Germany's Choice: Part 2 | STRATFOR. Also, I show you a metaphoric maximum card with Star Wars: it's always tricky to continuously identify your allies and your enemies. Your absolute enemy might be your relative. Seeing the light and walking into it might just mean a LIGHTSABER, not a LIFESAVER

Germany's Choice: Part 2 | STRATFOR

Germany, Russia...who is enlightening their allies? 

Who is lightening up, if any? 

Who is lightning-fast for the power-grab?

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

Is this THE story of your life? Or ONE story about your life? Forever running towards something...or away from something? Always having to obey The Man? Maximum card with SLED DOG RACING in ALASKA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mushing_graphicx.JPG

"Sled dog racing (sometimes termed dog sled racing) is a winter dog sport most popular in the Arctic regions of the United States, Canada, Russia, and some European countries.^[1] It involves the timed competition of teams of sleddogs that pull a sled with the dog driver or musher standing on the runners. The team completing the marked course in the least time is judged the winner.

A sled dog race was a demonstration sport at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York and again at the Olympics in Oslo, but it did not gain official event status.^[2]

Sled dogs, known also as sleighman dogs, sledge dogs, or sleddogs, are a highly trained dog type that are used to pull a dog sled, a wheel-less vehicle on runners, over snow or ice, by means of harnesses and lines."

"Iditarod

The most famous long-distance race is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Also known as the "Last Great Race on Earth", the Iditarod is over 1150 miles of some of the roughest and most beautiful terrain in the world. The race consists of fierce mountains, frozen rivers, thick forests, and desolate tundras. Each team of 12–16 dogs must go from Anchorage all the way to Nome.^[5]

Although each musher has different strategies, each team must have certain pieces of equipment, such as an arctic parka, an ax, snowshoes, and boots for each dog's feet to protect against cutting ice and hard packed snow injuries."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogsled_racing

Here's a superb photo, with no tongue-in-cheek!

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below. Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help.

Description	I took these photos on 6 March 2010 at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod dog sled race. The real start is from Willow. The Iditarod is known as "the last great race". It goes 1,100 miles from Willow to Nome through unforgiving terrain and downright nasty weather. I took these photos between Goose Lake and APU. What a great day to be an Alaskan!
Date	7 March 2010, 11:14
Source	The look of sheer determination - 2010 Iditarod Ceremonial start in Anchorage, Alaska Uploaded by Smooth_O
Author	Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Permission (Reusing this file)	See below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Iditarod_Ceremonial_start_in_Anchorage,_Alaska.jpg

State of Alaska
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Last Frontier
Motto(s): North to the Future
Official language(s)	None[1][2]
Spoken language(s)	English 89.7%, Native North American 5.2%, Spanish 2.9%
Demonym	Alaskan
Capital	Juneau
Largest city	Anchorage
Area	Ranked 1st in the U.S.
- Total	663,268 sq mi (1,717,854 km2)
- Width	2,261 miles (3,639 km)
- Length	1,420 miles (2,285 km)
- % water	13.77
- Latitude	51°20'N to 71°50'N
- Longitude	130°W to 172°E
Population	Ranked 47th in the U.S.
- Total	710,231 (2010)[3] 626,932 (2000)
- Density	1.03/sq mi  (0.4/km2) Ranked 50th in the U.S.
- Median income	US$64,333 (4th)
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount McKinley[4] 20,320 ft  (6,193.7 m)
- Mean	1900 ft  (580 m)
- Lowest point	Sea level 0 ft  (0 m)
Before statehood	Alaska Territory
Admission to Union	January 3, 1959 (49th)
Governor	Sean Parnell (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Mead Treadwell (R)
Legislature	Alaska Legislature
- Upper house	Senate
- Lower house	House of Representatives
U.S. Senators	Lisa Murkowski (R) Mark Begich (D)
U.S. House delegation	Don Young (R) (at-large) (list)
Time zones
- east of 169° 30'	Alaska: UTC-9/DST-8
- west of 169° 30'	Aleutian: UTC-10/DST-9
Abbreviations	AK US-AK
Website	alaska.gov

"Alaska (ⁱ/əˈlæskə/) is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait. Approximately half of Alaska's 710,231 residents (as per the 2010 United States Census) live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska is the least densely populated state of the U.S.^[5]

Alaska was purchased from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for $7.2 million ($113 million in today's dollars) at about two cents per acre ($4.74/km²). The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized (or incorporated) territory on May 11, 1912, and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959.

The name "Alaska" (Аляска) was already introduced in the Russian colonial period, when it was used only for the peninsula and is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland" or more literally, "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed".^[6] It is also known as Alyeska, the "great land", an Aleut word derived from the same root."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

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Part 3: Butterflies and moths on stamps from my collection: P.R. CHINA, U.S.A. and PANAMA

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Happy Sunday Stamps meme!

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