Latest / 20 Percent Berlin Podcast / Podcast #004: Berlin vs. Bavaria, cellphones in schools, the Gelbhaar scandal

Transcript

Podcast #004: Berlin vs. Bavaria, cellphones in schools, the Gelbhaar scandal · 20 Percent Berlin Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the 20% Berlin podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: I am co-founder Andrew Boakley.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I am Maurice Frank.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are we founders?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're founders, but there's nobody else.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just us.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but if there was at one point just one founder of Amazon.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I like your optimism.
• 0:26
  Okay,
• 0:26
  20% Berlin is a podcast for the 24% of Berliners who do not
• 0:31
  have a German podcast.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And our default language is English, which is why we started this.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do not have a German podcast.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my God, dude.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: That was good though.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: To a ton of a German passport.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I did not sleep well last night.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just say one thing about Elon Musk?
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God, please.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: these political activists,
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: they actually projected a picture of Elon Musk doing the Hitler salute,
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: sorry,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: the Roman salute,
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: on the outside of the Tesla factory.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then they also projected the word Heil.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it says in the Tesla font, so it says Heil Tesla.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, nice.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: What do we have on the agenda today?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay,
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: today we're going to be talking about the Gelbhar MeToo scandal,
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: how Bavaria has now overtaken Berlin in venture capital funding,
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: that the SPD wants to ban mobile phones in schools.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to talk about how the BVG and its counterpart in Hamburg,
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Hamburger Hochbahn,
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: which sounds cool,
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: the elevated train in Hamburg,
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: they want to cooperate making apps.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we start with Gelbhard?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: What's up with Gelbhard, Maurice?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:41
  So for those of you who don't know,
• 1:43
  Stefan Gelbhard is a German politician.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: He belongs to the Green Party, or he did until shortly.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a member of parliament since about 2017.
• 1:57
  And he represented the fine district of Pankow,
• 2:02
  which includes Prenzlauer Berg.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I like to call it our Prenzlauer Berg.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And the Greens have always been really strong in Pennsylvania.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So he always wins.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was a popular politician.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: But at the beginning of December,
• 2:17
  just as the Greens and all the other political parties were
• 2:20
  making their lists of
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: candidates for the upcoming Bundestag election in February.
• 2:26
  Are other countries' elections as complicated as Germany's with
• 2:29
  this two-vote thing?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Says the man from the US with like 50 different primaries.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's one primary per party and then you get to vote for one person.
• 2:39
  Yeah,
• 2:39
  then there's Congress and then you have to vote for the sheriff
• 2:42
  or something.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's like you're voting one thing for one thing.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: In Germany, you have two votes.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was one person, one vote.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right,
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: there were two different votes,
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: but I think that's...
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to get into the minutiae of it.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: I was trying to say like, in America, it seems extremely straightforward.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Is the UK as complicated as Germany?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: In Germany, so you have two votes.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have to explain it.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to... Well, no, I want to explain it now.
• 3:04
  So you have one vote for the actual candidate and another vote
• 3:07
  for the party,
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: or the party list,
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: technically speaking.
• 3:11
  Basically,
• 3:12
  some of those votes for the party kind of get dumped into the parliament.
• 3:17
  And so you end up with some representatives that don't
• 3:19
  represent a particular district list.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So as a political candidate, you can get elected directly.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: The people say, we like you so much, get in there.
• 3:29
  Or you're just on this list of candidates because your party
• 3:31
  got so many votes in
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: the second vote.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 3:35
  And this is Germany's way of doing proportional representation
• 3:39
  and generally means
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: that the smaller parties get a few more people in there.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: If they get 5%, then they can throw a few people into the parliament.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Back to Stefan Gelbha.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was giving you credit for being smart there, I want to point out.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, thanks, Andrew.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Stefan Gelbha,
• 3:56
  he's a lawyer and he's a member of the German Bundestag who
• 4:03
  focuses on green
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: transport issues primarily.
• 4:07
  And at the beginning of December,
• 4:08
  as they were putting together the list of candidates,
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody sent some anonymous emails,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: from somebody called Anna Kay,
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: to the Ombudsman of the Greens in Berlin,
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: accusing Stefan Gelper of inappropriate sexual misconduct.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I guess misconduct is always inappropriate.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, he apparently tried to kiss somebody...
