RUNNING FROM THE MAN SINCE 1837 (down to a more of a mosey, these days).

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If any of you are scared of Windows 7 and can't afford a Mac remember there is Linux.  Its free.  Ubuntu Linux just just released the latest upgrade, 9.10 called by the project name Karmic Koala (I upgraded Thursday).  Unlike Windows (where you have to relearn the operating system every time they have a new release) Ubuntu Linux's new release works the same.  It just keeps working better.

You can get Ubuntu, for free, at:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu

They have Desktop, Laptop and Server additions available.  If you want actual CDs (and you want a lot) you can order 20 for $35.  That is $1.75 each.  Also if you are interested in Cloud computing, it appears that Ubuntu is the most popular gateway to the Clouds offering support for both Private and Public Clouds.  Clouds are really more of a business thing so don't worry about them too much.

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Music?  Just one song.  That song I told you about last week, "Pride" by Syntax.  I just let it loop.  I think I have listened to it for 10 or 12 hours since last week.  Very Zen.

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If you are over 35 you probably have a digital camera that you do not totally understand.  This web page can help:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-features-you-should-know-about-your-camera/

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If you insist on staying with Windows, you may want a little privacy on your own computer. If if is the one at work maybe you don't want the boss to see the cheesy sexting message your girl friend sent you or if you are at home maybe you want to hide your internet porn from your wife or kids (good luck with that, they know more about computers than you do).  Well this site is the place for you.  It tells you how to hide a hard drive from File Manger and still access it when you want to.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hide-your-drives-from-prying-eyes-with-no-drives-manager-windows/

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If you are adding sound to your computer there are places to get royalty free sounds.  One of them is FlashKit at:
http://www.flashkit.com/soundfx/

They claim to be the most advanced Sound FX download site on the net! mp3 and flashtrak versions of all effects.  Here are four other sources of royalty free pleasing and irritating noises.

Soungle
http://www.soungle.com/

Soundboard
http://www.soundboard.com/

SoundBible
http://soundbible.com/

Freesound Project
http://www.freesound.org/index.php

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Pixar's latest 3D movie is out on Tuesday. 
The name of the flic is "UP". 

So get UP Tuesday.

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I am too cheap.... I mean poor to buy music any more.  So when I find something that is free I like to spread the joy.  If you go to this web page they will tell you what you need to know to get music without going to jail.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/songr-%E2%80%93-a-desktop-mp3-search-engine-that-also-downloads-songs-for-you/

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Now to the reasons to be happy this week (or at least civil).
Here goes:


This week's NoButtonButtons are actual bumper stickers.

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monday 9 november
******The Official NoButtonButton ************************
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****** I child-proofed my house
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****** But they still get in.
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birthdays:
1731 – Benjamin Banneker, African-American astronomer.  His grandfather (Banneka) was a slave purchased by Molly Welsh (European immigrant to the US).  He was so useful around her property (ahem) that she freed he and married him.  Their daughter was Benjamin's mother and his father was a runaway slave.  Benjamin learned to read from his mother and he acquired his education by reading the library of a Quaker he made friends with, as a teenager.  Benjamin farmed, but he also looked at the stars.  He kept detailed journals of his observations and published a 6 years series of almanacs, which were commercially successful.  He also was part of the team of surveyors that marked off the 100 square mile area that became the District of Columbia (Washington DC).  He wrote letters to Thomas Jefferson accusing him of being a hypocrite for his "all men are created equal" statement, in the Declaration of Independence, while continuing to keep slaves.

1832 - Émile Gaboriau, was a French writer, novelist, and journalist, and a pioneer of modern detective fiction.  You ever wonder why all the really old detectives were French?  Like Poe's hero in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".  Although there were a few detective style novels prior to the 1841 publication of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" this was the first English language detective novel and many consider it the first modern detective novel. 
Now to answer the question about French Detectives: They invented the job.

Eugène Vidocq was a French criminal and later a criminalist whose life story inspired several writers like Victor Hugo, Poe, Balzac and Émile Gaboriau. After he rehabilitated  he became the founder and director of the crime-fighting Sûreté Nationale.  Later he opened the first known private detective agency.  He is considered the "father" of modern criminology and the French police. He is the first private detective known.  So in the beginning there were only French Detectives. 

