NATIONAL BOW TIE DAY  

National Bow Tie Day on August 28 encourages everyone to wear this style of tie with panache! It's versatile, too. Whether you want to look dapper or humorous, this tie enables you to modify your attire to your mood and atmosphere.

#NationalBowTieDay

The Croatian mercenaries during the Prussian wars of the 17th century were the originators of the bow tie. This bow tie consisted of a scarf around the neck to hold together the opening of their shirts. Using the name cravat (which derived from the French for “Croat”), the upper classes in France soon adopted this idea.

Styles range to suit attire and occasion. This fascinating article of clothing crosses eras and generations, too. Not only that but men and women both wear bow ties. As a fashion accessory, its statements may be bold or subtle since they come in a broad range of fabrics, colors and sizes.

Some recognizable names from history and fiction have worn bow ties and have worn them well. Winston Churchill, James Bond, Groucho Marx, Orville Redenbacher, Jerry Lewis, Bill Nye, Indiana Jones, Donald Duck and Les Nessman are just a few.  The bow tie continues to carry fashion power, today.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL BOW TIE DAY

Learn to tie a bow tie. Find your style. Then wear it fearlessly! Use #NationalBowTieDay to share on social media.

NATIONAL BOW TIE DAY HISTORY

The celebration has been observed since at least 2007. However, National Day Calendar was unable to identify the founder of the day.

-credit: National Day calendar

Pepsi – Invented and named in 1898 

Caleb Davis Bradham (May 27, 1867 – February 19, 1934) was an American pharmacist, who invented the soft drink Pepsi.

Early life

Bradham was born Caleb Davis Bradham on May 27, 1867, in Chinquapin, North Carolina, to George Washington Bradham, and Julia McCann Bradham. Bradham was of English and Scots-Irish descent.

He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Philanthropic Society, and attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Bradham Drug Store Company

Circa 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After returning to North Carolina, he was a public school teacher for about a year, and soon thereafter opened a drug store in New Bern named the "Bradham Drug Company" that, like many other drug stores of the time, also housed a soda fountain. Middle Street and Pollock Street in downtown New Bern is where Bradham, in 1893, invented the recipe—a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and "rare oils"—for what was initially known as "Brad's Drink," but on August 28, 1898, was renamed “Pepsi-Cola”. Bradham named his drink after a combination of the terms "dyspepsia" and "cola", intending to market his drink as having digestive benefits. His assistant James Henry King was the first to taste the new drink.

Pepsi-Cola

On December 24, 1902, the Pepsi-Cola Company was incorporated in North Carolina, with Bradham as the president, and on June 16, 1903, the first Pepsi-Cola trademark was registered. Also in 1903, he moved his Pepsi-Cola production out of his drug store and into a rented building nearby. In 1905, Bradham began selling Pepsi-Cola in six-ounce bottles (up until this time he sold Pepsi-Cola as a syrup only) and awarded two franchises to North Carolina bottlers.

Success and buy out

At the peak of success, Bradham had authorized Pepsi-Cola franchises in over 24 states; however, on May 31, 1923, Bradham and his Pepsi-Cola Company declared bankruptcy. The major factor for Bradham's business failure was the price of sugar immediately following World War I, when prices went up to 28 cents per pound (it was three cents per pound pre-war), and Bradham had purchased a large amount of sugar at that price but the price of sugar nosedived soon after he purchased it. The assets of his company were sold to the Craven Holding Company for $30,000.  After declaring bankruptcy, Bradham returned to operating his drug store.

Net discussion Questions

Have you ever worn a bow tie?

Can you tie one?

Pepsi or Coke?

Convention Begins Thursday Evening

Schedule of Talks and Forums

We have more talks and presentations than any other ham convention!

HamXposition is held at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel & Trade Center, 181 Boston Post Road W, Marlborough, MA 01752. This venue is located off of I-495 on Route 20 west. It offers many amenities and lots of nearby family-friendly attractions and dining options. View the convention layout and maps.

HamXposition Online Ticketing is OPEN!

General Admission only: $18

Convention Package PLUS $139
Includes:
* General Admission
* NEW Thursday Night Comedy Kickoff
* Friday Dinner
* Saturday Banquet

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Time: 12:00 - 4:30 PM (270 mins)
Room: Southborough, W6

Club Track Bruce Blain, K1BG
The “Club Track” talks are focused on successful clubs helping clubs by sharing programs that have worked for them. A series of half hour talks, by clubs and for clubs, to help clubs energize, invigorate, and grow. The current schedule is as follows:

12:00 – 12:30 Bruce Blain, K1BG, Nashoba Valley ARC - Guerilla Marketing: Finding contacts, creating email lists mailings and CRM tips.

