SOMEONE IS LISTENING: ECHELON

EXPOSING THE GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

SOMEONE IS LISTENING: The computers in stations around the globe are known, within the network, as the ECHELON Dictionaries. Computers that can automatically search through traffic for keywords have existed since at least the 1970s, but the ECHELON system was designed by NSA to interconnect all these computers and allow the stations to function as components of an integrated whole.

IN THE LATE 1980'S, IN A DECISION IT PROBABLY REGRETS, THE U.S. PROMPTED NEW ZEALAND TO JOIN A NEW AND HIGHLY SECRET GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM. HAGER'S INVESTIGATION INTO IT AND HIS DISCOVERY OF THE ECHELON DICTIONARY HAS REVEALED ONE OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST, MOST CLOSELY HELD INTELLIGENCE PROJECTS. THE SYSTEM ALLOWS SPY AGENCIES TO MONITOR MOST OF THE WORLD'S TELEPHONE, E-MAIL, AND TELEX COMMUNICATIONS.

Read more:
http://cryptome.org/jya/echelon.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

John S. Blyth WWII Hero

This is a must see ...... Jack

In October 2005, filmmaker William Lorton inherited two suitcases of 16mm home movies which his great uncle, James R. Savage, MD., shot while serving as a Flight Surgeon for the US Army Air Corps during World War II . The most compelling shot in the three hours of war footage was the crash landing of a Spitfire Mk XI fighter plane at Mount Farm Airbase in Great Britain. Being the flight surgeon at the base, Captain Savage was alerted to the impending accident and had the presence of mind to bring his movie camera to the landing strip.
Within 30 seconds of entering the Spitfire's tail number into Google, the filmmaker was able to ascertain the date of the crash, the location of the crash and the name of the pilot: John S. Blyth.
The filmmaker sent a letter to the pilot requesting a general interview about World War II aviation and received a positive response. He did not reveal the existence of the 16mm footage until the interview took place about two weeks later near Tacoma, WA. At the end of a three-hour interview about the pilot's World War II exploits, the filmmaker asked the pilot to review "about one minute" of footage. John S. Blyth was quite surprised to suddenly be watching his death-defying landing of 61 years earlier.



See full size on YouTube

On this Day - Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart Flies Atlantic, First Woman To Do It; Tells Her Own Story of Perilous 21-Hour Trip to Wales; Radio Quit and They Flew Blind Over Invisible Ocean
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Happy Fathers Day

Sallie Gardner at a Gallop

Sallie Gardner at a Gallop is a series of photographs of a galloping horse, the result of a photographic experiment by Eadweard Muybridge on June 15, 1878. Sometimes cited as an early silent film, the series and later experiments like it were precursors to the development of motion pictures. The series consists of 24 photographs shot in rapid succession that were shown on a zoopraxiscope. Muybridge was commissioned by Leland Stanford, the industrialist and horseman, who was interested in gait analysis. The purpose of the shoot was to determine whether a galloping horse ever lifts all four feet completely off the ground during the gait; at this speed, the human eye cannot break down the action.
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Fly Your Flag June 14th

Flag Day June 14th

In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened on that day in 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. The United States Army also celebrates the Army Birthday on this date; Congress adopted "the American continental army" after reaching a consensus position in the Committee of the Whole on June 14, 1775
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Major Ed Freeman U.S. Air Force

I knew of Major Freeman, but I seem to dig a slight bit deeper into the news and current events than most. I post it here so a few more people can read about this true hero ....... Jack

You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .It's November 11, 1967.  LZ (landing zone) X-ray. Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so  intense from 100 yards away, that  your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac  markings are on it. Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you. He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard  the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway. Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board.Then he
flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.And, he kept coming back!! 13 more  times!! Until all  the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm. He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey. Medal  of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise , Idaho May God Bless and Rest His Soul.n I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing,  but we've sure seen a whole bunch  about Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods and the bickering of congress over Health Reform. Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman  Shame on the media !!!
Read MORE at Wikipedia

