I noticed this in the Local this week....some research done by a university team...over how high school kids in German respond to identifying various forms of government, in particular.... dictatorships. So the obvious bone that the university team threw out to the high school kids....was the Nazi government of the 1930s, and if it was a dictatorship. The overwhelming answer was that the kids weren't too sure if the Nazis were a dictatorship or not.
The university team obviously came back and said this was a huge problem....that it should have been a major agreement in the vast majority of kids quickly assessing that the Nazis were a dictatorship.
There are three observations that I can make.....as an American who has spent time in Germany and seen things up close.
First, watching my son go through the German schooling system.....I can vouch for the fact that they spent a pretty fair amount of time covering the Romans.....as they did covering their own German history. I almost had this opinion that they really didn't want to go over things from 1920 to 1945....like it was a subject best left on the table. Course, you have various Roman-period TV shows and movies now that attract a lot of attention....so maybe this does make some sense.
Second, the sad truth is that the Nazis were actually voted upon in elections, and a pretty fair percentage of Germans put their vote behind the party. It's hard to persuade folks who see the vote at work in a democracy, that a dictatorship comes out of this voting business. This is especially true for teenagers sitting in a class....thinking that voting for Pirate Party isn't that stupid of a decision if you think consider all your options.
Finally, the university did their survey only against high school kids. I would like to challenge them to go out and pick a couple hundred adults in their fifties and see if they get any better statistics. My gut feeling is that it just might be the same. In that case, this whole analysis and worried feeling.....is worthless, and you've got an entire country thinking the same way.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
The Image that Sells
It's an observation that I made this week. There are numerous British faces that come and spark up a positive image or a "sale" on the UK. But for Germany? The blunt truth is that Steffi Graff and Boris Becker are likely the only two Germans besides Chancellor Merkel, who most Americans will recognize. A sales pitch or positive image for Germany? It's kinda limited.
So where does the typical American get the German image?
Well....it's ironic in some ways....but it's the American who goes to the BMW or Mercedes dealer, who finds this German image and gets the sales pitch of Germany.
You walk into a BMW dealer, and they want to talk German technology. They want to make you weep over German engineering, which they explain is light-years ahead of Ford or GM. They want to give you the pitch over the absolute craftsmanship of each and every car....challenging you to find a single flaw or a minute bit of difference between one car and another.
As you sip fine brewed German coffee at the Mercedes dealer....the dealer is commenting over the little sensor that feels a bit of rain on the windshield....and activates the wiper automatically. They want you to settle back in the driver's seat and feel absolute comfort.
After an hour with the dealer.....your heart races and you feel like these Germans are sealing the deal, but they aren't even in the room. They sit three thousand miles away. Their car, and this dealer....are what represents Germany....to an American who has never been to Germany.
I realize that Britian has the Queen, Christian Bale, Gerard Butler, Kate Winslett, and Ringo Starr to sell the empire to Americans. But the Germans are crafty individuals. Car by car.....they sell Germany, and Americans sense some kind of pride in each German car they buy.
Forget BBC America, or that Piers dude on CNN....bring on the BMW dealer.
So where does the typical American get the German image?
Well....it's ironic in some ways....but it's the American who goes to the BMW or Mercedes dealer, who finds this German image and gets the sales pitch of Germany.
You walk into a BMW dealer, and they want to talk German technology. They want to make you weep over German engineering, which they explain is light-years ahead of Ford or GM. They want to give you the pitch over the absolute craftsmanship of each and every car....challenging you to find a single flaw or a minute bit of difference between one car and another.
As you sip fine brewed German coffee at the Mercedes dealer....the dealer is commenting over the little sensor that feels a bit of rain on the windshield....and activates the wiper automatically. They want you to settle back in the driver's seat and feel absolute comfort.
After an hour with the dealer.....your heart races and you feel like these Germans are sealing the deal, but they aren't even in the room. They sit three thousand miles away. Their car, and this dealer....are what represents Germany....to an American who has never been to Germany.
I realize that Britian has the Queen, Christian Bale, Gerard Butler, Kate Winslett, and Ringo Starr to sell the empire to Americans. But the Germans are crafty individuals. Car by car.....they sell Germany, and Americans sense some kind of pride in each German car they buy.