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: He apparently groped somebody or stroked their arm in public,
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: made unwanted advances,
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: things like that.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then over the next following weeks,
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: through Christmas or just after Christmas,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: several more women came forward.
• 4:52
  And in total,
• 4:53
  there were something like seven accusations against Stefan Galpan.
• 4:57
  He,
• 4:58
  the Panko division of the Green Party,
• 5:02
  voted against him being on the list.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So he lost his job.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: He won't be running in the next election.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And basically pressured him out of it,
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: out of trying to run as a direct candidate for the district.
• 5:15
  And so the RBB was reporting,
• 5:16
  RBB broadcaster,
• 5:17
  public broadcaster,
• 5:18
  was reporting all this.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't know this.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Journalists apparently rely on sworn statements.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Affidavists.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, affidavits.
• 5:25
  They allow these women to give affidavits to them and then they
• 5:27
  publish their stories.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Then the Tagesspiegel found out that Anaka,
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: we don't know her last name,
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: but whatever her last name supposedly is,
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Tagesspiegel found out this woman does not exist.
• 5:37
  Yeah,
• 5:37
  one of the weird details was on the affidavit there was no date
• 5:40
  of birth.
• 5:41
  And then they apparently hacked into the registration and found
• 5:45
  this woman does not exist.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:47
  And somehow they traced it to a green politician in Mitter who
• 5:54
  sat on the Mitter Council.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Shereen Krese, what's her name?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Krese, she has, she has a set in her name.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Krese.
• 6:03
  And she had written these,
• 6:05
  um,
• 6:06
  emails to the Green Party under a different name.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So basically,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: so Anna Kay's accusations are gone,
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: two anonymous accusations are gone for this woman.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: This woman hasn't really owned up to it,
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: but she also just resigned her every job with the Green Party.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: She resigned, she left the Green Party.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: She just,
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: disappeared when these things showed up.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So now it seems like these accusations against Gebhard were made up,
• 6:25
  except there are still four accusations and the Green Party is
• 6:28
  still investigating
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: him for these four remaining.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the woman who's going to replace him in the election,
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: and she's going to replace the seat because this is Prenzalberg.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: We always vote Green here.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: She's going to get the job.
• 6:39
  She's not going to,
• 6:40
  she says,
• 6:40
  well,
• 6:40
  I'm not going to let Gebhard have my seat.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to stay here.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: So Gebhard's just out.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Julia Schneider.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's politics for you.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: She was not involved in the accusations that I think you have to say.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: But apparently,
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: I forget his name,
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: but a Green politician who was sort of a deputy of Wilbert Harbeck,
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: who's the economy minister,
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: top dog in the Greens,
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: a guy who represents Neu Koon,
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: may have been involved.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And he may have profited from Gelpa getting kicked out of the list.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: He moved up one place in the list.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, okay.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah,
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: because this list,
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: so there's this list of politicians,
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: it's numbered,
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: and if the Greens get to appoint three politicians to the Bundestag,
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: then it's the first three,
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: or the first 10,
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: or the first whatever.
• 7:26
  Exactly,
• 7:26
  because the Greens don't,
• 7:28
  they don't win a majority in many places.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's like,
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: maybe Pankow,
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: or maybe Friedrichshain-Koitsbach,
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: that's about it in the whole country.
• 7:36
  All right,
• 7:36
  and so this is the second scandal involving the Greens in Berlin.
• 7:40
  In 2022,
• 7:42
  the mayor of Mitte,
• 7:43
  which I always think is weird as if Mitte is a town.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, the mayor, Stefan von Dassel, he was a Green Party politician.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: He tried to get a buddy of his a job, a job in the city government.
• 7:54
  Another man who had applied for that job said,
• 7:55
  this is cronyism,
• 7:56
  this is illegal,
• 7:57
  sued.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: The court said, yeah, you're right, it is cronyism.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Stefan von Dassel tried to pay off this guy that had sued.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: He tried to pay him off.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: The Green Party had to basically fire Stefan von Dassel.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: You kind of wondered why, if you're that corrupt, you don't just resign.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I have a friend who works for the Green Party,
• 8:11
  and they said he could not resign because he would have lost
• 8:14
  his retirement.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: So they had to fire him.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: I guess Stefan Gelper,
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: who,
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: to be fair,
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: has not been...
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's not been...
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing,
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: no allegations have been proven so far.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, it's still... We believe the accusers.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: We do?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think we, you know, believe the accusers first and then...
