Filling up at short notice

August 31, 2008 By 2 Comments

Today I had an appointment about 100km today, and it was only last night that I realised that I didn’t have enough bio-ethanol in the tank for the return journey.

For the first time, I had to make a detour to fill up with bio-ethanol, meaning that I had to leave earlier to allow enough time to drive to Bad Homburg before I hit the motorway.

Of course, I could have driving down the road to the nearest petrol station and filled up with normal 95-octane fuel, but with that sort of fuel costing around 50% more than bio-ethanol, I felt it was worth making the detour.

But the whole situation did make me conscious of the restrictions of the bio-ethanol fuel.  After all, I don’t get as many kilometres out of a tank as I used to with normal petrol.  I quick check of the list of petrol stations that stock E85 also showed me that there was nothing suitable in the area that I was travelling to.  Well, at least not without going out of my way and looking for it.

So in the end I took the quickest option and visited my usual petrol station, and wished it hadn’t been necessary.  Will the main petrol stations, especially those on motorway service stations, ever start stocking bio-ethanol?

Filed Under: Bio-Ethanol Tagged With: ,

Another referendum in Bolivia

August 29, 2008 By 5 Comments

President Morales has announced that the people of Bolivia are to get the chance to vote in a referendum on the future constitution of the country.  The referendum is due to take place on 7th December.

The big question is: will this be the final decision on a number of policitcal issues?

One of the changes concerns the re-election of the Bolivian President.  If he wins the vote, President Morales could be re-elected a number of times more than is currently allowed.  I for one am wondering why such a step is necessary.  After all, other countries have rules to stop a President from ruling ad infinitum, and it probably does them good to have a change very few years.  Removing this rule in Bolivia would surely be a step backwards?

The other major issue is that of autonomy for some of Bolivia’s wealther regions – something that was partially voted on back in May of this year, although the result was not recognised a national level.

So will it be different this time around?  Will the people get to chose more autonomy for their regions, as long as they agree to an indefinite number of terms for the President?

Filed Under: Bolivia, News Tagged With: ,

Lebensversicherung

August 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Lebensversicherung is the name in Germany for life insurance. There are two types of Lebensversicherung, both are designed to pay out in event of the death of the insured person.

The main difference is between a Risikolebensversichung that is designed to cover this risk, sometimes combined with a disability insurance, and a Kapitallebensversicherung that not only covers the risk of dying, but also pays out a lump sum or a person if the insured person reaches a specific age.

The cost depends on the type of insurance, but also on the person being insured, such as age, lifestyle, etc.

A special form is the Ausbildungsversicherung, which allows parents to save up for their childrens’ future, eg. to cover student fees.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Disclaimer: this podcast is a simple explanation for non-native speakers. For insurance advice, please contact a Versicherungsvertreter or Versicherungsmakler.

Filed Under: German Words Explained, Insurance, Podcasts Tagged With: , ,

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