Looks like a nightmare

Can anybody tell me what crime I have committed? I can't believe it! The topics of our "blog - group" become more and more incredibly BLA(H) and somehow I slowly but surely lose my pleasure to think about my opinion on a topic, that's absolutely BLA(H) and on which I in fact don't have an opinion. So, now I am sitting in front of my PC once again and try to reply something meaningful to Bernhard's post, but there is a gaping emptiness in my brain. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I am far from being creative concerning such things, but now things have come to the point where I give up. I admit defeat - I need a coffee!!!!!

… more than one week later …

I have to detect with some admiration that other members of our "blog - group" are able to deal with this topic more or less in a serious way. For this reason I have also tried to think about Hermann's theory that tells us that BLA(H) is an important part of Bernhard's personality. Well, I have arrived at the conclusion that it's maybe really true, for the simple reason that wherever I hear the BLA(H) I have to think of Bernhard. Furthermore I have to admit that I sometimes find myself using BLA(H) too and I just hope that I not rob something of Bernhard's identity. However I can't believe that BLA(H) is the most important part of his identity, as Hermann said, and if that in fact is the case I would advise Bernhard to undertake something against it.
So, I stop at this point in order to not create more BLA(H) in this post.
Oh, that I have nearly forgotten: I also can't remember that I have ever seen or heard BLA(H) in any episode of "The Simpsons".

END

The greatest understatement of the century!

"I must admit that I also use this special word SOMETIMES” – Bernhard, between you and me, you have been using this word more than all other words together! Since I’ve started studying at Campus02 I’ve never heard another word so often than your ‘bla’. Whatever you might have communicated to us, there has been always a ‘bla’ in your sentence. At the beginning, in the middle, at the end of a sentence - you haven’t cared about this since I have met you – and often we could hear a ‘bla’ without anything else. However, it’s Ok for me, because it’s your way to express your lack of understanding, your unsureness, your discomfort, your disability of finding arguments. In some cases you are even showing your childlike dissatisfaction by a very angry usage of your typical ‘bla’. I have to admit that the ‘bla’ has become a very impressive part of your personality, worth to protect it. The searching for an academic background of this short phrase honors you exquisitely and shows me the importance and necessity for your live.
At the beginning I thought that the using of ‘bla’ was one of your spleens such as other people like to play with their fingers to make them cracking. After a while I have realized that there is much more behind this inimitable ‘bla’. Since the beginning of our studies I have discovered many, many different expressions of your ‘bla’s which have been telling me whether you are angry, uninterested, astonished or you are feeling boring. The very often used ‘bla’ with a question mark shows me that I have to repeat my question or to explain my wishes in another way. It is extremely easy. On the one hand it’s really simple because you do not need large explanations for complex situations on the other hand we should ask if the exclusive practice of ‘bla’ wouldn’t lead to a very poor and destitute language.
Unfortunately, I have been recognizing trends and efforts which have been tending to dispute the uniqueness und authenticity of your beautiful ‘bla’. More and more people - I do not give names – are trying to use your ‘bla’ in a very inappropriate way. From my point of view these people are not aware of the consequences of such behavior. Frankly speaking, they rob you of the most important part of your identity. If I were you I wouldn’t accept this like you are doing it, with a bright smile following by a ‘jo dann’. Be aware that all attempts of stealing even the smallest fragment of your character is an attack on your whole person. Do not allow them to change your personality to a ‘0815’ one by disentitle you. Fight for this ‘bla’, fight for your ‘bla’, fight for your unique and matchless identity.

Bla - I'm so happy to know now

First and foremost I've to correct Bernhard. There were no clouds containing "bla bla bla" in Simpsons, at least not till season 12 (it's a pity but I hardly know episodes from season 12-18). He hears circus music, you see images what he's really thinking or you see that he understands something totally different, but there's no "bla bla". Santa’s little helper, his dog, always understood "bla" when Bart tried to teach him some tricks but even that sounded more like the teacher of Charlie Brown. So it was more like “blouw blouw" in a strange voice than "bla bla".

But back to the blog: Bla, a town or a metasyntactic variable? That's great, it reminds me of jeopardy:
Unnecessary knowledge for 300. - What's a metasyntactic variable or a town? - Bla? - and the audience applauses...
I'm really happy to know that now, like I'm happy to know that who shot the most goals outside the penalty area in 1994 FIFA World Cup (Hagi) or that elephants can't jump. For other such greats facts please refer to “Brockhaus!” ISBN: 978-3765315510.

