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Pope Benedict XVI's Message at Auschwitz
"As a Son of the German People, I Could Not Fail to Come Here"
KRAKOW, Poland, MAY 28, 2006 - Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered when visiting the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the last stage of his apostolic trip to Poland.* * *
To speak in this place of horror, in this place where unprecedented mass crimes were committed against God and man, is almost impossible -- and it is particularly difficult and troubling for a Christian, for a Pope from Germany. In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can only be a dread silence -- a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?
In silence, then, we bow our heads before the endless line of those who suffered and were put to death here; yet our silence becomes in turn a plea for forgiveness and reconciliation, a plea to the living God never to let this happen again.
Twenty-seven years ago, on June 7, 1979, Pope John Paul II stood in this place. He said: "I come here today as a pilgrim. As you know, I have been here many times. So many times! And many times I have gone down to Maximilian Kolbe's death cell, paused before the execution wall, and walked amid the ruins of the Birkenau ovens. It was impossible for me not to come here as Pope."
Pope John Paul came here as a son of that people which, along with the Jewish people, suffered most in this place and, in general, throughout the war. "Six million Poles lost their lives during the Second World War: a fifth of the nation," he reminded us. Here, too, he solemnly called for respect for human rights and the rights of nations, as his predecessors John XXIII and Paul VI had done before him, and added: "The one who speaks these words is ... the son of a nation which, in its history, has suffered greatly from others. He says this, not to accuse, but to remember. He speaks in the name of all those nations whose rights are being violated and disregarded ..."
Pope John Paul II came here as a son of the Polish people. I come here today as a son of the German people. For this very reason, I can and must echo his words: I could not fail to come here.
I had to come. It is a duty before the truth and the just due of all who suffered here, a duty before God, for me to come here as the successor of Pope John Paul II and as a son of the German people -- a son of that people over which a ring of criminals rose to power by false promises of future greatness and the recovery of the nation's honor, prominence and prosperity, but also through terror and intimidation, with the result that our people was used and abused as an instrument of their thirst for destruction and power.
Yes, I could not fail to come here. On June 7, 1979, I came as the archbishop of Munich-Freising, along with many other bishops who accompanied the Pope, listened to his words and joined in his prayer. In 1980, I came back to this dreadful place with a delegation of German bishops, appalled by its evil, yet grateful for the fact that above its dark clouds the star of reconciliation had emerged.
This is the same reason why I have come here today: to implore the grace of reconciliation -- first of all from God, who alone can open and purify our hearts, from the men and women who suffered here, and finally the grace of reconciliation for all those who, at this hour of our history, are suffering in new ways from the power of hatred and the violence which hatred spawns.
How many questions arise in this place! Constantly the question comes up: Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?
The words of Psalm 44 come to mind, Israel's lament for its woes: "You have broken us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with deep darkness ... because of you we are being killed all day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up, come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!" (Psalm 44:19,22-26).
This cry of anguish, which Israel raised to God in its suffering, at moments of deep distress, is also the cry for help raised by all those who in every age -- yesterday, today and tomorrow -- suffer for the love of God, for the love of truth and goodness. How many they are, even in our own day!
We cannot peer into God's mysterious plan -- we see only piecemeal, and we would be wrong to set ourselves up as judges of God and history. Then we would not be defending man, but only contributing to his downfall. No -- when all is said and done, we must continue to cry out humbly yet insistently to God: Rouse yourself! Do not forget mankind, your creature!
And our cry to God must also be a cry that pierces our very heart, a cry that awakens within us God's hidden presence -- so that his power, the power he has planted in our hearts, will not be buried or choked within us by the mire of selfishness, pusillanimity, indifference or opportunism.
Let us cry out to God, with all our hearts, at the present hour, when new misfortunes befall us, when all the forces of darkness seem to issue anew from human hearts: whether it is the abuse of God's name as a means of justifying senseless violence against innocent persons, or the cynicism which refuses to acknowledge God and ridicules faith in him.
Let us cry out to God, that he may draw men and women to conversion and help them to see that violence does not bring peace, but only generates more violence -- a morass of devastation in which everyone is ultimately the loser.
The God in whom we believe is a God of reason -- a reason, to be sure, which is not a kind of cold mathematics of the universe, but is one with love and with goodness. We make our prayer to God and we appeal to humanity, that this reason, the logic of love and the recognition of the power of reconciliation and peace, may prevail over the threats arising from irrationalism or from a spurious and godless reason.
The place where we are standing is a place of memory. The past is never simply the past. It always has something to say to us; it tells us the paths to take and the paths not to take. Like John Paul II, I have walked alongside the inscriptions in various languages erected in memory of those who died here: inscriptions in Belarusian, Czech, German, French, Greek, Hebrew, Croatian, Italian, Yiddish, Hungarian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Romani, Romanian, Slovak, Serbian, Ukrainian, Judeo-Spanish and English.
All these inscriptions speak of human grief, they give us a glimpse of the cynicism of that regime which treated men and women as material objects, and failed to see them as persons embodying the image of God.
Some inscriptions are pointed reminders. There is one in Hebrew. The rulers of the Third Reich wanted to crush the entire Jewish people, to cancel it from the register of the peoples of the earth. Thus the words of the Psalm: "We are being killed, accounted as sheep for the slaughter" were fulfilled in a terrifying way.
Deep down, those vicious criminals, by wiping out this people, wanted to kill the God who called Abraham, who spoke on Sinai and laid down principles to serve as a guide for mankind, principles that are eternally valid. If this people, by its very existence, was a witness to the God who spoke to humanity and took us to himself, then that God finally had to die and power had to belong to man alone -- to those men, who thought that by force they had made themselves masters of the world. By destroying Israel, they ultimately wanted to tear up the taproot of the Christian faith and to replace it with a faith of their own invention: faith in the rule of man, the rule of the powerful.
Then there is the inscription in Polish. First and foremost they wanted to eliminate the cultural elite, thus erasing the Polish people as an autonomous historical subject and reducing it, to the extent that it continued to exist, to slavery.
Another inscription offering a pointed reminder is the one written in the language of the Sinti and Roma people. Here too, the plan was to wipe out a whole people which lives by migrating among other peoples. They were seen as part of the refuse of world history, in an ideology which valued only the empirically useful; everything else, according to this view, was to be written off as "lebensunwertes Leben" -- life unworthy of being lived.
There is also the inscription in Russian, which commemorates the tremendous loss of life endured by the Russian soldiers who combated the Nazi reign of terror; but this inscription also reminds us that their mission had a tragic twofold aim: by setting people free from one dictatorship, they were to submit them to another, that of Stalin and the Communist system.
The other inscriptions, written in Europe's many languages, also speak to us of the sufferings of men and women from the whole continent. They would stir our hearts profoundly if we remembered the victims not merely in general, but rather saw the faces of the individual persons who ended up here in this abyss of terror.
I felt a deep urge to pause in a particular way before the inscription in German. It evokes the face of Edith Stein, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: a woman, Jewish and German, who disappeared along with her sister into the black night of the Nazi-German concentration camp; as a Christian and a Jew, she accepted death with her people and for them.
The Germans who had been brought to Auschwitz-Birkenau and met their death here were considered as "Abschaum der Nation" -- the refuse of the nation. Today we gratefully hail them as witnesses to the truth and goodness which even among our people were not eclipsed. We are grateful to them, because they did not submit to the power of evil, and now they stand before us like lights shining in a dark night. With profound respect and gratitude, then, let us bow our heads before all those who, like the three young men in Babylon facing death in the fiery furnace, could respond: "Only our God can deliver us. But even if he does not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up" (cf. Daniel 3:17ff.).
Yes, behind these inscriptions is hidden the fate of countless human beings. They jar our memory, they touch our hearts. They have no desire to instill hatred in us: Instead, they show us the terrifying effect of hatred. Their desire is to help our reason to see evil as evil and to reject it; their desire is to enkindle in us the courage to do good and to resist evil. They want to make us feel the sentiments expressed in the words that Sophocles placed on the lips of Antigone, as she contemplated the horror all around her: My nature is not to join in hate but to join in love.
By God's grace, together with the purification of memory demanded by this place of horror, a number of initiatives have sprung up with the aim of imposing a limit upon evil and confirming goodness.
Just now I was able to bless the Center for Dialogue and Prayer. In the immediate neighborhood the Carmelite nuns carry on their life of hiddenness, knowing that they are united in a special way to the mystery of Christ's cross and reminding us of the faith of Christians, which declares that God himself descended into the hell of suffering and suffers with us. In Oswiecim is the Center of St. Maximilian Kolbe, and the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. There is also the International House for Meetings of Young people. Near one of the old prayer houses is the Jewish Center. Finally the Academy for Human Rights is presently being established. So there is hope that this place of horror will gradually become a place for constructive thinking, and that remembrance will foster resistance to evil and the triumph of love.
At Auschwitz-Birkenau, humanity walked through a "valley of darkness." And so, here in this place, I would like to end with a prayer of trust -- with one of the psalms of Israel which is also a prayer of Christians: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff -- they comfort me ... I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long" (Psalm 23:1-4,6).


