Is it possible there is another parallel universe out there?  Something like what happens in the Golden Compass? 

 Another parallel universe accessible only by those with the subtle knife is the only explanation for newstories like this one: 

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My maternal grandmother was born in Windhoek in what was then German South West Africa.  She grew up speaking German on a dusty farm until the farm failed and she was orphaned and she went to an English-speaking refuge in South Africa.  She told me once of the time when South Africa invaded her land and Jannie Smuts encamped on the farm with his soldiers in full pursuit of the rebels. 

Then some twenty years ago, with my son, I wondered around a military base in Pretoria where we were shown mangled tanks retrieved from the theater of war between South Africa and the Cuban-supported Angolans.  Ever mindful of the kindness of my host, I looked at the messed metal in silence.  My son, with typical American bluntness, blurted to our host, an army Colonel: “The Cubans sure whipped your butt in that fight.”  The silence was stunning. 

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