Leveraged Intelligence

Half Truths

Welcome to a new Friday offering for the Loose Blogger Consortium, a wild, thoughtful, rambunctious, creative group of free spirits – all listed in clickable links on the left – who are just a joy to read.  Each Friday, we take a common topic and post on it more or less simultaneously.  Not everyone can post every Friday, but there are going to be some great posts out there to enjoy.

Of course, I want you to read this one first …

Truth is really hard to pin down with a definition.  Look at this from Wikepedia:

Truth can have a variety of meanings, from the state of being the case, being in accord with a particular fact or reality, being in accord with the body of real things, events, actuality, or fidelity to an original or to a standard, truth "behind" everything, the ontological truth. In archaic usage it could be fidelity, constancy or sincerity in action, character, and utterance. Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute.

These types of definitions of truth itself, we usually leave to Philosophy.  Even though we can’t easily pin truth down and philosophy may seem a bit ethereal to the reader, truth in some sense is essential to almost all of our considerations.  Try to deny what I just said without telling me it is not true!

Truth is very powerful – and the definer of truth holds a mighty tool … or weapon … in her or his hand!  Where there is power, there is temptation.  Where there is temptation, the potential arises for corruption.  However, because of the need for action in the world, we don’t usually define truth philosophically, we usually define it through techniques, institutions and leadership.  Let’s take a look at a few of these.

Religion usually tries to give us unassailable truth, Holy Truth.  Yet, even here not all truths codified as laws are equal and this is why Christ railed against the Pharisees, telling them, "Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:23,24) 

It is often due to the belief in competing “unassailable” truths that causes so many to lose sight of the camels entering their gullets leading to destruction of their fellow man and their world rather than uplifting anyone or anything to the divine.

Sales and Marketing are the economic siblings of these other methods.  You have a need.  No, listen, you have a need – let me show you.  I  have a solution that fulfills that need.  I’m telling you the truth.

Sales are necessary, for we live in a world of commerce.  As the consumer, it is up to you to be responsible for determining what you actually DO need, not simply what you are being told you need.

Debate tournaments require alternation between arguing one side of an issue then the other as the participants progress through the tournament.  Competing “truths” ultimately lead the participants to realize that in the big picture of the proposition being considered, they are alternating between half truths, that the whole truth obviously contains both sides they argue.  It would be kind of fun were there some way to apply some fuzzy logic to their scores; but, of course, the debate is hardly won simply with logic.

A trial is somewhat the same, with an attorney arguing for a client and avoiding as skillfully as possible arguments that contradict their position.  They are trying to elevate interpretation of provided evidence, testimony being part of that evidence, to the level of truth in the jurors’ minds.  The jurors sit as judges of truth.  The difficulty is, of course, that the wealthier clients have access to more skilled attorneys, giving their half of the truth a whole lot better chance.

This also is the main method of our public presentations by Congress.  They debate on the floor, but most of the time it is not really to convince one another, it is to convince the public to put pressure on the other side.

Observation and Reporting is another approach to truth, the approach supposedly being used as not only part of scientific data gathering, but also by journalists using various media.  As soon as a scientist or a journalist has a vested interest in the outcome, the observation is potentially tainted!  At that point, they may become conscious or unconscious promoters of specific outcomes.  Science best achieves the best outcome with control subjects and double-blind observations where neither observer nor observed can possibly connect the dots at the point of observation.  That is not an approach that can be applied to journalism, obviously, and we rely to a large extent upon the integrity of the journalist.

Commentary is really a journalistic cousin of observation and reporting.  The journalist’s perspective is added quite openly and can be considered as such.  Unfortunately, the compartmentalization of reporting and commentary, the compartmentalization that prevents the contamination of purpose and opinion, is becoming less and less observed as news media compete more and more for money via ratings and advertising on a 24/7 stage!

Charismatic Leadership tends to cast an aura of truth.  Danger Will Robinson!  Quite often we believe not what was said, but WHO said it.  Up to a point, that is necessary, for we haven’t the expertise, resources or time available to observe all evidence firsthand.  All that we can do is keep our eyes and our minds open and watch out for signs of adoration in ourselves that can be blinding and examine all evidence we can garner.  In other words, when it comes to charisma, be as aware of yourself as of the leader!