Forget BBC America, or that Piers dude on CNN....bring on the BMW dealer.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
What You Ought to Know About German Bahnhofs
An American will arrive in Germany, and eventually come to discover the all-important bahnhof (the train station). So, there's some advice here.
First, the sizes relate to the town....so Frankfurt will have a monster-sized bahnhof with pubs, restaurants, and various business operations. Some small town in the middle of nowhere....will have a pub....if they are truly lucky. Some of the more interesting bahnhofs that you might stumble across: Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Munich, and Stuttgart.
Second, there's typically parking available but you always pay for what you get. My advice is to avoid these circumstances unless its really necessary. Most have bus service or subway service into the bahnhof.....park on the outskirts of town using a free parking situation....and ride into the station.
Third, before the 1980s....there were actual people in the ticket booths at every single station in Germany. You could ask stupid questions and get advice (half of them actually English at the time). Things have changed. So if you live in a German town of ten thousand folks.....and you have a bahnhof....don't expect a live guy to be there to sell you a ticket. It'll be a machine. It will offer a English language option, which is helpful. You can also go online, and view your travel options via bahn.de.
Fourth, if you do get stuck at a bahnhof for several hours....there tends to be a pub within the building. It won't be fancy or cheap, but you can get a drink or two while waiting. I would strongly advise you to watch your consumption and don't miss your connection two hours later.
Fifth, food is not something you ought to be thinking about at a bahnhof. Bakery goods might be acceptable....but after that, don't order any real food items. It'll be a lousy meal and probably twice what you ought to pay.
Sixth, crime within bahnhof is typically not an issue. You are probably at one of the safer places in any city. Now, with that said.....if you are in a metropolitan city and outside the bahnhof.....you are in a zone where you might want to avoid. Cities like Frankfurt have a drug culture within five minutes of the bahnhof, and people get stupid around these areas.
Seventh, bahnhofs tend to be historical in nature. So when you stand there....take a moment to look at the construction, the ceilings, and the windows. The Wiesbaden bahnhof is a building that you could spend half a day walking around the interior and exterior...discovering things that most people just overlook.
Eighth, most bahnhofs are open by 5AM, and close sometime around midnight (depending on the last train). There are a handful of bahnhofs that are open twenty-four hours a day.
Ninth, for a day-long excursion....you tend to discover that as you venture out into German cities....the bahnhof is this central location where you can base all your orientation onto, and return in the late afternoon to travel back to your original spot. You can rattle off the top 200 cities in Germany....and the bahnhof of each is within mile of the center of town in almost every single case. Most sizeable bahnhofs will have a book shop inside, with maps on sale....so if you were hoping for a map of the town....they've got it (never less than five Euro or $7 though).
Tenth, there are certain occasions that you might want to avoid bahnhofs....like when a major soccer club is visiting your town for a game. Yes, there are fairly rowdy folks who show up and for an hour upon arrival and probably two hours upon leaving that evening....it's not the place that you want to hang out or be around. If you know of a major demonstration coming for Saturday....that might be a good reason to avoid the bahnhof because of incoming crowds. But the other 350-odd days a year....ought to be ok, and acceptable.
First, the sizes relate to the town....so Frankfurt will have a monster-sized bahnhof with pubs, restaurants, and various business operations. Some small town in the middle of nowhere....will have a pub....if they are truly lucky. Some of the more interesting bahnhofs that you might stumble across: Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Munich, and Stuttgart.
Second, there's typically parking available but you always pay for what you get. My advice is to avoid these circumstances unless its really necessary. Most have bus service or subway service into the bahnhof.....park on the outskirts of town using a free parking situation....and ride into the station.
Third, before the 1980s....there were actual people in the ticket booths at every single station in Germany. You could ask stupid questions and get advice (half of them actually English at the time). Things have changed. So if you live in a German town of ten thousand folks.....and you have a bahnhof....don't expect a live guy to be there to sell you a ticket. It'll be a machine. It will offer a English language option, which is helpful. You can also go online, and view your travel options via bahn.de.
Fourth, if you do get stuck at a bahnhof for several hours....there tends to be a pub within the building. It won't be fancy or cheap, but you can get a drink or two while waiting. I would strongly advise you to watch your consumption and don't miss your connection two hours later.
Fifth, food is not something you ought to be thinking about at a bahnhof. Bakery goods might be acceptable....but after that, don't order any real food items. It'll be a lousy meal and probably twice what you ought to pay.
