Winters could get colder

German scientists have come to the scientific conclusion that “despite global warming”, winters could get colder in the years to come. Of course they could also get warmer in the years to come too, but still.

This odd phenomenon is said to have something to do with the sun or something (uh, don’t warm or cold winters always have something to do with the sun?).

Look, I’m no scientist. I just know that global warming, at least the man-made kind, is sacrosanct. And I also know that I nearly froze my ass off here this last winter, “despite global warming” (not to spite it or anything). So you do the math (I’m not a mathematician either).

Kalte Winter in Europa widersprechen Klimaerwärmung nicht

Google wasn’t home that day or something

Anti-Facebook feelings in Germany are growing these days because, well, uh, bashing Google day in and day out all day long even gets boring for Germans to do every once in a while.

An organization here called the VZBZ (Very Zesty Bitching Zealots?) said that Facebook should have to ask its users for approval every time personal information is passed on to third parties via an “opt-in” option and not continue with the “opt-out” option it uses now.

Facebook opted-out on the opt-in option, opting for the opt-out option opstead.

Meanwhile, German Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner is so pissed off with the company that she says she will delete her Facebook account if it does not straighten up its act sehr pronto already. So there. That’s the end of that company.

Partly for historical reasons, Germany is particularly sensitive about privacy issues, with campaigners bristling at plans by US internet giant Google to launch its Street View service later this year allowing users to view panoramic still photos of city streets.

German anti-Scientology film false and intolerant

Say Scientologists everywhere, and like they should know.

“The truth is precisely the opposite of that which the ARD is showing (Until Nothing Remains),” said one Scientology spokesman. “This crap could have come from us,” he might have added.

Scientology – eine “faschistoide Welt” – and we (as in you) Germans should know.

You can’t depend on ANYBODY these days

Sheesh. Of all folks (or Volks, if you prefer), rumor has it that the Germans are now beginning to lose thier angst about climate change. Now, of all times. Where angst is in the air and everywhere, I mean (they’re scared of freakin’ daylight savings time for crying out loud).

According to a Spiegel survey – and Spiegel Leser wissen mehr (Spiegel readers know more) – only a piddly 42 percent of Germans lose sleep at night anymore when it comes to global warming. Pitiful, people.

Come on, now. Get with the plan, Volks. Boo! Or something.

Heute hält jeder dritte Deutsche die Prognose der Klimaforscher, nach der es langfristig immer wärmer wird, nicht für zuverlässig.

McDonald’s, Subway, it’s all Google to me

Everybody’s out to get me these days, or my data. Out to get them I mean, actually, over here in Germany.

It’s bad enough that Google is googling the very streets they live on. Now, if a German wants to open up a McDonald’s or a Subway franchise, he or she has to let these potential employers know shockingly private and even intimate matters about him or her selves.

You know, private and intimate stuff like “were you ever directly or indirectly involved in terrorist activities.”

Needless to say, everybody over here is totally empört (shocked) about the matter. No, not so much about such indiscrete questioning like this, they’re shocked that a German would actually sink as low as to want to open up a McDonald’s or a Subway franchise.

Die Bewerber haben sogar Auskunft zu erteilen, ob sie “jemals direkt oder indirekt an terroristischen Aktivitäten beteiligt” gewesen seien.

Are you sure you want to delete these files y/n?

Sicher ist sicher (better safe than sorry). At least when it comes to deleting data saved in Germany to combat terrorism and serious crime. Delete the stuff, in other words – can we delete the Street View stuff while we’re at it?

Germany’s highest court overturned a law that let anti-terror authorities save data on telephone calls and e-mails for a limited time. Now the big delete button has to get pressed – or maybe just the regular delete button, but lots and lots and lots of times.

This law is a “grave intrusion” into personal privacy rights or something and must be revised. Most likely because grave terrorism and serious crime never take place here, right? It’s nice living in Wunderland.

The ruling did not overturn the European Union anti-terrorism directive on which the law is based, but may lead to its reassessment later this year.

No scary Google-mobiles here, please

Despite a recent high-level compromise, the German Street View saga continues.

A new report, and there’s always a new report if you want one, confirms that Google’s Street View is pretty much pure evil and they (whoever they are) have to be stopped at all costs. Stay tuned.

Die Auflagen, für die sich Rechtsprofessor Thomas Dreier und Professorin Indra Spiecker stark machen, gehen teils weit über die bestehenden Absprachen zwischen Google Deutschland und der zuständigen Datenschutzaufsichtsbehörde in Hamburg hinaus.

The times they are a-changin’

Even in Germany, sort of. It’s been a long time coming (damn, a whole year already). From here…

To here.

Happy Karnival time or something. Oh yeah, it’s already over (for a lot of folks it is, anyway).

US-Präsident Barack Obama als gefallener Engel. Der Heiligenschein liegt am Boden.