… and the Comets

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(left column top to bottom) That’s the man, Bill Haley. The real King of Rock ‘n Roll! ; The band with the bassist and the sax player doing their thing. I imagine this horrified the parents of the day; If that guy in the military uniform looks like Elvis Presley, it is. Back stage at Haley’s 1958 European tour in Germany. That bottom photo of teens dancing is from the movie “Rock around the Clock” and represents what really did horrify parents of the day. But they dressed nice and not a tattoo in sight. (right column top to bottom) Loads and loads of albums and 45 RPM singles produced in his fabulous game-changing career.

The other morning, I arrived earlier at the office than I usually do (5am), took an extra-long morning run in down past the Rock ‘N Roll Museum and then logged on for the daily production reports.  I took pause of the amazing efforts of my staff, monitoring all the jobs that run overnight, keeping everything on track for the morning shift to come in and pick up where they left off.  In sort of a crazy way, it got to thinking about each hour – one o’clock, two o’clock, and it reminded me of that great fun dance tune by Bill Haley and the Comets (perhaps it was my encounter with the Rock Hall earlier).  Yep, you know what happens next – I started singing the song in my head, over and over, and then finally sat down at the computer to see what I could dig up.  And sure enough, some fun trivia and history on Bill and his famous Cleveland Rock Hall inductee band. So, for my music trivia gang, here you go (I included some early history, as I’m always intrigued where musicians came from, their families and influences – be sure to click on the links to some really great tunes – and special thanks to history-of-rock.com, You Tube and my guys who keep the shop humming all night long.

  1. Billy Haley and his Comets fused elements of country music, Western Swing, and black R&B to produce some of rock and roll’s earliest hits.
  2. Bill Haley was born in Highland Park, Michigan on July 6, 1925 to William and Maude Haley. The couple’s second child, Haley had a sister Margaret who was born two years earlier. When Haley was four while having an operation to repair an inner ear ailment the doctor accidental cut an optic nerve. The result was that Haley would never ever see out of his left eye.
  3. The Haley’s had moved to Detroit from Firebrick, Kentucky, where William Sr. found work in a nearby service station as a mechanic while his wife gave piano lessons in their home for twenty-five cents an hour. Maude Haley, a woman of strong religious convictions, had come to America with her family from Ulverston in Lancastshire, England before the First World War. Later the family moved to Boothwyn, near the town of Chester, Pennsylvania.
  4. At thirteen Haley received his first guitar. His father taught him to play the basic chords and notes by ear. It was at this time he began his dream of becoming a singing cowboy like the ones he idolized every Saturday afternoon at the movie houses in nearby Marcus Hook or Chester.
  5. In June of 1940, just before his fifteenth birthday, Haley left school after finishing the eighth grade and went to work bottling water at Bethel Springs. This company sold pure spring water and fruit flavored soft drinks in a three-state area. Here he worked for 35 cents an hour, filling large five-gallon glass bottles with spring water.  Only the absolute best of the best were making a living from making music. At 18 he made his first record “Candy Kisses” and for the next four years was a guitarist and singer with country and western bands.
  6. After time on the road with the Down Homers, Haley returned to his parents’ home in Booth’s Corner in September of 1946. He was ill, disillusioned and so broke he had to walk from the train station in Marcus Hook four miles to Booth’s Corner. His only request to his mother was not to tell anyone he was home, not even his fiancé Dorothy. Bill fell into bed and slept thirty hours. Over the next two weeks Mrs. Haley slowly nursed her itinerant son back to health.
  7. By the age of 21, Haley felt he wasn’t going to make it big as a cowboy singer and ill left the ‘Downhomers’ and returned to Chester to host a local radio program. At this time, he also married his childhood sweetheart Dorothy Crowe a beautiful part American Indian girl.
  8. Haley was hired in 1947 as musical director for radio station WPWA.
  9. It was during this time that he put together a band The Four Aces of Swing that performed on his show.
  10. In the summer of 1950, through the efforts of Jimmy Myers, Bill Haley and his Saddlemen cut their first records. They were on Ed Wilson’s Keystone label, a small Philadelphia independent publisher. The songs were standard western swing tunes: “Deal Me A Hand” /” Ten Gallon Stetson” and “Susan Van Dusan” /” I’m Not to Blame.”  They were the first recordings of the band that would become the nucleus of the world-famous Comets.
  11. With their new, exciting sound, the name “Saddlemen” no longer seemed appropriate. According to Marshall Lytle, it was Bob Johnson, Program Director at WPWA who first suggested the name Haley’s Comets. “Ya ‘know, with a name like Haley, you guys should call your group the Comets!”
  12. Just before the Thanksgiving holidays in 1952, Haley’s band changed their name and their image for the last time. The four young musicians, turned their backs on their beloved country/ western music and bravely faced an unknown future as “Bill Haley and His Comets”.
  13. One example of that change was “Rock the Joint” which sold 75,000 copies. In 1953 he wrote “Crazy Man Crazy” which became the first rock and roll record to make the Billboardpop chart reaching the Top 20.
  14. On April 1st, 1954, Myers, Gabler and Bill Haley met in Decca’s New York offices. The three men discussed a contract for four records a year, a standard royalty of 5% of sales, $5,000.00 in advance royalties and the understanding that Decca would mail out each release to two thousand disc-jockeys with full support publicity. Support included full page ads in Billboard and Cash Box magazines! With the deal set and signed, the three men shook hands and agreed on a recording date four days after the Essex contract was due to expire.
  15. It was while at Decca that Haley fell under the influence of Milt Gabler who had produced Louis Jordan. Gabler would convince Haley to change his sound. That change would be evident when on April 12th 1954, at Pythian Temple Studio with the recording of “Rock Around the Clock.” The song that introduced rock & roll to America. “Rock Around the Clock.” The song was a modest hit, until it was used as the title track of “The Blackboard Jungle,” a movie about juvenile delinquents, some 12 months later, and then it exploded.
  16. His next record a cover of Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll’ was a top ten hit.  It was the first rock & roll record to sell a million copies
  17. The next really big hit came with “See You Later Alligator” which sold a million copies within a month.
  18. In September 1955 band members Dick Richards, Marshall Lytle and Joey D’Ambrosio went to the Comet’s manager Jim Ferguson and asked for a raise. Turned down, they gave two weeks notice, and went and signed with Capital Records and recorded as the Jodimars. Lytle was replaced by Al Rex,Haley’s original basist from the Saddlemen, D’Ambrosio by Rudy Pompilli and Richards by Ralph Jones.
  19. In 1957, Haley began touring in Britain as his popularity began fading at home. The first American Rock and Roll star to come to Britain, he was met with large and enthusiastic crowds. The British soon found out what American teenagers already knew. Haley with his spit curl was old (30), overweight and rather mechanical when compared to Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent and Elvis who were younger and who’s music was more exciting. Bill Haley & His Comets were there first, but now they were part of the “establishment”.
  20. After 1957 Haley had a few minor hits but spent the remainder of his life touring and playing Rock and Roll Revival shows throughout Europe and the US. In the early morning hours of February 9th, 1981, Bill called two of his sons, Scott and Jack, and had his last known conversations. He died, in his sleep of an apparent heart attack, about 6:30 that morning at his home in Harlingen, Texas.
  21. Although several members of the Comets became famous, Bill Haley remained the star. With his spit curland the band’s matching plaid dinner jackets and energetic stage behavior, many fans consider them to be as revolutionary in their time as  the Beatles were a decade later. Haley and his band were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Oh, What the Heck, Crank Up the Sound!

“Bill Haley was a celestial body that inhabited planet earth. He gave the teenagers something they never had before – their own music!”  –Unknown

CLICK – Clip from the movie “Rock Around the Clock” (1955)
CLICK – Bill Haley & The Comets sing one of their biggest hits – Shake Rattle & Roll.
CLICK – Bill Haley & His Comets – See You Later Alligator
CLICK – “Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie” or “Razzle Dazzle” is a 1952 song composed by Bill Haley and first recorded by The Esquire Boys in 1952. It was recorded by Bill Haley and the Comets on September 22, 1955 and was released in October of 1955 as a single in the U.S. on Decca, backed with “Burn That Candle”. It reached #23 on Billboard, #24 on Cash Box, and #4 on the RU charts in January, 1956. The song was featured in the 1956 movie Rock Around the Clock (Wikipedia).
CLICK – Bill Haley and the Comets sing “Tequila” (live in Belgium, Brussels 1958) at the Royal Flemish Theatre.

 

 

Stars and Stripes Forever

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From Betsy Ross to Buzz Aldren to our hometown streets, our flag has so much meaning to us. It’s our common bond. It’s our badge of honor. Representing the freedoms, opportunities and choices we’re all guaranteed to have.

