Arizona schools, I have a little tiny bone to pick with you! Technically two, but I won't get into the fact that there's no art in the elementary schools right now. My main issue since we moved here is the early release on Wednesdays. Every Wednesday, Sky is home an hour earlier than she's used to and it throws her off. Now, don't be reasonable and say that she should be used to that after having done it for the last year and a half! Nope, every week, we confront this schedule change and while Sky is handling it better, it still needs to be handled. (For the record, Fire does just fine with getting off early once a week).
The butterfly garden had just opened after being closed due to heat for the summer and I had hoped the kids would love seeing them up close. Sky, Fire, and especially Earth did actually love seeing the butterflies and frogs they had in the greenhouse but Water was terrified. He was almost petrified of all the butterflies flying around and I had to carry him the entire time we were in there. That made it a bit challenging since Earth wanted to explore everything and Sky and Fire were full of questions. But we had fun taking pictures at the sign for the butterfly garden at least!
and were totally unphased by the dinosaurs roaming the gardens.
So far, field trip days are a success! We still have a regular schedule and since the destination for the field trip has to be chosen at least the day before, we have time to talk through things so there are fewer surprises. An unexpected benefit of the field trip days is the control that it gives the kids over their lives. At least once a month, each of the oldest three get to be in charge and they seem to enjoy the trips more because of that.
I sincerely hope we can keep doing field trip days as the school year goes on and that this becomes something the kids remember when they're older- that Mom tried to make Wednesdays fun and that we were always out seeing our city.


text:
Acts of vandalism committed against Jewish sites in central Europe
(JTA) — A Jewish cemetery and Holocaust monument were damaged in Germany amid a string of unrelated acts of vandalism against Jewish heritage sites in central Europe.
The incident in Germany occurred over the weekend at the Jewish cemetery of Jamlitz, a town situated 55 miles south of Berlin, according to a report posted Monday on the website of the police department of the German state of Brandenburg.
At the cemetery, the perpetrator defaced the entrance sign and smashed the large glass plates of a display about the nearby Lieberose concentration camp, where Nazis kept Jewish forced labor workers. The damage was estimated at $4,770.
Earlier this month, police in Slovakia arrested two men who are suspected of vandalizing a Jewish cemetery and then publishing photos of the aftermath in social media.
The suspects, both 18 from the towns of Soporna and Sered, are believed to have knocked down headstones last month at the Jewish cemetery of Cifer located a few miles west of their homes, Martin Kredatusova, a spokesperson for the local police in the western city of Trnava, told the Slovakian TASR news agency on June 2.
According to TASR, their arrest was made possible by an anonymous tip sent to the Regional Monuments Office, containing photos and comments from social media which allegedly linked the suspects to the vandalism at Cifer.
The headstones were not broken, but the suspects, who were not named, may face trial for racial defamation, TASR reported.
In Poland, police in Radomsko, a city located 70 miles north of Krakow, arrested two men in their 20s on June 1 on suspicion that they shattered 13 Hebrew-language memorial plaques for the city's Jewish community, which was annihilated during the Holocaust, the news site naszemiasto.pl reported.
Plaques had been placed the previous day for the opening of a commemoration project that the city called "Open Air Jewish Museum." It was scheduled to open June 2.
A Jewish family sold this Kandinsky painting to survive the Nazis. Amsterdam is keeping it anyway.
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Jewish museum in Munich is accused of libel against Israel
By	Cnaan Liphshiz	 July 12, 2019 5:39 am
On 07/18
Police identify 3 men who sprayed NJ synagogue worshippers with water guns

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
from haystack import indexes
from .models import Note

# Simplest possible subclass that could work.
class NoteIndex(indexes.SearchIndex, indexes.Indexable):
    text = indexes.CharField(document=True, model_attr='content')

    def get_model(self):
        return Note

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Getting webpage source code with java I'm trying to get a webpage source code with JAVA but i fail all the time! I want to get the source code from the link below.
http://widget.websta.me/rss/n/wikirap_official
I searched on the net and tried many codes but all returned nothing, this page return my INSTAGRAM user posts as feed.
please test codes on this link and if you succeeded in get source, share the code with me.

A: I'm not sure about Android but this is how you can read web page source in Java.
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
import java.net.Proxy;
import java.net.URL;

public class readURL  {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String generate_URL = "http://www.example.com";
        String inputLine;
        try {
            URL data = new URL(generate_URL);
            /**
             * Proxy code start
             * If you are working behind firewall uncomment below lines.
             * Set your proxy server
             */

            /* Proxy proxy = new Proxy(Proxy.Type.HTTP, new InetSocketAddress("192.168.0.202", 8080)); */
            /* HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) data.openConnection(proxy); */