Ripley County Indiana Court House Annex

Click to enlarge

Is almost complete. It only needs the grass to come up now. The internal offices are all in operation now also.
For a pictorial record please look HEAR

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D-Day beginning of the end

During World War II (1939-1945), the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region.
The Normandy landings have been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.
From:
History.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings

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Ma' Curry a Versailles Icon

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She was born in Switzerland County April 20 1893. Her maiden name was Armstrong. We moved to Versailles from Correct when I was 5. 83 years ago. She was widowed at the age not quite 32 with 6 kids. Halstead was 14 (the oldest) I was 2 months (the youngest) Clara Belle,Isabelle,Bob,Dorothy were the other 4. D Q Wilbur had a meat market in the building where Mom started her ice cream parlor when I was 12..1937. When he passed she rented that bldg.  She married Vernon Secrest (a WW1 Veteran) in 1941 and that's when she started the restaurant. Up until that time she sold mostly ice cream. She loved you kid's...she was a people person for sure. It was a sad day for her when the new school was built and you kids couldn't come anymore. She was also very unhappy when the Walter Smith family gave that whole corner to Masons and Jack Raney's wife bought the old

Methodist church and donated that to the Masons to build their Lodge. She lived for awhile where Jerry Wilson lives and later moved to the Project. She lived there until she passed Jan 2 1978. Her strong Faith carried her through some tough times. One of my fondest memories is her kneeling by her bed giving thanks to HIM.
By: Jo Westmeyer

Yes them were the days, the school bell would ring for the noon hour and out the door we would run on our way to Ma's. We always run our hand across Mrs. Jackson's hedge on the way. Entering the door we would meet all of our school friends. The most ordered was a fish sandwich with tarter sauce, we would yell fish with and a RC. If you could not barrow from a friend Ma would let you charge it but you had to pay up when it ran a dollar. I remember one guy that would barrow a nickle or a dime from several others to buy the lunch. He seldom payed you back. RC cola was in a cooler filled with cold water. At one time RC had free ones if there was a red RC logo under the cork in the bottle cap. One kid could pick out every free one in the cooler, till this day I never figured out how he did it. Ma bared him from the cooler after she caught on to him. Ma always had some very nice waitresses working the noon meal. They were very nice to us routey kids, I don't know how they put up with us. After lunch if you had a nickle or dime you could get a pack of baseball cards that may contain a Red Legs player, or a hand dipped ice creem cone. She always had the best icecreem in town. Most all the school kids eat there at one time or other, and Ma knew most of their names. Great people like Ma' Curry made growing up in Versailles wonderful ........ Jack

The Girls On Fox News Song

Happy Birthday

May 26th
JOHN WAYNE (1907-1979)
JAMES ARNESS (1923-2011)
HANK WILLIAMS JR. 63

See many more

Memorial Day Photos

See Memorial Day Photos - 2013
See Memorial Day Photos - 2011

May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m. PDT, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, caused an eruption, reducing the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 ft (2,950 m) to 8,365 ft (2,550 m) and replacing it with a 1 mile (1.6 km) wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was up to 0.7 cubic miles (2.9 km3) in volume. The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied.
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Earth Sky tonight page

See it at:
http://earthsky.org/tonight

Bela Lugosi

Bela Lugosi

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (20 October 1882 – 16 August 1956), better known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor, who is best known for playing the character Dracula in the 1931 film and for his roles in various other Universal monster and horror films.
He had been playing small parts on the stage in his native Hungary before making his first film in 1917, but had to leave the country after the failed Hungarian Revolution, and arrived in America as a seaman on a merchant ship.
In 1927, he appeared as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, where he was talent-spotted as a character actor for the new Hollywood talkies, appearing in the first Dracula film with sound.
Through the 1930s, he occupied an important niche in popular horror films, with their East European setting, but his Hungarian accent limited his repertoire, and he tried unsuccessfully to avoid typecasting. Meanwhile, he was often paired with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing. To his frustration, Lugosi was increasingly restricted to minor parts, for the sake of his name on the posters. Among his pairings with Karloff, only in The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939) did he perform major roles again, although even in The Raven Karloff received top billing despite Lugosi performing the lead role.
By this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he had become addicted to morphine and methadone. This drug dependence was noted by producers, and the offers eventually dwindled down to a few parts in Ed Wood's low-budget movies.
Read More
See him on YouTube

Shackleton and the crew stranded

1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five companions completed one of history's greatest small-boat journeys when they arrived at South Georgia after an 800-nautical-mile journey in a lifeboat.

