I understand a german drivers license is expensive and incredibly comprehensive... anyone know for sure?
Yeah, I can. To get your Drivers License in Germany, you have to attend to around 15 - 20 Hours of theoretical classes, take a written test on them, have around 25 - 30 hours of guided driving until
your driving instructor deems you fit for driving, and then have to take an approximately hour-long driving test (including: city driving, highway driving, interstate driving, parking, vehicle safety) with a
state-provided inspector additional to your driving instructor - and if you don't pass, you have to take a few driving lessons and try again. (each try - including the mandatory lessions - comes you at around 300 - 400 $ extra).. expect to pay around $2.500 - $3.000 for your german license if you are an average learner.
Oh, and just to add another bit of Information - if you are into this kind of Science Fiction, I can highly recommend a book series by John Varley - Red Thunder (followed by Red Lightning and Rolling Thunder)
where the invention of "Bubble Drive" enables a few off-the-shelf people to build a rocket out of Junkyard scrap and come to the rescue when the "real" mission by nasa goes poof.. It is a highly interesting read and continues nicely in the following Novels:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Thunder_(novel)
Yes, we have that concept of birth certificates too - followed by Acceptance of Fathership (if in doubt) etc., all of which have to quote your full name - those papers are 25 years old in my case and the only ones besides my ID Card that state my full Name.
.57$ per Gallon? you lucky guys.. over here (germany) the gas tax makes up for 79% of the Money you pay, e.g. every Euro contains 79 eurocent taxes.. (Gallon Price is around 7$ US, Liter price around 1.40 Euro (~1.80$ US)
But tax controls for people "smuggling" in gasoline inside the country.. thats just insane.
I'm on 16mbit down and 800kbit/s up.. and that is quite a stable rate, I reach up to 1.5mbyte/s in Downstream regularly.
Price is 49euros (~65$) per month, including unlimited traffic, ISDN and a countrywide phone flat for landlines.:)
Yeah, by "conventional" I meant non-breeders - sorry if that was not as clear as intended.
And yeah, industry is one of the biggest customers for electricity, and no-one denies that I guess.. but even over here in europe, with those tripled energy prices, the good we buy are moderately priced by my comparison.. (or maybe I just earn too much as a student?;)
I'd like my electricity bill to stay the same at the moment, that would be nice - gas prices (or price of travel in general, travelling by train is not cheaper by any means for me if you do not count local commuter trains I get compensated by a student semester-card).. even going from Mannheim to Stuttgart (~60 Miles) is around 20$ one-way if you want to travel considerably fast (~14$ if you take regiotrains, which take like 2-3 times longer and are less comfortable)..
No, unfortunately not - and I can't install them either. the only thing I have are some blue curtains to keep out the direct light/heat, but that does not stop the whole building from heating up.. but thanx;)
Yeah, I guess thats where this great discomfort comes from comparing these numbers.
IIRC the amount of money put in solar and other regenerative energy by our government is
around the same numbers like proposed in the article, maybe even higher (I guess it was like 50 cent per kwh)..
but it just does'nt sound as bad over here because we pay half that already and regen. energy is quite a nice thing to have
for my children to enjoy.. (oh, and btw - those energy prices are killing me these days, I so want an air condition..but with
a cost of like 8-15$ a day just for operating it.. whoa;).. I kinda get the point now why no-one in the US spends money on
building good, isolated houses which keep cold in the summer and heat in the winter inside but "wood huts" instead.. heating
and AC are just not expensive enough to amortize the cost of building the home more efficient..
Well, I really hope projects like that in canada (and - of course - even much larger scaled installations) will spring over there.. energy won't be that cheap for long. Many people here like nuclear energy for the proposed "the juice comes from the wall plug"
attitude towars nuclear energy.. problem is, as pointed out - nuclear is quite ecological and creates not that much waste, that is correct.
