That`s how much average TV the average German watches. On an average day, I mean, on average. Yawn. A real red-blooded American watches that much before breakfast. Or should, damn it.

And I somehow suspected this too: The real couch potatoes are in uns und um uns und um uns herum (like all around us, dude). If you live in Berlin, I mean. The Brandenburgers are the Germans who watch the most TV (262 minutes), that’s clearly more than we watch here in Berlin. I’m shocked and disappointed, sort of. But at least Berliners surf and blog more, or so I must assume. The slugs.

Den höchsten Anstieg im Vergleich der Bundesländer gab es in Sachsen: Hier verweilten die Menschen mit 182 Minuten im Schnitt 18 Minuten länger vor den Bildschirmen als 2008.

I guess it’s officially a tradition now. For the second (or third?) New Year’s now, a group of abominable anarchist snowmen types (this time around 200 strong) have picked a snowball fight with the rest of the world in Leipzig at a place called Connewitzer Kreuz.

Then of course the snowball fight got out of control and expensive cars, buses, store windows and even cops got hurt. Other than all the feelings, I mean. Hey, you’ve got to do something down there. At Connewitzer Kreuz, I mean.
 
Auch Polizeikräfte wurden mit Schneebällen sowie mit Flaschen beworfen, wobei zwei Beamte verletzt wurden.

They call this Schneechaos over here.

When they’re not calling it global warming, I mean.

Beautiful German of the week.

Because somebody has to admire them.

Oder auch nicht…

After you strap a Polish firecracker on it and blow it up on New Year’s Eve, that is. Although… Why you would want to do this is beyond me (like lots of things that get done here).

Germans love blowing stuff up on New Year’s, you see, but they just don’t trust foreign explosive imports (sound familiar?). And a certain annual anti-Polish-firework-movement has even become a near-ritual kinda thang here. German newspapers and cops love to issue dramatic warnings about Polen Böller (Polish fireworks) right before the fireworks hit the fan.

And that’s what this picture is all about. Cops in Berlin and elsewhere are trying to frighten the pants off everybody by showing them what an illegal Polish firecracker can do to an unarmed pig’s foot (don’t worry, they had the decency to kill the pig first). German firecrackers just don’t put holes in your pigs feet like that, I assume.

Anyways, be careful out there this year, people. Blow up your pigs feet and other objects properly and with great care. And buy German. First, I mean.

And while we’re at it, Happy New Year!

McWhy not?

You’ve just got to ask yourself how it could have taken this long to begin with.

Few traces of the wall remain but the site is home to a replica of a hut housing US border guards behind sandbags as well as a “You Are Entering the American Sector” sign.

And I’ll hold my breath until my face turns blue if you don’t believe me. Geez. This is almost like the good-old Gerhard Schroeder days – saying no before anybody asks anything of you – and that’s even with you-know-who now in office (what’s-his-name is long gone, remember?).

That Germany won’t ever really deploy real troops in a real war in a real country called Afghanistan is certainly no secret to anyone anywhere, least of all the Taliban, but that Germany’s new Foreign Minister is prepared to puff and pout and not even attend the upcoming Afghanistan conference in London should it “degrade” to a pure troop deployment conference, well, that’s kind of special (not).

As predicted, Germany has dragged its feet this past month in the face of calls from President Obama to help with a push to defeat the Taliban with more combat troops, holding off from any decision regarding troop numbers until after the London talks. Now it seems the Germans have reached a new phase: They are now even prepared to hold off on taking part on any talks before holding off on making a decision which, as all the world can clearly see, has been made long ago; nein. Or no, if you prefer.

“Mit seinem Nein zu einer deutlichen Aufstockung des Bundeswehrkontingentes steht Westerwelle ja beileibe nicht alleine. Diese Position ist auch den USA längst bekannt. Aber durch die versuchte Vorfestlegung eines Konferenzverlaufs, den Deutschland nur partiell beeinflussen kann, isoliert der Minister sich und die ganze Bundesregierung innerhalb des Bündnisses. Das ist einfach dumm.”

In Iran? Sure would be nice.

And one thing speaking for it is the sheer improbabilty of it all. But that seems to be how history works.

“I don’t believe in miracles. I’ve seen too many of them.”