The major newspapers and media of Germany have been conducting various polls to do some predictions of the fall elections.
The CDU can rest somewhat.....there's zero chance that the SPD can mount a serious challenge.
But in recent days, there's this oddball statistic that pops up in some polls. No one really wants to take the new political party....the Anti-Euro Party (AfD)....serious. So they tend to be left off most polls.
Well....Bild (a national newspaper) finally did include AfD, and there's a bit of a shock. The party came in third with around fifteen percent of the polling data going to them.
Bild still holds an official news position that AfD can't possibly get past the five percent point, and thus, will not be part of the Bundestag after the fall election.
The public? They aren't necessarily buying into Bild's perception of the party.
The cog that runs the AfD wheel? Call it growing discontent over the Euro, the neighbors in financial crisis, or just negative feelings against the established parties....but there's feelings that some significant change that needs to occur. Their biggest problem? Beyond finance, taxes, the Euro, and some mythical change, there's just not much.
The fifteen percent take on this? The CDU would have a problem if AfD takes roughly fifteen percent of the national vote. I would suspect that they really don't want to partner up with AfD, but they'd have few choices left. You need to present control of fifty percent of the new Bundestag, and the only way to make that is either a partnership with AfD or the SPD.
Finally, the American prospective on this? Whether Germans like that view or not....the AfD is basically the American Tea Party. Arguments would arise over this idea. I'm sure Germans would hate to hear that comment. But it is moving in that direction.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Austerity Vacations?
I read through an article this week....hyping up 'austerity tourism'. The newest trend in German culture...is austerity. Most Germans would admit privately....it's been a German trend for a thousand years, and it's no big deal. Germans have always been frugal with their money. Yeah, you could say they sometimes do things on the cheap side.....but it's a general tendency to ask for discounts, and buy things only when it's cheaper than usual.
So vacations have now fallen into the austerity bucket.
The emphasis of the article I read was that Greece was finally the biggest target for austerity tourism. Flights were discounted. Hotels were cheaper than usual. Package deals were the cheapest in ten years. All of this was an invitation for a German to plan a austerity vacation.
An American would look at this whole thing and ask what exactly does austerity mean? It's an easy comparison.....after all....we Americans end up looking for discount hotels options as we travel. We tend to stop at cheaper restaurants (IHOP, the Waffle House, and Arbys), as we progress across the country. We look for a airline special, or some discounted travel packages, and generally expect to save a nickel and dime where we can. Germans tend to do the same thing.
As for a German falling for the Greek discounted deals? Well....there's this little issue of the 'Nazi-image' that the Greeks pulled out during their economic downfall. Some Germans took this to be harsh language and might be a bit hostile over making a trip to Greece. Whether this episode is overlooked and austerity planning kicks into play, it's hard to say.
The bottom line? If all else fails on austerity vacation planning, there's always the option of spending two weeks in Bavaria. It's best not to suggest this to any German though....it's a disappointing thing to accept Bavaria as the fall back position.
So vacations have now fallen into the austerity bucket.
The emphasis of the article I read was that Greece was finally the biggest target for austerity tourism. Flights were discounted. Hotels were cheaper than usual. Package deals were the cheapest in ten years. All of this was an invitation for a German to plan a austerity vacation.
An American would look at this whole thing and ask what exactly does austerity mean? It's an easy comparison.....after all....we Americans end up looking for discount hotels options as we travel. We tend to stop at cheaper restaurants (IHOP, the Waffle House, and Arbys), as we progress across the country. We look for a airline special, or some discounted travel packages, and generally expect to save a nickel and dime where we can. Germans tend to do the same thing.
As for a German falling for the Greek discounted deals? Well....there's this little issue of the 'Nazi-image' that the Greeks pulled out during their economic downfall. Some Germans took this to be harsh language and might be a bit hostile over making a trip to Greece. Whether this episode is overlooked and austerity planning kicks into play, it's hard to say.
