October 7, 1871
Massive fire burns in Wisconsin

The most devastating fire in United States history is ignited in Wisconsin on this day in 1871. Over the course of the next day, 1,200 people lost their lives and 2 billion trees were consumed by flames. Despite the massive scale of the blaze, it was overshadowed by the Great Chicago Fire, which began the next day about 250 miles away.

Peshtigo, Wisconsin, was a company lumber and sawmill town owned by William Ogden that was home to what was then one of the largest wood-products factories in the United States. The summer of 1871 was particularly dry across the northern Midwest. Still, settlers continued to set fires, using the "slash and burn" method to create new farmland and, in the process, making the risk of forest fire substantial. In fact, the month before had seen significant fires burn from Canada to Iowa.

Peshtigo, like many Midwestern towns, was highly vulnerable to fire. Nearly every structure in town was a timber-framed building--prime fuel for a fire. In addition, the roads in and out of town were covered with saw dust and a key bridge was made of wood. This would allow a fire from outside the town to easily spread to Peshtigo and make escaping from a fire in the town difficult. On September 23, the town had stockpiled a large supply of water in case a nearby fire headed in Peshtigo’s direction. Still, they were not prepared for the size and speed of the October 7 blaze.

The blaze began at an unknown spot in the dense Wisconsin forest. It first spread to the small village of Sugar Bush, where every resident was killed. High winds then sent the 200-foot flames racing northeast toward the neighboring community of Peshtigo. Temperatures reached 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, causing trees to literally explode in the flames.

On October 8, the fire reached Peshtigo without warning. Two hundred people died in a single tavern. Others fled to a nearby river, where several people died from drowning. Three people who sought refuge in a water tank boiled to death when the fire heated the tank. A mass grave of nearly 350 people was established because extensive burns made it impossible to identify the bodies.

Despite the fact that this was the worst fire in American history, newspaper headlines on subsequent days were dominated by the story of another devastating, though smaller, blaze: the Great Chicago Fire. Another fire in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that consumed 2 million acres was an even smaller footnote in the next day’s papers.

CHECK HERE FOR YOUR UPDATING NEEDZ

Wally's review of Warhammer Online has made it to the masses!

Check it out for yourself:

http://www.giantrealm.com

Hey everyone!

The clan's early work is the featured article today!

Diary of a Camper is a short 1996 American film created by United Ranger Films, then a subdivision of a popular group of players, or clan, known as the Rangers. Made using id Software's 1996 first-person shooter computer game Quake and released over the Internet as a non-interactive game demo file, the video is considered the first example of machinima—the art of using real-time, virtual 3-D environments, often game engines, to create animated films. The story centers on a lone camper, a pejorative for a player who waits in a strategic location instead of seeking active battle, who faces five members of the Rangers clan in a deathmatch, a type of multiplayer game whose goal is to kill as many opponents as possible. Although players had previously recorded segments of gameplay, these were usually deathmatches or speedruns, attempts to complete a map as quickly as possible. Diary of a Camper was the first demo to contain a narrative with (text-based) dialogue, instead of merely showing gameplay. Commentators agree that the work itself is primitive, but acknowledge its importance in establishing video games as a medium for filmmaking. (more...)

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

- Mansa

Update on the Call of Duty 4 Server - I updated our server info thread in the forums with the RCON info and a GUI client for administering the server. Check it out!

Ok after a little deliberation I've decided to go out on a limb and grab us a CoD4 server

I give credit where credit is due. This game has successfully brought us back together in ways other games outside of perhaps Battlefield 2 have failed to do. I enjoy it, and I enjoy playing it with you all.

If anyone wants to help contribute to this cost in helping me take the sting out of my credit card, donations are welcome but not required, and you can donate as much as you feel comfortable. I did this for you guys.

My public paypal info is: rangerfund@gmail.com. My private address is listed in the private forums.

Enjoy guys! :)

For those of you who can play this game but have not yet acquired it for the PC, I implore you to do so. It is well worth it, and you can get some sweet deals now on it at retail locations.

The web site info is found here: http://www.gametracker.com/server_info/208.167.251.115:28960/

DNS ADDRESS TO SERVER: cod4.clan-rangers.com (thanks lok!)

Everyone go here:

OMG CLICK ME

and vote for the one on the left (picture of the house with dunkin cup lights) plzzzzzz

it's for my gf, she would really appreciate it!

u can vote 3 tiems a day for liek 2 weeks i think

<3 <3 <3

k thx bai.

I'm in the process of migrating the website to the new host, as a result there may be broken links on the site. Please e-mail any broken links or webpage weirdness to drastic@clan-rangers.com.

Today is a sad day. Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin, has passed away at the age of 89. Enjoy a hash brown and an orange juice box on me.

History of Black History Month

Black History Month is an annual observance in February, celebrating the past and present achievements of African Americans. In February 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, proposed the establishment of "Negro History Week" to honor the history and contributions of African Americans to American life. Dr. Woodson, known as the "Father of Black History", chose the second week of February because it commemorates the birthdays of two men who greatly affected the African American community: Abraham Lincoln (February 12) and Frederick Douglass (February 14). Negro History Week became Black History Week in the early 1970's. In 1976, the week-long observance was expanded to a month in honor of the nation's bicentennial.

Black History Month is sponsored by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). The Association was founded in 1915 by Dr. Carter Woodson--historian, teacher, author and publisher. Each year the Association designates the national theme for Black History Month. In 2006, the association's theme was "Celebrating Community: A Tribute to Black Fraternal, Social and Civic Institutions," in recognition of the impact that these organizations have had on the evolution of African American life and history. It also marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first continuous, collegiate Greek letter fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. Serving more that just their own immediate members, fraternities and sororities joined with the Urban League and other social and civic organizations to address the Black community's social, economic and political challenges.

Cheers to my fellow brothers and sisters!!!
/me salutes
Kern