We are going to an open-house star-watch at the Astronomy department tonight, and probably to an open house at a local park's historic log cabin on Saturday. Plus the usual round of laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping, dance class for Casper.

From the Onion News Network (i.e. a video) Morbid Curiosity Leading Many Voters To Support Palin

A recent poll shows 62% of Americans say they don't want to vote for Palin, but kinda just have to see what would happen. Onion News Network premieres on IFC on Friday at 10pm.

this weekend is blissfully plan-free, though we will likely try to get Tom brewing during it. And also go to the burger pop-up in our hood for the Benedict Burger (burger topped with fried egg, pancetta, and hollandaise.)

Other than that, though, sleep and lounging.

Probably just staying in and doing laundry and stuff. Cooking food for the week. I'm going to try to get to synagogue either tonight or tomorrow.

flea, were your ears burning last night? Emmett and I were talking about you as we were studying for his Catcher in the Rye final. (Holden's little sister sharing a name with you.)

what are people doing this weekend

Dealing with my folks (sigh), ushering at the theater on Saturday night (I think it's a one-man comedy show, not sure), doing an interview for a fannish podcast on Sunday. That ought to be interesting, or something. New, anyway.

Tonight I'll sit home and read, I think.

Ugh, tommyrot, that link is so depressing.

"Hur, I wonder what would happen if I stuck my hand in the wood chipper? That might be cool! Let's see what would happen!"

OK, this is pretty cool.

Obama's daughter, Sasha, practices Chinese with Hu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Talk about a high level language exchange.

President Barack Obama's nine-year-old daughter, Sasha, wanted to test her developing Chinese skills this week while Hu Jintao was in town.

Just whom did she want to practice them with?

The Chinese president himself, according to a White House official who recounted the story on Thursday after a formal state dinner the previous night.

"The president pointed out last night at the state dinner that his daughter, Sasha, is a very young girl but her class is studying Chinese," Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser, told a video conference with Chinese bloggers.

"She's under 10 years old and they're studying Chinese, and she wanted to have the chance to practice her Chinese with President Hu."

Sasha attended Hu's welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn on Wednesday morning with friends and could be seen waving a Chinese flag excitedly as her father and Hu walked around the grounds.

The two presidents paused to visit when they reached the nine-year-old and her friends behind the rope line.

"Not every (child) has the opportunity to try out their first phrases of Chinese with the president of China, but she had that chance," Rhodes said.

He said the anecdote illustrated Americans' desire to get to know China better with more people studying the country and doing business there.

That is a cute story!! I want to practice my Chinese with Hu Jintao! I'm sure he was thrilled; from what I can tell Chinese people were universally astounded every time I opened my mouth, and for Chinese to be coming out of a nine-year-old is even more impressive!

Russian Orthodox Church calls for dress code, says miniskirts cause 'madness'

Yeah, but it's a good kind of madness.

A top official of the increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church has triggered a storm of outrage by calling for a "national dress code" that would force women to dress modestly in public and require businesses to throw out "indecently" clad customers.

Women, said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, can't be trusted to clothe themselves properly.

"It is wrong to think that women should decide themselves what they can wear in public places or at work," he said Tuesday. "If a woman dresses like a prostitute, her colleagues must have the right to tell her that."

"Moreover," Archpriest Chaplin added, "if a woman dresses and acts indecently, this is a direct route to unhappiness, one-night stands, brief marriages followed by rat-like divorces, ruined lives of children, and madness."

WTF is a "rat-like" divorce?

eta: Also, Russian Orthodox bishops are the ones who wear big furry hats, right?