The bottom line? If all else fails on austerity vacation planning, there's always the option of spending two weeks in Bavaria. It's best not to suggest this to any German though....it's a disappointing thing to accept Bavaria as the fall back position.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The Bread Story
This is a story that popped up and takes some explaining for an American.
In the old days of Germany...probably fifteen to twenty years ago....if you wanted fresh bread, you went to a German bakery. Every village had one. Everything was piping hot as you got there at 6AM, and you had forty choices of bread or rolls.
So years passed, and in every single village and town.....a new grocery appeared. It replaced the Mom and Pop shops. The groceries were looking for angles to always get more customers in the front door. Specials weren't enough. Changing the hours around....to be open at 7AM didn't really help, unless you had a purpose for those shopping at 7AM.
They eventually came to this idea. Put a "fake" bakery into the grocery.
To explain a "fake" bakery....it's a oven area, with a sales shop. The dough? All manufactured at some central processing plant in the region. Some guy drives over around 5AM and dumps off two or three carts. The kid at the grocery accepts the stuff, and pops five of the trays into the oven at 6AM and by opening hour.....he's got lots of piping hot bread and rolls. You walk into the store, and you've got the fresh smell of bread in the air.
Real bakeries took a hit. They didn't have the open parking lots, and most of the grocery operations were at the end of the village or out on the main road. The "fake" bakery even offered coffee to go.
As time as gone by, the grocery operations have taken to a ad campaign. They have noted themselves as having fresh-baked bread. The bakeries? They finally had something to go after the competition. Court action. Just tossing the dough into a oven is not enough to be freshly-baked, at least in the minds of real bakers.
A comparison between the two groups? Course, I am an American....so I might have a different sense on this. To be honest....the bakery guys probably do make a better bread or roll. But when you get into the 7AM rush to run off to work.....the typical local bakery is the last place that you'd want to look for parking or try to get a coffee with a roll. So that "fake" bakery at the grocery is appealing to me....even if their wares are second-rate.
Bakeries are surviving for the most part. It's tough competition, and they've lost probably half of their regular customer base. On the other side of the coin.....I can attest to the fact that a lot of people are eating more bread than they did two decades ago.
It's a curious war of competition. My advice....if you are an American in Germany....enjoy the breads....whether they be from the "fake" bakeries or the real bakeries. It's all pretty good.
In the old days of Germany...probably fifteen to twenty years ago....if you wanted fresh bread, you went to a German bakery. Every village had one. Everything was piping hot as you got there at 6AM, and you had forty choices of bread or rolls.
So years passed, and in every single village and town.....a new grocery appeared. It replaced the Mom and Pop shops. The groceries were looking for angles to always get more customers in the front door. Specials weren't enough. Changing the hours around....to be open at 7AM didn't really help, unless you had a purpose for those shopping at 7AM.
They eventually came to this idea. Put a "fake" bakery into the grocery.
To explain a "fake" bakery....it's a oven area, with a sales shop. The dough? All manufactured at some central processing plant in the region. Some guy drives over around 5AM and dumps off two or three carts. The kid at the grocery accepts the stuff, and pops five of the trays into the oven at 6AM and by opening hour.....he's got lots of piping hot bread and rolls. You walk into the store, and you've got the fresh smell of bread in the air.
Real bakeries took a hit. They didn't have the open parking lots, and most of the grocery operations were at the end of the village or out on the main road. The "fake" bakery even offered coffee to go.
As time as gone by, the grocery operations have taken to a ad campaign. They have noted themselves as having fresh-baked bread. The bakeries? They finally had something to go after the competition. Court action. Just tossing the dough into a oven is not enough to be freshly-baked, at least in the minds of real bakers.
A comparison between the two groups? Course, I am an American....so I might have a different sense on this. To be honest....the bakery guys probably do make a better bread or roll. But when you get into the 7AM rush to run off to work.....the typical local bakery is the last place that you'd want to look for parking or try to get a coffee with a roll. So that "fake" bakery at the grocery is appealing to me....even if their wares are second-rate.
