MI Printing: First Halftone Published

March 4th 1880: The first halftone photograph was published in a newspaper.

The Daily Graphic of New York publishes the first halftone, rather than an engraved image.  The image was a reproduction of a news photograph. The image features Shantytown dwellings in the city, taken by Henry J. Newton.

William Fox Talbot is credited with the idea of halftone printing. In the early 1850s, he suggested using "photographic screens or veils" in connection with a photographic intaglio process.

Several different kinds of screens were proposed during the following decades. One of the well known attempts was by Stephen H. Horgan while working for the New York Daily Graphic. The first printed photograph was an image of Steinway Hall in Manhattan published on December 2, 1873. The Graphic then published "the first reproduction of a photograph with a full tonal range in a newspaper" on March 4, 1880 (entitled "A Scene in Shantytown") with a crude halftone screen.

The first truly successful commercial method was patented by Frederic Ives of Philadelphia in 1881. Although he found a way of breaking up the image into dots of varying sizes, he did not make use of a screen. In 1882 the German Georg Meisenbach patented a halftone process in England. His invention was based on the previous ideas of Berchtold and Swan. He used single lined screens which were turned during exposure to produce cross-lined effects. He was the first to achieve any commercial success with relief halftones.

MI Printing: Word Myths: "Bringing Home the Bacon"

In the 1970's Enjoli perfume released a TV commercial that featured a modification of a Peggy Lee song I'm a Woman.  They reran a similar, updated version of the commercial in the 1980's.  The perfume commercial was based around the phrase Bringing Home the Bacon.

You can watch it from this link; http://youtu.be/4X4MwbVf5OA

Where does the phrase Bringing Home the Bacon come from?

The first time anyone had actually been quoted as using this phrase was in 1906, when Joe Gans won a boxing match. The September 3rd Reno Evening Gazette reported the words of an announcer at the match who read a telegram from Gans’ mother aloud. She wrote, “Everybody says you ought to win. Peter Jackson will tell me the news and you bring back the bacon.”

It’s unclear whether she made it up on the spot or was repeating an already well-known phrase, but there is no hard evidence of this term’s use before that day.

While the meaning is; supply means of subsistence; earn a living.  It is a part of everyday speech and used without a real thought to the meaning of the expression.

Have a Great Day!

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MI Printing: Word Myths: Threshold

There is an essay, titled “Life in the 1500s,” which has been circulating on the Internet since the late 1990's.  Apparently prompted by the release of the film “Shakespeare in Love” in 1998, this anonymous “believe it or not” description of the “quirky aspects” of life in 16th century England asserts dozens of absurd “facts,” such as cats and dogs routinely living in the roofs of thatched-roof dwellings and many other untruths.

Part of the story is the word; Threshold.  The story tells that the meaning is that it was common to spread “thresh” (presumably reeds or rushes) on the floor of one’s house to prevent slipping, necessitating the addition of a piece of wood in the bottom of the doorway, called a “threshold,” to keep the thresh from “slipping outside.”  Voila, our modern word “threshold” for the bar of stone or wood at the base of a doorway.

Threshold is a very old word, dating to circa 1000 and probably earlier.  But threshold has nothing to do with “threshes” on the floor.  The word threshold first appeared in Old English as “therscold” or “threscold.”  The beginning of the word carried the meaning of “to stamp with the feet, to stomp noisily,” which is, of course, what one does when entering a room with mud or snow on one’s shoes.  The second part of the word is a mystery, but it is fairly certain that it was something other than our modern word “hold,” and it was transformed into the more familiar “hold” over time.

The threshold is literally the first place in a building you step and has evolved to mean any gateway or entry point.

MI Printing: AZ History Arizona Silver Belt Newspaper

One hundred and ten years ago Arizona was talking about the high prices of natural resources.  Here is copy of a story from the front page of The Arizona Silver Belt Newspaper in Globe City, Pinal County.  Reprinted without alteration.

April 27 1899

Price of Copper

The price of copper will remain altogether at its present high figure or very nearly so. This is on account of the consumption being greater than the supply and production. This is the natural cause, out there is another reason, and that is the governments of the world are all demanding copper,  especially those of maritime power or great navies, and those building telegraphic cables.

The government for war and governmental purposes seldom questions the price of a commodity it needs, but pays the highest market price; in fact, fixes the standard of value and that standard is readily acquieseed in by the general consumer.  The copper plating of government war crafts will consume millions of tons of copper.

It will take years to complete the work, and the metal must be had and the price will be paid, hence the probability of copper being held at its present price. In fact it is predicted that it will go to twenty cents and there remain for some years.  Should this be so, there will be no telling what a vast area of prosperity Arizona, the greatest copper field in the United States, will enjoy.
 - Star

Earth Day 2011: A Billion Acts of Green

Earth Day 1970 came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.

