Pop is 95!!!

Yesterday was a momentous occasion. Pop turned 95 years old. Here are a few events and inventions that have occurred during his lifetime.

1917 zipper invented
1918 electrically propelled warship and solid propellant rockets
1919 pop-up toaster and rotary dial telephones
1920 radio compass, electric hearing aid, Q-tips and Band-aids
1921 polygraph
1922 microfilm
1923 Schick razors, self-winding watch, electric shaver, traffic signals
1924 Otis elevator-first automatic elevator
1926 first trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation, Kool-Aid, gas refrigerator
1927 proto-type of television  invented by Philo T. Farnsworth
1928 Scotch tape invented, introduction of sliced bread and bubble gum
1929 Dunlop Laboratories made foam rubber and 1st manned rocket plan flight
1930 1st red and green traffic lights installed in Manhattan NYC, masking tape, flashbulb and chocolate chip cookies
1931 ATT began commercial teletype services, The Bosch Semaphore was introduced. It was an orange arm that drivers could pop out the window to signal turns.
1932 1st patent was issued for a peach tree, Philips made is 1,000,000 radio
1933 1st aircraft carrier was christened: USS Ranger.
1934 test of practical radar apparatus was made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany, the Readphone was produced for putting literature and music on long-playing disks.
1935 ball point pen invented, RADAR, Pop graduated from Haverford High School
1936 screw-on bottle cap with pour lip was patented
1937 Ernest Vincent Wright wrote the novel Gadsby containing 50,100 words and none of the words contains the letter E.
1938 First color TV was demonstrated, 1st successful test of photocopier and parking meters
1939 September 1, 1939 WWII officially began and Uranium atom split
1940 Neptunium was discovered and named after the planet Neptune.
1941 Alfred Butts of NY invented the board game Scrabble.
1942 Twenty six countries agree to create the United Nations
1943 Silly Putty invented, originally made as a synthetic rubber during WWII and Slinky made from 80 feet of steel wire
1944 aerosol spray cans invented

1945 May 7, 1945 WWII officially ended, microwave was patented

1946 US patent was filed for H-bomb
1947 Bell labs invented cellular phone technology
1948 first tape recorder and Polaroid camera was sold, production of 33 1/3 records, X-rays
1949 Frank J. Zamboni invented the Zamboni Ice Resurfacing Machine, 45 RPM records
1950 disposable diapers, Korean War begins on June 25
1952 UPC codes invented
1953 Korean War cease fire on July 27
1954 First time a mile was run in under 4 minutes by Roger Banniste, Sports Illustrated first issue
1955 Velcro invented, Vietnam war began on November 1
1956 Play-Doh patented
1957 Peak of the Baby Boomers years
1958 LEGOS patented

1975 Vietnam war ends on April 30

an amazing list condensed into 95 years .http://timelines.ws/subjects/Technology.HTML

Edelweiss

NPR is doing a series on “Thanks for the Music Mom & Dad” where listeners are asked “how, for better or worse, has your parents' record collection shaped your own taste in music?”

While listening to this series on my NPdrive home from work,  the first interview was with Audra McDonald.  She was talking about Christopher Plummer singing Edelweiss in the Sound of Music.

I had a flashback of Dad, with our record player he purchased while he was a member of the Columbia Record Club.  It was gray and white, with two side speakers that you unbuckled from the sides.  One of Dad’s favorite records was the Broadway recording of the Sound of Music.  I can still hear him singing along with Theodore Bickel to Edelweiss.  Edelweiss is still one of Dad’s all-time favorite songs.

It still amazes me how something as simple as a song, can stir up so many memories.

Thanks Dad!

Thanks to my guest blogger, my sister Jackie, for this great memory of Dad.

PS I remember Grandmom sitting on the green metal glider on the big stone front porch playing her old banjo and singing Edelweiss.