Bakeries are surviving for the most part. It's tough competition, and they've lost probably half of their regular customer base. On the other side of the coin.....I can attest to the fact that a lot of people are eating more bread than they did two decades ago.
It's a curious war of competition. My advice....if you are an American in Germany....enjoy the breads....whether they be from the "fake" bakeries or the real bakeries. It's all pretty good.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
The American Gestapo: 2013
It's hard to be sarcastic or cynical with Germans. They tend to take things fairly seriously.
This week, after the Guardian produced this report on the US collection of private data, which likely includes a lot of Europeans...you can imagine the general feeling over this American data collection effort. Germans who indulge in Facebook or computer activities....probably are a bit testy, and believe that any American within reach....ought to get a mouthful on this topic.
So, this is what an American should respond with....when tasked by a German and the terrible woes of what we collected.
First, let the German know....that we've collected every single call, and have a complete database of eighty million Germans. We know about the Saturday afternoon calls to their sister, the 8AM call to the boss complaining of some illness, and the weekly calls to some Dutch guy who the husband doesn't know about.
Second, we not only collect the calls....but we collect financial transactions. We know that they buy special cat-food for Herr Winky (their precious Persian cat). We know they paid excessively for that all-inclusive trip to Crete. We know all about the forty complaints they've lodged with the car repair shop and their crappy service. Plus, we know about the sixty Euro transactions with some local service called "Crazy Sexy".
Third, we monitor each email. There's some German language folks we've hired from Texas....who spend hours and hours pouring over your daily and weekly email correspondence. We keep fourteen categories for each email to fit into and these are routinely briefed to President Obama with statistical analysis.
Fourth, we track all Germans with their cellphones. We know the GPC coordinates, and can spell out the average fourteen trips a month to the local grocery, the five trips to the pharmacy, the two trips to the flower-shop, and some mysterious stop on the third Friday of each month to a bar over by the Rhein River.
Fifth, we monitor their TV habits....via their cable TV hook-up. We know that Germans actually watch Knight Rider, a lot of Tatort episodes over the weekend, conservative cooking shows at midnight, twelve hours of soccer per week, and always tune to Channel One for their nightly news.
Sixth, at any given time from a secret CIA post in Hesse, we can tap into German telephone lines and listen to intimate conversations. We've secretly built vast databases on recommended wines, and cheeses. We've also got a database on the best Thai restaurants in each community and the negative comments over declining German soccer coaches. We even have one analyst who is building up a database over kabob shops.
Seventh, we are developing an ability to identify every house in Germany, with the dog and cat activity in each. It'll be marked on a Google map. We haven't decided on the symbol yet, that's still under discussion (a proud German Sheppard or a wussy poodle).
Eighth, through the use of reconnaissance drones, we are monitoring the grassing cutting average of every single home in Germany. We can easily identify who perform it weekly, and those who skip and do it every other week. We also are working a landscaping listing to note the better houses and the better gardens. You folks in Worms ought to know that you are listed at the bottom of grass cutting on a frequent basis.
Ninth, we hope to have the ability to eventually turn on kid's cellphones and listen into conversations within the home, and develop more in-depth databases. Complaints about garbage cans not being emptied on schedule, untidy rooms, bathing schedules, and excessive alcohol consumption will be collected and monitored.
Tenth, our eventual hope? To know each and every German, in an intimate sort of way. We'd like to be able to walk up to Frau Winter's haus and knock....to introduce ourselves, and suggest that we are here to help her and fix all of her problems. And in sixteen minutes....we go from a "Sie".....to a "Du". That would shock German society overnight.
Yes, it is all a diabolical plan. Conceived by President Bush, and carried out by President Obama. Even Chancellor Merkel can't stop us.
The odds of a German believing all that? I would hope....one percent. But there just might be thirty percent of the country who'd believe everything I just spoke of, and that's pretty sad.
Thoughts of an American.....sadly.
This week, after the Guardian produced this report on the US collection of private data, which likely includes a lot of Europeans...you can imagine the general feeling over this American data collection effort. Germans who indulge in Facebook or computer activities....probably are a bit testy, and believe that any American within reach....ought to get a mouthful on this topic.
