FINDING OUT AMAZING STUFF SINCE 1837.
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I am so happy that the snow is gone.  Thursday and Friday we had windows open for the first time since October.  I did not mind the rain Friday just because it was not snow.  I really think the weather bothered me a lot this year.  Even after I got the driveway cleared of I still felt trapped inside.  I think a lot of this year's letters are going to be done, with my WiFi laptop, on the back deck.
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Let us start with a list from TrafficEstimate.com that follows the traffic on sites on the Internet.  They have a list of the 10,000 sites with the most traffic.  More traffic usually means the site is more useful, or more interesting.  I have the top 100 here (yes I visited each one so you would not have to waste time) and the rest can be found at:
http://www.trafficestimate.com/top-sites.html

    * 1.  google.com        - search engine
    * 2.  facebook.com        - social network
    * 3.  youtube.com        - millions of videos
    * 4.  yahoo.com        - web portal
    * 5.  live.com        - the old address for BING
    * 6.  wikipedia.org        - THE internet encyclopedia
    * 7.  blogger.com        - blogs
    * 8.  msn.com        - MS web portal
    * 9.  twitter.com        - short attention span social network
    * 10. myspace.com        - social network
    * 11. wordpress.com        - blogs
    * 12. microsoft.com        - the dark side
    * 13. amazon.com        - buy books and so much more
    * 14. bing.com        - MS search engine
    * 15. ebay.com        - world's biggest auction
    * 16. linkedin.com        - business social network
    * 17. flickr.com        - picture sharing
    * 18. rapidshare.com    - file sharing
    * 19. craigslist.org    - classified ads
    * 20. 1e100.net        - web portal/search
    * 21. imdb.com        - Internet Movie Database
    * 22. aol.com        - web portal
    * 23. conduit.com        - create custom tool bars
    * 24. doubleclick.com    - information gathering for business
    * 25. go.com        - web portal
    * 26. blogspot.com        - Google blogs
    * 27. photobucket.com    - photo exchange
    * 28. apple.com        - Apple computers
    * 29. ask.com        - search engine
    * 30. cnn.com        - news
    * 31. kaixin001.com        - Chinese website - no English at all
    * 32. orkut.com        - Google social network - mostly Brazil % India
    * 33. about.com        - information/instruction provider
    * 34. hi5.com        - social network - mostly Latin America
    * 35. adobe.com        - Adobe software
    * 36. cnet.com        - computer/electronics/software news
    * 37. megaupload.com    - file sharing
    * 38. 4shared.com        - file sharing
    * 39. livejournal.com    - blogs
    * 40. espn.go.com        - espn sports news
    * 41. mozilla.com        - firefox web browser, download page
    * 42. hotfile.com        - file sharing
    * 43. files.wordpress.com    - blogs
    * 44. megavideo.com        - videos but it does some strange things
    * 45. nytimes.com        - online edition of the New York Times
    * 46. weather.com        - weather forecast
    * 47. digg.com        - web content rated by readers
    * 48. thepiratebay.org    - bit torrent downloads - music,movies,TV shows
    * 49. dailymotion.com    - videos lots of them
    * 50. clicksor.com        - online Advertising Network
    * 51. optmd.com        - provide answers to FAQs about online advertising
    * 52. deviantart.com    - ART sharing (some of the stuff is stunning)
    * 53. xtendmedia.com    - online Advertising
    * 54. rediff.com        - Indian news
    * 55. ifeng.com        - Chinese Phoenix TV (not much of interest)
    * 56. godaddy.com        - domain names and web hosting
    * 57. yieldmanager.com    - Firefox does not like this site
    * 58. paypal.com        - service to transfer payments over the internet
    * 59. partypoker.com    - online poker-illegal in the US-but people play anyhow
    * 60. zynga.com        - games/Haiti relief
    * 61. mywebsearch.com    - search
    * 62. ning.com        - social network
    * 63. ezinearticles.com    - 260,000 articles on just about anything
    * 64. answers.com        - search engine (ask a question)
    * 65. download.com        - cnet- shareware & freeware downloads
    * 66. tagged.com        - social network
    * 67. zedo.com        - advertising server
    * 68. cpxinteractive.com    - advertising services
    * 69. ehow.com        - how to do just about anything
    * 70. fastbrowsersearch.com - search engine
    * 71. depositfiles.com    - file sharing
    * 72. netflix.com        - rent movies
    * 73. twitpic.com        - twitter picture exchange
    * 74. tinypic.com        - photo sharing
    * 75. aweber.com        - email marketing software for small businesses
    * 76. huffingtonpost.com    - internet newspaper
    * 77. sourceforge.net    - find & develop free open source software.
    * 78. tumblr.com        - blogs
    * 79. reference.com        - Crossword,Translator,Dictionary,Encyclopedia
    * 80. maktoob.com        - middle east news in English
    * 81. badoo.com        - social network
    * 82. hulu.com        - watch thousands of TV shows
    * 83. typepad.com        - blogs
    * 84. indiatimes.com    - Indian Times newspaper
    * 85. comcast.net        - TV internet portal, VOIP
    * 86. dell.com        - Dell computers
    * 87. vk.com        - social network
    * 88. angege.com        - redirets to PayPopup.com (advertiser)
    * 89. cricinfo.com        - Cricket sports reporting
    * 90. isohunt.com        - BitTorrent search engine (Napster for movies)
    * 91. archive.org        - The Internet Archive - extensive digital library
    * 92. domaintools.com    - information about domain names
    * 93. foxnews.com        - FOX news
    * 94. statcounter.com    - free web tracker, hit counter & real-time web stats.
    * 95. digitalpoint.com    - business and network software and services
    * 96. wikia.com        - create a community that loves the what you love
    * 97. hp.com        - Hewett Packard computers
    * 98. secureserver.net    - redirects to lightedge.com (web hosting)
    * 99. bankofamerica.com    - Bank of America
    * 100.vancouver2010.com    - The Winter Olympics.