 

This past week I had the pleasure of celebrating the Fourth of July with friends and family.  I go all in of course – all the classics of food, fun and drinks, and of course fireworks.  In my small community, we have a tradition called Bay Days, where a traveling carnival comes to town – rides, arcade games, dunk tanks, live concerts, politicians walking about, car shows, an old vintage baseball game and a whole bunch of local clubs and organizations selling everything from grilled Italian sausage – golden brown with yummy sweet peppers and caramelized onions, on a crunchy roll topped with spicy mustard wrapped in aluminum foil of course – (not that I enjoyed one or two or….??), Boy Scout’s selling ice cream, Men’s Club pizza, Kiwanis curly fries, and classic sugar-coated waffle cakes.  Unlike most people who come mostly for the rides – I’m not conflicted at all between the food and the entertainment.  It’s all about the food – just ask Jackie!  From the park where all of this fun takes place, I can see downtown, the amazing sunset over Lake Erie, and the American Flag flying over City Hall.  It got me to thinking how lucky we are in our county to live and work together with so many people of all backgrounds, ages and beliefs, all under one meaningful flag. I did a little searching and found some cool trivia about our glorious flag.  Special thanks to pbs.com for the trivia. Enjoy.

The history of our flag is as fascinating as that of the American Republic itself. It has survived battles, inspired songs and evolved in response to the growth of the country it represents. The following is a collection of interesting facts and customs about the American flag and how it is to be displayed.

  1. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed an act establishing an official flag for the new nation. The resolution stated: “Resolved, that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
  2. The origin of the first American flag is unknown. Some historians believe it was designed by New Jersey Congressman Francis Hopkinson and sewn by Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross.Perhaps the best-known figure from the American Revolutionary era who wasn’t a president, general or statesman, Betsy Ross (1752-1836) became a patriotic icon in the late 19th century when stories surfaced that she had sewn the first “stars and stripes” U.S. flag in 1776. Though that story is likely apocryphal, Ross is known to have sewn flags during the Revolutionary War.
  3. The name Old Glorywas given to a large, 10-by-17-foot flag by its owner, William Driver, a sea captain from Massachusetts. Inspiring the common nickname for all American flags, Driver’s flag is said to have survived multiple attempts to deface it during the Civil War. Driver was able to fly the flag over the Tennessee Statehouse once the war ended. The flag is a primary artifact at the National Museum of American History and was last displayed in Tennessee by permission of the Smithsonian at an exhibition in 2006.
  4. Between 1777 and 1960 Congress passed several acts that changed the shape, design and arrangement of the flag and allowed stars and stripes to be added to reflect the admission of each new state.
  5. Today the flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. The stripes represent the original 13 Colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union. The colors of the flag are symbolic as well; red symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance and justice.
  6. The National Museum of American History has undertaken a long-term preservation project of the enormous 1814 garrison flag that survived the 25-hour shelling of Fort McHenry in Baltimore by British troops and inspired Francis Scott Key to compose “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Often referred to by that name, the flag had become soiled and weakened over time and was removed from the museum in December 1998. This preservation effort began in earnest in June 1999 and continues to this day. The flag is now stored at a 10-degree angle in a special low-oxygen, filtered light chamber and is periodically examined at a microscopic level to detect signs of decay or damage within its individual fibers.
  7. After a British bombardment, amateur poet Francis Scott Key was so inspired by the sight of the American flag still flying over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry that he wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” on Sept. 14, 1814. It officially became our national anthem in 1931.
  8. In 1892, the flag inspired James B. Upham and Francis Bellamy to write The Pledge of Allegiance. It was first published in a magazine called The Youth’s Companion.
  9. In 1909, Robert Peary placed an American flag, sewn by his wife, at the North Pole. He also left pieces of another flag along the way. It is the only time a person has been honored for cutting the flag.
  • On Aug. 3, 1949, President Harry S. Truman officially declared June 14 as Flag Day.
  • In 1963, Barry Bishop placed the American flag on top of Mount Everest.
  • In July 1969, the American flag was “flown” in space when Neil Armstrong placed it on the moon. Flags were placed on the lunar surface on each of six manned landings during the Apollo program.
  • The first time the American flag was flown overseas on a foreign fort was in Libya, over Fort Derne, on the shores of Tripoli in 1805.

Some tips on how to proudly display the Stars and Stripes:

  1. There are a few locations where the U.S. flag is flown 24 hours a day, by either presidential proclamation or by law:
  • Fort McHenry, National Monument and Historic Shrine, Baltimore, Maryland
  • Flag House Square, Baltimore, Maryland
  • United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima), Arlington, Virginia
  • On the Green of the Town of Lexington, Massachusetts
  • The White House, Washington, D.C.
  • United States customs ports of entry
  • Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge State Park, Valley Forge
  1. The flag is usually displayed from sunrise to sunset. It should be raised briskly and lowered ceremoniously. In inclement weather, the flag should not be flown.
  2. The flag should be displayed daily, and on all holidays, weather permitting, on or near the main administration buildings of all public institutions. It should also be displayed in or near every polling place on election days and in or near every schoolhouse during school days.
  3. When displayed flat against a wall or a window, or in a vertical orientation, the “union” field of stars should be uppermost and to the left of the observer.
  4. When the flag is raised or lowered as part of a ceremony, and as it passes by in parade or review, everyone, except those in uniform, should face the flag with the right hand over the heart.
  5. The U.S. flag should never be dipped toward any person or object, nor should the flag ever touch anything beneath it.

 

John Wayne Recites and Explains the Pledge of Allegiance (1972) CLICK HERE

 

 

 

Let’s Hoop It Up!

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(row 1, l to r) Richard Knerr, foreground, and Arthur Melin, co-inventors of the Hula Hoop; 1958 was the beginning of the Hula Hoop’s incredible rise in global popularity. (row 2, l to r) Two housewives in Holland take a hula hoop break while hanging the wash; At a fashion show in Germany these models add hula hooping to the fashion show. (row 3, l to r) Hooping it up in Paris, France; Glasgow, Scotland; and in the 1962 film Lolita with Sue Lyon (hula hooping) and James Mason (sitting) directed by Stanley Kubrick. (the rest of the images) Hula hooping really is a great family activity or a solitary activity or a fun with friends activity— no matter your age.

 

Over the weekend I was digging in the back of the shed, looking for some lawn stuff, and came across on of the girl’s hula hoops.  Wow, did that take me back.  I remember how much fun they had in the driveway just spinning around, laughing. Now, keep in mind…I happen to be a spectacular hula hooper!! Just ask all of my ladies at home! Going online, I found out that the craze hit the US 50 years ago in the summer of ‘68, so I gathered some fun trivia for you to enjoy.  Like many things from the 50’s, hula hoops have found a resurgence, and are now a staple with kids, exercise groups and meditating adults around the world.  Thanks Wikipedia and Smithsonian for the info. Whirl away!