It is equally damning to reject their presentation simply because they are charismatic.

Propaganda had a brutal master, the Nazi Information Minister, Joseph Goebbels!  Read some of his views of truth and be chilled:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”

“Intellectual activity is a danger to the building of character”

“Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state, for every form of power politics and any dictatorship-run state has its roots in the street.”

Propaganda did not disappear with the Third Reich!  It still has many adherents although most don’t reach the level of Nazi ruthlessness.  We will all agree that propaganda is still out there in abundance and we even will agree that it sprouts wherever there is power to be gained.  The tough part is that we will disagree about which part is truth and which part propaganda!

Art.  Don’t forget art.  Just because you don’t have words for it doesn’t mean it doesn’t fill out truth.  This is an original artwork, Foxes by Franz Marc (on the left) next to a reproduction of it that Carly did in art class (on the right):

After each student copied the original of their chosen artist, they were asked to do the Mona Lisa in the style of that artist!  Look at the result Carly produced!

That teacher, Tracy Michelson, is magnificent!  TRUE art.

Individual Research and Education is probably the last, best hope.  The conclusion I come to is that truth can only be decided by the individual and I encourage each and every one to stay on top of issues the way only you can.  It is better that we have aware people informing themselves as best they can than that information be squelched or censored.  It is a messy path filled with bumps and potholes, but it sure seems to beat anything else.  The danger is selling yourself on a half truth, not trying to cover all the bases at all and then ignoring new input.  Be sure you can argue the opposing viewpoint(s), even if you only think they are 35% true.  One of the great inoculations against half truths seems to be input from a variety of sources!  It takes courage to discard beliefs in the face of new knowledge, especially if you seem to be alone in doing so.

Don’t always be alone, though.  One of the essential parts of finding truth is what you share with friends and loved ones – even when you are wrong!!

Aggressive Ignorance Abounds!

“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.”~Winston Churchill

Right you are, Winnie!  Yet, generation after generation, ignorance mounts its attack, ever waiting to attack from the backwoods of fear where thought never penetrates.  Angry, perverse … it attacks.

This is one of the more outrageous modern examples I’ve seen.  The Conservapedia coughed up this misleading piece of work: http://conservapedia.com/Counterexamples_to_Relativity#cite_note-10

To a non-physicist, or to an armchair physicist like me, the arguments seem fairly sophisticated.  However, to a real physicist, it seems less so:

http://physics.about.com/b/2010/08/17/conservativesandeinstein.htm?nl=1

Take this opening salvo and footnote connected to it, bolding added by me:

The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world.^[1]

↑ See, e.g., historian Paul Johnson’s book about the 20th century, and the article written by liberal law professor Laurence Tribe as allegedly assisted by Barack Obama. Virtually no one who is taught and believes Relativity continues to read the Bible, a book that outsells New York Times bestsellers by a hundred-fold.

A similar attempt was made by the Nazis to discredit Einstein’s work, unsuccessfully, because he was a Jew.  Now, it appears that he is to be discredited because he supports liberals and is somehow associated with Barack Obama.  I, for one, was taught and believe Relativity, yet I continue to read the Bible.  I am also aware, because of my training in the Theory of Relativity, that it is not really about the relative at all, but rather about the totally irrelative, fixed, spacetime continuum.

These hatchet jobs should not go unnoticed or without objection, not because Einstein or Einstein’s theories are sacrosanct, but because these are not truly attacks on those theories, they are attacks on a cultural and political perspective based upon misinterpretation that is almost wholly intentional.  History is replete with these types of attacks on scientific thought.  Ultimately, they fail as long as people continue to pursue knowledge and do not give in to intimidation.

What does it come down to if you really want control?  You make those who believe a point of view out as anti-Bible, anti-Church, opponents of God.  It is a very old strategy.  Just ask Galileo.

