fairly smart and clever Greek guy, a news guy, a retired conservative political figure from Bavaria, and a financial expert. At some point in the discussion.....the Greek suggested that Germans ought to go and do a pension reform deal and cut their pay-outs to Germans (that would never happen). His emphasis is that Germans can't expect Greeks to make an impossible cut either.
If you look over the vacation information sites....they all emphasize as of today (Monday), if you are traveling to Greece....you'd best carry your Euro from home with you because the ATM machines will likely all be shut down. If you do find some operating.....the max you can remove on any day is 60 Euro (enough eat off of but that's about it). Cashless transactions (credit cards) still continue on and folks tend to think tourists will simply shift to the credit card and pay the small fees involved. For Americans who haven't traveled much around Europe.....a lot of folks will accept credit cards, but a fair number will charge you for this service.
What makes this week epic? Well....there is a deal from the EU to Greece on the table. It involves cutting the budget and making some hard changes to Greek government spending. The government of Greece didn't want to make the decision (yeah, it's that bad). So, they are taking the package to the public and there will be a vote next Sunday in Greece. Only after the vote....will you know the outcome and direction of the Euro.
A bad week for stock markets in Europe? Yeah. I'd expect a minimum of a three-percent drop by Friday. They've already announced today that the Greek stock market will be shut down for the whole week. Tumbling across and affecting the US stock market? I'd go ahead and prepare myself for at least two days this week of 250-point per day downward trends.
As for what happens if Greece says 'no' on the vote? Monday of next week would be a very curious day. As for all the money loaned by Germany to Greece so far? If it goes 'no'.....I wouldn't expect any of the money to ever come back. Some Germans will be testy about that, and fairly frustrated. Even if they vote 'yes', I'd have some doubts about loans ever being paid back.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
The Moving Elevator Story
"Paternoster" is a German term that you typically WON'T come across in normal situations in Germany. It is a special elevator which has NO door. Yeah.....it is a small room-like device which operates like an elevator and can typically hold two or three people (two is max on the norm). You walk up and there is evidence of the next one coming....you jump into this and then ride to the right floor. The chief problem or development issue was that once at the top or bottom of a building.....it did a 360-degree turn (upside down) and came down.
Paternoster elevators have been around since 1868 (used originally in the UK), and was built in most German buildings in the 1940s through the 1960s. By 1974, after a number of serious accidents with people injured....they made a law that you couldn't build or install anymore. In fact, there was a law in place where all paternoster elevators were to be terminated by this summer in Germany.
With only 250 of such elevators left....you'd think it would have been accepted by the public. Oddly, the pro-paternoster folks got aggressive and fought off the gov't ban. I noticed in German news that the labor ministry finally agreed last week that if you have signs to warn people.....then you can keep operating the paternoster in your building.
ThyssenKrupp, one of the premier elevator builders in the world, has said that they are now working on a modern paternoster elevator....that would safely turn and come down without the serious risk that now exists.
The selling point of the paternoster? I rode on one in Frankfurt back in 1978, so I can vouch for the efficient movement of this. It simply keeps moving.....never stopping. So two guys would walk up and just jump on one......pass quickly through three floors in a matter of twenty seconds and then jump out. The speed isn't quick and you can stand there for ten seconds to get your timing right, and just jump off. The key factor is that you MUST pay attention and get off at the right floor.
It's an elevator that would have been banned easily in the US.....I would say. But oddly, Germans like the thrill of a continually moving elevator without doors. Go figure.
Paternoster elevators have been around since 1868 (used originally in the UK), and was built in most German buildings in the 1940s through the 1960s. By 1974, after a number of serious accidents with people injured....they made a law that you couldn't build or install anymore. In fact, there was a law in place where all paternoster elevators were to be terminated by this summer in Germany.
With only 250 of such elevators left....you'd think it would have been accepted by the public. Oddly, the pro-paternoster folks got aggressive and fought off the gov't ban. I noticed in German news that the labor ministry finally agreed last week that if you have signs to warn people.....then you can keep operating the paternoster in your building.
ThyssenKrupp, one of the premier elevator builders in the world, has said that they are now working on a modern paternoster elevator....that would safely turn and come down without the serious risk that now exists.
The selling point of the paternoster? I rode on one in Frankfurt back in 1978, so I can vouch for the efficient movement of this. It simply keeps moving.....never stopping. So two guys would walk up and just jump on one......pass quickly through three floors in a matter of twenty seconds and then jump out. The speed isn't quick and you can stand there for ten seconds to get your timing right, and just jump off. The key factor is that you MUST pay attention and get off at the right floor.
It's an elevator that would have been banned easily in the US.....I would say. But oddly, Germans like the thrill of a continually moving elevator without doors. Go figure.
The 235-Million Euro Question
By the end of yesterday (Friday, the 26th of June).....a fair amount of talk had occurred between the Hessen head of government (Bouffier, CDU) and the German federal government out of Berlin. The subject? The Biblis nuclear plant and it's directed closure.
In 2011, after the Fukushimi episode.....after a quick review....the Berlin federal government came to a quick conclusion to shut down various nuclear plants (the older ones got to the top of this list real quick). Biblis was among the plants told to shut down.
Well...because of a business angle to nuclear power....there are assumed values and costs. If they build a plant to last twenty years and then get some renovation to last another twenty years.....they have a forty-year cycle built into the returned value of the plant. They've all done the numbers and will tell you how they handled the cost of building and running the plant. By exercising this early closure.....Biblis lost money (RWE is the company involved). So, it's going to court. Someone has to pay RWE for the early closure.
Naturally, there's some arguments brewing. Who will pay RWE?
If it was a national decision.....then it's the German federal government out of Berlin that will pay the suggested 235-million Euro. If it's the Hessen state government, it'll come from them. If it's a split deal.....it's fifty-fifty. You can imagine the state guys standing there and grumbling because it's NOT their decision as to what happened. They were told by Berlin to shut down the plants.
What is generally said over this whole thing is that the order that came down to Hessen to issue to RWE....was handled in a fairly rough way, with no thought process or thinking toward financial consequences of the plants involved. The word 'amateur' is brought up a good bit, hinting that it was not a professional fashion of execution.
Does the Hessen CDU government get slammed by the local Greens, SPD and Linke Party? Yes. Have the opposition parties grasped that if Hessen gets forced to pay fifty-percent of the cost....it'll have to come out of the budget and some groups or cities within Hessen will lose out on approximately 116-million Euro? Well....the news media hasn't brought up that topic. If you take money from one pocket to pay for a unplanned bill.....the money will be missing from the other pocket for normal use.
For the national government, it becomes a more interesting question. If Bouffier is right and wins the court episode.....the whole 235-million Euro must come from Berlin. Where do they make the cuts to come up with the 235-million Euro? Unknown.
The word 'consequences' ought to come up now. To meet most of these grand goals of the 1990s over carbon and climate change.....Germany was way ahead of the game and had these nifty nuke plants which covered them and helped show positive numbers. Every political player with a climate change agenda.....got some type of benefit from the nuke power plants. Closing early because of Fukushima? Well.....consequences fit into this as well.
It's an interesting topic, which barely gets mentioned in German national news and will simply get one 40-line text deal with the Hessen state news and then disappear. Someone is going to lose 235-million Euro, and it'll be curious who loses it.
In 2011, after the Fukushimi episode.....after a quick review....the Berlin federal government came to a quick conclusion to shut down various nuclear plants (the older ones got to the top of this list real quick). Biblis was among the plants told to shut down.
Well...because of a business angle to nuclear power....there are assumed values and costs. If they build a plant to last twenty years and then get some renovation to last another twenty years.....they have a forty-year cycle built into the returned value of the plant. They've all done the numbers and will tell you how they handled the cost of building and running the plant. By exercising this early closure.....Biblis lost money (RWE is the company involved). So, it's going to court. Someone has to pay RWE for the early closure.
Naturally, there's some arguments brewing. Who will pay RWE?
If it was a national decision.....then it's the German federal government out of Berlin that will pay the suggested 235-million Euro. If it's the Hessen state government, it'll come from them. If it's a split deal.....it's fifty-fifty. You can imagine the state guys standing there and grumbling because it's NOT their decision as to what happened. They were told by Berlin to shut down the plants.
What is generally said over this whole thing is that the order that came down to Hessen to issue to RWE....was handled in a fairly rough way, with no thought process or thinking toward financial consequences of the plants involved. The word 'amateur' is brought up a good bit, hinting that it was not a professional fashion of execution.
Does the Hessen CDU government get slammed by the local Greens, SPD and Linke Party? Yes. Have the opposition parties grasped that if Hessen gets forced to pay fifty-percent of the cost....it'll have to come out of the budget and some groups or cities within Hessen will lose out on approximately 116-million Euro? Well....the news media hasn't brought up that topic. If you take money from one pocket to pay for a unplanned bill.....the money will be missing from the other pocket for normal use.
For the national government, it becomes a more interesting question. If Bouffier is right and wins the court episode.....the whole 235-million Euro must come from Berlin. Where do they make the cuts to come up with the 235-million Euro? Unknown.
The word 'consequences' ought to come up now. To meet most of these grand goals of the 1990s over carbon and climate change.....Germany was way ahead of the game and had these nifty nuke plants which covered them and helped show positive numbers. Every political player with a climate change agenda.....got some type of benefit from the nuke power plants. Closing early because of Fukushima? Well.....consequences fit into this as well.
It's an interesting topic, which barely gets mentioned in German national news and will simply get one 40-line text deal with the Hessen state news and then disappear. Someone is going to lose 235-million Euro, and it'll be curious who loses it.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Quicker Vetting Process
I noticed in Hessen news today that local state talks this morning resulted in thirty more billets being authorized for the immigration approval/disapproval process.
What they've basically hinted....they want failed asylum seekers to be sent back as quickly as possible to their homeland. No draining of resources or second chances to be part of the operation.
As of first of July.....the approval authority department will expand by thirty people. Naturally, this means advertising, recruitment, hiring of the people and probably six months before they reach the intended speed desired. In other words, you won't start seeing many results to people leaving quickly until early 2016.
All of this means that if you get picked up as a refugee, you get taken to a reception center. You fill out some forms, admit your citizenship, and lay out the problem of why you can't stay there. It used to take months (six months was always possible, and some folks might have been able hang out for ten months).
With the current strategy on Albania and Bosnia....you could walk into the reception center deal....hand over the paperwork, and within a week....find yourself getting called to the front desk and given notice of failed paperwork and a bus leaving shortly.
All of this leads to the standardized strategy....failed immigration folks never leave a reception center for any place except to go back to their home country. The folks who are approved....get the pass to continue onto local municipalities where homes or apartments will be provided.
What they've basically hinted....they want failed asylum seekers to be sent back as quickly as possible to their homeland. No draining of resources or second chances to be part of the operation.
As of first of July.....the approval authority department will expand by thirty people. Naturally, this means advertising, recruitment, hiring of the people and probably six months before they reach the intended speed desired. In other words, you won't start seeing many results to people leaving quickly until early 2016.
All of this means that if you get picked up as a refugee, you get taken to a reception center. You fill out some forms, admit your citizenship, and lay out the problem of why you can't stay there. It used to take months (six months was always possible, and some folks might have been able hang out for ten months).
With the current strategy on Albania and Bosnia....you could walk into the reception center deal....hand over the paperwork, and within a week....find yourself getting called to the front desk and given notice of failed paperwork and a bus leaving shortly.
All of this leads to the standardized strategy....failed immigration folks never leave a reception center for any place except to go back to their home country. The folks who are approved....get the pass to continue onto local municipalities where homes or apartments will be provided.
The Way to Saint James Story
I follow a lot of stories here in Europe. This morning.....there's this odd piece on an American (Denise Thiem) who quit her job and started a worldly trek. At some point in April, Denise (age 41) arrived in Spain and started the centuries old Catholic pilgrimage which is known as Camino de Santiago (in English, it's the Way of Saint James).
On the 5th of April.....she disappeared. Nothing has been seen of her for roughly three months now. All that the authorities will say is that she got up that morning.....had breakfast with an Italian guy she'd met the previous day who was also doing the pilgrimage.....then went to mass....and the two separated to walk either toward or away from the intended destination (Camino de Santiago). Her family is involved in the search, but basically have come to no facts other than what happened that morning.
Her family is concerned......no contact.....assuming the worst.
There's nothing else to the story. No purse. No ID found. No use of credit cards.
I have read a fair amount over the past couple of years of the Way of Saint James and watched a couple of documentary pieces on it. I would even admit that I have some desire to make the trek myself....but I tend to recognize it's a 155 miles and in the Spanish countryside.....it's a fairly hot trek. You can figure there will be at least eight days of walking. The Spaniards have put up various bed-and-breakfast operations and provide water-points along the trek. A minimum of 200,000 people make the Way of Saint James each year.
If you do the math, that means that a minimum of 15,000 people a month are walking on this ten-day trip. Most would prefer to do it April-May or September-October.....lessening the heat affect. So on any average day, along this 155 mile route.....there might be a group of dozen folks within a mile of each other.
People disappearing on the Way of Saint James? It's not something that occurs. It's a marked trail and heavily walked on daily basis on each section by literally hundreds of people.
Strangely enough.....after this missing woman episode got into public forums.....folks started to bring up various suspicious episodes. Women trekking alone were groped or accosted by men (not trekkers but apparently local guys). Some suggestions have come out that walking alone, which was the typical plan of most people, is not smart and simply opens the possibility of some groping or assault. They tend to recommend people walk in some type of group.