12:30 – 1:00 David Tessitore, K1DT, Providence Radio Association - Marketing your Club.

1:00 - 1:30 Chris Ranny, WA1CMR, Falmouth ARA - Getting New Hams Active – How a radio library can help.

1:30 – 2:00 George Allison, K1IG, PART of Westford - Kitbuilding and other projects to attract people to join your club.

2:00 - 2:30 BREAK

2:30 – 3:00 Phil Temples, K9HI - Overview of WordPress website options.

3:00 – 3:30 Brandon Hockle, NQ1W, Cape Ann ARA - Radio Club Rejuvenated: What we did at Cape Ann ARA and what might work for your club.

3:30 – 4:00 Ross Hochstrasser, W1EKG, Whitman ARC - How to Hold a Successful License Class.

4:00 – 4:30 Nancy Austin, KC1NEK, SM/RI, with Jeremy Taylor, K1JST, and Rowan Eggert, WO1P, - Leveraging the biannual ARRL School Roundup in the New England Division as a new youth force multiplier follow up to Winter Field Day and JOTA.

The World Senior Citizen's Day is celebrated on 21 August each year.

The celebration took place for the first time in 1991. The day is intended to increase awareness of the factors and issues that affect older adults, such as health deterioration and elder abuse. It is also a day to recognize and acknowledge the contributions of older people to society.

History

The history of the World Senior Citizen's Day dates back to 1988. It was officially founded by the former President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan. He had signed on August 19, 1988, the promulgation of 5847, which appeared on 21 August as National Day of the Third Age.  Ronald Reagan was the first to announce the first National Day of the Third Age.

Purpose

World Senior Citizen's Day is an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate senior citizens for their services, accomplishments, and dedication they have given in their lives.

Net Discussion Questions:

Are you planning on attending the Ham Expo?

Does your city or town have an active Senior program or activities? 

NATIONAL NAVAJO CODE TALKERS DAY | AUGUST 14  

Each year on August 14th, National Navajo Code Talkers Day honors the contributions of the Native Americans who brought their unique abilities to the World War II effort. The day also highlights their impact on U.S. code and the Native American language that made it possible.

#NavajoCodeTalkersDay

While code talkers were instrumental during World War II, the United States military used the Native American language in their coded messages before. During World War I, the Choctaw tribe's language was called upon to relate coded messages.

One member integral in creating the military code was Philip Johnston. While he was not Navajo, Johnston did speak the language fluently. He also recruited the native speakers necessary to the Code Talker's success.

Initially, there were 29 Code Talkers, including Charlie Sosie Begay, Roy Begay, Samuel H. Begay, Eugene Crawford, Oscar Ilthma, and Lloyd Oliver, to name a few. However, that number would grow. Until 1968, the program remained classified. At that time, the United States presented the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers with Congressional Gold Medals. Additionally, the remaining Navajo Code Talkers were presented with Congressional Silver Medals.

What is a code talker? A code talker is the name given to American Indians who used their tribal language to send secret communications on the battlefield. Most people have heard of the famous Navajo code talkers who used their traditional language to transmit secret Allied messages in the Pacific theater of combat during World War II. But did you know that there were at least 14 other Native nations, including the Cherokee and Comanche, that served as code talkers in both the Pacific and Europe during the war? The idea of using American Indians who were fluent in both their traditional tribal language and in English to send secret messages in battle was first put to the test in World War I with the Choctaw Telephone Squad and other Native communications experts and messengers. However, it wasn’t until World War II that the US military developed a specific policy to recruit and train American Indian speakers to become code talkers. The irony of being asked to use their Native languages to fight on behalf of America was not lost on code talkers, many of whom had been forced to attend government or religious-run boarding schools that tried to assimilate Native peoples and would punish students for speaking in their traditional language.

The US Army was the first branch of the military that began recruiting code talkers from places like Oklahoma in 1940. Other branches, such as the US Marines and Navy, followed a few years later, and the first class of 29 Navajo code talker US Marine recruits completed its training in 1942. Apart from basic training, these men had to develop and memorize a unique military code using their mostly unwritten language and were placed in a guarded room until this task was completed.

The first type of code they created, Type 1 code, consisted of 26 Navajo terms that stood for individual English letters that could be used to spell out a word. For instance, the Navajo word for “ant,” wo-la-chee, was used to represent the letter “a” in English.

Type 2 code contained words that could be directly translated from English into Navajo, and the code talkers also developed a dictionary of 211 terms (later expanded to 411) for military words and names that didn’t originally exist in the Navajo language. For example, since there was no existing Navajo word for “submarine,” the code talkers agreed to use the term besh-lo, which translates to “iron fish.”

