#which is a kind of pre-christmas here in germany
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ravens-and-writings · 7 years ago
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My first society6 order arrived!
Well... part of it anyway. The throw pillow I bought from another artist nearly a week before this is probably still stuck at German customs and I have yet to receive a message to come and get it. (Why oh why does s6 declare the full price on a parcel, even if you paid like 25% less? This will be such a hassle to explain once I actually get a notification -.-)
Anyway, at least @fennethianell​‘s beautiful fanart has safely found its way to the raven’s nest! *loud screeching fangirl noises*
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These are an 8x9 inch art print and two stickers. Those will find their way onto my phone and laptop... eventually. And for the art print I found a more or less fitting frame. (Still had to cut 1/2 inch off the top and bottom... but thankfully it comes with an extra inch border for exactly that reason.)
I’ve been low-key in love with this particular work ever since I first saw it about a year ago and now I can actually call it mine! *more squealing fangirl noises*  
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I’m not sure yet, whether I will try to find a nice place on the wall for the print or just keep it right there on my desk. Either way, I know I’ll probably stare at it lovingly for some time to come. *happy sigh*
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recentanimenews · 4 years ago
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FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Maffew
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  I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.
  Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"
  My next guest in this series is Maffew, creator of the popular pro wrestling web series Botchamania. For my chat with him, he chose the Alabasta Arc, in which Luffy and his crew not only have to save a desert kingdom but also topple Baroque Works and its powerful leader Crocodile.
  A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Alabasta arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Alabasta arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!
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    Dan Dockery: So I guess my first basic question is, let’s say for some reason, I got to the end of Drum Island and I said “Well, One Piece ends here for me. This seems like a good finale.” What would you tell me to keep me going into the Alabasta Arc in one sentence?
  Maffew: Well, after Chopper has made all the kids cry, you’ll need pickin’ up.
  That’s pretty good! What was the impetus for you getting into One Piece? What made you want to jump into an anime that’s nearly one thousand episodes long at this point?
  I think I tried watching it on YouTube back in 2009, and I just couldn’t get into it. At that point in my life, I wasn’t ready for a character like Luffy and his adventures, and I couldn’t wait for the villains he fought to kill him. So I dropped it. A year later, I’m in Germany and this wrestler ACH was doing a Q&A panel for this German wrestling organization called WXW. And ACH is a REALLY big One Piece fan, and even dresses up as Luffy in New Japan and Ring of Honor. And I was like “Hey, you watching JoJo?” because that was my thing at the time, and he was like “No, no. Just One Piece.” I said, “What else are you watching?” “Just One Piece.” And I’m like “Wait, what? Just the one?” But he was sellin’ it to me like he was a One Piece ad on QVC. And guys like Steve Yurko are so passionate about it, and if one person tells ya to watch something, you’re like “Eh, whatever,” but if five people tell you, you start to pay attention. So I’m gonna blame ACH and my good friend Steve Yurko for this.
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    What do you like about this arc in particular?
  You get so much wonderful worldbuilding. They go to Alabasta, meet up with Mr. 2, and it’s one of those cool interactions where they’re meeting, but they don’t know who they are meeting exactly, like when they meet Blackbeard in Jaya. So later on, they’re like “Oh, it’s THEM!” There’s a real sense of everything not being really pre-determined at this point. It’s building everything through a bunch of pirates just doing stuff. Ace shows up, knocks out some assassins so he can get his royalty checks.
  That’s such a funny way to put it.
  Then we get Kung-Fu Dugongs, and they’re a pretty pure expression of One Piece. They’re all synchronized, they’re adorable, they play their part amid all the serious stuff, and they’re completely ridiculous, but they work anyway. And it’s with Alabasta that Eiichiro Oda starts to perfect the tropes that he puts into place throughout, with the new islands, the new leader who everyone loves but is actually a bad person, the crew having to deal with him and the Navy, them having to help put someone back in their position, etc. And even though, on paper, it reads like “Well, he’s gotta beat this dude and this dude and this dude,” it’s so much more chaotic and less formulaic than you’d expect. It keeps things interesting. 
  I agree. I like how he takes all of these pieces and he’s consistent with them, but Oda always plays around with how he sets them up.
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    But it’s all a foot massage before the real reason to watch Alabasta: Sir Croc. 
  Are you a big fan of him? That dude is so cool, conniving and powerful. He’s kinda the perfect villain. 
  Back when I was being miserable and first watching One Piece, I really liked him. I like the design, the sand powers that could actually pose a threat. I always appreciate it when a villain provides actual tension. It’s like why I think Goldeneye is still the best James Bond film. Because Alec Trevelyan is constantly reminding Bond “Remember, I could kill you. I’m from the same place as you. I can take your exploding watch and just, eh, I’ll stop that then. Thank you.” And Luffy loses twice to him in the three-match structure that really works here as it did for wrestling in the 70s.
  How so?
  So you’d have somebody like champion Bruno Sammartino and someone like Ivan Koloff or one of the Wild Samoans or Stan Stasiak. They’d have one match where the hero would beat Bruno by disqualification. Bruno’s still around to fight, but he’s lost. Luffy survives being thrown in the sand, but he’s been beaten. Then they have the second match, where Bruno would win because the villain would just give up and leave and get counted out. Luffy attacks Crocodile with water, but it’s not enough, and Crocodile just kinda leaves Luffy thinking it’s all done. And then Bruno would be like “Oh no ya don’t. Next time, you won’t be able to escape, because we’re gonna be in a cage match.” And then Bruno wins, just like Luffy wins by punching Crocodile up through that giant enclosed space. He escapes the cage.
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      It’s just so satisfying and that’s a great way to describe it. So, villains in the series have had extensive crew members before, but they haven’t been as recognizable and colorful as Croc’s crew, Baroque Works. Do you have a favorite member?
  They’re all good in their own way, but at this point, I’m gonna go with Mr. 2. Eh, that’s probably too obvious an answer…
  Mr. 2 is a lot of people’s favorite member. 
  Oh, who cares. I’ll go with Mr. 2. I like how Mr. 2 interacts with everyone, having fun with the boys and fighting Sanji with kicks but respecting him. 
  So, in this arc, there’s a lot of government intrigue and a revolution is about to happen, and everyone’s dissatisfied with their perception of the monarchy. How did you react to all of this political drama in One Piece? 
  Well, it’s great because you have Vivi, and you get to learn her motivations and because she’s on the crew, it gives you a reason to care for the crew and how all of the political intrigue affects them. Without her, you’d just hear about a war and say “Oh, sorry about that. Hope it goes well.” And with all this lore being thrown at you because you have Vivi and that connection, it’s adding to the main conflict, rather than distracting.
  Yeah, Vivi really grounds it all with a personal attachment. Because otherwise it’s just savin’ the kingdom, which is cool and they’re good for it, but it doesn’t have the same impact. So, they did this back in the Arlong Park arc, but what returns here is the kind of 1 vs 1 match structure, where a member or members of the enemy crew are matched up against a Straw Hat or Hats. Mr. 1 has knife body parts, so he’s obviously gonna fight Zoro. Mr. 2 kicks and Sanji kicks, etc. What do you think about that kind of matchmaking, because it’s also a little wrestling-esque.
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    Yeah, right, like if you have D-Generation X fighting the Nation of Domination, you can’t just have The Rock fighting Triple H. Ya gotta have D’Lo Brown vs X-Pac and The Godfather vs Billy Gunn. I like it because the characters feel like they have to prove themselves, like Zoro’s a swordsman, and he’s gotta test himself against another swordsman. And Usopp does it when he fights Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas with Chopper, because they have a weird dynamic and they’re fighting two people and they have no clue what they’re up against. 
  So, at the end of the arc, they do the iconic “We can’t let Vivi become associated with pirates so we’ll hold up the X symbols on our arms in solidarity” pose. What did you think about that? Because it’s one of the most famous images in One Piece, and it’s hard to avoid it, even if you’ve never watched the series. Was that your first time seeing it?
  It actually was. And I’m glad you brought this up because I was watching it and I thought “Wait, they’re just going? They’re not even keeping the duck?” And then they do that with the X and the original opening starts playing and I get goosebumps just remembering it. That really hit me. Because it finally got me really emotionally invested in the series. Made me feel a bit cheeky. 
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      ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!
  So, considering you’re such a huge pro wrestling fan, your lightning round is gonna be a bit different. I’m gonna say a Straw Hat that’s in the crew at this point and you tell me which wrestler they’re the most like. You can also tell me what time period they’d fit the most in, since wrestler personalities tend to change. So, Luffy?
  Gotta be Cena. Specifically? With Luffy’s attitude? Probably 2015 defending-the-United States-Championship John Cena.
  Zoro?
  He’s all business, he likes to fight. So I gotta go with Cesaro.
  Sanji?
  Going with Eddie Guerrero.
  Usopp?
  That character is all over wrestling - the underdog who isn’t very good and uses every trick in the book to win. Gonna go with MJF. He had one of my favorite matches of this year against Cody Rhodes and he just had to use EVERYTHING to beat him - brass knuckles, distraction, chairs, everything he could to get that win. But he could be MJF, could be The Miz, could be Mikey Whipwreck from ECW, take your pick.
  Nami?
  Hmmm. Becky Lynch. 
  Chopper?
  KeMonito 
  Robin?
  Oh, she shows up after being booed for ages and you’re supposed to like her, so 2019 Charlotte Flair.
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      Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece's official English manga translator Stephen Paul on his favorite One Piece arc: Skypiea!!
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      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!
  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!
By: Daniel Dockery
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fantasticfelicityfox · 5 years ago
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Everyone always goes on about how weird the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials are but no one ever talks about the insanity the Easter ones are, like there's only 3 that I know of but they all have increasingly bizarre plots
Theres "The First Easter Bunny" which is a kind of retelling of the Velveteen Rabbit but with Santa Claus and an evil Snow Wizard. Narrated by Burl Ives
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Then there's probably the most popular "Here comes Peter Cottontail" where Peter (Played by Casey Kasem) meets a hobo and travels through time with a worm that has a human face in order to defeat Vincent Price and learn a lesson about responsibility or whatever
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Then there's "The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town" where there's a valley of only children because all children were banished from Pre-WWI-Era-Germany-Town and they find a baby bunny then there are some singing hens that talk about Jesus. The bunny grows up theres Another Hobo that sings about candy mountain, then Thomas the Tank Engine, then they have to fight a bear and they go to the town where the only kid there is the prince who has a mean aunt and they make the mean Queen who hates fun realize that she should be nicer and basically create Easter and reunite the two towns. Also Fred Astaire is back as the Mail Man
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buckybarnesbingo · 4 years ago
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BBB Week 35 Roundup!
We have over 600 squares filled at this point in the bingo, and isn’t that amazing?! So much new Bucky content has been created this year!
We will be having two more Discord parties, on the 19th and 26th.  They will be shorter, just 24 hours, and we will let you know both here and on the Discord when they start.
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Title: Little Bird Collaborator: ialwayscomewhenyoucall Link: Tumblr Square Filled: B3 -  AU: Wings Ship: Stucky Rating: Teen Major Tags: fluff, angst with a happy ending, fairy tale elements Summary: No one knows why Bucky was born with wings. His ma tells him he’s just special. Stevie’s jealous, watching him fly high into the clouds and leaving him on the ground. Bucky promises he’ll never leave Stevie behind…but sometimes promises have to be broken. Word Count: 1787
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Title: Righteous Dick Collaborator: plutosrose Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y5 - Reluctant Teamwork Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, SHIELD Agent Bucky Barnes, Light Boss/Employee Relationship, The lightest of d/s undertones, Light harassment from Brock and Jack Summary: Steve leaned forward in his chair, which made Bucky suddenly think of the footage of the jaguar pouncing on a crocodile that he’d seen on the Discovery Channel. The crocodile might have seemed all tough and shit, but it had never stood a fucking chance. “You seem to have a thing for undermining me.” - SHIELD Agent Bucky knows Captain America's an unparalleled asshole--but that doesn't stop him from thinking he's stupidly gorgeous. Word Count: 1497
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Title: You’ll Pay for That Collaborator: jamesbuckystark Link: Tumblr Square Filled: U3 – AU: John Wick Ship: none Rating: Mature Major Tags: John Wick au, Angst with a Happy Ending Summary: Alpine is catnapped, and Bucky will stop at nothing to get him back Word Count: 396
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Title: Christmas at Avengers Tower Collaborator: ibelieveinturtles Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K5 - Found family Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: Ugly Christmas Suits, moodboard Summary: The guests are starting to arrive for the Avengers Christmas Party
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Title: The Good Life Collaborator: hawkeyeandthewintersoldier Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K2 - warm and fuzzy feelings Ship: Stucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: Fluff, Bucky Barnes Recovering Summary: It’s a hot day in Wakanda and Bucky gets to enjoy it with Steve Word Count: 503
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Title: The Gift of a Terrible Husband Collaborator: newtypeshadow Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Marriage Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: magic AU, warlord AU Summary: In public, Bucky and his husband, Tony, are the deadly Winter Soldier and the fearsome Warlord Stark. But alone in their bedroom, Bucky can wake Tony with kisses and cuddles, and ensure he has a happy morning. Word Count: 1001
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Title: Ask For Much - Chapter 4: Oh, Bucky Bear Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - Walking Disaster Ship: Stucky Rating: M Major Tags: hurt/comfort, angst, angst and fluff, coffee as the elixir of life, Natasha is a good bro. Summary: Natasha has some things to say. Or Bucky’s heart may be broken. Word Count:481
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Title: [Art: Moodboard] The Heart of My Own (burn it down low) Collaborator: Minka Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y3 – Wolf Ship: Stucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: art  Summary: In a deep, dark forest, a city-weary deliveryman finds more than just his match. Word Count: 197
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Title: Livin' It Up (While We're Goin' Down) Collaborator: Politzania Link: AO3 Square Filled: B3 - KINK: Strength Kink Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Smut with Feelings, Trapped in Elevator, Predicament Bondage, Blowjob & masturbation Summary: Bucky gets stuck in a tiny elevator with Clint during a mission. Things go wrong, then incredibly right. Word Count: 1636
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Title: Set Up Collaborator: plutosrose Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y3 - Queer Platonic Relationship Ship: Stucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: Family Dinners, Pre-World War II Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Matchmaking, Queerplatonic Relationships Summary: “Her daughter Margaret is really nice. She’s studying to be a secretary. She thinks you two would get along well.”“Ma, I don’t want to have this discussion again,” Bucky grumbled, scrubbing a hand over his face.-Bucky's already happy. Word Count: 1384
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Title: Ask For Much - Chapter 5: Braided Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy Link: AO3 Square Filled: Y5 - Hair Braiding Ship: Stucky Rating: Teen Major Tags: hurt/comfort, angst, angst and fluff, long hair, Natasha is a good bro. Summary: Natasha and Bucky ponder the options. Or Bucky refuses to face the truth. Word Count: 775
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Title: Art: lost in time, lost in space Collaborator: LiquidLightz Link: AO3 Square Filled: U4 - Fix-It Ship: Stucky Rating: Teen Major Tags: art Summary: My banner artwork for the fabulous slow-burn romantic fix-it adventure that is powercrow's Planet Hulk / Endgame crossover fic "lost in time, lost in space". Featuring Planet Hulk gladiator Steve, Devil Dinosaur, Wakanda Bucky, and all your canon MCU favourites, as well as other original fantastical creatures and Planet Hulk inhabitants. The blend of scenes depicted take place in chapters 2 and 3 of the fic, and I've also split them out to appear in their respective chapters as individual illustrations.
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Title: The Heart of My Own (burn it down low) - Chapter 1: The Roots Collaborator: Minka Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 – Love at First Sight Ship: Stucky Rating: Mature Major Tags: adult themes Summary: As a boy of seven, Bucky sat at his babushka’s feet, listening to her croaky old voice talk of fairy tales and prophesies while her lips curled around a lit Laika, the smoke trickling from her nostrils like a tsmok from one of her stories. His babushka was horror, and she was memory; a lingering link between a world Bucky’s mother hated and one he saw as fantastical and magical. She was the storyteller, the soothsayer and the bringer of Bucky’s dreams. She also heralded his nightmares.----In a deep, dark forest, a city-weary delivery man finds more than he bargained for. Word Count: 11,186
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Title: I'll Never Be Alright (So I'm Breaking the Habit) Collaborator: Purple_ducky00 Link: AO3 Square Filled: U4 - Exile Ship: WinterIron   Rating: Mature Major Tags: Canon Typical Violence, Tony fans may want to physically harm Bucky at first Summary: Bucky is given a pardon and a chance to get help in America Word Count: 13,133
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Title: Serpentum Collaborator: plutosrose Link: AO3 Square Filled: B4 - AU: Ancient Civilization Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Alternate Universe - Ancient Civilization, Ancient Germany, Alternate Universe - Historical, Historical Accuracy Attempted, Nonmonogmous Relationship, (Steve and Sharon) Summary: But even in Roman red, he couldn’t mistake the face that was staring back at him, deep blue-gray eyes and dark brown curls. For a moment, he forgot his sword. “Bucky?” “Who the hell is Bucky?” - An Ancient Civilization AU based on Netflix's The Barbarians. Word Count: 2402
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Title: The Heart of My Own (burn it down low) - Chapter 2: Part II - The Body Collaborator: Minka Link: AO3 Square Filled: U3 – Steve/Bucky Ship: Stucky Rating: Mature Major Tags: adult themes Summary: In a deep, dark forest, a city-weary deliveryman finds more than he bargained for. Word Count: 11,186
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Title: Ask For Much - Chapter 6: Accidentally Collaborator: buckybarnesdeservestobehappy Link: AO3 Square Filled: B4 - Accidental Polyamory Ship: Bucky/Steve/Nat Rating: Explicit Major Tags: hurt/comfort, angst, polyamory, blowjob, friendship Summary: Natasha wants to make Bucky feel better, and Steve does, too. Or Well, that’s kind of a threesome. Word Count: 1482
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Title: Papa Steve Helps Out Collaborator: Avidreader6 Link: AO3 Square Filled: B2 - Kink-Sex Toys Ship: Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: BDSM, Daddy Kink, Bondage, Top Steve, Top Bucky, Bottom Tony Summary: Steve comes over to help Bucky get Tony ready before going to see his parents. He’s excited to find out just what getting ready entails. Takes place the next day after Brat. Word Count: 7702
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Title: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again Collaborator: sharkie335 Link: AO3 Square Filled: B3 - Kink: Deep throating Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content Summary: Bucky is determined to deep throat Steve. It's harder than you'd think. Word Count: 1385
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agirlinjapan · 6 years ago
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Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars (Week 19)
Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara A Translation
Miss the last piece? Read it here!
Check out the RDG Translation twitter!
Help me pay for my next translation project on Ko-fi.
Happy Palm Sunday, Easter, and Passover to those who will be celebrating over the next week!
This installation has brought us to page 200 in RDG 6. We’re chugging along! It’s officially spring break for me, which means I’ll have more time than usual to dedicate to RDG. I’m hoping to get a decent amount done each day, and move further through the novel. I think I’ll be done by the beginning of summer!
Translation Notes:
The Namahage are a type of demon portrayed at festivals in certain parts of Japan.
The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons appears in a number of Japanese folktales. It’s more or less just what it sounds like.
Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara Chapter 3: Winter Solstice Part 1 (2 of 3)
Seeing as no one came to the student government room during the study days before the exams, it was a much better place to tutor someone than the library. Talking wasn’t allowed in the library’s reading rooms and any questions a student amassed during their time there were easily forgotten by the time they left and could speak again.
In the government room though, it was perfectly fine to talk. Miyuki also seemed to prefer it over the library because he felt more comfortable when other people’s eyes weren’t on him. They could also talk freely about whatever they wanted when there weren’t other people around. Today, Izumiko was planning to use that solitude to bring up the awkward moment they had had the day before.
However, Miyuki and Izumiko weren’t the only ones to claim use of the student government room. When they arrived, Okouchi and Hoshino were already settled there. Unused to not coming to student government once a day during the pre-exam club hiatus, the two second years had been coming anyway to play around with the computers there.
Okouchi and Hoshino were so lost in their own world though that they never once bothered Izumiko and Miyuki when they studied together or did anything else. Little by little, Izumiko had gotten used to their presence, and didn’t notice them as much as she had at first.
The two second year boys came from very normal families. It was clear that neither of them had been raised in connection with spiritual abilities of any kind. However, while they did know about the students who had been raised with magic, they had reacted quite calmly to their existence. Their reaction probably wasn’t the norm though. The way they interacted with Izumiko hadn’t changed at all either.
The people Honoka collected for student government all must have something special in common, but I wonder what it is… Izumiko thought quietly to herself.
Hodaka and Honoka’s student government had turned itself into a well-functioning group over the past few months, but they had to have all been chosen for some quality they showed. Izumiko was just grateful that no one had been treating her differently since everything with Takayanagi.
The bespectacled duo had liked Miyuki from the start, and Miyuki had gotten along with the older students as well. He seemed to have a respect for their deep knowledge of everything two dimensional. Izumiko could tell that the duo was quite intelligent as well. They just really didn’t care much about anything outside of their own interests.
That day, as Hoshino, Okouchi, Miyuki, and Izumiko were talking, Hoshino said out of nowhere, “Did you know? December 25th, the day that everyone thinks is Jesus Christ’s birthday, was actually decided on by the Christian church after the Council of Nicaea that was held in 325 AD. The Roman empire was showing off the authority it had at the time, and they set the date to intercede with the Mithraic winter solstice. December 25th was the date of that holiday.”
Miyuki looked at Hoshino, and then let out a small laugh. “Does that mean you’re interested in a Christmas event all of a sudden?”
“If this is all common knowledge to the exchange students, it would be embarrassing if I didn’t know it. It was interesting to look things up. Listen to this,” Hoshino continued enthusiastically. “The headquarters of the Greenland International Santa Claus Association is in Copenhagen, and they talk about people becoming certified Santa Clauses on TV and stuff. Also, Scandinavia is seen as Santa Claus’s home. But in Scandinavia, the word they use for Christmas, Yule, is actually the Germanic winter solstice that dates back to before Christianity. Old Man Santa doesn’t appear in that old European festival. Instead, there’s a spirit of some kind who doesn’t give nice presents to anyone. It’s kind of like the Namahage here in Japan. It’s a demon that goes around scaring little kids into behaving well.”  
The image of a man dressed up in a demon mask and a straw cape with a sword in his hand going door to door during a festival came to Izumiko’s mind. She had seen it on TV at some point.
“The Namahage is from the Touhoku region in the northeast, right?” she asked. “He’s part of one of their festivals.”
“Yes, yes. He’s the one that goes, “Are there any bad kids here? Are there any crybabies here?”” Okouchi said, his expression serious as he took on the demon’s role for a second.
“The Christmas that Japanese people are used to comes from the US,” he continued. “And US Christmas comes from England. We’re used to the Christmas traditions that come from the English speaking part of the world, but there are many different traditions beyond those. The reason why western Christmas has rooted itself so deeply here in Japan is because Emperor Taisho died on December 25th and the day became a national holiday. It became a normal day again after World War II, but decorating Christmas trees, Santa Claus’s presents, and the winter sales war remain.”
“Have you been researching Christmas too, Okouchi?” Miyuki said doubtfully.
“I need to be prepared so that this doesn’t become a Christian based event. I’m doing this for President Honoka, too.” Okouchi went back to typing on his keyboard. “Christmas trees appear in winter solstice festivals that predate Christianity. Decorating houses with boughs from pine trees comes from early, non-Christian traditions. Decorating with evergreens is said to keep away evil spirits and attract good luck. We decorate with pine branches in a similar way here in Japan. After December 25th became Christ’s birthday, Germany began the tradition of decorating trees in the early modern era. It apparently then spread to England through the royal family. When Europeans first came to America, Christmas trees were one of the customs they rejected as being pagan. They were Puritans after all.”
“Wow. That’s unbelievable,” Izumiko said, her eyes wide. “So, Christmas trees are a pagan tradition. Decorated trees and the way we hang pine boughs outside people’s homes seem really different, though. Do they really still have the same basis in their meanings?”
Seeing Izumiko’s involvement in the conversation, Hoshino continued with increased vigor. “Speaking of original meanings, the connection between Christmas and the Wild Hunt is also interesting. There’s a legend about a hunt that takes place during the time between Halloween and the winter solstice. The hunting party is made up of fairies, the dead, and their black hunting dogs. That’s the Wild Hunt. The stories originated in Europe, and there are lots of different versions of it, but because any human who sees the hunt dies, it’s basically the same as Japan’s Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. However, if children put offerings in their stockings on the night before Winter Solstice, Germen folk stories say they’ll receive presents in those stockings from the Wild Hunt the next morning. ”
“Is that where leaving candy in Christmas stockings comes from?” Izumiko asked.
Miyuki made a sour face. “Please use this time to study for the exams, you two. Don’t waste the rest of your time wrapped up in this.”
“We’re getting wrapped up in this because it’s just before the exam,” Hoshino said. “Without fail, I always feel the need to read a big fat book right before exams.”
“Ah, me too.” Okouchi agreed.
The two of them made a few comments about their extensive stock of knowledge, but the conversation ended quickly after that. It wasn’t because they were bothering Miyuki though. They had simply said all that they needed to. Most likely, Okouchi and Hoshino had not been ignoring their studies, they had simply wanted to give Izumiko and Miyuki a break from their own work.
Quick break or not, Izumiko had been surprised by what she had just hard, and she couldn’t easily stop thinking about it. Even after parting from the bespectacled duo, she was still mulling over the information.
“I didn’t know that Christmas had its roots in a pagan holiday. Maybe I’ll do some research on it too… I’ve never heard of the Wild Hunt either. If they were comparing it to the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, the legends should be from around the Heian era probably. The Night Parade is mentioned in an Abe no Seimei story, isn’t it…”
“Don’t get pulled into this, Izumiko. We’re focusing on math right now,” Miyuki said, giving her a frightening look. “If you do the same thing they’re doing, you’ll waste all your time. Those two have the impressive ability of being able to switch back and forth between topics in an instant.”
“Had you heard about what they said before?”
“Most people wouldn’t know those things. I’ve only ever thought of Christmas as a day where kids ask their parents for things they want.”
“So, a present day?”
