Auschwitz buildings today. From Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as an annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Why Jan. 27? It was on this day in 1945 that the largest World War II concentration camp, Auschwitz, was liberated.

Auschwitz, a network of three camps, was operated in Poland under German occupation from 1940-1945. It probably accounted for the death of over one million Jews. Among other well-known “death camps” were Dachau, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen.  Read more... (476 words, 2 images, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

An extreme terrorist training camp for children was recently discovered by the Pakistani military within their country’s borders.

According to a January 6, 2010 CNN report, the media in Pakistan were first to break the news some time in the past month.

Spokespeople for the Pakistani military told CNN the compound, found in the former Taliban stronghold of Nawoz Kot, was apparently used to brainwash Pakistani children and youth between the ages of 12 and 18 into a suicide-bomber mentality.  Read more... (456 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

A long, long time ago, in a state all the way across the country, I attended high school.

One of the people I’ll never forget from my time at XYZ Academy (real school name withheld to protect the guilty), is Mrs. Spencer.

She was my biology teacher.

I must admit that I learned a lot under her tutelage, so much that I even thought about majoring in biology in college.

She was weird though. She had some crazy views on life, the universe, and everything else.  Read more... (503 words, 2 images, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)