A History Story

I live about 25 minutes away from Idstein, Germany.  There are three things which the town is known for.  The first....I'll skip for another day.  The second, the witch trials between February 1676 and March 1677 (where 43 folks were executed for demon stuff), and finally....the traffic circles (roughly 35 of them).  Two of the topics...I'll blog another day.

The witch business?  By the end, they had executed 35 women and 8 guys.

What triggered the witch business?  

Most folks agree that religious zeal with fear of heresy started it.  There were ongoing tension between the Catholics and Protestants....each needing angle to get public support,  and paranoia/demonic influences help to get things going. 

I should add...witchcraft was seen as as a direct threat to Christian order. Folks had started to engineer sermons and religious texts....talking up the agents of Satan (the witches).

Crop failures, famines, and the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648)?  Over the years....they added up.  The area?  I won't say it was poverty-stricken....but poor harvests came up occasionally. 

Legal and Judicial woes?  The Carolina Code of 1532 (a legal code) was a instrument used by the Holy Roman Empire, an it permitted legal cases for witchcraft.  You could make the case that it was 'due-process' at the time.

Mass Hysteria?  Well....after you got torture to lead onto confessions...it was a  self-perpetuating cycle. 

Why it just stopped?  Mostly judicial exhaustion, locals getting anti-demonic, and oddly enough....the local count’s satisfaction that the “demon-threat” had been eradicated.

Why a ratio of 4 women for each guy....executed?  I've always speculated that the guys accused...probably had a better alibi to tell, thus lessening the potential to be found guilty.  Course, it could be that more women are demonic in nature....than guys.

The odd thing that it's the only community around....that has a history like that?  Yeah, it's a odd note.  

German Court Story

 I'll try to make this brief...coming out of the Stuttgarter Zeitung (rather long story):  

Older (mid-50s) German gal.....she is a gynecologist by trade...goes to  massage studio.  Asks for a massage....somewhere in this process....younger guy (20 years old....nationality not German)....penetrates her with two fingers (nothing else).

Yeah....that part she didn't ask for, and it's a basic rape....she goes to the police same day.

So it comes out...in reality....he has no training....no certificate.  How he got hired....unknown, and left for you to imagine.

This was back at the end of 2024.

Case recently came up....months later...guilty....2.5 years in prison.

His lawyer challenges this.

What occurs....the new court hears evidence (recently) that he lacks maturity to grasp what he did was wrong....so they throw out the bulk of the 2.5 years.

How?  Well....they applied juvenile code....not adult code....saying he wasn't really able to grasp the wrong committed.

I paused over this....three or four times.  

Cops and prosecutor did what they felt was the right-job...right charges....right ending.

Judge effort?  Well....it makes you now wonder....everyone you meet on the street....even if they look 18, 20, 25, 30 or even 45.....if they haven't reached maturity yet.....can you assume anything?

Then I pondered....after this guy exits jail.....will he even have maturity in Germany at this point....to work and survive in this atmosphere.

Yeah...pretty confusing.

The Round-About Rule

 Back in 1978, when I first came to Germany....there was this slight mention of round-abouts (traffic circles) in the German driver's training episode.  The instructor spent about five minutes going through the thrill of traffic circles, and there were probably one single question on the 100-item test relating to the circle.

For two years....around the Frankfurt region....on the rare times that I did drive beyond the base....I never encountered a single round-about.

1984 to 1986?  On my second tour?  I probably encountered about twenty round-abouts.  

From 1993 on?  It was a hit-and-miss thing....you might go a whole year and never see or experience a single one.  Sometimes you'd wander into some town and go through eight in a single day.  

I live about six miles from a small German town (12,000 residents) that has around forty-five round-abouts.  In my local city of Wiesbaden?  There might be ten in the entire city.

Lately, the cops are onto enforcing the round-about rule.....you MUST signal as you enter, and exit the round-about.  Failure to signal?  Ten Euro fine.  If you enter and go LEFT (instead of right)?  That's a 35 Euro fine.  If you park inside of the round-about (there's never room for this anyway)....it's a fifty Euro fine.

Where did round-abouts start?  Well....most folks argue in the UK....in the mid-1950s.  Some argue that the French started this in 1778.....in central Paris.  Some Germans will argue it was in Gorlitz....right around 1900.  

At some point after 2000, Ramstein (the base) went to the circles......building around twenty of them.  With the gate renovations in the past five years....there's probably another dozen thats been added.  

I'm not anti-round-about....but I'm not pro-round-about either.  

My negativity intensifies mostly when you have a two-lane (particularly if you go to a 3-lane round-about).  Your intensity of concentration bumps up a notch or two....with two lanes, and how you exit (or if you make a second or third circle....trying to get to the right lane for exit purposes).  

Around five or six years ago....there was a German story from my region....older couple (guy/gal were in their 80s) who'd planned a grocery trip....to a town that they didn't typically visit.  It's safe to say that guy driving probably didn't have full concentration of where they were going, or knew that four traffic circles were in the route.  At some point about six hours into a 45-minute trip....he pulled into a gas station and admitted he was 'stone-cold-lost' and needed some help to find his way back home.  He'd taken an exit too early, and hit another circle later that just further complicated matters (bringing him at least sixty kilometers away from his intended target).  

The intensity of building more traffic circles?  That's the rather odd thing.  If I got back to my old village around Kaiserslautern/Ramstein.....there's probably over two-hundred round-abouts which now exist.....where in the 1993 period....there were just two.  At the pace of things?  I would suggest in another decade, that a minimum of four-hundred round-abouts will exist in that one single region.  

Heat Realities

 Today, my German valley will peak at 30 C (86 F).  For me....without the AC running (just 3  fans)....I don't consider it a big deal.

32 C (90 F)?  It starts to reach a  point.....where I say it's warm.

34 C (93 F)?  That's where the windows are shut....the AC runs in one room....all six fans are running.

But is 93 F really HOT, or just mildly warm?

I spent 3 years in Panama, and followed that with four in Arizona....with one day reaching 47 C (117 F).

I'm just not sitting much within the German reality of a HEAT-WAVE.

10 July 2026: Germany: 3 Things

 1.  What VW says....because of declining profits....they will cut the models they produce....maybe a 50-percent reduction.

Odd other factor?  They are settling on the idea of limiting 'options' (figure 50-to-75 percent cuts there).  Yeah.....bare base models are the path for the next year or two.

I will be honest....for the Audi A5 that my wife bought (2019)....offering here near 50 different options...was the wrong thing.  She had to spend almost an hour talking to some car rep....to grasp what the option packages meant.  If you ask me five years later....I would have told you around 4,000 Euro of the options she picked....were crap.

2.  German states (16) hold the responsibility of debt for cities in their region.  Well....there's a massive amount existing.  So the fed-guys are saying....maybe to some degree....they will pass money down.

3.  Some science report yesterday....German study....there is a trend of higher deaths due to 'heat'.....but it connects directly to blood pressure issues.  So, they can say 'heat-deaths', but at the same time....heart-disease deaths are basically the same thing.

My View Of Spain As A Vacation Destination

 I've made four vacations to Spain over the past forty years.

So, I'll offer five observations:

First, from a beach prospective....I can think of several better choices (country-wise).

Second, if this is purely a city-tour (for a week)....then yeah....Barcelona or Madrid are worth the trip.  But you need to add the warning....crime in both are an issue.

Third, food-wise.....you can't go wrong.

Fourth, rural areas and small towns might be a better choice to select....than some beach resort.

Fifth and final.....on the islands....locals have a dislike of tourists, and the past decade....a housing crisis has started up. 

Advice....if you want a pure-beach suggestion....both Denmark and the northern coast of  Germany....are worth reviewing....as well as Greece.

Bahn Violence?

 The Bahn (railway) folks admitted today....on average....there's  5.5 assaults/threats -made daily against their employees nationally.  They say....it's reaching a level where employees want 'something' done.

If you ride the rails......even locally....it's a mix now....Bahn-security (guys ready for action) and ticket-audit folks.  I'd say out of each three trains I ride (mostly regional around Wiesbaden/Frankfurt/Mainz)....there's a ticket-check.  Maybe out of each 20 trips....there's the security guys there....ready to take you to the floor.

In my 1978/1979 and 1984/1985 periods.....there just wasn't that level of violence.  This pretty much started 15-to-20 years ago, and really pepped-up in the past five years.

What you have (even on buses now) is a free-rider who refuses to exit or pay the fine (60 Euro).  They easily slip from a rider-mentality....to a irrational nutcase-mentality.

The security guys?  Most are young...say age 25, and fairly fit (over 200 pounds), and I'm pretty sure they could throw you to the floor, and hold you down till the cops arrive.

This getting ridiculous? 

Personally, I'm of the mind....they need to issue shock-sticks, and give the nutcase a jolt-or-two....halt the train in the middle of nowhere, and simply toss the guy on the gravel. 

AI Story

 The German Bahn (railway) folks came up today and said....coming in the future (suggesting we will start to see it in 2027).....AI will be used to keep the public informed on delays, problems, platform changes, cancellations, etc.

You (the consumer/customer) would get these AI messages (with a friendly greeting) telling.....your train is running 16 minutes late, or that they moved from  platform 4 to platform 12 (figure a 10 min walk).

I pondered upon this.

At some  point....this AI will start to 'know' a lot about crappy service, and even warn you ten minutes ahead of time....things are fu*ked-up.

Eventually, the AI ought to start asking the Bahn leadership....WHY.

At that point....AI will take over and fire the leadership (I would imagine).

Is it that bad?  If you ride daily to work...in a metro-area (Frankfurt, Bremen, Stuttgart for example)....you probably have one trip out of each eight occasions....that is screwed-up (15 min late, or a flip to a new platform).  Personally, safety is a higher concern to me, and having a seat. If it were 10 minutes late....I wouldn't say much.

My worst experience?  Last year....going from Frankfurt to Hamburg, and  finding  out 10 minutes before the 'run'.....that train was cancelled. The back-up deal?  Running 35 min later, but it was never clear about the platform, and the reserved seats I paid for....were non-existent.