Sensing that Izumiko could no longer concentrate on the problem set, Miyuki gave up for the time being and answered her question.
“Okouchi was right when he mentioned the sales war. Isn’t that really what Christmas is for most people besides people who believe in it?”
“I never got any presents on Christmas,” Izumiko replied. “Were you someone who did?”  
“I don’t just get stuff. I have to ask Yukimasa for it. If I bug him about something I need, he’ll get me whatever I want. He’s such a bad parent. I guess it’s his way of making up for leaving me alone so much,” Miyuki said bluntly.
The dry relationship between him and his father was quite evident at that moment. He didn’t seem as close-lipped as he usually was when Yukimasa came up in conversation though. He was speaking calmly.
Izumiko expanded upon the question she had already asked.
“Did you ever get a Christmas present from anyone? Like from a kid at school or something?”
“Yeah, I got a few of those.”
“From girls?”
Hearing this, Miyuki looked at Izumiko in surprise. “Well… some. We had present exchanges and Christmas parties, after all.”
“I’ve never been to a Christmas party. But I’d see presents during the cold season with their pretty wrapping paper and ribbons, and I always thought it would make me feel really good to get one. They have a different feel to them from getting New Year’s money,” Izumiko said, thinking about it yearningly.
She had never been able to experience a Christmas party when her school life had depended on being driven back and forth from the shrine to school in Mr. Nonomura’s car. She only knew about them from what she had heard from other people.
Miyuki gave a little laugh as if he found her life detached from the rest of the world strange.
“Unexpected Christmas presents do make people happy. You end up wondering how the other person knew you wanted whatever it was that they gave you.”
“Are you talking about something you got from a girl?”
“Why are you getting so particular about this? I get Christmas presents every year. That’s why Yukimasa can’t ignore the day either and gives me something. The sender’s name is never anywhere on the box, but it’s probably from Kaori. I have a feeling that it comes through Mr. Sengoku.”
Izumiko blinked at the unusually personal story he had just told her. Kaori was the name of Miyuki’s mother who had divorced Yukimasa years ago.
“Does your mom live in the mountains? Mr. Sengoku is the ascetic monk you trained with on Mt. Haguro, right?”
“I have no idea where Kaori is now. I heard that she got remarried a long time ago. That’s why I haven’t seen her or talked to her since she left. I just get a present with no name on Christmas.”
Miyuki showed no emotion at all, but all the same, Izumiko could sense how he was feeling. Even though he hadn’t seen his mother in all this time, she still had a big place in his heart.
After a moment of thought, Miyuki ended the conversation with a note of finality. “Mr. Sengoku is Kaori’s uncle. He’s the only person I know in the Sengoku family. Let’s stop talking about Christmas. We can talk about it more after the exams when we can relax.”
Izumiko knew how much it had taken Miyuki to share this story with her, so she didn’t want to make him angry by spacing out on the math problems he had prepared for her. She dropped her head back to the problem set, and diligently returned to her work on the equations.
Keep reading!
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bienready2122 · 4 years ago
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12 Kinds of Antique Products You Can Sell Through Online Auctions
All forms of antiques, from dolls to furnishings are certainly splendid dealers. But most folks aren't antique sellers and might not recognize or care enough approximately them.  Custom Made Jewellery So right here are twelve matters that promote like crazy that you can benefit from using on-line auctions. (The list isn't in precedence order.)
1. Coins
A lot of humans are coin collectors. You can purchase at the Internet all styles of overseas cash; pesos from Mexico, and cash from Brazil. Now we've got the Euro, cash in the old cash can only increase in price as they emerge as a rarity.
These are very reasonably-priced cash. Some people have packaged them, like one hundred cash of the arena, and that they have offered at auction for £60 and £70. Many of these cash, just like the Mexican peso and Brazilian one peso coin is less than a penny.
Also, Indian Head pennies and old silver, and even some cutting-edge silver it really is not that antique, what's referred to as junk silver, however it's miles nonetheless silver, could be very famous. Some human beings bid these things up a long way more than what you could purchase it for as base steel. It's loopy, however that's how it's far.
2. Pocket and looking knives
Both old and new pocket and looking knives are very popular gadgets. This class additionally includes swords.
It's now not for everyone, but in case you are fascinated or have some understanding of survival talents the usage of knives, or find the records of swords charming these items do nicely on line.
3. Watches and Rings
People are into some uncommon watches and rings. Some of the turquoise watches and jewellery from New Mexico, became at the beginning popular twenty years ago. But then it went out of fashion and no person could put on it. Now, over again, it's miles popular.
If you could purchase that jewelry at an awesome price, you may double and even triple your money.
Four. Music packing containers
Music bins are very collectible and incredibly popular. They are particularly easy to ship to customers. A visit to any junk save, automobile boot sale, antiques mall or market will usually yield at the least one music field.
Five. Holiday Season Items
All sorts of uncommon gadgets connected to Easter, Christmas and Halloween are extraordinarily famous. People have bid items on this class way up.
6. Native American Indian Arts and Crafts
Anything to do with Indian arts and crafts is huge commercial enterprise specially within the USA, UK, Germany and Belgium. Old arrowheads are popular, blankets, saddles, beadwork, all varieties of matters connected with the Native American international locations.
7. Religious Items
It would not remember whether the religious gadgets are Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu or some other faith. They are all very famous.
In the Middle East they have "worry beads." I had an Arab buddy many years ago that gave me a few. They don't cost tons cash. I've seen them bid as much as £25.
Eight. Rocks and Fossils
Rocks and fossils are very popular, perhaps because they're so collectible - they take little room up however a set can be startling and thrilling.
Nine. Bedspreads and Quilts
The star quilts of the North American Indians are very popular as well as the numerous quilts made by the Victorians. Still a popular craft these days, even contemporary home made bedspreads and quilts can fetch a terrific price.
10. Perfumes and Colognes
This consists of perfumes and colognes for each women and men. Especially name manufacturers at a reduction in which human beings can bid for it, however get it for lower than the £50 it'd typically promote for in a huge department store.
11. Regional Items
Regional objects have extended in reputation. People, who live in Arizona and New Mexico, California, Texas, can slip beyond the border and choose up Mexican arts and crafts extraordinarily cheap, and but double and triple their money on eBay.
If you do not stay within the States, however take a vacation in Mexico or South America, you may nonetheless find this profitable. This class also covers tourist items offered everywhere inside the global; inclusive of African beadwork, dolls in the costume of the u . S . A ., china from seashore cities in the British Isles, handbags from Egypt, it's infinite. As an aside, there's a significant, thriving marketplace in British seashore minutiae from pre-1970s.
12. Autographs
If , or have, something that changed into signed with the aid of a famous person; a rock megastar, film stars, presidents, something, they may be bidding these up large time on eBay and the opposite public sale web sites. Some creditors' are also eager to bid for a famous man or woman's object of garb or lock of hair.
So, it truly is only a precis of twelve classes that promote nicely thru Internet auctions.
Of path you can sell thousands of different gadgets. All styles of books promote, for example, there may be no question approximately that. I've sold books and I've had 3 or four special agencies purchase books from me and resell them on eBay, Yahoo and other public sale websites. However, you must either purchase or print books reasonably-priced sufficient that you could ask for big sufficient reductions.
For instance, a £25 e-book might get auctioned off at £6 or £7. Now if you obtain it for £2, or published it for £2 it should not be a trouble creating a steady income. The profit margin is massive enough so as to walk away with cash on your pocket.
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carolynjanai-blog · 7 years ago
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Jesus Was Born In April Anyway
 Remember what I said about Thanksgiving being a sham? Wait till you get a load of Christmas hoo boy, what a mess. I discussed the “Happy Holidays” vs “Merry Christmas” discourse in a separate prompt about political correctness, so I’d like to instead talk about the supposed War on Christmas and what a crock of shit it is.
The season was originally a pagan festival for the solstice, but everyone knows that, let’s add to it with a few myths from the Nordic countries and how modern Christmas traditions would have been sued for copyright if they didn’t forcibly convert or similarly quash any resistance.
Odin was the basis of Jolly Old Santa Clause, not St. Nick he was a real guy. Santa Clause with the long white beard, decked out in furs and carrying a bindle.
Throw an eye patch on him and you got Odin.
Odin got his kicks in Norse mythology by wandering earth as a smelly hobo, his possessions in a sack, picking up bits and pieces of wisdom and magic wherever he found it, which is how he lost an eye by the way. He gouged it out and traded it for a drink from the Well o’ Wisdom.
If your curious, The Hermit card in a tarot deck is also based off Odin and another poignant fun fact; Christmas, actually most Christian holidays, are mostly a hodge-podge of pagan traditions and Christian arrogance.
Another example of Christmas ripping off Nordic myths is in the piney décor. Christmas Trees started in old pre-Christianized Scandinavia, pine trees were often thought of as a divine gift from the most beloved and beautiful Baldur, god of light and love. The use of pine wreaths and boughs were used to ward off evil spirits and rein in the new year. Strong, earthy scented plants were often used to ward off evil. (Fun aside: Burning sage is the most often described plant of choice for banishing dark spirits, a ritual practiced for centuries by indigenous people of America and Europe but recently revived into mainstream by paranormal nonsense and new age bullshit.)
Another plant commandeered by the season is mistletoe. I think this one is really well known too, but I am often wrong. This myth tells the story of Frigga, great prophetess, goddess of love and marriage and wife of Odin Clause, having a vision of the death of her most beloved son, Baldur. She’s horrified and casts a spell on Baldur to make him impervious to all materials except mistletoe. Baldur and his pals do exactly what anyone else would do if they found out they couldn’t be hurt: they began hurling axes and spears and shit at their most beloved buddy. Loki, who suffers from John Smith Syndrome that he was miscast as a British gentleman instead of the piece of shit goblin he is in myth, hears about throwing shit Baldur and is always down for murder, so he tricks the god of darkness (who is blind) into shooting Baldur with the Norse equivalent of a kryptonite bullet. He dies, Frigga flips shit, Loki is cast out of Asgard and Frigga declares that mistletoe will not be a symbol of her son’s death but of what he stood for: love and light and shit. “Any pair found under the mistletoe shall share in a kiss… Um, just don’t eat it, this stuff is still, like super poisonous.”
And that tradition lasts even today, people still kiss under mistletoe and it’s still super poisonous is you eat it.
So, as a recap, Santa is in fact Odin, a Christmas tree is actually a ripoff of a tribute from Baldur the Nordic sun god and that the murderer was Loki in the ballroom with the mistletoe arrow. I could go on and on about different ripped off pagan symbols that were re-purposed for Christian use, but here’s a question for ya: why have pagan traditions permeated so deeply into today’s society especially since Christianity is so very anti-pagan?
Here’s a comparable story that I either heard in a class at some point or on a podcast or something.
The storyteller says that his friend from childhood’s Spanish grandmother used to have her over for weekends, and on every Friday night she would light a candles and put it under the table. The girl asked why she did that and her grandmother told her that it was a tradition her parents did, and her grandparents did and so one. It was just an old tradition, but the when the girl grew up she did some research into her family history. It turns out, that her grandmother’s family were all born in Spain until they immigrated in the 1940’s. You might remember a time when Spain lost its shit and tried to take over the world and either exterminate other religions or forcibly convert them or drive them out. Now, her grandmother’s family was originally Jewish and in light of their options, they chose to convert to Christianity and remain in Spain. The reason her family lit a candle and hid it under the table every Friday night was because of the Jewish tradition of lighting candles to welcome the Sabbath, Saturday. If you’re secretly practicing a religion in a hostile country, you do it secretly, so her family would put the candles under the table to keep their neighbors and secret police from discovering that they were still practicing Judaism. They did this for centuries in secret and eventually the action lost meaning, but was still practiced.
Kind of the same deal with the pagan traditions. They were so strongly imbedded in the culture of the people, that they just added their ideals to those of the newcomers and went from there. Eventually, the pagan/Christian traditions spread through Europe, likely starting with Germany, and eventually we just weren’t taught why we do these things and just rolled with it because everyone else seemed cool with it.
So this war on Christmas shit is all the more ridiculous to me. It’s like if I followed you home, kicked in the door of your house, sat at your dinner table and complained that I don’t like mushrooms and that you shouldn’t either and that you should make something else. So fuck the cups, Christmas already monopolized ¼ of the year, what more could possibly be given?
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jk28147 · 5 years ago
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Ultimate Easter Guide - New Easter Feast Ideas To Try In 2020
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You'll Love this Easter Guide with its decorating & Easter Feast ideas. Find effortless meal recopies, cool gift ideas, & activities for kids of all ages. Discover the reason behind us celebrating the Easter Feast and the source of the Easter Bunny and Egg Hunt. Celebrating this coming Easter Feast in style doesn’t have to break the bank. Neither does it mean you’d need to skip on anything. We want to enable you to celebrate an Easter Feast that will make lifetime memories. We wish a Happy Easter to you and your family. Do you want to celebrate a great Easter? It doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are simple ideas, if put in place, I guarantee you and your family have a great Easter Feast. We just keep it simple and its simplicity what this ultimate Easter guide is all about.
