Archive for the 'German' Category
8W8: Taking Globalization and the Internet to the next Level
Yesterday evening in Munich I listened to a speech from the CEO of Boston Consulting Group Hans-Peter Bürkner about "globalization", an issue that has my natural affinity. Yet, the speech as such I found rather "moderately novel" as its main lines of thought were put forward by Thomas Friedman already 3 years ago in “The World is Flat”. Especially, Mr. Bürkner's part about the role of governments was more of wishful thinking than a reality-based account on the true interests of such a body which is depending on a free electorate.
Anyway, in case someone is interested on more vision and foresight in terms of "what's next" on the global scene, being addressed from an entirely different angle in the shape of a novel, I happily recommend 8W8. The author is Ralf Hirt whom I met in January after moderating the India-panel at the DLD-conference in Munich. It's instrumental to understand the background of Ralf to become clear on both his motivation and insight: He has held leadership positions in the internet industry for a decade and has lived all over the world, in his home town Stuttgart, Hong Kong, Sydney, London and currently New York. In crossing these two lines of experience extrapolating their status-quo plus visioning with lots of foresight, he conceived his first book 8W8. It is worthwhile mentioning that the book is indeed fiction, yet the concept of a "new world modelling engine" are not so far away that this book would fall into the category of "science fiction".
Well, what is it about? The storyline deals with 15 high calibre people from of the "Golden Sky", a community committed with the aspiration to change the world for the sake of good. These 15 people come from a whole array of diverse backgrounds, like Oskar Feller, an editor for a leading internet magazine, Maria who is a doctor developing high-scale programmes to fight HIV/AIDS, Priyanka from India who is an IT-crack working for a global media company or Emanuel, a philosopher and Taoist who has been named for the Nobel Prize. All the characters of the story are here on the 8W8-blog. This group of people is hosted by Winston Chee, a billionaire internet-entrepreneur from China in his island on Hawaii EA-RA.
In this serene and secluded environment, the 15 brains spend a whole week picking each other brains and inspiring each other to solve one crucial problem: How to make the interrelations of economies and people visible in a sort of virtual map-overlay on top of the existing geography. What they come up with is the new world modelling engine "8W8" which can be pictured as a virtual helicopter the "pilot" would use to fly over the terrain of the earth to make these invisible connections visible. Delving even deeper into the concept it transcends into a new form of radical constructivism as the vision the pilot would receive on his dashboard would be a crossover between absolute measurable truths and his set of values/selective perception. What the pilot would get to see is both on “earth level” and on “sky level” the “volumes” of a whole set of parameters. The former range from hard factors like population, GNP, metrics on infrastructure, public institutions to innovation, the latter comprise for example metrics for democracy, human rights, quality of living, level of terrorism and such.
Yet, what is more that beyond statistics on GNP or PPP which are available as top-level data today, 8W8 equally entails a bottom-up approach from the level of the “element” (individual) which will aggregate in “streams” into “Global Space Tribes” according to its interest, e.g. “MBA Jazz Wireless Tribe (MBAJWT)”, “Catholic Fast Food Blue Collar Single Mother of Four (CFFBCSMF)” or the “Taoist Tribe (TT)”. These become even more interesting if one looks at actual vertically positioned Web 2.0 platforms which either try to bring a community of like-minded people together like “Dogster” or provide a tool to define and organize a target group of any shape like Ning. Yet, both of these platforms have in common that they require someone to become a “member” by “registration” and do all these various steps actively online. In that context I do believe that there will be not in too far future a kind of “ambient computing” where the unconscious behaviour patterns will be able to bring people in a meaningful way together. Hence, aggregating this sort of behaviour and making it somehow visible is not that far away from 8W8’s concept of the “Global Space Tribe”.