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know.
• 8:37
  Anyway,
• 8:37
  Stefan Galpar,
• 8:38
  he is actually suing that woman who sent out the proven – As he should.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: The proven – the accusations that were proven to be false.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: As he should.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's also sued the media.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: He won.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: He got an injunction against RBV publishing new articles.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: They took all the articles down anyway,
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: so it's sort of a symbolic victory,
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: but a pyrrhic victory.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is quite surprising that this will happen in the Green Party.
• 9:08
  You think,
• 9:08
  like,
• 9:09
  more than anyone,
• 9:10
  they're in favor of,
• 9:12
  I don't know,
• 9:14
  equity for women.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 9:17
  there was this great thing on Instagram or TikTok about a year
• 9:19
  or two ago that said,
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: there's nothing more dangerous than a left-wing fuckboy.
• 9:26
  Because they weasel in with all this,
• 9:28
  like,
• 9:28
  super feminist left-wing talk.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And in the end, they're just as much dirtbag as everybody else.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: But Stefan Gelper is just some guy with kids in Prince-Sorberg.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean... It doesn't mean he's not a fuckboy.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Stefan, don't sue us, okay?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: of course,
• 9:48
  we think the left-wing people would be much more sensitive and
• 9:51
  much more on each other's,
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: have each other's backs,
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: but in the end,
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: dirt bags are dirt bags.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of chocolate do you eat there?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm eating your leftover Christmas decorations.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you can call it leftover.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's not decorations.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: That was the Christmas chocolate.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's still just Christmas chocolate.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Andrew.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: No problem.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: I just thought, because there's some good Tony's Chocolonies there.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: All right, moving on.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: Our next one is Bavaria has overtaken Berlin in venture capital funding,
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: a topic that seems to be near and dear to your heart.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, like all Berlins, I kind of dislike Bavaria.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I like it as a place.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: I like the mountains and the streams,
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: but I kind of look down on their culture,
• 10:34
  all those like leader halls and then kind of yodeling or
• 10:37
  whatever it is they do in there.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to Oktoberfest?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a blast.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: I went there when I was 19 and I barely survived.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hate to admit it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's so much fun.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's the only time in my life I've ever fainted.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I love stupid fun.
• 10:51
  I somehow got like 10 liters of free beer that was paid for by
• 10:55
  the village that my
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: friend lived in.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Did his dad work for the green party?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, definitely not.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, what hit us with some statistics?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: How badly did Bavaria beat Berlin in venture capital funding last year?
• 11:10
  um they received what like 2.3 billion euros in venture capital
• 11:16
  funding and berlin
• 11:18
  berlin got 2.2 billion so basically a wash right and everyone's
• 11:22
  saying oh my god
• 11:23
  can berlin is berlin's time as the capital of startups in
• 11:27
  germany is that now over
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: because bavaria is getting more money
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: See,
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: to me,
• 11:31
  this whole thing is a bit weird because I was a financial
• 11:34
  journalist most of my career.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: I reported on German-speaking Europe and their finances.
• 11:39
  And Munich and Bavaria for years,
• 11:42
  probably 2000 to 2010,
• 11:43
  always got more venture capital.
• 11:45
  It was mostly related to Kirsch Media,
• 11:47
  the old Kirsch Media,
• 11:48
  this big media company.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: They were down there.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: They had a bunch of startups that...
• 11:52
  uh em what that was that thing called i can't remember the
• 11:53
  names of these companies
• 11:54
  and these media companies had a bunch of startups and that's
• 11:56
  why all the venture
• 11:57
  capital funding went down to munich and nobody cared about
• 12:00
  berlin for years you and
• 12:01
  i when we moved here nobody cared about berlin even in like
• 12:04
  2007 when they started
• 12:05
  calling it silicon allay like silicon valley but berlin was
• 12:09
  silicon allay because
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: does it they still call it that is there still that website out there
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's still around.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's also a whole kind of co-working center.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: Of course it is.
• 12:18
  You can't do anything in this day and age without it being a
• 12:21
  co-working something.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: Even though there's two empty co-working offices in my street.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're looking for renters.
