LIMPING AROUND SINCE 1837.
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A friend informed me that I missed a big holiday last weekend.  Well maybe not so much a holiday as a day of group suffering.  Some organization came up with the formula:

((W + (D-d)) x T^Q) / (M x Na)

W = weather
d= debt
T = time since Christmas
Q = time since failing our new year’s resolutions
M = low motivational levels
Na = the feeling of a need to take action
'D' was not defined.

Anyhow with this strange conglomeration of things they decided that the last Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year.  Respected scholars have strongly questioned the validity  of the formula, but all I know is that I felt this worst I have been in two years last Monday and I am not prepared to dispute the group that developed this.
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Now to the reasons to be happy this week
(or at least civil).
Here goes:

February  is:
National Snack Food Month - Let us Get Real, we are talking junk food here and it is all good except pretzels and crackers with are evil.

Canned Food Month - Just think without cans there would be no SPAM.

Vegetation Month - Eat, smoke it, hide in it, cover your house with it, it's all good.

Potato Lover's Month - Yum.  The forth largest food crop on Earth behind rice, wheat, and corn.  A thousand varieties are known.  Native Americans have been growing potatoes for 10,000 years.  They were introduced to Europe in 1536.  They became a staple in many places including Ireland where one third of the impoverished population was totally dependent on potatoes for food.  That is whey when the potato crop failed several years in a row.  People died.  One eighth of the population starved and one eighth moved away (most to the US).  They were dirt poor and desperate so of course everybody hated them.  It took a long time for them to assimilate to the point where now they are one of the most popular ethnic groups in the country.  In face time magazine did a computer composite of the 'national face' and it turns out that the most 'American' face is Irish. 

International Embroidery Month - It seems like nobody does it by hand anymore.  You spend a sled load of money and get a sewing machine with a computer hooked to it that does all the sewing.

National Cherry Month - Why do you have this in a month that the only cherries around are canned or frozen or from another continent.  It is too soon for blossom and too late for fresh. 

Black History Month - I listen to things that are brought up this month and sometime I learn something.  Keep an open mind about what you don't know.

National Wild Bird Feeding Month - Do it because there are now worms crawling up through the snow.

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monday 1 february
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
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*** Nothing is so simple that it can't be
*** too complex to work.
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birthdays:
1462 - Johannes Trithemius  He was an abbot but had to resign because of his dabbling in magic.  He also studied lexicography, history, cryptography, and steganography.

Trithemius' most famous work is Steganographia. This 3 volume book appears to be about magic - specifically, about using spirits to communicate over long distances. A decryption key for the first two volumes was published in 1606 and they were found to be about cryptography and steganography. Until recently, the third volume was widely still believed to be about magic, but the "magical" formulas have now been shown to be covertexts for yet more writing on cryptography.  The work has lent its name to the modern field of steganography.

Stenganography is a big deal today and the modern usage refers to hiding computer files inside other files.  Such as hiding a virus inside a JPEG file.  Did you know that there are files inside the digital pictures that you take.  They record the camera, date, time, serial number and other stuff including GPS data if your camera (or cell phone) has GPS.  So if you ever post a naughty photo on the Internet there is a good possibility that it can be traced back to you.

1761 – Christian Hendrik Persoon, South African mycologist - Between 1805 and 1807, he published two volumes of his 'Synopsis plantarum', a popular work describing 20,000 species of all types of plants. But his pioneering work was in the fungi, for which he published several works, beginning with the Synopsis methodica fungorum'; followed by 'Uredinales', 'Ustilaginales', and 'Gasteromycetes' (mushrooms, fungi, slime, all that good stuff).

1884 – Bradbury Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass in American football history in 1906.  The pass was added to try and make the game safer.  I don't think that worked so well.  Football is really tough now, but it used to be murderous.

1908 – George Pál, Hungarian-born director and producer
He produced three of the great SciFi flicks ever.  It would take years before a better SciFi movie was made.

Destination Moon (1950) (Oscar: Special Effects)

When Worlds Collide (1951) (Oscar: Special Effects)

The War of the Worlds (1953) (Oscar: Best Special Effects)

events:
1862 – Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly.  It is a pretty good song.  I was in the school choir (6th grade) and that was the song that we ended our programs with.  I thought we sounded pretty good and people in the audience said we did good.  We had a several part arrangement and I had to learn two different parts since my voice started to change.

