Non Sequitur

Different post today. Its wonderful in Lausanne, at times eerily like Vancouver, which gives me some pause. In all the hubbub of travelling, I'm taking a moment to marvel at what's going on in the world (it's been so long w/o news).

Riverbend's new update to her blog (Baghdad Burning @ http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/) is a reminder of such - an Iraqi woman's account of the daily horrors she faces. (Her excerpted book is shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Award)

Ignorance is a wondrous thing, for example I've been raving about the Balkans to everyone, yet until yesterday didn't know that Montenegro (now officially) has achieved independence from Serbia.

Finally sick of the tedious cycle of alcohol consumption, I got to raid Darius' bookshelf for two absolute gems (short enough to read in an evening):

How To Build A Time Machine by Paul Davies - A thrilling read for the layman (myself), theoretical quantum physics is broken down into pictures and simple rules we can understand, showing how time travel is possible and to construct a vehicle for said purpose. Sounds horrid but trust me, if you've done high school math or physics (I didnt) its worthwhile.

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse - An engrossing novel about a man's search to find God and wisdom, set in Buddhist influences, the Nobel Prize winner conjures the spiritual and the philosophical in a simple way that is accessible to everyone. A life-changing book, easy to read but challenging to absorb.

So that was yesterday, besides watching X-Men 3 (Haysen did they cut your scenes out? I didn't see you). There's been parties all over the place so don't worry the blog isn't going all Aristotle.