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Green Light by Lester Public Library Via Flickr: Washington Street, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
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enterprisewired · 4 months
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40 fun questions about Christmas trivia to double the cheer
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As you think of Christmas, the thought of Christmas trivia of course crosses your mind. The holiday season is not just about decking the halls and roasting chestnuts; it’s also the perfect time to gather friends and family for Christmas trivia fun. Whether you’re planning a virtual gathering or a cozy in-person celebration, these 40 Christmas trivia questions are sure to add an extra layer of merriment to your festivities. This comprehensive guide presents 40 Christmas trivia questions designed to double the fun at your celebrations.
1. What feast does the Grinch hate the most?
Answer: The Grinch hates the Whos’ Christmas feast.
2. In the song “Jingle Bells,” what kind of sleigh is it?
Answer: One-horse open sleigh.
3. Which country is credited with the creation of the candy cane?
Answer: Germany.
4. Who wrote the classic Christmas tale, “A Christmas Carol”?
Answer: Charles Dickens.
5. In the movie “Home Alone,” where are the McCallisters going on vacation when they leave Kevin behind?
Answer: Paris.
6. What beverage is also known as “milk punch” and is popular during the Christmas season?
Answer: Eggnog.
7. What is the name of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’s dad?
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Answer: Donner.
8. According to the song, what did my true love give to me on the eighth day of Christmas?
Answer: Eight maids a-milking.
9. What is the main ingredient in the traditional Christmas drink known as wassail?
Answer: Apple cider.
10. What is the name of the character played by Jim Carrey in the movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”?
Answer: The Grinch.
11. In the song “Frosty the Snowman,” what made Frosty come to life?
Answer: An old silk hat.
12. What is the angel’s name in “It’s a Wonderful Life”?
Answer: Clarence.
13. According to the Bible, what brought the three wise men to Bethlehem?
Answer: The Star of Bethlehem.
14. What is the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas?
Answer: January 5th.
15. What popular Christmas song was written for Thanksgiving?
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Answer: “Jingle Bells.”
16. What decoration do people traditionally kiss under during the holiday season?
Answer: Mistletoe.
17. In the movie “Elf,” what is Buddy’s favorite food group?
Answer: Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.
18. What well-known Christmas carol’s original title is “One Horse Open Sleigh”?
Answer: “Jingle Bells.”
19. What is the name of the young boy in the “Polar Express” movie?
Answer: Hero Boy (The character is often referred to as “Hero Boy” in the credits).
20. In which country did the tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas originate?
Answer: Rome.
21. What is the name of George Bailey’s guardian angel in “It’s a Wonderful Life”?
Answer: Clarence.
22. What does the word “Noel” mean in English?
Answer: Christmas.
23. Which popular Christmas plant is known for its red and green foliage?
Answer: Poinsettia.
24. What is the highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time?
Answer: “Home Alone.”
25. What are the names of Santa’s reindeer?
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Answer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph.
26. In the song “Winter Wonderland,” what do we pretend the snowman is?
Answer: Parson Brown.
27. What famous department store hosts a Thanksgiving Day Parade every year?
Answer: Macy’s.
28. In which country did the tradition of Christmas trees originate?
Answer: Germany.
29. What are the traditional colors of Christmas?
Answer: Red and green.
30. Which Christmas ballet is based on a fairy tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann?
Answer: “The Nutcracker.”
31. What holiday beverage is made from mulled wine and spices?
Answer: Wassail.
32. Which Christmas plant is known as the “Christmas Flower”?
Answer: Poinsettia.
33. What country did the gingerbread house originate from?
Answer: Germany.
34. In “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” what does Lucy ask for from Schroeder?
Answer: Real estate.
35. What well-known Christmas carol originated from a poem written in 1816?
Answer: “Silent Night.”
36. In what year did Coca-Cola begin using Santa Claus in its advertisements?
Answer: 1931.
37. What animated 1966 Christmas special features characters called Heat Miser and Snow Miser?
Answer: “The Year Without a Santa Claus.”
38. What is the name of the Grinch’s dog in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”?
Answer: Max.
39. Which country does the tradition of Christmas stockings originate from?
Answer: Netherlands.
40. In the movie “A Christmas Story,” what does Ralphie want for Christmas?
Answer: A Red Ryder BB gun.
Conclusion:
With these 40 Christmas trivia questions, you’re armed and ready to double the fun at your festive gatherings. So, gather your loved ones, pour some eggnog, and let the joyous competition begin. Christmas trivia is not just about the right answers; it’s about creating lasting memories and sharing laughter during the most wonderful time of the year. So, this Christmas, aren’t you gonna have a blast at Christmas trivia? Merry Christmas and happy trivia!
Also Read: Christmas Games: Fun and Festivities for the Whole Family
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cooperhewitt · 6 years
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A Tulip for the Table
This silver dessert fork from the “Tulip” pattern, was designed by Henrich Vogeler in 1898-99, and produced by the firm of M. H. Wilkens & Söhn  in Bremen, Germany. Vogeler’s Tulip pattern is one of the most graceful German flatware patterns of the Jugendstil period, and this particular piece shows the pattern well.
Vogeler, trained as a painter and architect, was a prolific designer of flatware and also produced graphic art, textile, and furniture design. In many of his flatware patterns he featured floral and avian motifs. For the Tulip service, Vogeler used the actual form of the flower, its leaves, and stalk to shape the individual items. Above a gently curving handle, the head of this fork rises like a flower blossom from a stem-like shaft encased in leaves. In the accompanying silver dessert knife, the transition from handle to blade is treated in an especially fluid, organic manner.
