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COOL AS FUCK! Second Friday Happy Hour w/ DJs Kevin, Liam, & Raul ~ guitar-based indie pop gems that sparkle & shine, loudly rip & gently roar ~ FREE! 6:00pm - 10:00pm
LAST NITE | 2000s Indie Dance Party w/ DJs Jamie Jams & Rocky ~ $10 door, $5 adv. ~ Tickets: www.lastnite00s.com 10:00pm - 2:00am
"Well, folks, the snake has officially reached its tail. The crew behind the '90s-themed Debaser party has gotten together to create "Last Nite," a brand new event that, much like its parent, is dedicated to reviving a specific moment in time. In this case, it's all about that brief period in the early-'00s when garage rock, dance punk, and electroclash all emerged and combined to form the soundtrack to the-then nascent hipster lifestyle. Resident DJs Jamie Jams and Rocky will be on hand to take you back to the days when "deck" was almost an adjective." - Derek Opperman, SF Weekly "Oh gawd it's here: let the retro-00s (retr00s?) commence! Jamie Jams and Rocky, the fiendish minds behind seminal '90s revival party Debaser, kick it into the Interpol-Shins-Strokes-White Stripes era and take you slightly back to "a time when punks suddenly remembered how to dance" — you could still hear guitars on the radio." - Marke B., SF Bay Guardian For more info: http://www.lastnite00s.com/ | DJs Jamie Jams and Rocky bring you all the hits from a time when punks suddenly remembered how to dance. It's like we ate Pitchfork, stole your iPod and then rode off on your track bike. $10, $5 adv. http://ticketf.ly/2Dl1IVj Be our friend! http://www.facebook.com/lastnite00s |


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Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.
This week's contest is dedicated to Bob Costas. Just because.
Council News:
First off I want to share with you an excellent video made by our own multi-talented Tom White over at Virginia Right!, who's working on getting George Allen re-elected to the Senate:
This week, The Pirate's Cove, Ask Marion, Maggie's Notebook and Appellate Sky took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some killer pieces they submitted.
You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher's Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn't get nominated by a Council member? No worries.
Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title and a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address (which won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6 PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category.
Then, just return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher's Council contest for the week after it comes out Wednesday morning.
It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher's Council readers and Council members, while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?
sigh… those Watcher's Council entries just do something special to me…
'Nuff said.
OK, without further ado let's see what we have this week…
Council Submissions
- The Right Planet – Obama's Islamic Agenda
- The Noisy Room – Romney Tells Israel: "You Built That!"
- The Independent Sentinel – U.S. Fast Becoming A Totalitarian State While the Media Ignores the Story
- The Colossus of Rhodey – The difference is coercion
- The Political Commentator – Is the Cold War being reheated by the Russians?
- Joshuapundit – The Obama Media And The Unbelievably Negative Coverage Of Mitt Romney's Trip
- Simply Jews – Hungary: still too many Jews there, it seems
- GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD – The Little Satan Factor
- Gay Patriot – Emmanuel Goldsteins Chicken Chain
- VA Right! – Obama: "I got Bin Laden BUT YOU didn't Build that Business"
- The Glittering Eye – Acceptable Owners Only, Please (Updated)
- Rhymes With Right – Effete WaPo Columnist Fears Americans Will Believe It Isn't Racist To Vote Against Obama
- The Razor – Break Up the Banks and Unleash the Future of Capitalism
- The Mellow Jihadi – A Marine Corps Mom Writes to Dear Abby
- Bookworm Room – More random observations from Japan
Honorable Mentions
- Pirate's Cove – Warmist May Not Have Children Because Of Globull Warming Fears
- Maggie's Notebook – DOJ Top Appointees Stopped New Black Panther Voter Intimidation Prosecution – Must Pay Attorney Fees
- Appellate Sky – Prying My Insurance Card From My Cold Dead Hands: My Totally Rational Opposition to Obamacare
- Ask Marion – Must Reads Before Election 2012
Non-Council Submissions
- Daily Caller – Book says U. of Chicago Medical Center VP bribed Jeremiah Wright submitted by The Right Planet
- Sultan Knish – Invaders from Outer Space submitted by The Noisy Room
- Vision To America – NY Mag: Hitting Obama for You Didn't Build That Is Racist submitted by The Independent Sentinel
- Tablet – The Diplomat of Shoah History submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
- Townhall/Bruce Bialosky – Obama's Second Term submitted by The Political Commentator
- Guri Weinberg – Why the IOC Will Never Memorialize The '72 Munich Massacre submitted by Joshuapundit
- Richard Millett's Blog – The cowardly Zionism of Jonathan Freedland. submitted by Simply Jews
- Danger Room Wired – Air Forces Mega-Bunker-Buster Bomb Is Finally Ready submitted by GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD
- Da Techguy's Blog – Can we stop calling the Washington Post a "newspaper" now? submitted by Gay Patriot
- Shark Tank – Wasserman Schultz Waiting for "More Favorable Political Environment" to Roll Back Gun Rights submitted by VA Right!
- Gene Expressions/Discover Magazine – We are all Anglo-Saxons now submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Big Jolly Politics – Doug Weiskopf: A Modest Proposal submitted by Rhymes with Right
- Breitbart.com – Does Obama Think U.S. Troops Use AK-47′s? submitted by The Razor
- TigerHawk – Should we bring back Congressional junkets? submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
- Daled Amos – World Bank Wakes Up To The Fact That A Palestinian State Is Not Economically Feasible submitted by The Watcher
- Paul Weston/Gates of Vienna – Olympic Opening Ceremony Hijacked by Far Left submitted by The Watcher
Enjoy! And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter… 'cause we're cool like that!

subset: commoncrawl


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Chromebook R11 Skin
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Carte reduite des parties septentrionales du globe, situees entre l'Asie et l'Amerique ,1758 , map on heavy cotton canvas, 20 x 25" approx.
Carte reduite des parties septentrionales du globe, situees entre l'Asie et l'Amerique ,1758 , map on heavy cotton canvas, 20 x 25" approx.
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The map appearance I am trying to achieve is that of a map that has been bound in an atlas that has been lovingly cared for over the last 100+ years, with the original hand coloring. On certain monitors and smart phones, colors may look excessively bright because your screen is lit from behind. I can assure you that the colors will not be so garish when you receive your map. Instead you will be appreciative of the heft and quality of the highly textured canvas, which can sustain a certain amount of rolling up and abuse. These were designed to be heirlooms.
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Victory in the European Theater
- Identify the major battles of the European theater
- Analyze the goals and results of the major wartime summit meetings
Despite the fact that a Japanese attack in the Pacific was the tripwire for America's entrance into the war, Roosevelt had been concerned about Great Britain since the beginning of the Battle of Britain. Roosevelt viewed Germany as the greater threat to freedom. Hence, he leaned towards a "Europe First" strategy, even before the United States became an active belligerent. That meant that the United States would concentrate the majority of its resources and energies in achieving a victory over Germany first and then focus on defeating Japan. Within Europe, Churchill and Roosevelt were committed to saving Britain and acted with this goal in mind, often ignoring the needs of the Soviet Union. As Roosevelt imagined an "empire-free" postwar world, in keeping with the goals of the Atlantic Charter, he could also envision the United States becoming the preeminent world power economically, politically, and militarily.
Franklin Roosevelt entered World War II with an eye toward a new postwar world, one where the United States would succeed Britain as the leader of Western capitalist democracies, replacing the old British imperial system with one based on free trade and decolonization. The goals of the Atlantic Charter had explicitly included self-determination, self-government, and free trade. In 1941, although Roosevelt had yet to meet Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, he had confidence that he could forge a positive relationship with him, a confidence that Churchill believed was born of naiveté. These allied leaders, known as the Big Three, thrown together by the necessity to defeat common enemies, took steps towards working in concert despite their differences.
