Happy President’s (and their nicknames) Day!

If you make reference “The Gipper” or “Dubya” most people have no trouble figuring out who you are referring to. Much like many other famous people, the people holding the office of President of the United States of America have had numerous nicknames throughout the years. Sometimes it is in reference to their political campaigns prior to their election, sometimes they created widely influencing policies (good or bad), sometimes it is due to a political scandal, or it may just be a personality or physical trait.

In addition to nicknames given for any of the various reasons above, the US president has other names and titles including:

• Mister President or Mister President of the United States – the proper way to address the president. When the office of the president was first created, the Senate debated how the president should be addressed. Some of the original suggestions included Your Majesty, His Patriotic Majesty, or Your Highness, the President of the United States and Protectory of their Liberties. Fortunately for us the House of Representatives was the first to address him in an official manner and simply called him Mr. President of the United States
• POTUS – an acronym of President Of The United States used commonly by the Secret Service and United States Military
• Commander-in-Chief – a reference to his position in the United States Military Chain of Command

An interesting fact about presidential nicknames is that Jimmy Carter was the first president to take his oath of office under a nickname (his real name is James).

George Washington

• The Father of His Country and Sword of the Revolution – due to his part in the American Revolution and being the first President of the United States of America

John Adams

• Atlas of Independence
• His Rotundity – due to his large size

Thomas Jefferson

• Father of the Declaration of Independence
• The Sage of Monticello – a reference to his Monticello home

James Madison

• Father of the Constitution

James Monroe

• Last of the Cocked Hats – an honorable reference to the three pointed cocked hat worn by soldiers of the American Revolution; Monroe was the last president of this era of leaders

John Quincy Adams

• Old Man Eloquent – due to his long articulate speeches
• King John II – a reference to his being the second “John Adams“

Andrew Jackson

• Old Hickory and Hero of New Orleans – both references to his excellent leadership during the War of 1812
• King Andy

Martin Van Buren

• Machiavellian Belshazzar
• Old Kinderhook – possibly the origin of “OK“
• Red Fox of Kinderhook, and The Sage of Lindenwald – a reference to his home
• Little Magician

William Henry Harrison

• Tippecanoe (and Tyler Too) – a reference to the Battle of Tippecanoe
• Granny Harrison – comes from an old political cartoon

John Tyler

• Accidental President and His Accidency – Tyler received the job because Harrison died in office

James K. Polk

• Young Hickory – due to his backing by Andrew Jackson (Old Hickory)
• Napoleon of the Stump – because he gave fiery speeches “from the stump“

Zachary Taylor

• Old Rough and Ready – he was a hero of the Mexican War
• Old Zach

Millard Fillmore

• The American Louis Philippe
• His Accidency – because Taylor died in office
• Wool-Carder President – he was an apprentice to a wool carder

Franklin Pierce

• Young Hickory of the Granite Hills – a reference to his home
• Handsome Frank – a reference to his appearance

James Buchanan

• The Bachelor President – Buchanan was the only unmarried president
• Ten-cent Jimmy and Ten-cents-a-day Jimmy – he once said that he though 10 cents a day was a fair wage for manual labor
• Old Public Functionary – a reference to one of his State of the Union Addresses
• Old Buck
• The Sage of Wheatland – his home

Abraham Lincoln

• The Great Emancipator, Black Republican, The Illinois Baboon, and The Original Gorilla – because he emancipated the slaves (some of these are slanderous terms for blacks)
• Honest Abe
• The Log-splitter and The Railsplitter – reference to one of his former occupations
• The Sectional President – because the country was divided during his term
• The Sage of Springfield – reference to his Illinois home
• The Martyr – he was assassinated

Andrew Johnson

• Father of the Homestead Act – reference to the Homestead Act
• Tennessee Tailor – reference to his home and previous occupation

Ulysses S. Grant

• Hero of Appomattox – a reference to his military service
• Unconditional Surrender Grant – both a play on his initials and his terms for enemy surrender at Fort Donelson (“no terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted”)

Rutherford B. Hayes

• The Dark Horse President
• Rutherfraud, His Fradulency, and Old Eight to Seven – because Samuel Tilden (democrat) won the popular vote and a dispute over electoral votes (eight to seven), it was thought that Hayes must have rigged the election

James A. Garfield

• The Preacher President – he was once a preacher
• Boatman Jim and Canal Boy – reference his experience in the American Civil War

Chester A. Arthur

• The Dude President – due to his manner of dress
• The Gentleman Boss
• Elegant Arthur

Stephen Grover Cleveland

• Grover and Grover Cleveland
• The Hangman of Buffalo – because he was sheriff and sometimes the executioner in Buffalo, New York
• The Veto President
• Uncle Jumbo – due to his large size
• Big Steve – while commonly known only as Grover Cleveland, his real first name was Stephen

Benjamin Harrison

• The Whitehouse Iceberg
• Kid Gloves Harrison – a democratic party mudslinging campaign against him

William McKinley

• The Idol of Ohio – his roots were in Ohio
• Stocking-footed Orator

Theodore Roosevelt

• Teddy and Teddy Roosevelt
• TR
• Trustbuster
• The Cyclone Assemblyman
• Rough Rider, The Hero of San Juan Hill, and That Damned Cowboy – because of his part in the Spanish-American War and membership in thecavalry unit, The Rough Riders

William Howard Taft

• Big Bill – he weighed over 300lb

Thomas Woodrow Wilson

• Woodrow Wilson
• The Schoolmaster and Schoolmaster in Politics – he was also president of Princeton
• The Phrasemaker and Coiner of Weasel Words

Warren G. Harding

• President Hardly – because he hardly made any impact during his administration

Calvin Coolidge

• Silent Cal – he did not speak well

Herbert Hoover

• Hermit Author of Palo Alto
• The Great Humanitarian
• The Great Engineer

Franklin D. Roosevelt

• FDR
• That Man in the White House
• The New Dealer and A Traitor to His Class – references to his New Deal policy

Harry S. Truman

• Give ‘Em Hell Harry
• Haberdasher and Haberdasher Harry – due to his previous occupation

Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Ike

John F. Kennedy

• JFK
• King of Camelot

Lyndon B. Johnson

• LBJ
• Landslide Lyndon

Richard M. Nixon

• Tricky Dick – because of his scandals

Gerald R. Ford

• Jerry
• Mr. Nice Guy

James Earl Carter

• Jimmy and Jimmy Carter
• Peanut Farmer – he owned peanut farms

Ronald Reagan

• The Gipper – a reference to one of his film roles
• The Great Communicator – due to his oratory skills
• The Teflon President – due to his ability to dodge blame during political scandals
• Ronnie
• Ronnie Raygun – because of his Star Wars defense system ideas
• Dutch
• Rawhide – his secret service codename

George Bush

• Bush 41, Bush the Elder, and Poppy – references to signify the 41st president as opposed to his son, the 43rd president
• The Resume Candidate

William Jefferson Clinton

• Bill and Bill Clinton
• Slick Willie
• Bubba
• Commander-in-Briefs – because of the Monica Lewinsky scandal
• Comeback Kid

George W. Bush

• Dubya, W, and GW (Gee Dubya) – references his middle initial, “Dubya” is a Texan pronounciation of “W“
• Bush 43, Bush the Younger, Baby Bush, and King George III – all references to him being the son of George Bush (41st president)
• Shrub
• Dumbya – a play on Dubya due to his poor grasp of the English language (nuculer) and his numerous business failures

Barack H. Obama

• Barack – while unusual (and possibly disrepectful), I have heard Obama referred to by his first name quite commonly – including in the news. This is likely because it is such an unusual name. You couldn’t just say “George” or “Bill” and assume you were talking about a former president, but it you said “Barack”, who else would you be talking about?

Source: http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1707976

44 Facts About Our 44 Presidents In 4 Minutes

30 Ways to Make Today a Good Day

Yesterday is history and tomorrow is merely a figment of your imagination.  So if you think about it, today is the only day you’re truly alive.  Here’s how to make it a good one:

1.Get started a few minutes early.

2.Work on something that’s meaningful to you.

3.Complete an important piece of unfinished business.

4.Spend time with positive, friendly people.

5.Do something nice for someone else.

6.Be present. Focus on where you are, what you’re doing and who you’re with right now.

7.Do one thing at a time. (Read Getting Things Done .)

8.Listen to your self-talk. When you hear negative thoughts, think about the positive side of things.

9.Smile, even when there’s no pressing reason to do so.

10.Unplug. Entertain yourself with real-world experiences.

11.Go somewhere new. See something new. Meet someone new.

12.Do something that makes you laugh.

13.Challenge your mind. Learn a new skill.

14.Challenge your body. Exercise for 30 minutes. (Read The 4-Hour Body .)

15.Let someone help you.

16.Clear a little clutter by getting rid of something you don’t need.

17Be honest with yourself and those around you.

18.Don’t compare yourself to others. Instead, let them inspire you.