Sixth, crime within bahnhof is typically not an issue. You are probably at one of the safer places in any city. Now, with that said.....if you are in a metropolitan city and outside the bahnhof.....you are in a zone where you might want to avoid. Cities like Frankfurt have a drug culture within five minutes of the bahnhof, and people get stupid around these areas.
Seventh, bahnhofs tend to be historical in nature. So when you stand there....take a moment to look at the construction, the ceilings, and the windows. The Wiesbaden bahnhof is a building that you could spend half a day walking around the interior and exterior...discovering things that most people just overlook.
Eighth, most bahnhofs are open by 5AM, and close sometime around midnight (depending on the last train). There are a handful of bahnhofs that are open twenty-four hours a day.
Ninth, for a day-long excursion....you tend to discover that as you venture out into German cities....the bahnhof is this central location where you can base all your orientation onto, and return in the late afternoon to travel back to your original spot. You can rattle off the top 200 cities in Germany....and the bahnhof of each is within mile of the center of town in almost every single case. Most sizeable bahnhofs will have a book shop inside, with maps on sale....so if you were hoping for a map of the town....they've got it (never less than five Euro or $7 though).
Tenth, there are certain occasions that you might want to avoid bahnhofs....like when a major soccer club is visiting your town for a game. Yes, there are fairly rowdy folks who show up and for an hour upon arrival and probably two hours upon leaving that evening....it's not the place that you want to hang out or be around. If you know of a major demonstration coming for Saturday....that might be a good reason to avoid the bahnhof because of incoming crowds. But the other 350-odd days a year....ought to be ok, and acceptable.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
A Bowle (Germany)
Bowle in Germany....means punch. Generally, it relates to a good bit of alcohol, mixed into something.
If your German friend says "Feuerzangenbowle", then it's a traditional German drink which involves a rum-soaked sugarloaf....that is set on fire and drips down into a wine bowl. Generally, this is served around the holiday season. To be kinda honest, it's loaded with alcohol, and just two cups will get you going fairly quickly. If you consume six of these over a three hour period, you will be fairly drunk. So limit yourself to one or two max.
Another serious element of the bowle...is usually a lot of sugar added into the bowl. If a massive sugar rush bothers you.....skip the bowle no matter what it contains.
Generally, this bowle business will occur at a party or a neighbor's house when you've been invited over. The German passion for alcohol in the holiday season fits with it. Most of the times that you might run into this will be in the winter period, with heated bowle concoctions. There are summer types, but it's rare that you might run into this in July or August.
If your German friend says "Feuerzangenbowle", then it's a traditional German drink which involves a rum-soaked sugarloaf....that is set on fire and drips down into a wine bowl. Generally, this is served around the holiday season. To be kinda honest, it's loaded with alcohol, and just two cups will get you going fairly quickly. If you consume six of these over a three hour period, you will be fairly drunk. So limit yourself to one or two max.
Another serious element of the bowle...is usually a lot of sugar added into the bowl. If a massive sugar rush bothers you.....skip the bowle no matter what it contains.
Generally, this bowle business will occur at a party or a neighbor's house when you've been invited over. The German passion for alcohol in the holiday season fits with it. Most of the times that you might run into this will be in the winter period, with heated bowle concoctions. There are summer types, but it's rare that you might run into this in July or August.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The Frankfurt Airport
Throughout my life....I've probably been in the Frankfurt airport over one hundred times. In my early Air Force years at Rhein Main....it was the nearest place to catch the subway into Frankfurt. Over the years, I've ridden into or out of the airport several dozen times. So for those looking for a bit of advice....here are my ten comments:
First, there is the old airport terminal (number one) and the new airport terminal (number two). There are about one mile apart. The guys decided to have this tram which would pick you up and transport between the two. It's a lousy design (you have go up to a third-floor level.....then board and ride to the next terminal (two minute ride)....then go down from the third-floor level to the ground level. My advice, when you get dropped off at the airport...make sure you know the right terminal and have the ride dump you there. Avoid the tram ride.
Second, there's about twenty places to eat in the two terminals. In terminal two (the newer one), there's a McDonalds, a sandwich shop, and a coffee shop. Terminal one is the place which has more to offer on food.
Third, if you are stuck at the airport for eight hours....remember that you are just a twenty-minute subway ride into Frankfurt. So there's plenty of opportunities if you suddenly get stuck for a couple of extra hours.
Fourth, both terminal one and two have ample parking. In fact, your biggest worry is writing down your parking spot and remembering it as you come back later.
Fifth, crime. Yes, there are people walking around the entire airport on a daily basis, and waiting for you to put down a bag....then walk off with it. So pay attention to your environment.
Sixth, progression through the counter line, then the passport check, then the various security checks? You need to be at the airport at least three hours prior to the flight, if leaving from Frankfurt. If you arrive forty-five minutes before the flight, you can just about forget on catching that flight.
Seventh, the odds of the customs guys checking your luggage as you exit the baggage point? One out of hundred trips. In all these years and trips.....I've only had them check my bags once.
Eighth, these little currency exchange spots in the airport....are total rip-offs. If you want Euro....just find an ATM machine for some bank and buy your Euro there.
Ninth, if you've never been to Germany and your intention is to drive a rental car out of the airport.....have your map and game-plan already thought out. The minute you leave the parking garage, there will be a sign or two....indicating four significant directions. You'd best be ready to know precisely what direction you are traveling. And yes, a GPS would be nice to have at this point.
Tenth, stuck overnight? Well....there's a fancy hotel at the airport, which runs in the 200 Euro range ($250 a night). You can get a taxi to take you down a mile to a second hotel.....which is in the 160-200 Euro range ($180 minimum). After that, there's a hotel or two that run in the 140 Euro range. This is probably not the airport that you want to be stuck overnight. Yes, you can take the subway into Frankfurt, and find a number of 2-star hotels in the 100 Euro range.....all within walking distance of the train station. It's best not to plan for an event like this.
First, there is the old airport terminal (number one) and the new airport terminal (number two). There are about one mile apart. The guys decided to have this tram which would pick you up and transport between the two. It's a lousy design (you have go up to a third-floor level.....then board and ride to the next terminal (two minute ride)....then go down from the third-floor level to the ground level. My advice, when you get dropped off at the airport...make sure you know the right terminal and have the ride dump you there. Avoid the tram ride.
Second, there's about twenty places to eat in the two terminals. In terminal two (the newer one), there's a McDonalds, a sandwich shop, and a coffee shop. Terminal one is the place which has more to offer on food.
Third, if you are stuck at the airport for eight hours....remember that you are just a twenty-minute subway ride into Frankfurt. So there's plenty of opportunities if you suddenly get stuck for a couple of extra hours.
Fourth, both terminal one and two have ample parking. In fact, your biggest worry is writing down your parking spot and remembering it as you come back later.
Fifth, crime. Yes, there are people walking around the entire airport on a daily basis, and waiting for you to put down a bag....then walk off with it. So pay attention to your environment.
Sixth, progression through the counter line, then the passport check, then the various security checks? You need to be at the airport at least three hours prior to the flight, if leaving from Frankfurt. If you arrive forty-five minutes before the flight, you can just about forget on catching that flight.
Seventh, the odds of the customs guys checking your luggage as you exit the baggage point? One out of hundred trips. In all these years and trips.....I've only had them check my bags once.
Eighth, these little currency exchange spots in the airport....are total rip-offs. If you want Euro....just find an ATM machine for some bank and buy your Euro there.
Ninth, if you've never been to Germany and your intention is to drive a rental car out of the airport.....have your map and game-plan already thought out. The minute you leave the parking garage, there will be a sign or two....indicating four significant directions. You'd best be ready to know precisely what direction you are traveling. And yes, a GPS would be nice to have at this point.
Tenth, stuck overnight? Well....there's a fancy hotel at the airport, which runs in the 200 Euro range ($250 a night). You can get a taxi to take you down a mile to a second hotel.....which is in the 160-200 Euro range ($180 minimum). After that, there's a hotel or two that run in the 140 Euro range. This is probably not the airport that you want to be stuck overnight. Yes, you can take the subway into Frankfurt, and find a number of 2-star hotels in the 100 Euro range.....all within walking distance of the train station. It's best not to plan for an event like this.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The German Thing About Tap Water
An American typically finds hundreds of odd things when he arrives on German soil. So the topic of tap water will come up sooner, or later. Bluntly, Germans don't drink tap water, period.
The reasoning? It's hard to say.