As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) -- the highest honor given to civilians in the United States -- for his role as Earth Day founder.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. With 5,000 environmental groups in a record 184 countries reaching out to hundreds of millions of people, Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. It used the Internet to organize activists, but also featured a talking drum chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, and hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Earth Day 2000 sent world leaders the loud and clear message that citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy.

Much like 1970, Earth Day 2010 came at a time of great challenge for the environmental community. Climate change deniers, well-funded oil lobbyists, reticent politicians, a disinterested public, and a divided environmental community all contributed to a strong narrative that overshadowed the cause of progress and change. In spite of the challenge, for its 40th anniversary, Earth Day Network reestablished Earth Day as a powerful focal point around which people could demonstrate their commitment. Earth Day Network brought 225,000 people to the National Mall for a Climate Rally, amassed 40 million environmental service actions toward its 2012 goal of A Billion Acts of Green®, launched an international, 1-million tree planting initiative with Avatar director James Cameron and tripled its online base to over 900,000 community members.

The fight for a clean environment continues in a climate of increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more manifest every day.

MI Printing: The History of Easter Eggs

It's pretty much common knowledge that Easter is a Christian celebration of Christ's rising, but this holiday also has pagan origins. Where did the colored eggs, cute little bunnies, baby chicks, leg of lamb dinners, and lilies come from? They are all symbols of rebirth and the lamb was a traditional religious sacrifice.

Easter falls in the spring, the yearly time of renewal, when the earth renews itself after a long, cold winter. The word Easter comes to us from the Norsemen's Eostur, Eastar, Ostara, and Ostar, and the pagan goddess Eostre, all of which involve the season of the growing sun and new birth. The Easter Bunny arose originally as a symbol of fertility, due to the rapid reproduction habits of the hare and rabbit.

The ancient Egyptians, Persians, Phoenicians, and Hindus all believed the world began with an enormous egg, thus the egg as a symbol of new life has been around for eons. The ancient Persians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration falling on the Spring Equinox. This tradition has continued every year on Nowrooz since ancient times. At the Passover Seder, a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water symbolizes both new life and the Passover sacrifice offered at the Temple in Jerusalem.

The particulars may vary, but most cultures around the world use the egg as a symbol of new life and rebirth. A notation in the household accounts of Edward I of England showed an expenditure of eighteen pence for 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and colored for Easter gifts. The first book to mention Easter eggs by name was written five hundred years ago. Yet, a North African tribe that had become Christian much earlier in time had a custom of coloring eggs at Easter. Long hard winters often meant little food, and a fresh egg for Easter was quite a prize. Later, Christians abstained from eating meat during the Lenten season prior to Easter. Easter was the first chance to enjoy eggs and meat after the long abstinence.

Some European children go from house to house begging for Easter eggs, much like Halloween trick-or-treaters. Called pace-egging, it comes from the old word for Easter, Pasch. Many old cultures also attributed the egg with great healing powers. It is interesting to note that eggs play almost no part in the Easter celebrations of Mexico, South America, and Native American Indian cultures. Egg-rolling contests are a symbolic re-enactment of the rolling away of the stone from Christ's tomb. The decoration of small leaf-barren branches as Easter egg trees has become a popular custom in the United States since the 1990s.

Happy Easter from Paula and Matt at MI Printing!

Looking for a Deal on Post Cards?

Wednesday April 20th 2011 and it is time again for a message from our sponsor.  Well from Paula and Matt at MI Printing.

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MI Printing: Word Origins: Hot Dog

Claims about the  invention and name hot dog are difficult to assess, as stories make many claims about the "first use" of the sausage, the placing of the sausage on bread or a bun as finger food, the popularization of the existing dish, or the application of the name "hot dog" to a sausage and bun combination most commonly used with ketchup or mustard and sometimes relish.

The word the item itself dates back to the word frankfurter and comes from Frankfurt, Germany, where pork sausages served in a bun similar to hot dogs originated. These sausages, Frankfurter Würstchen, existed since the 13th century and were given to the people on the event of imperial coronations, starting with the coronation of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor as King.

Wiener refers to Vienna, Austria, whose German name is "Wien", home to a sausage made of a mixture of pork and beef. Johann Georg Lahner, a 18th century butcher from the Bavarian city of Coburg is said to have brought the Frankfurter Würstchen to Vienna, where he added beef to the mixture and simply called it Frankfurter.

Nowadays, in German speaking countries, except Austria, hot dog sausages are called Wiener or Wiener Würstchen (meaning "little sausage"), in differentiation to the original pork only mixture from Frankfurt. In Swiss German, it is called Wienerli, while in Austria the terms Frankfurter or Frankfurter Würstel are used.