The History has come to consider the James Caird's voyage as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever accomplished.

Click to enlarge 

voyage of the James Caird was a small-boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean, a distance of 800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi). Undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions, its objective was to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–17, trapped on Elephant Island after the loss of its ship Endurance.
In October 1915 the expedition's ship, the Endurance, had been crushed and sunk by pack ice in the Weddell Sea, leaving Shackleton and the crew stranded on an unreliable ice surface thousands of miles from safety. During the following months the party drifted northward until April 1916, when the floe on which they were camped broke up. They then made their way in the ship's lifeboats to the remote and inaccessible Elephant Island, where Shackleton quickly decided that the most effective means of obtaining relief for his beleaguered party would be to sail one of the lifeboats to South Georgia.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A final toast for the Doolittle Raiders

In Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the surviving Doolittle Raiders will gather publicly for the last time.
Now only four survive.

Read the full story

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May 6, 1931 Hindenburg crash

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 pm 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. Four minutes after ground handlers grabbed hold of a pair of landing lines dropped from the nose of the ship at 7:21 pm, the Hindenburg suddenly burst into flames and dropped to the ground in just 37 seconds.
Read more

One more May 5th

Without exception - here it is again.
http://wb9otx.blogspot.com/2010/05/sinko-de-mayo-may-5th.html

Milan ’54 Hoosiers Museum

Milan’s 1954 basketball team and their supporters will be gathering in Milan, Indiana Saturday, June 8 for the Grand Opening of the new Milan ’54 Hoosiers Museum.
News Release
See the Milan '54 Hoosiers Museum Web Page

Madison, Indiana - April 1974

Soon after the Depauw tornado lifted, the Hanover/Madison F4 twister formed near Henryville and traveled through Jefferson County and leveled many structures in the small towns of Hanover and Madison. Eleven were killed in this storm while an additional 300 were injured. According to a WHAS-TV Louisville reporter in a special report about the outbreak, 90% of Hanover was destroyed or severely damaged, including the Hanover College campus. Despite the fact that no one was killed or seriously injured at the college, 32 of the College's 33 buildings were damaged, including two that were completely destroyed and six that sustained major structural damage. Hundreds of trees were down, completely blocking every campus road. All utilities were knocked out and communication with those off campus was nearly impossible. Damage to the campus alone was estimated at about US$10 million. In Madison alone where seven of the fatalities took place, about 300 homes were destroyed and the tornado also brushed the community of China causing additional fatalities. The same storm would later strike the Cincinnati area, producing multiple tornadoes including another F5.
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Blood Pressure Monitor

With a visit to my doctor I found my blood presser was very high. He recommended I buy a home monitor, keep a record for a week and report back. I'm happy to report with a pill or two my BP is normal. I will keep a watch on it with this easy to use monitor. I bout it at CVS Drug store, but there are many other places to purchase one and at different prices. Nothing beats a doctor visit but a monitor can alert you of a problem......Jack 
 Easily provides accurate blood pressure readings. Clinically proven accuracy (product using identical technology was tested by unaffiliated researchers). Blood Pressure Monitor Easy 1-touch operation. Automatic blood pressure monitors make monitoring easy. Our Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor accurately determines your blood pressure measurement with just a touch of a button. 
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If its not broke - don't fix it

I uploaded a video to You Tube today and was made to do this Google thing. Now the video I uploaded is in a separate account. So now it is listed all by it's self and away from all of my other videos. As far as I can see there is no way to combine the two accounts. When trying to fix it, everything I click on leads me round and round. I can not even log into my old account, if I could I could delete the new video and upload it to the old account. I just can't understand why If its not broke - don't fix it..... Jack