What most people don't seem to know is what was pointed out earlier - our conventional reactors will run out (given current usage, not much increase)
at like the same time the oil reserves run out - and when that happens (and people like the ones saying renew. energy shouldnt be supported because
nuclear is so easy) will have to look again.. I guess 0.08 per kwh would be replaced by like 1$ per kwh then.. and THAT would kill the US economy-wise. It is just too much dependant on power to keep it's life rolling - even on aspects where simple changes in architecture or materials
would suffice to keep it nice and lovely. (As I said earlier, I'd like an AC atm - they OVERDID isolation on my home manifold.. they did not take
into account that I live sunward and have the sun on my windows for like the whole day - it'll easily get up to 40* Celsius in here in summer, without additional cooling. never drops below 20 in winter without heating though..
Just to clarify..that Book was written by Hitler, long before he even rose to power in 1924 while he was imprisoned, and.. well. "funny" lecture.
And on that remark - The GDR (German Depublic Republic), DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) in German did'nt even come into existance up until 1949, and Hitler was long dead when it was founded.
"Leaders" of the GDR were people like Pieck, Ulbricht, Honecker and Krenz... I got what your intention was, just wanted to clarify about the history.
Oh and for the facist commentary: Beckstein is only a local Political Power in one of the 16 Federal States of Germany, Bavaria, and notably the most Conservative one around. This is not an unusual proposal for him and well.. most people (at least those who care) regard him with a little catchphrase.. "Beckstein, Beckstein, dein Kleinhirn muss versteckt sein" (Beckstein, Beckstein, your Cerebellum must be hidden) )
Well, it sums up as followed: most of the tax we pay is called "Ökosteuer".. ecology-tax. since gas is so expensive, people drive less, use more public transport, buy cars with less thirst for gas etc.
actually a very good question - thanks for asking.
the retailers are the very "small guys" in this picture..most of em make at max ~5-8 cent per gallon because price pressure is so high.
taxes are estimated to be 76cent per dollar (or to be more precise, 76eurocent per euro), so the biggest deal are taxes, not retailers or oil manufacturers, that's right.
The only point in showing the high prices here in germany (or well say in all of europe.. the price level is almost average in europe) is that americans start to whine about gas prices as soon as they get to a level say.. 30-40% of what we have to pay for years and years to come (next gas price rising is already through in the government, that will add another ~25-30 cent per gallon) and eco-fuel ("biodiesel") will no longer be tax-free either.
Sure, america is a much bigger country so you have more miles you have to drive on average.. but it would help if americans would see that it is no neccessity to drive that SUV/Hummer with fuel usage like a small airplane to drive to work or to the grocery store.. I mean common.. it is no problem today to achieve a mileage of around 100km/5liters.. even an 8 year old opel does that. And maybe - just maybe - it is just not necessary to drive 50 miles just to get dinner at a restaurant? (last time high gas prices were on topic - what we are totally of btw;) - someone wrote "well we planned to drive to the restaurant xx miles away like we do every other day..but this time we stopped due to gas prices.".. well.. I would really hate myself if I (living in mannheim) would drive to stuttgart (~100km) every other day just to get something to eat.. sorry people but if you use the gas for your - absolutely unneccessary - leisure, then don't complain..gas is WAY TOO CHEAP in the US at it is now. A society in which it is possible to drive a 20l/100km truck for everyday use without feeling it in the pocket is the cause of the oil shortages that we will have in a few years, not the fact that there would be that little left. sure it would ran out eventually too, but it could last at least for a doubled amount of time if people - especially in the us, but sure too back here - would be a little more careful with their usage of this rare good.
$3.00 per gallon? lets see.. even if you ship me the stuff by (large enough) air mail it should be still cheaper than here around.. we ware more like $8.00 per gallon here in Germany now..and it's rising..
I really should'nt surf slashdot anymore.. those gas prices (and people even complaining over THAT) make me cry;)
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I understand a german drivers license is expensive and incredibly comprehensive... anyone know for sure?