Through a series of wartime conferences, Roosevelt and the other global leaders sought to come up with a strategy to both defeat the Germans and bolster relationships among allies. In January 1943, at Casablanca, Morocco, Churchill convinced Roosevelt to delay an invasion of France in favor of an invasion of Sicily (Figure). It was also at this conference that Roosevelt enunciated the doctrine of "unconditional surrender." Roosevelt agreed to demand an unconditional surrender from Germany and Japan to assure the Soviet Union that the United States would not negotiate a separate peace and prepare the former belligerents for a thorough and permanent transformation after the war. Roosevelt thought that announcing this as a specific war aim would discourage any nation or leader from seeking any negotiated armistice that would hinder efforts to reform and transform the defeated nations. Stalin, who was not at the conference, affirmed the concept of unconditional surrender when asked to do so. However, he was dismayed over the delay in establishing a "second front" along which the Americans and British would directly engage German forces in western Europe. A western front, brought about through an invasion across the English Channel, which Stalin had been demanding since 1941, offered the best means of drawing Germany away from the east. At a meeting in Tehran, Iran, also in November 1943, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met to finalize plans for a cross-channel invasion.
Preparing to engage the Nazis in Europe, the United States landed in North Africa in 1942. The Axis campaigns in North Africa had begun when Italy declared war on England in June 1940, and British forces had invaded the Italian colony of Libya. The Italians had responded with a counteroffensive that penetrated into Egypt, only to be defeated by the British again. In response, Hitler dispatched the Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel, and the outcome of the situation was in doubt until shortly before American forces joined the British.
Although the Allied campaign secured control of the southern Mediterranean and preserved Egypt and the Suez Canal for the British, Stalin and the Soviets were still engaging hundreds of German divisions in bitter struggles at Stalingrad and Leningrad. The invasion of North Africa did nothing to draw German troops away from the Soviet Union. An invasion of Europe by way of Italy, which is what the British and American campaign in North Africa laid the ground for, pulled a few German divisions away from their Russian targets. But while Stalin urged his allies to invade France, British and American troops pursued the defeat of Mussolini's Italy. This choice greatly frustrated Stalin, who felt that British interests were taking precedence over the agony that the Soviet Union was enduring at the hands of the invading German army. However, Churchill saw Italy as the vulnerable underbelly of Europe and believed that Italian support for Mussolini was waning, suggesting that victory there might be relatively easy. Moreover, Churchill pointed out that if Italy were taken out of the war, then the Allies would control the Mediterranean, offering the Allies easier shipping access to both the Soviet Union and the British Far Eastern colonies.
A direct assault on Nazi Germany's "Fortress Europe" was still necessary for final victory. On June 6, 1944, the second front became a reality when Allied forces stormed the beaches of northern France on D-day. Beginning at 6:30 a.m., some twenty-four thousand British, Canadian, and American troops waded ashore along a fifty-mile piece of the Normandy coast (Figure). Well over a million troops would follow their lead. German forces on the hills and cliffs above shot at them, and once they reached the beach, they encountered barbed wire and land mines. More than ten thousand Allied soldiers were wounded or killed during the assault. Following the establishment of beachheads at Normandy, it took months of difficult fighting before Paris was liberated on August 20, 1944. The invasion did succeed in diverting German forces from the eastern front to the western front, relieving some of the pressure on Stalin's troops. By that time, however, Russian forces had already defeated the German army at Stalingrad, an event that many consider the turning point of the war in Europe, and begun to push the Germans out of the Soviet Union.
Nazi Germany was not ready to surrender, however. On December 16, in a surprise move, the Germans threw nearly a quarter-million men at the Western Allies in an attempt to divide their armies and encircle major elements of the American forces. The struggle, known as the Battle of the Bulge, raged until the end of January. Some ninety thousand Americans were killed, wounded, or lost in action. Nevertheless, the Germans were turned back, and Hitler's forces were so spent that they could never again mount offensive operations.
Confronting the Holocaust
The Holocaust, Hitler's plan to kill the Jews of Europe, had begun as early as 1933, with the construction of Dachau, the first of more than forty thousand camps for incarcerating Jews, submitting them to forced labor, or exterminating them. Eventually, six extermination camps were established between 1941 and 1945 in Polish territory. Jewish men, women, and children from throughout Europe were transported to these camps in Germany and other areas under Nazi control. Although the majority of the people in the camps were Jews, the Nazis sent Roma (gypsies), gays and lesbians, Jehovah's Witnesses, and political opponents to the camps as well. Some prisoners were put to work at hard labor; many of them subsequently died of disease or starvation. Most of those sent to the extermination camps were killed upon arrival with poisoned gas. Ultimately, some eleven million people died in the camps. As Soviet troops began to advance from the east and U.S. forces from the west, camp guards attempted to hide the evidence of their crimes by destroying records and camp buildings, and marching surviving prisoners away from the sites (Figure).
Felix L. Sparks on the Liberation of Dachau
The horrors of the concentration camps remained with the soldiers who liberated them long after the war had ended. Below is an excerpt of the recollection of one soldier.
Our first experience with the camp came as a traumatic shock. The first evidence of the horrors to come was a string of forty railway cars on a railway spur leading into the camp. Each car was filled with emaciated human corpses, both men and women. A hasty search by the stunned infantry soldiers revealed no signs of life among the hundreds of still bodies, over two thousand in all.
It was in this atmosphere of human depravity, degradation and death that the soldiers of my battalion then entered the camp itself. Almost all of the SS command guarding the camp had fled before our arrival, leaving behind about two hundred lower ranking members of the command. There was some sporadic firing of weapons. As we approached the confinement area, the scene numbed my senses. Dante's Inferno seemed pale compared to the real hell of Dachau. A row of small cement structures near the prison entrance contained a coal-fired crematorium, a gas chamber, and rooms piled high with naked and emaciated corpses. As I turned to look over the prison yard with un-believing eyes, I saw a large number of dead inmates lying where they has fallen in the last few hours or days before our arrival. Since all of the bodies were in various stages of decomposition, the stench of death was overpowering. The men of the 45th Infantry Division were hardened combat veterans. We had been in combat almost two years at that point. While we were accustomed to death, we were not able to comprehend the type of death that we encountered at Dachau.
—Felix L. Sparks, remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, May 8, 1995
Listen to the accounts of Holocaust survivors by clicking on "Listen Now" below the name of the person whose story you wish to hear.
The last time the Big Three met was in early February 1945 at Yalta in the Soviet Union. Roosevelt was sick, and Stalin's armies were pushing the German army back towards Berlin from the east. Churchill and Roosevelt thus had to accept a number of compromises that strengthened Stalin's position in eastern Europe. In particular, they agreed to allow the Communist government installed by the Soviet Union in Poland to remain in power until free elections took place. For his part, Stalin reaffirmed his commitment, first voiced at Tehran, to enter the war against Japan following the surrender of Germany (Figure). He also agreed that the Soviet Union would participate in the United Nations, a new peacekeeping body intended to replace the League of Nations. The Big Three left Yalta with many details remaining unclear, planning to finalize plans for the treatment of Germany and the shape of postwar Europe at a later conference. However, Roosevelt did not live to attend the next meeting. He died on April 12, 1945, and Harry S. Truman became president.
By April 1945, Soviet forces had reached Berlin, and both the U.S. and British Allies were pushing up against Germany's last defenses in the western part of the nation. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945. On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered. The war in Europe was over, and the Allies and liberated regions celebrated the end of the long ordeal. Germany was thoroughly defeated; its industries and cities were badly damaged.
The victorious Allies set about determining what to do to rebuild Europe at the Potsdam Summit Conference in July 1945. Attending the conference were Stalin, Truman, and Churchill, now the outgoing prime minister, as well as the new British prime minister, Clement Atlee. Plans to divide Germany and Austria, and their capital cities, into four zones—to be occupied by the British, French, Americans, and Soviets—a subject discussed at Yalta, were finalized. In addition, the Allies agreed to dismantle Germany's heavy industry in order to make it impossible for the country to produce more armaments.
Section Summary
Upon entering the war, President Roosevelt believed that the greatest threat to the long-term survival of democracy and freedom would be a German victory. Hence, he entered into an alliance with British prime minister Winston Churchill and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin to defeat the common enemy while also seeking to lay the foundation for a peaceful postwar world in which the United States would play a major and permanent role. Appeasement and nonintervention had been proven to be shortsighted and tragic policies that failed to provide security and peace either for the United States or for the world.
With the aid of the British, the United States invaded North Africa and from there invaded Europe by way of Italy. However, the cross-channel invasion of Europe through France that Stalin had long called for did not come until 1944, by which time the Soviets had turned the tide of battle in eastern Europe. The liberation of Hitler's concentration camps forced Allied nations to confront the grisly horrors that had been taking place as the war unfolded. The Big Three met for one last time in February 1945, at Yalta, where Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to several conditions that strengthened Stalin's position. They planned to finalize their plans at a later conference, but Roosevelt died two months later.