When you go to a restaurant or pub, and it's in the midst of a hot summer day....you'd really like some ice cold water to refresh yourself. A German does too.....but they will order a simple bottle of water....paying roughly a Euro for eight fluid ounces of water.
Now, I will admit....there's a wide assortment of water choices. Most Germans prefer water with gas (the bubbles). Typically, Gerolsteiner will be a high choice amongst Germans. It's a mineral water, and been around for well over 120 years.
I admit...some of this preference probably comes from German history and fear of 'bad' water. This was probably true back in the 1940s. But German today is about as pure as you get.
My advice for an American in German....on a hot afternoon? As you stop at the pub.....order the largest bottle of natural water that they sell, and just anticipate drinking most of it while you sit and refresh yourself. Don't expect any ice cubes in the glass.....that's another topic for another day.
As for use of tap water for making coffee at home in Germany? Well....yeah, they use regular tap water for that. I know it doesn't make much sense, but this is Germany.
Finally, a word to the wise about getting dehydrated and stopping at a pub to have a beer, instead of a glass of water. It's not a smart idea, and your body will soak up that beer twice as fast on a hot day....meaning that you will feel enticed to sip one beer, then a second, and then a third. It's not a smart idea.
The reasoning? It's hard to say.
When you go to a restaurant or pub, and it's in the midst of a hot summer day....you'd really like some ice cold water to refresh yourself. A German does too.....but they will order a simple bottle of water....paying roughly a Euro for eight fluid ounces of water.
Now, I will admit....there's a wide assortment of water choices. Most Germans prefer water with gas (the bubbles). Typically, Gerolsteiner will be a high choice amongst Germans. It's a mineral water, and been around for well over 120 years.
I admit...some of this preference probably comes from German history and fear of 'bad' water. This was probably true back in the 1940s. But German today is about as pure as you get.
My advice for an American in German....on a hot afternoon? As you stop at the pub.....order the largest bottle of natural water that they sell, and just anticipate drinking most of it while you sit and refresh yourself. Don't expect any ice cubes in the glass.....that's another topic for another day.
As for use of tap water for making coffee at home in Germany? Well....yeah, they use regular tap water for that. I know it doesn't make much sense, but this is Germany.
Finally, a word to the wise about getting dehydrated and stopping at a pub to have a beer, instead of a glass of water. It's not a smart idea, and your body will soak up that beer twice as fast on a hot day....meaning that you will feel enticed to sip one beer, then a second, and then a third. It's not a smart idea.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Stau Season
Summer in Germany....brings on the subject of traffic jams. German "staus" are legendary. An American typically cannot imagine being stuck in a ninety-minute traffic jam....moving eight lousy miles (11 km) at best.
Why all the traffic on a weekend? Well....Germans want to travel and go places. To be honest, the current autobahn structure is made for ten months out of the year....not June or July. Even the concept of limiting truckers to six days a week, and forcing them off the road for Sundays.....probably hasn't helped that much.
Toss in the fact that if you are going to a week long house rental deal.....then they all occur on Saturdays to arrive to. This means you leave on Saturday morning and arrive at the house rental by that afternoon, and the reverse is true....the guy at the house rental right now....checks out by Saturday morning, and drives home on Saturday.
So I'm going to offer up simple advice on how an American can handle the stressful stau-business.
First, getting a head start is practical. I hate suggesting to get up at 3AM to start a trip but it helps. There is hardly anyone on the road until around 7AM, and traffic never builds up until 9AM. So you might just plan this in a way.....get six hours of driving out of the way, and rest for three hours around while the heavy traffic is running.
Second, the best places to stop along the autobahn in these situations....is typically your gas station and restaurant operations along the autobahn. I know the prices are outrageous and the food is typically two-star at best. But your only other option is to completely off the autobahn and plan some stop in a local town or city. Maybe there's a tourist spot to stop and see for three hours....and this makes sense then.
Third, I've noticed folks now get into GPS calculating. This leans toward you running into a lengthy autobahn stau, leaving the autobahn to travel on some secondary road at a lesser speed, and somehow coming out ahead in this driving game. I've tried this on five or six occasions. Frankly, it works if the stau is 20km long, but if's less than 10km....you'd best just stay on the autobahn.
