Friday Afternoon Archives - Page 16 of 44

I’m Surely Going Nuts Today

January 22, 2021/0 Comments/in Food, Friday Afternoon, Peanuts, Trivia /by Steve Kowalski

At a ballgame, between hot dogs, beers and ice cream, I can go through three bags of peanuts. L-O-V-E them!!! I love my peanut butter, too. If YOU love peanuts and peanut butter, there’s apparel and costumes available online to prove it…by the way, I want those socks!!! Whatever, peanuts and peanut butter are a great source of the protein a body needs. Add jelly and, BOOM!! Oh, yeah!!!! Now you’re talking‘!!

Being a foodie, my mind most days is focused on food. What to have for breakfast? How long before lunch? Wonder what Jackie and I will whip up for dinner – (ok, what Jackie has in mind…). For quick satisfaction, sometimes I drift back to my childhood and seek out one of my “go-to” favorites – a simple peanut and butter sandwich (or two). Being one of 18, Mom used to make a number of different stops on her grocery run, one the dairy and one being the bakery. I can still remember the smell of fresh bread and filling our carts with multiple loaves. I knew it wasn’t long before I’d be back home, spreading yummy crunchy peanut butter and strawberry jam in between two lovely slices. A side of fritos (yea, I’d put them inside sometimes too), and I was set. These days the occasional PBJ for a snack does me wonders. I like mine toasted so that the peanut butter starts to melt before the first bite! This month writer Kate Wheeling wrote a little history on peanut butter for Smithsonian magazine that sparked my memories and taste buds and directed me to do a bit more digging for this blog. Special thanks to Smithsonian, Wikipedia, huffpost.com, chem.libretexts.com, the Georgia Peanut commission and The Marathons and YouTube. Enjoy this fun “how it’s made” video and song and help me with my reader’s poll – send me an email – what’s your preference: grape or strawberry.

Peanuts are actually not nuts but legumes grown underground. It’s rich in heart-healthy fats and is a good source of protein, which can be helpful for vegetarians looking to include more protein in their diets. A 2-tablespoon serving of peanut butter contains up to 8 grams of protein and 2 to 3 grams of fiber.
The U.S. is the third largest producer of peanuts (Georgia and Texas are the two major peanut-producing states). More than half of the American peanut crop goes into making peanut butter. China and India are the first and second largest producers, respectively.
The earliest reference to peanut butter can be traced back to the Ancient Incas and the Aztecs who ground roasted peanuts into a paste. However, modern peanut butter, its process of production and the equipment used to make it, can be credited to at least three inventors.
In 1884 Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Canada patented peanut paste, the finished product from milling roasted peanuts between two heated surfaces. In 1895 Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (the creator of Kellogg’s cereal) patented a process for creating peanut butter from raw peanuts. He marketed it as a nutritious protein substitute for people who could hardly chew on solid food. In 1903, Dr. Ambrose Straub of St. Louis, Missouri, patented a peanut-butter-making machine.
Kellogg’s “food compound” involved boiling nuts and grinding them into an easily digestible paste for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a spa for all kinds of ailments. The original patent didn’t specify what type of nut to use, and Kellogg experimented with almonds as well as peanuts, which had the virtue of being cheaper. While modern peanut butter enthusiasts would likely find Kellogg’s compound bland, Kellogg called it “the most delicious nut butter you ever tasted in your life.”
A Seventh-Day Adventist, Kellogg endorsed a plant-based diet and promoted peanut butter as a healthy alternative to meat, which he saw as a digestive irritant and, worse, a sinful sexual stimulant. His efforts and his elite clientele, which included Amelia Earhart, Sojourner Truth and Henry Ford, helped establish peanut butter as a delicacy. As early as 1896, Good Housekeeping encouraged women to make their own with a meat grinder and suggested pairing the spread with bread. “The active brains of American inventors have found new economic uses for the peanut,” the Chicago Tribune rhapsodized in July 1897.
It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
Before the end of the century, Joseph Lambert, an employee at Kellogg’s sanitarium who may have been the first person to make the doctor’s peanut butter, had invented machinery to roast and grind peanuts on a larger scale. He launched the Lambert Food Company, selling nut butter and the mills to make it, seeding countless other peanut butter businesses. As manufacturing scaled up, prices came down. A 1908 ad for the Delaware-based Loeber’s peanut butter, claimed that just 10 cents’ worth of peanuts contained six times the energy of a porterhouse steak.
Americans eat around 700 million pounds of peanut butter per year (about 3 pounds per person).
By World War I, U.S. consumers—whether convinced by Kellogg’s nutty nutrition advice or not—turned to peanuts as a result of meat rationing. Government pamphlets promoted “meatless Mondays,” with peanuts high on the menu. Americans “soon may be eating peanut bread, spread with peanut butter, and using peanut oil for our salad,” the Daily Missourian reported in 1917, citing “the exigencies of war.”
Manufacturers sold tubs of peanut butter to local grocers and advised them to stir frequently with a wooden paddle as oil would separate out and spoil. Then, in 1921, a Californian named Joseph Rosefield filed a patent for applying a chemical process called partial hydrogenation to peanut butter, which is liquid at room temperature and converted into an oil that’s solid or semisolid at room temperature and thus remains blended; the practice had been used to make substitutes for butter and lard, like Crisco. Rosefield was the first to apply it to peanut butter allowing the more stable spread could be shipped across the country, stocked in warehouses and left on shelves, clearing the way for the national brands we all know today. Rosefield went on to found Skippy, which debuted crunchy peanut butter and wide-mouth jars in the 1930s.
The only invention that did more than hydrogenation to cement peanut butter in the hearts (and mouths) of America’s youth was sliced bread—introduced by a St. Louis baker Otto Rohwedder in the late 1920s—which made it easy for kids to construct their own PB&Js. An average American child eats 1,500 PB&J sandwiches before graduating from high school.
In World War II, tins of Skippy were shipped with service members overseas, while the return of meat rationing at home again led civilians to peanut butter. Even today, when American expats are looking for a peanut butter fix, they often seek out military bases as they’re guaranteed to stock it.
Americans still eat far more of the spread than the people in any other country: It’s a gooey taste of nostalgia, for childhood and for American history. By 2020, when Skippy and Jif released their latest peanut butter innovation—squeezable tubes—nearly 90 percent of American households reported consuming peanut butter.
No American is more closely associated with peanuts than George Washington Carver. Contrary to popular belief, George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter. He was one of the greatest inventors in American history, discovering over 300 hundred uses for peanuts including chili sauce, shampoo, shaving cream and glue. He was a pioneer in the agricultural world, and many refer to him as father of the peanut industry. His innovations also increased the legume’s popularity and made peanuts a staple in the American diet.
Born enslaved in Missouri around 1864 and trained in Iowa as a botanist, Carver took over the agriculture department at the Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama, in 1896. He found that cotton had stripped the region’s soil of its nutrients.So Carver began experimenting with plants like peanuts and sweet potatoes, which could replenish the nitrogen that cotton leached. In classes and at conferences and county fairs, Carver showed often packed crowds how to raise these crops.
Since his death in 1943, many of the practices Carver advocated—organic fertilizer, reusing food waste, crop rotation—have become crucial to the sustainable agriculture movement. Mark Hersey, a historian at Mississippi State University, says Carver’s most prescient innovation was a truly holistic approach to farming.
Whether you’re a fan of creamy or chunky, peanut butter has always had a place in our culture. Perhaps the bigger question – grape jelly or strawberry jam? I already know my favorite!