Oddly, no one ever camps out in the middle of a trail. Most everyone comes to the end of day X and stays at some small town bed-and-breakfast deal.
As for this lost woman? It would be awful unusual for someone to get kidnapped along the Way to Saint James. I could see some guy....getting bold enough....and doing something this stupid. But there's also the fact that American gal had quit her job and gone on a worldly trek without any real plan or end-point in sight. That fact bothers me. She was looking for something to change her life. Maybe she found it and just walked off to do something else and decided not to discuss the matter any further. You just don't know.
On the 5th of April.....she disappeared. Nothing has been seen of her for roughly three months now. All that the authorities will say is that she got up that morning.....had breakfast with an Italian guy she'd met the previous day who was also doing the pilgrimage.....then went to mass....and the two separated to walk either toward or away from the intended destination (Camino de Santiago). Her family is involved in the search, but basically have come to no facts other than what happened that morning.
Her family is concerned......no contact.....assuming the worst.
There's nothing else to the story. No purse. No ID found. No use of credit cards.
I have read a fair amount over the past couple of years of the Way of Saint James and watched a couple of documentary pieces on it. I would even admit that I have some desire to make the trek myself....but I tend to recognize it's a 155 miles and in the Spanish countryside.....it's a fairly hot trek. You can figure there will be at least eight days of walking. The Spaniards have put up various bed-and-breakfast operations and provide water-points along the trek. A minimum of 200,000 people make the Way of Saint James each year.
If you do the math, that means that a minimum of 15,000 people a month are walking on this ten-day trip. Most would prefer to do it April-May or September-October.....lessening the heat affect. So on any average day, along this 155 mile route.....there might be a group of dozen folks within a mile of each other.
People disappearing on the Way of Saint James? It's not something that occurs. It's a marked trail and heavily walked on daily basis on each section by literally hundreds of people.
Strangely enough.....after this missing woman episode got into public forums.....folks started to bring up various suspicious episodes. Women trekking alone were groped or accosted by men (not trekkers but apparently local guys). Some suggestions have come out that walking alone, which was the typical plan of most people, is not smart and simply opens the possibility of some groping or assault. They tend to recommend people walk in some type of group.
Oddly, no one ever camps out in the middle of a trail. Most everyone comes to the end of day X and stays at some small town bed-and-breakfast deal.
As for this lost woman? It would be awful unusual for someone to get kidnapped along the Way to Saint James. I could see some guy....getting bold enough....and doing something this stupid. But there's also the fact that American gal had quit her job and gone on a worldly trek without any real plan or end-point in sight. That fact bothers me. She was looking for something to change her life. Maybe she found it and just walked off to do something else and decided not to discuss the matter any further. You just don't know.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
American Arms Hotel Update
For older Americans who remember the old days in the area, and the American Arms Hotel.....the re-use plan by the city of Wiesbaden continues on.
Today, the city noted that an open planning session will occur on the 1st of July at 14:00 at city hall and concern the three big projects on the city planning chart: the Carlsbad space in the European quarter, the Fritz Goose Mountain School on Moltkering, and the re-development of the American Arms on Frankfurter Straße. The meeting is open, if you had a curious nature. Room 318 at Wiesbaden City Hall.
The American Arms? If you drive by....grass is fairly high and there's nothing going on with the property.
The re-use? So far.....the only reliable hints have been student-type housing (a severe problem in Wiesbaden). The issue I can see is that they'd have to find a funding vehicle....rehab a substantial amount of the property....get local neighborhood folks to be happy over the use....and settle the parking issue.
I personally can't see any real use of the American Arms for at least four years, if you take into consideration the amount of work required and the likely need for some parking garage to be built into the situation.
Today, the city noted that an open planning session will occur on the 1st of July at 14:00 at city hall and concern the three big projects on the city planning chart: the Carlsbad space in the European quarter, the Fritz Goose Mountain School on Moltkering, and the re-development of the American Arms on Frankfurter Straße. The meeting is open, if you had a curious nature. Room 318 at Wiesbaden City Hall.
The American Arms? If you drive by....grass is fairly high and there's nothing going on with the property.
The re-use? So far.....the only reliable hints have been student-type housing (a severe problem in Wiesbaden). The issue I can see is that they'd have to find a funding vehicle....rehab a substantial amount of the property....get local neighborhood folks to be happy over the use....and settle the parking issue.
I personally can't see any real use of the American Arms for at least four years, if you take into consideration the amount of work required and the likely need for some parking garage to be built into the situation.
The Prince
We have this business guy in Germany....who went out and bought a title. Yeah.....you can buy titles around Europe.....like Duke, Lord, and Prince. It's a situation where you buy them, and you can't pass them down. I won't say there's much of a market for them, but people pay a fair amount to get this title and think it's neat for their future prospects.
Well....anyway, there's this guy....Prince Marcus von Anhalt. He did well in business but got into some tax evasion trouble. He's serving four years in prison now. I've seen interviews of the guy and will admit he is business-smart and fairly clever, but talks an awful lot and doesn't know when to shut up.
This week, he got into trouble in prison over a letter he sent out....which the prison folks read. He talked up over his prosecutor and described as a "wannabe Clooney" and being fairly 'small'. Well....the prison management decided it was an insult and will be fining the Prince 60,000 Euro. He's taking it to an appeal and it's hard to say if he'll come out paying this or not.
As for the insult? I hate to say this.....but half the guys in the US would be 'damn proud' if someone suggested they were a wannabe-Clooney. I'm not sure if German guys like the image or not. Maybe it's a German thing or just being compared to someone which is part of the insult. Germans get picky about insults in general. So, it's best to always keep your mouth shut when you might accidentally go off and do a stupid comment or two around the wrong people. Just some humble advice.
Well....anyway, there's this guy....Prince Marcus von Anhalt. He did well in business but got into some tax evasion trouble. He's serving four years in prison now. I've seen interviews of the guy and will admit he is business-smart and fairly clever, but talks an awful lot and doesn't know when to shut up.
This week, he got into trouble in prison over a letter he sent out....which the prison folks read. He talked up over his prosecutor and described as a "wannabe Clooney" and being fairly 'small'. Well....the prison management decided it was an insult and will be fining the Prince 60,000 Euro. He's taking it to an appeal and it's hard to say if he'll come out paying this or not.
As for the insult? I hate to say this.....but half the guys in the US would be 'damn proud' if someone suggested they were a wannabe-Clooney. I'm not sure if German guys like the image or not. Maybe it's a German thing or just being compared to someone which is part of the insult. Germans get picky about insults in general. So, it's best to always keep your mouth shut when you might accidentally go off and do a stupid comment or two around the wrong people. Just some humble advice.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Chat Over Refugees
The local Hessen state government had a open session yesterday here in Wiesbaden....with various parties establishing some 'line-in-the-sand' over refugees and immigration within Hessen.
It's pretty well established now with a policy by the German government that if you are coming here from Albania or Kosovo....your immigration opportunity has gone from 'very-strong' to 'almost-impossible'. The Germans have reshuffled the deck and said that war victims (like Iraq or Syria for example) rate higher. What they say in public is that if you show up and try to get any status or work-permit.....you will be put through a very quick process, and most-likely sent back to Albania or Kosovo. We aren't talking about months of waiting anymore....nor even weeks....but simply a couple of days, and you get a free bus-ticket back home and a box-lunch.
The Greens talk from yesterday? Well....they want more funding for medical care for the asylum seekers and new immigrants. They also want more emphasis on integration and language programs. Behind all of this....was a brief discussion by the Greens on jobs, and job-training.
Overall, at least by my general impression, the difficult story for anyone to tell is how all these incoming refugees and new immigrants will fit into the current job atmosphere. You measure up a guy who might be a trained mechanic from Damascus....how do you rate this guy or find him a new within Wiesbaden....without any certifications that local employers expect? You take a gal who was an accountant in Iraq....how can you move her into some on-the-job training situation with company X and get her some real status within two years? This type of 'bridge' environment simply doesn't exist.
The other side of this problem is that you might have a family show up from Syria with two kids...fifteen and seventeen years old. The state government of Hessen is only obligated to provide education to kids eighteen and below. You figure that a kid needs almost a full year of language training before he can be dumped into the German school system, and there's a question already of comparison. Well....the seventeen year old kid will be out of education options by the time he finishes language classes. The younger kid might still have two years left but upon evaluation....he'd almost have to start at the 7th grade level to fit better in the educational environment.
Behind all of this chatter at the Hessen regional situation.....there's talk of forty-thousand more refugees showing up in 2015....on top of the ones already here.
Just talking about the shelters or homes isn't enough anymore.....the next hot topic of integration, jobs and language training has now moved up a notch and the political folks realize the Euro connection to each topic and how someone will have to pay for all this open-door policy. Millions? I'd take a guess that for each single four-person family in the system.....you can figure with housing, food, medical, transportation, integration classes, language classes, and 'support'.....it could be roughly 40,000 Euro (my humble guess) a year spent on the family unit of four. That's a fair amount of money, and while it might only be required for roughly eighteen months.....you have to wonder where the funding comes from.
The odds of peace coming to Syria or Iraq and the family returning? I would speculate that it won't happen in the next decade. These folks are permanently here, as far as I can see the issue. The shock of taxation and cost of living? I could write a 300-line essay over that topic (from an American prospective). I'm pretty sure that around day twenty after some refugee family arrives in Germany....there's a evening-long chat over how expensive things are and members of the family wondering how Germans can afford to make it in this environment. Skeptic views become a daily topic of discussion.
On the positive side....at least the political players are openly discussing the matter. I admit....they are a year or two behind things.....but there's always ample opportunity to catch up.
It's pretty well established now with a policy by the German government that if you are coming here from Albania or Kosovo....your immigration opportunity has gone from 'very-strong' to 'almost-impossible'. The Germans have reshuffled the deck and said that war victims (like Iraq or Syria for example) rate higher. What they say in public is that if you show up and try to get any status or work-permit.....you will be put through a very quick process, and most-likely sent back to Albania or Kosovo. We aren't talking about months of waiting anymore....nor even weeks....but simply a couple of days, and you get a free bus-ticket back home and a box-lunch.
The Greens talk from yesterday? Well....they want more funding for medical care for the asylum seekers and new immigrants. They also want more emphasis on integration and language programs. Behind all of this....was a brief discussion by the Greens on jobs, and job-training.
Overall, at least by my general impression, the difficult story for anyone to tell is how all these incoming refugees and new immigrants will fit into the current job atmosphere. You measure up a guy who might be a trained mechanic from Damascus....how do you rate this guy or find him a new within Wiesbaden....without any certifications that local employers expect? You take a gal who was an accountant in Iraq....how can you move her into some on-the-job training situation with company X and get her some real status within two years? This type of 'bridge' environment simply doesn't exist.
The other side of this problem is that you might have a family show up from Syria with two kids...fifteen and seventeen years old. The state government of Hessen is only obligated to provide education to kids eighteen and below. You figure that a kid needs almost a full year of language training before he can be dumped into the German school system, and there's a question already of comparison. Well....the seventeen year old kid will be out of education options by the time he finishes language classes. The younger kid might still have two years left but upon evaluation....he'd almost have to start at the 7th grade level to fit better in the educational environment.
Behind all of this chatter at the Hessen regional situation.....there's talk of forty-thousand more refugees showing up in 2015....on top of the ones already here.
Just talking about the shelters or homes isn't enough anymore.....the next hot topic of integration, jobs and language training has now moved up a notch and the political folks realize the Euro connection to each topic and how someone will have to pay for all this open-door policy. Millions? I'd take a guess that for each single four-person family in the system.....you can figure with housing, food, medical, transportation, integration classes, language classes, and 'support'.....it could be roughly 40,000 Euro (my humble guess) a year spent on the family unit of four. That's a fair amount of money, and while it might only be required for roughly eighteen months.....you have to wonder where the funding comes from.
The odds of peace coming to Syria or Iraq and the family returning? I would speculate that it won't happen in the next decade. These folks are permanently here, as far as I can see the issue. The shock of taxation and cost of living? I could write a 300-line essay over that topic (from an American prospective). I'm pretty sure that around day twenty after some refugee family arrives in Germany....there's a evening-long chat over how expensive things are and members of the family wondering how Germans can afford to make it in this environment. Skeptic views become a daily topic of discussion.
On the positive side....at least the political players are openly discussing the matter. I admit....they are a year or two behind things.....but there's always ample opportunity to catch up.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Hacker Story
Over the past couple of days, there's been various reports of the German car tag offices here in Hessen.....being 'hacked'. What is generally said....several offices were hacked at different times and customers have been delayed in getting actions done.
NSA? No. These are just regular hackers. Strangely enough.....this barely gets mentioned in regional news and it won't get even ten seconds of mention on German national news. Odd? Well....yeah. You'd think the Greens would get all upset and testy about hackers but since it's not NSA hackers.....there's no problem.
This is part of the German game of 'hating' Americans. As long as it's NSA doing bad things.....you can spend hours and hours on some national political chat show and talk up the evils of NSA. Once you say it's just plain regular hacking getting into some German government database? Well....no need to discuss this matter.
I've come to notice this type of behavior and it kinda justifies the two-faced attitude about Germans and IT problems. There's no problem unless it's Goggle, Yahoo, Microsoft, CISCO, or NSA involved. Once you mentioned one of these American entities.....it gets moved to national attention and you get five guys trying to make sixty minutes of German national discussion out of a five-minute topic.
