Author: Scott Manning
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Battle of the Bulge at Fort Indiantown Gap, PA
On January 27 of this year, my dad and I attended the Battle of the Bulge Reenactment at For Indiantown Gap, PA put on by the The World War II Federation. The reenacting had been taking place all week and we visited on the second to last day. The toughest part was finding the place,…
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World War I: Troop Statistics
The following is a breakdown of the number of troops that fought, died, and were wounded in World War I, as recorded in Michael Clodfelter’s Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and other Figures. The number of civilians killed have been counted as well. This article is only a quick analysis of…
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General Patton’s Prayer
Many know the story of General Patton’s prayer for better weather in order to more efficiently kill the Germans in the winter of 1944. Few know of his Christmas Greeting that was issued along with the prayer, which he describes in War as I Knew It. Contrary to popular belief, the prayer was not ordered to…
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Communist Body Count
The following estimates represent citizens killed or starved to death by their own Communist governments since 1918. These numbers do not include war dead. The governments are sorted by body count (highest to lowest). All numbers are mid-estimates. While this list is as complete as I have been able to determine, it is evolving. Some…
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Churchill’s Sinking of the French Fleet (July 3, 1940)
On June 13, 1940, Winston Churchill took one of several trips to France during Hitler’s Blitzkrieg. After convincing the French not to sign a separate armistice with Germany just two months prior, Churchill was now being begged to release them from the obligation. When a country loses its will to fight, there’s not much you…
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Movie Review: Flyboys
Against all odds, I went to see Flyboys. The critics hated it, my wife refused to go, and all of my friends had better things to do. That is, all of my friends except poor Derek. He was as dumb as me and had nothing to do on a Sunday night. We both left our…
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Introduction: The Top Ten Dictators of All-Time
There are several “lists” out there that try to rank dictators, conquerors, and rulers. The problem I’ve found is that the lists are nothing more than sensationalism or they’re just plain inaccurate. There are many books written with the theme of listing the most evil people. The Most Evil Dictators in History and The Evil…
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Functional Design Specification
A Functional Design Specification (FDS) is a document used by companies in a pre-development phase to translate all notes, concepts, and scope into a complete requirements document. The document can include anything from flowcharts, screenshots, and wire frames. At a minimum, an FDS will contain an organized list of requirements that can be used for…
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Stupid Word Features that should be Turned Off
I’m an avid user of Microsoft’s Word. While it is still the best word processor available, there are plenty of “features” that will drive me nuts. Some of those features were introduced in recent versions of Word and they are turned-on by default. This tutorial will show you how to turn off the following features:…
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Learn from The Matrix: Design Before You Code
The most important thing you can do to increase the success rate of a software project is to fully define the software before a single line of code is written. Fantasy Land While it sounds good on paper, this practice is something that only exists in my version of Fantasy Land. Deadlines, budgets, and excited…
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Quick XML Formatting with Microsoft Excel
You have a long list that you want to put in an XML format. This tutorial will show you a quick way to do it with Microsoft Excel. For this example, I have a list of the Fortune 100 companies and their locations. You can download (Right-click and “Save As”) the list and following along the tutorial.…
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General Patton’s Principles
General Patton’s Principles was a gift from my grandfather almost six years ago. He’s a got room in his house in North Texas full of old, dusty books. Somehow, he found out how big of a Patton fan I am and General Patton’s Principles made it into my hands. This book has stayed by my…