MarkSYNTHESIS

"Only the Taiwanese would call a massacre an 'incident'." A few years back, I discussed the events of February 28th, 1947, with an American friend of mine who was (at the time) finishing his PhD, and he pointed this out to me. He had a little bit of 'black humor' at my use of the common terminology--"228 Incident"--to describe the event. This wasn't really a joke about Taiwanese or Chinese culture, so much as my tendency to approach things from a cold, detached manner, which is just part of my personality. By comparison, my friend is the more compassionate, empathetic type. To summarize, 228 refers to the twenty-eighth day of February, in 1

At 1:00 AM EST--10:00 AM Moscow Standard Time--the Russian Fed. will hold its annual Victory Day Parade, celebrating the 65th Anniversary of the German Surrender, ending the European Front of the Second World War (known in many eastern European countries as the Great Patriotic War). I normally wouldn't mention this, except this year it is going to be notably different. The USSR celebrated Victory Day in a major parade once every 10 years. When the parade was resumed in the 21st century, it's become an annual affair, however, this will be the first time since the dissolution of the USSR into the CIS that soldiers of the other former-Soviet na

And it only took me two years. Not much else to say. I hooted in class when I read the email, and got a round of applause when I explained. I've been admitted into graduate school at the University of Georgia. Also finished a new dress uniform. Will probably wear it to DragonCon...seeing how I'll be staying in Athens.