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The Coaching Change
From Baseline Contributer 'ASChin'
Somebody get John Hollinger on the phone because we need some new coaching stats. Even though the '08-'09 Charlotte Bobcats only managed to win 3 more games than last year the improvement in play was much, much greater than the relatively small nominal increase. Although these new Bobcats limped out of the gate (again wasting a front-loaded home heavy schedule) they eventually figured out which pieces fit and which didn't and Charlotte basketball fans were treated to something they haven't seen in a very long while. Good, solid NBA basketball.
The root cause of success? No question it was new head coach (and behind the scenes assistant GM) Larry Brown, a professional who took over after the Bobcats wasted an entire season under the guidance of amateur coach – or should I say "basketball enthusiast" – Sam Vincent*. Under Brown's leadership the 'Cats did things never before seen in their previous four seasons. For one, they ran actual plays. Some of them were questionable – like the famous Raymond Does Dallas play – but hey, they ran plays! And even though Gerald Wallace's head almost exploded midway through the season, the team eventually grasped "playing the game the right way" and it was beautiful.
I'm not sure that we, as Charlotte pro basketball fans, really understand or appreciate what it is that we have in Coach Brown. Before I go any further, let me present you with the following list:
- Dick Harter (settle down class, no snickering)
- Gene Littles
- Allen Bristow
- Dave Cowens
- Paul Silas
- Bernie Bickerstaff
- Sam Vincent
This is a motley collection of what I call "Michael Redd Head Coaches," meaning guys who would make (and in some cases have made) excellent assistant NBA coaches but for whatever reasons (budgetary, convenience) were thrust into the role of top dog.
Larry Brown does not fit on this list.
Consider the following:
- Phil Jackson
- Pat Riley
- Larry Brown
- Greg Popovich
- Jerry Sloan
Did you even blink when Coach Brown's name showed up amongst the recent NBA coaching greats? Of course not. He belongs there; he's one of them.
You see, as Charlotte NBA fans, we've been conditioned to accept 2nd rate, budget shelf head coaches because Hornets owner George Shinn and (for a while at least) Bob Johnson refused to pay for anybody worthy of a head coaching position. So we became conditioned to settling for the Allen Bristows of the world. Imagine dating nothing but trashy Myrtle Beach skanks your whole life and then one day finding yourself in a healthy relationship with Giada De Laurentiis. You've grown to expect that your skank wife will sit on her butt all day, watch soaps, eat Klondike Bars, have an open affair with the UPS guy, and forget to make Johnny & Sarah their lunch or pick them up from school. Now that Giada's in town, you come home to a dinner of Crispy Soft Shell Crab with Green Papaya & Zesty Mango Salad, Johnny's having his piano lesson and Sarah is studying business Mandarin. It's that big of a jump. And I'm not sure that Charlotte NBA fans fully have a grasp of it yet.
Under Coach Brown, Gerald Wallace became a complete NBA player. He shot 80% from the free throw line this season. Again, so you know it's not a typo, 80%. Once the Raja Bell/Boris Diaw trade happened in December, the Bobcats ranked in the top 5 in Defensive Efficiency. Larry Brown repeatedly called Emeka Okafor out publicly and y'know what, Emeka respects him enough that he will come back next season as the most improved Bobcat.
Coach Brown has brought hope to this franchise and they are only a year and a player or two away from becoming contenders in the East. Props to both Michael Jordan and to Bob Johnson for making the investment. The team is finally on the right path.
From Baseline Contributer 'E'
There is no question that Larry Brown is the best coach in Charlotte NBA history. The idea of having an NBA coaching legend on the bench is a great one. But I did have some significant concerns going into the season. Some of them have been answered, one has not.
One concern was exactly how Brown would reshape the roster. We all know that Brown wants and gets a lot of input into the personnel matters of the teams he coaches, and that he's a "grass is always greener" kind of guy. Combine that with the fact that the Bobcats roster was ripe for an overhaul, and it could have been a recipe for disaster (New York Knicks, anyone?). But it seems like Higgins and Jordan did a good job of keeping Larry's whims in check; it's hard to argue with any of the trades that were made. We'll cover them in more detail in an upcoming post.
The next big concern was that Larry Brown's coaching philosophy is a known, static commodity that had recently shown signs of being long in the tooth. Brown is not going to come in and adapt his philosophy and strategies to the core players or the times. He's going to make them conform to him. He thinks he's got basketball all figured out, and prior to the last 4-5 years, it looked like he did. But his last two jobs (with the 2004 Olympic team and the '05-'06 Knicks) had resulted in major disappointments. You had to wonder if his "system" was still viable. But with the way the Bobcats performed after the trade for Diaw and Bell, I think this question has been answered. Coach Brown can still get it done.
My last concern hasn't been answered yet. Another famous, and deserved, criticism of Brown is that he doesn't put down roots anywhere. He rarely coaches for more than a few years in any spot and has left teams somewhat high and dry in the past. Combine that with Brown's advancing age, and there's a good chance he could be ready to leave at any time. This concern obviously bears watching…
From Baseline Contributer 'Deesdale'
I have more expectations than concerns for Mr. Next Town Brown.
Charlotte does seem to be Coach Brown's last stop and he has always been the guy who enjoys building the structure of a team (even though he inherited his championship team). Therefore, I would assume that each season of his four year contract would improve upon the previous. And by improve I don't just mean win/loss percentage. I mean things like consistent game play; cultivating or acquiring a player that averages over 25 points a game; and getting to the second round of the playoffs.
However, the most important benchmark of his Bobcats tenure will be measured by the condition in which he leaves the franchise. Internally, he must create a culture where the owner doesn't cheap-out when it comes to staffing an organization. Externally, the Bobcats need to become embedded into our city. Not just a sideshow to the Panthers or known as the reason for higher property taxes.
Charlotte needs to be Larry Brown's last place to 'root down'. Hopefully he doesn't bail and leave expectations unfulfilled.