  1. A hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. The modern hula hoop was invented in 1958 by Arthur K. “Spud” Melin and Richard Knerr, but children and adults around the world have played with hoops, twirling, rolling and throwing them throughout history. Hula hoops for children generally measure approximately 28 inches in diameter and for adults around 40 inches.
  2. Now 94, Joan Anderson, the subject of the new documentary short Hula Girl, is finally getting her due for helping kick off the country’s hoop mania six decades ago. In 1957, while visiting family in Australia, she joined her cousins playing with a rattan hoop in the backyard. She brought the idea back to the U.S., and shared it with Spud Melin in the parking lot of the Wham-O plant.  The rest just spun off from then on.
  3. The trademarked name evoked the still-exotic Territory of Hawaii and it’s sexy but still family-friendly hula dance and then launched a marketing campaign that was downright viral. The men took the hoops to Los Angeles parks, demonstrated the trick to kids and sent a hoop home with everyone who could keep it spinning. Company executives took the hoops on plane trips, hoping fellow passengers would ask about the odd carry-ons. And Wham-O tapped the powerful new medium of television with hokey, seemingly homemade advertisements. The word spread.
  4. Before it was known and recognized as the common colorful plastic toy (sometimes with water or sand inside the actual hoop), the traditional “hula hoop” used to be made of dried up willow, rattan, grapevines, or stiff grasses. Even though they have existed for thousands of years, they are often misunderstood as having been invented in the 50’s.
  5. According to authorCharles Panati, there was a “craze” of using wooden and metal hoops in 14th-century England. He reports that doctors treated patients suffering from pain and dislocated backs due to hooping − and heart failure was even attributed to it. Panati also says that the name “hula” came from the Hawaiian dance in the 18th century, due to the similar hip movements.
  6. Native American Hoop Danceis a form of storytelling dance incorporating anywhere from one to thirty hoops as props. These props are used to create both static and dynamic shapes, which represent various animals, symbols, and storytelling elements. The dance is generally performed by a solo dancer with multiple hoops.
  7. The hula hoop gained international popularity in the late 1950s, when a plastic version was successfully marketed by California’sWham-O toy company. In 1957, Richard Knerr and Arthur “Spud” Melin, starting with the idea of Australian bamboo “exercise hoops”. With giveaways and national marketing and retailing, a fad was started in July 1958, when twenty-five million plastic hoops were sold in less than four months, and in two years, sales reached more than 100 million units.
  8. Carlon Products Corporationwas one of the first manufacturers of the hula hoop. When the hula hoop craze swept the country, Carlon was producing more than 50,000 hula hoops per day.
  9. The hula hoop craze swept the world, dying out again in the 1980s, but not in China and Russia, where hula hooping and hoop manipulation were adopted by traditional circuses and rhythmic gymnasts.
  10. Recently there has been a re-emergence of hula hooping, generally referred to as either “hoopdance” or simply “hooping” to distinguish it from the children’s playform. The jam bandThe String Cheese Incident is widely credited with fostering a renewed interest in hooping. Band members started throwing larger adult-sized hoops into their audiences in the mid-1990s, encouraging their fans to hoop and dance, spreading the word and the fun. It wasn’t until 2003 with the launch of Hooping.org that these small bands of hoopers began to find each other online and a real community and movement began to grow.
  11. Bay Area Hoopers began in San Francisco at that time holding regular “hoop jams” with music to hoop to and the hooping group began being replicated in cities around the world. In 2006 Hoopin’ Annie had the idea to create a hooping holiday and the first World Hoop Day was held in 2007. Modern hula hooping is seen at numerous festivals and fairs in the USA, UK, Australia and Europe.
  12. Many modernhoopers make their own hoops out of PVC piping, or polypropylene tubing (known as polypro). The polyethylene hoops, and especially the polyvinyl chloride hoops, are much larger and heavier than hoops of the 1950s. The size and the weight of the hoop affect the style of the hooper. Heavier, larger hoops are more often used for beginner dancers and easier tricks, while lighter, thinner tubing is used for quick hand tricks. These hoops may be covered in a fabric or plastic tape to create more of a visual image and distinguish between the hoop and dancer. Gaffer Tape is also used to line the inside of a hula hoop to add grip or when using a bare hula hoop it can be roughened by using sandpaper. Some use glow-in-the dark, patterned, or sparkling tape, and others are produced with clear tubing and are never filled with materials (usually hoops for children are filled with an array of materials). LED technology and programmable ‘Smart Hoops’ are available which provide a range of special effects and some can even be customized through an application on a mobile device.
  13. Hooping now includes many ‘on body’ moves and many ‘off body’ moves. A few examples include breaks, isolations, leg hooping, and double hooping. Hooping has also become a popular fitness activity, with classes taking place in many towns and cities across the world. It is easy for beginners to get started with many great online resources popping up.
  14. After the sales blitz, sales never again reached those heights, yet the plastic child’s toy has evolved over the years into art, exercise, even a form of meditation. It has been adopted by both counterculture—it is a fixture at Burning Man—and digital culture. This summer, a company called Virfit introduced the Vhoop fitted with sensors and a Bluetooth transmitter to monitor a user’s every twist and turn via smartphone app, marrying the quintessential 1950s obsession to the latest fitness-tracking fad. The price got an update, too: Wham-O’s original hula hoop sold for $1.98; the Vhoop is a much more modern $119.
  15. The hoop was inducted into theNational Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York, in 1999.

RECORDS:

  • 74 hours, 54 minutes– the longest verified record for keeping a hula hoop spinning is held by Aaron Hibbs fromColumbus, Ohio who kept a hoop spinning for 74 hours and 54 minutes between October 22, through 25, 2009.  THIS MAN HAD WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON HIS HANDS!
  • 245– most hula hoops caught and spun in one minute – Sheng Xue, China
  • 39 seconds– fastest time to climb 50 stairs while hula hooping – Ashrita Furman, USA
  • 16 Min. 13 Sec.– longest time to balance a hula hoop on head while swimming – David Rush, USA
  • 203– most hula hoop rotations on the leg in one minute – Ashlee Male, UK
  • 10in.– diameter of largest hula hoop spun – Yuya Yamada, Japan
  • 71 seconds– Roman Schedler spun a 53-pound tractor tire for 71 seconds at the 5th Saxonia Record Festival inBregenz, Austria.
  • 70 hoopers– on Team Hooprama hula hooped theMusic City Half-Marathon to raise awareness and funds for Hooping for Hope.
  • 407 participants– the largest hula hoop workout (407 participants) was achieved atRavenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Scotland by North Lanarkshire Leisure and Powerhoop Fitness.

 

 

 

 

 

Shocking

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(top) This isn’t how it actually happened but it’s a pretty cool painting done around 1816 by Benjamin West (1738 – 1820) titled “Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This digital depiction embellished in 2018 by an unknown artist. 🙂 (middle left) Lightning over the great plains. (middle right) Lightning over the lake. (bottom left) Lightning in volcanos is common, too. (bottom right) Franklin was one very smart man.

With summer and warmer weather comes thunders storms.  I love ‘em.  From my office, I can see out across the lake, and get a real sense of when a storm is rolling in. What is most amazing from my office, is the way the storms will actually follow the Lake Erie shoreline and highway here in Cleveland. I can watch the storms literally come around the corner toward KHT! The skies darken, the wind picks up and bam, they hit – lightning -thunder and rain.  It’s so cool.  It got me to thinking about the story of Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment. I did some searching on the internet and found some fun facts and a good rendition of what happened.  Enjoy, and thanks Wikipedia, The Franklin Institute and Kids Discover.com for the details.  Here’s how the story goes … with some lightening trivia at the end.

On a June afternoon in 1752, (some say it was 266 years ago today, June 15th) the sky began to darken over the city of Philadelphia. As rain began to fall and lightning threatened, most of the city’s citizens surely hurried inside. But, not Benjamin Franklin. He decided it was the perfect time to go fly a kite.  Franklin had been waiting for an opportunity like this. He wanted to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning, and to do so, he needed a thunderstorm.

He had his materials at the ready: a simple kite made with a large silk handkerchief, a hemp string, and a silk string. He also had a house key, a sharp length of wire and a Leyden jar (a device designed to capture a high-voltage electric charge from an external source that’s collected between electrical conductors on the inside and outside of a glass jar. … The Leyden jar was used to conduct many early experiments in electricity, and its discovery was of fundamental importance in the study of electrostatics). His son William assisted him.

Franklin had originally planned to conduct the experiment atop a Philadelphia church spire, according to his contemporary, British scientist Joseph Priestley (who, incidentally, is credited with discovering oxygen), but he changed his plans when he realized he could achieve the same goal by using a kite.

So, Franklin and his son “took the opportunity of the first approaching thunder storm to take a walk into a field,” Priestley wrote in his account. “To demonstrate, in the completest manner possible, the sameness of the electric fluid with the matter of lightning, Dr. Franklin, astonishing as it must have appeared, contrived actually to bring lightning from the heavens, by means of an electrical kite, which he raised when a storm of thunder was perceived to be coming on.”

Despite a common misconception, Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity during this experiment—or at all, for that matter. Electrical forces had been recognized for more than a thousand years, and scientists had worked extensively with static electricity. Franklin’s experiment demonstrated the connection between lightning and electricity.

To dispel another myth, Franklin’s kite was not struck by lightning. If it had been, he probably would have been electrocuted, experts say. Instead, the kite picked up the ambient electrical charge from the storm.

Here’s how the experiment worked: Franklin constructed a simple kite and attached a wire to the top of it to act as a lightning rod. To the bottom of the kite he attached a hemp string, and to that he attached a silk string. Why both? The hemp, wetted by the rain, would conduct an electrical charge quickly. The silk string, kept dry as it was held by Franklin in the doorway of a shed, wouldn’t.

The last piece of the puzzle was the metal key. Franklin attached it to the hemp string, and with his son’s help, got the kite aloft. Then they waited. Just as he was beginning to despair, Priestley wrote, Franklin noticed loose threads of the hemp string standing erect, “just as if they had been suspended on a common conductor.”  As Franklin moved his finger near the key, the negative charges in the metal piece were attracted to the positive charges in his hand and he felt a spark.

“Struck with this promising appearance, he immediately presented his knuckle to the key, and (let the reader judge of the exquisite pleasure he must have felt at that moment) the discovery was complete. He perceived a very evident electric spark,” Priestley wrote.  Using the Leyden jar, Franklin “collected electric fire very copiously,” Priestley recounted. That “electric fire”—or electricity—could then be discharged at a later time.