Review Questions
Which of the following demands did the Soviet Union make of Britain and the United States?
- the right to try all Nazi war criminals in the Soviet Union
- the invasion of North Africa to help the Soviet Union's ally Iraq
- the invasion of western Europe to draw German forces away from the Soviet Union
- the right to place Communist Party leaders in charge of the German government
What did Roosevelt mean to achieve with his demand for Germany and Japan's unconditional surrender?
Roosevelt believed that his demand for an unconditional surrender from Germany and Japan would serve several purposes: It would provide reassurance to the Soviet Union of the nation's loyalty, prepare the Axis nations for a complete postwar transformation, and prevent any other nations from engaging in negotiations that would undermine the Big Three's plans for the defeated belligerents.
What were the phases of the Holocaust?
The first prison camps for Jews and other "enemies" of the Nazis were built in Germany in 1933. Following the invasion of eastern Europe, more camps, including extermination camps, were built in areas conquered by the Nazis. People, primarily Jews, were shipped to these camps from throughout Nazi-controlled Europe.


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300mm x 200mm 90° IP4X Turnbuckle Gusset Bend Top Lid
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- Intergrated IP4X compliance as standard – no need to order additional components.
- All bends are supplied with built-in threaded couplers to allow them to be fitted directly to the trunking using an M6 screw.
- All lids are secured using a turnbuckle fixing.
- Multi Compartment trunking and accessories available.
- Special sizes and bespoke designs are available upon request.
- Tamperproof lid fixing option available on request.
- Can be powder coated to customer specific RAL colour.
- Additional information
- Datasheet
Additional information
Width | 300mm |
Height | 200mm |
Angle | 90° |
Number of Compartments | 1 |
Material | Hot Dipped Zinc Coated Low carbon steel strip |
Colour/Finish | Pre Galvanised Steel (Zinc Coated) |
Product Type | Gusset Bend |
Standards | BS EN 50085-2-1 2006 |
Resistance Class | IP4x |


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(AP) — Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford fired three top administrators last week after an investigation found they allegedly faked records and, in one case, engaged in "workplace harassment," according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The move is the latest upheaval in Rutherford's office since his Republican primary campaign for governor fizzled last winter after an ex-employee filed a federal lawsuit against him for sexual harassment and political coercion. Rutherford has repeatedly denied those allegations.
Details of the reasons behind the recent firings were not immediately clear. Rutherford declined an interview request Monday through his spokeswoman, Mary Frances Bragiel, who said the office would have no comment because the dismissals involve private personnel matters.
The treasurer's office provided the AP with copies of letters dated July 2 notifying Patrick Carlson, George Daglas and Ashvin Lad of their immediate dismissals.
The letters indicate that the inspector general for the treasurer's office had found that each had broken timekeeping policies and falsified records. The letter to Carlson also said he violated rules against "workplace harassment."
Each employee began state work in the early months of Rutherford's administration, in 2011, according to state records.
Carlson, 38, made $99,000 a year as manager of logistics, overseeing Rutherford's schedule, including advance preparation and transportation from the Chicago office, Bragiel said.
Lad, 40, made $80,000 as director of Invest in Illinois, responsible for development and project management of investment, mortgage and other programs.
Daglas, 31, made $71,500 as director of community affairs and marketing. Daglas managed Rutherford's successful 2010 campaign for treasurer.
Messages left for the three were not immediately returned.
The dismissals were based on a summary report made by David Wells, the independent inspector general for the treasurer's office. State law dictates that the inspector general independently determines what issues to investigate and in what manner. Wells said he's prohibited by law from even confirming the existence of an investigation.
The upheaval again sidetracks Rutherford's office in the final few months of his tenure, after a career that began when he joined the Illinois House of Representatives in 1993. He was one of four GOP contenders who had vied to face incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn in this November's election. Venture capitalist Bruce Rauner won the GOP nomination.
Edmund Michalowski, a lawyer and director in Rutherford's office, filed a federal lawsuit Feb. 10, claiming that Rutherford made unwanted sexual advances toward him and routinely forced him to do campaign work on government time.
Rutherford has repeatedly denied the claims.
In response to a Freedom of Information request in February, Rutherford's office refused to disclose investigative reports into the claims of sexual harassment and political coercion that Rutherford commissioned at a cost of nearly $27,000 in taxpayer money. The AP appealed the denial to Attorney General Lisa Madigan's public access counselor in early March. The office has yet to rule on whether the treasurer's office should release the records.


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High Manhattan hotel prices ruining your summer travel plans? If you'd like to try urban camping — sleeping under the skyscrapers of New York City — you can try your luck for a spot at one of the city's summer Family Camping sessions. The Urban Park Rangers lead programs in more than a dozen city parks in all five boroughs, including Manhattan's Central Park (August 24) and Prospect Park (September 21) in Brooklyn. The campouts are all free, starting with an early evening hike, cookout with food provided (don't expect anything fancy, but you might be surprised with s'mores) and even a tent — you need only bring sleeping bags. The catch? There's a lot of competition to join, with only 30 tents available for each night. Each event is open to online registration for 24 hours, with the "winners" chosen by lottery and notified about two weeks in advance. Find all the details and get lucky here.
Where else can you pitch a tent without leaving the city? Here are a few other urban areas with camping options.Austin: Emma Long Park offers campsites for $10-25 per night, depending on utilities, in addition to the $5-10 park entrance fee charged to all visitors. Set beside Lake Austin, the Texas city park is less than a half-hour from downtown. Check out the our adventure guide to Austin for more ideas.
Berlin: An innovative use of "fallow" urban space, the Tentstation project is unfortunately not open this season, but you'll find other options in and around Berlin to pitch a tent or park an RV, even with a group. In typical German efficiency, some are within a few minutes' walk to public transportation.
Honolulu: The Hawaiian capital has over a dozen campsites, many on the beach with fishing and surfing opportunities and views to rival expensive Waikiki resorts. Camping permits are issued for 3 or 5 days, and cost $32 and $52, respectively. Interesting note: several of the campsites warn that "houseless encounters are likely," so look out for beach bums.
Japan: One of the most notoriously pricey countries also has a strong tradition of urban camping. While not officially sanctioned, it's tolerated and generally quite safe in public parks. It might be hard to actually pitch a tent in downtown Tokyo, but you'll find many guides online to finding a place to sleep al fresco.
Would you want to camp in a city? Have you done any urban camping?


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We remember today the words of our savior, Jesus Christ: "Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
Almighty and eternal God, from whom all blessings flow, accept our prayers and thanksgivings for your servant Rosario.
Give us, we pray, grateful hearts for the courageous willingness of our veterans to enter into danger on our behalf. In your mercy, bind up the injured, and replenish the spirits of those wounded in body or soul. Help us to honor and serve those who have served in our name.
God of hosts, stretch forth, we pray, your almighty arm to strengthen and protect the soldiers of our country.
Support them in the day of battle, and in the time of rest and training keep them safe from all evil. Endue them with courage and loyalty; and grant that in all things they may serve without reproach.
All this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Adapted from the Book of Common Prayer


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Martial Arts Styles Overview
Here is your free report describing the many styles of martial arts (download PDF)
There are four main categories of martial arts — Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Brazilian — and there are a few styles within each category. There is also a category of martial arts called Mixed Martial Arts or MMA that uses a mix of techniques from other combat sports and martial arts.
The goal of this report is to provide an overview of the main categories of martial arts and a brief description of the various martial arts styles within each category.
Although people generally select a martial arts school for reasons other than style (e.g., reputation, location, character-development emphasis, family focus, self-defense) it's still good to have a general understanding of the martial arts styles before beginning a search for the best martial arts school for you.
Japanese Martial Arts
The development of martial arts in Japan was marked by some distinctive traits, namely, the influence of the samurai warrior tradition and the geography of Japan itself.
Both the samurai warrior structure and the caste system restricted the use of weapons by members of non-warrior castes. Originally, samurai were expected to be proficient in many weapons, as well as unarmed combat, and attain the highest possible mastery of combat skills. Over time, this purpose gave way to a philosophy of achieving spiritual goals by striving to perfect their martial arts skills.
This philosophical shift was possible because of Japan's relative isolation. Compared with the rest of the world, Japanese tools of war evolved slowly. This afforded the warrior class the opportunity to study these tools, such as swords, and train in depth. This depth of training led to the development of many different styles and techniques.