1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime (or being drafted).  I love this amendment.

1884 – Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.  Well sort of.  That was when the first volume was published.  The last (13th) volume was published in 1933.  The second edition was published (all at once) in 1989.  300 scholars are currently working on the third edition and it is expected to to be ready in 2037.  This is the most comprehensive English Dictionary that exists and not the cheapest.  You are looking at $1000 USD for a new 20 volume set or $225 USD  for the CD-ROM.  They are also online and I am a little nervous about how much they charge because they do not have price list but ask you contact them for a quote.  You do get a lot for your money since the dictionary contains 600,000 words and has 2.5 million quotations showing the usage of those words.

1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.  It was built at a cost of $637.67.  98 years later, Terminator II cost $102 million dollars to make.

1958 – The United States Army launches Explorer 1.  The Navy was supposed to launch the first US satellite but they had a minor glitch.... it blew up on the launch pad.  After getting 4 feet off the ground the motors lost thrust and it just set back down and collapsed in a fireball.  It was ugly, well really colorful, but ugly.  The Army stepped in and less than two months later launched the Explorer. 

They did not do this in 2 months.  They had been working toward this for 1 couple of years.  At the time the Army had airplanes and long range missiles so they had the expertise to carry out the job.  The Navy and the Air Force though the Army was over stepping its role (they were embarrassed) and now the Army was restricted from developing long range missiles or airplanes.  All the Army can have now is helicopters.  Of course the Apache is one hell of a helicopter.


holidays:
National Baked Alaska Day - I have tried this once and it is good way to eat ice cream.  You cover the ice cream with a meringue then baked in a really hot oven for a short time.  The meringue insulates the ice cream.  Depending on the chef it has different sauces drizzled over it.

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tuesday 2 february
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
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*** There is more to life than increasing
*** its speed.
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***  - Gandhi
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birthdays:
1897 – Howard Johnson, American hotelier.  He started out selling Ice Cream.  Te good stuff with extra Butterfat and only natural flavorings.  He opened more stores and started selling Burgers and Hot Dogs.  Then if 1935 he started the first modern restaurant franchise.  At one time, Ho Jo's was the largest commercial food supplier in the United States.  All he claims to have done during his life was Eat, Sleep and Build his business.  Boring.

1912 – Millvina Dean, last living survivor of the RMS Titanic.  She survived the sinking by 97 years.  Of course she was only two and a half months old during the sinking.  She went over the rainbow last May.

1942 – Graham Nash, British-born American musician

1954 – Christie Brinkley, American model.  That is right.  Billy Joel's Uptown Girl is old enough to join the Red Hat Society.  she looks better now than I did 30 years ago.

events:
1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.

1790 – The U.S. Supreme Court convenes for the first time.

1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.

1880 – The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana.

1882 – The Knights of Columbus are formed in New Haven, Connecticut.  It was created as a mutual benefit society.  Father Michael J. McGivney saw how families could be devastated by the death of a husband and he wanted to find a way to help them.  Now throw in the fact that the Irish were extremely discriminated against and banned by most labor unions and fraternal groups, the Irish were Catholic and that meant they were not allowed to join the Masons (who probably would not taken them anyway), so they were cut out of the social net (as weak as that net was).  Now the organization has almost 2,000,000 members and it is open to good catholics of all types (not just Irish).

1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.  Some of the festivities reverse discriminate against English speakers.  The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a fine for each word spoken (a nickel, dime or quarter).  So shut up, learn German or bring lots change.

holidays:
Ground Hog day, isn't that enough?

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wednesday 3 february
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
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*** The more you don't know how to do,
*** the less you have to do.
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birthdays:
1824 – Ranald MacDonald, Canadian-born Scottish educator and interpreter.  Yep it is spelled Ranald.  McDonald's probably sued him to change it.  Ranald was a world traveler and the first person to teach English in Japan.

1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect.  He his put up building around the world.  One of his building was Baker House a dorm at MIT, built in 1949.  Baker House has a quaint tradition - every year they throw a piano of the roof. 

1899 - Doris Speed was an English actress, best known for her role as snooty Annie Walker, the Rovers Return landlady on Coronation Street.  She played the role from 1960 to 1983.
Coronation Street is a British prime-time soap opera set in the fictitious town of Weatherfield, close to Manchester.  It is starting it 51st year and as of 22 January 2010 had filmed 7258 episodes.  The show did so well that they built a permanent outdoor set in a real city. 

events:
1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in America.  It would be really cool to open a trunk and find a few hundred bills.  They would probably be worth a fortune.

1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, granting voting rights to citizens regardless of race.  Now all races have an equal opportunity to avoiding voting.  I ran into one person that said he would never register to vote since that would put him on the roll for jury duty.

1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.  This is a good week for amendments.  This the third one so far.

1947 – The lowest confirmed temperature in North America is recorded in Snag, Canada.  −81.4°F.  The high temperature for the period of 25 January to 6 February was −15°F.  Snag got it's name from from the Gold Rush days.  They were on the way to the Alaskan gold fields and so many boats crossing the local river were 'snagged' on submerged tree trunks that the name stuck.  In 1947 there were about 10 locals living in Snag as well as 20-30 outsiders (they maintained a local military airfield).  I bet the night life there consisted of trying not to die.

1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.  Up until that time we were busy crashing things into the moon.  Some times we were not even good enough to do that.  There were 9 Ranger spacecraft that were supposed to crash into the moon.  Three of them never got there.  The 4th, 5th and 6th got there but mechanical failures ruined the mission.  Finally 7, 8 and 9 worked (right up until they purposely crashed).  The Soviet's crashed Luna 2, Luna 5 crashed (was supposed to be a soft landing), Luna 6 missed by 100,000 miles, Luna 7 crashed (was supposed to be a soft landing) and Luna 8 crashed (was supposed to be a soft landing). 

The Russians were better than us at crashing on the Moon but that is not what they wanted.

holidays:
National Carrot Cake Day - This was developed because a WWII food provider got stuck with a sled on preserved carrots at the end of the war.  It is still a tasty treat.

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thursday 4 february
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birthdays:
1808 – Josef Kajetán Tyl, Czech playwright, author of the Czech national anthem.  The anthem is titled 'Kde domov můj?' (in English: Where is my home?)

English translation:

    Where is my home, where is my home?
    Water roars across the meadows,
    Pinewoods rustle among crags,
    The garden is glorious with spring blossom,
    Paradise on earth it is to see.
    And this is that beautiful land,
    The Czech land, my home,
    The Czech land, my home.

If you want to keep up with what is happening in the Czech Republic, you might want to check out the web site (this part is in English) of the Czech government at:
http://www.vlada.cz/en/default.htm

The Czech version is at:
http://www.vlada.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=41956

1877 - Edward B. "Eddie" Cochems was the first American football coach to build an offense around the forward pass.  He tried the pass in 1905 with some success but the next year he built his offense around it and went undefeated (11-0). They led the nation in scoring, annihilating their opponents 407-11.  You had to be good to pass.  A dropped ball was a turn over.

1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist.  She was an activist later but the day of the famous bus incident she was just a tired Black woman who wanted to sit down on the bus, on her way home.  If the angry white man had not tried to roust her out of her "Whites Only" seat the civil rights movement may have been delayed for years, talk about cutting your nose of to spite your face.  She is a true USA hero. 

events:
1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.  First President under the Constitution.

1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal. The artificial lakes Grand Lake St. Marys, Lake Loramie, Indian Lake and Buckeye Lake were all created to feed water to the canals.  Remember there are not natural lakes in Ohio.  Future president James Garfield worked on the canal for a while.  He led a mule (which towed the barges) and fell into the canal so often that he got sick and decided to go to college.  He should have stayed with the mules.  He was elected the 20th President in 1880, took office in March 1881 and was assassinated 6 months later.

1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.  4 months later Bob Hope played his first USO show.  Bob has been in so many theaters of war that he often quipped "Where there's death, there's Hope".

