Interesting to Note.
"Happy" and "lucky" are the same word in German. You can have it or be it but apparently both are pure chance.
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16.10.07
14.10.07
Volksfest, 2nd Night
Soon, I will give up the drugs...
12.10.07
Volksfest
Exactly what it sounds like. A fest for folks just like the wagen for folks. Essentially Stuttgart's October Fest. Imagine the Anderson County Fair with properly assembled, relatively new rides, no trash on the grounds, all the drunk people friendly (or at least unobtrusive), and special structures designed exclusively for sitting and drinking beer. I made the gruesome mistake of getting invited to two consecutive nights. One with new friends and tonight with co-workers. Pre-planning as ever, I managed to get away with only drinking three beers last night. One beer is a liter.
In a nod to American engineering, all the rides seem to be American built. They have U.S. flags, U.S. television show-themed decoration and so on. Sitting right beside booths that sell carved wooden things...and pretzels. I rode the "Air Wolf."
The drive to work this morning was absolute torture. I didn't think I was going to make it through the day or to tonights fest. Somehow, the headache magically cleared up and I actually have thoughts of going again. The beer and rubber chicken are paid for. Probably just one beer tonight.
10.10.07
Fun Facts
I had to read this twice, and then again in the original German, just to make sure I was seeing it correctly.
EU traffic fatalities per year (2007): 40,000
US traffic fatalities per year (2007): 42,642
'bout the same number of people
So Much for the Higher Purpose
I've come to Germany and, although my German is still terrible, I seem to be functioning here. Today I put it to good use. I had a sales call from my cell phone provider today and understood the long-winded additional service description and charges to say, "Thanks, my German is not so good but I understand your meaning. I don't need the extra service." and blah.
That last bit reminds me of a charming drunk man Bill and I met at dinner on the cruise. He apparently thought it witty to start say "blah, blah, blah, blah" in a long and disinterested manner when he didn't understand what was being said. I made sure to keep him a good two inches beyond arm's length.
07.10.07
Just Put One Foot in Front of the Other.
I have arrived at a simple three step plan for turning around our country. Remember, simple is not always easy.
1. Elect a president, regardless of political affiliation, who is not functionally retarded.
2. Elect legislative representatives, regardless of political affiliation, who are not public opinion barometers, closeted self-hating gays, whore mongers, cute celebrities, rich, or functionally retarded.
3. Encourage those around you, regardless of political affiliation, politely yet firmly and diplomatically, not to live their lives as if they are functionally retarded.
As a fourth, unofficial step, work to replace the term "'retarded" with "mentally challenged."
Why are we doing this?
Someone argued the point with me last night that, under certain criteria, we may not be considered a first-world country.
http://www.livescience.com/health/060810_evo_rank.html
It was a bit ironic, but didn't really have a strong counter argument: Our average life span is not at the top of the list (not in top 10) http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762380.html, our health care is not at the top of the list (37) http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html, our education system no longer ranks first http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338, nor has our average I.Q. (ever, 22), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations, http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/000953.html. and our privacy laws are now actually less stringent than other Western countries, http://www.gilc.org/privacy/survey/ (here's a quote "The U.S. has led a worldwide effort to limit individual privacy and enhance the capability of its police and intelligence services to eavesdrop on personal conversations. The campaign has had two legal strategies. The first made it mandatory for all digital telephone switches, cellular and satellite phones and all developing communication technologies to build in surveillance capabilities; the second sought to limit the dissemination of software that provides encryption, a technique which allows people to scramble their communications and files to prevent others from reading them. [fn 43] "). Regretably, I tend to argue my personal opinions without supporting facts to back it up.
On the upside, some of us pay lower taxes.
05.10.07
Someone Has Enlightened Me
Shortly following my re-published rant about excess government spending, erosion of privacy, and criticism of subsidies, someone was able to succinctly classify my position: "Commie fuck wad jealous of people making more money than he is."
I now stand corrected.
04.10.07
Arnold
I happened to mention to some colleagues the other night that I had never heard Arnold Schwartzeneger speak German. "Oh, he has a very thick American accent," was the reply.
03.10.07
More Ranting.
Most of below is a posting I left on an online forum. Apparenty, they caught me in a typative moment. I decided to re-post it here because it catches me in a good mood - bitching about the world at large rather than my own situation. A sure sign of anyone's relative happiness. I think I also wasn't quite done so I will expand the post from the original, offset by quotes.
Could someone detail these giant tax burdens the Democrats will foist upon the American middle class? The numbers for Bush's "tax cuts" that lifted all the red necks up into new truck status have been demontrated to benefit people with incomes of over $5M/year, saving them $500k/year in taxes. Those are your middle class friends? Corporate taxes, including petroleum industries, are also at an all time low and you sit there and bitch because Democrats want to tax smokers, people who make over $5M/year, and multi-national corporations? That $150 refund check Bush sent you early on sure must have stretched a long way. "Anyone is welcome to refute me on the tax point. I'd thoroughly enjoy see the actual tax savings from people making under $100k/year over the last six years. Please include capital gains numbers, inheritance, property, and consumer goods tax reductions as well."
