December 29, 2005 Net Report

Thanks to all the stations who checked in for the LAST NET of 2005!

There were 22 stations that checked in to tonight's net. And I'd like to thank Gary, W6NVY, for playing the Newsline Report.

Trivia Question:

In what year did the Tournament of Roses add a college football game to the New Year festivities?

A.) 1890
B.) 1902
C.) 1923

Trivia Answer:

B.) 1902

The first Tournament of Roses was staged in 1890 by members of Pasadena's Valley Hunt Club, former residents of the East and Midwest eager to showcase their new home's mild winter weather. "In New York, people are buried in snow," announced Professor Charles F. Holder at a Club meeting. "Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

During the next few years, the festival expanded to include marching bands and motorized floats. The games on the town lot (which was re-named Tournament Park in 1900) included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations and a race between a camel and an elephant (the elephant won). Reviewing stands were built along the Parade route, and Eastern newspapers began to take notice of the event. In 1895, the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to take charge of the festival, which had grown too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle.

In 1902, the Tournament of Roses decided to enhance the day’s festivities by adding a football game – the first post season college football game ever held. Stanford University accepted the invitation to take on the powerhouse University of Michigan, but the West Coast team was flattened 49-0 and gave up in the third quarter. The lopsided score prompted the Tournament to give up football in favor of Roman-style chariot races. In 1916, football returned to stay and the crowds soon outgrew the stands in Tournament Park. William L. Leishman, the Tournament’s 1920 President, envisioned a stadium similar to the Yale Bowl, the first great modern football stadium, to be built in Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco area. The new stadium hosted its first New Year’s football game in 1923 and soon earned the nickname “The Rose Bowl.”

The Tournament of Roses has come a long way since its early days. The Rose Parade’s elaborate floats now feature high-tech computerized animation and exotic natural materials from around the world. Although a few floats are still built exclusively by volunteers from their sponsoring communities, most are built by professional float building companies and take nearly a year to construct. The year-long effort pays off on New Year’s morning, when millions of viewers around the world enjoy the Rose Parade.

Nicknamed “The Granddaddy of Them All” the Rose Bowl Game has been a sellout attraction every year since 1947. That year’s contest was the first game played under the Tournament’s exclusive agreement with the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences. The 1998 Rose Bowl Game was the 52nd anniversary of that agreement, the longest standing tradition of any collegiate conference and a bowl association. Now, as part of the Bowl Championship Series, the Rose Bowl has hosted the National Championship Game between the top two teams in the nation in 2002 and will host it again on January 4, 2006.

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Lots of folks got this one right, so here's a list of check-ins with a * after the ones that answered the question correctly. Congratulations and Happy New Year!

Check In's to the Net:

• AC6AJ Lee
• WB6ATV Ron
• KE6CZH Robert *
• KG6DBL Bill *
• K6FCC Khalil
  
• KB6IS Madeline
• KE6IYC Brian *
• KD6JEV John *
• N6KAS Andy *
• KG6KTC Leon *
• NY6L Jay
• W6NVY Gary
• KG6NWJ Berry *
• WA6QAG
  
• K6QVZ Joe *
• KG6RDA Sidney *
• KG6TRR Bob
• KF6ZQM Harry *
• N6ZZK Ted
• KG6MZU Walt *
• KF6RMC Mike
• WD6FOX Sean

December 22, 2005 Net Report

There were 26 check-in's to tonight's net. Thank you to Gary, W6NVY, for his help and for running Newsline.

Trivia Question:

In what year was the first commercial Christmas Card produced?

A.) 1799
B.) 1843
C.) 1919

Trivia Answer:

1843.

A relatively recent phenomenon, the sending of commercially printed Christmas cards originated in London in 1843. Previously, people had exchanged handwritten holiday greetings. First in person. Then via post. By 1822, homemade Christmas cards had become the bane of the U.S. postal system. That year, the Superintendent of Mails in Washington, D.C., complained of the need to hire sixteen extra mailmen. Fearful of future bottlenecks, he petitioned Congress to limit the exchange of cards by post, concluding, "I don’t know what we’ll do if it keeps on."

Not only did it keep on, but with the marketing of attractive commercial cards the postal burden worsened.

The first Christmas card designed for sale was by London artist John Calcott Horsley. A respected illustrator of the day, Horsley was commissioned by Sir Henry Cole, a wealthy British businessman, who wanted a card he could proudly send to friends and professional acquaintances to wish them a "merry Christmas."

Sir Henry Cole was a prominent innovator in the 1800s. He modernized the British postal system, managed construction of the Albert Hall, arranged for the Great Exhibition in 1851, and oversaw the inauguration of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Most of all, Cole sought to "beautify life," and in his spare time he ran an art shop on Bond Street, specializing in decorative objects for the home. In the summer of 1843, he commissioned Horsley to design an impressive card for that year’s Christmas.

Horsley produced a triptych. Each of the two side panels depicted a good deed-clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. The centerpiece featured a party of adults and children, with plentiful food and drink (there was severe criticism from the British Temperance Movement).