As for why the hackers targeted the car tag folks? I'm guessed some 'markers' were placed with fake ID's and some fake tags will be generated out of this game. Someone will sell the fake tags/markers and the German cops will wake up three years from now to realize they've got a thousand bogus car tags in the system. That's my humble bet.
NSA? No. These are just regular hackers. Strangely enough.....this barely gets mentioned in regional news and it won't get even ten seconds of mention on German national news. Odd? Well....yeah. You'd think the Greens would get all upset and testy about hackers but since it's not NSA hackers.....there's no problem.
This is part of the German game of 'hating' Americans. As long as it's NSA doing bad things.....you can spend hours and hours on some national political chat show and talk up the evils of NSA. Once you say it's just plain regular hacking getting into some German government database? Well....no need to discuss this matter.
I've come to notice this type of behavior and it kinda justifies the two-faced attitude about Germans and IT problems. There's no problem unless it's Goggle, Yahoo, Microsoft, CISCO, or NSA involved. Once you mentioned one of these American entities.....it gets moved to national attention and you get five guys trying to make sixty minutes of German national discussion out of a five-minute topic.
As for why the hackers targeted the car tag folks? I'm guessed some 'markers' were placed with fake ID's and some fake tags will be generated out of this game. Someone will sell the fake tags/markers and the German cops will wake up three years from now to realize they've got a thousand bogus car tags in the system. That's my humble bet.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
The German TV Tax
As an American in Germany.....one of the top fifty things that fascinate me....is the TV tax. For decades, there's been a TV tax in Germany. It used to be fairly comprehensive and difficult to figure. They actually wanted to know the precise number of TVs and radios within your household and they'd calculate the proper tax for your home. Then you paid this monthly.....out of your bank account or they'd remove it from your account.
Hostility from Germans over the tax? I'd say from humble observation.....that fifty percent of the population now have a negativity over the TV tax. From the crowd under thirty years old.....I doubt if you can find more than twenty-percent of that age group who watch five or more hours of state-run TV per week. The majority of those under thirty years old....simply don't use the state-run TV and they don't think they should have to pay the tax.
The radio side of this? It's slightly different....with most Germans using state-run radio at least three or four hours a week.....as they go to or from work.
State-run TV managers know that they've got a problem. They try to toss in various sports events.....mostly soccer, auto racing and boxing.....to attract younger viewers. Channel One and Two? They put a fair amount of their time and effort into news programs, movies for the over forty crowd, and a handful of documentary shows to satisfy the intellectual crowd. Because of the limited appeal to the under-thirty folks.....they just don't think the tax is fair.
Oddly, over the past five years.....the younger crowd have dumped TV and gone to the internet instead. They sign up for various media delivery devices (Netflix for example) and that's the only TV in their house.
Bild put out an interesting short piece over the last day or two.....for the 2014 statistical coverage.....that four million homes in Germany refused to pay all or part of the 2014 TV tax. Reminders have been sent out and there's going to be some pressure applied to these folks.
What the German state-run TV folks make off the crowd who does pay? Roughly 8.3 billion Euro.....which is tossed around between the top two networks, and the twenty-odd minor networks....along with the radio networks around the country.
The state-run TV folks got wise four years ago and noted this was a "media" tax....so even if you didn't have a TV and you were doing everything with your laptop/computer.....they still wanted you paying the tax.
I'm expecting at some point shortly that the German court system gets dragged into this and they kinda hint to the state-run TV managers that they need to dump the tax and go commercial.
Hostility from Germans over the tax? I'd say from humble observation.....that fifty percent of the population now have a negativity over the TV tax. From the crowd under thirty years old.....I doubt if you can find more than twenty-percent of that age group who watch five or more hours of state-run TV per week. The majority of those under thirty years old....simply don't use the state-run TV and they don't think they should have to pay the tax.
The radio side of this? It's slightly different....with most Germans using state-run radio at least three or four hours a week.....as they go to or from work.
State-run TV managers know that they've got a problem. They try to toss in various sports events.....mostly soccer, auto racing and boxing.....to attract younger viewers. Channel One and Two? They put a fair amount of their time and effort into news programs, movies for the over forty crowd, and a handful of documentary shows to satisfy the intellectual crowd. Because of the limited appeal to the under-thirty folks.....they just don't think the tax is fair.
Oddly, over the past five years.....the younger crowd have dumped TV and gone to the internet instead. They sign up for various media delivery devices (Netflix for example) and that's the only TV in their house.
Bild put out an interesting short piece over the last day or two.....for the 2014 statistical coverage.....that four million homes in Germany refused to pay all or part of the 2014 TV tax. Reminders have been sent out and there's going to be some pressure applied to these folks.
What the German state-run TV folks make off the crowd who does pay? Roughly 8.3 billion Euro.....which is tossed around between the top two networks, and the twenty-odd minor networks....along with the radio networks around the country.
The state-run TV folks got wise four years ago and noted this was a "media" tax....so even if you didn't have a TV and you were doing everything with your laptop/computer.....they still wanted you paying the tax.
I'm expecting at some point shortly that the German court system gets dragged into this and they kinda hint to the state-run TV managers that they need to dump the tax and go commercial.
The Asylum Spiral in Germany
After a while, if you are a non-German living in Germany.....you tend to see something odd about the whole asylum/immigration episode unfolding. It is upon the local town or city to provide housing, support, food, and necessary services to the new immigrants/asylum seekers upon arrival....NOT the state government apparatus or federal government apparatus.
You'd look at this and ask why? And there simply isn't any logical explanation given except this has been handed down to this town to provide a structure....a building....a living spot....for the refugees.
In the beginning....the federal government of Berlin wasn't going to provide much of anything in terms of funding.
After about a year, the Berlin government came to agree on some funding and a loan-deal where they'd get paid back. It's a no-interest type loan but you have to pay the money taken....back to the German federal government.
In the past two months, Berlin has said it'll up the funding by a big chunk. A one-for-one Euro pay-back? Well.....no, that's not what they've said.
So I come back to this odd deal....why doesn't the federal government of Germany just run all of this themselves? Why not just build up a dozen refugee centers around the country using old NATO or US basing situations, and just let the German federal government folks run the operation themselves?
I've come to this belief about why it isn't done this way. I think there are so many Germans who aren't happy with asylum seekers or refugees.....that by making it a local thing....it's less friction and they seem to support it slightly more. If it were a massive Berlin decision to put one big center in Mainz-Kastel at a former US military post.....the bulk of people around Wiesbaden would be up in arms. Because you nickel-and-dime this living arrangement deal.....there's only 100 refugees here, and 200 refugees there. It doesn't appear to be a big deal by making it all appear small in nature.
A fraud? Well.....yeah.....but it's the only way that you fake the German voters out of a major issue. I think all of the political parties agree.....it's best to make the cities and towns play the game instead of the federal government or end up in a blame-game situation.
By avoiding the Berlin connection.....it's all remained simply a non-issue....at least until the local governments admit that they've spent money on these refugees that would have paid for infrastructure projects instead. Once some German city council stands up and says such-and-such project discussed for five years (renovation of some park or some cobble-stone project for the downtown area) is suddenly delayed indefinitely......then folks start to ask why. That's why Berlin is now pressed into paying out more funding.
No one says much over the cost, but if you take an older building....like an outdated school and convert it for refugee living....there's probably 40,000 Euro somewhere in the spending plan to fix it enough to make it appear decent for folks to live within. After that, you can figure at least 200 Euro a month for food for each person, with heat and electricity figured in.....it's not exactly a free-deal like Berlin would like people to think. And this only gets you by for a group of say....forty-odd refugees. Multiply that by a couple of hundred and you got a significant amount of money put into a national agenda.
There never was much of a real plan on how to handle this, but this gimmick of sorts.....pretending in the original phase not to fund the requirements....turns this all into a joke. My suspicion is that as things heat up in the summer of 2016 and the election of 2017.....suddenly the bills for the past five years will be added up and every town will get paid back fully for what they put into the operation.
You'd look at this and ask why? And there simply isn't any logical explanation given except this has been handed down to this town to provide a structure....a building....a living spot....for the refugees.
In the beginning....the federal government of Berlin wasn't going to provide much of anything in terms of funding.
After about a year, the Berlin government came to agree on some funding and a loan-deal where they'd get paid back. It's a no-interest type loan but you have to pay the money taken....back to the German federal government.
In the past two months, Berlin has said it'll up the funding by a big chunk. A one-for-one Euro pay-back? Well.....no, that's not what they've said.
So I come back to this odd deal....why doesn't the federal government of Germany just run all of this themselves? Why not just build up a dozen refugee centers around the country using old NATO or US basing situations, and just let the German federal government folks run the operation themselves?
I've come to this belief about why it isn't done this way. I think there are so many Germans who aren't happy with asylum seekers or refugees.....that by making it a local thing....it's less friction and they seem to support it slightly more. If it were a massive Berlin decision to put one big center in Mainz-Kastel at a former US military post.....the bulk of people around Wiesbaden would be up in arms. Because you nickel-and-dime this living arrangement deal.....there's only 100 refugees here, and 200 refugees there. It doesn't appear to be a big deal by making it all appear small in nature.
A fraud? Well.....yeah.....but it's the only way that you fake the German voters out of a major issue. I think all of the political parties agree.....it's best to make the cities and towns play the game instead of the federal government or end up in a blame-game situation.
By avoiding the Berlin connection.....it's all remained simply a non-issue....at least until the local governments admit that they've spent money on these refugees that would have paid for infrastructure projects instead. Once some German city council stands up and says such-and-such project discussed for five years (renovation of some park or some cobble-stone project for the downtown area) is suddenly delayed indefinitely......then folks start to ask why. That's why Berlin is now pressed into paying out more funding.
No one says much over the cost, but if you take an older building....like an outdated school and convert it for refugee living....there's probably 40,000 Euro somewhere in the spending plan to fix it enough to make it appear decent for folks to live within. After that, you can figure at least 200 Euro a month for food for each person, with heat and electricity figured in.....it's not exactly a free-deal like Berlin would like people to think. And this only gets you by for a group of say....forty-odd refugees. Multiply that by a couple of hundred and you got a significant amount of money put into a national agenda.
There never was much of a real plan on how to handle this, but this gimmick of sorts.....pretending in the original phase not to fund the requirements....turns this all into a joke. My suspicion is that as things heat up in the summer of 2016 and the election of 2017.....suddenly the bills for the past five years will be added up and every town will get paid back fully for what they put into the operation.
Friday, June 19, 2015
The Bio Story
For around two decades in Germany.....there's been an 'extra' trash can available to the general public.....no matter where you lived. It was a bio-can. You'd take your coffee grounds, your fruit and vegetables that were spoiled, your grass trimmings, your weeds, your cut shrubs, and dump them into this can. The can would be picked up weekly in spring and summer, and every other week in the winter period.
There were two general rules with the bio can. First, nothing else.....like plastic bags, regular garbage, paper, etc. Second, if you didn't sign up for the bio-can......you had to have a bio-disposal deal where you collected all your stuff and converted it over to organic material and you'd use it for your garden, your yard, or potted plants.
Last night, the German state-run TV news carried a fairly long piece.....almost fifteen minutes long....over the spiraling problem of bio-waste.
You see.....as dedicated as Germans seem to be with recycling and method-garbage rules......there are some who just don't get it. So, plastic bags are making their way into the system.
Oddly, when the garbage truck pulls up.....there's no evaluation on the contents of your can usually. Here in my own state (Hessen).....there are a handful of inspectors who go around and you might have them look at the top contents of your can once every five years. So the truck collects the bio-garbage and drives off to a processing plant. This stuff gets dumped onto a conveyer belt and a couple of lowly paid guys inspect things to a minor degree, and it gets fed into a blender of sorts. Then it all gets mixed into some dirt and resold to the public. Somewhere in the mixture.....you can figure roughly one to two percent of the contents will be plastic.
Some German farm will buy the bulk truck of bio-sod (for a cheap price) and use it on their crop land. Naturally....the plastic finds its way into the soil, and as the news folks explained.....NONE of this is good for farms or crops. Plastic contaminants, by the comments of the science guys they interviewed.....are a pretty wicked deal for farmers.
The political folks are kinda stuck now. They can't really figure any more gimmicks out other than more inspectors but that hasn't proven to really work well. They've spent millions on education and getting the public to realize what can go into the bio-can, and the results are nothing you'd brag about.
The issue? Germans now have around four or five interior garbage cans that they have to mess with. It's comical to an American to look at the amount of effort they go through......to be bio-friendly and garbage-friendly. In the middle of this mess.....is a bio-can with a plastic bag. Of the entire collection of garbage containers.....the bio-can is the worst of the worst, in terms of smell. So once a week.....they carry this crappy bag out to the bio-can and dump it. Some folks dump only the contents, and some folks dump the entire bag. I'd take a humble guess that ten-percent of the public is dumping the plastic bag entirely into the can.
More fines? Somewhere in this mix.....I expect more garbage audit folks to appear (maybe even monthly), and folks start to get assessed a hundred to two-hundred Euro in fines.....to persuade them to do the right thing. Presently, the audit guys for the most part will put a label on the can and let the customer know that their can will not be picked up this week, and they'd best empty the problem out of the can by next week or face the same issue again.
