Winter Field Day is January 28 & 29 Clubhouse Operating on Saturday Afternoon - Open to All
Click Here for Information About Field Day at the Clubhouse
Embedded Files
Topics for Wednesday January 25: Live Communication Milestones
108 years ago, first “Transcontinental” Telephone call
A telephone call, which for marketing purposes is claimed to be the first transcontinental telephone call, occurred on January 25, 1915, a day timed to coincide with the Panama–Pacific International Exposition celebrations. However, the transcontinental telephone line was first completed on June 17, 1914, and successfully first voice tested in July 1914.
The original long-distance telephone network actually started in 1885, in New York City. By 1892 this line reached Chicago. After introducing loading coils in 1899, the long-distance line continued west, and by 1911 it reached Denver, Colorado. The president of AT&T, Theodore Vail, committed the company to a transcontinental line in 1909.
On June 17, 1914, after affixing 4,750 miles (7,640 km) of telephone line, workers raised the final pole at Wendover, Utah, actually on the border between Nevada and Utah state lines. Then, Theodore Vail, the president of AT&T, succeeded in transmitting his voice across the continental U.S. in July 1914.
Six months later, amidst the celebrations surrounding the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, on January 25, 1915, Alexander Graham Bell, in New York City, repeated his famous statement "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you," into the telephone, which was heard by his assistant Thomas Augustus Watson in San Francisco, for a long-distance call of 3,400 miles (5,500 km). Watson replied, "It will take me five days to get there now!" The Alexander Graham Bell call officially initiated AT&T's transcontinental service. The phone call was merely symbolic. Dr. Watson was at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco to receive the call, placed by Bell from the Telephone Building at 15 Dey Street in New York City. President Woodrow Wilson and the mayors of both cities were also involved in the call as was Theodore Vail listening in from Jekyll Island, Georgia.
Later, President Woodrow Wilson spoke to an audience in San Francisco from the White House and is quoted as saying "It appeals to the imagination to speak across the continent." However, President Wilson was concerned with the "devaluation of the individual" as AT&T celebrated the achievement of the company rather than distinguishing individual inventors, contributors, and innovators.
61 years ago, President JFK held the first “live televised” presidential news conference.
"The fact of the matter is that the time when President Kennedy started televised press conferences there were only three or four newspapers in the entire United States that carried a full transcript of a presidential press conference. Therefore, what people read was a distillation... We thought that they should have the opportunity to see it in full." -Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary to President Kennedy
On January 25, 1961, from the auditorium of the State Department, President John Kennedy’s press conference was carried live on both radio and television. Although President Woodrow Wilson held the first presidential press conference on March 15,1913, and President Eisenhower held the first televised (film footage) press conference January 19, 1955, President John F. Kennedy was the first to use the medium of television to address the American people live without delay or editing.
Read President Kennedy’s message from that day in the Congressional Record.
Live press conferences gave the public an opportunity to not just read about details of the presidential policies and proposals, but also see more into their personality and brand of leadership. With the changes in technology, choices for venues for the conferences have changed by presidency as well as the type of press session where presidents feel the most comfortable responding to reporters. Today’s live television allows presidents to have increased contact with reporters, while also allowing them to do it on their own terms.
Topics for Monday January 23: Spice.......and a Flower
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs.
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) resulting from cross-pollination or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower) when self-pollination occurs.
There are two types of pollination: self-pollination and cross-pollination. Self-pollination occurs when the pollen from the anther is deposited on the stigma of the same flower, or another flower on the same plant. Cross-pollination is when pollen is transferred from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another flower on a different individual of the same species. Self-pollination happens in flowers where the stamen and carpel mature at the same time, and are positioned so that the pollen can land on the flower's stigma. This pollination does not require an investment from the plant to provide nectar and pollen as food for pollinators.[1]
Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization (parthenocarpy). Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop.
Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen. After fertilization, the ovary of the flower develops into fruit containing seeds.
In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to bring beauty to the environment, and also as objects of romance, ritual, esotericism, witchcraft, religion, holistic medicine, and as a source of food.
Topics for Wednesday January 18: Sliced bread.......and Curly Howard
The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread – Banned 80 years ago Today!!
Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience, as opposed to the consumer cutting it with a knife. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped". Few inventions have so monumentally capitalized on the consumer's love of convenience.