• 12:28
  So,
• 12:29
  I mean,
• 12:29
  in a way,
• 12:29
  there's been this longstanding rivalry between Berlin and Bavaria.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Bavaria always complains that it has to pay money to bankrupt Berlin,
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: which is doing stuff like giving people free kitas,
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: free kindergartens,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: for example.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Heaven forbid.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: In Bavaria, you have to pay.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: But because there's this sort of…
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: a thing called the Landesfinanzausgleich,
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: the richer states,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: or the ones that have more tax revenue,
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: have to send some of their tax revenue to the poorer states.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Berlin still belongs to the poorer states.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is an urban myth in Germany that only Berlin gets money.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think Baden-Britenbeck one year got money from this.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the same every year.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the same poor states.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: And there are surprising numbers.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Nord-Lhein-Westfalen, I know, got money one year.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: They were...
• 13:21
  a net was a net taker rather than a net giver how do you say
• 13:23
  that there's word just
• 13:24
  kind of right yeah so basically the Bavarians like whenever
• 13:28
  they're they were just
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: like dunking on on Berlin for wasting money on whatever kindergartens DEI
• 13:37
  initiatives or whatever it is you know DEI yeah what's DEI
• 13:42
  diversity equity
• 13:43
  inclusion sorry geez okay boomer I'm calling myself a boomer
• 13:48
  don't get that safe
• 13:51
  uh yeah so it's just it's just weird like but also bavaria is
• 13:55
  gigantic you what how
• 13:56
  big is how many people live in bavaria 13 million it's massive
• 13:59
  like i have to my
• 14:00
  son studies in munich full disclosure and i am starting to like
• 14:03
  bavaria but when i
• 14:04
  drive down there like i drive for about an hour and a half and
• 14:07
  then i hit bavaria
• 14:08
  and then i drive for another three and a half hours through
• 14:10
  bavaria it's massive
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's gigantic.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they also have gigantic companies.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: There's Siemens.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Which was founded in Berlin.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And then it moved to Bavaria after the war, after Berlin got decimated.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: When I worked at Handelsblatt, that was in the old Siemens building here.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, they decentralized Germany.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, there's all these big companies.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not a surprise that they're getting tons.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because,
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: startups sometimes,
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: they call them startups,
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: but a lot of times they're related to another big company.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're just a spinoff or something.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: But our, our population is only 3.8 million.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: So per capita, we're still way ahead of them in terms of venture capital.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you figure in how much more fun we're having than they're having.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Then, then we've surpassed the 2.3 billion easy.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Are we having fun?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't have to listen to that weird accent I have down there.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of cute.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, it's cartoon German.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay for a weekend.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's cartoon German.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: So what do we think?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: So do we think Berlin's going to, Berlin's going to take it back?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: We just need another dumb idea like gorillas.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have ideas.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what's your startup?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pivoting to tech.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Should we start doing a startup pitch round every time in our podcast?
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: What's your startup?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: No, I can't disclose anything right now.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let's move on.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have funding?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, good.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: Moving on.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: The next one, actually, I'm going to bump mine in here.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I was excited to read that the Befalke,
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: our favorite public transport provider,
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: is going to cooperate with their Hamburg counterpart,
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Hamburger Hochbahn,
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: and they're going to develop a joint app.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I know you expressed a concern of why I'm so excited about this.
• 15:50
  One thing I hate,
• 15:52
  at least once a week,
• 15:52
  I'm in a different German city doing something.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you run into a different mobile app,
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: a different ticketing system,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: different transport system.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times it works better than Berlin's.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Just buy a paper ticket.
• 16:04
  so one of the great things about the deutschland ticket is you
• 16:06
  don't have to worry
• 16:07
  about it anymore you can just get on whatever you want you can
• 16:09
  just get on anything
• 16:10
  and i love that that unifies everything and the other thing is
• 16:12
  like if you go to
• 16:13
  the baseball game say hey there's this other there's ways there
• 16:15
  are better ways to
• 16:16
  do this there are better apps they get oh my god no they're not
• 16:19
  we're doing the
• 16:19
  best we can there's nothing else on the one you think like i
• 16:22
  just saw it in munich
• 16:23
  munich has a better app you can buy tickets on it you can buy
• 16:26
  parking tickets on it
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: everything is better done just go call the dude from munich
• 16:31
  get their code up here change the jpegs from munich transport
• 16:35
  to bayfalgate and
• 16:35
  we're all we're golden stop develop stop reinventing the wheel
• 16:39
  every week and stop
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: acting like you have to reinvent the wheel
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe local politicians want to spend money on local developers.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: It just drives me nuts.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's no reason to.