U.S. subsidies are also at an all-time high but instead of individuals, they are going to well connected businesses: the government is currently providing business welfare payments to defense, transportation (pension bailouts and energy research grants), lending (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest mortgage companies in the U.S.), commerce (student loan subsidies to COMPANIES), and pharmaceutical industries (subsidies to use Africa as a giant test lab). Yet you can sit their and call federal health insurance socialism? Socialism is collecting money from the masses and redistributing it for some purpose. I would say we are already there. "Another point I'd like to see refuted by numbers. The government is paying out more tax payer and borrowed money than ever, yet trying to cut social programs that have grown only to meet inflation over that last 6 years. Where is the extra money going and who will it ultimately come from under existing policies? A personal favorite of mine is corporate tax breaks to insurance companies who issue dividend stock. We have public funds helping a private company, who in turn pays share holders, that was initially set up to compensate individuals for the loss of property or health. Can anyone see anything wrong in there?"
Democrats traditionally are pro labor and shield U.S. workers from unfair Chinese competition. The current economic "boom" has got the U.S. hurtling toward the list of low cost labor countries. That means the dollar is worthless, labor is uneducated, and employee benefits are cheap (and crappy).
Immigrants no longer flock to America because, thanks to the 911 panic legislation and individual Americans abdicating their personal responsibilities in favor of "big momma" government protecting them, it is too hard to even bother visiting for foreigners. The immigrants who are here (illegally) are here because where they came from is a giant dirt farm and U.S. businesses (usually pro-conservative) are paying them under the table for cheap labor whilst bitching in the public square about the immigrant problem. "All valid comments I have previously made. What party is trying to build a fence around Mexico with tax money? Why are Mexicans coming - they are being paid to come by business owners who refuse to compete in a fair market system. These same business owners are screwing Americans out of jobs. ie Walmart's cleaning crews, the housing industry. You will never be able to deter or scare desperate people out of coming to America. Desperation and employment is why they come. America's economy is allegedly growing and business are indeed profiting. Explain to me how this has helped the consumer price index. Explain how much better middle class workers are fairing under this growth by pointing to the reduced cost of any living or the expansion of any employment related benefits. Tell me how far the average guys dollar goes when he does manage to travel abroad."
Now you want Reaganomics again? Isn't he the guy who pioneered deficit spending, stretched the burden on future generations, flushed money down the toilet with star wars research, alienated true conservatives, and generally started the trends that have been fully realized under Bush? "Sorry, this really is a sore point for me. Ronald Reagan is a legend only in the minds of people who have some very dim memories. He ended up alienating the base of true conservatives because of his spending habits. He pulled funding for social programs, famously cutting the cost of school lunches by classifying ketchup as a vegetable. He really and truly started consolidating the modern Republican base, whose primary political ojectives seem to consist of systematically hating queers, blacks, and foreigners while keeping God and guns. Cost be damned."
That being said...fiscal conservatism is dead within the Republican party at large. I believe in it and fully endorse rational spending of public funds. I can agree with some of the planks the party has in their platform but their tendency of late has been towards consolidation of power, destruction of the middle class, and erosion of the general health and welfare of Americans and our system of fair commerce. The Democrats will get their shot from me because they have a long history of defending the regular guy from big business, whether he likes it or not, expansion of civil liberties, and a general interest in promoting the welfare of people, including their right to privacy. If you don't like the current trend in law enforcement, for instance, you only have the current administration to blame. "I would mildly counter that the Democratic party has its own problems but they pale in comparison to our current situation. Republicans are overwhelmingly showing up as the culprits of bribery and corruption. If Democrats had the same level of graft, it certainly would have been investigated two years ago when all investigative comittees were headed by Republicans. In the presence of every other Democrat-thwarting trick they pulled, this only makes sense if you assume Democrats were not taking bribes. What did Bill Clinton do? He got a blow job from an intern and lied about it. That was the sum of the multi-million dollar investigation. Guess what, I'd lie my ass off too until you spent millions of dollars, wasted the time of thousands of people and finally forced a confession out of me. People under Bush are going to jail for actions they commited, apparently without direction, that ultimately were to benefit the administration."
I really am in a good mood again :)
02.10.07
Just Another Tuesday, And Yet...
Today is Tuesady. Yes, tomorrow is yet another holiday. They are celebrating the reunification of Germany. Not the actual day the wall was breached because through some freak of the Gregorian calendar it coincided with Hitler's birthday but the day it officially happened on paper. Good enough.
I went to the Wichtel (pronounced Victel, which it occurs to me now is vaguely reminiscent of victual) with some work friends for pizza and beer. Conversation was punctuated by a mix of German and English. 25% of us were relatively fluent in both (not me) and we ended up swapping back and forth as necessary. I think what struck me most was that I actually laughed on cue to some of the German humor and my German counterparts were able to reciprocate in English. I think that speaks more for interculturalism than any inter-continental bank transaction ever will.
Completely of topic here; Pink has a song titled "Dear mr. President" that I hear all the time on the radio over here. Apparently it gets no airplay in America. Look for the version with the Indigo Girls.