Sliced bread saved homemakers hours of drudgery. It put toasters in every home. And it resulted in millions of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
In 1930, Wonder Bread, first sold in 1925, started marketing sliced bread nationwide. Wonder Bread, which already wrapped its loaves, built its own machines, and used delivery trucks to market sliced bread across the nation. Sliced bread is the first innovation Wonder Bread used to build its national brand.
The bright, balloon-imprinted wrappers of Wonder-Cut Bread advertised "Sliced" in big letters. Ad campaigns featured smiling families packing sandwiches for picnics.
By 1933, around 80% of bread sold in the US was pre-sliced, leading to the popular idiom "greatest thing since sliced bread". Soon every new innovation of convenience was being touted as the "greatest thing since sliced bread."
1943 U.S. ban
During 1943, U.S. officials imposed a short-lived ban on sliced bread as a wartime conservation measure. The ban was ordered by Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard, who held the position of Food Administrator, and took effect on January 18, 1943 (80 YEARS AGO TODAY). According to The New York Times, officials explained that "the ready-sliced loaf must have a heavier wrapping than an unsliced one if it is not to dry out." It was also intended to counteract a rise in the price of bread, caused by the Office of Price Administration's authorization of a ten percent increase in flour prices.
In a Sunday radio address on January 24, New York City Mayor LaGuardia suggested that bakeries that had their own bread-slicing machines should be allowed to continue to use them, and on January 26, 1943, a letter appeared in The New York Times from a distraught housewife:
I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household. My husband and four children are all in a rush during and after breakfast. Without ready-sliced bread I must do the slicing for toast—two pieces for each one—that's ten. For their lunches I must cut by hand at least twenty slices, for two sandwiches apiece. Afterward I make my own toast. Twenty-two slices of bread to be cut in a hurry!
On January 26, however, John F. Conaboy, the New York Area Supervisor of the Food Distribution Administration, warned bakeries, delicatessens, and other stores that were continuing to slice bread to stop, saying that "to protect the cooperating bakeries against the unfair competition of those who continue to slice their own bread... we are prepared to take stern measures if necessary."
On March 8, 1943 (49 DAYS LATER), the ban was rescinded. While public outcry is generally credited for the reversal, Wickard stated that "Our experience with the order, however, leads us to believe that the savings are not as much as we expected, and the War Production Board tells us that sufficient wax paper to wrap sliced bread for four months is in the hands of paper processor and the baking industry."
A theory of the ban was that the bread slicing machines used replaceable hardened steel for the slicers. This type of steel was essential to the war effort. Rather than to try monitoring production and usage of this type of steel, preventing the sale of sliced bread would stifle demand from bakeries for fresh slicers, thereby making the steel more available to the war effort.
Curly Howard – Died 71 years ago today
Jerome Lester Horwitz (October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and actor Larry Fine. In early shorts, he was billed as Curley. Curly Howard was generally considered the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges.
He was well known for his high-pitched voice and vocal expressions ("nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!", "woob-woob-woob!", "soitenly!" [certainly], "I'm a victim of soikemstance", and barking like a dog), as well as his physical comedy (e.g., falling on the ground and pivoting on his shoulder as he "walked" in circular motion), improvisations, and athleticism. An untrained actor, Curly borrowed (and significantly exaggerated) the "woob woob" from "nervous" and soft-spoken comedian Hugh Herbert. Curly's unique version of "woob-woob-woob" was firmly established by the time of the Stooges' second Columbia film, Punch Drunks (1934).
Of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, he was the youngest of the five sons of Jennie (Gorovitz) and Solomon Horwitz. Because he was the youngest, his brothers called him "Babe" to tease him. The name "Babe" stuck with him all his life. However, when his elder brother Shemp Howard married Gertrude Frank, who was also nicknamed "Babe", the brothers called him "Curly" to avoid confusion.
A quiet child, Howard rarely caused problems for his parents (something in which older brothers Moe and Shemp excelled). He was a mediocre student but excelled as an athlete on the school basketball team. He did not graduate high school; instead, he kept himself busy with odd jobs and constantly following his older brothers, whom he idolized. He was also an accomplished ballroom dancer and singer and regularly turned up at the Triangle Ballroom in Brooklyn.