Franklin’s own description of the event appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette on October 19, 1752. In it he gave instructions for re-creating the experiment, finishing with:

As soon as any of the Thunder Clouds come over the Kite, the pointed Wire will draw the Electric Fire from them, and the Kite, with all the Twine, will be electrified, and the loose Filaments of the Twine will stand out every Way, and be attracted by an approaching Finger. And when the Rain has wet the Kite and Twine, so that it can conduct the Electric Fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the Key on the Approach of your Knuckle. At this Key the Phial may be charg’d; and from Electric Fire thus obtain’d, Spirits may be kindled, and all the other Electric Experiments be perform’d, which are usually done by the Help of a rubbed Glass Globe or Tube; and thereby the Sameness of the Electric Matter with that of Lightning completely demonstrated.

Could any of us imagine today the following statement…  let’s go outside and play with the lightening!

Franklin wasn’t the first to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. A month earlier it was successfully done by Thomas-François Dalibard in northern France. And a year after Franklin’s kite experiment, Baltic physicist Georg Wilhelm Richmann attempted a similar trial but was killed when he was struck by ball lightning (a rare weather phenomenon).

After his successful demonstration, Franklin continued his work with electricity, going on to perfect his lightning rod invention. In 1753, he received the prestigious Copley Medal from the Royal Society, in recognition of his “curious experiments and observations on electricity.”

Lightening Trivia:

  1. A lightning bolt is about 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit — roughly five times hotter than the surface of the sun!
  2. Lightning flashes more than 3 million times a day worldwide — that’s about 40 times a second. Not all those flashes hit the ground — some happen between or inside clouds.
  3. An average lightning bolt can release enough energy to operate a 100-watt light bulb for more than three months straight (about 250 kilowatt-hours of energy).
  4. Lightning starts in cumulonimbus clouds — aka thunderheads — which have a positive charge up top and a negative charge below. We don’t know how the charges start, but water droplets and ice crystals carry them.
  5. That negative charge in the cloud creates a positive charge on Earth below, and the two charges start trying to connect and create a circuit. Ever seen electrical sparks jump across a space? It’s like that, but way bigger.
  6. The air between the clouds and Earth blocks the connection — until the charge gets so strong that an electrical impulse called a “stepped leader” shoots down from the cloud. The leader drops in steps of about 150 feet each at about 136,000 mph, until it almost reaches the ground. That’s when an electrical charge called a streamer rises up to meet it and complete the circuit.
  7. Then a bolt of electricity streaks back up along the leader’s path at about 62 million mph and creates lightning. More bolts can rise up the same path again right after. Because it all happens so fast, all we see is one bolt of lightning.
  8. All that energy travels along a bolt path about as wide as your thumb!
  9. The streamer can travel up through a building, a tree, or even a person, which can be fatal.
  10. Lightning kills about 2,000 people a year, so stay inside during lightning storms.

On a more optimistic note – for all of my really – really smart readers.   Can anyone tell me a cost-effective way to capture all of this free electricity, and transfer it in to KHT to help run my machines?  This would certainly help me cut my bills!

How to Photograph Lightning

A couple You Tube links HERE and HERE with advice for taking photos of lightning.

 

 

 

FATHERS

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Fathers hold a special place here at KHT.  It’s Dad who got this whole thing going over 40 years ago – on a dream to do something special for his family.  Along the way, he and Mom decided to raise a family … all 18 of us!  To this day, even though I was part of it, I can’t imagine the amount of love and effort and caring that went into keeping us all together. Thanks Dad! And many thanks to all the Father’s out there.  Enjoy your special day with family – love your wives, kids, grandkids, great grandkids and if so blessed great great grandkids!  Finally, keep being the role model you know you need to be.  Life is an amazing gift.  I still remember holding each of my wonderful daughters when they were first born and today they are all grown up. I could not be prouder of each of them.  I am one incredibly blessed Dad!

Here’s a favorite of mine, from the famous Paul Harvey, “the rest of the story” archives.  Enjoy!

 

Paul Harvey on Fathers

A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth, without an anesthetic.

A father is a thing that growls when it feels good–and laughs loud when it’s scared half to death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of worship in his child’s eyes. He never is quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be. This worries him, sometimes, so he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him.

A father is a thing that gets very angry when school grades aren’t as good as he thinks they should be. He scolds his son although he knows it’s the teacher’s fault.

Fathers grow old faster than other people.

And while mothers can cry where it shows, fathers stand there and beam outside–and die inside. Fathers have very stout hearts, so they have to be broken sometimes or no one would know what is inside. Fathers give daughters away to other men who aren’t nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody’s. Fathers fight dragons almost daily. They hurry away from the breakfast table, off to the arena which is sometimes called an office or a workshop…where they tackle the dragon with three heads: Weariness, Work and Monotony.

Knights in shining armor.

Fathers make bets with insurance companies about who will live the longest. Though they know the odds, they keep right on betting. Even as the odds get higher and higher, they keep right on betting more and more.

And one day they lose.

But fathers enjoy an earthly immortality and the bet is paid off to the part of him he leaves behind.

I don’t know where fathers go when they die. But I have an idea that after a good rest, he won’t be happy unless there is work to do. He won’t just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he’s loved and the children she bore. He’ll be busy there, too…oiling the gates, smoothing the way.

–––––– : : ––––––

I wish I could have found a recording of Paul Harvey reading this but it just isn’t available. But, HERE is a link to Paul Harvey reading an incredible letter one of his listeners wrote to his late father and wanted to share with everyone.

 

 

 

 

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!

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(top) KYIV, UKRAINE – OCT. 9, 2017: Croatia scores a goal during a FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifying game between Ukraine and Croatia. Croatia won 2-0. (row two left) The very first official international association football match was played between Scotland and England in 1872. The final score? Read on. 🙂 (row two right) A cool photo I found. (row three) The yellow card and the red card. What do they mean? They are explained below. (row four) Ticket prices. (1 US Dollar = 62.08 Russian Rubles) So for the finals, a prime seat would be $1,063 and a cheap seat around $113.40. (row five) Ukraine (yellow) and France fighting for the ball during a FIFA 2014 qualifying match. The action is really awesome. (row six left) For noshing while watching, try Betty Crocker’s Borscht Recipe – BettyCrocker.com. (row six right) Or some tasty Chicken Pelmeni. More Russian food ideas below. (row seven) To wash down your Borscht try a refreshing glass of Kvass – a drink made from bread. Or a very healthy for you caramel milk product called Ryazhenka. Or try another healthy Russian milk product called Kefir. Or maybe not. 🙂 

Are you ready for some football? (no, not the pointy ended ones I’m most familiar with), but international football (soccer). Now in full and complete transparency.  I am not a “football” fan.  Growing up I just could not wrap my brain around a game where you had to do so, so, so much running just to have the opponent kick the ball over my head and have me start all over again! BUT!  next week begins an amazing sporting event – the World Cup, hosted this year by the Russian Federation. Estimates include a worldwide viewership of nearly 3.5 billion people, with over 1 billion watching matches online (that’s about half the world’s population folks). Since there are  just few folks actually interested in this sport!! I thought it would be fun for you to pick up some info and trivia, so when you find yourself in front of a TV, watching your favorite team or superstar like Ronaldo or Messi, you can join in the chatter.  Enjoy, and thanks to multiple sites for the trivia and info.