One thing I had hoped throughout the whole story to occur, is a bit more of conflict, friction, sex: As Oskar and Theresa, a computer scientist, seem to come along very well, I waited for that forbidden kiss, the clandestine quickie to happen under the waterfall of perfectly pristine EA-RA. Not for the sake of sensation, but to portray people regardless of their brains and social status when they become most human: emotional to the extent of irrational. The figures appear prim and proper, and at best tease each other lightly in order to surely succumb to perfect harmony. Irrespective of that, what I liked from a storytelling point of view is the ability to portray a broad set of global citizens who find a common denominator to discuss a topic, be focussed in defining a goal, accepting each other’s variety of viewpoints, being non-judgemental and fully embark on the beneficial concept of diversity.
Altogether, I liked the book a lot as it is coherently able to explain the road ahead in globalization by the force of the internet and the road ahead of the internet by the force of globalization. What gave me food for thought via the concepts of “Global Space Tribes” was the decreasing influence of governments, because free people in a free world are able to cross-pollinate their ideas and aspirations regardless of the strangulating rigidity of what we call a country today. For someone like me who happily articulates his despise of today’s governments, the vision of 8W8 is one which deserves active pursuit.
Who is interested in buying the book, Amazon has it, either in print or for the Kindle.
My favourite Indian Song: “Bulla Ki Jaana Maen Kaun”
I remember when I heard this song for the first time in the back-seat of a car driving through Mumbai, it's humid heat, it dusty streets when hardly any traffic moves forward, I was taken in immediately. It came from a CD which I understood was from the same artist, and as distances in the speed of snail in Mumbai provide ample time, the song came at least three times. I must have heard it a few times on random occasions, but never "got a grip on it". Untill I recently bought a compilation of "Top 50 Bollywood Songs". And as I lost it, so I found it. "Bulla Ki Jaana Kaun", by the Indian artist Rabbi Shergill. My phantom pain of missing out on the songs got more than alleviated by the additional detection of the video on YouTube. Here it is, and it is as stunning as the song, it's very much like India, it's kind of also a bit of "my India".
"Bulla Ki Jaana Maen Kaun" actually means "I don't know who I am" and pays tribute to the famous Urdu poet Bullae Shah, a beacon of peace between rivalling Muslims and Sikhs in Punjab. It's worthwhile noting that the poet wrote at the beginning of the 19th century, yet his message hasn't lost anything from its relevance today. In sync with the lyrics, the video shows what the mystery of India is about. Many people, different people who in spite of their various background form a "unity through diversity" as writer and diplomat Shashi Tharoor explains in his fluid book "The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone". And the pre-eminent statement "I don't know who I am" serves much less a confession of one's disorientation or, worse, lack if identity than the acknowledgement of one's humility during the pressing quest for truth.
Hope you like the song, too, along with the video, the entry-scene of the magic Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay, with it's fast cuts, it's deliberate blurs, it's changing places, colours and faces. In all the possible abstraction of a song, its whole mood reflects precisely that India is a never-ending stream of discovery. Where now knowing who you are, is both a starting point and and end in itself.
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Flying with the “Dead Head” on Lufthansa 754
Yesterday I had a very inspiring flight with Lufthansa 754 from Frankfurt to Bangalore, because my seat-neighbour was a "dead head". What sounds grim to the uneducated ear (like mine was till yesterday as well), is a common expression in the aviation industry. It means that a flight attendant is on a flight (sometimes even in uniform) as a passenger, because this flight serves as a transportation flight to her next mission where he or she will be on duty. The reason yesterday was that there was no paying guest in the First Class, hence Lufthansa kept it empty, but therefore was coping with a surplus of flight attendants. Yet, for the return flight of the same crew which will leave tomorrow morning from Bangalore to Frankfurt on LH 755, there again the plane is fully loaded, hence the flight attendant is required.
Another thing I can assure: My "dead head"-neighbour was very much alive and very friendly, too. And as I always want to know it all, I poked her with tons of question which she patiently answered. How the crews constantly change and they have been trained to work together well in each and every constellation, but that for a longer trip of a few days team-spirit would kick in which would even make a difference for the better. So, it's basically like in any other profession.