CHECK OUT THESE PEA-NUTY YOUTUBE VIDEOS
How Peanut Butter is Actually Made
People Try American Peanut Butter For The First Time
Making a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich in Space
How to Grow Your Own Peanuts at Home

“Stop, In the …”

January 15, 2021/0 Comments/in Friday Afternoon, Motown, Music, Trivia /by Steve Kowalski

Motown music is attracting a whole new generation…and then some. You go, Detroit!!!

I know, you can see the hand gestures and the singers dancing together. For me, there’s just something about the classic Motown songs of the 60’s and 70’s. Seems wherever I am down, or I’m feelin’ low, a good tune by the Temptations, the Miracles or the Four Tops just picks me up and puts a smile on my face (let’s face it, the past months have been tough – for everyone). 60 years ago today, a budding genius named Berry Gordy signed an unknown group of high school girls to his budding label. After a number of duds, the girls looked to drift off into obscurity, until a simple song hit the charts – and I guess the rest is rock n roll history. The lead signer was of course Diana Ross, and her group the Supremes. Here’s some history on the early days, their rocket to stardom, the changes within the group and the end of the ride decades later. Thanks to Wikipedia, Allmusic and Google for the insights.

As you read through, be sure to pick one of these links and enjoy the groove.
Supremes Greatest Hits
Motown Greatest Hits
Earth Wind & Fire – Greatest Hits Live (Full Album)

With twelve #1 pop singles, numerous gold recordings, sold out concerts, and regular television appearances, the Supremes were not only the most commercially successful female group of the Sixties, but among the top five pop/rock/soul acts of the decade.
The Supremes started out as a quartet known as the Primettes. In 1959, two fifteen year olds, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson, met at a talent show. Milton Jenkins, who managed a local doo wop group the Primes, wanted a sister group to accompany the Primes for stage performances. Jenkins asked Ballard to put together such an act.
Ballard remembered Wilson and the two of them brought in sixteen year old Betty Travis. Prime’s member Paul Williams recommended a fifteen year old from Detroit’s Brewster Housing project Diane Ross and Jenkins named the group the Primettes after Diane’s parents gave their permission to join. The Primettes then started doing club dates.
Betty Travis was forced to quit the Primettes because her parents wanted her to pay more attention to her studies. Barbara Martin took her place, but had to leave shortly, as did Ballard, under the same parental conditions. Wilson and Ross continued to work as duo until the two improved their grades and were allowed to rejoin the group.
Ballard, Wilson, and Ross could all sing lead, but Ballard’s voice was considered the best and most powerful of the girls. According to Carolynn Gill of the Velvelettes, “Florence had a very strong gospel voice, and she was the original lead singer. When the group came to Motown, it was Flo’s group – she had formed it and named it”
In 1960, the group met Ross’ neighbor William “Smokey” Robinson and auditioned for him in the basement of the home of his girlfriend Claudette Rogers in hopes of getting to Motown’s hitmaker Berry Gordy. Rogers would later become Robinson’s wife and an original member of the Miracles. The audition turned into a dead end, but they did audition for Gordy later, singing the Drifters’ “There Goes My Baby.” Gordy told them to come back after they completed high school.
Undaunted the girls began hanging out in Motown’s office reception room. They continued doing local talent shows where they were spotted by Richard Morris, who brought them to Lupine Records owner/producer Bob West. They recorded two sides “Pretty Baby” with Wilson on lead and “Tears of Sorrow” with Ross on lead for West. Released in 1960, the record went nowhere and they were soon back hanging around Motown again, doing handclaps on Marvin Gaye’s early records and singing some backups for blues artist Mabel John.
In January 1961 Barry Gordy finally signed them, but required them to change their name. Ballard who had formed the group named them the Supremes. Wilson and Ross initially disliked the name, but Gordy approved. By this time Ross was calling herself Diana Ross.
The Supremes’ first single, issued on the Tamla in April 1961 was “I Want a Guy” and the second an R&B dance tune “Buttered Popcorn” with Ballard on the lead. Both went nowhere.
The next three singles barely made the bottom of the Hot 100. Things were going so badly that in the middle of 1962 Ross took a job in cafeteria of Hudson’s Department store in Detroit and Martin left to get married.
The best of their early releases “When the Love Light Starts Shining,” in the fall of 1963, reached #23 on the charts. By the fall of the 1964 the Supremes had released eight singles with none even making the Top 20.
“Where Did Our Love Go,” a Holland-Dozier-Holland song rejected by the Marvelettes, was brought to the Supremes. By August “Where Did Our Love Go” reached #1 on the Pop and R&B charts. In a matter of weeks, the Supremes went from no billing on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars show to top billing.
Ross was now doing all the lead vocals, which did not always sit well with Ballard. Said Carolynn Gill of the Velvelettes, “It was Berry’s choice to put Diana as lead. I think Diana’s voice appealed to Berry because it was young, crisp commercial sound; maybe Flo’s voice was a little too strong for that time. I don’t think Berry chose Diana because he particularly liked her more than the other girls. They were after all just a bunch of high school kids to him”
“Baby Love” followed in September 1964 and reached #1 Pop, R&B, and in the U.K. The Supremes with “Baby Love” became the first all-girl group to reach number one in England.
The Supremes became the first American group to have three number ones from the same album when “Come See About Me,’ released in October 1964, reached number one.
The Supremes 1964 album “Where Did Our Love Go” featured a song entitled “Send Me No Flowers” about whether sending flowers can take the place of true affection. A floral bouquet may not be as satisfying as a hug but there is always an occasion to send a flower delivery.
With “Stop! In the Name of Love,” the Supremes became the first group to have four number ones in a row on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached number 2 R&B and number seven in England.
The Supremes began on the historic Motown Revue tour through Europe. It was while on this tour this tour that the Supremes developed their hand motions (resembling a traffic cop stopping oncoming car) for “Stop! In the Name of Love” in the men’s room of a London TV studio with the help of Berry Gordy and the Temptation’s Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin prior to a live appearance.
“Back in My Arms Again, on June 12, 1965, became the Supremes fifth #1.
Not only were the Supremes competing head on with the British invasion, they were becoming superstars in the realm of pop entertainment. On July 29, 1965 they headlined New York’s famous Copacabana nightclub.
The same month “Nothing But Heartaches” was released and broke the string of number ones, only reaching #11. But it was a short-lived decline as “I Hear a Symphony” reached number one on November 20th.
In early 1966 they had hits with “My World is Empty Without You” (#5) and “Love is Like a Itching in My Heart” (#9). “You Can’t Hurry Love” reached #1 on September 10, 1966 which began a new string of #1s that included “You Keep Me Hanging On,” “Love is Here and Now You Are Gone,” and “The Happening”, the last of ten #1s written by Holland-Dozier-Holland for the Supremes. They left Motown to form their own labels, Hot Wax and Invictus.
Friction between Ballard and Ross had taken its toll and Ballard missed two shows in Montreal and New Orleans. Part way through the Supremes appearance at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Ballard was fired by Gordy and replaced by Cindy Birdsong of the Bluebelles.
Gordy now renamed the group Diana Ross and the Supremes. Though Diana was gaining stature on her way to a solo career, the new lineup was not nearly as successful saleswise. Over the next two years twelve singles were released with only “Love Child” reaching number one.
“Someday We’ll Be Together,” issued in October 1969, became the Supremes last number one record, the trios last record together, and they performed it in the last of twenty appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show. Also, it was the last song they sang together when they appeared at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14, 1970. Then while on stage Ross introduced her replacement Jean Terrell.
On March 7, 1970 the Jean Terrell led Supremes reached the Billboard charts with “Up the Ladder to the Roof” (#10) and proved the group name still had power even without Ross. In fact, their Right On album with Terrell did better (#25) than the double live farewell album with Ross (#46).
The new Supremes third single “Stoned Love” (#7 pop) was a million seller in 1970 and became the Supremes eighth number one on the R&B charts.
In June 1972, Birdsong left for home and family and was replaced by Lynda Lawrence, who was followed by a succession of replacements that included Sherrie Payne, Birdsong again, and Susaye Greene. On December 1976 Mary Wilson left and was replaced by Karen Jackson.
The Supremes last pop single was “You’re Driving My Wheel” (#85 1976), and the group was soon disbanded. Florence Ballard, after leaving the Supremes in 1967, did two singles for ABC Records and then spent several years fighting Motown in a lawsuit over her firing. She lost the suit, spent sometime on welfare attempting to support her three children and despondent, Ballard died of a heart attack at Monte Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit at the age of only thirty two.
The driven and aggressive Ross realized her every dream as a superstar performer and actress of the 70s and 80s. She had forty-one Hot 100 hits and her movie career included roles in Lady Sings the Blues and The Wiz. Mary Wilson went on to form her own group Mary Wilson and the Supremes, with Karen Jackson and Karen Ragland.
In May 1983, she, Ross, and Birdsong reunited for Motown’s 25th anniversary TV show and in 1984, Wilson wrote her story Dream Girl: My life as a Supreme.
The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 as the number one female group. Together they had 18 Hot 100 hits as the Supremes, nine as Diana Ross and the Supremes, three as Diana Ross and the Supremes and Temptations, twelve as the Supremes after Ross left, and two as the Supremes and the Four Tops. Obviously, the whole was always greater than its parts to its fans, and the Supremes sound as good at the end as they did when the hits first started.

