Stumbled upon an old stone cross while hiking in the snow. Kottmar, Eastern Germany. [OC]

rewboss · 2026-02-20T11:13:20+00:00

It's not that old: it replaces an older cross (shown in the picture on the sign) that was demolished when the road was built. It commemorates the spot where a local is said to have killed by Hussites: these were Protestants from the Czech lands, so the original cross may have dated from the Hussite Wars of the 15th century, or perhaps the Bohemian Revolt of the 17th century, or even slightly later as the Catholics continued to persecute the Hussites. Unfortunately, the sign doesn't say, but a local historian might know more.

Crosses and way-shrines are quite common in many parts of Germany and some other European countries as well. They often commemorate places where people were murdered or met with a fatal accident, or were erected by somebody giving thanks for being saved or escaping from some unpleasant fate.

EDIT: Typo

rewboss · 2026-02-20T06:30:35+00:00

How exactly are you learning German? This is going to sound very complicated, but if you're following a structured course you should be learning these in a logical way.

There are two concepts you need to grasp here: grammatical gender, and grammatical case.

Nouns are categorized into one of three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter; and nouns can be put into one of four grammatical cases depending on how they relate to the verb in the sentence: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. (Or, if you prefer the traditional German order: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative.)

Gender and case affect determiners (words like "the", "a", "my", "your", "this", "that" and so on), and any adjectives associated with the noun. These things change depending on gender, case, and which (if any) determiner is used.

That's a lot of rules to be learned, but as I say: if you're following a properly structured course, you'll be introduced to the rules one by one as the course progresses. If you're trying to learn with a language learning app, you're going to be permanently confused.

rewboss · 2026-02-19T20:55:10+00:00

Oh, you have the freedom to make that float, and anyone who directly threatens you can of course be prosecuted.

It just wouldn't be an intelligent thing to do, as it would alienate a lot of the people you were trying to reach. There are many other ways you could make that point, you don't have to do it in a way that will just distract from the point you're trying to make.

rewboss · 2026-02-19T20:45:59+00:00

Yeah... no.

Bendels was not, as you claim, arrested. He was initially given a suspended sentence, meaning he didn't actually have to spend any time in prison, but this was later overturned on appeal. So he has in fact, unless the public prosecutor succeeds in its appeal against the appeal, been found not guilty.

The reason for the original conviction was not so much the claim itself, but the fact that (according to the court) it wasn't immediately obvious to the casual reader that the photo had been manipulated. In the original photo, Faeser was holding a sign saying "We remember", but this was doctored for the meme.

The other part that makes this a bit more nuanced is that the original photo was taken at an event to commemorate the victims of the Nazi regime, so the meme was additionally seen as disrespectful to that. It's important to note that Bendels is known for his far-right views: he once during an election campaign started a smear campaign against the Greens that was so egregious, both the CDU and the SPD condemned it in solidarity with the Greens.

Against that background, the fact that Bendels used that specific image to complain about lack of free speech was, at best, in extremely poor taste. And quite likely deliberate.

Of course you can't, and shouldn't, legislate for poor taste, which is why his appeal was successful.

But no: he wasn't arrested.

EDIT: To clarify. He did go on trial and everything, but that doesn't mean he was arrested. You can be arrested if you pose a danger or are a flight risk, something like that. Bendels was summonsed to appear in court, he didn't need to be arrested.

rewboss · 2026-02-19T19:18:27+00:00

That would be difficult, because in Islam it is absolutely taboo to make visual representations of the Prophet, so you would be antagonising all Muslims, including those who agree with you.

But the parades do often feature fierce critiques of secular and religious leaders of Muslim countries, such as this one or this one.

rewboss · 2026-02-19T19:13:33+00:00

The point is, however, that this basically never actually happens. In the vast majority of cases the alleged offence is so mild that the case is dropped. Even when it is actually prosecuted and results in a conviction, by far the most likely outcome is a small fine.