What I really appreciated was her commitment which she had towards her company which was true and genuine, and not just a show to please me. And my own observation with Lufthansa's service overall is really positive, and especially it has improved over the last 10 years. In the vast majority, the crew expels a solid German charm which is perfectly fine: It's not subservient, good so, but I'd describe it as friendly, fast and efficient. As the service on board is improving, the gap to the service level on the ground (especially in Germany) is widening. What I have experienced there already from the check-in counter to the desk in the lounges was abysmal.
When I asked my neighbour what the two shittiest incidents were in her 10 years of flying, she mentioned two. The second-shittiest was a flight from San Francisco to Frankfurt when a passenger got a heart attack. Thanks to the defibrillator on board, a doctor who happened to be on board, managed to re-animate the person and recommended a safety-landing to bring the patient to intense care on the ground. The plane was already somewhere at the east coast of Canada and the nearest airport was prohibitive because of bad weather. An other, further airport seemed possible, the plane was in descend, the captain advised the crew that due to bad weather and a short runway that it should prepare for a "safe landing". The weather was that bad that in the final approach, however, the captain decided for a go-around with next destination Reykjavik in Island. At this point the patient who scratched the end of his days by a narrow margin started to argue with the crew.
Not what one might expect, that he was scared for his life and why the plane didn't land to get him to hospital. By contrary, he insisted he was fine, he needed to go to Frankfurt, because he would miss his connecting flight. Yet, the pilot clearly told him "no way", first because the doctor said differently and second, by now the plane had burnt so much fuel through the missed approach that it had to land for refuelling anyway. In Reykjavik all went fine, the ambulance took the patient and the plane could continue to Frankfurt within one hour.
Clearly number one of my neighbours bad events happened on October 7th, 2002 when a Boing 747 from Lufthansa in marginal weather conditions was set for approach to Mexico City airport. The crew on the flight deck got a warning from the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) about another plane which would intersect the course of their flight. Air Traffic Control (ATC) gave instruction NOT to climb what was exactly what TCAS commanded. As the planes got closer and closer, the pilots - according to their training - decided to ignore the ATC, follow the TCAS and pull up. My "dead head" sat on the left side of the plane looking out of the window when the Jumbo went into a steep climb, just at that moment the clouds cleared up for a moment and she saw the other plane, an Airbus from Mexicana Airlines, under-flying the Jumbo at 30 meters distance. Pretty shitty picture, isn't it. I found an online-source about the incident here.
The investigation found out 1.5 years later that it was the clear fault of Mexican Air Traffic Control and the pilots had saved the lives of their own 388 plus 120 people of the other plane through their disobedience. Interesting I found the smart way of my neighbour to cope with the incident: She wanted to come over it, deliberately requested the same flight again and for landing asked the captain to watch the landing from the jump-seat from the cockpit. After seeing how this landing could go smooth and safe, she managed to mentally tick it off once forever, and continue enjoying her work as she had always done.
Open Letter to Mr. Rajiv Memani (Ernst & Young India)
On February 7th 2008, during the fantastic EO University in Delhi (I wrote about it here), Mr. Rajiv Memani, Country Head of Ernst & Young India gave a presentation which was insightful. Yet, the aftermath of that presentation was it it own way insightful, too, and I thought I write a few open lines to him.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Mr. Memani,
On February 7th 2008 you really excited a whole crowd of committed members of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) with your appearance at our University in Delhi. You held a profound, analytical and highly competent presentation about the state of the Indian economy, its opportunities and its risks. For me (as I wrote on this blog ) and for many others it was one of the highlights of our learning programme. And, as entrepreneurs, we understood well that you were not just showing up for charitable reasons, but certainly also as the leader of Ernst & Young India. To describe company as a "for profit" would be stating the obvious.
So your company certainly took a good decision to act as the lead sponsor of the event, with your logo all around and a desk to start a conversation with one of your employees which could at some point lead to an engagement for your firm. The platform you selected for this kind of activity was without doubt in marketing terms "highly targeted" towards your potential client group.