            /* Proxy code end */

            /* Open connection */
            /* comment below line in case of Proxy */
            HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) data.openConnection();
            /* Read webpage coontent */
            BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));
            /* Read line by line */
            while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
                System.out.println(inputLine);
            }
            /* close BufferedReader */
            in.close();
            /* close HttpURLConnection */
            con.disconnect();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
NASA just announced the 2018 global temperatures – and it's not good
Earth's global surface temperatures in 2018 were the fourth warmest since 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Global temperatures in 2018 were 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.83 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Globally, 2018's temperatures rank behind those of 2016, 2017 and 2015. The past five years are, collectively, the warmest years in the modern record.
"2018 is yet again an extremely warm year on top of a long-term global warming trend," said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt.
Since the 1880s, the average global surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius). This warming has been driven in large part by increased emissions into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases caused by human activities, according to Schmidt.
2018 Was the Fourth Hottest Year on Record
Weather dynamics often affect regional temperatures, so not every region on Earth experienced similar amounts of warming. NOAA found the 2018 annual mean temperature for the contiguous 48 United States was the 14th warmest on record.
Warming trends are strongest in the Arctic region, where 2018 saw the continued loss of sea ice. In addition, mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets continued to contribute to sea level rise. Increasing temperatures can also contribute to longer fire seasons and some extreme weather events, according to Schmidt.
"The impacts of long-term global warming are already being felt — in coastal flooding, heat waves, intense precipitation and ecosystem change," said Schmidt.
NASA's temperature analyses incorporate surface temperature measurements from 6,300 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures, and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations.
This line plot shows yearly temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2018, with respect to the 1951-1980 mean, as recorded by NASA, NOAA, the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Berkeley Earth research group, and the Met Office Hadley Centre (UK). Though there are minor variations from year to year, all five temperature records show peaks and valleys in sync with each other. All show rapid warming in the past few decades, and all show the past decade has been the warmest.
These raw measurements are analyzed using an algorithm that considers the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and urban heat island effects that could skew the conclusions. These calculations produce the global average temperature deviations from the baseline period of 1951 to 1980.
Because weather station locations and measurement practices change over time, the interpretation of specific year-to-year global mean temperature differences has some uncertainties. Taking this into account, NASA estimates that 2018's global mean change is accurate to within 0.1 degree Fahrenheit, with a 95 percent certainty level.
NOAA scientists used much of the same raw temperature data, but with a different baseline period and different interpolation into the Earth's polar and other data poor regions. NOAA's analysis found 2018 global temperatures were 1.42 degrees Fahrenheit (0.79 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average.
NASA's full 2018 surface temperature data set — and the complete methodology used to make the temperature calculation — are available at:
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp
GISS is a laboratory within the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The laboratory is affiliated with Columbia University's Earth Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York.
NASA uses the unique vantage point of space to better understand Earth as an interconnected system. The agency also uses airborne and ground-based monitoring, and develops new ways to observe and study Earth with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. NASA shares this knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet.
For more information about NASA's Earth science missions, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/earth
The slides for the Feb. 6 news conference are available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/noaa-nasa_global_analysis-2018-final_feb6.pdf
NOAA's Global Report is available at:
http://bit.ly/Global201812
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Iranian state TV used a photo of an actor from 'Zero Dark Thirty' to spread a wild theory that a senior CIA official was killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan
Iran's state TV broadcast a photo of an actor from"Zero Dark Thirty" to illustrate a claim that the CIA officer that inspired the character had been killed.
On Monday, the US military confirmed an E-11A surveillance plane crashed in Ghanzi, eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban, who control the region, say several top CIA operatives were killed, and have since denied access to the crash site.
One of those CIA operatives was Michael D'Andrea, state TV said, according to BBC Monitoring, which first reported the claims made on Iranian TV.
Iranian TV did not provide any evidence for its claim that D'Andrea was killed Monday.
But instead of airing a photograph of the real D'Andrea, Iran's Channel One chose to show the face of Fredric Lehne, a US actor who played a character inspired by D'Andrea in the 2012 movie "Zero Dark Thirty." The movie is a dramatization of the US assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.It is not know if the choice of photo was an error, or a last resort due to a lack of available photographs of D'Andrea.
The network also said D'Andrea "had a key role in killing Iranian general Qasem Soleiman," according to BBC Monitoring.
The movie details the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The real D'Andrea is the head of the CIA's activities concerning Iran, according to The New York Times.
The CIA declined to comment on Iranian TV reports when contacted by Business Insider.
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Women in combat may cause Congress to end selective service process
The House Armed Services Committee will reexamine the Selective Service System's viability and explore possible alternatives in this year's review of the National Defense Authorization Bill, the legislation that sets the spending guidelines and policy directives for the coming fiscal year.
A U.S. Marine with Fox Company, Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), fires his weapon as part of a deck shoot aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8). (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Evan R. White)
Congressional staffers told the Military Times that the move comes after all the hand wringing over the idea of women registering for the draft now that they can be assigned to combat jobs in the military. Some of the representatives who sit on the House committee were part of a group who entered legislation to abolish the Selective Service System entirely, which they deem to be obsolete and outdated.
U.S. law says all male citizens of the United States and male immigrants (and bizarrely, illegal immigrants, too) have to register for the Selective Service System within 30 days of their 18th birthday. After the Vietnam War, President Gerald Ford abolished the draft, but President Jimmy Carter reestablished it as a response to the potential threat posed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
(U.S. Army photo by Sgt. William Tanner)
The SSS costs roughly $23 million per year to operate, but nobody's actually been drafted since 1973. Even at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, the option of instituting a draft was deemed unnecessary.
The draft isn't dead yet, however. Before any changes are made to the current system, the Senate would also have to approve the legislation, and then it would move over to the President's desk for his signature (or his veto).
These Coasties killed a German sub and saved their convoy
The U.S. Coast Guard has an under-recognized place in World War II history, fighting German spies before the U.S. entered the war and immediately taking on convoy escort duties, weather patrols, and anti-submarine missions after America declared war on the Axis Powers. One of the Coast Guard crews that bravely shouldered the load was the USCGC Campbell which, in icy Atlantic waters, took bold action to finish off a German U-boat that attempted to attack it.
Crewmembers of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Campbell pose with their mascot, Sinbad, in World War II.
(U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office)
The Campbell was part of a class of 327-foot Coast Guard cutters specially designed for high-speed service on the high seas. It spent much of World War II protecting convoys and, in February 1943, was one of the escorts for Convoy ON-166. This was before the bulk of German submarines were chased from the Atlantic in "Black May," and the wolf packs were on the prowl to cut off supplies to Europe and starve Britain into submission.
