Category: News

A Guardmember credits childhood lessons and training she received in the Army
National Guard for her quick response to a house fire here Jan. 11…

The adjutant general of the Kentucky National Guard took time recently to personally
thank his state’s Citizen-Soldiers, who are on an important NATO peace-keeping
mission here in Kosovo…

Mike Kohn of the Virginia National Guard needed to finish at least 14th in today’s
World Cup competition in St. Moritz, Switzerland to qualify in four-man bobsled at
the 2010 Winter Olympic Games…

Guard and Reserve members are encouraged to acknowledge their civilian employers’
exceptional support by nominating them for a top Defense Department
award…

Corporate America has joined forces with this country’s veterans to provide the
skills and mentorship that they need to rejoin the civilian
workforce…

There’s a war going on if you haven’t noticed. The U.S. carriers are starting to lob salvos of new cellular plans and it’s not just here in the tech trenches. I was out for dinner last night and a couple at the table next to me was chatting about the recent price drops from both AT&T and Verizon. Last week is when the latest push came — Verizon cut prices and AT&T quickly followed suit. And over the few months prior, even Sprint and T-Mobile made sneak attacks. Sprint added any mobile to any mobile last September while T-Mo introduced new contract and contract-free plans in October.

In these parts, we often choose the carrier first and then pick our phones — you can thank the long term contracts and Early Termination Fees for that approach. There are many ways to do that phone plan research, but I like the simplistic approach found at BillShrink. Om pointed out their latest endeavor, which is called the Ultimate Cell Phone Plan Comparison. This easy-to-read chart highlights differences — and similarities — between the most common plans for all four major carriers. There’s a breakdown by voice minutes allowed, plus all of the extra fees for texting, data and smartphone data additions.

Personally, I’m getting a little tired of carriers discerning “data” and “smartphone data” plans. At the end of the day, data on a 3G pipe is data no matter what device it’s used with. I’d love to see the FCC put an end to this semantic silliness. It’s like a television content provider charging $20 more if you’re going to watch on a larger TV over a smaller one.

All of that Project Pink/Zune Phone rumor madness is back with one statement by Jefferies analyst Katherine Egbert:

“Our recent industry checks indicate Microsoft will be debuting its own phone sometime in the next two months…We expect the new phone to debut soon, at either the Feb 15-18 Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona Spain, or possibly at CTIA in Las Vegas one month later.”

Egbert believes that the Zune Phone will be birthed from a Microsoft/OEM partnership similar to what we’ve seen between Google and HTC with the Nexus One. She also believes the phone will feature a 5MP camera and 720P video support—neither of which are huge stretches of the imagination. [AllThingsD]

The Apple rumor mill moves like clockwork. First you get the constant stream of rumors all year long. Then you get spikes in rumor traffic leading up to the usual times on the calendar: January (post-CES / ex-MacWorld), Spring (WWDC), Summer (iPhone refresh), and Back to School (iPod event). And then, in the week that always falls between Apple announcing a media event and the event actually happening, the rumor mill goes bezerk. 

Yesterday, Apple announced a press gathering for next Wednesday morning in San Francisco. Ergo, today the rumor mill has switched into overdrive.  The latest? We’ve got rumors about the Apple Tablet, iPhone OS 4.0, and even Apple’s iLife multimedia creation suite, which currently only runs on Mac OS X for computers, not iPhones.

BGR says they’ve got iPhone OS 4.0 intel from one of their “trusty Apple connects,” who must be Mr. Blurrycam’s silent partner. Notably, BGR says to look out for the following in the next generation of Apple’s mobile platform:

• iPhone OS 4.0 will only run on the 3G and 3GS models, which makes sense to me (sorry original iPhone owners). The update will be the much-needed dramatic overhaul that I’ve been waiting for, and according to BGR’s sources it will “put [Apple] ahead in the smartphone market because it will make [iPhones] more like full-fledged computers.”
• The OS refresh will include “Many graphical and UI changes to make navigating through the OS easier and more efficient”
• Everyone at Apple is “really excited” about iPhone OS 4.0

Important new features will include improved multitasking (backgrounding of apps), improved syncing of calendars and contacts, system-wide multi-touch gesture support. That last bit of info jibes with earlier reports that the OS 4.0 will power iPhone, iPod Touch, and the new “iTablet,” though the tablet may run a slightly modified version of the OS.