subset: commoncrawl


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Thank you for your love about the Christmas
gifts I sent this year :) I truly appreciate that
you took the time to leave me a comment when it's
really busy and precious time of the year.. thank you :)
I will be leaving for Japan today. LOL
Wonder what in the world I am doing by sitting at
the table to do a blog post? Hehe it might sound crazy
but I am making a point of getting as worn-out as
possible given the fact that I will be heading to
San Francisco airport in 5 hours.
11 hours in the plane is no fun. How I utilize this
amount of time in the plane is always something I
try to be creative about. I don't really have a book
I want to read this time, so I am hoping I will be
able to stitch some embroidery, but you know a needle/
scissor that I put in my bag already might be taken
away at the security check-in. So,, in that case,
I need to SLEEP! or.. maybe I'll find a book to
read at the airport..
Anyways, I am really, REALLY excited about this trip.
I have been away from my home country for two and
a half years and this is the longest ever. And this
is the first time to see my family in Japan after
I got married. My family has seen Joe many times
before and they thought there is no any other guy
like him out there who is super sweet and who could tolerate
Oh and we have a gazillion plans over there.
I think it will be a lot of fun. LOTS of fun.
I don't know how often I can blog while I am in Japan,
but I'll definitely have much less time to spend on
computer, so I may not be able to reply emails/comments
as soon as I usually do. But I will do my best to respond asap
so feel free to send me emails if you have questions
about my tutorials, etc.
This is the coaster I made for Suzuko Koseki
to give to her at Tokyo Quilt Festival along with
17 other coasters made by creative folks who
are my blog friends/SK fans :) I messed up this
coaster though. Each coaster is supposed to be
4.5" x 4.5" which was something I decided, but
I realized after I am done that mine is 5" x 5".
Yikes that's not great. I'll see if I can make another
one in Japan - if not, I will have to chop off
the binding. I'll have a blog post where I introduce
each contributor for this project... you'll be
amazed at ALL the amazing coasters.. see?
Oh speaking of Japan, I love, love, and love
this mini Japan quilt that Leslie of goodness
made for her baby girl. I love the quilt, but
what I love more is the thought she put into
the project. So touching...
Ok, maybe I am getting a bit too tired...
I'll try to post lots of pictures from Japan..:)
In case I can't blog in a few days..
Have a happy, happy new year!
Thanks again for your time to stop by!


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Enjoying it again for the first time
[Editor's note: this wasn't originally mentioned, but this post is the first by reviewer Matt "Legion"Â McClellan. The writer's name is always up there in the post header, but until now it's always been the same one.]
I'm quite fond of the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime. It's got a great story, memorable characters and relationships and a lot more depth than other shows of it's ilk. It's well animated, funny, but also tense and engaging, with a solid and satisfying conclusion.
Why then, do we need another one? As is often the case a popular manga was adapted for television before the original author, in this case Hiromu Arakawa, was done his story. The series was catching up to it's manga counterpart and therefore had to diverge. The first 26 episodes are fairly close to the manga but script writer Sho Aikawa took the storylines in a different direction.
This is quite common, but perhaps due to the show's popularity at home and abroad, something rare has happened: it's getting a do-over. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is intended to faithfully adapt Arakawa's manga, with both the manga and anime concluding around the same time. Is this necessary? Given that the original show does not feel lacking or hampered in any way, maybe not. But is it welcomed? After 13 episodes I'm going to say yes, it's very welcome.
The first 13 episodes of Brotherhood cover the same material as the first 26 episodes of the original show. This has proved to be interesting to watch. The slower buildup of the original made some of the plot points resonate deeper than Brotherhood, such as a likable supporting character's death. However, the pacing in Brotherhood has been very good and nothing feels lost or skimmed over. The story of Ed and Al and their quest is still highly engaging and the results of their attempt to bring back their mother are as chilling as ever.
The visual aspects are similar yet slightly expanded and modernized on the original's aesthetics due to the 16:9 framing and extra resolution. The show looks great and even if the resolution isn't technically at high definition levels the animation is nice and fluid. I'm willing to take sub-HD resolutions with nice animation over 720p resolution with awkward animation any day. While Brotherhood is the technically superior production, there are elements of the original that I prefer. Both series have a wide range of amusing facial expressions and comically deformed moments, but I personally think the original may have handled these aspects with a bit more panache. Brotherhood's comedic animations and visual jokes feel a little more typical (such as a giant arrow pointing at an empty space where a character or important object just was). Brotherhood still has a sharp sense of comedic timing and many fans probably prefer its visual humor.
Great characters call for great acting, and this is a franchise I'm currently more familiar with in English than Japanese. The original voice cast retains Romi Park and Rie Kugiyama as Ed and Al but the majority of the supporting characters are recast. FUNimation was more diligent in it's casting; although Al has a new voice as Aaron Dismuke has long since hit puberty Vic Mignogna is clearly just thrilled to be playing Ed again and most of the supporting cast from the original series reprise their characters for Brotherhood. I'll surely re-watch both series in the original Japanese some day, but I imagine the voice changes will be more jarring when I do.
Now that I've got the first 13 down, Brotherhood is entering new territory: new characters, new storylines, all leading to a different conclusion. I can't wait to get into the new material but I've still enjoyed re-visiting the story covered in the original show. I wouldn't recommend skipping the first 13 to get straight to the new material, either. There are moments and plot points not seen in the first half of the original run that feel like they may be giving context to the different path Brotherhood is taking.
Fullmetal Alchemist is just good anime. When I finish a really good show, a part of me can't help but feel sad that it's over. Brotherhood isn't the same as continuing where the previous left off, but it's great to be getting re-acquainted with the Elric brothers and their tale again. I'm quite willing to spend more time in their world, even if it's from square-one.