• 16:49
  Then you could free up those developers to do more important
• 16:50
  things like move the
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: government services online.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:54
  I mean,
• 16:55
  one thing bothers me about BFLG is that there are two different
• 16:59
  apps at least.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I have a ticket app and an info app.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: How many people lost tickets in this new app?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like nobody's old tickets transferred to this new app for some reason.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't mind it.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: My wife's didn't.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And somebody wrote me in here at 20%.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's just like, that's just it.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't we just have one mobile app for all of Germany?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why don't we have a Deutschlandticket app?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because Germany is not really a country.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a collection of provinces.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Kingdoms.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, little kingdoms.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Prussia.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they're all very focused on themselves.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: What was the kingdom in North Rhine-Westphalia?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Take that out.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to take it out.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: We have American educations.
• 17:39
  So anyway,
• 17:40
  the important thing about this new app is it's going to look
• 17:42
  like your Uber app.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like you'll be able to see your train.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be able to see where the Uacht is that you can't get on.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: You'll be able to see where the M10 tram is that's in a traffic jam.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: How's that helpful?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, you just go, all right, this isn't going to happen soon.
• 17:56
  It actually,
• 17:56
  it's a lot of times,
• 17:57
  do you ever think like,
• 17:57
  maybe I should just start walking?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do that sometimes.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I do.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, I do too, but you don't always know.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes there's like that gray area,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: like,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: well,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I could wait another five minutes or I could start walking.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if you had this app and you saw where your train is stuck,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: you'd be like,
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: I might as well just walk.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: But even the bus stops say in how many minutes the bus is coming.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's not always right.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's the point.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: But even having that dot on there,
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: that's no guarantee that you're going to know when the bus is right.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: You have a better idea, especially with the buses.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think the buses, that's a really bad issue.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Apparently the buses, the thing on the sign is never right.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, but then why Hamburg?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually because... I don't know.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'll never go there.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Because the new CEO of BFG, the last CEO, she was a disaster.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: The new CEO came from Hamburg.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: So he already knows the people.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the second biggest city in Germany.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: What's next?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: It should be like Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Realistically, yeah.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but like the Bavarians, they sort of.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're going to run into this problem.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to say like, no, we don't want to cooperate.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to say, which means like you Prussian swines.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to say, I think the pig is whistling.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Which apparently,
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: I thought only old people said it,
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: but I was recently told that's actually normal.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Young people say the pig is whistling.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: How do you say that in German?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's how you say like, I can't believe what I'm hearing.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine a 17-year-old saying that?
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Apparently they do.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know what?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just diss on Bavaria?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why stop now?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just one more point.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: They have their own political party there called the CSU.
• 19:31
  It's just sort of part of the CDU,
• 19:33
  but they insist on being the separate thing.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Why did you bust on me about wanting combined apps,
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: unified apps,
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: when you're complaining about the same thing with political parties?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly the point.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: But why does that one state have to have their little CDU thing?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: And CSU.
• 19:49
  Bavarians will argue till they're blue in the face with you
• 19:51
  about how important
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: having separate conservative parties.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't they just succeed, join Austria or whatever?
• 19:55
  I actually,
• 19:56
  do you remember the Elephantenwunden when Schroeder lost to
• 19:59
  Angela Merkel?
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was Angela Merkel's first election when she got elected.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And there was this,
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: after the big elections in Germany,
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: the two,
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: the big heads of the party sit down and have a discussion.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's called the elephant talk because these are all the big elephants.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like body shaming, honestly.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway,
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: so the elephant talk and Gerhard Schröder,
• 20:17
  who had just been defeated and who turned out to be a thug and
• 20:19
  a criminal,
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: he said,
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: you actually lost,
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Merkel.
• 20:23
  You did not get the most votes because he was saying that the
• 20:26
  CDU got this many votes,
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: the CSU got that many votes.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I cheered.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, yes, you give it to her, Gerhard.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's totally right.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's right.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was right on paper.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't matter.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: He still got fired.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And now he should be imprisoned.
• 20:39
  Yeah,
• 20:39
  we could do a whole podcast about Bavaria and everything that's
• 20:42
  wrong with it.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we should do a special edition.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: I wish we had mountains here, though.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: I actually love mountains.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's so beautiful, man.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's very beautiful.
