thom space

“American traditions and the American ethic require us to be truthful, but the most important reason is that truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.”

I just got my Harry Potter: the half blooded prince. WOOT! I have read four chapters, and it is good. I can’t wait to keep getting on with it. My sister pointed me to this article that talks about Potter as a WWII allegory, interesting.

So yesterday and today I had two full days of kayaking lessons, the first was in a lake where I attemped to master the art of the roll, which I failed at, but learned that I can chill out upside down for a very long time, and the second on the mighty losach river which runs though the center of garmisch. I am captivated.

I have been working quite a bit for the past few weeks but I have still managed to have quite a few grand adventures. I went on a bicycle tour though Austria which resulted in me getting very lost and not the least bit drenched when it very conveniently started to rain mid way though. That was two weeks ago, it stopped raining today. I have never seen so much rain. It is incrediable to see the amount of water that manages to precipitate. Waterfalls sprout from all directions and the rivers flow like chocolate milk. I guess that in the past floods have hit the region so hard that the only way in or out of the city was limited strictly to helicopter, it is not nearly so bad as that now, but it was begining to look like it was on its way. Today I went out on the river and shot a bunch of my friends kayaking they looked to be having such a good time, I think that I may be hooked, time for a new hobby. I am having so much fun.

I am lost. But in the mean time I am learning about Russia, I have a feeling that my understanding of the development of that country, through the ages with its struggle for a national identity based on the split influences of east and west, will be the key for my future understanding of the developing conflicts that currently, and prospectively, envelope the world.