Cross Border Inventions

I consider myself quite well traveled, having spent much of my last 5 years traveling for work throughout the US, Europe and a bit in Asia. So one of the things I was most surprised about when moving to Germany was that there are many different inventions (typically technology related) and practices that are not duplicated in the US (and vice versa, though I will focus on those in Germany and not in the US). As connected as our world is these days, I would have expected that anything that makes life more efficient or could earn a buck for someone would be quickly brought to the US. But that's not the case. Nothing huge, but little things (in no particular order).

1. Germans love to drive fast and obviously invest money in technology that assists in the safety of this, as well as the efficiency of it. Above many of the bridges near cities with rush hour are LED displays of the current speed limit over each lane. The speed limit changes depending on the number of cars that are sensed to be going under the bridge in a certain period of time. For example, when there is little traffic, the speed limit shows unlimited. When more traffic, it shows about 60 and goes all the way down to 20 if it senses that cars moving slowly or stopped for an accident. And this appears to trigger previous bridges as well so one always knows what is going on ahead. The changing of the speed limit is quite dynamic, as I see it change all the time as I approach.

2. The parking garages in the cities keep track of how many spaces are available and on what floors. Additionally, these numbers are reported centrally so that when entering the larger cities, there is a sign that shows how many spaces are available in each of the city parking garages. Again this is done electronically. And as one goes up (or down as the case may be) in the garage, each floor has a light system to alert you whether there are spaces available on your floor or not (green means available, red means go to the next floor). This saves quite alot of time when searching for parking spots.

3. Not technological exactly, but there is a great system of bike rentals in Frankfurt and other German cities. A company owns many bikes and they are left locked up at various locations (street corners) around the city. If you wish to rent a bike (about $1 an hour), you text message or call a number and they bill your cell phone and unlock the bike remotely. When you are done, you park the bike, lock it and let them know where you left it, though I believe they do have GPS sensors built in. While not exactly a phenomenal idea in the US as we don't ride bikes as much and I can't even imagine riding a bike in NYC, I just like the ease and efficiency that this is done.

4. In several places, especially my office, I like the way that the vending areas (vending machines as well as the cafeteria) are non-cash. You load up your ID card with cash at ATM like machines at specific intervals (5-100 euros) and just swipe it when you want something. This makes the lines move extremely fast at peak times (lunch) and there is absolutely no concern regarding employee theft or giving the wrong change. Not to mention, I bet the average spending per person goes up with the implementation of such a system as the human mind doesn't necessarily think about the cash they are spending from a card in the same manner they do with actual cash.

There are others I am forgetting which I will add soon. There have been several times in the past 2 months that I have looked at Rebecca and said, 'Oh my God, why doesn't everybody do it that way?" But I have forgotten these things...But it just strikes me that an entrepreneur could travel from country to country and pick up "inventions" that he could make a mint off in the US. Granted some of these things are not things that are easily marketed and could make money off. The speed limit signs and parking garage signs are infrastructure/govt type items that the government would have to endorse and pay for, which would not be likely.

Chaos theory, gravity or just bad luck?

So I was making toast for Lauren this morning while trying to multitask, reading my emails that came in overnight (from the US usually) and checking sports scores on my blackberry. Toast popped up and with my left hand, the hand holding the blackberry, I tried to grab the toast. I accidentally touched the edge of my finger to the metal top of the toaster that was piping hot (still have a blister to prove it) and pulled my hand back so fast that the blackberry went flying out of my hand. It arced across the room (seemingly in slow motion) and landed smack dab in the middle of a frying pan filled with water, soaking after Rebecca burned last night's dinner. I quickly pulled it out - it hadn't short circuited but was soaking wet. Six hours later, it works but many of the keys still don't work. I am hoping it will just take time to dry, as I bought the blackberry in the US as it is much cheaper there. Last thing I want to do is go spend $500 on a blackberry.

About 30 minutes later, I went to plug my electric razor in and had to go find an adaptor. Adaptor in hand and trying to plug it in the outlet in the cupboard in the bathroom, I dropped the adaptor and it fell in the smallest place in a corner in the cabinet that I could barely reach (with extreme exertion) and don't know if I could have put there if I had tried!

So I got to thinking that things like this happen all the time to me - as if all cosmic events aligned to make these things happen. I mean, what are the chances I burn myself while holding my bberry and it flies across the room and lands in a pan?? (By the way, chances of a burned pan soaking in our house are indeed quite high). Why when I dropped my keys a few years ago did they just happen to find the gap in the elevator I was stepping out of and fall down the shaft? Why, when I am assembling some piece of furniture or IKEA product, when I drop the screw does it fall just out of reach so that I have to set everything down and start over? Or when I set the garden hose down, it always happens to fall on the sprayer handle and squirt me right in the face?

I don't know anything about chaos theory (and don't think it has anything to do with what I am talking about) but this seems an appropriate description of these events. Perhaps its just gravity and I have bad luck. Or, the most likely answer, maybe I just remember the instances where these things happen and the other 99 times out of 100 don't stick in my head. Do these things happen to other people? I am going to start making lists of these impossible things and report back.

Parenting

So Rebecca and I are not strict parents when it comes to discipline but have always been quite strict when it comes to adhering to schedules for the girls. Meals are eaten at the same time every day within 15 minutes and bed time never waivers. The girls have always gone down at 7 (or earlier) and I can count on one hand the number of times that has not happened, usually because we are traveling or a dinner out runs late. Kate gets her 12 hours and Lauren gets her 14 (with an afternoon nap) as recommended by the APA. We both believe this helps, as the kids always know what to expect and when to expect it. I am always interested to watch the kids of other parents who don't adhere to such a schedule. In my opinion, I tend to witness more mood swings and melt downs. But this may just be a predetermined bias. This all essentially stems from Rebecca's unwavering adherence to the rules. If the APA recommends it, she does it. No TV before two as it contributes to ADD. Sleep schedules, everything.

So the reason I write this now is that I am sitting in the rotunda of the Disneyland Hotel in Paris because this is the only place in the hotel that has wifi. Rebecca and the girls went to bed about 7 and I came up here to catch up on email and baseball playoffs. And I found an absolute mad house...50 kids or so running absolutely amok, dressed from just diapers to full princess and pirate regalia. Parents are sitting here drinking, kids are shrieking, chasing each other with star wars guns and at least one gets injured every 5 minutes, several are absolutely screaming bloody murder and melting down at their parents feet. All from age 1 to 10. At 8 o'clock I wasn't too surprised. But now its 9:30 and no signs of slowing. And I know these are the same kids that are going to be up at 7 and in the park, knocking my kids over in line and behaving horrendously. Do parents know this and just choose to have their fun at the expense of the kids? Or do they just assume kids know when they need to go to bed and its ok to keep them out like this? Or, is this just Disney and vacation and these parents act quite differently at home? Or am I just a square who should let his kids run amok too as they are missing out by not doing so?