May 30. Turned on the downward-facing camera in the entertainment system on the plane. Flying over Newfoundland seemed outrageous. There were shapes passing by like in the stargate sequence in the space odyssey, and in the face of that we really should have had no right to go on with our normal lives.

The Swedish schools may be better than the American schools, but they lull the children and make them sluggish. The American schools may be worse than the Swedish schools, but they spur the kids on and make them ambitious. And then from college on, you can see it. Weirdly, the universities are world class.