Emile published "L'Affaire Lerouge" (1866). The book introduced an amateur detective and a young police officer named Monsieur Lecoq.  Monsieur Lecoq was based on Eugène Vidocq.

1874 - Albert Francis Blakeslee was an American botanist. He is best known for his research on the poisonous jimsonweed plant and the sexuality of fungi.  Jimsomweed can poison humans so the knowledge he gleaned was valuable.  Sexy fungi, not so much, they still roam the Single's bars spouting tacky pick up lines to anything remotely resembling a female.

events:
1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Mass.  Soon they will have their very own land where they can discriminate against other people's religion like they have been discriminated against.  And they do get medieval on non-believers, everything from shunning, to flogging, to burning at the stake and exile (very close to a death sentence in the 1600s).

1764 – Mary Campbell was a colonial settler. When she was 12, she was taken captive, by Lenape Indians (part of the Delaware).  She was held for about six and half years.  She is believed to be the first white child in the Western Reserve (near Cuyahoga River in Cuyahoga Falls, OH).  Negotiations brought about by military pressure caused the Delaware Indians to return 60 captives, to British forces.  At least 30 of the former captives made some attempts to return to the tribes they had lived with.  It was Indian practice, at the time, to adopt captives so most or all of the returnees were part of an Indian family.  I guess some of those families were not so bad. 

1861 – The first documented football match in Canada is played at University College, University of Toronto.  Well they still play football in Canada but (popularity wise) it is far behind Ice Hockey, Lacross and probably Curling.

1907 – The Cullinan Diamond is presented to King Edward VII on his birthday.  Usually they measure diamonds in carats but when they get this big I think we can use more common units.  This puppy weights in at about a quarter pound.  Now that is what I call sucking up.  My birthday is in July.... feel free.

1945 – Soo Bahk Do (Tang Soo Do) Moo Duk Kwan is founded. HUH??!  Okay we are talking about martial arts.  They are not not a homogeneous art like we seem to believe.  It has always been something that was taught by Masters.  Each Master went through years of all day training at a live-in school.  They taught others what they learned but if they learned that something did not work well or they learned something new this was also passed along.  So Martial arts is constantly changing.  Moo Duk Kwan, Soo Bahk Do, Tang Soo Do, Hwa Soo Do were all names of particular versions of Korean Martial arts.
Soo Bahk Do was founded by Grand Master Hwang Kee, November 9, 1945. Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo merged together with eight other Kwans to form Taekwondo.  

Taekwondo (태권도) is a Korean martial art. 
tae (태) to hit with foot
kwon (권) to hit with fist
do (도) way

2000 years in the making, it is more than a way to beat people up, it is a way to live.  Taekwondo has moral guidelines based on the philosophy of Tao, Lao Tzu and Confucius.  A Grand Master of the art, who can kill you as easy as look at you is probably the most peaceful person you will ever meet. 

holidays:
Sadie Hawkins Day - Sorry ladies I am possessed .... I mean taken already.

Chaos Never Died Day - Its just double parked.

Go To An Art Museum Today Day - Any reason to Slack Off,  Bob Dobbs commands us to "Obtain Slack" he also tells us to "Repent! Quit your job! Slack off!".  If your goals don't include quitting you might reconsider.

National Scrapple Day - I love to play Scrapple.  What!?... Scrapple is a mush of hog offal, (head, heart, liver, and other scraps) combined with cornmeal and flour.  Yeeeww.

Couch Beachcombing Day - Look for stuff in your couch.  I found a T ball bat the last time I cleaned mine.  I think I lost a toothpick and it grew.

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tuesday 10 november
******The Official NoButtonButton ************************
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****** This car is a status symbol.
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****** It symbolizes me being poor.
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birthdays:
1480 – Bridget of York, English princess and nun.  Her parents decided at the time of her birth that this daughter would be dedicated to a religious life, and when she was 7 years old Princess Bridget was entrusted to Dartford Priory. She becme a cloistered nun and spend the rest of her life within its walls. She maintained correspondence throughout her life with her sister the queen, who paid for her various minor expenses.  It makes my head hurt to think about being sent to religious orders at that age. 

1801 – Samuel Gridley Howe, US Doctor, soldier any social reformer.   This is the kind of person Conservatives love to hate.  He served as a Doctor and part time soldier in the Greek revolution.  He raised money for refugee relief for The Greek, Polish and Crete Revolutions.  While in the US he was instrumental in setting up a school for blind children.  One woman, Laura Bridgman, who graduated from the school and got a job teaching and is the first blind-deaf woman to achieve an extensive education. 
He was a abolitionist and his house was a stop on the underground railway.  He sent money to John Brown and had to leave the country for a while when John Brown was arrested.  During the Civil War he tried to improve sanitation in Union Camps to prevent disease (disease is more of a problem for a military force than other armies).  He did a bunch of other stuff as well but since I am not as motivated as him I am quitting now.

1879 - Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered the father of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted.  Because of his use of American Midwest themes he became known as the "Prairie Troubador."

events:
1775 – The United States Marine Corps is founded at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia by Samuel Nicholas.  From one vet to another, Happy Birthday and Semper Fi to all you jar-heads and Thank You for your service.

1793 – A Goddess of Reason is proclaimed.  During the French Revolution, a Goddess of Reason was proclaimed by the French Convention.   The goddess was celebrated in Notre Dame de Paris (she was put on the high altar in the Cathedral).  And a few months later they started chopping heads off.  I really call that Reason.

1940 – Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI; his job is to report back information on Hollywood subversives.  Mickey was a rat.

1975 – The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.

Historically disasters often have had songs written about them.  The train wreck that Casey Jones died in, John Henry racing a steam drill and winning only to die from the effort, Tom Dooley murdering his girlfriend and Franky killing her boyfriend for cheating on her.  Jimmy crack corn is about slaves drinking corn liquor after the master has died.  Like 'The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald' they all real, all sad and all remembered.  I don't know why we love our tragedy so much.

The song that Gordon Lightfoot is a sad story told with a great song.  Also (to the best of my knowledge) Gordon turned over all rights and royalties to the family of the sailors that were lost.
Here is a video with the original song and at the end the names of the 29 sailor are displayed.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xif69_the-wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald_life

Here are the lyrics.

The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald
by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattle tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.

holidays:
Forget-Me-Not Day - Love me.

St. Aedh Mac Breic's Day (patron against headaches) OUCH! I said that too fast and sprained something.

Goddess of Reason's Day - Remember we talked about this one.

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wednesday 11 november
******The Official NoButtonButton ************************
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****** The Earth is full.
******
****** Go home.
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birthdays:
1744 - Abigail Adams (née Smith)
She was the 1st Second Lady of the United States (Vice President's wife).
She was the 2nd First Lady of the United States.
She was the wife of John Adams (1st Veep and 2nd Prez).
She was the mother of John Quincy Adams (6th US Prez).
I bet she knew everything that was going on at the time.  Definitely plugged in.

NOTE: All firsts and seconds are of predicated on the tally from the ratification of the current US Constitution and ignored the mostly forgotten men who were President under "The Articles of Confederation".  I try to remember them.
Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled:
    * Samuel Huntington
    * Thomas McKean
    * John Hanson
    * Elias Boudinot
    * Thomas Mifflin
    * Richard Henry Lee
    * John Hancock
    * Nathaniel Gorham
    * Arthur St. Clair
    * Cyrus Griffin

1821 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer, essayist and philosopher, known for his novels "Crime and Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov". He was one of the founding fathers of existentialism.

Existentialism says that you are solely responsible for giving your own life meaning.  Further it is your responsibility to live that life passionately and sincerely, regardless of obstacles and distractions including despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, and boredom.  Choose your life and live it.  I choose to be happy as much as I can be and the spread happiness, if I get the chance.   Oh yes I am trying to cut back on Internet porn also.

events:
1634 – Following pressure from Anglican bishop John Atherton, the Irish House of Commons passes "An Act for the Punishment for the Vice of Buggery".  Ironically, in 1640 Atherton was accused of buggery along with John Childe, his steward and tithe proctor.  Both were condemned to death by the Atherton's Act. 
Karma is real and it is powerful.  Don't screw with Karma.