So, this is what an American should respond with....when tasked by a German and the terrible woes of what we collected.
First, let the German know....that we've collected every single call, and have a complete database of eighty million Germans. We know about the Saturday afternoon calls to their sister, the 8AM call to the boss complaining of some illness, and the weekly calls to some Dutch guy who the husband doesn't know about.
Second, we not only collect the calls....but we collect financial transactions. We know that they buy special cat-food for Herr Winky (their precious Persian cat). We know they paid excessively for that all-inclusive trip to Crete. We know all about the forty complaints they've lodged with the car repair shop and their crappy service. Plus, we know about the sixty Euro transactions with some local service called "Crazy Sexy".
Third, we monitor each email. There's some German language folks we've hired from Texas....who spend hours and hours pouring over your daily and weekly email correspondence. We keep fourteen categories for each email to fit into and these are routinely briefed to President Obama with statistical analysis.
Fourth, we track all Germans with their cellphones. We know the GPC coordinates, and can spell out the average fourteen trips a month to the local grocery, the five trips to the pharmacy, the two trips to the flower-shop, and some mysterious stop on the third Friday of each month to a bar over by the Rhein River.
Fifth, we monitor their TV habits....via their cable TV hook-up. We know that Germans actually watch Knight Rider, a lot of Tatort episodes over the weekend, conservative cooking shows at midnight, twelve hours of soccer per week, and always tune to Channel One for their nightly news.
Sixth, at any given time from a secret CIA post in Hesse, we can tap into German telephone lines and listen to intimate conversations. We've secretly built vast databases on recommended wines, and cheeses. We've also got a database on the best Thai restaurants in each community and the negative comments over declining German soccer coaches. We even have one analyst who is building up a database over kabob shops.
Seventh, we are developing an ability to identify every house in Germany, with the dog and cat activity in each. It'll be marked on a Google map. We haven't decided on the symbol yet, that's still under discussion (a proud German Sheppard or a wussy poodle).
Eighth, through the use of reconnaissance drones, we are monitoring the grassing cutting average of every single home in Germany. We can easily identify who perform it weekly, and those who skip and do it every other week. We also are working a landscaping listing to note the better houses and the better gardens. You folks in Worms ought to know that you are listed at the bottom of grass cutting on a frequent basis.
Ninth, we hope to have the ability to eventually turn on kid's cellphones and listen into conversations within the home, and develop more in-depth databases. Complaints about garbage cans not being emptied on schedule, untidy rooms, bathing schedules, and excessive alcohol consumption will be collected and monitored.
Tenth, our eventual hope? To know each and every German, in an intimate sort of way. We'd like to be able to walk up to Frau Winter's haus and knock....to introduce ourselves, and suggest that we are here to help her and fix all of her problems. And in sixteen minutes....we go from a "Sie".....to a "Du". That would shock German society overnight.
Yes, it is all a diabolical plan. Conceived by President Bush, and carried out by President Obama. Even Chancellor Merkel can't stop us.
The odds of a German believing all that? I would hope....one percent. But there just might be thirty percent of the country who'd believe everything I just spoke of, and that's pretty sad.
Thoughts of an American.....sadly.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Why You Need German Society and Culture
Years ago, it hit me that Mark Twain went off and spent some time in Germany around the winter of 1879. It's hard to say if he was burned out or run down, but he might have been at some point in his writing career....where he just didn't have much else.
He ended up writing A Tramp Abroad in 1880 while in Munich. And by 1884, back in the states....he wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Some people think this trip rejuvenated Twain. I doubt if he'd want to admit that. He was nearing forty-five and might have been near the point of thinking he'd seen just about everything, and then discovered....there just might be more.
It would be wrong of an American to condense Germany down into 300, or 500, or even a 1,000 page book. A guy could write four hundred pages just on beer....making some folks weep on the fine details of brewing and expecting only a five-star brew at the end of a process.
It might be wrong for an American to settle on ten days driving around the countryside of Germany and thinking he'd seen just about all there was, and turn the corner on the last day to find some golden wheat field in some rural Germany countryside, that you just wanted to pull off the side of the road and gaze at this brilliance of wheat laid out for miles and miles.
It could even be wrong for an American to sit at some Oma's restaurant on the edge of some vast rural area of Germany and think he'd already had the best schnitzel ever, and discover that this old gal was about deliver a plate beyond mortal means of consumption. And you just couldn't decline eating the whole plate of food.
Germans have this preoccupation with them....fixated so to speak....on giving only the best of the best. It doesn't matter if we are talking cars, lawn mowers, floor tiles, or fancy glass.
Germans tend to have expectations of schedules. If that timetable says the train runs through this station at 1:23....it just won't settle with them in a pleasant way when it arrives at 1:29. Comments will be uttered....the conductor might get a mouthful....and the station guy will note this in some little book.
Germans have a preoccupation with weather and the necessities of life when invoking the weather. Summer and winter tires are a national thing....don't even bring up all-weather tires. The discussion over chains? A German will swear over the art of mounting them when in a bad situation. The dozen odd sidewalk mixes for a icy situation? You will use one of the dozen, period.....with no exception.
Yeah, Germans have a drawn tough look at Americans. We aren't that precise. We aren't always polite. We aren't always acting within standards that people would expect. We run a rough country, where crime is always discussed, and guns are issued out like candy. At the end of the day....when some emergency comes out of nowhere, there's that American guy who just won't stand by idly and jumps into a mess, prepared for a fight beyond mortal expectations, or accepting a do-or-die statistical challenge. Then the Germans kind of stand there, amazed how a crazy guy would do things like that without thinking a bit.
So Twain came and found this land at the end of the spectrum. Crime wasn't rampant or even noticeable. Folks sat on a hot summer afternoon, and sipped finely brewed and chilled beer (not too cold, but not warm either). Twain likely ate some fine German cookies and marveled how German coffee was damn strong. For all purposes, Twain was on another planet. He'd found something to change his prospective and regain his creative edge.
Somewhere in this enormous world....there is this need for German society and culture. We may not be totally sold on it, but it's a sense that out of chaos....you just might find some place with a bit of order. And just a bit of order....might be enough to make you feel different.
He ended up writing A Tramp Abroad in 1880 while in Munich. And by 1884, back in the states....he wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Some people think this trip rejuvenated Twain. I doubt if he'd want to admit that. He was nearing forty-five and might have been near the point of thinking he'd seen just about everything, and then discovered....there just might be more.
It would be wrong of an American to condense Germany down into 300, or 500, or even a 1,000 page book. A guy could write four hundred pages just on beer....making some folks weep on the fine details of brewing and expecting only a five-star brew at the end of a process.
It might be wrong for an American to settle on ten days driving around the countryside of Germany and thinking he'd seen just about all there was, and turn the corner on the last day to find some golden wheat field in some rural Germany countryside, that you just wanted to pull off the side of the road and gaze at this brilliance of wheat laid out for miles and miles.
It could even be wrong for an American to sit at some Oma's restaurant on the edge of some vast rural area of Germany and think he'd already had the best schnitzel ever, and discover that this old gal was about deliver a plate beyond mortal means of consumption. And you just couldn't decline eating the whole plate of food.
Germans have this preoccupation with them....fixated so to speak....on giving only the best of the best. It doesn't matter if we are talking cars, lawn mowers, floor tiles, or fancy glass.
Germans tend to have expectations of schedules. If that timetable says the train runs through this station at 1:23....it just won't settle with them in a pleasant way when it arrives at 1:29. Comments will be uttered....the conductor might get a mouthful....and the station guy will note this in some little book.
Germans have a preoccupation with weather and the necessities of life when invoking the weather. Summer and winter tires are a national thing....don't even bring up all-weather tires. The discussion over chains? A German will swear over the art of mounting them when in a bad situation. The dozen odd sidewalk mixes for a icy situation? You will use one of the dozen, period.....with no exception.
Yeah, Germans have a drawn tough look at Americans. We aren't that precise. We aren't always polite. We aren't always acting within standards that people would expect. We run a rough country, where crime is always discussed, and guns are issued out like candy. At the end of the day....when some emergency comes out of nowhere, there's that American guy who just won't stand by idly and jumps into a mess, prepared for a fight beyond mortal expectations, or accepting a do-or-die statistical challenge. Then the Germans kind of stand there, amazed how a crazy guy would do things like that without thinking a bit.
So Twain came and found this land at the end of the spectrum. Crime wasn't rampant or even noticeable. Folks sat on a hot summer afternoon, and sipped finely brewed and chilled beer (not too cold, but not warm either). Twain likely ate some fine German cookies and marveled how German coffee was damn strong. For all purposes, Twain was on another planet. He'd found something to change his prospective and regain his creative edge.
Somewhere in this enormous world....there is this need for German society and culture. We may not be totally sold on it, but it's a sense that out of chaos....you just might find some place with a bit of order. And just a bit of order....might be enough to make you feel different.
Friday, May 31, 2013
The Numbers Game
The Germans finally accomplished a complete census. To be honest, there hadn't been one in at least twenty years (going back to the mid-80's).
Strangely enough....they've lost a few folks, and they finally agreed to change the official population of the country down to 80.2 million.
We also have to be honest about that 80.2 million. They wouldn't even have that number....unless you count up the foreigners inside Germany. The numbers indicate roughly eight percent of the nation....aren't really German, but they count anyway.
So only with the help of six million foreigners....does Germany reach 80 million, which is a status of sorts, if you think about it.
Germans leaving? It won't appear in this census, but there's probably twenty thousand Germans a year who pack up and leave (Canada, Australia, other EU countries, and even the US). People looking for better economic conditions, a fresh start in life, or just wanting something different.....they leave.
A decline? In some ways....yes. German social thoughts tend to lead toward one-child families for the most part. There are exceptions....but there's no real growth in Germany.....except for more foreigners coming in (Russians, Turks, Africans, etc).
More foreigners in relationship to urban areas? Well....they haven't put out the map and complete numbers to show how things relate. I might have thoughts that urban areas are like magnets, and the rural areas of Germany are suffering more from declining population than metropolitan areas.
Where does this lead? For the next twenty years....it's a limited change. More foreign nurses, more IT people from Spain and other EU countries, more Russians arriving, and probably a larger segment in urban areas of Muslims. At some point in fifty years....I would imagine the German population will be down to around sixty million, and the foreigners will be closer to twenty million.
Yeah, Germany won't be Germany. Don't worry....we are at least a hundred years away from Germanstan.
Strangely enough....they've lost a few folks, and they finally agreed to change the official population of the country down to 80.2 million.
We also have to be honest about that 80.2 million. They wouldn't even have that number....unless you count up the foreigners inside Germany. The numbers indicate roughly eight percent of the nation....aren't really German, but they count anyway.
So only with the help of six million foreigners....does Germany reach 80 million, which is a status of sorts, if you think about it.
Germans leaving? It won't appear in this census, but there's probably twenty thousand Germans a year who pack up and leave (Canada, Australia, other EU countries, and even the US). People looking for better economic conditions, a fresh start in life, or just wanting something different.....they leave.
A decline? In some ways....yes. German social thoughts tend to lead toward one-child families for the most part. There are exceptions....but there's no real growth in Germany.....except for more foreigners coming in (Russians, Turks, Africans, etc).
More foreigners in relationship to urban areas? Well....they haven't put out the map and complete numbers to show how things relate. I might have thoughts that urban areas are like magnets, and the rural areas of Germany are suffering more from declining population than metropolitan areas.
Where does this lead? For the next twenty years....it's a limited change. More foreign nurses, more IT people from Spain and other EU countries, more Russians arriving, and probably a larger segment in urban areas of Muslims. At some point in fifty years....I would imagine the German population will be down to around sixty million, and the foreigners will be closer to twenty million.
