Holocaust Survivors Reunite in Florida After a Labor Camp Friendship was Broken 80 Years Ago:
Sam Ron (left) and Jack Waksal (right) – Red Banyan
Those who say there’s no such thing as destiny need to meet Jack Waksal and Sam Ron, victims who met during the Holocaust, and who met again 79 years later in South Florida. Having endured slave labor shoulder to shoulder in the Pionki Labor Camp in Poland, the two were separated after Waksal escaped into the forest, and Ron was moved to a different camp that was ultimately liberated. Just teenagers at the time of their imprisonment, the two managed to both immigrate to the United States, specifically to Ohio, where they both lived for 40 years unaware of each other’s existence before eventually moving to South Florida. Neither knew the other had survived until Waksal attended a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s South Florida Dinner last Sunday and found his old camp comrade to be the guest speaker. Introduced by his former name of Shmuel Rakowski, Waksal felt as if he was seeing a fraternal brother. Despite living 40 miles apart, the two men are determined to keep the survivor’s flames burning and fill in the massive gap of years with life stories. Ron occasionally makes appearances at schools to teach young people about his experiences.
Britain’s Royal Mint is Salvaging Gold from E-Waste – Recycling Precious Metals for Green Investors:
Credit: British Royal Mint
Perhaps the least-debated of all environmental dangers, unrecycled electronic waste is piling up around the world at alarming rates. Inside every laptop and smartphone is an electronic circuit board and gold is used as an insulator and a conductor of sensitive components. Now, the British Royal Mint has placed this gold at the center of its sustainability strategy going forward. The mint is using patented new chemistry created by Canadian-based Excir to recover and reuse the gold, and other metals, within these old circuit boards. The unique chemistry is capable of recovering almost 100% of the precious metals contained within electronic waste selectively targeting the metal in seconds. However, it is biodegradable and has a negligible impact on the environment. Construction of a new plant in South Wales should be completed this year and will be up and running in 2023. The plant is capable of processing 90 tons of circuit boards every week while producing hundreds of kilograms of gold.
Road in London Closes for Nearly a Month to Protect Migrating Toads as They Hop to the Other Side:
SWNS
A stretch of road in London has been closed to traffic for more than three weeks to allow toads to cross in safety to ponds where they breed. A 400-meter (1,300-foot) section of Church Road in Ham, near Richmond, is blocked to motorists until the start of April so the creatures don’t get squished on their annual migration. ‘Toad patrol’ volunteers man the road which meanders through a leafy stretch of Richmond Park at night, but the road remains blocked off all day. The charity Froglife, which is responsible for recruiting volunteers, says the road, which is one of many across Britain that take part in the eco-conscious project, is among just a handful that remains completely blocked off to traffic. The Richmond council says it is not too disruptive as the road is normally quiet, has few houses along it, and the diversion is not painfully long. Many people have stopped by to poke fun at the sign on the closed road and a steady stream of walkers come to take pictures to share with friends.
Sources: