Kumulieren and Panaschieren

March 14, 2011 By 1 Comment

Ballot box - ©iStockphoto.com/jgroupVoting in Germany used to be easy.  As every German student knows, you have two votes – one for a candidate and one for a political party.

At least, that makes it easy for the electorate, because they can vote for someone they like, but still express a preference for a different party to have a majority in parliament.

For those working out the make of the parliament, there is a highly complex formula that determines how many seats each party gets, and depends on the number of direct mandates that individual candidates achieve, leading to the infamous Überhangmandate, which are worth a post all by themselves one day.

Until a few years ago, when some parts of Germany – Hessen included – introduced something call “Kumulieren und Panaschieren”. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: ,

Ronmiel

March 14, 2011 By 2 Comments
Ronmiel

Ich glaube das erste Mal, als ich Ronmiel getrunken habe, war im Restaurant “Simposio” in Puerto del Carmen – das jetzt leider geschlossen ist. Letztendlich war es dort, wo ich herausgefunden habe, wie das Getränk wirklich heißt.

Ronmiel ist eine Mischung aus Rum (Ron) und Honig (Miel) und wird oft serviert beim bezahlen der Rechnung im Restaurant. Er wird auf den kanarischen Inseln produziert und hat, wie man vermuten könnte, einen süßlichen Geschmack.

Unsere Erkundigungen über Ronmiel waren verbunden mit dem Rat ihn auf Lanzarote zu genießen, aber nicht versuchen zu wollen, wenn man zurück zu Hause ist, die Atmosphäre wie auf Lanzarote zu schaffen. Der Geschmack soll nicht der gleiche sein, wie wenn er gemütlich bei einer warmen Brise Seeluft, serviert wird.

Dem muss ich zustimmen. Aber es hat uns trotzdem nicht davon abgehalten, uns am Flughafen im Sicherheitsbereich eine Flasche zu kaufen, um ihn an warmen Sommerabenden zu genießen. Aber das ist eine andere Geschichte.

Filed Under: Essen und Trinken, Lanzarote Tagged With: , , ,

The annual Fachkräftemangel

March 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The annual computer show in Hannover, CeBIT, usually brings calls of “Fachkräftemangel” in the German news.  In fact, it has been that way for at least the past nine years – or so it seems.

“Fachkräftemangel” means a lack of qualified, trained – or what ever you want to call them – specialists.

And as in previous years, a whole debate starts up about taking on foreign workers to fill the jobs, that this apparently leaves unfilled.

Now, it is not as if I am against people from other countries working in Germany (which would make me rather hypocritical if I was), but I do question the reasoning behind it, both from a business and a social point of view. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Technology, Trade fairs, Unemployment Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

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