on Oct. 1st I moved from my flat into a big bus - a VW LT 40 small truck with a camper top. Its quite a challenge but i just didnt like the living space that I could afford and that was available to me in the vincinity of Hamburg.
I am still getting used to it but so far I enjoy it more than I had expected.
This is a modern ship with central heating (gas) and every luxury.
Lets see what I think about it in 6 month time.

I have been a KIVA member almost since inception (http://kiva.org).
Initially I thought the loans are interest free for the recipient and only found out later that this is absolutely not the case. Kiva itself does not charge but the local micro-lenders that cooperate with kiva do - and heftily so (in the 15-30% range).
So I kind of lost much of the enthusiasmn of the first days. The re-payment ratio is excellent (so far my 1200 bucks from 15 loans I made are repaid in full and on time). I am pretty sure big monetary institutions will jump on the bandwagon soon with that low a risk.
I think in the future I would only support interest free lending - but of course thats a different ballgame altogether. Maybe with additional 10% of the loan as donation towards payments for handling the loan locally that could be achieved.

If you havn't seen Ratatouille go watch it - the small intro already is extremely funny - check it here:

http://clipfish.com/player.php?videoid=NTc3OTY0fDk0NjE4Mw%3D%3D

The main plot is even better.

Returned from Damanhur where I spent a week. God, is that a funny commune. Lots of "reklame", very few deliveries. Imagine Sponge Bob on a guru trip saving planet earth by timetravel and you get the picture. The funniest thing was the lady running the alchemical + magnetically driven energy rejuvination machine. She looked somehat mid-40-ish and was 46. Not very convincing. Nor is the art - many colors, little art - unless you like Spong-Bob, that is.

By popular request:  A bit of background as I perceived it: The "Caves of Humankind" are not really caves, imagine someone digging sideways into a medium size hill with a shovel - it was done without machinery and took some effort, I'll have to give them that, but mainly because of sectarian paranoia someone would insist they stop - which migh have been indeed a threat from well meaning offcials considering the very real danger of cave-ins. So the caves are not too impressive and connected by narrow pathways. The art they exhibit is mostly below that of average sci-fi or mystery novel cover-art. The "story" they weave around it is not very exciting but very unlikely (mind you, I have been exposed to well told stories about reptilian extraterrestrials that inhabited earth half a million years ago so the Damanhur story only elicits a yawn from me). Its not very convincing too and lacks any substancial proof whatsoever, the biblical myth has more proof to it. Their top honcho did NOT pass my bullshit-detector (aka intuition). I think he is either delusional himself or out to make a save and easy living as top dog of that small community. The people living there lack the liveliness and excitement I have watched elsewhere (e.g. in the now defunct OSHO commune in India) and are just like the average Jack & Joe with their daily concerns if you get to talk to them individually. Their grand cafeteria serves the excact same carbon-hydrate saturated junk you get everywhere else in Italy including meat. They call it freedom of choice, I call it disgusting. All in all not much worth staying for a week - we left a day early ....

regarding holiday storno: your milage may vary - I am known to be a harsh judge and my BS detector is very finely tuned. E.G. I have visited about 10 newly enlightened Satsang-masters (after Osho died). Only 2 passed my BSD and one of them is E. Tolle.

In the early days of Zaadz I have made quite a few "friends" because of too much special insights into their abilities e.g. to "activate" my DNA (and charge a couple of hundret bucks for it). One kicked me and another closed his blog because of  "too much negativity" in my utterances. So I suggest you rely on your own judgement.

August 07
Ever heard of the "disclosure project"? If not search it on Google video. Its worth watching. I went on to participate in the "ambassador of the universe" 800-bucks-a-week course with dr. Greer and was fully underwhelmed. His spirituality, which consists of good ol' 70's TM (transcendental meditation) is kind of lacking the zest to get me onto a higher mental plane - maybe because I already did it (for four years) in the 70s when I was young and gullible. - definitely a no-go event if you ask me. But his work with the UFO-witnesses is quite impressing, so go buy the DVD if you like but stay away from the person (unless you like the super-control-maniac type with a totally overblown ego).

After this none-event I met James, the ECETI guy who by coincident also gave a lecture on the topic at Mount Shasta - and that saved the vacation in the "evil empire" for me. I took a few pictures and made a clip:



I hope you find the time to visit James - its worth it! Details in the clip or at his website http://eceti.org

I have been translating from English to German a lot about ORMUS  - a very interesting substance. If you have never heard about it google it and read up - it is worth the time.
if you are German read it at http://m-state.de.