If you are in the top 10,000 websites you get at least 900,000+ hits a month.
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You can self publish books here.  They will print one or a thousand and prices start at $4.95.  Woo Hoo.

http://www.blurb.com/partner/livejournal
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The most incredible website is here.  Coolest Gadgets.  Transparent toasters, shoe deodorizers, magic wand TV remotes, walkie talkie watches, bomb proof wallpaper, the World’s Smallest Mobile Printer, Playable Guitar T-Shirt, Foot Tanning System, Plasma scalpels (they are the real first step toward light sabers), Wristwatch Camcorders, Children’s GPS Tracking Watchs and lobster tasers (knock them out before you cook them).  This web site has all the neatest and strangest cool new things on the market.  Be aware that this site does not sell the stuff, it only tells you about it, so be prepared to do some searching.  Sometimes they give websites that you can buy the stuff at and sometimes they don't.
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com
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ATTENTION
For those of you who have no money to go to exotic places, no cash to stage strange events or no desire to travel but you still want to take wild and interesting pictures.... your time has come.  Keep an eye out for PhotoSketch.  Chinese students developed software that allows you to draw stick figures and give them word tags and the software will surf the net until in finds images that fit your needs and then assemble them.  It is open source (free).

To read reviews and see how it works goto:
http://gizmodo.com/5374890/this-is-a-photoshop-and-it-blew-my-mind

or try:
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2009/october/photosketch

This is (Oct 2009) so there may still be some bugs.  Download PhotoSketch for free at:
http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/PhotoSketch-Download-123787.html
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Are you curious or just plain nosy?  Do you have a desire to take videos of your friends and family or even total strangers, without their knowledge.  Well Spying Security Camera is your portal to getting into all the trouble that comes with a weird desire like that.  They sell hidden video cameras.  Hidden in Gum Wrappers, in Pens, in Glasses, in Car Door Openers, Wrist Watches, Tissue Boxes, Buttons and even an ID card.  They sell bugs, anti-bugging devices, GPS trackers and even have videos on YouTube on how to use their products.  Let the games begin.
http://www.spyingsecuritycamera.com/
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Speaking of GPS trackers, I know you trust your spouse/kid/boyfriend/girlfriend, whatever.  But I am sure sometimes  you want to know where the heck they are.  At times like that you need a GPS tracker.  Just go to Amazon.com and type in "TrackStick" (no spaces or quotations) in the search box and you will get two pages of small tracking devices.  Look for TrackStick 2 GPS Tracking System Data Logger.