Howard's childlike mannerisms and natural comedic charm made him a hit with audiences, particularly children. He was known in the act for having an "indestructible" head, which always won out by breaking anything that assaulted it, including saws (resulting in his characteristic quip, "Oh, look!"). Although Howard had no formal acting training, his comedic skills were exceptional. Often, directors let the camera roll freely and let Howard improvise.
Howard also developed a set of Brooklyn-accented reactions and expressions that the other Stooges would imitate long after he had left the act:
· "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk" – Curly Howard's trademark laugh
· "Ruff Ruff" – a dog bark, used to express anger, showing defiance
· "I'm a victim of soikemstance! [circumstance]" – used to express uncertainty
· "Soitenly!" ("certainly")
Howard had to leave the Three Stooges act in May 1946 when a massive stroke ended his show business career. He suffered serious health problems and several more strokes until his death in 1952 at age 48.
Curly Howard is considered by many fans and critics alike to be their favorite member of the Three Stooges. In a 1972 interview; Larry Fine recalled, "Personally, I thought Curly was the greatest because he was a natural comedian who had no formal training. Whatever he did, he made up on the spur of the moment. When we lost Curly, we took a hit." Curly's mannerisms, behavior, and personality along with his catchphrases of "n'yuk, n'yuk, n'yuk," "woob, woob, woob", and "soitenly!" have become a part of American popular culture. Steve Allen called him one of the "most original, yet seldom recognized comic geniuses."
Rest in peace Curly!
Net Discussion Questions
Sliced Bread
Is there a retailer near you where you can buy unsliced bread?
Thoughts on Government oversight for the “war effort” during WW2
What would be example of a groundbreaking consumer convenience item today?
Curley Howard
Are you a Stooges fan?
Was Curley your favorite?
What scene or “bit” do like the most?
Topics for Monday January 16- M.L.K. Day: Roller Coasters and..........Your Favorite Food
January 16th 349 days remain until the end of the year.
Roller coasters were invented to distract Americans from sin.
In the 1880s, hosiery businessman LaMarcus Thompson hated that Americans were tempted by hedonistic places like saloons and brothels. So he set out to straighten up one of the most immoral places he could think of: Coney Island in New York. There, he built America’s first roller coaster to give New Yorkers some good, clean fun—away from seedier pastimes. This is the scariest roller coaster in every state.
Food
What do you love most of all?
Topic for Wednesday January 11: Amelia Earhart and- Why Join a Ham Radio Club?
Amelia Earhart – Pioneer in Aviation and Life
Anniversary of the First solo flight Hawaii to Oakland, CA
Amelia Earhart (1897–1939) Pioneering Aviator
Amelia Earhart’s passion for flying would take her around the globe. After spending her childhood in the Midwest, Earhart went to Pennsylvania to attend junior college. A visit to her sister in Toronto over Christmas 1917 took her on a new path. Earhart encountered soldiers who had returned from fighting in World War I and decided to train as a nurse’s aide for the Red Cross rather than return to school. In Toronto, she also saw a flying exhibition. “I did not understand it at the time, but I believe that little red airplane said something to me as it swished by,” she later wrote. After the war, Earhart abandoned her studies at Columbia University and worked odd jobs to scrape together the money for flying lessons. In 1923, she became the sixteenth woman in the United States to be issued a pilot’s license. Earhart spent the next 14 years promoting commercial aviation and becoming a celebrity as she broke down barriers for women. In an era where air travel was novel and dangerous, Earhart logged many notable firsts, including first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean (1928), first woman to pilot an airplane across the Atlantic (1932), and first pilot to fly solo from Oakland to Honolulu (88 years ago today in 1935). On July 2, 1937, Earhart made her final flight, the one when her Lockheed Electra disappeared near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean while she was attempting an around-the-world flight. Her remains have never been found.
Amelia Earhart has many famous quotes.
“Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.”
“No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.”
___________
The start of the New Year is the perfect time of year to share our gratitude, love, joy and compassion with our circles of influence – our family and our friends, the people we care about most.
What better way to start the New Year than by performing a single act of kindness for another human being.
We will watch in amazement as each act of kindness is multiplied a hundredfold by the recipients as they pay our kindness forward throughout their circles of influence.
When we share these blessings with others and expect nothing in return, we transform our world in an ever-expanding circle of grateful humanity.
Imagine… then act.
I’m grateful to Amelia Earhart for her example of how to live an amazing life fearlessly and compassionately. We can do the same, for ourselves and for others.
All we must do is act.
This is my challenge to you in 2023.
Try it, perform one random act of kindness for someone else, expecting nothing in return.
Here are some ideas of random acts of kindness you can do to make someone's day:
1. Cook a meal or do a load of laundry for a friend who is going through a difficult time.
2. Compliment someone to their boss.
3. Leave a nice server the biggest tip you can afford.
4. Let the person behind you in line at the store with one or two items go ahead of you.
5. When everyone around you is gossiping about someone, be the one to butt in with something nice.
6. Give someone a book you think they'd like.
7. Donate your old eyeglasses so someone else can use them.
8. When you're throwing something away on the street, pick up any litter around you and put that in the trash too.
9. Adopt a rescue pet.
10. Compliment someone in front of others.
11. Be kind to the customer service representative.
12. Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone loading groceries in their car.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
Should you join a Ham Radio Club?
Strength in Numbers: Why a New Ham Should Join an Amateur Radio Club
Recent article from the ARRL…
You have your license and your first radio. If you’re not sure what to do next, the best thing is to join an amateur radio club where you will connect with experienced hams who can help you get more involved and on the air.
“Joining a club is great for two things,” said ARRL Field Services Manager Mike Walters, W8ZY.
“You can meet an Elmer. And you can meet like-minded people.”
“Elmer” is ham radio slang for a mentor. So, if you hear a lot of talk about “Elmering” at a club you are checking out, you are in the right place.
ARRL’s website lists more than 2,000 ham radio clubs across the country. The Cape Ann Amateur Radio Association is an ARRL affiliated club.
The best thing for a new Technician or any ham seeking to join to do is to seek out a local club that participates in a variety of activities. Some clubs, focus on a specific ham radio activity, like contesting, and that may not be the best place for someone new to ham radio.
Start out by looking for a general-purpose club. That way, you can get a flavor for everything in ham radio.
You have plenty of choices, and it’s important to shop around to find a club that focuses on recruiting new members and mentoring newcomers. If the first club you check out doesn’t suit you, don’t be afraid to look elsewhere.
The ideal club is one that is local to you and has enough members to be active in as many different parts of ham radio as possible. That makes it easier to meet experienced hams and get a taste for everything amateur radio has to offer.
Look for a club that offers classes and other kinds of help. Some clubs hold licensing exam classes, and even regular “bootcamps” that help hams at all levels build their skills. Some post educational material on their websites, to promote ongoing learning.
If a club focuses on teaching basic skills, like programming a radio, that’s a sign that they’re welcoming to newcomers. Helping a new ham make their first contact is a great way of encouraging them.
Getting set up is a challenge for a new Technician. Their new radio sits in the box for months while they ask, What do I do?.
Some clubs offers license exam classes that include hands-on practice using radios before participants take the test.
One of the best things about being part of a club is learning from other hams, and some of the best clubs create opportunities where that can take place. Some clubs pair a Technician with a General- or Extra-class licensee so the Technician can fully participate in on-air contests that might be outside of their current operating privileges.
This approach exemplifies how this can be fun and exciting.
It may sound obvious, but a key thing to look for is a welcoming attitude.
Visit arrl.org/clubs today, and start looking for a club that will welcome you with open arms.
Net Discussion Questions:
Amelia Earhart
Thoughts on Amelia Earhart’s aviation exploits
Random acts of kindness
Radio Clubs:
What clubs are you a member of?
Why did you join a particular club?
What benefits have you realized from club membership?
Topic for Monday January 9: The 70s- What Dod We Do for Fun?
January 9 is the ninth day of the year.
356 days remain until the end of the year.
What did we do for fun in the 1970s?
Roller disco parties.
Coveting an Atari video game console.
Waiting for the phone.
Pretending to be "bionic"
Playing Simon.
Gas station lines.
Annoying (or being annoyed by) your sibling on road trips.
Waiting until Saturday for cartoons.
What Did You DO?
Topics for Wednesday January 4: Sir Isaac Newton & .... & CAARA Education Program
Sir Isaac Newton - a counterfeit cop?
(380 Years Old today)
Newton Facts:
1. Isaac Newton has two birthdays
Isaac Newton was born on the 4th of January 1643 in line with today’s calendar. However, back in the 17th century they lived by a different calendar…the Gregorian calendar and Newton’s birthday is different on this calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, Newton’s birthday would be Christmas day in 1642.