  1. The FIFA World Cup was first held in 1930, when FIFA president Jules Rimet decided to stage an international football tournament. The inaugural edition, held in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only thirteen teams invited by the organization. Since then, the World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodeling to its current 32-team final tournament preceded by a two-year qualifying process, involving over 200 teams from around the world.
  2. The first official international football match was played in 1872 in Glasgow between Scotland and England, although at this stage the sport was rarely played outside Great Britain. By 1900, however, football had gained ground all around the world and national football associations were being founded. FIFA was founded in Paris in 1904 – comprising football associations from France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, and Germany.
  3. The 2018 World Cup will be played in twelve different locations throughout Russia. Building new stadiums, infrastructure, hotels, training grounds and more, the country is estimated to invest $12-13 billions dollars.  Click HERE to see the awesome stadiums.
  4. Ticket prices are reasonable.  Three categories of tickets will be available, with Category 1 the most expensive.  The cheapest seats, Category 3, will cost from $105 for group stage matches, to $175 for the quarter-finals and $455 for the final. Category 1 seats will cost between $550 in the group stage and $1,100 for the final. There is also be a Category 4 price band, available only to Russian residents at discounted prices varying between 1,280 roubles ($22.19) for group stage games to 7,040 roubles for the final.
  5. Obviously, there is some variation depending on the position they play—midfielders run the most; the goalie not so much—but it’s not uncommon for a player to average seven miles per game, with hard working players running as much as 9.5 miles in a game.
  6. The first World Cup hat-trick was achieved by Bert Patenaude of the U.S. in the Americans’ 1930 3–0 win against Paraguay.
  7. In Brazil, calling someone by their first name or nickname is a demonstration of intimacy (as naming conventions often include 4-5 names). Names like Pele’, Neymar, Hulk and others are world famous.  Another soccer player, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, is believed to have gotten his nickname “Kaka” because it was as close as his brother could get to saying “Ricardo.”
  8. Matches are 90 minutes in length, with a halftime.  The center referee, who has the final control of a match, has the option to add extra time or “injury time” based on his/her discretion. The fourth official will hold up an illuminated sign board, showing the additional time added.
  9. A yellow card is given to a player who consistently infringes on the game or who, in the opinion of the referee has played with unnecessary carelessness to opposing players.  It can be given for dissent, failing to respect required distance, or leaving the field.
  10. On average, a soccer ball, when struck, reaches a speed of 65-80 mph.The fastest shot on goal during an English Premier League game was recorded at 114 mph, when a football kicked by David Hirst (UK), playing for Sheffield Wednesday, hit the crossbar from 13. 5 m (14.8 yards; 44 ft), during their match against Arsenal at Highbury, London, UK in September 1996.
  11. A red card is given to a player who, in the opinion of the referee, is guilty of abusive language, serious foul play or violent conduct, including reckless tackles, striking or spitting on an opponent, denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity or receiving a second yellow card.
  12. Two different hand-sewn leather balls were used in the first final (Argentina supplied the first-half ball (the ‘Tiento’) and Uruguay supplied the second-half ball (the ‘T-Model’ which was larger and heavier).  This year, the ball will be the Telstar, made by Adidas.  The original Telstar used in the 1970 FIFA World Cup was the first football to show a black and white pattern, done to ensure that television audiences would know where the ball was while games were in operation, due to many televisions at the time sporting a black and white screen. Although the original Telstar had 32 panels, the Telstar ‘18 has six textured panels. They are not stitched, but seamlessly glued together.
  13. The 2018 game balls have an embedded near-field communication (NFC) chip. However, it is of no value to players, providing no information about their kicks or headers of the ball.  Consumers who purchase a Telstar 18 are able to connect to the chip using a smart phone to access content and information that is unique to that ball, personalized and localized, providing the consumer with interactivity themed on the upcoming World Cup competition.
  14. While every match will have its hero’s, stars to watch this year include: Timor Werner and Toni Kroos (Germany), Kylian Mbappé (France), Gabriel Jesus and Neymar (Brazil), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Isco (Spain), Lionel Messi and Paul Dybala (Argentina).

Top 10 Russian Dishes To Serve While Hosting a Party:

  1. Pelmeni – small pieces of minced meat wrapped in dough and boiled in salted water.
  2. Pirojki – salty pirojki (little pies) with cabbage, with rice and egg, with minced meat, and sweet pirojki with apple and berries
  3. Blini – thin pancakes with stuffing. The most delicious are prepared with salmon, caviar or minced meat.
  4. Borscht – a main soup of East Slavic cuisine, it has a bright burgundy color that’s obtained through the addition of beetroot. Even if you hate beetroot, try borscht with pampushkas (little buns) rubbed with garlic and with small pieces of salo.
  5. Shchi – In addition to beetroot Russians love cabbage. It can be brewed for the winter with carrots and cranberries. You can order it as salad in a restaurant. But soup with cabbage is called shchi; it’s very nutritious and healthy.
  6. Ukha – a fish soup for real men, cooked over the fire, and a shot of vodka is added just before serving.
  7. Olivier – a Russian classic made with ‘doctor’s sausage,’ peas, pickles, potatoes and carrots – the original Tsarist-era recipe that used crab and caviar.
  8. Kholodets – is a jelly with pieces of meat, and it is very tasty when eaten with hot potatoes and dill.
  9. Kvass – is a drink made from bread, and it quenches thirst very well.
  10. Kefir and ryazhenka are fermented milk products that are very healthy for your stomach. Kefir has a little sour taste, and ryazhenka a caramel one. Drink them in the evening before going to bed, and the next day you’ll feel great and ready to continue watching the World Cup.

Click below to find your favorite World Cup finals trivia.

Year Host Winning Team Captain Head coach
1930  Uruguay  Uruguay José Nasazzi Alberto Suppici
1934  Italy  Italy Giampiero Combi Vittorio Pozzo
1938  France  Italy Giuseppe Meazza Vittorio Pozzo
1950  Brazil  Uruguay Obdulio Varela Juan López Fontana
1954   Switzerland  West Germany Fritz Walter Sepp Herberger
1958  Sweden  Brazil Hilderaldo Bellini Vicente Feola
1962  Chile  Brazil Mauro Ramos Aymoré Moreira
1966  England  England Bobby Moore Alf Ramsey
1970  Mexico  Brazil Carlos Alberto Torres Mário Zagallo
1974  West Germany  West Germany Franz Beckenbauer Helmut Schön
1978  Argentina  Argentina Daniel Passarella César Luis Menotti
1982  Spain  Italy Dino Zoff Enzo Bearzot
1986  Mexico  Argentina Diego Maradona Carlos Bilardo
1990  Italy  West Germany Lothar Matthäus Franz Beckenbauer
1994  United States  Brazil Dunga Carlos Alberto Parreira
1998  France  France Didier Deschamps Aimé Jacquet
2002  South Korea
Japan		  Brazil Cafu Luiz Felipe Scolari
2006  Germany  Italy Fabio Cannavaro Marcello Lippi
2010  South Africa  Spain Iker Casillas Vicente del Bosque
2014  Brazil  Germany Philipp Lahm Joachim Löw

 

 

Summer Must Be Here

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Farm to kitchen to yum-m-m-m!!! Love that potato salad!

Over the holiday weekend, we were treated to some amazing weather here in NE Ohio, with the mercury reaching over 90 degrees – what a treat! And, like most families, we ventured out on to the back patio to enjoy the weather and my favorite part of summer – THE FOOD! Firing up the barbeque, roasting corn and veggies, I hit upon that one yummy side dish that just says “summer” – potato salad. (NOT ONLY AS A SIDE!) Yep, creamy, chunky, tasty potato salad. So, for my post this week, I thought I’d share a little history, some recipes and start a bit of competition, to find out who’s got the “best”. Best potatoes, best ingredients, best dressing. Add Eggs? Pickles? Mustard? Sour cream, yogurt or mayo? Hellman’s or Miracle Whip? Onions or scallions or chives? Now of course, I’m partial to Jackie’s approach, and also have a taste bud or two for when Mom makes her version, although I’m usually pretty easy to please, not when it comes to potato salad! Below you can find a few variations to experiment and send me your family favorites I can share with our blog community … and of course, don’t forget the pepper – (just isn’t right to eat without pepper! – or the occasional dollop of barbecue sauce!) Thanks Wikipedia and various food networks for their history and recipe versions.

  1. Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes and a variety of other ingredients. It is generally considered a side dish, as it usually accompanies the main course.
  2. American potato salad most likely originated from recipes brought to the U.S. by way of German and European settlers during the nineteenth century. Basic ingredients for traditional American potato salad include cubed, boiled potatoes (typically russet potatoes), mayonnaise or a mayonnaise-like substitute such as yogurt or sour cream, yellow mustard and/or mustard powder (dry mustard), black pepper, salt, celery seed, sugar, dry dill, pickles (pickled cucumber), chives, red or white onion, green or red bell pepper, celery and sometimes chopped hard-boiled egg whites. Vegetable ingredients (not including the potatoes) are diced or chopped and incorporated raw. The salad is often topped with paprika and chives, and generally served cold or at room temperature.
  3. German potato salad, or “Kartoffelsalat” is served warm or cold and prepared with potatoes, bacon, vinegar, salt, pepper, vegetable oil, mustard, vegetable or beef broth, and onions. This style of potato salad is usually found in Southern Germany. Potato salad from northern Germany is generally made with mayonnaise and quite similar to its U.S. counterpart.
  4. With hundreds of varieties of potatoes to choose from, it can be daunting to figure out which one to use for potato salad. The type of potato matters.  When shopping, potatoes are generally divided into three categories based on texture.  For potato salad, you’ll want to stay away from starchy, thick-skinned potatoes like russets, which will fall apart during the cooking process. The best potatoes are Waxy: These thin-skinned potatoes have the least amount of starch and retain their shape well when boiled, making them our favorite for potato salad. Thin skins also mean that peeling is optional if you’re short on time or like a more rustic salad. What to look for: Red, new, or fingerling potatoes are the most common varieties.
  5. You can also use “In-Between” potatoes, also known as all-purpose potatoes, these have more starch than waxy potatoes, but will generally work well in most potato dishes, including potato salad. What to look for: White and Yukon Golds are reliable in-between potatoes to always have around.