On February 21, one of those wolf packs found and engaged the convoy. Over a dozen subs fired torpedoes and shells into merchant vessels as the Coast Guard and Navy vessels rushed to protect them.
The Campbell's involvement started with rescuing 50 merchant mariners from the water. It had to dodge a German torpedo during the rescue, and then it pressed the attack against U-753, heavily damaging it and forcing its withdrawal. It spent the rest of the night driving off German U-boats until it finally attempted to get back to the convoy.
Crewmembers load a Mk. VII depth charge onto the HMS Dianthus, another escort of ON-166, during World War II.
(Imperial War Museums)
In the pre-dawn darkness, Campbell was 40 miles behind the convoy, essentially alone and attempting to catch up and help kill more German submarines. But then a shape emerged from the inky blackness. U-606 was bringing the fight to the Campbell and attempting to engage it before it could meet up with the convoy.
U-606 had three kills to its name, including two ships of ON-166. But it had been damaged while sinking those earlier ships, and attacking the Campbell was a greedy and potentially risky move. Attacking from the surface exposed its position to the American crew and would allow the Campbell to employ its gun crews as well as depth charges.
When the Campbell spotted the sub, it went one step further. Cmdr. James A. Hirshfield ordered a ramming maneuver, swinging the ship about to slam its hull against the submarine.
The Campbell's bold maneuver came at a cost, though, as the side plating ruptured and salt water began to pour in. Cmdr. Kenneth K. Cowart supervised damage control while also helping to ensure that sufficient engine power was on hand for the continued maneuvering and fighting.
Meanwhile, on the deck, the men controlling the depth charges had managed to drop two during the ram, damaging U-606 further. And deck gun crews began pouring fire onto the stricken sub, attempting to disable or kill it before it could unleash its own deadly barrage against the cutter.
In this melee, an all-Black gun crew of a three-inch gun battery distinguished itself for bravery, accurately concentrating its damage on the sub's deck and conning tower.
But the salt water took its toll, finally shorting out Campbell's power. The German sub was defeated, and the cutter took five prisoners, but Campbell was liable to sink at any moment. Hirshfield ordered the prisoners, the merchant mariners, and all non-essential personnel off the ship.
He led the remaining crew through four days of damage control without engine power before finally receiving a tow back to port for repairs. The Campbell survived the war. Hirshfield received the Navy Cross for his actions, and Cowart and Cmdr. Bret H. Brallier received Silver Stars for their parts in saving the cutter.
Louis Etheridge, the man who led that all-Black gun crew on the three-inch battery, later received a Bronze Star for his work that February.
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Russian subs can strike European capitals
NATO naval officials have repeatedly warned about Russia's submarines — a force they say is more sophisticated and active.
US Navy officials have said several times that Russian subs are doing more now than at any time since the Cold War, though intelligence estimates from that time indicate they're still far below Cold War peaks.
They're also worried about where those subs are going. US officials have suggested more than once that Russian subs are lurking around vital undersea cables. (The US did something similar during the Cold War.)
But the most significant capability Russian subs have added may be what they can do on land.
Long-range Kalibr cruise missiles are launched by a Russian Navy ship in the eastern Mediterranean.
(Russian Defense Ministry photo)
Asked about the best example of growth by Russia's submarines, Adm. James Foggo, the head of US Naval Forces in Europe and Africa, pointed to their missiles, which offer relatively newfound land-attack capability.
"The Kalibr class cruise missile, for example, has been launched from coastal-defense systems, long-range aircraft, and submarines off the coast of Syria," Foggo said on the latest edition of his command's podcast, "On the Horizon."
"They've shown the capability to be able to reach pretty much all the capitals in Europe from any of the bodies of water that surround Europe," he added.
The Kalibr family of missiles — which includes anti-ship, land-attack, and anti-submarine variants — has been around since the 1990s.
Ranges of Russia's Kalibr missiles when fired from seas around Europe. Light red circles are the land-attack version. Dark red circles indicate the anti-ship version.
(CSIS Missile Defense Project)
The land-attack version can be fired from subs and surface ships and can carry a 1,000-pound warhead to targets between 930 miles and 1,200 miles away, according to CSIS' Missile Defense Project. It is said to fly 65 feet above the sea and at 164 to 492 feet over land.
After the first strikes in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said the Kalibr was accurate to "a few meters" — giving them a capability not unlike the US's Tomahawk cruise missiles.
In 2011, the US Office of Naval Intelligence quoted a Russian defense industry official as saying Moscow planned to put the Kalibr on all new nuclear and non-nuclear subs, frigates, and larger ships and that it was likely to be retrofitted on older vessels.
But the system wasn't used in combat until 2015.
In October that year, Russian warships in the Caspian Sea fired 26 Kalibr missiles at ISIS targets in Syria. The submarine Veliky Novgorod fired three Kalibrs from the eastern Mediterranean at ISIS targets in eastern Syria later that month, and that December a Russian sub fired four Kalibrs while en route to its home port on the Black Sea.
A Russian Navy ship launches Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian sea at targets over 1000 miles away in Syria.
(IN THE NOW / Youtube)
Russian surface ships and subs have fired Kalibr missiles at targets in Syria numerous times since. But their use may be more about sending a message to Western foes than gaining an edge in Syria.
"There's no operational or tactical requirement to do it," NORTHCOM Commander Adm. William Gortney told Congress in early 2016. "They're messaging us that they have this capability."
Russia has used "Syria as a bit of a test bed for showing off its new submarine capabilities and the ability to shoot cruise missiles from submarines," Magnus Nordenman, the director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told Business Insider in early 2018.
A 2015 Office of Naval Intelligence report cited by Jane's noted that the "Kalibr provides even modest platforms … with significant offensive capability and, with the use of the land attack missile, all platforms have a significant ability to hold distant fixed ground targets at risk using conventional warheads."
A long-range Kalibr cruise missile is launched from the Krasnodar submarine in the Mediterranean.
"The proliferation of this capability within the new Russian Navy is profoundly changing its ability to deter, [or to] threaten or destroy adversary targets," the report said.
While Russia's submarine force is still smaller than its Soviet predecessor, that cruise-missile capability has led some to argue NATO needs to look farther north, beyond the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap that was a chokepoint for Russian submarines entering the Atlantic during the Cold War.
Today's Russian subs "don't have to go very far out in order to hit ports and airports and command and control centers in Europe, so they don't have to approach the GIUK Gap," Nordenman said in a recent interview. "In that sense the GIUK Gap is not as important as it used to be."
Foggo said US submarines still have the edge, but the subs Russia can deploy "are perhaps some of the most silent and lethal in the world."
Concerns about land-attack missiles now mix with NATO's concern about bringing reinforcements and supplies from the US to Europe during a conflict.
"That's why Russian submarines are a concern," Nordenman said in ealry 2018. "One, because they can obviously sink ships and so on, but related, you can use cruise missiles to shoot at ports and airfields and so on."
"We know that Russian submarines are in the Atlantic, testing our defenses, confronting our command of the seas, and preparing a very complex underwater battle space to try to give them the edge in any future conflict," Foggo said. "We need to deny that edge."
US Navy crew members on board a P-8A Poseidon assisting in search and rescue operations for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the in the Indian Ocean, March 16, 2014.
(US Navy photo)
This has led to more emphasis on anti-submarine warfare, a facet of naval combat that NATO forces focused on less after the Cold War.
The US Navy has asked for more money to buy sonobuoys, supplies of which fell critically short after an "unexpected high anti-submarine warfare operational tempo in 2017." NATO members also plan to buy more US-made P-8A Poseidons, widely considered to be the best sub-hunting aircraft on the market.
But the Kalibr's anti-ship capability has also raises questions about whether ASW itself needs to change.
At a conference in early 2017, Lt. Cmdr. Ian Varley, deputy commander of the Royal Navy's Merlin helicopter force, said anti-ship missiles were pushing ASW away from "traditional … close-in, cloak and-dagger fighting" to situations where an enemy submarine "sits 200 miles away and launches a missile at you."
"That becomes an air war," he said. "We need to stop it becoming an air war. We need to be able to have the ability to defend against that."
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The only time a US blimp was ever lost in World War II combat