Yeah, Germany won't be Germany. Don't worry....we are at least a hundred years away from Germanstan.
Friday, May 24, 2013
The Olive Oil Container Ban?
I blogged this a week ago....how the EU had put up new rules banning the decades-long practice of putting olive oil and vinegar at tables throughout Europe in glass containers, and replacing it with plastic containers that you had to ask for....a disposable solution for a problem that did not exist.
Today, the EU admitted they screwed up, and tossed out the olive oil container ban. Gone.
It took around two weeks for sense to fall upon the EU representatives, and force them to reconsider.
I admit, it wasn't exactly front-page news in Germany. I doubt if more than two or three million Germans really had heard about the ban, and understood the whole thing. The German restaurant owners? Oh, all of them understood it immediately.
So peace can now descend on Brussels, and the EU crowd can look at the next mess to create. Maybe requiring all dogs to have GPS-tracking devices?
Today, the EU admitted they screwed up, and tossed out the olive oil container ban. Gone.
It took around two weeks for sense to fall upon the EU representatives, and force them to reconsider.
I admit, it wasn't exactly front-page news in Germany. I doubt if more than two or three million Germans really had heard about the ban, and understood the whole thing. The German restaurant owners? Oh, all of them understood it immediately.
So peace can now descend on Brussels, and the EU crowd can look at the next mess to create. Maybe requiring all dogs to have GPS-tracking devices?
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Fracking Beer
There's a German brewer who came out with a public statement....begging Chancellor Merkel not to allow fracking in Germany....because it would spoil the sweet pure water supply.
Their concern is basically a 500-year purity standard that has stood the test of time. They want real tests concluded, before anything moves forward. This purity business? Well....sometime in the spring of 1516.....over in Ingolstadt.....Duke Wilhelm IV stood up and just said there had to be pure beer, with some standards. Naturally, this was done in Bavaria, and folks just said sure, and it's been a standard ever since.
There can only be yeast, hops, malt, and pure water in beer.....end of the story. This pure water business is a pretty big deal.
Course, here's the thing.....there are some brewery operations that use special spring water. And there are some which use local city water, from an approved spring-like source. The purity deal? It might be questionable....if you got down into the nuts and bolts of where the water came from.
The fracking stuff? I don't think any leading political figure in Germany is anywhere near the point where they will agree on fracking. It might be ten years away, as a minimum. The driving force then....will be gas selling at three Euro a liter, and Germans will be demanding some type of action.
How much oil could they frack? That's the curious thing. There are private survey episodes going on in Germany, and I seriously that they'd ever tell the German government exactly how much is out there, or the best locations to drill.
So back to beer....don't worry. German beer is going to stay the same, and this standard will last another 500 years easily.
Their concern is basically a 500-year purity standard that has stood the test of time. They want real tests concluded, before anything moves forward. This purity business? Well....sometime in the spring of 1516.....over in Ingolstadt.....Duke Wilhelm IV stood up and just said there had to be pure beer, with some standards. Naturally, this was done in Bavaria, and folks just said sure, and it's been a standard ever since.
There can only be yeast, hops, malt, and pure water in beer.....end of the story. This pure water business is a pretty big deal.
Course, here's the thing.....there are some brewery operations that use special spring water. And there are some which use local city water, from an approved spring-like source. The purity deal? It might be questionable....if you got down into the nuts and bolts of where the water came from.
The fracking stuff? I don't think any leading political figure in Germany is anywhere near the point where they will agree on fracking. It might be ten years away, as a minimum. The driving force then....will be gas selling at three Euro a liter, and Germans will be demanding some type of action.
How much oil could they frack? That's the curious thing. There are private survey episodes going on in Germany, and I seriously that they'd ever tell the German government exactly how much is out there, or the best locations to drill.
So back to beer....don't worry. German beer is going to stay the same, and this standard will last another 500 years easily.
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