Michael If, like me, you used to enjoy reading Donald Duck comics, you surely remember that Uncle Scrooge laid the foundation for his fantastillion fortune in the Klondike. In this context, Scrooge always emphasizes that only the toughest and most cunning gold prospectors made it in the Klondike, and that this cold and inhospitable region in Canada's Yukon Territory is no place for wimps.

Angelika As the presidential campaign enters its dirtiest phase, our "Governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger is fighting his own battle in California: Until recently, the legislature of our Sunshine State had not managed to pass a budget.

Michael In American rental apartments and cheap hotels, the bathtubs are often ridiculously small. Our tub, for example, is 134 cm long, 58 cm wide, and 30 cm deep. Someone like me, who is 1.85 m tall, has to contort quite a bit to fit in. That wouldn't be so bad, but to make matters worse, there's a lever (illustration 1) that opens and closes the bathtub drain, and its metal cover has an emergency overflow hole at the bottom. As a result, in a bathtub that's only 30 cm deep, the water can only rise to 21 cm before it starts draining through the emergency overflow!

Michael If you find it great that two Germans like us, who live in America, blog about America, you might also be interested to know that there is the reverse phenomenon: Americans who live in Germany and blog about Germany.

Michael The history of telephone companies in America dates back to 1875 when Alexander Graham Bell founded the "Bell Telephone Company," which later became "Bell Systems." For long-distance calls across state lines, the company AT&T entered the market ten years later and absorbed Bell Systems in 1899. For nearly a hundred years, AT&T operated a government-regulated monopoly until a judge in an antitrust case decided in 1984 that the giant should be divided into what were later called the "Baby Bells" (illustration 1). They were named "Pacific Bell," "Southwestern Bell," "US West," "Ameritech," "BellSouth," "Bell Atlantic," and "NYNEX." The 50 states were divided into seven regions, each of which was assigned one of the new entities to exclusively manage the telephone business in that area.

Michael We Germans in exile often crave familiar foods that aren't available in America. Examples include freshly baked rolls and pretzels, Duplo, blood sausage, peanut flips, and the hazelnut chocolate spread Nutella. In large US cities, you might occasionally find a deceptively similar imitation product on the supermarket shelf, but it can't be compared to the German Nutella.

Angelika American party conventions are perfectly organized productions. The presidential candidate is officially nominated, presented in the best light, and the party itself is celebrated. There is an unparalleled cult of personality, and the speeches are full of self-congratulation. The candidates' wives and children add a personal touch to the whole affair. They are brought on stage to highlight why the candidate is suitable for the presidency. I much prefer Angela Merkel's husband, who does his own thing and always stays in the background or doesn't appear at all.

Michael Americans are very open about their political views; most have no problem sharing which candidate they plan to vote for in the upcoming presidential election in November. If they donate money to a candidate, this information is publicly accessible, and it was really only a matter of time before someone took the effort to display this on an online map.