Now that you are “thinking potatoes, did you know…

  1. Potatoes are the world’s fourth largest crop in terms of fresh produce, coming in behind only rice, wheat, and maize (corn). And they are the largest crop worldwide from the tuber family. Although this staple crop as we know it today has its most recent connections to Europe and European soil the very first potatoes actually originated in South America. After there was European contact with the Americas in the 1400’s and 1500’s the rest of the world was given access to the potato, allowing it to become the powerful staple field crop it is today. According to the guys who track things, the worldwide production of potatoes equaled approximately 750 BILLION POUNDS, making potatoes the fourth highest production crop in the world.
  2. Potatoes are often said to be made up of “empty calories”. This is not true. Potatoes are mostly recognized for their carbohydrate content. This is one of the key food types that our body requires daily. The carbohydrates in potatoes are predominately starch. A small but significant amount of this starch is resistant to digestion in the stomach and small intestine and, therefore, enters into the large intestine essentially intact. This resistant starch is considered to act with the same positive benefits that fiber does in the body; such as providing bulk, protecting against colon cancer, and increasing satiety (feeling of being satisfied or full) to name a few.
  3. Potatoes contain various important vitamins and minerals. By consuming a medium sized potato with the skin (therefore, most likely in the form of a baked potato) your body with receive almost 50% of its daily recommended amount of Vitamin C, around 20% of the potassium your body needs, and 10% of vitamin B6. Also included in this healthy spud are trace amounts of thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc.
  4. The skin of the potato, as is fairly commonly known, is also a great source of fiber, providing an amount equivalent to most whole grain breads, cereals, and pastas. The old myth that all of a potato’s healthy elements are found in the skin is not true. Although the skin does house around half of the total dietary fiber of a potato, more than 50% of the healthy nutrients are found within the potato itself. So this makes me half right all of these years!!
  5. The method by which potatoes are cooked can result in a significant difference in the nutrient availability of the spud. Newer potatoes offer fewer toxic chemicals giving them a strong advantage over other potatoes and making them the best source of nutrition. While peeled potatoes that have been stored for a long time have a lower nutritional value, but they still would contain good levels of potassium and vitamin B.
  6. When it comes to preparing potatoes, there are many different ways to cook them and to use them as a part of your diet or fancy meal. You will find potatoes naked (no skin) or fully wrapped (skin on), you will find them chopped up or whole, and they will often be seasoned or unseasoned. Potatoes require to be cooked in some form as this breaks down the starch.
  7. Potatoes, believe it or not, can also be toxic to humans. They contain the toxic compounds known as glycoalkaloids which can cause headaches, diarrhea, cramping, and in very severe cases even comas or death. However, poisoning from potatoes occurs very rarely. In fact, cooking potatoes at high temperatures, which is almost always the case, works to partly destroy these toxic compounds. In the past, potatoes have also hurt humans in a different way; particularly the Irish during the great Irish potato famine when the potato, which was providing about 80 percent of the calories in each Irishman’s diet, had a crop failure. When a fungus destroyed almost the entire Irish crop of potatoes, nearly 1 of the 8 million people in Ireland died of starvation while 2 million more emigrated.
  8. When potatoes are newly harvested they are generally cured to thicken the skin. Prior to this curing the skin of a potato is quite delicate, and these types of potatoes known as “new potatoes” are said to be quite flavorful. Once harvested potatoes are either eaten by the gardener or farmer who has produced them, or they are sent away to be packaged and stored for you the consumer. The storage of potatoes is an intricate process as specially designed storage areas need to be carefully designed to keep potatoes alive and to slow their decomposition.
  9. And now for ingredients: depending on your taste buds, some favorites include:  Celery, onion, eggs, mustard, pickle relish, radishes, bacon, carrots, yogurt or sour cream or different types of mayo, (Hellman’s!, not Miracle Whip), garlic salt, paprika, celery salt, chives, PEPPER! – just experiment and enjoy the variations.

Some great recipes to try: I WILL NOT BE GIVING UP JACKIE’S OR MOM’S!

Traditional: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mama-s-potato-salad
Southern: https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/southern-potato-salad/
Adventurous: https://www.saveur.com/gallery/Homemade-Potato-Salad-Recipes
Zany: https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/07/our-5-most-crazy-popular-potato-salad-recipes/

 

June 12, 2012—The Great Big Idaho® Potato Truck made a special appearance at the nation’s capitol in Washington, D.C. You can see what’s inside that giant spud HERE.

 

 

 

 

We Salute You

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To those in uniform serving today and to those who have served in the past, we honor you today and every day.

With Memorial Day coming on Monday, I get all fired up. For me, there’s nothing quite like a parade. Colors, sounds, crowds, floats, marching, music, and sometimes candy for the kids. Growing up, I loved going to the parade with Mom and Dad and my brothers and sisters. – We’d ride our bikes and set up on “a good spot” so we could see everything up close. I can remember my siblings marching in place when the bands came, and how solemn my Dad would get when the servicemen would march by. And there was that special moment when I’d “salute” them, putting my hand to my head, just like the adults did. Now, later in life, this means so much more to me. Words come to mind, like sacrifice, commitment, camaraderie, valor, and honor – all words we hold dear, and most often apply to the military and the protections from fire and police.

So, in our KHT way – WE SALUTE YOU! For all you do, and for all you’ve done.

For my trivia buffs, a little extra info on the salute from our friends at Wikipedia – so the next time you use one, you’ll know just how meaningful and important it is. Enjoy.

  1. In military traditions of various times and places, there have been numerous methods of performing salutes, using hand gestures, cannon or rifle shots, hoisting of flags, removal of headgear, or other means of showing respect or deference.
  2. In the Commonwealth of Nations, only commissioned officers are saluted, and the salute is to the commission they carry from their respective commanders-in-chief representing the Monarch, not the officers themselves.
  3. In the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard, United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and other armed forces around the world, hand salutes are only given when a cover (protection for the head, usually a hat) is worn.
  4. The United States Army and United States Air Force give salutes both covered and uncovered, but saluting indoors is forbidden except when formally reporting to a superior officer or during an indoor ceremony. It should be noted that when outdoors, a cover is to be worn at all times when wearing Battle Dress Uniforms/Army Combat Uniforms, but is not required when wearing physical training gear.
  5. Some soldiers may salute with the left hand when the right hand is encumbered in some way (though it is rare).
  6. In the United States, civilians may salute the U.S. flag by placing their right hand over their heart or by standing at attention during the playing of the national anthem or while reciting the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, or when the flag is passing by, as in a parade. Men and boys remove their hats and other headgear during the salute; religious headdress (and military headdress worn by veterans in uniform, who are otherwise civilians) are exempt.
  7. According to some modern military manuals, the modern Western salute originated in France when knights greeted each other to show friendly intentions by raising their visors to show their faces, using a salute. Others also note that the raising of one’s visor was a way to identify oneself saying “This is who I am, and I am not afraid.” Medieval visors were, to this end, equipped with a protruding spike that allowed the visor to be raised using a saluting motion.
  8. The US Army Quartermaster School provides another explanation of the origin of the hand salute: that it was a long-established military custom for subordinates to remove their headgear in the presence of superiors. As late as the American Revolution, a British Army soldier saluted by removing his hat. With the advent of increasingly cumbersome headgear in the 18th and 19th centuries, however, the act of removing one’s hat was gradually converted into the simpler gesture of grasping or touching the visor and issuing a courteous salutation.
  9. As early as 1745, a British order book stated that: “The men are ordered not to pull off their hats when they pass an officer, or to speak to them, but only to clap up their hands to their hats and bow as they pass.” Over time, it became conventionalized into something resembling our modern hand salute.
  10. The naval salute, with the palm downwards is said to have evolved because the palms of naval ratings, particularly deckhands, were often dirty through working with lines and was deemed insulting to present a dirty palm to an officer; thus the palm was turned downwards.
  11. When carrying a sword (beautifully heat treated of course), European military forces and their cultural descendants use a two-step gesture. The sword is first raised, in the right hand, to the level of and close to the front of the neck. The blade is inclined forward and up 30 degrees from the vertical; the true edge is to the left. Then the sword is slashed downward to a position with the point close to the ground in front of the right foot. The blade is inclined down and forward with the true edge to the left. This gesture originated in the Crusades. The hilt of a sword formed a cross with the blade, so if a crucifix was not available, a Crusader could kiss the hilt of his sword when praying, before entering battle, for oaths and vows, and so on. The lowering of the point to the ground is a traditional act of submission.
  12. When armed with a rifle, two methods are available when saluting. The usual method is called “present arms”; the rifle is brought to the vertical, muzzle up, in front of center of the chest with the trigger away from the body. Less formal salutes include the “order arms salute” and the “shoulder arms salutes.” These are most often given by a sentry to a low-ranking superior who does not rate the full “present arms” salute.
  13. A different type of salute with a rifle is a ritual firing performed during military funerals, known as a three-volley salute. In this ceremonial act, an odd number of rifleman fire three blank cartridges in unison into the air over the casket. This originates from an old European tradition wherein a battle was halted to remove the dead and wounded, then three shots were fired to signal readiness to reengage.
  14. The custom of firing cannon salutes originated in the Royal Navy. When a cannon was fired, it partially disarmed the ship, so needlessly firing a cannon showed respect and trust. As a matter of courtesy a warship would fire her guns harmlessly out to sea, to show that she had no hostile intent. At first, ships were required to fire seven guns, and forts, with their more numerous guns and a larger supply of gunpowder, to fire 21 times. Later, as the quality of gunpowder improved, the British increased the number of shots required from ships to match the forts.
  15. The system of odd numbered rounds originated from Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the Navy in the Restoration, as a way of economizing on the use of powder, the rule until that time having been that all guns had to be fired. Odd numbers were chosen, as even numbers indicated a death.
  16. As naval customs evolved, the 21-gun salute came to be reserved for heads of state, with fewer rounds used to salute lower-ranking officials. Today, heads of government, cabinet ministers, and military officers with five-star rank receive 19 rounds; four-stars receive 17 rounds; three-stars receive 15; two-stars receive 13; and a one-star general or admiral receives 11. These same standards are currently adhered to by ground-based saluting batteries.
  17. A specialty platoon of the 3rd US Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), the Presidential Salute Battery is based at Fort Myer, Virginia. The Guns Platoon (as it is known for short) has the task of rendering military honors in the National Capital Region..
  18. A ceremonial or celebratory form of aerial salute is the flypast (known as a “flyover” in the United States. Primarily displayed during funerals, they began with simple flypasts during World War I and have evolved into the missing man formation, where either a formation of aircraft is conspicuously missing an element, or where a single plane abruptly leaves a formation. A casual salute by an aircraft, somewhat akin to waving to a friend, is the custom of “waggling” the wings by partially rolling the aircraft first to one side, and then the other.
  19. Historically, when men normally wore hats out of doors, male greetings to people they knew, and sometimes those they did not, involved touching, raising slightly (“tipping”), or removing their hat in a variety of gestures. This basic gesture remained normal in very many situations from the Middle Ages until men typically ceased wearing hats in the mid-20th century.
  20. Hat-raising began with an element of recognition of superiority, where only the socially inferior party might perform it, but gradually lost this element; King Louis XIV of France made a point of at least touching his hat to all women he encountered. When a man was not wearing a hat he might touch his hair to the side of the front of his head to replicate a hat tipping gesture. This was typically performed by lower class men to social superiors, such as peasants to the land-owner, and is known as “tugging the forelock”.
  21. In Europe, the formal style of upper-class greeting used by a man to a woman in the Early Modern Period was to hold the woman’s presented hand (usually the right) with his right hand and kiss it while bowing, This style has not been widespread for a century or more. In cases of a low degree of intimacy, the hand is held but not kissed. The ultra-formal style, with the man’s right knee on the floor, is now only used in marriage proposals, as a romantic gesture.

