"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!"

Today is the 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A lot of people remember where they were when the most visible sign of Communism finally fell. I am not one of them as I was under the age of 10 and blissfully politically ignorant. But my roommate, who grew up in Munich in the 1980s, remembers East Germans flooding into the West and heading straight for the supermarket to buy bananas.

This past weekend, as reported in the Times magazine, two gourmands brought their guests back to that time of feast and famine when they hosted a dinner pitting East and West German cuisines against each other in an apartment just 50 yards from where part of the wall used to stand. The evening, set amid vintage memorabilia, started with guests enjoying wine together. But as dinner started, a wall went up and half the guests were served dishes reflecting either the East or West. The diners reunited for dessert served under "caramel barbed wire."

NPR Radio reported this morning a model car company in Germany is trying to revive interest in full-size Trabants. Once the go-to car in the Soviet bloc - described in the interview as part of the family, like a cat or dog - it fell out of favor once East Germans had the freedom to purchase whatever wheels they wanted. The good news is rather than belching smoke, the new Trabbis will be electric. Interest in the retro car is another example of the "ostalgia" reported on in USA Today. Those same Trabis conduct tourists on a sightseeing tour, visiting spots all over East Berlin. In the USA Today story, several locations in formerly Soviet Berlin are highlighted as tourist attractions today, including Checkpoint Charlie, the East Side Gallery and Potsdamer Platz.

A slightly more objective (if self-aggrandizing) look-back of the fall of the wall can be found on MSNBC's website. Written by Bill Wheatley, who produced MSNBC's live scoop on the wall being opened, it is detailed and very informative for those who may be too young to remember it or were living under a rock.

The New York Times posted a video interview with the border guard who effectively ended Communism around the world. Harald Jaeger was stationed at Bornholmer Strasse bridge and had a decision to make. Getting no clear communication from his leaders, Jaeger decided to open the gates peacefully rather than fire on the ever-increasing crowd gathering at the wall demanding the right to free travel they had been granted earlier that day. Underneath the video is a link to a story called "The Hinge of History," which neatly ties Europe's 11/9, as author Roger Cohen calls it, to the current situation in Iran.

Earlier today German Chancellor Angela Merkel - herself a former East German - joined former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev to retrace the steps of those East Germans who flooded into West Berlin around midnight on Nov. 9, 1989. The New York Times reported thousands of people surrounded Merkel and Gorbachev, and all cheered when Chancellor Merkel thanked Gorbachev for the reforms he brought to the Communist party. Polish civil rights leader Lech Walesa joined in celebrations this afternoon, pushing over the first of 1000 oversized dominoes - a ceremonial nod to the Poles being the first to overthrow the Communists.

Theater of the (Slightly) Absurd...

I did my time in high school theater, reaching my pinnacle as a whiny bride literally stuck in a conga line in our adaptation of "The Golden Goose" (No typecasting there. Nuh uh. None at all...). But between that and stage managing for "Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz," the magic of the theater crept into my life. I enjoy the odd Broadway show when I make it down to NYC, and I've seen plenty of traveling productions.

But my keenly observant - some may say tart - sense of humor also allows me to appreciate the theater of life. Recent years have taught me I'd rather laugh than cry when unpleasant or odd things crop up, so I've honed my overall awareness of the humor in everyday life. Because when you've been cut off no less than six times and then flipped off by a woman in her fifties - all in the span of four miles - really, all you can do is laugh.

Mark Sanchez, quarterback for the New York Jets, looked like the rookie he is when he consumed a hot dog in the middle of the second half of a 38-0 dismantling of the visiting LA Raiders. How he didn't think the cameras were not going to catch the quarterback of a team in one of the world's largest media markets having a snack is beyond me. However, in an effort to un-sully his name, he donated 1000 hot dogs and hamburgers and equivalent buns to a soup kitchen in Morristown, N.J., according to The Star-Ledger.

In a story that manages to fall squarely into both theater and absurd, The Huffington Post reported on the Salon du Chocolat, a fashion show in Paris to benefit a charity called The Voice of the Children. Famous French actresses and presenters modeled dresses with edible elements on them - chocolate necklaces, headpieces, etc. You can see individual photos here, and watch a YouTube video of each of the models here. The showpieces are pretty phenomenal.

In this YouTube video about the New York chocolate fashion show, you get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into putting it all together. Here the dresses themselves are actually made of chocolate. I personally would worry about my body heat melting my dress in the middle of the runway, but that's just me and my 10 percent more body fat than these girls...

(Photo courtesy of Huffington Post)

Natural wonders...