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I. Love. My. Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me
a quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good. :-))))
Have fun!!

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What Goes Up…

January 8, 2021/0 Comments/in Friday Afternoon, Stocks, Trivia, Uncategorized /by Steve Kowalski

The Stock Markets. Some people were born to make investments. Full disclosure: I was not one of them. So, it’s worth finding someone you like, who gets it and has a pretty good record of making money grow. But sometimes it doesn’t grow. Instead, it goes into the toilet. (technical jargon) Ever heard of Enron? So, let’s say you’ve made some shrewd investments. What are you going to do with all that extra cash? Buy your dear mother a new house? Definitely!! Then invest a little in precious metals. Maybe buy a great big boat. And use that boat to get to the island you bought for your wife’s birthday that’s shaped like a heart. Yeah, that’s the move! But don’t forget, it’s only money.

Hey gang. Hope you enjoyed a great holiday break, gave and received many gifts, ate lots of goodies, enjoyed your family and had a few days to relax. I know I did, and now it’s back to my favorite thing of all – a new year filled with solving your PIA (Pain in The @%$) Jobs! So many things to be thankful for. Over the holiday break, like you, I kept reading about the amazing year we just experienced in the financial investment market. After a really tough drop in the Spring we’re seeing record breaking levels beyond our expectations, – and for now, it just continues to roll. I did a little digging and put together a simple guide to the history and overview of the major markets – nothing heavy here, some basics, along with some fun stock trivia I thought you’d find interesting. Enjoy, and thanks to Sofi.com, Wikipedia, Investopedia, and US News and World Report. While reading, be sure to click on this classic.

– A stock exchange or stock market is a physical or digital place where investors can buy and sell stock, or shares, in publicly traded companies. The price of each share is driven by supply and demand.
– Stock markets now exist in most countries, but the first appeared in 17th century Amsterdam.
– Though there were some proto exchanges dating back to the middle ages, the first modern stock trading has its birth on the high seas. The Dutch East India Company was the first publicly traded company and the first to be listed on an official stock exchange. The company sent expeditions to Asia to bring back trade goods to Europe.
– Not all of these expeditions returned, which was a lot of risk for one entity to bear. So, the company would sell shares to investors to reduce any one person’s liability should the ship be seized by pirates or lost in a storm. This form of trade spread across Europe into France and Britain who gave charters to their own East India companies.
– The first stocks were bought and sold on slips of paper inside coffee shops. In England, the success of the British East India Company was so great that other companies wanted in. The South Seas Company (SSC) received a charter from the king and started selling shares. The sale of these shares made the SSC a fortune before their ships ever left the harbor. At this time, there was no government regulation and when these companies failed to pay dividends on their shares, the first stock bubble burst. As a result, the British government banned stock trading until 1825.
– Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, America was getting into the game. The first stock exchange in the U.S. was formed in Philadelphia in 1790. This was two years before the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which would grow to be the Philadelphia exchange’s much larger cousin.
– From the beginning, the NYSE made its home on Wall Street in lower Manhattan, first under a buttonwood tree and eventually in its current digs at 11 Wall Street. Though other exchanges existed across the country, none rivaled the NYSE in size and power—that is, until 1971 and the creation of the Nasdaq.
– Unlike the NYSE, which was a physical stock exchange, the Nasdaq allowed investors to buy and sell stocks on a network of computers, a system that was faster and more transparent than in-person trading.
– The NYSE is still the largest stock exchange in the world. Yet, there are now exchanges in major cities across the globe trading domestic and international stocks. You’ve likely heard of many of them, including the London and Tokyo Stock exchanges. The Euronext Stock exchange represents the European Union, and there are large exchanges in China, Australia, India and South Africa among others.
– When you read about the stock market you may encounter names like the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). These are stock market indexes, which help describe the performance of a market as a whole or a specific piece of the market.

The S&P 500, for example, lists the 500 largest US publicly traded stocks. It’s a market-cap-weighted index so larger companies represent larger proportions of the index.
Founded in 1896 by Charles Dow and Edward Jones, the DJIA is a price-weighted average, meaning stocks influence the index in proportion to their price per share. Learn more here

The DJIA keeps track of 30 large, publicly traded, US-based stocks. It was designed as a proxy for the overall economy. So, when you hear a news anchor say that markets were “up” or “down” on a given day they are likely referring to the DJIA. Learn more here

– Speaking of markets being up or down, stocks and the market can fluctuate on any given day. The US stock market has historically gone through larger market cycles in which the market expands and shrinks over the course of weeks or even years.
– As an investor, you can buy shares of companies that are traded on the stock exchanges through a stockbroker or you can buy shares directly from online websites like Robinhood. (be careful though, as this can lead to bad, emotional decisions – that’s why most investors work with brokers)
– There are a number of metrics that you can use to help you determine whether a stock is a good fit for you.

P/E, or the price to earnings ratio, takes a company’s total dollar value divided by its earnings, giving investors an idea of how relatively cheap or expensive a stock is.