Ok Bernhard, even after visiting "www.veryunnecessary.com" I don't know what else to write. "bla" - I mean everybody has his obsessions, one of your's is that word. Congratulations, at least it is socially acceptable.

Best regards,
  Karl, team member of Bla-laststoffe.

By the way, another interesting fact: today is the 25th of March and this is a special day, as it is Annunciation Day ("Maria Verkündigung"), where Maria was visited by an angel who told her that she's pregnant. Oh, such a happy day…

Hey, there's a gospel song called so:
  Oh happy day, oh happy day.
  Oh happy day, oh happy day.
  When Jesus washed, don't you know he washed  
  oh ,when Jesus washed, he washed my sins away.
  ....

end.

"Bla" - only a flowery phrase?

"Bla" is a word which is in everyone's vocabulary. Some use it very rarely and some use it more often. But what is the meaning of "Bla"? Well, a lot of people are using the phrase respectively the word "bla" if they want to say something to a subject but they can not say something with a serious content. I must admit that I also use this special word sometimes. The big question is where this incredibly meaningful word has its origin. To find an answer for this question a scientific investigation is necessary.

To be honest - I am not sure since when I am using this word and I also don't know why this word has become popular for me. I for myself connect memories with "The Simpsons" especially with Homer Simpson with "Bla". So there it happens quite often that his children are talking about a topic. This topic hasn't to be very scientific, but Homer often isn't able to follow the conversation with his mind. In this relation usually mind clouds are appearing and the only thing Homer is understanding is "Bla bla bla...". Frankly speaking the more I think about this the more I entertain some doubt if this "Bla bla bla" stuff really was to see in the mind of Homer Simpson in an Simpsons episode. Whencesoever my first contact with "Bla" comes, I want to see if maybe "Bla" can also have an other meaning than simply nothing. I can not eliminate the possibility that behind the word "Bla" for some people a serious background is hidden.

First I searched at Google for getting answers for serious questions about this. Although I don't have expected that I will get links for many theses or dissertations about "Bla", the result was a big disappointment. Nothing, I got absolutely no explanation concerning "Bla". So my second and also nearly last hope to get answers was Wikipedia. And there it was - the article referring to the search term "Bla". And now we know it. "Bla" isn't described as a common used phrase. If you enter "Bla" you will be directly linked to the result that Bla is a small town in the south of Mali with a population of about 15.000 people. Very interesting, isn't it?

But after I opened this article again and again I finally found a small hidden link to another article about Bla. In this Wikipedia description "Bla" is a metasyntactic variable which is used in German - and in English "blah" with an "h" at the end is often used as a placeholder term. (So it looks like that I made spelling mistakes all the time when I was using "Bla".) What the hell is a metasyntactic variable? Bla(h)...
Well, I think it is time to stop doing further scientific investigation about "Bla". Everyone should find his own meaning of "Bla".

Last but not least I want to point out that the blog content above is absolutely tongue-in-cheek. I hope you believe that and no one is angry with me because of having to reply to my topic. :-)

Living my dreams

First of all I want to thank Karl for his brilliant topic once again and now I have the problem that I don't know what I shall say about his post.
Well, it's true I thought about an alternative (without any kind of technology) to my IT job more than one time, especially at the time when one of my PCs crashed - At that time I like to thank Billy for his 100 per cent reliable operating system :-). Anyway I haven't found anything I would prefer to or that would satisfy me more than my current activities. I always try to find work in a company, where a good working atmosphere exists and the tasks I have to do give me pleasure on the whole. That's the reason why I am satisfied with my current working life in general and so I am not really motivated to think about any other kind of work. I am just happy about how it is at the moment and should this situation change I will try to find something else, so that I get back my fulfilled life again.


Maybe it will be different in the future - Possibly I will live in a small bungalow somewhere near the sea with my partner and our dog, where we will enjoy the sunset every evening …


Sorry, I have forgotten that's real life, so then I will be retired and will surely not think about work any longer.

The Moloke Bar? Or business ideas the human race is currently not yet prepared for

First of all - Karl, what should I say - expectedly you gave us a topic on which everyone has to agonise. Slowly but surely your theories and ideas (starting with your elephant theory) are starting to change my world view.
But to go back to your current idea - well, why such a moloke bar shouldn't be a succesful business idea?
The offer of different milk based drinks in connection with the well dressed waitresses could be very interesting for a lot of people - also the artificial cow could be a good attraction. Only the point that you self want to serve drinks dressed in tight clothes should definitely be cancelled in your considerations! Furthermore you should serve at least few drinks also with alcohol (e.g. with rum - milk with rum would be very delicious in my opinion).

