--Kiss Off Stress--

Did you know that the holiday season is the time of the year when you're most likely to die from a heart attack? According to research at the University of California, the deadliest day is Christmas, when you're 5 percent more likely to have a cardiac event. Of course, all the key stressors (finance, family, travel) seem destined to be worse this year (they always do). Since a restful night's sleep or an hour at the gym isn't always possible, here are 10 quick ways to stress less.
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One second: Swear
Researchers at England's University of East Anglia Norwich looked into leadership styles and found that using swear words can reduce stress and boost camaraderie among coworkers. Good luck, #!$*&^*@!
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Five seconds: Pop fish oil
According to research from the University of Pittsburgh, people with the highest blood levels of EPA and DHA omega-3 fatty acids are happier, less impulsive, and more agreeable. Try a daily supplement of 400 milligrams each of EPA and DHA fish oils.
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10 seconds: Eat dark chocolate
A study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that the flavonoids in cocoa relax your body's blood vessels. Look for low-fat dark chocolate, which has more stress-busting flavonoids than milk chocolate.
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30 seconds: Know your hoku
Acupressure is a quick tension releaser, according to researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University who found it can reduce stress by up to 39 percent. For fast relief, massage your hoku (the fleshy part between the thumb and index finger) for 20 to 30 seconds. "This is the universal pressure point for easing upper-body tension," says Patrice Winter, a spokeswoman for the American Physical Therapy Association.
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30 seconds: Sit back
Forget what you've been told about sitting up straight to relieve tension in your back. Researchers at the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada found that leaning back at a 135-degree angle is the best sitting position for alleviating back pain.
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One minute: Add garlic
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham believe they've figured out why garlic is good for heart health, and their finding implies it's a powerful stress buster too. When you digest garlic's main ingredient, organosulfur allicin, your body produces hydrogen sulfide, which relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow.
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Three minutes: Brew tea
In a study at University College in London, 75 men were given tea before completing two stressful tasks. Afterward, their cortisol levels dropped an average of 47 percent, compared with 27 percent for men who weren't given tea.
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Five minutes: Take a YouTube timeout
Just the anticipation of laughing decreases the stress hormones dopac, cortisol, and epinephrine by 38, 39, and 70 percent, respectively, according to researchers at Loma Linda University in California. And when researchers at the University of Maryland showed short movie clips to study participants, those who watched funny films experienced a 22 percent increase in blood flow to their hearts.
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Eight minutes: Budget wisely
"Money is the biggest source of stress for a man during the holidays," says Bonnie Eaker Weil, Ph.D., author of Financial Infidelity. And with good reason: Men who avoid making budgets spend an average of 36 percent more on holiday gifts than those who don't, according to a 2002 survey. So go easy on your wallet and your heart. Sit down with your wife and quickly calculate how much you two want to spend on gifts this year.
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10 minutes: Just do it
Kissing or hugging your wife can reduce stress because it raises levels of oxytocin, the hormone associated with bonding and love, say researchers at the University of North Carolina. And a Scottish researcher found that having sex regularly lowers anxiety, stress, and blood pressure.
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~http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100228142&GT1=31036

--WAR LORDS--Joseph Stalin--

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (real surname Dzhugashvili) (Georgian: იოსებ სტალინი, ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი, Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин, ISO 9: Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin; December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878 – March 5, 1953) was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. He gradually consolidated power and became party leader and dictator of the Soviet Union, establishing the regime now known as Stalinism.

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Following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, Stalin prevailed in a power struggle over Leon Trotsky, who was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union. Stalin launched a command economy in the Soviet Union replacing the New Economic Policy of the 1920s with Five-Year Plans in 1928 and at roughly the same time, forced rapid industrialization of the largely rural country and collective farming by confiscating the lands of farmers.

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He derogatorily referred to farmers who refused his reforms as "kulaks", a class of rich peasant which had in actuality been wiped out by World War I; millions were killed, exiled to Siberia, or died of starvation after their land, homes, meager possessions, and ability to earn an existence from the land were taken to fulfill Stalin's vision of massive "factory farms". While the Soviet Union transformed from an agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse in a short span of time, millions of people died from hardships and famine that occurred as a result of the severe economic upheaval and party policies.

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At the end of 1930s, Stalin launched the Great Purge, a major campaign of political repression. During his continued repressions, millions of people who were a threat to the Soviet politics or suspected of being such a threat were executed or exiled to Gulag labor camps in remote areas of Siberia or Central Asia, where many more died of disease, malnutrition and exposure. A number of ethnic groups in Russia were forcibly resettled for political reasons. Stalin's rule, reinforced by a cult of personality, fought real and alleged opponents mainly through the security apparatus, such as the NKVD. In the 1950s, Nikita Khrushchev, Stalin's eventual successor, denounced Stalin's rule and the cult of personality, thus initiating the process of "de-Stalinization".

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Bearing the brunt of the Nazis' attacks, the Soviet Union under Stalin made the largest and most decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II (1939–1945), despite Stalin's policy mistakes before and during the war. These included a devastating internal policy which weakened the Soviet society and strategic blunders during the first period of Great Patriotic War. Additionally the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and its secret protocol, cleared the way for Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939 and the beginning of the war itself.

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Under Stalin's leadership, after the war, the Soviet Union went on to achieve recognition as one of just two superpowers in the world. That status lasted for nearly four decades after his death until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Stalin's rule had long-lasting effects on the features that characterized the Soviet state from the era of his rule to its collapse in 1991.

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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin