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Therefore, the warriors (samurai) were educating themselves not only in the martial arts but also in literature, philosophy and the arts, e.g. the tea ceremony.

During the Edo period and especially during the Genroku era (1688 - 1703), popular culture flourished. New art forms like kabuki and ukiyo-e became very popular especially among the townspeople.

The most important philosophy of Tokugawa Japan was Neo-Confucianism, stressing the importance of morals, education and hierarchical order in the government and society:

The social hierarchy began to break down as the merchant class grew increasingly powerful while some samurai became financially dependent of them.

n the end of the 18th century, external pressure started to be an increasingly important issue, when the Russians first tried to establish trade contacts with Japan without success

All factors combined, the anti-government feelings were growing and caused other movements such as the demand for the restoration of imperial power and anti western feelings, especially among ultra-conservative samurai in increasingly independently acting domains such as Choshu and Satsuma.

estivals of Thanksgiving were observed sporadically on a local level for more than 150 years. They tended to be autumn harvest celebrations. But in 1789, Elias Boudinot, Massachusetts, member of the House of Representatives, moved that a day of Thanksgiving be held to thank God for giving the American people the opportunity to create a Constitution to preserve their hard won freedoms. A Congressional Joint Committee approved the motion, and informed President George Washington. On October 3, 1789, the President proclaimed that the people of the United States observe "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer" on Thursday, the 26th of November. The next three Presidents proclaimed, at most, two days of thanksgiving sometime during their terms of office, either on their own initiative or at the request of a joint Resolution of Congress. One exception was Thomas Jefferson, who believed it was a conflict of church and state to require the American people hold a day of prayer and thanksgiving. President James Madison proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving to be held on April 13, 1815, the last such proclamation issued by a President until Abraham Lincoln did so in 1862.

Thanksgiving holiday may be given to Sarah Josepha Hale. Editor of Ladies Magazine and Godey's Lady's Book, she began to agitate for such a day in 1827 by printing articles in the magazines. She also published stories and recipes, and wrote scores of letters to governors, senators, and presidents. After 36 years of crusading, she won her battle. On October 3, 1863, buoyed by the Union victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln proclaimed that November 26, would be a national Thanksgiving Day, to be observed every year on the fourth Thursday of November. Only twice has a president changed the day of observation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in order to give depression-era merchants more selling days before Christmas, assigned the third Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day in 1939 and 1940. But he was met with popular resistance, largely because the change required rescheduling Thanksgiving Day events such as football games and parades. In 1941, a Congressional Joint Resolution officially set the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday for Thanksgiving.

Compare this to the American team, older, taller, plucky, yet seemingly more human.

Nastia Lukin and Shawn Johnson both stumbled at critical points, and Alicia Sacramone's angst was genuine as she faltered.

Yet only a few minutes later, most of them were gabbing like typical American teenagers, the pain of defeat temporal. And you know Sacramone won't be haunted by this for too long. She'll rebound back and get up again

Scientists have discovered that vampire bat saliva is better at keeping blood from clotting than any known medicine. Vampire bats may one day help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

ominivores

pouch in its throat that is part of the bird's windpipe and is used for communication.

make deep booming, drumming, and grunting sounds.

heard up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) away!

5 to 15 eggs

winning the first World Series in 1903 and amassing five World Series titles prior to selling Ruth

he once-lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in North American professional sports.

ended in 2004, when the Red Sox came back from a 0-3 best-of-seven deficit to beat the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series and then went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals to win the 2004 World Series.

the curse

In 1949, the Red Sox needed to win just one of the last two games of the season to win the pennant, but lost both games to the Yankees, who would go on to win a record five consecutive World Series from 1949 to 1953.

In 1967, the Red Sox surprisingly reversed the awful results of the 1966 season by winning the American League pennant on the last weekend of the season. In the World Series, they once again faced the Cardinals, and just as in 1946, the Series went to a seventh game. St. Louis won the deciding contest 7-2

In 2003, the Red Sox were playing the Yankees in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Boston held a 5-2 lead in the eighth inning, and manager Grady Little opted to stay with starting pitcher Pedro Martínez rather than go to the bullpen. New York rallied off the tired Martínez, scoring three runs off a single and three doubles to tie the game. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Aaron Boone launched a solo home run off knuckleballing Boston starter Tim Wakefield (pitching in relief) to win the game and the pennant for the Yankees.

In 2004, the Red Sox once again met the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. After losing the first three games, including a 19–8 drubbing at Fenway in Game 3, the Red Sox trailed 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 4. But the team tied the game with a walk by Kevin Millar and a stolen base by pinch-runner Dave Roberts, followed by an RBI single off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera by third baseman Bill Mueller, and won on a 2-run home run in the 12th inning by David Ortiz. The Red Sox would go on to win the next three games to become the first Major League Baseball team to win a seven-game postseason series after being down 3 games to none.

The Red Sox then faced the St. Louis Cardinals, the team to whom they lost the 1946 and 1967 World Series, and won in a four-game sweep. Cardinals shortstop Edgar Rentería—who wore number 3, Babe Ruth's uniform number with the Yankees—hit into the final out of the game. The final game took place on October 27 during a total lunar eclipse—the only post-season or World Series game to do so. It also took place exactly 18 years to the day the Red Sox last lost a World Series game. Three years later, the Red Sox would sweep the Colorado Rockies to win another World Series.

