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 Careful - camera is ready
to make pics ! by Trekki
The local municipalities seem to always lack money in their boxes, so they find ways to fill them up.
One of their favourites is to fine car drivers for all and everything :-)
The pic shows a so-called "Vogelhaeuschen" (bird box), with cameras installed in.
They make nice pictures when your speed is too high or you pass a red (or dark orange) traffic light.
Make sure you spot them and slow down or resist the attempt to just make it at dark orange.
They are everywhere, in cities, on country roads and Autobahns.
However, I do not know what happens if a foreign car (driver) get tickets, but in case you rent a car, the rental company will make sure that you pay the ticket.
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(I will place this also under Hotels).
Well, this is not necessarily true for the bigger cities, but definitely for rural areas:
If you are travelling in Germany, and either have already made your reservation for accommodation, or look for some place to stay for the night along the road.
Make sure, you check in latest 9 p.m. !!!!
Most hotels in rural areas close their doors latest 9:30 p.m.
The reason is quite simple:
With all our job cutting, it is not easy for hotel owners in rural areas to have staff, so they often do all “hotel” work. If they have to get up early to prepare breakfast for the early leaving guests, they go to bed early.
In case, you have made a reservation already, please check with the staff when you have to aarive latest. Some might be willing to open you also late in the evening.
If you don't have a reservation, and just look for a hotel on the road in rural areas, you better check in before 9 p.m.
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This is not necessarily a problem of Germany but happens around the world. But it seems to have increased dramatically in Germany in the last year (by 50%), so I thought it should be wise to warn.
Criminals are more and more manipulating ATM machines to skim PIN codes and draw money. They have found ways to copy the machines’ key panel so good that it is almost impossible to detect them as manipulated. See the article of Bavaria police and the first photo here (enlarge it for better view). Other ways the criminals use are to manipulate machines in shops at the data line to skim PIN codes. Very often the shop owners don’t realise this manipulation until some customers found out and complain.
There is no real way to prevent this. Personally I avoid drawing money in the evening when the banks are closed but try to draw at the ATMs inside the banks when they’re open. I also try and avoid to draw money in popular crowded places or cities. By all means I even chase away people who stand too close when I put in my PIN code somewhere at a machine or in a shop.
Read the article I have added as weblink. Somehow it is a bit of an advertising for Nixdorf, the producer of ATM parts, but it describes very well the method, the criminals use. It might be outdated in terms of illegally drawn money though. Leave a Comment
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Update, August 30, 2009:
My tip title was "Nazism not yet erased, unfortunately" and I have changed it today. Today was election day in Saarland, Thuringia and Saxony. I am shocked to see the threatening results. In both, Thuringia and Saxony the disgusting offspring of the Nazis (aka NPD) managed to reach results which will bring them into the Landtag (lagislative assembly), definitely in Saxonia, 5,7%..... This is disgusting and shows me only that obviously our legal system is infiltrated by brown moves and corrupt enough to avoid by all means to ban this party..... It is not yet in the international news, but there is a DW article which expresses a "concern".
I am disgusted.... which is even too mild of an expression. In times like these, realising that no one does anything about this, with our deadly past - with all the passion of my heart and soul I scorn my country and the corrupt governments and legal systems.....
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I planned to write this tip since a long time, but in 2007 the issue got some very sad topicality with a recent incident. In a little town, a group of Indians (as in India, the country) were attacked by Neonazis. They could flee into a restaurant, but were injured during the fights. They are safe now – but this incident demonstrates what makes me sick in my country and makes me very much furious with some of my own compatriots. The neonazis have a certain power in our country, otherwise it cannot be explained why they are not wiped out, why they are not send into jail forever for such horrifying actions that spring from their sick or dead brains. It might also explain why very often (maybe even always) my own compatriots look away when Neonazis again start brutal fights with anyone they don’t perceive as “German”.
These incidents happen all the time – they might not make it into international news, as very often, our government tries to hide it from the outside. There are also reports of critical TV telestations that some subjects in the government(s) are still secretly funding some of these Neonazi parties, so they won’t likely vanish, unless a whole country stands up and fights for a massive cleanup. But we won’t – overall, we are just too cowardly.
No, it is not happening everywhere in Germany. But it happens. What to do ? These subjects are easy to spot – they run around like modern Hitlers: solid thick black boots, leather jackets, mostly dark and look like skinheads – very much dumb as well. They come in herds, often in groups of minimum 2 or 3 (or more), as they only feel strong in a group. If you see subjects like them – like here in this
photo, just turn around and try not to cross their path – if you are a foreigner. No need to agitate them.
Read the full article about the recent attack in DW news
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Update, December 15, 2008:
We hear of attacks of Neo-Nazis daily in our news, but this one of yesterday is so frightening that I want to publish it here as well. It seems that these brain dead idiots now even don't stop when it comes to authorities:
Stabbing of German police chief in Bavaria
Passau to be precise. The police chief survived, luckily. I seriously hope that our government wakes up now and chases, prosecute and erases these deadly groups.
(I am at points quite often to abandon my nationality. How should I hold a passport of a country whose government is too blind or maybe even too corrupt to these deadly streams and will only react in endless discussions ....) Leave a Comment
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Since January 1st, 2002, our currency is the Euro. And since then the counterfeiters are active. Recently, ECB has published their July 2008 statistics and it shows that the most popular denominations are 50 €, 20 € and 100 €. The discussion about safety of the Euro banknotes against counterfeiting is as old as the Euro itself, but as always it is a question of information and education. European Central Bank and the Euro country national banks do publish the security features in extended length even with videos and it does help a lot to carefully read these and remember the three words: feel – look – tilt. So it is impossible to counterfeit the banknotes 100%, as these features just cannot be copied to 100%. It is us (and the cashiers) who have this 100% in our hands and are frauded or not when we don’t know how to detect the genuine ones from the counterfeited ones. In my opinion, the best (and definitely not 100% counterfeitable) feature is the colour changing number on 50, 100, 200 and 500 Euro. It changes colour from pink to greenish and this change to greenish is not imitable even with the latest inventions. Even if the ECB’s video of the colour change or my photos don’t show this properly on the monitor (it all depends on our monitor settings), it is pretty obvious on the banknote itself. In case a future counterfeiter stumbles upon this through google search – believe me, there is no way to imitate this, and by all means there will be always someone who properly identifies your fraud with modern and unique methods and is even able to trace you back to your shop :-). Ha!
Interpol gives advice on their website what you can do to check if you got a counterfeited banknote:
###If you are a member of the general public:
* look at the banknote carefully;
* compare it to other banknotes of the same denomination at your disposal;
* feel the raised texture on the printed area of the banknote (and check the colour change);
* if you still have doubts about the authenticity of the banknote, refuse to accept it and report it to the proper authorities. ### Leave a Comment
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Anything to do with Nazi-sympathism is illegal in Germany, so rest assure, that generally speaking, you will not run into any kind of overt racism in Germany. Please do not try to be funny or offensive, by saying or doing any actions that have any bearing to Nazism, as it will probably get you arrested.
Bear in mind, that if you want to get on with the locals, it is best to avoid the topic of WWII unless they bring the topic up. This is to avoid saying something sensitive or offensive. It is quite unjustified to invoke any feelings of guilt in modern-day Germans, especially the younger society, who already have to deal with the historical ties that comes with living in Germany.
If you are interested in the history, the best way to find out more about the history of the Nazi regime, the SS, Hitler, etc. is to visit one of the landmarks or museums spread out throughout Germany. There is a musuem in N?rnberg which I went to, at the suggestion of my German host family, which provided many unknown facts. N?rnberg was one of the places where another head SS building was to be built, but it was never finished.
If you want to know a little about what life in Nazi - Germany was like, click the link for the game:
Undercover in Nazi Germany Leave a Comment
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 Rumanians have organised
beggar squads by Weissdorn
Still, this doesn't stop Gypsies, who claim to be Rumanians from dropping off squads of women and children to persue organised begging trips. Each person is equipped with some note, mostly in German, sometimes in English, claiming that he or she is orphaned and needs a little change to get back home to Rumania.