It's an odd problem. All of this was supposed to be good for the environment and good for society....as long as everyone played along and did the right thing. You'd need one-hundred percent participation and acceptance. Presently.....it just isn't going to be successful.
There were two general rules with the bio can. First, nothing else.....like plastic bags, regular garbage, paper, etc. Second, if you didn't sign up for the bio-can......you had to have a bio-disposal deal where you collected all your stuff and converted it over to organic material and you'd use it for your garden, your yard, or potted plants.
Last night, the German state-run TV news carried a fairly long piece.....almost fifteen minutes long....over the spiraling problem of bio-waste.
You see.....as dedicated as Germans seem to be with recycling and method-garbage rules......there are some who just don't get it. So, plastic bags are making their way into the system.
Oddly, when the garbage truck pulls up.....there's no evaluation on the contents of your can usually. Here in my own state (Hessen).....there are a handful of inspectors who go around and you might have them look at the top contents of your can once every five years. So the truck collects the bio-garbage and drives off to a processing plant. This stuff gets dumped onto a conveyer belt and a couple of lowly paid guys inspect things to a minor degree, and it gets fed into a blender of sorts. Then it all gets mixed into some dirt and resold to the public. Somewhere in the mixture.....you can figure roughly one to two percent of the contents will be plastic.
Some German farm will buy the bulk truck of bio-sod (for a cheap price) and use it on their crop land. Naturally....the plastic finds its way into the soil, and as the news folks explained.....NONE of this is good for farms or crops. Plastic contaminants, by the comments of the science guys they interviewed.....are a pretty wicked deal for farmers.
The political folks are kinda stuck now. They can't really figure any more gimmicks out other than more inspectors but that hasn't proven to really work well. They've spent millions on education and getting the public to realize what can go into the bio-can, and the results are nothing you'd brag about.
The issue? Germans now have around four or five interior garbage cans that they have to mess with. It's comical to an American to look at the amount of effort they go through......to be bio-friendly and garbage-friendly. In the middle of this mess.....is a bio-can with a plastic bag. Of the entire collection of garbage containers.....the bio-can is the worst of the worst, in terms of smell. So once a week.....they carry this crappy bag out to the bio-can and dump it. Some folks dump only the contents, and some folks dump the entire bag. I'd take a humble guess that ten-percent of the public is dumping the plastic bag entirely into the can.
More fines? Somewhere in this mix.....I expect more garbage audit folks to appear (maybe even monthly), and folks start to get assessed a hundred to two-hundred Euro in fines.....to persuade them to do the right thing. Presently, the audit guys for the most part will put a label on the can and let the customer know that their can will not be picked up this week, and they'd best empty the problem out of the can by next week or face the same issue again.
It's an odd problem. All of this was supposed to be good for the environment and good for society....as long as everyone played along and did the right thing. You'd need one-hundred percent participation and acceptance. Presently.....it just isn't going to be successful.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Construction in Wiesbaden
We have one single identifiable skyscraper in Wiesbaden....the R und V building near the casino. It's been empty and non-function for roughly a decade. Over the past two years.....almost every single month....some punks have found their way into the building and set fire to the interior. Naturally, the fire department has to react and it's a fairly dangerous game. From what has been said.....it's a place where druggies like to hang out.
Why empty and standing there so long? Basically....it's fallen into different hands to tear down and put up a new structure. Plans come.....plans go. Getting money into the project hasn't been working well. Getting city council permission for projects also has not worked well.
Six months ago.....some folks came up with the latest idea.....putting up expensive condos for folks (slanted talk to mean rich Middle-Eastern folks).
This week, the demolition episode has finally started up and it appears that the one and only skyscraper in town will be finally torn down. The weekly/monthly fire drills? That will finally come to an end.
As for the condo construction? Well.....it's curious. They are figuring it'll take roughly five years to build out this new restaurant/condo/shop structure. The possibility of delays? Almost all of the projects within Wiesbaden within the past couple of years have faced some minor delays. So, I own't be betting on this opening in 2020.
Why empty and standing there so long? Basically....it's fallen into different hands to tear down and put up a new structure. Plans come.....plans go. Getting money into the project hasn't been working well. Getting city council permission for projects also has not worked well.
Six months ago.....some folks came up with the latest idea.....putting up expensive condos for folks (slanted talk to mean rich Middle-Eastern folks).
This week, the demolition episode has finally started up and it appears that the one and only skyscraper in town will be finally torn down. The weekly/monthly fire drills? That will finally come to an end.
As for the condo construction? Well.....it's curious. They are figuring it'll take roughly five years to build out this new restaurant/condo/shop structure. The possibility of delays? Almost all of the projects within Wiesbaden within the past couple of years have faced some minor delays. So, I own't be betting on this opening in 2020.
Tax-Free Work
Remember, I write for non-residents and Americans....not for Germans who might already know the system.
Germany is this oddball country that requires a deposit on each bottle (glass or plastic or aluminum) that goes with water, beer, or sodas. Orange juice and wine are exempt from the deal.
It means that when you walk in and buy a six-pack of Pepsi....there's a 1.50 Euro deposit that you put down. When you bring the cans back....to any location that sells drinks....you get the 1.50 Euro back. All of this was done roughly a decade ago.....to clear up litter.
From my humble opinion, having seen the before and after affects.....ninety-percent of the litter issue has come to an end. Oddly, you will notice people on the low-side of life....walking around urban areas or sports arenas....picking up discarded beer or drink containers and returning them for the 25-Euro cent deposit. In some cases, an aggressive guy might be able to pick up forty Euro a week.
This week.....there's been some negative news over this deposit gimmick. You see.....when you buy a bottle from a retailer....there is no VAT involved in the payment part of the scheme. But in wholesale operations.....the VAT is calculated on the deposit at 30 cents (NOT 25 cents). This is a legal situation, written by the lawmakers.....into the system.
If you were to buy a bottle at retail operations and return it to a wholesale operation......you make five cents profit.
Well.....someone has realized the hole in the law and created a business operation which goes around to pubs, bars, and cafes.....to pay them directly for the cases of drinks (25 cents of course), and they make the run out to the wholesale operation with a mass return.
How much is involved? I'm not sure with the accuracy, but there's talk of almost possibly forty-million Euro being siphoned off to this group which figured out the gimmick.
Illegal? No.
Course, you can imagine this bread-truck type of operation.....some guy working the customers all day and he's got 2,000 cans and bottles on the truck.....twelve hours of work of stop-and-go work, and he unloads everything (probably taking a minimum of 75 minutes) to earn 500 Euro (in one day). The cherry on this deal? There's no paperwork......so in effect, there's no way to figure taxation on this guy, and he's making this 500 Euro tax-free.
Do the math....but if he only works four days a week.....he's making 2,000 Euro a week for sixty-odd hours of tough but profitable work. The guy could even clear 100,000 Euro a year, if he were aggressive and had the pubs, clubs and cafes lined up.
Government upset? Shocked would be the better term to use. They didn't think anyone would ever make a profit off this. Fixing the problem? It's not clear that they even want to to fix it.
It's kinda amusing in some ways. It's not a money-making scheme that makes much sense, and it's a fairly physical way of earning money. The odd thing? Tax free work.
Germany is this oddball country that requires a deposit on each bottle (glass or plastic or aluminum) that goes with water, beer, or sodas. Orange juice and wine are exempt from the deal.
It means that when you walk in and buy a six-pack of Pepsi....there's a 1.50 Euro deposit that you put down. When you bring the cans back....to any location that sells drinks....you get the 1.50 Euro back. All of this was done roughly a decade ago.....to clear up litter.
From my humble opinion, having seen the before and after affects.....ninety-percent of the litter issue has come to an end. Oddly, you will notice people on the low-side of life....walking around urban areas or sports arenas....picking up discarded beer or drink containers and returning them for the 25-Euro cent deposit. In some cases, an aggressive guy might be able to pick up forty Euro a week.
This week.....there's been some negative news over this deposit gimmick. You see.....when you buy a bottle from a retailer....there is no VAT involved in the payment part of the scheme. But in wholesale operations.....the VAT is calculated on the deposit at 30 cents (NOT 25 cents). This is a legal situation, written by the lawmakers.....into the system.
If you were to buy a bottle at retail operations and return it to a wholesale operation......you make five cents profit.
Well.....someone has realized the hole in the law and created a business operation which goes around to pubs, bars, and cafes.....to pay them directly for the cases of drinks (25 cents of course), and they make the run out to the wholesale operation with a mass return.
How much is involved? I'm not sure with the accuracy, but there's talk of almost possibly forty-million Euro being siphoned off to this group which figured out the gimmick.
Illegal? No.
Course, you can imagine this bread-truck type of operation.....some guy working the customers all day and he's got 2,000 cans and bottles on the truck.....twelve hours of work of stop-and-go work, and he unloads everything (probably taking a minimum of 75 minutes) to earn 500 Euro (in one day). The cherry on this deal? There's no paperwork......so in effect, there's no way to figure taxation on this guy, and he's making this 500 Euro tax-free.
Do the math....but if he only works four days a week.....he's making 2,000 Euro a week for sixty-odd hours of tough but profitable work. The guy could even clear 100,000 Euro a year, if he were aggressive and had the pubs, clubs and cafes lined up.
Government upset? Shocked would be the better term to use. They didn't think anyone would ever make a profit off this. Fixing the problem? It's not clear that they even want to to fix it.
It's kinda amusing in some ways. It's not a money-making scheme that makes much sense, and it's a fairly physical way of earning money. The odd thing? Tax free work.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Bikes
I've traveled an awful lot in life and consider Leiden one of those exceptional towns in existence....that put bike paths/streets throughout the entire town of roughly 120,000 residents. You can get from one end of town to the other....in roughly twenty minutes. Lights are built into each bike path and control the flow of bikes.
Wear and tear? None. Almost every bike path has a rubber-like coating and I expect them to last forty years.
All of this planning had to take place decades ago and allows for the majority of residents in the town to avoid using cars. I'd take a humble guess that fifty percent of the population goes mostly without using a car except for major shopping trips. The train station is built in the center and allows for easy parking of the bike and you quickly board your train to whichever major town you work in, and return home easily and mount your bike for a quick trip to the house.
It was made this way and if you look at infrastructure......it works. Potholes are virtually non-existent. Accidents are rare.
Why can't something like this occur in the US? Maybe in a warm climate.....it might be possible. In a cold place like Chicago or Boston? It's just not feasible. Toss in crime. Throw on right-of-way issues and property accusation, and it's just impossible.
So, if you really want to see how bike paths/roads ought to be done.....go to Leiden for three days and just walk around. It'll be a simple view.....no issues.....and tons of ideas, but they just won't work elsewhere.
Monday, June 15, 2015
If You Did Have Writers-Block
It was a hot Friday afternoon, in the midst of The Hague, and I needed to quench my thirst. So I paused and looked at a pub on the side of the street.Umbrellas.....plenty of tables.....home-brewed beer noted on the sign. I sat and ordered 'the blonde'......an appealing beer which the waitress recommended.
As it came.....I noted some guy from over my shoulder walking up with a violin case and appearing to start a sidewalk musical situation. Classical violin, I assumed. Three minutes after tuning his violin.....he laid into some powerful Ozark Mountain music and I fell into a daze.
In a million different settings, with a million potential musicians, what are the odds that you'd have some guy who actually knew Ozark fiddler music and he could make you almost weep with his tunes. And then he opened his mouth and delivered a five-star voice.
My mind opened up. A young lady drove on a 30-year-old bike with a James Dean-like tattoo on her thigh. An Amazon-like woman walked by with a cowboy hat on. A bald garbage guy walked by. For an hour, it was a powerful atmosphere for the creative mind. Music, a perfect beer, and five-star characters out of some Steinbeck novel.....compliments of the Fiddler on Fiviervismarkt Street. If you are in The Haag, and feel in need of fixing writers block or rediscovering life.....I'd recommend the Fiddler.
Order a cold brew, and be prepared.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Just Something Else to Worry About
It's been an odd weekend in Germany.
Yesterday.....here in southwest Germany.....some retired German guy got up early and was going to do his 6AM walk. Somewhere in the local area....some circus had an elephant to escape. At some point in this walk....the elephant and the old guy came to meet. And the elephant killed the old guy.
No witnesses to the episode and you can't say if the guy just tried to be friendly, or if he said something that angered the elephant. It could have simply been a red-shirt situation.....the guy smoking....or maybe the wrong aftershave.
What bothers me about the episode.....is that I'm one of these retired guys who go out for a walk occasionally in my local woods. Naturally, for the past year.....I've had apprehension over wolves now in Hessen. Now? I have to add the potential of an elephant maybe escaping from the local circus and encountering an elephant on some trail.
Yesterday.....here in southwest Germany.....some retired German guy got up early and was going to do his 6AM walk. Somewhere in the local area....some circus had an elephant to escape. At some point in this walk....the elephant and the old guy came to meet. And the elephant killed the old guy.
No witnesses to the episode and you can't say if the guy just tried to be friendly, or if he said something that angered the elephant. It could have simply been a red-shirt situation.....the guy smoking....or maybe the wrong aftershave.
What bothers me about the episode.....is that I'm one of these retired guys who go out for a walk occasionally in my local woods. Naturally, for the past year.....I've had apprehension over wolves now in Hessen. Now? I have to add the potential of an elephant maybe escaping from the local circus and encountering an elephant on some trail.