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We are proud of the customizability of Onero WordPress Theme. Like its name the theme is very easily to install and configure, also you will enjoy work with live customizer. Any customization can be made from WordPress native "Customizer" so you preview all the changes you made without need to refresh the page or change browser.
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This is a simple slider created by our team to help users to create simple and beautiful sliders.
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Is a premium multi-purpose slider for creating image galleries, content sliders, and mind-blowing slideshows with must-see effects, even from your WordPress posts and pages. Comes for free included in the theme. Worth $18
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User Avatar
WP Retina 2x – Responsive Onero can be accessed and looks perfectly on your PC, iMac, Mac Books, iPhone's, Smartphones, iPads, any other mobile devices. So now days mobile device accessibility is the most important features for any website. We have created a simple and fully responsive WordPress Theme to be displayed perfectly to any user.
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UPDATE Change log
Vs. 1.4
- Updated Revolution Slider ---------------------
Version 1.3.3
-WpBakery Visual Composer Update -WooCommerce Update Latest Version - Demo Split fixed on the Responsive - Responsive Issue fixed - Minor bugs fixed
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- Updated Layer Slider - Fixed some responsive issues - Added Home 4 at Setup Wizard ---------------------
- Infinite-scroll fixed ---------------------
- Minor bugs fixed - Added new demo ---------------------
Vs. 1.0.2


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"Things for cuties" is a sweet and colorful Photoshop template, perfect suitable for baby / child / kids candy, toys, clothing or fashion e-commerce online shop / store websites. )" title=" :)" /> This template is part of a package. Matching email newsletter templates, HTML site template, fully working OpenCart version, a Zen Cart version and the complete corporate design, including logo and stationery are available at themeforest and graphicriver.
With your purchase you will support the children's charity UNICEF. I donate 15% of every sale.
What's inside?
- 9 layered and well organized PSD files
- home
- category in list and grid view
- product
- about
- blog list
- blog entry
- contact
- shopping cart
- checkout
- one layered AI file
- documentation
Sources and Credits
I've used the following images for the preview (they are not included in this package):
- Summer baby shoes by olinchuk
- toy train by pzaxe
- toy car by K13art
- Baby leather coat with fur isolated on white by gsermek
- Baby Girl Toddler in Car Seat by rognar
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Venturi, the French electric vehicle (EV) specialists responsible for the world's first production electric sportscar, the Fetish, and the Volange, has unveiled its latest creation at the Paris Motor Show. The America concept is a new half buggy, half sportscar-style EV that is designed to blend an electric sportscar and an all-terrain leisure vehicle. The America borrows its electric motor from the new VM300 Fetish, which, with over 300 hp (+220 kW) and torque of 380 Nm, Venturi says is the, "most advanced electric motor ever designed for an automobile."
The motor is powered by a new 54 kWh lithium ion polymer battery pack and Ventec-developed battery management system (BMS), which provides a range of up to 300 km at a stabilized speed of 90 km/h (190 miles at 56 mph). The rear-wheel drive two-seater boasts a top speed of 180 km/h (112 mph) and the on-board charger allows the battery pack to be recharged to 80 percent capacity in eight hours using a standard electrical socket, or in three hours using a fast charge terminal.
Venturi says the America's carbon monocoque chassis is its first designed to house a large volume of batteries. The body consists of two deformable cells positioned at the front and rear of the vehicle to provide extra protection for the occupants and the battery pack in the event of an accident. Venturi has also designed and tested the chassis to protect passengers from electromagnetic emissions from the vehicle's batteries.
The vehicle's lightweight chassis was specially designed to suit its high body, which, combined with its specific tire mounting, provides a center ground clearance of 285mm (11.2 in) and axel ground clearance of 190mm (7.5 in) to give it the versatility to handle highway driving and venture off the beaten track. The America is also pretty compact, measuring 4.12m (13.5 ft) long, 1.9m (6.2 ft) wide and 1.39m (4.56 ft) high to the roll bar.
The red, white and blue connections extend beyond the name of Venturi's new vehicle, with the company having just launched a North American office in Columbus, Ohio, to "pursue technical and commercial development in the U.S." The choice of Ohio may seem a strange one until you consider that Venturi is a supporter of the Bullet Buckeye team from Ohio State University, which set a world record average two-way speed of 495 km/h (307.7 mph) with the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2.5 earlier this year.
The America is on show in Paris as a concept and there is no confirmation as to whether the car will join the very exclusive Fetish on the market. If it does, it will be at the very high-end of the EV chain – the Fetish, of which 10 have been sold, costs 300,000 euro.