All Things Digital has been focusing on the content aspects of the tablet launch, which could prove incredibly important to the magazine and newspaper industries (something us hardware junkies may be overlooking in our gadgetlust). According to today’s MediaMemo post:

• Look for the New York Times to join Steve Jobs at the Apple event next Wed. That means some kind of newspaper content being delivered via the iTunes Store
• Look for some kind of E-Reader content coming to iTunes, as well. There’s been lots of buzz in the past few days about publishing giant HarperCollins holding negotiations with Apple as of late
• Don’t expect any big music labels in the house next week. The Apple tablet may well play music (it’d better), but beyond iTunes LP support, the device doesn’t look to offer anything new in the music content arena. Music videos? Sure. But not music itself.

I’ve got some thoughts on iTablet and the future of magazines and newspapers that I’ll pull together in a separate post. For now, let’s leave it at this: Something’s coming from Apple next Wednesday, and it’s going to involve content and content delivery methods as well as hardware. Whatever it is, we’ll keep you informed right here on the Dog.

And, oh yeah, there are also reports that Apple will launch iLife 2010 at next week’s event.  iLife is Apple’s multimedia software suite for creating and managing music, photos and video. While the software is currently only available for use on Mac OS X laptop and desktop computers, it wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility for Apple to include some media creation/editing software on the tablet computer. Then again, it would also make sense to position the tablet as simpler and lower cost than Apple’s MacBook/MacBook Pro line of full-fledged notebook computers, thus keeping iLife off of iTablet.

What say you? iPhone OS 4.0 – are you excited? Are you expecting another Apple phone revolution, or merely some evolutionary steps aimed at keeping pace with Android and WebOS, the current pace-setters in the modern smartphone arena? Sound off in the comments!

[Via: BGR, All Things D, AppleInsider; Image Via: FunkySpaceMonkey] 

Alors que Mini a diffusé hier un teaser de son futur SUV, généralement appelé Countryman, les premières photos officielles se sont échappées de chez le constructeur, pour atterrir sur le net avec un peu d’avance…

–> Retrouvez toutes les infos concernant BMW & Mini en continu sur le Fil News BMW/Mini.

 –> On a beaucoup parlé ces derniers temps du SUV Mini, avec divers rendus, la présentation du concept Beachcomber à Detroit, ou encore le teaser video psychédélique diffusé hier. Par contre, personne n’avait encore vu la version définitive. Eh bien la voici en photos, avec intérieur et extérieur:

-Quant-au nom, les paris restent ouverts: Crosscountry, Countryman, Country, … Pour le reste, vous retrouverez les détails et l’évolution du programme sur le Fil News…

–> Le teaser video diffusé hier:

–> La gallerie du concept Beachcomber présenté au salon de Detroit:

Nouveau: pour profiter facilement et rapidement des notifications de nouveautés sur le site, pensez à vous abonner via Twitter. Chaque modification, nouvel article ou nouvelle vidéo sur notre chaîne Youtube, fait l’objet d’un Tweet immédiat!

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The following databases have been added at The Original Record:

1130-1770 – Bodleian Library Charters and Rolls
A large accumulation of documents preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, formerly constituted the antiquarian collections of Anthony a Wood, Roger Dodsworth, Ralph Thoresby, Thomas Martin of Palgrave, Thomas Tanner bishop of St Asaph, Dr Richard Rawlinson, Richard Furney archdeacon of Surrey, and Richard Gough. A calendar of these was prepared by William H. Turner and published in 1878 under the title ‘Calendar of Charters and Rolls preserved in the Bodleian Library’. The word ‘charters’ is here used in a very general sense, including virtually any manuscript or copy of a manuscript, but the bulk of the contents consists of mediaeval deeds of conveyance. Turner’s calendar deals with each briefly, naming the principal parties and the nature of the deed, but hardly ever lists the witnesses. Many of these charters were undated (dating of deeds did not become standard until around 1350) or so damaged or defective (’mutilated’ is Turner’s usual description) as no longer to display a legible date. However, he contrived, from the style of the script and/or the nature of the contents, to estimate dates in such cases. He identified a few as forgeries, and these have been omitted from our indexes. The documents relate in the main to England, the Midlands, East Anglia and Yorkshire being particularly well represented, but there are some items from elsewhere in the British Isles and abroad. We have re-indexed the whole text by county and within that by decade (many of the dates in the original having been by regnal year).

1769-1771 – Board of Stamps Apprenticeship Books: Country Collectors’ Returns
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks’ articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty: the registers of the payments usually give the master’s trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice’s name, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. There are central registers for collections of the stamp duty in London, as well as returns from collectors in the provinces. These collectors generally received duty just from their own county, but sometimes from further afield: in 1770 a change was made to describe many of the collectors according to their county rather than their town, but no change was made to the rule that they might stamp indentures from all the surrounding area, so these labels are deceptive. The indentures themselves can date from a year or two earlier than this return. There are returns from Aylesbury, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Brecon, Bridgwater, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Chester, Chichester, Colchester, Cornwall, Cowbridge, Denbigh, Derby, Derbyshire, Devizes, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Dover, Durham, Edinburgh, Essex, Evesham, Exeter, Glamorgan(shire), Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Huntingdon, Kent, Lancashire, Leicester, Leicestershire, Leominster, Lewes, Lichfield, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, Ludlow, Lynn, Norfolk, Northampton, Northamptonshire, Norwich, Nottingham, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Pembroke, Penlline, Plymouth, Reading, Salop, Scotland, Shaftesbury, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, Sudbury, Suffolk, Sussex, Tiverton, Wells, Westmorland, Wiltshire, Winchester, Woodbridge, Worcestershire, Yarmouth, York, and Yorkshire, each of which has been indexed separately. IR 1/57

1771-1774- Board of Stamps Apprenticeship Books: Country Collectors’ Returns
Apprenticeship indentures and clerks’ articles were subject to a 6d or 12d per pound stamp duty: the registers of the payments usually give the master’s trade, address, and occupation, and the apprentice’s name, as well as details of the date and length of the apprenticeship. There are central registers for collections of the stamp duty in London, as well as returns from collectors in the provinces. These collectors generally received duty just from their own county, but sometimes from further afield: in 1770 a change was made to describe many of the collectors according to their county rather than their town, but no change was made to the rule that they might stamp indentures from all the surrounding area, so these labels are deceptive. The indentures themselves can date from a year or two earlier than this return. There are returns from Abergavenny, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Brecon, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Chester, Chichester, Cornwall, Cumberland, Denbigh, Denbighshire, Derbyshire, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Durham, Essex, Glamorgan(shire), Gloucester, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicester, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, Monmouth, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxfordshire, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Plymouth, Salop, Scotland, Shropshire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Sussex, Westmorland, Wiltshire, Worcester, Worcestershire, and Yorkshire, each of which has been indexed separately. IR 1/58

1856 – Post Office London Court Directory
The Post Office London Directory for 1856 includes this ‘Court Directory’, listing alphabetically by surname and christian name the upper class residents of the capital with their postal addresses. ‘In order to afford space for the addresses, the abbreviation “esq.” for esquire has no longer been appended to each name in the Court Directory. It should be understood that such should be added to the name of every gentleman in the following pages to which no inconsistent addition is affixed.’ Decorations, honours &c. are generally given. Some gentlemen appear who are also listed (as professional men, &c.) in the commercial section. Those with second residences in the provinces usually have the country address given as well.