The Tulip pattern was commissioned by Alfred Walter Heymel, influential publisher of Die Insel (The Island) and remained in private production for several years. The interior of Heymel’s Munich apartment was designed by Vogeler and R. A. Schroeder. Vogeler provided dining room wall decoration, lighting fixtures, tables, and fruit bowls, as well as the Tulip flatware. Starting in 1901, the Tulip pattern was carried by the trendy Paris department store Maison Moderne, under the directorship of Julius Meyer-Graefe. By 1902 or 1903, Vogeler’s Tulip flatware came on the open market and was being offered in the Wilkens & Söhne company catalogue as pattern “No. 147.”
from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum https://ift.tt/2PJWBUJ via IFTTT
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woshivn · 3 years
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The light of Quentyn’s torch washed over scales of dark green
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tomgilsenan · 3 years
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Patio at Dough Co. Pizza awaits sunny days and warm evenings. A long time ago (1941) there was a Ben Franklin store in this location along with Schroeder's department store. By 1961, it was one of the storefronts used by Iowa Piano, according to the Des Moines city directory. Forty years ago (1981), this was the location of the Cage Club Lounge. Twenty years ago (2001), it was one of the storefronts used by Harvest Printing. The corner has been home to Dough Co. Pizza since 2019 (originally called Papa Keno's). (at Dough Co. Pizza) https://www.instagram.com/p/COqyEZ3sEob/?igshid=x6sbcjtw5qfe
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newstfionline · 6 years
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Where Europe’s most powerful economy is falling behind
By Paul Carrel, Reuters, June 25, 2018
MASSEN-NIEDERLAUSITZ, Germany--Until March of this year, goods arriving at family engineering firm Zemmler Siebanlagen in eastern Germany generated piles of paperwork and hours of manual cross checks. These days, stockman Ronny Mucha records deliveries on a specially designed tablet application that immediately updates other departments. It takes a fraction of the time.
The firm’s founder, Heiko Zemmler, credits a government-backed scheme with “taking us through a psychological barrier” about digital technology. The inventory application is just a beginning, hopes Zemmler. One day he wants his welders and assembly line workers to be able to access design plans and lists of parts on a shared platform.
That’s all common enough in modern factories from California to South Korea. But there’s a problem. Zemmler needs high-speed internet capable of carrying large quantities of data to make the switch. “Broadband has come to many people, but unfortunately not to us,” he said at his plant in the Brandenburg region, not far from the Polish border.
Europe’s most powerful economy, at the forefront of industrial innovation for decades, is struggling to adapt to the digital age, and its policymakers are worried.
Zemmler’s experience encapsulates two key obstacles to change here. It took a nudge by the government to get him to embrace digital technology in the first place. And, now that he has done so, his plans are being frustrated by a woeful broadband network.
A 2017 study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked Germany 29th out of 34 industrialised economies for fast internet connections. Japan and South Korea lead the pack. Chancellor Angela Merkel has made fixing Germany’s digital deficiencies a priority for her fourth and likely final term, saying “our future prosperity depends on it.”
In interviews, company bosses and senior policymakers set out the scale of the challenge the government faces and explained why German firms have been slow to adopt digital technology to store and share data and manage workflow.
The paucity of high-speed internet was one barrier, they said. Others included government inefficiency and a reluctance among small and mid-size firms, Germany’s “Mittelstand,” to embrace new ways of working. Added to that, years of surveillance by the Nazis and then the Communists have left many Germans suspicious of data sharing.
There’s also a paradox at work: Germany’s strong economy is blocking efforts to modernize, they said, with firms too busy meeting orders today to plan for a digital future.
Government data shows the extent of the problem. A government fund created to expand Germany’s broadband network managed to spend only three percent of the money available last year, figures in a Jan. 23 letter from the deputy finance minister at the time, Jens Spahn, to a fellow lawmaker showed. Spahn has since said Germany is up to 20 years behind U.S. competitors, with many managers stuck in the “fax age.”
Even Germany’s car industry is feeling the threat. In the past, Chinese firms sought to learn from German carmakers. But on a trip to China in May, Merkel was so struck by China’s progress in data processing that she asked for Chinese help to develop electric and autonomous vehicles. China has yet to commit.
To be sure, Germany has shown an enviable ability to adapt to political, economic and technological challenges over the decades. At the turn of the century, it was called “the sick man of Europe,” with an inflexible labour market that weighed on productivity. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government responded by shaking up the welfare system to encourage more people into the workforce. It turned out well: Germany regained competitiveness and profited from demand in the industrialising world for its high-end engineering products. Unemployment has fallen from above five million in 2005 to less than half that level now.
“Germany has overcome much bigger problems before,” said Carsten Nickel, managing director at consultancy Teneo Intelligence.
“But it did so by not shying away from, at times, radical change. That, in turn, requires agency and political leadership. Schroeder ultimately lost his job over his economic reforms. It would probably be a stretch to claim that a comparable willingness for bold political leadership exists in Merkel’s Berlin today.”
Indeed, Merkel has spent much of her political capital this year trying to defuse a row in her coalition over immigration policy.
Alexandra Horn’s team at the BVMW Mittelstand association of small and mid-size firms worked with Zemmler to introduce the inventory application his company now uses. It is part of a government-backed scheme called “Digital Together.”
Horn says she has sometimes been met with laughter when taking this digitalization drive to firms outside the main cities like Berlin, where a healthy startup scene masks slow progress elsewhere. Because of poor internet speeds, “digital business models cannot be implemented, plain and simple,” Horn said.
According to the OECD, just 16 percent of German firms use cloud services, “a key productivity enhancer.” That’s well below the OECD average of 25 percent and far behind countries including Finland (57 percent), Sweden (48 percent) and Japan (45 percent).
“If you don’t have the infrastructure, you cannot have a successful digitalization of the economy,” said OECD telecoms and internet expert Verena Weber.
Germany’s coalition government has pledged to provide high-speed gigabit internet access across Germany by 2025. It aims to develop a fibre optic network to all corners of the country. Japan has 76 percent of its broadband via fibre, Latvia 62 percent and Sweden 58 percent, compared to just two percent in Germany, OECD data show.