The Flat Hat Club is the popular name of a society founded after 1916 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and revived there in 1972. The organization was named after the F.H.C. Society, which had been founded at the College on November 11, 1750, and was itself known informally as the Flat Hat Club.

1750 - The F.H.C. Society is the first recorded college society within the territory of the United States.  The initials of the original F.H.C. Society stand for a secret Latin phrase, "Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio"(brotherhood, humaneness, and knowledge).   The "brothers" of the F.H.C. used a secret handshake, wore a silver membership medal, issued certificates of membership, and met regularly for discussion and fellowship.  The Society became known as the "Flat Hat Club" probably of the mortarboard caps then commonly worn by all students at the College.  In the European model, University students all wore robes and hats (just like Hogwart's in Harry Potter).  The style or decoration on the hats and robes would  distinguish the particular school.  Often officials of the school and/or professors would have more ornate hats.  Nurses were one of the last types of schools to have distinctive caps (when I was young you could tell what school a nurse had gone to by the type cap she wore). 

1911 – The Great Blue Norther of 11/11/11.  This is the only day in many midwest cities'  where the record highs and lows were broken for the same day.   Examples:

City            high    low
Springfield, Missouri     80 °F     13 °F
Oklahoma City         83 °F    17 °F  (record still stands)

The front produced tornadoes across the upper Mississippi Valley, a blizzard in Ohio, and the high winds caused a dust storm in Oklahoma.  Nine tornadoes were reported in the states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. An F4 tornado hit in Janesville, Wisconsin.  Within an hour of the tornado, survivors were working in blizzard conditions and near zero temperatures to rescue people trapped in debris.

1918 – World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France. The war officially stops at 11:00 (The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month) this is annually honoured with two-minutes of silence.  Well people like to fight so much that, considering the 11/11/11 Norther, this must have been a cold day indeed.

holidays:
Veteran's day.  Today honors all Veterans, living and dead.  If you see a Vet today you should thank them.  Last weeks I had a chance to say thank you to a pretty young lady.  She was an Army Vet and participated in the Iraq Invasion in 2003.  Thank them all.
Every body seems to know the Marine Corps motto but what about the other services?  Here are a small few of the many mottos of military units of the United States.

US Army            This We'll Defend
US Air Force        Above All
US Navy            Non Sibi Sed Patriae! (Not for self, but country)   
US Coast Guard        Semper Paratus (Always Ready)
US Marines        Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful)
US Army 11TH INF REG    Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful)(That's right an Army unit)
US Army 34TH INF DIV    ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK
US Army 55th Spec Ops    We come in the dark
US Army Green Berets    De Oppreso Liber (Liberator of the Oppressed)
US Army 118th MP CO     Heaven Sent, Hell Bent
US Merchant Marines    In Peace and War
US Naval Intelligence    In God we trust. All other we monitor.
US Navy SeaBees     Can Do
US Army 2D Armor DIV    HELL ON WHEELS
US CONSTABULARY        MOBILITY-VIGILANCE-JUSTICE (1946-1952 US Army of Occupation - The only US ARMY unit that never served on home soil.)  My father was in the Constabulary.

Since I spent time as permanent party in a training unit I wore a badge with this motto.  It is the same badge Army Drill Sargents wear on their uniforms.

Remember a Soldier is in the Army.  A Marine is a Marine and a Sailor is Navy, Coast Guard or Merchant Marine and and Airman is in the Air Force.  It matters.


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thursday 12 november
******The Official NoButtonButton ************************
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****** Don't believe everything
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****** You think.
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birthdays:
1817 – Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet Founder of the Bahá'í Faith.  I checked out Bahá'í.  They are really nice people but I little intense for me.  Many of their beliefs are very laudable.