19.Spend a few minutes alone in silence, just thinking.

20.Focus on solutions.

21.Keep an open mind to new ideas and information.

22.Handle important two-minute tasks immediately.

23.Stay out of other people’s drama. And don’t needlessly create your own.

24.Say, “Please,” “Thank you,” “I’m sorry” and “I love you,” when you should.

25.Don’t try to please everyone. Just do what you know is right.

26.Eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner.

27.Savor the natural joy of simple pleasures.

28.Notice what’s right with the world.

29.Focus on all the things you already have, think about them and appreciate them.

30.Get to sleep a little earlier tonight so you’re well rested tomorrow.

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In Honor of President’s Day: The Net Worth of the U.S. Presidents: From Washington to Obama

If you were curious about how much President Obama makes, or what Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, or Reagan made, or for that matter what sort of annual salary U.S. presidents have been paid over time, it’s all a matter of accessible public record. If you want to understand what our 44 presidents have really been worth, however, the answer is at once less straightforward and, historically, a lot more telling.

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To figure the comparative net worth of the U.S. presidents, we took into account hard assets such as land, estimated lifetime savings based on work history, inheritance, homes, and money paid for services — which includes anything from a salary as collector of customs at the Port of New York to membership on a Fortune 500 board. We also took into account royalties on books, along with ownership of companies and yields from family estates.

The resulting values vary widely. George Washington was worth more than half a billion in today’s dollars. Several presidents went bankrupt.

Of course, the fortunes of American presidents are vastly dependent on the economy at the times when they lived. For the first 75 years after Washington’s election, presidents generally made money on land, crops, and commodity speculation. A president who owned hundreds or thousands of acres could lose most or all of his property after a few years of poor crop yields. Wealthy Americans occasionally lost all of their money through land speculation — leveraging the value of one piece of land to buy additional property. Since there was no reliable national banking system and almost no liquidity in the value of private companies, land was the asset likely to provide the greatest return on investment, if the property yielded enough to support the costs of operating the farm or plantation.

Because there was no central banking system and no regulatory framework for commodities, markets were subject to panics in ways unknown today. The panic of 1819 was caused by the deep indebtedness of the federal government and a rapid drop in the price of cotton. The country’s immature banking system was forced to foreclose on many farms. And the value of the properties that were foreclosed on was often low, because land without a landowner meant land without a crop yield. The panic of 1837 caused a depression that lasted six years. It was triggered by a weak wheat crop, a drop in cotton prices, and a speculation-induced leverage bubble in the value of land. These factors caused the U.S. economy to go through a multi-year period of deflation.

As a result of such factors, we see sharp fluctuations in the fortunes of the first 14 presidents.

Beginning with Millard Fillmore in 1850, the financial history of the presidency entered a new era. Most presidents were lawyers who spent years in public service. They rarely amassed large fortunes and their incomes often came almost entirely from their salaries. From Fillmore to Garfield, these presidents were distinctly middle-class. They often retired without the money to support themselves in anywhere near the fashion they were accustomed to while in office. Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, and Garfield had almost no net worth at all.

The rise of inherited wealth in the early twentieth century contributed to the fortunes of many presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and both the elder and younger Bush. Another significant change to the economy was the advent of large, professionally organized corporations. These corporations produced much of the oil, mining, financial, and railroad fortunes amassed at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The Kennedys were wealthy because of the financial empire that Joseph Kennedy built. Herbert Hoover made millions as the owner of mining companies.

The 20th century also saw the stigma of making money as a retired president begin to disappear. Calvin Coolidge made a large income from his newspaper column. Gerald Ford, who had almost no money when he was a Congressman, made a small fortune from serving on the boards of large companies. Clinton made millions on his autobiography.

We analyzed presidential finances based on historical sources. Most media evaluations of the net worth of presidents have come up with a very wide range, a spread in which the highest figure was often several times the lowest estimate. Most sources provided no hard figures at all. Largely, we have focused on the analysis of recent chief executives — because it is much easier to calculate figures in a world where assets and incomes are a matter of public record.

One of the most important conclusions of our analysis is that the presidency has historically neither depended on nor assured wealth. Several U.S. presidents brought huge net worths to the job. Many lost most of their fortunes after leaving office. Some never had much money at all.
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U.S. broadband speed jump boosts global ranking: Way to go, America

The U.S. still can’t break into the top 10 worldwide among countries with the fastest average broadband connection speeds, but at least it began moving in the right direction in the third quarter of last year. According to Akamai’s State of the Internet Report released this week, the average broadband connection speed in the U.S. was  5 Mb/s in Q3 2010, representing an 8.6 percent jump over the second quarter and helping the U.S. move from 18th place up to 12th  place overall worldwide.

