Curfew 2am - get the party ended..

Hey guys,

since it's all over Facebook you have probably already read about it - this weekend three of the "Grazer Univiertel" clubs ("Three Monkeys", "Gecco" and "Kottulinsky") had to close at 2am. Why? Because some residents filed a complaint last year due to noise pollution and the mayor decided that he has to do something about it. His solution: Close the clubs at 2am.

Now let me get one thing straight. I'm not in favor of drunk people screaming around in the middle of the night. I do understand that it must be exhausting to live right above one of the night clubs in Graz (although I have to say that nobody forces anybody to live in or around the Univiertel!!!). But even so, creating a curfew will definitely not help to get rid of the problem. And here is why:

1. Where is the sense behind giving only three clubs a closing time? There are so many other clubs and bars around the ones mentioned above - even if Gecco, Three Monkeys and Kottusinky close at 2am there will still be people in all the other bars making noise when they leave.

2. From my own experiences I know: Nobody goes to the clubs before midnight. When I go out with friends we usually don't arrive at Kottulinksy before 12am. Why? Because before we go dancing we like to sit together in one of our apartments or in a nice bar to have some nice conversations and catch up. But let's be honest - who goes dancing for only two hours??

3. Since I don't live in Graz I always have to plan how I get home. There are three options. Number one: Going home by cab which costs about 30€ - therefore it's not an option for me. Number two: I drive. I actually drive by car a lot but that also has the downside that I can't drink any alcoholic beverages. So here comes option number three: I go home by train. But since my first train in the morning doesn't depart before 5am this option has now been taken from me (and many others, who don't live in Graz). When my favorite clubs close at 2am - what am I going to do between two and five in the morning? Sit in front of the closed train station? Definitely not!

4. Here comes (in my opinion) one of the biggest nonsense: What does the dear mayor think all the people will do after 2am? Does he really think a few hundred people will leave the clubs without making any noise?  I'd prefer people leaving the clubs in small groups throughout the night when they actually want to go home than hundreds of people leaving at the same time not ready to go home. You can see the proof on Facebook: There are pictures where you can see tons of people on the street who continue their party outside:

5. Another thing: Everybody is complaining that Graz (as many other cities) "is dying" and that people go shopping at the mall in Seiersberg instead of the city center or party at the club "Fledermaus" instead of the inner city - these regulations will definitely not help to whet people's appetite to stay in the city.

All in all I just can't see how the 2am curfew helps anybody and I really hope that also Mr. Nagl and his supporters will realize that it's not the solution.

But that's only my personal opinion - what do you think??

“GUNMAN KILLS 26 AT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT“

You can find this or a similar headline in pretty much every online newspapers that exists right now, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be tomorrow’s newspaper headline in Austria as well.

When my mom called me in the kitchen earlier today, she told me that she just heard on the radio that a man killed 20 children and 6 teachers in an Elementary School in Connecticut.I simply couldn’t – no – didn’t want to believe her. How can anybody be so cruel? How sick and f* up are people nowadays? First the shooting in Oregon a few days ago, where 3 people (including the shooter) died and now this?

How can anybody walk into a school and murder 26!! innocent people - 20 young CHILDREN and 6 adults, including his own MOTHER? For heaven’s sake, those children were between 5 and 10, they had their whole life in front of them and now everything was taken away from them because one sick, stupid asshole lost his mind? And the worst thing of all? This is definitely not going to be the last shooting where innocent people are getting killed.

And you know what’s insane? Most Americans still believe that everybody should have the right to own a gun! I’m not saying that this tragedy has happened because the 20 year old killer was allowed to have a gun. I do realize he might have got one without having the permission to own a gun as well. But it definitely makes it a lot easier to actually hurt people when you have a gun in your house, doesn't it?

And it’s not only about people getting nuts and killing a lot of people in a mall, a school or another public place. It also happens at home, in their families. How many people get killed in the heat of the moment, because one of the family members loses his/her mind and grabs the gun, which is in their house because “they might have to defend their family in case of an emergency”.

Dear gun supporters, have you ever thought that you might not even have to defend your family, if people around you don’t own guns? I know, owning a gun means freedom and security for some Americans, and I do realize that the American constitution says that people have the right to own a gun – but the constitution was written in 1789 and the right to own a gun was added in the 2ndamendment (which was in 1791). Of course people needed a gun back then, they intruded into Indian land, it only makes sense that the Native Americans weren’t too happy about the white people taking away their land. But now, more than 200 years later I don’t see the point in this part of the constitution anymore.

I’m really sorry for the children and adults who died today, as well as for the families and friends of the victims. May they rest in peace, and please America, start rethinking your so called “right to keep and bear arms” – how many more people have to die before you realize that owning a gun is not the solution to the problem?

P.S.: I'm sorry for my violent choice of words in this post, I usually don't swear at all, but in this case the words "fool" or "idiot" were just not strong enough to describe the hatred and hostility I feel towards the man who killed all those innocent people.

Yes, he (still) can!

 

- and he did! With 303 electoral votes for Obama and 206 for Romney the president clearly wins this year’s election. Not only the USA chooses Obama – this graphic shows that he has supporters around the world (found on BBC)

Since you have probably heard or read a lot about this years election already I don't want to bore you with all the details.
All I want to say is:

CONGRATULATIONS OBAMA!

In my opinion the USA chose the right man, and as he said:
"Tonight, in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America, the best is yet to come," [Barack Obama, Victory Speech 2012]

For those of you who are interested: