National Elections in Germany: Sept 22 2013

Which party might you support?
 TRY THIS WAHL-O-MAT !

Once you answer 38 brief questions regarding current issues, you'll be led to the party closest to your  leanings.  Let us know!

Here are some of the questions, with a few vocab notations:

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A.  stimme zu          B.  neutral          C.  stimme nicht zu        [D.  These überspringen = skip topic]

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_ _ _ _ 1. Mindestlohn  (nat’l-  universal -  minimum wage)  Es soll ein gesetzlicher flächendeckender Mindestlohn eingeführt werden.

_ _ _ _ 2. Betreuungsgeld  Eltern, deren (whose)  Kinder nicht in die Kita (pre-school) gehen, sollen ein Betreuungsgeld ($$$$$) erhalten.

_ _ _ _ 3. Tempolimit   Generelles Tempolimit auf Autobahnen!

_ _ _ _ 4. Euro Deutschland soll den Euro als Währung (currency)  behalten.

_ _ _ _ 5. Strompreis  (price of electricity)  Der Strompreis soll vom Staat stärker reguliert werden.

_ _ _ _ 6. Videoüberwachung                         (extended)

Die Videoüberwachung im öffentlichen Raum soll ausgebaut werden.

_ _ _ _ 7. Mindestgehalt

Es soll in der BRD ein fest gestelltes Mindestgehalt geben

_ _ _ _ 8. Getrennter Schulunterricht  (Separated school classes by culture) Alle Kinder sollen ungeachtet ihres kulturellen Hintergrundes gemeinsam unterrichtet werden.

_ _ _ _  9.  Spitzensteuersatz -- (Taxes for those in the top bracket) soll erhöht werden.

_ _ _ _ 10. NATO-Austritt   Deutschland soll aus der NATO austreten (depart) !

_ _ _ _ 11.  Kohlekraft (coal power) Kein  Neubau von Kohlekraftwerken!

_ _ _ _ 12. Pille danach  (“morning after pill”)  soll rezeptpflichtig bleiben.

_ _ _ _ 13.  Flüchtlingspolitik:  (more refugees)  Mehr aufnehmen!

_ _ _ _ 14.  Parteienverbot   Verfassungswidrige  (unconstitutional) Parteien sollen weiterhin verboten werden dürfen.

_ _ _ _ 15. Staatliche Unterstützung von Studierenden  soll unabhängig vom Einkommen der Eltern gezahlt werden.   (student support payments should not be tied to parent incomes)

_ _ _ _ 16. Frauenquote    In Aufsichtsräten  (Bd/Gov’s.) und Vorständen von Unternehmen (corporate management)  soll eine gesetzliche Frauenquote gelten (apply; be in force).

_ _ _ _ 17. Rente mit 67 (Retirement age)  Senken wir es wieder auf 64-65.  

_ _ _ _ 18. Rüstungsexporte  (armaments) sollen verboten werden.

_ _ _ _ 19. EU-Beitritt (inclusion) der Türkei  soll eingesetzt werden.

_ _ _ _ 20. Kirchensteuer  Der Staat soll weiterhin für Religionsgemeinschaften Kirchensteuer (Church-Tax)  einziehen (diminish).

_ _ _ _  21. Bürgerversicherung  Alle sollen in gesetzlichen Krankenkassen versichert (health insurance) sein müssen.

_ _ _ _ 22. Adoptionsrechte für Schwule und Lesben (gay and lesbian)

Alle dürfen ein gemeinsames Adoptionsrecht erhalten.

_ _ _ _23. Vorratsdatenspeicherung (data preservation) Kommunikations-daten (z.B. Telefon, Internet) ohne konkreten Anlass (cause) nicht zu speichern!

_ _ _ _ 24. Mietpreisbremse  (rent prices) Bei Neuvermietungen soll der Mietpreis nur begrenzt angehoben (limited raises) werden dürfen.

_ _ _ _ 25. Doppelte Staatsangehörigkeit  (Dual citizenship) Volljährige deutsche Staatsangehörige sollen keine weitere Staatsangehörigkeit besitzen dürfen.

_ _ _ _  26.  Pkw-Maut  (charge to use Autobahn) Die Nutzung von Autobahnen 

 

Daniel Brühl's career is taking off

The Fifth Estate, The Julian Assange / WikiLeaks Story





Spricht Herr Brühl besser Spanish als Englisch?   Hier, bei Entrevista durfte er einfach ohne Fragen los schießen.   Warum spricht er fließend Spanish?  Weil er in Spanien geboren wurde.  Seine Famile wohnt jetzt in Berlin, aber er hat auch ein Haus in Barcelona, wo er so oft wie möglich wohnt.

