people i met yesterday

i met two people yesterday

the first was a guy on the austrian ski team, who was training yesterday where i skiied. so were the swiss women’s ski team, but i didn’t meet any of them. anyone who has any real experience skiing realises the lunacy of going over jumps at over 100 km/h, but he was actually an entirely normal guy. nothing loopy, nothing bonkers about him.

i’d probably say i know more history than most. and i know a fair amount about the activities on the Russian front in World War 2. Yesterday I met a native Austrian, who moved here in 1953. after being conscripted into the german army he spent 3 years fighting on the Russian front. three years, three russian winters, and three of those blistering summers. it’s one thing to appreciate the suffering on the russian front in literature (go and read Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad ;it’s brilliant and describes the Nazi campaign in Russia from about 1940 till the fall of Stalingrad. another of his books, Berlin describes the russian advance from Stalingrad all the way to Berlin) but to actually meet someone who was there is another thing entirely.

a good old distraction

dang, the olympics are a damn good distraction from doing whatever you’re supposed to be doing. like writing some posts here. or doing a french assignment. or anything really. there’s always olympics on. not too many days of this supreme distraction left though, so there is hope that there will be some work done sometime

ye olde teame sportes

should there be team sports at the olympics? if yes, then why the hell isn’t there some sort of large yacht yachting, like america’s cup size boats. not only would it bring more recognition of the america’s cup but an olympic sort of doodacky would give the sailors more to aim for, bring in more sponsors, etc. maybe it would feed some egos too. i mean there are team sports at the olympics, what about soccer/football? baseball? softball? sailing big boats would also be cool to watch. but what’s the deal with the wind at the sailing? all the competitors are having to shake the boat/board to get the thing going, why is there no real wind????????

the future of evolutionary biology

we’re here via evolution. what happens when we come across some aliens on some far away planet. it seems entirely feasible that we will go, or be sent, the way of the dodo, that is if we don’t send the aliens what way first. or if our friendly aforementioned, and therefore belowmentioned cosmic destruction-ram doesn’t have it’s way with us first.

but how freaky would it be if human and alien evolved into something that could interbreed? that would be freaky. aluminum hat freaky