As I look out my window and see bare trees or, worse, nearly bare trees - kinda like that friend you have who refuses to admit he's bald and just shave the rest already - I thought I would take today to remind myself (and anyone else who needs the help) that even though winter is fast approaching, nature is not always so bleak.

There is no place better to start in triumphing over bleakness than Iraq. The New York Times posted an article last week on the elaborate gardens emerging in the war-torn state as peace creeps forward. Prior to the war, the citizens were fond of topiary gardens and beautiful plants and flowers. When war came, people were unable to expand those gardens but still took refuge there for some normalcy. Now they are venturing back out to the nurseries again to turn their brown and blasted neighborhoods green.

The Times' City Room blog had a post late last month on rooftop gardens and vertical farms in US cities. In places like Chicago and Detroit, there are plenty of vacant lots and spaces for urban farms and community gardens, but in New York City space is at a premium. Buildings like churches and schools are employing architecture and landscaping firms to develop these new green spaces. An environmental group is quoted in the article saying there has been a 35 percent increase of green roofs in the US, around six to 10 million square feet total.

Not to be outdone, the NYT political blog also has gotten into the sustainable act with a post on the homemade honey on the South Lawn of the White House. For the first time in the history of the United States (which I find hard to believe as there was a large amount of time people who inhabited the WH "ate local" because there wasn't a choice about it), a hive of bees is being kept at the Executive Mansion. The inaugural harvest amounted to 134 pounds of fresh honey - far outstripping the beekeeper's original estimate of 30 pounds. The honey even made it into the shortbread cookies that were part of the Halloween giveaways to the trick-or-treaters last weekend.

(Image courtesy of the New York Times)

Declaring bankruptcy...

Why not? All the fashionable companies are doing it...

A while back I had a conversation with a friend regarding the feelings of calmness and freedom that followed the initial panic over realizing you forgot your cell phone. As I mentioned yesterday, I hate smart phones and Blackberries, mainly because the email client means people can not only reach you anywhere you go, but they expect an immediate response too. For some reason, ignoring a phone call is more acceptable than ignoring an email.

Too many emails in my inbox gives me information overload. I don't know what to handle first, and I get overwhelmed. Being the uber-organized person I am, I long ago switched to folders, where I deposited the emails which did not require an immediate response or were for reference. Shortly thereafter, those folders came to be known as "the abyss." I have the best of intentions regarding looking at those filed emails, but somehow the mere act of moving the emails satisfies my guilt over having to "do something" with the email.

Barbara Brotman from the Chicago Tribune appears to be in the same boat as me. She wrote an entire column on her secret relief when her newspaper's email server crashed, taking her entire inbox and archives with it. All those emails from months ago she intended to respond to were, poof, gone, and it wasn't her fault. I've never had over a thousand emails before, but I can imagine the immediate freedom she experienced was mind-blowing.

Elisa of Worker Bee blog offers the intriguing suggestion that inspired today's post title. The first of every month she declares "email bankruptcy" and moves all the items in her inbox to another folder. I'm not totally clear on her method, but the thought of having the phrase "you have no new items" appearing in my Gmail is very appealing. Just opening my email and seeing all those messages sitting there gets me down before I've even scanned the new ones.

Leo Babauta of ZenHabits has taken it one step further and declared his independence from email. His post, "Killing Email: How and Why I Ditched my Inbox," gleefully details his reasoning behind the momentous move and details the step-by-step method he took to shake free from the clutches of electronic mail.

A lot of things have been created to make our lives easier, but some of them have come back to bite us. These stories may not qualify as strictly "good news," but it is nice to know others are having the same thought and some of them have even managed to do something about it.

Afraid of flying? There's an app for that...

If I only had an iPhone...It is unlikely I will ever get a smartphone, mainly because I consider then akin to Crackberries when it comes to depth of evil. I am, however, more than likely to get a panic attack while flying. Which means I probably would benefit from the fear iButton. MSNBC reports Virgin Atlantic has launched an iPhone app for its Flying Without Fear course, which possesses a 98 percent success rate... the course, not the iButton (yet). This app purports to help people overcome their fears of flying by explaining how a flight works, giving them mental exercises, and failing all that, a panic button.

Olivia Judson's opinion column in the New York Times was actually what gave me the idea to theme my post today around science and technology. She posed an interesting question in a column about facial expressions' impact on mood. Pleasantly titled, "The Language of Smiles," Judson probes lightly into how language sounds and expressions can influence whether you're happy or sad, including the intriguing point that it might also matter what language you're speaking.

And yes, both times I read that article, I spent a few minutes saying "eeeeee" and giggling.

Finally, an article in the UK's Daily Mail exploring "the virtue of smell" definitely caught my attention. As the article's title - "Cleanliness IS Next to Godliness..." - states, people have been found to be more fair and generous unconsciously when in clean environments. Subjects in lemony-fresh surroundings were more likely to divide an amount of money fairly as well as to contribute to charity.