 

 

 

And They’re Off

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(row one) And they’re off! (row two) Have some traditional Kentucky Derby Food: Burgoo stew! Have a traditional Kentucky Derby Drink: The Mint Julep! (row three) Kentucky Derby founder Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., (grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition) and the original look of Churchill Downs. (I wonder if Winston Churchill ever attended a race there) (row four) The first woman jockey. Read further to see her name. What a Churchill Downs bet slip looks like. (row five) Another Kentucky Derby tradition is the hat. Hundreds of big lavish hats will be topping off hundreds of women’s heads on Derby Day. A fun day for everybody! (row six) What last year’s general admission tickets looked like.

A fun sign for me that spring has arrived is the running of the Kentucky Derby.  Jackie and the girls love the pageantry of the event – the hats, outfits and celebrities and the race itself is something really special. And, talk about your PIA (Pain in the @%$) Job – finding a horse, raising a horse, training, practice, traveling all over to tracks, nutrition, finding the right jockey, everything that goes into horseracing, then making it to the Kentucky Derby field, winning, and then trying to repeat it two more times.  For “triple crown” winners, it truly is a remarkable feat.  There has only been twelve horses have won the Triple Crown: Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978), and American Pharoah (2015). Personally,  I am always rooting for the underdog!  Hence the reason I never place a bet on the horses! Special thanks to Wikipedia and random internet finds for the fun facts.  See you at the finish line.

  • The Kentucky Derby is a horse race that is held annually in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kilograms) and fillies 121 pounds (55 kilograms).
  • The race is often called “The Run for the Roses” for the blanket of roses draped over the winner. It is also known in the United States as “The Most Exciting Two Minutes In Sports” or “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports” in reference to its approximate duration.
  • It is the first leg of the American Triple Crown and is followed by the Preakness Stakes, then the Belmont Stakes. Unlike the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, which took hiatuses in 1891–1893 and 1911–1912, respectively, the Kentucky Derby has been run every consecutive year since 1875, even during both World Wars. A horse must win all three races to win the Triple Crown.
  • The attendance at the Kentucky Derby ranks first in North America and usually surpasses the attendance of all other stakes races including the Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, and the Breeders’ Cup.
  • In 1872, Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition, traveled to England, visiting Epsom in Surrey where The Derby had been running annually since 1780.From there, Clark went on to Paris, France, where in 1863, a group of racing enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club and had organized the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp, which at the time was the greatest race in France.
  • Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club for the purpose of raising money to build quality racing facilities just outside the city. The track would soon become known as Churchill Downs, named for John and Henry Churchill, who provided the land for the racetrack.
  • The Kentucky Derby was first run at 1 1/2 miles (12 furlongs; 2.4 km) the same distance as the Epsom Derby. The distance was changed in 1896 to its current 1 1/4 miles (10 furlongs; 2 km).
  • On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Derby. Under jockey Oliver Lewis, a colt named Aristides, who was trained by future Hall of Famer Ansel Williamson, won the inaugural Derby. Later that year, Lewis rode Aristides to a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.
  • Although the first race meeting proved a success, the track ran into financial difficulties and in 1894 the New Louisville Jockey Club was incorporated with new capitalization and improved facilities. Despite this, the business foundered until 1902 when Col. Matt Winn of Louisville put together a syndicate of businessmen to acquire the facility. Under Winn, Churchill Downs prospered and the Kentucky Derby then became the preeminent stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses in North America.
  • Thoroughbred owners began sending their successful Derby horses to compete later in the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. The three races offered large purses and in 1919 Sir Barton became the first horse to win all three races. However, the term Triple Crown didn’t come into use for another eleven years. In 1930, when Gallant Fox became the second horse to win all three races, sportswriter Charles Hatton brought the phrase into American usage.
  • Fueled by the media, public interest in the possibility of a “superhorse” that could win the Triple Crown began in the weeks leading up to the Derby. Two years after the term was coined, the race, which had been run in mid-May since inception, was changed to the first Saturday in May to allow for a specific schedule for the Triple Crown races. Since 1931, the order of Triple Crown races has been the Kentucky Derby first, followed by the Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes. Prior to 1931, eleven times the Preakness was run before the Derby.
  • In 1954, the purse exceeded $100,000 for the first time. In 1968, Dancer’s Image became the first (and to this day the only) horse to win the race and then be disqualified after traces of phenylbutazone, an analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug, were found in the horse’s urinalysis; Forward Pass won after a protracted legal battle by the owners of Dancer’s Image(which they lost). Forward Pass thus became the eighth winner for Calumet Farm.
  • In 1970, Diane Crump became the first female jockey to ride in the Derby, finishing 15th aboard Fathom.
  • The fastest time ever run in the Derby was set in 1973 at 1:59.4 minutes when Secretariat broke the record set by Northern Dancer in 1964. Not only has Secretariat’s record time yet to be topped, in the race itself, he did something unique in Triple Crown races: each successive quarter, his times were faster.
  • In 2005, the purse distribution for the Derby was changed, so that horses finishing fifth would henceforth receive a share of the purse; previously only the first four finishers did so.
  • Since Kentucky Derby is the biggest race in the world, millions of people from around the world bet at various live tracks and online sportsbooks. In 2017, a crowd of 158,070 watched Always Dreaming win the Derby, making it the seventh biggest attendance in the history of the racetrack. The track reported a wagering total of $209.2 million from all the sources on all the races on the Kentucky Derby Day program.
  • In addition to the race itself, a number of traditions play a large role in the Derby atmosphere. The mint julep—an iced drink consisting of bourbon, mint, and a sugar syrup—is the traditional beverage of the race. The historic drink can be served in an ice-frosted silver julep cup, but most Churchill Downs patrons sip theirs from souvenir glasses (first offered in 1939 and available in revised form each year since) printed with all previous Derby winners.
  • Burgoo, a thick stew of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables, is a popular Kentucky dish served at the Derby.
  • “Millionaire’s Row” refers to the expensive box seats that attract the rich, the famous and the well-connected. Women appear in fine outfits lavishly accessorized with large, elaborate hats. As the horses are paraded before the grandstands, the University of Louisville Marching Band plays Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home,” a tradition which began in 1921.
  • The Derby is frequently referred to as “The Run for the Roses,” because a lush blanket of 554 red roses is awarded to the Kentucky Derby winner each year. The tradition originated in 1883 when New York socialite E. Berry Wall presented roses to ladies at a post-Derby party that was attended by Churchill Downs founder and president, Col. M. Lewis Clark. This gesture is believed to have led Clark to the idea of making the rose the race’s official flower. However, it was not until 1896 that any recorded account referred to roses being draped on the Derby winner.

