I present this post to you in the interest of public service… When trying to research the Henness Pass Road, one will stumble across a few internet forums that contain vague and sometimes contradictory information or websites from various government agencies that just loosely mention the Henness Pass Road. Every one of these websites from … Continue reading
The Lost Libraries: * During the Hellenistic Period (323-31BC) there were several major libraries in the Mediterranean world, the greatest being the Library of Alexandria, established about 300BC – it was damaged in 48BC and probably destroyed in the reign of the Roman Emperor Aurelian (270-275AD). * Alexandria’s closest rival was the library at Pergamum, … Continue reading
A guard tower is visible in the background along a perimeter fence of Dachau Concentration Camp: On March 22, 1933, a few weeks after Adolf Hitler had been appointed Reich Chancellor, a concentration camp for political prisoners was set up in Dachau. This camp served as a model for all later concentration camps and … Continue reading
The Ludus Magnus was Rome’s foremost training academy for gladiators… It was built by the Emperor Domitian (81-96 AD) and lies just to the east of the famous Colosseum. Yet, despite its significance, the hordes of tourists visiting the Colosseum always seem to miss it: Fragments of the Severan Marble Plan, an ancient map of … Continue reading
Sunset off of Gozo Island, Malta: Continue reading
I provided an introduction to the mountains of Chechnya in a previous post, but with this post, we’re getting into the most restricted area where a lot of heavy activity went down in the recent Chechen Wars (and still does now). I’m referring to the region of Chechnya that borders Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge… The eight-mile-long … Continue reading
Well, I hate to be anticlimactic, but I’m afraid some might read a bit much into my title… Although, this confusion has delivered more than a few Yemenis into serious trouble when innocently responding with “Al Qaidah” when asked about their backgrounds or where they are from. The unfortunately named Al-Qaidah is a town in … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 