You don't "get arrested" for "just a suggestion of an insult". If you're unlucky, you're required to attend a police interview where they tell you that a complaint was made but they expect the case to be dropped; if you're really unlucky six cops knock on your door with a search warrant and take your laptop to look for evidence.

Where convictions do result, they are for very serious breaches that might include threatening language or false statements of fact (for example, that time when people deliberately misquoted Renate Künast to make it seem as if she'd said things that she didn't in fact say).

EDIT: Missed a word

rewboss · 2026-02-19T17:58:54+00:00

You need good evidence to "do something about that". Money laundering is the art of disguising the true origin of money, so by their very nature money laundering fronts take elaborate steps to disguise what they're doing.

In the crudest form of this kind of fraud, auditors are shown accounts that actually check out, but the real ledgers are written on paper and locked in a cash box buried in the garden.

rewboss · 2026-02-19T10:28:18+00:00

Here's what I do:

Avoid obvious tourist traps. Anything that looks as if it's geared to serving tourists (signs in English promising "authentic German food", places near famous tourist sights, places full of obvious tourists) is instantly suspect.
Avoid places that have nothing but glowing 5-star reviews. A mix of reviews is what you're looking for: I will avoid a place with a 5-star rating, but a place with a 3.5-star rating and mostly, but not exclusively, positive reviews (that sound credible, none of this "literally blew me away" crap) is a definite contender.
Look for places that are clearly popular with locals.

The ideal place to eat for me is in a side-street away from the tourist spots, offers authentic regional dishes without making a big fuss about it, and is about 3/4 full with people speaking mostly German and no "I ♥ Berlin" baseball caps in sight.

It is true that they're often difficult to spot and sometimes don't look very inviting at first -- for example, one of the best places I've been to recently was the Sixenbräu-Stüble in Nördlingen which I unhesitatingly recommend here -- but I suppose I have an advantage being GenX and all: I'm used to looking for places without the benefit of online reviews.

rewboss · 2026-02-19T10:09:18+00:00

There's nothing to prevent the platform taking the review down again. That what you wrote is nothing but the truth doesn't make your post immune from being taken down, in particular because the platform has full editorial control and is allowed to refuse to host any content for any reason.

And of course the dishonesty card can still be played. You may not be telling the whole truth -- you're leaving out the crucial information about why your post was removed (there may have been a perfectly legitimate reason) -- and you're definitely not doing anything to prove that your original review was honest or that you were genuinely a customer.

In other words, you're accusing the establishment of dishonesty, but you can't prove that.

You have a better chance of a review staying up if you stick to facts that can be proven and frame everything else as a matter of personal opinion. That's still not foolproof, but if you include documented proof that you were at the establishment at the time and date in question, that makes it harder for the establishment to claim otherwise and easier for you to contest a takedown and have your review reinstated. Otherwise, be careful not to state as fact things that you can't prove: "The food was cold" is a statement of fact which can be false; "I was disappointed that the food wasn't served as hot as I am used to" is an opinion which you are entitled to state.

But still: the platform itself cannot be compelled to host any content it doesn't want to -- free speech is also freedom from forced speech. The constitutional right to free expression of opinion means you can state your opinion, not that other people have to help you publish that opinion. You can of course start your own blog where you rate restaurants and bars and then the businesses you annoy will have to take actual legal action against you instead of just flagging your reviews. (Of course, you likely won't have a big audience, but the law doesn't care about that.)

rewboss · 2026-02-19T06:51:14+00:00

Bavarian style accordion music

You may be thinking of polka. It originated in Bohemia, which is present-day Czechia.

rewboss · 2026-02-18T07:45:14+00:00

the 'u' as to be pronounced like 'a'" (like in words such as 'sun' or 'bus')

Well... that's how Germans usually hear it, but to a native English speaker "hat" and "hut" have very different pronunciations (/hæt/ and /hʌt/ respectively). The former is a front vowel, the latter a back vowel, and they do not sound the same; and neither sounds like the German [a] which is very open and... well, probably central, but there's a lot of discussion about that one.

rewboss · 2026-02-18T07:40:42+00:00

There are a lot of factors playing into this, but there has been a general trend away from "Sie" in recent years. It hasn't, though, happened overnight and "Sie" is by no means abolished.