Fourth, most staus start because of a car accident. Guys are stupid....driving 150kph and create a massive accident. You don't want to be a trigger to a stau, so I would strongly advise on getting a good ten-minute rest every two hours. It'd help to switch out drivers every two hours. It'd help to get everyone out of the car and make them walk a bit every two hours.
Fifth, once a driver gets really stressed out and acting weird from a lengthy stau....make the driver leave the autobahn and rest.
Sixth, staus typically come to a closure by late Saturday afternoon. You would rarely find one after 6PM. If you asked when the peak usually occurs....I'd say between 10AM and 2PM.
Seventh.....I'd like to say that staus occur more often near metropolitan cities, but that just isn't the case. You can't predict where a massive accident will occur and trigger a stau.
Eighth.....the stand-still stau. Over the fifteen years I lived in Germany....I came up against a absolute stau on three occasions. This is where nothing moves for at least thirty minutes. Typically....the cops are at the accident scene, with an ambulance crew, and digging folks out of a bus or several cars. If you figure you are such a situation, and the next exit is a km up the road.....see if you can wiggle yourself out to the right far lane and just exit the autobahn completely.
Ninth....the fog stau. I once drove from Munich back up toward Mannheim.....in early January. I ran into a fog bank where visibility was 200 feet at best. Traffic started to back up and we invented a massive stau.....but the positive was that we still continued to move along....just slowly. In a case like this....I'd strong advise you to find a rest-stop and just pull in for an hour....waiting for the fog to lift.
Tenth and final.....all staus eventually end, and traffic goes back into turbo, to make up for lost time. Sadly, this simply creates the next potential accident down the road. Don't go nuts to make up for lost time.
Why all the traffic on a weekend? Well....Germans want to travel and go places. To be honest, the current autobahn structure is made for ten months out of the year....not June or July. Even the concept of limiting truckers to six days a week, and forcing them off the road for Sundays.....probably hasn't helped that much.
Toss in the fact that if you are going to a week long house rental deal.....then they all occur on Saturdays to arrive to. This means you leave on Saturday morning and arrive at the house rental by that afternoon, and the reverse is true....the guy at the house rental right now....checks out by Saturday morning, and drives home on Saturday.
So I'm going to offer up simple advice on how an American can handle the stressful stau-business.
First, getting a head start is practical. I hate suggesting to get up at 3AM to start a trip but it helps. There is hardly anyone on the road until around 7AM, and traffic never builds up until 9AM. So you might just plan this in a way.....get six hours of driving out of the way, and rest for three hours around while the heavy traffic is running.
Second, the best places to stop along the autobahn in these situations....is typically your gas station and restaurant operations along the autobahn. I know the prices are outrageous and the food is typically two-star at best. But your only other option is to completely off the autobahn and plan some stop in a local town or city. Maybe there's a tourist spot to stop and see for three hours....and this makes sense then.
Third, I've noticed folks now get into GPS calculating. This leans toward you running into a lengthy autobahn stau, leaving the autobahn to travel on some secondary road at a lesser speed, and somehow coming out ahead in this driving game. I've tried this on five or six occasions. Frankly, it works if the stau is 20km long, but if's less than 10km....you'd best just stay on the autobahn.
Fourth, most staus start because of a car accident. Guys are stupid....driving 150kph and create a massive accident. You don't want to be a trigger to a stau, so I would strongly advise on getting a good ten-minute rest every two hours. It'd help to switch out drivers every two hours. It'd help to get everyone out of the car and make them walk a bit every two hours.
Fifth, once a driver gets really stressed out and acting weird from a lengthy stau....make the driver leave the autobahn and rest.
Sixth, staus typically come to a closure by late Saturday afternoon. You would rarely find one after 6PM. If you asked when the peak usually occurs....I'd say between 10AM and 2PM.
Seventh.....I'd like to say that staus occur more often near metropolitan cities, but that just isn't the case. You can't predict where a massive accident will occur and trigger a stau.
Eighth.....the stand-still stau. Over the fifteen years I lived in Germany....I came up against a absolute stau on three occasions. This is where nothing moves for at least thirty minutes. Typically....the cops are at the accident scene, with an ambulance crew, and digging folks out of a bus or several cars. If you figure you are such a situation, and the next exit is a km up the road.....see if you can wiggle yourself out to the right far lane and just exit the autobahn completely.
