#a car is speeding down the autobahn in germany

[wizardofahz]

# and second worst is editing

Update:

Pro: I am much better at technical writing

Con: Other people are not, and editing is now in fact the worst

Guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, I’m here to announce that technical writing is the absolute worst.

[germany-sue]

Best car rental in Germany

If you're planning a trip to Germany, I can’t recommend renting a car enough. There’s something so freeing about hitting the open road, zipping between charming towns, and exploring the stunning landscapes at your own pace. I’ve done a fair share of road trips in Germany, and honestly, there’s no better way to experience the country’s hidden gems.

From the autobahns (yes, some sections really don’t have speed limits!) to winding scenic routes through vineyards and forests, having your own wheels just takes the adventure to the next level.

But here's the thing: not all car rentals are created equal, and navigating the options can feel overwhelming. I learned this the hard way when I booked my first rental in Germany—let’s just say, there were a few surprises along the way. So, I’m here to help you avoid those hiccups and get the best car rental experience possible!

1. Major Car Rental Companies You Can Trust

Germany is home to all the major international car rental brands, and most of them offer great services. Whether you prefer the comfort of a brand you know or want to try something local, you’ve got plenty of options. Here's a quick rundown of the top choices:

Sixt: Sixt is a personal favorite of mine. It’s a German company, so they know the lay of the land, and their fleet is always packed with clean, well-maintained cars. I’ve found them super reliable, and their prices tend to be competitive. Plus, if you’re looking to rent something a little more premium (think BMW or Audi), Sixt has you covered.

Hertz: Another solid option that’s widely available across Germany. Hertz is great for those who want peace of mind knowing they’re working with an international brand. My experience with them was smooth, from booking to return, and they often have good deals if you book in advance.

Europcar: Europcar is one of the biggest rental companies in Europe, and they’re everywhere in Germany. I found their service to be efficient, and they offer a great range of vehicles, from compact cars perfect for city driving to larger options if you're planning a family road trip.

Avis: Another reliable brand with locations in all the major cities. Avis tends to offer a wider variety of rental options, including eco-friendly cars. I used them on a trip to Berlin, and the process was seamless.

2. What to Look For in a Car Rental in Germany

I remember feeling a bit lost the first time I rented a car in Germany, so here’s my advice to make the process easier:

Size Matters: German roads are generally excellent, but city streets can be narrow, and parking in smaller towns can be tight. I once rented a larger car for a road trip through the Black Forest, and let’s just say parking it in tiny village lots was a challenge! Consider opting for a compact or mid-sized vehicle if you’ll be spending time in cities or small towns.

Automatic vs. Manual: Many cars in Germany come with manual transmission. If you’re like me and prefer an automatic, make sure to specify this when booking, as automatics tend to sell out quickly.

Mileage & Fuel Policies: Pay attention to the rental’s mileage limits. Some companies offer unlimited mileage, which is great if you’re planning long-distance drives across Germany. Also, make sure you understand the fuel policy—most companies require you to return the car with a full tank, which is easy enough to do with gas stations near most airports and city centers.

3. Renting a Car on a Budget

I know that renting a car can sometimes feel like it’s eating into your travel budget, but there are ways to keep costs down. If you're flexible with your plans, try comparing prices on different rental platforms like AutoEurope or Rentalcars.com—they’ll give you a full breakdown of the best deals available across all the major companies. Also, booking in advance usually secures you the best rates.

Another tip? Check for hidden fees. I once booked a rental that seemed like a steal, only to be surprised by extra charges for things like insurance and road fees. Always read the fine print and ask about any additional costs before booking.

4. Driving Tips for Your German Road Trip

Driving in Germany is generally a breeze, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

The Autobahn: Yes, some parts of the Autobahn are famous for having no speed limits, but keep in mind that not all sections are like this. Many stretches do have speed restrictions, so pay attention to signs. Also, driving fast is fun, but safety first!

Parking: Parking in cities like Berlin or Munich can be tricky, especially in busy areas. I recommend downloading a parking app to find available spots or looking for "Park & Ride" areas on the outskirts of larger cities, where you can park and use public transport to explore the city.

Environmental Zones: Some German cities have “Umweltzones,” or environmental zones, where only cars with specific emissions stickers can enter. If you plan to drive in urban areas, check if your rental comes with the necessary sticker, or you might face fines.

5. Insurance—Is It Worth It?

I know insurance can feel like an unnecessary add-on when renting a car, but in Germany, it’s something worth considering. Germany’s roads are well-maintained, but accidents and damages can still happen. I usually opt for full coverage when I rent, just for peace of mind. Most rental companies offer basic insurance, but it’s worth considering additional coverage, especially if you're driving in unfamiliar terrain or renting a more expensive car.

Conclusion: Ready to Hit the Road?

There’s nothing quite like the freedom of having your own car while traveling, especially in a country as beautiful as Germany. Whether you’re exploring the scenic Romantic Road, taking a detour through the Black Forest, or speeding along the Autobahn, renting a car is the best way to fully experience everything Germany has to offer.

Take the time to compare rental companies, choose the right car for your trip, and make sure you’re aware of the driving rules. Once that’s sorted, you’ll be ready for an unforgettable adventure through one of Europe’s most stunning countries. And trust me, once you’ve experienced the open road in Germany, you’ll want to keep coming back!

Ready to find the best car rental for your trip? Check out the full guide on The Best Car Rentals in Germany for all the tips and tricks you need to know before booking your perfect ride!

[georgegraphys]

Nooo, thank YOU, Ari for giving me insight everyday🥺🫶🏼

Yeah, maybe the V8 removal was something that affected Germany the most, because autobahn idk.. but for the rest of European countries? Not really, we have major speed limits that if you pass those you get the biggest tickets ever and leave you without a licence for a year, and it’s a risk because good engine, good and sexy speed, right?🤣 Also, another example, in my country we also have to pay taxes on the engine, so if the engine is over 2200 cmc, we have to pay triple the taxes for every 200 cmc that goes over that 2200

This one is reaaally a new knowledge for me 🤣🤣 we are going to end up saying thank you to each other for the 100th time yk 😭 but yeahh i read some news saying that some companies, not only Mercedes Benz, are no longer using the V8 engines. Which is maybe due to the regulations in Europe (or maybe around the world) to push down the emission rate? And also some said it's just not worth the price

I'm not that much of a car enthu nor am I a mechanical engineering grad but quoting from reddit

"Dealers are of the opinion that the subdued interest in the C63 S stems from the fact that its BMW rival offers superior value in terms of powertrain, pricing, and premium quality." source

And

"The exorbitant pricing of the Affalterbach-based company is thus the best advertisement for the BMW M3 or Audi RS type vehicles and makes the C 63 S E Performance a real slow seller" source

[digital999placebo]

Most of the time in any room with Germany, Veneziano, Romano, and Spain in it, Germany is the straight man. HOWEVER put them in a car and Antonio is now the straight man. Germany/Romano/Veneziano gets behind the wheel and Spain is in the back clutching on for dear life because none of the aforementioned adhere to speed limits. The three of them are those annoying guys who revvs the motor super loudly (n if they hear a car rev them hey can tell what car/motor it is without even having to see it).

- They’re all driving home after an after-work one night (Germany is the designated driver this time) n Germany says: “watch what I learned in the 90s” before drifting his way through a roundabout. Veneziano in the passenger seat going: “you’ve never been more sexy to me” n Romano just: “ok maybe u r a little cool” n Spain begging him to stop.

- Veneziano going down the autobahn doing 209km/h in some version of the Ford Mustang. Germany in the backseat leaning over to talk to him about the performance of the car, Lovino in the passenger seat urging him to see the max speed (250km/h) in action, and Spain in the back next to Germany wondering if maybe countries can die under circumstances other than the disbandment of their nation.. maybe a circumstance liek a high speed car crash.

- Spain screaming “bring up the ROOF PLEASE” whenever they drive a cabriolet because Romano drives too fast for the roof to be down, playing FVN! on loudest volume.

- Spain gets Romano not a super old but an old, regular, working class car so he won’t b compelled to drive so recklessly. Next time he visits Romano the guy is full on busy doing handbrake turns up n down the street til the connecting rods jam or the wire snaps.

- Romano drags Spain along to Grand Prix in Monaco, where he is forced to bet with Romano, Germany and Veneziano on who’ll win despite knowing nothin,g except like MAYBE who the teams are.

- Spain tries to find solidarity in Prussia, but Prussia, albeit not knowing as much as his brother about the inside of a car, is still ver much interested. Spain ends up hanging out with France (and sometime England is there too) when Germany, Romano and Veneziano are watching F1 or some other motor sport he doesn’t really care about.

[study-coffee-chicago]

I love your work so much!

I was wondering if you could do an imagine or a headcanon where the reader goes and does study abroad and Will, Jay and Hailey come to visit the reader and they go and do touristy things together and they are super proud of the reader for her acheievements and she’s super excited to show them all her favorite spots.!

Thank you so much! And here it is! I'm so sorry it took so long!

“And she has no idea we’re coming?” Jay confirmed as he, Hailey, and Will went to baggage claim to collect their luggage.

“For the last time, Jay, she has no idea. She thinks it’s just me,” Hailey told him. “And, what was I gonna do? Text her on the plane?”

