Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well as the presidential inauguration, so Americans are feeling very patriotic on this Winter Monday. As we follow all the inauguration festivities in honor of President Barack Obama's second term, you can get in the spirit with a look at these Americana ads featuring wartime slogans and festive red, white, and blue clotting. Let's celebrate our country today with these vintage patriotic ads!
With Veterans Day falling this Sunday and the holidays soon to follow, I can't help but be reminded of the thousands of soldiers who keep our nation safe. While some of these courageous individuals will be spending the next few months on active duty, some will be coming home to loving families, including their adoring pets. There is a close relationship between dogs and the military: canines serve alongside soldiers overseas and provide comfort and support to veterans when they finish their last tours. But the crowning moment for a pooch is seeing his heroic pet parent walk through the front door.
Whether you and your pet have a brave soldier in your family or you're just honored to know that these women and men are protecting our great country, here's a sweet salute to all the soldiers and veterans and the dogs who love them.
Source: Getty
Today is Veterans Day, and to celebrate the land of the free and the home of the brave, here are some pictures of the men and women of America's armed forces being welcomed back from overseas to the opened arms of their loved ones. The touching homecoming embraces are so sentimental I bet you'll break out into "God Bless America" before the end of the album!
Today is Veterans Day and to commemorate the day I thought we should cover where the fitness world and the military collide and that's the ever-popular boot camp. I talked recently with vet Ruben Belliard, co owner of Warrior Fitness Boot Camp in NYC. A former Marine (but I think Ruben would say once a Marine always a Marine), Ruben met his business partner Alex Fell at basic training, and now these two train for triathlons together. Both have seen action overseas but now spend their days helping us civies get our sweat on.
When I think military workout, I think pull-ups. Ruben clarified for me something you might already know: the difference between a chin-up and pull-up is not how high you go, but the grip. With a pull-up, your palms face away from you and this grip means you're relying on your back muscles to pull you up to the bar. The palms-facing-in grip of the chin-up means the biceps and the pecs can assist you in your upward motion. According to Ruben regardless of your grip, if you want to pull your head up toward a bar you need to strengthen your muscles by doing assisted pull-ups first. He suggests using the assisted pull-up machines (our fave way to tackle this move at the gym), superbands (a big rubber band that helps you up), or a friend to push your legs from below while you pull with all your might.
To learn why push-ups are important, keep on reading.
Color me impressed. It's hard enough to find a good-looking accent chair for under $300, but Overstock's Hero Chair ($250) does just that. And even better? $50 of that price tag is actually directly donated to the Wounded Warrior Project, a program which serves the wounded men and women of the United States armed forces by raising awareness, enlisting public aid, and providing programs to meet the needs of severely injured service members and their caregivers. You can donate directly to the project here.
But back to that handsome chair. The Hero Chair was designed by Angelo Surmelis and features a hardwood frame under a gray chenille upholstery that will fit into any number of decorating schemes. Its versatile design, which combines both modern and traditional elements, would be equally at home in a ski cabin or a downtown loft. I definitely wish that I had room in my home for this chair. Do you have room in yours?
In honor of Veterans Day, which is commemorated today, many people wear poppies on their lapels. Ever wonder how this tradition originated? The poppies are an image from Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields," which was written during World War I. The poppies in the poem reference those that grew in the battlefields and cemeteries in Flanders. Make sure to read the poem if you haven't had the chance to before.
While you're at it, be sure to thank a veteran today for his or her service to the country, or better yet, contact your local veterans' fund to donate your time or money contribution. If you want to add a poppy to a more permanent place in your home, check out the roundup below.
Check out more happy reunion videos over at mental floss.
Today is Veterans Day to honor the men and women who have served this country, but have you stopped to consider who serves the soldiers if they go overseas and have no human family members to watch over animals in their absence?
Well, that's where NetPets's MilitaryPetsFOSTER Project comes in. The nonprofit has a huge database of foster homes in all 50 states as well as several foreign countries willing to house dogs, cats, fish, birds, horses, and more for up to 16 months. Acting as matchmakers, they help find a local party willing to take care of a beloved animal while the owner is stationed elsewhere. By using this service (or others), have you ever taken care of a military pet?
Yesterday members of the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment's Old Guard held a wreath of more than 700 red silk poppies marked with the words "Lafayette, We Are Here" at Arlington National Cemetery, honoring the 116,516 Americans killed in the First World War. While you're not expected to hang such a massive wreath on Veterans Day — though I applaud you if you have! — I'm sure some of you out there have done a little something to honor our military veterans on this special day. Have you hung up a smaller wreath for this holiday? Have you decorated with a bouquet of red poppies? Are there photos of your family members or friends who have served? Tell me by commenting below.
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Nations around the world celebrate the brave men and women who served their countries. In America, today marks Veterans Day.
Stories about Americans working to honor veterans by improving their quality of life have special resonance today. Homes For Troops provides specially adapted homes for those wounded in combat, free of charge. And one New York farm offers horseback riding as a form of therapy to veterans suffering from mental and emotional wounds like post-traumatic stress disorder.
Whether or not you have any veterans in your life to thank today, take this quiz to find out how much you know about the origin of Veterans Day!
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