Average return shows you how much stocks are likely to grow over time. And stock yield gives you a sense of how much you will receive in dividends compared with a stock’s price.

– For the most part, experts tell us investing in the stock market should be considered a longer-term prospect. Wisdom holds that the longer you hold your stock, the more able you are to ride out the market’s natural periods of ups and downs. Timing the stock market, trying to predict when stocks will rise and fall and buying according to those predictions is generally not recommended for the average “Joe” or “Jane”. Here’s a list of top performing stocks over the past 30 years. Important Disclaimer: This list does not in any way represent the opinions or recommendations of KHT – it’s from an article I found online published by US News and World Report dated Dec 21, 2020.

••• DO NOT TAKE THIS AS INVESTING ADVICE •••
••• Please remember, I’m a very good heat treating guy – but a lousy investment advisor!! •••

Here are some top stock returns over the past 30 years:

Amazon.com (ticker: AMZN)
Perhaps the least surprising stock on this list is e-commerce and cloud services leader Amazon. The company went public in May 1997. Since that time, Amazon and its stock have gone on a historic run. Over the years, Amazon has pivoted from a niche online bookstore to a $1.6 trillion online marketplace juggernaut. In the 23-plus years since its initial public offering, Amazon has generated a total return of 212,922%, more than any other stock in the past 30 years. In fact, $10,000 invested in AMZN stock back in 1997 would now be worth $21.3 million.

Monster Beverage Corp. (MNST)
Monster Beverage has been an under-the-radar home run investment since its August 1995 IPO. In 25 years, Monster has generated a total return of 212,468%, second only to Amazon. In 2015, Monster struck a deal with Coca-Cola (KO) in which Coca-Cola took a 19% ownership stake in Monster in return for Coca-Cola becoming Monster’s primary global distributor. Since its IPO, Monster shares have generated an average annual return of 35.4%. A $10,000 stake in MNST stock in 1995 would now be worth more than $21.2 million.

Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY)
Jack Henry & Associates is one of the earliest fintech companies, offering technology solutions and payment processing services to its customers in the financial sector. Jack Henry & Associates went public in November 1985 and has generated a cumulative return of 212,322% for shareholders. The company’s 29.1% annualized return since 1990 is the highest among stocks that have been around for at least 30 years. The stock is showing no signs of slowing down, generating about a 500% total return in the past decade. A $10,000 investment in JKHY stock in 1990 would now be worth about $21.2 million.

Cerner Corp. (CERN)
Cerner is one of the largest public health care information technology companies. Cerner went public way back in December 1986 and has generated a 142,419% return for investors over the past 30 years. Cerner was an early mover in automating health care processes, a transition that is still taking place. Since 1990, Cerner has generated an average annual return of 27.4% for shareholders. Unfortunately, Cerner’s growth has slowed, and the stock is up just about 10% overall in the past three years. Still, $10,000 invested in CERN stock 30 years ago would now be worth $14.2 million.

Best Buy Co. (BBY)
Given consumer electronics retailers like Circuit City and Radio Shack have been crushed by Amazon and other online competitors, the fact that Best Buy is among the 10 best-performing stocks of the past 30 years is a testament to the company’s resiliency and adaptability. When Best Buy went public in 1987, the company was selling cassette tapes and VCRs. Today, Best Buy is selling smartphones and tablets. Since 1990, Best Buy has generated a total return of 108,511%, or about 26.2% annually. A $10,000 investment in BBY stock in 1990 would now be worth $10.9 million.

Ross Stores (ROST)
Like Best Buy, Ross Stores’ apparel retail competitors like Forever 21 and J.C. Penney have been crushed by Amazon. But while other retailers are fighting to survive, Ross has thrived. The company went public in August 1985. In the past 30 years, its stock has generated a total return of 81,286%, or about 25% annually. Unfortunately, Ross shares have been flat in 2020 and have significantly lagged the S&P 500 due to economic shutdowns. Despite the disappointing year-to-date performance, a $10,000 investment in ROST stock in 1990 would now be worth $8.1 million.

Kansas City Southern (KSU)
Twenty years into the 21st century, it may be extremely surprising to learn that one of the 10 best stocks of the past 30 years has been a railroad company. Kansas City Southern was founded in 1887 and went public in November 1962. In 2020, trains are still the most cost-effective way to haul large freight loads across the country. In the past 30 years, shares of Kansas City Southern have generated a total return of 78,464%. A $10,000 investment in KSU stock back in 1990 would now be worth $7.8 million.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH)
UnitedHealth is one of the biggest U.S. health insurance providers. United went public in October 1991 and has generated a total return of 63,395% for investors over the past 29 years. That gain works out to an averaged annual return of 24.8%. UnitedHealth was even added to the prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2012. UnitedHealth shares are still going strong, as the stock has more than doubled the total return of the S&P 500 since 2015. A $10,000 investment in UNH stock back in 1990 would now be worth $6.3 million.

Altria Group (MO)
Global tobacco giant Altria may be another surprise top market performer of the past 30 years. The company went public in July 1985. Despite major public relations and regulatory pressures on the tobacco industry in recent years, Altria shares have gained 61,599% overall in the past three decades, with a 23.9% average annual return. Today, Altria’s revenue growth has slowed to a crawl. The stock is down about 14% in 2020, but Altria still pays a sizable 8% dividend. A $10,000 investment in MO stock in 1990 would now be worth $6.2 million.

Idexx Laboratories (IDXX)
Idexx Laboratories produces health care diagnostics and veterinary equipment for both pet animals and livestock. The company went public in 1991 and has generated a total return of 50,022%, an average annual gain of 23.5% over 29 years. Unlike other stocks that have slowed in recent years, Idexx has caught fire. In the past five years, Idexx has generated a total return of about 580%. A $10,000 investment in IDXX stock in 1991 would now be worth $5 million.

Other hot performing stocks to follow:
Tesla (TSLA), Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL).

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I. Love. My. Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good. :-))))
Have fun!!

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Happy New Year

January 1, 2021/0 Comments/in Friday Afternoon, New Year, Uncategorized /by Steve Kowalski

Wishing You All The Joy of a Happy & Healthy New Year!
~ Your Friends at Kowalski Heat Treating ~

NEW YEAR BONUS
Download “Steve’s Feel Better New Year Recipes” and feel good all year long!

Merry Christmas

December 25, 2020/0 Comments/in Christmas, Friday Afternoon /by Steve Kowalski

The Nativity at Night, 1640 (oil on canvas), Guido Reni.

Merry Christmas!
From the whole Kowalski Heat Treating family to yours.

A Christmas Star?

December 21, 2020/0 Comments/in Christmas, Friday Afternoon, Trivia, Uncategorized /by Steve Kowalski

Yep, this is a special Monday post for all that I think you will really enjoy! As the story in the Christian Gospel of Matthew goes, a bright star rose after the birth of Jesus Christ that the wise men then followed to find him. Was it a comet? A supernova? Could it have been something special with the planets? Beginning tonight, just after sundown there will be a “great conjunction” (a conjunction is an apparent passing of two or more celestial bodies while a great conjunction refers only to Jupiter and Saturn converging). Be sure to find someplace to view this special once in a lifetime event – we think it’s worth watching!