To get back to your other question concerning our ideas of doing something without any IT stuff - to be honest - I have no idea! To be more honest, maybe the current time could be a reason why I can't give a serious answer to that question.

Well let's start thinking... I want so start brainstorming to get to the ultimate idea - but there is only a weak breeze in my mind currently... bla... (sorry for that word :-) ).
Well, wouldn't it be possilble to start a extraordinary triumphant business by dealing with hammock's on the Caribbean Isles?
What about starting as a lei-binder at the Hawaiian Islands? (lei = typical flower garland)

Frankly speaking, this absolutely useless ideas maybe base on my current holiday imaginations. Maybe this is not the right time to create auspicious business startup ideas beside the whole IT area.

The Moloke Bar

My first intention was to write about the microwave-refrigerator-effect or the torch-that-vacuums-darkness-principle. Also ‘Poopsie, the little hamster’, a story inspired by Mario, was something I thought about, but then I remembered that my team members might not be too happy about those topics and I decided to choose a more conservative one.

Last English lesson we were asked what we would like to do or maybe dream about instead of developing software. That question reminds me of an idea I discussed with my cousin long time ago.

He owns an old and already closed discotheque and we fantasized to make a milk-bar out of it, called “Moloke”. Two things for all who haven’t seen the movie Clockwork Orange:

1. you should go watch it
   
2. is Moloke a synonym for milk there
   

So the basic idea is to open a bar where you can get all kinds of non-alcoholic drinks based on milk to provide one of the rare places you can go to without meeting drunken and violent people.

• So we offer
  
• Milk (hot/cold/with honey/sugared/soy/without lactose/…)
  
• Flavoured Milk
  
• Milkshakes
  
• Yoghurts
  
• Ice cream
  
• Cacao/Chocolate drinks (brown, black, white, flavoured)
  
• …

We know this is not enough and would not be the "mega-seller", but we plan also some other things to make people talk about our bar. The security guards will have to wear a pink dresses, there will be a synthetic cow you can milk by yourself (each udder has another flavour) and of course our fabulous waiters and waitresses. Sexy dressed they will serve you whatever you want and with a little luck you may see even me dressed in really tight clothes serving drinks….
Furthermore you can rent the bar for a whole evening. In that case we also could organize a “milk-wrestling” or “wet-milkshirt”-contests for you (with women or also men). Isn’t that great?

---

Now - one coffee later - I know that it isn’t great, moreover it is disgusting. Maybe this business idea would be more successful in Japan or China if they wouldn’t be so intolerant against lactose there...
Nevertheless I still like the idea in general.

So what’s your opinion on that bar or what would you do not related to IT-business? Opening an refrigerator-shop in the Sahara? Become a chilli-farmer in Mexico, or maybe a taxi driver in Barcelona? Catching sandworms in Hawaii or hunting Nessie at Loch Ness?
Ohhh, so many things to do…

Tuition fee again

Well, tuition fees - a very popular emotional theme in the public in the last weeks. We saw demonstrations of students on TV and nearly every day we read new articles in newspapers or in the internet about this tax.
I agree with our carinthian black StrongOak in the point, that I also understand a lot of students who are angry because the winner of the last election, the social democratic party has promised to distablish the tuition fees. However I do not agree in the thing´itself - to be against tuition fees. Naturally I have to say that I don't have lot of fun if I have to pay the the fees at the beginning of each semester, but I think the amount of money which each student should pay to support the public universities and their facilities financially is absolutely justifiable. Above all each student who is not able to pay the 363 euros each semester can make demands on financial support e.g. in the way of scholarships. I also don't think that since the initiation of the fees in 2001 people were not able to study because of not being able to affort the money for it.
Furthermore most of the other european have tuition fees too - and most of them are much higher then the fees in Austria.
Isn't it a bit strange? - On the one hand a lot of people are complaining about the bad equipment the universities have and about the too little number of good internationally accepted qualified professors we have in Austria - and on the other hand we are not willing to contribute a very small part for our education system?