“You two fight like an old married couple,” Will joked. “Oh, wait! You are!”

“If I’m old, then that makes you ancient,” Jay shot back. 

“Okay, okay, you two,” Hailey said and stood between them. “Let’s get out of here before one of you gets arrested and thrown into a German prison. And no, I don’t think Voight would even be able to get you out of there. C’mon. Let’s go find Y/N.”

Hailey had planned on coming to Germany for two weeks to visit you during your last two weeks studying abroad. It was supposed to be girl time. You told her to consider it her bachelorette party that she never got since she and Jay eloped in a courthouse right before you went off to Germany for a semester.

But then, Will got a million bucks for being the whistle blower at his work, so he and Jay decided to buy plane tickets, cash in their time off that they had saved up, and go to Germany to visit you as well. Hailey had even called the castle tour that the two of you had booked and bought two extra tickets so that Will and Jay would be able to come. 

You were waiting for them in a hallway where international travelers came down and your jaw dropped when you saw your brothers. You sprinted up to them and let Will pick you up and spin you around like he used to do when you were little. 

“How? I thought it was just Hailey!” you said with a giant smile on your face. 

“We used some of that million bucks that Will has. Now come and give me a hug!” Jay told you, with a smile that matched the size of yours. You gave him the biggest hug and you swore he hadn’t hugged you that tight since your dad died. “Ugh, I missed you so much, kiddo.”

“Jay’s been treating you right, right Hailey?” you asked when you finally got out of Jay’s grasp. Once an overprotective big brother, always an overprotective big brother.

She laughed. “He sure is.”

“Good. Or else I’d have to get him a ticket to go home.”

Jay rolled his eyes and then the three of you continued to chat while you made your way out of the airport and to your hotel for the next two weeks.

***

After a day of being lazy and just wandering around the city because Jay, Will, and Hailey were jetlagged, you made your way to Neuschwanstein Castle, which was three hours from where your hotel was in the city you had studied, which was Regensburg. 

Will said he wanted to drive because Jay and Hailey got to drive over the speed limit back home every day in Chicago because they were both cops. And you got to go as fast you wanted every day when you were in Germany on the Autobahn, so Will thought it was only fair that he get to drive as fast as he wanted on the Autobahn while he was here.

“The first time I was on the Autobahn, I almost threw up,” you told them.

“Why?” Hailey asked. “Just because of motion sickness?”

“Yeah, that and the car was hot and I was exhausted and probably dehydrated from jet lag and flying,” you explained. 

“Don’t become a cop then,” Jay joked.

“Or a paramedic,” Will added.

“Those are not in the cards. Both involve blood. Now, roll down a window. Your driving’s making me sick, Will.” You paused and looked at Jay who was currently riding in the passenger seat. “On the way back, I call dibs on the front seat.”

***

“Wow,” Hailey said in awe as the four of you trekked up to the castle. “It’s beautiful.”

(Neuschwanstein Castle; photo taken by me when I went to Germany in December of 2019)

“It is,” you agreed. “The first time I came, I took so many pictures. And there was snow outside, so it looked even more beautiful. But now at least you can see the red on the towers. When I came in the winter, those were covered.”

Will and Jay stayed silent as they just took in the castle in front of them. It was beautiful.

Eventually, you had found someone who spoke English and was willing to take a picture of the four of you together.

Then, you kept climbing up the mountain until you reached the castle and waited in line for your tour.

***

A few days later, the four of you were standing in line to go on the Highline 179 which was a suspension that was one of the highest in the world at 375 feet (114 meters) above ground. You didn’t particularly like heights, but you knew you wanted to go on it because you knew it wouldn’t break and you wanted to say you walked on a suspension bridge that held the world record.

“I don’t know about this,” Hailey said nervously.

“Oh, c’mon, babe. I’ll be there the whole time,” Jay reassured her.

“I’m doing it,” you said. “I’m not that big a fan of heights.”

“Y/N, this is like you petting a snake! This is my biggest fear!” Hailey argued.

“You can do it, Hailey. There are lots of people who’ve crossed it,” Will encouraged. “And, a fall from this height would kill you instantly, so you wouldn’t even feel it.” Jay quickly elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Not helping,” he hissed.

Hailey took a deep breath. “Okay,” she started, “I’ll do it. But we have to go slow. No running or jumping by me.”

(Highline 179; photo taken by me when I went to Germany in December of 2019)

***

“Never again,” Hailey said when the four of you finally got back on the ground of the mountain. “Never again.”

“But, hey, now you can say you did it,” Jay told her.

“And we didn’t die,” Will added.

“Maybe you didn’t. But I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

You laughed. “Okay, okay. How about we go see some more castle ruins and get coffee? Because Germany makes the best lattes.”

“Deal,” Hailey said quickly

Jay and Will hung back with you as Hailey started leading the way back down the mountain and towards the castle ruins.

“Hey, me and Will are really proud of you,” Jay said. 

You looked up at him in confusion. “Why?”

“For stepping out of your comfort zone,” Will explained. “You went across the world to a whole different country for a semester and that takes guts.”

You beamed at both your brothers. “I love you guys. And I’m so glad you guys could come.”

“We’re glad we could come, too,” Jay said and grabbed your hand and gave it a quick squeeze, and then let go. “Now, let’s go catch up with Hailey. She will not be happy if she doesn’t get more coffee in her system in the next two to three hours after what we just put her through on that bridge.”

[acrosstobear]

Callum Ilott talks racing accidents, tragedy and mental health

Callum Ilott pauses, takes a deep breath and prepares to answer.

It seems a pretty straightforward question to deliver a response to: are racing drivers affected after a crash or seeing a team-mate or rival have an accident? But it’s a deeply personal topic for the 22-year-old.

The Formula 1 rising star saw the aftermath of a tragic collision at Spa during his F2 days which claimed the life of his close friend Anthoine Hubert and seriously injured team-mate Juan Manuel Correa.

Ilott’s retort after taking some time to consider his thoughts shows the long-lasting effects of the heartbreaking incident. But it also begins to help reveal the psychology of racing drivers and how they deal with the inevitable dangers that come with driving at speeds of 200mph or more.

Callum Ilott opens up about the death of Anthoine Hubert

“To satisfy my own mental state I spent that whole evening and the next day analysing what happened,” the Ferrari Academy Driver said of the 2019 crash.

“In my mind I almost completely understood why it happened and it felt easier to accept it. I go through it and piece it together. I’d lost a good friend and my team-mate was fighting for his life. It was an ongoing process to deal with it.

“You can’t change what happened but he’d (Anthoine) changed me – not because of the accident – but because of how he was, how he influenced people and I took quite a few lessons from him. I took it upon myself to make changes, inspired by him.

“Everyone says ‘you’re doing it (racing) for him’, but I’d rather take the lessons that he gave me as it’s a greater impact than doing it for him. It can happen to anyone and you have to take every chance and moment you get in life, that was one of the lessons I took. It helped change my values and understanding of some things.”

Karting isn’t the safest but neither is rugby, says F1 talent

Like almost all professional drivers, the Cambridge-born talent started out in karting where he “enjoyed the speed” rather than feared it. His biggest concern was making mistakes.

Even though he saw people roll their karts and break their collarbones, his safety was more of a concern to his mum than himself as he continued to calculate and process the risk – a method that remains to this day.

Ilott said: “A lot of possibilities have to come together and at least nine times out of 10 you can get away with a crash and maybe one time you don’t.

“Karting wasn’t the safest thing but then you could say neither was rugby at school, all it takes is someone to do a high tackle or you fall funny and you could be in hospital or a wheelchair for the rest of your life. Anything can happen but I don’t look at things in a negative way.

“When it’s someone close to you that has an accident there’s obviously emotion attached to it. But it’s all facts and statistics for me. At the end of the day you’re in this sport and you’re in this position. If the stats were a bit higher then I think I would be concerned but at the moment you just hope it doesn’t happen to you. A lot of improvements continue to be made in terms of safety too.”

Alfa Romeo reserve relives dramatic Formula 1 test crash

So what happens when it’s you who is involved in an accident? When you have a massive smash that leaves you seriously injured or feeling incredibly lucky to be alive?

Ilott, a reserve for Alfa Romeo, had his biggest crash while testing for the team two years ago. He’d just set his best lap of the day at Barcelona on his F1 test debut when the rear snapped in a fast right-hander and sent him careering into the barriers at around 130mph.

“You have to crack back on,” admitted the 2020 F2 runner-up.

“Whilst you’ve got time you can feel sorry for yourself and punish yourself. It can be a greater lesson than moving on. For one week I don’t think anyone could really talk to me. Physically I was almost completely fine, I had a bit of pain in my back, but it was all mental. To me it was more related to my career.

“It was a big moment to have and then to have that end result, in crashing, so I was more worried about my career. In one or two weeks I was back in Formula 2, it was a distraction to get going again. You can get out of the spiral and get on with what you’re doing. You learn your lesson and take the best side of it.”

Being a passenger unsettles the Ferrari Academy starlet

The Adrian Flux-sponsored driver says it takes him within three corners to know the limit, within 5%, of the vehicle he is operating.

And he is sure that’s what sets professionals aside from anyone who steps behind the wheel of a car.

“Depending on the car and conditions, I will drive to how I feel safe,” concluded Ilott, set to make his IndyCar debut in America next weekend.

“On an Autobahn in Germany in the wet, I won’t go above 150kmh (93mph), at risk of aquaplaning. In dry, I can push to 300kmh (186mph) easily and as long as there’s no traffic I won’t worry. I’m aware of limits. I’m very happy to take a car to 300 and wouldn’t bat an eye, I’d quite enjoy it. If I was in the passenger seat, and someone took it to 300, I’d be very nervous.

“I’ve been on track days with friends and I’m helping them out a bit and straight away they go out and I’m like: ‘Woah, woah, woah, woah, you don’t realise how close you are to the limit already. You can’t push that much more and control the car’. A lot of people can drive but it’s always the last little bit and understanding what to do when it’s not perfect conditions.

“It’s very natural with us because we train. A marathon runner knows what pace they can run at all the time and what will last them until the end of the race. It’s the same as a cyclist – if they start to push over the limit they know when they’ll drop off at the end.

“I wouldn’t say we’re wired differently, racing drivers just know the limits of what we’re in and what we can do a lot more than other people. We’re very aware of the limits of each car we get in. It’s all calculated and you can feel and understand where that is and it automatically enters your brain. My body will say ‘that’s your limit’ and you just know depending on the conditions.”

What is professional racing driver Callum Ilott afraid of?

So does anything scare a man who flies around a track knowing one slight mistake could see him hurtling towards a tyre wall, giant slab of concrete or a huge metal barrier at high speed?

“I don’t like the unknown,” added Ilott who is dreaming of an F1 seat in 2022.

“When I was younger, I don’t mind it so much now, but when you’re snorkelling and you get to the edge of the reef and there’s the drop off – you’re staring down and you think ‘what the hell is down there, how far does it go?’

“It’s not the dark, but what’s inside it? Your mind becomes the enemy. Whatever you think is down there, is down there. That’s something I’ve gradually got used to because I’ve learned why. I don’t like spiders either, but I’m not scared of them.”

[trainsinanime]

History of Berlin’s railway system

Berlin is an interesting city to me. While some European capitals, like Paris or Vienna, clearly express a more or less well executed plan, and others like London just seem to sort of happened, Berlin has a history of grandiose plans that never get fully realised because funding runs out or the political situation changes drastically, until the next big plan comes along. This continues even to this day. A good example of that is the railroads of Berlin, a topic that I find interesting but that is never really described as a big picture thing anywhere.

The modern day scenario seems simple at first: There is a central railway station, and then a lot of minor ones. But if you look into it, you realise that this central station looks nothing like the historic terminal stations elsewhere, or that the center of the subway map is not the central station, but instead regional railway station Friedrichstraße. And the map is splattered with subway and S-Bahn stations like “Nordbahnhof”, “Anhalter Bahnhof”, “Görlitzer Bahnhof” and so on that are all named after some major station (“Bahnhof” in german), but the major station is nowhere to be found. So what gives?

Historically, Berlin’s railway situation started out very similar to that of e.g. Paris or London: Lots of different railway companies built their own lines into the city, each with their own major railway station. These stations were generally known after the cities or regions they served: Hamburger Bahnhof was the station for trains to Hamburg, same with Görlitzer Bahnhof, Dresdener Bahnhof and so on. The Anhalter Bahnhof served the historic region Anhalt, nowadays part of the state of Sachsen-Anhalt. The Stettiner Bahnhof (Stettin station) was renamed after World War 2 to Nordbahnhof (North station) because the town of Stettin had then become part of Poland as Szczecin; similarly the Schlesischer Bahnhof (Silesian station) was renamed to Ostbahnhof (East station) for the same reason. Finally the Lehrter Bahnhof served Hannover, but is named after the railway town of Lehrte just outside of Hannover because that’s where the line from Berlin met another pre-existing line. And just for clarity, the line leading to each station is named after the station, i.e. the line to the Lehrter Bahnhof is the Lehrter Bahn (Lehrte Line), the one to the Ostbahnhof (East Station) is the Ostbahn (East Line) and so on.

Unlike Paris or London, the independence of the different railway companies did not last long; the state of Prussia, of which Berlin was a part and arguably the center, bought all major lines during the second half of the 19th century. Later, in 1924, the federal Deutsche Reichsbahn took over from the Prussian state. While the lines did remain fairly independent, larger projects were now centrally planned, and as stations got upgraded, many got merged. For example, the Anhalter Bahnhof absorbed the duties of the Dresdener Bahnhof and became the prime station for any trains going south; meanwhile, the Lehrter Bahnhof swallowed the Hamburger Bahnhof, which remained as a freight-only station, and thus took over all trains going west.

All the terminal stations that weren’t connected were terribly inconvenient, of course. Passengers could walk between them or take a carriage ride (not that they’d be happy about it), but for freight this wasn’t as easy. The first attempt to solve this was the Verbindungsbahn, “connection line”, which connected several stations at street level, essentially as a tram, but running main line locomotives and cars. Since those have much weaker brakes than trams, this mean that speeds were slow, but accidents were also still frequent. The whole thing was a nuisance and shut down relatively quickly.

The second attempt was much larger: The “Ringbahn”, the circle line, connected all the stations as a big circle. It was meant primarily for freight, so it did not pass near the station buildings, but rather several kilometres away from them. That way trains could access the ends of the associated freight yards. While it was meant for freight, suburban trains were also offered and proved very popular. They still run today, as lines S41 (clockwise) and S42 (counter-clockwise). You can stay on these trains basically indefinitely as they orbit Berlin at exactly one round per hour.

The Ringbahn, in short the Ring among friends, was a roaring success, for freight. For long-distance passengers, it was kind of useless. That’s where the second line comes in, the Stadtbahn, which roughly translates to City Line.

(A note about terminology here: Stadtbahn is also the German term used for what is called light rail in English, i.e. tram systems that are a bit subway-like. Thankfully Berlin doesn’t have that, just a normal subway and a normal tram. Also note that Berlin’s suburban railway system is called S-Bahn; nobody knows whether it derives from Stadtbahn or not, but the S-Bahn covers more than just the Stadtbahn and the Stadtbahn carries trains that are not S-Bahn. Sorry for the confusion, I didn’t invent these terms.)

The Stadtbahn connected many major stations on a west-east line. It technically starts in Spandau and ends at Ostbahnhof (where it becomes the Ostbahn), but for practical points and purposes it’s best to think of it as a line that runs more or less straight through the Ring in east-west direction. The parts where it crosses the Ring are creatively called Westkreuz (West Cross) and Ostkreuz (East Cross), respectively. The Stadtbahn carried both suburban trains and some long-distance trains, though most still ended in their respective terminal stations. Thus, the problem was solved for east-west lines; people could take a through train or use the suburban trains to quickly transfer between stations. However, the line did not connect the Nordbahnhof (North station) and the very important Anhalter Bahnhof (for trains going south).

This problem got solved in the 1920s by constructing the Nord-Süd-Tunnel (North-South-Tunnel). This one only carries the suburban trains, which had by now been electrified and renamed to S-Bahn, to better compete with the U-Bahn, the subway network. Since the S-Bahn uses subway-like technology, the Nord-Süd-Tunnel seems very much like a subway line when you’re in it. The differences are mostly about who is responsible (the government-owned railway company instead of the city subway company) and service patterns (S-Bahn trains run not quite as often, but far wider out into the suburbs).

The Nord-Süd-Tunnel primarily connected the Nordbahnhof and Anhalter Bahnhof, but also ran further north and south than either. Thus it created a new line that bisected the Ring in North-South direction. The stations where this line crosses the Ring are nowadays Südkreuz (South cross) and, you guessed it… Gesundbrunnen. Yeah, they tried renaming it to Nordkreuz (North cross), but the locals preferred the old name. The Nord-Süd-Tunnel and the Stadtbahn cross at the station Friedrichstraße; as far as I know there have never been any plans to rename it to “central cross” even though it would make sense.

So at the end of the 1920s, we have terminal stations, we have a Ring that used to be outside of the city but is very much becoming inside it as the city grows, and we have an east-west and a north-south connection between the terminal stations, where the east-west one can also be used for through trains. North-South not so much, but because there is nothing interesting between Berlin and the Baltic sea in North direction, there isn’t really that much demand for it anyway. (Dear readers from Rostock: You know I’m right.)

The main problem now is that the Ring is getting a bit too crowded with all the freight trains, not all of which want to go to Berlin anyway. Construction starts on a new line, the Güteraußenring (Outer Freight Ring), to form at least a partial outer circle for freight trains that want to avoid the busy fiddly bits of inner Berlin.

And then Germany goes ahead and starts a war.

German railways are a crucial part of the worst war in human history, handling essentially all the logistics for it. People talk a lot about the Autobahn motorway network that Hitler took credit for, but the war logistics were all about railways. That includes the Holocaust, in which people were carried to the death camps by train.

When the war was over, bombing and the fighting had reduced much of Berlin to rubble. Most of the railway network was damaged, although a lot was brought back rather quickly. The fundamental design of Berlin’s network was still the pre-war state, with all the same stations and lines, although now lacking roofs on the stations and with much lower capacity. The railways still remained more important than ever, especially for all the displaced persons seeking new homes.

