Dear Wil, I'm lucky to live in THE region in the world that has the most breweries per square kilometer as has been proven :) You can look up "Bamberg" if you like. We have (for example) a beer that tastes a bit like smoked ham. And they have great names like "Huppendörfer" oder "Zwergla" (Frankonian-German for "Small Dwarf") Should you ever come to Europe, esp. Germany, make sure to drop by. I'd love to take you (and your family) for a beer tour. For only scientific reasons of course.... :) Until then: thank you for all the great stuff that you do. I love "Tabletop" and your blog. Cheers, Felix

I'm an English and German teacher in Germany and I also deal with the frustrations that students have with symbolism. The problem is that symbolism requires you to have knowledge. Intertextuality is a concept that needs you to know more than one text. If I want to show them how awesome the figure of Sherlock Holmes has been revived in "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco or "House M.D.", they need to know all those works. And that's why students sometimes feel "left out" and frustrated talking about symbolism. Still: School is a process and if I manage to unlock the understanding of the other layers of meaning that texts might have in store for them, then I feel content about letting them out into the world and re-read all the works they hated in school and let them rediscover them. Maybe it must be like that. P.S.: The movie "Name of the Rose" did poorly in the U.S. I'd advise you to watch it, as it is very entertaining and well made! :)

Seamus is so cute! :) Our dog Max used to run exitedly to the patio door, assuring us with body language that he is close to an embarrasing accident if we don't let him out THIS SECOND. So my Mum stood up from her comfy armchair greeting Max on her way to the patio door who was nearing lightspeed in the other direction on his way to the arm chair... Realising that her purpose to go for the door has just passed her, she returned to her chair to find a evidently very sleepy Max in her spot not understanding all this confusion...