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Our talented Doctors and friendly staff would like to be the first to welcome you to Weisner Orthodontics! We are proud to be able to serve Methuen, North Andover and the surrounding areas with premier orthodontic care. Whenever you walk into one of our offices you are sure to be greeted with a familiar face that is happy to see you. We strive to create a fun and professional environment while delivering the most efficient and effective orthodontic care possible. Our number one priority over the past 20 years has been creating beautiful and healthy smiles for our early, adolescent and adult patients.
One of the things that make our orthodontic practice so great is that we treat a large range of patients with multiple treatment options available. Our practice stays up to date on the latest technologies such as digital radiography and 3-D computer graphics to ensure that we provide you with optimum treatment. We are proud to be able to offer multiple treatments and braces for our patients including:
Dr. Stephen Weisner is a preferred provider of the Invisalign system that is available to both teens and adults. Our hope is to combine years of experience with state of the art technology to provide patients with the best results in the most efficient manner. We invite you to watch our welcome video to see all our practice has to offer from orthodontic care to fun office contests, see what we are all about!
We are always available to answer any questions that you have about our practice, locations, treatments or if you simply wish to book an appointment with us. We understand that your time is valuable and have extended hours at both our Methuen and North Andover office for your convenience. We look forward to welcoming you into the Weisner Orthodontics family. Contact us today!


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COUGHLAN Family History
This long-established surname, with variant spellings Coughlan, Coghlan, Co(u)ghlin and Cohalan, is of Irish origin, and is an Anglicization of two distinct Gaelic Irish sept names, the first being "MacCochlain" of County Offaly, and the latter, "O'Cochlain" of County Cork. The Gaelic prefix "Mac" indicates "son of", and the prefix "O", denotes "male descendant of", plus the personal byname "Cochlan", meaning "a short hooded cloak"; hence, "descendant of the cowled or hooded one". The MacCoughlan territory comprised the modern barony of Garry castle, County Offaly, and they had many strongholds in the Banagher - Clonmacnois area. Their chief was known as Chief of Delvin MacCoughlan...Select Audience
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Sheila Spencer
I have many ancestors that came from the Clare region of Ireland. Gutrie, Coughlan and it has been very difficult to research.
Thomas Oanes
Hi, i recently learned from my dad that my family came from Ireland and apparently on of my grandads (not sure when he lived or died) owned a fair bit of Ireland from selling royal horses, he was threatened with a death warrant if he didn't give up the land and was wondering what his first name was (last name Coughlan or coughlin) and if i could re-enherit the land back
Michael Coughlan
there is records in8 cannin place monkstown cork in te 1901 census itrland as follows;
Coughlan David 35 Male Head of Family Roman Catholic
Coughlan Francis 36 Female Wife Roman Catholic
Coughlan Margaret 9 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
Coughlan Charlis 7 Male Son Roman Catholic
Coughlan Ellen 3 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
Coughlan John 6 Male Son Roman Catholic
Coughlan Bartholmew Male Son Roman Catholic
Coughlan Mary Francis 1 Female Daughter Roman Catholic
Rick Waldron
Looking for info on my GG Grandfather, David F Coughlan (Coughlin), born October 24th, 1864 in Blackrock, Cork City. He was son of Daniel Coughlan and Mary O"Neill. Daniel was a mason by trade as was David who emigrated to Cambridge, MA. Married Ellen O'Connell. Any help is appreciated
Sharon F. Fitzpatrick
Julia Coughlan came to the US, perhaps in 1848, and married Michael Fitzpatrick in Burlington, New Jersey, in October 1849.
Julia's sister Margaret married Michael's brother James, although we don't know when or where. (James was in Burlington in 1850 but Margaret was not, and there is no marriage record for them at our Church in Burlington, so perhaps they married in Ireland.)
They were all born in Ireland, settled in Burlington, and raised their families there.
I believe Julia died between 1900 and 1905. Margaret's death certificate (June 1893) says her mother's name was Katharine. I cannot find a Katharine (or Catherine, etc.) Coughlan in Ireland with daughters named Margaret and Julia. Does anyone have any clues or ideas?
Julia and Margaret were probably born in the 1820's or early 1830's; they had their children in the 1850's and 1860's.
But, unfortunately for me, they gave their ages rather "creatively" on the U.S. Census and the New Jersey State Census, so it is hard to tell birth years. Every 10 years, the Census taker would knock on the door and find they had only aged 2 or 3 years instead of the expected 10! It's actually quite funny to see the ages given for them, but it sure makes "finding" them difficult.
Any information, advice, or hint would be so very appreciated. The Coughlan sisters and the Fitzpatrick brothers were all illiterate, so I have no records or family letters to help me.
Sharon Fitzpatrick
Michael Coughlan
if they were born in the 1820s it was before the penal laws were rescindided so records may be non existing if they were catholic.
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The story of "the little park that could" at the corner of Reed & Commonwealth Avenues continues to unfold.
The 0.58 acre site had previously been a dormant substation. The City's purchase of the property in 2009 required that Virginia Electric Power Company demolish and remove the substation and complete all necessary environmental remediation. In October 2011, neighborhood volunteers used donated plants and mulch to install two gardens, a walking path, shade trees and park benches. In 2016, the City completed the Neighborhood Parks Improvement Plan that included a concept for the park, building upon the volunteer efforts, with a plaza and game tables, a tricycle track and picnic area.
Last September, Rebuilding Together Alexandria hired Landscape Architecture firm Rhodeside and Harwell to develop a design for the site, based on the Neighborhood Parks Improvement Plan. Rhodeside and Harwell, RPCA, and Rebuilding Together Alexandria held a community meeting on October 11, 2017 to present a draft concept for the park, as shown in this presentation. The project team will present the final site design at the Park and Recreation Commission meeting on January 18, 2018.
The former electrical substation before Stormaggedon. |
When the City of Alexandria purchased "3550 Commonwealth Avenue" from Dominion Power, they had Open Space funding and a goal of expanding park space, but they didn't really have a plan for it. What happened next though was something really magical.
Neighborhood volunteers teamed with City staff to forge ahead even in the face of economic troubles and budget crises. For just $200 it started to resemble a park, using only cast-off garden plants donated by neighbors and mulch ground up from cut-down, unhealthy, storm-battered trees formerly used to screen the old substation. For regular readers of The Arlandrian this is not news. We documented the progress along the way with our stories: "Where Did THAT Garden Come From?", "New Park Uncovered At Spring for Alexandria"and "How does our garden grow?". The tale of a community coming together is something that we are really amazed by and, frankly, more than a little proud.
And that gamble by citizens, that investment out of pocket and in blood, sweat and tears, didn't go unrewarded. Last year, Dominion Power, already supporters of the Four Mile Run Farmers & Artisans Market through their Dominion Green outreach program, stepped up to assist at the Reed Avenue Park as well.
2011's work by Dominion Power crews. |
The City also matched the Dominion dollar contribution with additional plantings. All in all, 4 new maples, 3 crepe myrtles, and 12 arborvitae have now made the community gardening project into a bona fide pocket park.
Work by the Cora Kelly students and City staff continued this in the spirit of community pride that has built this park. In June 2012, Students from the Cora Kelly School for Math Science & Technology spent a Wednesday morning fixing up the gardens planted over the past several years. Three new trees were added as well.
The park today with new plantings and work by Cora Kelly students |
The results were spectacular.
Still a work in progress, a story that is still unfolding, the Reed Avenue Park at 3550 Commonwealth Avenue is an incredible neighborhood accomplishment that continues to grow.
Thanks to diligent work by City staff and the help of Rebuilding Together Alexandria, the next step in the journey of this little park from substation to open space continues; a community effort on Commonwealth Avenue for the common good.