Jupiter and Saturn tangle in a great conjunction—as seen from Earth—every 19.85 Earth years. It’s a natural symptom of Jupiter (taking 11.86 years to orbit the Sun) and Saturn (29.4 years to orbit the Sun), which naturally means they will sometimes appear to pass each other in our night sky from our point of view (despite actually being many millions of miles distant from each other). Amazingly, the event occurs in the same part of the sky every 800 years or so.
The two planets will appear to be a mere 0.1º from each other. That’s about the width of a toothpick held at arm’s length according to Sky & Telescope magazine.
It will be the closest great conjunction since July 16, 1623 and the first to be easily observable since March 4, 1226.
One of the longest-running theories about the Bethlehem Star goes all the way back to Johannes Kepler, a key figure of the scientific revolution in the 17th century and the first to correctly explain the motion of the planets.
“Kepler thought that the star of Bethlehem was a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn,” said Nigel Henbest, author of Philip’s 2021 Stargazing Month-by-Month Guide to the Night Sky in Britain & Ireland. “Here we are two millennia later, and a similar conjunction is about to happen within four days of Christmas Day … maybe a new Messiah is about to be born!”
According to Kepler’s calculations made in 1603 (during a year he observed a great conjunction), a triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in the year 7 BC. Why “triple?” As Jupiter laps Saturn in the Solar System the two planets align with the Sun for a moment, but from our faster-moving planet’s point of view the planets actually appear to go backwards for some weeks. It’s purely about perspective, but this retrograde motion can cause two or, in the case of the year 7 BC, three conjunctions in the same year. The last triple great conjunction occurred in 1980 and the next one is in 2239.
Were Jupiter and Saturn mistaken for a single star? Perhaps great conjunctions were considered omens, like comets. Either way, this week’s closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn in the telescopic age is a historic event that you must take a look at. All this week and next—but particularly TONIGHT —cast your eyes to the southwestern skies 45 minutes after sunset wherever you are and you’ll see two distant worlds become one.

Perhaps it’s a blessing to us all in these most difficult times.
Wishing you good tidings, clear skies and wide eyes always.

“Run, run, fast as you can”

December 11, 2020/0 Comments/in cookies, Friday Afternoon, Gingerbread House, Trivia /by Steve Kowalski

Gingerbread. Cookies and cakes and houses, oh my!! Smells like food to me!!!

Ah, the aroma of fresh cookies baking in the oven. Nothing quite like it. And simply nothing like the smell of gingerbread cookies. The crunch. That spicy taste. Molasses, brown sugar and honey – oh my! Dipping in coffee or milk to soften things up, and then boom, into my mouth for a holiday treat. Jackie and the girls are so flipping good at baking – if I didn’t keep up with my workout routines I’d be as big as Santa. One problem is that my ladies very seldom let me assist in the decorating…. still not sure why after all these years! I personally think that my decorating skills would certainly fall into the performance art category! I went searching for info for you to get a better handle on the Gingerbread history and traditions and a few fun recipes to try. Thanks to PBS, fillyourplate.org and befrugal.com for the tid bits.

No confection symbolizes the holidays quite like gingerbread in its many forms, from edible houses to candy-studded gingerbread men to spiced loaves of cake-like bread. In Medieval England, the term gingerbread simply meant preserved ginger and wasn’t applied to the desserts we are familiar with until the 15th century. The term is now broadly used to describe any type of sweet treat that combines ginger with honey, treacle or molasses.
Ginger root was first cultivated in ancient China, where it was commonly used as a medical treatment. From there it spread to Europe via the Silk Road. During the Middle Ages it was favored as a spice for its ability to disguise the taste of preserved meats. Henry VIII is said to have used a ginger concoction in hopes of building a resistance to the plague. Even today we use ginger as an effective remedy for nausea and other stomach ailments. In Sanskrit, the root was known as srigavera, which translates to “root shaped like a horn”, a fitting name for ginger’s unusual appearance. Health Benefits

Ginger root.

The word “gingerbread’ derives from the Old French word “gingebras”, meaning “preserved ginger”.
According to Rhonda Massingham Hart’s Making Gingerbread Houses, the first known recipe for gingerbread came from Greece in 2400 BC. Chinese recipes were developed during the 10th century and by the late Middle Ages, Europeans had their own version of gingerbread. The hard cookies, sometimes gilded with gold leaf and shaped like animals, kings and queens, were a staple at Medieval fairs in England, France, Holland and Germany.
Queen Elizabeth I is credited with the idea of decorating the cookies in this fashion, after she had some made to resemble the dignitaries visiting her court. Over time some of these festivals came to be known as Gingerbread Fairs, and the gingerbread cookies served there were known as ‘fairings.’ The shapes of the gingerbread changed with the season, including flowers in the spring and birds in the fall. Elaborately decorated gingerbread became synonymous with all things fancy and elegant in England. The gold leaf that was often used to decorate gingerbread cookies led to the popular expression “to take the gilt off of gingerbread”. The carved, white architectural details found on many colonial American seaside homes is sometimes referred to as “gingerbread work”.
Gingerbread houses originated in Germany during the 16th century. The elaborate cookie-walled houses, decorated with foil in addition to gold leaf, became associated with Christmas tradition. Their popularity rose when the Brothers Grimm wrote the story of Hansel and Gretel, in which the main characters stumble upon a house made entirely of treats deep in the forest. It is unclear whether or not gingerbread houses were a result of the popular fairy tale, or vice versa.
Shakespeare appreciated the value of gingerbread, with a quote from his play, Love’s Labour’s Lost, saying: “An I had but one penny in the world, thou shouldst have it to buy ginger-bread.”
Gingerbread arrived in the New World with English colonists. The cookies were sometimes used to sway Virginia voters to favor one candidate over another.
Gingerbread was considered the ultimate (edible) token of luck and love. Before a tournament, ladies would gift their favorite knights a piece of gingerbread for good luck.
Folk medicine practitioners would create gingerbread men for young women to help them capture the man of their dreams. If she could get him to eat it, then it was believed he would fall madly in love with her. For those wanting to cut the maneating part out altogether, ladies could simply eat a gingerbread husband themselves to help them snag the real thing.
According to Swedish tradition, you should place the gingerbread in the palm of one hand, make a wish and then break the gingerbread with your other hand. If it breaks into three pieces, your wish will come true.
Some of the earliest forms of gingerbread didn’t even contain ginger and were not necessarily bread – they were essentially honey cakes.
Over time, the popularity and availability of spices would vary gingerbread recipes. However, the use of butter and cream in 18th century recipes transformed gingerbread to the way it is today.
Recently the record for world’s largest gingerbread house was broken. The previous record was set by the Mall of America in 2006. The new winning gingerbread house, spanning nearly 40,000 cubic feet, was erected at Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Texas. The house required a building permit and was built much like a traditional house. 4,000 gingerbread bricks were used during its construction. To put that in perspective, a recipe for a house this size would include 1,800 pounds of butter and 1,080 ounces of ground ginger. For those of you interested, the house is estimated a mere 35,823,400 calories. Facebook page
Years ago you could actually dine inside a gingerbread house. At the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain in Tucson, Arizona, they made a life-size gingerbread house where you could book for a private lunch or dinner during the holiday season. A dinner cost around $300 and guests could say they had a meal inside a structure made with 850 pounds of sugar! Images 2020 Ritz Carton Holiday Events

Some fun recipes:
Easy Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Using butterscotch pudding mix, these cookies are easy to make with kids and fun to decorate from Seattle local station KCTS9!
Whole Grain Gingerbread Pancakes recipe
Make these gingerbread pancakes during the Christmas season or anytime for a breakfast that tastes like dessert from the PBS Food Fresh Tastes blog.
Building and Decorating a Gingerbread House
In this segment from “Craft in America,” Grove Park Inn pastry chefs Robert Alger & Iain Jones build and decorate a gingerbread house based on the President’s Cottage at Grove Park Inn.
Mini Graham Gingerbread Houses
Keep the holiday spirit going by making these cute Graham cracker gingerbread houses with your child from the PBS Parents Kitchen Explorers blog.