Ninth....the fog stau. I once drove from Munich back up toward Mannheim.....in early January. I ran into a fog bank where visibility was 200 feet at best. Traffic started to back up and we invented a massive stau.....but the positive was that we still continued to move along....just slowly. In a case like this....I'd strong advise you to find a rest-stop and just pull in for an hour....waiting for the fog to lift.
Tenth and final.....all staus eventually end, and traffic goes back into turbo, to make up for lost time. Sadly, this simply creates the next potential accident down the road. Don't go nuts to make up for lost time.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Guns and Statistics
It's an odd statistic that came out this week.
In 2011...German cops fired a grand total of 85 bullets in relationship to their job (not training). Of that 85 bullets....forty-nine were simply warning shots. The rest? Six folks were killed and fifteen were wounded.
We won't go into comparison about the American side of the statistics....because we can typically fire fifty or more rounds at just one guy....at one crime scene....and that's on just a good day.
Germans will quickly pick up on a story like this and chat on how America is so terribly wrong. We fire too many rounds. We react too quickly. We drive around with machine guns in police cruisers. We might fire off six hundred rounds of ammo at a pretty hostile situation.
Having lived in Germany.....I can offer these observations.
Typically, you don't have "death by cop" attitudes in Germany. You don't openly invite the cops to your front yard and entice them to kill you with their guns.
Typically, you don't have gangs around Mainz, or Munich, or Trier.....who openly carry weapons in public.
Typically, you don't have El Salvadorian gangs operating out of Wiesbaden and shooting up rival gangs on the street.
Typically, you don't three guys showing up at your front door and showing off weapons to get you to open up your wall safe where you keep your big collection of gold coins.
But there's something else you can take from this story. German cops are more likely to fire a warning shot....which I wouldn't argue against. It's also pretty likely after he's fired that one warning shot....if he has to fire one more round....he's going to hit you. Statistically, I'm only guessing here....but that's probably ten times better than you could get with any US cop.
I know Germans will twist this around and hint strongly that we just have too many guns in America....but the other side of this story is that we've also got alot of characters who just aren't friendly.....far more statistically than what any German community ever has to deal with. We could invite a thousand ways to retrieve or take away weapons.....but it's just going to be one group affected. These odd characters? They aren't about to play games and they'd retain their weapons.
Germans can talk all they want on this.....but at the end of the day....they should just be thankful they live in Germany and feel that safe. And they should be thankful that German cops don't waste ammo and always offer up a warning shot.
In 2011...German cops fired a grand total of 85 bullets in relationship to their job (not training). Of that 85 bullets....forty-nine were simply warning shots. The rest? Six folks were killed and fifteen were wounded.
We won't go into comparison about the American side of the statistics....because we can typically fire fifty or more rounds at just one guy....at one crime scene....and that's on just a good day.
Germans will quickly pick up on a story like this and chat on how America is so terribly wrong. We fire too many rounds. We react too quickly. We drive around with machine guns in police cruisers. We might fire off six hundred rounds of ammo at a pretty hostile situation.
Having lived in Germany.....I can offer these observations.
Typically, you don't have "death by cop" attitudes in Germany. You don't openly invite the cops to your front yard and entice them to kill you with their guns.
Typically, you don't have gangs around Mainz, or Munich, or Trier.....who openly carry weapons in public.
Typically, you don't have El Salvadorian gangs operating out of Wiesbaden and shooting up rival gangs on the street.
Typically, you don't three guys showing up at your front door and showing off weapons to get you to open up your wall safe where you keep your big collection of gold coins.
But there's something else you can take from this story. German cops are more likely to fire a warning shot....which I wouldn't argue against. It's also pretty likely after he's fired that one warning shot....if he has to fire one more round....he's going to hit you. Statistically, I'm only guessing here....but that's probably ten times better than you could get with any US cop.
I know Germans will twist this around and hint strongly that we just have too many guns in America....but the other side of this story is that we've also got alot of characters who just aren't friendly.....far more statistically than what any German community ever has to deal with. We could invite a thousand ways to retrieve or take away weapons.....but it's just going to be one group affected. These odd characters? They aren't about to play games and they'd retain their weapons.
Germans can talk all they want on this.....but at the end of the day....they should just be thankful they live in Germany and feel that safe. And they should be thankful that German cops don't waste ammo and always offer up a warning shot.
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