Around 1870, on Coney Island, German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls.

Others have supposedly invented the hot dog. The idea of a hot dog on a bun is ascribed to the wife of a German named Antonoine Feuchtwanger, who sold hot dogs on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1880, because his customers kept taking the white gloves handed to them for eating without burning their hands.

Anton Ludwig Feuchtwanger, a Bavarian sausage seller, is said to have served sausages in rolls at the World's Fair. The rub is which "Fair".  Claims for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis both are claimed.

Harry M Stevens Inc., founded in 1889, serviced major sports venues with hot dogs and other refreshments, making Stevens known as the "King of Sports Concessions" in the US.

The association between hot dogs and baseball began as early as 1893 with Chris von der Ahe, a German immigrant who owned not only the St. Louis Browns, but also an amusement park.

In 1916, an employee of Feltman's named Nathan Handwerker was encouraged by celebrity clients Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante to go into business in competition with his former employer. Handwerker undercut Feltman's by charging five cents for a hot dog when his former employer was charging ten cents.

At an earlier time in food regulation the hot dog suspect, Handwerker made sure that men wearing surgeon's smocks were seen eating at Nathan's Famous to reassure potential customers.

MI Printing : AZ History One City At a Time: Flagstaff

Between 1856 and 1870, Lt. Edward Beale scouted a trail across the Southwest that would later bear his name. In 1876, a group of pioneers traveling the Beale road stopped on the Fourth of July and made camp at a spring in the shadow of the San Francisco Peaks. To celebrate the centennial of the nation, they stripped the limbs from a tall pine and raised the flag. Over the years, many travelers stopped near the tall "flag-staff," these pioneers had raised and the name stuck.

Like many western towns, the arrival of the railroad marked a turning point in the history of Flagstaff. Prior to the arrival of the train, the city was little more than a campsite along a pioneer trail. The train gave shepherds, loggers and cattlemen access to markets for their products, and those industries soon thrived in this region. The train also brought in visitors from around the world, who used Flagstaff as a jumping-off point for a stage ride to Grand Canyon.

Located along a pioneer trail, the city was first a stop for travelers on horseback, then by rail and later by car on Route 66 and Interstate 40. The landmark peaks were an important landmark to travelers and even before the arrival of the railway adventurous visitors were using it as a jumping off point for exploring the Grand Canyon and other not area attractions. Other surprising bits of history include a connection to the Apollo space missions and Hollywood.

Flagstaff and the History of the Apollo Missions In the decade from 1963 to 1973, a group of young geoscientists working for the U.S. Geological Survey Branch of Astrogeology in Flagstaff played a major role in one of mankind's greatest achievements — the six Apollo expeditions to the Moon.

Flagstaff Haunted Places — A Self-guided Tour Every town has its ghost stories, but Flagstaff may have more than its fair share. Seven reportedly haunted sites in downtown Flagstaff can be easily visited by foot in an afternoon.

MI Printing : AZ History One City At a Time: AJO



Hotel Cornelia, built in 1916

 Pronounced AH-hoe, like the Spanish word for garlic, the name of the mining town 42 miles south of Gila Bend may have come from the Papago word for paint, because the tribe collected a copper pigment there [Arizona Handbook(1986)]. Spanish prospectors found rich silver-copper ore there and Americans followed in 1854 after the Gadsden Purchase annexed the site to the USA. Ajo was probably the first copper mine in Arizona .

Early attempts at large-scale production had to wait for better technology and John C. Greenway, manager of Calumet & Arizona at Bisbee and a former Rough Rider with Teddy Roosevelt. He acquired New Cornelia mine stock and set about building a large operation in the remote desert. A railroad was built from Gila Bend in 1915 and a model company town laid out around a classic Hispanic Plaza with buildings in the southwestern mission style, all the rage at the time.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was created in 1937 to preserve a region of the Sonoran Desert south of Ajo. The organ pipe cactus is a saguaro that branches at the ground rather than higher up on a central trunk.

Phelps Dodge acquired the New Cornelia mine in 1931 but had to close it the next year due to falling copper prices during the depression. Reopened in 1934, the huge open pit became the leading copper producer in the state until bested by the Morenci mine in 1943. At first copper concentrates were transported by rail all the way to the C&A smelter at Douglas, but a smelter at Ajo was completed in 1950. Eventually the business cycle again played havoc with prosperity and the mine closed for good in 1985.

Former Phelps Dodge workers now anchor a retirement community and Department of Homeland Security keeps a sizable presence of border patrol agents and customs officers at Ajo. The historic Curley School (1919) was restored in 2007 to become Curley School Artisan Housing. While the last tall smoke stack at the old Phelps Dodge smelter was demolished the same year, some mining continued, with a contractor salvaging precious metals from the old slag pile.