The usual scenario is that you put the device in the vict.... loved one's car or backpack and wait a day or two and retrieve the device, then plug it into your computer.  BUSTED.  TrackStick even lets you plot the travels on Google Earth.
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Want to go off the electrical power grid?  Check out Green DIY Plans.  They have a kit ($47) that is supposed to have all the information you need to source, order, build and install a home Solar Panel Array.  They claim that basic shop skills are all you need and that if you choose to run a system in parallel (not attached to) your existing electrical system that you won't even need an electrician.  Further claims state that it will be much cheaper than buying a prefab system but you have to spend the $47, to get the sources, to check the prices.  I say that it may be a good deal but it definitely is a case of Buyer Beware.  If you are interested check out Green DIY Plans at:
http://www.greendiyplans.com/?hop=12310
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Remember the 50s when most 'porn' was attractive women posing in scanty underwear and not a lesson in personal anatomy.  Betty Page was one of the most renown (and copied) pinup girls around, then she disappeared for 30 some odd years.  Her face is still famous and it you miss that you can get a small cast statue, of Betty, painstakingly painted from Wicked Cool Stuff.
Get a 7" tall statue of Betty Page posed in Black lingerie (she probably has more on than Paris Hilton going to a club). 
http://wickedcoolstuff.com/bepa6instspr.html
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Emily The Strange is Gothic, anti-cool and a follower of no one but herself.  (I know I never heard of her before either.)  Still she seems to have a wicked, interesting sort of doomed air about her.  She makes Wednesday Addams seem like a cheer leader.  Some of her sayings are going to be the NoButtonButtons this week.  They are sort of mean but don't take it personally.  I just seem to thrive on a certain limited level of doom and futility.

After a little research it appears that Emily the Strange started as skateboard art and now is huge.  She is on clothes, accessories, posters and in graphic novels.  If I were a skateboarder or hung out in comic book stores or shopped at the same stores as Julia Roberts and Brittany Spears (who both wear her stuff) I would have known about her sooner, but I look so cheap in the kind of clothes that Brittany wears (actually I guess she does too).

Emily is a 13 year old Goth Girl who wants to be left alone.  She has four black cats, one of which has a bad eye (from fighting).  She wears a simple, sleeveless, black dress, black tights and white Mary Jane shoes.  She plays electric guitar (rock) and I think the brand must be doing really well because the Guitar maker, Epiphone, came out with "Emily The Strange G-310 SG" electric guitar MRSP $399.  This is not a Rock Heroes button pushing thing but an actual solid body, electric, 6 string with open-coil Humbucking pickups, chrome machine heads and is a real instrument of Rock and Roll.  Emily's face graces the front of the guitar.  Perfect for a Riot Grrl or Punk band.

Her website is at:
http://www.emilystrange.com/

Simple animations of Emily can be found at:
http://www.tooncasts.com/emily/
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More Goth stuff
It is interesting, the differences between Men and Women.  Take the subset of society called Goth.  You see a Goth woman and you say wow she is unusual or she is strange or blue is not a bad hair color or if I turn the lights out.....  You see a Goth man and the first thing that comes into your head is Columbine. 

I find the lack of mass murders in females to be very charming.  I also find the large number of mass murderers amongst men makes dark nights and strangers more than just a little scary.
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Do you want to find a book?  Not to buy but at a library.  Well you could check the on-line card catalog of your local library but if you don't find it there, what next?  For more than 30 years OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) has been computerizing card catalogs.  10,000 libraries, 1.5 billion items.  How does that help you?  So you need a book.  Goto Worldcat.org and search for the title.  You will get a list of libraries that have the book and they will be in order of distance from where you are (closest first).  They can even give you directions on how to get there.

http://www.worldcat.org 
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I just found so much stuff this week it is unreal and speaking of unreal, are you addicted to Star Wars?  Well if you are you can finally get everything you were Jonesing for. 
Wookieepedia - A Wiki for Star Wars junkies.  78,000+ articles.  Get the Force at:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
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Now to the reasons to be happy this week
(or at least civil).
Here goes:

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monday 15 march
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
***
*** See strange. Speak strange. Hear strange.
***
*** - Emily The Strange
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birthdays:
1821 - Heinrich Eduard Heine was a German mathematician.  He authored an important treatise on spherical harmonics and Legendre functions and he also investigated basic hypergeometric series.  I would be glad to explain those in simple, easy to understand terms except for one small thing, I have no idea what they are and I had difficulty reading the explanations of them.  I never did like Calculus and had a great deal of problems with it.  Anything at or above that level makes me feel stupid.  I managed to get a 'A' in a Calculus class but that was because I quit trying to understand it and went for rote memorization (and some luck).  I was not meant to be a mathematician.

1821 - Josef Loschmidt was a notable Austrian scientist who performed groundbreaking work in chemistry, physics (thermodynamics, optics, electrodynamics), and crystal forms.

1830 – Élisée Reclus, was a renowned French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork "La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes" over a period of nearly 19 years. In 1892 he was awarded the prestigious Gold Medal of the Paris Geographical Society for this work.  He had to have someone pick it up for him since France kicked out because of his political activism.

events:
44 BC – Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.  Shakespeare thanks you very much.

1493 – Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.

1776 – South Carolina becomes the first American colony to declare its independence from Great Britain and set up its own government.  Totally cool.

1877 – The first Test cricket match begins between England and Australia.  As long as Test Cricket matches last this one could still be running.

1906 – Rolls-Royce Limited is incorporated.  In the old days when you bought a Rolls you got a driver to go along with it.  Does this bother anybody else besides me?  There sort of seems to be a (how shall I say this) slavery issue!

1952 – In Cilaos, Réunion, 73 inches of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.  That scares me since I am only 68 inches tall when I have shoes on.  Réunion is a French island possession that is East of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.  Surrounded by water and being dumped on by water.  Can you say Glug, Glug boys and girls? Sure you can.

1985 – The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).  It is still there.  It is used as the personal blog of Aron Meystedt, owner of  XF.com  and Symbolics.com.

holidays:
The Ides of March

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tuesday 16 march
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
***
*** Be All You Can't Be
***
*** - Emily The Strange
*******************************************
birthdays:
1789 – Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist - If you think the last name sounds familiar you are right.  Resistance in electrical circuits was named Ohm in honor of Georg and his important research in the electrical field.

1839 – John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist.  He was a respected portrait artist known beyond the Irish borders.  He was respected enough that a collection of his letters, titled 'Passages from the Letters of John Butler Yeats' was edited by the famous poet Ezra Pound.  For a peek at his talent their is a marvelous pencil sketch at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Constance_Markiewicz_by_John_Butler_Yeats.jpg

1846 – Jurgis Bielinis, Lithuanian book-smuggler.  During the years 1864–1904 there was a press ban in Lithuania.  If a government can totally control the information their people get they can totally control their people.  Jurgis was not going to let that happen.  Jurgis and the organization he built smuggled fully half of all the books that got into Lithuania during that period.  His nickname is "knygnešių karalius" (The King of the Book Carriers) and his birthday is celebrated in Lithuania as the Day of Knygnešys.

events:
37 – Caligula becomes Roman Emperor after the death of his great uncle, Tiberius.  To say that Caligula loved excess would be putting it mildly.  There was so much sex and violence that when Penthouse Magazine made a realistic (supposedly) movie about him that it was rated very X.  Some of the cast and crew distanced themselves from the movie before it was even released and had their names removed from the credits or in one case an alias was used.

Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, describing it as "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash."   He walked out after enduring two hours of this 156 minute movie.  He heard a woman in front of him say " "This movie is the worst piece of shit I have ever seen!" and he printed that in his review.  It is still available for sale but there are a few different versions it.  If you get the unrated version you are going to have to sit through hardcore and often violent sex.  Not your little tie games but body mutilation and people having things done to them for the brutally of the act.  Run away very fast.

The rated theatrical version has 41 minutes of sex and violence cut out of it and I have heard, while it is still not a very good movie, it makes a tiny bit more sense.

1521 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.  This was a dangerous voyage and of the 237 men and 5 ships that started only one ship and 54 men ever saw Spain again.  Magellan is still one of the giant names in Western history but he paid a high price since he dies in battle just a little over 6 weeks from today.  He was 41. 