Tears

This is a Friday Loose Blogger Consortium topic brought to us by Grannymar.  Tough subject of which I’m sure many of our bloggers will do it justice and I encourage you to make the rounds by clicking their links on the left side of this form. 

Some are busy with life activities right now, so be patient.  It’s still summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

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It never used to happen to me all that easily – this crying thing – but part of the maturing of a man in our culture is to drop his guard a bit, to allow a more sensitive vulnerability.  It came to me full force in my involvement with the high school choir in which my daughter performed.

It wasn’t so much the scenes with pathos in their musicals even though the kids performed with amazing interpretation for their ages.

No, it was their singing and the marvelous music itself.  It moved – and moves – me in ways hard to explain.  I don’t know how many times I would film their performances and be surreptitiously wiping tears from my eyes.

I’ve become like Pavlov’s dog.  Gather those kids together for a performance now, have them sing, and I’m sure I’d start leaking.

Next Friday, I will be doing another type of filming, for I’ve been asked to film the performance of Masonic Scottish Rite for James’ grandfather’s memorial.  It will also be a military funeral, I believe, but am uncertain.  I hope they don’t play taps.  Taps tears me up … in both meanings of the word. 

Life was easier with young bravado.  It was also less fulfilling, more emotionally impoverished.  Tears are sometimes the price of admission.

New Zealand: The Fiordland!

India is in Monsoon season, the Magpie just got soaked in England – but neither has anything on New Zealand’s Fiordland in terms of overall rain.  Believe it or not, they get seven to nine METERS – for the Americans, 23  to 29 1/2 FEET or 276 to 354 inches – of rain annually!  And these are the results:

Plant growth that is perennially green and THICK.

Water continually running out of every nook and cranny, flowing, cascading, washing out roads.  You can literally just stand and hear the background roar of water.

We stopped the bus on a bridge and the water was rushing below it with such power, the bus continuously rocked back and forth.

The rocks are covered with moss.

… and the best is yet to come.

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is reputed by many to be the most beautiful place in New Zealand.  Mind you, this is like talking about which is Michelangelo’s best sculpture, but Milford Sound takes a back seat to nothing.

The day that we went, it rained all day – surprise – and then cleared up as we got to the sound – which is actually a fiord!  Here are the definitions:

Sound – a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land.

Fjord (fiord) – a submergent landform which has occurred due to glacial activity.

Milford Sound is misnamed and was actually created by glacial activity.  But, like they say, you can call me anything you want, just don’t call me late to dinner.  Well, you can call it a sound or a fiord and neither makes it less beautiful.  First, the countless waterfalls:

The glaciers:

And the stunner, the sight everyone comes to see … Mitre Peak!

Rhonda, you said in one comment that you wanted to go there.  Well, let me tell you … it is worth it.

In Sickness and In Health

Ramana and I have been exploring some of the heroes of everyday life, those people who make a huge difference in the quality of life for society as well as for those around them.  These are the people who go unheralded.

In our modern times, marriage has become a disposable commodity.  The old “in sickness and in health” pledge has often gone out the window – because many couples never even get to that point.  But, every so often, you see someone who sees beyond the superficial and gets to the real meaning of life and commitment.  In the process, they ennoble us all.  This is one of those stories filled with one main heroine, someone absolutely at the top of the scale of human quality as far as I am concerned.  She also has some help from a fine supporting cast.

See if this story moves you as it did me:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38021027/ns/today-today_health/

The Inessential Belongings That We Collect

Carol and I are always trying to get rid of junk.  We have a garage full of it.  We have relatives who use our house, for various reasons, for storage – something we are seeking to change just short of actually eliminating any of the relatives.

Of the more essential things around, I would count a stove and an oven and lights and a refrigerator and … well, practical things you use in day-to-day survival.  Things can be replaced for the most part and most that can’t are fine gone, for it is people, pets and relationships that matter.  However, there is an interesting class of inessential belongings that are a bit different.

Hard to know what possessed me to make these guys somewhere along the way, but I don’t think they should be tossed.  You can’t find them in a store … for a reason.  But, I made them, it was a hoot, and it makes me and Mom feel good when we look at the silly little jaspers.

