Car Radio Invented..1928.

1930: The First Motorola Brand Car Radio

Even the Great Depression couldn't stop Motorola founder Paul V. Galvin. When he learned about technicians fitting home radios into automobiles, he recognized the potential of the new technology. Galvin engaged a team of talented engineers to build and install one of the first commercially successful car radios in the world. Motorola created a new market and ultimately became a global leader in communications technologies.

Difficult times
Paul V. Galvin and his brother Joseph started the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation in Chicago in 1928 to manufacture battery eliminators. These electronic devices enabled battery-powered home radios to operate on household electric current. But in 1929, a stock market crash devastated the U.S. economy and the battery eliminator was becoming obsolete. The Galvins needed a new product for their small business to survive.

A radio parts company founded by William P. Lear was located in the same factory building as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. Lear technicians, including chief production engineer Don H. Mitchell, were experimenting with radio technologies. Despite the worsening economy, the markets for automobile and radio technologies were growing rapidly. Paul Galvin realized that consumer demand would continue. He decided Galvin Manufacturing could develop an affordable radio that could be installed in most popular automobile models.

Paul V. Galvin (left) and Robert W. Galvin, Motorola cafeteria, 1954 (26 KB)

Design challenges
Galvin engaged a team that combined the talents of Lear and Galvin Manufacturing radio engineers. In addition, young Elmer Wavering, who later was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, joined the effort. The team faced difficult technical problems: overcoming electrical interference, finding space in the car for large radio components, and building it sturdy enough to endure rough roads. Galvin encouraged them to keep working to find a solution.

In May 1930, Galvin announced plans to drive his Studebaker automobile from Chicago, Illinois, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.A., a distance of about 850 miles (1368 kilometers). He intended to demonstrate the new radio at the Radio Manufacturers Association Convention in June. With only one month left to complete a working model, the team worked day and night.

A few days before Galvin departed, the crew successfully built a radio that received a clear signal with the car motor running. By squeezing some radio parts inside and others under the floor, the radio fit into the car. Although rough roads from Chicago to New Jersey tested the radio to its limits, it withstood the journey.

Public showing
Galvin Manufacturing Corporation wasn’t registered for the June 1930 Radio Manufacturers’ show, and Paul Galvin had no display booth or appointments with prospective customers. There was no money in the company's budget for marketing. Instead, Galvin parked his car at the entrance to the Atlantic City pier and boosted the radio's volume with loudspeakers to attract attention. With his wife, Lillian, helping to demonstrate the radio, he encouraged show attendees to take a look. When visitor traffic was slow, he went inside the hall to convince people to come outside for a demonstration.

Galvin returned to Chicago with enough sales orders to ensure that the company would survive to face the next challenges: sales, manufacturing and installation on a large scale.

Birth of the Motorola brand
Paul Galvin wanted a brand name for Galvin Manufacturing Corporation's new car radio-something memorable. He created the name "Motorola" to suggest sound in motion (from "motor" and the then-popular suffix "ola"). The Motorola brand name became so well-known that Galvin Manufacturing Corporation later changed its name to Motorola, Inc.

A commercial success
The car radio installation continued to challenge the engineers. Elmer Wavering remembered, "If somebody bought a new car and decided to put in a car radio, they'd get a real shock. They saw us go in and rip out the brand new headlining in the car, drill holes into the floor for our batteries, and rig up a whole complicated electrical system with a network of wires." With every installation, the team gained experience.

Paul Galvin and Elmer Wavering traveled around the United States selling radios and teaching new dealers how to install them correctly. With business growing, a fleet of Motorola sales and service trucks with factory-trained sales engineers soon supported radio dealers with sales, service and installation.

Due to determination and innovative engineering, the Motorola model 5T71 radio became one of the world's first commercially successful car radios. With sales that first year reaching internationally to Mexico, the Motorola car radio connected thousands of people with n

First Mickey Mouse Cartoon

What was the world's first Mickey Mouse cartoon?

If you are thinking Steamboat Willie,  you would be wrong

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Mickey Mouse got his start a a twinkle in the eye of Walt Disney early in 1928 as Walt was returning home on a train

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Upon his return Walt got his head animator to create the world's first Mickey Mouse cartoon called Plane Crazy but not a single distributor bought it.

Undaunted, work began on the second Mickey Mouse cartoon;Gallopin'Gaucho, but it wasn't released until December 30 1928.

