Martin Van Buren, OK ESL

Van Buren was the first President who did not experience the American Revolution firsthand. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as a first language, having grown up speaking Dutch.


On February 21, 1807, he married Hannah Hoes, a maternal cousin. Hannah died in 1819, before her husband became President (and, therefore, never became First Lady of the United States).

During Van Buren's presidential campaign of 1840 supporters popularized his nickname "Old Kinderhook," which was abbreviated as "OK." "OK Clubs" were set up. It is possible that this helped popularize "OK" .

Update to the Lost Mission of San Ysabel

http://books.google.com/books?id=35WQOduN1F4C&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=the+%22lost+mission%22+of+baja+california&source=web&ots=EJ_CLRZE7a&sig=s2lgOc-hanK4d4oE21EXJFqKng0#PPA37,M1


Scroll down to "The Legend Of The Lost Mission".

I suppose that answers that question.....

You can kill a lot of time at the library of congress

This section:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

"American Memory"

Has a ton of cool stuff in it. Sheet music, maps, old movies, tons of scans....

Here are panoramic photos of san diego:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query

(not sure if that link will work)

Here is an example of a panoramic photo of downtown san diego from 5th and E st (taken in 1914)

To see the full size, click here:

http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/pan/6a02000/6a02200/6a02295r.jpg

Tons of stuff to see here...

A Thomas Edison cartoon movie from 1900

http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/animp/1592.mpg

CREATED/PUBLISHEDUnited States : Edison Manufacturing Co., 1900.

SUMMARYFrom Edison films catalog: Upon a large sheet of white paper a cartoonist is seen at work rapidly sketching the portrait of an elderly gentleman of most comical feature and expression. After completing the likeness the artist rapidly draws on the paper a clever sketch of a bottle of wine and a goblet, and then, to the surprise of all, actually removes them from the paper on which they were drawn and pours actual wine out of the bottle into a real glass. Surprising effects quickly follow after this; and the numerous changes of expression which flit over the face in the sketch cause a vast amount of amusement and at the same time give a splendid illustration of the caricaturist's art. 100 feet. 15.00.

NOTESCopyright: Thomas A. Edison; 16Nov1900; D21656.
Performer: J. Stuart Blackton.
Camera, Albert E. Smith.
Duration: 1:26 at 18 fps.

Filmed ca. September to early November 1900, on Vitagraph's rooftop studio in New York, New York.

Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Library of Congress video collection, v. 3, Origins of American animation, 1900-1921; McIntire, J. Silent animated films at the Library of Congress, 1995; Musser, C. Edison motion pictures 1890-1900, 1997, p. 641; Niver, K.R. Early motion pictures, 1985; Edison films catalog, no. 105, July 1901, p. 81 [MI].
Digital file includes a piano score composed and performed by Philip Carli.

A detailed history of Camp Humphreys, Korea

http://www.kalaniosullivan.com/OsanAB/USFKCampHumphreys.html

A pretty cool history of the Hump, from its days as a Japanese airfield, to the present day expansion controversies. Lots of cool photos of the ville from the '70s.

Tales Of Buried Treasure In San Diego

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/millslandmarks/landmark.htm



This page has a list of all of the Historical Markers in San Diego County. I think it would be cool to go visit every one and take a picture. But a lot of them are out in the desert.



This one mentions buried treasure!



NUMBER 369 SANTA YSABEL MISSION SITE

Slightly over a mile north of the town of Santa Ysabel, on State Highway 79, is the site of the chapel of the Santa Ysabel Asistencia of the San Diego Mission, established in 1818 by Father Fernando Martin. A brush hut thrown up in that year as a temporary chapel was replaced a few years later by a substantial adobe building. For years after the rest of the church had disappeared one of the mud walls remained and, in spring, was used to form one end of an improvised chapel of brush and reeds, where mass was said for the Indians. The mission bells, said to be the oldest in California, hung the year round on a wooden frame of logs, to call the faithful to worship at that one time. The bells have since been stolen. At Santa Ysabel Kearny's command stopped the night before going into action at San Pasquale The church, then owned by an English rancher, gave the soldiers shelter from the rain. Some say that wine they were served here contributed to their defeat. There are many tales of buried treasure at Santa Ysabel, partly because of confusion with the mythical Mission Santa Ysabel of Lower California, where the Jesuits were supposed to have secreted a fabulous treasure. There are also stories of a cache left here by a miser. The present chapel stands just to the south of the historic site.

