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Wednesday, December 27th: Topics with KC1HHK
FDR-Montgomery Ward & Darwin Sets Sail
FDR seizes control of Montgomery Ward
On December 27, 1944, as World War II dragged on, President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders his secretary of war to seize properties belonging to the Montgomery Ward company because the company refused to comply with a labor agreement.
In an effort to avert strikes in critical war-support industries, Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board in 1942. The board negotiated settlements between management and workers to avoid shutdowns in production that might cripple the war effort. During the war, the well-known retailer and manufacturer Montgomery Ward had supplied the Allies with everything from tractors to auto parts to workmen’s clothing–items deemed as important to the war effort as bullets and ships. However, Montgomery Ward Chairman Sewell Avery refused to comply with the terms of three different collective bargaining agreements with the United Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union hammered out between 1943 and 1944.
In April 1944, after Sewell refused a second board order, Roosevelt called out the Army National Guard to seize the company’s main plant in Chicago. Sewell himself had to be carried out of his office by National Guard troops. By December of that year, Roosevelt was fed up with Sewell’s obstinacy and disrespect for the government’s authority. (The uber-capitalist Sewell’s favorite insult was to call someone a “New Dealer”–a direct reference to Roosevelt’s Depression-era policies.) On December 27, Roosevelt ordered the secretary of war to seize Montgomery Ward’s plants and facilities in New York, Michigan, California, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon.
In his announcement that day, Roosevelt emphasized that the government would “not tolerate any interference with war production in this critical hour.” He issued a stern warning to labor unions and industry management alike: “strikes in wartime cannot be condoned, whether they are strikes by workers against their employers or strikes by employers against their Government.” Sewell took the fight to federal court but lost.
For much of the 20th century, Montgomery Ward, founded in 1872, reigned as one of the country’s largest department store and mail-order retail chains. Heavy competition from Wal-Mart, Target and similar discount stores forced the company to close all its stores in 2000, though it retains a catalog and internet presence.
- History.com
Darwin Discovers the Secrets of Life
December 27, 1831 — Royal Navy ship HMS Beagle set sail from England on this day on a five-year voyage of discovery to South America. The plan was to survey the coastline in detail and chart the harbors, enabling more detailed maps of the region.
But maps and charts were not the principal interest of one person on board. Charles Darwin had seized the chance of making the trip so that he could study the area’s animals, fossils, rocks and plants.
Darwin had been recommended for the post of naturalist on the voyage by one of his professors at Cambridge University. Taking full advantage of the opportunity he spent much of the trip on land collecting samples from regions including Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, as well as the Galápagos Islands.
He carefully packed his specimens into crates and one by one sent them back to England. When he returned home in 1836 he began studying and analyzing the plants and animals that he had collected – a task that would take many years.
At the end of it he was able to make the groundbreaking – and controversial – declaration that evolution occurs by a process of natural selection.
He believed that all living things on Earth, including plants, animals, and microbes, come from a common ancestor and have slowly changed over generations. They have changed over time, he suggested, through natural selection.
This meant those that fitted best into their environment had the best chance to survive and breed. Those less well adapted tended not to survive. Philosopher Herbert Spencer later coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” to describe the process.
Darwin explained his theories in his famous book, "On The Origin of Species", published in 1859. It was controversial because although today the theory of evolution by natural selection is accepted by most scientists as the best evidence-based explanation for the diversity and complexity of life on Earth, in Darwin’s time it flew in the face of the Church’s doctrine of divine creation.
Despite accusations of blasphemy Darwin was to antagonize the Church even further in 1871 with another book, "The Descent of Man". It triggered outrage in some quarters by suggesting that humans are descended from apes.
It was just too much for some American lawmakers who decided in several states to make it illegal to teach Darwin’s theory in schools. This led to the famous “Monkey Trial” of 1925 after biology teacher John T. Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwin’s theories to his students at Dayton, Tennessee.
