Michael Riding a bicycle in large American cities requires courage and nerves of steel. In San Francisco, this has led to cyclists being seen as aggressive daredevils who don't follow traffic rules, get upset for no reason, and with whom it's best not to start any discussions. Exactly right, haha!

Angelika The saying "art is a breadless profession" is well-known, and unfortunately, there is a grain of truth to it. Because, let's be honest, who really manages to exhibit their works in renowned museums or galleries? However, once a year in San Francisco, anyone willing to pay $165 gets the chance to present their art to a wider audience.

Michael Recently, I came across something strange on the internet: a publicly accessible database of convicted sex offenders. Go to the website of the National Sex Offender Public Registry of the US Department of Justice. After you accept the fine print with "I agree," click on California on the map (the elongated state on the West Coast) and enter our postal code 94114 as the Zipcode. A click on "Search" will provide a list of convicted sex offenders in our neighborhood who have since been released from prison. If you click on the names in the list, the police photos of these individuals will appear, along with their full names and information about their offenses, and in some cases, their current addresses, including street name and house number! You can even view their addresses on a digital map. The following clause is intended to prevent anyone from threatening or harassing these individuals: "ANY USE OF THIS INFORMATION TO THREATEN, INTIMIDATE, HARASS, OR CREATE A CRIMINAL ACT AGAINST ANOTHER PERSON WILL RESULT IN CRIMINAL PROSECUTION."

Michael And here is a new series in the newsletter: Absolute insider tips that only people who have lived in San Francisco for years know about. Today: What to do with loose change? Because you never know exactly how much something costs due to sales tax and therefore can't count out the change you will need to get rid of in advance, you often end up with unwanted coins. Quarters can usually still be used, but dimes, nickels, and pennies are hard to get rid of, and sooner or later they'll be tearing holes into your pocket. The solution: Take the MUNI streetcar from the Embarcadero, Powell, Montgomery, Civic Center, or Van Ness stations. The streetcar lines in this area run underground, and at the fare gate, there are turnstiles that--unheard of in the entire USA--accept any loose change! So when you pay the $1.50 for a ride, you could theoretically insert 150 individual pennies! I've tried it with about 30 and paid the rest with nickels and dimes, and it worked flawlessly. That was the super insider tip for this issue. But wait for the next issue which will feature the best publicly accessible restrooms in downtown. Until then!

Die-hard newsletter fans probably noticed right away: The newsletter is now available in a new online format. After 9 years, it was high time to make our entertaining letters a bit more modern. The newsletter now runs under the domain usarundbrief.com so that people don't have to remember the 'perlmeister'. And also a new Discussion Forum is now a place where you can ask questions and give praise or criticism to the newsletter writers. Let's hear what you think about it! Discuss eagerly!

In November, I managed to wrangle 10 vacation days from Yahoo! once again, and we took off to Hawaii. Since we've already been to all the islands, we had to start over: So we went to Kauai again, the green island all the way in the west.

In Hawaii, there is always a pleasantly warm, gentle breeze, which can occasionally become a bit gusty. If you have drilled a large sun umbrella into the sand, it can sometimes be torn from its anchoring, and then you have to chase after the runaway umbrella in a completely uncool manner.

If you print your digital photos on an inkjet printer, it is extremely expensive. The printer ink mafia has ruthlessly driven up prices in recent years. Additionally, the quality of the photos usually does not withstand the expert eye; the photos are not of the same quality as those from a print shop, primarily due to the printing process.

Angelika The persistent view holds that every American pays even the smallest amounts with their credit cards, and when paying with cash, people roll their eyes in a condescending way: "Look at this poor guy, he has to hand over bills because he can't get a credit card." However, it's not quite that bad. You pay for your coffee at the "coffeeshop" in cash, and no one finds it strange. On the contrary, many smaller businesses even set a minimum amount (between 5 and 15 dollars) from which customers can pay with credit cards.

Michael Actually, I shouldn't really recommend this CD because it has a nasty copy protection. Of course, I didn't buy it; instead, I listened to it (legally!) on the new Yahoo Music Engine (YME). There, you pay $11.99 a month and can then listen to unlimited music, day and night, and choose from more than a million songs. It's still in the beta phase and extremely unstable, but as a Yahoo! employee, I get it for free, so I can't complain. Apple will be on alert if this takes off and competes with its iTunes!

In the meantime, I'm not really used to German beer anymore. Of course, when I travel to Germany for a week every few years, Andechser Doppelbock and Augustiner Edelstoff are provided there. But in the absence of these great beers, I've adjusted my beer taste in America. Nowadays, I enjoy drinking "India Pale Ale" (IPA), which is a flavor that might seem almost bitter to uninitiated palates. "White Hawk" from the Mendocino Brewing Company is one of the best.

Angelika The little things that are different in Germany compared to America always fascinate me anew. In the summer, we visited our friends in Portland, and the son of the house had a loose tooth. He excitedly told us that as soon as he lost the tooth, the Tooth Fairy would come, which greatly astonished Michael, as he had never heard of the Tooth Fairy before. I was already familiar with her from various stories and children's books from the kindergarten in the Tenderloin, where I work. Here's how it works: When a child loses a milk tooth, they place it under their pillow. During the night, the Tooth Fairy (i.e., the parents) comes and exchanges the tooth for money, usually 1 dollar nowadays. In contrast, back in the day, I used to place my milk teeth in a matchbox lined with cotton. There was no money involved.