1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.  Patty (Grand Daughter of one of the richest men in US history) is about to get a lesson in Stockholm Syndrome.  She identified with her captures so much that she helped pull off a bank robbery and after she was captured she was tried, convicted and sentenced to 35 years.  So she should be getting out right about now, right?  No her sentence was knocked down to 8 years and then she received a full Presidential pardon and only served 22 months.  Actually she got off very easy.  If she had been with the main party of 'revolutionaries' she probably would have died. 

Seven members of the SLA died at 1466 East 54th Street, Los Angeles on 17 May 1974.  Over 400 LAPD surrounded the house.  They were greeted with automatic weapons fire, which they returned.  In two hours over 9,000 bullets were fired.  Rifles, pistols, several kinds of Automatic weapons and tear gas.  The SLA could not shoot straight and not one police officer was hit by their gunfire.  The police only hit 2 SLA members, one committed suicide and 4 died of smoke inhalation.  There were a few police officers that were wounded but it was determined that it was their own fire that did it.  Let's see you put 400 officers in a circle and everybody shoots at the middle of the circle.  They are really lucky.

Of yes one of the largest police gun battles ever and it was all live on TV.  By the end of the year all the remaining members were arrested.  Well NO.  If fact one woman was arrested in 1999 after "America's Most Wanted" profiled her.  She was living in Minnesota (under an assumed name), married to a doctor with three daughters.  Five stayed on the run until 2002 and 2003.  Every survivor of the SLA has been captured tried convicted and served jail time.  They are all out of jail except founding member Joseph Remiro.  Well over 30 years to unravel that one.

holidays:
Obscurity Day - Celebrate anyway you want as long as nobody notices.

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friday 5 february
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
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*** Every advantage has a corresponding
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birthdays:
1784 - Nancy Hanks Lincoln was the mother of Abraham Lincoln and Sarah Lincoln and wife of Thomas Lincoln.  She may be of Melungeon descent (European, sub-Saharan African, and Native American ancestry).  Perfect ancestry for the man who would end slavery in the US.

1940 – H.R. Giger, Swiss artist.  This man does not see dead people, he paints pictures of them and worse he paints pictures of people who wish they were dead.  He designed the monster in the movie 'Alien'.  Looking at a book of his work is like having your parents tell you all about the kinky things they do behind closed doors and then they ask you if you could you talk your best friend into joining them because he is so hot.  There is not enough soap to clean that up.  I mean it is their right but don't tell your kids.

1956 - Betty Ann Ong was an Chinese American Flight attendant on board American Airlines Flight 11 when it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  Her reporting of the hijacking to American Airlines emergency center led to the grounding of all air traffic.  There is some evidence that at least one other plane had a hijack team on it and their mission was foiled when the planes were grounded. Just another everyday hero.  Who says there are no more heroes?

September 21 in San Francisco is "Betty Ong Day".

1965 – Keith Moseley, American musician (The String Cheese Incident).  You have to love a 'democratic ensemble' (they don't like the word band) that names their first album: 'Born on the Wrong Planet'.

events:
62 AD – Earthquake in Pompeii Italy.  Attention people of Italy.  The earth around Pompeii has been tortured by earthquakes and volcanoes for thousands of years and both are going to happen again.  MOVE ALREADY.

1631 – Roger Williams emigrates to Boston.  Roger was an English theologian, proponent of religious toleration and the separation of church and state and an advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans.  He was totally out numbered but not in Rhode Island (the state he founded).  Providence Plantation (as it was called originally) was founded on the idea of 'soul liberty'.  You were expected to obey the laws and the laws were not supposed to enforce or interfere with any religion.  Also on May 18, 1652, Rhode Island passed the first law in North America making slavery illegal.  More than 200 years before the Civil War.  If everyone else had followed suit there would have been not a war.  How different would the world be?

Roger named his kids Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, Daniel and Joseph.  He is one of my heroes.

1918 – Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane. It is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military. 

1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the "BBC pips".  The US does the same thing but we also provide a radio signal that various devices sync to, like my 'Atomic Clock' so it is always the correct time.  It is continually set by the signals from the real Atomic Clock.

1958 – A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.  Oops!  Can you say "Screwed the pooch", boys and girls?  Sure you can.

holidays:
Bob Marley Day (in Jamaica)- Spiff anyone?

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