) ( ( ) Good Morning Family! ( \ .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \* ) \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . .=|=. \| |// ...and we even have decaf, |~'~| | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! | | \ / _|___|_ ------ (_______) Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. Family Discovery is at it again 3. Family Tree Maker, v. 9: a warning 4. Did you know ...? *** REMINDER: GIFTS FOR OUR FAMILY CHRISTMAS ARE DUE TO ME BY DECEMBER 8th *** If you're new or have lost your original message regarding this family event, let me know <ladyaudris@earthlink.net> and I'll send you a copy. TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s]/Bauer or Baur lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s]/Bauer or Baur ancestors or any of the 81+ variant spellings we research that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. Our home is Bower Community, located at <http://bowercommunity.com>. There, we currently have two sites: The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our primary homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://bowercommunity.com/homestead>. Smaller is our sister site, the Bower Cottage, which houses most of our projects including an online GEDCOM fed by cousins from our research groups. Find the Cottage is at <http://bowercommunity.com/cottage>. FAMILY DISCOVERY IS AT IT AGAIN These people just don't give up, do they? It seems they've begun a new campaign, this time under their GenRelated pseudonym. Please pass the word so we can thwart yet another of their attempts. Newbies, those of us who are experienced Web genealogists, know already to steer clear, far and wide, from anything sent by Family Discovery or their sister sites, one being GenRelated. Now, you need to know it, too. These people are scammers. Are you new to the family? Please send a message to me <ladyaudris@earthlink.net> and I'll send a copy of my all-too-familiar messages regarding these people. Should you receive a message from <FamilyDiscovery.com> or <GenRelated@cjb.net>, please forward it to me with the headers. Although it's over a year-old now, an ongoing effort is being done to get them shut down. (Actually, as a combined force, we've been more successful at getting them kicked off from their various ISPs than anything else. At least when they're offline, they can't rip anyone off!) FAMILY TREE MAKER, VERSION 9: A WARNING It has come to my attention that Family Tree Maker may be up to no good with the latest version (9) of their genealogy program. Since I don't use FTM with any degree of proficiency (I use PAF), I'm passing along this warning by way of copy and paste. Those of you who use FTM will want to read this carefully: "Mattel, the parent company of FTM has included tracking software in Version 9 which keeps track of everything you do on the internet and sends a log of your surfing habits to Mattel every time you log on. The log file is called "aqueduct" and can be found in the root directory of your C drive. I have deleted the file and gone back to version 8. "I discovered {this] quite by accident. In an unrelated attempt to fix one of my screwups on my hardrive, I discovered the file called "aqueduct" and opened it as I didn't know what it was. I discovered that it was a log of all my surfing habits and I now know, it covered the period from when I installed the FTM 9 upgrade to the date I discovered it and deleted it. I didn't realize it was a FTM by product until I tried to open FTM (after deleting aqueduct) and I got an error message saying "Aqueduct" was missing -- it seems that without the file, FTM version 9 will not run at all. Since I detest tracking software of any kind, I uninstalled FTM version 9 and reinstalled FTM version 8. Note: You will have to open and rename your database backup copy as any database file that you opened and stored in version 9 will be useless." I won't mention the person's name here since our messages go into public archives. However, if you use FTM and want to know who has issued this warning, please write me offline and I'll pass the address along to you. Or, if there are many of you wanting the name and email addy, will send your names and addies to the person so s/he can post to you. One way or another, you will be put in contact, if that's your desire. :) DID YOU KNOW ...? ... turkeys originated in North and Central America, and evidence indicates that they have been around for over 10 million years? ... that out of the 102 Pilgrims who came to America in the Mayflower, just 51 survived to participate in the "First Thanksgiving?" Ninety Wampanoag Indians were at that first feast. ... that the first Thanksgiving lasted for three days and was called a "harvest feast" by Massasoit, the Wampanoag Indian chief? ... that the Pilgrims didn't use forks at the first feast (Thanksgiving) in 1621? They used a knife, a spoon, a large napkin and their fingers, and might have shared plates and drinking vessels. ... that according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the largest dressed weight (cooked, with dressing) recorded for a turkey is 39.09 kg (86 lb.) on December 12, 1989? (I wonder how long it took to cook?) ... more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten during Thanksgiving? ... that nobody knows for certain that turkeys were eaten at the first feast? Then how *did* the turkey become the main course? One story tells of how Queen Elizabeth of 16th century England was chowing down on roast goose during a harvest festival. When news was delivered to her that the Spanish Armada had sunk on it way to attack her beloved England, the queen was so pleased that she order a second goose to celebrate the great news. Thus, the goose became the favorite bird at harvest time in England. When the Pilgrims arrived in America from England, roasted turkey replaced roasted goose as the main cuisine because wild turkeys were more abundant and easier to find than geese. ... that it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen as the representation of our country... the turkey is a much more respectable bird and a true original native of America?" ... that George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, but it was President Lincoln who, in 1863, made the day official by proclaiming the last Thursday in November as a national day of "Thanksgiving?" ... that “Jingle Bells,” the popular Christmas song, was actually written for Thanksgiving? The song was composed in 1857, by James Pierpont, and was originally called “One Horse Open Sleigh.” Family ... it's what we're all about ~ and once again, we step into the holidays together ... as a family. Thank you for allowing me to spend this time with you today. I wish each of you a week filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love and inner peace. Happy Thanksgiving! :) ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'