At the same time, the Allieds divided Germany into four sectors, which soon evolved into what we colloquially know as West Germany (American, British and French sectors) and East Germany (Soviet sector). Berlin was fully surrounded by the soviet sector, but got a special status where it was split into (the same) four sectors as well. That later devolved into the division of a western part of Berlin and an eastern part of Berlin, as the Cold War began in earnest.

(Aside: Especially in Germany, the Cold War was in part full of pettiness on either side, and there was a time when it was a political statement whether you said Westberlin or Berlin (West). Let’s not get into this, the post is way too long as it is already; nowadays you’re free to use whatever you like.)

One of the last things all four Allied powers could agree on before the cold war started in earnest was that the railroad of the Soviet sector should operate the railroads in all of Berlin, presumably mostly for practical purposes since it was not possible to reach Berlin except by passing through the Soviet sector anyway. (Well, except by plane, which is another important part of Berlin’s post-war history that I can’t go into here right now)

The division of Berlin happened along the lines of pre-existing local administrative boundaries. Of course, commute routes and all sorts of infrastructure had habitually crossed these lines before, so the division soon began to hurt severely. That was kind of the point; Berlin had been split into sectors precisely because the Allieds did not want a functional powerful Germany and german government any time soon again.

For the railroads, the split was particularly problematic. Almost all major stations lay either entirely or partially in the western sector, or the lines to it ran through the western sector. The one exception was the Ostbahnhof (East station), which lies entirely within the Soviet sector.

This was a problem for the newly created GDR (East German) government, which sought to control and stop traffic over the new inner-german border. As a result, all the big terminal stations got closed down in the early 1950s, except for the Ostbahnhof, which essentially became East Berlin’s single main station. For now, the Stadtbahn, Nord-Süd-Tunnel and Ringbahn still existed and ran basically like before. They all crossed sector boundaries, but they were indispensable for traffic to and from East Berlin; there was just no way around them.

So the next step was to build a way around them. The Außenring (Outer Circle) was built between 1951 and 1961, using parts of the Güteraußenring (Freight Outer Circle) that had been started before the war, but replanned so it clearly avoided any western territory. All lines leading into Berlin got massive junctions where they met this new outer circle, which allowed diverting the trains to the Outer Circle instead. Some also allowed diverting trains from the Outer Circle to West Berlin, but most didn’t. For a good example, look at Hohen Neuendorf, a suburb just outside of Berlin (and thus fully in the soviet sector), which contains a massive loop arrangement that allows trains from the North (via the Nordbahn) to continue in either direction along the circle, but does not allow trains on the circle to continue south into (West) Berlin. The single track that leads south nowadays, for the S-Bahn, was actually cut and only restored in the 1990s.

With this project finished, the GDR government did not depend on West Berlin for rail travel anymore, so the very same year, they started building the Berlin Wall. The division between the East and West was complete and seemed final.

Railway lines into West Berlin still existed, though. The Nord-Süd-Tunnel, which crossed the sector border dozens of times, became limited to people from West Berlin only; station exits in East Berlin were closed, and stations that only had exits in East Berlin were closed entirely, with armed guards on the platforms that the trains were only allowed to pass at slow speeds. The (inner) Ring remained for suburban trains that could only run half of it now on either side, and for some freight. Some of the lines to the old terminal stations also remained as freight lines. The Hamburger Bahnhof, for example, became a container freight terminal in the 1980s. Finally, the Stadtbahn became the main line connecting West Berlin to West Germany via rail. Its central station became the previously unremarkable Zoologischer Garten, or Zoo in short, the largest regional station along the line. The “international” trains that officially connected East Germany with West Germany started and ended in Friedrichstraße, the first station of the Stadtbahn that was entirely in the East, which gained massive border control facilities.

And that was basically it for four decades. Railways in the West of Berlin slowly atrophied; since the railways were operated by the East and all ticket money went there, every Berliner saw it as their patriotic duty to avoid it where possible and instead take the subway, and for longer distances, prefer travel by coach or flying, made dirt cheap thanks to West German subsidies.

In the East, the railways remained dominant and important, but lack of money meant very little was actually being built. The outer circle became an important line for suburban trains, which became known as “Sputniks” - just like the satellite, they orbited West Berlin. The main station was the Ostbahnhof, which even got the name “Hauptbahnhof” in the 1980s but then lost it again in the 1990s. Through trains often instead stopped in the local station Berlin Lichtenberg, which lies on a line connecting the inner to the outer circle and thus allowed trains from all direction to all directions.

And then, to everybody’s surprise, the Wall fell.

The first few years after the Wall fell were mostly hectic attempts to get any meaningful service up and running again, and closing the gaps that the wall had made. The Stadtbahn, Nord-Süd-Tunnel and finally the Ring all got reconnected one by one. Long-distance trains mainly used the Stadtbahn, stopping in Zoo for the West and Ostbahnhof for the East. But both were small, and trains to North or South needed to take huge detours via the Außenring. With Berlin set to grow massively in a reunified Germany, it was time to go big or go home, and to completely rethink how the Berlin’s railway system, which had been gutted forty years prior, worked.

Thus was born the Hauptbahnhof, a term that gets translated to English as either central station, main station or not at all, depending on how the translator is feeling on any given day.

This new central, most important station of Berlin was a massive undertaking. The station sits on the space of the former Lehrter Bahnhof. This space right in the middle of the reunified Berlin was essentially empty, occupied only by abandoned railway tracks on the West side, and the Wall and its associated Death Strip on the East side. The station is located right on the Stadtbahn, offering it great East-West connectivity. For North-South connectivity, they couldn’t use the existing Nord-Süd-Tunnel, which was too small for regular trains, so they built a second North-South route with its own tunnel, specifically for long-distance trains. These tracks intersect with the Stadtbahn at the Hauptbahnhof, where they form the lower level of the station. The new north-south-tracks cross the Ring at the same locations, Gesundbrunnen und Südkreuz. Specifically around Gesundbrunnen there are major track works (which extend all the way to the next stations in all directions) that also allow trains in East-West-Directions to be routed onto the lower North-South tracks, which allows keeping the Stadtbahn free, as there is much more East-West than North-South traffic.

And that’s basically where we’re at right now: One central station for both east-west and north-south traffic, with two circles to funnel trains from all directions to whatever tracks you prefer, and an extensive suburban rail network.

But of course Berlin is never finished. Some of the pain points that people are trying to address right now:

First, the central station could be built because it is in the middle of nowhere, but the problem is that now it is in the middle of nowhere; a station that can essentially only be reached by rail. Since it was built at a new North-South-Tunnel, you can’t access the old North-South-Tunnel from here, so for the first few years almost everyone who arrived here looked around, then immediately boarded a suburban train to go one station further, to Friedrichstraße, because that was the station from which you could actually get to places.

It’s gotten somewhat better due to more development around the station, and due to a tram line opening there. The history of the subway line U55 is again too long for this already massive post, but basically the central station will finally get a useful subway connection by the end of this year (2020).

The next big plan is to build essentially a third North-South-Tunnel for the S-Bahn suburban trains, which will first run from the Ring to the central station, then back to the old Nord-Süd-Tunnel for a bit, before then continuing west along the Tiergartentunnel again. The project is known as S21 - no relation to the one in Stuttgart, except for the fact that it’s also massively behind schedule, over budget, and nobody knows whether it’ll ever be finished.

Another problem is that several of the radial lines into Berlin got cut behind the Außenring. A good example is the Dresdener Bahn from Dresden: It runs normally from Dresden to the Außenring, but there, it ends. The line does continue, but at the moment only for S-Bahn trains, so long-distance trains need to continue along the Außenring until they reach the Anhalter Bahn, which allows them to continue into the city. A similar example exists at the North end with the Nordbahn (around Hohen Neuendorf which I mentioned before). These will need to be restored at some point; the Dresdener Bahn in particular because it will also be the main rail access to Berlin’s new airport, which is another fun story in and of itself.

Beyond that, no major changes seem on the horizon right now. There are more plans, but they all focus on mkaing things better for regional trains, reopening S-Bahn lines, new regional stations at existing junctions, and more subway and tram lines. But the major spine of the network looks like it has finally reached a steady state that is a good foundation for all future work.

Of course, this is Berlin, so who knows how things will look in a couple of decades.

[musings-of-a-barbarian]

Random fact, for anyone interested. I travelled to Europe many years ago with some friends shortly after my best friend’s parents did. They went to Neuchwanstein castle and told us that it was the Castle that Walt Disney based his on. We rented a car in Munich to drive down to see it. Between Munich and the castle is the Autobahn. For those of you unfamiliar, the Autobahn has no speed limit. I’ve always been a fairly cautious driver but with the blessings of Germany, I was prepared to speed…except that our rental car was a small car with 4 cylinders that maxed out at 140 kph. Meanwhile, Audis and other vehicles were blazing past us at north of 160kph ( I swear north of 180!)My one chance to be devilish was squashed lol. We finally arrive at the Castle close to closing and the parking signs are almost nonexistent…we keep moving up, up, up to hopefully get close so we can see it before close…. We finally arrive up on the top level and I almost ran our rental into the front door of the castle that they haven’t cordoned off in any way! I honestly can’t recall what happened after because all I could think of was that if I had crashed into the door I would have been considered the greatest Disney Villain of all time somehow. The former home of Mad King Ludwig has always had a special place in my heart 😁

Neuchwanstein Castle | Germany 🇩🇪

[theemperorsfeather]

Some key points:

... Bavaria’s staunchly traditionalist governing party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), has been in power continuously since 1946, pursuing a conservative agenda relating to family, bioethics, immigration — and the environment. Over the years, it has restricted the construction of wind farms, thwarted new environmental regulations for farmers, and blocked imposing a speed limit for cars on autobahns...

The about-face began in earnest in February when Bavarian citizens — increasingly concerned about the loss of natural areas, destructive farming techniques, and widely publicized reports that the populations of flying insects in Germany had plummeted — overwhelmingly supported a “referendum for biodiversity” that called for the state government to implement fundamental changes in nature conservation. State law required that 10 percent of Bavaria’s 9 million registered voters support the referendum for it to become the basis for negotiations on a new nature conservation law. In fact, nearly double the required number of voters — 1.75 million Bavarians — showed up at their town halls to support what had become known as the “save the bees” initiative.

The CSU, backed by farming interests, at first tried to water down the stated goals of the referendum. But strong public pressure forced party leaders to abandon their position and formally support the proposals set forth in the referendum and enact them as laws. Now, Bavaria plans to implement a sweeping set of conservation measures, including setting aside 13 percent of the state in special ecological zones, committing to establishing organic agriculture on nearly a third of all Bavarian farmland, and taking steps to protect wetlands, waterways, and threatened insect populations. On May 8, the state parliament in Munich is slated to pass what Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder calls “the most sweeping nature protection law in the whole of Europe.”

Already, environmental groups in three other German states — Brandenburg, Baden Wuerttemberg, and North Rhine-Westphalia, with a combined population of 31 million —have started preparations for their own versions of biodiversity referendums. Norbert Schäffer, president of Bavaria’s Association for the Protection of Birds and one of the masterminds behind the referendum, said he also has received requests from Sweden, Australia, and other countries about how to launch similar referendum campaigns.

... The initiative mandated that the government take a host of environmental measures, including:

-Setting aside 13 percent of Bavaria to create a tightly knit “ecological infrastructure network” composed of hedgerows, meadows, wetlands, and other habitats, all designed to help rebuild populations of animals, birds, and insects.

-Immediately introducing organic agriculture and cutting fertilizer use on all state-owned farm areas in order to reduce nitrogen pollution.

-Introducing organic agriculture on 30 percent of privately owned farms by 2030.

-Outlawing the drainage of wetlands and the removal of hedgerows and other habitats.

-Strictly protecting the banks of rivers and creeks from intrusive farming practices.

-Reducing insect mortality from artificial sources of light.

...

On April 3, after extensive deliberations within the ranks of Bavaria’s political establishment, something of an environmental miracle occurred: Söder went in front of the press to announce that not only would the CSU fully accept the proposed law, it would even go further and add extra measures to require city councils and garden owners to improve biodiversity.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

In 1919, driving cross-country was a crazy idea. An Army convoy set out to show it could be done. (Washington Post) A long line of nearly 100 vehicles stretched out along the White House Ellipse on the morning of July 7, 1919, replete with heavy troop carriers, light trucks, sidecar motorcycles, reconnaissance cars, field kitchens, blacksmith shops and one Renault light tank. Though an armistice had brought peace to Europe the previous year, the military had given itself a new mission: driving a convoy across the country.      The Army’s road trip got off to a rocky start, with several vehicles breaking down that afternoon on the hilly roads leading out of the District. The party made camp the first night in Frederick, Md., where a brevet lieutenant colonel joined the group as a last-minute observer for the Tank Corps. Dwight D. Eisenhower, then 28, was there “partly for a lark and partly to learn,” he wrote later, because “nothing of the sort had ever been attempted.” In the weeks ahead, engine troubles plagued the convoy, which progressed at an average pace of less than 6 mph.      On Sept. 6, 1919, the vehicles limped into San Francisco, where the daily log appreciatively noted “fair and warm” weather and fine “paved city streets.” Twenty-one of the doughboys had suffered injuries or fallen sick over the course of the journey. The heavy vehicles had damaged or destroyed 88 bridges and caused 230 road accidents. One Army captain described the weeks on the road as “comparable to those generally experienced in the advance zone of battle operations.”      In his final report to the chief of the Motor Transport Corps, Eisenhower reflected that “extended trips by trucks through the middle western part of the United States are impracticable until the roads are improved.” Years later, he would see the possibilities of a national highway building program firsthand while leading mechanized Army forces on the autobahns of Nazi Germany.

Trump approval rises, but a majority also see him as ‘unpresidential’ (Washington Post) President Trump’s approval rating has risen to the highest point of his presidency, though a slight majority of Americans continue to say they disapprove of his performance in office, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

DMV databases become part of unprecedented surveillance infrastructure (Washington Post) The FBI and ICE have turned state driver’s license databases into a facial-recognition gold mine, scanning through hundreds of millions of Americans’ photos without their knowledge or consent, newly released documents show.

21 hurt in shopping plaza blast: Gas lines found ruptured (AP) A vacant pizza restaurant exploded Saturday in a thundering roar at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 20 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air. The blast flung debris widely along a busy road in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant was destroyed, and nearby businesses and cars were damaged. Though firefighters found ruptured gas lines afterward, authorities said it was too early to determine a cause.

U.S. Says Trade Talks Resuming as China Demands End to Tariffs (Bloomberg) The Trump administration said trade talks with China are starting up again as Beijing reiterated that it’s essential the U.S. removes all existing tariffs for a deal to be reached. Negotiations between the world’s two largest economies collapsed in May after U.S. officials accused China of backtracking on draft commitments, and amid key sticking points like China’s demand that the U.S. lift all the punitive tariffs put in place since the trade war started almost a year ago.

From Libya to Texas, tragedies illustrate plight of migrants (AP) They are trapped in squalid detention centers on Libya’s front lines. They wash up on the banks of the Rio Grande. They sink without a trace--in the Mediterranean, in the Pacific or in waterways they can’t even name. A handful fall out of airplanes’ landing gear. As their choices narrow on land and at sea, migrants are often seen as a political headache in the countries they hope to reach and ignored in the countries they flee. Most live in limbo, but recent tragedies have focused attention on the risks they face and the political constraints at the root of them. A record 71 million people were forcibly displaced around the world in 2018, according to a report last month by the U.N. refugee agency, in places as diverse as Turkey, Uganda, Bangladesh and Peru. Many are still on the move in 2019, or trapped like thousands in detention in Libya, where an airstrike on Tuesday killed at least 44 migrants and refugees locked away in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura.

Macri and Rivals Launch Campaign Ads for Presidential Election (Reuters) Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his rivals in the October election launched their campaign ads on local TV on Sunday, targeting undecided voters who will be key to choosing whether his policies remain in place another four years.

BA Faces $229 Million Fine Over Breach of Customers’ Data (AP) The U.K. data regulator is fining British Airways 183 million pounds ($229 million) over a breach that compromised information on half a million customers.

San Fermín: Three gored during annual Pamplona bull run (BBC) Three people have been gored during the first bull run at the annual San Fermín festival in Pamplona. Two others were taken to hospital with head injuries and a total of 48 others were treated by the Red Cross. Injuries at the event are common and at least 16 people have died taking part since 1910, when records began.

Greece: Exit polls give win to conservative party leader (AP) Exit polls in Greece’s general election indicate conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis won a comfortable victory Sunday over left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The vote was Greece’s first parliamentary election since the end of its international bailouts and came as the country gradually emerges from a brutal financial crisis that saw unemployment and poverty levels skyrocket and the economy shrink by a quarter.

Bus Falls From Highway Bridge in Northern India, Killing 29 (AP) A speeding bus smashed through the boundary wall of an expressway bridge and plunged into a drain in northern India early Monday, killing at least 29 people on board, an official said.

Hong Kong protesters seek to tell mainland Chinese visitors about their struggle (Washington Post) Visitors from China accustomed to high end hotels and luxury stores were handed Hong Kong newspapers detailing the upheaval in the city over the past weeks. News in China has been highly censored since massive student-led pro-democracy demonstrations at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. Chinese Internet users attempting to find information about the ongoing Hong Kong protests have found their queries blocked. State media has instead published stories that show widespread support in Hong Kong for mainland China, often completely false.

Strong Quake Causes Panic in Eastern Indonesia (AP) A strong subsea earthquake late Sunday night caused panic in parts of eastern Indonesia and triggered a tsunami warning that was later lifted. There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.

Australia Tracks Chinese Warship Headed Towards U.S.-Australia War Games (Reuters) Australian defence officials said on Monday they were tracking a Chinese surveillance ship that is expected to position itself just outside of its territorial waters to monitor military exercises between Australia and the United States.