Represented in court by top lawyer Clarence Darrow, Scopes won the argument but lost the case and was fined $100 (about $1,400 in today's money).
In the UK, the Bishop of Oxford was accused of lowering the tone of the debate when he publicly asked the biologist and anthropologist Thomas Huxley, one of Darwin's most enthusiastic supporters, whether it was through his grandfather or grandmother that he claimed descent from a monkey.
Charles Robert Darwin was born in England on February 12, 1809 – the same day that Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky. Darwin’s father was a wealthy society doctor and his mother Susannah was the daughter of famous potter Josiah Wedgwood.
At the age of 16 Charles became an apprentice doctor, helping his father. He then attended the University of Edinburgh Medical School before going to Cambridge University three years later.
A statue of Darwin has graced the main hall of London’s Natural History Museum since 1885. The museum’s website declares: “Darwin transformed the way we understand the natural world with ideas that, in his day, were nothing short of revolutionary.
“He gave us insight into the fantastic diversity of life on Earth and its origins, including our own as a species. He is celebrated as one the greatest British scientists who ever lived.”
Darwin died of heart failure in 1882 at the age of 73. Thousands attended his funeral in London when he was buried at Westminster Abbey.
- Onthisday.com
Friday December 22nd Topics with KC1SOO: It's the Holiday Season! X-Mas Plans?
Christmas 2023
What are you plans for celebrating Christmas 2023?
Did you take any extended time off from work?
With the holiday season right around the corner, how are you celebrating? Did you finish your holiday shopping?
Wednesday December 20th Topics with KC1HHK: It's a Wonderful Life and WWW Born
It’s a Wonderful Life [1946]
It’s a Wonderful Life, American dramatic film, premiered on December 20, 1946, that is widely considered one of the most inspirational and beloved movies in American cinema. The film, which was produced and directed by Frank Capra, has become synonymous with Christmas, when it is frequently televised.
The film opens on Christmas Eve as George Bailey (played by James Stewart) is contemplating suicide. Prayers for George are heard in heaven, and Clarence Oddbody (Henry Travers), a second-class angel who has yet to earn his wings, is tasked with saving him. First, however, he is shown highlights of George’s life in the small town of Bedford Falls. Through several acts beginning in childhood, George is revealed as selfless and kindhearted. After the death of his father, George sets aside his dreams of traveling the world to run his family’s savings and loan business. His decision earns the enmity of greedy banker Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), who is determined to close the business.
As the years pass, George marries Mary (Donna Reed) and has children. One Christmas Eve, Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) unknowingly gives the company’s bank deposit to the ever-scheming Mr. Potter, who secretly keeps the money. The bank examiner quickly discovers that the deposit is missing, and George faces financial disaster and arrest. Distraught, he gets drunk and heads to a bridge to kill himself. At this point Clarence appears and shows George what life would be like for his loved ones and neighbors had he never lived. The experience renews George’s passion for life, and his trials and hardships in turn spark an outpouring of love and benevolence in the small community. After returning home, he is visited by family and friends, who donate money to cover the missing deposit—proving that George is “the richest man in town.” As they sing “Auld Lang Syne,” a bell on the Christmas tree rings, indicating that Clarence has earned his wings.
Made in the immediate aftermath of World War II, Capra’s film initially failed to connect with audiences that were used to his prewar movies known for their snappy dialogue and light comedic touches. Postwar moviegoers were in the mood for joviality, so despite being a critical success, the film was a box-office disappointment. It was only after It’s a Wonderful Life temporarily fell out of copyright and was broadcast routinely on television at Christmastime that the film built a widespread following. George Bailey, Mr. Potter, and Clarence are among the most well-known characters in film history, and names and dialogue from the film have become common references in popular culture.
The World Wide Web began on this day in 1990
Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist at CERN, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989. The web was originally conceived and developed to meet the demand for automatic information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world.