Efforts to upgrade Germany’s internet with state-of-the art fibre technology are coming late partly because Germany’s telecoms industry regulator, BNetzA, allowed Deutsche Telekom, the former national network monopoly, to use an intermediate solution called “vectoring technology” to increase the bandwidth of existing copper lines instead of running fibre all the way into homes and offices.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in May the government would use higher-than-expected tax revenues to start a digitalization fund into which his ministry would transfer 2.4 billion euros ($2.85 billion) this year. The fund will be increased by revenues generated from the auction of 5G mobile licences.
But throwing money at the problem is not guaranteed to fix it, as shown by the Jan. 23 letter from Spahn, the deputy finance minister at the time. It revealed that of the 689 million euros set aside by the government for broadband investment, only 22 million was used last year. Policymakers and company bosses complain that tender operations for subsidies can be so slow and complex that federal funds often go unused.
For Kyffhaeuserkreis, a rural district in the eastern state of Thuringia, moves to streamline the process can’t come soon enough. Kyffhaeuserkreis is still waiting for its high-speed broadband three years after setting the wheels in motion. The tender process alone has taken almost two years.
Another problem is that no single government department is in overall charge. The ministry for transport and digital infrastructure is in charge of broadband rollout, the economy ministry for promoting new technologies, the interior ministry for security and the justice ministry for consumer protection in the digital age. In addition, regional authorities grant planning permission.
Heiko Zemmler honed his engineering skills repairing mopeds in former East Germany. He began leasing and servicing industrial sieves for the construction, forestry and waste management industries in 2000 and later began manufacturing them, establishing Zemmler Siebanlagen GmbH in 2010. With recent annual sales growth rates of 20 percent to 30 percent, Zemmler said he was so busy fulfilling orders he didn’t consider shifting to digital technology until the BVMW Mittelstand association contacted him.
It’s a familiar story. The transition to digital technology is being overlooked because of roaring growth now. Last year, the German economy grew by 2.5 percent, the strongest pace since 2011, outperforming France and Italy.
Digitalization czar Baer said firms need to think ahead.
“Of course, it’s pleasing that the order books are full now, but that will not automatically remain the case,” she said. “The German Mittelstand is characterized by the fact that it thinks long term, in generations instead of in quarters. Without digitalization, no company can be future-proofed.”
“To think that we can be at the forefront of artificial intelligence and be as restrictive as possible with data is just like wanting to rear cows without feeding them.”
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Travel Log Stop 4 : Sailing the Aegean
It has been a while since I have last written, and I have already departed Alexandria on my way to Rhodes. We are now traveling through the waters of the Aegean Sea, and I am boarded onto a regular merchant ship. It is packed full of amphora containers lined with pine resin and filled with wine and oils, all being stored in the ship. The stamps on the jars are to show where the container came from and who manufactured it (Bevan 2014). 
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I am not a merchant so the selling of these wares will not fall to me, however being tasked with buying books I often find myself aboard these merchant ships for travel. By now, I am used to the rocking of the ship, however in the first few days I found myself sick to my stomach with my legs not used to being on the water after being on land. The ship is large so it does not feel too cramped, but I still find myself wishing to be on land once again.
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My last trip to Rhodes had not been too long ago and I am wondering how I will find another book to add to the library. At times it seems as if the library really does hold all the information in the world with its shelves packed full of scrolls, but our rulers will not rest until they are sure of this. As I sit here writing this on the brown, wooden deck with the wind flapping the sails, I am reminded of all the work put into the library, from the first librarian, Zenodotus of Ephesus (Schroeder 2009), all the way to me, a book hunter. This long boat ride really does let the mind wander, and it will be a while before we get to the great Greek city of Rhodes. Until then I will enjoy the smell of the sea and the view of the blue water as our boat sails through its waves.
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viralhai · 4 years
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Luxury department store Selfridges clothing rental, jumps in search of young shoppers in vintage clothing - fashion and trends | ViralHai News [ad_1]
Selfridges & Co. The UK is offering fashion items for rent in a bid to attract small and ecologically minded customers at a challenging time for retail. The luxury department store, in association with HURR, an online fashion rental platform, has offered 100 items from over 40 fashion brands for up to 20 days at a time.
Selfridges plans to sell a selection of vintage clothing for six weeks from the end of September, based on a secondhand clothing concession launched last year with online reseller Westair Collective. Shoppers can also sell goods used for credit at the store from mid-October.
Increasing consumer concern over the ecological impact of fast fashion means that many retailers are washing hands to tap on the increasing demand to rent and buy second-hand items. E-commerce sites such as Depop and Poshmark Inc. have popularized the sale of used clothing online. In the US last year, department store Messes and Jessie Penny partnered with ThredUp Inc., a San Francisco-based resort company.
Zalando SE is launching a pre-owned fashion range on its site later this year. This week the German online fashion retailer's chief financial officer, David Schroeder, said on an earnings call that it would allow customers to sell their clothes to Jalando "quickly and easily, and also give them a highly curated, quality check and convenient facility" will provide." Selection of items available for purchase. "
The Selfrides initiative is part of the retailer's plan to reduce environmental impact, including a commitment to become carbon-neutral by 2050.
Coronoviruses have "changed the cycle of consumption in a way we could never have predicted", said Anne Pitcher, managing director. As a result, she said, Selfridges "have to change how shopping is done."
Selfridges is best known for its huge shopping emporium on London's Oxford Street, but also has stores and an online division in Birmingham and Manchester. Last month the retailer, which is owned by the Weston family, announced that it would be cutting 14% of its workforce, 450 roles, as retail traders struggle to emerge from the epidemic-induced closure.
(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without textual modifications. Only the title has been changed.)
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lesterpubliclibrary · 2 years
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16th and Washington
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16th and Washington by Lester Public Library Via Flickr: Two Rivers, Wisconsin
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witchyystudies-blog · 5 years
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Outfits Shop Treasures
Not Every person can afford to pay for to shop in shops and buy the first thing they see around the racks. I happen to love manner and come up with a recreation of getting bargains. Individuals explain to me "you must devote lots of money on clothing because you're usually dressed fashion up." I chuckle and say "you have no idea how low-cost I'm."
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My number 1 supply After i experienced no disposable cash flow was the consignment shop. My mom gave me her hand-me-downs so I could trade them for apparel in my size. I took them for the consignment keep where by I used to be supplied shop credit after the merchandise offered.
I may be a bargain shopper, but I am a picky one particular. I by no means paid a dime for anything and each product I obtained was new. The ideal tip the owner gave me was to discover merchandise which were from sample profits. The very best and bottom items might be different sizes, but provided that They may be just one measurement aside, They can be good to put jointly. These had been merchandise the owner had gotten at the customer's mart shows.
The shop experienced a lot of name manufacturer things, new Using the tags nevertheless on them. Wealthier older girls would don an outfit one time, make a decision they did not want the item and donate it to The shop. I shopped there for about ten years.
In case you have the patience to seem by each and every rack, You may also come across brand name or classic products at thrift shops. You might need to obtain them dry cleaned ahead of putting on, however it is worthwhile. Liquidation gross sales and outlet shops are very good places to look.
Knowing the structure of your neighborhood Division keep will assist you to locate bargains. Search for out the clearance rack and scope out the goodies in advance of payday to help you go back and get them. The most beneficial time to shop is mid-working day during the 7 days while you are the sole customer. Goods is less expensive within the junior Division than within the misses department.
Knowing the timing of semi-once-a-year clearance and preserving back shopping income for anyone times will assist you to system your excursion. The 2 clearance months are January and July. Shopping off-period and preserving merchandise for following yr really can help Create your wardrobe.
Constructing all around a primary wardrobe will help refrain you from impulse purchasing. Get started with fundamental merchandise and insert a whole new blouse or add-ons to go together with what you have already got. Arranging your closet and dresser like The shop makes receiving dressed every single day sense like you are going procuring.
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When my daughter was in highschool we had exciting sharing dresses. We are a similar dimension for anything like sneakers, so we had a double wardrobe. Needless to say, we wore outfits in a different way. We manufactured a game of splitting up when procuring and seeing who bought the most effective bargains.
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Something to remember is always that If you prefer good customer care, Will not be expecting it when bargain browsing. Get what you would like and obtain out. Sadly, today it can be popular for clerks on the register to be talking around the cellphone as in case you weren't there. I've offered up on anticipations. With the money you've saved, it is possible to splurge on a luxury procedure including salon solutions.
Now that my daughter is in college or university, her taste has upgraded somewhat. We lately essential to purchase a gown to get a military services ball she was attending. She observed a boutique that we never might have afforded, but had been Fortunate ample to search out the proper dress over the clearance rack. This was the kind of retail store having a great deal of private notice to match the worth tags. The dress was a beaded costume for $two hundred.00 marked down from $one,000.00. It had been attractive. For just a Distinctive situation, this was a very good deal. It absolutely was pleasurable obtaining the ambiance.
I practically nevertheless do my clearance searching at my common community shops, but when I at any time have a marriage to check out, I'll go back to the boutique, just for the enjoyable of it, Using the hope of getting a treasure. The pleasurable is within the hunt.
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Writer, Laura Schroeder, has knowledgeable lifestyle adjust 1st hand. To affix an internet Neighborhood of care, pay a visit to her website at http://lauramschroeder.com There, you will notice the site, listen to podcast stories and see provided offered solutions. To Speak to Laura, email at [email protected].
Laura and her spouse reside in Maryland and have a few grown small children. She enjoys songs and fashion.
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anoldwound · 7 years
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Ficlet Requests #3
Song: Eat Yourself Fandom: Iron Man Pairing: None Word Count: 315 Rating: PG for dark themes Requested by: airspaniel Tony Stark was tired. The wet grass squished beneath his leather shoes, and the rain dripped down his face in place of tears as he held the edge of the coffin between his fingers. He was shivering. He shook his hair out of his eyes and continued on, feeling Rhodey's gaze upon him. He didn't bother looking back, because what was the point? He was sick of everyone's pitying looks. The coffin was lowered gently into the back of the hearse. Thunder rumbled in the sky, reverberating so loudly Tony could feel it in his chest. Someone closed the door shut and locked it. “Tony,” said Rhodey, sidling up next to him. He placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Tony.” “What?” he mumbled, still not looking. “You can't blame yourself.” Tony didn't say anything for a few moments, then spat, “Bullshit.” He jerked his arm away and strode to the limo that was waiting for him across the street. He heard Rhodey calling after him, but he didn't look back. All he could see, all he could feel, was the scene swirling before him over and over again – some battle, some fight, he couldn't even remember who it was he was fighting in the first place – and then, her, Pepper, rushing into the foray – she didn't know – she was just coming to check on him, to see what was going on – a blast of light, and she... she wasn't moving. He was shaking all over now, even though he was tucked inside the warm limo. His teeth chattered and he wrapped his arms around himself. “Not his fault”? What a crock of shit. “Mr. Stark?” The driver was twisted in his seat, facing him. “Just go.” Tony fell back. The rain hit the window like bullets as they pulled slowly away. Song: Attack of the Ghost Riders Fandom: The Big Bang Theory Pairing: None Word Count: 258 Rating: PG-13 for slight sexual content. Requested by: herverylowness “Holy dear mother of God, Howard, where the hell did you take us?!” Leonard, Sheldon, Raj, and Howard were standing in the middle of – well, at least what looked like – some kind of furry strip club. “Seriously. Dude,” said Raj, looking in horror as a giraffe shook off its bikini top. “And since when do giraffes wear bathing suits?” “C'mon, guys! You all need to explore your horizons a little bit,” said Howard, winking and pointing at a passing a scantily dressed cat, who purred demurely. “Uh... no, we don't,” said Leonard. “Not here, at least.” “You said you were going to the comic book store,” Sheldon said accusingly to Leonard. “I never would have invited myself along if I had known that this is where were going.” “I guess I should have been honest,” said Leonard through gritted teeth. “Howard, this is ridiculous. We're leaving.” “Hey, leave if you want to,” said Howard. “But you're missing out. I had the most erotic humping session last week with a little lady dressed as a sexy lion.” “Did she keep the costume on the entire time?” Raj asked. “Of course! That's part of the experience,” said Howard. “Why?” “Are you sure it wasn't actually a man?” Howard suddenly looked horrified. “Oh, God. That would explain the... you know, you guys are right; we should leave RIGHT NOW.” He sprinted out the door, the rest of the group on his heels. Song: Christmas Wrapping Fandom: Glee Pairing: Finn/Kurt Word Count: 459 Rating: PG-13 for slight sexual content. Requested by: overlimits Finn was having a terrible time trying to decide what to get Kurt for Christmas. He knew Kurt liked nice clothes and expensive skin cleansers, but these weren't exactly his areas of expertise, and he couldn't even pronounce most of the high fashion designer's names. Plus he only had about twenty bucks to spend. He looked through the racks at the department store, desperately trying to find something, anything, for under twenty dollars. He even looked at the charms for charm bracelets at the jewelry counter (sixty bucks for a tiny charm? It was highway robbery!). Finally, he did manage to find something – a short, thin scarf that was on clearance for $19.99. He wasn't sure that Kurt would like it, though. It felt like he could tear it in half easily, and Kurt didn't like cheap clothes. Finn threw the scarf in frustration, but it just fluttered in the air and fell softly to the floor. He stomped out of the store, muttering to himself. The next day, Finn decided to look online for some good deals. He browsed through site after site after site, but couldn't find anything he thought would be good enough. He had just started dating Kurt a month ago, and he wanted to do something to impress him, something that would knock his socks off. But it was proving to be a lot more difficult than he'd thought it would be, especially since Kurt wouldn't tell him what the hell he wanted. “Anything you'd give me, I'd be happy with,” Kurt had said, but Finn knew that had to be bullshit, based on his experience with girls (not that Kurt was a girl, but you know). He remembered the time he bought Quinn a ceramic duck for her birthday and she had glared at him so intensely he was sure she had left a burn somewhere on his forehead. So, it had to be perfect. The perfect gift. But what the hell was the perfect gift for Kurt? Finn gave up on his internet search and collapsed onto his bed, thinking. What did Kurt want, what did Kurt want... Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head. It was perfect! And it wouldn't cost him a dime! --- “Was that a good enough Christmas present?” Kurt turned his head and looked at him. “Honestly?” Finn nodded. “Holy shit, Finn. Holy. Shit.” Finn laughed and rustled Kurt's hair. “I thought you might like it.” Kurt laughed as well, and stroked Finn's bare chest. “I think that may have been moving too fast, considering we've only been dating a few months, but I'm definitely not complaining. Wow.” Finn smirked. Maybe he wasn't so bad at giving presents after all. Song: Everything You Want Fandom: Boardwalk Empire Pairing: unrequited Maragaret/Van Alden; Margaret/Nucky Word Count: 381 Rating: PG for Van Alden creepiness. Requested by: sidonay Mrs. Margaret Schroeder. Van Alden stared at the big board next to his desk that mapped out Nucky Thompson's associates and relationships. Margaret Schroeder's photo was directly beneath Thompson's, a thin red line connecting the two of them. Label: Romantic Interest. He had taken the picture himself, last Saturday on the boardwalk. He had seen them walking together, when Thompson decided to duck into a shop to get  something. She had patiently waited for him outside, gazing out at the ocean. Her hat (a new hat, that Thompson had probably purchased for her) was poised perfectly atop her head. Van Alden stayed inside the phone booth as he snapped her photo. At first she didn't appear to have noticed him, but he could have swore she glanced his way momentarily. Those damn flashes. Hardly discreet. He looked at the photo now. She was only a vague blur, but somehow still managed to exude some... radiance, of some kind. Her profile was practically glowing. Thompson had emerged from the shop, carrying a box of saltwater taffy, which he had then presented to her. Mrs. Margaret Schroeder smiled and took the box, and they had continued on their way. Van Alden had set the camera on the floor of the booth, and pressed his fists up against the glass. Van Alden carefully took the photo down from the board. He studied it for several moments, then calmly brought it to his desk. He laid it down, smoothed it out. He picked it up again, and held it to his cheek. He felt his hand clench around it, and almost crumpled it, but he regained control of himself and put the photo in a desk drawer, which he then proceeded to lock. He looked up at the board again, this time at Nucky Thompson's photo, which was a clipping from a newspaper. He was smiling a sleazy, corrupt politician's smile, and was waving at an unseen crowd. Van Alden furrowed his brows. He yanked the picture off the board and violently tore it to pieces, stomping on the remains, clomp clomp, clomp, until it was entirely dirtied and destroyed. He tossed the pieces into the trash, then sat down at his desk. His fingers caressed the handle of the drawer containing Margaret Schroeder's photo. Song: Take It Or Leave It Fandom: Psych Pairing: Shawn/Lassiter Word Count: 686 Rating: PG-13 for slight sexual content. Requested by: beggar_always “LASSIE!” Lassiter watched in horror as Spencer ran towards the car, arms flailing wildly in the air, as two men with guns chased him down. “Spencer!” Lassiter spun the car 180 degrees, and Spencer jumped in through the open window, as the two men started firing. Lassiter whipped out his own gun and fired back as he peeled away at breakneck speed. “What the hell is going on?!” he yelled, turning the car back around to chase after the armed men, who were now running in the opposite direction. “I go out to get some lunch and you're being chased by two madmen?!” “It's a long, tedious story, so let's save it for my autobiography, okay?” Spencer was crouched underneath the dashboard, arms covering his head. “You tell me what's going on right now.” “Me and Gus were on a case, all right? And it got... sticky.” Lassiter rolled his eyes and put on his police siren. Pedestrians jumped out of the way as he pursued the criminals through an open park. “Ow! Could you maybe drive more smoothly, Lassie?” Spencer rubbed the back of his head. “Why don't you just shut the hell up!” For God's sake, he couldn't leave him alone for two minutes before he was getting into some kind of dangerous shenanigans. The two men were heading down the hill. Lassiter brought the car to a screeching halt (eliciting more protests from Spencer) and climbed out, firing his gun. He missed. The perpetrators dashed across the street and out of sight. Lassiter swore and stomped his foot. “Spencer, get out of the car!” He did, still rubbing the back of his head. “Did you get them, Lassie?” “No, I did not get them. Who are those two and why in God's name were they trying to kill you?” “They're drug dealers.” “WHAT?!” “Our client assured us that they weren't dangerous!  She just – oh, what does it matter?” “What does it matter? Are you serious? The next time a case like that comes up, you call for back-up, you tell somebody. You tell me. You could have died,you stupid son of a bitch!” “Hey! Don't talk about my mom that way!” “God, do you understand anything?” “Listen, would you cut it out, already? I screwed up! I admit it! Can we please go back now?” Lassiter took a few steps closer, and glared daggers at him. “This is not a game.” “Okay, enough with the lectures, huh? We just went through a life or death situation, Lassie. I think we should celebrate the fact that the both of us are still alive.” “They were chasing you, not me.” “Regardless. I think we should... go enjoy ourselves for a bit.” Lassiter froze. “Oh, no. No, no, no, no. We are not doing that whole song and dance again. No.” “Why not? You can't deny the high levels of sexual tension that still --” “We agreed to never speak of that night ever again!” Lassiter cried. “It never happened! And it will never happen again! Do you understand me?” “How can it never happen again if it never happened in the first place?” Lassiter felt his fist clench, but he took a deep breath instead and said, “I am going back to the car. Get inside and I will take you down the station so you can fill out a report.” Spencer suddenly looked frightened. “No! Please! Not paperwork! Anything but paperwork! Wouldn't you rather go on an erotic adventure than do silly old paperwork?” He paused, then shook his head. “No.” “Ah! You were considering it!” “I was not!” “Yes you were! C'mon, Lassie, let's go back to my apartment and wrestle underneath the sheets.” With that, Spencer merrily climbed into the passenger's seat. “Let's do this thing! Woo!” Lassiter sighed heavily, then got into the driver's side.   “Where exactly is it that you live, again?”
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whileiamdying · 7 years
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Classical music observers say we're living in a golden age of string quartets. It's hard to disagree when you hear the vibrant young players in New York's Attacca Quartet.
They revere the old school, having recently completed a performance cycle of all 68 string quartets by Joseph Haydn, the man who invented the genre. They also hunger for the new, exploring the music of three living composers each year in a project called Recently Added.
One contemporary composer the group continues to champion is John Adams. The head-banging pulsations of "Toot Nipple" (titled after a character in an Annie Proulx story) contrast with the slippery and funky episodes in "Alligator Escalator." Adams has said he imagined such a creature waddling up and down the floors of Macy's department store. The two movements belong to John's Book of Alleged Dances from 1994.
Next to Adams, Haydn sounds positively genteel, but you needn't look far to find the composer's own feisty side. Sunny skies suddenly turn threatening at the turn of a phrase — a trend in Haydn's time known as Sturm und Drang, or "Storm and Stress" — when moods can swing wildly with impunity.
Measured by the cello's tick-tock pizzicato, the mood of Michael Ippolito's Smoke Rings is languid, even a little trippy. Inspired by a 14th-century French song about a smoking society, the composer employs long, slow strokes and light bow pressure for a hazy texture. The music heats up dramatically midway through, only to drift back into the smoke.
Fellow Traveler is available now: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fel... Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fellow-Travele...
SET LIST: Adams: "Toot Nipple" Adams: "Alligator Escalator" Haydn: "String Quartet in D, Op. 76, No. 5 — I. Allegretto" Ippolito: "Smoke Rings"
MUSICIANS: Amy Schroeder, Keiko Tokunaga (violin); Nathan Schram (viola); Andrew Yee (cello)
CREDITS: Producers: Tom Huizenga, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Nicole Boliaux; Editor: Nicole Boliaux; Supervising Editor: Niki Walker; Production Assistant: Anna Marketti; Photo: Raquel Zaldivar/NPR.
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the-book-queen · 5 years
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Hide your wallets, it’s that time again! #TBQsBookDeals
Your Friday thread of #romancedeals is ready, FREE to $2.99. Happy shopping! 📚❤
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An arrogant, jaded Duke + an adventurous widow who wants nothing more than to be a mistress -- his mistress.
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 $0.99 ✦ Acting on Impulse by Mia Sosa
1st POV. She's a fitness trainer, he's an actor. Meet-cute on an airplane (she doesn't recognize him), then he asks for her help preparing for a new role.
TBQ Rec
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  $0.99 ✦ Heart Note by Cassandra O'Leary
1st POV. Set in Australia. She runs a perfume counter at a department store. He's an ex-cop working as a security guard at the store.
Novella. KU Title
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  $0.99 ✦ The Cursed Clan by Melissa Schroeder
A Scottish clan searches for a way to break their curse.