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Why Is It Called Easter? What Is Ester All About?When Is Easter?Where does the Easter Bunny come from? Why do we Color Easter Eggs?How To Decorate Your Home For Easter? What to cook for Easter? Are There Fun Activities for you and the kids? Great Easter Gift Ideas For kids? We got lot's to cover ... so, let's just jump right in ...
When is Easter?
April 12/2020 Is Easter Sunday Easter is immediately after lent. Lent is a period of fasting, moderation, repentance and spiritual discipline of 40 days, and it is done in preparation for Easter. In the Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday (receiving of Ash) marks the beginning of Lent and Easter. Easter Sunday, therefore, marks the end of Lent and is Easter day. The Eastern Orthodox Churches However, observe Lent or what is known as the Great Lent. For 6 weeks or 40 days before Palm, Sunday and fasting continue during the Easter week. Also known as the Holy Week. Lent to the Eastern Orthodox Churches begins on a Monday and western Ash Wednesday is observed. Because of the pagan history of Easter. Also because of the high commercialization of Easter, many of the Christian churches refer to Easter instead as the day of the resurrection or resurrection day.
Where does the Easter Bunny come from?
Some sources have it that the Easter Bunny arrived in America in 1700 with immigrants from Germany. Whom settled in the Pennsylvania area. They brought in their tradition. In which a hare lays eggs, and called it the " Osterhase" ortranslated Easter Bunny. The children of these immigrants built nests. Where this creature could lay its colored eggs. According to the popular website History.com, Easter eggs represent the resurrection of Jesus. However, the association of the egg and resurrection came much later. It was in the 15th century when Catholicism became the more dominant religion in the German part of Europe and joined with pre-existing pagan beliefs.
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19 Inch Wreath - Price $59.99 & FREE Shipping (colors are optional) The Bunny is an anthropomorphic one, with its ability to lay eggs and sneaking into homes a night before Easter to present baskets full of colorful eggs, toys, and even chocolates. Due to the spread of Christianity, Missionaries routinely practiced good business strategies or salesmanship by inculcating pagan ideas and rituals into the context of Christian faith and inputting pagan celebrations or festivals into Christian feasts and holidays (like Christmas). The Austrian Easter Feast took place at about the same time as the celebration of the Christians of the resurrection of Christ, so that the two celebrations became as one and there was a kind of mix between the two cultures, it seemed natural that the pagans and the images of the eggs the pagans brought came with them into their new faith. This hare has gone on to become the most common rabbit today.
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Easter Bunny and Eggs Table Linen with Embroidered Edges and White Base Color - From $13.99 & FREE shipping on orders over $25.00 (March 2019) The pagans The biblical Jews call gentiles, clung to the rabbits and this eventually became part of the Christian celebration. We do not know exactly when, but it was mentioned first in the German writings of the 1600s. The Germans turned the image of the pagan rabbit to Oschter Haws. A rabbit supposed to lay a nest of colorful eggs and gifts for good children as well. A poll of some Twitter followers shows that 81% of its respondents believe that the Easter Bunny is male. Based primarily on the images of it wearing a bow tie. The idea of the pregnancy of the rabbit. As to laying of eggs is either to give it a larger than life meaning. Or just a fact that perhaps rabbits were simply awesome then.
Why Is It Called Easter?
There is a single reference of a prior Christianity goddess out of Great Brittan. From an English Monk ( name "Venerable Bede" ). The entry refers back to the end of the seventh or early eighth century. Either way this goddess "Eostre" was celebrated during early spring. And therefore suppose to be responsible for the name of the Holiday. ,
Why Do We Celebrate Easter?
Easter is the Biggest Event for all Christian Believers. On the Easter Sunday, Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In general, it is the most attended Sunday service for Christian churches. According to the Scriptures, Christians believe that Jesus resurrected or came out of the grave three days after his death. As a part of this Easter period, the death or crucifixion of Jesus Christ is celebrated on Good Friday of Easter (i.e. on the Friday before Easter). By his death, burial and his resurrection, Jesus paid the price for all sin and acquired eternal life through him to all who would believe in him. For this reason, Easter is the biggest celebration of the Christians, because it is the premise upon which the faith is built. Through Easter, Christians believe could live forever by resurrecting after death by the power of the resurrected Christ. All the Christian beliefs, laws and commandments are based on the resurrection of Christ.
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$18.10 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon. The biblical account of Easter The biblical account of the death of Jesus on the cross (which is also known as the crucifixion). His burial and resurrection are found in the following passages of the Bible: Matthew 27: 27-28: 8; Mark 15: 16-16: 19; Luke 23: 26-24: 35; and John 19: 16-20: 30. Of course, the word "Easter" does not appear in the Bible. And the Scripture does not mention a celebration by the early Church of the Resurrection of Christ. Easter, just like Christmas, is a tradition that was developed later in the history of the church.
Why Do We Color Easter Eggs?
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Order a 6 Pack of Hand Painted wooden Eggs on Amazon for $19.99 Plus Shipping Painting the Eggs is based on the liturgical colors of Easter What does this mean? According to Wikipedia " Liturgy" is the customary public worship performed by a religious group, according to its beliefs, customs and traditions” Or In simple terms: The liturgical colors are colors found on church decors and clothes of the Catholic priests. And they change throughout the (liturgical) year. These colors underline the different seasons and moods the church is in. Also, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the modern sequence of Roman colors. This guides for the Catholic Church was introduced in 1198 by Pope Innocent III. He enacted the treatise of De Sacro altar is Mysterio (which means the mystery of the sacred altar). In this essay, the Pope based the symbolism of colors on the Song of Songs. Or more on the interpretations of colors and flowers of the Song of Songs (or the Song of Solomon) in the Old Testament. In general, other Christian denominations today associate Easter colors similar to those of the Roman Catholics. Here Are The Main Christian Colors & Their Meanings Red The red symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ. And it is mostly used during Pentecost. Which falls on the fiftieth day after Easter. And it commemorates the descent of the third in the Trinity. The Holy Spirit. Red means sacrifice, martyrdom, fire and of course blood. White The white color is a symbol of purity. That symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ. During the feasts of the Lord and the Passover. White, of course, represents light, purity, and innocence, including joy, glory, and triumph. Green After Easter, the priests wear green robes. The color Green represents the hope of the resurrection of Christ and eternal life.
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Order The Easter Egg Carousel now For $12.99 + Shipping On Amazon (March2019) Pink It is a very special color which is only used twice a year. First on the third Advent Sunday. And second on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The pink color is synonymous with joy and love. Violet This is one of the most prominent colors during the Lent season, especially on the Good Friday. It means suffering and sorrow, especially for the suffering of Jesus during the 40 days he spent in the desert. Violet is synonymous with penance, melancholy, and humility.
Easter Home Decorating Ideas
To make your Easter worth it, you might consider making great Easter feast decors. Those can give your home that wonderful and amazing look it deserves for Easter. How do you make colorful Easter decors? Here are some ideas... A Cute Idea For A Easter Feast Centerpiece
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Easter Centerpiece Settings Easter sweets/candies are not only delicious, they are also beautiful and colorful. If you like to have sweets/candies and want to use these sweets for a big Easter show or display. Then this might be the perfect project you would embark on. You only need a glass vase and many Easter-themed candies. Marshmallow peeps, Robin's eggs and jelly beans and are perfect for this project. Especially since peeps are now available in different colors. You may add flowers at the top or a pretty ribbon, whichever your preference will do. Colorful Easter Chick Placeholders You might consider filling your Easter dinner table with the joy and cheer of Easter. When creating these colorful and adorable placeholders. You would need a little terracotta garden dish or pot for each person at the table. The chicks are then made with plastic spoons, then you can paint your placeholders with the same color or create a unique color scheme for each guest. Hang a sign with the names of your guests on the chicks and you would have one of the most colorful tables in your neighborhood.
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Price: $13.74 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon. And don't worry if you are not into crafts or don't have the time. Because here we have some handpicked Easter decor ideas for you as well Watch the following video. And find some cheap Easter Decoration Tips & Ideas!
Easter Meal Ideas
While considering how to have the perfect Easter decor. You might also want to plan what you would like to cook/eat. Foods are amazing, right? Celebrate Easter with a creative and delicious menu.
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Egg Salad Blini Bites The Formal Easter Feast Family Tradition You have lots of options for your selection. Ranging from your favorite recipes for glazed ham, pretty green salads, to Lamb & Fish. So anything you find tasty. Keep in mind that preserved plums, mixed with fresh citrus fruits and chopped red peppers. As well as ginger, in the mix refresh the traditionally cooked ham. And a creamy scalloped potato casserole and a tender asparagus amandine are sure to complete a great family menu. And round it all up with some fresh and fluffy rolls. Preferably direct from the oven. And you are set for any Easter Sunday. Further if your make your Yeast Rolls from scratch, you can prep the dough and refrigerate it. This can relieve you of the stress of doing it all on the holiday. Hold on, we would not even think about Easter without your favorite cake or pie. If you plan to have a formal dinner on Easter day, you might consider some of those recipes above. Which will impress your guest.
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Celebrating This Easter Feast more casual. And goo a rich breakfast casserole, glasses of champagne flutes and then gather your family and friends for a wonderful mid-morning brunch.
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Should you have a nice weather day, You might even consider to venture to your backyard, patio or local park. If the park is your choice, how about packing up your picnic for a casual meal? Spring can be so wonderful. However, do not stop just there, some sliced strawberries and spicy pecans could turn a Baby Blue salad, into any one's favorite perennial holiday favorite.
Are there the fun activities for you and the kids?
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Four Cute Easter Decor Pillow Cases For $19.99 & FREE Shipping
Fun Kids Activities
The Easter Egg Hunt Yes, the quest for Easter eggs is a tradition that should not be omitted while planning your Easter Feast. However, there are only a few years that your kids would like to search the garden for Easter Eggs before the idea starts to fade. Either way, if you get just a bit more creative you can improve their enjoyment in the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Because this activity can really be a gift of its own. We all know how challenging it can be to keep kids busy. So you better not plan to proceed with the actual egg hunt for long hours of the day. While you are trying to retain its beauty. However, even the most jaded of the older kids will reach new excitement when you expose them to these very unique egg hunt tweaks. Here are a few of my favorite  Easter egg hunt ideas that you may not have tried yet Growing an Easter egg garden If you have very young children, then this old fashion egg hunt is for you. And it could be the sweetest thing to watch on Easter.Let me explain ... If they are not old enough to hunt for the eggs wherever. (some are placed for the older kids as well).
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Jumbo Plastic Printed Easter Eggs - click to order For $9.99 + Shipping On Amazon (March / 2019) You either can create your own garden of Easter eggs, which " grows " plastic eggs. Or you can place candy-filled Easter eggs right into the flowers of the garden. The grass or even right into the sand path will work as well. This will make even the most little ones delighted to find their treat. Easter bunny tracks A real Easter egg hunt directed by the very same the Easter bunny? This is a sure one which could be more adorable. Your kids will love to wake up on Easter morning only to discover that Easter Bunny himself has left a personal note and some rabbit tracks showing the direction to the hidden eggs. These cute prints make the egg hunt amazing.
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The Golden egg hunt The little kids of this pirate-loving age will have fun with this specialized search for Easter eggs. If kids know that there are "hidden treasures", like one big and different outstanding golden egg that the Easter Bunny has left, they will probably hunt a little more seriously.
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Order 24 Pieces for (March / 2019) Price: $7.20 + Shipping Egg hunt indoors Do you live in the region of the country where the spring has not yet sprung, you still have hope? You may turn a rainy or cold morning into a pleasant adventure by telling your kids that they’d hunt in the house for all their Easter eggs. To make your egg hunt indoors more colorful and unique, hide the eggs on a path or with clues that lead to a large Easter basket.
Cool Easter Feast Gift Ideas For kids
The period of Lent is almost coming to an end, and Easter is at the corner and you are wondering how to setup your Easter celebrations which would ensure the kids have fun. Here is a cool way to make it happen. Get a basket filler for your kids. I'm quite sure this guide will give you ideas on how to set it up.  Most children are constantly waiting for the Easter baskets on a yearly basis. Great Easter basket fillers are always fun and are mostly easy to find.
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Complete this Easter Feast with books and kids movies However, Easter will not be complete without getting some books, stuffed animals or a movie for the kids. There are books on a wide range of topics or subjects which you can get for the kids to make their day and season. You might consider getting books on science or books on the subject of the season, Jesus. There are lots of these books you can get either online or from your favorite bookstore.
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Shop our Easter Kids Book Collection Fun Stuff & Bestseller for 2 Years in a row Fluffy Egg Slime Yes they sold like crazy for the most part. However, you need to get in on the action early... because last year the price tripled about 2 weeks before Easter. If you are looking for more super fun and fluffy slime. Like homemade slime as you may have seen on YouTube & Instagram. Perhaps you are looking for a way to reduce your stress level in both a fun and relaxing manner. Then this super-fun non-sticky scented giant fluffy slime is all you need! How to play with this slime? That is the easy part, simply squeeze it and pull it over and over. Just release your pressure to start having fun. Pinch it, smash it, twist it, pull it over and over, or make models - just use your imagination with the Juicy fluffy slime Ingredients used In making this include the following, Water, polymeric materials, gelling agents, colorants, fillers, and preservatives You can get 3 Pack Soft Egg Slime for less then $8.00
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Price: $7.99 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon. Price Check March 4th. 2019 Enjoy.
