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The system will cost between $20,000 and $25,000, compared to conventional systems priced as high as $60,000.

Note they're comparing to conventional systems "priced as high as $60,000." In other words it's a useless marketing comparison designed to trick you into thinking the alternative is expensive by comparing an average price to the highest price you'll ever see.

The $20k-$25k is for a typical U.S. home which is nearly 2700 square feet (250 m^2). Average home size in Germany is about 160 square meters (~1700 square feet).

So to heat/cool a German-sized home would require about 65% the size system, which translates into $13k-$16k. Which at the current exchange rate is about 11.5k-14k Euros. Nearly identical to the prices you've quoted. The heat pump in your link for earth systems is cheaper than for air or water. Typically, the earth systems are most expensive because of the additional digging which is needed to bury the water loops. Air systems simply vent to the air (a backwards air conditioner), while in water systems you just drop the loops into the bottom of a pond or lake. I suspect the prices you're quoting don't include installation, which is a huge part of the cost.

Because the main purpose of justice in the USA is revenge, which legal types call "retribution." If the main purpose of justice was to protect the public, drunk drivers would lose their licenses instead of being thrown in prison (prison should be reserved for those who drive without a license), and they wouldn't automatically get their licenses back (or become eligible to be re-licensed) after serving their time. Instead, they would be required to pass a medical-psychological assessment as in Germany.

Yes, but you have limits on who can attend, right?

Yes, strict limits (parent/state decides, not the child) often set at what we would consider unacceptably low ages, and I doubt GP isn't fully aware of the same. Rather, there was more mileage to be gained by desensitizing us to their brand of statism:

(Cue "Nanny State!", "OMG SOCIALIZM!!", "Obviously won't work because of reasons a,b,c and d", etc. remarks below, thank you.)

The reality:

Then, after the 4th grade, they are separated according to their academic ability and the wishes of their families, and attend one of three different kinds of schools: Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium. Grundschule teachers recommend their students to a particular school based on such things as academic achievement, self-confidence and ability to work independently. However, in most states, parents have the final say as to which school their child attends following the fourth grade.
Hauptschule

The Hauptschule (grades 5-9) teaches the same subjects as the Realschule and Gymnasium, but at a slower pace and with some vocational-oriented courses. It leads to part-time enrollment in a vocational school combined with apprenticeship training until the age of 18.
Realschule

The Realschule (grades 5-10 in most states) leads to part-time vocational schools and higher vocational schools. It is now possible for students with high academic achievement at the Realschule to switch to a Gymnasium on graduation.
Gymnasium

The Gymnasium leads to a diploma called the Abitur and prepares students for university study or for a dual academic and vocational credential. The most common education tracks offered by the standard Gymnasium are classical language, modern language, and mathematics and natural science. In recent years many States have changed the curriculum so students can get the "Abi" at the end of the 12th grade. Other States are making the transition but may still require a 13th grade.
Gesamtschule

The Gesamtschule, or comprehensive school, is only found in some of the states. It takes the place of both the Hauptschule and Realschule. It enrolls students of all ability levels in the 5th through the 10th grades. Students who satisfactorily complete the Gesamtschule through the 9th grade receive the Hauptschule certificate, while those who satisfactorily complete schooling through the 10th grade receive the Realschule certificate.

http://www.howtogermany.com/pa...

Ho hum.

It is not what I would have wanted for myself and am glad I had more time. I was more of a "wanderer" academically. During K-8, I was in the lowest tracks and the highest (starting lower, ending higher). Had my fate been set in 4th grade....

Around 40% of Germany's Autobahn already does have speed limits. Other than this, most parts of Germany's Autobahn has been built more than 50 years ago, using material estimated to last 40 years - which means: road works.

According to "Baustelleninformation" at http://www.bast.de/, Germany's 12845 km of Autobahn right now do feature 673 road works (with common speed limits of 60 kmh = 37 mph) and 105 full road closures (requiring to leave the Autobahn and continue part of your journey on some crowded federal highway with a usual speed limit of 100 kmh=60 mph). Just some statistics: that's one road work or closure in about every 16 km. Some of those road works are just a kilometer, others are as long as 40 km. And those road works tend to last years, so if you're regularly driving the same route, you always know where to expect your daily traffic jam (next to road works, during beginning or end of holiday seasons, traffic jams on Autobahn are quite common).

So in short: you can't average faster than the advisory speed of 130 kmh on long-distance anyway, at least if you're not ignoring any speed limits.
However, there's the German car industry imposing political pressure on any governing parties ("speed limits do put jobs at risk"), so there won't be an official speed limit for Autobahn that soon.

Compared to other european countries, speeding is quite cheap in Germany. To compensate any measurement tolerances to your favor, your measured speed is reduced by another 3kmh or 3% - whatever is higher and so in your favor. You don't risk temporarily having your driving license suspended as long as you're less than about 30 kmh above any speed limits (see http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/traffic-violations.html). Unless being chased by a horde of police cars, license suspension usually also includes a court appeal, and often the driver may even choose WHEN during the next year or so they'd like to have their driving license suspended.

According to my own experience, such regulations also do result in a very aggressive driving style on Autobahn, at least on the left-most (overtaking) lane, where drivers "only" exceeding existing speed limits by 20 kmh are constantly being tailgated at extremely low distances by other drivers. The middle lane is crowded by drivers who don't want to be tailgated, but still want to drive faster than those 80 kmh all trucks are limited to (who so do occupy the right-most lane). If you're trying to make use of some free track between trucks on the right lane: getting back into the crowded middle lane may take some time.

If he made a joke about drunk driving, do you think his driving privileges should be permanently revoked too?

In both cases, a psychological exam might be prudent.

In the USA, driving privileges are rarely revoked permanently. You might get them taken away for a year or two, but then you're automatically eligible to be relicensed. In Germany, if you're convicted of an extreme DUI, your license is permanently revoked until you can prove, through a battery of physical and chemical tests, that you no longer have a drinking problem.

http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/germanschools.html Which says 6.5Y on average

I and a number of my peers (ho hum years ago) did get a technical job via the vocational route (well technically the grade above "trade" qualifications). The course I did was an ultra specialised one suited to the needs of the aero and fluids research cluster that is/was around Bedfordshire almost all of us worked in world leading RnD organisations right at the beeding edge.

But! in the UK this vocational route has been devalued to the point of non existence. The need for time served electricians (and I don’t mean some guy that wires houses) is still there, but successive governments from Thatcher onwards gutted the whole structure of technical training.

And don’t get me started on modern apprentices that companies that to quote John Cleese are pushed by “jumped up caterer’s and hoteliers” – and those ghastly little tory boys and girls on the apprentice who are all as thick as two planks and couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery!

That's because it's the best in the world. ... A higher cost per capita is a GOOD thing.

Um... no. No, in fact that's exactly the opposite of the truth. Remember, it's the cost per capita of U.S. citizens, not COVERED U.S. citizens. That means that in order to cover a small fraction of our population, we're paying far more per taxpayer than other developed nations spend per taxpayer to cover everyone. It's obscene.

Moreover, it's not better healthcare on the whole. The U.S. has some of the best teaching hospitals and medical research organizations in the world. This is true, but that doesn't affect the overall quality of care as much as you'd think. This is because most healthcare doesn't involve these institutions, and our hospitals are a mess (nursing shortages, monetary problems, consolidation of ownership and many other factors have damaged them horribly).

Add to that that we consider many covered procedures in other countries to be "elective" here (e.g. in many countries such as Germany "spas" are covered as a periodic cost, allowing people to seek preventative therapies that involve exercise and relaxation).

When I first moved to Germany in 1994, there was little information available for expatriots. It was all pretty much learning by doing. I recently spent about a year and a half in LA and returned to Germany at the end of last year with my girlfriend, who does not speak German. While looking for orientation materials for her (actually an experienced expat), I discovered that the amount of information has expanded greatly.

One really useful site is How To Germany, which includes a brief overview and a nice link to an online comparison chart. The best computer magazin in the world had an entire section devoted to the best and cheapest DSL/cable internet service at the end of last year. Unfortunately, you will have to learn German to read the article (The issue's TOC is here, if you want it---and this is reason enough to want to learn German.)