License Chatter

 Last night (Wed evening)....off ARD (public German TV) prime news....the topic of costly driver's licenses came up.  So presently, the average cost of  the training, hours of practice-driving, and tests.....is 3,400 Euro. It's reached a crisis level.  

Some rumor started up in late 2025....it's bad enough now...that the federal gov't may offer up a free-deal of  sorts.....mostly the story revolves around the idea of 1,000 Euro.  Oddly, no political folks have talked over a number.  

I discussed this  with the wife (German in nature).  She wasn't exactly eager to get into this cash offering deal. No one paid her cost thirty-odd years ago.

What is actually being talked about? They noted one of the neighboring countries has a program where you get training/tests as a package, but your parents take you on drives in the family vehicle....this would carve out roughly one-third of the cost.   Personally, I think a lot of German parents would say 'no'....not trusting the kid in the family vehicle.

My solution?  Get countries like Greece, Czech or Poland to offer two week vacation packages....with driver's training as a 'wellness' option.  At the end of two weeks....you test...pass, and get a certificate.  You come back to Germany and offer them the papers.  Total cost?  For the trip, hotel, and training....probably 2,000 Euro.    

How Bad Is The German Natural Gas Crisis?

On the harsh-winter index (my region)...1-to-10....this past 3 months has been a '8' (not terrible with snow or ice,  but temperatures have been mostly Minus-5 to pluss-5 for the winter so far).   Expectations for the next two weeks?  Lot of showers (plus-5 to plus 8 C), with some negative numbers this weekend (with snow expected).

So here's the thing...natural gas supplies/reserves have been noted declining....with the country reserves near 27-percent.  All of this because of the Russia situation.

Public authorities? No public comments whatsoever.

What the weather guys are saying of March?  Well.....lower than normal temperatures.

The belief is that once we get to below 20-percent in reserves....things will get pretty expensive.

How full are Germany's gas storage facilities really – and why that's misleading.

LNG ships coming in?  This is often discussed, but the reserves number never seems to bounce upward.

The chatter?  Some belief....that as we get to 15-percent....a  national authority will have to give some speech, and issue directives to cut use. I'm guessing home owners will be asked to set the temp near 18C (64 F).  For stores/factories....wouldn't shock me if the temps were set 17C (62 F).

Should they have said something back around Christmas?  Probably so...but I doubt that anyone with the CDU-CSU-SPD wants to take charge over this.

Should the EU step in and create a 'miracle'?  Well....unless Italy or Spain is sitting  on huge amount of extra natural gas....there's not much to be said or done. 

That 'Juna' Gal?

 So Focus this AM....brought up this social media story.

There is this great trainee profile  created in Germanny....one which is a bit flawed in nature....that happened to be generated by KI (artificial intelligence).

Name?  Juna.

Juna....fake in nature but run by a AI system...is fairly busy.

She's been an apprentice at a roofer's in Hamburg, in a car repair shop, in an elderly care facility, and even pretends to work for real German companies.

At one point....she was an apprentice at Deutsche Bahn (the railway system).

Fake posts?  Yeah.  No one has told the AI that it's a bad thing....at least....so far.

Very suggestive and sexual?  Well....yeah, that has come up by folks reviewing the profile.

This likely to get federal attention shortly....with regulation to control Juna?   I would imagine so.

What could occur?  If AI is cut  loose....I might imagine 1-million fake accounts coming to exist in Germany....with AI making up fake stories....day after day.

IQ Story

 I sat and read Euro News this AM....with the chief article: "The IQ of Europeans is dropping due to technology, say researchers."

The big concept?  Since the 1990s....technology has probably interfered with the development of education...causing folks to have a lesser IQ.

They aren't saying technology made people more stupid....just on the level of understanding the facts, and making balanced decisions....people are apparently less capable.

I paused over this. There's no personal doubt that German teens are probably less developed than those coming out of school in the 1980s.

Any of this worrying me?  If you approach AI-Johan and present a problem....it's probably a 99-percent that AI-Johan will reach a logical (positive) solution...something that I can't really trust if plain old 22-year-old Johan were given the same problem.  

But there's the delayed effect...in thirty-odd years, while holding an election....fifty-percent of the German public might have an IQ of 75-to-85, and vote in some crazy illogical fashion.   That's what I worry about.

11 Feb 2026: Germany: 6 Things

1.  This Thursday...Lufthansa pilots plan a 1-day strike.

2.  Polling: two-thirds of German  voters believe the current welfare-state....cannot continue on.  This puts both the CDU-CSU and SPD parties into a bind. 

