A meeting of the core Tor team, developers, volunteers and invited guests in Berlin, Germany to discuss plans, milestones, deadlines and other important matters.
Week at a glance
-
Sun, Sep 27th afternoon and evening: Social event where we interact with each other as human beings rather than as developers or coworkers. We'll hike to Teufelsberg and then hang out/have a dinner together.
- Meeting for the hike in front of the Alexanderplatz train station, on the side of Gontardstraße (in front of this node, but outside the station - you should see the TV tower in front of you) at 14.30pm latest. If you need to buy a train ticket (if you have a day/week card for Berlin AB it's ok too), please come around 14.15pm.
- People who want to visit the abandoned NSA station on top of the Teufelsberg hill can have a tour - it costs 15 euro, please bring cash. If you don't want to visit the station: it's still a nice hike and totally worth joining!
- Bringing something to drink for the hike is a good idea - there's no shop on the hill :-)
- In the evening, we'll have a dinner at 8pm. The address is ThoughtWorks Werkstatt, Mülhauser Str. 6..
Coffee and light breakfast at Betahaus will be available 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Lunch will also be included (be sure you've told us your dietary hopes and dreams!)
-
Mon, Sep 28th 10:00 - 18:00: Gunner-style breakout sessions. Planning and prioritizing and getting on the same page about things.
- 10:00 Opening Circle
- 10:30 Around the Tor World
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/TorCommunitySurvey Tor Community Survey]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/ExecutiveDirectorSearch Executive Director Search]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/CodeOfConduct Code of Conduct]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/CommunicationsAndPR Communications and PR]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/VegasPlan Vegas Plan]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/TorOperations Tor Operations]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/Fundraising Fundraising]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AroundTheTorWorld/Community Community]
- 11:45 Mapping the State of Tor Today
- 13.00 Lunch
- 14.00 Team-Based Working Sessions
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/ApplicationsTeam Applications Team]
- [https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/teams/NetworkTeam/NetworkTeamRestrospectiveSummerDev2015 Network Team]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/MeasurementTeam Measurement Team]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/CommunityTeam Community Team]
- 16.00 Working Sessions
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/ScalingTor Scaling Tor]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/PackagingAndDistribution Packaging and distribution]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/TorOnMobile Tor on Mobile]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AddressingDenialOfServiceAttacks Addressing denial of service attacks]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AsksWeShouldMakeFromOtherOrganizationsAndAllies Asks we should make from other organizations and allies]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Fundraising Fundraising]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/ResistingFingerprintAttacksOnOnionStreams Resisting fingerprint attacks on onion streams]
- 17.30 Closing Circle
- 18.00 Adjourn
-
Tue, Sep 29th 10:00 - 18:00: More of what we did on Monday.
- 10:00 Opening Circle
- 10:30 Roadmap: September 2015 – October 2016
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Tor Tor]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/HuggableTransports Huggable Transports]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/HiddenServices Hidden Services]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/TBB TBB]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Apps Apps]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Mobile Mobile]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Tails Tails]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Measurements Measurements]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Community Community]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Org Org]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Roadmap/Fundraising Fundraising]
- 13.00 Lunch
- 14.00 Working Sessions
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Survey Survey]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/CodeofConduct Code of Conduct]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/NewExecutiveDirector New Executive Director]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Support Support]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/MembershipProcess Being a member of the Tor Project? Join/part process]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/TeachingTor Teaching Tor]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/AllyAsks Ally Asks]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/NewVolunteers NewVolunteers/Onboarding]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/RelayOpsMeeting Relay Ops Meeting]
- 16.00 Working Sessions
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Website Website]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/OpSec Op Sec]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/Tor2Web Tor2Web]
- [wiki:"2015SummerDevMeeting/iOS and OS X" iOS and OS X]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/ThreatModeling Threat Modeling]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/TorProcessShare Tor Process Share]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/DirectoryAuthorityOperators Directory authority operators meeting]
- [wiki:2015SummerDevMeeting/TorProxyFirefoxNow Tor Proxy Firefox Now]
-
Wed, Sep 30th 10:00 - 18:00: Developer/development meeting and hackfest for meeting participants and invited guests.
-
Thu, Oct 1st 10:00 - 18:00: Open developer/development meeting and hackfest. **Open to the public! **
- On Thursday evening, everyone is welcome to hang out at c-base for a drink. We'll organize tours if you want to see the members areas.