Tuition fee

For me the social party made a big coupe, they try to teach the students an important lesson of life: Never trust politicians. In my opinion an experience which is worth the payment of the tuition fee for some years.
Feeling a little betrayed is ok; nevertheless it’s so typically for the Austrian politics. It really seems that it doesn’t matter what you are voting for, at the end everything remains as it was before. But I don’t want to start to politicise now because than I always but on risk to never stop and getting angry.
I personally have not really a problem by paying that fee but I know that we at campus02 are different from other students as we have a job and earn money on a regular base. For real full-time students this is often hard as they have to coordinate they work with their attendance at lectures and their exams. I guess that’s quite a challenge to find a company where this is easily possible; the only way is to make some small jobs. To that effect the salary is low as well.
Also I’m on the opinion that education has to be free of charge! Even when I personally think that the current fee is not too much in comparison what students have to pay in other countries and that everyone can afford them, they can’t be really fair as the social background has no impact on it. At least for those differences a concept must be created to make the tuition fees acceptable.

Tuition fee

I really agree with Hermann's opinion concerning the reactions of Austrian students on the reneged promises of the red part of our government. You can only hope that all disappointed electors will remember this at the next election, but which party you can elect then? - the range isn't really wide, at least for me.

In my opinion the worst thing (concerning tuition fee) our new government did, was to recommend doing welfare work for € 6,- per hour. I can't believe that anybody, who really needs the money, would do this work for this amount, if he/she can earn minimum twice this amount for giving private lessons in a "normal way". There can be no doubt that there are some students in Austria, who have to work, because they don't get their needed money from mummy or daddy and maybe also don't get a studentship, because they have for example changed their field of study or something else. As a result of their working activities or also because of the lack of places for practices in some studies they maybe will need more time for their course of studies and so they will have to pay the tuition fee longer - is this really fair?
Apart there from I can't imagine that children from "rich" parents will do social work, because they want to give something back to our society.

If you ask me it should be possible for everybody to study what he/she wants to and I belief that this isn't possible for some people because of tuition fee.

Tuition fee

Since the winter semester 2001, a tuition fee is collected for studies at public universities in Austria. In the last days some members of the new government have started even a discussion about an increase of this fee. They mentioned that all taxes should be adjusted to the inflation. Angry demonstrations of students and spray attacks in the last few days couldn’t convince our new government to change their mind and to keep the promise given before the election to disestablish this tax hated by nearly all students. Reading comments on the internet raising this topic show me the determination with which students are fighting against the perpetuation of the tuition fees.
Even though I’m not a declared objector of these dues I can understand the student’s displeasure because they feel deceived and got tricked due to the promises they heard on the hustings. From my point of view it is absolutely OK if in such situations students use their right to strike and show their dissatisfaction that way. Perhaps the politicians will remember at the next election that there are still people who want to bring the statements to mind given before polls.

Seasons greetings

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you and your families !!!

Another interesting topic

Last week I read in an Austrian Newspaper about health experts who explained that every day two to three people die of the effects of passive smoking. I was quite shocked about this statement because I’ve never thought that passive smoking is that dangerous. Of course I have heard about sequences of passive smoking and that some people operate extreme, almost militant against smokers but I’ve never thought about death in connection with passive smoking. I have never been such an aggressive non-smoker but according to such articles in newspapers maybe I should revise my opinion.
What attracted me in the past was following: while our health authorities are making inroads banning smoking on the workplace or in public buildings, visiting a restaurant, bar or cafe is still a “breathtaking” experience. For sure I can follow the arguments of some restaurant owners that restaurants are not public buildings and that people go there on their own and that a general smoking ban would be a "catastrophe” due to compact loss in sales, but, as we can see in Italy, the reverse is also true.
I completely agree with the man who wrote on a website that Austria is one of Europe's last refuges for smokers, still resisting the widespread smoking bans introduced and discussed in other EU countries. From my point of view it is time to think about changes.
So what I have done until now, and what I am going to do in the future too, is that I have preferred restaurants or bars with no-smoking areas or places with sufficient air condition systems in order to avoid exceeding impairment by smoke. But I must admit that I wouldn’t leave a bar or a restaurant where I feel good only because of some people smoking their cigarette, least of all if they are friends of me.

No smoke signals in bars anymore?