Exercise Bike - 30-45 minutes. Jogging - 30 minutes. Stairmaster - 30 minutes. Aerobics Class - 30 minutes. Water Exercise - 30 minutes. Versa Climber - 30 minute

Bats are primarily found in forests and savannas. Colonies of bats roost together in tall trees.

In some parts of Africa straw-colored fruit bats are considered a delicacy. Elsewhere they are considered pests and killed to prevent the destruction of fruit crops. Studies, however, have shown that bats only eat very ripe and unmarketable fruit and may even help reduce fungi and fruit flies in commercial plantations. Bats are also slaughtered because of superstitions and the musky odors and noise emanating from their roosting places.

Bats, like most wild animals, will bite if handled, but if left alone they normally will avoid contact.

Bats are versatile. The insect-eating type is a natural pesticide. Bat excrement, called guano, is sold as fertilizer. And seed dispersal and pollination activities of certain bats help tropical forests survive.

Braille has been adapted to write many different languages, including Chinese, and is also used for musical and mathematical notation.

Building Mass and Strength Mass- and strength-enhancing drugs used by athletes include: Anabolic steroids Beta-2 agonists Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) Luteinizing hormone (LH) Human growth hormone (hGH) Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) Insulin

A steroid is a chemical substance derived from cholesterol.

he body has several major steroid hormones -- cortisol and testosterone in the male, estrogen and progesterone in the female. Catabolic steroids break down tissue, and anabolic steroids build up tissue. Anabolic steroids build muscle and bone mass primarily by stimulating the muscle and bone cells to make new protein.

Athletes use anabolic steroids because they increase muscle strength by encouraging new muscle growth. Anabolic steroids are similar in structure to the male sex hormone, testosterone, so they enhance male reproductive and secondary sex characteristics (testicle development, hair growth, thickening of the vocal cords). They allow the athlete to train harder and longer at any given period.

Anabolic steroids are mostly testosterone (male sex hormone) and its derivatives. Examples of anabolic steroids include: Testosterone Dihydrotestosterone Androstenedione (Andro) Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) Clostebol Nandrolone

hese substances can be injected or taken as pills. Anabolic steroids have a number of possible and well-known side effects, including: Jaundice and liver damage because these substances are normally broken down in the liver Mood swings, depression and aggression because they act on various centers of the brain In males, the excessive concentrations interfere with normal sexual function and cause: Baldness Infertility Breast development

In females, the excessive concentrations cause male characteristics to develop and interfere with normal female functions. The drugs can: Stimulate hair growth on the face and body Suppress or interfere with menstrual cycle, possibly leading to infertility Thicken the vocal cords, which causes the voice to deepen, possibly permanently If pregnant, interfere with the developing fetus

urricanes cause do billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these.

The ice caps melting is a four-pronged danger.

First, it will raise sea levels.

Second, melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance

Third, temperature rises and changing landscapes in the artic circle will endanger several species of animals. Only the most adaptable will survive.

ourth, global warming could snowball with the ice caps gone

For the following 700 years, shoguns from a succession of clans ruled in Japan, while the imperial court existed in relative obscurity.

Suspicious of Christianity and of Portuguese support of a local Japanese revolt, the shoguns of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) prohibited all trade with foreign countries; only a Dutch trading post at Nagasaki was permitted.

The Japanese began to take steps to extend their empire.

In World War I, Japan seized Germany's Pacific islands and leased areas in China.

At the Washington Conference of 1921–1922, Japan agreed to respect Chinese national integrity, but, in 1931, it invaded Manchuria.

The dropping of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the United States finally brought the government to admit defeat. Japan surrendered formally on Sept. 2, 1945, aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

The U.S. and Japan signed a security treaty in 1951, allowing for U.S. troops to be stationed in Japan. In 1952, Japan regained full sovereignty, and, in 1972, the U.S. returned to Japan the Ryuku Islands, including Okinawa.

A shrewd trade policy gave Japan larger shares in many Western markets, an imbalance that caused some tensions with the U.S.

During the 1990s, Japan suffered an economic downturn prompted by scandals involving government officials, bankers, and leaders of industry. Japan succumbed to the Asian economic crisis in 1998, experiencing its worst recession since World War II.

The embattled Mori resigned in April 2001 and was replaced by Liberal Democrat Junichiro Koizumi—the country's 11th prime minister in 13 years.

Koizumi was overwhelmingly reelected in Sept. 2003 and promised to push ahead with tough economic reforms.

In April 2005, China protested the publication of Japanese textbooks that whitewashed the atrocities committed by Japan during World War II.

Princesss Kiko gave birth to a boy in September.

The child's birth spares Japan a controversial debate over whether women should be allowed to ascend to the throne.

He suffered a stunning blow in July 2007 parliamentary elections, however, when his Liberal Democratic Party lost control of the upper house to the opposition Democratic Party.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck in northwest Japan in July 2007, killing 10 people and injuring more than 900. The tremor caused skyscrapers in Tokyo to sway for almost a minute, buckled roads and bridges, and damaged a nuclear power plant. About 315 gallons of radioactive water leaked into the Sea of Japan.

he move followed a string of scandals and the stunning defeat of his Liberal Democratic Party in July's parliamentary elections

In June 2008, the upper house of Parliament, which is controlled by the opposition, censured Fukuda, citing his management of domestic issues.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which won control of the upper house of Parliament in 2007, poses a viable threat to the Liberal Democrats who have been in control for more than 50 years.