Hopewell Community Tornado

For Sale: RS-2096 in new condition

Analog / digital receiver
Comes with antenna and power supply.
Programmed for Ripley County and surrounding counties.
Here everything there is to hear, both cars and dispatchers.
Cash or PayPal $299.00
Jack Demaree
Versailles, In.
812-689-5960

Robert "Bob" Lazar

Robert "Bob" Lazar

Robert "Bob" Lazar (born January 26, 1959) is a controversial individual who claims qualifications as a scientist and engineer and alleged that he worked with extraterrestrial technology at a site called S4 near the Area 51 test facility.
Lazar claimed to have worked in 1988 and 1989 as a physicist at S4 allegedly located at Papoose Lake southwest of top secret Area 51 near Groom Dry Lake, Nevada. According to Lazar, S4 serves as a hidden military location for the study and research of extraterrestrial spacecraft, or flying saucers using reverse engineering. Lazar says he saw nine different extraterrestrial vehicles there and has provided detailed information on the mode of propulsion and other technical details of a disc-shaped vehicle he called the sport model.
Read More
Read about Lazar's Gravity Generator

Texas Tan Line

Why Cell Phone Networks Fail in Emergencies

Cellular networks in the area almost immediately slowed down and, for periods of time, appeared to stop working altogether. Runners and their loved ones could not connect, and victims had trouble communicating with emergency responders.
Read the full story

How to Clean Your Hair Brush

Another NIGHTMARE

I have not had a virus in two years but tonight broke the running record. I won't go into details on what web site i downloaded from (no it was not a porn site) but it was one that I should not have been looking at. The virus was called "Sirefef.gen !c" and it shuts off your virus protective program and redirects your Firefox and Internet Explorer to - well lets just say undesirable places - It also stops Google Chrome altogether. Malware Bytes would not remove it and I could not run Microsoft Essentials as it was shut off by the virus. I found a removal program from Panda, on another computer, downloaded it to a flash drive then installed it on the infected computer. It run and after 3 restarts the virus was removed. Now I had to remove Microsoft  Essentials with add and remove programs from the control panel. I then tried to find the "official Microsoft download site" and this was a challenge because the scammers have invaded Google with their bogus Microsoft pages. I finally found the official page and downloaded / installed the program. It installed fine and now runs like it should again. By the way I will save you some time, here is the correct address.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5201 
This process to remove the virus took over an hour and lots of hair pulling. Be careful, The scammers and Malware boys are out to get you. They got me........ Jack

"Houston we have a problem"

Was 13 unlucky ?
Apollo-13 Launched Saturday, April 11, 1970 at 13:13 CST
Read all about this unlucky flight.

Douglas MacArthur fired by Truman

April 11th, 1951

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. President Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of his commands for making public statements about the Korean War that contradicted the administration's policies.
Big mistake ...... Jack
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Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) Airfield

Everything you ever wanted to know about the JPG Airfield.
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/IN/Airfields_IN_S.htm#jefferson

Airport UFO sighting

At approximately 16:15 CST on Tuesday November 7, 2006, federal authorities at Chicago O'Hare International Airport received a report that a group of twelve airport employees were witnessing a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering over Gate C-17.
The object was first spotted by a ramp employee who was pushing back United Airlines Flight 446, which was departing Chicago for Charlotte, North Carolina. The employee apprised Flight 446's crew of the object above their aircraft. It is believed that both the pilot and co-pilot also witnessed the object.
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See Space Station from your house

Did you know you can see the International Space Station from your house? As the third brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon, the space station is easy to see if you know where and when to look for it.
NASA’s Spot the Station service sends you an email or text message a few hours before the space station passes over your house.
Sign up at:  http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

Photo Pos Pro

I work for a few companies that require photo editing. I know that everyone knows the keyword Photo Shop ($700), but this program is very expensive and complete overkill for most people. I use a program in my work that is no longer available but I found another that is very similar  and has a very short and easy learning curve and the best part, "It is free". I take lots of photos and have for some time but even with this experience I can use a photo editor to enhance most. An example would be, a couple in the center but a trash can to the left of them. No problem, just remove the can and replace it with a nice greenish shrub. Lighten, darken or make the sky more blue. .........Jack
The perfect FREE Photo Editor for you! Photo Pos Pro is an advanced yet extremely user-friendly and easy to use digital photo editing software. Photo Pos supports advanced enhancing, editing and computer graphics, special effects, layers, vectorial objects, masks, brushes, and much more!
See and download it here    Click no on all the tool bar junk when you install it.


