Month: April 2008

40 years ago today

Loraine Hotel

Early morning (evening), April 4
Shot rings out in the Memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love…

Pride (In the Name of Love)
U2

Have we changed any since April 4, 1968? Or are we just the same people, worrying about our eight dollar hotdog and ignoring our brothers and sisters around the world who are starving, thirsty and dying of treatable diseases?

(if you can’t see the video, click here)

Praise

My buddy just called and said another friend of ours was released from jail today on bond.
Huge praise!
He was arrested for suspected DWI. There’s a long story involved, but basically the breathalyser installed in his truck was registering a presence of alcohol after he used his asthma inhaler.
Our buddy’s mother testified along with his community group leader and his boss.
So he’s out on a very minimal bond and his next court date is set for April 16th.
Please keep him in your prayers.

Interesting family event

I received an email from another Ancestry.com user today (boy technology is great).

The e-mail was in regards to Col. Cullin Earp. Apparently, he’s a Confederate Civil War veteran and his body is being exhumed and moved to a new/more respectful location.

I originally thought the e-mail referred to my 5th great-grandfather, Capt. Cullin Earp, who had been captain of a regiment in Washington County, North Carolina, in 1779. But I quickly realized either my information was off, or the information I received about Col. Cullin Earp was off.

Thanks to my mom’s cousin Mary we quickly (or so we’re led to believe) got things straightened out. Col. Cullin R. Earp is my grandmother’s first cousin thrice removed (that’s not confusing :-)).

My records showed Cullin Earp in our family tree but that’s about all the information I had on him other than his parents, and siblings. Had no idea he was a Col. in the Confederacy.

Well regardless, great information found through this crazy thing we call the Interweb.

Col. Earp (pronounced “Arp”) was just 37 years old when he died in 1865. As a young adult in his 20s, he earned a livelihood raising crops in the Gilmer area. But during the last several years of his life, he was thrust into a military maelstrom that transformed him from a simple farmer into a respected officer and an East Texas hero.

From 1862 through 1864, Col. Earp and his 10th Texas Calvary CSA participated in at least 21 Civil War battles or engagements, a number of which resulted in massive casualties on both sides. As part of the famed Ector’s Brigade, Earp commanded 10th Texas troops at clashes throughout the Deep South, including Vicksburg, Miss.; the bloody battle of Chickamauga, Ga.; the Atlanta, Ga. Siege; and the battle of Franklin, Tenn.

Given a 3-month furlough, he returned to Upshur County in February 1865, likely sick or wounded. In April, Lee surrendered to Grant, ending the Civil War and Earp’s military service. Six months later, he died, survived by his second wife but no children.

Read more about the upcoming ceremony for Col. Cullin R. Earp from the Gilmer Mirror.

Green Tip

This came from a co-worker on our office’s Green Team:

The website changethemargins.com is calling for printer owners everywhere to take the simple step of, well, changing their margins from the current luxurious standard 1.25 inches to a the more modest .75 inches. It may sound like a small change, but if everyone in the nation did it, we’d save a little less than a Rhode Island’s worth of trees every year. Does tinkering with Word’s cumbersome preferences scare the fonts right out of you? Another goal of the site is to petition Microsoft to change the default margins on all its Office products.

Changing your margins in Microsoft Word:
Go to “File,” then “Page Setup.”
Once on “Page Setup,” click the “Default” key, and you’ll be offered “Do you want to change the default settings for the page set up? This change will affect all new documents based on the normal template.”

Set each margin to .75 and save an immense amount of paper.

Moby’s new CD drops today

Moby’s new CD Last Night dropped today. Great stuff.

You can do like I did and download the entire album in Mp3 format (aka no digital file management malarkey like iTunes or Zune) for $9.49 from Amazon.com. Awesome! Who would have thought we’d reach a point where I could listen to a podcast from NPR on my computer at work, and within a few clicks have a brand new album delivered to my computer and my Zune? Awesome.

Or if you’d prefer, you can purchase a CD copy of the album for $9.99 from Amazon (plus shipping & handling):