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Global capitalism and 21st century fascism
The global economic crisis and the attack on immigrant rights are bound together in a web of 21st century fascism.
The TCC has unloaded billions of dollars into food, energy and other global commodities in bond markets worldwide [GALLO/GETTY] |
The crisis of global capitalism is unprecedented, given its magnitude, its global reach, the extent of ecological degradation and social deterioration, and the scale of the means of violence. We truly face a crisis of humanity. The stakes have never been higher; our very survival is at risk. We have entered into a period of great upheavals and uncertainties, of momentous changes, fraught with dangers – if also opportunities.
I want to discuss here the crisis of global capitalism and the notion of distinct political responses to the crisis, with a focus on the far-right response and the danger of what I refer to as 21st century fascism, particularly in the United States.
Facing the crisis calls for an analysis of the capitalist system, which has undergone restructuring and transformation in recent decades. The current moment involves a qualitatively new transnational or global phase of world capitalism that can be traced back to the 1970s, and is characterised by the rise of truly transnational capital and a transnational capitalist class, or TCC. Transnational capital has been able to break free of nation-state constraints to accumulation beyond the previous epoch, and with it, to shift the correlation of class and social forces worldwide sharply in its favour – and to undercut the strength of popular and working class movements around the world, in the wake of the global rebellions of the 1960s and the 1970s.
Emergent transnational capital underwent a major expansion in the 1980s and 1990s, involving hyper-accumulation through new technologies such as computers and informatics, through neo-liberal policies, and through new modalities of mobilising and exploiting the global labour force – including a massive new round of primitive accumulation, uprooting, and displacing hundreds of millions of people – especially in the third world countryside, who have become internal and transnational migrants.
We face a system that is now much more integrated, and dominant groups that have accumulated an extraordinary amount of transnational power and control over global resources and institutions.
Militarised accumulation, financial speculation – and the sacking of public budgets
By the late 1990s, the system entered into chronic crisis. Sharp social polarisation and escalating inequality helped generate a deep crisis of over-accumulation. The extreme concentration of the planet's wealth in the hands of the few and the accelerated impoverishment, and dispossession of the majority, even forced participants in the 2011 World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos to acknowledge that the gap between the rich and the poor worldwide is "the most serious challenge in the world" and is "raising the spectre of worldwide instability and civil wars."
Global inequalities and the impoverishment of broad majorities mean that transnational capitals cannot find productive outlets to unload the enormous amounts of surplus it has accumulated. By the 21st century, the TCC turned to several mechanisms to sustain global accumulation, or profit making, in the face of this crisis.
One is militarised accumulation; waging wars and interventions that unleash cycles of destruction and reconstruction and generate enormous profits for an ever-expanding military-prison-industrial-security-financial complex. We are now living in a global war economy that goes well beyond such "hot wars" in Iraq or Afghanistan.
For instance, the war on immigrants in the United States and elsewhere, and more generally, repression of social movements and vulnerable populations, is an accumulation strategy independent of any political objectives. This war on immigrants is extremely profitable for transnational corporations. In the United States, the private immigrant prison-industrial complex is a boom industry. Undocumented immigrants constitute the fastest growing sector of the US prison population and are detained in private detention centres and deported by private companies contracted out by the US state.
It is no surprise that William Andrews, the CEO of the Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA – the largest private US contractor for immigrant detention centres – declared in 2008 that: "The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts … or through decriminalisation [of immigrants]." Nor is it any surprise that CCA and other corporations have financed the spate of neo-fascist anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona and other US states.
The passing of the anti-illegal immigrants law in Arizona sparked national protests and outrage [GALLO/GETTY] |
A second mechanism is the raiding and sacking of public budgets. Transnational capital uses its financial power to take control of state finances and to impose further austerity on the working majority, resulting in ever greater social inequality and hardship. The TCC has used its structural power to accelerate the dismantling of what remains of the social wage and welfare states.
And a third is frenzied worldwide financial speculation – turning the global economy into a giant casino. The TCC has unloaded billions of dollars into speculation in the housing market, the food, energy and other global commodities markets, in bond markets worldwide (that is, public budgets and state finances), and into every imaginable "derivative", ranging from hedge funds to swaps, futures markets, collateralised debt obligations, asset pyramiding, and ponzi schemes. The 2008 collapse of the global financial system was merely the straw that broke the camel's back.
This is not a cyclical but a structural crisis – a restructuring crisis, such as we had in the 1970s, and before that, in the 1930s – that has the potential to become a systemic crisis, depending on how social agents respond to the crisis and on a host of unknown contingencies. A restructuring crisis means that the only way out of crisis is to restructure the system, whereas a systemic crisis is one in which only a change in the system itself will resolve the crisis. Times of crisis are times of rapid social change, when collective agency and contingency come into play more than in times of equilibrium in a system.
Responses to the crisis and Obama's Weimar republic in the United States
In the face of crisis there appear to be distinct responses from states and social and political forces. Three stand out: global reformism; resurgent of popular and leftist struggles from below; far-right and 21st century fascism. There appears to be, above all, a political polarisation worldwide between the left and the right, both of which are insurgent forces.
A neo-fascist insurgency is quite apparent in the United States. This insurgency can be traced back several decades, to the far-right mobilisation that began in the wake of the crisis of hegemony brought about by the mass struggles of the 1960s and the 1970s, especially the Black and Chicano liberation struggles and other militant movements by third world people, counter-cultural currents, and militant working class struggles.
Neo-fascist forces re-organised during the years of the George W Bush government. But my story here starts with Obama's election.
The Obama project from the start was an effort by dominant groups to re-establish hegemony in the wake of its deterioration during the Bush years (which also involved the rise of a mass immigrant rights movement). Obama's election was a challenge to the system at the cultural and ideological level, and has shaken up the racial/ethnic foundations upon which the US republic has always rested. However, the Obama project was never intended to challenge the socio-economic order; to the contrary; it sought to preserve and strengthen that order by reconstituting hegemony, conducting a passive revolution against mass discontent and spreading popular resistance that began to percolate in the final years of the Bush presidency.