Of these Japanese martial arts, the sword fighting martial art of Kendo is the oldest.
There is a distinction today between the traditional arts, which are a continuation of the ancient martial arts, and the modern arts, which focus primarily upon self-improvement of the practitioner (mental, physical and spiritual), as well as sport and self-defense.
The enduring sport of sumo wrestling, which traces its origins to 23 B.C., still employs ancient traditions and rituals – the referee is dressed as a Shinto priest and the competitors engage in ceremonial acts such as throwing salt into the ring. Both reflect the role sumo wrestling had in the Shinto religion.
The main Japanese martial arts are jiu-jitsu, aikido, judo, and kendo.
* Jiu-Jitsu
Jiu-Jitsu is an ancient martial art that involves grappling techniques (its name translates literally into "the art of pliance"). It focuses on the ability to use indirect force, such as joint locks or throwing techniques, to defeat an opponent, as opposed to relying upon direct force such as punching or kicking.
While jiu-jitsu training includes kicking and punching, its focus is on maximizing the ability to use an attacker's force against him and counter-attack where he is weakest or least defended.
Today, jiu-jitsu is practiced in many forms, both ancient and modern. While pure forms of Japanese jiu-jitsu are still practiced today, various methods of jiujitsu have been incorporated or synthesized into judo and aikido, as well as being exported throughout the world and transformed into sport wrestling systems (e.g., Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts or MMA — see below). Elements of jiu-jitsu have also been adopted in whole or part by schools of karate and other unrelated martial arts.
* Aikido
This martial art, developed by Morihei Ueshiba of Japan, is a synthesis of the founder's martial arts studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. It is designed to be an art that can be used as self-defense that does not inflict injury upon the attacker.
The techniques of aikido, when applied judiciously, can divert or immobilize rather than damage or kill. Aikido emphasizes redirecting the attacker's energy, as opposed to meeting force with force.
Aikido consists primarily of body throws and joint-locking techniques. In addition to physical fitness and technique, mental training, controlled relaxation, and development of "spirit" (ki) are emphasized in aikido training.
Ueshiba developed aikido primarily during the late 1920s through the 1930s through the synthesis of the older martial arts that he had studied.
In aikido, as in virtually all the Japanese martial arts, there are both physical and mental aspects of training. The physical training in aikido is diverse, covering general physical fitness and conditioning, as well as specific techniques.
Because a substantial portion of any aikido curriculum consists of throws, the first thing most students learn is how to safely fall or roll. The specific techniques for attack include both strikes and grabs; the techniques for defense consist of throws and pins. After basic techniques are learned, students study freestyle defense against multiple opponents, and in certain styles, techniques with weapons.
Aikido incorporates elements of judo and jujitsu, among other Japanese martial arts. It is classified as a grappling style of martial arts. It is not an Olympic sport.
* Judo
Judo is one of only two martial arts that are Olympic sports (the other is tae kwon do). In judo, the object is to throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or subdue the opponent by using a grappling maneuver, joint lock or choke. Unlike other martial arts, kicks, punches, and thrusts are not allowed in competition or freestyle practice.
In English, judo is translated as "the gentle way" – instead of meeting force with force, this refers to the principle of using one's opponent's strength against him and adapting well to changing circumstances.
For example, if the attacker pushes against his opponent, he would find his opponent stepping to the side and allowing (often with the aid of a foot to trip him up) his momentum to throw him forwards (the inverse being true for pulling).
Judo throws employ leverage rather than pure strength; a competitor can pull an opponent off-balance or get below the opponent's center of gravity to toss him or her to the ground.
This sport, developed by Kano Jigoro in the mid 19th century, has many similarities to the ancient art of jujitsu. But unlike older martial arts, which have the sole purpose of combat fighting, judo offers a holistic approach to life that extends far beyond martial arts training.
* Kendo
Its name means "way of the sword," and this ancient martial art is over 650 years old. Practitioners use practice swords of bamboo, called shinai. They wear protective clothing that includes body padding, padded gloves and a mask with metal bars that protects the face. Attached to the mask are shoulder protectors that protrude up and over the shoulders.
The wide divided skirts, called hakama, allow fighters to move freely; the garment hides their leg movements, making it difficult for opponents to guess one another's moves.
As in other martial arts, Kendo students learn various forms, called kata, and also participate in sparring or fencing competitions.
Chinese Martial Arts
China has one of the longest histories of continuously-recorded martial arts tradition of any society in the world, with hundreds of varied styles. Each of these distinctive styles has its own set of techniques and ideas.
According to legend, the reign of the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi, introduced the earliest forms of martial arts to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a famous general who, before becoming China's leader around 2698 B.C., wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology and the martial arts.
The missive "The Art of War," written during the 6th century B.C. by Sun Tzu, deals directly with military warfare but contains ideas that pertain to the Chinese martial arts. Those examples show that over time, the ideas evolved and took on a philosophical tone.
Taoist practitioners have been practicing Tao Yin, physical exercises similar to early forms of Tai Chi Chuan, at least as early as the 500 B.C. era. The Taoist symbol of yin/yang shows how strength should be balanced with compassion and gentleness, a tenet of many forms of martial arts.
With regards to the Shaolin style of martial arts, the oldest evidence of Shaolin participation in combat are records from 728 A.D. that attests to two occasions: a defense of the Shaolin Monastery from bandits around 610 A.D. and their subsequent role in the defeat of Wang Shichong at the Battle of Hulao in 621 A.D. By the mid-16th century, military experts from all over China were traveling to Shaolin to study its fighting techniques. The 1,600-year-old Shaolin Temple is the most famous landmark in the martial arts world.
Chinese martial arts started to spread internationally with the end of the Chinese Civil War and the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Many well-known martial art practitioners chose to escape from the PRC's rule and migrate to Taiwan, Hong Kong and other parts of the world.
Those masters started to teach in the overseas Chinese communities, but eventually, they expanded their teachings to include people from other cultures.
Some famous practitioners of Chinese martial arts include Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and the late Bruce Lee.
The term kung fu does not refer to a particular style of martial arts; it commonly refers to Chinese martial arts in general. The term became popular in the late 1960s, because of the Kung Fu TV series and Hong Kong films with Bruce Lee in particular.
The main Chinese martial arts are karate and tai chi.
* Karate
Karate, an amalgam of Chinese and Japanese martial arts, is known primarily as a striking art (it is translated from Japanese as "empty hand."
It originated in the southernmost islands of Japan, the Ryukyu islands that were originally allied with China; Japan later took control of these islands. The largest of these islands is Okinawa. This martial art developed, therefore, with these distinct influences.
The sport features punching, kicking, knee/elbow strikes and open-handed techniques. However, grappling, joint manipulations, locks, restraints/traps, throws and vital point striking also appear in karate.
It has many similarities to the Korean sport of taekwondo. One note of distinction, however, is that tae kwon do uses more kicks, while karate has a greater emphasis on punches and strikes.
There are many components to modern karate training, including forms and sparring. It is an art, sport and self-defense training. Weapons comprise another important training area, as well as the psychological elements incorporated into a proper attitude such as perseverance, fearlessness, virtue and leadership skills.
Karate may be practiced for many reasons, but was originally developed for self-defense. The forms, or kata, contain a variety of techniques intended for this purpose: hand strikes, kicks, locking and grappling. However, proper training is required to make these techniques usable against a determined aggressor.
Most styles include some form of two-person prearranged self-defense exercises as well as sparring or semi-sparring (structured sparring with limited options allowed for either partner). This allows for the development of a sense of range and timing. A number of styles practice hard-contact sparring.
Some schools are criticized for claiming to teach practical martial arts despite a lack of two-person training to develop needed attributes. An instructor may believe that practicing kata suffices to develop the necessary skills.
Other schools may intentionally place emphasis on tournament preparation, physical conditioning, or aesthetics (developing form for form's sake), rather than self-defense. These schools will typically still teach self-defense techniques as well.
* Tai Chi
Sometimes called "moving meditation," tai chi has been regarded as a martial art and its traditional practitioners still teach it as one. It has developed a worldwide following among many thousands of people for purposes of health and longevity. Tai chi theory and practice is centered on the principles of traditional Chinese medicine. Its benefits include health maintenance and stress management.