(Image courtesy of Flickr)

Going global...

Today good news is taking over the world. Well, not really if the headlines on NPR radio this morning were any indication, but the stories I have for today are from all over the globe and every social strata. Here's to positivity growing like kudzu (shout out to my redneck roots. :) )

Representing the top of the social stratosphere, Bill and Melinda Gates sat down with ABC News' Charles Gibson and talked about the success of their global health initiative. Run through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Living Proof Project highlights all the good that has been done by the teamwork between the US Government and privately funded health initiatives. The Gates' cite the "huge difference" made by the millions of US dollars spent on vaccines, medicines and health worker training around the world.

In a bit of a role reversal, not-quite-Bill-and-Melinda-Gates-but-up-there-rich Germans have made a call for a tax increase for the wealthy in their country. They want a five percent tax for two years followed by a drop to one percent for those with over $750,000 incomes, according to Deutsche Welle. The proposal's supporters claim this could generate $150 billion. I don't think anyone actually thinks this will pass, but the awareness that the middle- and lower-class population could use a break in this financial crisis is welcoming.

On the other end of the demographic spectrum, we find a nice little "gotcha" story coming out of Mexico. The New York Times tells the story of a little extortion south of the border. When state senator Michelle L. Fischbach went to Cancun with family members for vacation, the last thing she expected was to be pulled over by the police on a trumped up charge and having to come up with a bribe to keep her husband out of jail. One letter to the Cancun mayor from a US state senator yielded the termination of the offices, a reimbursement check from the city government and the mayor's personal attention...

In Lebanon, the government is working on harnessing an excellent natural resource - the sun. Plagued by frequent and long power outages, parts of Lebanon are forced to grind to a halt. But this winter, several schools and hospitals are hoping the lights stay on after the repairs on and building of new solar power stations.

Happy Halloween!...

This has never really been my favorite holiday. As a kid, I loved the free candy, and for a while, the costumes. But now, 15 years after I last donned a costume without first having been bullied into it, I just don't see the point. My friends are all more than happy to tell me what they are being for Halloween (mind you, we are closer to 30 than 20 at this point), but I just don't get it.

I'm sure I will be inundated on Facebook with photos of my friends' children (or pets) all dressed up. That I'm totally fine with. I LOVE seeing what kids are each year. Their unbridled joy at the heaps of candy they're allowed to have one time a year is precious, and sometimes you even get really creative costumes. What I'm not such a fan of is the pedophiliac's-dream that most teenage girls' "costumes" are. I personally think teen girls are out of control in everyday wear, but for them "Halloween as excuse for obscene amounts of candy" seems to have morphed into "Halloween as excuse for dressing like a streetwalker." This is why I had to include the following story on Taylor Swift from MTV.com. In it, Swift gushes about her 2008 costume - Chewbacca. Hopefully someone with as much sway over teenage girls as Swift can start convincing them Halloween is about spooky, not skin.

While out patrolling for candy dressed as a French maid or Michael Jackson, Britain's children have been reminded to be polite about it. The Boston Globe reported yesterday Debrett's, the English authority on etiquette, has published a handbook on Halloween behavior best practices. The holiday is fairly new to the Continent, so Debrett's felt compelled to put out some rules.

Those kids are still one-up on the children of Puyallup School District in the state of Washington. This week a letter sent home to parents explained there will be no Halloween parties in school this year, giving three reasons. The first two make sense. It's the third that has some people shaking their heads. I suppose this isn't exactly good news, but the story from ABC News gave me a chuckle (perhaps not the reaction the school district was going for).

Joe Peyronnin's blog today on The Huffington Post sets the (Halloween) world to rights. His column on the celebrations and decorations in his neighborhood reads straight out of a city version of Norman Rockwell. Peyronnin even manages to work in some Halloween history and facts among the sweet description of the trick-or-treating activities in his Upper East Side 'hood.

After all the candy-begging is over, most parents' nightmares are just beginning. In addition to worrying about razor blades, the old standby "All that sugar will give you cavities," and the transmission of swine flu between all those little Tinker Bells and alien bikers roaming the streets, the New York Times article published on Oct. 27 might just send parents over the edge. Titled "Living for Candy, and Sugar-Coated Goblins" it profiles playwright Paul Rudnick and his new book "I Shudder." Rudnick, at 5-10 and 150 pounds, is living proof that is apparently possible to live off candy. For as long as anyone in his family can remember, he has had an aversion to healthy foods; allegedly the man has not had a square meal (or many vegetables) in nearly 50 years.