Well, what should I say? - It's thursday evening and I have to agonise over such a serious topic like bans on smoking in restaurants and bars. Well to get serious, if I am honest, I have no clear point of view referring to this theme.
First of all, yes Birigt - I am still a smoker, although I smoke meanwhile very rarely. So, I usually smoke not at all during the week. Also at home I never get the necessity to smoke. From the side of my physical or psychic desire for smoking a cigarette a ban on smoking in restaurants or bars should not be a problem for me. Furthermore I am not sure if it is good to ban smoking in such localities or not. It even seems to me that more smokers are for the prohibition of smoking in public buildings than non-smokers. Concerning this matter I often hear the statement of avowed non-smokers, that adults should not be placed under disability.
As far as I know this bans should guard non-smokers. Well, it is certainly correct, that it is very unhealthy if you have to smoke passive in pubs or bars - also for me as a smoker it is in some localities very displeasing, if my eyes start to burn, because of the incredible amount of smoke in the air.
Nevertheless it is not easy for me to imagine a future with bars, restaurants, discos and so on, without any smoke and without the possibility to smoke. Maybe there will start a new trend - many glasses with anti smoking chewing gum will be presented on the tables and boards and you will see a lot of people champing this chewing gums. Maybe lollipops are a better alternative for cigarettes? - Well it would look a bit weird if old fat harley bikers will sit in a bar with their beer and a strawberry lollipop... (sorry for my last thoughts - it is getting late ;-) )
Finally I have to say it is not very easy for me to position either for or against the bans on smoking. Referring to our health it would make sense, if such bans on smoking will get active. However any adult should decide for themselve if you want to smoke or not.
In this spirit - good night and good luck!

The e-cigarette (or: a less interesting answer)

First and foremost I have to say that I would be interested in typical problems of women. Maybe knowing their problems helps to understand them...

But back to the original topic: In general I’m a strict non-smoker. Ok, I have lost a breath on “Truth or Dare” several years ago but that’s it. You might think now that I am happy about the new law but honestly I do not really care. Most of my friends are smokers and they were allowed to smoke even in my car (they still would if they had managed not to make so many burn marks and throw out there cigarette stubs). So I think I became used to it already.
When they first discussed the possibility of the new law I remember a talk with my cousin who owns an inn and smokes as well. He was asking if they really could forbid him to smoke ‘at home’. Was some kind of funny for me but he was really serious about that topic.
So in my opinion separate rooms for smokers are enough if a clear separation is possible. In discotheques and bars I don’t believe that it makes sense at all.
But this is only my current opinion. I guess that I’ll change it rather quickly as soon as somebody I know or maybe I by myself suffer on cancer.

You might question yourself now “What has that text to do with the header?” Simple answer: Last Saturday I woke up switched on TV and saw an advertisement for Ruyan, the e-cigarette. A cigarette that doesn’t burn, you just smoke water steam and according to the advertisement it tastes rather similar to real cigarettes and not covered by the new lawsuit.

So if you are a smoker and believe that nicotine is the sweetest taste on earth and the new law will ruin your life, you should switch on the advertisement show next Saturday on ATV. Maybe you find a solution for your problem there.
By the way this is one of my favourite TV program in general (you know Horst Fuchs? Isn’t he great?).

Another interesting topic

So, now it's my turn to find a topic, which you maybe find interesting and can write a comment on it. Maybe I should mention first, that I am not really inventive concerning such things. I could write something about a typical problem of women. Okay, boys calm down again – it's not a good idea ;-).

Well, a topic that recently resounds throughout the land is the ban on smoking in restaurants, bars, etc. I know that I am the only smoker in our group and that you all as non-smokers probable agree to the concept of an extended smoking ban. Sorry, now I am no longer sure - Bernhard, do you still smoke?
Anyway, you will be surprised about the fact that I approve the idea of smoke-free restaurants & co too. I am a smoker indeed, but I am also able to exist without smoking. Nevertheless everywhere smoking is allowed and others smoke I do as well (some kind of peer pressure – you can also call it absence of self-control). Because of this a smoking ban would be a good possibility for me to reduce my consumption of cigarettes, which I have been able to distinctly cut down again, except at Campus02. In my opinion it's not fair to disturb other people with the stench of cigarettes and endanger their health. Frankly, I hate it when everything smells of cold smoke and therefore I not smoke at home, at least very rare and then not indoor. So, I don't really know why I smoke and I would like to stop it again, but there is anything that bars me from doing or rather not doing it. However I managed to stop smoking once (I have been a non-smoker for three years before I have started my study at the University of Applied Sciences) and I will manage it again (when I am pregnant at the latest).

