Survey!
I want to know who reads the parts I write in English, the German parts, or both? Vote here! (You have to be a member.)
Battle of the Telemarketers
Score: Susan = 1; Marketer = 0
Haha, Susan, great trick! 
Susan also had a link to Phases of the Moon and this animation. There are many other animation on that guy’s web page.
Susan confesses she doesn’t own a TV. André and I haven’t got one neither! Willkommen im Club!
Due to a special request of a lady…
Thanks, arf and izake!
Izake has a weblog all to himself. It’s in German, though, but has a photo of him! Yes!
Umfrage!
Ich mache eine Umfrage, wie viele Leute auf meinem Weblog die Teile in Englisch und Deutsch lesen. Bitte hier abstimmen! (Dazu muß man Mitglied sein oder werden. Nährere Infos über die Mitgliedschaft gibt’s hier.)
Deutsche Weblogs
Nachdem sich gestern so eine lebhafte Diskussion um Marens Essay entwickelt hat – alles nur, weil es jemand gewagt hat, einen Link zu ihr zu posten – schreibt sie heute noch ein paar Gedanken dazu.
Ihre Überraschung, das tatsächlich jemand das liest, was sie schreibt, erinnert mich an meinen ersten Weblog-Eintrag und wie überrascht (geschockt) ich war, daß nach einer Stunde schon ein “Fremder” mein Weblog entdeckt hatte…
Auf dem Schockwellenreiter habe ich diesen Clown entdeckt. Witzig! 
Score: Susan = 1; Marketer = 0
Haha, Susan, great trick!
Susan also had a link ….
Susan confesses….
Wow! I feel honored to be so logged by you today, Andrea! :D :D :D
It’s good to know that people out there are reading my site!
Sorry about that, Susan…
I started reading you weblog today and first saw your battle with the marketer, which I really liked, then I noticed the animated moon, and finally, a couple of hours later, I read that you don’t own a TV – just like us!
Whenever André or I tell someone we don’t have a TV, people wonder why and ask how we can live without a TV etc. etc.
For me, it seems even more unusual for an American not to own a TV. (Sorry, might be some prejudice…), so of course I had to comment on that.
It’s not my fault that you’ve got so many interesting things on your site today, is it?!
Andrea
Sorry about that, Susan…
what’s to apologize about? (tee hee!) I’m happy to have had so many things that are comment-worthy!
…I read that you don’t own a TV – just like us!
Whenever André or I tell someone we don’t have a TV, people wonder why and ask how we can live without a TV etc. etc.
For me, it seems even more unusual for an American not to own a TV. (Sorry, might be
some prejudice…), so of course I had to comment on that.
I understand! And yes, I’m a rarity among Americans. Proud minority! Damn straight!
There are all these TeeVee references that go around, from one show or another. Invariably, the person looks with delayed recognition at my blank uncomprehension, and says, “Oh, that’s right…you don’t have a TV.” Do you get that, too?
Many other people, when I tell them I don’t have a TV, say, “That’s cool!” or some other words expressing admiration. –I don’t mind that; after all, a little while back I made no bones about a certain elitist attitude I have! ; )
I remember one time that the other person simply didn’t know how to process the information that I didn’t have a TV. It was oh, about a dozen years ago. Some young, bright salesman was going door-to-door one evening. He knocked on my door. I answered, and he asked me if I had cable (cable TV service).
Deciding to have a little fun with this, I smiled, and said, “Hold on a minute, there! You’re operating on some false assumptions. How about if you ask me if I have a TV?”
“Oh…OK!” he said, all enthusiastic brightness, like a puppy that was being offered a new game to play. “Do you have a TV?”
“No.”
His face fell a bit, and his eyebrows furled in puzzlement. “Wh- When are you going to get one?”
(as if I were saving up my allowance money so that I could buy one, and was counting the day until all the money was there, and I could proudly walk into a store, and walk out again with my very own TeeVee. As if…)
“I don’t think you understand. If I wanted to have a TV, I’d have one now. I have chosen not to have one.”
Somehow, with those words, I must have sprouted three more eyeballs, or my skin turned a swirly mixture of lime green and hot pink, or I had grown horns and fangs. His puzzlement turned to a queasy distaste, and it was all he could do to finish the conversation, and get away from me and move on to my next door neighbor’s house. My door faced my neighbor’s door and my kitchen window opened to our little mutual porch area, so I got to watch at a removed distance as he tried to recover his composure talking to my normal human being neighbor who did, in fact, have a TeeVee.
I wonder what he told his fellow salespeople or friends or whomever later that night or the next day?
Proud minority!
Yup, that’s absolutely right! We feel the same way!
I used to own a TV for a year or two, after I moved out of my parents’ house. When I moved again, this time to Bonn, I didn’t take it with me. No regrets!
André never owned one, and I would certainly not have bought one myself; I got it from my parents for Christmas.
There are all these TeeVee references that go around, from one show or another. Invariably, the person looks with delayed recognition at my blank uncomprehension, and says, “Oh, that’s right…you don’t have a TV.” Do you get that, too?
Yes, all the time! People we know well have gotten used to it, so they will start right away like this: “Since you don’t have a TV, you’ve probably not heard…”, while others react more strongly.
A few weeks ago, there were people at our supermarket who tried to sell subsciptions for TV magazines. They said something like “Which present would you like to get for free for a subscription for this TV magazine?” I answered that we don’t own a TV and thus don’t need a subscription, and the guy was too stunned to answer!
And every year, we get a letter from the GEZ. That’s short for Gebühren-Einzugs-Zentrale, center for TV payment.
In Germany, there is a kind of “tax” you have to pay for watching certain channels on TV. The money goes to the TV stations that are sponsored by the government, ARD and ZDF. I can’t explain it very well, but this is a good and short description.
So this GEZ is supposed to make sure everybody pays their fee. There’s a small fee for radio, which we pay since we own a radio (and use it), and a more expensive one for TV alone or radio and TV combined, which we don’t pay. And every year we get a letter from them, asking wether maybe we have bought a TV in the meantime. If we don’t answer right away, they send a second letter telling us we are obliged to answer them. Great.
It seems it’s hard for them to believe that there are really people who don’t want a TV!
Can you believe 99% of all Germans pay “taxes” in order to watch TV???
Update:
Okay, it seems like only around 90% of all Germans pay for watching TV (and listening to the radio). See the answers to this posting.
Can you believe 99% of all Germans pay “taxes” in order to watch TV???
Even I can’t. Except of my parents and some mature relative I don’t know anyone who does. Alles Schwarzseher. Anyway, I don’t have TV or radio.
Kris
PS: Happy birthday. It’s a bit late, but I had a Sw/oC.
Wenn ihr die GEZ meint, nun, JETZT kennt ihr jemanden, der brav zahlt. War mir einfach zu doof, immer die Typen an der Tür… All die Drohungen von wegen Gerichtsbescheid… Und da hab ich halt angemeldet. Da ich haupsächlicn dritte Programme gucke (wenn ich denn mal Zeit habe), ist das Geld wohl auch ganz gut angelegt. Die finanzieren scih nämlich darüber.
Nur falls das jetzt jemand übersehen hat: Für unser Radio zahlen wir auch! Und zwar genau 9.45 DM im Monat.
Ich habe mal ein paar Zahlen gesucht. Aber viel gibt’s da offenbar nicht…
Berliner Morgenpost:
“Nach Schätzung sollen rund 10% aller Haushalte der GEZ ihre Rundfunkgebühr verweigern. (08.11.99)”
Inverview mit einem GEZ-Fahnder
“Nur noch 61 Prozent der unter 35-jährigen Fernsehzuschauer und Radiohörer meldeten sich bei der Gebühreneinzugszentrale (GEZ) von ARD und ZDF an, die restlichen 39 Prozent denken nicht daran, berichtet die Süddeutsche Zeitung in ihrer gestrigen Ausgabe.”
Dann gehoeren meine Freunde zu dem Kreis der 39%. Kriminelles Pack, das.
kris
WÄhhh!!!
Ich will auch ARF’S Freund sein…
Muß ich jetzt kriminell werden???
Ich will auch ARF’S Freund sein… Muß ich jetzt kriminell werden???
quatsch. eine rasur reicht ;-)
Hey, jetzt reicht’s aber!!
Was soll ich mir denn sonst noch alles abscheiden??
Ohren, Flügel, Zähne, reicht das nicht???
Willst Du nun mein Freund sein oder nicht?
*groehl*
Vergiß es.
define martin["coolness"] = infinity;Wer braucht Dich schon?
Wenn man mal sechs Stunden nicht auf sein Weblog aufpaßt…
Geht’s euch zweien gut?
Oder liegt’s am heißen Wetter?
Andrea
P.S. an Martin: Deine Definitionen auf Traumwind fand ich gut!
Okay, ich gebe klein bei. Martin hat gewonnen.
Kris