Berlin Face Recognition Technology Severely Flawed

Immediately after launching their six-month test of automatic facial recognition technology at Berlin’s Südkreuz railway station, a number of the German authorities responsible have already expressed their bitter disappointment with the initial results.

Face

It seems that the face recognition software being used – programmed here in Berlin – is only capable of recognizing frowning faces and security officials involved with the project fear that the new system will not be able to recognize any cheerful, smiling terrorists who attempt to murder and maim us in the future.

“This is German software, after all,” grumbled one frowning security official, refusing to give his name for security reasons. “Now wipe that stupid grin off your face and leave me the hell alone.”

Heute ist es soweit: Die umstrittene Testphase zur Gesichtserkennung am Bahnhof Südkreuz beginnt. 300 Freiwillige haben sich gemeldet.

US-Amerika Breaking International Law Again

Or at least that is what German Minister for Economics Brigitte Zypries (SPD)  has to say about the planned sanctions against Russia, a country that would never even think about breaking international law. They just do it.

Zypries

The new bill would entail sanctions for German and European firms which cooperate with Russia, you see. And Germany is the most international nation there could ever, ever, ever be, hence the international law bit.

And like how could both houses of the US-Amerikan Congress pass such an awful thing, she wonders. Without our permission. That is totally undemocratic.

This could mean war or something, people. Germany’s international welfare is at stake.

“Of course we don’t want a trade war. But it is important the European Commission now looks into countermeasures.”

Maybe This Constance Guy Was Mentally Unstable, Too

You know, like that guy with the knife in Hamburg? The Hamburg guy who was supposed to have already been deported but couldn’t be because he didn’t have his proper paperwork yet? Germany is an orderly place, you know. You can enter the country without a passport but you can’t leave it without one.

Disco

What other explanation could there be here other than mental illness? This shooting couldn’t have a religious background because, well, it can’t have a religious background. Nor could it have anything to do with Germany’s refugee policy because, well, it can’t have anything to do with Germany’s refugee policy. And it couldn’t have anything to do with Angela Merkel because…

So it’s business as usual. Move on, volks. There’s nothing here for you to look at. Move along please.

“We must take into account that the jihadist ideology is used as reason or justification for acts that are perhaps committed for quite different motives.”

Only 41?

Germans waste 41 hours a year searching for parking.

Porsche

But then you have to add the 37 hours a year fighting with the other German over the parking space and the 23 hours a year you’ll spend trying to fit into the damned thing (parking spaces are narrow here, you see).

Frankfurt ranked as the worst city in Germany to find parking. On average, drivers in Frankfurt spend 65 hours a year searching for a space, costing them €1,410 each in wasted time, fuel and emissions and the city as a whole €702 million. Essen came second in the ranking (64 hours – €490m), followed by Berlin in third (62 hours – €1.8bn).

PS: At least owners of the Porsche Cayenne won’t be having that problem now anymore.

German Of The Day: Notlandung

That means emergency or forced landing.

A380

I guess size matters after all.

The future of Airbus’s A380 super jumbo looks even more bleak after the pan-European aircraft company said it was cutting production of the double-decker airliner.

Reporting half-year figures, Airbus said that “considering the current order booking situation” delivers of the A380 will be reduced to eight in 2019…

Demand for the giant four-engined aircraft has waned as airlines seek the efficiencies of smaller twin-engine aircraft. Airlines have ordered just 317 A380s; so far 213 have been delivered.

Der weltgrößte Passagierjet A380 wird für Airbus zu einer immer herberen Enttäuschung. Weil Airlines den Flieger nicht mehr bestellen, streicht der Hersteller die Produktion ab 2019 auf acht Maschinen pro Jahr zusammen.

German Of The Day: Berührungsangst

That means the fear of contact or of being touched.

Books

Anti-fascists close an Israeli’s “Nazi recruitment center” in Berlin? Wow. They used to just call them bookstores. But I think I understand, sort of. Books and their authors are scary and dangerous. You know, scary like old ideas are scary, addressed from a distant, detached and academic point of view? That type of think might cause a fuss so make sure to cause the fuss beforehand. Unless you’re talking about books like the Communist Manifesto and stuff like that, of course. No Berührungsangst there.

A Berlin bookstore owner has said that the protests and boycott orchestrated by local anti-fascists against a planned event about fascist Italian philosopher and occultist Julius Evola – whose work inspired both Benito Mussolini and the far-right movement in the US – has helped force him out of business.

“So drum together all your punk friends and their dogs and pay a visit to these eso-hipsters on Thursday (the day of the event).”  My. how anti-fascist of you.

“Systematically Lied To By The Media?”

What? They do that here, too?

Refugees

German media were too uncritical in their coverage of the 2015 refugee crisis, giving Angela Merkel’s open-door policy a free pass and failing to represent the legitimate concerns of ordinary people alarmed by the influx, a new study has found...

It said newspapers made no attempt to differentiate between rightwing radicals and ordinary people who were left feeling politically insecure or marginalized by the refugee influx. Instead of critical reporting, journalists had merely “adopted the viewpoint and also the slogans of the political elite…”

The report said Willkommenskultur became a kind of “magic word” used by certain sections of the media to turn ordinary people into good Samaritans and encourage them to carry out acts of kindness towards newcomers…

A recent poll by the University of Mainz, cited in the study, found that 55 per cent of those asked felt “systematically lied to by the media.” Some 26 per cent agreed with the statement that “the media and politicians work hand in hand to manipulate public opinion.”

War die nachrichtliche Berichterstattung über die Flüchtlingskrise zu einseitig?

VW?

As in Very Wicked?

VW

What’s with German automobile companies these days? As if their latest foray into organized crime wasn’t enough, now it’s reported that VW was active in helping Brazil’s military dictatorship persecute opponents back in the day. Volkswagen and military dictatorships? No way.

The accusations are not new, but have resurfaced through a new investigation done by a group of German news organizations. According to the group, Germany’s largest car manufacturer, Volkswagen, was an active participant in the persecution and oppression of political opponents of Brazil’s military dictatorship that was in power from 1964 to 1985.

The company’s Brazilian subsidiary, Volkswagen do Brasil, which has been active in the country since the early 1950s, is accused of spying on some workers and looking into their political convictions, information that was then handed over to the police.

Damn. This gives Made in Germany a whole new meaning – again.

Deutsche Medien haben nach eigenen Angaben Belege dafür gefunden, dass Volkswagen sich in der Zeit der brasilianischen Militärdiktatur aktiv an politischer Verfolgung und Unterdrückung beteiligt hat.

German Of The Day: Migrationshintergrund

That means migrant background.

Police

And that is what the groups of thirty to fifty young people (a more strongly coded code word) had in common as it came to violent clashes with the police at a Volksfest in the little German town of Schorndorf. Other visitors at the Volksfest, these specifically of Iraqi and Afghan background, were arrested in connection with three cases of sexual assault.

Personally, I’m convinced that the victims provoked these attacks again. There’s a popular German saying here: Other countries, other customs. Germans are just a little slow when it comes to adopting these other customs, that’s all.

„Unstrittig ist, dass es am Freitag und Samstag insgesamt drei sexuelle Belästigungen gab und dass in diesen Fällen gegen Iraker und Afghanen ermittelt wird.“

 

Russia Feels Germany’s Puzzlement

Speaking at an event in Berlin’s Hotel Adlon, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov could not agree more with German concern for the growing anti-Russian sentiment in Europe and around the world, explaining to understanding listeners that it is all just another anti-Russian conspiracy orchestrated by Washington, the UN, the EU, NATO,  the International Association of Youth Hypnotists, the Society for the Prevention of Plate Tectonics, the Animal Voting Rights Defense League and many, many, many others.

Russia

“Russia bashing these days is just as much a mystery to me as it is to you Germans,” Lavrov said. “Our annexation of the Crimea has long been forgotten, as have our countless bloody covert operations in Ukraine and the open bullying of our Baltic neighbors that is still going on. Our ongoing atrocities in Syria are second page news. And who cares anymore about our relentless and highly sophisticated hacker attacks all over the world, the ones we never committed, I mean? Nor is Germany’s dependence upon Russian gas of any concern to anyone, much less you here in Germany. It’s not like it would ever be used to exert political influence or anything. Then there is this recurring myth about our treatment of the political opposition in Russia. Ridiculous. There is no political opposition in Russia. I could go on and on forever but what’s the point? Like I said, this Russia phobia wackiness sure the hell beats me.”

Lawrow beklagt Russophobie in EU und Nato.