Originally developed in China as a form of self-defense, this graceful form of exercise has existed for about 2,000 years. Tai chi training first and foremost involves learning solo routines, known as forms. And while the image of tai chi in popular culture is typified by exceedingly slow movement, many styles (including the three most popular, yang, wu and chen) have secondary forms of a faster pace. The other half of traditional tai chi training (though many modern schools disregard it entirely) are partner exercises known as pushing hands, as well as martial applications of the postures of the form.
It's becoming increasingly popular around the world, both as a basic exercise program and as a complement to other healthcare methods. According to the Mayo Clinic, health benefits include stress reduction, greater balance, and increased flexibility — especially for older adults.
Korean Martial Arts
Martial arts have existed in Korea since the earliest ages, although they were lost for a time during the 20th century. Much of Korea's martial heritage disappeared during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of Korea, during which time the Japanese forbade the practice of Korean martial arts.
After the Japanese occupation, new Korean martial arts like hapkido and tae kwon do blossomed, and interest in Korea's own ancient martial arts traditions grew. Today, tae kwon do is the national sport of South Korea.
Going back to ancient times, during the Goguryeo Dynasty (around the time of Christ) it is believed that subak (a general term for barehand martial arts imported from China), pronounced shoubo, was practiced. Paintings showing martial arts have been found on the walls of royal tombs, which were believed to been built for Goguryeo kings sometime between 3 and 427 B.C.
Subak is mentioned in government records from the Goguryeo Dynasty through the Joseon (or Yi) Dynasty, which lasted from 1392-1910. Practicing subak became part of the training for Silla's hwarang warriors and this contributed to its spread on the Korean peninsula. But again, we do not know exactly which techniques the hwarang warriors practiced.
Quite often Buddhist monks, who added more spiritual aspects to the art, instructed the hwarang warriors. Their greatest contribution to the development of Korean martial arts is probably adding a spiritual dimension to the training practices, something that Korean martial arts lacked before.
In spite of Korea's rich history of ancient and traditional martial arts, Korean martial arts faded into obscurity during the Joseon Dynasty. Martial arts were lowly regarded by the society's scholar-kings. Remnants of traditional martial arts such as subak and taekyon were banned from practice by the general populace.
The art nearly vanished, but taekyon survived through underground teaching and folk custom. As the Japanese colonization established a firm foothold in Korea, the few Koreans who were able to attend Japanese universities were exposed to okinawan and Japanese martial arts. Koreans in China were also exposed to Chinese martial arts. By 1945, when the Korean peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonization, many martial arts schools reflecting foreign influence were formed and developed under various names.
By the end of the Korean War, nine martial arts schools (translated as kwan) had opened. These schools unified into one, "tae kwon do," submitted by General Choi Hong Hi, a general in the South Korean army and the founder of the Oh Do Kwan, for the new unified form. Following taekwondo's official name submission on April 11, 1955, the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed in 1959 to facilitate the unification. Shortly thereafter, taekwondo made its debut in North America.
The main Korean martial arts are hapkido and taekwondo.
* Hapkido
With its flowing, circular movements and philosophy of non-resistance, hapkido bears striking resemblance to the Japanese martial art of aikido. In fact, hap means "harmony," or "joining;" ki describes internal energy, strength, or power; and do means "way" or "art." Thus, hapkido, which shares the same Chinese characters with aikido, translates as "the way of coordinated power."
While some commentators claim hapkido has a Japanese lineage, others state that its origins lay with indigenous Korean martial arts.
On the "hard-soft" scale of martial arts, hapkido stands somewhere in the middle, employing "soft" techniques similar to aikido and "hard" techniques reminiscent of tae kwon do and forms of karate. Even the "hard" techniques, though, emphasize circular rather than linear movements.
Different hapkido schools emphasize different techniques — joint locks, pressure points, throws, kicks, and other strikes. However, some core techniques are found in each school (kwan), and all techniques should follow the three principles of hapkido, non-resistance, circular motion and the "water principle."
Hwa, or non-resistance, is simply the act of remaining relaxed and not directly opposing an opponent's strength. For example, if an opponent were to push against a hapkido student's chest, rather than resist and push back, the hapkido student would avoid a direct confrontation by moving in the same direction as the push and utilizing the opponent's forward momentum to throw him.
Won, the circular principle, is a way to gain momentum for executing the techniques in a natural and free-flowing manner. If an opponent attacks in linear motion, as in a punch or knife thrust, the hapkido student would redirect the opponent's force by leading the attack in a circular pattern, thereby adding the attacker's power to his own. Once he has redirected the power, the hapkido student can execute any of a variety of techniques to incapacitate his attacker. The hapkido practitioner learns to view an attacker as an "energy entity" rather than as a physical entity. The bigger the person is, the more energy a person has, the better it is for the hapkido student.
Yu, the water principle, can be thought of as the soft, adaptable strength of water. Hapkido is "soft" in that it does not rely on physical force alone, much like water is soft to touch. It is adaptable in that a hapkido master will attempt to deflect an opponent's strike, in a way that is similar to free-flowing water being divided around a stone only to return and envelop it.
* Tae Kwon Do
Tae kwon do (or taekwondo) is one of the most widely practiced martial arts in the world. It is one of two martial arts represented at the Olympics (judo is the other one).
As with many other martial arts, tae kwon do is a combination of combat technique, self-defense, sport, exercise, entertainment, and philosophy. It developed after the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1945 and quickly spread throughout the world after the Korean War, which ended in 1953.
Although there are great doctrinal and technical differences among taekwondo organizations, the art emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, using the leg's greater reach and power to disable the opponent from a distance. Tae kwon do training also includes a comprehensive system of blocks, punches, open-handed strikes, various take-downs or sweeps, throws, and some joint locks.
Taekwondo distinguishes itself from martial arts such as karate by its emphasis on kicking instead of the reliance on hand techniques of these other martial arts. Tae kwon do practitioners believe that the leg is the longest and strongest weapon a martial artist has, and kicks thus have the greatest potential to execute powerful strikes without successful retaliation.
Although only sparring is contested in the Olympics, breaking and forms are also contested frequently in other competitions. All three are parts of a traditional tae kwon do curriculum, with a fourth part being hosinsul (self-defense). Olympic-style sparring consists of three non-stop rounds of contact with rest in between.
Tae kwon do as a sport and exercise is popular with people of both sexes and of many ages. Physically, taekwondo develops strength, speed, balance, flexibility, and stamina. An example of the union of mental and physical discipline is the breaking of boards, which requires both physical mastery of the technique and the concentration to focus one's strength.
Brazilian Martial Arts
The Brazilian martial arts are a combat sport and a self-defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting.
The main Korean martial arts are Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts (MMA).
* Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a form of Japanese jiu-jitsu that formed from Kodokan Judo ground fighting principles. It is most strongly differentiated from other martial arts by its greater emphasis on grappling and especially ground fighting.
Since its inception in 1882, its parent art of judo was separated from older systems of Japanese jiu-jitsu by an important difference that was passed on to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: it is not solely a martial art, but it is also a sport; a method for promoting physical fitness and building character in young people.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) promotes the concept that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger, heavier assailant by using proper technique and leverage. Sparring in BJJ is commonly referred to as rolling.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu came to international prominence in the martial arts community in the early 1990s, when Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Royce Gracie won the first, second and fourth Ultimate Fighting Championships, which at the time were single elimination martial arts tournaments. Royce fought against often much larger opponents who were practicing other styles, including boxing, shoot-fighting, muay thai, karate, wrestling, and taekwondo. It has since become a staple art for many Mixed Martial Arts (see below) fighters and is largely credited for bringing widespread attention to the importance of ground fighting.
Mixed Martial Arts or MMA
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport that allows for both striking and grappling, both standing and on the ground, using techniques from martial arts and other combat sports. The first document use of the term mixed martial arts was in a review of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993.
The UFC was originally promoted as a competition to find the most effective martial arts for real unarmed combat. Over time, it became clear that using a mixture of styles was the most effective.
Today the sport of MMA now rivals boxing and professional wrestling in popularity. Due to this popularity, many single-style martial arts schools have added the teaching of other styles of martial arts to their curriculum.