    * Unity of God
    * Unity of religion
    * Unity of humankind
    * Equality between men and women
    * Elimination of all forms of prejudice
    * World peace
    * Harmony of religion and science
    * Independent investigation of truth
    * Universal compulsory education
    * Universal auxiliary language
    * Obedience to government and non-involvement in partisan politics
    * Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty

Lots of people start hearing Black Helicopters and worrying about UN troops when you say Unity, Equality and Universal too many times in a statement.  I don't know why most people reject world unity.  The current model, of countries and governments is very violent and important work does not get done, people get killed and it is really expensive.  1000 rounds of 20 mm Ammo for a rotating barrel Cannon (looks like a Gatling gun) cost several thousand dollars and (depending on the specific gun) may be fired in 10 seconds. POOF

Currently 1/1000 of the world's population is Bahá'í (that is a little over 6 million for you math challenged).

1889 - DeWitt Wallace. Co-founder of Reader's Digest - 1st published in 1922. 
NOTE: This article has been abridged.

1934 – Charles Manson, American cult leader.  Pardon me but I am looking forward the day I can report that he has stopped breathing.  He makes me hope there is a hell because he should go there.

events:
1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous exploding whale incident.  8 tons of whale versus a half ton of dynamite.  A quote from the news story: "The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds."  One of the large chunks crushed (totalled) a car, 450 yards away.  No one was seriously injured but every one was covered with whale pieces and grossed out. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBgThvB_IDQ

You can also see the video and a lot of other related stuff at the web site:
http://www.theexplodingwhale.com/

If you look they have a article about the man (whose car got crushed) and his attempt to get paid for the damage.  I laughed till it hurt.  Also the site has uncovered other detonated whales.  It turns out that several whales have been blown up, but not with Oregon's enthusiasm.  I did not look at all the articles but it seems like other countries do not have the budgets for explosives like we do.  Smaller amounts of explosives seem to work better.

holidays:
Order of Fools

Exotic Dancer's Day - Surprise her and stick a Two dollar bill in her G string instead of that cheap single. 

National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day - Hang tough, those little things will stick up a car.

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friday 13 november
******The Official NoButtonButton ************************
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****** Yes this is my truck.
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****** No I won't help you move.
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birthdays:
1814 – Joseph Hooker, US Army General and one of the possible sources of the working girls nickname 'Hooker'. 

1850 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer, most remembered, by me, for "Treasure Island" and "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".  He was living in Samoa when he died.  The natives liked and respected him and listened to his stories and asked for his advice.  He repaid them by fighting for their rights.  He managed to get two incompetent Government worker fired.  He took the name Tusitala which meant story teller in the local language.

When he died the natives insisted on surrounding his body with a watch-guard during the night and on bearing their Tusitala upon their shoulders to nearby Mount Vaea, where they buried him on a spot overlooking the sea.  Stevenson had always wanted his 'Requiem' inscribed on his tomb.

    Under the wide and starry sky,
    Dig the grave and let me lie.
    Glad did I live and gladly die,
    And I laid me down with a will.
    This be the verse you grave for me:
    Here he lies where he longed to be;
    Home is the sailor, home from sea,
    And the hunter home from the hill.

1947 - Toy Caldwell was the lead guitar player and a founding member of The Marshall Tucker Band.  He was a member of the band from 1973 to 1983. He later formed the Toy Caldwell Band and released "Son of the South". As guitarist for Marshall Tucker, Caldwell wrote almost all of their songs.
Toy was a veteran of the United States Marine Corps who served in Vietnam and was injured.  Semper Fi Marine.

events:
1851 – The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, the first settlers of what would become Seattle, Washington.  Contrary to popular legend they did not open a Starbucks.

1927 – The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.  One more plot device in spy and terrorism novels and movies.  Than You.

1954 – Great Britain defeats France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators.  I did not know that.  I never even wondered about a Rugby World championship.  Is there something wrong with me?

1971 – The American space probe, Mariner 9, becomes the first spacecraft to orbit another planet successfully, swinging into its planned trajectory around Mars.  No little Green Men yet.

1982 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.  Too many names, our National Treasure. 

holidays:
It's Friday the Freaking 13th.  Run! Hide! Burn the turnips and flee to the hills.

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****joe722****