1. June begins....on weather, it's just turning into a fairly rare year, with tons of rain, and very moderate (cool temperatures) for April/May so far.
If you asked me on truly WARM days so far in 2024....I'd tell you that in my village....it's yet to cross the 25 C (75 F) degree point. I looked at the two-week forecast, and it stay at 25 or less until the minimum of mid-June. That AC unit I have in the basement? It'll stay there for another two to three weeks before I drag it up into the apartment.
In the mid-1980s....I can remember a year like this where it just never got that hot. It's rare.
2. I noticed off N-TV this AM....a brief educational piece on how you should react in a lightning storm. I just suspect if you asked a hundred teenagers in Germany....fewer than 10-percent knew the correct actions to take in a lightning storm.
3. Security guard at a refugee 'home' in the Berlin area....killed. What the cops say....the guard was Syrian, and the killer is a non-German. No motivation given.
4. Focus wrote up a serious piece...detailing how 'bad' and devastating weather is what Germans should expect in the future. Frankly, throughout the 1990s, and especially in 2003....I could have made the comment.
5. Minor scandal at ZDF (public TV, Channel 2)....which is a bit amusing. There's some afternoon cooking show (even my wife watches it occasionally)....called “Die Küchenschlacht”.
Well...ZDF now admits that they have been using some 'extras' (paid to show up) in order to have an 'real' audience
What they paid? That's the funny part of the story....15 Euro ($18) is what is suggested.
They produce the show in the Hamburg region, from what I can gather. On scandal status (1-to-10)? I'd give them a '2'. I doubt if there's more than 60 people in the crowd, and they are only suggesting some of those gathered...had to be hired to fill the seats, and make it appear 'full'.
6. That Mannheim attack from yesterday? The knife guy is identified as a 25-year old Afghan asylum guy. The cop knifed? He is still in critical condition.
One odd footnote, the Afghan guy isn't from Mannheim or the Pfalz-state....he lives up in Hessen (my region).
UPDATE: Asylum guy was from Heppenheim (about an hour south of Frankfurt, but only a 30-min train ride from Mannheim).
Lot of hype within Mannheim over this.
7. WELT talked about 'McFlation' this AM....basically how food at German McDonalds is escalated upward in cost, and customers are leaving.
I'll just say that it's moved from an acceptable cost item....to a minor-luxury item. If it cost 18 Euro for a full-up menu dinner....well...I can sit down at my village Italian restaurant and have a actual full-up dinner....for the same price.
Last night, the wife and I went to our local Turkish shop...for what used to be a 2-person dinner (food and drink) for 18 Euro....except we paid around 22 Euro.
8. Flooding throughout southern Germany expected for the whole weekend.
9. As the 'cold-war' ended in the 1990s....Germany went into turbo....to dismantle all of the war-shelters existing at the time. Even in my local area of Wiesbaden....there's only one single shelter certified and left presently.
Well...the Interior Ministers (from the 16 German states) are holding a meeting and discussing massive expansion....rebuilding shelters across Germany.
Cost? 131 billion Euro. Will they get that money? Hell no....but they will probably get some 25-year package deal where 2 or 3 billion Euro a year will be allocated.
Your best hope? Russia doesn't attack.
10. Orange juice pricing in Germany to escalate again? I sat and watched a N-TV piece this AM....another upward 'tick' will occur. My particular juice? It used to be 99-cents for a 3/4-liter container. Early last year, it went to around 1.59 Euro because of a bad season in Brazil. About eight months ago, it went to 2.49 Euro. With the new warning? I expect it by October to be near 3 Euro a bottle. I may have to go back to beer for breakfast (the cheaper ones are still at 33 Euro cents per can).
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