-
Fri, Oct 2nd 10:00 - 18:00: More hackfest like on Wednesday.
-
Sat, Oct 3rd 10:00 - 18:00: Some people are excited to stay and do more hackfest. They'll be hackfesting on this day too.
- The Saturday sessions won't be at Betahaus -- they'll be somewhere else. Let us know if you have a good spot!
Location
betahaus Moritzplatz, Prinzessinnenstrasse 19-20, 10969 Berlin 4th Floor
What's the deal with Monday/Tuesday? Should I attend?
The Monday and Tuesday part of the week will be buckling down to get better synchronized on our various funded projects. Gunner will help us focus on brainstorming and committing to milestones and deliverables. If you are a current contributor to these projects, we would love to have you there even if you're not an employee/contractor. But if you want to learn how to get involved in Tor, or how to start contributing to these projects, your best bet is to join us starting on Wednesday.
Specific projects:
- org/sponsors/SponsorM (Anonymity/PT research, science of censorship measurements, OONI)
- org/sponsors/SponsorQ (Measurement and statistics research)
- org/sponsors/SponsorR (Hidden service R&D)
- org/sponsors/SponsorS (Pluggable transports, Tor network testing, outreach)
- org/sponsors/SponsorT (Pluggable transports)
- org/sponsors/SponsorU (Tor, Tor Browser)
Airport
Berlin has two active airports: Tegel (TXL) in the northwest of Berlin with 21M passengers per year and Schönefeld (SXF) in the southeast of Berlin with 7M passengers per year. You'll more likely want to fly into Tegel (TXL), but be sure to also check Schönefeld (SXF) in case it has better connections or prices.
Helpful link on airport and ground transport: https://www.berlin.de/en/airports-and-stations/1872399-2932875-airport-berlin-tegel-txl.en.html
Navigating around the Marathon on Saturday: http://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com/en/race-week/interactive-map.html
Lodging
Block at Titanic DeLuxe, Franz. Str. 30, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Sept 27 through Oct 3 check-out. +49 30 20143700
TXL Express Bus towards City East: The bus travels in five-or ten-minute intervals from Tegel Airport. Depending on the time of day the ride from the airport to Alexanderplatz via Berlin Central Station (Hauptbahnhof), Brandenburg Gate, Unter den Linden/Friedrichstraße takes 30 to 40 minutes. Fare: 2.70 Euros one way. It is a 300 meter walk from Unter den Linden/Friedrichstraße bus stop to the Titanic.
Alternate route for the Marathon (Sat/Sun 26th/27th): Take the bus 128 at Tegel, get out at U Kurt-Schumacher-Platz (Berlin), take the U6 direction south (Morenhof/Tempelhof) and get out at U-Französische Straße. If it is closed, go one stop further, change, take the U2 or U12 (direction Pankow) for 1 station so you can get out at U-Hausvogteiplatz.
Submitting Expenses
If you need funding for travel, be sure to mail berlin [at] rt.torproject.org, plus also cc Roger, with an estimate of your costs and (if applicable) a reminder about why you're a great person to be there. To submit expenses from attending the dev meeting, please use the form below and send it along with all receipts to accounting@torproject.org. Items will not be reimbursed without receipts. Reimbursable expenses include taxis, food, and lodging - alcohol is not to be charged back to Tor for reimbursement.
See "Tor Exp report Template.ods"|Tor Exp report Template.ods attachment.
OONI event happening in parallel - Postponed
Ufortunately the OONI hackathon that was planned in to take place on Oct. 1-2 in Rome has been postponed to an unknown (yet) date!
