Professor Walter's History Lessons

From an air tragedy to roadside navigation

On September 1st 1983 Korean Air Lines civilian Flight 007 deviated from it's course.  It was en-route from Anchorage, AK to Seoul, South Korea.  The deviation caused it to stray toward Soviet airspace.  The navigation error was likely caused by an auto-pilot error.  The Soviets dispatched three Su-15 Flagon fighters and a MiG-23 to intercept.  The exact details of what transpired vary based on the account, but the result is uniform.  Flight 007 was shot down killing 246 passengers and 23 crew members.  There were no survivors.  It was one of the tensest moments of the Cold War.

President Reagan took one step, with a major impact, to prevent this kind of navigation error from occurring again.  On September 16th 1983 President Reagan announced that the Global Positioning System (GPS) would be available for civilian use free of charge.  The GPS system allows a computer to triangulate location anywhere on the Earth within a very small margin of error.  It was developed for the military, however as a civilian tool it has been integrated into most cell phones as well as a variety of navigation tools such as vehicle GPS and On-Star.  Now anyone can get from point A to point B with one of these navigation devices.

-Professor Walter

Margarine, constant foe of the butter industry

In 1869 Emperor Louis Napolean III of France offered a prize to whomever could create a substitute for butter that could be used for the armed forces and lower classes.  The French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés created a substance called oleomargarine.  His initial attempts ar marketing margarine met limited commercial success and in 1871 he sold his patent to the Dutch company Jurgens.  As early as 1877 laws began to be enforced that would prevent the spread of margarine.  

The butter industry was concerned about the new artificial butter and took significant steps to prevent its success.  Their tactics involved the use of tariffs, and taxes.  Then they went further, attacking one of margarine's biggest problems.  Margarine is naturally white, or near white.  Manufacturers wanted to add yellow food coloring to make it look better, but that was banned in many countries.  In the United States legislators went a step further and, in some states, enforced a rule that margarine had to have pink food coloring so that it would appear unappealing.  This coloring law was stopped buy the Supreme Court, but the ban of other coloring remained strong.

In the 1960s the laws banning color were finally dropped, and margarine, as you know it, was now on the store shelves.  Today the battle between butter and margarine continues, with butter pulling ahead thanks to concerns with trans-fats and consumers determination that taste of more important than saturated fat content.

-Professor Walter

From the dinner table to malaria control in Africa

In 1867, in the Duchy of Limburg (now divided between Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany), Rudolph Banks invented a new type of cheese called Limburger cheese.  The cheese, which has a mild flavor, is well known for its pungent odor which is a result of the bacterium, Brevibacterium linens, used to ferment the cheese.  Brevibacterium linens is used for other rind-washed cheeses and is the same bacterium found on human skin and is partially responsible for body odor.  Today the cheese is a specialty cheese.

In 2006 Bart Knols of Wageningen Agricultural University, in Wageningen, the Netherlands; and of the National Institute for Medical Research / Ifakara Centre, Tanzania, and of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in Vienna, Austria and Ruurd de Jong of Wageningen Agricultural University and of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Italy won the Ig Nobel Prize, a parody of the Nobel Prize for science "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced", for proving that the female malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae was equally attracted to Limburger cheese as it was to human feet.

Today, as a result of that research, Limburger cheese is placed in strategic areas to keep malaria outbreaks under control.

-Professor Walter

I'll trade you this recipe for a lifetime supply of chocolate

In 1937 Ruth Wakefield owned and operated the Toll House Inn in Whitman Massachusetts.  Wakefield was making chocolate cookies and ran out of baker's chocolate.  In a moment of inspiration she decided to substitute broken pieces of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate thinking it would melt in just as bakers chocolate did.  Much to her surprise it did not and the first chocolate chip cookies had been made.  (Another account has the Nestle chocolate falling into the mixer from a shelf as the cookies were mixed).  From that day forward chocolate cookies were known as Toll House cookies.

Wakefield contacted Nestle and made a deal with them.  The company would put her recipe (or a slight variant) on the cover of all their semi-sweet chocolate bars, and she would get a lifetime supply of chocolate.  At that time Nestle began to market chocolate chips specifically for cookies.  Every bag of chips contains her recipe.

-Professor Walter

Sherlock Holmes's Pipe

The traditional view of the world's most famous detective Sherlock Holmes always includes his trademark calabash pipe.  But, this is not quite accurate.  In fact Holmes, as drawn by the original artist Sidney Pagat, used a long-stemmed (chuchwarden) pipe.  The calabash pipe actually has a mellowing effect upon the smoking mixture, which would have been against Holmes's preference to strong harsh tobacco.

The truth behind the pipe comes from the stage performances of Sherlock Holmes by William Gillette.  As an actor on the stage he chose the calabash pipe because of its low center of gravity which allows the smoker to hold the pipe in the mouth alone.  That way he was free to act with both hands, but still keep the pipe in his mouth.    The popularized pipe of Sherlock Holmes was used by Basil Rathbone in motion pictures and became a part of the Holmes legend, even though it is a pipe he would not have smoked.

-Professor Walter

From Shoulder of Pork and Ham to your inbox

On July 5th 1937 the Hormel Corporation introduced a new product called Hormel Spiced Ham.  The product was a meat product made from shoulder of pork and ham meat, as well as salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite.  The product was not as great a success as Hormel would have liked, and the blame fell to the name.  Hormel Spiced Ham just wasn't catchy enough, so a contest was held to choose a new one.  The name that was finally chosen was an acronym for shoulder of pork and ham, SPAM.  

In a comedy sketch from Monty Python's flying circus, first broadcast in 1970, SPAM took center stage.  In the skit virtually all the food in a diner contains SPAM.  The theme is repeated throughout the three and one half minute sketch.  It is from the ubiquitous use of SPAM in this sketch that the term SPAM for mass-emails is derived, much to the the disappointment of Hormel.

-Professor Walter

Gone, but not forgotten, at least on television

In February of 1940 nine men in Hershey, Pennsylvania started the Ice Capades.  For over fifty years their ice skating performances were a part of American culture.  However, times changed, and in 1995 Ice Capades went out of business.  There have been numerous attempts to revive it, but without luck.

The endurance of the Ice Capades can be seen on television.  Ice Capades are mentioned in scripts often, even though they are no longer in existence.  Some of the shows written and produced after the end of the Ice Capades, that still mention if are The Drew Carey Show, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

-Professor Walter

The first time a United States President attended a synagogue service

In 1874 President Ulysses S. Grant and his full cabinet attended the dedication of the Adas Israel Congregation in Washington D.C.  This was the first time an American President had attended such a service.  This was a political attempt by Grant to change his tarnished image that resulted twelve years earlier when he issued General Order 11 as Major-General Grant.

General Order 11 was an order that was issues on December 17, 1862 which ordered the expulsion of all Jews in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.  The order was prompted by Grant's belief that the Jews were the people primarily responsible for running the black market trade in southern cotton.

General Order No. 11 stated:

1. The Jews, as a class violating every regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department and also department orders, are hereby expelled from the Department [of the Tennessee] within twenty-four hours from the receipt of this order.
2. Post commanders will see to it that all of this class of people be furnished passes and required to leave, and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out as prisoners, unless furnished with permit from headquarters.
3. No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the purpose of making personal application of trade permits.

In a letter of the same date sent to Christopher Parsons Wolcott, the assistant United States Secretary of War, Grant explained his reasoning:

Sir,

I have long since believed that in spite of all the vigilance that can be infused into Post Commanders, that the Specie regulations of the Treasury Dept. have been violated, and that mostly by Jews and other unprincipled traders. So well satisfied of this have I been at this that I instructed the Commdg Officer at Columbus [Kentucky] to refuse all permits to Jews to come south, and frequently have had them expelled from the Dept. [of the Tennessee]. But they come in with their Carpet sacks in spite of all that can be done to prevent it. The Jews seem to be a privileged class that can travel any where. They will land at any wood yard or landing on the river and make their way through the country. If not permitted to buy Cotton themselves they will act as agents for someone else who will be at a Military post, with a Treasury permit to receive Cotton and pay for it in Treasury notes which the Jew will buy up at an agreed rate, paying gold.

There is but one way that I know of to reach this case. That is for Government to buy all the Cotton at a fixed rate and send it to Cairo, St Louis, or some other point to be sold. Then all traders, they are a curse to the Army, might be expelled.

A few weeks after its release President Abraham Lincoln revoked the order.  Grant later stated that it had been written by a subordinate, and he had signed it without reading it.  Lincoln, in reference to the order, stated "to condemn a class is, to say the least, to wrong the good with the bad".  He went on to state that no American would be wronged because of religious affiliation and that he drew no distinction between Jew and Gentile.

-Professor Walter

Sometimes it is something simple like a schedule error that has the biggest impact

Seth MacFarlane is currently the highest paid television writer and producer in television history.  He has three shows currently on the air: Family Guy, American Dad, and The Cleveland Show.  His success is unparalleled in television.  And it nearly ended before it really began...

MacFarlane gave the keynote speech at his alma mater on September 10th 2001.  The following day he went to Logan International Airport to fly home, but the wrong departure time had been given to him by his travel agent.  He was expecting to leave at 8:15 am, but the flight was at 7:45 am.  He arrived at the airport at 7:30am and the gate had closed so he could not board.  The flight he missed was American Airlines Flight 11 which was hijacked fifteen minutes after takeoff.  At 8:46 am the plane was flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center.  

"The only reason it hasn’t really affected me as it maybe could have is I didn’t really know that I was in any danger until after it was over, so I never had that panic moment. After the fact, it was sobering, but people have a lot of close calls; you’re crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car… this one just happened to be related to something massive. I really can’t let it affect me because I’m a comedy writer. I have to put that in the back of my head." - Seth MacFarlane

A difference of just a few minutes saved his life.  As a result television comedy has evolved and prime time animated adult entertainment will never be the same.

-Professor Walter

Go ahead, drop that computer on the floor

In 1978 Apple Computer began work on a business computer based on its popular Apple II system.  The new computer would be called the Apple III.  The computer was announced on May 19th 1980 and shipped the following fall.  

The Apple III was plagued with problems, often caused by it's poor heat dissipation.  To offset this Apple incorporated heat sinks into the design, but it still was not enough to keep the system properly cooled.  Some users reported floppy disks melting in the drive.

The real problem with the system though, was a major logic board design flaw where the technology used to solder the chips to the board caused solder bridges.  This happened because the design called for components to be too close to each other.  With the heat and logic board problems the chips would often work themselves out of their sockets from the expansion and contraction from the heating and cooling.

The result was garbled letters on the screen and system failure.  Apple's solution to this problem was to instruct the user to turn off the computer.  Lift it about 3 inches high (76 mm) and drop it on the table.  The landing would re-seat the chips on the board and the computer would work again for a while.

The Apple III was a commercial failure and was discontinued on April 24, 1984.

-Professor Walter