Memorial Day

See Memorial Day photos

ITN SK Members Honored

As many of you know, each year, the Inidiana Traffic Net has a very Special Session on Memorial Day morning. The net is devoted entirely to reading a list of those stations who have been associated with the net, and have passed away. This year will be no different.

Mr. Jim, K9EOH, will start the ceremony at 8:30ET/7:30CT sharp. Then 10 other stations will follow with a reading of our silent keys. At the end, Mr. John, AB9AA, will say a prayer and the net will be closed.
Because of the solemness of this occasion, this will be the only business conducted during the Monday morning session. There will be no checkins, no traffic handled, and no regular roll call. We will only have the Roll Call of our Silent Keys.
So, please, everyone, try and carve out a few minutes to be with us, Monday morning. Tune into 3.910 for this very Special net in remembrance of our Ham Radio Brethren.

Understanding the latest Facebook scam

View the original post on the OpenDNS blog.

Every few weeks there's a new scam that makes the rounds on Facebook. This week it's the "Find out who visits your profile," scam, which we've all seen before. Here we take a deeper look at the scam to understand better what exactly the virus is trying to do and how we can all protect ourselves.

The virus works first by gaining access to your Facebook account. Unlike other methods for hacking, which involve somehow accessing your login credentials, this scam needs only for you to click a link posted on your wall or someone else's wall. To entice you into clicking, the scam offers something lots of people would love to know, but Facebook doesn't allow: a list of people who've viewed your profile. You might receive an e-mail notification that tells you a friend has posted a link on your wall with this context:

"LOL !! Me cant believe that you can see who is viewing your profile! I can see the TOP 10 people and I am really OPENMOUTHED that my EX is still checking my Pix and my Profile. You can also see WH0 CHECKS YOUR PR0FILE here)"

The most important thing to understand about this scam is that you should not click the link. If you don't click the link and opt-in, the virus is rendered powerless. If you click the link, and you happen to be logged into your Facebook account when you do, the virus immediately goes to work posting the same link and content on your friends' walls. There's no way to stop it in progress — the only way to repair the damage is to visit each of your friends' walls one-by-one and remove the post, or message all and hope they haven't already clicked the link, as well.

Within social networks users are largely accountable for their own safety. The primary thing to remember: if you have any doubt, don't click the link. Facebook offers this bit of advice:

"Always use caution when clicking on a link or opening an attachment, even if it's been sent or posted by a friend or other reputable source. If you have any doubt, get confirmation directly from the sender. Be especially wary of messages that include attractive offers or urgent requests, and watch out for links that require you to immediately provide a login and password."

Thanks to OpenDNS blog for this information

All good things must come to an end

A few weeks ago I created a web page to view my weather station instruments. To do this so the public could view I needed the weather station to to transmit the data to a computer screen. I found this was possible, but not for an extended amount of time. The connection would be lost after a few hours. The next problem was found to be the FTP computer program would also fail to transmit the computer screen capture to the remote server after a few hours. After hours of trying to discover what was wrong I gave up. You see I have lived by the saying, "You have to be smart enough to know when to give up". I also found by the page view counter that the public was not looking at the page. Only a few were taking advantage of my long hours of work. So all will be removed from the server. All was not lost though, I learned a few things. Things that work, things that don't. It was a nice ride.

Another project that did work faultlessly was my work on streaming audio. I can pipe in audio such as music or audio from my radio scanner. I used a program that was simple to set-up, also the public was listening. Unlike the screen capture program it would never loose connection. It also would not interfere when I was using the computer for other work. This was a flaw with the weather screen capture page. If I was editing a web page or doing other work I had to disable the the FTP program that sent the page to the server. You can hear the audio at: http://wb9otx.com/live_audio.htm

Armed Forces Day

Armed Forces Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in May. It falls near the end of Armed Forces Week, which begins on the second Saturday of May and ends on the third Sunday of May.^[15]

The day was created in 1949 to honor Americans serving in the five U.S. military branches – the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard – following the consolidation of the military services in the Department of Defense. It was intended to replace the separate Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Days, but the separate days are still observed, especially within the respective services.

The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated by parades, open houses, receptions and air shows. In 1962, President Kennedy established Armed Forces Day as an official holiday. The United States' longest running city-sponsored Armed Forces Day Parade is held in Bremerton, Washington. In 2009, Bremerton celebrated the 61st Armed Forces Day Parade

South Pole Station

As a Ham Radio operator I ran phone patches for the crew for 2 years enabling the personal to talk to family and friends here in the states. As a result I am always interested in any article that is published on the pole. Here is an excellent article from wikipedia .

Since the Amundsen-Scott Station is located at the South Pole, it is at the only place on the land surface of the Earth where the sun is continuously up for six months and then continuously down for six months. (The only other such place is at the North Pole, on the sea ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.) Thus, during each year, this station experiences one extremely long "day" and one extremely long "night". During the six-month "day", the angle of elevation of the Sun above the horizon varies continuously. The sun rises on the vernal equinox, reaches its maximum angle above the horizon on the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, around 20 December, and sets on the autumnal equinox.
During the six-month "night", it gets extremely cold at the South Pole, with air temperatures sometimes dropping below −73 °C (−100 °F). This is also the time of the year when blizzards, sometimes with gale-force winds, strike the Amundsen-Scott Station. The continuous period of darkness and dry atmosphere make the station an excellent place from which to make astronomical observations.