If you ever feel bad about not being famous, just remember Magellan.  Being great and being remembered often have something to do with danger and often losing out to that danger.  Remember, Desire is the root of all suffering.  If you want nothing you will always be filled with joy for anything you get.  If you want everything you will never be happy.

1872 – (when you see football remember it is not the real football like we have in the US but rather soccer)   The Wanderers F.C. wins the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.  Just so you know the trophy called the FA Cup is 'The Football Association Challenge Cup'.  I think the abbreviation is appropriate, since the full name does not roll off the tongue.

1926 – Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.  He also designed and built the first Bazooka.  He demonstrated it to the Army but before there was further testing WWI ended.  One of Goddard's coworkers continued the work on it and developed the weapon that was used in WWII.  We started replacing the Bazooka in 1963 with the LAW rocket.  The LAW is a single shot, throw away rocket.  It is more powerful, lighter and less susceptible to heat and water damage.  The LAW has been replaced by the AT4.  The LAW was built in Norway and the AT4 is built in Sweden.  The AT4 is used in 27 countries around the world but not in China.  If we were to fight them we would be using our Swedish AT4s against US built M1 Bazookas, the exact weapon we used at the beginning of WWII.  We sent a bunch of them to Chiang Kai-shek to use against the Chinese Communist rebels.  When Chiang lost and retreated to Taiwan, Mao's forces captured a large quantity of Bazookas.

Goddard's book 'A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes' influenced Wernher von Braun and Sergey Korolev.  Of course Wernher von Braun was the chief designer for the V2, the Redstone, Jupiter and Saturn launch vehicles.  These were the missiles that launched the first US satellite, the first Americans into space and placed the first humans on the Moon. Sergey Korolev was the chief designer for the Soviet's ICBMs and the launch vehicles for their early space flights.  I would say Goddard has a huge legacy.

holidays:
Day of Knygnešys - Day of the Book Carriers.  See the article above, in the birthday section:  1846 – Jurgis Bielinis.

Bock Beer Day - Well maybe.  It appears that even though brewers have tried to set a single day, the same every year, since the early 1900s, as Bock Beer Day, a variety of legal and business hurdles have never been successfully overcome.  There appears to be more than one day.  So if you want to Bock - Go for it. 

Feast of Bacchus - If the Bock doesn't get you the Bacchus will.

Freedom of Information Day - I would write more about this but every article I read has been so heavily redacted that there is no information left.

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wednesday 17 march
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
***
*** Wish You Weren't Here
***
*** - Emily The Strange
*******************************************
birthdays:
1804 – Jim Bridger, American trapper and explorer.  Maybe the most famous of all the Mountain Men.  He was also a trapper, a scout, for the army, and a guide.  He discovered routes to various places in the west that today are still in use as railways and highways.

1846 - Kate Greenaway was an English children's book illustrator and writer.  She was one of the most popular painter/author of her times.  Her books always showed idyllic scenes full of young girls and boys dressed in old fashioned (even for her time) cloths.  If you would like to see a couple of examples of her work goto:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/May_day_greenaway.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pied_Piper2.jpg

1900 - Alfred Newman was an American composer of music for films.  He was a great one.  A week ago they were gushing over Meryl Streep's 15 Oscar nominations.  Well Alfred got nominated 45 times, between 1938 and 1957, he was nominated twenty years in a row and in 1940 he was nominated for 4 different films.  Plus he won 9 of those Oscars.

1936 – Ken Mattingly, American astronaut.  He was scheduled to fly on the ill-fated Apollo 13 but was grounded because they thought he might be sick.  He was rescheduled for Apollo 16 and got to stay in orbit around the Moon while John Young and Charles Duke got to land.  Still he is one of only 24 people that have ever been close to (or on) the the Moon.  He also was on the 4th and the 51st Space Shuttle missions.

events:
1756 – St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).

1780 – George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence".

1845 – The rubber band is patented.  Finally women have a way to tie their hair back and everyone has a new way to shot stuff at other people.  The paper clip will not be invented for another 25 years.

1910 – Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire USA)
They changed the name since the 'Girls' went coed.  Also they except those that the Boy Scouts will not, including the Atheists and the Gays.  I am favorably impressed.  I believe inclusion solves more problems than exclusion.