By the way have you ever eaten a gateau that has been standing in a smoke-filled room? – Terrible!!!!

Hibernation for cars with diesel engine

Once upon a time there was a man, let’s call him Mister B., who got excited over everything. Even when politicians presented some extraordinary and well thought out proposals to keep our surroundings clean he was not able to contain himself and reacted very angrily and narcistic. He had a very old and battered knockmobile without any diesel particulate filter, without any equipment to prevent environmental pollution, sort of a real smut-catapult. He couldn’t accept the fact that such a jalopy should be parked at home when the threshold value for particulate matter emmission exceeded a declared limit. He blusterd, cursed and bitched about the persons in charge because of their incompetence and their being worldly innocent. He found hundreds, actually thousands, of arguments to confirm his point of view but a lot of them were far-fetched and completely inconsistent with the result of the lastest research concerning ecology.
Some day Mister B. walked through his hometown and saw a very handsome and beautiful girl standing on a podium in the middle of the park, talking about pollution control and how a lot of people refused to assume personal responsibility for our shared environment. Suddenly he was overtaken by the awareness that he was wrong and was ashamed of having such a position regarding ecology. He decided to become a better and ecology-minded man. Already the next day he went to the nearest Mazda-dealer and bought a Mazda6 with diesel particulate filter. Since that time his ecological conscience has been pacified and he is now able to sleep as well as I do.

@Bernhard: I have a free place in my car but unfortunately I am not in Graz every day L

Hibernation for cars with diesel engine

Well, interesting topic and I could not agree with Bernhard more!

We will also have a problem with our car, powered by a diesel engine and not having a diesel particular filter, when a ban on driving becomes reality. Thank God, that we live in the center of Graz and therefore we are not dependent on a car all the time. We just actually need it when we go to a supermarket once a week to buy all essentials for daily live (peanuts you anyway buy in the store round the corner), have to transport bulky and heavy things and in summer when we drive to our parcel on a lake near Gralla. This is also the reason for our automotive choice -> we have a Fiat Ducato with large capacity (it also provides enough room to sleep therein :-)).

So, what to do when we aren't allowed to drive with our car: In summer the problem doesn't exit and else in case of need we could do our shopping walking more often in a week, so that we don't have to carry heavily.
However I would like to know how this order should be controlled. I doubt that we have enough police to do this job.

It seems to me that the whole thing is just a new way for making money (producers of particulate filters, garages and the city treasury are already happy or rather will be when the first penalties are distributed), because the 'real producer' of particulate matter, as already mentioned by Bernhard, aren't kept in mind.

In conclusion I think we will be able to live with that, but I don't know what people who are dependent on their car and don't have enough money to refit their cars or buy a new one, or have a car for which no appropriate particulate filter exists (like Karl) will do when the ban on driving for diesel cars without a filter is enacted.

Hibernation for cars with diesel engine

It might be hard to believe - at least it is astonishing - but it’s true: I really share Bernhard’s opinions in all aspects.
I read that even the public transport companies do not know how to deal with the great increase of passengers from one day to another. May this is solved as well as the problem with the short-term parking zone. I’m really interested in that solution as I often use such zones during the night hours and it would be hard for me to go back to my car every 3 hours to buy another ticket in case that I’m not allowed to move it.
Another problem I see is, to inform the people when they are not allowed to drive. How will this work? I normally don’t read newspaper in the morning and I doubt that this would be already announced there. Also I hardly hear radio, only in my car but I’m normally driving around when I’m in there.
Nevertheless I tried to inform my self how much it would be to attach a particulate filter to my car, but I only found filters for the later versions of my car. The mail to the service centre is also not answered till now. So I played around with the idea to buy a new car powered by a petrol engine but there are some delivery problems with the car I want (the Audi R8 is available at autumn of next year earliest) and as it is not sure if those cars are allowed to drive next winter, I decided to stay with my old one…
No, seriously its not that I don’t care about the environment, but sometimes I feel already a little be tricked as a car owner. I work over 3 months a year just for my car – the original price of the car not included - just to keep it. Insurances, diesel, services and so on. The currently discussed fee for using the highway – only 5 cents per kilometre - would cost me another 780€ a year.
For me it was always kind of fun to drive around. Especially in the night, listening to some good music was relaxing. Somehow this changes now. Maybe I’ll take a day at a spa to relax in future as it might be cheaper.
I hope everybody can understand why I don’t like the idea of spending so much money for being not allowed to use my car especially as the benefit for the environment is rather questionable.