3. Serious amount of rainfall for Wed/Thur.....in the northern quarter of Germany....snow.

4.  Besides the language classes mandated....non-Germans are also herded into integration classes (typically four weeks).

The funding for these?  Well...the federal gov't.  This past week....the Federal Office said it was restricting access to these courses. 

"In particular, asylum seekers, those with tolerated stay status, people from Ukraine," and EU citizens will no longer be admitted.

At the state level....some folks are hyped-up over the decision.  

5.  Poll done in Germany.....only 55-percent of Germans feel 'safe'.  

69-percent of Germans  now feel like Germany might get mixed up in a war.

Two-thirds of Germans polled....feel that the US is a 'threat' to  world peace.

If you asked me to explain these numbers....it helps to have public TV setting the pace, and keeping you focused nightly on hyped-up stories.  If they weren't telling the worry-stories....they'd have to focus on the economy....over-regulation, and stalled commerce (within Germany).

6.   Trump administration says it will transfer command of the NATO Southern Command in Naples to Italy and command of the Northern Command in Norfolk, Virginia, to the UK.   Other topic in discussion....the US will assume command of NATO naval forces (currently based in the UK).  If you asked me if Northern Command  will remain in Virginia...I'm of the mind it'll move to some location in the UK.

10 Feb 2026: Germany: 6 Things

 1.  I went back yesterday and watched the clip from the ARD Sunday night public forum show...Caren Miosga show.  Primary talk?  She moderated one-on-one with  AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla.

I'll just say two things....Miosga is usually 200-percent prepared to take on guests, but on this occasion....every time she herded him toward a bad position....he got the best of the discussion.

Second...of the dozen-odd top-dogs of AfD....Chrupalla  might be the brighter of the bunch.

2. BSW Party is still  pursuing a court-action to have the Jan 2025 German election ballots recounted. They missed the 5-percent vote 'mandate' by around 9k-to-10k votes.  They believe in some way....if a recount were to occur...the votes would be found, and they'd get seats in the Bundestag.

3.   Rail 'safety-summit' planned in Berlin for Friday....talking over increasing dangers. 

4.  Odd German statistic, 2024 numbers out for marriage registrations.....350k.  Lowest number (per year) since 1950.

5.  EU is talking to Europol (their police mechanism) to investigate Epstein.  Maybe a good idea...but 7 years (minimum) too late.

6.  Just odd....the 26-year-old Greek guy who killed a German train conductor last week....on a regional express train with his bare fists....had a brief encounter prior to the 'fight'.

Police say they  removed the 26-year-old from a TGV train arriving from France in Kaiserslautern at 11:50 a.m. because he had kicked a door inside the train. Train conductors asked for police help  at that point.

More and more...the guy seems 'heated-up' (drugged) in some fashion.  He hasn't said a word since the arrest.

As for the dead guy?  Well....it was a brain hemorrhage resulting from blunt force trauma to the head.  I don't see the Greek guy getting anything less than 20 years.

Pension Story

 Focus interviewed a guy who has worked now for 50 years (age 74).  In his youth, he ended up at a university, and got a degree in communications engineering.   His  job for a couple of years, then ended up in medical services.

His pension today at 74?  1,071 Euro  a month.....which is below1,200 Euro....generally believed to be poverty-retirement.

Thirteen-million Germans are in this poverty-retirement landscape.

It's a sad bitter end-story for the guy.

End of RTL's Jungle Camp Show For 2026

 Well....it turned out to  be the most controversial show of the past 20-odd years....mostly because they invited Gil Ofarim as one of the twelve.

I won't go and rehash Gil's story from 2025....but it's safe to say that probably 30-percent  of viewers were hated Gil with passion.  At lease three  of the twelve did  everything possible to  drag up the Gil-scandal.

So around 1030 last night....voting  came up for the final three, and Gil won.

Via social media....it's a shit-storm.

Gil wins 100k Euro....on top of his salary for the three weeks...around 300k Euro.  He needs the money to pay damages for the hotel/clerk he insulted, the court fees and lawyer fees.  I'm guessing half the money will go out for this cost.

Peeved a lot of viewers?  Yeah....but the viewership was probably near a all-time level, and I'm guessing RTL is searching around to find  two or three other people like Gil for the 2027 show.

All of this consuming two whole weeks....from 8:15 PM to midnight?  Yeah....they built up three shows nightly to consume the topic and get people tangled-up into the soap opera.