Conclusion:
As you can see, creating the perfect Easter celebration is not a difficult task. Follow this guide to get the best experience this Easter. And don’t forget to share this as your plan to have fun on Easter Sunday. Now I like to turn it over to you. Did you learn anything new? Will you celebrate formal or did you like my casual suggestions? Do you plan any of the suggested kids activity? Or do you have some ideas you like to share with us? Please post comments and questions below. I can't wait to see what you all come up with :) What ever it is that you are planning to do this Easter. Keep in mind that we celebrate the lords Resurrection and the love and forgiveness that we received, Therefor all you need to do is make everyone that will celebrate this day with you feel special and loved. Happy Easter from me to all of you and enjoy! Thanks for reading and sharing. JK Read the full article
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randylavalley · 6 years ago
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7 ONE-OF-A-KIND POINTS TO DO IN TORONTO, CANADA
I may be biased however Toronto, Canada is one of the most effective cities in the world. Not only is it one of one of the most habitable cities yet there is so much to do for travelers. Between the sporting activities games, museums, nature, and restaurants you won't discover it difficult to fill out a weekend break or even a week in this city.
While you could invest a week touring around Toronto, you can likewise see every one of the significant sites within a vacation. The best time to visit is most definitely in the summertime. The city and individuals seem to find alive after numerous months stuck indoors from cold weather. Like the majority of significant cities, Toronto lies along a beachfront which most definitely includes in its appeal.
Having entertained several foreigners as well as visitors to Toronto we have a pretty good sense of what plan can make an excellent journey. Right here are 7 distinct points for you to do on your following journey to Toronto.
LEADING TRAVEL SUGGESTION--.
Many vacationers call for a visa to take a trip to Vietnam, or at very least a pre-paid E-Visa. Make certain that you inspect your visa demands prior to you take a trip. If you need aid with a visa application and also return trip reservations, you can apply for Kach's Traveling and also Visa Coaching Solutions and Rent-a-Flight Service.
1. VISIT THE TORONTO ISLANDS.
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In the summertime, travelling to the Toronto Islands is a local favourite. It's a location that no one really finds out about if you have not taken a trip to the city in the past. Even residents occasionally fail to remember exactly how fantastic the Islands can be. To arrive you need to take a ferryboat or a water taxi. Both are under $10 per person and the ride is about 15-20 mins. If you take the ferry there are 3 ports to pick from; Ward's Island, Hanlan's Factor as well as Centreville. The sight from the ferryboat is likewise incredible, it's certainly the best sight of the city skyline.
Ward's Island is a small beach community with one of the best-secluded coastlines in Toronto. The coastline is generally loaded with 20 and also 30-somethings aiming to kick back for the day. It's also among the only locations in Toronto where you can drink in public with little consequences. While it's illegal to drink in public in Ontario, there's absolutely numerous people that sneak over a beer or 2 to privately take pleasure in.
Hanlan's Point is the nudist beach of Toronto. Yea, you read that right, we have a nudist coastline. I personally have actually never ever existed yet I do know apparel is not an option. You must be naked. Also, no images, which I think goes without claiming.
Centreville is the best area for households. It's a small theme park bordered by plant and a few various other beach options. I made use of to spend a lot of my youth summertimes here delighting in the flights. I absolutely enjoyed it.
2. SEE SPORTS VIDEO GAME.
While going to a sports game may not appear that special, it's absolutely a different experience in Toronto. In Canada, we just have one basketball team and one baseball team which are both based out of Toronto. Therefore you basically have a nation of specialized fans sustaining one group.
Depending what period you're taking a trip check out the Toronto Blue Jays (baseball), Toronto Raptors (basketball), Toronto Maple Leafs (hockey), Toronto Football Club (football) or the Toronto Argonauts (football). All of the stadiums are ideal in the city so you will not have to take a trip much to capture a game. Tickets can be rather pricey so make sure to check into them quicker than later on. Worst case there are constantly lots of scalpers around for you to benefit from.
3. GO TO KENSINGTON MARKET.
Kensington Market is such an awesome component of the city. Situated nearly smack dab in the center of midtown it's pretty simple to reach by transit or the downtown core. The place is a hippie's heaven.
All of the buildings are covered with graffiti as well as the restaurants are really low-cost. This is additionally the best location to be if you get on a budget plan. The food is probably the most affordable in the city (and also in many cases the best). Plus, the dining establishments are fairly practical also.
4. ST. LAWRENCE MARKET
The St. Lawrence Market is one of the oldest spots in Toronto. The indoor market is filled with vendors and mini shops that have been passed down from generation to generation. Locals love grabbing lunch or groceries here because most of the markets have food grown or produced locally.
The prices are pretty great as well. Bring your hunger if you are visiting though because this place has the best peameal bacon sandwiches in the country. That’s not an exaggeration either. Although make sure you check the days because the market is closed on Sundays and Mondays, as it has been for many years.
5. DISTILLERY DISTRICT
The Distillery District is the most beautiful spots in Toronto. The old world charm just can’t be beaten. Most of the area is just nice to walk around in but there are some amazing restaurants here as well. El Catrin and Cluny’s are local favourites.
In the summer there are usually a bunch of things happening in this pocket of the city. Anything from artisan markets to outdoor concerts you’ll find it. In the winter you’ll find the best Christmas market in Ontario. You can do a bit of research before your trip to figure out what’s going on here to really take advantage.
6. STEAM WHISTLE BREWERY
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Located right near the CN Tower, and beside the Toronto roundhouse, the Steam Whistle Brewery is a favourite among Torontonians. Founded in 2000 the distillery quickly became a local favourite and in some people’s opinion, the beer of the city.
There are only four ingredients used in making the beer. The ingredients include; spring water from nearby Caledon, hops from Czech Republic and Germany, two-row barley and yeast. I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a beer connoisseur but I would definitely say this beer is pretty damn good. Take a tour of the facility and you’ll get to try your fair share as well!
7. SCARBOROUGH BLUFFS Last but not least is an area located a bit outside of the city but a spot to check out if you love nature. There is street parking all around or a mini marina you can park in as well.
There are some great trails around the area but the best are down by the rocks. The highest point is 300 ft above the water. They are famous for being a ‘geological wonder’ in North America. Visiting them you won’t feel as if you’re close to the city at all. Just make sure you’re careful around the area. Taking an epic picture is great but the fall is really steep.
The post “ 7 ONE-OF-A-KIND POINTS TO DO IN TORONTO, CANADA “ was originally seen on twomonkeystravelgroup.com
Vitamin Therapy Toronto - The IV Lounge
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ramrodd · 6 years ago
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What flaws in the ROTC program need to be addressed?
COMMENTARY:
I have deleted a series of responses to Mike Page’s response to his own question.
I never disagree with his ahrgument, per se, especially as far as the advantages his proposal of 2 summer camps are concerned instead of the 4 year program I went through as a liberal arts student majoring in letters and process theology.
The process theology I was getting from RTOC, you dumb fuck. Nothing personal, of course.
The 2 summer camp program he proposes is more fun. I loved summer camp. My only problem was that I had to finish my senior year and my summer camp happened just before the 1968 Democrat Convention which resulted in the police riot the SDS had been designed to create with the 1962 Porort Huron Statement.
Cause and effect. The cause was the Trotsky Insurgence process embedded in the political strategy of the anti-war people. The Trosky Insurgency process is designed to employ sedition and subversion to create the social alienation and polarization that leads to sabotage and violent revolution. The sabotage didn’t really kick in until after Kent State, but the subversion really got traction after Tet ’68 and the SDS began to develop cells recruited to infiltrate the military and professions as active agents in the overthrow of the US government.
I was a Junior at Indiana when Tet hit the campuses. I re a uniform three times a week, looking as strac as I knew how to. I had been on a drill team as a Persishing Rifle and had my dad’s example of what a lifer’s uniform is suppose to look like on the job. I was as squared=away as I could be without having mom come behind me and complete the picture.
I knew Tet was coming. I grew up around headquarters and I was as plugged into the Post Rumor Control as the CG of CONARC. I wasn’t spying: it was osmosis. I got back to campus and everything was hunky-dory, the New Hampshire primaries came off as usual and the gates had open on the run for the white House and, at that moment, not-LBJ was not even a Dark Horse.
1967 was the Summer of Love in a “if you’re going to San Francisco…” flowers in the hair kind of way and Sergeant Pepper had just come out and John McCain had just been shot down. Tet was just about to jump off the Tallihatchie Bridge with Billy Joe McAllister, but Christmas was like the German side in Stalingrad 1942: there was a certain magical thinking that maybe it all had a happy ending if we all just clapped for Tink,
Tet was not the cause of the Chicago Police Riots in 1968, the Port Huron Statement was the cause, if you have any useful acquaintance with process theology, that should be evident to you without too much deliberation, Tet was the seed crystal that set off what amounted a socially supersaturated solution, or critical mass, that had been carefully groomed by the anti-war movement to blow up somewhere, sometime. It only took 6 years to achieve that moment and if the Diem brothers hadn’t been assassinated, the Port Huron Statement would have never gotten any traction.
I watched this stuff happen during a 4 year liberal arts education I was required to attend in order to receive an ROTC commission. ROTC is a direct result of the ideal and the intent of the 2nd Amendment, that is, to ensure for the manpower and mobilization requirements of the federal mandate for the common defense in the original intent of the Founding Fathers that the American Republic would be sustained by citizen-soldiers in the Swiss-Israeli tradition. The 2nd Amendment doesn’t have shit to do with guns: it is entirely a mechanism to supply the worker-patriots to carry the guns. The Civil wWar, on both sides, and First and Second Phases of the World at War was fought by the America citizen soldier, thanks to the 2nd Amendment. My dad got his commision at Indiana. I got mine the same way. We spent 4 years in classroom engagement in the process theology of the military arts and sciences, but the most fun was the practical application of FM 22–5, twice a week.
Just for the record, FM 22–5 comes almost directly from Frederick the Great by way of von Steubin and prior to Jomini. US Army doctrine originates in Prussian staff experience, but is embellished by the French example at Yorktown and the focus on Jomini at the exclusion of Clauswitz until Marshall’s reforms beginning in 1942 and proceeding way beyond any need to reexamine the efficacy of the 4 years ROTC program. It’s not West Point. It’s not intended to be West Point. Or OCS. Or the two-summer camp ROTC program. It is, however, the same intellectual trajectory and learning curve as West Point and that trajectory, combined with the experiential data that has accumulated with the liberal arts program, ensures that the collective unconscious of the US Army is being constantly enriched by the broadest possible universe of high shooling for the dressage of the republican citizen soldier.
Here’s the thing, Mike Page, my impression of you is similar to my impression of Richard Carrier, the evangelical anti-theist and John Bolton and Dumb Ass Don: you’ve never heard a shot fired in anger.
I know you were in the combat arms, but your original profile said you went to Germany instead of Vietnam. You now cite Asia, which means you could have earned a CIB on the DMZ, but you were pretty emphatic that you never got to Vietnam.
Poor you. I wouldn’t have missed Vietnam for the world, and being in GermanY during Vietnam was like a certain kind of Purgatory for someone who had signyd up for a life of derring-do and danger, but we all served the needs of the service, so that’s like Eisenhower, who never go overseas in Phase I.
Vietnam wasn’t a great war, but it was the only war we had.
The other thing I sense in you, Mike Page, is the resentment of an OCS officer without a college degree, going through, for the country-club commission I earned over 4 years and a summer camp. If you are serious about producing the best possible officer to lead soldiers against fire, you should know that everything that happened before you got that rank don’t mean nothing once you get it: how you got there ain’t important. It’s that you showed up and stuck around is all the military requires to begin the process of becoming all you can be.
See, here’s the thing, Mike Page: growing up in the Army, all the chaplains I knew had been combat veterans until I left the Army in 1971. Generally, I’ve done what I can to avoid the military since I left: the prospect of spending time with some lifer like you just makes my skin crawl, even if they have been shot at. But you and Bolton and Richard Carrier share an attitude I never encountered among the chaplains I have known. I saw the same thing being directed at John Kerry by the Swift Boaters and it was an attitude I ran into in the corporate culture from Vietnam-era National Guard pukes, who resented the fact that they had to keep their hair short during a time when getting laid and short hair were not the norm and they blamed Viet vets for their decision to pursue their business careers and not be labeled a long-haired, dope-smoking, anti-war hippy freak in a culture of pro-war business executives. It’s like the military officers who conceived and implemented the All Volunteer Military: they blamed the draftee-citizen solder for the way Vietnam turned out and that it was actually their idea in the first place.
So, if this idea of reforming ROTC represents a big career move for you, my advice to the rest of the world is to ignore it.
There were two coalitions in the Army senior officers during the McNamara tenure in the Pentagon: those who were committed to Marshall’s reforms and what my dad called “Nut Heads”, that is, political opportunists who abandoned the needs of the service in favor of their own ambitions and aligned with the McNamara Whiz Kids and his reforms based on the Harvard management model. These guys were in charge when Tet blew up in LBJ’s face and he dropped out of the race. From 1968 until I got back from Vietnam, these guys were like a Marx brothers meet the 3 Stooges, running around, trying to avoid becoming collateral damage. One of these guys scared me out of a military career in Vietnam, someone with the same crypto-Nazi cognitive organization as Mike Pompeo, Mike Espry and Tom Cotton.
