2023 ~ the end

2023 seemed another quite difficult year… so many wars, earthquakes & fires… everyone in a Barbie and Taylor Swift fever. Twitter is no longer called Twitter… and the lion in Berlin turned into a pig. Bye bye 2023!

Germany winning the world championship of Hockey in India. First time in 17 years! Congratulations!

Groceries became very expensive. The good news: inflation going down again since November.

Pope Benedikt was buried in Rome in January.

Less discrimination when giving blood: also gay men can give blood now!

Swabia: a Syrien became mayor of Ostelsheim. He’s 29 years young and arrived as refugee back in 2015. wow!

Fachkräftemangel – Unwort des Jahres!!!

Amazon fired 18.000 employees.

Prince Harry published his autobiography „Spare“.

The police is „cleaning up“ the climate activist village Lützerath, Germany.

It’s February and we no longer have to wear masks (COVID). Yeah! It felt strange to go anywhere with a lot of people and wearing no mask. Sadly, a lot of people suffering from Long COVID.

A Chinese spy ballon over the USA. Shot. No more balloon. Still spying?

Speaking of China. While Germany is in the last places of the Pisa study, Chinese pupils learn to deal with AI and robots, face recognition cameras can even tell the teacher in which mood the child is, or how concentrated someone is…

More independence to China: in the north of Sweden they found rare earth.

In February USA President Biden traveled to Kiew, Ukraine to confirm further support.

Lionel Messi was voted again „world soccer player“ of the year. Congratulations!

„Everything Everywhere all at once“ best film and winning 7 Oscars. Congratulations!

Our neighbor country France is striking & demonstrating. So far, nothing new or strange. lol. This time about President Emmanuel Macrons retirement reform.

First time ever that a former US president is in court: pornos, secret documents & election betray… loads of scandals. And still, unbelievable but true: Mr Trump seems to be up for next years election (OMG)! Let’s see if really nothing and nobody can stop him or hold him back.

Finland became a NATO member. Yeah! Finland is one of the only countries being prepared: their bunkers for emergency situations are including huge swimming pools as well as a concert hall!

Pentagon leaks: a 21 year old published top secret documents and was arrested.

2023 means also the end of Germany’s atomic energy.

In April, Elon Masks spaceX rocket „Starship“ exploded at the start. Half a year later, in November, he started another one. It started but lost contact to earth.

Chess world championship in Kazastan. Chinese player, Ding Liren, won and became the first Chinese world champion. Congratulations!

Finally, Germany is selling the 49€ monthly ticket for public transportation.

Charles became Queen. Coronation of King Charles III. in London.

Ukraines President Selenskij is visiting Germany for the first time. He was handed over the „Karlspreis“ in Aachen.

Erdoğan won the runoff election and remains the president.

Germany was celebrating the Octoberfest again: 18 days, 7.2 million visitors!

2023 was also the year with the highest rate of female CEOs in German companies. Good job!

AI & ChatGPD creating old new beetle songs, an Abba concert with avartar. Like it or hate it. Is it a game changer or just a hype? Is it a risk or also a chance?

AI can be used to discover pancreatic cancer up to 3 years on advance that’s to research work on Harvard medical school and the University in Copenhagen.

Barbie & Oppenheimer – the movies of the year.

Tina Turner passed away. She was 83.

Spanish female soccer players winning the world championship in Sydney Australia. And the the kissing event happened & Spanish women kept demonstrating. Luis Rubiales, president of Spanish soccer, had to go! More respect please!

Anne Will says goodbye after 16 years or moderating 553 Sunday evening political discussions on TV.

Germany knows how to win the world championship: hockey & basketball.

Let’s keep the fingers crossed for Germans soccer next year in Germany.

Extreme weather. Floods in southern Europe, fires in Canada, drought in the Amazonas, no more skiing in some classic ski areas, it’s simply too warm, slipping mountains in Switzerland… there wasn’t a single month in 2023 without any extreme weather condition somewhere on planet earth.

The rain forest in Brazil is finally getting protected: until August 2023 only half as much wood was cut compared to previous years. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Taylor Swift: 21 months on concert tour „Eras Tour“! Her albums are in the top of the charts. She’s only 33 years old and the most successful popstar of the world. She’s criticizing Trump, she’s supporting for rights for LGBTQ, her song texts including hints empowering women. A strong mind and maybe that’s why she’s so popular. She’s planning to come to Germany, all concerts sold out.

A new member in the Sesamstrasse. Eileen! She’s a girl, in a wheelchair and interested in technical stuff. A competitor to the Cookie Monster? We love her.

Sanna Marin, the former Finnish minister president. She’s young (34), fascinating, leading in a different style. Thanks to her young Finnish people became interested in politics again. She led Finland through the pandemic. I liked her a lot. Unfortunately, after only 3 years she wasn’t elected again. I agree with media: she was one of the coolest Presidents of the world.

The world is fighting for democracy. In Germany, first 3 counties voted for the AfD (Right Party). Even the Parisian newspaper „Le Monde“, Spain and Britain reported about it. Scary times.

Good news: Poland voted against the right party. Yeah!!!

5 people dying on the way to see the titanic wrack in a mini uboot „Titan“. The world followed the dramatic moment almost live. One question remains: how could the company „OceanGate“ transport persons in a non-certified and non-experienced diving boat? We’ll probably never get an answer since the boss and founder died too in the incident.

The world lost a friend: Matthew Perry passed away.

The band Rammstein = monsters? The band will be back in tour in 2024. how come? How could anyone support the concerts after everything what happened? Rammstein organized „after-show-sex“ including knockout drops in the drinks of the ladies. WTF!!!

Europe and its refugees. A difficult topic and turning in circles trying to find a solution. Closing borders won’t be the solution….

Wacken open air in the mud. It rained cats & dogs for weeks in the north of Germany in summer… and still the open air wasn’t canceled but reduced to 61.000 instead of 85.000 fans.

And something to look forward to: The wait is finally over. From 2024, USB-C will be the common standard for electronic devices in the EU – and we have already seen the impact! yeah! And that means the same charger for all phones, tablets and cameras, harmonised fast-charging technology & reduced e-waste. One charger to rule them all.