Sunday COVID test to fly back to the USA
Going to have fun on Saturday, fly to the USA on Monday morning which means finding a Covid test on a Sunday with one day turn around (really same day). Anyone know where to get one after a fun Sharks weekend? (so Darmstadt or Frankfurt area)?
Legacy automakers may not be able to reinvent themselves
Both German and Japanese auto manufacturers are starting to realise that EVs are the future. The Ukraine conflict and resulting price surges for nickel and other metals will probably just prove to be a speed bump in EV adoption.
[QUOTE]Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler are pushing hard to electrify their offerings, but Germany's $94 billion car-parts industry is struggling with the once-in-a-generation shift.
More than half the country’s auto suppliers are overwhelmed by the pace of the transformation to battery-powered vehicles, according to a study released this week by consultancy Roland Berger.
After spending decades perfecting the production of crankshafts, diesel injectors and other components not needed for electric motors, the industry is now scrambling to adapt as its traditional products become obsolete sooner than expected.
From global players like Robert Bosch and Continental to the hundreds of small- and medium-size companies, parts makers are key to Europe’s biggest economy. Roughly 75% of the value-add of a car made in Germany comes from this supply network, which employs more than 300,000 people. Many of those jobs are dependent on how swiftly the sector can change.
Germany’s auto suppliers are known to be great at solving problems. They’ll develop new products, raise efficiencies and carve out new niches. Still, the industry’s glory days are probably over: While a combustion drivetrain contains roughly 1,500 individual parts, an electric one has only 250. That’s a lot fewer slices of pie from which to feast.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/electric-cars-take-two-thirds-norway-car-market-led-by-tesla-2022-01-03/
[/QUOTE][QUOTE]
Just as Blackberry dismissed the iPhone, Toyota dismissed Tesla and EVs. Blackberry thought the world would need physical keyboards for many more years. Toyota thought the world would need gasoline for several more decades. Both were wrong.
In a bid to protect its investments, Toyota has been strenuously lobbying against battery-electric vehicles. But is it already too late?
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/07/toyota-bet-wrong-on-evs-so-now-its-lobbying-to-slow-the-transition/..[/QUOTE]
We keep trying to steer from the original conversation
[QUOTE=McAdonis;2699289]Again I am not defending or condoning the Russian invasion, but I would not say that Russia is engaging in direct conflict with a powerful nation. Western nations' stance while still united, have different agendas. Paris and Berlin have been pushing for diplomacy and peace, while the US and UK are content to send heavy weapons to Ukraine. According to Zelensky, Macron has pressured him to make territorial concessions for a peace settlement.
There is a precedent for Western nations invading a sovereign country without UN backing: In 2003, the US, UK, and Spain proposed a resolution to the UN Security Council to authorize the use military force to disarm Iraq. Bulgaria later threw in their support. This resolution never went beyond the draft stage. One, it fell short of the nine votes go needed, and two even if they had received the nine votes, the French side made it publicly known that they would exercise their veto.[/QUOTE]I'll keep hammering and reigning it back to the details of the original conversation:
McA: Russia's actions may be explained by a Western threat to their national security.
Me: Russian doesn't have to be concerned about national security from a military standpoint because Western powers do not outright engage in military conflict with other powerful nations.
My point: Russia's security concerns and the argument that the West bears some responsibility by pushing Russia into a corner carries very marginal merit. Russia was losing the influence and economic wars and there was no legitimate concern of national security outside of Putin's concern that the West's influence in surrounding nations could garner support with the Russian general population. What keeps Putin up most at night is the threat of revolutionary mobs in the streets, not Western militaries.
To understand Putin you have to first remember that he thinks like a spy and not a general or a Parliamentarian. I suspect that prior to the war, Putin also knew that the biggest threat the West posed was to his regime and not an actual threat to Russian sovereignty.