Access our other free reports by clicking on a link below:
Human Potential: How Parents Can Maximize It In Their Child
Life Lessons From Martial Arts Masters Newsletter
Help! My Child Needs More Confidence
How Can I Get My Child To Focus
Five Criteria For Selecting An After School Program
The Five Reasons Why Martial Arts Is the Best Fitness Program For Adults


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Los Angeles is a world city - the city of dreams in the Can Do country. And yet every day most of us are forced to endure the stress of sitting in mind-numbing traffic, losing quality time that could be spent with our family and friends, wasting expensive fuel, and polluting Mother Earth. At this vital crossroad, we believe that the citizens of this great region have the capacity to support solutions to this mobility crisis and the problems associated with it.
Not so long ago, we Angelinos were posed with a comparable gargantuan challenge of school overcrowding. We came together, committed to a quick, widespread and sufficient solution, and as a result children who entered elementary schools busting at the seams now have a choice of brand-new state of the art schools to attend. Similar action is needed in this effort.
The Get LA Moving Plan is the product of exhaustive research and an open citizen-led dialogue, which sought input from numerous community leaders and many of the regions transportation engineers, planners and transit advocates. Our goal is to get our countys elected representatives to take our traffic mess seriously, and to support mobility solutions that will improve our quality of life. We need them join hands to develop and fund a master plan as extensive as the Get LA Moving Plan to quickly build a safe, clean, fast and accessible rail system that will connect our many centers, improve our local economies, strengthen our small businesses, cultivate our diverse communities and improve our environment. When they lead, we will follow. But many of them need to be shown the way, and that's where we need your help.
Like so many things in politics, change will only come from the grassroots up. So were asking you to take part in this important discussion about the future of our county, and invite you to sign-up, and express to our leaders and fellow citizens that if we build it, Angelinos will ride!


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...one of the most highly
regarded and expertly designed C++ library projects in the
— Herb Sutter and Andrei
Alexandrescu, C++
Coding Standards
Boost.Asio includes classes for creating and manipulating serial ports in a portable manner. For example, a serial port may be opened using:
serial_port port(my_io_context, name);
where name is something like "COM1"
on Windows, and
on POSIX platforms.
Once opened, the serial port may be used as a stream. This means the objects can be used with any of the read(), async_read(), write(), async_write(), read_until() or async_read_until() free functions.
The serial port implementation also includes option classes for configuring the port's baud rate, flow control type, parity, stop bits and character size.
serial_port, serial_port_base, serial_port_base::baud_rate, serial_port_base::flow_control, serial_port_base::parity, serial_port_base::stop_bits, serial_port_base::character_size.
Serial ports are available on all POSIX platforms. For Windows, serial ports
are only available at compile time when the I/O completion port backend is
used (which is the default). A program may test for the macro BOOST_ASIO_HAS_SERIAL_PORT
to determine whether they are supported.


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Posts Tagged 'beef jerky'
I wanted to share this amazingly easy, healthy, and unbelievably delicious homemade beef jerky recipe I made the other day. MrsTemple found the recipe in Clean Eating magazine. Despite its suspiciously 'health-conscious' approach, the mag is surprisingly full of delicious recipes. I'd recommend it, as it is for food-lovers, not weight-losers.
Spicy Oven-Dried Beef Jerky
Makes 12 oz (about 50 pieces). Hands-on time: 1 hour. Total time: 10 hours.
Nutrients per serving (2 large strips): Calories: 27, Total Fat: 1 g, Sat. Fat: 0 g, Carbs: 1 g, Fiber:0 g, Sugars: 1 g, Protein: 4g. Sodium: 92 mg, Cholesterol: 8 mg
• 2 lb eye of round beef roast, flank steak or London broil, trimmed of visible fat
• 2/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2/3 cup 1/6 cup low-sodium Worcestershire sauce (1:1 worcestershire to soy is way too much, use 1/4 of the amount of low-sodium soy, and it's delicious.)
• 1 tbsp raw honey (Rather than honey, I used the same amount of brown sugar.)
• 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp smoked paprika or liquid smoke, optional (I used smoked paprika)
ONE: If using a large roast or steak, slice beef into 2 or 3 equal pieces. Wrap beef in plastic wrap and place in freezer for about 1 hour to ease slicing. Remove from freezer and transfer to a cutting board. Using only the tip of a chef's knife, slice beef along the grain into equal 1/8-inch-thick strips.
TWO: Meanwhile, prepare marinade. In a 2-cup measure, whisk remaining ingredients and, if desired, paprika, until smooth.
THREE: Transfer beef to a large, heavy-duty zip-top bag. Pour marinade into bag, seal tightly and turn
to coat beef. Lay flat in refrigerator and marinate for 3 to 6 hours, turning bag 1 to 2 times (NOTE: Do not exceed 6 hours).
FOUR: Line a large baking sheet with 2 sheets paper towel. Remove beef from bag, shaking or gently wringing each strip to remove excess marinade. Transfer to baking sheet and cover with additional 2 sheets paper towel. Press down through towel to flatten strips and absorb as much marinade as possible. Remove oven racks and place a foil drip pan in bottom of oven, or line bottom with foil. Preheat oven to lowest setting, 140 to 170°F.
FIVE: Thread skewers through 1 end of strips, leaving 1 inch between each strip. Lay skewers horizontally across 1 oven rack. Transfer rack to highest position in oven, allowing strips to hang without touching oven walls. Close oven, propping door open a crack with a small, dry, rolled-up dish towel or a wooden spoon. (NOTE: This is necessary to allow moisture to escape from the oven; the oven temperature is low enough that this is not a fire danger.) Cook for 5 hours.
SIX: Check strips for doneness; remove dry, hard and darkened pieces from skewers and place on a cooling rack. Cook remaining strips for 1 to 2 hours, checking often for doneness. Transfer to cooling racks. When strips are fully cooled, transfer to airtight containers and store upright at room temperature for up to 2 months (NOTE: Do not pack strips tightly). Discard strips that show signs of spoilage (mold or unpleasant odor) over time.
SEVEN: Devour. Then, imagine limitless flavour possibilities. Next time we make this (which will be soon), we're going to try a curry-spiced variety.


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One of the sidebars to the feature reopens the mystery of the novel's title.
Why '1984'?
Orwell's title remains a mystery. Some say he was alluding to the centenary of the Fabian Society, founded in 1884. Others suggest a nod to Jack London's novel The Iron Heel (in which a political movement comes to power in 1984), or perhaps to one of his favourite writer GK Chesterton's story, "The Napoleon of Notting Hill", which is set in 1984.
In his edition of the Collected Works (20 volumes), Peter Davison notes that Orwell's American publisher claimed that the title derived from reversing the date, 1948, though there's no documentary evidence for this. Davison also argues that the date 1984 is linked to the year of Richard Blair's birth, 1944, and notes that in the manuscript of the novel, the narrative occurs, successively, in 1980, 1982 and finally, 1984. There's no mystery about the decision to abandon "The Last Man in Europe". Orwell himself was always unsure of it. It was his publisher, Fred Warburg who suggested that Nineteen Eighty-Four was a more commercial title.
I have come across the theory that Orwell may have had the Fabian Society in mind, here and there around the internet, including on wikipedia. But I am not aware of any credible source, or of any substantive evidence of Orwell's intentions. If anybody has anything on this, please do get in touch. (One long article asserting this also claims that the Fabian Society inherited control of the Orwell estate on Sonia Orwell's death. Which would have been nice, if a somewhat mysterious turn of events, but is not true).
A quick flick through the Orwell biographies on my bookshelves do not throw up any mentions of the Fabian theory.
DJ Taylor's Orwell: The Life (2003) mentions London's influence on Orwell. Intriguingly, Taylor reports that Orwell's first wife Eileen O'Shaughnessy (who had died in the spring of 1945) had, in 1934, published a poem, a futurist satire entitled 'End of the Century: 1984', in the school magazine where she was an ex-pupil.
Bernard Crick, author of the authorised biography published in 1980 and updated in 1992, also discusses the title at some length in his excellent essay 'Reading Nineteen Eighty-Four as Satire' which can be found in his 'Essays on Politics and Literature.
Crick thinks the publisher would have found 'The Last Man in Europe' too leading and gloomily didactic. "Nineteen Eighty-Four would invoke more of a surprise, arousing expectations of some Brave New World or utopia. The dashing of those expectations would then add to the satiric effect", writes Crick, who goes on to say:
Consider the title as if we are reading the book in 1949. If thirty-five or under, the reader will think to himself that he will probably be alive to see if it is so. He may quickly realise that any precise date is a joke, but he will relish the joke that though it sounds like a utopian, anti-utopian or possibly science-fiction novel, the date is well adjusted to be within the lifetime of some of us and in their children's lifetime for others, sounding both closer and more precise than Huxley's year 2000. It is overwhelmingly probable that the date is simply 1948, when Orwell finished the book, turned inside out: the date had been used before by other writers, but it is most unlikely that they could have influenced Orwell's choice.