Yeah, I can. To get your Drivers License in Germany, you have to attend to around 15 - 20 Hours of theoretical classes, take a written test on them, have around 25 - 30 hours of guided driving until your driving instructor deems you fit for driving, and then have to take an approximately hour-long driving test (including: city driving, highway driving, interstate driving, parking, vehicle safety) with a state-provided inspector additional to your driving instructor - and if you don't pass, you have to take a few driving lessons and try again. (each try - including the mandatory lessions - comes you at around 300 - 400 $ extra).. expect to pay around $2.500 - $3.000 for your german license if you are an average learner.
Oh, and just to add another bit of Information - if you are into this kind of Science Fiction, I can highly recommend a book series by John Varley - Red Thunder (followed by Red Lightning and Rolling Thunder) where the invention of "Bubble Drive" enables a few off-the-shelf people to build a rocket out of Junkyard scrap and come to the rescue when the "real" mission by nasa goes poof.. It is a highly interesting read and continues nicely in the following Novels: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Thunder_(novel)
That Show would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvage_1
Yes, we have that concept of birth certificates too - followed by Acceptance of Fathership (if in doubt) etc., all of which have to quote your full name - those papers are 25 years old in my case and the only ones besides my ID Card that state my full Name.
.57$ per Gallon? you lucky guys.. over here (germany) the gas tax makes up for 79% of the Money you pay,
e.g. every Euro contains 79 eurocent taxes.. (Gallon Price is around 7$ US, Liter price around 1.40 Euro
(~1.80$ US)
But tax controls for people "smuggling" in gasoline inside the country.. thats just insane.
I'm on 16mbit down and 800kbit/s up.. and that is quite a stable rate, I reach up to 1.5mbyte/s in Downstream regularly. Price is 49euros (~65$) per month, including unlimited traffic, ISDN and a countrywide phone flat for landlines. :)
I guess the parent meant you must be using BSD,'cause linux is european stuff :)
Yeah, by "conventional" I meant non-breeders - sorry if that was not as clear as intended. And yeah, industry is one of the biggest customers for electricity, and no-one denies that I guess.. but even over here in europe, with those tripled energy prices, the good we buy are moderately priced by my comparison.. (or maybe I just earn too much as a student? ;)
I'd like my electricity bill to stay the same at the moment, that would be nice - gas prices (or price of travel in general, travelling by train is not cheaper by any means for me if you do not count local commuter trains I get compensated by a student semester-card) .. even going from Mannheim to Stuttgart (~60 Miles) is around 20$ one-way if you want to travel considerably fast (~14$ if you take regiotrains, which take like 2-3 times longer and are less comfortable) ..
No, unfortunately not - and I can't install them either. the only thing I have are some blue curtains to keep out the direct light/heat, but that does not stop the whole building from heating up .. but thanx ;)
Yeah, I guess thats where this great discomfort comes from comparing these numbers. IIRC the amount of money put in solar and other regenerative energy by our government is around the same numbers like proposed in the article, maybe even higher (I guess it was like 50 cent per kwh).. but it just does'nt sound as bad over here because we pay half that already and regen. energy is quite a nice thing to have for my children to enjoy .. (oh, and btw - those energy prices are killing me these days, I so want an air condition..but with
a cost of like 8-15$ a day just for operating it .. whoa ;) .. I kinda get the point now why no-one in the US spends money on
building good, isolated houses which keep cold in the summer and heat in the winter inside but "wood huts" instead.. heating
and AC are just not expensive enough to amortize the cost of building the home more efficient..
Well, I really hope projects like that in canada (and - of course - even much larger scaled installations) will spring over there .. energy won't be that cheap for long. Many people here like nuclear energy for the proposed "the juice comes from the wall plug"
attitude towars nuclear energy.. problem is, as pointed out - nuclear is quite ecological and creates not that much waste, that is correct.
What most people don't seem to know is what was pointed out earlier - our conventional reactors will run out (given current usage, not much increase)
at like the same time the oil reserves run out - and when that happens (and people like the ones saying renew. energy shouldnt be supported because
nuclear is so easy) will have to look again.. I guess 0.08 per kwh would be replaced by like 1$ per kwh then.. and THAT would kill the US economy-wise. It is just too much dependant on power to keep it's life rolling - even on aspects where simple changes in architecture or materials
would suffice to keep it nice and lovely. (As I said earlier, I'd like an AC atm - they OVERDID isolation on my home manifold .. they did not take
into account that I live sunward and have the sun on my windows for like the whole day - it'll easily get up to 40* Celsius in here in summer, without additional cooling. never drops below 20 in winter without heating though..
WTF, .08 US Cent/kwh?
I knew the US are cheap on energy (gas prices esp.), but this..
Just for comparison, I have to pay $8 US per Gallon Gas, and 24ct (US) per kwh
over here in germany..
If you meant CAN $, I have to recalculate *g*
Just to clarify..that Book was written by Hitler, long before he even rose to power in 1924 while he was imprisoned, and .. well. "funny" lecture.
And on that remark - The GDR (German Depublic Republic), DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) in German did'nt even come into existance up until 1949, and Hitler was long dead when it was founded.
"Leaders" of the GDR were people like Pieck, Ulbricht, Honecker and Krenz. .. I got what your intention was, just wanted to clarify about the history.
Oh and for the facist commentary: Beckstein is only a local Political Power in one of the 16 Federal States of Germany, Bavaria, and notably the most Conservative one around. This is not an unusual proposal for him and well.. most people (at least those who care) regard him with a little catchphrase.. "Beckstein, Beckstein, dein Kleinhirn muss versteckt sein" (Beckstein, Beckstein, your Cerebellum must be hidden) )
Well, it sums up as followed: most of the tax we pay is called "Ökosteuer" .. ecology-tax. since gas is so expensive, people drive less, use more public transport, buy cars with less thirst for gas etc.
actually a very good question - thanks for asking. the retailers are the very "small guys" in this picture..most of em make at max ~5-8 cent per gallon because price pressure is so high. taxes are estimated to be 76cent per dollar (or to be more precise, 76eurocent per euro), so the biggest deal are taxes, not retailers or oil manufacturers, that's right. The only point in showing the high prices here in germany (or well say in all of europe.. the price level is almost average in europe) is that americans start to whine about gas prices as soon as they get to a level say.. 30-40% of what we have to pay for years and years to come (next gas price rising is already through in the government, that will add another ~25-30 cent per gallon) and eco-fuel ("biodiesel") will no longer be tax-free either. Sure, america is a much bigger country so you have more miles you have to drive on average.. but it would help if americans would see that it is no neccessity to drive that SUV/Hummer with fuel usage like a small airplane to drive to work or to the grocery store.. I mean common.. it is no problem today to achieve a mileage of around 100km/5liters .. even an 8 year old opel does that. And maybe - just maybe - it is just not necessary to drive 50 miles just to get dinner at a restaurant? (last time high gas prices were on topic - what we are totally of btw ;) - someone wrote "well we planned to drive to the restaurant xx miles away like we do every other day..but this time we stopped due to gas prices." .. well .. I would really hate myself if I (living in mannheim) would drive to stuttgart (~100km) every other day just to get something to eat.. sorry people but if you use the gas for your - absolutely unneccessary - leisure, then don't complain..gas is WAY TOO CHEAP in the US at it is now. A society in which it is possible to drive a 20l/100km truck for everyday use without feeling it in the pocket is the cause of the oil shortages that we will have in a few years, not the fact that there would be that little left. sure it would ran out eventually too, but it could last at least for a doubled amount of time if people - especially in the us, but sure too back here - would be a little more careful with their usage of this rare good.
$3.00 per gallon? lets see.. even if you ship me the stuff by (large enough) air mail it should be still cheaper than here around..
.. those gas prices (and people even complaining over THAT) make me cry ;)
we ware more like $8.00 per gallon here in Germany now..and it's rising..
I really should'nt surf slashdot anymore