Announcement: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/ooni-dev/2015-September/000340.html
Who
If you want to tell people that you're going or not going, please add yourself to this table:
Person | Attending Monday/Tuesday | Attending Wed/Thu/Fri | Arriving | Departing | Have lodging sorted out | Mark this column if you want a room in the hotel block |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aaron Gibson | Y | Y | already here | tbd | Y | N |
Aaron Johnson | Y | Y | Sept 26 | Oct 4/5 | N | |
Alfredo | Y | N | Sept 28 | Sept 29 | N | |
amoghbl1 | Y | Y | Sept 27 | Oct 4 | N | |
Arlo | Y | Y | Sept 26 | Oct 4 | Y | |
Arthur | Y | N | Sept 27 | Sept 30 | N | Y |
asn | Y | Y | Sept 25 | Oct 4 | Y | |
athena | Y | Y | n/a | n/a | Y | N |
benmoskowitz | Y | N | 9/27 | 9/30 | Y | N |
bertagaz | Y (Tuesday) | Y | before | Oct 2 | Y | |
boklm | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 2 | Y | |
brade | N | N | - | - | - | |
cda | Y | Y | ? | ? | N | Yes, possibly my own room |
Conrad Kramer | Y | Y | Sept 26 | Oct 4 | N | |
Constanze | N | Y | Sept 30 | Oct 3 | - | |
Damian | Y | Y | Sept 26 | Oct 2 | N | Y, shared |
David F. | N | N | - | - | - | |
David Stainton | Y | Y | already here | never | N | |
dgoulet | Y | Y | Sep 27th | Oct 3 | Y | |
DonnchaC | Y | Y | already here | never | Y | |
Emilio | Y | Y | Sept 28 | Oct 5 | N | |
evilaliv3 | Y | Y | Sep 27 | Sep 30 | N | |
faern | N | Y | Sept 30 | Oct 4 | Y | |
feri | Y | N | Sep 27 | Sept 30 | N | Yes, possibly my own room |
Fredrik | N | Y | Sept 29 | Oct 4 | N | |
Georg | Y | Y | Sep 27 | Oct 3 | Y | |
Giovanni Cherubin | N | Y | Sep 29 | Oct 3 | Y | |
Hans-Christoph Steiner | Tues | Wed/Thurs | Sep 29 | Oct 1 | N | yes, can share with n8fr8 or others |
huseby | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 3 | Y | N |
hdevalence | Y | Y | Sep 26/27 | Oct 3 | N | ? |
ilv | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 5 | Y | |
infinity0 | Y | Y | Sep 01 | Oct 31 | Y | |
intrigeri | Y (Tuesday) | Y | before | Oct 3 | Y | N |
ioerror | Y | Y | already here | never | settled | |
Isabela | Y | Y | Sep 23 | Oct 3 | N | considering own room |
isis | Y | Y | Sep 23 | NEVER | Y | |
iwakeh | n :-( | n :-( | - | - | all fine | |
Jeff Burdges | M | Y | Sep 22 | Oct 5 | N | |
Juha | Y | N | Sept 26 | Sept 30 | Y | |
Julius | Y | N | Sep 27 | Sep 29 | N | |
juris | Y | Y | already here | - | - | |
karsten | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 4 | N | Y |
kate | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 4 | N | Y want to be in bloc if bloc means own room. |
Katherine Bergeron | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 3 | N | Y |
Leiah Jansen | Y | Y but not Fri | Sept 24 | Oct 2 | Y | N |
Leif Ryge | Y | Y | - | - | Y | N |
ln5 | Y | Y | ? | ? | N | |
Lunar | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Later | Y | |
Masayuki Hatta | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 3 | Y | N, I booked a hotel room |
mcs | Y | N | Sept 26 | Sept 30 | Y | Y |
micah | Y | Y | Sep. 25 | Oct. 4 | Y | N |
Mike Tigas | N | N | :( | - | - | |
Mike Perry | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 4 | Y | N |
mo | Y | Y | Sep 27 | Later | Y | N |
mrphs | N | N | - | - | - | |
nex | Y | N | - | - | Y | |
naif | Y | N | Sep 27 | Sep 30 | N | |
Nathan | Y | Y | Sept 27 | Oct 1 | Not yet | Yes, possibly my own room |
NickCalyx | y | y but leaving Fri. morning | Sept 29 | Oct 2 | N | Yes |
Nick M | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 3 | N | Y |
Paul | Y | Y | Sep 27 | Oct 2 | N | |
Patrick Schleizer | N | Y | Sep 30 | Oct 2 | Y | N |
Pepijn Le Heux | Y | Y | Sep 28 | Oct 3 | N | |
Philipp | N | N | ||||
Phoul | Y | Y | Sep 26 | ? | N | Yes, possibly my own room |
qbi | Y | Y | Sept 26/27 | Oct 1/2 | N | |
Renata | N | Y | already here | will be away Oct 1 | has a flat here | |
robgjansen | Y | Y | Sept 24 | Oct 2 | Y | N |
Roger | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 5 | Y | |
Saint | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 4 | N | N/A |
Seamus 2e | Y | Wed | Sep 27 | Oct 1 | Y | N |
Sean Saito | Y | Y | Sept 26 | Oct 3 | N | N |
Sebastian | Y | Y | ? | ? | N | Y |
serene | Y | Y | Sep 27 | Oct 4 | Maybe | |