Crick suggests that it is important to understand that the novel inhabits what critic Julian Symons calls "a near future", with many features familiar to anybody who lived in second world war Britain, and also believes that rendering the title correctly helps to establish the authorial intent:
Burgess' A Clockwork Orange and Doris Lessing's The Memoirs of a Survivor are other examples of 'near futures' and they can worry us more than dystopias because they are less easy to distance. Nonetheless, commentators try to distance Nineteen Eighty-Four by putting it in the tradition of Wells, Zamyatin and Huxley, rather than seeing it as a mutant of social novel and satiric polemic. This is made easier if the title is misrendered (as is the usual American custom) as a date, 1984, rather than spelled out. A date suggests a prophecy, whereas a spelling suggests a fictive name.
Does that satisfactorily explain Nineteen Eighty-Four?
Or are there new theories - or even evidence for them - out there?
PS: DJ Taylor recommended a selection of books for Orwell lovers for The Guardian back in 2004 when his own Orwell won the Whitbread biography prize. I would add Christopher Hitchens' Orwell's Victory to the list, though it divided the critics.


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To keep diabetes under control, stay healthy, and prevent future problems, you have to keep blood sugar levels in a healthy range. To do that, you need to check and track those levels regularly.
Keeping an eye on blood sugar levels has many benefits. For example, testing before and after meals helps you see how eating certain foods affects those levels. Knowing this can help you adjust your food choices and medicine doses.
Exercise also can change your blood sugar levels, so test them regularly when you're active. This way you can tell whether your dose of diabetes medicine should be adjusted as you step up your physical activity.
And because being sick can mess up how much diabetes medicine your body needs, know your blood sugar levels when you're feeling ill. This can help you and your doctor to decide if you should use less or more medicine, depending on your diabetes management plan.
If you manage your diabetes on your own most of the time, checking blood sugar levels also helps reassure your parents that you're taking care of yourself.
The number of times you should test your blood sugar levels each day — and when — will depend on lots of different things. It might even change from day to day. In general, most people with diabetes test their blood sugar levels before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner, and again at bedtime.
You may need to check blood sugar levels more often when you're sick or when changes have been made to your medication doses or schedule. You also may need to check more often if you suddenly become more active, like after you join a sports team at school.
People who use an insulin pump or who follow a plan to control blood sugar levels very closely also need to check their blood sugar levels more often. Your diabetes health care team will help you decide how often and when you should check.
Sometimes, blood sugar levels must be checked in the middle of the night — for instance, by people who are having problems with hypoglycemia symptoms during the night. And those who have just been diagnosed with diabetes may need more frequent blood sugar level tests to get a feel for how certain doses of insulin or other diabetes medicines affect their blood sugar levels.
You can test blood sugar levels at home using a blood glucose meter, which is a computerized device that measures the amount of glucose in a sample of your blood and displays it on a screen.
To get a sample of your blood, a small needle called a lancet is used to poke the skin (usually on a finger or on your forearm) to get one drop of blood. The drop is placed on a testing strip that goes into the glucose meter, and the blood glucose reading appears on a screen within a few seconds.
When you're first diagnosed with diabetes, your mom or dad may help you test your blood sugar levels and keep track of the results. As you get older, though, you'll learn how to use the glucose meter and monitor your blood sugar levels on your own. If you have any questions about using or taking care of your glucose meter, ask a member of your diabetes health care team.
How do you know which blood glucose meter to use? When you and your parents are choosing a glucose meter, you might want to consider:
Newer technologies are making it easier and less painful to keep track of diabetes. Adjustable lancets can make finger poking less painful by changing the depth to which the needle enters the skin, and certain meters can use blood drawn from a forearm or other body parts that are less sensitive than a fingertip for some people. Your diabetes health care team will help you choose the best type of equipment for you.
You or your doctor may want to get an even more detailed look at how your blood sugar levels change throughout the day and night. Wearable devices that measure blood sugar levels every 5 minutes are available. They let you download a computer printout of your blood sugar profile so you, your parents, and your doctor can evaluate it.
Using a glucose meter can help you check your blood sugar levels, but other tests can help you know how well you're controlling your diabetes too.
The glycosylated hemoglobin test (also known as the hemoglobin A1c or HbA1c test) will tell you how you've been controlling your blood sugar levels over the past few months. It's usually done during regular visits with your diabetes health care team.
Hemoglobin is the substance inside red blood cells that carries oxygen to the cells of the body. The higher the glucose level in the blood, the more the glucose sticks to the hemoglobin. And once hemoglobin picks up glucose, the glucose stays on it for the life of the red blood cell, which is about 2 to 3 months.
The most commonly measured type of hemoglobin in the blood that has glucose attached to it is called HbA1c. In general, the lower your HbA1c, the better you've been controlling your blood sugar levels over the last 2 to 3 months. Having lower HbA1c levels may make it less likely that you'll develop long-term diabetes problems.
Ketones are something else you'll need to check for sometimes. Ketones are chemicals that show up in the urine and blood after the body breaks down fat for energy. The body will break down fat when it can't use glucose. This can happen when you haven't taken enough insulin to help the glucose get into the cells, or when you haven't eaten enough to provide glucose for energy (like when you're sick and have no appetite).
Having lots of ketones in your body can put you at risk for a major diabetes emergency called diabetic ketoacidosis that can make you very sick. So it's important that you check for ketones whenever necessary, before they build up too much in your body.
Your diabetes health care team will let you know how and when to test for ketones and teach you how the results relate to your overall diabetes treatment.
Even though blood glucose meters can help you track your blood sugar test results, it's still a good idea to write down the results. This makes it easier for you and your diabetes health care team to see patterns and trends in your blood sugar levels.
Writing down all your results in a log book or journal can help. You can also download special programs that allow you to track your blood sugar readings on your phone or computer. You might need to record other information too, such as what you were eating or how active you were. This information will help you learn more about how certain situations — like eating or exercising — affect your diabetes control.
The more information you, your parents, and your diabetes health team have, the easier it is to keep your blood sugar levels on the right track.
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date Reviewed: Feb 14, 2018
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Encyclical in Greek
March 18, 2016
Prot. No.: 314
Our holy Orthodox Church, adorned in purple and fine linen by the blood of her martyrs, the tears of her Saints, and the struggles and sacrifices of her confessors of faith, celebrates today her nameday. Following a century-long struggle, this day was appropriately identified as the Sunday of Orthodoxy, marking the day in which truth shone and triumphed over falsehood through the veneration of holy icons as the bearers of the personal presence and divine grace of the incarnate Son and Logos of God and of His saints. In this way, it was acknowledged and proclaimed for all time that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), honoring and sanctifying material creation and our body in order to render them partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter, 1:4), partakers in divine grace and life.
On the way to this great and salvific truth—which was attacked by those who refused to venerate holy icons—the triumph of truth over falsehood treaded along the same path followed by the Church from the beginning of her history, namely the truth of conciliarity. The distinction between truth and falsehood—orthodoxy and heresy—is not always easily discernible. Even heretics believed, and continue to believe, that they possessed the truth; moreover, there will always be some who shall consider those who do not agree with their position as "heretics." The Orthodox Church, in this case, recognizes only one authority: the Council of her canonical hierarchs. Beyond a conciliar decision, the distinction between orthodoxy and heresy is not possible. The Church's dogmas and holy canons bear the seal of conciliarity. Orthodoxy is the conciliar Church.
The Orthodox Church has always emphasized this ecclesiological authority, and implements it faithfully on the local level. For centuries, this has also occurred on an ecumenical or pan-orthodox level; however, for historical circumstances, it has been interrupted for quite some time. Today, we find ourselves in a position to officially announce from our ecumenical throne that, by the grace of God, and with the consent of all the Primates of the Holy Orthodox Churches, that we will realize a decision taken more than fifty years ago and convene the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church on the island of Crete on June 18-27, 2016. The Council shall begin its work with a pan-Orthodox celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Holy Church of Saint Menas, Heraklion, Crete, on the great and auspicious Feast of Pentecost. Deliberations shall proceed at the Orthodox Academy in Kolymbari, Chania. Our Modesty shall preside over the Holy and Great Council, with the other Primates of Orthodox Churches at our side; other hierarchs shall participate as members of the Council through the official delegation of these Churches.
The foremost and most important goal of this Pan-Orthodox Council shall be to teach that the Orthodox Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, united in the Sacraments—especially in the Holy Eucharist, in the Orthodox faith, but also in conciliarity. To this end, ongoing planning for the Council has occurred through a series of Preparatory Committees and Pre-Conciliar Conferences, ensuring the unanimous spirit of the Council's decisions and that her message is conveyed in one voice and in one heart.
The issues—already delineated on a pan-orthodox level by the time the convocation of the Council was decided—that shall be reviewed by the Holy and Great Council primarily focus on matters relating to the internal operation and life of the Orthodox Church; for this reason, they must be immediately resolved. Moreover, there are issues pertaining to the relations of Orthodoxy with the rest of the Christian world, as well as the mission of the Church in our time. We certainly recognize that the world awaits to hear the voice of the Orthodox Church on many pressing problems that humanity faces today. However, it was deemed necessary that the Orthodox Church should first settle internal matters before speaking to or addressing the world, which is still considered her obligation. The fact that Orthodoxy will express its conciliarity on a global level after the passing of so many centuries constitutes a first and most decisive step that, by the grace of God, is expected to lead to the convening of further Pan-Orthodox Councils, soon thereafter.
Beloved brethren and children in the Lord,
Great historic events are guided by the grace of God, Who, ultimately, is the Lord of History. We might sow and labor; however, only God multiplies (1 Cor. 3:8). The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church indeed constitutes a historic event and we therefore place our hope in God for its realization. We call upon the Orthodox faithful in the world—clergy and laity—to pray to the Triune God that He may crown this event with His blessings, fortifying His Church to the glory of His name. We live in critical times and the unity of the Church must serve as the example of unity for a humanity torn apart by divisions and conflicts. The success of the Holy and Great Council concerns every member of the Church, who are invited to share their interests thereon. The texts that have been agreed upon on a pan-orthodox level and which have been submitted to the Holy and Great Council have already been made publicly available to every faithful of good will. These texts are not only intended to inform and update the faithful, but to also elicit their opinions and expectations of the Holy and Great Council.
Having announced this to the plenitude of the Orthodox Church throughout the world on this auspicious day, we pray that the lord God bestow upon His Church and all of you His abundant grace and blessing, and to the world peace at all times in all ways (2 Thes. 3:16).
20 March, in the year of our Lord, 2016
† Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople
Your fervent supplicant to God
† Metropolitan John of Pergamon, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Iakovos of the Prince Islands, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Joseph of Prikonisos, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Nikitas of the Dardanelles, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Maximos of Selymbria, supplicant in Christ
† Metropolitan Amphilochios of Adrianopolis, supplicant in Christ


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- Customer Success Stories
- Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond (KNVB)
Reaching 3.6 million football fans via comprehensive customer engagement
Better segmentation leads to a deeper understanding of players, clubs, fans and volunteers.
Improved engagement and higher response rates
KNVB achieved this using • SAS® Customer Intelligence 360 • SAS® Visual Analytics
The Royal Dutch Football Federation relies on SAS Customer Intelligence 360 to better understand what motivates players and fans, engage audiences with personalized communications, and promote the love of the game
When it comes to team sports, football reigns supreme in the Netherlands. With 1.2 million members, the Royal Dutch Football Federation – KNVB – is the biggest sports organization in the country, overseeing professional and amateur leagues and the Dutch men's and women's national teams.
There are 3,000 football clubs in the Netherlands, and every member of every football club is registered in a database. No other sports federation in Europe has a database as extensive and complete.
All the Dutch football clubs provide input to the database, which has 3.6 million unique records, representing 21% of the total Dutch population.
This means there's an enormous amount of data to generate insights from. And KNVB puts it to good use with SAS Customer Intelligence 360.
A comprehensive customer engagement platform
KNVB established five key goals it wanted to achieve:
- Gain more insights into the motives of football players, fans and volunteers.
- Share these insights with the thousands of football clubs across the Netherlands.
- Make better data-driven marketing decisions and set up personalized customer journeys.
- Optimize commercial opportunities for KNVB and its partners.
- Become a data-driven organization that promotes the love of the game.
With SAS, KNVB set up a complete customer engagement platform with the following components:
- Customer Intelligence KNVB System (CIKS): The CIKS is an opt-in database that includes the member administration of all 3,000 amateur football clubs. Data from third-party sources – such as game data, ticket sales, merchandise sales, website visits and mobile apps – are added as well. Data quality and the adherence to strict privacy rules are essential in the automated extract, transform and load processes. The CIKS contains 2.5 million unique profiles and is mainly used to generate additional commercial opportunities.
- SAS Customer Intelligence 360 and SAS Visual Analytics: These solutions are used for campaign management and advanced analysis. The primary channels include email, mobile apps and the website.
- Voetbal Intelligence Platform (VIP): The VIP builds on the CIKS database and includes extra data sources and more profile information, such as research results and demographic data. The VIP is used mainly to gain new insights into the behaviors of members, fans and volunteers.
- Football ecosystem: This ecosystem – a combination of the above solutions and systems – grants access to other football clubs, helping them make data-driven decisions.
When it comes to analytics, you won't find anything with a better performance in the market than SAS. Adding Customer Intelligence 360 to our platform made it even more interesting for us. The opportunity we had to establish a real partnership with SAS enabled us to make big strides forward, fast. Marion Massop Marketing Intelligence Manager KNVB
Reaching the right audience with the right message
With SAS Customer Intelligence 360 in place, KNVB is better positioned to promote football through a deeper understanding of its audiences.
Segmentation of active players, clubs, fans and volunteers is now fully data-driven, and done with more precision and at scale. Additionally, communications are more personalized. By adjusting the tone of voice and channel selection in combination with tailored forecasting and communication campaigns, the activities of KNVB and its commercial partners are more profitable and efficient.
"The number of people using the platform continues to broaden," says Marion Massop, Marketing Intelligence Manager at KNVB. "The marketing department – supported by the data intelligence department – is responsible for a single customer view. It's our job to facilitate the access to the data for as many stakeholders as possible. We're lucky to have several data-savvy marketers who are able to clearly communicate the advantages of customer engagement to the rest of the organization and our partners."
KNVB – Facts & Figures
By selecting the right combination of criteria, telemarketing campaigns for KNVB's partners achieve 45% higher response rates.
Click ratios improved 35%
due to better segmentation
and communication.
Open ratios of newsletters and email campaigns often reach 75%.
Taking analytics to the next level
Analytics empowers KNVB to find meaningful patterns in its data and uncover new knowledge that it can act on. For instance, here are three questions the football federation investigated with SAS:
Why do football players often stop playing?
Football players often stop playing due to a lack of tight team integration and alignment. Data proved that teams with less churn and higher retention rates are the best guarantee to keep players motivated longer.
What is the best way to predict – and boost – ticket sales?
KNVB now predicts ticket sales for the games of the Dutch national team by looking at past sales and closely monitoring current sales evolutions. As such, the organization can put in additional campaigns if needed to further boost sales.
Is KNVB connecting with a diverse audience?
From the approximately 200 nationalities represented in the Netherlands, only 11 are not represented in the database, indicating that KNVB is achieving its goal of reaching a large and diverse population.
KNVB is excited with the results it has seen, and the football federation is looking forward to future discoveries with analytics. "Next on our wish list is to integrate social behaviors into our single customer view," Massop says.
"The choice of SAS for our customer engagement platform was an obvious one," Massop concludes. "When it comes to analytics, you won't find anything with better performance in the market than SAS. Adding Customer Intelligence 360 to our platform made it even more interesting for us. The opportunity we had to establish a real partnership with SAS enabled us to make big strides forward, fast. As a sports federation, we believe solid partnerships create a true win-win."
About KNVB
The Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond (KNVB) is the Royal Dutch Football Federation. The organization employs 450 people and is located in the town of Zeist. Its mission is to promote the love of football within the Netherlands.
Football in the Netherlands:
- 3,000 clubs
- 63,500 teams
- 1,200,000 players
- 745,000 games every year
- 80,000 trainers and coaches
- 31,000 referees
- 400,000 volunteers
- 7,000,000 stadium visits
- 12,000,000 national team fans