Hibernation for cars with diesel engine

Imagine you are a car powered by an diesel engine (hopefully by an very powerful one) and having no diesel particulate filter. If your home is Graz or its surroundings, you only have to hold out about 3 weeks. Then a wonderful, comfortable and stress-free period will start - you can't (have not to) drive every day (no, this is not because you are a Lada or a Mazda ;-) ).

To get to the point - we are no cars (what a pity) - but what I want to talk about is the period with possible bans on driving starting on december 15th. This bans on driving, affecting all cars powered by diesel engines without having a diesel particulate filter, will become effective after 5 days exceeding the threshold value for particulate matter emmission.
This rule affects me too, but I don't want to install a diesel particulate filter - not yet.
Well, for me there are a lot of things which should be discussed about this subject.
So statistics about the harming particulate matter emmission for people's health are mainly from the 80's (at least as per information from a big austrian driver club).
The next important point is, that only 14,9 percent of the emission are caused by road traffic - and there less than the half is by passenger cars. So the main culprits are the burning of houses (36,8 percent) and the industry (31,5 percent) (information by ÖAMTC). Why we are hearing nothing (or not much) about sanctions for them?
It seems that there only a hysteria about particulate matter emmission is created at car drivers.
In my opinion there are a lot of questions refering to this topic:
- Will there be a measurable improvement of the air quality, only if on such days some cars are not allowed to drive?
- Why there are no more sanctions against industrial firms?
- Why the lowering of speed limits on highways during the winter is also valid for cars powered by petrol engines (which are considered to be clean)?
Frankly speaking I await this new rule concerning the bans on driving very relaxed, although I think that there will be a pretty chaos. A lot of people will get problems on their way to their job, because of meeting problems:
- there are too little numbers of park and ride places
- the timetable of of the public transport companies are having a too small frequence
- and so on.

So I just look forward to the period after december 15th. Then we will see how we are able to deal with our new not existing mobility. (I'm sorry, I forgot, that there are also a lot of people who are not affected by this rule - my question to anyone of them: do you have a free place for a passenger left in your car? - then I might be reliant on you! :-) )

Elephant theory? what should I reply?

Well Karl, first of all - bla? I'm sorry that my first comment on your theory respectively your blog isn't very serious, but you can't expect serious comments on this topic.
To be honest, I don't have any whistles assembled on my car - and if you believe me or not, I had no dangerous situation with an across the street jumping elephant so far.
But maybe, I'm only a lucky fellow. :-)
So, but now let's get back to seriousness. (if it is actually possible when talking about a theory that every thing or every human being has the same size).
Maybe I have no creative mind, but I don't agree with your opinion or theory, that every human being has the same size. But if I go on thinking about this, I see also few advantages if your theory is true. If someone can enlarge his size by blowing up himself, the reverse case that someone is able to decrease his size also should be possible. People don't have to diet, if they want to look smaller, they only have to let the air out of their bodys. So... but I can try it again and again - it's impossible for me to change my size to get bigger and above all it is unfortunately also not possible for me to reduce my size (primarily my waist)... :-( In my opinion your elephant theory is to forget and so far so good - I only can remember my first comment: "bla?"

Let us declare following first. The world is round, water runs downhill, iron is harder than paper, if you have doubts only a short slap to the back of your head with both materials should convice you immediately, the fastest way between two points is the straight line, a curve can never be a straight line, the sun is bigger than the moon, the altitude of the sun has nothing to do with the intelligence of blog-writing students. Everyone knows everything. No way, you say and you are right. What I mean is that we know some things, but not all. Have the answer and the problem is solved. Right, well, maybe. The first part of problem solving is to determine what the problem is. Sometimes we are too quick in presenting answers, we belief in knowing the solution without close analysis, without having recognized the problem in all details. To be engaged in the whole details of a problem brings you to a level where you can decide whether it is a big or a small problem, whether searching for answers is indispensable to life or is to be equated with the story about the toppled down bicycle in China.
By the way, there are even some people who give us answers or try to give us answers to questions nobody on earth would raise them. As a result of this awareness and due to the fact that a story should have an end I can record following: I am more the follower of the solely true elephant theory: “You can eat an elephant one bite at a time”.

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well Bernhard, there are a couple of spaces you could fill .... start with that and don't write "bla" ;-)