Let freedom ring

I was born during the height of the Cold War. I grew up in a world in the shadow of "We will bury you." It was business as usual when the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics butted heads on a regular and routinely terrifying basis. I was in college when President Carter decided that the US would boycott the Moscow Olympics. For a significant portion of my personal history, the USSR existed and was painted as The Bad Guys.

It is with very, very great pleasure that I report to you my friends, that on this lovely Independence Day morning, I logged onto my PC to find a message from a young man from Moscow who loves history. He belongs to a living history group with a focus on Japan's 16th century Age of Battles. We "met" on the Tousando board about a year and a half ago. I knew he'd linked to my website because I periodically get hits on my statistical report that show sengoku.ru as the source. This morning he sent me pictures of himself in kataginu kamishimo and in armor with permission to include them on my "Samurai Eye" web page.

How cool is that?

UPDATE 9:37 PM PDT: I'm watching fireworks out my bedroom window. In Oakland. In East Oakland, to be precise. Where it's illegal. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/26/BAGBAQM3GP28.DTL