Anne Frank's Diary on Display in Amsterdam

Anne Frank's tragic story has captivated people since the end of World War II. Her diary is traditionally required reading in high school and/or college, having been translated into dozens of different languages.

Anne's diary covers about 6 months of the 2 years that she and her family were hiding in a building in Amsterdam, Holland. Anne Frank was one of millions who lost their lives in Nazi concentration camps. For the first time since she was actually there writing in it, her diary has been taken back to the building where she and her family were in hiding- now known as the Anne Frank museum.

The diary (pictured above) and about 360 loose pages are on display for people to see. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was there for the unveiling ceremony.

I must stop writing now so I can go cry.

Attn: Lawrenceburg Students

I was really glad to see such a large number of students stay for the study sessions today. There were huge numbers in the afternoon class especially. And I hope those of you who came back for the 3:30 session picked up some info that will help you on the final; I hope ALL of you picked up stuff that will help you on the final.

Thanks for listening, paying attention and putting up with the craziness that is me! You only got me for a month- imagine what it is like for the poor souls who get me for a whole semester!!!

Be sure to email me if you have any questions and keep reading the blog. I'm always posting new stuff.

Best of luck on your finals!

Malcolm X's assassin released

I found this interesting since we have been talking about Malcolm X in class recently.

As I told you, 3 young members of the Nation of Islam gunned Malcolm X down at a rally in Harlem in 1965. We didn't get to go into further detail because of time constraints, but the 3 boys were arrested, convicted and sent to jail in New York. Only one of the 3 admitted to actually pulling the trigger. After 44 years in prison, he was released today. In the interim, he said that the other 2 guys were not active participants in the shooting, they were simply by his side and has also said that he regretted committing the crime.

The other 2 men were released from jail sometimes in the 80's.

Attn: All Students- Final Exam Study Sessions

I've had several people ask me about holding study sessions for this semester's final exams. Here is the plan that I came up with...

Lawrenceburg classes (both 11 & 2 classes)- Thursday April 29 @ 3:30 in room 155. Ms. Skora will be giving you guys your test on Tuesday May 4.

Columbia class- Monday May 3 @ 12:30 in our regular classroom. The test will follow @ 2:00

Clifton class- Wednesday May 5 @ 8:30 in our regular classroom. The test will follow @ 9:30

Franklin class- Friday May 7 @ 10:00 in our regular classroom. The test will follow @ 11:00. NOTE THAT THE FINAL STARTS @ 11:00, not our typical class time of 11:30. Do not be late or I'll throw erasers, markers, my Twilight bag (it's heavy), whatever else I can find at you!

Anyone from any class is more than welcome to come to any or all of the other study sessions. The more the merrier.

For Columbia, Clifton & Franklin, if you need to make arrangements with me to take the final at a different time than your normally scheduled final, #1 you need a good reason and #2 you need to get with me ASAP to set up an appointment. REMEMBER- THERE IS NO MAKEUP FOR THE FINAL EXAM. Yes I am pulling a Kanye at you but there is always somebody who "forgets" that they have to take the final. Once I'm done giving the finals, I have to get them graded and the grades put into the system so you guys can access them (they will available on or after May 14 on your ChargerNet account) so I'm turning my phone off to work and well, to put it nicely, you'll be screwed!

Watergate's Smoking Gun

We'll either be talking about the Watergate Scandal in class or you'll be reading about it in the notes that I'm giving out (to those classes where I simply ran out of lecture time) so I thought this little tidbit that I picked up on Discovery.com was interesting.

With the Watergate Scandal, the were always 2 big questions...#1- how involved was Nixon in all of this and #2- who was Deep Throat?

#2 was answered in 2005 when former FBI Deputy Director W. Mark Felt announced that he was the person who ratted Nixon out to the Washington Post but #1 has always kept people going "Hmmm."

Nixon was forced to turn over tapes of conversations held in the Oval Office but still not enough to say "Bam- he knew! Off to the firing squad!" However, there was an 18 1/2 minute section on one of the tapes that was nothing but static, ostensibly deliberately erased. Seriously, Nixon already looked guilty with all the other info on the tapes, what in the world could be in the 18 1/2 min gap.

Historians and technicians dig the tape out of storage every so often to take a crack at it with the latest technology, hoping to recreate the data. Up until this point, no such luck.

But now, forensic techniques are being applied to the situation. Yes, they are still trying to dig through the static, but an investigator is also looking at all of the handwritten notes taken by people in the Oval Office while the 18 1/2 minute conversation was being held. The investigator has acknowledged that there is a page missing from the yellow legal pad with the notes but lo and behold, he's pulling a Macgyver- he's using computer technology to see if the missing page can be recreated from indentations on the next page. I have this image in my mind of him taking a pencil and running it obliquely across the page to see what is left.

All he needs now is a paper clip, a rubber band and the foil wrapper from a piece of chewing gum and he can crack the code! (For those of you who have never seen Macgyver, you'll have no clue what that means. Just go with it.)

Attn: Franklin Students

Franklin students, please check your student email accounts. I sent out a mass email earlier concerning the info for the final exam essay. Please pass the word on to anybody else in the class that you know.

Attn: Lawrenceburg Students

I swear I can read a calendar, I really can. I'm just so used to making out schedules for my typical Monday/Wednesday schedule that I made a mistake on the schedule sheet that I handed out to you guys on the first day that I came to your class. I know, I know, I'm not perfect...just close to it!!!

Seriously though, the sharp eyes in the 2:00 class saw the wrong date on the final exams at the bottom of the page. Here is the correct information-

11:00 class- final exam Tuesday May 4 11:00-12:50

2:00 class- final exam Tuesday May 4 2:00-3:50

Ms. Skora is planning to be back final exam week so she'll be the one administering the exam to you guys. Since I won't be there then, let me go ahead and give you my traditional exam day prayer- May the Force be with you!