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I. Love. My. Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good. :-))))
Have fun!!

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A Unique Year for a Special Parade

November 29, 2020/0 Comments/in Friday Afternoon, Parade, Trivia, Uncategorized /by Steve Kowalski

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Floats and balloons and fun, oh, my!!!

I hope you enjoyed your augmented Thanksgiving yesterday with loved ones and also had a chance to see some of the parade. As a kid, my brothers and sisters always found time to turn on the Macy’s parade and to see the balloons, bands, movie stars and of course Santa. Mom used to say that Santa is now watching us until Christmas Day, so we have to be extra good. My favorite of course was the giant balloons. We used to laugh at the people singing as you could tell they were just mouthing along with the words. I was always amazed at how the folks didn’t just blow away while trying to hold onto the balloons. I had the opportunity after Jackie and I were married to march in a parade as a huge balloon “holder person” in Toledo. I have to say there is definitely a system involved especially when there is a walkway over the street that the balloon has to get under! My girls have grown up watching parts of the parade in between family football games and getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. I did some digging and found cool information about the parade and its origins. Relax and enjoy your extended weekend. Special thanks to Wikipedia for the info.

The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, the world’s largest parade, is presented by the U.S. based department store chain Macy’s. The parade started on November 27, 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit (with both parades being four years younger than Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day Parade). The three-hour parade is held in Manhattan, ending outside Macy’s Herald Square, and takes place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST on Thanksgiving Day.
In 1924, store employees marched to Macy’s Herald Square, the flagship store on 34th Street, dressed in vibrant costumes. There were floats, professional bands and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. At the end of that first parade, Santa Claus was welcomed into Herald Square and was enthroned on the Macy’s balcony at the 34th Street store entrance, where he was then crowned “King of the Kiddies”. With an audience of over 250,000 people, the parade was such a success that Macy’s declared it would become an annual event, despite media reports only barely covering the first parade.
The Macy’s parade was enough of a success to push Ragamuffin Day, the typical children’s Thanksgiving Day activity from 1870 into the 1920s, into obscurity. Ragamuffin Day featured children going around and performing a primitive version of trick-or-treating, a practice that by the 1920s had come to annoy most adults. The public backlash against such begging in the 1930s, at a time when most Americans were themselves struggling in the midst of the Great Depression, led to promotion of alternatives, including Macy’s parade.
Anthony “Tony” Frederick Sarg loved to work with marionettes from an early age. After moving to London to start his own marionette business, Sarg moved to New York City to perform with his puppets on the street. Macy’s heard about Sarg’s talents and asked him to design a window display of a parade for the store.

The balloons were introduced in 1928, replacing live zoo animals. Sarg’s large animal-shaped balloons were produced by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. That year there was no procedure to deflate the balloons so they were simply released. In 1928 five of the larger balloons were designed and filled with helium to rise above 2,000 feet and slowly deflate for whomever was lucky enough to capture the contestants in Macy’s “balloon race” and return them for a reward of $100 (equivalent to more than $1,500 with inflation as of 2020) – this lasted until 1932.
Through the 1930s, the Parade continued to grow, with crowds of over one million people lining the parade route in 1933. The first Mickey Mouse balloon entered the parade in 1934. The annual festivities were broadcast on local radio stations in New York City from 1932 to 1941, and resumed in 1945, running through 1951.
The parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 as a result of World War II, because rubber and helium were needed for the war effort. The parade resumed in 1945, and became known nationwide shortly afterward, having been prominently featured in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, which included footage of the 1946 festivities. The event was first broadcast on network television in 1948
The balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade have had several varieties. The oldest is the novelty balloon class, consisting of smaller balloons ranging widely in size and handled by between one and thirty people (the smallest balloons are shaped like human heads and fit on the heads of the handlers). The larger and more popular class is the character balloons, primarily consisting of licensed pop-culture characters; each of these is handled by exactly 90 people. From 2005 to 2012, a third balloon class, the “Blue Sky Gallery”, transformed the works of contemporary artists into full-size balloons; after a five-year hiatus, the Blue Sky Gallery returned in 2018.
In addition to the well-known balloons and floats, the Parade also features live music and other performances. College and high school marching bands from across the country participate in the parade, and the television broadcasts feature performances by established and up-and-coming singers and bands. The Rockettes of Radio City Music Hall are a classic performance as well, having performed annually since 1957, as the last pre-parade act to perform and their performance was followed by a commercial break, as are cheerleaders and dancers chosen by the National Cheerleaders Association from various high schools across the country. The parade concludes with the arrival of Santa Claus to ring in the Christmas and holiday season
On the NBC telecast the marching bands perform live music. Most “live” performances by musicals and individual artists lip sync to the studio, soundtrack or cast recordings of their songs. Although rare, recent parade broadcasts have featured at least one live performance with no use of recorded vocals. Cast members from a number of Broadway shows perform either in the parade, or immediately preceding the parade in front of Macy’s and before The Rockettes’ performance
For the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in 2011, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade invited family members from Tuesday’s Children, a family service organization that has made a long-term commitment to those directly impacted by the attacks and terrorism around the world, to cut the ribbon at the start of the parade.
More than 44 million people typically watch the parade on television on an annual basis. It was first televised locally in New York City in 1939 as an experimental broadcast on NBC’s W2XBS (forerunner of today’s WNBC). The parade began its network television appearances on CBS in 1948, the year that major, regular television network programming began. NBC has been the official broadcaster of the event since 1953, though CBS (which has a studio in Times Square) also carries unauthorized coverage under the title The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS
Since 2003, the parade has been broadcast simultaneously in Spanish on the sister network of NBCUniversal (Telemundo) hosted by María Celeste Arrarás from 2003-2006. The parade won nine Emmy Awards for outstanding achievements in special event coverage since 1979.
Other American cities also have parades held on Thanksgiving, none of which are run by Macy’s. The nation’s oldest Thanksgiving parade (the Gimbels parade, which has had many sponsors over the years, and is now known as the 6abc Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade) was first held in Philadelphia in 1920. Other cities with parades on the holiday include the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, Illinois and parades in Plymouth, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Fountain Hills, Arizona.
The 2018 parade was the coldest to date with the temperature at 19 °F. The warmest was in 1933 at 69 °F. The 2006 parade was the wettest with 1.72″ (49 mm) of rain.
In August 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, Macy’s stated that it planned to change the format of the parade in accordance with New York health orders. The parade is being produced as a “television-only special presentation” over a two-day period, with 75% fewer participants and social distancing enforced. The event will not include college and high school marching bands nor any participant under 18 years of age. Balloons will be tethered to a “specially rigged anchor vehicle framework of five specialty vehicles” rather than carried by handlers, and the full parade route will not be used — with all activity limited to the Herald Square area.