Fun Facts!!

  1. The mint julep, the Derby’s traditional drink, is wildly overpriced at $11 a pop. Connoisseurs of bourbon consider it a waste of good whiskey.
  2. On Derby Day the infield will hold around 80,000 revelers, making it Kentucky’s third-largest city, behind Lexington and Louisville.
  3. Thirteen of the 15 riders in the first Derby were African-Americans. Black jockeys won 15 of the first 28, with Isaac Murphy taking three.
  4. The winning trainers in two of the first three Derbys were former slaves — Ansel Williamson (Aristides, 1875) and Ed Brown (Baden-Baden, 1877).
  5. Former major league ballplayer Hank Allen trained Northern Wolf, who finished sixth in 1989.
  6. The 1¼-mile distance has been standard since 1896. The first 21 Derbys were contested at 1½ miles.
  7. The Governor of Kentucky awards the garland and the Kentucky Derby Trophy.
  8. Since 1946 it’s been run on the first Saturday in May. In 1945, the final year of World War II, the date was June 9.
  9. Of 40 fillies, only three won — Regret (1915), Genuine Risk (1980) and Winning Colors (1988).
  10. Fourteen female trainers have competed, with Shelley Riley (second, Casual Lies, 1992) coming closest to winning.
  11. Sir Barton, who in 1919 became the first Triple Crown winner, was winless before taking the Run for the Roses. So were Buchanan (1884) and Brokers Tip (1933).
  12. Four horses, including Triple Crown winners Whirlaway (1941) and Assault (1946), dominated by 8 lengths. Eight times the margin was a nose.
  13. A Derby triumph guarantees a large stud fee. Unfortunately, the owners of nine geldings couldn’t cash in, including the connections of Mine That Bird (2009) and Funny Cide (2003).
  14. Of the last 26 Derby winners, eight were post-time favorites.
  15. No winner has emerged from post 17. Oddly, since 1900, post 1, often called “the dreaded rail,” is tied for post 5 with 12 victories.
  16. The oldest living winner is Sea Hero, 25, who stands at stud in Izmit, Turkey.
  17. Thousands of elegantly dressed women will grace Churchill Downs on Saturday. The endless lines for the ladies’ room will resemble runways during fashion week.
  18. Southern hospitality surrenders shamelessly to greed on Derby weekend, when you can pay at least $300 a night for a Louisville motel room that costs $55 any other time.
  19. The Derby debuted in 1875. Its model was the Epsom Derby, a 1½-mile grass race that has been run in England since 1780.
  20. Only six women have ridden in the Derby. Diane Crump was the first, in 1970. The best finish for a female jockey in the Derby is fifth (Rosie Napravnik on Mylute in 2013).

Bonus:

Ok. Crank up the speakers on your computer, pad or phone and if you have a PA system at your office, crank it up, too and play this after the intro — The Bugler’s Call to Post
Here’s an interview with the Churchill Downs Bugler
My Old Kentucky Home – 2015 Kentucky Derby

 

 

I think I broke a sweat.

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(from the top) A little sweat, a ton of research lets hard work and those guys in the middle do their incredible thing in comfort wearing some really high-tech gear.  (bottom four) Ain’t technology great??? Some of the “performance fabrics” characteristics repel stains and dirt, repel mosquitos, protect you against heat & fire and make you super visible at night but still look stylish by day.

A funny thing happened the other day, something that’s not happened in months here in cloudy, cold Cleveburg … I think I broke a sweat. With the thermometer FINALLY creeping up past “man it’s cold”, combined with the warmth of the direct sun, I could feel my body temperature rising, and after running a bit, a tiny bead of sweat trickled on my forehead. Granted with my forehead there are always more than a tiny bead!   Problem was, I had on one of those new-fangled shirts that removes the moisture from my body, so I wasn’t quite sure what was going on.  Being a science geek at heart, and thinking about my upcoming post, I jumped on the internet to see what I could share – and of course, learned way more than I thought.  For one, the category of fabric is called Performance Fabrics, meant for providing extra comfort under extreme conditions … (sure wish they had this stuff the day I got married!).  Here’s some cool (get it?) info to add to your brain, and more than you’d likely ever know about today’s active wear.  Thanks Wikipedia, and slate.com for the insights.

  1. Performance fabrics are fabrics engineered for a wide variety of uses where the performance of the fabric is the major parameter. Performance fabrics may be used in active wear, sportswear, summer and winter wear, mountain activities, trekking, work wear, in military, as well as urban wear and protective wear.
  2. The performance of a fabric/garment is enhanced or achieved by a number of processes like selection of fibers and blending of the performance fibers during spinning, knitting or weaving along with other yarns like cotton, viscose, bamboo, polyester, acrylic, nylon, and elastane. By processing and finishing with chemicals (also known as functional finishes) during dyeing or at finishing stages by padding or coating, materials are durable, functional and great looking.
  3. Most performance fabrics are made in layers (think big “dagwood” sandwich), with a soft inner layer, protection layer, waterproof membrane, another protection layer and an abrasion resistive outer layer. Depending on the use, thickness varies. Some performance wear is almost too thin to realize the technology is at work, such as stretch / yoga pants.
  4. Nanotechnology(precisely manipulating atoms and molecules for fabrication of macroscale products)is used to provide high durability for performance fabrics because nano-particles have a large surface area-to-volume ratio and high surface energy, leading to an increase in durability and function.
  5. Some newly engineered fabrics are also known as value-added textiles– high performance and cost-effective smart fabrics and interactive textiles enabled to replace traditional materials (think old cotton shirts) and become popular among many end-users.  For some hard-core athletes, nothing beats a soaking wet t-shirt.
  6. High performance fabrics, (such as those which are both flexible and flame retardant) are being used for industrial workwear, in the armed forces, in firefighting forces, and in the welding industry, for protection and stain resistance.
  7. Different performance fabrics have various characteristics. Some varieties of performance fabrics are capable of blocking harmful ultraviolet radiation, and have protection from ticks and mosquitoes, include Quick Dry, temperature control and antimicrobial or anti-odor properties. Special performance fabrics may also possess pilling-resistance, wrinkle resistance, and stain (water, dirt and oil) resistance, and be antistatic, self-cleaningand flame resistant. In some cases, they can be engineered to be extra resistant to wind, heat and abrasion.
  8. According to Dr. Roger Barker, a professor at NCSU’s College of Textiles, “Wicking fabric works because of two factors that are designed into the material. One fabric has some type of capillary action and the other is water repulsion.  All wicking-type materials use a capillary action to pull the moisture away from the body. The fabric is designed to spread sweat throughout the material, not on the skin. Areas with a lot of moisture will bleed the water into a drier area. The material is also designed to help air circulate between the skin and the fabric for faster evaporation.”
  9. To increase the wicking process, the fibers in the fabric are either coated with a water repellent or the repellent is woven into the material. The woven repellent is usually some type of polyester fiber or a microfiber. Microfibers, by the way, are not fibers themselves, but a technology that is used to produce an ultra-fine fiber that is then woven or knitted into a high-quality fabric.
  10. Many high-performance type shirts are also treated with gore-tex, a water-repellent coating that is added to the material. Since the fabric repels water, sweat tends to bead up and then evaporate in the layers, rather than be absorbed into the cloth. That allows the shirt to dry quicker.
  11. Some athletes consider it possible that these shirts do their job too well.  Field research shows that the extra high wicking fabrics can actually increase the risk of injury, fatigue, overheating, and dehydration by not allowing sweat to affectively cool the body through evaporation against the skin. By drawing sweat away from your skin, as soon as it rises to the surface, your body won’t cool properly – making you sweat even more, which will lead in turn to dehydration and compromised muscle performance.  Now as you read this there will be one or two of you out there, myself included for which this will most likely never be a problem!  For the rest of you,  remember stay hydrated!