The first German rocket launch from European soil?

Since World War II, maybe. But still.

German company successfully launches rocket to space – Bavaria-based Isar Aerospace managed to launch its Spectrum rocket into orbit, 18 months after its first attempt. This is the first such launch from European soil.

A Spectrum space rocket built by German company Isar Aerospace was launched into space from the Norwegian spaceport at Andoya.

German of the day: Klimaterrorismus

That means climate terrorism.

Allegation: “Climate Terrorism” – Police Release Wanted Photos Following Power Grid Sabotage

There have been attempts at sabotage against the power grid in three federal states. Investigators have already located the vehicle belonging to the alleged author of a letter claiming responsibility. Authorities are searching for the fugitive suspect using two mug shots.

Police are continuing their intensive search for a man suspected of carrying out acts of sabotage against the German power grid. The incidents are concentrated in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg, and, most recently, Saxony. Lignite is still being mined and used to generate electricity in all three states. In connection with the incidents, police and prosecutors in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia have now issued a joint appeal for information, including two photos of the 48-year-old suspect, and are asking the public for tips.

We got hijacked by OpenAI first!

No you didn’t, we did! No, we did! Nope, we did!

OpenAI agents hijacked German website before Hugging Face hack, report claims – A new report claims a swarm of AI agents, developed by OpenAI, hijacked a German website – months before the firm revealed its AI had hacked tech platform Hugging Face.

The targeted website, DseWiki, is a Wikipedia-style site for programmers that its community can all contribute to.

The report is from a group called Nightingale Collective and claims that in May OpenAI’s agents started using DseWiki as their own message board, shared tips on how to avoid being detected and made 15,000 edits to it.

German politicians can’t figure out why…

Voters keep refusing to vote the way they want them to.

They keep voting right. Which is wrong.

The other Berlin Wall – Germany needs a new strategy for coping with the AfD.

Mainstream parties can’t avoid talking to the hard-right front-runner for ever…

A smattering of German words, such as Blitzkrieg and Schadenfreude, have made their way into other languages. Among the most recent to begin to do so are Zeitenwende (“turning of the times”) and Brandmauer (“firewall”). The first reflects the shift in geopolitical thinking in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; the second, mainstream politicians’ determination to isolate extreme parties. However, what was intended to signal that Germans have learned from history has instead plunged their nation into a political crisis.

German VW workers vs. Chinese counterparts

I wonder who wins?

Labor Costs, Sick Leave, Productivity: Confidential Document: VW Compares German and Chinese Workers.

Ten percent of VW workers in Germany are sick at any given time. In China it’s less than two percent.

But at least in China these workers will soon be replaced by robots who will be working 24/7 and never call in sick.

German of the day: Gestrandet

That means stranded.

In US-Amerika itself? Oh, the horror.

Stranded in the U.S.: Here’s Why the Klingbeil Flight Couldn’t Take Off – The mystery surrounding the malfunctioning government plane belonging to Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (48, SPD) has been solved: The Airbus A350, which left the minister stranded in the U.S., had damage to one of its doors. That was reason enough to ground the aircraft for the time being.

Realizing that meaningful political reform was simply not possible in Germania…

The Romans cut their losses and left.

Roman town in Germany was abandoned after only two generations, archaeologists find – Archaeologists studying a Roman planned town near Neuenstadt am Kocher in Germany think the settlement lasted only about two generations.

The Roman settlement dates to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Romans laid out the town as a planned settlement near the Kocher River. Archaeologists have studied the site since 2003 to learn more about its size, layout, and purpose.

“The state ​of Berlin will not submit to extortion”

The city maybe. But that state part? Never.

Ransomware group says it stole Berlin data, offers it for auction – A ransomware group ​said on Friday it was putting up for auction a trove of ‌data it stole from Berlin state agencies, and city officials refused to pay.

The Rhysida group, which researchers say operates from Russia or Eastern Europe, said on its website it took 5.79 ​terabytes of data including 46,500 contracts as well as emails, phone numbers, passwords ​and classified information.

51.5% full is well over half

So what’s the big deal?

But plan to dress warmly this winter anyway.

Germany risks missing gas storage target as industry faces cold-winter threat – Germany will miss its November gas-storage target if injections continue at their current pace, the country’s storage association has warned. Although there is no immediate gas shortage, low storage levels combined with a very cold winter could threaten industrial production in the country…

German storage facilities were approximately 51.5% full on 25 August, compared with around 69% a year earlier. Germany is required to reach an aggregate filling level of 70% by 1 November.

A slight rise is still a rise

The main thing is that it keeps rising.

German unemployment rises slightly less than expected in August – The number of unemployed people in Germany rose slightly less ​than expected in August, labour office figures showed ‌on Friday.

In seasonally adjusted terms, the jobless figure grew by 4,000 to 2.996 million, while analysts polled by Reuters ​had predicted an increase of 5,000.