As I continue to be the last person to be aware of pop cultural events, I am continuing to watch "Stranger Things" and have finally gotten to the episode and scene that famously launched the Kate Bush revival. So now I know why that happened. Also that was 20 minutes of seriously intense television.

I had no idea that, while many countries rail against immigration, New Zealand has an *emigration* problem: over 50,000 citizens a year are decamping to countries with higher wages and lower living costs, over half of them making the fairly easy leap to Australia. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Glorious golden September weather on tap for the weekend in Berlin, just in time for the Dahlem Harvest Festival! Entry is 4,50€, just grab a burlap sack and hit the pumpkin patch. Also pony rides for the kiddos, Halloween face painting, and various autumnal treats. www.domaene-dahlem.de/erntefest/

One of East Berlin's "showcases of socialism" (and like the others, built with Western currency according to Western plans), the Sports and Recreation Center failed to clear the bar for historical recognition, and so the dilapidated site will be cleared to build housing. www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...

German Rail has released its winter timetable, valid from 14 December. No more Sprinters from Berlin to Köln due to endless construction but a new Sprinter to Stuttgart that reduces travel time by an hour. And Berlin to Copenhagen starts in April (originating in Prague). www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...

Connections Puzzle #838 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟦🟪 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦

So somebody spent 19 euros on a lottery ticket at a kiosk in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, and their bet ended up winning the €120,000,000 national purse. Except now they can't find whoever bought it and the person hasn't surfaced to claim the prize. www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...

Oktoberfest isn't really a thing in Berlin, but homesick Bavarians and lovers of Lederhosen swarm the few Bavarian-style beer halls in town. Plus there is the world's largest Gay Oktoberfest! Of course it is in Berlin and not Munich. www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...

Another casualty of Berlin's budget austerity--the national New Year's Eve television broadcast on ZDF will move from the Brandenburg Gate to Hamburg's HafenCity, since Berlin can no longer put up their share of the funds to host the event. www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...

"I should've had the pasta."

This is not an entirely crazy idea. A transitional international authority is what stabilized the former Yugoslavia and made self-government a reality for Kosovo. The current PA government has not allowed elections since 2005 and has no popular support whatsoever. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Pretty proud of my two alma maters (Texas '93, UC Berkeley '05)

I am a German and American dual national and I did not take a citizenship oath for either country or have to pass any kind of test. I would reckon that the majority of citizens of any country didn't become citizens by taking an oath.

Holy Mother of God, the President of United States is giving an absolutely bonkers incoherent "speech" to the UN General Assembly on the 80th anniversary of its founding year. The UN America was instrumental in founding, but he is just going off koo-koo about windmills or something, who knows what.

Southbound passenger rail from Berlin is going to get messy starting tomorrow, with major construction projects on both the Anhalt railway toward Leipzig and the final work on the Dresden line, which will shut down Südkreuz station to everything but local S-Bahn traffic. www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...

"MAGA Christianity is rooted in a dangerous distortion of Christian theology, one that motivates otherwise good people to walk a dark and dangerous path. It is a great tragedy of our time that many Christians see Trump’s malice as an instrument of God’s divine plan." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...

Technically today is the first full day of autumn here in Germany, as the equinox happened early Monday evening just before the start of Rosh Hashanah. And unlike the trains, fall weather is very punctual. Brisk mornings, cool days and glorious sunshine on tap in Berlin. Time for a pumpkin festival!

Connections Puzzle #835 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨

Marilyn Hagerty was still filing three columns a week until just a week before her death. She went viral with an Olive Garden review when she was already her 80s, which garnered her celebrity and Anthony Bourdain writing a foreword to a collection of her reviews. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/d...

First we had the Battle of the Bratwurst last month between Thuringia and Bavaria, now Duisburg is attempting to usurp Berlin's claim to be the birthplace of the Currywurst (based on curry powder packets that were a kind of barter currency in the postwar British sector). www.rbb24.de/panorama/bei...

As the sun sets here in Germany, time to wish folks who celebrate Rosh Hashanah a good and sweet New Year 5786!