• 20:51
  Yeah,
• 20:51
  well,
• 20:51
  that's because you grew up in New Mexico where there's mountains.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up in Colorado.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: Same mountains, actually.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same mountains.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: I also grew up in England.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: So how long did you live in England?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: 12 years.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then at 12, you moved to New Mexico.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Formidable years.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Did you have mountains in England?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Mountains?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: We had the South Downs.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Everything is like cutely named.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how I think it's done in England.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's a real name.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Two SPD politicians,
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: two or three SPD politicians in Berlin,
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: three want to ban mobile phones in schools.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm for it.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: What about you, Andrew?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'm totally against it.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: 100% against it.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so...
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Their argument is that 40% of kids have been cyber bullied.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's right.
• 21:46
  Their whole defense is people are using these phones to bully
• 21:49
  other people at schools.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: As if before phones existed, there was no bullying.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: If we get rid of the phones, bullying's gone.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's done.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 21:56
  but they're sending out like deep fakes of people in
• 21:59
  compromising sexual positions
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: and stuff.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean...
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: I remember in our high school,
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: people took pornographic pictures,
• 22:04
  cut out then pictures of people from the yearbook and glued
• 22:06
  them on the faces.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: God, I wish we had that.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was because we didn't have digital yet.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was the exact same thing.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: The problem is bullying.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you're worried about bullying, go do something about bullying.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: And this is one thing I can say from having kids in German schools.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: They don't do a thing about bullying.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: They say they care.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: They don't do a thing about it.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: There's one teacher.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh, if I ever see her live.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to cyber bully her?
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to cyber.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, I would bully her live.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I would do.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: I would do nothing.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: What are we talking about?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm all talk, no action.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: But there are times,
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
• 22:37
  at night when you're like about to fall asleep and then
• 22:39
  something pops in your brain.
• 22:40
  It's a meeting I had with this woman where she told me the fact
• 22:42
  that my daughter
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: was getting bullied was her fault.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, victim Shannon.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: And then I can't sleep for an hour.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm sorry, Andrew.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: The best thing about that bullying,
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: when the father of the girl was bullying,
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: my daughter found out he put a stop to it.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I have another argument in favor of banning phones from schools.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Not the argument these politicians are making, however.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: so I read somewhere that kids growing up now spend 25% of their time,
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: like only 25% of the time that we,
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: our generation,
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: spent with real friends.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:21
  75% of the time is spent online,
• 23:26
  like WhatsAppping,
• 23:27
  Discord,
• 23:29
  whatever it is.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember when phones first came out and people were like,
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: oh,
• 23:34
  people are spending all their time looking at their phones and
• 23:35
  then somebody posted
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: a picture of everybody in the subway reading a newspaper.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right, but okay.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: But we used to go out and go out to the park and skateboard and whatever.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: We sat at home and watched reruns of I Love Lucy.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, what's wrong with that?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: What's the difference between reruns of I Love Lucy and Reels?
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: We just go outside and go to the mall, play video games.
• 23:59
  Go to the mall.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, play video games.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Buy ice cream.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Buy a burger.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Did you really?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, my kids spent all of their time... That's the thing.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't...
• 24:10
  My real-world experience is my kids would leave here at about 6
• 24:13
  o'clock on a Friday night.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: They would not come home until 7 a.m.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: the next morning.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they spent all of that time at this park,
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: at Dutch Beatty,
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: with their friends talking and playing cards.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not all looking at TikTok while doing it.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: They were probably sharing reels while they were doing it.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Did you see this one?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Did you see that one?
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Laughing.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then they were still playing cards.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: But they were still talking.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't think people change that much.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think, like...
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's detrimental.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that treating children,
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: especially adolescent children,
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: because,
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: okay,
• 24:41
  you can ban them from elementary schools because they don't
• 24:44
  need them anyway.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: But treating adolescents like children gets you nowhere.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: They are children.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: They are literally children.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to teach them some skills to deal with life.
• 24:54
  Isn't there a mental health crisis among young people all over
• 24:58
  the entire world,
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: basically thanks to Silicon Valley and social media?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that that... Has it...
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Was I any happier as a teenager?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Was I not having a mental health crisis?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying.
• 25:13
  But maybe when they're at school and the playground,
• 25:16
  they should just be talking to kids.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Talking to each other.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's something to be said.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like actually talking to human beings.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think you need to teach them skills to deal with...
• 25:26
  the strength to put down your phone rather than just completely
• 25:29
  saying you cannot
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: take your phone with you to school.