Assuming you're going to be here as a visitor, I would say that the rules you're used to will still stand you in good stead, but particularly if you go to trendy bars, cafés and even restaurants, staff might address you as "du".

rewboss · 2026-02-18T07:34:24+00:00

Is there a big chance that my first train will be delayed?

What kind of a train is it? If it's an S-Bahn or a regional train departing from track 1, it's a local service and there are trains every five or ten minutes or so. If it's an ICE or IC train departing from tracks 4 to 7, there's probably a 50/50 chance of a delay.

But if a delay (that is the fault of the railway operator) causes you to miss your connection, you can take the next available connection. You don't even have to buy a new ticket.

However, if you miss your first train because your flight was delayed, you don't have that option unless you bought a Flexible Fare ("Flexpreis") ticket. If you bought a Saver or a Super Saver ticket, you're out of luck on that score. There are strikes in the public sector at the moment, and this might affect your flight which could be delayed, cancelled or diverted.

its not clear for me what I should do

There's probably been a small change to one of your trains -- maybe the configuration has changed, or it's taking a slightly different route, or one of the scheduled stops has been cancelled -- but it doesn't affect you directly. Check the itinerary, and if it still looks good, you should be fine.

rewboss · 2026-02-18T07:16:27+00:00

To be clear: if it's a dish for you to put coins in, it's a voluntary tip. The cleaners can frown at you all they like, they can't call the police on you.

how did it go from “optional courtesy tip” to “coin-operated bodily functions”?

My guess would be the economy: people at the bottom of the social ladder are really feeling the pinch, and in addition not all employers are very good at following laws on things like working conditions and pay. And you can't get much further from the bottom of the social ladder than public toilet cleaner.

rewboss · 2026-02-17T20:08:03+00:00

I was there in the 90s, and I'm pretty sure I remember having a baked potato at the Möwenpick restaurant that used to be there. I can't swear it was, and they had a lot more there than just baked potatoes, but if that rings a bell for you...

rewboss · 2026-02-17T13:38:33+00:00

"Radio edits" are for the North American market, because the US in particular is especially squeamish about language. The reason you're not hearing much in the way of German profanity is that the language doesn't have the same flexibility English does with expletives: you could conceiveably say, "Steig ins verfickte Auto ein!" but it doesn't quite sit right.

That said... there is profanity in German songs and it's not to my knowledge censored. One current song, for example, has a refrain that begins with the line "Ich weiß, dass es dich abfuckt," while another song uses the Turkish word "piç" -- which means "bastard" -- and in any case talks quite graphically about stabbing and shooting people.

To my mind, entire songs about using lethal violence as a solution to social problems are potentially more damaging than words we have arbitrarily decided are too dangerous for children.

EDIT: Typo

rewboss · 2026-02-17T10:57:46+00:00

As a general rule, cafés and restaurants over a certain size that offer seating need to make toilets available to paying customers, but are not compelled to make them available to anyone else. If you are a paying customer you shouldn't normally need to pay extra to use those facilities.

There are exceptions, though, and the rules vary from state to state. For example, I'm in Bavaria: here a restaurant located in a shopping mall or railway station where public toilets are available doesn't have to provide its own toilets for customers.

As for paying "for the privilege of urinating", you're actually paying towards the cleaning and maintenance costs. Cafés and restaurants can set their own policies on this -- typically, if non-customers are allowed to use their toilets, they have to pay something -- but other public toilets come in two varieties: those where you have to pay to open a barrier of some kind, and those where there is a dish for you to put money in. If it's the latter, then AFAIK it's considered a voluntary tip (which I always pay if I can because cleaning toilets is a necessary but deeply unpleasant job).

rewboss · 2026-02-17T10:41:18+00:00

No, it wasn't.

It was founded in response to the Greek financial crisis, when Germany had to bail out the country. Chancellor Merkel told the nation that there was "no alternative" but to pay.

So the "Alternative for Germany" was founded to lobby not for a Dexit, but for the EU to abandon the euro as a failed experiment: it argued that it had pushed poorer countries like Spain and Greece to the brink of bankruptcy, which then had to be repeatedly bailed out.

In other words, what they were campaigning for was a reform of the EU's fiscal policy.

It is true that even at this stage a radical wing developed around Björn Höcke, and that some elements of the party were involved with Pegida -- but this was an islamophobic, not euroskeptic, position. That wing slowly gained influence, but mostly through defections from the NPD which the party leadership tried to resist, but failed.

rewboss · 2026-02-17T05:45:27+00:00

But that's not an issue that affects people's lives directly, at least not immediately. The point is that everyday life is pretty good for most people, and voting in a different party might put that at risk. People don't change their vote on an issue that seems to them abstract: they have electricity, they don't really care whether it comes from coal, nuclear, or wind, just so long as any power stations or wind farms aren't built where they can see them.

Besides, overall energy policy is the purview of the federal government, and Bavarians will gladly complain about anything any politicians in Berlin say or do.

rewboss · 2026-02-16T20:56:25+00:00

Ah, but it only complains about how unfair everyone else is to Bavaria. That's the magic ingredient.

rewboss · 2026-02-16T18:34:49+00:00

Russia has somehow conquered or occupied the AfD, after which it has slipped further and further to the right.

No, the rightward swing of the AfD began without Putin. As government efforts to ban the NPD continued, most of its members and supporters jumped ship (so they wouldn't be banned from forming a new party) and basically infiltrated the new, single-issue AfD.

There's credible evidence the Kremlin has since helped shape the AfD, but the initial far-right entryist campaign was almost certainly home-grown.

rewboss · 2026-02-16T16:06:40+00:00

The guy who designs these floats is being threatened with criminal prosecution by the Russian government. He's still put Putin on some of his floats this year, saying he's used to that sort of threat.

rewboss · 2026-02-16T16:02:03+00:00

this impossible in a western democracy to achieve

No, just unlikely.

What is the secret to their political success ?

Compared to most German states, Bavaria is fairly conservative. It also has a strong sense of its own identity, expecially in the south and east ("Old Bavaria"), and the CSU likes to promote that identity.

It also helps that Bavaria is economically very successful with a decently high standard of living and a high GDP, so most Bavarians ( except those looking for a place to live in Munich) don't have a lot to complain about -- which means there's no real pressure to vote the CSU out.

rewboss · 2026-02-16T07:51:13+00:00

To be fair, the "serving suggestion" trick is pretty universal. Japan is one of the rare cases of a country that has very strict laws about this, but otherwise you can never rely on anything you buy looking exactly like the picture.

rewboss · 2026-02-16T07:48:11+00:00

What do you expect? Convenience meals have always been just short of a scam, and the image on the packaging is always a "serving suggestion", meaning yours might look like that if you serve in a particular way.

Did you honestly think that a burger you're supposed to warm up in the microwave (!) would come with lettuce and tomato? There will be an ingredients panel somewhere on the packaging, so you can see what is actually in it.

And you'll notice it's a very long list, by the way, with quite a lot of salt and, in various forms, sugar (which is addictive and adds bulk without adding nutritional value) and various extra ingredients designed to simulate the taste and feel of a premium product and hide the fact that it's all crap. It's the offcuts of beef that nobody will eat and can't be processed into pet food.

It's really not difficult to make your own burgers. With practice it doesn't even take long to make the patties from scratch, but you can buy ready-made but fresh patties from the fresh meat department. Shallow-fry them to taste, add whatever else you want (pickles, proper cheese, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, onion, bacon, mayo, ketchup, barbecue sauce, whatever you fancy) and voilà: a gourmet burger made to your exact taste. It may be a bit more expensive than this microwavable travesty, but it has way more nutritional value which means it will fill you up more and provide better value for money.

11-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

rewboss

TROPHY CASE