Airships like zeppelins and blimps lost their appeal somewhere between World Wars I and II. It might have had something to do with the Hindenburg going down in a massive, fiery wreck in front of the whole world. By the time World War II came about, airships were a thing of the past for every military except the United States, which is a shame because you did not want to f*ck with an airship.
They seem like goofy floating targets just begging to be shot down but getting to them was a lot harder than anyone might think. More than that, they were really effective at locating enemy submarines and then blowing them into oblivion. Of the 89,000 ships protected by airships during WWII, only one was ever lost.
And only one airship was ever lost, and it happened off the coast of Florida in July 1943.
Blimp-Submarine combat seems like it would be adorable.
The missions of blimp crew was an easy one, use the massive range of sight the blimp had over the ocean waters, locate enemy submarines, then call in for fighters and bombers to come finish the subs off. They had some weapons, a few depth charges, and a .50-cal machine gun, but not something to take on a submarine head-to-head. But K-74 did just that.
A 252-foot airship, K-74 was performing its usual mission in the Florida Straits when it spotted German U-boat 134 on radar. The airship came down from the cover of the clouds to find the boat on the surface of the water. Seeing that the U-boat was headed for a merchant convoy, Lt. Nelson Grills decided he couldn't just wait for backup and had to act fast. As the ship moved to intercept the boat, the sub's conning tower exploded with 20-mm rounds.
U-134 under attack from the RAF earlier in 1943. The sub survived the meeting.
K-74 was able to drop two charges on the sub as it flew overhead, but the charges did nothing to silence the 20mm guns. The blimp returned fire, but the submarine had hit one of the airship's engines, and she was losing altitude fast. Then it caught fire. The next thing he knew, the crew had begun to abandon ship – all because he couldn't follow protocol. But the ship didn't explode in a Hindenburg-like burst of flame. It gently fell to the surface of the water, and the crew climbed aboard the deflated ship.
Gills helped his crewmen escape, but as they climbed the balloon part of the ship, Grills got separated when he stayed behind to destroy the ship's classified documents and top-secret cargo.
The ship's commander was found when another K-ship spotted him in the water below just a few hours after his ship went down. His crew was in the water all night and was found by a seaplane the next day. Most of them survived, except for one. The crew was being circled by sharks as planes flew overhead and surface ships moved in for a rescue. The USS Dahlgren had come on scene to pick them up, and even though the Dahlgren's crew managed to keep some sharks away with small arms, one of the K-74 crewmen was pulled under by a shark and disappeared.
All was not lost, however. K-74 damaged the enemy submarine in the action. The U-boat was forced to limp home heavily damaged. Eventually, it was found at sea by the British Royal Air Force, who swiftly finished it off near the Cies Islands.
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The first African-American regiment to serve in the US military earned their 'glory'
In 1989, Denzel Washington won his first Academy Award for his portrayal of Private Silas Tripp, a runaway slave-turned-freedom fighter, in Glory. Although Private Tripp was not a real person, the movie took its inspiration from a real-life volunteer unit in the Civil War — the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
The first African American regiment to serve in the United States military, the 54th Massachusetts was led by a 25-year-old abolitionist. The men were a pivotal part of the frontal assault of the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, one of the Civil War's most memorable battles. Made up of hundreds of volunteers, the 54th Massachusetts regiment achieved incredible things — easily meriting their nickname, the "Glory" regiment.
Established in February 1863, just one month after the Emancipation Proclamation officially authorized the recruitment of African American soldiers, the 54th Massachusetts regiment spent the next three months recruiting and training their soldiers before going on to become one of the most iconic units ever to serve in the U.S. military.
The 54th was comprised of 1,100 soldiers, the majority of whom were recruited by local abolitionists — white and black alike. The likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederick Douglass boosted morale, helping recruit black Americans into military service for the first time. Douglass even contributed two of his own sons to the cause, both of whom enlisted in the 54th.
The Northern states knew that strong African American enlistment could help turn the course of the war, as both a symbol and as additional manpower for the bloody conflict. President Lincoln's Secretary of War personally charged John Andrew, governor of Massachusetts, with staffing the officer corps of the 54th regiment. Andrew selected a bright-eyed, 25-year-old man, the son of abolitionists, to lead the 54th. His name was Robert Gould Shaw. Although Shaw was only a captain at the time, he was quickly promoted to colonel, and his second-in-command, Norwood Penrose "Pen" Hallowell was promoted from captain to lieutenant colonel–just a few days after his 24th birthday.
At first, the all-white officers were controversial. Both white and black citizens were dismayed that a black regiment would have to be led by white men. But the recruiting efforts of men like Douglass soon turned the tide, and volunteers began showing up in larger and larger numbers.
Frederick Douglass.
Morale was strong during enlistment, and the 54th received an influx of hopeful recruits — so much so that the unit implemented a "rigid and thorough" medical exam, with the aim of enlisting only the most physically and mentally fit into its ranks. The company trained at Camp Meigs just outside of Boston, for a period that lasted only several weeks.
On May 28th, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts regiment marched out of Boston on its way to Beaufort, South Carolina. They did so despite a December 1862 proclamation by President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, which stated that any captured African American soldier or white officer in charge of an African American company would be put to death.
As portrayed in Glory, the 54th Massachusetts's first action was the looting and burning of a small town in Georgia. The action came on the orders of Colonel James Montgomery, a rabid abolitionist and controversial officer in the Northern Army who often implemented extreme tactics when dealing with pro-slavery populations.
Montgomery had been charged with raising an African American regiment around the same time as Colonel Shaw. His 2nd South Carolina unit rampaged through the South with their most famous battle, the Raid at Combahee Ferry, coming just before they linked up with the 54th Regiment Massachusetts. With the help of Harriet Tubman's underground railroad, Montgomery and his men freed nearly 800 slaves at Combahee Ferry.
But Colonel Shaw wasn't impressed with Montgomery's tactics. He wrote a sternly-worded letter to the military higher-ups, complaining of Montgomery's rampant destruction of Confederate towns and wanton cruelty towards their civilians. As a result, the 54th was shipped off to fight in a skirmish on James Island, South Carolina, in which they repelled a Confederate assault.
It was then that the 54th entered into its most famous battle: the raid on Fort Wagner, just outside of Charleston, South Carolina.
The climactic scene of Glory, depicting the Battle of Fort Wagner.
(TriStar Pictures)
Charleston was considered a prize by many in the North, having been the birthplace of the Confederate rebellion. Charleston's Fort Sumter was where the Confederacy fired its first shots, overtaking a Union garrison and precipitating the Civil War.
Colonel Shaw was tasked with leading the 54th Regiment on a dangerous frontal assault of Fort Wagner, with the aim of keeping the 6,000 men garrisoned inside occupied long enough for a rear-guard attack to penetrate the fort's walls. It was a bold proposition, and the 54th was a mere 48 hours removed from their battle at James Island. Yet on July 18, 1863, the men of the first African American regiment bravely charged the battlefield and made history in the process.
The raid on Fort Wagner was ultimately a failure and led to the loss of many lives. No unit was more decimated than the 54th Massachusetts. 270 of its 600 men who charged the fort were killed, wounded, or captured. Colonel Shaw was among the dead, having been shot three times through the chest just outside the fort's parapet.
Despite the heavy losses, the 54th Massachusetts regiment was commended for its valor. Tales of the unit's bravery spread far and wide, prompting many African Americans to enlist in the Union army. President Lincoln ultimately cited the mobilization of African American troops as a key ingredient in the North's victory over the South.
Many decades later, in 1900, Sergeant William Harvey Carney, then 60 years old, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery at the Battle of Fort Wagner. Carney had spotted the flag bearer fall during battle, and quickly rushed over to raise the American flag. Carney then led troops to the parapet, waving the flag high to boost morale despite receiving multiple gunshot and shrapnel wounds in the process. Upon the Union's call to retreat, Carney somehow escaped with the flag intact, and crawled back to his encampment. As he handed the flag off to fellow soldiers, he famously told them, "Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground."