Location: On State Hwy 79 (P.M. 21.8), 1.4 mi N of Santa Ysabel



OK, so wait a second... So where is this Santa Ysabel of Lower California then? I want to go to the one with all the buried treasure and get rich! Well, the above says that THAT Santa Ysabel is "mythical". Huh? I'm assuming that Lower California means Baja California. But google doesn't turn up anything about that. Did the maker of the Landmark sign make the whole thing up? Or was it just a legend passed around by word of mouth?



The widipedia entry on the mission does talk about the "missing bells" though:

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







But hold on - a google search of "santa ysabel baja treasure" turns up this page:

http://www.google.com/search?q=santa+ysabel+baja+treasure&hl=en



The "Lost Mission" of Baja California

Peter Gerhard

Western Folklore, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Apr., 1958), pp. 97-106

doi:10.2307/1497117

This article consists of 10 page(s).



Unfortunately, you have to be some kind of authorized user to see beyond the first page. And with a first sentence like "Most People are intrigued by stories of buried treasure, and the ranchers of baja california are no exception." how could I not want to see more?



Why are these Jstor people hiding buried treasure from me??

William Henry Harrison

From Widipedia:

When Harrison took office in 1841 at the age of 68, he was the oldest man to become President - a record that stood for 140 years, until Ronald Reagan became President in 1981 at the age of 69. Harrison died thirty-one days into his term — the briefest presidency in the history of the office. He was also the first U.S. President to die while in office.

How did he die? The oath of office killed him.

He took the oath of office on March 4, 1841, an extremely cold and wet day. [2] Nevertheless, he faced the weather without his overcoat and delivered the longest inaugural address in American history. At 8,424 words, it took nearly two hours to read (even after his friend and fellow Whig, Daniel Webster, had edited it for length). He then rode through the streets in the inaugural parade, and later caught a cold, which then developed into pneumonia and pleurisy.

Pretty shitty way to go. But his grandson got to give it another shot:

Harrison's grandson, Benjamin Harrison of Ohio, became the 23rd president in 1889, making them the only grandparent-grandchild pair of presidents to date. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison gave his inaugural address in the rain. Understanding his grandfather's mistakes, he asked his outgoing predecessor (and later his successor), Grover Cleveland, to hold an umbrella above his head, since he also delivered a long inaugural address.

Sometimes its better to just call in sick.

Idaho, you so crazy

"When a name was being selected for new territory, eccentric lobbyist George M. Willing suggested 'Idaho,' which he claimed was a Native American term meaning 'gem of the mountains'. It was later revealed Willing had made up the name himself, and the original Idaho territory was re-named Colorado because of it. Eventually the controversy was forgotten, and modern-day Idaho was given the made-up name when the Idaho Territory was formally created in 1863."

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/did_idaho_get_its_name_as_a_result_of_a_hoax/


and then de moines:

Even if Idaho did get its name from a hoax, Des Moines can lay claim to a funnier name origin. The Peoria indians told the first white settlers that the tribe living in that area (their rivals) was named the Moingoana, which became the root of Des Moines. But it turns out that Moingoana was really the Peoria word for "shitfaces".

Get Your Darts Right

What the helsinki?

Where's my prettey toney post at?



Where BEa Aurthur At?

Oh there she is. Studying Supreme Mathematics In those dream eyes. The God Boa.

EDIT:

Nevermind. I guess this shit takes a minute.

The World According To Pretty Toney

I want this. Bad.

The Title Is The Titliest Titgeist

Harder than a chinese spelling bee.