Camp Fire USA Philosophy
There are five essential elements that form the Camp Fire philosophy, all derived from the Camp Fire mission.

1. We are youth-centered. Whether it is determining the program content or activities Camp Fire youth take an active role in programs, enabling them to become better leaders.

2. We engage the entire family in fun and outcome-rich activities. Since youth live in families and the larger communities Camp Fire USA's programs are designed to include the whole family in whatever form the family takes. This makes Camp Fire unique, because it offers an opportunity for the entire family to belong and join together in fun and enrichment.

3. We are welcoming and inclusive. Regardless of race, religion, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation or other aspect of diversity, any child, youth or adult may join Camp Fire.

4. We build youth and adult partnerships. Camp Fire USA programs are about doing "with" youth, not about delivering "to" youth, forming a partnership between youth and adults.

5. We provide service to others. From the time of the Gulicks Camp Fire USA has been known as a service organization, which is still true today. Councils provide programs that are responsive to the needs of their community.

holidays:
St. Patrick's Day - Do not do any to stupid today.  It is a Catholic Saint's Feast day after all.  In Ireland the people who are showing their remembrance of Saint Patrick will be wearing Blue ribbons.  Blue is Saint Patrick's color.  Also they will not be drinking (well no more than is usual).  You tell Americans this and they seem to be disappointed.  Also many real Irish dislike our celebrating, they find it insulting. 

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thursday 18 march
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
***
*** Happily Never After
***
*** - Emily The Strange
*******************************************
birthdays:
1837 – J. P. Morgan, US financier and industrialist.  Depending on your political views you love or hate this guy.  He is the person that formed General Electric from Edison Electric and Thompson-Houston Electric.  After financing the creation of the Federal Steel Company he merged the Carnegie Steel Company and several other steel and iron businesses to form the United States Steel Corporation.  Pittsburgh has its identity and a name for their football team.

1863 - Augustus Edward Hough Love often known as A. E. H. Love, was a mathematician famous for his work on the mathematical theory of elasticity. He also worked on wave propagation and his work on the structure of the Earth in Some Problems of Geodynamics won for him the Adams prize in 1911 when he developed a mathematical model of surface waves known as Love waves.  Sounds like the original Hippie.  Love waves.  Peace, Love waves and Rock n Roll.

1894 - Nikita S Khrushchev 1st Secretary USSR (1953-64)
Five things to remember about Khruschev:
1- During a state visit to the U.S. he wanted to go to Disneyland and meet Mickey Mouse and we did not let him.
2- He took off his shoe and beat on the dais while addressing the U.N. in New York and said "We will bury you".
3- He oversaw the design and construction of the Moscow subway which is a work of art.
4- He okay-ed the building of the Berlin Wall.
5- He system of government was so great (sarcasm) that his only surviving son Sergei emigrated to the U.S., is a U.S. citizen and is a Professor at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.

events:
1834 – Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.  There are many people that do not like trade unions now but there used to be total venom toward them.

1869 - 1st professional baseball game - Cincinnati Reds 24 v Cincinnati Amateurs 15

1874 – Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.  And the camel has its nose under the edge of the tent.  By 1883 the legitimate government is overthrown by US and European business interests (and a little help from a company of marines).  The US decided the revolt was illegal and demanded the forces return the queen to her thrown.  The rebel government declined.  In 1893 the US government apologized for overthrowing the legitimate government of a sovereign nation (I believe that is the first and only time we have done that).  After the election of 1896, the new President William McKinley who, unlike the previous president, Grover Cleveland, was not a friend of Queen Liliʻuokalani was persuaded to annex Hawaii.  In 1898 Hawaii became a territory of the US.  Some in Hawaii still hate us for that.

1937 - Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, make their screen debut.  Of course it was a cartoon.

holidays:
Casey Jones Day - The railroad engineer, not the Grateful Dead song.  So drive a train until the wheels come off.