shiro | Y | Y | already here | never | Y | |
special | Y | Y | Sep 24 | Oct 10 | Y | |
Sue Gardner | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 3 | N | Y, would like my own room :) |
teor | Y | Y | Sept 26 | Oct 5 | -> | Y, shared (Sep 26 - Oct 5) |
Tom Leckrone | Y | Y | Sept 26 | Oct 1 | N | Y |
Tom Lowenthal | Y | Y | before Sept 25 | Oct 4 | N | Y, possibly my own room |
tomlurge | N | Y | Sep 30 | Oct 3 | Y | N |
TvdW | Y | Y | Sep 27 | Oct 3 | Y | |
weasel | Y | y | Sep 27 | Oct 3 | N | Y |
wseltzer | Y | y | ? | ? | Y | N |
yawning | Y | Y | ? | ? | Y | N |
DrWhax | Y | M | Sep 24 | ? | N | |
Virgil Griffith | Y | Y | Sep 28 | Oct 4 | N | Y |
mjuarez | Y | Y | Sept 27 | Oct 3 | N | |
Wizzup | N | N | N | N | N | |
sukhe | Y | Y | Sep 26 | Oct 1 | N | Y, if own room |
Coordination mailing list
Subscribe to the Berlin2015 mailing list to keep informed about plans.
Session ideas
Here are some ideas for sessions:
- Wiki-organizing Hackathon
- try to re-organize the wiki pages
- remove/update old and outdated pages/docs
- re-organize trac home page
- Relay Diversity
- what kinds of relay diversity are useful? (Geography, AS, Platform?, ...)
- which ones do we want now?
- which ones could wait a while?
- Testing - Gaps & Priority Areas
- Unit Tests
- Chutney
- Shadow
- Stem
- And beyond…
- Fallback Directories
- Plan opt-in Fallback Directories trial for tor-0.2.8
- Fallbacks are used during bootstrap, so they have to work well and fail sensibly in the tor code (we can't disable them using a consensus parameter)
- Hidden Service
- Hidden Onion Services (Client and Server locations are hidden)
- Single Onion Services (Server locations are discoverable)
- Tor2Web (Client locations are discoverable)
- Can we unify existing / future implementations?
- How do we test the changes?
- 224: Next Generation HS
- Security issues of current system have been solved?
- Proper roadmapping (Tickets/Proposals)
- It's Time to Uplift TBB
- The tracking spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rF4Gah_OEequYDfPedoQu3oETM5Gj4NagxDuKQG-IOk/edit?usp=sharing
- Go over the goals for ESR 45
- Discussion of Containers/Contextual Identity and TBB requirements.
- Plan for ESR 52
- What is the best order for these patches?
- Alignment of TBB requirements/plans with Mozilla requirements/plans.
- What else should be on the roadmap?
- More usability testing
- Dirauth changes
- Dir auths should vote about Invalid like they do about BadExit - #16558 (moved)
- BWAuth troubles
- Measurement issues
- Perception issues (what is a "good" proportion of measured relays?)
- Connectivity issues (do relays remain unmeasured due to firewall misconfiguration? Other reasons?)
- Meta-Org Discussions
- Code of Conduct (for events, outreach, and training)
- Progression of contractor-to-employee processes for very long-term contractors
- Defining work hours at events
- Tor, Ahmia, Finland
- EFFi founded a working group to install Tor Browsers and exit nodes to Finnish libraries: http://muistio.tieke.fi/p/torkirjastot
- Future of Ahmia search engine: http://muistio.tieke.fi/p/ahmia
- Anyone planning to use onion services for anonymous health services? See http://muistio.tieke.fi/p/anonymoushelp
- [ticket:1922 torrc.d-style configuration directories]:
- Agree on a plan on the torrc.d feature could be implemented.
- Nick wrote:
- "I can review and merge stuff, but I can't decide whether it's what TBB and debian and TAILS and everybody else want. Please discuss among yourselves and reach consensus?"
- "(It would be silly for humans to spend their time writing more patches here if there isn't an agreement on how the feature actually works wrt stuff like defaults, torrc searching paths, SAVECONF, etc)"
- better circumvention support for non-TBB users, make TBB usable as "system Tor"
- discuss how an acceptable patch would have to be designed
- Redesign and Branding Unification of All of the Websites
- Decide on some common, easy-to-use (preferably Bootstrap-based), CSS to use in our various websites moving forward (i.e. don't refactor everything now, but when things are refactored they stop using so much custom code), so that we can begin to unify on design principles and establish visual norms for which websites are "official" and otherwise.