The Italian socialist Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of passive revolution to refer to efforts by dominant groups to bring about mild change from above in order to undercut mobilisation from below for more far-reaching transformation. Integral to passive revolution is the co-option of leadership from below; its integration into the dominant project. Dominant forces in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere in the Middle East and North America are attempting to carry out such a passive revolution. With regard to the immigrant rights movement in the United States – one of the most vibrant social movements in that country -moderate/mainstream Latino establishment leaders were brought into the Obama and Democratic Party fold – a classic case of passive revolution – while the mass immigrant base suffers intensified state repression.
Obama's campaign tapped into and helped expand mass mobilisation and popular aspirations for change not seen in many years in the United States. The Obama project co-opted that brewing storm from below, channelled it into the electoral campaign, and then betrayed those aspirations, as the Democratic Party effectively demobilised the insurgency from below with more passive revolution.
In this sense, the Obama project weakened the popular and left response from below to the crisis, which opened space for the right-wing response to the crisis – for a project of 21st century fascism – to become insurgent. Obama's administration appears in this way as a Weimar republic. Although the social democrats were in power during the Weimar republic of Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s, they did not pursue a leftist response to the crisis, but rather side-lined the militant trade unions, communists and socialists, and progressively pandered to capital and the right before turning over power to the Nazis in 1933.
21st century fascism in the United States
I don't use the term fascism lightly. There are some key features of a 21st century fascism I identify here:
- The fusion of transnational capital with reactionary political power
This fusion had been developing during the Bush years and would likely have deepened under a McCain-Palin White House. In the meantime, such neo-fascist movements as the Tea Party as well as neo-fascist legislation such as Arizona's anti-immigrant law, SB1070, have been broadly financed by corporate capital. Three sectors of transnational capital in particular stand out as prone to seek fascist political arrangements to facilitate accumulation: speculative financial capital, the military-industrial-security complex, and the extractive and energy (particularly petroleum) sector. - Militarisation and extreme masculinisation
As militarised accumulation has intensified the Pentagon budget, increasing 91 per cent in real terms in the past 12 years, the top military brass has become increasingly politicised and involved in policy making. - A scapegoat which serves to displace and redirect social tensions and contradictions
In this case, immigrants and Muslims in particular. The Southern Poverty Law Centre recently reported that "three strands of the radical right – hate groups, nativist extremist groups, and patriot organisations – increased from 1,753 groups in 2009 to 2,145 in 2010, a 22 per cent rise, that followed a 2008-9 increase of 40 per cent."
A 2010 Department of Homeland Security report observed that "right wing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on the fears about several emergency issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for right wing radicalisation and recruitment." The report concluded: "Over the past five years, various right wing extremists, including militia and white supremacists, have adopted the immigration issue as a call to action, rallying point, and recruitment tool." - A mass social base
In this case, such a social base is being organised among sectors of the white working class that historically enjoyed racial caste privilege and that have been experiencing displacement and experiencing rapid downward mobility as neo-liberalism comes to the US – while they are losing the security and stability they enjoyed in the previous Fordist-Keynesian epoch of national capitalism. - A fanatical millennial ideology involving race/culture supremacy embracing an idealised and mythical past, and a racist mobilisation against scapegoats
The ideology of 21st century fascism often rests on irrationality – a promise to deliver security and restore stability is emotive, not rational. 21st century fascism is a project that does not – and need not – distinguish between the truth and the lie. - A charismatic leadership
Such a leadership has so far been largely missing in the United States, although figures such as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck appear as archetypes.
The mortal circuit of accumulation-exploitation-exclusion
One new structural dimension of 21st century global capitalism is the dramatic expansion of the global superfluous population – that portion marginalised and locked out of productive participation in the capitalist economy and constituting some 1/3rd of humanity. The need to assure the social control of this mass of humanity living in a planet of slums gives a powerful impetus to neo-fascist projects and facilitates the transition from social welfare to social control – otherwise known as "police states". This system becomes ever more violent.
Theoretically stated – under the conditions of capitalist globalisation – the state's contradictory functions of accumulation and legitimation cannot both be met. The economic crisis intensifies the problem of legitimation for dominant groups so that accumulation crises, such as the present one, generate social conflicts and appear as spiralling political crises. In essence, the state's ability to function as a "factor of cohesion" within the social order breaks down to the extent that capitalist globalisation and the logic of accumulation or commodification penetrates every aspect of life, so that "cohesion" requires more and more social control.
Displacement and exclusion has accelerated since 2008. The system has abandoned broad sectors of humanity, who are caught in a deadly circuit of accumulation-exploitation-exclusion. The system does not even attempt to incorporate this surplus population, but rather tries to isolate and neutralise its real or potential rebellion, criminalising the poor and the dispossessed, with tendencies towards genocide in some cases.
As the state abandons efforts to secure legitimacy among broad swathes of the population that have been relegated to surplus – or super-exploited – labour, it resorts to a host of mechanisms of coercive exclusion: mass incarceration and prison-industrial complexes, pervasive policing, manipulation of space in new ways, highly repressive anti-immigrant legislation, and ideological campaigns aimed at seduction and passivity through petty consumption and fantasy.
Militarised ideology has intensified the Pentagon's budget, and military officials are increasingly involved in policy-making [GALLO/GETTY] |
A 21st fascism would not look like 20th century fascism. Among other things, the ability of dominant groups to control and manipulate space and to exercise an unprecedented control over the mass media, the means of communication and the production of symbolic images and messages, means that repression can be more selective (as we see in Mexico or Colombia, for example), and also organised juridically so that mass "legal" incarceration takes the place of concentration camps. Moreover, the ability of economic power to determine electoral outcomes allows for 21st century fascism to emerge without a necessary rupture in electoral cycles and a constitutional order.
The United States cannot be characterised at this time as fascist. Nonetheless, all of the conditions and the processes are present and percolating, and the social and political forces behind such a project are mobilising rapidly. More generally, images in recent years of what such a political project would involve spanned the Israeli invasion of Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, to the scapegoating and criminalisation of immigrant workers and the Tea Party movement in the United States, genocide in the Congo, the US/United Nations occupation of Haiti, the spread of neo-Nazis and skinheads in Europe, and the intensified Indian repression in occupied Kashmir.
The counterweight to 21st century fascism must be a coordinated fight-back by the global working class. The only real solution to the crisis of global capitalism is a massive redistribution of wealth and power – downward towards the poor majority of humanity. And the only way such redistribution can come about is through mass transnational struggle from below.
William I. Robinson a professor of sociology and global studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.


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I apologize if this is a obvious question and answer, I don't often use Mathematica to display plots or graphics in general to be honest. So, I was tutoring my cousin yesterday in relation to Polar functions and decided to bring up Mathematica to illustrate some of the ideas we were discussing. I quickly typed a one line command into Mathematica 8 and got an odd result. When rendering a polar function, Mathematica took a few seconds to make it smooth. Prior to this it has too many lines (see picture, before is on left and after is on the right.)
The code is:
Manipulate[PolarPlot[Sin[nS*t], {t, -5 Pi, 5 Pi}], {nS, 1, 20, 1}]
Does anyone know why this is happening and if there is a way to make Mathematica render smooth at first?


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Chris Young Teases New Song 'If That Ain't God,' and It's a Tearjerker [Listen]
Chris Young should have been in Detroit on Thursday (May 28), kicking off his Town Ain't Big Enough World Tour 2020 alongside openers Scotty McCreery and Payton Smith. But instead, he spent Wednesday (May 27) teasing a new song called "If That Ain't God."
And fair warning, it's a tearjerker.
The first verse of the song touches on the story of a little boy who beats cancer, and once he does, he returns to the baseball field and hits a homer. And then, Young sings the words, 'if that ain't God."
The "Drowning" hit maker had to postpone his touring plans due to COVID-19, but Young is actually putting his extra time to good use, utilizing his various social media channels to debut new music.
So when will we get to hear more of "If That Ain't God" from the ACM and Grammy nominated vocalist? For now, Young is remaining mum about that. Fans have long been waiting on a new album from the country powerhouse, whose most recent album is 2017's Losing Sleep. And before the pandemic hit, Young had promised that 2020 would bring a new album.
So cross your fingers, country music fans.
Luckily, Young has been keeping the music coming via new songs including "Raised on Country," "Drowning" and "Town Ain't Big Enough," a duet with Lauren Alaina.
Country Music's 20 Best Christian Country Songs:


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If you've never had Cincinnati Style Chili before, it's delicious. If you've never had Homemade Cincinnati Style Chili before, you don't know what your missing! It's not traditional chili with beans and tomatoes in it. We used to live outside Cincinnati, and we love this chili. You can buy seasoning packets for this chili, but they are hard to find outside of Ohio, if available at all. We are less than 3 hours away from Cincinnati, and can rarely find the packets here.
Besides, the packets are expensive. And so many seasoning packets have wheat in them, not to mention other ingredients I try to avoid. Since I've had to stop eating wheat, and feeding my family less additives, this is a consideration for me. This recipe is so easy, though, a seasoning packet is really unnecessary.
Homemade Cincinnati Style Chili
4 cups cooked hamburger (2 pounds raw)
1 – 29 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 cup water
4 Tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Simmer for 3o minutes. You can also put all the ingredients into the crockpot on low for a few hours. Serve over spaghetti. Top with grated cheddar cheese, diced onions, and kidney beans, if desired. Some people also top with diced tomatoes. This recipe is enough chili for 2 pounds of spaghetti.
If you serve the chili on a hot dog, topped with cheese, you have a Coney.
I served the cheese in condiment cups. We use less cheese that way.
That's my rice spaghetti in the picture. 🙂
When cooking the hamburger, you need to stir often with a fork so you get small pieces. My favorite way to cook ground hamburger for recipes is to boil it. I know it sounds weird, but I found out about this on an email freezer cooking list about 10 years ago. You place your hamburger in the pan with a couple of inches of water in the pan. You don't want to boil it like spaghetti, though, so don't completely cover it with water. While it's cooking, keep stirring with a fork to break it up. You get the small pieces of meat that's needed for this style of chili, or tacos, etc. Please be aware, when draining the hamburger, that there is grease in with the water, and it will clog your sink if your not careful. I run cold water in the sink, then drain the meat and leave the cold water running for a minute or two. That's what works for me. Do so at your own risk. I can't come unclog your sink for you. 🙂 Since I can't come, if you don't want to chance a clogged sink, you can drain into a large bowl or pan, let it harden, then dispose of.
I like to keep cooked hamburger in the freezer in 2 and 4 cup bags. This is another recipe I can make quickly by starting with the cooked hamburger.
This Homemade Cincinnati Style Chili freezes great. I put the amount needed for one meal in a freezer container or bag, then freezer until needed. Just thaw and heat while your boiling your spaghetti.


text:
Protect sensitive electronic communications equipment from the damaging effects of lightning strike electrical surges.
This model features wide-band operation up to 3GHz. Due to its superior RF performance, this unit is ideal for IEEE 802.11b/g Wireless LAN applications, as well as ISM, MMDS, Cellular, iDEN and PCS applications. Since this protector will pass DC, it is suitable for applications where DC is carried through the coax cable such as remote amplifiers and LNAs. This unit offers multi-strike capability via a replaceable gas tube element. A ground lug and terminal are supplied directly on the lightning protector housing providing superior grounding.
Protector is inserted inline between outside antenna and amplifier. The protector does not connect directly to the amplifier. Typically, a 2' LMR-400 jumper cable is used to connect the protector to the amplifier although any length of LMR-400 coax may be used.
For example, you can run LMR-400 coax from the Yagi on the roof to the lightning protector (mounted just outside the building) and then another run of LMR-400 coax cable from the lightning protector to the amplifier mounted in the building.
The lightning protector must be grounded.
Please note that while lightning protection will help guard against amplifier damage due to a lightning strike it does not guarantee it.


text:
C.P.Cavafy. Ithaka
As you set out for Ithaka
hope the voyage is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians and Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope the voyage is a long one.
May there be many a summer morning when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you come into harbors seen for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to gather stores of knowledge from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you are destined for.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you are old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.


text:
This short documentary looks at how easy it is to make fake passports and scam the rich into trusting you with thousands of dollars.
If the fraud industry were its own country, it would have the fifth strongest economy in the world, just ahead of the UK.
Meet the fraudsters who're making a killing from the fastest growing crime on Earth.
VICE showcases the British fraud industry and the unapologetic mindset of the type of people who turn to that life to make a living.
It's interesting to see it from their perspective, but it's nothing short of violating to know that these are the types of people who think identity theft, credit damage and stealing are viable ways to make a living.