Insecure people get their self worth from what cars they drive
I met a German guy a long time ago. At the time he was not earning too much so he was driving a Ford. He kept explaining to me how stupid it is to buy expensive cars since the purpose is to get you from point A to point be. After a few years he was making more money so he switched to Audi. Following that for years he explained to me how Audis are so much better cars than Fords, but how stupid it would be to buy something more expensive. A few more years down the line he switched to BMWs, so he was droning on how superior BMWs are, great engines and fun to drive etc. As he got closer to retirement he switched to Mercedes, so now of course Mercedes are the best cars, much, much better than anything else. What is really sad that he has a neighbor that always had a better car than him, it must sting every morning when he leaves for work to see the car of this neighbor.
Good Krefeld Homeless Video
Good video showing more homeless people in Germany which is rare. Although the summer is a perfect time:
[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNgNo82ikug[/URL]
Autobahns sung by Kraftwerk
On last Saturday, from Zurich, around Karlsruhe, a moment of legend, a type E who was faster than average, at 150 , so when I arrived behind, I stayed behind for many kilometers protecting her, we passed another type E which was slow. Then we went in different directions and I kept on pushing in back cars on left line. 38 degrees and old lady 620 000 kms engine started to warm up when stuck in back of previous. On Sunday morning, between Giessen / Limburg and Olpe, many works, bumps and curves, then I saw behind me in works zone Chevrolet sign, Corvette, so at the end of works, kicking in accelerator, still behind at 160/180 , but over 200 starting to slide in curves, no more behind, only able to be fast straight, but in bumpy curves, quality talk. Even heavy like a fat woman, but should be 50 km / h faster when around 285 only switching off speed limit, as soon I will make exceptional engine breathe.
German Vice-Chancellor warns of Lehman Moment
[QUOTE=TheCane;2712713]I think it won't be until 2023 before there's a real chance of getting back to normal. But then again, there's a real chance the world might fall into a recession by then too! So even if the fresh, young tutes are ready to return by 2023, will the mongers be? Time will tell.[/QUOTE]RE: Recession, competitiveness of German economy has been partly predicated on cheap gas from Russia. Bloomberg reports that that era is over. If Putin turns off the natural gas, it will be catastrophic for Europe, and that would obviously ripple to other parts of the globe.
[QUOTE]The risks extend beyond beyond a recession, and a winter of freezing homes and shuttered factories. For decades, Germany has prospered off the back of cheap gas. The answer to the growing economys needs more often than not was a new pipeline to Russia.
That era is now over, and companies from BASF SE to Volkswagen AG are coming to terms with the new reality.
Firms making metals, paper and even food could be forced to downscale or close German production sites, accelerating a steady exodus of manufacturing jobs and leaving lasting damage to the countrys economic landscape.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-25/germany-risks-major-economic-disruption-from-russia-s-gas-squeeze[/QUOTE][QUOTE]The chemical industry accounts for about 15% of Germanys natural gas consumption.
For natural gas as a raw material, producers have no substitute in the short term.
As such, if the EU sanctioned gas imports from Russia, if Russia stopped exports or pipelines were to be damaged because of the war, production of basic chemicals in Germany would be affected, with some production curtailed or even halted.
This would impact not just the basic chemicals sector, but also downstream producers, along with Germanys overall manufacturing base.
[b]About 95% of industrial goods made in Germany require chemical inputs automotive, computer chips, building materials, consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals, detergents, and many others.[/b]
https://www.icis.com/explore/cn/resources/news/2022/03/17/10744821/russia-gas-embargo-would-force-german-chems-to-cut-or-halt-production-vci[/QUOTE]
Could hot water be rationed in clubs?
Not sure if a FKK business would be classified as "systemically important".
[QUOTE]Germanys natural-gas crisis, which is being caused by Russia as it takes revenge for sanctions, may get so bad that cities have to ration hot water.
On the weekend, Hamburg environment chief Jens Kerstan reportedly said warm water could only be made available at certain times of the day in an emergency, in the case of an acute gas shortage. He also said the city-state might have to lower the maximum room temperature that people can achieve on its heating network.
Meanwhile, Germany's energy regulator said pharmaceutical companies and paper manufacturers would be among the companies getting prioritization in the event of gas rationing this winter. Klaus Mueller, head of the Federal Network Agency, said it was not possible to classify every business as systemically important.