The 4th United States Colored Infantry, mustered in Baltimore, Maryland
Although numerous African American soldiers received the Medal of Honor prior to Carney, his actions at the Battle of Fort Wagner preceded theirs. As such, he is considered the first African American to be granted the military's highest honor.
Despite the bravery of the many men amongst their ranks, the 54th Regiment had still often been treated as second-class soldiers. Upon enlisting, the men who joined the 54th Massachusetts regiment were promised the same wages as white men who enlisted: a month, with food and clothing included. But as soon as the regiment arrived in South Carolina, they discovered that they would only be paid — and three of those hard-earned dollars would be taken by the Department of the South to pay for their clothing. Rather than accept this, the men of the 54th refused all pay. It would not be until late September 1864 that equal pay for the regiment was issued. Most of the men had served 18 months at this point.
After the Battle at Fort Wagner, the 54th Massachusetts continued to fight in several more battles and skirmishes, with and without pay, right up until the end of the war. The regiment gained international fame after the war, and was immortalized by poets and artists both in America and Europe. A memorial to Colonel Shaw and the 54th was erected on the Boston Common as part of its Black Heritage Trail. The bust serves as the closing shot of Glory, over which the final credits roll.
On Nov. 21, 2008, the 54th Massachusetts regiment was reactivated as part of the Massachusetts National Guard. Today, the unit conducts military honors at funerals and state functions.
This article originally appeared on Explore The Archive. Follow @explore_archive on Twitter.
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That time a soldier used a payphone to call back to the US to get artillery support in Grenada
In October 1983 the Caribbean nation of Grenada experienced a series of bloody coups over the course of a week, threatening U.S. interests as well as U.S. citizens on the island. In a controversial move, President Reagan decided to launch Operation Urgent Fury, an invasion of the island nation (and the first real-world test of the all-volunteer force in combat).
The Grenadian forces were bolstered by Communist troops from the Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba, and Bulgaria. The U.S. rapid deployment force was more or less an all-star team of the 1st and 2nd Ranger Battalions, the 82nd Airborne, U.S. Marines, Delta Force, and Navy SEALs. Despite the strength of the invasion force, planning, intelligence, communication and coordination issues plagued their interoperability (and led to Congress reorganizing the entire Department of Defense). Army helicopters couldn't refuel on Navy ships. There was zero intelligence information coming from the CIA. Army Rangers were landed on the island in the middle of the day.
The list of Urgent Fury mistakes is a long one, but one snafu was so huge it became legend. The basic story is that a unit on the island was pinned down by Communist forces. Interoperability and communications were so bad, they were unable to call for support from anywhere. A member of the unit pulled out his credit card and made a long-distance call by commercial phone lines to their home base, which patched it through to the Urgent Fury command, who passed the order down to the requested support.
The devil is in the details. The Navy SEALs Museum says the caller was from a group of Navy SEALs in the governor's mansion. He called Fort Bragg for support from an AC-130 gunship overhead. The gunship's support allowed the SEALs to stay in position until relieved by a force of Recon Marines the next day. Some on the ground with the SEALs in Grenada said it was for naval fire support from nearby ships.
The story is recounted in Mark Adkins' Urgent Fury: the Battle for Grenada. Another report says it was a U.S. Army "trooper" (presumably meaning "paratrooper") who called his wife to request air support from the Navy. Screenwriter and Vietnam veteran James Carabatsos incorporated the event into his script for "Heartbreak Ridge" after reading about an account from members of the 82nd Airborne. In that version, paratroopers used a payphone and calling card to call Fort Bragg to request fire support.
In his 2011 memoir, "In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir," former Vice President Dick Cheney recalls visiting the island as a congressman and listening to an Army officer tell the story.
"An army officer who had needed artillery support… could look out to sea and see naval vessels on the horizon, but he had no way to talk to them. So he used his personal credit card in a payphone, placed a call to Fort Bragg, asked Bragg to contact the Pentagon, had the Pentagon contact the Navy, who in turn told the commander off the coast to get this poor guy some artillery support. Clearly a new system was needed."
The story has a happy ending from an American POV. These days, the U.S. invasion is remembered by the Grenadian people as an overwhelmingly good thing, as bloody Communist revolutions ended with the elections following the invasion. Grenada marks the anniversary of the U.S. intervention with a national holiday, its own Thanksgiving Day.
American pilots are being targeted by lasers in the Pacific
Posted On June 22, 2018 19:10:27
Pilots of US military aircraft operating in the Pacific Ocean have reportedly been targeted by lasers more than 20 times in recent months, US officials told The Wall Street Journal.
All of the incidents occurred near the East China Sea, the officials said, where Chinese military and civilians often operate in part to buttress their nation's extensive claims.
This report comes not long after the Pentagon accused the Chinese military of using lasers against US pilots in Djibouti. The pilots suffered minor eye injuries as a result, but China denied any involvement.
It's unclear who is behind these activities in the Pacific and the officials said the lasers used were commercial-grade, such as laser pointers often used for briefings and even playing with cats, as opposed to the military-grade lasers used against the US pilots in East Africa.
The lasers were reportedly pointed at the US aircraft from fishing boats, some of which were Chinese-flagged vessels.
F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 421st Fighter Squadron at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, practice air-to-sea maneuvers over the Pacific Ocean Jan. 25, 2013.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stephany Richards)
The US officials said they do not currently believe the Chinese military is behind these incidents, but also couldn't totally rule it out given the recent issues in Djibouti.
They added it's possible Chinese fisherman or people from "other countries in the region" could simply be doing this to harass American pilots.
It's also not clear what type of aircraft were targeted.
After the incidents in Djibouti, the Pentagon in May 2018 issued a formal complaint to China and called on its government to investigate.
In response, China's Defense Ministry said, "We have already refuted the untrue criticisms via official channels. The Chinese side consistently strictly abides by international law and laws of the local country, and is committed to protecting regional security and stability."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying added that the government had performed "serious checks," adding: "You can remind the relevant U.S. person to keep in mind the truthfulness of what they say, and to not swiftly speculate or make accusations."
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These Afghan moms are taking up arms to fight the Taliban and ISIS
The Daily Caller News Foundation
As radical terrorist groups continue to wreak havoc around Afghanistan, a group of women are taking up arms against them.
The Afghan National Police have resorted to arming and training local women to fight the Taliban and Islamic State militants. In many cases, the women had lost their sons, husbands, and other loved ones to the ongoing violence.
"If we fear [ISIS] and the Taliban today, our future will be ruined tomorrow," one unnamed woman told Al Jazeera.
Female members of the Afghan National Police train the local women in small arms and basic tactics, specifically in the northern reaches of Afghanistan.
Army photo by Sgt. Chloé Barnes.
"Every week, around 40 or 50 people join," said Najiba, a female police officer.
Some Afghans do not approve of women fighting in the army or police, but the increasingly desperate situation has forced the security forces to take desperate measures. Afghan forces only control or influence approximately 60 percent of the country's districts, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
ISIS's Afghan branch, known as Islamic State-Khorasan province, holds significantly less territory, but the group has been able to engage in several deadly terrorist attacks across the country.
"It's been forced on us," Gen. Rahmat of the Jowzjan province police told Al Jazeera in an interview. "It's not a woman's job to fight. But that's the situation now. Women have joined the police and army, too."
Fighting the Taliban and ISIS is a risky proposition for the women, but many see it as their duty. Sara Khala, one of the women training to fight the militants, lost her son to the Taliban, forcing her to care for his orphaned children.
"I have to take revenge for him," she told Al-Jazeera. "I'll cook dinner and give it to them. Then I'll go wherever the Taliban and Daesh are. I'll take my gun and fight them."
That time a Marine in WWII was found clutching a sword around 13 dead Japanese soldiers