Thanks John for this tip

Ham Radio - what do you talk about ?

I received an email asking, "Just what do you talk about on Ham Radio"? This is a hard question to answer as people are so different. Some are introverts and others are extroverts, it is the same on Ham Radio. Some Hams join in with a group that meet regularly on a certain frequancy, such as 3.910 on the 75 meter band.  This would be the same as a group of people meeting at a club or restraint. Then there are the Hams that only work DX (distance) These try to talk to as many countries as possible. The exchange is very short, such as "TA2RD WB9OTX your are 59 Indiana, 73.
An   introvert may never speek a word but only type on a computer keyboard. There are many digital modes such as JT65, EME, and others.I have known Hams that after studding for a long time, taking the test and receiving their license never ever keying the transmitter but only listen. I never could understand why they got a license in the first place.
I like to do all facets of our hobby, I do the DX, digital, and just like to have a friendly conversation with others across town or on the other side of the planet. I may ask, where do you work, how many kids do you have, how long have you been on the air, what kind of antenna are you using, and on and on.
So Ham Radio has something for about everyone. By the way if you want to become a Ham there are classes to make it very easy to obtain your ticket. See the RCARC Ham Radio Club page. or the ARRL page. ............ Jack WB9OTX

Martin Cooper makes 1st cell phone call 4/3/73

Martin Cooper

 On a New York City street, Motorola researcher Martin Cooper made the first public call on a handheld mobile phone. He is considered the "father of the cell phone"
See cellular phone
Read More about him

EME "Go Work Yourself"

As you may know or not know I am a Ham Radio Operator. I have did or at least tried about everything that the hobby has to offer. EME (earth moon earth) is the hardest contact to make. I have contacted more than sixty stations throughout the world that encludes stations on all continents (WAC). Here is a video that will describe some of the high points of a EME station....... Jack WB9OTX
See my EME logbook   See my EME antennas

EME "Go Work Yourself"
Pete N8PR dropped by our booth in Orlando to tell us a story, and we roped him into talking about one of this passions - EME (Earth-Moon-Earth). With new software and techniques, you don't need that monster station anymore. But you'll need more than an HT. Somewhere in between....

MOTOROLA SB6121 SURFboard Cable Modem

Comcast Cable a few days ago upgraded their Internet speed, but you have to have a new modem to take advantage of the speed. I ordered the Motorola SB6121 and attempted the install. The easy way did not work so I had to call Comcast. The first call lasted about 35 minutes before I was disconnected. The seconded call lasted about 5 minutes. Comcast was to call me back and keep me in the cue. They did call back but the young lady switched me to someone else. I listened to music and advertisements for 30 minutes. Finally a very nice man came on the line and after 45 minutes I was up and connected to the internet. This long wait is common with Comcast, but what can you do? The speed jumped from 30 to 55 after the install. I am among the few that needs this speed, most would not. But if you want the very fastest and want to spend $77 and go threw the hassle to set it up I can recommend the SB6121 SURFboard.
Get it from New Egg or I'm sure at Best Buy or other local computer dealers.

When / What is Easter?

Easter day is the first Sunday after the 14th day of the lunar month (the nominal full moon) that falls on or after 21 March (nominally the day of the vernal equinox). For determining the feast, Christian churches settled on a method to define a reckoned "ecclesiastical" full moon, rather than observations of the true Moon. Eastern Orthodox Christians calculate the fixed date of 21 March according to the Julian Calendar rather than the modern Gregorian Calendar, and use an ecclesiastical full moon that occurs four to five days later than the western ecclesiastical full moon.