- Ask the more design-oriented peeps in our community for advice, so that our stuff doesn't look straight out of 1999.
- What happened with the American University brand survey and redesign suggestions/solutions? Plan to use these?
- Visualizations
- Visualizations of data traffic and other network characteristics exist in different projects or are being developed - or do not exist, are not being developed but could prove beneficial.
- Let's put together a list as comprehensive as possible of which visualizations are out there.
- Would it be desireable to collect some of them into combined visualization?
- Which visualizations do not exist but are much needed, or wished for, or probably low hanging fruit?
- Tor's development as an organization
- Upcoming changes and transitions
- ED search progress, status and priorities
- Funding model
- Explicit and implicit heirarchies
- "Crowdfunding" fundraising campaign plans
- GetTor
- Discussion about official accounts for distribution channels (e.g. XMPP, Twitter) and providers (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox): who have access and how should we handle that.
- Future of GetTor: how can we expand this service?
- Establish a better work methodology: easier to review and to contribute.
- Tor Messenger
- Discussion about current status of Tor Messenger including development
- How to better coordinate with Tor Browser and related teams (also with Instantbird)
- Future plans and roadmap
- Tor on Mobile
- Update on Orfox Browser launch for Android, and plan to expand to iPhone browser
- Continued discussion of "Tor SDK" and sharing of more apps that Tor support is built into
- Discussion of new "iCepa" Tor on iPhone via new iOS 9 APIs
- A non-tor version of TBB
- TBB users would benefit if more people (non-tor users) had the same browser profile as them
- There are people who want browser privacy without the drawbacks of tor (they don't have the same threat model)
- We have a draft for a plan. The purpose of the session is to brainstorm, get feedback, and hopefully form a plan of attack
- Ask Fredrik or Georg for details
Public Day Session Ideas
- Moto E Modding - stepping through https://people.torproject.org/~ioerror/skunkworks/moto_e/
- Session about website work process
- retrospective session:
- people write in a post note what 'is working' what 'is not working' what 'should change'
- people talk about what is in the board
- people draft a new process taking those lessons into consideration
- hats that are hats are very very encourage to participate and help out:
- people wearing community team hat
- people wearing ED hat
- people wearing board hat
- everyone who wants to fix this problem
- retrospective session:
- Website remake brainstorming (meeting notes)
- 1.Brainstorm the hierarchy of the information we want to communicate in the page
- 1.a Top 3 (or less) messages we want to have above the fold
- 1.b What else goes in the front page?
- Make drawings! Lets make drawings of how we think it could look like! Should the 3 info be just icons with a short phrase? should it be just one big image with a call to action above the fold and the rest below? Break into groups (depending on how many ppl are around) and make drawings. Then we present it back to the big group.
- Big group elects drawings they like the most.
- Result will guide designer and content coordinator to build mocks which will be taken back to the community to review and give feedback etc.
- 1.Brainstorm the hierarchy of the information we want to communicate in the page
- Core Tor 0.2.8 release triage - to help with the triage make sure you add the following info to the tickets you want to make the release:
- keyword field: 0.2.8.x-triage
- Size field: an estimation of how long you think it will take to get it done (not counting review time, just execution):
- small < 1 day
- medium < 1 week
- large > 1 week
- Priority field:
- blocker
- critical
- major
- normal
- minor
- trivial
- Sponsor field: if it's related to a sponsor deliverable
To Do
[[TicketQuery(status!=closed&keywords~=2015SummerDev,format=table,order=status,col=id|summary|status|owner)]]
Resources on how to have good meetings
On consensus building and how to have great discussions:
-
On Conflict and Consensus http://www.ic.org/pnp/ocac/: a handbook on Formal Consensus decisionmaking
-
The Art of Possibility: transforming personal and professional life
-
The No Asshole Rule: building a civilized workplace and surviving one that isn't
How to deter the bad and handle the ugly in otherwise good meetings
At past conferences it has been useful to provide for a sober and radio connected individual(s) to assist with or arrange transport for individuals or small groups of any nature who would otherwise feel uncomfortable traveling by themselves. It has also been useful to provide for a sober and radio connected individual(s) to assist with emergencies at primary residences which are not managed hotel facilities. It has also been useful to provide for a sober and radio connected individual(s) to assist where open bar or other ethanol based beverages are served and tamper prevention / excess control are useful. It has also been useful to provide for a sober and native speaking individual to assist with any law enforcement emergencies that arise to travelers otherwise unfamiliar with how to proceed having become survivor to a crime including physical or sexual assaults or significant thefts.