The kiwi bird is blown glass around a piece of kiwi fruit from the land of the kiwis, New Zealand.  We got him as the perfect complement to the Murano glass dolphin we bought when visiting Venice.  As with the pieces below them, none of them would cause the world to stop if they disappear – but they sure bring back memories!

This hammer, refitted with another handle over the years, was the hammer used by my great grandfather, the first blacksmith in Central Kansas.  I don’t really need the hammer, because I have sledge hammers for big jobs and smaller hammers for smaller work.  It is easy to get a hammer at a store.

But, that hammer might as well be Thor’s Hammer as far as I’m concerned!  You know what I mean?

So, what it comes down to is that the least essential of the things we have are often the ones most valuable to us.  They are actually the touchstones of meaning for people.  Priceless!

What do you have that is totally unneeded in any practical sense, but that is precious to you?

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This is another in the Friday offerings of the Loose Bloggers Consortium, this topic suggested by the Magpie himself.  Check out the inessentials of the other members whose links you will find on the left under – you guessed it – LOOSE BLOGGER CONSORTIUM!

Be patient if someone doesn’t have an entry.  They may be having fun with their items as we speak.

Paranormal Experience

What does a fish know about the water in which it swims all its life?

– Einstein

The following stories are true and factual accountings of my experience:

My Grandmother at Woolworths

Woolworth department stores had their heyday and I suspect they were experiencing it in Denver, Colorado when I was about ten or eleven years of age.  Denver had a large, five-story store back then and my grandmother took me with her for some shopping.

We went up the escalator to the third floor and saw a guy on a stage about halfway back, with a microphone, selling books.  The books were astrology books.

As we approached, the man turned toward my grandmother, paused asking if she would please join him onstage.  She considered, agreed, and stepped onto the stage.

He asked to hold her hands, stood silently for a bit, and then asked her a couple of names which were not quite hers, but close.  Then he said, “Is your name Lola?”, to which my grandmother replied in the affirmative.

He then proceeded to tell her that my grandfather was ill, that he had a problem in the mid to lower abdominal area, that he would be having surgery – and that he would be just fine!

He then thanked her, she thanked him, and she stepped down from the stage.  Pretty ordinary hucksterism it would seem and many would say that he had his henchmen in the crowd, that they had engaged her in conversation getting her name and what was on her mind.  He would have learned her name was Lola and that her husband was to have surgery the next day on a duodenal ulcer.

The only problem with that scenario is that I was with her from the house all the way to the stage.  She spoke with no one, because we went straight up the escalator and directly over there.

As we left, my grandmother was truly stunned by the experience – and my grandfather came through the surgery just fine.

Meditating With a Friend

Leslie and I had been practicing meditation as well as studying consciousness for awhile around 1975.  We were part of a group of people exploring that aspect of our perception and the two of us decided to try meditating together.

Almost immediately, I found myself immersed in an experience unlike any I’ve had before or since.  I was in a room and it was like the air itself was thick, a heavy fluid.  I was floating and could move by directing myself intentionally, but in a manner of focusing that is hard to describe.  It was almost like a focus of my will.

I moved around the room and examined it and then found a door to exit.  I was able to move around the edge of a building and into some other areas and more rooms.  It took me more effort to move than would normally be the case with imagination, though.  I had to really work at it.  I also noticed that everything persisted, that I could not rearrange it, only travel through it.

A few months later, we took a trip together, about five of us from our group, in Leslie’s car, going to her grandfather’s ranch in Colorado.  As we got out of the car, I realized where I had been in my meditation.  I had been here!

To validate the experience as fully as possible, I stopped everyone and said I wanted to describe what we would see, what the arrangement of rooms, etc. would be like, before we went in.  And … I was right on the money.  It looked just as it had in my meditation.

My Beliefs on the Paranormal

One succinct definition of the paranormal is “beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation.”  So, I see the paranormal as simply a temporary condition.  An automobile would be paranormal to someone from the 15th Century, but we certainly see it as quite normal now.  Science always has things it can’t yet explain.