A Nifty Hotel
It's and odd place. Formerly a duke's house/estate on the edge of town....it's in the middle of a heavily forested area. The duke's house has been converted into a mini-conference center and wedding situation.....along as a modern hotel. The old house itself is strictly for the wedding episodes and conferences. Guests? They stay at a building about a stone's throw away.....with a max of sixty-odd rooms.
No....it's not luxury or fancy. No.....it's not a castle. No....it's not really a four-star joint.
It's a curious place where you could walk out of a mini-conference and be stressed out.....finding a quiet forest and trails where you could think and get relaxed in a short amount of time.
The nifty side of this offering? Free parking and free wi-fi. In today's environment.....it's almost impossible to find such a place.
My general advice is that if you ever had a curious nature for Amsterdam, Haag and Rotterdam.....take the week off and just stay at Leiden and use the local rail situation and use some off-days to walk around Leiden to de-stress and chill out. The reputation of Leiden? Well....it's a university town, with almost no real industry.
The Skull Business
It's the kind of shop that I'd do something stupid....spending 400 Euro on some display and drag it home.....only to discover that my wife wasn't happy with such a display, and without a 'man-cave'......there's virtually no place where I'd be allowed to hang up such stuff.
Regular business? Well.....the guy had one customer standing there and I'm guessing he sells at least five or six a week. Course, after a year or two.....most guys would have their display and I'm not sure if the business would flourish.
Female customers? Out of hundred, there might be one or two....who are simply buying some display for their boss's office.
I'm guessing.....within a five-hundred mile area.....this guy has the one-and-only such operation that does this type of business.
My Weekend Trip
I spent the last couple of days in the Netherlands....at Leiden.....doing the Haag and Rotterdam day excursions.
They've updated their ticket business in the Netherlands.....making it kinda interesting. You see....in the old days....you always had weird characters, pickpockets and nutcases around the train stations....no matter where you went in the Netherlands.
Now? You walk up to the front door of the train station and there's some machines to buy your paper ticket or load your chip-card. There's a clerk or two there for questions or other purchases. Then.....there's only way to enter the station....via some scanners and you flash your card (either one) across the scanner. No card? No entry, at least in principal. If you got inside the 'zone'.....some train station cop could ask for your ticket and see if you were supposed to be there.....no ticket? They'd either escort you out or ask more questions.
When you get to your destination.....you scan 'out'. There's another guy walking around beyond the train station and watching for people exiting and looking for anyone trying to skip the scanning process.
I have to admit.....it's really cleared out the train stations. The dopers.....the drunks....the pickpocket guys? They seem to have vacated entirely.
They've updated their ticket business in the Netherlands.....making it kinda interesting. You see....in the old days....you always had weird characters, pickpockets and nutcases around the train stations....no matter where you went in the Netherlands.
Now? You walk up to the front door of the train station and there's some machines to buy your paper ticket or load your chip-card. There's a clerk or two there for questions or other purchases. Then.....there's only way to enter the station....via some scanners and you flash your card (either one) across the scanner. No card? No entry, at least in principal. If you got inside the 'zone'.....some train station cop could ask for your ticket and see if you were supposed to be there.....no ticket? They'd either escort you out or ask more questions.
When you get to your destination.....you scan 'out'. There's another guy walking around beyond the train station and watching for people exiting and looking for anyone trying to skip the scanning process.
I have to admit.....it's really cleared out the train stations. The dopers.....the drunks....the pickpocket guys? They seem to have vacated entirely.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
The Air Ambulance Story
I get a monthly ADAC magazine. ADAC is the German auto-club that sells you autobahn service, insurance, and offers out car advice. I won't say that they don't have an agenda or that they are that truthful....but most Germans respect them.
In this month's magazine.....there's an interesting statistical display. You see....ADAC runs a airline ambulance service. They've got a couple of jets and they get notified by someone who is on vacation.....that they need to return to Germany because of injury, sickness, etc. Supposedly, your insurance package with them....covers the bulk of the air ambulance jet costs. I have doubts about this, but people seem to utilize this often.
So the numbers come up. From France last year.....they flew 1649 people back to Germany. It's a fair number.....I admit. From Greece, it was 1771 folks flown back.
Then you come to Turkey at the end of the scale....6781 people flown back to Germany.
Why so many? Unknown. They told basically.....half-a-story.
What's different about Turkey and Greece? Having been to both, there's not a lot of differences that you'd automatically see.
Yeah, car travel is a lot more dangerous in Turkey.....with guys operating unsafe vehicles (bad springs, no brakes, etc).
Yeah, you do notice food poisoning occurring at a hefty rate within a resort hotel in Turkey.....although it's not usually the food from the Hotel but food from some local vendor.
Yeah, people are stupid enough to go out on day one in Turkey with no sunscreen and get burned fairly hard.
Yeah, people do rent scooters in Turkey.....who've never rented one in their life, and drive off some road or have the scooter fall onto their leg as they attempt to park it.
It would be interesting to have ADAC lay out a dozen episodes from the six-thousand-odd folks who got banged up. I looked at the picture of one of their jets.....big enough to tote a dozen wounded or injured folks. Must be a full-time job for the pilot and crew.
Does this statistic really say anything? Well.....yeah.....if you had a choice between Turkey and Greece for three weeks of vacation, and wanted a safe trip......then the statistical average says you'd best avoid Turkey.
Years ago....my wife did a fair amount of talking (Germans do that occasionally), and convinced (I was still fairly reluctant) to make a two-week trip to Turkey. Summer episode.....sunshine.....four-star resort on the beaches....etc.
We were about eight days into the trip when they served some kinda fish one night at the buffet area. I skipped the fish.....my wife didn't. Around midnight.....she got up with severe cramps. It's safe to say between midnight and 6AM, she visited the toilet a dozen times. She saw a local doctor the next morning and got some five-star drugs. By mid-afternoon.....she was slightly better but it took around forty-eight hours before she ate anything.
Maybe Germans don't fear travel the way that Americans would. Americans won't run off to Yeman, but Germans would. Germans will easily sign up for some Peru mountain tour, but then come back to report that they got robbed by bandits while on some bus.
I'm guessing 500,000 folks will review the ADAC article and ninety-nine percent will just not see much to talk about. But six-thousand-odd people ending up on a air ambulance deal? Yeah, there's something there.
In this month's magazine.....there's an interesting statistical display. You see....ADAC runs a airline ambulance service. They've got a couple of jets and they get notified by someone who is on vacation.....that they need to return to Germany because of injury, sickness, etc. Supposedly, your insurance package with them....covers the bulk of the air ambulance jet costs. I have doubts about this, but people seem to utilize this often.
So the numbers come up. From France last year.....they flew 1649 people back to Germany. It's a fair number.....I admit. From Greece, it was 1771 folks flown back.
Then you come to Turkey at the end of the scale....6781 people flown back to Germany.
Why so many? Unknown. They told basically.....half-a-story.
What's different about Turkey and Greece? Having been to both, there's not a lot of differences that you'd automatically see.
Yeah, car travel is a lot more dangerous in Turkey.....with guys operating unsafe vehicles (bad springs, no brakes, etc).
Yeah, you do notice food poisoning occurring at a hefty rate within a resort hotel in Turkey.....although it's not usually the food from the Hotel but food from some local vendor.
Yeah, people are stupid enough to go out on day one in Turkey with no sunscreen and get burned fairly hard.
Yeah, people do rent scooters in Turkey.....who've never rented one in their life, and drive off some road or have the scooter fall onto their leg as they attempt to park it.
It would be interesting to have ADAC lay out a dozen episodes from the six-thousand-odd folks who got banged up. I looked at the picture of one of their jets.....big enough to tote a dozen wounded or injured folks. Must be a full-time job for the pilot and crew.
Does this statistic really say anything? Well.....yeah.....if you had a choice between Turkey and Greece for three weeks of vacation, and wanted a safe trip......then the statistical average says you'd best avoid Turkey.
Years ago....my wife did a fair amount of talking (Germans do that occasionally), and convinced (I was still fairly reluctant) to make a two-week trip to Turkey. Summer episode.....sunshine.....four-star resort on the beaches....etc.
We were about eight days into the trip when they served some kinda fish one night at the buffet area. I skipped the fish.....my wife didn't. Around midnight.....she got up with severe cramps. It's safe to say between midnight and 6AM, she visited the toilet a dozen times. She saw a local doctor the next morning and got some five-star drugs. By mid-afternoon.....she was slightly better but it took around forty-eight hours before she ate anything.
Maybe Germans don't fear travel the way that Americans would. Americans won't run off to Yeman, but Germans would. Germans will easily sign up for some Peru mountain tour, but then come back to report that they got robbed by bandits while on some bus.
I'm guessing 500,000 folks will review the ADAC article and ninety-nine percent will just not see much to talk about. But six-thousand-odd people ending up on a air ambulance deal? Yeah, there's something there.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
A Car Story
In Alabama, we are known for creating some strange vehicle modifications.....without a lot of safety built into them.
Well.....here in Hessen....a guy has apparently outdone the norm and gotten the attention of the regional cops.
Around the Hasselberg region....this car was noted with a home-made trailer.....which was extremely overloaded. German cops tend to notice tings like that. If you look at the rear end of the car.....it's way down.
Then the cops asked to look into the trunk. The guy had a retro-gas system fitted to run on LPG. Yep, it was a hybrid car.....of his own design. The weight check? Double what the car was supposed to carry....that was ticket number one. The fuel tank? It was leaking......that was ticket number two.
The trailer hitch deal? Rusted.....that was ticket number three.
By the time the cops finished their inspection......there were seventeen defects found on the car and thirteen on the trailer. Fines? 470 Euro. Then the cops told the car owner the really bad news......the vehicle had to go off the road and to the nearest scrap dealer. Yeah.....they weren't even going to let him take it home to the garage.
Strictness? Yes.....that's the one thing about German safety rules for cars. You either meet standards, or your vehicle is taken off the road.....immediately. Just on the overweight business....that was enough by itself to make the rest of the experience negative.
As for altering vehicles? From time to time.....you come across a German guy who has a mechanical mind and time on his hands......doing something dynamic to his car. If it's a safety-related issue.....you are supposed to take it to the TUV folks and have the vehicle inspected. At the very least.....they might request a waiver on something and let you get away with the modification. Typically.....they don't like changes.
Well.....here in Hessen....a guy has apparently outdone the norm and gotten the attention of the regional cops.
Around the Hasselberg region....this car was noted with a home-made trailer.....which was extremely overloaded. German cops tend to notice tings like that. If you look at the rear end of the car.....it's way down.
Then the cops asked to look into the trunk. The guy had a retro-gas system fitted to run on LPG. Yep, it was a hybrid car.....of his own design. The weight check? Double what the car was supposed to carry....that was ticket number one. The fuel tank? It was leaking......that was ticket number two.
The trailer hitch deal? Rusted.....that was ticket number three.
By the time the cops finished their inspection......there were seventeen defects found on the car and thirteen on the trailer. Fines? 470 Euro. Then the cops told the car owner the really bad news......the vehicle had to go off the road and to the nearest scrap dealer. Yeah.....they weren't even going to let him take it home to the garage.
Strictness? Yes.....that's the one thing about German safety rules for cars. You either meet standards, or your vehicle is taken off the road.....immediately. Just on the overweight business....that was enough by itself to make the rest of the experience negative.
As for altering vehicles? From time to time.....you come across a German guy who has a mechanical mind and time on his hands......doing something dynamic to his car. If it's a safety-related issue.....you are supposed to take it to the TUV folks and have the vehicle inspected. At the very least.....they might request a waiver on something and let you get away with the modification. Typically.....they don't like changes.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Show From Last Night
I sat and watch Team Wallraff last night on RTL (Germany's commercial network). It's a Sixty Minutes style show....except these reporters dress up in disguise and actually walk right into the middle of the story....digging awful deep into 'wrongs'.
The topic last night? Companies who prepare ready-to-eat type food for schools and old-folk's homes. The meat used for these dinners is out of date. The vegetables had mold. The kitchen areas are loaded with bacteria. By the time I got to the end of the show.....I was simply shaking my head. You can't walk into any cafeteria now, without thinking about where the food came from and who is in the back of the kitchen preparing it.
The German school system defends ready-to-eat situation because it's low cost and it's all they can afford (at least they claim that). The old-folk's homes claim the same thing.
The odd thing here is that over the past decade....Germans have emphasized nutritional eating situations. The experts have appeared on TV and in chat forums....pushing across how food needs to have X, Y, and Z. So the food preparation companies have complied. The general problem is that while 98-percent of food selections work within the rules.....you will run across situations where someone misses an expiration date or the only vegetables available might be questionable. Some of the workers appear to be lacking in decision-making or worried about what their boss might think if they throw stuff out in the garbage.
For the political chat folks? I suspect the show will drive more political chat.....more inspectors....and more criticism over what they demanded a decade ago....cheap but nutritional food.
The topic last night? Companies who prepare ready-to-eat type food for schools and old-folk's homes. The meat used for these dinners is out of date. The vegetables had mold. The kitchen areas are loaded with bacteria. By the time I got to the end of the show.....I was simply shaking my head. You can't walk into any cafeteria now, without thinking about where the food came from and who is in the back of the kitchen preparing it.
The German school system defends ready-to-eat situation because it's low cost and it's all they can afford (at least they claim that). The old-folk's homes claim the same thing.