And you. In response to your last reponse in our dialogue, to wit,
>>>Mike Page: “If you had an idea, Tom, it would overwhelm that single brain cell you were born with,….”<<<
You are a retrograde pre-Tet ’68 Nut Head. And the All Volunteer Military seems to be just totally stuffed you guys.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY:
How should the U.S. have handled Communist aggression in Vietnam?
You really don’t know shit about much of anything, do you, Mike Page.
Both Korea and Vietnam sit on the trade routes from the oil in the Persian Gulf to Japan and Taiwan, for one thing, and that oil was the reason for our presence on the Pacific Rim and, in no small measure, a factor in Japan’s vision of their Great Co-Prosperity Sphere that compelled the decision to attack Pearl Harbor.
You’ve presented the SDS version of the Oliver Stone version of Vietnam. The actual version is presented, below.
From 1954 until 1962, the MAG-V mission in the Republic of Vietnam was essentially the same as the K-MAG mission in the Republic of Korea: peace keeping and nation building, Both nations were the result of a negotiated partition and, in the case of the Korean Penisula, a cease fire that persists. This was part of George Kennan’s theory of containment and reflected Marshall’s manifesto delivered at Harvard in 1947. The efficacy of this mission can be measured by the present success of the Republic of Korea, and the continuing K-MAG mission.
In 1962, the commie cocksuckers in Hanoi determined to invade RVN and signaled their intent to that end by tossing frags into Saigon movie theaters. I had friends, other Army brats, living in Saigon at the time, and MAG-V evacuated all the dependents in 24 hours in order to clear the deck for general combat and to avoid a reprise of the Phillipines.
After the assassination of the Diem brothers in 1963, America lost the moral legitimacy of its nation building mission and made it impossible to “win” the battle MAG-V was transformed into MAC-V with the mission to conduct a battle of attrition against the Soviet economy by proxy, the subsequent enterprse being a battle in the larger Cold War.
To this end, General Westmoreland was essentially assigned the task of creating the blood sacrifice of the commie cocksuckers on the field of battle that would compel the Kremlin to continue to commit the material support to their ideological clients that would ultimately bankrupt the Soviet economy, which had not begun to fully recover from WWII.
In the final analysis, Vietnam became a contest between Marxism and the Harvard Business model and Marxism won, but, in the larger context, Vietnam was for the Kremlim what Borodino was for Napoleon: a battle they couldn’t afford to fight and a battle they couldn’t afford to lose.
As a direct result of the American War in Vietnam, the Soviet Union is no more. The fact of the matter is, the Domino Theory did, in fact, manifest, regionally, but was contained by what amounted to entropy.
Now, in reference to my commentary on your ROTC essay (Tom Wilson’s answer to What flaws in the ROTC program need to be addressed?) the mistake that the “Nut Heads” in the Pentagon that aligned with McNamara’s agenda made was to NOT proceed at the same time as the “Search and Destroy” element of the post-Diem brothers strategy with the other two legs of a Clauswitzian solution, that is, to equip the RVN military prodigously and to begin the process of “Vietnamization” on pretty much the same model as the ROK Army that served with such distinction in RVN.
As far as providing aid to all of Vietnam, it’s useful to remember that 1954 was the year of the McCarthy Hearings and people were losing their careers for any hint of political intercourse with commie cocksuckers anywhere in the world and Ho Chi Minh was a commie cocksucker who had just supervised the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu. The long haired anti-war hippy freaks of the SDS, and Noam Chomsky, might have found the prospect of providing economic aid to ALL OF VIETNAM appealing, but, well, in 1954, General Ridgeway wasn’t as sanguine of the prospect of success nor inclined to propose the project in the first place.
Just for the record, my self-esteem is perfectly secure. I’ve been dealing with lifers like you since I got off the Freedom Bird in 1971. Just the idea of being around lifers like you makes my skin crawl, but it’s not an impediment to my happiness and personal fulfillment.
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kindlecomparedinfo · 6 years ago
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DJI is updating its geofencing system across Europe after Gatwick drone debacle
Following the pre-Christmas drone debacle in the UK — which plunged thousands of people into travel misery after repeated drone sightings closed the runway at Gatwick, and later also briefly suspended departures at Heathrow — consumer drone maker DJI has announced it’s upgrading its geofencing system across Europe.
It says its Geospatial Environment Online (GEO) 2.0 system will be rolled out to the 19 European countries that did not already have the GEO system in phases — “starting later this month”.
“GEO 2.0 creates detailed three-dimensional “bow tie” safety zones surrounding runway flight paths and uses complex polygon shapes around other sensitive facilities, rather than just simple circles used in earlier geofencing versions,” it writes.
We’ve asked how long it will take for the update to be fully rolled out across the region.
A further 13 local markets that had the GEO system already will also now get the 2.0 update.
In all, 32 European countries will be covered by GEO 2.0 — which DJI bills as offering “enhance protection of European airports and facilities”.
Here’s how it explains the new geofencing approach in Europe:
GEO 2.0 applies the strictest geofencing restrictions to a 1.2 kilometer (3/4 mile) wide rectangle around each runway and the three-dimensional flight paths at either end, where airplanes ascend and descend. More flexible geofencing restrictions apply to an oval area within 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) of each runway. This bow tie shape opens more areas on the sides of runways to beneficial drone uses, as well as low-altitude areas more than 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the end of a runway, while increasing protection in the locations where traditional aircraft actually fly.
DJI’s new boundary areas around airport runways are based on the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Annex 14 standard for airspace safety near runways. DJI also consulted with aviation organizations on ways to enhance geofencing features near airport facilities. DJI’s categorisation of airports is based on airport types, numbers of passengers, operations and other factors, influencing the sensitivity of the airspace around a given location.
The countries getting GEO for the first time are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
While those countries set for an upgrade to GEO 2.0 are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
Update: A spokesman confirmed it will be live in all 32 countries later this month. He also confirmed that DJI drones operating in the nineteen European countries that are getting GEO for the first time had no geoblocks at all prior to this roll out.
It’s not clear what took DJI so long to implement stricter and more detailed geofencing — and, well, any geofencing at all in most regional markets — around critical infrastructure sites like airports. We asked and it didn’t respond to the question.
But it has also announced a change of data provider — from California-based AirMap to Altitude Angel — in Europe. So appears to have needed to source better European mapping data. (Although the latter company launched its unmanned traffic management platform back in 2016.)
Altitude Angel, a UK-based startup which was founded in 2014, says its GuardianUTM platform is being used by DJI to extend the functionality of GEO 2.0 so it “more accurately reflects the highest safety risks around particular facilities”.
DJI claims the upgrade not only better reflects actual safety risks around airports but describes it as “more flexible in lower-risk areas” — saying, for example, that it would permit “authorized users to conduct drone activities in locations parallel to runways”. (Albeit UK airports might not be in a huge rush to permit any kind of nearby drone flights given the recent chaos… )
Another difference for the platform flagged by Altitude Angel itself is the claim it better maps other “sensitive facilities” too, such as prisons and nuclear power stations — which it says are represented by “more accurate ‘polygon’ shapes, rather than large, static cylinders”.
“By more accurately mapping the highest risk zones, DJI can improve safety while opening up more of the airspace to drone pilots,” is its claim.
Another change coming via the GEO update is that DJI’s geofencing system will also include Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) imposed during major events or natural disasters.
“The TFRs will be based on authoritative data from Eurocontrol,” it says.
When the drone maker announced the launch of its GEO geofencing system in Europe and North America, back in 2015, its VP of policy and legal affairs wrote: “Our years of actual user experience have shown that in most instances, strict geofencing is the wrong approach for this technology, and instead we are helping operators make informed, accountable decisions.”
As it turned out there’s rather more work to be done to ensure human nature combined with affordable, powerful drone tech doesn’t turn a consumer gadget into a weapon of mass disruption.
Another wrinkle, vis-a-vis geofencing as a mechanism for regulating drone use, is that individual (DJI) drone owners must update their DJIGO 4 flight control app and aircraft firmware for the new geoblocks to apply. So a push button fix for drone misuse this most definitely is not.
Add to that, modded/hacked drones can and do circumvent baked in geoblocks. And of course other drone brands, with different geofencing systems, are available.
Regulators have been caught on the hop around drone safety but aren’t likely to stand still for too much longer.
Last month the UK government announced new powers for police to tackle illegal use of drone technology — including powers to land, seize and search drones.
It also said it would beef up stop-gap flight restriction rules on drones by expanding a 1km flight exclusion zone around airports to circa 5km.
A full drone bill is still pending but the Gatwick drone chaos will have concentrated ministerial minds on the expeditious need to better regulate the tech.
from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8176395 https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/13/dji-is-updating-its-geofencing-system-across-europe-after-gatwick-drone-debacle/ via http://www.kindlecompared.com/kindle-comparison/
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un-enfant-immature · 6 years ago
Text
DJI is updating its geofencing system across Europe after Gatwick drone debacle
Following the pre-Christmas drone debacle in the UK — which plunged thousands of people into travel misery after repeated drone sightings closed the runway at Gatwick, and later also briefly suspended departures at Heathrow — consumer drone maker DJI has announced it’s upgrading its geofencing system across Europe.
It says its Geospatial Environment Online (GEO) 2.0 system will be rolled out to the 19 European countries that did not already have the GEO system in phases — “starting later this month”.
“GEO 2.0 creates detailed three-dimensional “bow tie” safety zones surrounding runway flight paths and uses complex polygon shapes around other sensitive facilities, rather than just simple circles used in earlier geofencing versions,” it writes.
We’ve asked how long it will take for the update to be fully rolled out across the region.
A further 13 local markets that had the GEO system already will also now get the 2.0 update.
In all, 32 European countries will be covered by GEO 2.0 — which DJI bills as offering “enhance protection of European airports and facilities”.
Here’s how it explains the new geofencing approach in Europe:
GEO 2.0 applies the strictest geofencing restrictions to a 1.2 kilometer (3/4 mile) wide rectangle around each runway and the three-dimensional flight paths at either end, where airplanes ascend and descend. More flexible geofencing restrictions apply to an oval area within 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) of each runway. This bow tie shape opens more areas on the sides of runways to beneficial drone uses, as well as low-altitude areas more than 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the end of a runway, while increasing protection in the locations where traditional aircraft actually fly.
DJI’s new boundary areas around airport runways are based on the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Annex 14 standard for airspace safety near runways. DJI also consulted with aviation organizations on ways to enhance geofencing features near airport facilities. DJI’s categorisation of airports is based on airport types, numbers of passengers, operations and other factors, influencing the sensitivity of the airspace around a given location.
The countries getting GEO for the first time are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
While those countries set for an upgrade to GEO 2.0 are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
It’s not clear what took DJI so long to implement stricter and more detailed geofencing around critical infrastructure sites like airports.
But it has also announced a change of data provider — from California-based AirMap to Altitude Angel — in Europe. So appears to have needed to source better European mapping data. (Although the latter company launched its unmanned traffic management platform back in 2016.)
Altitude Angel, a UK-based startup which was founded in 2014, says its GuardianUTM platform is being used by DJI to extend the functionality of GEO 2.0 so it “more accurately reflects the highest safety risks around particular facilities”.
DJI claims the upgrade not only better reflects actual safety risks around airports but describes it as “more flexible in lower-risk areas” — saying, for example, that it would permit “authorized users to conduct drone activities in locations parallel to runways”. (Albeit UK airports might not be in a huge rush to permit any kind of nearby drone flights given the recent chaos… )
Another difference for the platform flagged by Altitude Angel itself is the claim it better maps other “sensitive facilities” too, such as prisons and nuclear power stations — which it says are represented by “more accurate ‘polygon’ shapes, rather than large, static cylinders”.
“By more accurately mapping the highest risk zones, DJI can improve safety while opening up more of the airspace to drone pilots,” is its claim.
Another change coming via the GEO update is that DJI’s geofencing system will also include Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) imposed during major events or natural disasters.
“The TFRs will be based on authoritative data from Eurocontrol,” it says.
When the drone maker announced the launch of its GEO geofencing system in Europe and North America, back in 2015, its VP of policy and legal affairs wrote: “Our years of actual user experience have shown that in most instances, strict geofencing is the wrong approach for this technology, and instead we are helping operators make informed, accountable decisions.”
As it turned out there’s rather more work to be done to ensure human nature combined with affordable, powerful drone tech doesn’t turn a consumer gadget into a weapon of mass disruption.
Another wrinkle, vis-a-vis geofencing as a mechanism for regulating drone use, is that individual (DJI) drone owners must update their DJIGO 4 flight control app and aircraft firmware for the new geoblocks to apply. So a push button fix for drone misuse this most definitely is not.
Add to that, modded/hacked drones can and do circumvent baked in geoblocks. And of course other drone brands, with different geofencing systems, are available.
Regulators have been caught on the hop around drone safety but aren’t likely to stand still for too much longer.
Last month the UK government announced new powers for police to tackle illegal use of drone technology — including powers to land, seize and search drones.
It also said it would beef up stop-gap flight restriction rules on drones by expanding a 1km flight exclusion zone around airports to circa 5km.