~ Archeologist heroine
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~ Hero is an artist, she's a witch with siren abilities
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  $1.99 ✦ Sleepover by Serena Bell
1st POV. Widower / single dad has a 1NS . . . who turns out to be his next-door neighbor. She's a single mom, and their young sons have become friends.
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  $2.99 ✦ Small Change by Roan Parrish
1st POV. She's a tattoo artist (also: bi), he owns a coffee/sandwich shop (ginger hero! with freckles!).
TBQ Rec
Book 2 (M/M) is also on sale.
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party-hard-or-die · 6 years
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Special Report: Rebooting Germany – Where Europe
MASSEN-NIEDERLAUSITZ, Germany (Reuters) – Until March of this year, goods arriving at family engineering firm Zemmler Siebanlagen in eastern Germany generated piles of paperwork and hours of manual cross checks. These days, stockman Ronny Mucha records deliveries on a specially designed tablet application that immediately updates other departments. It takes a fraction of the time.
The firm’s founder, Heiko Zemmler, credits a government-backed scheme with “taking us through a psychological barrier” about digital technology. The inventory application is just a beginning, hopes Zemmler. One day he wants his welders and assembly line workers to be able to access design plans and lists of parts on a shared platform.
That’s all common enough in modern factories from California to South Korea. But there’s a problem. Zemmler needs high-speed internet capable of carrying large quantities of data to make the switch. “Broadband has come to many people, but unfortunately not to us,” he said at his plant in the Brandenburg region, not far from the Polish border.
Europe’s most powerful economy, at the forefront of industrial innovation for decades, is struggling to adapt to the digital age, and its policymakers are worried.
Zemmler’s experience encapsulates two key obstacles to change here. It took a nudge by the government to get him to embrace digital technology in the first place. And, now that he has done so, his plans are being frustrated by a woeful broadband network.
A 2017 study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked Germany 29th out of 34 industrialized economies for fast internet connections. Japan and South Korea lead the pack. Chancellor Angela Merkel has made fixing Germany’s digital deficiencies a priority for her fourth and likely final term, saying “our future prosperity depends on it.”
In interviews, company bosses and senior policymakers set out the scale of the challenge the government faces and explained why German firms have been slow to adopt digital technology to store and share data and manage workflow.
The paucity of high-speed internet was one barrier, they said. Others included government inefficiency and a reluctance among small and mid-size firms, Germany’s “Mittelstand,” to embrace new ways of working. Added to that, years of surveillance by the Nazis and then the Communists have left many Germans suspicious of data sharing.
There’s also a paradox at work: Germany’s strong economy is blocking efforts to modernize, they said, with firms too busy meeting orders today to plan for a digital future.
Government data shows the extent of the problem. A government fund created to expand Germany’s broadband network managed to spend only three percent of the money available last year, figures in a Jan. 23 letter from the deputy finance minister at the time, Jens Spahn, to a fellow lawmaker showed. Spahn has since said Germany is up to 20 years behind U.S. competitors, with many managers stuck in the “fax age.”
Even Germany’s car industry is feeling the threat. In the past, Chinese firms sought to learn from German carmakers. But on a trip to China in May, Merkel was so struck by China’s progress in data processing that she asked for Chinese help to develop electric and autonomous vehicles. China has yet to commit.
To be sure, Germany has shown an enviable ability to adapt to political, economic and technological challenges over the decades. At the turn of the century, it was called “the sick man of Europe,” with an inflexible labor market that weighed on productivity. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s government responded by shaking up the welfare system to encourage more people into the workforce. It turned out well: Germany regained competitiveness and profited from demand in the industrializing world for its high-end engineering products. Unemployment has fallen from above five million in 2005 to less than half that level now.
“Germany has overcome much bigger problems before,” said Carsten Nickel, managing director at consultancy Teneo Intelligence.
“But it did so by not shying away from, at times, radical change. That, in turn, requires agency and political leadership. Schroeder ultimately lost his job over his economic reforms. It would probably be a stretch to claim that a comparable willingness for bold political leadership exists in Merkel’s Berlin today.”
Indeed, Merkel has spent much of her political capital this year trying to defuse a row in her coalition over immigration policy.
For graphic on jobs at risk from new technologies, click tmsnrt.rs/2K8cTYT
MONEY TO SPEND
Alexandra Horn’s team at the BVMW Mittelstand association of small and mid-size firms worked with Zemmler to introduce the inventory application his company now uses. It is part of a government-backed scheme called “Digital Together.”
Horn says she has sometimes been met with laughter when taking this digitalization drive to firms outside the main cities like Berlin, where a healthy startup scene masks slow progress elsewhere. Because of poor internet speeds, “digital business models cannot be implemented, plain and simple,” Horn said.
According to the OECD, just 16 percent of German firms use cloud services, “a key productivity enhancer.” That’s well below the OECD average of 25 percent and far behind countries including Finland (57 percent), Sweden (48 percent) and Japan (45 percent).
“If you don’t have the infrastructure, you cannot have a successful digitalization of the economy,” said OECD telecoms and internet expert Verena Weber.
Germany’s coalition government has pledged to provide high-speed gigabit internet access across Germany by 2025. It aims to develop a fiber optic network to all corners of the country. Japan has 76 percent of its broadband via fiber, Latvia 62 percent and Sweden 58 percent, compared to just two percent in Germany, OECD data show.
For a graphic on German broadband, click tmsnrt.rs/2Kms53N
Efforts to upgrade Germany’s internet with state-of-the art fiber technology are coming late partly because Germany’s telecoms industry regulator, BNetzA, allowed Deutsche Telekom, the former national network monopoly, to use an intermediate solution called “vectoring technology” to increase the bandwidth of existing copper lines instead of running fiber all the way into homes and offices.
For a graphic on the rise of fiber, click tmsnrt.rs/2K6IPwK
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in May the government would use higher-than-expected tax revenues to start a digitalization fund into which his ministry would transfer 2.4 billion euros ($2.85 billion) this year. The fund will be increased by revenues generated from the auction of 5G mobile licenses.