Inspired by the latest and greatest fad in movies, talkies, Walt Disney produced the third Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie, which made it's debut on  November 18 1928 and is considered to be Mickey's birthday.

Steamboat Willie was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon aired to the public as well as the first with sound.

The Band Concert, released in 1935 was the first color Mickey Mouse cartoon.

Plane Crazy

                 

General knowledge.

1. MOPED is the short term for 'Motorized Pedaling'.
2. POP MUSIC is 'Popular Music' shortened.
3. BUS is the short term for 'Omnibus' that means everybody.
4. FORTNIGHT comes from 'Fourteen Nights' (Two Weeks).
5. DRAWING ROOM was actually a 'withdrawing room' where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix 'with' was dropped...
6. NEWS refers to information from Four directions N, E, W and S...
7. AG-MARK, which some products bear, stems from 'Agricultural Marketing'.
8. JOURNAL is a diary that tells about 'Journey for a day' during each Day's business.
9. QUEUE comes from 'Queen's Quest'. Long back a long row of people as waiting to see the Queen. Someone made the comment Queen's Quest...
10. TIPS come from 'To Insure Prompt Service'. In olden days to get Prompt service from servants in an inn, travelers used to drop coins in a Box on which was written 'To Insure Prompt Service'. This gave rise to the custom of Tips.
11. JEEP is a vehicle with unique Gear system. It was invented during
World War II (1939-1945). It was named 'General Purpose Vehicle (GP)'.GP
was changed into JEEP later.
12. Coca-Cola was originally green.
13. The most common name in the world is Mohammed...
14. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with...
15. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
16. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row ! of the keyboard. (Not always- these days Y and Z have replaced each other position in most typewriters)
17. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!
18. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
19. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
20. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. 
21. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
22. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
23. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history...
o Spades - King David
o Clubs - Alexander the Great,
o Hearts - Charlemagne
o Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

24. Horse Statue in a Park...
* If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.
* If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle
* If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

25. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?
Ans.. - All invented by women.
26. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
27. A snail can sleep for three years.
28. All polar bears are left handed.
29. Butterflies taste with their feet.
30. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
31. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
32. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
33. Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
34. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
35. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
36. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
37. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
38. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
39. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
40. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
41. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

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Bubble Gum Invented..1928

AT A GLANCE:In 1928, Walter Diemer was working as an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia; what he wound up doing in his spare time was playing around with new gum recipes. But this latest batch was less sticky than regular chewing gum and it stretched more easily. His bubble gum was so successful that it sold over a million and a half dollars worth of gum in the first year. . ? Invention: bubble gum Function: noun /  bubble gum Definition: Bubble gum is a type of chewing gum that is especially designed for blowing bubbles. It is usually pink in color and has a particular flavor. Patent: Walter Diemer never patented his invention. Inventor: Walter E. Diemer Criteria; First successful.. Modern prototype. Birth: January 5, 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Death: January 9, 1998 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Nationality: American                                                                                                                Milestones: CAPS: Diemer, Walter Diemer, Dubble Bubble, Gilbert Mustin, Fleer, ARY, bubble gum, gum, dubble bubble, bazooka, bubblegum, SIP, history, biography, inventor. Walter E. Diemer. hold a tray of Bubble gums.

The Story: In 1928, bubble gum was invented by a man named Walter E. Diemer. Here's what Walter Diemer, the inventor himself, said about it just a year or two before he died: "It was an accident." "I was doing something else," Mr. Diemer explained, "and ended up with something with bubbles." And history took one giant pop forward. What Mr. Diemer was supposed to be doing, back in 1928, was working as an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia; what he wound up doing in his spare time was playing around with new gum recipes. But this latest brew of Walter Diemer's was -- unexpectedly, crucially -- different. It was less sticky than regular chewing gum. It also stretched more easily. Walter Diemer, 23 years old, saw the bubbles. He saw the possibilities. One day he carried a five-pound glop of the stuff to a grocery store; it sold out in a single afternoon.Before long, the folks at Fleer were marketing Diemer's creation and Diemer himself was teaching cheeky salesmen to blow bubbles, to demonstrate exactly what made this gum different from all other gums. The only food coloring in the factory was pink. Walter used it. That is why most bubble gum today is pink. Gilbert Mustin, President of Fleer named the gum Dubble Bubble and it controlled the bubble-gum market unchallenged for years, at least until Bazooka came along to share the wealth. Walter Diemer stayed with Fleer for decades, eventually becoming a senior vice president.He never received royalties for his invention, his wife told the newspapers, but he didn't seem to mind; knowing what he'd created was reward enough. Sometimes he'd invite a bunch of kids to the house and tell them the story of his wonderful, accidental invention. Then he'd hold bubble-blowing contests for them.