Local Medical Resources
-
Nearest English-speaking physicians are Dr. med. Daniel Engert und Dr. med. Annette Cotanidis, who share an office and allow walk-in patients. !http://www.yelp.com/biz/dr-med-daniel-engert-und-dr-med-annette-cotanidis-berlin
-
Urgent medical attention: Charité Hospital Emergency Room (there are three: !http://www.charite.de/en/clinical_center/emergency_medicine/)
-
Emergency numbers:
-
112 Universal emergency number (universal European number; try to remember this)
-
110 National Police (theft, agression, etc.)
-
+49 (0)30-4664-4664 Local Police Hotline (car issues, lost items, etc.)
-
112 Fire Department
-
+49 030-44 01 06 07 Suicide Hotline in English and German
-
+49 (030) 216 88 88 Rape and Domestic Violence help line
Transportation Tips
Download BVG app to your smart phone (if applicable) to help plan trips on public transportation. Here is the web site: !http://www.bvg.de/en/
Credit card theft phone numbers
- 116 116
Interesting local stuff (according to isis & shiro)
- Go visit the C-base and ask for a tour of the alien spaceship buried underneath Berlin. In the evening, everyone can hang out there and work/have a drink. Shiro is a member there and can organize tours, email the berlin list for that.
- "Be excellent to each other" in German is, "Seid voll knorke zueinander."
- Chaos Computer Club Berlin (CCCB) is an excellent hackerspace that has open-to-the-public nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- InBerlin is one of the oldest ISPs in existence. They also run a hackerspace in the same building, and they are happy to have visitors. They also run several large Tor Exit relays. They also have the most amazing impressionist oil painting of Richard Stallman in existence.
- There are also good people at Raumfahrtagentur, but their makerspace is sort of members-only, so you might have to be extra friendly to be allowed to visit. EDIT: Raumfahrtagentur has been evicted. Sorry for the bad news.
- There are like 18 other hackerspaces.
- St. Oberholz and Nothaft Seidl are both excellent cafés (with good Wifi) to work out of. Bonanza is better for San Francisco coffee snob coffee. (Actually, both Nothaft and Oberholz are now serving Bonanza coffee! Bonanza's cafe is also a nice place to work, though.)
- Liquidrom is an excellent spa that is incredibly affordable. The same people also run Vabali.
- There's an Android app, Öffi, which will really help you navigate public transportation. BVG has also released an official app for the public transportation.
- Visit Room77 in Graefekiez to get beer/cidre and sandwiches with Bitcoin and check out the map of other Bitcoin accepting stores in the borough.
- Airbnb was pseudo-illegalised in Germany in the last year, so if you use it, keep it on the DL, otherwise your hosts might get paranoid.
- Mauerpark has karaoke on Sundays with thousands of people picnicking.
- Teufelsberg is an artificial mountain (built on top of a WWII bunker) that was used as an NSA listening post. (You need to schedule ahead if you want a tour in English.)
- Märchenbrunnen im Volkspark Friedrichshain is a nice place to read.
- PUPPIES EVERYWHERE!
- The food at Sauvage is amazing. Everything is gluten free, and they always manage to have vegan and vegetarian options. They can also accommodate people following ketotic diets.
- The (vegetarian/vegan) food at W Der Imbiss is amazing too.
- Alternative Berlin has interesting events/walks/tours sometimes.
- There's a lot of CryptoParties in Berlin. Help is always appreciated, just coming over to hang out with nice people is possible too. Dates here: CryptoParty
Extra-curricular events
- Stasi Prison (Museum) Hohenschönhausen - daily tours at 11:30am and 2:30pm
Beer excursion
For beer lovers (or actually anyone!) and wanting to discover the Berlin's beer scene, here is a list of interesting places. Feel free to comment on them or add some!
- Vagabund Brauerei - http://www.vagabundbrauerei.com/
- Hops and Barley - http://www.hopsandbarley-berlin.de/
- Brauerei Eschenbräu - http://eschenbraeu.de/