But throwing money at the problem is not guaranteed to fix it, as shown by the Jan. 23 letter from Spahn, the deputy finance minister at the time. It revealed that of the 689 million euros set aside by the government for broadband investment, only 22 million was used last year. Policymakers and company bosses complain that tender operations for subsidies can be so slow and complex that federal funds often go unused. Chancellor Merkel agreed.
“We must speed up approval procedures” for investment, she said in May.
Managing director Heiko Zemmler poses for a portrait at his machine-building company Zemmler Siebanlagen in Massen, Germany, March 22, 2018. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
For Kyffhaeuserkreis, a rural district in the eastern state of Thuringia, moves to streamline the process can’t come soon enough. Kyffhaeuserkreis is still waiting for its high-speed broadband three years after setting the wheels in motion. The tender process alone has taken almost two years.
“Meeting the requirements of the funding guidelines was not easy,” said district authority spokesman Heinz-Ulrich Thiele.
Another problem is that no single government department is in overall charge. The ministry for transport and digital infrastructure is in charge of broadband rollout, the economy ministry for promoting new technologies, the interior ministry for security and the justice ministry for consumer protection in the digital age. In addition, regional authorities grant planning permission.
In an attempt to address these issues, Merkel appointed Bavarian politician Dorothee Baer as her Minister of State for Digital Affairs in March. In an interview with Reuters, Baer conceded that “we still need a bit more effort” but she believed the government had done its job. “The money is lined up, transferred – and now the rollout simply needs to happen.”
There is broad agreement that the broadband infrastructure needs to be fixed and digital technologies promoted. The cabinet has approved plans to use federal money to promote digital education in schools. But, a senior government official said, the funds will not be released before November because the policy requires a constitutional amendment. That is because education is traditionally the preserve of Germany’s 16 states – another example of bureaucracy slowing the digitalization drive.
JAM TODAY
Heiko Zemmler honed his engineering skills repairing mopeds in former East Germany. He began leasing and servicing industrial sieves for the construction, forestry and waste management industries in 2000 and later began manufacturing them, establishing Zemmler Siebanlagen GmbH in 2010. With recent annual sales growth rates of 20 percent to 30 percent, Zemmler said he was so busy fulfilling orders he didn’t consider shifting to digital technology until the BVMW Mittelstand association contacted him.
It’s a familiar story. The transition to digital technology is being overlooked because of roaring growth now. Last year, the German economy grew by 2.5 percent, the strongest pace since 2011, outperforming France and Italy.
Digitalization czar Baer said firms need to think ahead.
“Of course, it’s pleasing that the order books are full now, but that will not automatically remain the case,” she said. “The German Mittelstand is characterized by the fact that it thinks long term, in generations instead of in quarters. Without digitalization, no company can be future-proofed.”
Germany’s construction sector too is experiencing a boom, with forecast sales growth of six percent this year. Building firms can cherry pick the contracts they want to take on, and broadband contracts are not top of the list. Again, Germany’s success now is acting as a brake on progress.
Deutsche Glasfaser is a privately funded company that builds fiber broadband networks. Its managing director, Stephan Zimmermann, said fiber broadband rollout requires such specific training and machinery that many German construction firms shun it to work on more traditional projects on which they already make good money.
Zimmermann is looking abroad for construction firms to help with projects.
“I am now looking across Europe to attract Spanish, Greek, Dutch companies to invest in Germany. That is working out for us … though it is a lot of work to make it happen,” he said.
SUSPICIOUS MINDS
Fixing the high-speed internet issue is one problem, changing mindsets quite another.
Extensive surveillance, first by the Nazis and then by Communist East Germany’s Stasi secret police, has led to Germans closely guarding their privacy and personal data. Merkel says it is time to move forward. The development of artificial intelligence is underpinned by data sharing, she reasons.
“To think that we can be at the forefront of artificial intelligence and be as restrictive as possible with data is just like wanting to rear cows without feeding them,” she said in May.
Digital czar Baer complained that “there is always a great deal of foggy angst” about digital technology.
Aerospace engineering graduate Daniel Wiegand said he experienced this mindset first-hand in the early days of his business. Wiegand’s firm, Lilium, is one of a handful of companies that are developing electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles, “flying taxis.” Others include California-based Karem Aircraft, Brazil’s Embraer and Pipistrel of Slovenia.
Wiegand recalled the scepticism he encountered when setting up the firm with two friends in Germany in 2014. Seeking a fourth partner with expertise in flight control software, Wiegand interviewed PhD students at his alma mater, Munich Technical University.
“I think after one or two minutes, 50 percent of the people left the room and said, ‘This guy is crazy’,” he recalls. Such reticence is widespread. Germany saw a two percent drop in the number of small businesses founded in 2017 after a 10 percent drop the previous year, Statistics Office figures show.
Wiegand persevered. The upshot: an award-winning start-up with tens of millions of dollars of venture capital funding. The company has developed a heavily digitalized, vertical take-off jet, and plans to offer on-demand flying taxis before 2025.
Germany needs to become friendlier to entrepreneurs, he says, echoing a recommendation of economists at the OECD.
“It’s about the people and the culture that brings about these ideas,” said Wiegand. “In California, they have a totally different culture and experience over almost two generations now – and that’s what makes the difference.”
If Germany can get its digitalization drive right, it could spur fresh economic development just as its longest period of uninterrupted growth since reunification is starting to wane. An OECD report presented on June 12 concluded that if, through investment in broadband, Germany’s average connection speed catches up with the average of the top 10 countries by 2025, GDP per capita will get a three percent boost after 10 years.
Slideshow (19 Images)
($1 = 0.8420 euros)
additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Douglas Busvine in Frankfurt; editing by Janet McBride
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