Zippo Lighters Introduced..1932,Source Wikipeadia and the net

Zippo Manufacturing Comp

Type	Private
Genre	Lighter manufacturer
Founded	1932
Founder(s)	George G. Blaisdell
Headquarters	Bradford, Pennsylvania, U.S
Website	zippo.com

Zippo's flint-wheel Ignition at work

A lit 1968 slim model Zippo

An open full-size Navy Zippo

Brass-based case design with matched insert coloring

A Zippo lighter is a refillable, metal lighter manufactured by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, U.S. Thousands of different styles and designs have been made in the seven decades since their introduction including military ones for specific regiments.

Usage

Besides having gained popularity as “windproof” lighters, Zippo lighters are able to stay lit in harsh weather, due to the design of the windscreen and adequate rate of fuel delivery. As such, until recently they were highly popular with backpackers and within the military. Professional backpackers (operating in the wilderness) have however now turned away from the regular Zippo lighter in favor of torch butane lighter which have windproof technology, heavy-duty matches, and ferrocerium rods. Many high-altitude and cold weather backpackers still prefer Zippo lighters because butane lighters are less reliable in cold weather.

A consequence of the windproofing is that it is hard to extinguish a Zippo by blowing out the flame. However, if the flame is blown from the top down, it will be easily extinguished. The proper way to extinguish the lighter is to close the top half, which starves the flame of oxygen, but unlike other lighters, this does not cut the fuel. One of the recognizable features of Zippo is the fact that it burns with a wick. Opening the top lid produces an easily recognizable clicking sound for which Zippo lighters are known, and a different, but similar click can be heard when the lighter is closed. This noise is produced by the cam, a little lever that keeps the lid closed or opened securely, which is intended to keep the lid closed when not in use.

About zippo lighters
One night in 1933 above a garage in Bradford, Pennsylvania, George Blaisdell 
pushed the first insert into the first case of what would be the first Zippo 
lighter. That was nearly 400 million Zippo lighters ago. Mr. Blaisdell would 
be amazed to know that today there are thousands of Zippo lighter collectors 
all over the world, communicating through newsletters and faxes, email 
and web pages, as well as getting together at shows, conventions, and 
the biennial Zippo/Case International Swap Meet.

Agatha Christie.

Dame Agatha Christie, DBE
Born	Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller 15 September 1890 Torquay, Devon, England
Died	12 January 1976 (aged 85) Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England
Pen name	Mary Westmacott
Occupation	Novelist/Short story writer/Playwright/Poet
Nationality	British
Genres	Murder mystery, Thriller, Crime fiction, Detective, Romances
Literary movement	Golden Age of Detective Fiction
Spouse(s)	Archibald Christie (1914–1928) Max Mallowan (1930–1976; her death)
Children	Rosalind Hicks (1919–2004) Father: Archibald Christie
Influences[show]
Signature
www.agathachristie.com

Dame Agatha Christie DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly four billion copies, and herestate claims that her works rank third, after those of William Shakespeare and the Bible, as the most widely published books.^[1] According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her.^[2] Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.^[3]

Agatha Christie published two autobiographies: a posthumous one covering childhood to old age; and another chronicling several seasons of archaeological excavation in Syria and Iraq with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. The latter was published in 1946 with the title, Come, Tell Me How You Live.

Agatha Christie's room at the Pera Palace Hotel, where she wrote Murder on the Orient Express.

Agatha Christie blue plaque. No. 58 Sheffield Terrace, Kensington & Chelsea, London

 The room where she wrote "The Murder on the Orient Express".

Agatha Christie's first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in 1920 and introduced the long-running character detective Hercule Poirot, who appeared in 33 of Christie's novels and 54 short stories.

Her other well known character, Miss Marple, was introduced in The Tuesday Night Club in 1927 (short story) and was based on women like Christie's grandmother and her "cronies".

During the Second World War, Christie wrote two novels, Curtain, and Sleeping Murder, intended as the last cases of these two great detectives, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. Both books were sealed in a bank vault for over thirty years and were released for publication by Christie only at the end of her life, when she realised that she could not write any more novels. These publications came on the heels of the success of the film version of Murder on the Orient Express in 1974.

Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes, Christie was to become increasingly tired of her detective Poirot. In fact, by the end of the 1930s, Christie confided to her diary that she was finding Poirot “insufferable," and by the 1960s she felt that he was "an ego-centric creep." However, unlike Doyle, Christie resisted the temptation to kill her detective off while he was still popular. She saw herself as an entertainer whose job was to produce what the public liked, and the public liked Poirot.

Poirot is the only fictional character to have been given an obituary in The New York Times, following the publication of Curtain in 1975.

First Self-Service Grocery Store Opens in U.S...1916

Where It Began…

Piggly Wiggly®, America's first true self-service grocery store, was founded in Memphis, Tenn. in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who gathered the goods from the store shelves. Saunders, a flamboyant and innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in wasted time and expense, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: he developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves.

Despite predictions that this novel idea would fail, Saunders’ first store opened September 6, 1916 at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis. Operating under the unusual name Piggly Wiggly, it was unlike any other grocery store of that time. There were shopping baskets, open shelves and no clerks to shop for the customer – all unheard of!

Piggly Wiggly Corporation, established by Saunders when he opened the first store in Memphis, secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers for the operation of Piggly Wiggly stores.

The original Piggly Wiggly Corporation became owner of all Piggly Wiggly properties: the name, the patents, etc., and Saunders began issuing stock in the Corporation. The stock was successfully traded on the New York Stock Exchange for some time, but through a series of stock transactions in the early 1920s, Saunders lost control of Piggly Wiggly and had no further association with the company.

Piggly Wiggly Corporation continued to prosper as franchiser for the hundreds of independently owned grocery stores allowed to operate under the Piggly Wiggly name and during the next several decades, functioned successfully under various owners.

All in a Name

Saunders' reason for choosing the intriguing name Piggly Wiggly ® remains a mystery; he was curiously reluctant to explain its origin. One story is that he saw from a train window several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, and the rhyming name occurred to him then. Someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, and Saunders' reply was, "So people will ask that very question." He wanted and found a name that would be talked about and remembered.

Piggly Wiggly® "Firsts"

Piggly Wiggly's introduction of self-service grocery shopping truly revolutionized the grocery industry. In fact, many of the conveniences and services that American shoppers now enjoy were introduced first by Piggly Wiggly®.

Piggly Wiggly was the FIRST to…

• provide checkout stands.
• price mark every item in the store.
• give shoppers more for their food dollar through high volume/low profit margin retailing.
• feature a full line of nationally advertised brands.
• use refrigerated cases to keep produce fresher longer.
• put employees in uniforms for cleaner, more sanitary food handling.
• design and use patented fixtures and equipment throughout the store.
• franchise independent grocers to operate under the self-service method of food merchandising.

What Happened to Saunders?

After Saunders' disassociation with Piggly Wiggly®, he opened a chain of stores which operated under the name "Clarence Saunders, Sole Owner of My Name Stores," and although it was successful, the Depression forced Saunders to close the chain. Then, in 1937, Saunders designed and constructed a prototype of an automated store, which he called the "Keedoozle" (for "Key Does All").

Once again, Saunders had captured the country's attention with his latest venture; although, mechanical failures eventually closed the store.
Until the time of his death in October, 1953, Saunders was developing plans for another automatic store system called the "Foodelectric." But the store, which was to be located two blocks from the first Piggly Wiggly store, never opened.

Clarence Saunders never fulfilled his dream of opening a truly automated store. Sadly, his death came just as the full impact of his better idea for grocery merchandising was becoming apparent. Saunders' creative genius was decades ahead of his time.

Piggly Wiggly® Today

Today there are more than 600 Piggly Wiggly stores serving communities in 17 states. All Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and operated, and are located primarily throughout the Southeast and as far north as Wisconsin.

Piggly Wiggly, LLC’s corporate headquarters are in Keene, N.H. It issues Piggly Wiggly franchises to qualified independent grocery retailers. The company also provides the retailers with services such as support, marketing programs and a line of promotional items.

Piggly Wiggly, LLC is an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., ranked as the 10th largest privately held company in the nation by Forbes magazine in 2010. For more than 90 years, C&S has provided first-class warehousing and distribution services to its customers. From more than 50 warehouse facilities throughout the United States, C&S serves some of the largest supermarket chains in the nation. Their corporate offices are located in Keene, N.H.