On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is typically the most well-attended Sunday service of the year for Christian churches. Christians believe, according to Scripture, that Jesus came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion is commemorated on Good Friday, always the Friday just before Easter. Through his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus paid the penalty for sin, thus purchasing for all who believe in him, eternal life in Christ Jesus.



The Easter Bunny is perhaps the biggest commercial symbol of Easter. But how did a rabbit and eggs become associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well there clearly seems to be no correlation between the secular symbols and the Christian holiday. While the first known mentions of the bunny tradition appear in 15th century German literature according to Discovery, the bunny has its roots in pre-13th century pagan traditions.
From Discovery:

Great Weather Page

One of the neatest weather pages I've seen is at:
http://forecast.io/

After you arrive at the page move your courser around to see the features of the page. It may ask to use your location, if so click yes to change the globe's location. It reads your computer's IP to set your location.

The Commodore 64 introduced in 1982

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced in 1982 by Commodore International. Its low retail price and easy availability led to the system becoming the market leader for three years. It remains the best-selling single personal computer model of all time.
Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$ 595.Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of RAM, and had favorable sound and graphical specifications when compared to contemporary systems such as the Apple II, at a price that was well below the circa US$ 1200 demanded by Apple.
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Punxsutawney Phil 'indicted'

Punxsutawney Phil

That's what one of his handlers, John Griffiths, declares in response to an "indictment" that the Butler County, Ohio, prosecutor issued Thursday against Pennsylvania's famous weather-predicting groundhog. Apparently frosted over Ohio's cold start to the spring season, prosecutor Mike Gmoser accuses Phil of "misrepresentation of spring." On Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, Phil did not see his shadow. By legend, that portends an early spring. But in an official-looking document, Gmoser alleges that Phil acted "with prior calculation and design" to cause people to believe that spring would arrive early.
Read the full story

7:02AM EDST March 20 Spring

Spring is one of the four conventional temperate seasons, following winter and preceding summer. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and customs. At the spring equinox, days are close to 12 hours long with day length increasing as the season progresses. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and also to ideas of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection, and regrowth.

The Northward equinox (or March equinox) is the equinox on the earth when the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading northward. The Northward equinox is the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
The equinox can be as early as March 19 or as late as March 21, the precise time being about 5 hours 49 minutes later in a common year, and about 18 hours 11 minutes earlier in a leap year, than in the previous year. It is the balance of common years and leap years that keeps the calendar date of the equinox from drifting more than a day from 20 March each year.
Read more from: wikipedia.org

March 20,1942 – General Douglas MacArthur

General Douglas MacArthur 

After being forced to flee the Philippines,  General Douglas MacArthur announced in Terowie, South Australia,
"I shall return."
MacArthur is one of my heroes....... Jack.
Read more about him

If power goes out, will my phone still work?

It depends on the type of phone you have. "Corded" phones require no electricity and plug into the wall jack. These phones should not be affected by power outages. Most "cordless" phones require a base station plugged into an electrical outlet. The base station transmits telephone signals wirelessly to each hand held phone. If there is no power to the base station, the phone will not receive telephone signals.
Cell phones will work as the tower has back up batteries. If you are one of the 52 % that does not have a cell phone you can plug in a corded phone either a dial phone or a touch tone. These types of phones do not get their power from house current, so they will work fine. You say you don't have a corded phone, well they are very low priced so get one. I have two that I keep in a closet just in case. By the way when the cell phones are overloaded or the batteries run down they don't work either. eBay is a good place to get an old dial phone. Just do a search for "dial phone".

How SETI at home works

"phone home."
The UC Berkeley SETI team has discovered that there are already thousands of computers that might be available for use. Most of these computers sit around most of the time with toasters flying across their screens accomplishing absolutely nothing and wasting electricity to boot. This is where SETI AT home (and you!) come into the picture. The SETI AT home project hopes to convince you to allow us to borrow your computer when you aren't using it and to help us "…search out new life and new civilizations." We'll do this with a screen saver that can go get a chunk of data from us over the internet, analyze that data, and then report the results back to us. When you need your computer back, our screen saver instantly gets out of the way and only continues it's analysis when you are finished with your work.
Read More
And even More
If your ready to help
Download the software

Logitech Harmony 300 remote

When I was a young kid my dad had a remote control for the TV, It was me. He would say see what else is on Jack. But I was lucky, there were only three channels, 5 9 & 12. Today we could have fifty or even a hundred channels on the TV, plus a DVD player, an audio surround sound amp, a Cable box, or a Satellite receiver. My table beside my favorite char hosted six remotes. My wife even bought a very nice holder for them. It was a challenge for anyone but myself to run the system. My wife was always messing it up by pushing the incorrect buttons. It was a nightmare turning everything on or off. Today this all came to an end with one and only one remote. I purchased a Logitech Harmony 300 remote. The 300 is the most simplest and cheapest in their line of remotes. It will control four units of any components you may have. You do this by programming the control with the database Logitech has via the internet. Collect the model numbers then go online, type them into a downloadable program on your computer. The remote is programmed by a USB connection  It worked perfect, even the audio amp. I was never able to find the codes for it but there they were in the database. What a blessing to only have one remote. You ask about the cost ? I found the 300 from $9.00 to $60.00 - Shop around for the best price. eBay has a large selection with all kinds of prices. That's where I purchased mine. Make sure you have the correct USB cable or get one that comes with the remote. Your gonna like it ! ...... Jack

Jeff Gordon takes a Test Drive

Milan, Indiana wins the 1954 State Basket Ball Championship

I was just waiting on lunch to be ready and was flipping channels on the TV. I came across the movie "Hoosiers", I remember posting a video on YouTube a few years ago so I went looking for it. Here are two that I found, the 1st was filmed by unknown, The 2nd was Camera by: Bob Ashcraft Edited by: Charles Ashchraft & Jack Demaree ...... Jack



Milan team returns home -

My mind wonders

I just finished watching a TV show on the science channel. A lot of the things they talked about was very hard for me to understand or for that matter even imagine.  My mind wonders at times about things that I'm sure most never considers. I often think if we are not the only life in the universe and they travel to earth what would it be like for us here. I think of an ant hill located in my lower yard. This ant hill is about 1/2 mile from Versailles. Do you think the ants even know there is a town 1/2 mile away. The distance to them is unthinkable. To the ants I am the alien that walks to the lower yard. I stand at a distance observing them, now I decide I don't think I like a very large ant hill in my yard. First I kick at it and the ants try to repair the damage. Do the ants even know I exist  or cause them a threat? I bet not. A few days later I am mowing the yard and mow past the ant hill. I deside I do not want the ant hill in my yard anymore. I park the running lawn mower over the ant hill for about 15 minutes. When I move the mower the ant hill is leveled and the ants are no where to be seen. Now the ants are gone from my yard, but were they hurting me, no I just decided I don't like this lower class life in my domain. This could happen when the space ship from another universe lands on earth and decides they don't like our human race bothering them as we would be like the ants to us. Another way this could turn out. We all like our pets. They may try to teach us tricks or provide us with a better life just like we do with our cat or dog. As I said my mind wonders, think about it......... Jack

Would you run your business this way ?

As of 2013, it costs more than eleven cents to produce a nickel; the Mint is investigating using less expensive metals.
from: wikipedia.org

Hinckley Ohio Buzzards

Every year on March 15 since 1957, the city of Hinckley Ohio has eagerly awaited the return of the buzzards at "Buzzards' Roost" at the Hinckley Reservation, part of the Cleveland Metroparks.

The buzzard, a common name for the "turkey vulture," is a large graceful bird with a bald head and red beak. No relation to the black, Old World vulture family, which includes the eagle, hawk, and kite, the buzzard is native to the Americans from southern Canada to the tip of Cape Horn.
Read More

This year with the relatively mild winter the buzzards never left. Almost every day you could see them feeding on road kill or circling in the sky. They will be seen for sure on March 21.........Jack

COMPLETE and FINISHED

Some say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. Please explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED in a way that is easy to understand.