American Indian code talkers used portable radios to communicate during World War II battles in the Pacific. Code talkers were usually assigned in pairs to military units, with one person operating the radio while the other relayed and translated messages in their native language.   This work was dangerous, especially in the Pacific, where Japanese soldiers would target radiomen. 

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT SIGNS THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT, 

CREATING A GOVERNMENT PENSION SYSTEM FOR THE RETIRED

The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law was part of Roosevelt's New Deal domestic program.

By 1930, the United States was, along with Switzerland, the only modern industrial country without any national social security system. Amid the Great Depression, the physician Francis Townsend galvanized support behind a proposal to issue direct payments to older people. Responding to that movement, Roosevelt organized a committee led by Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins to develop a major social welfare program proposal. Roosevelt presented the plan in early 1935 and signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935. The Supreme Court upheld the act in two major cases decided in 1937.

The law established the Social Security program. The old-age program is funded by payroll taxes, and over the ensuing decades, it contributed to a dramatic decline in poverty among older people, and spending on Social Security became a significant part of the federal budget. The Social Security Act also established an unemployment insurance program administered by the states and the Aid to Dependent Children program, which provided aid to families headed by single mothers. The law was later amended by acts such as the Social Security Amendments of 1965, which established two major healthcare programs: Medicare and Medicaid.

In 1940, Social Security benefits paid totaled $35 million and rose to $961 million in 1950, $11.2 billion in 1960, $31.9 billion in 1970, $120.5 billion in 1980, and $247.8 billion in 1990 (all figures in nominal dollars, not adjusted for inflation). In 2004, $492 billion of benefits were paid to 47.5 million beneficiaries. In 2009, nearly 51 million Americans received $650 billion in Social Security benefits.

During the 1950s, those over 65 continued to have the highest poverty rate of any age group in the U.S. with the largest percentage of the nation's wealth concentrated in the hands of Americans under 35. By 2010, that figure had dramatically reversed itself with the largest percentage of wealth being in the hands of Americans 55–75 and those under 45 being among the poorest. Elder poverty, once a normal sight, had thus become rare by the 21st century.

Reflecting the continuing importance of the Social Security Act, biographer Kenneth S. Davis described the Social Security Act "the most important single piece of social legislation in all American history."

 Net Discussion Questions

1. Most people have heard of the famous Navajo code talkers who used their traditional language to transmit secret Allied messages in the Pacific theater of combat during World War II. But did you know that there were at least 14 other Native nations, including the Cherokee and Comanche, that served as code talkers in both the Pacific and Europe during the war?

2. Do you think Social Security is as popular today as it was in 1935?

NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE DAY - August 7  

Observed annually on August 7th, National Lighthouse Day honors the beacon of light that for hundreds of years symbolized safety and security for ships and boats at sea. At one time, the beacon of light could be found across almost all of America’s shorelines.

#NationalLighthouseDay

A lighthouse serves multiple purposes such as marking dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, and reefs providing safe entry to harbors. They also provide aerial guidance. Once lit by open fire and candles, they're now brightly lit by electric or oil-fueled lamps. However, the number of lighthouses is declining. Maintenance is expensive and modern electrical navigation systems are replacing them. 

Lighthouse Facts

Their style may differ depending on the location and purpose, but they have standard components.

·         The lantern room is a glassed-in housing at the top of a lighthouse tower

·         Beneath the lantern room is the Watch Room or Service Room 

·         Next to the Watch room is an open gallery.

·         Development accelerated in the 17th century with Britain’s Trinity House constructing its first in 1609.

·         In North America, St. Augustine, Florida built the first lighthouse. Printed on a 1791 map, it had been built by Menendez after his landing in 1586.

 Boston Light was built on little Brewster Island next in 1716.

·         The oldest existing lighthouse in the United States is the Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey. Built in 1764, this lighthouse is still in operation.

·         At the end of the 19th century, the United States had the most lighthouses of any nation.

·         The 9th Act of the first Congress created the US Bureau of Lighthouses in 1789, which placed lighthouses under federal control.

·         The United States Coast Guard took over on July 7, 1939.

·         Hobbyists enjoy visiting and photographing lighthouses. They also collect ceramic replicas. 

·         In 2013, a collaborative effort by the Cape Ann Museum and the Thacher Island Association succeeded in bringing a First Order Fresnel lens, once housed in Thacher Island’s South tower, back to Cape Ann.

·         https://old.capeannmuseum.org/first-order-fresnel-lens/

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE DAY

Tour lighthouses near you. Take a road trip. With lighthouses on every coast and the great lakes, one or more is surely worth the trip! As you celebrate, you can learn more about lighthouses, too. 

Share your experiences visiting lighthouses including visits to lighthouse museums around the country. 

NATIONAL LIGHTHOUSE DAY HISTORY

On August 7, 1789, the United States Congress approved an act for the “establishment and support of Lighthouse, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers.”  It was two hundred years later that Congress designated August 7 as National Lighthouse Day. 

First Order Fresnel Lens

In 2013, a collaborative effort by the Cape Ann Museum and the Thacher Island Association succeeded in bringing this First Order Fresnel lens, once housed in Thacher Island’s South tower, back to Cape Ann.

One of two lenses installed on the Island in 1861, this particular one had been at the United States Coast Guard Academy Museum in New London, Connecticut, since the early 1980s when the Cape Ann Light Station at Thacher Island was decommissioned. In 2011, the lens was dismantled and placed in storage at the Coast Guard’s curatorial services center in Forestville, Maryland. As the Coast Guard had no plans to exhibit the lens again, they offered to return it to its original home on Cape Ann.

The Fresnel lens was invented in the early 1820s by French physicist Augustine-Jean Fresnel. His design concentrated light to cast a beam which could be seen at a much greater distance than other lenses of that era. On Thacher Island this meant the light could be seen 22 miles at sea, triple the distance of earlier apparatus. It was built in Paris, France, in 1860, installed on Thacher Island the following year and served as a beacon for mariners for over 120 years. It was originally lit by rape seed oil, then by lard oil and eventually by kerosene (mineral oil). It was electrified in 1932 and ultimately removed by the Coast Guard in 1980. The shining lens stands 10 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter and is comprised of 290 glass prisms set in a bronze frame. It weighs just over a ton.

First Order Fresnel lenses are extremely rare. There are only 39 in the country, three of which are in New England. The only other one in Massachusetts is at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum in Edgartown.

 ROAD TRIP! 

Motivated by the spirit of adventure, Alice Ramsey sought to do what had never been done before.  Alice Huyler Ramsey (November 11, 1886 – September 10, 1983) was the first woman to drive an automobile across the United States from coast to coast, a feat she completed on August 7, 1909.

In 1908 her husband bought her a new Maxwell runabout. That summer she drove over 6,000 miles near their Hackensack home.  In September 1908 she drove one of the three Maxwells which were entered in that year's American Automobile Association's (AAA) Montauk Point endurance race, being one of only two women to participate. She won a bronze medal by getting a perfect score in the race.  One of the other Maxwell drivers was Carl Kelsey, who did publicity for Maxwell-Briscoe. It was during this event that Kelsey proposed that she attempt a transcontinental journey, with Maxwell-Briscoe's backing. The company would supply a 1909 touring car for the journey, and would also provide assistance and parts as needed.  The drive was originally meant as a publicity stunt for Maxwell-Briscoe, and would also prove to be part of Maxwell's ongoing strategy of specifically marketing to women.   At that time, women were not often encouraged to drive cars.

Transcontinental drive

On June 9, 1909, this 22-year-old housewife and mother began a 3,800-mile journey from Hell Gate in Manhattan, New York, to San Francisco, California, in a green, four-cylinder, 30-horsepower Maxwell DA.   On her 59-day trek she was accompanied by two older sisters-in-law and 19 year-old friend Hermine Jahns, none of whom could drive a car. They arrived amid great fanfare on August 7, although about three weeks later than originally planned.

The group of women used maps from the American Automobile Association AAA to make the journey. Only 152 of the 3,600 miles that the group traveled were paved - the rest were gravel, dirt, mud, or sand. Over the course of the drive, Ramsey changed 11 tires, cleaned the spark plugs, repaired a broken brake pedal and had to sleep in the car when it was stuck in mud. The women mostly navigated by following the telephone poles with more wires in hopes that they would lead to a town.

Along the way, they crossed the trail of a manhunt for a killer in Nebraska, Ramsey received a case of bedbugs from a Wyoming hotel, and in Nevada they were surrounded by a Native American hunting party with bows and arrows drawn. In San Francisco, crowds awaited them at the St. James Hotel.  Ramsey was named the "Woman Motorist of the Century" by AAA in 1960.   In later years, she lived in West Covina, California, where in 1961 she wrote and published the story of her journey, Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron. Between 1909 and 1975, Ramsey drove across the country more than 30 times.

Net Discussion Questions

Have you been to many lighthouses?

Road Trips, what is your most memorable road trip?