• 25:31
  Besides which teachers allow them to use their phones in class
• 25:34
  these days.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: They use it as a tool, right?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but not all the time.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not all the time.
• 25:39
  But so now you got to come up with these like,
• 25:40
  now you got to gather the phones in a box.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I know me as I was a teenager, I would have bought a dummy phone.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know exactly what I would have done.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Even Belgium is banning the phone.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: Bulwark of educational progress.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much every European country is doing it.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Which country is banning these phones?
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, France has banned them.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, what do you have against France and Belgium?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, a lot.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I like Belgium.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't think, I don't know.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: I have to look up and see if these things were actually banned.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm telling you,
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: if I,
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: when I was a teenager,
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: if I was a teenager now,
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would buy a dummy phone.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: I would go buy, I would just bring in my old phone.
• 26:18
  And when Frau Schmidt collects phones,
• 26:19
  I'm going to give her my old Samsung S7.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, here it is for Schmidt.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to sit in the back watching Reels.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're just going to have like one of these like AI earpiece things.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: When I was a,
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: when I was a lecturer at a college here that lasted for two years,
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: uh,
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: the kids would come in cause they all take notes on their laptops.
• 26:37
  So they would come in and then they would think I couldn't see
• 26:40
  them as they put the
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: headphones in their ears to watch YouTube videos during class.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was a private university, man.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: I can't, I was not allowed to fail you.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care if you don't want to be there.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be there.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: I will even put you down as president,
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_01: but don't play this stupid game that I can't see you watching YouTube.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: What did you teach?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: I touched journalism.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: But it was,
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: every time this one woman did it,
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: it was just,
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like,
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: you're embarrassing yourself.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: I can see you're watching YouTube.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so kids do it.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway,
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: I just,
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: I think,
• 27:06
  I think teaching them skills is more important than just taking
• 27:09
  their phones away
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: from them.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Fair enough.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: To be fair,
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: right now,
• 27:14
  the rule in Berlin is that each school can decide for itself
• 27:17
  whether or not to ban
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: phones at school.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Länder Sache.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Schule Sache.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: In Germany,
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: there's 16 different states and many things,
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: responsibility for many things are just given to each state.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Education is one of them.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Police is one of them.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Each state gets to make its own determination on those.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's called Länder Sache.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's time for our final segment.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: We call it Bear's Knees.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: Two things we like about Berlin.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Go.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: I like buskers.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like the old curmudgeon in me, I don't, but I actually do.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: But only because I've been traveling a lot and rapper,
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: like German,
• 27:55
  Berlin rappers have now suddenly discovered the front main
• 27:58
  entrance to the train station.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: So every time I come out of the train station,
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: I have to navigate the beggars and now bad German rap.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: The other day I was...
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: I got off the S-Bahn.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Both my kids were with me.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're really young.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're driving me crazy.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Just like demanding new stuff like every 10 seconds.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Children.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then this amazing sound just like fills the air.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just, it's a saxophone.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: So are we talking ambient?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Are we talking jazz?
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's a saxophone, saxophonist playing ABBA's Dancing Queen.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oof.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Which a song, which frankly I kind of hate.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Dancing Queen.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right, but no, but like it was an instrumental.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: What's the next line?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: But it sounded great.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: At that moment, for some reason, it just lifted me up out of my pain.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: ABBA can do that.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Out of your mental health crisis spawned by social media.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Despite the fact that I was traumatized as a kid,
• 28:52
  having to listen to ABBA while my parents drove home drunk with
• 28:58
  us kids in the backseat.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was legal in the 70s.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: It has to be said, that was driving drunk in the 70s.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think it was recommended.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: No seatbelts, natürlich.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Of course not.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: What do you like about Berlin?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: So every year I host, I don't know, what do you call it in English?
• 29:13
  We emcee,
• 29:13
  I host,
• 29:14
  I'm the moderator of a science slam at the Grüner Woche.
• 29:18
  It's this agricultural convention over in Charlottenburg at the
• 29:21
  convention center.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine that.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And every, and man, I liked the Grunewoche.
• 29:26
  I thought it was always sold to me for years as like this place
• 29:29
  because it's about,
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: it's about agriculture and there's a lot of food stands.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's huge.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: Every hall,
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: every German state has a hall that they present their agricultural goods,
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: which means food.
