Germany

Discussed in the context of its former energy strategy and the attempt to balance relations between the U.S. and Russia.

“Yeah, in fact, more specifically, right, it wasTo, to make this break between, to solidify the break between Germany and Russia. So the previous German chancellor, Angela Merkel, she had this project she called Eurasian Home. And, and, and what she was trying …”

Discussed in the context of its relationship with Russia being a target of US prevention efforts.

“And you could see how they would consider that to be, you know, what they would be trying to prevent would be this strengthened relationship between Germany and Russia.”

Noted for having a much higher rate of pollen desensitization treatment compared to the UK.

“For most people, have a chat with your pharmacist. So things like over-the-counter antihistamines, saline nasal sprays, and simple things like rubbing a little bit of Vaseline around your nostrils to catch the pollen before it goes in, not drying your clothes …”

A survey of people with tattoos was conducted here to determine the prevalence of persistent skin problems.

“Okay, interesting. Well, the best numbers I could find on how common this is, this like sort of skin reaction to tattoos, it comes from a survey of people with tattoos in Germany, and it found that about 9% of people reported persistent skin problems at least …”

The location where the fossilized cloaca imprint was discovered.

“... and this was buried in a patch of mud in what is today central Germany. Um-”

Highlighted for its successful democracy and its specific laws banning Nazi symbols, which the speakers argue should be respected.

“But so, you know, so that, that's just disingenuous. I mean, it's true. Hate speech is a, you know, it's a longer conversation. I mean, what you, how you define it, what you say it is, is different, but some countries do have hate speech. Like, Germany has the…”

The home country of the soldier Ernst Jünger and the destination for wounded troops.

“blindly from tree to tree, like looking for cover. They're like frightened game," he says. And in the middle of all this, he feels a blow on his left thigh, and this is a piece of shrapnel that's come from one of the explosions and has basically sliced into hi…”

A Central Power that invaded Belgium and France, eventually digging into defensive trenches.

“Completely, it is. So a, a little gift to our, uh, Anzac listeners there. Um, but today I thought what we would do is we would kick off whe- with the epicenter of the war, which is the Western Front. And specifically what we'd do is to talk about what it was l…”

The nation where Ernst Jünger was born and served during the First World War.

“He has an incredible life, uh, Ernst Jünger. You know, you can trace the whole of German 20th century history through his life, really. He was born in Heidelberg in 1895, and his father was a rich kind of chemist, kind of chemical engineer. And he went to boar…”

The nation that initiated the use of chlorine gas in 1915 due to its advanced chemical industry.

“Indeed, and this brings us perfectly to one of the first answers they come up with. So Graves just mentioned it, and this is the secret weapon that the Germans come up with in the early months of nineteen fifteen to try to break this deadlock, and this is gas.…”

The German army's trenches were noted for being superior, deeper, and more comfortable than those of the British.

“Probably not. And they would also, uh, make up names for the German lines opposite them. So there's a bit in Siegfried Sassoon where Siegfried Sassoon says, "Our objective was Pint Trench, taking Bitter and Beer and clearing Ale and Vat and also Pilsen Lane." …”

The German military utilized chemical weapons during the war, which were criticized by Allied newspapers.

“Right. [laughs] Okay. He said it was a cynical and barbarous disregard of the well-known usages of civilized war. And of course, the Allied newspapers say, "Well, this is typical of the Germans. This is how the Germans behave. They're Huns, they're barbarians.…”

Cited as a location where a long-standing fake version of VLC remains popular and unaddressed by search engines.

“Absolutely not, right? We have a big issue for, like, more than ten years, is that there is a fake version of VLC in Germany that was reported for now for twelve years, and Google basically decides to not... They know what's in it, but the binary is too big fo…”

Mentioned as a location where contributors to the VideoLAN project are based.

“It, it would be difficult because of the international nature. It would be difficult for you to incorporate that code because there would be someone in the UK and someone in Germany and someone in, in the US as part of VideoLAN who'd be able to see that. It wo…”

Used as an example location for a developer working on complex software in isolation.

