50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I didn't see any plaintive threads bemoaning my two-week absence, but rest assured I am fine after a two-week mission trip to Martin, Slovakia, where a group of us demolished the insides of the second-floor of a communist era building so that it can be remodeled into chemistry/physics lab space for the Lutheran high school there. if anyone here ever gets a chance to go behind the old Iron Curtain, especially to a smaller city, do it. Very illuminating. Soviet-style communism must have been one of the most mind-numbing political/economic systems ever hatched. Slovakia is kind of caught between the old and new, with a lot of the older generations still committed to retaining some measure of the pre-1989 system. It's more "Eastern looking" in mindset than is the Czech Republic. Millennial generation really wants to get the place in gear, so we'll see what happens.
Also spent a day-and-a-half in Krakow. Extremely interesting. Toured Auschwitz and Birkenau. After seeing that place, I urge no one in here to ever use the "Hitler" or "Nazi" analogy about our politics. It only trivializes the absolute evil that existed there.
I've got a bunch of pics (well, actually some other group members took them and allowed me to download their files). I'll try to get them up in the next week.
Also spent a day-and-a-half in Krakow. Extremely interesting. Toured Auschwitz and Birkenau. After seeing that place, I urge no one in here to ever use the "Hitler" or "Nazi" analogy about our politics. It only trivializes the absolute evil that existed there.
I've got a bunch of pics (well, actually some other group members took them and allowed me to download their files). I'll try to get them up in the next week.