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friday 19 march
***The Official NoButtonButton*************
***
*** Strange I am
***
*** - Emily The Strange
*******************************************
birthdays:
1848 – Wyatt Earp, was an American farmer, teamster, sometime buffalo hunter, officer of the law in various Western frontier towns, gambler, saloon-keeper, Faro dealer, miner and boxing referee. He is best known for his participation in the 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral', along with Doc Holliday, and two of his brothers, Virgil Earp and Morgan Earp.  Some how this became the most famous gunfight in the Cowboy era of US History even though the 'Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight', the 'Going Snake Massacre', the 'Hot Springs Gunfight', and the' Gunfight at Hide Park' were all deadlier and more violent.  He has been in almost as many movies as Pancho Villa.

1883 - Sir Walter Norman Haworth was a British chemist who is best known for his groundbreaking work on ascorbic acid (vitamin C) while.

1915 – Robert G. Cole - An American Soldier and hero.  He won a Medal of Honor during WWII.  The actual citation for his medal follows.  It tells the story better than I could.  He deserves his medal.

Medal of Honor citation

    For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life, above and beyond the call of duty on 11 June 1944, in France. Lt. Col. Cole was personally leading his battalion in forcing the last 4 bridges on the road to Carentan when his entire unit was suddenly pinned to the ground by intense and withering enemy rifle, machinegun, mortar, and artillery fire placed upon them from well-prepared and heavily fortified positions within 150 yards of the foremost elements. After the devastating and unceasing enemy fire had for over 1 hour prevented any move and inflicted numerous casualties, Lt. Col. Cole, observing this almost hopeless situation, courageously issued orders to assault the enemy positions with fixed bayonets. With utter disregard for his own safety and completely ignoring the enemy fire, he rose to his feet in front of his battalion and with drawn pistol shouted to his men to follow him in the assault. Catching up a fallen man's rifle and bayonet, he charged on and led the remnants of his battalion across the bullet-swept open ground and into the enemy position. His heroic and valiant action in so inspiring his men resulted in the complete establishment of our bridgehead across the Douve River. The cool fearlessness, personal bravery, and outstanding leadership displayed by Lieutenant Colonel Cole reflect great credit upon himself and are worthy of the highest praise in the military service.

Lieutenant Colonel Cole survived that day, as did 130 of 265 men that charged across that bridge, but three months later a German sniper found him, he was 29.

events:
1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.  See the year 1965 below.

1916 – Eight American planes take off in pursuit of Pancho Villa, the first United States air-combat mission in history. Pancho was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals.  The planes did not catch Pancho and neither did General John 'Black Jack' Pershing and his army.  Pershing chased Villa for a year and never caught him.  It turned out to be a good tune up for the army which left for France soon after.  A couple of years before Pancho invaded the US, he was visiting El Paso on business and met with General Pershing.  There are even photos to prove it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:File-Los_Generales,_Ft_Bliss_1913.jpg

About three dozen films have been made about Pancho Villa.  Four of those films actually starred Pancho (as himself) and showed actual battle scenes.  He has been portrayed as everything from a military genius to a buffoon.  He was a hero to the peasants in Northern Mexico where he took Hacenda land to give to the landless farmers.  There are many streets, buildings and landmarks named in his honor.

To see a good picture of Pancho goto:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pancho_villa_horseback.jpg

To see the destruction in Columbus, New Mexico, that caused General Pershing to chase Villa goto:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Columbus.jpg

1931 – Gambling is legalized in Nevada.  Cha Ching.

1941 – The 99th Pursuit Squadron also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-black unit of the Army Air Corp, is activated.  There are always heroes. 

1954 – Willie Mosconi sets the world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio. The record still stands today.  That is a world record, set in Ohio that most of you did not know about.

1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by then teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction.  See the year 1863 above.

holidays:
Swallows Day (traditional return to Capistrano) and the day the Henkley Buzzards are supposed to return.

Poultry Day - Swallows, Buzzards, I think we can work with this.

National Chocolate Caramel Day - Random food day.  There is a food organization that rates food acording to how healthy it is called "Eat this, not that".  They pick a small area and give the best and worst in that group, i.e. candy bars.  They claim the worst candy bar you can get is Twix that it has the fat equivalent of 11 pieces of bacon.  If you are going to have a candy bar they suggest Nestle's 100 Grand.  The 100 Grand has caramel and chocolate.  Problem solved.  Eat a 100 Grand bar and feel smug (or is that snug where your jeans are too tight from eating all those 100 Grands).