Thank You Colleen, for the tidbits about FTM upgrade. I have a cousin that up graded and found the same thing. She returned the upgrade cd and demanded her money back along with her "thoughts" about that very subject. Am wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Gloria ----- Original Message ----- From: "Colleen Pustola" <ladyaudris@earthlink.net> : FAMILY TREE MAKER, VERSION 9: A WARNING

I was on the FTM "forum" list for quite a while til my puter died and there were a lot of little things about 9 that bugged people. I've decided against it. Version 8 does more than I may ever need! Lita "You can't have everything. Where would you put it?" Steven Wright ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gloria Motter" <jgmott@wcoil.com> Subject: [BOWER] Off Topic-chat > Thank You Colleen, for the tidbits about FTM upgrade. I have a cousin that > up graded and found the same thing. She returned the upgrade cd and demanded > her money back along with her "thoughts" about that very subject. > Am wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! > Gloria

Dear Colleen and others, I used to use FTM, but I don't anymore and I'm not going back to it. I use a much better program now. I use FTM only to read those FTM CDs. However, your warning about v.9, I think, is *perhaps* off-base. I wouldn't put it past them, but in this case, I *think* they are innocent. What I think happened is that they put the aqueduct file into the program to help track the beta-testers. The testers knew about it. Somebody didn't remove it when betatesting was done. There's been a downloadable file available for several months that corrects this problem. See what Paul Burchfield, who provides tech support for FTM, said about this file at: http://genforum.genealogy.com/using/messages/21682.html At the very least, it's a monumental screw-up on their part. But I think that might be all there is to it. Chuck Wolfram FAMILY TREE MAKER, VERSION 9: A WARNING It has come to my attention that Family Tree Maker may be up to no good with the latest version (9) of their genealogy program. Since I don't use FTM with any degree of proficiency (I use PAF), I'm passing along this warning by way of copy and paste. Those of you who use FTM will want to read this carefully: "Mattel, the parent company of FTM has included tracking software in Version 9 which keeps track of everything you do on the internet and sends a log of your surfing habits to Mattel every time you log on. The log file is called "aqueduct" and can be found in the root directory of your C drive. I have deleted the file and gone back to version 8. "I discovered {this] quite by accident. In an unrelated attempt to fix one of my screwups on my hardrive, I discovered the file called "aqueduct" and opened it as I didn't know what it was. I discovered that it was a log of all my surfing habits and I now know, it covered the period from when I installed the FTM 9 upgrade to the date I discovered it and deleted it. I didn't realize it was a FTM by product until I tried to open FTM (after deleting aqueduct) and I got an error message saying "Aqueduct" was missing -- it seems that without the file, FTM version 9 will not run at all. Since I detest tracking software of any kind, I uninstalled FTM version 9 and reinstalled FTM version 8. Note: You will have to open and rename your database backup copy as any database file that you opened and stored in version 9 will be useless." I won't mention the person's name here since our messages go into public archives. However, if you use FTM and want to know who has issued this warning, please write me offline and I'll pass the address along to you. Or, if there are many of you wanting the name and email addy, will send your names and addies to the person so s/he can post to you. One way or another, you will be put in contact, if that's your desire. :)