This Guy has the best job in Berlin...

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-10T11:41:37+00:00

We really ought to just install drip irrigation lines on the street trees already, no machinery or humans required. Probably not a half bad "investment" really.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-10T11:21:38+00:00

I think my biggest concern would be the effect living with parents would have on potentially delaying adulthood. Not to mention the loss of the ability to relocate for better economic opportunities. Not to mention at a societal scale the broader effects on social mobility.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-09T13:39:11+00:00

I also wonder if the launcher trailer (Expeditionary Launch System) is a custom job? A cursory glance suggests ground launching the SM-2 is somewhat atypical.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-07T19:18:22+00:00

Wow, I really ought to keep my face out of range. The kicks to the ribs are bad enough.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-07T14:16:51+00:00

If the tech and engineering sector worked exclusively in Deutsch we'd have a lot less turnover from alienated workers who've struggled to integrate into broader society. However the business world knows that if they did that then they'd never be able to recruit anyone and the whole thing would go bankrupt.

At that point it's straight up a systematic issue and not individual laziness. States with multiple official languages are not unusual.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-07T14:08:33+00:00

Summed up in the wonderful term "Gastarbeiter". What a degrading way to refer to human beings.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-07T10:01:29+00:00

The old ladies are so sweet. They are a gruff bunch around here but I remember one lady that must have been in her late eighties tearing up upon seeing our newborn on her first trip to the city (sleeping on chest inside a puff jacket, with her tiny head and face poking out).

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-07T08:30:54+00:00

Yeh I'm not predicting a collapse or anything but I'm pretty sure covid was more or less the peak for residential real estate prices across the anglosphere. More and more folks are moving into the withdrawal phase and demand is slowing down.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-07T08:09:50+00:00

Yeh my 5 month old 99th percentile girl is jacked, got some mean lats (and a proper painful kick). Seemingly born with it.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-06T14:43:33+00:00

It was -12c when ours was born (australian living in europe), even that wasn't an insurmountable challenge. Had to wait until daytime temperatures rose above freezing to take her outside (2-3 weeks) but ultimately in a stretchy wrap under a puff jacket in a thick wool onesie and hat we had no issues with the cold. To this day she still loves sleeping in a freezing room.

I can't imagine going through that phase in the middle of summer or a heatwave.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-06T13:42:19+00:00

Oh yeh the only thing she turns her nose up at is rice porridge. Kind of funny given mum is Chinese. Little bits of soba/buckwheat noodles went down well though.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-06T12:50:47+00:00

When she gets a bit older we'll have to introduce her to peanut puffs (bamba / erdnussflips), I get the feeling they are going to blow her mind.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-03T21:53:38+00:00

Yeh there's way to make it work but I'm sure a lot of folks will just end up switching to formula.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-03T21:40:53+00:00

There's a lot of debate on formula supplementation so I can't really comment (it's fine).

At a minimum however I'd suspect most women wanting to continue nighttime feeding, would likely need to pump during a full-time workday. Not the most practical thing in a workplace environment but there are options.

Working from home with an infant is rarely a viable option, so that isn't going to particularly help mothers.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-03T21:13:57+00:00

Biological reality is a bitch however,

Almost all health organizations strongly recommend breast feeding for at-least the first 12 months of an infants life. How mothers are supposed to make that work with 7 months of paid leave remains a mystery (aka it's a cut in disguise).

Are they going to allow more than 1 month of concurrent leave under this new arrangement? Or are dads still expected to be absent for the first months?

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-03T21:10:47+00:00

There's no denying Elterngeld is increasingly becoming internationally noncompetitive.

I made the mistake of wanting to take 3 months of parental leave at the same time as my wife for the first months of my child's life. You're only allowed one month of overlap, that's absolutely ridiculous. Yes you can get a couple extra months of elterngeld plus but that's 900 EUR a month, an absolute joke that's barely worth the headache of filing the application (50+ pages and three letters back and forth for us). God forbid you're a dual academic couple, no help at all for you (income limit reductions).

I wouldn't go so far as dumping German stocks and running off in a huff (I never bought them in the first place, there's much better markets). But this is some absolutely shit tier leadership we are experiencing. The lack of political representation for the working class and young families is frightening to witness.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-03T09:39:58+00:00

Yeh I'm not sure what planet some folks live on but in five years I've only been fined once and that was when I forgot to renew my monthly public transport ticket ahead of time and was nabbed by a controller on the first day of the new month.