A full drone bill is still pending but the Gatwick drone chaos will have concentrated ministerial minds on the expeditious need to better regulate the tech.
0 notes
randrvstheworld · 7 years ago
Text
Lost luggage, stolen bikes & sightseeing: the Rio therapy sessions
It’s been a tough couple of days. Ultimately things can only go up from the point of feeling like utter crap & a lot of good things have happened in the last 48 hours so I’m starting to feel a lot more positive. 
The bottom line is - Rio is awesome; beautiful, fun, sunny, heaps of fun stuff to do, loads of awesome street art, incredibly friendly helpful people everywhere & cool vibes which is exactly what I hoped for from a place I have wanted to visit for so long. However, it was off to quit a rocky start. As I mentioned in my last post I have been struggling quite a bit recently for a number of reasons, some of which I omitted from this blog for personal reasons, but have been massively looking forward to the arrival of Hannah from London for the festive period (not that I’m feeling too festive in 30+ degrees of sweltering heat, but that’s beside the point & also not necessarily a bad thing because I will never, EVER complain that the sun is shining, especially when I know my friends back home are cold & miserable). However, Hannah’s arrival was blighted by her airline leaving all her luggage in Germany, from whence she connected to Brazil from London, & she arrived stressed, tearful, sleep-deprived & anxious with no clean clothes or vape equipment in desperate need of a shower & nicotine. It was not quite the movie-level reunion either of us had planned or hoped for but did involve a lot of hugging & crying as expected. However, the people at our hostel here are impossibly lovely & were very sympathetic towards Hannah’s plight & so in a flurry of activity between them & myself within ten minutes Hannah had cigarettes, a towel, fresh clothes borrowed/donated from me, all the toiletries & makeup she could possibly need, coffee & a freshly made bed in the bunk directly above mine. After her sanity had been restored we set out to truly begin exploring the wonders of Rio.
This involved taking a cable car up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain - world’s most adorably named mountain imo - which again marked big achievements from me in my ongoing quest to eliminate vertigo from my life. The mountain is remarkably smooth & very tall, like a giant turtle shell rising out of the ocean, & wrapped in jungly-ness. From the top we could see all of Rio; it’s surrounding islands, the harbour & it’s scattered boats, numerous more pre-historic looking mountains in the distance, Jesus with his arms spread, & many circling condors. It was a blissfully sunny day & it was truly incredible to see for so far all the beauty of this incredible city. During our ogling of the delicious views we were visited by heaps of tiny adorable marmosets that scurried along the viewing platform eating candies & numerous other decidedly un-marmoset-y treats donated sneakily by wayward tourists choosing to pointedly ignore the PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE MARMOSETS signs. I was very happy about this because a) marmosets are the cutest things ever & b) Hannah had specifically requested the sightings of monkeys during her stay & as a regular human & not God I was somewhat concerned about my ability to be able to deliver on this & yet here we found ourselves, on day one, looking at the cutest monkey-type creatures ever, right up close & in their natural habitat.
When we descended the mountain, the sun was beginning to set & we went for a swim on Batafogo beach where we saw green parrots & drank coconuts & ate THE BEST CHURROS OF OUR ENTIRE TRIP SO FAR. It seems they love dulce de leche even more in Brazil than any of the other places we’ve already visited in South America & this is in no way a bad thing. 
The next day - yesterday - we sunbathed on the world-famous Copacabana beach, then rented bikes & cycled to Rio’s lagoon, which is vast & beautiful & surrounded by mountains. Rio is pretty progressive in its cycling policies with lots of proper cycle paths round the whole city so cycling about seemed like a no-brainer. After making it halfway round the lagoon we decided to follow the signs to the botanical gardens & spent a blissful 90 minutes there before it closed. Not only does Rio have the best churros but is also home to the best botanical garden I have ever seen; it’s more like a huge, vast park than your typical greenhouse-like BG & we oohed & aahed over the most ginormous palm trees, beautiful orchids, & some fruit that look like giant lychees before inadvertently stumbling into monkey land: big patches of bamboo where we must have witnessed literally 20 monkeys eating their lunch. Another great score for Monkey Watch. Again, a real treat to see these sweet creatures right up close in such a beautiful environment. We also found giant fish & a turtle & a capybara in a lilypad-filled pond. I just love seeing exotic creatures in their natural homes. It really fills my heart with such joy & Hannah too was so excited by this it made me even happier. 
After the park closed we returned to our bicycles & cycled back round to our lagoon starting point & took a swan pedalo out across the water as the sun went down & the city lit up all of it’s twinkling night lights; very beautiful reflected in the water. Roxy had had to go home before this to sort out some stuff for a doctors appointment so Hannah & I, post-pedalo adventure, walked all the way back catching up on 6 months worth of gossip & ranting & counselling each other over our respective woes. It felt great to have a bit of time for just the two of us to talk & reminisce about anything & everything; I have missed Hannah so much & I didn’t quite even realise how much until she got here. I still can’t quite believe that she is actually here in Brazil. This is literally the longest we haven’t seen eachother in the entirety of our friendship & I have really struggled without her.
However, all good things must (temporarily at least) come to an end & on our way home, whilst stopping to buy Hannah some new clothes & stuff while she awaited the arrival of her luggage (thank you Lufthansa for the free sh*t, you incompetent cretins!) one of our renal bikes got nicked from outside the mall. FACK. Not cool, whoever you are! I feel like this is how the bike rental clowns run a racket on innocent tourists because they had provided one shitty lock for all three bikes which quite frankly I could probably have knawed through. A clean cut & we were one bike down & somewhat panic-stricken. There went another £100 which was significantly less than these cowboys tried to squeeze out of us but thanks to our lovely hostel hosts once more coming to our aid managed to whittle it down. However, paying for someone else’s crime truly stings. Plus it was another example of how alienating it can be to not know a language & having to rely on the kindness of hostel people etc to translate everything & help get you out of a jam. 
That said, the rest of today was marvellous. Roxy was tied up with her doctors appointment all day so Hannah & I declared it an ART DAY & visited Boulevard Olympico to look at all the giant murals, painted in the run up to the Rio Olympics in celebration of Brazilian culture. They were incredible. I have never seen such huge paintings; rendered in exquisite detail, portraits in the most vibrant colours with fantastically expressive faces. We also ate our first ever Cuban sandwiches & cinnamon lemonade - get to know - & went to the beach again to cool off in the sea. Cue more churros & coconuts.
I am now beginning to realise some things; Hannah’s arrival proved the catalyst for a pretty extreme late-night breakdown where the presence of the very person to whom I always turn in a crisis prompted an outpouring of emotion that has led in turn to some pretty heavy realisations. It is with renewed vigour that I am beginning to plan my return to the UK, to stability, to the loving arms of my friends & family & potentially to some help that I feel its finally time to admit I need. Having now eliminated the possibility that it was my job and/or London responsible for my sporadic waves of depression, given the fact that I have intermittently experienced the exact same feelings whilst away, I am now one step closer to deciphering what exactly is going on in my brain. Although it is with crushing disappointment that I must admit that travelling did not sure me of this ailment, at least now I can check the possibility of that off the list & try & move forwards. Hannah’s presence is so immensely welcome at this time; she is as always the most incredible, loving & supportive friend. I have been looking at flights home & being a gal that likes to have a plan having an end point in sight is in itself helping me feel more positive. I said all along that I would travel for as long as my money and/or enjoyment lasted & for now at least, it seems 8-9 months is my max on both counts. It’s cool. Only good things will come of this, I am certain.
I can now focus on spending as much quality time as possible with my oldest & dearest friend before she flies home again in 3 weeks. We have lots of fun stuff planned, including going to see some famous mosaic’d steps, visiting Jesus (just in time for his birthday!), going on a tour of a favela, Christmas at the beach, seeing in the New Year with some samba in Sao Paolo & rounding it all off nicely at the world’s biggest waterfalls. Things are looking up.
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outbackpatri · 8 years ago
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Pictures: Christmas Pt 1 Hey kiddies, it's been a looong loooong time. Yes. I've been quite busy but will catch up what happened in the last few weeks. I stopped on the third day after my parents arrival. The very sad thing is they left again two weeks ago after being 6 weeks here. I was incredibly sad and the few days there were many tears. But I'm better now. It's not that I've waited for today to write a new blog post, but today it's ONE YEAR AGO that I left Germany. Time flies! I've had such a good time in these 12 months and am so grateful I had/have toe opportunity to do this!!! Okay, back to my parents then. We had a lovely time, met very often as I still wasn't working until January 9 and one week after their arrival it was Christmas. Christmas (here celebrated on 25th) was very very different compared to Germany. It was quite hot (did you ever celebrate Christmas in a Summary dress and couldn't stop to sweat?!) and it was a big Christmas as the whole Aussie family came so it was very nice. I could mention that we were celebrating in Arthur's 🐶house (Paul's father and stepmother). I got really nice presents: an 8 weeks gym membership, a golden necklace with a P, a perfume, make up, earrings and new earphones. On 24th we were invited to Paul's aunt Angela which was like a pre-Christmas celebration. It was raining cats and dogs, but just beautiful. 26th we were invited by Paul's other aunt Susie and his uncle David. They have a very big boat (with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms over 3 floors) and we had a nice cruise. First we went close to the harbour (opera house and harbour bridge) as a big yacht race as starting (Sydney to Hobart). Then we drove to a little bay, stopped there for two hours and had a nice swim in crystal clear water (no sharks). Then it was almost New Year's Eve and we were invited again to Arthur's house. We had a big Picknick (around 30 people) on the ex-tennis court, everyone brought a blanket and something to eat. At 9 pm there was a small firework for the kids but it wasn't really small :D And then at 12 the big one. Very impressive, I can tell you. On January 1st it was kind of relaxing and packing my stuff as we left to Jervis bay on January 2nd. Jervis bay is a little beach village two hours south from Sydney. We hired a beach house there for 8 people. It was my parents, Isa, Paul and me. For two days there also came Sue and Grant (Pauls stepmother and dad). I found out that it's a lot of fun to play table tennis (Tennistisch, so Paul) and a card game called Yanif. Every day we went to the beach, mostly to Murrays beach) so it was a very relaxing holiday. After one week we came back (January 9) and the 10th was the day I started back at ITS. That's the job in the contact centre I already did last year before doing my lovely farmwork. I could start there again without even applying. First two weeks it was training which was a bit boring. I've already done all that stuff last year and sometimes I was really thinking, when will this training finally be over :D But I did it and could remember much more things as I thought I would. So after the training I started immediately with the next modules and am "polished bronze" now which means that I get more chats about more topics. I'm in the afternoon shift which means that I work from 2-10 PM (14-23). Most people say "shit" when I tell them, but it's cool! I go to bed between midnight and 0.30 and set my alarm between 8 and 8.30, sometimes 9 and depending on what's my plan for the morning. I have a new system now, I do all the shopping every Monday and cook after shopping all the meals for Monday-Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday I'm off again and one of these days is my chest day. So on my not-cheat day I cool he meals for the rest of the week. This system allows me a lot of time before going to work, so I have no problems going to the gym, meeting friends for coffee or relaxing. I was still able to see my parents when I started work so we really had a great time. It's hard to know I won't see them in the next 13-14 months! Rest of my life is fine. My colleagues are really nice, the only thing is that I had some problems in my room wiI h mould (my roommates as well) but I hope I've fought it now. I'm now at the beach waiting for a friend, 36 degrees today. Tonight I'm going to Joy's birthday (an English girl I met in cairns who's currently in Sydney) and then probably going out with my colleagues. Bye for now!
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bluebabysposts · 7 years ago
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This Is Why You Get To Celebrate Your Birthday Every Year Have you ever thought about why we even bother to celebrate birthdays? Are they just an opportunity for your friends and family to come together and congratulate you for surviving another year or more than that?
Here are major developments throughout history that have led to you being able to do this once a year.
1. Egyptians started the party.
When pharaohs were crowned in ancient Egypt they were considered to have transformed into gods. This divine promotion made their coronation date much more important than their birth into the world. Scholars have pointed to the Bible’s reference of a Pharaoh’s birthday as the earliest known mention of a birthday celebration (around 3,000 B.C.E.), but Egyptologist Dr. James Hoffmeier believes this is referencing the subject’s coronation date, since that would have been the Pharaoh’s “birth” as a god.
2. Greeks added candles to cakes.
The Greeks offered moon-shaped cakes to Artemis as a form of tribute to the lunar goddess. To recreate the radiance of the moon and her perceived beauty, Greeks lit candles and put them on cakes for a glowing effect. The Greeks most likely took the idea of birthday celebration from the Egyptians, since just like the celebration of the pharaohs as “gods,” the Greeks were celebrating their gods and goddesses.
3. Ancient Romans were the first to celebrate birthdays for the common man - but just the men.
The prevailing opinion seems to be that the Romans were the first civilization to celebrate birthdays for non-religious figures. Romans would celebrate birthdays for friends and families, while the government created public holidays to observe the birthdays of more famous citizens. Those celebrating a 50th birthday party would receive a special cake made of wheat flour, olive oil, honey and grated cheese. All of this said, female birthdays still weren’t celebrated until around the 12th century.