Here is his astute answer: "When you marry the right woman, you are COMPLETE. But, when you marry the wrong woman, you are FINISHED. And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are COMPLETELY FINISHED!"
Samsundar Balgobin

USS Indiana

USS Indiana (Battleship No. 1) was the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time Authorized in 1890 and commissioned five years later, she was a small battleship, though with heavy armor and ordnance. The ship also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. She was designed for coastal defense and as a result her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indiana_(BB-1)



USS Indiana (BB-58), a South Dakota-class battleship, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 19th state. Her keel was laid down on 20 November 1939 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on 21 November 1941 sponsored by Mrs. Lewis C. Robbins, daughter of Indiana governor Henry F. Schricker, and commissioned on 30 April 1942, Captain Aaron Stanton Merrill in command.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indiana_(BB-58)

GUNS (Virtual State of the Union 2013)

For Sale

A very clean used eMachine computer that would be great as a second computer or surfing the net and email. Comes with Office 2010

CPU 1.6GHz AMD Athlon 2650e
Memory 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Graphics 128MB (shared) Nvidia Geforce 6150Se (integrated)
Hard drives 160GB 7,200rpm
Optical drive dual-layer DVD burner
Operating system Windows XP Pro
$199.00 Cash or PayPal
812-689-5960 jack@wb9otx.com

Outlook dot com

The new Microsoft mail service "Outlook" is off to a bad start, at least with me. I wasted 30 minutes trying to set up an account with no success. This is all I ever got when trying to make a new account.
"There's a temporary problem with the service. Please try again. If you continue to get this message, try again later".
I think I'll stick with Gmail but if you have some time to kill give it a try at 
http://outlook.com

Merrill's Marauders 1944 – World War II

Click to enlarge

The United States Army long-range penetration special operations unit known as Merrill's Marauders began a 1000-mile march over the Patkai region of the Himalayas and into the Burmese jungle behind Japanese lines.
National WWII Museum

Iwo Jima 19 February – 26 March 1945

The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields, to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This month-long battle included some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.
Read the full article 

Flight 811 -2-24-1989

United Airlines Flight 811 experienced a cargo door failure in flight on Friday, February 24, 1989, after its stopover at Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. The resulting decompression blew out several rows of seats, resulting in the deaths of 9 passengers.
Read Report Air Disaster

Cut Government Cost

I'd like to be in charge and if I were I would start with the army because I was there. I was in a headquarters company (HQ HQ USATC) at Ft. Ord and the waste was everywhere. All in this company had a Class A pass in our pocket all the time. This is a pass that has unlimited travail. You could go anywhere as far from post as you liked, all that was required was you had to be back to do your assigned job. All or at least most were instructors and gave fifty minute classes to AIT troops. I and most others gave two classes a week, this means I worked 100 minutes a week. I and others could have performed other work when we were not giving our classes. I taught military explosives but I could have taught other classes such as mortar, field fortifications, anti-tank warfare & etc. As I said before we could travail away from post and we did on almost every week end. The mess hall cooked for 250 men every day even on weekends. Now on Saturday and Sunday only 25 or 30 was there to eat but the mess hall cooked for 250 (why) ? The food that was not eaten was put in the dumpster. This went on every week end as long as I was there and this was only one company on post. Another savings that I noticed was we drew way too much explosives for my class. I ask several times why? I was told this was what was allotted. If we drew less - we might not get what we needed next time and our allotment may be cut. Again NUTS !  At the end of the week we would pile it up down range all that we did not use and blow it up. (BOOM) Thousands of dollars wasted. Now I could go on and on about the waste but I think you get the idea. These examples were only the ones I knew about, but there must have been hundreds more and not only at Ft. Ord but posts all over the world. If a dumb private in this mans army can see how to save money why can't the fat cats see the big picture also.

Tips for flying

Commercial airplane flight is one of the most common forms of international travel. These are some tips for making your flights safer, more comfortable, and more enjoyable.
For a guide to the standard procedures, rules, and other basics of travelling by air (some of which have changed in recent years), see Fundamentals of flying.