Beet.TV quotes David Belson, Director of Market Intelligence at Akamai Technologies:
“The accelerated growth of average connection speeds within the United States that we observed in the third quarter is likely due to a number of factors, including an improving economy and general growth in the number of broadband subscribers.  These faster speeds ultimately enable greater consumption of digital media online, as well as greater usage of rich media within commerce and enterprise applications – trends that are clearly reflected across our customers.”

The new figure is higher than the 4 Mb/s average the Federal Communications Commission noted in the first half of 2010, using Akamai numbers in part to back up its claim. The FCC’s point back then was that carriers’ advertised speeds were much higher than the reality. There has always been great debate about the validity of collection and calculation methods for such numbers, and we can expect more of the same in the wake of the latest Akamai report.

Meanwhile, the Akamai report says the U.S. remains far from worldwide leader South Korea at 14 Mb/s. The improvement from 18th to 12th, however, is worth a few pride points, and hopefully will quiet the arguments of people who said broadband reform was necessary because the U.S. was being embarrassed in the global broadband race.

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Preschoolers Better at Navigating iPhone Than Tying Their Shoes

Hand a two-year-old child a shoe and she will probably end up throwing it. Hand her an iPhone, however, and she’ll navigate through it to find her favorite app in no time. Those are two lessons that I (and other members of the Ars staff) have learned first-hand in recent years, but it’s not just us. According to a new survey from security software maker AVG, kids can grasp new tech skills long before they even learn how to do normal kid things, such as swimming or tying their shoelaces.

AVG surveyed 2,200 parents with children between the ages of two and five in the US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Nineteen percent said their kids know how to access a smartphone application (and it’s not just the older kids either—17 percent of 2- to 3-year-olds did as well). Another 58 percent can play a computer game, and a quarter of kids can open and operate a Web browser. By comparison, only nine percent of kids between 2 and 5 can tie their shoelaces, 20 percent can swim without help, and 43 percent can ride a bike.

The numbers got even more interesting once AVG split them out by country—for example, 44 percent of Italian kids can successfully place a mobile phone call, compared to 25 percent in the US. Young boys and young girls, however, are almost equal in their skills; AVG said that 29 percent of girls could make a mobile call compared to 28 percent of boys, and 59 percent of girls could play a computer game compared to 58 percent of boys.

This may not be particularly shocking to those who have watched their kids zip through an iPad before even fully learning the alphabet, but AVG points out that parents need to be on top of technology too. “[T]hese children are growing up in an environment that would be unrecognizable to their parents,” AVG CEO J.R. Smith said in a statement. “As our research shows, parents need to start educating kids about navigating the online world safely at an earlier age than they might otherwise have thought.”

Online safety is definitely becoming an issue to start thinking about at birth instead of later in life. However, those of you with kids should rest assured that the Internet isn’t as scary a place for kids as it seems, as long as they’re educated on how to handle themselves. The next question is: will you be Facebook friends with your children once they are old enough to have Facebook accounts?

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From the Abacus to the iPod: Computer Museum Opens $19M Exhibition

“Many times, people coming to the museum have very basic questions: ‘How did that computer on my desk get there? How did that phone I’ve used for so long get so smart?’ ” said John Hollar, CEO of the museum in Mountain View, Calif. “It’s an exhibition that’s primarily aimed at a nontechnical audience, though there’s a ton of great history and information for the technical audience as well.”

The exhibition is designed to be accessible to visitors in multiple ways and includes documents, video presentations, more than 5,000 images and 1,100 artifacts in 19 galleries. It also features hands-on interactive stations that will demonstrate the principles of computing; for example, visitors will be able to pick up a 24-lb. Osborne computer or play a game of Pong, Pac-Man or Spacewar.

Among the key artifacts on display will be a 1956 IBM 305 computer and its 350 hard drive; the first commercially available machine of its type, it held 5MB of data and took up almost an entire room. Also display will be the console of a 1950 Univac 1, the first computer to become a household name; a complete installation of an original IBM System/360, which dominated mainframe computing for 20 years; and a Cray-1 supercomputer, which reigned as the world’s fastest from 1976 to 1982.

The exhibit will even include “The Utah Teapot,” which pioneering University of Utah graphic designer Martin Newell used as his 3D computer model. The teapot became the standard reference object or test pattern for computer graphics. The more realistic that graphic designers could make the teapot look, the better their graphics engines were considered. Newell bought the little teapot at a local hardware store.

