Five German News Stories

 1.  I sat reading over EFahrer.com this AM.....talking about the Swiss blackout precautions.  You can read it here.  The Swiss are getting pretty serious about the way to handle these winter blackouts....should they occur.

So there are four 'steps'.  Each leading to a more serious step:

Step 1.  Public facilities (libraries gov't buildings, etc) heated to minimum levels.  Any kind of advertising screen...turned off from 11 PM to 5 AM.  Unless really necessarily.....no use of electric leaf blowers or ice machines.

Step 2.  In this step....disco clubs and nightclubs should only heat to a minimum level.  Oddly enough, they also put streaming services (HD level) and the use of escalators on a forbidden list.  If you were a  pub or cafe....use of heating (even seat heaters) is forbidden. They put using irons (for your clothing) on the forbidden list.

Step 3.  E-cars got on this level.  If you own one, you can only use it if its an essential thing.  Public sports events?  Cancelled.  Car-wash facilities?  Shutdown.  They put use of DVD equipment and video hardware, with video games....also on this list.

Step 4.  Theaters, ski areas, leisure parks, etc.....shut-down.

I'm just curious how you tell some video game-consumed kid that it's forbidden because of a limit on power.  

Is this all realistic?  If you run a grid, and things are this fragile....it would beg a lot of questions how you got to this level of micro-management. 

2.  Various reports started up yesterday....German gov't discussion about them (the fed) taking over/buying the national natural gas pipeline network, and running it themselves.  

I would question how they'd improve or carry out this significant task.  

For some reason, this is coming up to the top three story level today.

3.  Some chatter from the 'Last Generation' activists....they are going to intensify their efforts in the coming weeks.  More glue episodes on the autobahns apparently.

4.  Lot of 'mocking' occurred as the German soccer team packed up and left Qatar.....by the Middle Eastern sports press.  

One gets the impression that all this negative hype the month leading up to the first game.....over Qatar....probably had a mental effect on the German players.

5.  Lufthansa activated one of its A380 jets....first back in the air since the Covid crisis grounded the whole A380 fleet.  They have 14 of them.  The plan now?  Around 4 to 5 will be flying shortly on long-haul trips.  Recovery for full-up air travel in 2023?  You might go and suggest that.