It was in August 1942 that Private 1st Class Edward Ahrens would cement his place in the halls of Marine bad*sses when he singlehandedly took on an entire group of Japanese soldiers who were trying to flank his unit.
Ahrens, a Marine assigned to Alpha Co. of the 1st Raider Battalion, was in the second assault wave hitting the beaches of Tulagi on Aug. 7, 1942. After pushing off the beach along with Charlie Co., Alpha set up a defensive line that night, according to War History Online.
Then the Japanese fiercely counter-attacked. Fortunately, Alpha Co. had Ahrens protecting its right flank.
"I came across a foxhole occupied by Private First Class Ahrens, a small man of about 140 pounds," said Maj. Lew Walt, of what he saw the next morning. "He was slumped in one corner of the foxhole covered with blood from head to foot. In the foxhole with him were two dead Japs, a lieutenant and a sergeant. There were eleven more dead Japs on the ground in front of his position. In his hands he clutched the dead officer's sword."
Ahrens had successfully thwarted an enemy attack that would have opened a huge gap in the defensive line. As he lay dying, according to Walt, Ahrens whispered to him: "The idiot tried to come over me last night-I guess they didn't know I was a Marine."
He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, which reads:
"Private First Class Ahrens, with utter disregard for his own personal safety, single-handed engaged in hand-to-hand combat a group of the enemy attempting to infiltrate the rear of the battalion.
Although mortally wounded, he succeeded in killing the officer in command of the hostile unit and two other Japanese, thereby breaking up the attack. His great personal valor and indomitable fighting spirit were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country."
This timeline shows how the Niger operation went down
An attack in Niger that left four American Green Berets and five Nigerien soldiers dead earlier this month has sparked a nationwide debate over how the Trump administration has handled the incident.
During a condolence call with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of one of the men who was killed, President Donald Trump reportedly told her that her husband "knew what he signed up for." Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida, a friend of Johnson's family who listened to the call on speakerphone, called Trump's remarks "insensitive."
Also read: This is the general demanding answers for the families of the soldiers who died in Niger
In response, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly called Wilson an "empty barrel," and said he was appalled that the congresswoman shared what she heard on that call. Trump fired off several tweets calling Wilson "wacky" and disagreeing with the widow's impression of the call.
As the feuding continued, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford held a press conference at the Pentagon on Monday addressing reports that the Trump administration was withholding information about what really happened in Niger.
Here's what we know about how the attack unfolded, according to Dunford's timeline:
October 3: A reconnaissance mission
A U.S. Army Special Forces weapons sergeant observes as a Nigerien soldier bounds forward while practicing buddy team movement drills during Exercise Flintlock 2017 in Diffa, Niger, March 11, 2017. Flintlock is a Special Operations Forces exercise geared toward building interoperability between African and western partner nations. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zayid Ballesteros)
Dunford said 12 members of the US Special Operations Task Force joined 30 Nigerien forces on a reconnaissance mission from Niamey, Niger's capital city, to an area near the remote village of Tongo Tongo.
October 4: The day of the attack
Tongo Tongo in Niger. (image Google Maps)
US soldiers and the Nigerien troops met with local leaders to try to gather intelligence information, Dunford said. Some of the soldiers stayed behind to guard their vehicles, a US defense official told CNN.
As the meeting came to a close, the soldiers became suspicious when the village leadership started stalling and delaying their departure.
When US troops started walking back to their vehicles mid-morning, they were attacked by approximately 50 militants. Dunford said the enemy was likely from an ISIS-affiliated group of local tribal fighters.
The militants fired on the US-Nigerien patrol team with small arms, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades. This apparently caught the Americans and Nigeriens by surprise.
One hour later: US troops request reinforcements
A French Mirage fighter aircraft drops flares as it performs a high-speed pass during the French live fire demonstration near Arta Plage, Djibouti, Jan. 14, 2017. The Mirage and other fighter aircraft use flares as a countermeasure against incoming heat-seeking missiles. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by: Staff Sgt. Christian Jadot)
An hour into the firefight, the American soldiers asked for support to thwart the attack.
Dunford said a drone arrived overhead "within minutes," although it was only sent to gather intelligence. French Mirage fighter jets capable of striking enemy targets arrived at the scene "within an hour."
Later that afternoon, French attack helicopters arrived along with a Nigerien quick reaction force as well.
Sgt. La David Johnson was somehow separated from the rest of his unit. US military officials were not able to explain how or when exactly that happened.
"This [attack] was sophisticated," an intelligence official told ABC News. "Our guys not only got hit hard, but got hit in-depth."
Responding to questions about why the US troops didn't request reinforcements sooner, Dunford said he wouldn't judge why it took them an hour to ask for backup.
"I've been in these situations myself where you're confronted with enemy contact, [and] your initial assessment is you can deal with that contact with the resources that you have," he said. "At some point in the firefight, they concluded they then needed support, and so they called for additional support."
That night: US soldiers evacuated
Members of the 82nd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron and French military board a French SA-330 Puma helicopter during air-to-water qualification training near Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Oct. 17, 2013. The U.S. and French members conducted this operation to enhance communication and build a stronger relationship to ensure Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa members are continually ready to support military operations in East Africa to defeat violent extremist organizations.
French military Super Puma helicopters evacuated US soldiers who were wounded during the firefight to Niamey.
Three soldiers killed in action were also evacuated: Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright. One soldier, Sgt. Johnson, was still missing.
October 6: Johnson's body is finally discovered
Sergeant La David Johnson and three other soldiers were killed in action in Niger on Oct. 4, 2017.
Dunford said US officials continue to investigate how Johnson separated from the team and why it took 36 hours to recover his body.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis, meanwhile, has insisted that Johnson was not "left behind."
"The US military does not leave our troops behind, and I would just ask you not question the actions of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring everyone out at once," he said.
An intelligence official told ABC News that Johnson's locator beacon was giving unclear reports, and he seemed to be moving.
"Johnson's equipment might have been taken," the official said. "From what we now know, it didn't seem like he was kidnapped and killed. He was somehow physically removed from where the combat took place."
That same day, the Pentagon identified the three other soldiers who were killed.
October 7: Johnson's body is returned to Dover Air Force Base in Maryland
Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright (left), Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson (center), and Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black. Photos from US Army.
October 16: Trump first addresses the incident publicly
During a press conference at the White House, CNN asked Trump why it took so long for him to come out with a statement about what happened in Niger.
"If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls," Trump responded. "A lot of them didn't make calls. I like to call when it's appropriate."
Obama administration officials pushed back hard on that claim, calling it false.
That exchange was the first time Trump addressed the Niger ambush publicly.
Tuesday, October 17 to Monday, October 23: The condolence call controversy
Trump, Kelly, and Wilson exchanged barbs last week, disagreeing over what the president said during his condolence call with Myeshia Johnson, Sgt. Johnson's widow.
The Gold Star widow broke her silence on Monday, saying that Trump had trouble remembering her husband's name and told her that "he knew what he signed up for." Johnson said she cried after she got off the phone.
After the interview aired, Trump tweeted, "I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!"
"If my husband is out here fighting for our country, and he risked his life for our country, why can't you remember his name? That's what made me upset and cry even more," she told "Good Morning America."
October 23: Dunford outlines key details in the attack
Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks with reporters about recent military operations in Niger Oct. 23, 2017, at the Pentagon. DoD photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brigitte N. Brantley