Households and hospitals will also be prioritized over most industry under federal plans, though Kerstan warned that this would not be technically possible everywhere in Hamburg.
[URL]https://fortune.com/2022/07/04/hot-water-rationing-hamburg-gas-crisis-putin-russian-gas-ukraine-uniper-german-economy/[/URL][/QUOTE]If Russia turns off the gas, there are potential long-term economic issues. Attendance is already down as inflation is eating away at discretionary spending.
[QUOTE][b]"Entire industries are in danger of collapsing permanently because of the gas bottlenecks: aluminum, glass, the chemical industry," Fahimi, the head of the German Federation of Trade Unions, told Bild am Sonntag. "Such a collapse would have massive consequences for the entire economy and jobs in Germany."[/b]
The chemical industry, which employs about 346,000 people, is the third-largest industry in Germany, according to Germany Trade & Invest, the country's investment promotion agency.
Under the country's emergency plan, industry would be first in line for supply cuts. The move could devastate the economy and lead to job losses, Germany business leaders and unions have said.
https://www.businessinsider.com/germany-faces-entire-industries-collapse-russia-natural-gas-supply-cuts-2022-7.[/QUOTE]
Uniting for Ukraine Opportunity for USA Hobbyists
USA hobbyists can sponsor up to 100,000 Ukrainian women thanks to a new program by Sleepy Joe:
[URL]https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/04/21/president-biden-announce-uniting-ukraine-new-streamlined-process-welcome-ukrainians[/URL]#text=To%20 be%20 eligible%2 C%20 Ukrainians%20 must, screening%20 and%20 vetting%20 security%20 checks.
Any COVID papers to visit FKK?
What is the quarantine status in Germany now? Do I need any vaccination certificate, test results or on-site rapid test to visit FKK? Particularly I am thinking about Sharks.
North Sentinal Island Freedom Needed
I call on NATO and other volunteers to liberate the North Sentinal Island from tribal communism. These cannibals have been sitting around on their island for 60,000 years and failed to adopt democracy!
Instead of messing around in Ukraine, these Sentinalise should be liberated ASAP, taught English, and forced to hold free elections whereing they will elect a government subservient to the USA and allow trade and shpping ports on their island.
Ukraine Votes Sept 27 - Nuclear Attack Predicted
On September 27 Ukraine will have completed an election to have the East Side area between Russia through Crimea to join Russian territory.
This of course is in line with Russian nuclear doctrine which because then the territory legally belongs to Russia and then allowed to defend with nuclear weaopons, will then allow a nuclear attack on probably Lyiv first, and if Ukraine doesn't quit fighting then Kyiv. Similar to the USA nuclear attack which took two nuclear attacks to force a surrender.
Takes Money to Make Money
Millionaires and Billionaires come from parents who have given them start up money in the USA. Poor never become rich in the USA and most are downwardly mobile.
[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcfm2Zn-IpQ[/URL]
Ukraine Assasinates Innocent Russian Lady
The news reports that Ukraine assasinated a daughter of a Russian official. So essentially Ukraine has engaged in terrorist activity and the USA is subsidizing same. Terrible.
Russia Predicted Winner of Nuclear War if First Strike
Russia can levy a first strike against the USA to destroy probably 90-95% of the missle silos in the USA, and over 75% of the bombers, and nuclear submarines in port as well as 50% of carriers in port.
On the other hand Russia has its missiles on the truck system wherein there is no set location to strike back at! Plus Russia has 2000 more missiles than the USA.
Assuming a first strike which would target USA missle silos and spare population centers in the East. Even though probably 10 million dead at this point. Russia will demand that a surrender in exchange for sparing the East of the USA and 80% of the population in the East USA.
Sleepy Joe is playing a dangerous game of chicken with Russia on the Ukraine special military operation. Ukraine is clearly is not worth the risk of the USA citizens and all aid should be stopped ASAP.
Refugee stunner answers questions on Youtube
Seattle's newest refugee and retired Ukrainian gymnast posts informational video:
[URL]https://youtu.be/aNBJwqUgDbQ?t=349[/URL]