The odd thing here is that over the past decade....Germans have emphasized nutritional eating situations. The experts have appeared on TV and in chat forums....pushing across how food needs to have X, Y, and Z. So the food preparation companies have complied. The general problem is that while 98-percent of food selections work within the rules.....you will run across situations where someone misses an expiration date or the only vegetables available might be questionable. Some of the workers appear to be lacking in decision-making or worried about what their boss might think if they throw stuff out in the garbage.
For the political chat folks? I suspect the show will drive more political chat.....more inspectors....and more criticism over what they demanded a decade ago....cheap but nutritional food.
Monday, June 8, 2015
The Obama Speeches in Germany
With yesterday's speech at the G7 conference in Kruen, there's been four total speeches delivered in Germany.
The first one, has been kinda oddly portrayed by the news media. This was summer 2007.....24 July....a Tuesday. In the midst of the campaign run.....the candidate Obama took off for Europe to do a walk-through of Landstuhl, and then landed in Berlin to deliver a major speech.
The news media talks of the 200,000 Germans that showed up that afternoon as a big deal. Most think the positive trend for President Obama in the first year or two in Europe came out of this speech.
But there's this odd thing that was necessary for the Berlin speech to work.....a rock band by the name of Reamonn was part of the opening act. The second act was a Reggae band....Patrice. The necessity of having the two bands there? This has been an odd topic which no German news source has been willing look at or ask questions.
Who sponsored the bands and stage-set-up? Unknown. That wasn't talked about to any degree.
Would the 200,000 people have shown up without the bands? Unknown. It should be noted that neither band appeals to the over-40 crowd, so there's some doubt if more than a couple thousand folks over the age of 40 showed up. There's also the odd thing about having an open-air free concert deal.....on a Tuesday, which is awful....awful.....awful rare. This kinda of thing in Germany never happens.
The 19 June 2013 speech at the Brandenburg Gate? It turned into an odd affair as well. The Berlin city government ended up making it a invited guest only situation....with a max of five thousand people allowed into the area for the speech. Beyond that....except for television coverage....it was not a significant event.
As evening fell.....I sat and watched the 19 June 2013 speech on TV and watch a rather heated and hectic event unfold. Germany was in the middle of a heatwave and the Secret Service set up some kind of unusual glass protection device in front of the President. The heat around him? I'd guess near 115 degrees.....he was sweating badly and he was rushing through the speech at a fair pace. As speeches go.....it's was a marginal two-star episode and I think the heat really screwed up the event.
Yesterday's speech in Bavaria? It was a light-weight episode and mostly geared to reassure Germans about the great US-German relationship. Marginally effective.....it was probably the last occasion that the President will be in Germany (roughly eighteen months left in office).
My general feeling is that after Bush's year in office and the negativity that existed (anti-Americanism would be a good word to use).....Germans had some fantastic opinion that President Obama was Kennedy-and-Reagan all tied into one guy. There was high expectations after the Berlin speech and the first couple of months. Then, they came to some observation that Obama was simply Bush version 2.0. Between the war episodes, the drones, the NSA affair, and a dozen other situations.....Germans have fallen back to waiting for the next guy and hoping he'll fix what Bush and Obama couldn't fix.
If it seems like I made Germans into massive skeptics.....well....yeah....that would be the perfect way to describe them currently, and how to view 2016 approaching.
"The Tenth"
Occasionally, I'll throw out some minor point in history which has an impact upon society.
The printing press didn't come about until 1525. Until that point.....books were hand-written....meaning there were very few books published.
At the point where books could now be published.....this suddenly opened up society to sharing open information or knowledge. In 1585.....Simon Stevin (a Flemish scholar of sorts) published a book over his study of fractions.
What he was suggesting in this small book was the use of decimal fractions (.01, .083, examples). People had come this idea before.....but no one had published this in some journal or book to get public reaction.
This came under the book title of De Thiende ("The Tenth").
The original document came up in 1585 and later (23 years later).....it was translated into English. Oddly, it is the driving force to get everyone using exponents of one-tenth. But Stevin goes one step further in this book. He actually suggest that one standard measurement start to exist within the world.
You see, up until this point....if you went to Amsterdam, there was a unique measurement used in the local area. If you went to Rome, there was a unique measurement used in Rome. If you went to London, they had their own unique measurement. "The Tenth" went and suggested to the public that everyone would benefit if we all did calculations in the same way.
Bakers, surveyors, scientists, traders, ship captains, etc......they were drawn to this fundamental concept of precise measurements.
If you were looking for one of the top ten books of all time.....which made a difference in society.....it would have to be in the top ten. Yet, it rarely gets mentioned today.
The printing press didn't come about until 1525. Until that point.....books were hand-written....meaning there were very few books published.
At the point where books could now be published.....this suddenly opened up society to sharing open information or knowledge. In 1585.....Simon Stevin (a Flemish scholar of sorts) published a book over his study of fractions.
What he was suggesting in this small book was the use of decimal fractions (.01, .083, examples). People had come this idea before.....but no one had published this in some journal or book to get public reaction.
This came under the book title of De Thiende ("The Tenth").
The original document came up in 1585 and later (23 years later).....it was translated into English. Oddly, it is the driving force to get everyone using exponents of one-tenth. But Stevin goes one step further in this book. He actually suggest that one standard measurement start to exist within the world.
You see, up until this point....if you went to Amsterdam, there was a unique measurement used in the local area. If you went to Rome, there was a unique measurement used in Rome. If you went to London, they had their own unique measurement. "The Tenth" went and suggested to the public that everyone would benefit if we all did calculations in the same way.
Bakers, surveyors, scientists, traders, ship captains, etc......they were drawn to this fundamental concept of precise measurements.
If you were looking for one of the top ten books of all time.....which made a difference in society.....it would have to be in the top ten. Yet, it rarely gets mentioned today.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
The Beer Situation
Generally, by German drinking standards.....especially under holiday schedules or vacation periods.....guys will sip a cool beer at times after 10AM. I do agree....it's rare, and most German guys wouldn't touch a beer until after 12. The reason for the 12-rule? Mostly because of various stares of German women....condemning the guy for drinking 'early'.
So, I won't say much over the picture. If you hang around German guys enough.....especially on hot summer days and vacation periods.....they generally start drinking early and sip through six to ten beers (half-liter containers) for a big portion of the day. These are smart guys who know that the cops will take away their license easily....so they generally walk to the pub....an outdoor garden situation.....and talk over conflicts, soccer, new technology, politics, crappy TV shows, and car issues while sipping their beer.
For the American anti-drinking folks? Well.....what I can say is that if you aren't driving or doing legislative business.....the harsh standards for anti-drinking talk isn't worth discussing. In this G7 atmosphere.....there's virtually nothing of significance that will occur, and the President won't be driving (he hasn't driven since 2008).
The "Inside" Deal for the 2006 World Cup in Germany
Over the weekend, it's come out that Germany had to work various deals.....to ensure the 2006 World Cup came to Germany. The committee had come down to two choices....South Africa and Germany. The decision was roughly 11 to 11, with one vote standing out in the open.....Saudi Arabia.
So, Chancellor Schroeder of Germany made a deal to release various weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. The weapons? Currently, it's listed only as rocket-propelled grenades. I know....it's a odd donation to get the World Cup, but that's the story from the Guardian (a British newspaper).
From the twelve votes that Germany received.....how many were bribed-votes? Unknown. It's possible that all twelve votes were bribed in some way.
Hostility in Germany? No.....mostly just shock. They all thought it was legit, and it's a shocker to sit there and realize the amount of corruption involved in FIFA and the fact that World Cup after World Cup.....probably were deep into bribes.
Within Germany? Well....that would bring up the next discussion over bribes. You see.....twelve sites were chosen for the games. The folks in Berlin, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Koln, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, Gelsenkirchen, Hanover, Kaiserslautern, and Hamburg? Each had individual city and state folks involved in their version of bribes and special deals. It just continued to filter on down to the lowest level.
It's hard to say where this will end.
So, Chancellor Schroeder of Germany made a deal to release various weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. The weapons? Currently, it's listed only as rocket-propelled grenades. I know....it's a odd donation to get the World Cup, but that's the story from the Guardian (a British newspaper).
From the twelve votes that Germany received.....how many were bribed-votes? Unknown. It's possible that all twelve votes were bribed in some way.
Hostility in Germany? No.....mostly just shock. They all thought it was legit, and it's a shocker to sit there and realize the amount of corruption involved in FIFA and the fact that World Cup after World Cup.....probably were deep into bribes.
Within Germany? Well....that would bring up the next discussion over bribes. You see.....twelve sites were chosen for the games. The folks in Berlin, Dortmund, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Koln, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, Gelsenkirchen, Hanover, Kaiserslautern, and Hamburg? Each had individual city and state folks involved in their version of bribes and special deals. It just continued to filter on down to the lowest level.
It's hard to say where this will end.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Blitz Cameras
This is one of those odd Germany stories that takes a minute to explain in full detail.
Over the past couple of years.....there's been this trend toward 'blitz-machines'.....the cameras that check your speed and take a picture of your car if you are speeding.
For years, it was an odd thing if your town had one. Bigger cities? They all had five or six, but since 2010.....I'd say that things have gone into turbo mode as a company now offers the installation services and gets a contract with a town to provide a blitz camera. So now....small towns (even those with two-thousand residents).....will have a camera. The purpose? They will tell you it's to stop speeding.....but they generally pull in tons of money from the cameras.....well....up until recently.
With people getting blitzed left and right.....the trend now is noting where the cameras area located and drive slower around those areas. So, business-wise......you install a camera and six months later start to notice a trend.....lesser speeders.
The take for the company? Four Euro and fifty cents. You can do the math.....a thousand violators a month means 4,500 Euro for the company.
Well, small towns got into this process and signed contracts.....then put up cameras in low frequency traffic areas. Folks got smart.....drove a lesser speed......and six months later the blitz company woke up to realize a camera was now pulling in less than a 1,000 Euro a month.....which makes this whole unprofitable for them.
This week in Hessen, several communities got a note which basically said that the commercial company was quitting the contract within their town and taking the camera out.....the profit was marginal.
Naturally, this has peeved off the community because they got use to thirty-odd Euro from the fines, and were taking in six to eight thousand Euro a month easily.....adding to the profit of the town. They say they will fight the termination notice.
In my village of 4,000 people.....we have zero blitz cameras and I doubt if they'd ever add them. In the village over the hill of 8,000 residents? They've got four cameras. Three of them are on major streets, but the fourth is on some minor street. From the 4th camera.....I doubt if they get more than six violators a day off it.....most are folks who live off the street and it's peeved them to a major degree.
The Wiesbaden crowd? They probably generate 40,000 Euro per week off the twenty-five-odd cameras they keep around town.
All of this brings me to the odd topic of what the blitz camera fad was about......money-generator or safety device? I think ninety-fiver percent of people would say it's a money-generator.....which rarely decreases the speed in the affected area. It would be curious if positive numbers on fewer accidents occurred.
Over the past couple of years.....there's been this trend toward 'blitz-machines'.....the cameras that check your speed and take a picture of your car if you are speeding.
For years, it was an odd thing if your town had one. Bigger cities? They all had five or six, but since 2010.....I'd say that things have gone into turbo mode as a company now offers the installation services and gets a contract with a town to provide a blitz camera. So now....small towns (even those with two-thousand residents).....will have a camera. The purpose? They will tell you it's to stop speeding.....but they generally pull in tons of money from the cameras.....well....up until recently.
With people getting blitzed left and right.....the trend now is noting where the cameras area located and drive slower around those areas. So, business-wise......you install a camera and six months later start to notice a trend.....lesser speeders.
The take for the company? Four Euro and fifty cents. You can do the math.....a thousand violators a month means 4,500 Euro for the company.
Well, small towns got into this process and signed contracts.....then put up cameras in low frequency traffic areas. Folks got smart.....drove a lesser speed......and six months later the blitz company woke up to realize a camera was now pulling in less than a 1,000 Euro a month.....which makes this whole unprofitable for them.
This week in Hessen, several communities got a note which basically said that the commercial company was quitting the contract within their town and taking the camera out.....the profit was marginal.
Naturally, this has peeved off the community because they got use to thirty-odd Euro from the fines, and were taking in six to eight thousand Euro a month easily.....adding to the profit of the town. They say they will fight the termination notice.
In my village of 4,000 people.....we have zero blitz cameras and I doubt if they'd ever add them. In the village over the hill of 8,000 residents? They've got four cameras. Three of them are on major streets, but the fourth is on some minor street. From the 4th camera.....I doubt if they get more than six violators a day off it.....most are folks who live off the street and it's peeved them to a major degree.
The Wiesbaden crowd? They probably generate 40,000 Euro per week off the twenty-five-odd cameras they keep around town.
All of this brings me to the odd topic of what the blitz camera fad was about......money-generator or safety device? I think ninety-fiver percent of people would say it's a money-generator.....which rarely decreases the speed in the affected area. It would be curious if positive numbers on fewer accidents occurred.
Paul de Lagarde
Paul de Lagarde isn't a household name. If you brought him up among a hundred Germans......one might recall the name and simply note that he came out of the 1800s and had some strange connection to the Nazis, but was dead forty years prior to Hitler and the Nazis coming to power.
de Lagarde is a Berliner born in 1827.....and mostly destined for his life as an intellectural. He spent three years of time at Humboldt University (Berlin, 1844 to 1846) and two years at University of Halle-Wittenberg (Halle, 1846 through 1847). His field? Religious studies, philosophy and oddly enough.....Oriental languages.