Also on display will be the ENIAC, which was built during World War II and was the world’s first large-scale computer to run at electronic speed.

“This is one of the greatest electronic computers ever invented,” Hollar said. “We’ve made this a very human story. We’ve tried to talk about not just what happened, but what mattered in history. What mattered often boils down to the people who were the great innovators and the problems they were trying to solve, and so much of the exhibit is devoted to those important people stories.”

On hand at a ceremonial opening of the new museum expansion on Tuesday were a number of technology legends, including Apple co-founder and engineer Steve Wozniak, computer programming pioneer Donald Knuth, video game inventors Al Alcorn and Steve Russell, and IBM’s first female fellow, Fran Allen.

From time to time over the next year, the museum will have the legends of computing as speakers in its galleries as part of a series called “Revolutionaries.”

The museum will also provide an oral history program with more than 40 interactive stations featuring the legends of computing. The stations will display archived interviews with pioneers such as Chuck Thacker, from Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, who was instrumental in the development of desktop computing; and John Atanasoff, who in 1939 built the first digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer.

“We often say, ‘Wouldn’t it have been great to have been able to talk to Michelangelo as he painted the Sistine Chapel?’ ” Hollar said. “We can do that.”

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Top 10 Games Websites – December 2010

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3 in 4 Connected US Consumers Have High-Speed Web

Three in four connected US consumers already have high-speed internet, and another 5% will definitely or probably buy it, according to new data from the Nielsen Company. “State of the Media 2010? indicates HDTVs are the next-most-commonly-owned emerging technology device, with 46% of connected consumers owning one and 10% saying they will definitely or probably buy it (this is the highest percentage for “definitely or probably buy” among the connected devices researched).

Other emerging technology devices with a relatively high rate of ownership among connected consumers include digital video recorders (35%) and handheld multimedia devices (20%).

3DTV Purchase Intent Low

3DTV penetration has only reached 2% among North American consumers, with only 3% saying they will definitely purchase a 3DTV and another 3% saying they will probably purchase a 3DTV. In a potentially bad sign for 3DTV manufacturers, six in 10 (59%) North Americans definitely will not purchase a 3DTV and 17% probably won’t purchase one.

Apple iOS Leads US Market Share

“State of the Media 2010? also indicates Apple iOS leads US smartphone market share with 28.6%, slightly ahead of RIM Blackberry (26.1%) and Android (25.8%). However, 40% of those who purchased a smartphone in the past six months chose Android. Among those smartphone owners who download apps, the average number of apps downloaded is 27.

Feature phones still dominate the US cell phone landscape, holding about 70% of the US cell phone market.

Email Leading Use of Mobile Web Time

Looking at how US consumers with mobile internet access spend their mobile online time, the study finds email represents a leading 38.5% of time spent. No other activity comes close, with social networking coming in a distant second (10.7%).

Millennial Media: Android Usurps iOS

Android surpassed iOS as the most popular US smartphone platform for the first time in December 2010, according to the new Mobile Mix report from Millennial Media. Mobile Mix data indicates 46% of smartphones running on the Millennial network used the Android platform, while 32% used iOS. The only other smartphone platform with a substantial share was RIM (16%).

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HTC Central Office Technician Job Posting

CENTRAL OFFICE TECHNICIAN

Hiawatha Telephone Company, a locally-owned and operated telecommunications company located in Munising, Michigan, is seeking a Central Office Technician to join a team dedicated to providing broadband and advanced communication services to customers across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Responsibilities are varied and will include installation, maintenance, and testing of switching and all central office related facilities and equipment, including IP network maintenance and engineering.

A B.S. in Computer Network and Systems Administration or related field of study is preferred but not required. Other preferred qualifications include knowledge of AC and DC powering schemes, optical transport, ATM switching, IP switching and routing, DSL technology, ethernet switching, packet voice, FTTH, wireless data, typical central office equipment applications, and CCNA. Experience and/or training in programming and/or network and systems security, design, and/or monitoring a plus.

This is a full-time, hourly position with a competitive compensation and benefits package. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. After-hours, weekends, and holidays will sometimes be required. On-call rotation required. Qualified and interested applicants can forward resumes to:

Michigan Works

ATTN: HTC CO Technician

114 West Superior Street

Munising MI 49862

E-mail:  rwilbur@jobforce.org

Fax: 906.387.4938

CLOSING DATE: March 4, 2011