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I. Love. My. Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good. :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Just in time.

November 20, 2020/0 Comments/in Friday Afternoon, Time, Trivia /by Steve Kowalski

It’s been a long week, take some time, read on.

Time. It just keeps ticking along. Over the weekend I was watching a couple of great NFL football games and was all caught up with the time clock. Last-minute heroics seem to be just part of the game these days. Managing the clock. Running the clock down. Taking a knee to end the game. It’s action-packed and keeps us on the edge of our seats. It got me to thinking about my awesome team at KHT, and how we manage our time. We estimate time for jobs, track delivery times and processing times, making sure your PIA (Pain in the @%$) Jobs! come out just right – time after time. Time is so important to how we live too – we do things at a specific time, “later on”, “suddenly”, “after a while”, or even “at the same time”. We use a timer to cook, the alarm to wake us up, and our stopwatch to end an event or finish a run. When a dear friend calls, we “make time” or disappoint them that we’re “out of time”. Today marks a special anniversary of Willard Bundy, the inventor of the time clock – way back in 1888. So, take a few minutes to “punch in”, gather up some trivia, and share with your co-workers during your next zoom chat before you (punch) log out. Thanks to ontheclock.com, Wikipedia, and YouTube for the info and amazing music videos. Enjoy!

If you “have time”, here are some fun songs to play while reading our post – and it’s ok to sing out loud – cause they are awesome!
The Doors – Love Me Two Times
Pink Floyd – Time
The Zombies – Time of the Season
Cindy Lauper – Time After Time
Chicago – Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?
Jim Croche – Time In A Bottle

The sundial represents the first relatively accurate method of tracking the time of day. The earliest sundials can be traced back to 1500 BC from ancient Babylonian and Egyptian astronomy. Before humans could track time, workers were most likely paid by the day.
In Roman times, soldiers were paid a “salarium” or payment to buy salt, which was used as currency and was considered essential for living in the time. Along with the word salary (so that’s where it came from), many experts believe these roman origins are where the phrase “worth his salt,” comes from. (now you know!)
From Ancient Rome through the Second Industrial Revolution in 1930, the term salary referred to payment for services. In this case, a salary could mean a flat fee for work or hourly compensation. It wasn’t until the 1800s that employers started differentiating between flat pay and an hourly rate for work.
In the late 1800’s, while unions were protesting and lawmakers were debating working conditions, one man in New York was tinkering away in his jewelry shop. Willard Legrand Bundy, born and raised in Cayuga County, New York, opened a jewelry store and used his trade to develop multiple inventions, many of which are still used today. Bundy holds patents for multiple cash registers and calculating machines, but he is known for inventing the employee time clock. The patent for his time recorder was approved on November 20, 1888 and Bundy started a business manufacturing machines that would record when employees would clock in and clock out of work. A year later his brother, Harlow Bundy, organized the Bundy Manufacturing Company, and began mass-producing time clocks. (I love when families work together!!)
In 1889, the Bundy Manufacturing Recording Company opened in Binghamton with eight employees and $150,000 in capital. By 1898, the company expanded to 140 skilled workers and had sold more than 9,000 Bundy Time Recorders. These machines were sold as a solution for “vexatious questions of recording employee time.”
In the following years, as the time clock became commonplace in the American workplace, the Bundy Manufacturing Company merged with various other companies. It eventually became the International Time Recorder Company (ITR). In 1911, this business was incorporated in New York State as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, which was the forerunner of IBM (International Business Machines Corporation)… (now you know!)
As manual punch clocks grew more common in the American workplace and across the world, not much changed throughout the mid-1900s. However, a few circles started to buzz about special calculating machines called computers and how they could revolutionize our society.
When computers started showing up in every home and business, the market expanded from a few select companies to millions of people across America. The software industry changed dramatically to the creation of tools sold for small amounts to large audiences, a model most SaaS companies still follow today. As the market for software evolved, developers created time clock tools that companies could buy and install on their computers, moving employee time tracking out of history and into its digital form.
One man, in particular, created an invention which many small businesses use today to balance their books and employee time sheets. Richard Mattessich is credited as the pioneer of the electronic spreadsheet, which allowed other develops to create some of the first mainstream accounting tools.
In 1978, Harvard Business School students Daniel Bricklin and Bob Frankston developed an interactive visible calculator called VisiCalc that could be used on personal computers. This way, anyone who had this computer and this program about track data and manipulate it for their accounting and analytical needs. While paper spreadsheets have been around for centuries, the digital option made it easy for accountants to enter data and have it calculated automatically.
In 1991, computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee debuted the World Wide Web. This “web of information,” was meant to do more than send files. It was supposed to provide information to people and connect data from all over the world.
Over the next decade, the Internet would continue to grow. Dial-up modems became the background noise of homes, more companies would start using computer technology, and people started to share information by a communication tool called “e-mail.” With these changes in technology, employee time tracking evolved, too. Microchips and employee identification cards meant team members could swipe in instead of physically placing a punch card into a machine. In some companies, employees could even clock in via computer.
The invention of the internet meant that employees could clock in online from their own devices instead of downloading software or using hardware in the employee break room. As long as team members had access to the web, they could clock in or out. This is all so convenient today with our current “at home” workforces.
This opened the door for remote workers to check in wherever they are — whether they are working from home or calling in from a villa in Aspen. In 2018 about 70 percent of workers reported working remotely at least one day per week – (today that’s likely about 99%).
Modern technology continues to change how we work, but a few things remain the same – such as employee time tracking as long as people get paid by the hour. Employee time tracking is certainly transitioning, especially as more employers embrace BYOD (bring your own device) culture and mobile time management, but the core of the employee time clock will remain the same.
With the mass market proliferation of mobile devices (smart phones, handheld devices), new types of self-calculating time tracking systems have been invented which allow a mobile workforce – such as painting companies, truckers and construction companies – to track employees ‘on’ and ‘off’ hours. This is generally accomplished through either a mobile application, or an IVR based phone call in system. Using a mobile device allows enterprises to better validate that their employees or suppliers are physically ‘clocking in’ at a specific location using the GPS functionality of a mobile phone for extra validation.
Biometric time clocks are a feature of more advanced time and attendance systems. Rather than using a key, code or chip to identify the user, they rely on a unique attribute of the user, such as a handprint, fingerprint, finger vein, palm vein, facial recognition, iris or retina. The user will have their attribute scanned into the system. Biometric readers are often used in conjunction with an access control system, granting the user access to a building, and at the same time clocking them in recording the time and date. These systems also attempt to cut down on “buddy clocking” or ghost employees’, where additional identities are added to payroll but don’t exist.
Wonder what the future holds … I guess time will tell. (sorry, I had too…)

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I. Love. My. Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good. :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nostalgia or the Future

November 13, 2020/0 Comments/in Food, Friday Afternoon, TV Dinners, Uncategorized /by Steve Kowalski

I admit, I’ll eat anything. And these babies are no exception. Never met a frozen dinner I didn’t like.

