N!xau, the star of The Gods Must be Crazy, a film which I almost always bring up at least once in class, has died.

Here’s how I spent my fourth.

I visited Kulturinsel Einsiedel with Claudia, our friend Jana, her 12 year old daughter and two of her little friends. It’s a huge adventure playground right on the most-eastern part of the German border. The experience was extremely enriching, but I will have to fill in the details another time. I’m exhausted. But I will say that 1) the earthy vibe was invigorating even despite the fact that 2) our short trip from Dresden was pockmarked–nay–pot-holed with Pech.

And..
Here’s to looking forward to better times.

What the heck is that thing?

Hinter Herman Hesses Haus h?ngen hundert Hemden raus.

And…

On this day in 1947 some crazy stuff went down in Roswell, man.

Apparently the new Harry Potter book is selling like hotcakes– in English.

Where this might be considered newsworthy to HP fans, or delightful for that embarassingly immature group of people known as “Frog Bashers”, one part stood out to me:

Rowling shocked her young fans when she hinted that Harry Potter could face mortal peril and be killed off. One young fan asked her whether she planned to write books about an adult Harry. She said: "You have to wait and see whether he survives to be a grown-up.

Oh, come on now Sister. You are richer than the Queen. There’s no need to have to frighten the crap out of little kids just to sell even more books. Of course Harry will make it to adulthood. Then he’ll grow a beard, get a beerbelly and move to Paris to write serious poetry. Then he’ll die.

Here’s another smart-ass kid to help me feel bad about myself. He’s working on Phds in four different fields, and then wants to be the president.
Which is good, because being a genius does seem to be prerequisite number one for getting that job.

Of course, in case you have a kid who gives you crap by throwing the goat or smoking a jay or generally has been getting uppity ever since your divorce, worry no more! It’s a great read.

New studies show that native speakers of Mandarin use both sides of the brain while listening to Mandarin, while native speakers of English listen with only one hemisphere.

1) What are some possible explanations for this phenomenon?

2) How could the field of medicine benefit from these new findings?
(more…)

Seems that the most written about tech topic for the weekend was the one about the RIAA going after file sharers, which is too bad because I am getting a little tired of reading about that kind of stuff as of late. But it’s the token potential material for today.

Garden gnomes, on the other hand, now that’s good reading.

Planning on taking a trip to the states this Summer? Don’t waste your time bar crawling in Manhattan. Pick out a few “castles” to visit, or go to a tilthouse before they all vanish.

Another online ref.

America is, after all, a very beautiful land full of aesthetically awe-inspiring culture.

Boilerplate, as mentioned today in class.

Don’t be too surpised if they start serving ‘roo steaks again in the Mensa…
…

Deformed puppy walks like a human. Don’t eat anything while watching the video.

Happy birthday to George Orwell. He would be 100 today.
Thursdee is the 40th aniversary of JFK’s visit to Berlin.