“... two order of magnitude of more complexity. A guy alone somewhere in Germany doing that.”

The country where Kostya Sytnyk was living while performing reverse engineering work.

“So, so, so, so, so, like, let's talk about this amazing Ukrainian guy called Kostya, who was, uh, at that time living in Germany and who was in love with Sweden, right? He- and the guy was the most... He, he's like, like, like a lot of the people in the commun…”

Location where dark SEO tactics were observed being used for malicious software distribution.

“Because that's how they, they do the detection. And after three weeks, there is a small program that is a service that install at the same time that wakes up after three weeks and start downloading spyware and adware. And Google knows about it. They've decided…”

The country Haber served and eventually left after the rise of the Nazi party.

“He actually was very humiliated, uh, that Germany had lost, and especially humiliated over the fact that they had to pay enormous war reparations to other countries. So he decided he was going to invent a process to pay for these reparations by himself, and wh…”

The nation in whose name Himmler justified the actions of the SS.

“There's a sort of chilling comparison, which is a speech that Himmler gave to the SS, some SS leaders, when they were a- about to commit a range of atrocities, and he said, "Look, this is what you're gonna do is, of course you don't want to do this. Of course …”

The nation Haber served and felt deep patriotism toward.

“He, he loves the fatherland, and he loves Germany.”

Used as a comparison to show that members of Congress do not have dedicated lobbyists for other foreign nations.

“[laughs]... look, they don't, they [laughs] they don't have a Britain guy. They don't have an Australian guy. They, you know, they don't have a Germany dude. Like, w- it's the only country that does this.”

Referenced as being played against the Soviets by financial interests.

“... Second World War followed, and we, you know, obviously, again, you can get into the whole history of the financiers behind, you know, Hitler and his rise to power, and so it was like, we're gonna play, you know, Germany against, you know, the, the Soviets,…”

Mentioned as the location where Alastair Campbell is observing political trends.

“I think that latter position is where he is in his mind right now. But I think a lot of that is driven just by sheer anger. [chuckles] This feeling that, you know, why, why, why is this all being thrown at me? Now, the answer to that is that's what happens in …”

Referenced in a humorous remark about technology and Wi-Fi quality.

“... and Sar- Sarkozy was here, and Merkel was here. But the bloody Wi-Fi has been an absolute nightmare. Um, so I'm, I- [laughs] So, you know, Germany, Vorsprung durch Technik, they, they've gone backwards, I would say, because I can't believe-”

Listed as a country experiencing simultaneous birth rate declines.

“Um, it's just over one decade. It feels like two. You know, I come from a very different perspective. I came out of the commercial world, uh, where I ran a data science company doing advanced data modeling for 20 years. And I, I could've and maybe should've co…”

Mentioned in the context of a young medical student who became a mother at age 21.

“I, I, I, um, interviewed a young German woman, um-medical student about fertility or make, making birth gap. And, uh, I, I didn't realize, but she already was a mother at age 21. So I was interviewing her as a medical student thinking I was going to be asking …”

The location where the Max Planck Institute conducted the comparative study on toddlers and primates.

“So that's the other thing we spend a lot of time studying. But we, we are the most so- socially sophisticated primate species on the planet. We have a brain uniquely equipped for connecting with the minds of others, and that means that we are hypersensitive to…”

Proposing a new agency and demanding access to state-of-the-art AI models.

“We should also talk about some of the international reaction to Mythos, because it's not just China who wants into this thing. Um, Germany's Digital Affairs and Cyber Security Agency are out this week with a proposal for establishing their own version of somet…”

The location where a woman was raped and subsequently lied to authorities to protect the perpetrators' community.

“... there is a woman who was raped in Germany, and when the authorities were trying to find out more about who the perpetrators were, she lied to them and said that they were, uh, speaking in German, even though they were speaking in Arabic and Farsi. Because …”