Oct 25, 2019Should the U.S. have a Parliamentary System?There have been some important debates and actions in various parliamentary democracies lately. Canada held its 43rd general election on Monday, Austria’s legislative elections were three weeks ago, and the UK Parliament is in the midst of the Brexit deal debate. With its first-past-the-post parliamentary system, Canada’s election won current…Politics7 min readPolitics7 min read
Oct 23, 2019Should the U.S. have a Parliamentary System?There have been some important debates and actions in various parliamentary democracies lately. Canada held its 43rd general election on Monday, Austria’s legislative elections were three weeks ago, and the UK Parliament is in the midst of the Brexit deal debate. With its first-past-the-post parliamentary system, Canada’s election won current…6 min read6 min read
Oct 22, 2019Departing Vienna’s SeventhI’ve had a fair share of apartments. Whether in Montréal, Philadelphia, St. Petersburg, Prague, or Vienna, I was always quite used to keeping it light knowing I’d be departing sometime soon. That changed in 2014, when we found a great apartment in Vienna’s Neubau district. Known as the “7th” —…3 min read3 min read
Oct 16, 2019The duality of Micro.blog’s publishing is actually amazingI noticed this today. I have one separate RSS feed and website for my official blog posts that are on blog.yael.at. Then, only for those who specifically seek out my Micro.blog site, there is a separate feed (a JSON feed). Not only do my quick replies on Micro.blog’s site go…1 min read1 min read
Oct 16, 2019Democratic Presidential Debate: How did consumer choice fare?With the 2020 presidential race running on full steam, 12 Democratic candidates for president participated in yet another televised debate last night in Ohio. Considering consumers will be directly impacted by many of the policies mentioned, here’s a breakdown by categories mentioned by the candidates and our own spin on…7 min read7 min read
Oct 5, 2017How do you build a successful independence movement?In Scotland’s 2014 referendum, what I really learned is that a successful independence movement must be cultural and all-encompassing. A minority language helps. For many years, that’s what Québec had. But entrenched politicians (at the federal and provincial levels) began to change the terms of independence and what it would…Catalonia3 min readCatalonia3 min read
Sep 20, 2017The 3 Rules for Engaging Top Quality Volunteer Activists for your CauseFor the better part of four years, I’ve worked with hundreds of volunteer activists across the world. An overwhelming majority of those I met, trained, and advocated alongside were not paid for the hours and hours of time they put in. Rather, they found it worthy to sacrifice their efforts…Volunteering4 min readVolunteering4 min read
Aug 15, 2017What will be the legacy of the New South?Once again, the eyes of the nation, and indeed the world, are transfixed on the tale of the American south. The dust of the violent and deadly clashes in the streets of the college town of Charlottesville between right-wing and left-wing fascists has settled and self-reflection has begun. For many…Confederate Flag4 min readConfederate Flag4 min read
Aug 7, 2017WHO’S REALLY ANTI‑SCIENCE?Green NGOs are peddling dangerous junk science By Yaël Ossowski | spiked On Earth Day this year, in London and close to 600 other cities across the world, an estimated 1.1million people took to the streets to defend the idea of science-based policymaking. …Environment4 min readEnvironment4 min read