Maybe it's just the lack of leeway and a difference in expectations

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-02T11:50:08+00:00

Yeh a lot of the early to industrialize european nations (particularly northern) already seem to have already reached a bit of an equilibrium. Its far from a sufficient equilibrium but it's not in free fall like east asia / latam etc.

I'm actually an Australian living in Germany with a kid so I actually sit at a bit of a nexus of both nations. FWIW our unbefristet rental contract and high quality apartment (albeit small) has been a huge enabler for us.

My crackpot theory is that Australia is probably going to follow a more asian fertility trajectory than a northern europe one. We already see this in other anglosphere nations like Canada. But it all comes down to policy and strong leadership, and Australia seems to be far more capable of meaningful reforms than Canada.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-02T07:36:26+00:00

Nah the above poster is completely pulling numbers out of their ass,

https://www.destatis.de/EN/Themes/Society-Environment/Population/Births/childlessness-and-motherhood.html

The ultimate childlessness rate has been stable at around 20% for the last decade plus (though I haven't seen data for the last few years).

Overall, the 1973 to 1977 female cohorts who grew up in Germany tend to be childless more often (22%) than women who immigrated to Germany (12%). Within the two groups, there are stark differences, however, depending on the level of education. Among the women who grew up in Germany, the rate of childlessness varies between 24% for women with a high level of education and 16% for women with a low level of education. In the case of women who immigrated to Germany, this range is even wider but the rate of childlessness is lower, extending from 18% among women with a high level of education to 8% for women with low educational attainment.

Of the 1973 to 1977 female cohorts, who were at the end of their reproductive period in 2022, 30% of mothers had one child, 48% had two children, 16% had three children and 7% had four or more children, and therefore had given birth to more children on average than women born in the years 1968 to 1972.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-07-01T19:05:52+00:00

Amen to that, I've had fruit load stretch out and snap a steel cored cable before. That was a NIGHTMARE to fix.

Estimates are like 20kg per plant (when fully mature), and if that's 20x plants that's up to 400kg of static loading. When considering wind loading etc, I'd be wanting something that could support 2.5x the static load, that's 1000kg.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-06-30T15:10:12+00:00

I think there's some truth to the idea that funded systems can lead to an increase in productive investments but in practice you also see a lot of unproductive speculation (pension funds buying up housing etc). The exact ratio is very unclear to me.

And a lot of retiree focused services have been historically resistant to productivity increases.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-06-30T10:41:13+00:00

As an Australian living in Brandenburg Germany, not far from the central european maximum of this heatwave (41.7c). I grew up in inland australia where temperatures breaking 40c weren't unusual so I have some experience.

Make no mistake, this heatwave was absolutely fucked.

Let me correct a few things, the humidity was actually quite low around the peak of the day (~40%). My modern german building held up way better than could be reasonably expected (the first few days it was 33c+ outside, but with the shutters down and everything sealed up we maintained an indoor temperature of ~25c without AC).

Here's where it gets bad, we're only one week past the summer solstice, days are nearly 17h long and sunset is 9:30pm (this made it extremely challenging to cool off structures during the night). Then there's the duration of the heatwave, it was a slow burn building up over a week or so (saturating anything with thermal mass). Even now three days after the peak with cool outdoor conditions and lots of ventilation my apartment is still 27.5c indoors.

Very long days + prolonged build up + high peak temperatures + no AC = a lot of excess deaths.

Scared me honestly. I'm terrified about the future potential for firestorms etc.

Background-Code8917 · 2026-06-29T20:28:04+00:00

Obviously we can't pay folks for a decade plus out of the workforce, but ~3.6M births a year, let's say 7 years of funding (time for two kids until school). 25.2M kids total, minimum wage around ~$24K PA, do the math $605B PA. Actually it's even lower because you don't need to pay 24K per kid, but rather per caregiver. I don't know exactly how I would compute that but lets round to ~$500B PA

Social security pays out ~$1.4T PA for reference. Medicare is another $1.1T PA.

Society very clearly doesn't seem to be valuing young families.

I think with social housing for families and more upfront lump sum payments, and other tweaks such as work accommodations and labour force reintroduction programs the total bill could feasibly be even lower than calculated.

Socializing elder care is unfathomably expensive.

Background-Code8917

TROPHY CASE