Applaus, Applaus ... Nr. 2 in Deutschland, v. Sportfreunde Stiller

 Mit Songtext dabei:




Wenn du lachst -- Applaus!  Applaus! 
 (When you laugh ---  !  !  )
Für deine Art mich zu begeistern
 (For the way you inspire me!)
Ich wünsche so sehr, du hörst niemals damit auf.
(I wish so much,  you never ever stop with it = your support.)

Afternoon Coffee Break, the 3rd Mealtime of the day

 Where in Vienna should you enjoy this meal?  There are sooooo many coffee houses to choose from.  Here's someone's favorite: 

Cafe Demel



Was steht auf der Speisekarte?  (Die Speisekarte = das Menü)  Kuchen und Gebäck.  Auch Kaffee und Espresso, u.s.w.  Der Nachmittag soll nicht hektisch sein.    Menu?  Desserts.  And coffees.  For a refined afternoon.

Ron Howard's RUSH

German actor, Daniel Brühl, co-stars as brilliant and precise Austrian driver, Niki Lauda, the counterpoint and rival from 1976 for "jet-setter", James Hunt (played by Chris Hemsworth).  According to Howard, the film features the last time there was a Formula 1 race on the Nürburgring, and will inspire us all as we recognize the will to win.



From the Telegraph
Sat. Sept 14, 2013

Former Formula One world racing car champion Niki Lauda estimates he has been approached 30 times over the years by people wanting to tell his story.

But it was not until the British playwright and screenwriter Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) contacted him that he finally agreed. "Oscar nominations, good writer, top man," he told me succinctly when we talked at the Toronto Film Festival. "I started talking to him and he developed the story about the 1976 racing season and the rivalry between me and James Hunt."

The result is Rush, which had its premiere in Toronto and is being widely viewed as a possible Oscar contender. The Australian actor Chris Hemsworth does a creditable job portraying Hunt, the hard-living, fast driving playboy who died of a heart attack in 1993 aged 45, while Daniel Brühl, who is also in the Julian Assange story, The Fifth Estate (see next blog), portrays the methodically brilliant Lauda.

Lauda, the defending Formula One champion, was critically burned when his Ferrari crashed at the Nürburgring, but only six weeks after the near-fatal crash he returned to the track. He retired at the end of the 1985 season and ran his own airline, Lauda Air, before selling it to Austrian Airlines in 2000.

"I had to ask my wife who Daniel Brühl was, to be honest," said 64-year-old Lauda. "She told me right away, then I met him and I liked the guy right from the beginning. He said it was very difficult to play me because I was still alive and people knew me from television and knew my body language. I spent a lot of time in Vienna with him and then I flew him to the Brazilian Grand Prix to show him Formula One racing because he had very little knowledge of it.

"I think he did an incredible job because when I first saw the movie, I said, 'S---! That's really me.'"
Rush was directed by Oscar-winner Ron Howard, who, said Lauda, knew nothing at all about motor racing. "It was really funny because he had no idea about racing at all and he was like a little kid – he couldn't stop asking questions. Then the whole thing came into gear."

Although the film portrays Lauda and Hunt as two drivers who disliked each other in the early days of their careers, Lauda told me that in fact they used to go out on the town in London together and on at least one occasion he spent the night in Hunt's flat. Then he added with a smile and a wink: "But not together. There were four of us."

On the track, he said, Hunt was a tough competitor. "There are good drivers and bad ones and then there are the really talented ones who are difficult to beat and James was one of them. We respected each other very much because in the old days, to drive 300 kilometres an hour side by side towards a corner, if someone makes a mistake, one or both are killed. Hunt was someone you could rely on to be really precise.

"The sad thing is that he isn't here now. I wish he could have seen the movie because I know for sure he would have enjoyed it."

Augsburg in April, 1942

If you enjoy stories which help amplify history, you'll enjoy learning about the flying Lancasters made in Britain, and about the task 12 selected pilots and their 36 crew members were given, to use these Lancasters to try to snuff out Germany's capability for manufacturing diesel engines for U-Boots.

Austauscher-Amanda bloggt

 "There's something about limited amounts of time that leave you feeling as if you have not lived enough experienced enough and thus must make up for it."  In the last couple of months I have experienced the clarity of enlightenment pertaining to my life here. The fact that I will be leaving soon has made me open my eyes again to everything that had made the transition from overwhelming to ordinary without ever taking a "Pause" ("pow-za":  German pronunciation needed for intended affect), like the fact that I'm in the center of Europe and RyanAir flights to Italy cost 12.99, or that cobblestone streets really are so much more interesting, or that public transportation rocks, or- or - or - or . This list would be about a mile long ... but it's the "ahhh" moment of rediscovery that makes these little things so big in my heart.

Being abroad has kept me continually viewing things from a different perspective therefore giving me the ability to really value the positives, and also recognize the negatives also play their role. Every equation however has it's constants: Milka will always taste delicious, handball is one awesome sport, and sunshine is always welcome.

...As I leave Germany, a piece of my heart will stay behind...