1862-1924 – Clifton College Register
Clifton College near Bristol was established in 1862. This edition of the Clifton College Annals and Register for the Old Cliftonian Society by F. Borwick was published in 1925. Boys are listed alphabetically by term of entry, with full names, surname first, in bold. Father’s (or widowed mother’s) name is given (surname and initials) in capitals, and address. Then there is the name of the house (N. T., North Town; S. H., School House; S. T., South Town), first and last forms, distinctions in school work and games, and month of leaving. Where known, the editor then gave a career summary with month of death; or, if still living, address as in 1925 (in italics).

1867 – Institute of Civil Engineers Membership List
The Institute of Civil Engineers was established by charter of George IV in 1828. The four classes of the institution were the Members, Associates, Graduates and Honorary Members. This membership list, corrected to 1 January 1867, lists members, associates and graduates alphabetically by surname and christian name, with date of election (or, for members who had previously been associates, date of election as associate (A) and date of transfer to member (M)), and address.

1901-1905 – Queen’s South Africa Medal: Royal Horse Artillery
The nominal roll for the Queen Victoria’s South Africa Medal – awarded (after her death, in the event) to all who had served honourably in the various campaigns in the Boer War – was compiled from these returns from the individual units. Two sets of form were completed. The main one, as in the sample scan, dates from 1901 and gives regimental number, rank, and full name (surname first), followed by a series of columns relating to different actions – Belmont, Modder River, Paardeberg, Dreifontein, Wepener, Johannesburg, Diamond Hill, Belfast, Wittebergen, Defence of Kimberley, Relief of Kimberley, Defence of Mafeking, Relief of Mafeking, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal, Rhodesia, Talana, Elandslaagte, Tugela Heights, Defence of Ladysmith, Relief of Ladysmith, Laing’s Nek, and Natal; each entitled the man to a separate clasp to the medal, and a tick or a Yes in the appropriate column indicates the man’s actual physical presence in that battle. A final column for remarks is important in those cases where the man was no longer in the unit, by removal, death or desertion. The second form that sometimes occurs was returned in 1905, and covers men entitled to the Second South African War Medal and Clasps. It lists men by number, rank and name, checks whether they had claimed the Queen’s South Africa Medal, and then enquires as to their suitability as to three Colony Clasps, which could be awarded for service in the Cape, Orange Free, or Transvaal; whether entitled to Date Clasps (South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902); whether also entitled to the King’s South Africa Medal; any other corps in which served in South Africa; and remarks (such as becoming non-effective, forfeiture, &c.) WO 100/39

1926 – The Medical Directory
This was split into several sections. The London section covered all medical practitioners resident within the London postal district; the rest of England (except Monmouthshire) was covered by the Provinces; there were separate sections for Scotland and (the whole island of) Ireland, practitioners resident abroad, and those in the armed forces (including the Indian military). Each year a schedule was sent to each doctor to be returned to the publishers, so as to keep the directory up to date. In the directory the doctor’s name is given first, in bold, surname first, in capitals; then current address. Next are the qualifications; the italic abbreviations in parentheses following the qualifications indicate the medical school at which they were gained. Then there is a list of posts and honours within the profession, starting with those then current; previous posts are preceded by the word ‘late’. Finally, brief details are given of any publications.

1928 – Corporate Secretaries
The Chartered Institute of Secretaries of Joint Stock Companies and other Public Bodies was founded in 1891 and incorporated by royal charter in 1902. This membership list (corrected to 2 October 1928, and printed in the annual Proceedings), arranged alphabetically by surname and initials, gives the year of being elected Associate (A.) and/or Fellow (F.), and current professional office. As of 31 August 1928 there were 2201 fellows and 3907 associates.