All of this led de Lagarde to a self-appointed status as a Bible scholar and oriental languages expert. And.....to this odd field of expertise referred to as a polymath.
Naturally, you'd ask what a polymath is.....because you've never heard the title or word before.
Well....it's a Greek term that goes back centuries in terms of usage but mostly defined as a modern science or way of thinking in the 1700s.
Basically, a polymath is a guy or gal who has had a number of fields of study....beyond the normal university graduate.....so they "say" that they have "learned much" and can make better decisions over problems than the normal average guy with one single field of study. He can draw upon vast knowledge.....to answer complex questions unrelated to the general field of his expertise.
It's kinda like the guy who studies diesel mechanics, read all of Mark Twain's books, spent four years at a Bible college, and then spent eight months at some community college with intense studies into business operations......THEN he says that he's a big-time five-star expert on farming or professional baseball management.
So, le Lagarde comes out in 1875 with a book, and discusses the problem of German society integrating (you have to remember in 1800.....there were 300 different cultures, kingdoms, city-states, and empires existing in Germany). Prussia was roughly 70-odd years into integrating this massive structure into one country, and de Lagarde decided that the majority could make the integration move....BUT the Jews could never integrate.
In the logic that le Lagarde used......various Germanic peoples had the power and capability to blend into one society.....but the Jews were not of the Germanic people or culture.
All of this led le Lagarde to suggest at one point.....why not pressure or force the German Jews to move to a new land.....well.....like Madagascar (an island on the Indian Ocean side of Africa). Naturally, in the world of intellectural wisdom.....it all made sense. The fact that you were forcing in some way the event....the fact that Africans already inhabited Madagascar.....didn't really get mentioned. The fact that you'd have to take property and wealth from the Jews as you did this.....for redistribution purposes.....well, that was lost on le Lagarde as well.
Most historians who try to recount the real birth of Nazi-thinking.....end up in the 1875-era and looking over a highly published number of items from Paul de Lagarde. People read his essays and got attached to his way of thinking. Looking around for some mention in a college history class? No.....you won't find le Lagarde mentioned. In fact, if you took a basic class on German history.....it's a one-percent chance that le Lagarde will get mentioned even once. If you could find a history program splits German history up into six different classes and emphasized the events in each era......that's about the only way that you get a ten minute-introduction into the effect of one single guy on German history.
A self-absorbed intellectural who thought he knew the big picture? Yeah....that's the simplicity of this one single guy.
How many polymaths do we have around today? Hmmm.....that would be a curious question to pose.
de Lagarde is a Berliner born in 1827.....and mostly destined for his life as an intellectural. He spent three years of time at Humboldt University (Berlin, 1844 to 1846) and two years at University of Halle-Wittenberg (Halle, 1846 through 1847). His field? Religious studies, philosophy and oddly enough.....Oriental languages.
All of this led de Lagarde to a self-appointed status as a Bible scholar and oriental languages expert. And.....to this odd field of expertise referred to as a polymath.
Naturally, you'd ask what a polymath is.....because you've never heard the title or word before.
Well....it's a Greek term that goes back centuries in terms of usage but mostly defined as a modern science or way of thinking in the 1700s.
Basically, a polymath is a guy or gal who has had a number of fields of study....beyond the normal university graduate.....so they "say" that they have "learned much" and can make better decisions over problems than the normal average guy with one single field of study. He can draw upon vast knowledge.....to answer complex questions unrelated to the general field of his expertise.
It's kinda like the guy who studies diesel mechanics, read all of Mark Twain's books, spent four years at a Bible college, and then spent eight months at some community college with intense studies into business operations......THEN he says that he's a big-time five-star expert on farming or professional baseball management.
So, le Lagarde comes out in 1875 with a book, and discusses the problem of German society integrating (you have to remember in 1800.....there were 300 different cultures, kingdoms, city-states, and empires existing in Germany). Prussia was roughly 70-odd years into integrating this massive structure into one country, and de Lagarde decided that the majority could make the integration move....BUT the Jews could never integrate.
In the logic that le Lagarde used......various Germanic peoples had the power and capability to blend into one society.....but the Jews were not of the Germanic people or culture.
All of this led le Lagarde to suggest at one point.....why not pressure or force the German Jews to move to a new land.....well.....like Madagascar (an island on the Indian Ocean side of Africa). Naturally, in the world of intellectural wisdom.....it all made sense. The fact that you were forcing in some way the event....the fact that Africans already inhabited Madagascar.....didn't really get mentioned. The fact that you'd have to take property and wealth from the Jews as you did this.....for redistribution purposes.....well, that was lost on le Lagarde as well.
Most historians who try to recount the real birth of Nazi-thinking.....end up in the 1875-era and looking over a highly published number of items from Paul de Lagarde. People read his essays and got attached to his way of thinking. Looking around for some mention in a college history class? No.....you won't find le Lagarde mentioned. In fact, if you took a basic class on German history.....it's a one-percent chance that le Lagarde will get mentioned even once. If you could find a history program splits German history up into six different classes and emphasized the events in each era......that's about the only way that you get a ten minute-introduction into the effect of one single guy on German history.
A self-absorbed intellectural who thought he knew the big picture? Yeah....that's the simplicity of this one single guy.
How many polymaths do we have around today? Hmmm.....that would be a curious question to pose.
The Thing About a Sabbatical
It existed to a minor degree prior to WW I, and took off to a fair degree in the 1960s. Today? You rarely hear much about it.
A European sabbatical.
This isn't a two week trip to London or Paris. It's not meant to be a ten-day trip to Rome. It's not really a seven-day trip to Madrid.
This was typically where you'd take anywhere from a month to twelve months.....just hoping on a train and going places in Europe. Somehow.....junior would graduate from college and convince dad to pour a couple of thousand dollars into a life-experience. Somehow....Mandy would convince mom that she needed ten weeks in France to get a flavor of life that she'd missed in school.
These were all people who would return and for decades....talk about that summer off in 1972....or that entire year off in 1964....where they saw Paris, Munich, Normandy, some unnamed beach resort in Greece, ate real Italian pizza every day for a month, sipped cheap Portuguese wine, and rode a scooter around Denmark to see things.
I've spent roughly twenty-four years of my life on the European 'sabbatical'. I admit....I worked most of the period in Europe and it wasn't my intentional goal to start with. But somewhere along the way.....I've come to realize the value in walking around Europe and getting a feel for history, culture, and dynamics.
For example.....until you've walked around London and gotten a feel for the area involved in the 1666 'great fire of London'......you really don't understand the vast nature of the town burning down. Until you've stood in the Gutenberg Museum of Mainz and looked over the printing process.....you don't understand the drift of society and impact over the next hundred years. Until you've actually driven over the Alps (not through the tunnels, but over the top).....you really don't grasp the division of Europe from north to south. Until you've sat in an Irish pub and listened to the woeful tales of some strange Irish guy and his crazy family.....you don't understand the nature of the Irish people.
No one keeps statistical data on how many Americans do this. I'd take a guess that ten thousand do it each year. Some write journals over the experience.....some write a simplified blog of the grand trip....some never return to the US, having realized some alternate reality of American life is slightly better and more desired.
If you asked me about the advantages.....I'd say there are four distinctive achievements from such an experience.
First, you get the raw truth of life in the 'other' world. It's not relayed to you via the news media or some guy who spent seven nights in Paris and thinks he's got the big picture. In some ways, it's not a pleasant picture because you realize the limits or negatives of life in Europe. It costs more....it's not simple to get from A to B.....and languages can be a massive issue.
Second, a typical trip around the US will introduce you to three-hundred varieties of a lunch or dinner....more or less. So you'd think that's it, and discover after six months of traveling around Europe.....another four-thousand ways of making a lunch or dinner and tempting you with different degrees of cooking. You develop a taste for Italian pizza because it's cooked on a stone oven, or you savor the taste of Rhine Valley wine over the Ebro River Valley wine from Spain. You get some passion finally over liquor-filled chocolate from Austria.....that American chocolate can never satisfy again.
Third, structure.....design....format....and architecture take on another dimension once you finish up twelve weeks walking around Amsterdam, Munch and Vienna. You ask why bicycle paths in Leiden, Netherlands can't be copied and worked into the city design of American cities. You question why every single airport in Europe is hooked into a railway spur and connect people quickly to airport usage......and why we can't do it in the US. You look over Danish beach areas and ask why Danes leave their beaches "as-is".....without any fancy resorts or hotels scattered around them.
Fourth, finally.....you come around to this odd thing of American patience versus European patience. There is this calm nature that is anchored into most of European society. Rash decision making isn't an item that you'd readily find in any European country. The idea of a bold new concept suddenly taking root and transforming itself in a matter of weeks or months? It won't happen in Europe. Wal-Mart failed when it tried to introduce itself into Europe. Most American fast food enterprises enjoyed a good early start, but over the past two or three years in Europe.....they've realized overgrowth and less-curious customers. Playing business poker or agenda poker with society.....isn't something that readily occurs in Europe....with odds for success being a bigger deal than most Americans are used to or enjoy.
So, if someone asked me over the idea of giving 'junior' ten-thousand dollars and six months in Europe on some sabbatical after four years of college.....I'd generally say it'd be money well spent and deliver a unique experience to the kid. I wouldn't give an 18-year old kid the experience....mostly because I'd question how they'd view the whole thing or the gains for them for later in life.
Sabbatical traveling.....might be the twist in life that someone needed.....to reset their compass and view the bigger world.
A European sabbatical.
This isn't a two week trip to London or Paris. It's not meant to be a ten-day trip to Rome. It's not really a seven-day trip to Madrid.
This was typically where you'd take anywhere from a month to twelve months.....just hoping on a train and going places in Europe. Somehow.....junior would graduate from college and convince dad to pour a couple of thousand dollars into a life-experience. Somehow....Mandy would convince mom that she needed ten weeks in France to get a flavor of life that she'd missed in school.
These were all people who would return and for decades....talk about that summer off in 1972....or that entire year off in 1964....where they saw Paris, Munich, Normandy, some unnamed beach resort in Greece, ate real Italian pizza every day for a month, sipped cheap Portuguese wine, and rode a scooter around Denmark to see things.
I've spent roughly twenty-four years of my life on the European 'sabbatical'. I admit....I worked most of the period in Europe and it wasn't my intentional goal to start with. But somewhere along the way.....I've come to realize the value in walking around Europe and getting a feel for history, culture, and dynamics.
For example.....until you've walked around London and gotten a feel for the area involved in the 1666 'great fire of London'......you really don't understand the vast nature of the town burning down. Until you've stood in the Gutenberg Museum of Mainz and looked over the printing process.....you don't understand the drift of society and impact over the next hundred years. Until you've actually driven over the Alps (not through the tunnels, but over the top).....you really don't grasp the division of Europe from north to south. Until you've sat in an Irish pub and listened to the woeful tales of some strange Irish guy and his crazy family.....you don't understand the nature of the Irish people.
No one keeps statistical data on how many Americans do this. I'd take a guess that ten thousand do it each year. Some write journals over the experience.....some write a simplified blog of the grand trip....some never return to the US, having realized some alternate reality of American life is slightly better and more desired.
If you asked me about the advantages.....I'd say there are four distinctive achievements from such an experience.
First, you get the raw truth of life in the 'other' world. It's not relayed to you via the news media or some guy who spent seven nights in Paris and thinks he's got the big picture. In some ways, it's not a pleasant picture because you realize the limits or negatives of life in Europe. It costs more....it's not simple to get from A to B.....and languages can be a massive issue.
Second, a typical trip around the US will introduce you to three-hundred varieties of a lunch or dinner....more or less. So you'd think that's it, and discover after six months of traveling around Europe.....another four-thousand ways of making a lunch or dinner and tempting you with different degrees of cooking. You develop a taste for Italian pizza because it's cooked on a stone oven, or you savor the taste of Rhine Valley wine over the Ebro River Valley wine from Spain. You get some passion finally over liquor-filled chocolate from Austria.....that American chocolate can never satisfy again.
Third, structure.....design....format....and architecture take on another dimension once you finish up twelve weeks walking around Amsterdam, Munch and Vienna. You ask why bicycle paths in Leiden, Netherlands can't be copied and worked into the city design of American cities. You question why every single airport in Europe is hooked into a railway spur and connect people quickly to airport usage......and why we can't do it in the US. You look over Danish beach areas and ask why Danes leave their beaches "as-is".....without any fancy resorts or hotels scattered around them.
Fourth, finally.....you come around to this odd thing of American patience versus European patience. There is this calm nature that is anchored into most of European society. Rash decision making isn't an item that you'd readily find in any European country. The idea of a bold new concept suddenly taking root and transforming itself in a matter of weeks or months? It won't happen in Europe. Wal-Mart failed when it tried to introduce itself into Europe. Most American fast food enterprises enjoyed a good early start, but over the past two or three years in Europe.....they've realized overgrowth and less-curious customers. Playing business poker or agenda poker with society.....isn't something that readily occurs in Europe....with odds for success being a bigger deal than most Americans are used to or enjoy.
So, if someone asked me over the idea of giving 'junior' ten-thousand dollars and six months in Europe on some sabbatical after four years of college.....I'd generally say it'd be money well spent and deliver a unique experience to the kid. I wouldn't give an 18-year old kid the experience....mostly because I'd question how they'd view the whole thing or the gains for them for later in life.