The first Christmas card’s inscription read: "merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you." "Merry" was then a spiritual word meaning "blessed," as in "merry old England." Of the original one thousand cards printed for Henry Cole, twelve exist today in private collections.

Printed cards soon became the rage in England; then in Germany. But it required an additional thirty years for Americans to take to the idea. In 1875, Boston lithographer Louis Prang, a native of Germany, began publishing cards, and earned the title "father of the American Christmas card."

Prang’s high-quality cards were costly, and they initially featured not such images as the Madonna and Child, a decorated tree, or even Santa Claus, but colored floral arrangements of roses, daisies, gardenias, geraniums, and apple blossoms. Americans took to Christmas cards, but not to Prang’s; he was forced out of business in 1890. It was cheap penny Christmas postcards imported from Germany that remained the vogue until World War 1. By war’s end, America’s modern greeting card industry had been born.

Today more than two billion Christmas cards are exchanged annually, just within the United States. Christmas is the number one card-selling holiday of the year.

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Lots of folks got this one right, so here's a list of check-ins with a * after the ones that answered the question correctly. Congratulations and Happy Holidays!

Check In's to the Net:

• AC6AJ Lee *
• WB6ATV Ron *
• KE6CZH Robert
• KG6DBL Bill *
• W6DTS Ted
• K6FCC Khalil *
• KF6GKR Terry *
• KE6IYC Brian *
• N6KAS Andy *
• WA6KFI Rick *
• KG6KTC Leon
• NY6L Jay
• K6LMN Roger
• K6LMS Bill *
• K6LUI David *
• KE6MSS Thomas
• W6NVY Gary
• KF6PIH Scott
• K6QVZ Joe *
• KG6RDA Sidney
• KG6TRR Bob
• WA6USL Murray
• KF6YBM Henry
• KF6ZQM Harry *
• N6ZZK Ted
• KF6RNC Michael
• KC6HQV Robert (from San Diego!)

December 15, 2005 Net Report

There were 25 check-in's to the Net. Thanks, once again, to Gary, W6NVY, for his help and for playing Newsline.

Trivia Question:

The first United States coast-to-coast airplane flight occured in 1911. How many days did it take to make the trip?

Trivia Answer:

49 Days. The first crossing of the United States by airplane was achieved by Calbraith Perry Rodgers (on the right in the photo) in 1911 in his Wright EX biplane, named the Vin Fiz.

Rodgers began his epic journey from Sheepshead Bay, New York, on September 17, 1911. The flight was punctuated by numerous stops, delays, and accidents. He arrived in Pasadena to a hero's welcome, 49 days after setting out from Sheepshead Bay. The 6,914 km (4,321 mi) were covered in 82 hours total flying time at an average speed of 82.4 kph (51.5 mph).

A link to this very interesting story can be found here.

The following people got the answer correct:

• KE6IYC, Brian, who answerd 49 on the nose!

Check In's to the Net:

• WB6ATV Ron
• KE6CZH Robert
• KG6DBL Bill
• W6DTS Ted
• K6FCC Khalil
• KF6GKR Terry
• KB6IS Madeline
• KE6IYC Brian
• KD6JEV John
• WA6KFI Rick
• KG6KTC Leon
• NY6L Jay
• K6LMN Roger
• K6LMS Bill
• W6NVY Gary
• KG6NWJ Barry
• K6QVZ Joe
• KG6RDA Sidney
• KG6TRR Bob
• KG6WXY Ralph
  
• KF6YBM Henry
• KF6ZQM Harry
• N6ZZK Ted
• KG6MZU Walt
• KF6RMC Michael

December 8, 2005 Net Report

A total of 23 Amateur Radio Operators checked in to tonight's net.

Trivia Question:

What is the oldest corporate mascot?

1. The Morton Salt Umbrella
2. Aunt Jemima
3. The Quaker Oats Pilgrim
4. Mr. Peanut

Trivia Answer:

The oldest corporate mascot is the Quaker Oats Pilgrim which first appeared in 1877. Aunt Jemima showed up in 1893, the Morton Salt Umbrella in 1911 and Mr. Peanut made his debut in 1916.

The following people got the answer correct:

• KE6IYC, Brian
• N6KAS, Andy
• K6LMN, Roger

Most folks (11) said the Morton Salt Umbrella, 4 people said Mr. Peanut and 2 thought it was Aunt Jemima (the rest had no guess).

Check In's to the Net:

• AC6AJ Lee
• KE6CZH Robert
• KG6DBL Bill
• W6DTS Ted
• K6FCC Khalil
• KF6GKR Terry
• KB6IS Madeline
• KE6IYC Brian
• N6KAS Andy
• KG6KTC Leon
• K6LMN Roger
• W6NVY Gary
• KG6NWJ Barry
• K6QVZ Joe
  
• KG6RDA Sidney
• KG6TRR Bob
• KF6YBM Henry
• KF6ZQM Harry
• N6ZZK Ted
• KJ6HI Leo
• KF6TIH Scott
• KG6JBU Justin
• W7RF Dan