Speaking Two Languages Helps Protect the Mind.

Now this is an interesting article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3794479.stm). Researchers have found that people who are fluent in two languages show faster responses to cognitive tests across all age groups. They also showed that bilingual people have a lesser mental decline that is associated with old age.

Actually, I think it might be too late for me. At 35 my mind is pretty much declining fast. Of course that could be because I didn’t learn to speak a foreign language until I was in my 30’s, and I would never say that I’m fluent in German (although I can hold a conversation). At least I know that my children should do well as they will undoubtedly speak both English and German. The only thing I worry about is that the testing that the researchers did used volunteers that spoke Tamil and not German. I wonder if that changes anything.

Break out your Lederhosen and Dirndls it is almost time!

Here we go. This weekend begins the worlds largest volksfest. I’m talking about the original Oktoberfest that will begin in Munich this weekend. I really hate this time of the year.

Now you are probably wondering how I could really hate Oktoberfest time? Once upon a time Oktoberfest was for the Bavaria and the Bavarian people. This is not the case any longer with a couple of million people from around the world descend on Munich for this three week fest. A couple of million people who’s biggest plan is to sit in smoky beer tents drinking until they can’t stand up again. Honestly, there is nothing more annoying than getting on the local mass transit train and have it full of people so drunk that you expect them to hurl any second.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not against drinking at all. As a matter of fact I enjoy a good beer as much as anyone. However, I don’t like being around a bunch of people who act like wild monkeys just because they don’t realize exactly how much 1 liter of beer (only size beer served known locally as a Mass) is, and so drink about two, three, or more of these. The biggest problem is that these people come from countries where the beer is not much more than piss water and so drinking a lot doesn’t usually cause the same level of drunkenness.

So for all you of my fellow Americans who are planning on visiting Oktoberfest let me give you a couple of words of caution.

1. German beer is much more potent than the swill you call beer back in the states. Oktoberfest beer is especially brewed and is usually stronger than normal. Drinking one liter of German beer will get you drunker than one liter of American beer. Oktoberfest beer will get you drunker still.
2. Don’t drink so much that you can’t stand up on a mass transit train when it is in motion. I and other passengers do not want your stinking body falling all over us when the train stops or starts.
3. As funny as you think you are normally when you are drunk let me inform you that you are not.
4. Many Germans actually understand English very well. Watch what you say so as not to embarrass me.
5. In actuality urinating in public is actually frowned upon.
6. German police don’t like being called buddy, pal, or “Hey you”

I’m sure if I decided to come up with more I could but I just don’t feel like it. So while you all are annoying the locals this weekend, I’m going to Legoland.

Australians … You Just got to Love ‘em

Ok the main point of this article from BBC News is actually very sad. A father who abandons his little daughter in a foreign country and leaves for another foreign country. No one knows where the mother is and assumes she might be dead. Personally I hope they find the father and smack him around a bit. What he has done is totally inexcusable.

However, my post isn’t so much about these tragic facts but the comment at the very bottom of the article where the foster parents give the little girl’s current status. “She’s sleeping okay, she’s eating okay and she’s quite fond of Vegemite on toast.”

After this entire tragic story at the very end there is this almost comical comment about Vegemite. I don’t know maybe it’s because I think a little differently then most people or, because I’m an American, or that I’m just not Australian but this comment just struck me as a bit odd. Then again, I’ve been to Australia (once) and I’ve met a few Australians and can say that to hear this sort of comment from one of them is not surprising. Partially because they are so excited about Vegemite, also I think it is just that they take things so calmly down there (at least to me it seems that they do).

I hope authorities find the little girl’s mother alive and well and willing to take her home, or that she is given a nice foster family who will take care of her. In either case I hope they find her father and make him eat nothing but Vegemite with a spoon!

New Mobile Phone

My wife actually has the contract for our mobile phones. My chip is nothing more than a partner card although I have my own phone number and such. Any way earlier this year T-Mobile gave her the chance to get another phone. This was good because the phone she had before was really really cheap and wasn’t really that nice. Her new phone she is quite happy with as it is small and does a lot of things that she likes (such as play MP3s for those long trips on mass transit). She decided to get a Nokia 5300 which is a nice little slide phone. Yeah I was a little jealous but of course I had bought a new phone without contract a couple of years earlier. My phone is a Sony-Ericsson z600 which I’ve been quite happy with. I’ve only had one very minor problem with it (one of the included games throws Java errors so I don’t play it), other than that it has been pretty solid clamshell phone.

So we were a bit surprised that T-Mobile called her last night and offered her a new cellphone for only 20 Euros. After some checking and talking we got some reduction in our overall pricing for our mobile telephone service (including a normal telephone number that works when we are within 2Km of our house) and a new Nokia 6288. My wife is happy enough with her phone so she said I could get this one which makes me kind of excited. I’m not sure why I’m excited except maybe to say I’m a typical man who loves gadgets especially new electronic ones. I’ve done some checking online about the 6288 and it looks good. It is a slide phone as well (which is just about as good as a clamshell to me) and has some nice features.

I’ll make sure to post some stuff about it after it arrives.