CERN is not an isolated laboratory, but rather a focus for an extensive community that includes more than 10,000 scientists from over 100 countries.
The name CERN is derived from the acronym for the French "Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire", or European Council for Nuclear Research, a provisional body founded in 1952 with the mandate of establishing a world-class fundamental physics research organization in Europe.
Although they typically spend some time on the CERN site, the scientists usually work at universities and national laboratories in their home countries. Good contact is therefore essential.
The basic idea of the WWW was to merge the technologies of personal computers, computer networking and hypertext into a powerful and easy to use global information system.
How the web began
Berners-Lee wrote the first proposal for the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989, further refining the proposal with Belgian systems engineer Robert Cailliau the following year. On 12 November 1990 the pair published a formal proposal outlining principal concepts and defining important terms behind the web. The document described a "hypertext project" called "WorldWideWeb" in which a "web" of "hypertext documents" could be viewed by “browsers”.
On December 20, 1990, prototype software for a basic web system (server and browser), was demonstrated. An interface was provided to encourage its adoption, and applied to the CERN computer center’s documentation, its help service and Usenet newsgroups; concepts already familiar to people at CERN. The first examples of this interface were developed on NeXT computers.
Info.cern.ch was the address of the world's first website and web server, running on a NeXT computer at CERN.
The first web page address was:
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
Net Discussion Questions:
There were many “quotes” from the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, which one is the most famous?
There are many great websites for ham radio. What are the ones you use the most?
Wednesday December 13th Topics with KC1HHK: National Guard and Saddam Hussein
December 13th commemorates the National Guard Birthday.
On December 13th, 1636, the Massachusetts General Court established an official militia for the first time in the American Colonies.
A component of the United States Army, the National Guard is primarily composed of citizen-soldiers who hold down full-time, civilian jobs, attend school, or as is often the case, both. At the same time, they are available to provide support and protection for the states' civilians or be called for military operations at a national level.
Each U.S. state, District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam and U.S. Virgin Islands maintain both an Army National Guard and an Air National Guard.
National Guard Mission
National Guard Soldiers serve both community and country. Our versatility enables us to respond to domestic emergencies, overseas combat missions, counter-drug efforts, reconstruction missions, and more. The Guard always responds with speed, strength, and efficiency, helping to defend American freedom and ideals.
From before the American Revolution to Hurricane Katrina and beyond, the National Guard has provided support and protection for its citizens.
HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL GUARD BIRTHDAY
While not recognized as a Federal Holiday, National Guard members across the country celebrate the birth of the oldest military organization in the United States with galas, balls, and birthday parties. Since the National Guard is an integral part of each state, commonwealth, and territory, we all have a reason to celebrate this birthday! Take time to recognize a National Guard soldier or airman you know.
NATIONAL GUARD BIRTHDAY HISTORY
On December 13 of 1636, a direct declaration by the Massachusetts General Court established an official militia for the first time in the American Colonies. The resolution required all able-bodied men from age 16 to 60 to join. While less-organized militia existed, this legal document brought them together under a formal enterprise. We know this organization today as the National Guard.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony established three regiments designated East, South, and North. Older than the United States itself, the National Guard maintains these roots in Massachusetts. The regiments include the 101st Engineer Battalion (formerly East Regiment), the 101st Field Artillery (South Regiment), and the 181st Infantry, and the 182nd Infantry Regiment (North Regiment).
After the United States formed and the country grew, each state established a militia. However, Congress did not make the name National Guard official until 1933. When Congress amended the National Defense Act, they made the National Guard a separate component of the United States Army. While some states used the term National Guard before this time, individual state militia had various titles. Two examples include the Mississippi State Guard and the Indiana Legion.
After World War II, the newly established United States Airforce established the Air National Guard.
Today, approximately 350,000 men and women serve in the National Guard and the Air National Guard, 39% of the Army's operational force.