Iran steps further from nuke deal, adding pressure on Europe (AP) Iran increased its uranium enrichment Sunday beyond the limit allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, inching its program closer toward weapons-grade levels while calling for a diplomatic solution to a crisis heightening tensions with the U.S. Iran’s move, coupled with earlier abandoning the deal’s limit on its low-enriched uranium stockpile, intensifies pressure on Europe to find any effective way around U.S. sanctions that block Tehran’s oil sales abroad. But the future of the accord that President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. from a year ago remains in question. While Iran’s recent measures could be easily reversed, Europe has struggled to respond, even after getting a 60-day warning that the increase was coming. Meanwhile, experts fear a miscalculation in the crisis could explode into open conflict, as Trump already has nearly bombed Iran over Tehran shooting down a U.S. military surveillance drone.

Libya’s Mitiga Airport Resumes Air Traffic Following a Missile Strike (Reuters) Air space re-opened at the Libyan capital’s only functioning airport, Mitiga, on Sunday after it was halted following a fall of missiles, according to a post on the Mitiga airport authority’s Facebook page.

[joshuahyslop]

EURO TOUR: JAN-FEB, 2019

Well, 22 days, 15 shows, 13 trains, 10 flights, 8 countries, a lot of Ubers, a couple Taxi’s and 1 rental car later and I’m back at home. This was another great tour but not without its challenges. I got to bring my good friend, Zachari Smith (zacharismith.com) on the road this time and that made a huge difference. Not only was it terrific fun to get to play the shows together, it also made the low moments seem not quite as low. Everything started off great. I flew to Montreal a few days before the start of the tour to rehearse with Zach. It went smoothly and it was wonderful to get to spend time with some of my dear friends in that city before hitting the road. SCOTLAND: We flew to the UK a few days later and started things off in Glasgow. We played in an underground club called Stereo. It was a good first show. There was a good crowd and it felt great to go from rehearsing to actually playing in front of people as a duo. ENGLAND: The next day we took a train to Manchester. We played in a lovely little spot called The Castle Hotel. Jet lag was hitting us pretty hard but we were able to nap before the show. We travelled to London the next morning and after arriving at the wrong hotel, walking with all our stuff to the right hotel, checking in, having a pint and grabbing dinner with friends, we played an incredibly fun show in a very full room at The Old Blue Last. FRANCE: The next morning we got up early and took the train from London to Paris. I remember feeling a little off when I’d gone to sleep the night before, but I assumed it was just the jet lag. We’d both started coughing on the train but I tried to chalk it up to the cold air. By the time we’d arrived at our hotel we knew something was wrong. We managed to grab some food and get back to the hotel room where we spent the next 34 hours sick in our beds. I don’t know if it was food poisoning or the flu, or some awful combination, but we were knocked down. Unfortunately, this meant we had to cancel our show in Paris. I felt (and still feel) horrible for having to cancel the show. I can’t wait to come back and make it up to everyone. When it happens, it’s going to be fantastic! THE NETHERLANDS: We were still feeling awful the next morning. We had to catch another early train and when we eventually arrived in Groningen we went straight to a Pharmacy where we bought everything we could think of. The show that night was in a beautiful old church called the Lutherse Kerk and it was sold out. I drank as much tea and hot water as I could, had what might’ve been a dangerous amount of Advil, cough drops, vitamin C and echinacea and then went ahead with the show. It was an amazing night even though we were feeling sick. The crowd was fantastic and the show went well. DENMARK: After a good night’s sleep we woke up to a much needed day off. We had a lot of travelling to do, but were thankful for no show that night. It was going to be a couple of trains to Amsterdam and a cab to the airport where we’d be catching a flight to Denmark. We were supposed to arrive in Copenhagen around 5pm. Unfortunately, while we were jumping from train to train, I managed to leave my backpack behind. It had my passport, my money and all my information in it. I panicked and ran up and down the train looking for someone who could help. I couldn’t find anyone and I was very close to giving up. Zach called the lost and found and explained the situation to them. Within the hour they’d located my bag and told me I could pick it up at Den Haag Centraal - about an hour train ride from Amsterdam Centraal, where we were. I left Zach with our gear, took the train to Den Haag, grabbed my bag, got on another train back to Amsterdam Centraal, ran with Zach to a cab, raced to the airport and promptly missed our flight to Copenhagen. We had to purchase another flight that would be leaving later that evening. We got to our hotel a little before midnight and crashed hard. The next day we played in a nice little spot called the Ideal Bar. It was a good show and I was glad to play it, but we were both feeling exhausted. NORWAY: We flew to Oslo the next day and took the train from the airport to downtown. The show was in another awesome bar called Krøsset. It went very well and I was so thankful for a smooth night. I got to see some old friends and get to bed before midnight. It was great. GERMANY: We flew to Zurich the next day, and were met at the airport by Zach’s friend, Timo. Zach booked all of the shows in Germany on this run so I was excited to see what was in store for us. We were playing in a cafe/barn in a small village called Wintersulgen right outside Heiligenberg. Timo drove us to his place in Airach for dinner before he drove us to the venue. We had two shows in two days at the cafe and we were happy to be in one place for a little while. Both nights were sold out and both nights went very well. After the show on the first night our host, Martin, took us outside in the snow to his own personal sauna. Between sauna sessions we had snacks and beer and finally felt relaxed. It was like pressing a giant reset button.  SPAIN: Timo drove us back to the Zurich airport the next morning where we caught our flight to Madrid. I’d never been to Spain before and I was very excited to check it out. I had no idea what to expect from the venues or the crowds. We played in an underground cave called The Costello Club and we were blown away. The crowd was fantastic and were singing along to the songs! It was an amazing night. We travelled by train to Barcelona the next day where we played in another underground bar called Sidecar and had another amazing night. After the show I spent a long time chatting with people at the merch table. Two people gave me watercolour paintings they’d done of the album artwork from In Deepest Blue, and another woman told me she’s a photographer and she uses my music while she works. I felt so much support from the people at those two shows. I can’t wait until I can come back to Spain again. GERMANY (again): We flew to Frankfurt the next day and then took another train to the city of Erfurt. We had a series of house shows booked in Germany for the next week but, thankfully, we had the night off. We stayed with the hosts of the show in Erfurt. The next morning we picked up our rental car and then we got ready for the show. It was in an office building and they had professional lighting and sound. Zach opened on all the German shows and he did a fantastic job. We had a bit of an after party that night, which was a lot of fun, and then got some rest before heading out the next day. I’d never driven in Germany before but Zach had. He gave me a lot of much needed warnings and explanations before we hit the autobahn. There are long sections on the German highways were there is no speed limit. On average, most people drive between 130-140 km/h. There were many times when I was driving around 160 km/h and a car going over 200 km/h would come out of nowhere and just fly past us. It was crazy. We made it to Dresden and played in a beautiful place called the Castle Röhrsdorf. It was a full room and it went very well. It was the first show I’ve ever played where everything I said to the audience had to be translated (thanks again, Sarah!). We had a great time but were off again before we knew it. This time we drove to Ulm where we played another wonderful show. We had lots of great food before ending the night with a jam session, some absinthe and a little pear schnapps.  We headed out the next morning and drove back to our friend Timo’s house. We were staying with him and playing in his village that night. It was another great show and we ended up staying out late connecting with the people there. We had a short drive the next day so we slept in as much as we could. After some coffee and breakfast we drove to Ravensburg for our last show. We were playing in a beautiful old farmhouse. There were over 70 people at the show and it was the best way to end the tour. Zach played a great set and then he and I had a fantastic time playing for everyone. We did two encores and hung out afterwards. We got to bed just before midnight and slept as much as we could before getting up at 3am to drive back to Frankfurt and catch our flights home. Thankfully, everything went smoothly. We drove through rain, snow and fog but managed to arrive on time at the right place with all of our luggage.  This was another incredible tour. I’m so incredibly thankful to everyone who came out to the shows and to everyone who had a hand in making this tour possible. A special thank you to: Dan Fraser - my manager who helped organize all our travel arrangements and was always on call despite the crazy time difference, Nettwerk, CAA, Live Nation, Mojo Promotions, Mercury Wheels, Herman, Martin & Alex (and their sauna), Darius & Marion, Dave, Sarah, Arno, Monika, Timo & Sonja, Carmen, Gabi & Alex. And a very special thank you to my friend, Zachari Smith. Touring isn’t easy, but Zach is an absolute pro. He made a difficult job much easier and it was a pleasure to get to play with him, to hear him perform and to just hang out. He’s an amazing songwriter with a new album currently being released. Do yourself a favour and check it out on Spotify or Apple music! Thanks again, everyone. I’m back at home resting but I’m so excited for what’s to come. more soon, -joshua

[euro-truck-simulator-2-ch8n]