Growing up my Mom was simply amazing. 18 kids (yep that’s right) all needed to be fed, bathed, clothed, schooled, nurtured and loved. Never complaining – just a constant outpouring of “Mom love.” I was reading an article the other day, and it sent me back to one of my favorite Mom treats as a kid …TV dinners. Those amazing inventions of meat, gravy, veggies and dessert, all organized into a foil plate. Every once in a while, as a treat, we got to use our folding TV tables, (remember those great inventions) and watch our favorite shows while eating dinner! I can remember later on having those thin rectangular boxes stacked up in the freezer with the name displayed (having to turn my head sideways to read which one of them I wanted next!) And I have to admit it – to this day, I still love the taste of them – the standard pre-packed Swanson specials, like turkey and stuffing, along with the multitude of frozen goodies we can find at the grocery store. With the advances in freezers, packaging and processing, there are so many things we can find in the frozen food aisle – including international foods. Special thanks to Smithsonian and Wikipedia for the info and YouTube for the video. Enjoy the trip down memory lane for those of you who can relate – and shoot me a message as to your personal favorite. YUM!!

In 1925, the Brooklyn-born entrepreneur Clarence Birdseye invented a machine for freezing packaged fish that would revolutionize the storage and preparation of food. Maxson Food Systems of Long Island used Birdseye’s technology, the double-belt freezer, to sell the first complete frozen dinners to airlines in 1945.
Plans to offer those meals in supermarkets were canceled after the death of the company’s founder, William L. Maxson. Ultimately, it was the Swanson company that transformed how Americans ate dinner – and it all came about, the story goes, because of Thanksgiving turkey.
According to the most widely accepted account, a Swanson salesman named Gerry Thomas conceived the company’s frozen dinners in late 1953 when he saw that the company had 260 tons of frozen turkey left over after Thanksgiving, sitting in ten refrigerated railroad cars. (The train’s refrigeration worked only when the cars were moving, so Swanson had the trains travel back and forth between its Nebraska headquarters and the East Coast “until panicked executives could figure out what to do”). Thomas had the idea to add other holiday staples such as cornbread stuffing and sweet potatoes, and to serve them alongside the bird in frozen, partitioned aluminum trays designed to be heated in the oven.
Betty Cronin, Swanson’s bacteriologist, helped the meals succeed with her research into how to heat the meat and vegetables at the same time while killing any food-borne germs. Her history is a bit different – saying that Gilbert and Clarke Swanson, sons of company founder Carl Swanson, came up with the idea for the frozen-meal-on-a-tray. Whoever provided the spark, this new American convenience was a commercial triumph.
In 1954, the first full year of production, Swanson sold ten million trays. Banquet Foods and Morton Frozen Foods soon brought out their own offerings, winning over more and more middle-class households across the country. Initially called “Strato-Plates,” America was introduced to its “TV dinner” at a time when the concept was guaranteed to be lucrative: As millions of women entered the workforce in the early 1950s, Mom was no longer always at home to cook elaborate meals—but now the question of what to eat for dinner had a prepared answer.
Frustrated, some men wrote angry letters to the Swanson company complaining about the loss of home-cooked meals. But for most, TV dinners were just the ticket. Pop them in the oven, and 25 minutes later, you could have a full supper while enjoying the new national pastime: television. The top shows in ’55 were The $64,000 Question, I Love Lucy and The Ed Sullivan Show… (can you remember the name of the mouse puppet on the show?)
In 1950, only 9 percent of U.S. households had television sets—but by 1955, the number had risen to more than 64 percent, and by 1960, to more than 87 percent. Swanson took full advantage of this trend, with TV advertisements that depicted elegant, modern women serving these novel meals to their families, or enjoying one themselves. “The best fried chicken I know comes with a TV dinner,” Barbra Streisand told the New Yorker in 1962.
By the 1970s, competition among the frozen food giants spurred some menu innovation, including such questionable options as Swanson’s take on a “Polynesian Style Dinner,” which doesn’t resemble any meal you will see in Polynesia. Tastemakers, of course, sniffed, like the New York Times food critic who observed that TV dinner consumers had no taste, but later found another niche audience in dieters, who were glad for the built-in portion control.
With the help of Pittsburg Steelers “Mean Joe Green”, Hungry Man dinners were introduced – for those with larger appetites – (made me smile J)
The next big breakthrough came in 1986, with the Campbell Soup Company’s invention of microwave-safe trays, which cut meal preparation to mere minutes. Convenience food was now too convenient for some diners, as one columnist lamented: “Progress is wonderful, but I will still miss those steaming, crinkly aluminum TV trays.”
The production process of TV dinners is highly automated and undergoes three major steps – food preparation, tray loading, and freezing. During food preparation, vegetables and fruits are usually placed on a movable belt and washed, then are placed into a container to be steamed or boiled for 1–3 minutes. This process is referred to as blanching and is used as a method to destroy enzymes in the food that can cause chemical changes negatively affecting overall flavor and color of the fruit and vegetables. As for meats, prior to cooking, they are trimmed of fat and cut into proper sizes. Fish is usually cleaned and cut into fillets, and poultry is usually washed thoroughly and dressed.
Meats are then seasoned, placed on trays, and are cooked in an oven for a predetermined amount of time. After all the food is ready to be packaged, it is sent to the filling lines. The food is placed in its compartments as the trays pass under numerous filling machines; to ensure that every packaged dinner gets an equal amount of food, the filling devices are strictly regulated.
The food undergoes a process of cryogenic freezing with liquid nitrogen. After the food is placed on the conveyor belt, it is sprayed with liquid nitrogen that boils on contact with the freezing food. This method of flash-freezing fresh foods is used to retain natural quality of the food. When the food is chilled through cryogenic freezing, small ice crystals are formed throughout the food that, in theory, can preserve the food indefinitely if stored safely.
Cryogenic freezing is widely used as it is a method for rapid freezing, requires almost no dehydration, excludes oxygen thus decreasing oxidative spoilage, and causes less damage to individual freezing pieces. Due to the fact that the cost of operating cryogenic freezing is high, it is commonly used for high-value food products such as TV dinners, which is a $4.5 billion industry a year that is continuing to grow with the constant introduction of new technology.
Following this, the dinners are either covered with aluminum foil or paper, and the product is tightly packed with a partial vacuum created to ensure no evaporation takes place that can cause the food to dry out. Then the packaged dinners are placed in a refrigerated storage facility, transported by refrigerated truck, and stored in the grocer’s freezer. TV dinners prepared with the aforementioned steps—that is, frozen and packaged properly—can remain in near-perfect condition for a long time, so long as they are stored at -18 °C during shipping and storage.
This past year, approximately 130 million Americans consumed a TV dinner.
With restaurants closed during Covid-19, Americans are again snapping up frozen meals, spending nearly 50 percent more on them in April 2020 over April 2019, says the American Frozen Food Institute. Specialty stores like Williams Sonoma now stock gourmet TV dinners. Ipsa Provisions, a high-end frozen-food company launched this past February in New York, specializes in “artisanal frozen dishes for a civilized meal any night of the week”—a slogan right out of the 1950s. Restaurants from Detroit to Colorado Springs to Los Angeles are offering frozen versions of their dishes for carryout, a practice that some experts predict will continue beyond the pandemic.

VIDEO: Make your own TV dinner!
Swanson 1958 commercial. Wow!

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