On Dec. 13, 2003, a bearded and apparently disoriented Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi president, was captured by U.S. troops in a small underground hideout southeast of his hometown of Tikrit, ending an eight-month manhunt.
Saddam Hussein, the deposed president of Iraq, was captured by the United States military forces in the town of Ad-Dawr, Iraq on 13 December 2003. Codenamed Operation Red Dawn, this military operation was named after the 1984 American film Red Dawn.
Operation Red Dawn was launched after gaining actionable intelligence identifying two likely locations of Saddam's whereabouts code-named Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2, near the town of ad-Dawr. C squadron Delta Force, ISA operators under Task Force 121, and the First Brigade Combat Team of the 4th ID conducted the operation. The operation was named after the 1984 film of the same name starring Patrick Swayze. The site names "Wolverine 1" and "Wolverine 2" are also a reference to the American insurgent group in the movie Red Dawn. The Forces involved in the operation consisted of approximately 600 soldiers including cavalry, artillery, aviation, engineer, and special operations forces.
The forces cleared the two objectives but initially did not find the target. Then, as the operators were finishing and the helicopters called in to extract them, one soldier kicked a piece of flooring to one side, exposing a spider hole; he prepared to throw a fragmentation grenade into it – in case it led to an insurgent tunnel system – when suddenly Hussein appeared. The Delta operator struck him with the stock of his M4 carbine and disarmed him of a Glock 18C.
Hussein surrendered and offered no resistance; he was taken by a MH-6 Little Bird from the 160th SOAR to the Tikrit Mission Support Site where he was properly identified. He was then taken in an MH-60K Blackhawk helicopter by 160th SOAR from Tikrit to Baghdad and into custody at Baghdad International Airport. Along with the Glock, an AK-47 and $750,000 in US bank notes were recovered from the spider hole.
Two other individuals were also detained.
Monday December 11th Topics with KC1SOO: The Peanuts and Winter Activities
December 9, 1965
The animated special A Charlie Brown Christmas, featuring characters from Charles Schulz's popular Peanuts comic strip, first aired on American television, and it became a holiday classic.
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. Peanuts is among the most popular and influential in the history of comic strips, with 17,897 strips published in all,[1] making it "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being" and is considered to be the grandfather of slice of life cartoons.At the time of Schulz's death in 2000, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of around 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages. It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States, and together with its merchandise earned Schulz more than $1 billion.
Winter Activities
Winter Activities
What is your favorite Winter Activity?
Outdoor Thrills:
Skiing/Snowboarding:
Snowshoeing
Cross-country Skiing
Ice Skating: Ice skating on a frozen lake
Sledding/Tubing:
Wednesday December 6th Topics with KC1HHK: Rock and Rolls' & Alfred Eisenstaedt
December 6th: Rock and Roll’s all-time worst day
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Tracy, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and some anticipated that it would be a "Woodstock West".
• Santana
• Jefferson Airplane
• The Flying Burrito Brothers
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
• Grateful Dead (cancelled performance)
• The Rolling Stones
The Woodstock festival had been held in Bethel, New York, in mid-August, almost four months earlier.
The event is remembered for its use of Hells Angels as security and its considerable violence, including the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter and three accidental deaths: two by a hit-and-run car accident, and one by an LSD-induced drowning in an irrigation canal. Scores were injured, numerous cars were stolen (and subsequently abandoned) and there was extensive property damage.
Altamont Concert Ends in Disaster
Originally planned for San Francisco, the free concert was relocated after the city revoked its permit. It was then moved to Sears Point, but a dispute forced a second relocation to the disused Altamont Speedway just two days before the concert.
Concert organizers rushed to build a stage, transport equipment, and find security. They hired the Hells Angels, a motorcycle gang with a history of violence and involvement in a host of illegal activities, to provide security, allegedly in return for $500 worth of beer, though both parties deny this claim.
The concert was marked by violence from the start, as the Hells Angels used pool cues to control the crowd and protect the four-foot stage. During a performance by Jefferson Airplane, singer Marty Balin was knocked unconscious by an Angel who jumped onto the stage to break up a fight. The incident, as well as the general violence, convinced the Grateful Dead to cancel their performance.
The Rolling Stones took the stage in the evening when the violence would turn deadly. Meredith Hunter, an African American teenager, approached the stage armed with a knife and gun. Hells Angel Alan Passaro attacked Hunter, stabbing him several times with a knife as the Stones finished “Under My Thumb.”
The incident was captured on film by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, who created the concert documentary, “Gimme Shelter.” The footage shows Hunter, at stage left, fighting with a group of Hells Angels, and holding a gun; Passaro sees the gun from his position near center stage and attacks Hunter.
“He rushes forward and is at Hunter’s back, his left-hand gripping Hunter’s gun hand, forcing it down, while raising the knife in his right fist and plunging it into Hunter's neck,” The Times of London describes. “Hunter lurches forward, back towards the darkness from where he came. The Angel clings on, moving with him, again raising his right fist, and bringing the knife down on Hunter's neck.”
Hunter was stabbed five times and died on site. Three other concertgoers died that day: two died in a hit-and-run car accident and one drowned in a drainage ditch.
“It was perhaps rock and roll’s all-time worst day, December 6th, a day when everything went perfectly wrong,” wrote Rolling Stone’s John Burks.
The Altamont concert is often contrasted with the Woodstock festival that took place fewer than four months earlier. While Woodstock represented "peace and love", Altamont came to be viewed as the end of the hippie era and the de facto conclusion of late-1960s American youth culture: "Altamont became, whether fairly or not, a symbol for the death of the Woodstock Nation. Rock music critic Robert Christgau wrote in 1972 that "Writers focus on Altamont not because it brought on the end of an era but because it provided such a complex metaphor for the way an era ended”.
Alfred Eisenstaedt - American photojournalist
Famous images many of them for Life magazine, established him as one of the first and most important photojournalists.
Alfred Eisenstaedt (born December 6, 1898, Dirschau, Poland]—died August 23, 1995, Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, U.S.) pioneering German-born American photojournalist whose images, many of them for Life magazine, established him as one of the first and most important photojournalists.
Eisenstaedt served in the German army in World War I from 1916 to 1918, sustaining injuries in both legs. He became an enthusiastic amateur photographer, turned professional in 1929, and joined the lively photojournalism scene in Germany. During the 1920s and early ’30s he was especially influenced by Erich Salomon, a pioneer in documentary photography.
Eisenstaedt was particularly skilled in the use of the 35-mm Leica camera. His work, often created in this format, appeared in many European picture magazines by the early 1930s. He covered the rise of Adolf Hitler and in 1935 created a notable series of photographs of Ethiopia, just before the Italian invasion. That same year he immigrated to the United States, and in April 1936 he became one of the first four photographers hired by the new picture magazine Life. One of his images was published on the cover of the second issue, and he went on to become the leading Life photographer, eventually having some 2,500 photo-essays and 90 cover photos featured in the magazine.
Net Discussion Questions:
How much do you know about each of the topics?
Friday December 1st Topics with KC1SOO: Satellite Communication & Enron
Ham Radio Satellite Communication
An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators. It forms part of the Amateur-satellite service. These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amateur radio stations. Satellites can help ham radio operators (Hams) make contacts that are hundreds of miles away. However, there are some limitations to using satellites for long-distance communication.
Enron Scandal
~ June 2001 - December 2, 2001
Enron scandal, series of events that resulted in the bankruptcy of the U.S. energy, commodities, and services company Enron Corporation and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen LLP, which had been one of the largest auditing and accounting companies in the world. The collapse of Enron, which held more than $60 billion in assets, involved one of the biggest bankruptcy filings in the history of the United States, and it generated much debate as well as legislation designed to improve accounting standards and practices, with long-lasting repercussions in the financial world.
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