1933 – Wives of Old Wellingtonians
Wellington College, near Wokingham, was originally founded for the education of sons of military officers. A register of boys entering the school from First Term 1859 to Michaelmas 1933 was compiled by F. G. Lawrence for the Old Wellingtonian Society. In each entry the boy’s name is given in full, in bold, surname first; age at entry (usually 11 to 14); then, in brackets, the name of the dormitory or house to which he belonged, in italics, with the years of his stay; then his father’s name (usually surname and initials, but not christian name) with military decorations where appropriate. School prefects and captains are noted as such; if the boy played cricket for the school, XI with the years; academic honours, scholarships, &c.; a brief biography; and date of death, or (where known) address in 1933. Year of marriage is given, and sometimes the wife’s name and/or her father’s name. Clearly, those boys who kept contact with the school and/or had distinguished military careers have detailed entries; others disappeared into oblivion on leaving. This is the index to the maiden names of the wives, who may or may not have survived to 1933.

1955 – Kelly’s (Gore’s) Directory of Liverpool and District
The directory includes this alphabetical list of residents and traders, with names, addresses, and (where applicable) telephone numbers. Covering a large area around Liverpool, the directory includes Bootle, Birkenhead and Wallasey, and thus the populous areas of southwest Lancashire and of the Wirral peninsula of Cheshire.

The Original Record now has over 9.3 million entries directly available online. They offer a free unlimited search. All records are hand-indexed (no OCR). Users my purchase sets of scans, or buy open access to the surname(s) of your choice, including variants.

FTC Statement: GenealogyBlog has no affiliate relationship with The Original Record, and the above information is posted here because I think our readers will be interested in knowing what’s newly available at the site.

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Raymond James strategist Jeff Saut, generally a bullish analyst, continues to sound concerns over a correction in his latest note:

The call for this week: The solar eclipse came and went in “Neverland” between 11:06 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. last Friday with an attendant stock slide that should have stopped participants out of our remaining index recommendations. And, despite all the “Tinkerbell clapping,” the SPX is virtually no higher now than it was after the “opening day” rally on January 4th. Moreover, the number of stocks above their 10-day moving averages (DMAs) continues to shrink, which is the type of action typically seen preceding a stock market correction. Also, the 25-day put/call ratios are at levels consistent with short-term negative conditions, while Friday’s close left the SPX below its recent reaction lows, not to mention below its 10-DMA. Then there is “Dr. Copper,” the metal with a Ph.D. in economics, which recently recorded a 12-month rolling rate of return in excess of 150%. Historically such a “copper cropper” has marked a “trading top” in copper and telegraphed caution for the equity markets. All of this raises the question, “Is this the week participants quit clapping their hands and Tinkerbell falls back to earth?”

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Jeff Saut: Stay Long, But That Jobs Number Was Really Horrible, And We’re Starting To Near Our Longtime Targets
• Saut: Bank Your Trading Profits And Watch Out For Classic January Head Fakes
• Jeff Saut: Bond Market Starting To Break Down, Turn Cautious On Stocks

Originally posted on Washington Wire

Sen. George Voinovich, the retiring Ohio Republican, will be meeting with President Barack Obama this morning with a single mission: To talk the president out of an executive order creating a commission to tackle the budget deficit.

The commission is expected to be the centerpiece of a fiscal 2011 budget blueprint, out Feb. 1, that will be swimming in red ink. Voinovich, along with more than a dozen other senators, wants to create the commission with legislation, not the stroke of a presidential pen. That way, the commission’s mandate would have the force of law, and that mandate can force an up-or-down vote on the commission’s recommendations in Congress. An executive order cannot force a vote, and therefore, the senator believes, will be toothless.

“He’s going to drive home the need to do this legislatively,” according to a source close to Voinovich.

It will be a tough sell. The White House is convinced such a commission cannot get through Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, Calif.), House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D, Wis.) and House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D, N.Y.) have adamantly opposed what they see as yielding congressional authority to an appointed body. And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, Ky.) has begun expressing qualms about the commission legislation that Voinovich backs, written by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D, N.D.) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R, N.H.).