Berlin is full of artists, rebels, and general ne’er do wells. But who would have expected a bunch of “anarcho communists” intent on overthrowing global capitalism?

This weekend, on Marketplace Money, I looked at how several “revolutionaries” are making small advances for the cause, by printing alternative money in Germany.

According to Wikipedia, alternative currencies are:

Alternative currency is a term that refers to any currency used as an alternative to the dominant national or multinational currency systems (usually referred to as national or fiat money). Alternative currencies can be created by an individual, corporation, or organization, they can be created by national, state, or local governments, or they can arise naturally as people begin to use a certain commodity as a currency. Mutual credit is a form of alternative currency, and thus any form of lending that does not go through the banking system can be considered form of alternative currency.

Every Day Should Be Saturday, which is basically the best sports blog on the Internet, gave a quick little shout out to Marketplace today.

I will be happy to accept this not only as a complement to myself, but as a complement to all public radio and specifically Marketplace. But is also a complement to EDSBS, in that the folks there aren’t listening to ESPN Radio all day.

Boy do the Germans love their fireworks. I swear there were more fireworks shot off on New Year’s Eve here in Berlin than in the whole of the United States on July 4th.

In fact, from the fourth-floor of a Prenzlauer Berg walk-up, we almost got hit by the battalion-load of bottle rockets fired from the street in front of us.

I have to say, I did miss all the 12:01 am phone calls from friends at different parties in different cities, and sometimes even different time zones. But we did manage to pop a bottle of champagne for the occasion, even if I’d recommend free beer instead.

All that said, “Gutes Neuesjahr!”

(Flickr thx: geobeo).

TAFTA!?!

The acronym, which stands for Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, sounds at the very least derivative, and more accurately, dumb.

Nevermind the word games, the idea is gaining ground on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, as an answer to the growing economic strength of China.

Sounds like a perfect story for Marketplace!

Ta-da. It’s my first legitimate Berlin dateline:

Location, location, location.

Okay, so I still haven’t “filed” a story from Berlin — in the sense that I haven’t done a story about Berlin or in Berlin.

But I have been somewhat productive, as evidenced by these two questions:

1) How do you feel about auto checkout lines?

2) Do you believe I am a geek?  (Kai does.)

…ran today.

Its my first non-tech feature in a while, on how politicians are using films to create public policy change.

The close-up in today’s story is health care reform, and Oregon’s former governor, John Kitzhaber.

I actually travelled to Portland to interview him — and I also talked to several other politicians and activists doing similar things. Including Robert Greenwald, the director and producer of those guerilla documentaries for progressives.

You’ve asked for it…and we’ve answered!

More Scott Jagow!!!!

No, we don’t have any more of Scott’s quaint blogmail posts…where he kicks the soccer-loving butts of four 8-year-old German kids.

Instead, we have Scott’s vlog — or video blog.

Actually, it’s more like two short movies.

Without further ado, here is the….

Okay, shoot, their is further ado.

…

First, Scott has a quick announcement:

This isn’t your Aunt Edna’s slide show. It’s got lots of cool music and frolicking and special effects, and even a naughty picture. Thankfully, the Motion Picture Association has given me a PG rating.

And secondly, he wants you to know that he slaved over it. 73-and-a-half hours to make it.

Video 1.

Video 2.

FYI — It plays in Microsoft Media Player, and its posted on the Mydeo.com web site.

Well, I’m a little late with this final blogmail posting from Mr. Scott Jagow himself. But I promise as soon as I get my hands on his video footage (which he says he’ll get to me soon), I will put up a stream here.

And without further ado:

“Well, my World Cup is over. I was knocked out in the round of 16. But I gave it everything I had, and even scored some goals on a few 8-year-olds from Portugal.”

(more…)

I’ve now been castigated by my one-time boss for dropping the ball (well, I guess he could still have me fired, but at least now I he can’t force me to write up a story on some obscure Russian petro-merger).
So, without further ado, Scott Jagow back in the blog-hizzle…

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