4. Christians initially considered birthdays to be a pagan ritual.
Due to its belief that humans are born with “original sin” and the fact that early birthdays were tied to “pagan” gods, the Christian Church considered birthday celebrations evil for the first few hundred years of its existence. Around the 4th century, Christians changed their minds and began to celebrate the birthday of Jesus as the holiday of Christmas. This new celebration was accepted into the church partly in hopes of recruiting those already celebrating the Roman holiday of Saturnalia.
5. Contemporary birthday cakes were invented by German bakers.
Although the general idea of celebrating birthdays had already started taking off around the world — like in China, where a child’s first birthday was specifically honored — Kinderfeste, which came out of late 18th century Germany, is the closest prerequisite to the contemporary birthday party. This celebration was held for German children, or “kinder,” and involved both birthday cake and candles. Kids got one candle for each year they’d been alive, plus another to symbolize the hope of living for at least one more year. Blowing out the candles and making a wish was also a part of these celebrations.
6. The Industrial Revolution brought delicious cakes to the masses.
For quite some time, birthday celebrations involving sugary cakes were only available to the very wealthy, as the necessary ingredients were considered a luxury. But the industrial revolution allowed celebrations like kinderfest and the subsequent equivalents in other cultures to proliferate. Not only did the required ingredients become more abundant, but bakeries also started offering pre-made cakes at lower prices due to advances in mass production, such as the scene above capturing workers of one of the many Cadby Hall bakeries of the late 19th century.
“The Birthday Song” was a remix, kind of.
In 1893, Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill wrote a song they called, “Good Morning To All,” which was intended to be sung by students before classes began. The song eventually caught on across America, giving rise to a number of variations. Robert Coleman eventually published a songbook in 1924, adding a few extra lyrics that would quickly come to overshadow the original lines. The new rendition became the version we now all know, “Happy Birthday To You.”
BONUS: Marie Antoinette didn’t say “Let them eat cake.”
First off, nobody attributed this quote to Marie Antoinette until about 50 years after her death, when French critic and journalist Alphonse Karr claimed Antoinette had said the phrase, but essentially only sourced rumors. Despite Karr’s theory, the phrase “let them eat cake” actually first appeared in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s autobiography, “The Confessions.” In the book, Rousseau is afraid to go into a bakery because he feels underdressed. He then muses, “Finally I recalled the stopgap solution of a great princess who was told that the peasants had no bread, and who responded: ‘Let them eat brioche.’”
Antoinette was actually just a little girl when Rousseau’s work was written. While it’s possible that she had read Rousseau’s line and was quoting it in the infamous moment (and therefore not making a tone deaf remark about poverty), Antoinette biographer Lady Antonia Fraser, disapproves of this theory.
“Let them eat cake" was said 100 years before her by Marie-Thérèse, the wife of Louis XIV. It was a callous and ignorant statement and she, Marie Antoinette, was neither,” Fraser said in defense of the young princess. Marie Antoinette’s name should be cleared!
Let us all eat more cake!
Some Ideas for birthday wishes:  I hear today is your birthday. Another year older is another year wiser my friend.
    Wishing you a very happy birthday and many more to come. Hope it’s a good one.
    Happy birthday beautiful! I hope you have a wonderful day filled with joy and happiness.
    Birthdays are special days that allow us to celebrate the day you came into our lives.
    On this day, your birthday, I hope that each and every one of your wishes comes true.
    I hope your day is full of fun and celebration. Happy birthday to you my dear!
    It’s your birthday! Let us celebrate joyfully another wonderful year of your life.
    Sending you warm birthday wishes and a big warm hug on this very special day.
    Birthdays are a time to celebrate so kick back and enjoy your wonderful day.
    Although I am not there to celebrate your birthday, you are in my thoughts.
    It’s celebration time! I hope you are having the time of your life as you celebrate your birthday.
    Happy birthday to you! Let’s break out the cake, candles…and don’t forget the fire extinguisher!
    Another year older is a reason to celebrate. You are that much closer to retirement dear friend.
    When I heard it was your birthday I decided to send you something special but I wasn’t allowed to mail myself.
    Although I cannot be with you on your birthday, know that you are in my thoughts today and every day.
    I hope all of your hopes and dreams come true on this very special day. Happy birthday to you!
    It’s your birthday! I hope it is filled with happiness and plenty of love.
    Your birthday allows us to celebrate having you in our lives. Happy Birthday.
    I hope you know how much joy your presence brings. Happy birthday my dear friend.
    I wanted to send you something awesome for your birthday but nothing is as awesome as the gift of you.
    Celebrate, laugh, dance, and cheer because your birthday only comes once a year.
    Although I am far away, you are in my heart today on your very special birthday.
    Your birthday brings with it a special glow. The glow of so many candles, so hurry and blow them out!
    I hope your birthday brings you everything you have ever wished for.
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“GUITAR MAESTRO!”  The Day AFTER: November 19th {2017}: Guitar legend/song writer Malcolm Young passed yesterday, 18 November.  R. I. P. <3 
Malcolm & Angus, guitars in-hand,
Did-proud Australia - 
They ruled the land!
From ‘umble beginnings, guitars in the house,
Pick ‘em & strum ‘em - “riffs,” always “WOWs!”
Angus, in “school gear;” Malcolm, behind!
But writing GREAT songs - Bump ‘em & grind!
A, C & D, si!  Them chords, ‘xtraordinaire!
We’ll miss, you, dear Malcolm:
Just know, we all care!  <3
fin.  <3
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjn7f_PrMzXAhXCw1QKHdN-AdsQtwIIKDAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DHQIREHh_OZ0&usg=AOvVaw2dbSplfT2lSKIvnFIY1EDU
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjFpurkrMzXAhXl0FQKHXvSDcsQyCkIkAEwAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DLo2qQmj0_h4&usg=AOvVaw0yXjlFW-FWh9LmwbnzS9XP
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paulriedelposts · 5 years ago
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A Dream of Nuremberg in Germany
Nuremberg is the second-largest city in the region of Bavaria in southern Germany. It’s common for travelers to fly into the region's capital of Munich and spend a day tour and explore the prolific city of Nuremberg.
Nuremberg, Germany – The Franconian Utopia
Arguably the most influential region in the history of Western Europe, Nuremberg’s past extends from tribes nearly 2000 years ago. The unofficial capital of Franconia got set up by the Franks, who are considering themselves as far back as the 3rd century. They would move north and east to what is today Belgium and France. The Franks power and wealth allowed them to build some of the most historically elaborate and breathtaking churches and monuments in Germany. Nuremberg has structures still standing that are dating as far back as the roman empire. The preservation of its monuments, artifacts, and landmarks is a seemingly impossible feat, and is nothing less than a testament to the people living there.
Nuremberg Castle and City Walls
Dominating the skyline of the Old Town rises the cluster of historic structures that together make up Nuremberg Castle. The Imperial Castle of Nuremberg is carrying real power in the era of the Holy Roman Empire. Imperial courts met here, and every newly-elect emperor's obligation is by decree to hold his first Imperial Diet at Kaiserburg. The imposing 351-meter-tall fortification was the home of all legitimate German kings and emperors from 1050 to 1571. Nuremberg Castle is one of the most important surviving medieval fortresses in all Europe. The city walls were first put up in the 1000s and got their modern appearance when they were modified for canons in the 1500s. In the long history of Nuremberg’s fortifications, the city was only captured once. In 1945 Americans took the wall's original construction, which is nearly a millennium after. Some four kilometers of the Medieval walls are still standing, and they incorporate the castle to the north and 67 defensive towers.
Nuremberg’s Underground Passageways
Over the course of centuries, Nuremberg’s tunneled into the sandstone bedrock in the north of the Old Town to create a labyrinth of passageways, cellars, and water conduits. The tunnels are estimating to consist of up to 20,000 square meters and are anchored in the city’s beer brewing industry. There were over 40 breweries in the city in the Middle Ages, and each one had its own cellar cut from the sandstone. As production got higher, the cellars grew and shared storage. Even today the Hausbrauerei Altstadthof still stores barrels of its Rotbier in the Nuremberg passageways.
Nuremberg’s Bratwurst
The production of the local sausage is in Nuremberg and it's protected by the EU Laws. Nürnberger Bratwurst production is dating since 1567. The flavor is also like no other German sausage as they taste good with fresh marjoram. The sausages themselves are smaller than their German cousins, generally consisting of about 3 inches long. The locals of Nuremberg cook the bratwurst on grill over a beech-wood fire with sometimes as many as 6 in a serving, and then comes with sauerkraut, potato salad, horseradish. For more information about tours for the historical sites or guides to the traditional culinary locations and recommendations, click the link here.
Nuremberg’s Germanic National Museum
The Germanic National Museum is a treasure for the German-speaking world. Displaying its artistic and cultural past with over 25,000 exhibits and containing more than 1.3 million items. Some art exhibits you can’t leave without seeing are Albrecht Dürer’s rhinoceros, Lucas Cranach portrait of Martin Luther, and Rembrandt’s famed Wide-Eyed Self-Portrait. The museum highlights a collection of roughly 300,000 prints and drawings, paintings representing all the major classes, as well as historical musical instruments, sculptures, and antique toys and dollhouses.
Nuremberg’s Toy Museum
Nuremberg's superb Toy Museum is widely regarded as the leading museum of its kind in the world. It's location is in a historic home dating from 1517. The museum is celebrating Nuremberg as a traditional toy-making capital in Germany. Many of the older toys, some dating back to the medieval era, were made in the city itself, which was renowned for centuries for its doll makers. On the first three floors are the pre-war games and toys, like dolls, dollhouses, magic lanterns, wind-up figures, and a model railway that is nothing less than extraordinary. The top floor is all about toys since 1945 like Lego, Playmobil, and Barbie, and has an interactive zone with building sets, table football, and all kinds of nostalgic toys and games for all ages.
Albrecht Dürer’s House
As a place of historical significance and home to arguably Germany’s greatest painter. Albrecht Dürer’s House is incomparable building, as no other examples of a 15th-century artist’s house in Europe exist. The five-story house itself dates to 1420 and is currently serving as a museum with dedication to Dürer's life and work. Along with its many fine displays of some of his best-known creations, the museum houses authentic period furniture and a reproduction of Dürer's studio workshop.
Nuremberg’s Neues Museum
The Neues Museum is a must-visit for any art lover, with its large and impressive collection of modern and contemporary art. This world-class museum is a work of art itself. Consisting of bright open spaces, clean lines, and interesting architectural features such as its exquisite spiral staircase. The artwork covers works from 1950 to today. It has notable exhibits of applied and fine art often shown side by side adding a unique perspective to the experience. For guides or tour information for the museums, click here.
St. Sebaldus Church
The 8th-century Saint Sebald in Nuremberg's patron saint. St. Sebaldus Church was constructed from 1225-73 and in the chancel, you can view his tomb. The tomb's design contains Early-Renaissance bronze figurines depicting scenes from his life by famous Peter Vischer. It’s simply one of the many incredible works of art in the church. Other works include the Tucher family epitaph, stained-glass windows, and wood sculpture by the Renaissance virtuoso Veit Stoss.
St. Lorenz Church
The spectacular twin-towered 14th-century Gothic church of St. Lawrence is the city's largest church. One of its notable features is a large rose window, nine meters in diameter. Inside you can find lavish works of art that are providing the city's richer classes over the centuries. Other notable features include its unique three-part organ boasting over 12,000 pipes. It is one of the largest such instruments in the world. It also includes a set of 16 bells, the oldest of which date back to the 1300s.
Frauenkirche: The Church of Our Lady
The Church of Our Lady dates back to 1352. This must-see Gothic landmark you won't want to miss when you’re visiting Nuremberg's Hauptmarkt. The building's stunning facade is rich with detail. The church has notable features in its interior, which designs are by Emperors in mind. Some include the Tucher Altar from 1440, and two handsome monuments by famous Adam Kraft. For guides or tour information about Bavarian and its historical landmarks click here.
The Hauptmarkt
The Hauptmarkt is home to the Schöner Brunnen aptly named 14th-century “Beautiful Fountain”. Heinrich Beheim is the designer and architect of the popular fountain(1385-1396). The design is like a Gothic church spire and has forty polychrome figures on four levels. Those evoking the “worldview” of the Holy Roman Empire. Be sure to touch the fountain's famous gold ring for a spot of good luck. In the Second World War the monument was wrapped in a concrete shell and came through unscathed. It's also where you'll find the Old Town Hall built in 1616. Notable for its magnificent doorways, dungeons, and torture chamber. Between the two buildings is another famous fountain, the Gänsemännchen, built in 1555. Depicting a Franconian peasant carrying two geese, with the water flowing from their beaks. For more information on the markets or historically significant locations click here.
The Future of Nuremberg
When people think of Nuremberg, they think of gingerbread, toys, Christmas. Others think about the Reich Party Rally Grounds or the Nuremberg Trials or any combination. However, the old town of Nuremberg stands in the shadows of it’s history, as seemingly unconquerable. As it’s towering imperial castle as it restores its history and moves towards the future as it always has. The Gothic churches, medieval houses, and innovative people prevail throughout Nuremberg. Existing in an atmosphere of lively co-existence of the medieval and modern. For any additional information pertaining to guides or tours for any of the remarkable cities of Bavaria please click here. Read the full article
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