Before Fall took full hold in Ottawa I had the opportunity to attend a reception at the German Ambassador to Canada’s residence in commemoration of the anniversary of German reunification. The headliner: Berlin street food. I lived in West Germany for four years in my youth, another three months in
Continue readingTag: Berlin
Things Are Good: Berliners Vote to Evict MegaLandlords
Like many cities around the world Berlin’s housing crisis is only getting worse. Instead of sitting idly by and watching their city become a place only for the landed gentry, Berliners decided to organize and do something. A referendum took place over this past weekend (as part of the federal
Continue readingThings Are Good: Boost Local Shopping Streets by Going Car Free
Berlin wants to support its local businesses by banning cars, and historically this has worked well for other cities. Cities the world over are converting streets built for cars into places that people can enjoy to help their local economies. Berlin joins in on this people-friendly trend and the results
Continue readingA BCer in Ottawa: Eating off the Hill: Berlin streetfood comes to Ottawa with Wolf Down
Ottawa is the town where shawarma is king. Don’t believe me? We have Shawarma King and Shawarma’s King within a few blocks of each other — yes, two different reasturants. Ottawa has a new challenger though for meat sandwich supremacy — ironically, nearly across the street from Shawarma King —
Continue readingThings Are Good: Berlin’s Housing Crisis Solution is to Buy Houses
Not Berlin, but a good city nonetheless. If you’re like me and was born in the 80s then you’ve lived through a time in which housing policies have been gutted and basically no new public housing has been built. That’s at least 30 years of neglect by politicians and society
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Berlin Wall: Now Down Longer Than it was Up
The Berlin Wall marked a negative time in recent history in which two sides couldn’t communicate well and severed a country, and families, in two. During the Cold War people risked their lives tring to escape to West Germany from the oppressive East. The tearing down of the wall was
Continue readingThings Are Good: Blossoming Bikelanes in Berlin
Berlin continues to impress environmentalists around the globe with the city’s efforts to adjust to the reality of the 21st century. Last year Berlin got attention for being a “sponge city” and this year will see the start of a bike lane network that rivals other cities. With car traffic
Continue readingAlberta Politics: From the Twitter account of the former Deputy Leader of Free Alberta: Angela Merkel’s the leader of the free world
PHOTOS: The leader of the free world, listening to Neil Young on sound cancelling headphones. Click here for the soundtrack to this post. The confused looking elderly man with a comb-over to her left is thinking: “Who is that person?” Probably not in those exact words, though. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.)
Continue readingThings Are Good: Berlin, Sponge City
Germany’s capital is becoming a sponge to stop flooding. It might seem counterintuitive to want to gather more water in order to stay dry, but that’s exactly the plan. Currently the city of Houston is suffering some of the worst flooding that its ever seen thanks largely to poor planning
Continue readingThings Are Good: You Can Now Eat Climate Data
Ice cream is delicious and now you can eat a brand new flavour of it made of climate data. Well, it’s more like existing flavours put together to symbolize data about our climate and how it’s changing. Jonathon Keats is the brain behind the project and he’s mixing the ice
Continue readingThings Are Good: Berlin’s New Rent Laws Helping People Faster than Predicted
In cities all over the world housing people is an issue and some cities have it worse than others. In Berlin, where things weren’t awful they decided they waned to stop a downward trend that cropped up in the rental market. Renters were confronted with a market that was inhumane
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: The strikes sweeping Germany are here to stay | Wolfgang Streeck | Comment is free | The Guardian
The strikes sweeping Germany are here to stay | Wolfgang Streeck | Comment is free | The Guardian. German strikes once seemed like German jokes: a contradiction in terms. But no more: this year, Europe’s largest economy is on course to set a new record for industrial action, with everyone
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Why you should choose weekday parties- 2013 BLOGCEMBER 18/31
I usually prefer going out on weekdays. In a big city- parties are offered on weekdays and they are often a lot better than the weekend parties. …
Continue readingMelissa Fong: BLOGCEMBER 2013: Electronic music month- THEME 1/31
I have become inspired to write about my experiences with house/techno music this month. I’m going to take a departure from my usual politicized rants and start a […]
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: As Remembrance Day Looms in Canada, Germans Prepare to Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht.
In Berlin this weekend, about a hundred businesses will be affixing decals to their storefront windows. The decals simulate broken glass, memorializing the shattered windows of Jewish stores attacked 75-years ago on Kristallnacht. On Nov. 9, 1938 — 75 years ago this weekend — one of the most notorious events
Continue readingbastard.logic: Concert of the Day (After Dark)
Miles Davis Quintet (Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams), Berlin, West Germany, November 4, 1967: Filed under: Jazz, music, video Tagged: 1967, Berlin, Herbie Hancock, Jazz, live, Miles Davis, Miles Davis Quintet, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, video, Wayne Shorter
Continue reading