In a 45-minute briefing on Monday, Dunford acknowledged that many looming questions about the attack are still unanswered.
Questions he's hoping the military's investigation can uncover include:
"Did the mission of US forces change during the operation?"
"Did our forces have adequate intelligence, equipment and training?"
"Was there a pre-mission assessment of the threat in the area accurate?"
"How did US forces become separated during the engagement, specifically Sgt. Johnson?"
"And why did they take time to find and recover Sgt. Johnson?"
"These are all fair questions that the investigation is designed to identify," he said.
(Featured image: Nigerian army soldiers shoot targets under 60mm illumination mortar rounds as a part of Exercise Flintlock 2017 in Diffa, Niger, March 9, 2017. Department of Defense photo.)
Are you born a warrior? Is it learned? A Delta Force Perspective
George Hand
It is my staunch belief that warriors are born and not created. In the case of either you can trace back through your past to your first ever action that made you realize — though not likely back then at the time — that you were destined to take the warrior's or the leader's path through life.
I came up through Army infantry at 19 years old gravely afraid of heights, a condition that kept me from becoming a paratrooper, the gateway training to the elite forces. After two years in the infantry, I was ready to jump even without a parachute if that was what it took to get me out of that horror show.
I made it into the Green Berets only to be met with great disappointment, as in those years between wars I felt we were more of an in-case-of-war-break-glass unit with peacetime ambition and an equally disappointing budget. The thought of going to war with my Green Beret A-Team scared me to the extent that I ran arms-flailing to the Delta Force, where I immediately faded into anonymity by a sea of raw talent and sheer badassery. I was home.
But even after arriving at the unit, which requires one of the toughest selections on the planet, I came to realize that the essence of my warrior spirit had been with me all along. I can finally go back to the very early days of my own basic army training and identify an event that has stayed with me for so many years. Finally, I think I understand what it meant and why the simple memory has remained close to my heart for so many decades.
Search as I have for hints of warrior potential during my coming of military status in basic training, I'm put finally in mind of a trivial incident that remains to impress me still today. I have thought of it often in attempts to make sense of it. Since it is mine, I shall own the interpretation.
It was during my own Infantry Basic Training in Sand Hill Georgia, where my platoon and I were waiting in the pine woods for a couple of hours between training events. At times like those, there was nothing to do but notice and complain about how hot it was, and it was plenty hot.
We boys huddled under the shade of an awning in our steel helmets. In that year I learned that shade was indeed only a state of mind, and had little physical impact on the Georgia swelter; where a boundary blocked the direct sun's rays, the humidity served to usher the heat around obstacles, presenting it to who would cower. "We" huddle and bitched and complained and moaned, making it all the worse. I quickly grew annoyed with the negative attitude of the group to the extent that I, but for slight, sniped at them verbally.
The "group" — my group: the hayseed from under the Bible Belt who spoke maybe just a little too fondly of his female cousin, the guy who came in for college; he already had one semester and constantly wanted everyone to know that by saying things like: "Yeah, but that doesn't detract from or minimize the context of what I'm saying," the fellow who was given the choice by a judge of either the Army or jail, the black man whose dad and grandad were both in the Army before him, the white dude who felt a patriotic debt to the country but really had no clue what that meant, the Chicano who wanted something different out of life… anything other than what he was living at the time.
And then there was — OMG! — that Asian fellow who during a group debate on race and equality announced to the group: "If there is a man here who can sh*t with his pants on, let him stand now and show it!" As God as my witness, he did say that. I resigned to the notion that he was trying for something along the lines of "We all put on our trousers one leg at a time."
I suffered too from the heat, but the urge to bellow seemed so futile, only adding to the misery. Knowing no better, I decided to remove myself from the crowd, so I stood and stepped some fifty feet away in direct view of the blazing sun. There I squatted in the muddy sand and hung my head and thought:
"The heat is bad, but it's better than being in the shade with the pity patrol. Bad means there is a worse; there is even a worse than this… somewhere. This too is bearable. All things, no matter the intensity, are always bearable. Here, I'm setting an example for all my platoon — see me here, guys? It's not so bad!"
Indeed remarks wafted over:
"What the hell's the idiot doing?"
"He can't last out there like that."
"Someone needs to go get him; he's delirious, he is."
"Yeah, holy crap, man!"
You see, now no longer were they absconded in their own misery; they were submersed in mine. I had taken their suffering away, even if for this brief bout of minutes. "I complained because I had no shoes, and then I saw a man who had no feet." Bad begets worse, and even worse is tolerable.
I think by wanting to be alone I had only drawn attention to myself… but it was done, and now I would give them a show. This is how we deal with the pain. This is how we stand up and take it… how we shake it off and defy it! This is how a much grander force within us makes a thing like the Georgia swelter such an insignificant trifle — "pour it on, Blythe! Fire your weapon!"
From the nose of my drooped head, beads of sweat were queued up and falling in serial. I decided that I would count off 100 of them before I went back to the shade. When 100 beads had fallen, I decided that I would let yet another 100 fall before I relented… then another 100, followed by another then another concatenation of 100.
After 500 had fallen, I stood and removed my helmet. I shook my face wildly, like a dog shakes off pool water upon exit. I wiped my face with my sleeves as I trudged back to the shade and the group. I remarked as I squatted back down:
"Yep… it's a real scorcher out there today, brothers."
And there was nothing but silence and a man who reached out his canteen my way, which I graciously declined.
Sometimes we imagine the Earth was gifted with us, to just be us, our mystical, magical, wonderful selves. Other times we might wonder if the planet might get along just swimmingly without us. Ask ten people if they "march to the beat of a different drum," and you will get ten affirmative answers every time. Now watch when the different drumsticks start their cadence how many stand, step out, and march… and keep marching until 500 beads of their sweat have rolled from their nose and hit the ground.
As I have searched and debated over the years to answer the question are warriors born or made, I often think back to the quote from Heraclitus nearly 2,000 years ago,
"Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." (Heraclitus c. 535 – c. 475 BCE)
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text:
Biology, ecology and biomedical science at Brighton
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IT requirements for your course
£10,000 for infection research
Simon Booth, a research fellow in our school, has been awarded £10,000 to study why some burns wounds don't respond to antibiotics as well as they should. Simon is examining whether burns patients with wound infection receive high enough doses of antibiotics to treat the wound infection. The study, approved by the National Research Ethics Service,…
Stephanie Thomson • July 27, 2017
Is austerity really to blame for stalling life expectancy in England?
Professor Richard Faragher, Professor of Biogerontology in our school, writes in The Conversation that: "Far from being a hopeless search for cash, we can increase life expectancy and lower care costs. What we need if political vision and will. Both are currently in short supply." Read the full article here.
Brains at the Bevy with Professor Richard Faragher
Join Professor Richard Faragher at Brains at the Bevy, in partnership with the British Science Festival, on Wednesday 30 August, 6-7pm, to talk about 'How we grow old, why we grow old and what we can do about it?' Richard will explain that we now understand the major mechanisms that cause humans and other animals to grow…
How good is your garden for wildlife?
Our mammalian biologist Dr Dawn Scott and fellow experts are revealing the secret lives of animals and insects that live in gardens and lawns. Watch out for Dr Scott who is featuring in a new BBC 4 TV programme 'The British Garden: Life and Death on your lawn'. Dr Scott said: "For this programme we assessed…
Stephanie Thomson • July 6, 2017
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If you are searching for a place to live or just need temporary rental housing, you will find the rental you require may be a sublet. Sublets fit every criteria: rentals and sublets for tenants with bad credit and obviously rentals for tenants with good credit, pet friendly rentals and subleases, furnished rentals, unfurnished rentals, short term rentals and long term rentals.
Most Sublets are small landlords that manage a few properties. You will find when dealing with sublet landlords and lease holders, you are renting from real people, who care about their tenants and rental properties, and not rental corporations.


text:
  Montbéliardot est
       un village
       situé dans le département des Doubs en Franche-Comté. Elle comptait 85 habitants en 2008.

Le nombre d'habitations, à Montbéliardot, se décomposait en 2011 en cinq appartements et 48 maisons soit
 un marché relativement équilibré.

Si vous envisagez de demenager à Montbéliardot, vous pourrez facilement trouver une maison à vendre.

À coté de Montbéliardot sont situées les communes de
La Bosse localisée à 4 km, 76 habitants,
Rosureux localisée à 5 km, 95 habitants,
Narbief à 5 km, 67 habitants,
Plaimbois-du-Miroir à 1 km, 165 habitants,
Le Luhier localisée à 0 km, 178 habitants,
Longevelle-lès-Russey localisée à 5 km, 50 habitants,
 entre autres. De plus, Montbéliardot est située à seulement treize km de Morteau.


TORONTO – July 18, 2018 – Canadian investment advisors continue to have a bearish outlook on Canadian equities going into the third quarter of 2018, according to the Q3 2018 Advisor Sentiment Survey ("Q3 Survey") conducted by Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. ("Horizons ETFs").
The Q3 Survey asked Canadian investment advisors for their expectations of returns – bullish, bearish or neutral – on 14 distinct asset classes for the upcoming quarter ("Q3 2018"), which ends on September 30, 2018.
Only 47% of Canadian investment advisors were bullish on Canadian equities – slightly lower than the 48% of advisors who stated they were bullish on the S&P/TSX 60™ Index, as indicated in the previous Q2 Advisor Sentiment Survey ("Q2 Survey"). Despite the bearish sentiment, Canadian equities had a very strong second quarter, primarily due to the solid run in Energy prices, with the S&P/TSX 60 Index generating a 6.2% return.
This generally bearish outlook extended to the other surveyed Canadian sectors, with the exception being the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index, where 55% of Canadian advisors were bullish on the outlook for energy related equities. The S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index generated a 16.25% return last quarter.
Advisors were also bullish on Crude Oil, as represented by WTI Crude Oil Futures, with 53% of advisor respondents suggesting that oil prices will continue to rise in Q3. Advisors were not as bullish on Natural Gas, with only 35% expecting natural gas prices would rise. Natural gas futures contracts were up nearly 7% last quarter.
While not technically a Canadian sector, but certainly a sector dominated by Canadian stocks, the Marijuana sector, as represented by the North American Marijuana Index, had the highest level of bullish sentiment, with 58% of advisors expecting Marijuana stocks to deliver positive returns in Q3. This index was up 5.78% from last quarter, with much of that performance coming from the announcement of final dates for the legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada.
Advisors Stay Bullish on the U.S.
Outlook on U.S. equities remained in-line with the Q2 Survey results with 56% of responses indicating bullish sentiment. The S&P 500® Index underperformed Canadian equities last quarter, delivering a modest return of 2.93%. The technology-focused NASDAQ-100 fared much better, delivering a 6.98% return on the quarter. Subsequently, 57% of advisors were bullish on U.S. equities.
Advisors are also favouring the U.S. dollar vs. the Canadian dollar, with 56% of advisors outright bearish on the Canadian dollar vs. the U.S. dollar. Sentiment on fixed income was mixed however, with only 26% of advisors bullish on U.S. treasuries, 36% neutral and 34% bearish. The bearish sentiment on bonds is likely due to the fact that the U.S. Fed continues to raise interest rates. Typically, rising interest rates are beneficial for currencies, but negative for bonds, which might explain the opposing opinions.
One of the most significant reductions in bullish expectation was the Emerging Market equities outlook (as represented by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index). Bullish sentiment declined by nearly 25%, with only 43% of advisors indicating a positive forecast for the global index comprised of Emerging Markets across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost nearly 9% last quarter.
Horizons ETFs conducts the only quarterly sentiment survey of Canadian advisors and investors. Both results have been collectively branded under the title 'Q3 2018 Advisor and Investor Sentiment Surveys'. The surveys quantitatively measure advisors' and investors' quarterly outlooks of key benchmarks covering equities, bonds, currencies and commodities. For full survey results, visit www.HorizonsETFs.com/sentimentsurvey.


When you run out of room for your treasures, what do you do? Well if you are Re Antiques and Interiors owner Heidi Stevens, you buy the building across the street and fill that one too. The well-loved original store is still open and its recently opened counterpart is already filled to the brim. Like mirror images, both locations are easily recognizable by their bright blue exteriors.
Services at Re include evaluating estates, buying items and special requests. Let Heidi know what particular item you are looking for and she will use her network to find it. Local artisans hold art and trunk shows frequently, too. Resolve to visit soon and find your reward.