Cousins of the McPherson Clan

The Smith Clan is one of the many cousins of the Scottish McPherson Clan (alternate spelling Macpherson). The slogan of this clan is "Touch not the cat bot a glove." The word "bot" means without. The cat is the McPherson clan member themselves and the saying is interpreted as a warning, "Watch out, we McPherson's are tough and the claw that scratches you back, only looks like a soft pad. Therein the cat's claw lie sharp nails that can hurt you."
While the McPherson slogan is fierce, the significance of this clan's history lies in the judicious system. The McPherson judge that changed justice's double jeopardy (you cannot be tried for the same crime) twice by reexamining the evidence of the Stephen Lawrence's murder case and finding that the racial prejudice that was evident in the case, needed to be dealt with properly and the case retried in 2003.

PS: If you are interested in the origin of names you might also want to explore "dit" names. Here's a link to let you know about them. http://www.francogene.com/quebec/ditnames.php 
You could also look through the origin of names at http://www.behindthename.com/ 
Wikipedia recently updated it's page on the origin of Smith http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_%28surname%29 

Get the origin of surnames, maps, and statistics from http://www.surnamedb.com/

Daylight Saving Time "Fun" Notes

We moved the clock forward. I was wrong . . . we lost an hour of sleep last night, we didn't gain an hour. I always get that backwards. It's my dysdaylia.

OK, here's one from David Letterman:

Don't forget it's daylight saving time. You spring forward, then you fall back. It's like Robert Downey Jr. getting out of bed.

Some facts: It's daylight saving time, not daylight savings time. The latter has something to do with putting $$$ in the bank.

Daylight saving time has been around for about 100 years. Only about 70 countries observe it; Hawaii, for example, does not. Ha! (Hawaii is not a country). 
Positive reasons for daylight savings are: to conserve energy and to prevent accidents. I guess there are a lot of people accidentally staying out too late at the bar.

AND finally . . . some remarkable old quotations.

"An extra yawn one morning in the springtime, an extra snooze one night in the autumn is all that we ask in return for dazzling gifts. We borrow an hour one night in April; we pay it back with golden interest five months later." -Winston Churchill
"It seems very strange . . . that in the course of the world's history so obvious an improvement should never have been adopted.   . . . The next generation of Britishers would be the better for having had this extra hour of daylight in their childhood." -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Contest Site for Authors

If you have the surname of Smith then I am interested in what you are collecting/doing. Many Smith's are authors and musicians. If you are a Smith and you want to get more involved with writing then it might be time to enter a writing contest. Stephie Smith collects contests for authors. Check out here lists of author contests at http://www.stephiesmith.com/contests.html

Stephie Smith has compiled a wonderful list of opportunities for authors. Thank you, Stephie!

A few of my writing students used this site to establish criteria for writing. What they found? Well, the six traits of writing was overwhelmingly evident in all the categories.

Origin of Names

Searching the Web for the origin of names has led me to many great websites. One that you'll probably use a few times is KryssTal.

TED talk by David Birch on his notions about security and the use of your name. 

Clan Smith

You might want to check out your Scottish ancestry through the various societies that support this. One is the Clan Smith Society
These societies have celebrations throughout the year and connect a fellowship of your ancestry throughout the world.

How Many People Have the Same Name?

If you are naming your child it is time to look up names on the internet. Some children's names are available at http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Smyth  Look up how many people share the same name as the one you are thinking about for your child.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 10,203 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Since last working with this tool my count has gone up to as high as 10,998 and down to as low as 9337. Re-use and average over time with this tool.

Statistically Significant

Smith is incredibly the most statistically significant surname in North America.
A common myth is that immigrants' names were difficult to spell and pronounce so they often would say "Smith" when asked their family name -- in order to avoid problems. This is merely a myth, however.
Most significant is the fact that smithery or smithing eventually covered many fields of income earning connected to and beyond that of smithing metal. Many professions emerged that were related to this, including blacksmithing (shoeing of horses).