An update...

...but not of the sort you were expecting.


I recently finished reading a book about the battle of Stalingrad, where the proverbial spine of Nazi aggression was severed by the iron fist of Soviet Russia in the winter of 1942-43. With its harrowing tales of coldness, lice, disease, starvation, slaughter, and blind acceptance of the whims of diabolical megalomaniacs, the book was interesting and informative (as informative as the censored 1st hand accounts of the battle could be, I guess), but what I got out of the book is much more valuable. I am now firmly convinced that the battle of Stalingrad has cracked my top 10 list of "Places Not to Be." See complete list below.



Places Not to Be


10. North Korea (after Kim Il Song)


9. Employed as a nuclear reactor repair man in Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1986 (and to think, this poor guy was probably just relieved to have not been assigned to latrine-cleaning duty in a Siberian Gulag camp)


8. Witnessing a drug deal in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico


7. Hiroshima Japan (on Aug 6, 1945)


6. North Korea (before Kim Il Song)


5. Desire St. Projects, New Orleans


4. Any place in the Middle East with crowds of civilians


3. 6th Army encirclement at the Battle of Stalingrad


2. On an American airlines flight (with a subsequent connection flight to a small airport) on a rainy day


1. Gas station restroom in Calcutta, India




Thank you and God bless. A more traditional post will follow shortly.