Yet, what struck me more than strange is your personal and your organizational behaviour in the aftermath of the event. You held a presentation with insightful Power Point Charts where you promised to share them with whoever would require them. He or she should just drop you an e-mail. Smart move, unassuming and purpose-driven: permission marketing at its best. Also, you and I had a brief chat after your presentation, exchanged business cards and shook hands with the mandatory, easy-going "let's keep in touch".
Sadly, unlike Ratan Tata's famous words "a promise is a promise", your promise doesn't seem to bear any meaning. A week later, I wrote you a friendly e-mail reverting to your promise politely asking for the presentation. That I did not get any reply, did not diminish my perseverance. Hence, I addressed the super-helpful staff of EO who had coordinated your appearance. From the messages I received from them, I have not the slightest doubt that they tried everything to contact you directly as well as members from your staff. No reaction, nobody ever returned their calls and e-mails.
Isn't that ironic, Mr. Memani, that your organization spends significant money on customer acquisition on such an event, you spend your valuable time there - all for the purpose to build relationships with potential clients. And then right when when this purpose starts to materialize, there is just a black hole that swallows all the matter.
I wonder what I should make out of that. From any standpoint of business reason, you are clearly part of a dysfunctional organization which is counterproductive to its own alleged objectives. That you in your responsibility might not have the time to reply personally would be more than understood, but obviously there is the inability to establish and run a proper staff around you. Can it be that the headline of the Financial Express "Rajiv Memani ascends the EYI Throne" was by accident so right, because you are sitting in your ivory tower, detached from operations and devoid of the ability to lead by example?
Anyway, Mr. Memani, let's not make a diplomatic crisis out of that, I'll keep your presentation in good memory, yet felt the inner urge to share these thoughts as a sort of peer-to-peer feedback with you.
With best regards
René Seifert
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ADDITION on April 5th 2008:
Thanks Dima for your comment and moreover for sending me this dearly sought-after precious asset :-) As I try to the best of my abilities to stay fair: The presentation from Mr. Memani and Ernst & Young was really excellent. And potentially my intrinsic statement that the follow up on the event was generally crap an exaggeration. I also of course don't assume at all that there was any deliberate "discrimination" between Dima and me. Yet, my description of events on my end was still accurate. So overall, I'd suggest, "shit happens" and case closed.
On another line I find it a fantastic example of the power of blogs as a conversational medium with all its opportunity to fill gaps, straighten things out and make adjustments on the truth.
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UPDATE on July 30th 2008
The events around this blog post don't stop neither online nor offline. 10 days back I got a request (not from Ernst & Young) to take this post down which I declined. Given the internal nature of that discussion, I feel unable to share its details here.
However, this particular blog post is a phenomenal example of what Clay Shirkey's book "Here comes Everybody" is dealing with: The power of blogs to make the invisible visible and through that the irrelevant relevant. Again, this mentioned presentation is not the navel of the world, but still interestingly this blog post does evoke action. Yesterday, I received a tremendously friendly e-mail from an an associate of Ernst & Young who wrote that he was "truly shocked" to learn that I had not received the presentation. In addition, he was so friendly to send it right across to me attached to his mail. For this my deepest most professional and most respectful thanks.
What happened by this blog post? A more or less vivid narration of an event mixed with my personal opinion received not just attention, but evoked action. For me personally, the case is closed for a long time with no bad blood or anger whatsoever against Ernst & Young. As I admitted in the paragraph above, I believe that the choice of my words - albeit true in facts - has been overly harsh. At the same time I believe, constantly updating on the "developing story" everybody involved becomes a winner: Obviously me for receiving the presentation :-) but over all Ernst & Young: Nothing else than the bottom-up commitment of smart associates can better refute my notion that their employer was a "dysfunctional organization".
Closing the Skiing Season in St. Moritz
Happy that I made it this season at all. To my own disgrace this was my only skiing occasion in this winter season, but at least it was a very good one. Almost as a kind of tradition, by now the 3rd year in a row a few EO members made it again to St. Moritz which undoubtably is one of the most beautiful skiing areas in the world. Both from what mother nature in terms of skiing possibilities has to offer and the culinary experiences around, like here us four Thomas, Anju , Peter and me …
… sitting for lunch at El Paradiso and enjoying the magnificient panorama behind the Swiss flag.
Some more pictures of the events are here on Flickr. We had fun on the slope, fun at dinner and also inspiring conversations where Peter for example rightly said that the beauty of EO was that you can really be who you are and don't have to play a role which supposedly is more conformist to whatsoever restrained norms. I fully agree.
So also this year it was a real worthwhile experience, hope that next year it will happen again. At the end another experience where I guess I grew out of doing it myself, yet watching it nevertheless was fun. Trying to cross a water pool at 2400 meters altitude at zero degrees Celsius, but not necessarily always succeeding … :-)
Starkbier-Gaudi im Löwenbräukeller z’Minga
Des war zünftig. Des war a Gaudi. Und mir san mir. Mir samma gestern aufm Starkbier g’wesen:
- Der Munzinger
- Der Seifertinger
- Der Strahmanninger
- Die Wehrmanningerin (auch “Wehrfrau”)
Und Bayern is schee. Da hob i gestern fei scho g’merkt dass der Inder bei der bayerischen Tradition gar nix ko. Und de der ganze Scheiß mir dera Globalisierung und dem Zeigs ko mi fei kreuzweis am Arschus lecken. Wei mir san mir. So war es, so ist es und so wird es immer sein!
Und da hamma no a paar Buidln g’macht.
Petition: Ja zur Jungen Welle auf UKW! www.jungewelle-auf-ukw.de
Servus zusammen,
der Bayerische Rundfunk, mein ehemaliger Arbeitgeber und im Grunde ein wertvolles Gewicht in der deutschen Medienlandschaft, verpennt in bodenlos indolenter Weise die Zukunft während sich die Betonköpfe im BR-”Politbüro” ohne Rücksicht auf Hörerinteressen in ihrem Elfenbeintum verstecken. Der Skandal besteht darin, dass es Berufskarrieristen im BR aus purem Opportunismus ablehnen, eine neue und fertig konzipierte Jugendwelle auf UKW freizugeben. Dadurch wird jungen Menschen in Bayern die Kompetenz des BR in journalistischen Themen und in einer zielgruppengerechten Aufbereitung systematisch vorenthalten und gleichzeitig aufstrebenden Bands die so wertvolle Nachwuchsförderung versagt.
Damit wäre der Bayerische Rundfunk übrigens auch die einzige Landesrundfunkanstalt in Deutschland, die es nicht schafft eine eigene Jugendwelle zu etablieren. Als jemand, der ich mit den Programmen des Bayerischen Rundfunks auf unserem kleinen braunen Küchenradio groß geworden bin, finde ich so etwas ziemlich schmal. Die Hörer des BR werden nicht nur immer weniger. Sie werden auch immer älter. Letztlich muss die Frage nach “wofür noch Gebühren zahlen” auch von dieser Perspektive her erlaubt sein. Eventuell gelingt es aber, die senilen Bremser in der “Anstalt” noch umstimmen, wenn man sich an dieser “Grassroot”-Petition beteiligt: www.jungewelle-auf-ukw.de
Wenn ihr das Thema auch für Euch relevant haltet, würde mich freuen wenn ihr es ebenso tut und Nachricht entsprechend verbreitet.
Ein schönes Wochenende
René
Auswandern und Demokratieproblem
Möchte mich ganz herzlich für die zahlreichen Mails nach dem Spiegel-Artikel bedanken, ebenso wie die zahlreichen Ermunterungen. Was mich aber erfahrungsgemäß fast noch mehr freut, sind kritische Töne, insbesondere wenn sie vor einem vergleichbaren Lebenshintergrund ausgesprochen werden. So schreibt ein von mir hoch geschätzer Expat-Zeitgenosse aus Bangalore, der namentlich nicht genannt werden möchte, zu meiner Deutschland-Kritik:
“Selbstverstaendlich bist Du, mit Deiner in Deutschland genossenen Bildung, hier erfolgreicher als der lokal ausgebildete Inder, der erst vor kurzem von Hosur nach Bangalore kam. Aber bitte leugne nicht die Errungenschaften der westlichen Welt (nicht die Homo-Ehe) fuer Deinen (kurzfristigen) beruflichen Erfolg. Das scheint mir naemlich bei vielen westlichen Unternehme(r)n der Fall, die behaupten, Indien sei so toll.
Beispielsweise predigten Unternehmen aus Industrienationen bisher, dass bspw. elektrische Fensterheber, Klimaanlage, ABS, Airbags, Navigationshilfe, Multifunktionslenkrad, Memorysitze, von innen verstellbare Leuchtweitenregulierung!!! etc. pp. in jedes Auto gehoerten. Jetzt ploetzlich heisst es, im “Westen” sei alles ueberzogen und Ingenieure aus Industrienationen seien nicht dazu in der Lage preiswerte, pragmatische Loesungen zu finden. Und derartige Aussagen kommen oft von denselben Unternehmen!
Verstehe mich nicht falsch: natuerlich muss man als Unternehmer oder Unternehmen diesen Markt bedienen. Aber keinesfalls unter Aufgabe des “zuhause” bereits erreichten. Das waere etwas kurzsichtig.”
Besten Dank. Der kurze Hinweis auf die „Homo-Ehe“ scheint auf meinen vorletzten Blog-Eintrag zurückzugehen, wo ich mich kritisch über diese neue rechtliche Institution geäußert habe. Ich mache in der Tat keinen Hehl daraus, dass ich die „Homo-Ehe“ als vollkommenes Überziehen des individuellen Freiheitsbegriffes nicht unbedingt als eine großartige kuturelle oder gesellschaftliche Errungenschaft ansehe.
Ansonsten möchte ich Dir wie folgt antworten: Ich verstehe relativ genau worauf Du hinaus willst: Man lobt auf Unternehmer- und Top-Management-Ebene in diesem Fall konkret Indien in den höchsten Himmel, während man Deutschland leichtfertig verfemt. Dieses gegensätzliche Spannungsfeld wäre tatsächlich falsch, falls es überhaupt in dieser Ausprägung existiert. Ich habe mir vorgenommen mal ein Buch über die Frustrationen zu schreiben, die man so in Indien erlebt. Jeder, der eine Zeit lang hier verbracht hat, weiß wovon ich spreche. Und wie ich auch unumwunden in meinem Blog-Eintrag eingeräumt habe: Aus der Distanz habe ich mein Heimatland in vielen Bereichen wieder zu schätzen gelernt. Weil das Gras eben auf der anderen Seite nicht automatisch und überall grüner ist.
Auf Deinen Hinweis mit den „gleichen Unternehmern“ möchte ich folgendes antworten: Nachdem ich mich leidenschaftlich zu einem wirtschaftlich freien System bekenne, vertraue ich darauf, dass es der Markt wird schon regeln wird. Deutsche Autokäufer sind zurecht die Anspruchsvollsten auf der Welt, in Indien beginnt aus über 1 Milliarde Menschen die so genannte „Mittelschicht“ mit 150 bis 200 Mio. Menschen erst so langsam in die Nähe zu kommen, sich ein Auto überhaupt leisten zu können. Das bedeutet, dass eine für unsere Verhältnisse abgespeckte, ja vielleicht sogar rückständige Ausstattung, für den indischen Käufer allemal „gut genug“ ist. Dazu fällt mir noch die alte Binsenweisheit ein: „Lieber schlecht gefahren als gut gegangen.“ Und falls ein deutscher Kunde irgendwann zur Auffassung kommt, dass er auch lieber so eine Austattung Llight aus Inden fahren möchte, bitte sehr, das ist Markt, das ist die Freiheit zu wählen, das ist die Freheit zu kaufen oder nicht zu kaufen. Und das ist eben auch die Freiheit das eigenes Leben zu gestalten.
Letzteres scheint mir, und ich komme auf meine Deutschlandkritik zurück, in unserem Heimatland nicht wirklich in letzter Konsequenz kulturprägend zu sein. Und so wundert es mich nicht, dass ich heute bei Spiegel-Online lese, die Deutschen zweifelten wie noch nie am Funktionieren des Systems Demokratie. Was dann aber folgt liest sich aber leider wie das bekannte alte Leiden: Nicht die Verkrustung beispielsweise eines aufgeblähten Föderalstaates oder die Reformunfähigkeit der Regierenden werden genannten, sondern es geht um das jammernd vorgetragene „Gerechtigkeitsproblem“.
Ich werde immer wieder gefragt, ob es so ein Schlüssererlebnis gab, als ich von Deutschland endgültig den Kanal vollhatte. Und das gibt es wirklich: Meine Tätigkeit bei Lycos Europe als Unterhaltungschef war wie im ganzen „Europa-Team“ mit einer Menge Reisetätigkeit verbunden. Und viele von uns nutzen die Gelegenheit, ein dienstliches Meeting z.B. in London auf einen Freitag zu legen, das Wochenende über dort zu bleiben, das Hotel freilich aus privater Tasche zu bezahlen und am Montag mit einem frühen Flug wieder pünktlich im Büro zu sein. So weit, so gut. Der Firma entstehen für den Flug die identischen Kosten. Plötzlich bekommen wir von unserer Controlling-Abteilung eine Mail, in der wir aufgefordert werden unsere Meetings nicht mehr an den Rand des Wochenendes zu legen. Unsere Wirtschaftsprüfer hatten davor gewarnt, dass das Finanzamt den „geldwerten Vorteil“ der Flugkosten auf der Einkommensteuerebene versteuern könnte, weil wegen des Wochenend-Aufenthalts unterstellt würde, die ganze Reise sei eigentlich privat veranlasst. Außerdem entstünden Lycos für die sehr aufwändige Administration dieses Verfahrens erhebliche Kosten.
Hm. Nix Vorteil: Nachteil. Das war aber auch genug. Und ich schreibe hier was ich auch sonst in meiner mir eigenen Ungeschliffenheit zu sagen pflege: Es geht diesen Scheißstaat einen Dreck an, wie ich meine Wochenenden verbringe. Dann halt nicht. Dann halt nicht mehr Deutschland. Und ich lebe momentan von so einem Mist wirklich sehr unbelastet. Das Schlimme, um auf den Ausgangspunkt der Überlegungen zurückzukommen, ist jedoch das solche Regelungen von einer Mehrheit der Bevölkerung nicht als Diktatur der Bürokraten angesehen wird, sondern vielmehr als angemessene Verwirklichung eines aus Sozialneid vollkommen deformieren Gerechtigkeitsbegriffes.
Insofern komme ich zum selben Ergebnis wie diese neueste Untersuchung: Ich habe auch den Glauben an die Demokratie in Deutschland verloren, nur komme aus einer völlig anderen Richtung. Und ich sehe den Graben als so groß an, dass ich ihn gegenwärtig für unüberwindlich halte. Ergebnis: Ich bleibe wo ich bin, lebe wirklich gut, eine Rückkehr nach Deutschland steht nicht zur Diskussion.
Deal: korrekt vs. korrekt
Ich hab mich gerade nass gemacht über den Spiegel-Artikel zu “Queen Saliha”. Auf der Suche nach meiner Lieblingsfrage “Was ist Wahrheit” bin ich an den Urgrund gestoßen, auf eine universelle Maxime, die den Kategorischen Imparativ von Kant neu interpretiert und einen sittlich-moralischen Fixstern am Firmament der weiteren Lebensreise auftut. Ich erlaube mir aus der Denkschule von “Queen Saliha” zu zitieren:
Bist du korrekt zu mir, bin ich korrekt zu dir.
Bist du scheiße zu mir, schlachte ich dich wie ein Tier.
Geil, oder. Schönes Wochenende. Mehr dieser Tage dann wieder aus Indien. Hoffe nur für die Brüder am Subkontinent, dass die auch alle korrekt zu mir sind.
Notfall-Training in der Cessna 172 mit stehendem Propeller
Komme gerade von meinem PPL-Piloten-Refresher wo wir heute mit der C 172 eine Notfall-Übung gemacht haben - unter absolut realistischen Bedingungen. Einen normalen “Engine Failure” simuliert man dadurch, dass man das Gas ganz rauszieht und den Motor in den Leerlauf setzt, aber eben jederzeit mit dem Griff zum Gas den Bock wieder zum Steigen bringen kann. Karl Stöber von Schwabenflug, ein sensationeller Fluglehrer und ehemaliger Starfighter-Luftwaffenpilot, hat mir im Briefing angekündigt, dass wir jedoch den Motor komplett abstellen würden. Gesagt, getan. Auf der Position “High Key” über der Runway 25 des Flughafens Augsburg gut 2000 Fuß über Grund macht er den Motor aus. Allerdings schwirrt der Propeller durch die Fahrt von selbst noch weiter, so dass man die Nase knapp bis an die Stall-Speed ziehen muss, damit der Propeller so starr wie ein Bleistift vor einem steht.
Leider bleibt keine Zeit, die Stille der Windströmung lange zu genießen, weil man sich sehr schnell um eine kontrollierte Landung kümmern muss. 90 Grad rechts weg, Speed auf 65 kts mit geringster Sinkrate, noch mal 90 Grad nach rechts in den Gegenanflug, bei 1300 Fuß über der Position “Low Key” Landeklappen auf 10° setzen - funktioniert. Ein wichtiger Indikator an dieser Stelle, um die weitere Landung sauber zu portionieren. Weiter noch raus in den Gegenanflug, allerdings bei weitem nicht so weit wie mit aktivem Motor. Rechts herum in die Base noch 800 Fuß über Grund, Rechtkurve auf die Landebahn 25 zu, Flaps 20, Anflug fortsetzen, noch näher heran und als wir von der Enfernung und Höhe ganz sicher sind, dass wir es bis zur Landebahn schaffen werden, Landeklappen voll 40 Grad, steiler Sinkflug, Maschine nach der Landebahnschwelle ganz normal ausschweben lassen und nach dem Ertönen der Stall-Warning sanft aufsetzen. Done.
Klingt im Grunde spektakulärer als es ist. Das Landemanöver unterscheidet sich von einem “normalen” kaum, bis auf die Tatsache dass man eben nur einen Versuch hat, was einen Piloten psychisch unter Druck setzen kann. Allerdings war mir bei Angelegenheit zu keinem Augenblick unwohl, da ich von meinen Segelflugstunden nichts anderes kenne. Zugegebenermaßen gestaltet sich ein Landeanflug in einem Segelflugzeug ungleich eleganter, als in einer klobig geformten Cessna der plötzlich der Motor gekillt worden ist.
HINWEIS: Das Bild oben zeigt den Endanflug auf die Landebahn 25 in Augsburg, allerdings möchte ich ausdrücklich betonen, dass das Bild NICHT während des geschilderten Manövers entstanden ist, wo sowohl der Major a.D. Stöber und der Obergefreite d. Res. Seifert voll auf auf eine saubere Landung konzentriert waren. Das Bild hat einer meiner Passagiere vor gut 2 Jahren bei einem regulären Landeanflug aufgenommen. Over and out.
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