rafting behind the iron curtain

[river runner]

Due to the cold war, rafting developed in isolation in the Soviet Union. They had no idea that a raft was supposed to be oval with a single rower facing down-stream. After the fall of the Berlin wall, Soviet and American rafters got together for some friendly competition. The Soviets kicked our behinds (figuratively). Before then, I imagine we were feeling pretty smug about our superiority in raft design.
The moral of this story is that if you approach the same subject from two different directions, you will get two different solutions, and they might both be right. Sometimes a problem needs a fresh look. Someone too close to the problem can develop miopia.

[DCockey]

And the lesson for drift boats is .........