Sabbatical traveling.....might be the twist in life that someone needed.....to reset their compass and view the bigger world.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Hessen and Immigration
The Hessen (my local German state) State Statistical Office noted yesterday that for 2014.....the state of Hessen took in 26,600 immigrants.
That's seventy-eight percent more than in 2013.
The division? Only eleven-percent of the 26,600 came from Syria. Thirty-percent came from Afghanistan. Thirty-nine percent came from Asia. The rest were a mixed group.
A high point? No.....actually, the all-time record was in 1997 with 53,300 people, and most came out of the Bosnia region.
For 2015? It's difficult to say a prediction but one might guess that it'll go higher than the 2014 number. I might take a guess at 30,000 or more.
Problems? The news media is careful now to avoid discussing any problems. I noticed this week.....one refugee center in the Hessen region got into the news because rat problems and marginal social office assistance. Two years ago.....you might have seen thirty to fifty stories a month via national and state-run TV. Now? There might be three or four stories a month. My humble guess is that there are a lot of Germans frustrated over the immigration and refugee business and it's best to say as little as possible.
Successful end? No one is really sure when this immigration/refugee episode will come to a downgraded situation. Housing in Hessen....particularly in Frankfurt, Hanau, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden, is on an odd trend. We are mostly maxing out in the urban areas.....with massive construction going on in the suburbs outside of the urban zones (Wiesbaden has several thousand apartments either in construction presently or planned through 2016-2020). In the rural areas.....houses and apartments sit empty.....particularly if the town is fifty kilometers away from any urban area. Oddly.....the new immigrants don't want to live in rural areas.
So, it's impossible to predict where this trend will finally stabilize.
That's seventy-eight percent more than in 2013.
The division? Only eleven-percent of the 26,600 came from Syria. Thirty-percent came from Afghanistan. Thirty-nine percent came from Asia. The rest were a mixed group.
A high point? No.....actually, the all-time record was in 1997 with 53,300 people, and most came out of the Bosnia region.
For 2015? It's difficult to say a prediction but one might guess that it'll go higher than the 2014 number. I might take a guess at 30,000 or more.
Problems? The news media is careful now to avoid discussing any problems. I noticed this week.....one refugee center in the Hessen region got into the news because rat problems and marginal social office assistance. Two years ago.....you might have seen thirty to fifty stories a month via national and state-run TV. Now? There might be three or four stories a month. My humble guess is that there are a lot of Germans frustrated over the immigration and refugee business and it's best to say as little as possible.
Successful end? No one is really sure when this immigration/refugee episode will come to a downgraded situation. Housing in Hessen....particularly in Frankfurt, Hanau, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden, is on an odd trend. We are mostly maxing out in the urban areas.....with massive construction going on in the suburbs outside of the urban zones (Wiesbaden has several thousand apartments either in construction presently or planned through 2016-2020). In the rural areas.....houses and apartments sit empty.....particularly if the town is fifty kilometers away from any urban area. Oddly.....the new immigrants don't want to live in rural areas.
So, it's impossible to predict where this trend will finally stabilize.
More FIFA
The FIFA business has flipped into a opera of sorts in recent days. There is some belief that from the folks arrested so far and held in Switzerland presently.....are talking via their lawyers and working deals. If so, it's mostly about providing more information on other members within FIFA. Remember.....those arrested are all US citizens. No other nationality as far as I've seen.....as been arrested or detained.
I sat yesterday and watched two interviews with former executives of European soccer. Their feeling was that the World Cup games for 2018 in Russia will continue ahead. Neither felt the Qatar World Cup, scheduled for 2022, would be held.
Reaction by Qatar if this cancellation occurs? Court action against FIFA because of the billions wasted. FIFA could easily be bankrupted. Because of the current organization of FIFA and its rules.....one country equals one vote.....there's a lot of harsh words from European and South American clubs over FIFA and it's brand of 'reality'. There might be enthusiasm to just let FIFA fail....go bankrupt......and dissolve away. Then create a new football association that limits itself to strictly Europe and maybe six countries out of South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Chile and Equador). They could hold a World Cup every two years.....alternating between Europe and South America.
The odd thing about this whole news item of FIFA? Out of eighty million Germans.....to be honest.....barely five-percent of the female population (41 million) have any interest in this topic. It kinda dominates the first five minutes of each nightly newscast, and earns some ten-minute update spot around 10PM.
I sat yesterday and watched two interviews with former executives of European soccer. Their feeling was that the World Cup games for 2018 in Russia will continue ahead. Neither felt the Qatar World Cup, scheduled for 2022, would be held.
Reaction by Qatar if this cancellation occurs? Court action against FIFA because of the billions wasted. FIFA could easily be bankrupted. Because of the current organization of FIFA and its rules.....one country equals one vote.....there's a lot of harsh words from European and South American clubs over FIFA and it's brand of 'reality'. There might be enthusiasm to just let FIFA fail....go bankrupt......and dissolve away. Then create a new football association that limits itself to strictly Europe and maybe six countries out of South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, Venezuela, Chile and Equador). They could hold a World Cup every two years.....alternating between Europe and South America.
The odd thing about this whole news item of FIFA? Out of eighty million Germans.....to be honest.....barely five-percent of the female population (41 million) have any interest in this topic. It kinda dominates the first five minutes of each nightly newscast, and earns some ten-minute update spot around 10PM.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
The Process of Life
We had this odd accident in the region yesterday morning. Gal was driving herself and two kids in the car into Wiesbaden (probably fifteen minutes from the city limits). Suddenly, a spider appears in the front seat area.
Yep, the gal freaks out....weaves across the road, and hits an oncoming car.
Fairly serious situation and all four folks were carried off to the hospital with significant injuries.
The spider? Well....based on lack of comments.....I'd say he walked away.
This is the thing about car accidents. You could be feeling great and marvelous.....and end up on the road at the same time and place where Sammy the spider decides to show himself, with the other driver freaking out. Life is that screwed up.
Yep, the gal freaks out....weaves across the road, and hits an oncoming car.
Fairly serious situation and all four folks were carried off to the hospital with significant injuries.
The spider? Well....based on lack of comments.....I'd say he walked away.
This is the thing about car accidents. You could be feeling great and marvelous.....and end up on the road at the same time and place where Sammy the spider decides to show himself, with the other driver freaking out. Life is that screwed up.
Germans and Spring Water
I'm using my best-guess numbers....because no one ever collects this kind of data.....but I'd take a guess that around fifteen Germans out of a thousand.....will go out weekly to collect local spring water from one single source, for their water and coffee requirements.
These are people....mostly over the age of fifty and fairly dedicated to a particular taste of water and it needs to be non-city piped water. Health conscious? Well.....I'd take a guess that these are also people into a certain way of living.....into wellness things....and into nutritional enhancement.
So people take a dozen odd containers every week or two and run off to a local spring. Water quality? Best not to bring this up. Within thirty minutes driving of my place....there's probably two-hundred such springs, and I doubt if any government office really wants to have that responsibility.
The most unusual of the springs I've seen? Between Wiesbaden and the Frankfurt airport.....there's a spring area about 100 feet away from the autobahn itself.
These are people....mostly over the age of fifty and fairly dedicated to a particular taste of water and it needs to be non-city piped water. Health conscious? Well.....I'd take a guess that these are also people into a certain way of living.....into wellness things....and into nutritional enhancement.
So people take a dozen odd containers every week or two and run off to a local spring. Water quality? Best not to bring this up. Within thirty minutes driving of my place....there's probably two-hundred such springs, and I doubt if any government office really wants to have that responsibility.
The most unusual of the springs I've seen? Between Wiesbaden and the Frankfurt airport.....there's a spring area about 100 feet away from the autobahn itself.
Germans and Homeopathic Medicine
German doctors are probably among the best in the world......they will tell you that and the public generally believes the 'status' of the comment. My personal belief is that they probably are at the same level as American doctors. There are a few differences in medical beliefs and practices that tend to pop up....like Homeopathic medicine.
Somewhere down the line in the 1700s....within Germany....Homeopathic practice started up. The basic idea? Your body is capable of doing a lot of great things and you need to practice some good habits and let it go on cruise-control.
So, they hype up a balanced diet....less meat....heavy on vegetables....and wine somewhere in the mix (in moderate portions of course). They talk up the use of herbal remedies....lots of tea usage....moderate walking/hiking.....and baths (this is how Wiesbaden got into the spa business originally).
In the middle of all of this Homeopathic medicine.....are globules. These are Schuessler salts or referred to as Bach Flower Therapy. If you looked at a container.....you'd say these were tiny M&M-like....often referred to as "beads".
What I'll generally say about the Bach Flower Therapy is that the German doctor who devised this.....said there were nineteen different emotional states of the mind (he says he did a fair amount of survey to arrive at this analysis). This was part of a trend in the 1930s.....generating different views on medicine. So the globules or Bach Flower Therapy....come mostly from an assortment of flowers (Wild Rose and Willow are among them.....I won't waste a lot of time listing all of the thirty-seven flowers in the group), and mountain spring water. That's it.....nothing else.
You can get the globules in this form, or in a sugar-like form. Don't ask me the difference in terms of effect.
So you'd come across a doctor who would prescribe this as part of his Homeopathic practice (it would one of dozens of concepts to utilize).
Success or failure of the globules or Bach Flower Therapy? Well.....in the eighty-odd years since introduction....NO one has ever proven that this area of Homeopathic medicine with the globules work. What is generally believed is that continued usage and positive thinking that they work (like sugar pills).....come out as a positive. Long term usage and effect? Nothing negative, but nothing positive either.....at least if you look around and ask questions.
How did this guy arrive at 37 different flowers mixed into this therapy? Unknown. Maybe he bumped into someone in Bavaria who had an old mixture that grandma made up or just accidentally came to this conclusion.
As for the bulk of Homeopathic medicine? It's a divided audience in Germany. Some doctors readily utilize the ideas and suggest different gimmicks for their patients. Some readily discount the whole thing as a fraud. In general, if you ate better, drunk more water, threw in a glass of wine here and there, kept your weight down, walked two miles a day, didn't smoke, and enjoyed less stress.....you'd generally live longer. It's a statistical thing. By flipping this into a whole concept and stressing various elements as a practice....maybe that's all you need in life.
Homeopathic medicine ideas featured on German TV? Occasionally, these guys slip through the cracks and get an interview or time to spell out these ideas. The regular medical establishment isn't that happy with them but they haven't been able to stop the practices or outlaw anything. Some Germans will swear that certain things work for them.
That's the thing with globules.....a gimmick of sorts for your health. You might bump into a German neighbor or some associate who brags about their success with Homeopathic concepts. Don't be skeptical of the person.....but don't readily accept it as some scientific breakthrough. Bottom line.....it won't hurt you.
Somewhere down the line in the 1700s....within Germany....Homeopathic practice started up. The basic idea? Your body is capable of doing a lot of great things and you need to practice some good habits and let it go on cruise-control.
So, they hype up a balanced diet....less meat....heavy on vegetables....and wine somewhere in the mix (in moderate portions of course). They talk up the use of herbal remedies....lots of tea usage....moderate walking/hiking.....and baths (this is how Wiesbaden got into the spa business originally).
In the middle of all of this Homeopathic medicine.....are globules. These are Schuessler salts or referred to as Bach Flower Therapy. If you looked at a container.....you'd say these were tiny M&M-like....often referred to as "beads".
What I'll generally say about the Bach Flower Therapy is that the German doctor who devised this.....said there were nineteen different emotional states of the mind (he says he did a fair amount of survey to arrive at this analysis). This was part of a trend in the 1930s.....generating different views on medicine. So the globules or Bach Flower Therapy....come mostly from an assortment of flowers (Wild Rose and Willow are among them.....I won't waste a lot of time listing all of the thirty-seven flowers in the group), and mountain spring water. That's it.....nothing else.
You can get the globules in this form, or in a sugar-like form. Don't ask me the difference in terms of effect.
So you'd come across a doctor who would prescribe this as part of his Homeopathic practice (it would one of dozens of concepts to utilize).
Success or failure of the globules or Bach Flower Therapy? Well.....in the eighty-odd years since introduction....NO one has ever proven that this area of Homeopathic medicine with the globules work. What is generally believed is that continued usage and positive thinking that they work (like sugar pills).....come out as a positive. Long term usage and effect? Nothing negative, but nothing positive either.....at least if you look around and ask questions.
How did this guy arrive at 37 different flowers mixed into this therapy? Unknown. Maybe he bumped into someone in Bavaria who had an old mixture that grandma made up or just accidentally came to this conclusion.
As for the bulk of Homeopathic medicine? It's a divided audience in Germany. Some doctors readily utilize the ideas and suggest different gimmicks for their patients. Some readily discount the whole thing as a fraud. In general, if you ate better, drunk more water, threw in a glass of wine here and there, kept your weight down, walked two miles a day, didn't smoke, and enjoyed less stress.....you'd generally live longer. It's a statistical thing. By flipping this into a whole concept and stressing various elements as a practice....maybe that's all you need in life.
Homeopathic medicine ideas featured on German TV? Occasionally, these guys slip through the cracks and get an interview or time to spell out these ideas. The regular medical establishment isn't that happy with them but they haven't been able to stop the practices or outlaw anything. Some Germans will swear that certain things work for them.
That's the thing with globules.....a gimmick of sorts for your health. You might bump into a German neighbor or some associate who brags about their success with Homeopathic concepts. Don't be skeptical of the person.....but don't readily accept it as some scientific breakthrough. Bottom line.....it won't hurt you.
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