Connections Puzzle #834 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨

"Attempting to turn this slain media personality into a kind of martyr, some sort of state-sanctioned saint and then using that to go after freedoms that Americans take for granted, this feels like an attempt to impose something for which there is no popular support." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...

And this just in: Harry Styles ran anonymously without his usual entourage and clocked in at just under 3:00, which is actually pretty impressive.

Fastest US runner (out of about 8000 US participants) in today's Berlin marathon was Portland, Oregon's own Nick Hauger (currently a running coach in Flagstaff, Arizona), with a time of 2:11:48, just about 10 minutes more than today's champion Sebastian Sawe.

And Sawe wins at 2:02:15, having been *far* ahead for most of the race. Given the weather conditions not a marathon record or personal best, but a year's best result so far. What an amazing accomplishment. Surprise upset was the Japanese runner Akasaki coming in second. Debele completes the podium.

The startlist roster for this year's Berlin Marathon:

Here we go!

Folks who want to watch live (and have German tv channels) can check out the RTL live broadcast already underway.

And they're off--the 51st Berlin Marathon kicks off at 9:15am this Sunday morning with the main race, under just slightly overcast skies with very mild late summer weather. The inline skating competition is after the footrace (the pic is from last year). www.rbb24.de/sport/beitra...

Connections Puzzle #833 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟦🟪🟪 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦

For folks in Germany, arte is airing a travel documentary about the palaces and gardens of Sanssouci tonight at 8:15pm, or check it out in the Mediathek. www.arte.tv/de/videos/11...

A legacy of Berlin's long years of division is that the main public library is still split between the former East Berlin central library and the West Berlin Memorial library (a gift from the US). Now the idea of moving into a department store is back, this time on Alex: www.rbb24.de/kultur/beitr...

Got my overseas ballot to vote in the California special election to effectively cancel out the Texas gerrymander and hells to the YES I am going to vote for it. The GOP is openly at war with America's constitutional freedoms to make their Cheeto Jesus dictator for life. The stakes cannot be higher.

O'zapft is! Munich Oktoberfest is officially underway. I remember the videos of the first opening day after the pandemic, and it was like Moses parting the Red Sea. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTpM...

Last of the summer wine (28C/83F in Berlin today).

Flashback for September 20, 2025 25 points 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟥🟩 Play here: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Connections Puzzle #832 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦

Apropos of Talk Like a Pirate Day, I loved visiting this place when I lived in San Francisco. I still have my "When in doubt, swab" t-shirt. www.atlasobscura.com/places/pirat...

Had a conversation with an older couple on the S-Bahn here in Berlin today about the easiest way to get to sights like the Brandenburg Gate (they wanted to take the famous "sightseeing" 100 bus but it isn't running because of the Marathon). And I didn't get an odd look or get asked where I was from!

It begins. 🎃🍁🍂🎃

For those who live in Berlin and are paying too much rent (ie, everyone) Conny finally has a competitor. Allright takes half the backpaid rent refund (+ 6 months of the determined difference going forward), while Conny grabs the whole enchilada. This interview is spot on: www.msn.com/de-de/finanz...

Fascinating insight into how the Twitter "outrage machine" works. A few crucial accounts (among them Elmo of course) pick up on a story, and then the algorithm is dispatched to look like anger is blowing up, when it is only being driven by a dozen or so big accounts. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/t...

Wordle 1,553 2/6 ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

He wasn't mocking Kirk, he was clearly mocking Trump for his lack of empathy.

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." Justice Robert Jackson, 1943

A unanimous, 9-0 decision by the current Supreme Court.

"With a few narrowly defined exceptions, the First Amendment prohibits government officials from censoring the speech of private actors. But of course, that doesn’t stop them from trying — and there are many sneaky, indirect ways for them to do it." www.thefire.org/research-lea...

"Hate speech does not exist legally in America," Charlie Kirk wrote on X last year. "There's ugly speech. There's gross speech. There's evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment." www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-c...

We just had the evening news here in Germany, and it was reported that the U.S. government is cracking down hard on public political dissent and freedom of opinion, which is exactly what it is and how it would be reported if it were happening in any other country. www.tagesschau.de/ausland/repo...