By Craig Whitlock and Shannon Smiley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 14, 2008; A01

BERLIN, March 13 -- Americans with PhDs beware: Telling people in Germany that you're a doctor could land you in jail.

At least seven U.S. citizens working as researchers in Germany have faced criminal probes in recent months for using the title "Dr." on their business cards, Web sites and r¿sum¿s. They all hold doctoral degrees from elite universities back home.

Under a little-known Nazi-era law, only people who earn PhDs or medical degrees in Germany are allowed to use "Dr." as a courtesy title.

The law was modified in 2001 to extend the privilege to degree-holders from any country in the European Union. But docs from the United States and anywhere else outside Europe are still forbidden to use the honorific. Violators can face a year behind bars.

Ian Thomas Baldwin, a Cornell-educated researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, has stopped calling himself "Dr." ever since he was summoned for interrogation by police two months ago on suspicion of "title abuse."....Read the complete article here

Improv Everywhere Berlin has 80 members so watch out for an Undercover Mission near you! Also there is a world freeze being planned for April 1 at 6pm our time for 5 min. Anyone up for setting up a bookshop group to freeze somewhere near the shop. Lets talk. WORLD FREEZE We are planning a Freeze (if enough people are interested) at the Marheineke Markt Halle at 6pm for 5 min. We would meet at 5.30 at the bookshop and go over. Let us know if you can come and participate.

I loved the Grand Central Freeze (SEE BELOW) but it looks like it has been beat by LA with |Can I get a Napkin Please.

Phone for the fish knives, Norman
As cook is a little unnerved;
You kiddies have crumpled the serviettes
And I must have things daintily served.

Are the requisites all in the toilet?
The frills round the cutlets can wait
Till the girl has replenished the cruets
And switched on the logs in the grate.

It's ever so close in the lounge dear,
But the vestibule's comfy for tea
And Howard is riding on horseback
So do come and take some with me

Now here is a fork for your pastries
And do use the couch for your feet;
I know that I wanted to ask you-
Is trifle sufficient for sweet?

Milk and then just as it comes dear?
I'm afraid the preserve's full of stones;
Beg pardon, I'm soiling the doileys
With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.

Ok, I know this is suppose to be a English language website but sometimes I need to pass on some important German words that you might need living here in Berlin. This has to be the best German word I have learned since I have lived here. I do not know how I have got alone without knowing it, and will be looking for every chance I can to work it into conversation.

eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher

for those that have not worked out what this word means I have provided the video below.

A collection of interesting items for the lover of English usage...

an gan heor te larn te taak Geordie

The Final Countdown by the Latvian Symphony Orchestra

"Touch me again and I get my fucking batarang!"

Check out this funny short film: Lee Philips from London tries to sue Warner Bros. for mis-represenation.

Search request: what drinks started in another country

- Vodka?

Tuesday 04 March 8:30
Killer of Sheep (1977) Charles Burnett




Thursday 06 March 8:30
Berlin Alexanderplatz Part 11 and 12 (1980) R.W. Fassbinder
BOOKSHOP RECOMMENDS:
7pm Opening of Rashidii´s Living Room with Live Music and Artwork by Günter Roth

Friday 07 March 9pm Dinner around 11
Film: Coffy (1973) Jack Hill



Saturday 08 March
Bookshop open 12-6pm
BOOKSHOP RECOMMENDS:
8pm DIENSTbar at Wallywoods

Sunday 09 March
Bookshop open 12-6pm
BOOKSHOP RECOMMENDS:
FUEL 9pm at Schokoladen Club, Ackerstr 169 Mitte, performance & live music show turns 3 year old..party with Gaby and other special guests: American writer P Lewis, songwriter from Seattle now Berlin based: Joe Czarnecki, Berlin's odd spokenword performer: Tom Mars

Monday 10 March
Bookshop Closed

Tuesday 11 March 8:30
This is England (2006) Shane Meadows

RG Event Gallery
Solmstrasse 37 b
10961 Berlin

Thursday March 6, 2008 7 pm--Opening exhibition ,party, and performance

Rashidii Graffiti: piano,guitar,vocals,spoken word
Akira Ando: bass,vocals,cello,flute

Günter Roth
exhibition of paintings

Bio drinks,vegetarian,wellness products

BVG will be affected by an unlimited strike beginning on Wednesday, March 4, from 3.00 a.m

This strike will last at least until March 14. All parts of BVG will be affected by this strike, so that no trains will be running. There will be an emergency schedule for some bus lines.

Check the english version of bvg.de for more info over here!

old von bredow waited
‘til his widow came in with
legumes, greens steaming on age-old
silver plates saying to their young
amanuensis at the table i see
they again in your country
prepare to decide upon king
of the planet. as a man he had a thing
for inciting the blush of the bloody au lait
suffusing her face to its roots in that
t-shirt’s ruby décolleté; as a german
he had a point to make. everyone on earth
of a certain age not non compos
should be in on this
vote, don’t you
think? the widow winked, passing
plantains, though clear as a fake tear von bredow
maintained an expression expecting an
answer. by chance a natural disaster
developed as they ate, god’s
corpsecold windfeet kicking
the city with
hatred. rattled windows, the
chandelier shaking lent
drama to the socratic
conversation. handfuls of dead, hair
streaming, were lifted up
despite their sudden waterweight by the fists
of the weather in spate as
the american stared in
nearly sexual inanition at
her Goethe-old, butter-drenched
plate



.