A Name You Should Know: George Owen Squier
Monday, September 26, 2022
As an executive officer of the US Signal Corps, George Owen Squier helped the Wright brothers with their first airplane, and was even its first passenger. From there, he secured the first purchase of US military planes, launching a new ‘Aeronautical Division’ for which he was Major General during WWI. But that’s not even the coolest thing he’s done. George was also a wizard with electricity and radio technology, holding over 60 patents to his name. He invented multiplexing, which allows multiple signals to be transferred at once through a single wire, paving the way for new possibilities in telecommunication. He invented wired radio, or as he called it, “wired wireless”, as a replacement for the unreliable home radios of the era. Though it never became a household commodity in his time, (any of us with cable TV certainly owe him a tip o’ the hat) George wasn’t deterred by this minor setback. Instead he convinced businesses that piping music through their establishments would increase sales and productivity. He was right. Soon businesses across the US were playing music not through a single radio in the corner, but in several locations throughout their sotres and workshops, thanks to wired radio. His name for this new technology?
Muzak! That’s right, George Owen Squier is responsible for that cheesified version of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road you can never seem to get out of your head… Well he was still pretty awesome.
History Schmistory: September 17. The New Frontier…
Saturday, September 17, 2022
1976: NASA unveils the first space shuttle, Enterprise. Shatner and Nimoy consider a comeback.
GO THERE!
Monday, September 12, 2022
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Eden_Project_Winter_2008_showing_Bruce_Munro_field_of_Light.JPG
The Eden Project is a can’t miss family attraction in Cornwall, UK, that boasts the largest greenhouse in the world. And the coolest looking one, we think.
History Schmistory: January 19. Under the Neon Lights!
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
1915: The Neon Tube sign is patented by Georges Claude, and later exploited by Las Vegas.
-So, you might already know that neon is one of the “noble” gases of the periodic table, which glows an orangey-red color when electrons run through it. But what about all the other colors on a typical “neon” sign? Well, sorry to say, those aren’t neon. To get shades of blue, typically argon is used with a dash of mercury. Helium can be used for a nice pink glow; xenon radiates a cool purple, while krypton yields- what? Green, you say? Nope, sorry Superman, it has more of an off-white tinge. From there, certain gases can mingle to produce colors like green and yellow, or sometimes the tubes are coated with fluorescent powders to tweak the shading. But neon typically doesn’t play nicely with others, so it’s only used to produce that one color.
(Check out Vegas Vic’s scarf. There’s your neon.)
There is another noble gas that wasn’t invited to the party: Radon. That stuff is radioactive, yo.
Vegas Vic,By  Joe Gauder [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
History Schmistory: January 4. An Elephant Never Forgets…
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edison.jpg#/media/File:Edison.jpg, [public domain]
NASA is still exploring!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Though the days of the Space Shuttle are over, NASA is showing no signs of slowing. In addition to the Jupiter probe, Juno, just  launched today, they will be sending a schmancy new state-of-the-art rover called Curiosity to Mars. Here’s some awesome animations depicting it’s upcoming journey…
