Many Afghans find it bizarre that the West should devote so much money to Mr Karzai, yet be unable to hold him to account over something so basic as stuffing ballot boxes on an industrial scale.
Indeed, it is curious how instinctively one protects the image of oneself from idolatry or any other handling that could make it ridiculous, or too unlike the original to be believed in any longer.
As I have been writing and talking about space flight for the best part of 20 years, a sudden switch of interest to the depth of the sea doer seem peculiar.