The Hammock Inc. offices will be closed Thursday and Friday, Nov. 27 and 28, in observation of the Thanksgiving holiday.

If you need to reach one of us, please check out our people pages for contact information.

We wish you safe travels and a very happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great day meeting association executives and learning more about the latest trends in association publishing. The day of sessions was jam-packed with everything from developing digital communications strategies to the most popular new technologies associations should leverage. We're already looking forward to the next SNAP conference in June 2009 in Washington, D.C.

The Custom Publishing Council's fifth annual Pearl Awards ceremony took place Nov. 13 in New York City, honoring the best in "design, digital, editorial and strategic initiatives for B2B and consumer custom publications". Bronze, silver and gold awards were presented to 53 companies from more than 600 entries. Two of those awards -- one gold and one bronze -- went to Hammock Inc.

DIGITAL | Best Use of Alternative Media or Multimedia Technology
Gold: National Small Business Summit Website, Hammock Inc. (NFIB)

EDITORIAL | Best Overall | Less Than 50,000
Bronze: American Spirit, Hammock, Inc. (DAR)

For a close-up look at how we developed the winning website, read this recent post on Custom Media Craft.

See a full list of winners and learn more about the Custom Publishing Council.

And in honor of Veterans Day, the issue expands the regular Today's Daughters department to salute four special members of the Daughters of the American Revolution who contributed to the WWII cause: Doris Alberts, Evelyn Parker Clark, Florrideen Wakenight Lyle and Katharine Phillips Singer. Thanks to them and to all veterans who made sacrifices for our freedom.

When we began working with the Marine Corps League in 2006, we didn't realize that we would begin a tradition here at Hammock Inc. — that of saluting the United States Marine Corps' birthday every 10 November.

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Of course, each November-December issue we produce of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, is designated as "The Birthday Issue" - in capital letters! This issue's cover is a stirring shot of the Marine Corps Memorial whose bronze Leathernecks stand watch over the nearby Nation's Capitol. Inside is a pictorial of Marine Corps League members celebrating the birthday last year.

USMC tradition holds that the Corps was born on 10 November 1775 at long-vanished Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, where a recruiter began carrying out instructions issued that day by the Continental Congress to create "a Corps of Marines." Marine recruiters carry on that legend today (though not in taverns), looking for a few good men and women to comprise the next generation of Marines. Ordered to expand the Corps to 202,000 by fiscal 2001, Marine recruiters are—of course!—ahead of schedule, as we report in this issue.

Battlefield medicine has of course come a long way from the crude and often lethal care provided those early Marines. In our feature "Corpsman Up!" author Otto Kreisher examines how brave medics are working ever closer to the fight, and bringing more Marines home alive.

Each issue reports extensively on League programs. This issue marks the 50th anniversary of the League's Young Marines Program, which helps high school students find discipline, order and purpose in their lives. We also report on the League's Youth Physical Fitness Program, which encourages boys and girls from kindergarten through high school to get fit and stay fit. It's offered free to any school. There is also a program that recognizes high school band students' talent.

A number of us here at Hammock are real political junkies. We're all over the spectrum, politically, but we share a love of politics, media, and the crazy things that happen during campaigns and elections.

For true political geeks, today's the best day of the year. We'll be glued to the computer, cell phone and TV til the wee morning hours. Best of all, growing media use of social networking tools means you can follow the action wherever you are. Rex is keeping a running tally of fun election tools over at the Rexblog.