The most difficult things to explain are those things which are universal.  If something is fundamentally woven into the fabric of experience, people have a great deal of trouble discerning it.  Much of therapy is helping people realize that which is so pervasive in their experience that it becomes invisible to them.

I believe this is the case with the instances of paranormal experience recounted throughout history, that someone simply was able to see the water in which we as fish swim.  Don’t get me wrong, I think hucksters abound and I don’t particularly like to discuss the paranormal with most people, because the ones who seem most interested in it are often cracked gourds.  Many others tend to be the skeptics who discard ALL of this experience as crap and are very ready to attack.  That narrows the group considerably with whom I wish to share ideas.

I have not come close to recounting all my experience here and most of it is of a non-dramatic and externally unverifiable nature anyway.  In fact, I would say that my normal experience is simply on a continuum with “paranormal” experience and it seems that there is no significant distinction.  Over the years, it has become very much integrated with what I am.

I think the paranormal is simply the base upon which the normal manifests.  And, I think it is available to anyone.

This is my Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium offering on the topic suggested by our prodigal son, Ashok.  In his tradition, he may refuse the fatted calf, but hopefully he will accept our glee at his return from the legal wilderness he has entered – as a barrister, not as a criminal! – for his presence and insight are always a joy!  I look forward to his views on this topic as I do all the other members.  I encourage you to click on their links in the list of Loose Blog Consortium members on the left!

New Zealand: From the Barn to the Beauty of Abel Tasman

As we traveled the North Island and marveled at Waimangu and Wai-O-Tapu and Rotorua and the Auckland area, everyone kept telling us, “Wait until you see the beauty of the South Island.”  So, we were pretty jazzed when we left Rotorua to go to Hamilton and fly to Nelson on the South Island.  From there, we drove to Marahau to the place we would stay, The Barn!  It advertised that we would have our own separate “cabin” to stay in.  Cool!

Well, to our surprise, these were the “cabins”, LOL:

Each had a double bed which literally just fit one end and maybe four feet beside the bed.  But, of course, the view was rather nice.  Here is Carol in our cabin:

And remember what I said about “Cool” just a second ago?  Amend that to “Cold,” for these cabins were unheated.  But, they did have marvelous blankets and we survived.

It did give me an idea though, for when Grannymar, Ramana, Maynard, Deb, Margaret, … come to visit.  Welcome to our guest cabin out back:

They had laundry facilities, showers, bathrooms, and a place to cook in a commons area:

… but, we were on vacation and went to this great place a quick walk down the road.  The place had great food at a low price and another very nice view:

It also had a resident artist across the road and he also had an herb garden, encouraging anyone to harvest what they wished for their own cooking.  Note my throne used as the Chief mentioned in an earlier post.  And, if you have paid careful attention, if that was my throne then, this South Island must be where the LOST castaways are resident, where time is a rather fluid thing.

From The Barn we took an Aqua Taxi to Abel Tasman Park proper:

Along the way, we saw the much photographed famous Split Apple Rock:

Then, they dropped us off at a beach and we began the hike back to the pickup point about 10 mi. of hiking, 3.5 hours away.  Get ready for beauty, because I am just going to put you on the trail with us and let you soak it in.  The trail itself wasn’t bad to look at as far as that goes!

The picture below has become my new wallpaper on my computer.  It is very close to a picture I setup in a post before leaving, but this is the one I took myself rather than pulled from the Internet.  Look how nice that sand is and how clear the water.

Um, did I say clear water?

What is the last beach you saw that looked like this?

And the streams flowing down seemed to come straight from Paradise.

In some places, there were high bridges.

Now, they told us that if we reached a certain point by a certain time, we would be able to simply “wade” across the water.  Yeah, right!  It was up to Carol’s waist.  And James and I each managed to cut our feet going over some sharp rocks, my foot being at lower right after getting back to the cabin.  Don’t worry, it wasn’t as painful as it looked and I was able to hike anywhere we wanted without much discomfort for the rest of the trip.  Indeed, I wasn’t until about an hour after I cut it that I told Carol I wanted to stop and get a rock out of my shoe … to discover a mess, LOL.