• 29:39
  And I was,
• 29:39
  it was sold to me as like all these cheap Germans go there
• 29:41
  wanting free samples.
• 29:43
  That's how,
• 29:43
  and I thought there's nothing I want less to do with than that.
• 29:46
  So then I started hosting the science on there and I get a free
• 29:49
  green corner of Ojo ticket.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I walk around and it's funny, man, there's animals.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: They have one, there's one hall that's got animals in it.
• 29:54
  This year they did not have that many animals because of hoof
• 29:56
  and mouth disease,
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: but there were horses.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: I watched some guys ride around on horse carriages for a while.
• 30:01
  Uh,
• 30:02
  then there's all these just random tents,
• 30:04
  Sachsen-Anhalt,
• 30:04
  it's beer and sausages.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have to pay to get in?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you would normally have to pay to get in, but I'm privileged.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: But the Bavaria,
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: the Bavaria,
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: it's just a big,
• 30:13
  it's just Oktoberfest because all these dudes are there from
• 30:16
  like farms in Bavaria
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: and like farming clubs.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know they had clubs.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: I did not know that farmers joined clubs.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: So they're like farmers in the big city.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's 11am.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: They're drunk.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you're kind of a country pumpkin at heart, right?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're kind of from the Bavaria of the US.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh,
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean,
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: I spent,
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: because my parents were divorced,
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: I spent a lot of time on my grandparents' farm.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: I got the farm in me.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Bass fishing.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: I can go bass fishing.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, so I like, I don't know.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's just funny.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, I like stupid fun.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's just, and it's just totally artificial.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what is this?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: Why are there horses running around a convention hall?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't it smell like manure?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, because the, I mean, it does.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it does.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: But like I said, I grew up in a farm.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: And how would you compare it to the Grüne Woche to the Venus Messe,
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: which is Germany's biggest erotic event in the same venue?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing like subjugation of women, huh?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone else.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, but for years, those posters were just abhorrent.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And now the posters have like all genders.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, somehow it's gone like mainstream.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know people that go now.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: Back in the day,
• 31:17
  it was just gross old men because the women stand around naked
• 31:20
  and you're allowed
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: to take pictures of them.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: Looking for ways to spice up their married lives.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, you know, here's a way to spice up your married wife.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to your wife.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Married life.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to your wife.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Back to agricultural news.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have some good news.
• 31:36
  The other day I read that organic food in Germany is now on
• 31:41
  average cheaper than
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: non-organic food.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because fertilizer is so expensive to make now.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, because of gas prices.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: I just had this,
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: my other job voicing documentary films,
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: I had an argument with one of the voicers because the line was,
• 31:58
  organic farms have a very small lobby because they do not use
• 32:02
  fertilizer and diesel.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the voicer was like, the speaker's like, that makes no sense.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: What are you trying to say?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
• 32:10
  Like it's because there's no gas company,
• 32:12
  no fertilizer company behind organic farming.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: They have no lobby.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't understand it.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: He refused to say the line.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: I had to say to him, just say the line.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: But now it's actually cheaper to grow food organically.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Of course it is.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't have to put a lot of crap in it.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just, it's ridiculous.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: It does take up more land though.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: Theoretically, yeah, theoretically.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_01: In the long run, better.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even think you have to go 100% organic.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've always been more for like sensible.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think sensible farming is the way.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: You're a middle of the road kind of guy.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a little bit to the left of the road, but mostly.
• 32:44
  No,
• 32:45
  because I think,
• 32:45
  you know,
• 32:45
  technology,
• 32:46
  technological advancement is nice.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: You should leverage that.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: Just don't be a schmuck.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Don't spray Roundup on your food.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, they spray the whole field with Roundup once a year.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Who does?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Farmers.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, thanks for coming out today, Maurice.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Are we done already?
• 33:02
  This was only the second time we had to redo a podcast because
• 33:05
  there was a problem
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: with the original recording.
• 33:07
  Maybe we should do it in the middle of the day when we're not
• 33:09
  drinking beer.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Just scotch.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Are we really done?
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey guys, thanks for listening.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed this podcast and please check out 20% Berlin.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's our newsletter.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: 20% dot Berlin.
• 33:23
  And please leave a review on whatever platform you're listening
• 33:25
  to this on.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: That helps us.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: It honestly helps us because I'm always like, nobody loves me.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then I see a review and I'm like, oh my God, people care.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: Have you considered therapy?
• 33:46
  .