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"Salvage Scrap to Blast the Jap"

American government propaganda poster from World War II, showing a Bald Eagle, the national bird, dropping a bomb on a snake representing Japan. During the war, the U.S. officially had no propaganda, but the Roosevelt government used means to circumvent this official line, including the Writers' War Board and the Office of War Information.

from Wikipedia

Ripley County's most decorated veteran

Herman W. Jahnigen, 87, of Versailles passed away Monday, May 23, 2005 at the Hospitality Hall of the Margaret Mary Community Hospital in Batesville. He was born in the Cedar Creek community near Osgood on April 22, 1918 the oldest son of Arthur and Clara Diem Jahnigen. He was married to Thelma Koons on May 3, 1947 and she survives. Other survivors include one daughter, Jeanne Ison and her husband Jerry of Milan; grandchildren J.J. Ison of Lawrenceburg, Lauren Ison, and Nikki Whisman both of Milan; one brother Jerald (Butch) Jahnigen and his wife Helen of Osgood; two sisters, Mrs. Dorothy Black of Holton and Mrs. Jeraldine Humphrey and her husband Jim of Osgood; his brother-in-law Walter S. Lowe of Osgood. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Clem Jahnigen and his sister Virginia Lowe. Mr. Jahnigen was a 1937 graduate of Versailles High School. He was a veteran of WWII and was Ripley County’s most decorated veteran. He was a member of the 508^th Parachute Infantry of the 82^nd Airborne Division and participated in the D-Day landing at Normandy. He also participated in the Battle of the Bulge and was wounded on June 9, 1944 in the European Theatre. Mr. Jahnigen’s citations included the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Silver Star, European Campaign Medal, Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Distinguished Unit Citation, French Fourragere, Netherlands Citation, and the Normandy, Belgium, French, and American Defense Medals. On June 27, 1945 he received a battlefield commission promoting him to Lieutenant. In civilian life Mr. Jahnigen, along with his wife owned and operated Jahnigen Dry Cleaners in Versailles from 1947 to 1978. He also worked for Berkel Electronics in Versailles from 1978 to 1983. He was a member of the Versailles Baptist Church, a former member and past chief of the Versailles Fire Department, the Milan VFW, and was a member and past commander of the Versailles American Legion. Mr. Jahnigen was also a past vice-commander of the American Legion’s ninth district.

See still photos here

American Goldfinch

I have as many as 35 on 2 feeders in my yard ......... Jack
The American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), also known as the Eastern Goldfinch and Wild Canary, is a North American bird in the finch family. It is migratory, ranging from mid-Alberta to North Carolina during the breeding season, and from just south of the full Canadian border to Mexico during the winter.

The only finch in its subfamily which undergoes a complete molt, the American Goldfinch displays sexual dimorphism in its coloration; the male is a vibrant yellow in the summer and an olive color during the winter months, while the female is a dull yellow-brown shade which brightens only slightly during the summer. The male displays brightly colored plumage during the breeding season to attract a mate.
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Hedy Lamarr - spread spectrum

More then half a century after the patent was issued Hedy Lamarr was finally honored, not for being the glamorous actress that everyone thought they knew, but for being the intelligent inventor of a technology that is key to numerous wireless communications systems today. When the Electronic Frontier Foundation presented the award in 1997, Lamarr had been retired to a very private life and had not appeared in public for more than twenty years. Her son accepted the award in her name and played a tape recording she made for those present.
Read the full story

Edit your photos

Make your world a better-looking place!
Edit your photos online. I tried it and it does a pretty good job.
http://www.aviary.com/

Honering Fallen Comrads

Today I am about to salute a fallen comrade that served his country. The American Legion not only serves their community, but performs graveside service for veterans.

VE Day

Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day or VE Day) commemorates May 8, 1945 (in Commonwealth countries; May 7,1945), the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not until May 9, 1945. On 30 April Hitler committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin, and so the surrender of Germany was authorized by his replacement, President of Germany Karl Dönitz. The administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg government. The act of military surrender was signed on 7 May in Reims, France, and ratified on 8 May in Berlin, Germany.

Hindenburg disaster - May 6, 1937

The Hindenburg's arrival on May 6 was delayed for several hours to avoid a line of thunderstorms passing over Lakehurst, but around 7:00 p.m. the airship was cleared for its final approach to the Naval Air Station, which it made at an altitude of 650 ft (200 m) with Captain Max Pruss at the helm. However, as ground handlers grabbed hold of a pair of landing lines dropped from the nose of the ship at 7:21 p.m., the Hindenburg suddenly burst into flames and dropped to the ground in just 37 seconds. Of the 36 passengers and 61 crew on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew died, as well as one member of the ground crew, making a total of 36 lives lost in the disaster

Sinko de Mayo - May 5th

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise wasmanufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars ofthe condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to bethe next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise everdelivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to NewYork. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerlyawaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was sogreat, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they stillobserve to this day.The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, ofcourse, as Sinko de Mayo.

Don’t pay for software you don’t need

If you are just slightly geekie you may want to subscribe to Window's Secrets. This is a news letter that will give you lots of tips that you can use for saving money or performing everyday tasks. You can sign up for it here and read an online sample.

Animated Knots

TIE KNOTS THE FUN AND EASY WAY
Better to know a knot and not need it, than need a knot and not know it.

Tie knots now

Osama Bin Laden DEAD