They have a sort of pimp, who makes sure that the kids don't goof off and really work at begging, and collect their days' earnings.
So remember, that when you generously donate a few coins to poor homeless Rumanian orphans - who suposedly want to go home: They aren't homeless, they aren't Rumanian, they aren't poor, and they don't get to keep the money you give them. In fact you will only be financing a form of child prostitution. Leave a Comment
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 Ant Hill by nepalgoods
When I was a child, my father used to put his handkerchief on top of an ant hill. Than all those little ants attacked the piece of cloth and filled it with their formic acid. My father told me this is good against rheuma. Leave a Comment
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 by Trekki
Wherever I travel and buy foodstuff I am amazed and very much jealous of the choices, local consumers have as I know that this is something which will never be possible in Germany, despite many discussions….
We don’t have sufficient and indicative health labelling. Take UK for example. They have a proper labelling system which enables the consumers to quickly see if the goods contain anything they shouldn’t eat at all or shouldn’t eat too much of.
If you go to German foodstores, you will find some labelling, yes, but this is only listing some ingredients in % per 100 g or ml. It does not list all and it does not list the daily necessary rate, nor which essentials are included. Consequently our food “labelling” expects the consumers to hold at least a degree in biochemistry to ensure proper and healthy shopping. There are ongoing discussions if to adopt UK’s traffic light system or not. But (accordant with one of the highest “German values”: nothing counts as long as it is not invented here), UK’s labelling system is judged as “too simple” (as if we haven’t already a highly complicated daily life already – but… yes, make it more complicated..) or “doesn’t lead anywhere” (of course it does, at least it would be a sufficient start) and even “will discriminate manufacturers” (so what??? Isn’t it time to educate the manufacturers?? But yes, of course, it is more important not to harm or discriminate manufacturers than to stop “poisoning” the population by not labelling how much pesticides, saturates, cholesterol and all these negative ingredients are in our food).
And it also does not help that 85% of us Germans want this system (finally, our democracy includes only the manufacturers and lobbies but comes to a stop when it is about the rights and wishes of the people).
At least do this:
Check the labelling to see what a food contains. The values below are from the very valuable UK website below:
Fett = fat
high = > 20 g fat/100 g
low = < 3 g fat/100g
Gesättigte Fettsäuren = saturates
high = > 5 g saturates/100 g
low = < 1,5 g saturates/100g
Zucker = sugar
high = > 15 g sugar/100 g
low = < 5 g sugar/100g
Natrium = sodium (or: salt = sodium x 2,5)
high = > 0,6 g sodium/100 g (> 1,5 g salt/100g)
low = < 0,1 g sodium/100g (< 0,3 g salt/100g). Leave a Comment
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 Cigarette Machines Abound in
Public Places by antistar
As a non-smoker, then, in Germany, you'd better prepare yourself to be stinking of stale cigarettes most of the time, especially as a tourist, as you'll have to sit in cafes and restaurants to get fed. Then you'll get to enjoy the pleasure of having someone light up behind you while you eat and chainsmoke through your meal. It's a surprisingly ignorant habit from the usually polite German people, and one that will probably only go away if they make smoking in bars and cafes illegal.
This won't be happening any time soon, unfortunately, as there is great pressure from the large smoking minority to keep this out of the legislature. Such a move by the government would be particularly unpopular in the east of the country, where smoking is far more prevalent than even in the smoke friendly west. In the east, unlike the west, young people are taking up the habit in increasing numbers, meaning a trip to this side of the country will be even smokier.
Young people no doubt pick up the habit so easily because of the incredulously wide availability of cigarette machines. Almost every few hundred meters you will come across a Zigaretten vending machine in every town and city of all sizes across the entire country. These can easily be accessed by children too, and are, as you will see from the young faces lighting up everywhere. Leave a Comment
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