The greatest salve in the universe is beauty and others to share it with, though.

The ride back was a very happy one!

New Zealand: Wai-O-Tapu – God’s Color Palette

Geothermal areas are natural chemical labs and as anyone who has worked in a chemistry lab can tell you, along with different elements come different colors.  America’s Yellowstone has it in abundance and so does the New Zealand equivalent, Wai-O-Tapu.  I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

The above shows the size of volcanic eruptions involved in some of these processes.  The Fourth ash cloud down is Mt. St. Helens and the third one down is Pinatubo, two VERY large eruptions in modern times.  As you can see, the two Taupo eruptions dwarf these!

Sink holes have formed lined with minerals as above.

Pools of other minerals have gathered to form this unlikely green.

The above is the Artist’s Palette, where the water is emerging from deep below ground.

As it flows, it leaves mineral deposits that are amazing in size and mixture.

It just fills this valley area above.

Those yellow piles are mounds of sulfur!

Mineral deposits above at a closer glance.

And, the surrounding bush above and below takes up the minerals.

Beautiful, isn’t it?  Nature offers many views different from the ordinary.

New Zealand: Waimangu: How the World Began!

We didn’t let any grass grow under our feet on this trip, which is quite a feet feat when you consider how rapidly EVERYTHING grows in New Zealand!  We took a day trip from Rotorua – my first day driving on the wrong side which will be another story altogether – and went to a volcanic valley Carly had wanted to see, Waimangu! 

Do any of you remember the movie The Land That Time Forgot?  Well, I was told this was where it was filmed (as well as the newest Journey to the Center of the Earth) and you’ll soon see why:

The above is the view as you begin descent into the valley on foot.  I expected a T-Rex to emerge from the foliage at any point.  These are the famed New Zealand ferns in all their glory!  But, there is so much more to behold in the world’s newest geothermal system, much more.  For one, there is Frying Pan Lake, the world’s largest hot water spring:

And, yes, that is steam you see above it as well as steam venting from the mountain side.  Viewed from a different angle:

You can see that it is not just the other-worldly sense the continuous mist engenders, it is the magnificent colors from the minerals mixed with the incredibly rich greens of the vegetation.  Don’t ever consider going into that water for a warm, soothing bath, though.  It is formed of sulfuric acid!

June 10, 1886

That is the date when this valley as you see it was formed from the eruption of Mt. Tarawera.  Cracks formed in the bed of Lake Rotomahana and the water poured into it.  It met with magma there and immediately expanded 1400 times.  This caused a cataclysmic explosion that blew a crater expanding the lake to twenty times its original size killing all plant and bird life in the area – along with at least 108 people!  It created a 16 km (10 mile) rift and this valley is the aftermath.

This area is part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, which just happens to be the Southwest tip of the Pacific Ring of Fire.  This means that it is volcanic activity formed not by a hot spot, as the Hawaiian chain is, but by a subduction zone, giving it much greater explosive potential.  Until 1904, it also had the world’s largest geyser, firing 400 meters into the sky!  One village had 2 meters of mud dumped on it, smothering many residents and some areas had as much as 40 meters of mud dumped in them.  The explosions continued on down the valley and I think there were about 20 in all.  It is the only valley of this kind formed in historic times giving us comparative notes and even some pictures of before and after. The picture below is showing the valley as it looked a few months after the cataclysm:

In the background is Lake Rotomahana, while in the foreground is an actual photo of what the same perspective looked like before plants and animals were able to re-establish.  As is evident, the conditions created for life were fertile to say the least.  Scientists have been able to completely observe the process and this has provided invaluable information.

It also formed some gorgeous pools with colors that seem unnatural, but are actually derived from the minerals:

Our next excursion (which we actually took on the same day) will be to Wai-O-Tapu, New Zealand’s equivalent of Yellowstone.  Then we’ll see some unbelievable colors!  But, the haunting beauty of Waimangu I actually found more exotic.