The more the IOC (and indeed its spiritual twin, Fifa) continues to gift its sporting events to authoritarian regimes, the more they become one giant political demonstration, in which the athletes are a mere plot device.
The X Factor and Celebrity Big Brother continued to be gifts.
They continued to use gifts to obtain influence, but they left behind the social context that had structured and guided the practice.
For 53 years I have continued to master this gift, which heals the soul and warms hearts.
About 1147 Hildegard left Disibodenberg with several nuns to found a new convent at Rupertsberg, where she continued to exercise the gift of prophecy and to record her visions in writing.
Mr. Thaw continued to expand the gift, which has grown to more than 800 objects of such quality that Mr. Coe judges it "the finest collection of American Indian art amassed privately in this generation".
As fans took to Twitter last Sunday to celebrate the team's victory over the San Francisco 49ers, Gov. Chris Christie, who had argued before the game that any Giants victory parade should be held in New Jersey, continued to display his gift for unsubtle state pride.
But after his death in 1861, while treasures from the empire continued to arrive as gifts, Victoria's interest in art flagged.
They didn't know what to do with their noisy, spirited granddaughter, but they continued to give simple gifts from their hearts.
The pastor continued to describe grace— gifts given not because we deserve them, but because of an unconditional, unfathomable source of love and forgiveness.
