A longer motorway trip

November 9, 2007 By 1 Comment

Yesterday I had to go to Mainz so I was able to see how the bio-ethanol car performed long-distance on the motorway – to be precise along the A66, which has speed limits on most of it of 120 or 100 km/h.

Anyway, there’s nothing much to report about the car’s performance, except the fuel consumption which, according to the on-board computer, hovered between 8 an 9 litres per 100km.

At the moment I am waiting to see how far I get on one tank of bio-ethanol.  Taking the km driven so far and adding on the expected km that the computer says I have remaining, it’s going to be about 500km in total, which is certainly less than I managed in a similar car using normal petrol.  I’ll know more in a few days…

Filed Under: Bio-Ethanol, Temp

A diplomatic mistake?

November 8, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Yahoo! reported yesterday that the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia is to be asked to explain why he was photographed next to a convicted criminal. He already made himself unpopular by criticising one of Evo Morales’ quips about moving the U.N. away from New York.

Of course, the ambassador represents his or her own country in an official capacity. Normally it is inappropriate for such people to criticise a country’s leader.

The photo is interesting because it also features Gabriel Dabdoub, a businessman who opposes President Morales. Is it really the criminal on the photo who’s the problem?

I guess for the U.S. media, standing next to a criminal from Colombia is actually more of a scoop than a businessman would be.  But since the criminal is now behind bars, perhaps the Bolivian Government is getting a bit worried about who the U.S. ambassador is socialising with?

Filed Under: Bolivia, News

Allerheiligen

November 7, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Allerheiligen is celebrated on 1st November each year. It is a public holiday in a number of western Bundesländer, and has been celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church since the 9th Century.

The next day is Allerseelen (2nd November), and it is on these days that people visit and tend to the graves of their deceased relatives.

It is not a public holiday in Hessen and as such many people from the neighbouring Bundesländer come here to go shopping!

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

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

Download a transcript

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Filed Under: German Words Explained, Podcasts, Public holidays Tagged With: , ,

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