2. Isaac almost gave up on his education
It’s no surprise that Isaac loved school, his favorite subject was Chemistry. However, due to family circumstances, Isaac’s mother made him leave school at the age of 12, so he could tend to the family farm.
2a. Schools Closed – Bubonic Plaque
To give a bit more background, Isaac Newton was a fresh-faced student in his early 20s attending Trinity College at the University of Cambridge when bubonic plague forced his school to shut down in 1665.
So back home he went, where for the next year or so he spent his downtime being a general genius, pumping out his work on gravity, forces, optics, and calculus.
To Newton, his studies weren't novel hobbies filling suddenly vacant hours – they were continuations of a passion that persisted beyond a few short years of plague.
MIT science writer Thomas Levenson summed it up mid pandemic perfectly in an article he wrote in 2020 for The New Yorker:
"Newton was able to do what he did not because of where he happened to find himself during the plague but because of who he was – one of the handful of greatest mathematicians and natural philosophers of all time, who, for several years, was able to do almost nothing else with his time but think, reason, and calculate."
3. An apple never actually fell on his head
Newton did witness an apple falling from a tree one day and this got him thinking about what caused the apple to fall to the ground. Newton later developed his theory of Gravity, believing that Earth has a force that pulls objects down, which prevents objects from aimlessly floating around. Isaac believed that Gravity attracted objects to one another which keeps them grounded.
4. Newton discovered a lot more than gravity
While we know that Isaac Newton discovered Gravity, he also made many other scientific discoveries. Newton is also credited with discovering the three laws of motion. The first law, otherwise known as Inertia. The second law is a quantitative description of the changes that a force can produce on the motion of a body: F=ma. The third law states, ‘for every action there is an equal opposite reaction’. Newton also made the discovery that light is made up of a spectrum of color.
5. Isaac has his own special 50p coin
Interestingly, Isaac was the Master of the Royal Mint in 1699. The Royal Mint is where all the money in the UK is made. Isaac came to the Royal Mint’s rescue.
Did Isaac Newton invent the perfect coin?
When appointed the largely ceremonial role of Warden at the Royal Mint in 1696, the famed inventor took to the mean streets of London -- in disguise -- to root out counterfeiters. Counterfeiting was then a capital offense in Britain, the miscreants he brought to justice typically wound up at the execution block.
By the late 1600s, England's financial system was in full-blown crisis mode. The country's currency consisted entirely of silver coins, and that silver was often worth more than the value stamped on it. People melted down the coins or "clipped" silver from the edges to sell to France.
Clipping had done a number on the nation's currency. The average bag of English coins was just a hodgepodge of damaged and unrecognizable silver chunks. Forgers had a field day, it was easy to pass off even the most sloppy knockoffs as legal tender. Riots broke out as faith in the English currency plummeted.
In 1696, the British government called on Newton. In addition to hands-on crime fighting, he recalled all English coins and had them melted down and remade into a higher-quality, harder-to-counterfeit design. It was a bold move, considering that the entire country had to make do without a currency for an entire year. Working as many as 18 hours a day, Newton reorganized the Royal Mints into high-quality, high-efficiency factories pumping out currency that was highly resistant to forgers.
You know those ridges on the edge of a U.S. quarter? Those are milled edges, a feature introduced by Newton on English coins to prevent clipping.
CAARA CLUBHOUSE
EDUCATIONAL OFFERINGS
2023 is looking to be an exciting year for CAARA, the membership and the clubhouse. While this net is not officially affiliated with the club, a large segment of the check-ins are club members, and we appreciate that!
With the influx of some grant funding, and a growing and interested club membership; what might the educational topics be that get the group would like to see in 2023?
Maker/Build projects
hot spot fabrication – set up
3D printing
Soldering workshop
Go – box designs/build
other
Training
Wires-x nodes
Net control operator
DXing practice and protocol
NetLogger training
VE sessions
other
Outdoor events
Field trips / portable ops
“Official” Field Days
Winter and Summer
Additional ideas!
Net Discussion Questions:
Isaac Newton
What, out of all the things that he did, amazes you the most about Newton?
EDUCATION IDEAS ? What would you like to see offered at CAARA this year?
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse