Category Archives: Hi-tech
Anybody Can Land On A Comet
10 years and 6.5 billion kilometers later (give or take a few inches)…
The spaceship Rosetta’s landing probe Philae will be landing on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Tomorrow. We hope.
The comet is currently hurtling through space at 24,600 miles per hour and its nucleus is only 2.5 miles wide. Scientists compare the task to a fly trying to land on a speeding bullet.
PS: Why couldn’t they have scheduled this thing to land on 11.11 at 11 o’clock 11 in the morning?
German Balloonists Forced To Land In A Place Called Nebraska
They rose to 13,000 feet as they crossed into Kansas…
Ah, Nebraska weather — known killer of Sunday golf rounds, lazy days at Branched Oak Lake and a German couple’s hopes of winning an international ballooning competition.
Strangely, when asked about their ordeal later, the Germans said it was “nice.”
“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
I Had No Idea Germany Used To Be This Fat
But that’s why places like the British Museum have exhibitions like this, I guess.
Germany – memories of a nation. A 600-year history in objects. You know, objects like these:
Uh, why don’t they have exhibitions like this here in Berlin?
This exhibition will examine elements of German history from the past 600 years in the context of the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago.
German Doves Demand Pigeon Deployment
As expected and secretly hoped for, the proposal to send German military-surveillance drones to monitor the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine has run into a thicket of legal problems.
To pacify Moscow and the German doves opposed to the deployment, German pigeon drones will now be used instead.
France and Germany said they would consider providing drones. But their request to send armed teams as well to safeguard the drone operators could run into resistance at the OSCE, a civilian organization that includes Russia, which would have to agree to the plan.
Update: Why Germans Always Pay Cash?
Because they can. Take cash-stuffed German mega-companies, for instance.
They’re buying everything they can find in US-Amerika these days that hasn’t been tied down.
In recent days, two multibillion-dollar deals were announced. On Sunday, the German engineering conglomerate Siemens announced a $7.6 billion acquisition of the Dresser-Rand Group, the United States oil products company. And on Monday morning, Merck of Germany, the chemical and drug giant, said it would pay $17 billion for Sigma-Aldrich, an American life sciences company.
PS: Remember when Japan was going to take over the United States? No, I guess you wouldn’t remember that. Never mind.
Since When Does Ukraine Have A Graffiti Problem?
German drones could soon fly over eastern Ukraine? I thought they were only used for patrolling railyards by night to fight graffiti spraying terrorists here in Germany.
Or to harass the Bundeskanzlerin in Dresden. Or to terrify passengers on commercial airplanes trying to land in Kabul. Hey, practice makes perfect, I guess.
France and Germany are preparing to send their unmanned aircraft as part of the ongoing OSCE mission. The first soldiers from those countries arrived in Ukraine Tuesday to evaluate the conditions on the ground.
Uber And Out
It’s new, it promotes competition, it has something to do with the Internetz and it’s American. It just has to be verboten.
The ride-hailing service Uber is about to have a head-on collision with Germany’s taxis and legal system. A court in Frankfurt has banned Uber’s most popular service from operating in the country until a hearing this year on whether it unfairly competes with local taxis.
It’s like this: Whatever is not expressly permitted in this country is strictly forbidden.
Es würden gegen Entgelt Personen befördert, „ohne im Besitz einer Genehmigung nach dem Personenbeförderungsgesetz zu sein.“
PS: Or maybe everyone’s pissed because they spelled Uber wrong?
Germany Increases Pressure On Russia By Selling It An Oil Company
Berlin is set to approve the sale of one of Germany’s largest oil producers to a Russian consortium, in a move that may undercut U.S. and E.U. sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for its role in stoking the conflict in Ukraine.
Der Verkauf galt wegen der Rolle Russlands in der Ukraine-Krise als politisch umstritten. Die Bundesregierung hat bei derartigen Transaktionen ein Mitspracherecht nach dem Außenwirtschaftsgesetz.
“Friends Don’t Spy On Friends”
Somebody said that once, not all to0 long ago, after some NSA Aufregung (excitement) about something somewhere. I forget where. But I couldn’t agree more. So, uh, where’s the outrage now?
Now that Germany’s intelligence agency BND has revealed that NATO ally Turkey is one of five countries it is spying on, I mean.
Outrage won’t be necessary this time, I guess. It appears that Germany is finally coming clean and ready to admit to the world that Turkey has officially reached non-friend status so spying in this case is allowed.
Hey, what goes around comes around.
The news reports (of NSA spying in Germany) outraged Germans, leading to favorable attitudes about the United States falling to their lowest levels in years and creating a public and private sense of mistrust. Merkel has repeatedly called the U.S. spy program a breach of trust and noted that “friends don’t spy on friends.”
Observing Hermann 