Euro Truck Simulator 2 | ETS 2 | Full list of all cheat codes | KWZ

💾 ►►► DOWNLOAD FILE 🔥🔥🔥 General guide for Euro Truck Simulator 2 with tips and tricks for all skill and experience levels. Set your triggers to acceleration and braking. Set your right stick to look. This allows you to slap your look stick left and right to scan intersections quickly without accidentally ending up staring at the floor or roof of your cab. Increase your steering sensitivity. Matter of taste, but the default steering is just too slow for cornering at speed. If you find yourself braking mid turn to wait for your steering to catch up, this is a must. Building on that, set your cruise tolerance to zero, turn on auto retarder. You can safely travel up to 9 kph over the posted speed limit without getting cited. So set your cruise to 6 or 7 over the limit and travel at max efficiency without risking tickets. Have not verified. Watch the speed limit signs though, especially in areas where speed cameras are common. Speeding tickets suck. Sleep efficiency. There is no such thing as a partial rest. Start looking for a place to park after the first yawn, no sooner. Some toll plazas have EZPass lanes. They take a lot of the pain out of toll plazas. Miss your exit? Slightly terrifying, but better than wasting hours going out of your way trying to get back on the right path. Also note that if you turn slowly enough you can actually push cars blocking your trailer without causing damage. But you have to turn ever so slowly. Try not to fuel in the UK. Fuel before you cross the channel. This will list ONLY jobs originating in that city. If there are no high paying jobs, just grab a short distance job to a nearby city and try again there. On the same topic, the payout listed includes any skill bonuses for cargo type, etc. What you see on the price tag is what you pay. What you see includes your bonuses. The math is done for you. One additional tip on efficiency: On long trips you can and probably should edit your route. You can also avoid 60 km speed limit country roads in Germany and manually choose to travel on the autobahn instead. You can only drop 10 pins at a time though so if you run out, remember to stop and update your trip once you get to the last one. Necessary upgrades. Money early game is tight. Upgrade your engine as they become available, also your tires. Grab a transmission with retarder equipped for the cruise tip above. Unneccesary but helpful upgrades. Put a light bar on the roof with a couple aux lights, but bear in mind they only work when your high beams are on. Also get side skirts and a bull bar. These will dramatically reduce your damage when you inevitably cut a corner too sharp, get sideswiped in a roundabout, whatever. They pay for themselves quickly. Having the side skirts, improved turning radius, and added fuel capacity of the 4 wheel chassis are infinitely more useful. Once you pay your first truck off, take the loan. Not the little loan. The k loan. It has the lowest interest rate. More on that in a minute. Buy a garage in a good hub city and move there. Buy your second and third, if you can afford it trucks and put them there. Buy the junk Ivecos for your fleet trucks, at least at first. There is NO benefit to buying better trucks for your hired drivers. It makes no difference at all. Strip off optional accessories like the sun shield and front mirror to save even more valuable cash. Then hire and assign your drivers. Try to start with drivers that have at least one point in long distance and one point in ADR. If none are available, no worries. Grab whoever and assign them to trucks. Manage them and set them to focus on ADR or long distance until they have a point or two in each. Back to the loan. Then hit R to bring up your radio. You may want to turn down the music volume to where you can still hear the truck though. I set hotkeys to turn it up and down depending on the situation. And the song. Some songs you just need to turn up. Never skip skilled parking your trailer. It gets easy after a while and the experience boost is worth learning to do it. Matter of fact, just go into the gameplay options and set it to skilled only. Pop-ups ruin the immersion. Business: Out of my experience, long distance sucks for AI drivers as they come back empty more often than when they do nearby jobs. Time Abuse: Okay, this one is nasty and I see no reason for abusing time in a meditative game like ETS2, but if you are doing an external contract, the game tracks the cargo. Which means you go light-speed to the destination do not damage the cargo! You will lose the road discovery, but also all the fines, the fatigue, the fuel spent etc. Efficiency: If there is no Freight Job to the city of your choice, check the External Contracts — they might have something. External Contracts still count for all the achievements, get you XP etc. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Efficiency Cruise control. Use it. Or how many times the distraction of having to constantly check my speed caused me to wander over the lines. Your Rig The cheapest Iveco truck is severely lacking. Get a Volvo or one of the other trucks that starts with good baseline HP. Luxembourg is a great first location. Low fuel prices and lots of close-by cities to trade with. Assorted Tips Turn up the rain. Fuel prices: Mother Russia has the cheapest fuel around. Not only in the East, but in Kaliningrad as well — always fill up there, sometimes worth extra km. Loans: Your maximum loan amount is k. Credit to Kazmeister and mdme. Euro Truck Simulator 2. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

[desperately0seeking]

20.07.2022

SOME MEMORIES NOT SO GOOD; SOME GREAT

It was hot as by the end of the week so we headed for one of Berlin’s lakes for a saunter & swim. Getting there in the heat was arduous as we rented shithouse bikes that caused various problems and had a bad day navigation-wise. The lake, Teufelssee, is a clothing optional lake which is cool but was also kind of gross as the lake is rather small and I felt more like I was hopping into a dirty bath with 40 others. In the evening we had some lovely pizza on Maybachufer by the canal and discussed the merits of pop punk briefly as there was a Pennywise poster on the wall.

We’d hired a car to drive around Germany which was organised in advance but collecting the car was a nightmarish experience according my comrades who went to pick it up while I read my book on the apartment balcony. Headed for Dresden, we were out of Berlin and legally speeding on the autobahn promptly. German road houses are few and far between and when you do find one the food they offer is sausages on those hotdog rollers like they have in Kwik E Mart or fried cheese and chips over schnitzels. The servos all sell beer cold though. It was hot but the car’s aircon was fierce, which we were extra glad about as they say that if you roll the window down when driving through Germany you’ll know by the smell when you’re in Saxony (thanks to the pig farms).

Dresden... They say [the bombing of] Dresden was revenge for the Coventry Blitz, but once the bombs had fallen and the flames extinguished it was politely referred to as ‘a severe case of over bombing’ by the victors. While we weren’t inside the RAF bombers as the city was burnt to a crisp, we did have our own reasons for regretting entering the place.

A Desdener behind the desk at our accom advised us to visit a specific pub up the road for dinner and then sit at a street square to people watch as it is the Dresden way. We duly followed and after a schnitzel and pint headed up to the square. Many were seated along the gutters and shopfronts of the square drinking and playing music but the atmosphere was relaxed and our evening was winding down rapidly. We switched to a round of radlers as a joke before going home and after a few sickening sips of the lemon flavoured beer we were approached by a guy named Oliver asking if we’d like accompany him, and his two friends who had been sitting on the shopfront next to us, to a bar that should just be getting busy, Groove Station. Alas the place was pumping and our man Oliver wouldn’t let us away from his horrendous rounds of Bloody Mary-esque shots and tequila/beer mixers. He insisted on buying every round, despite our protests, as he had just mad €40k from a couple months of work in the military. Not sure what was going on there but we acquiesced and stayed long into the night.

With debilitating hangovers we checked out and got going early as I was eager to carry out my plan to force us to the Richard Wagner Museum that day in Bayreuth. This venture further south also marked our entrance to Bavaria: land of bier and meat. We started our Bavarian campaign with pace via a pork knuckle and bier at centuries old Franconian tavern in the middle of Bayreuth. Plagued by hangover we gritted through our leaden meals and slumped down Richard Wagner Straße to the eponymous museum. The exhibition was really hard to navigate with random space shoot lifts hidden behind dark walls and an audio device which didn’t work which is fine because I prefer reading but all the didactic info was in written German. From what I could make out Wagner and his wife were bad people that made good things and had a really cool house, especially the fireplace in the living room, a room where Hitler had a habit of delivering diatribes to the Nazi elite who hung out there regularly. I took ages to figure all this out and after being asked to leave due to closure I joined Tom and Louis, who had left long before, at a cafe and we left for Nuremberg. On the drive there we sat on 150kph and listened to the ecstasy of gold and it was euphoric until Tom’s work on the aux cord fell to pieces and he played a row of shockers, including an Aerosmith song, before relinquishing the cord under pressure.

Mostly due to being tired from the Dresden Incident, as well preserving ourselves for Munich, we stayed in at the overpriced Nuremberg accommodation and made travel plans for August. In the morning we visited Court Room 600 which was mostly under construction as well as the Reichsparteitagsgelände rally grounds which were mostly derelict and got back on the Bahn to Munich.

[straubindeutschland]

Observations

- People hold hands. A lot. All ages.

- Germans will tailgate the sh*t out of you but refuse to go over the speed limit.

- Maybe it’s because 3 kph (not mph but kph) over the speed limit will earn you a 49€ fine….speaking for a friend.

- German are obsessed with rose bushes. They are everywhere! And resemble Germans….a bit prickly.

- There are mashed/scalloped potatoes in every salad and the dressing is excessive; it’s basically a lettuce/cold potato soup.

- Germans have no issue staring at you for long periods of time. Its so prevalent in their culture that it’s written about in our “Welcome to Germany” guides.

- Keep your receipt if you use the grocery self checkout line because you will need it to scan out of the “gate”. There is more security around groceries than luxury cars here.

- The “out of nowhere” sound and air displacement that a Porsche creates when passing you at 215 kph on the autobahn WILL startle you.

- Beer is cheaper than water.

- Gemüseburger translates to veggie burger. However, it is merely roasted, soggy vegetables on a bun (no patty, per se) and is slathered with pineapple chutney and sour cream. There is not enough beer in Germany to get that down the hatch.

While much of the above may not sound enticing, I still highly encourage you to come visit and see for yourself. 😜 The guest room awaits! Well, if our household goods ever arrive….

[savagenewcanaan]

Savage New Canaan | What Makes a Classic Cars Safe?

Modern vehicles have a whole series of innovative digital systems which help a driver to keep control of the auto in an emergency situation and minimize the possibility of having an accident. Also, the most standard brand-new automobile will include anti-lock brakes (ABDOMINAL MUSCLE) and typically some form of Electronic Stabilization Program (ESP, or often referred to as VDC, PASM or various other acronyms relying on the producer).

    ABDOMINAL prevents the brakes securing when you jump on the pedal, so that you can still steer instead of sliding straight ahead. ESP is a really clever system which identifies where you are trying to steer and also whether or not the vehicle is in fact going in this way. If the auto's direction does not match where you are attempting to steer it, ESP can brake individual wheels on the automobile as well as also cut throttle if required to help the automobile go where you are pointing it. It is extremely handy in slippery conditions where the vehicle intends to glide directly on instead of turning (understeer) or spin around backwards (oversteer). If it is all functioning well, you do not also notice anything is happening.

Savage New Canaan

  Many modern-day automobiles have an entire host of electronic systems in addition to the two instances over which can assist make the automobile 'more secure' to drive. These systems can make the vehicle a lot more foreseeable in its behavior, slow it down somewhat to permit tires to preserve grip, also apply various degrees of braking to every wheel to keep the car well balanced. All of these points make it simpler for the chauffeur to keep control of the automobile, and also for that reason much less most likely to have a crash.

    Some very innovative innovation is available in high-end cars and trucks which takes this also further. Blind spot keeps an eye on usage video cameras to keep an eye on your dead spot and also warn you if you will move over before an additional automobile, or aids to stop the automobile drift out of its lane. Some vehicles can 'acknowledge' rate limit signs and also flash you a pointer. Night vision innovation is offered to determine pedestrians beyond your headlights' range. There are advanced cruise ship control systems which not just maintain your speed, however can speed up or decrease to comply with the vehicle in front and also even break the auto from 150mph to a total stop if needed.

    Michael Savage New Canaan

  In 2014 I drove an Audi A8 in Germany, on autobahns and also around communities as part of an Audi training program. Over a 20-ish mile drive route in a convoy of cars and trucks, I went from 60mph to 150mph (unrestricted autobahn, not via city roads) to a complete stop to 140mph and back to a total quit, surpassing various other cars and trucks, adhering to various other vehicles, obtained stuck behind a truck for some time, rotated via a town and eventually drew into a parking area and quit. At no factor for more than 20 miles did I touch either the brake or the accelerator. Yet the car had actually acted itself flawlessly, faithfully adhering to the vehicle ahead without ever before getting too close. For the first half of the journey, my foot was floating right over the brake pedal simply in case, yet the vehicle's systems were creative sufficient to 'read' the website traffic conditions as well as respond as necessary. Once I overcame the surreal feeling of a vehicle increasing to over 150mph (250km/h in the statistics globe) as well as stopping from that rate without pedal input from me, it was in fact an extremely comfortable drive as well as made the trip extra relaxing. The system utilized 2 radar units, a video camera, the parking sensors, the satnav system and also a powerful computer system to collect and also refine a big quantity of details as well as make split-second choices all along the way.

  However energetic safety isn't practically electronic devices. Any type of aspect of an auto's style or engineering which helps a driver stay clear of a mishap is an active security feature. The density as well as placement of windshield pillars, for instance, has an essential result on a vehicle driver's ability to see oncoming web traffics at roundabouts. A lighter cars and truck will certainly react a lot more nimbly to switches (say, swerving to stay clear of a canine on the road) than a hefty car. Modern tires are better at distributing water in hefty rainfall, making it much less most likely that you will certainly move off the road. More advanced suspension systems assist cars and trucks stay much better balanced when traveling, even at high speeds or when towing hefty lots.

    Inevitably, a 'proactively secure' cars and truck will be one which is easy to drive, foreseeable in its actions as well as provides the driver self-confidence when activity needs to be taken. Predictable habits are risk-free, to ensure that a driver recognizes exactly how an auto is mosting likely to react as well as will instinctively steer and/or brake when a problem occurs. A cars and truck that behaves unexpectedly leads to a driver acting hesitantly and not taking adequate action to avoid a mishap.

    When examination driving an automobile that you are looking to acquire, it is important to take into consideration how comfy you locate the cars and truck, and also exactly how easy it is to see ahead, behind and to the sides. Everyone is different, to the position of seat, columns and mirrors will affect everyone in different ways, which will influence exactly how you have the ability to react to an emergency scenario. Make sure you offer the brakes a good push (make sure there's absolutely nothing behind you which the other individuals in the cars and truck recognize what you're about to do!) so you can get a feeling for just how the pedal feels. Check your unseen areas, examine your mirrors, check exactly how well you can see web traffic - particularly bikes - at roundabouts and so on. If you are considering a utilized vehicle, examine the tires to see exactly how brand-new they are and whether they are a reliable brand or a brand you've never become aware of.

[infinite-drabblets]

[TRANS] Dongwoo Interview with CéCi Korea (Mar 2018) Part 1 - About CAR

Part 1 of 2

Translation by @yeolsprout (Edited and posted with permission. Please do not remove credits or crop translation.)

a b o u t   C A R

You chose ‘drive’ in this project which grants you the fantasy you have been thinking of.

I didn’t think of anything else. I really love cars.

You seem to be very good at driving, when did you get your driver’s license?

I went to get it as soon as my 19th birthday passed. My dad gave me the car he was driving as soon as I got (my license) so I’ve been driving since I was a high school student.

Do you remember the first time you grabbed the steering wheel?

Of course(,) I can’t forget. I thought, ‘so this is what freedom is’. I was somehow excited too when I first got my ID card (because) it felt like I’ve become an adult. It’s the same feeling as that. I think I’ve been into cars from then on.

Why do you like cars so much?

There are two reasons, handling (the car) and the fun (you get) when travelling to places you’ve never been to before while on a drive. I really like to drive and search for famous restaurants. I often go to Byeollae Cafe Street or Chuncheon area in Gangwon-do.

It seems like you prefer (driving in) quiet(er) roads to (driving) for speed.

That’s right. I prefer to feel the wind and breathe in the scent of the mountains while driving.

But still for a person who likes cars, surely you must have times where you would have the desire to drive (and enjoy the speed).

That’s true. I do dream about going at the highest speed (possible) on the Autobahn in Germany. And since our team name (means) ‘no limits’, I’d want to try to drive with no limits too.

How’s your driving style? How are the reactions of those sitting beside you (when you drive)?

My friends say that ‘you should (drive) a safe(r ) car’, but it’s different if it’s giving my niece a ride. I drive so safely beyond that of an exemplary driver, to the extent that even the cars behind me (can) end up being frustrated. I think it differs depending on who is sitting beside me and the purpose (for riding my car). But that doesn’t mean that I do things that go against the law. I’ve never gotten into an accident (in the) 9 years (I’ve been driving). But isn’t everyone like this? (That) things become different when you’re late for work even when you’re just driving normally as usual. You know (what I mean) right? Haha.

Are there any driving styles you find unforgiveable when driving?

Please write/include everything (I say). First of all, not turning on the signal lights when changing lanes. I’ve even gotten out of my car to personally talk (to others about this) before. You can’t do this, you would’ve learnt this when you were getting your license. And unreasonable acts of cutting in front of other (cars) and (making) threats, retaliatory driving, driving in the opposite direction on a one-way road — I really hate these. There’s a reason why these roads are made for only one-way driving. I hope we can follow that.

Items which you always have in your car?

First of all, I have three air fresheners. I have three kinds of perfumes too. And mouthwash, toothbrush and toothpaste. Cleanliness and fragrance are important. I have (a) mask, book, sunglasses and notebook as well.

Are there times you produced music in the car?

Yes. There are lots of times where if I get an idea while on the road I’ll turn on the emergency lights and jot it down in my notebook. In particular, I get more thoughts when I’m driving along the Gangbyeon expressway at night.

If you were to give a ride to an INFINITE member in this car today, who would you choose?

My same-age friend Woohyun. Today is somehow a day where I feel like pouring my heart out. And Woohyun is a friend whom I can talk to about anything.

Does (Woohyun) listen to you(r stories) well?

There are times where he gives me harsh advice, and times where he can relate (to what I say) as well. There are also times where he would call me crazy. I think it’d be better if we could go (on a drive) together today.

DRIVING MUSIC

Music INFINITE Dongwoo recommends would be good to listen to while on a drive.

DESTINATION EULWANGRI

1 Eluphant ’Star Candy’ It’s a lovely song just like its title. ‘Ya, you’re pretty even if you don’t put on makeup / come out fast’ don’t you find these lyrics cute and romantic?

2 One Way ‘Magic’ It’s a song that came out 8 years ago, yet it still (sounds) so sophisticated listening to it now. I think it’ll probably be a driving music which no one will be sick of.

3 Double K ‘Ment’ Maybe it’s because (I/we) have a song called ‘Be Mine’, (hence) I tend to like songs which confesses and expresses love. This song has a melody which is nice to listen to (and allows one to) naturally follow the rhythm, and lyrics (so) attractive that it makes (your heart) throb even for a man like me.

Part 1 of 2

ref pics cr. @esperanca_dw

kor>eng cr. @yeolsprout

do not crop. please take out with proper credits.

(translations may not be 100% accurate; sorry in advance if there’s any errors)