MI Printing: Word Myths: "Tinker's-dam"

There's some debate over whether this phrase should be tinker's dam - a small dam to hold solder, made by tinkers when mending pans, or tinker's damn - a tinker's curse, considered of little significance because tinkers were reputed to swear habitually.

If we go back to 1877, in the Practical Dictionary of Mechanics, Edward Knight puts forward this definition:
"Tinker's-dam - a wall of dough raised around a place which a plumber desires to flood with a coat of solder. The material can be but once used; being consequently thrown away as worthless."
That version of events has gone into popular folklore and many people believe it. After all, any definition written as early has 1877 has to be true doesn't it?

Knight may well have been a fine mechanic but there has to be some doubt about his standing as an etymologist. There is no corroborative evidence for his speculation and he seems to have fallen foul of the curse of folk etymologists - plausibility. If an ingenious story seems to neatly fit the bill then it must be true. Well, in this case, it isn't. The Victorian preference of 'dam' over 'damn' may also owe something to coyness over the use of a profanity in polite conversation.

That interpretation of the phrase was well enough accepted in Nevada in 1884 for the Reno Gazette to report its use in the defence of a Methodist preacher who was accused of the profanity of using the term 'tinker's dam':

"It isn't profane any more to say tinker's dam. The minister stated that a tinker's dam was a dam made by itinerant menders of tinware on a pewter plate to contain the solder".

The same view was expressed in the Fitchburg Sentinel newspaper in 1874.

The problem with that interpretation is that all those accounts ignore an earlier phrase - 'a tinker's curse' (or cuss), which exemplified the reputation tinkers had for habitual use of profanity. This example from John Mactaggart's The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia, 1824, predates Knight's version in the popular language:

"A tinkler's curse she did na care what she did think or say."

In the Grant County Herald, Wisconsin, 1854, we have:

"There never was a book gotten up by authority and State pay, that was worth a tinker's cuss".

So, we can forget about plumbing. The earlier phrase simply migrated the short distance from curse to damn to give us the proper spelling of the phrase - tinker's damn.

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MI Printing: Word Myths: "I Am A Jelly Donut"

A common urban legend asserts that Kennedy made an embarrassing grammatical error by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner," referring to himself not as a citizen of Berlin, but as a common pastry:

Kennedy should have said "Ich bin Berliner" to mean "I am a person from Berlin." By adding the indefinite article ein, his statement implied he was a non-human Berliner, thus "I am a jelly doughnut". The statement was followed by uproarious laughter.

The legend stems from a play on words with Berliner, the name of a doughnut variant filled with jam or plum sauce that is thought to have originated in Berlin. This urban legend is largely unknown in Germany, where Kennedy's speech is considered a landmark in the country's postwar history.

The legend can be deconstructed on a number of points:

While there is a "jam doughnut" variant that is common in Berlin, it is only known as Pfannkuchen (pancake) in the city and nearby regions. The name "Berliner" is based on etymologic travel: other parts of Germany picked up the pastry under the name of Berliner Pfannkuchen (= pancake from Berlin), which in turn has been shortened to Berliner. That name has travelled further abroad and is now known in some English-speaking regions. In the 1960s however the term "Berliner" for the pastry sounded strange to people in Berlin.

There is no grammatical error in Kennedy's statement; the indefinite article does not change its meaning. In German, the statement of origin "Ich bin ein Brandenburger" (I am from Brandenburg) is more common than "Ich bin Brandenburger", but both are correct. The article "ein" can be used as a form of emphasis: it implies "just one of many." As Kennedy did stress the "ein", the usage was, according to German linguist Jürgen Eichhoff ,"not only correct, but the one and only correct way of expressing in German what the President intended to say."

The telling of laughter may stem from an associated incident based on the simultaneous interpretation of his speech from English to German (which is the reason for the many pauses apparent in the audio recordings even that most tapes do not carry the interpreter's voice). After the president said "Ich bin ein Berliner" the first time, he was applauded, and a few seconds later he added jokingly, "I appreciate my interpreter translating my German!" This statement was followed by laughter and applause. That timeline fact is evident, so there was no laughter connected to the German phrase but to the next English phrase.

MI Printing Charles Debrille Poston "Father of Arizona"

Charles Debrille Poston (April 20, 1825 - June 24, 1902) was an American explorer, prospector, author, politician, and civil servant. He is referred to as the "Father of Arizona" due to his efforts lobbying for creation of the territory. Poston was also Arizona Territory's first Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1851, Poston traveled to California as part of the Gold Rush and took a clerk position at the San Francisco Customs House. While at this job, he became involved with a group of French bankers interested in the lands of the recently negotiated Gadsden Purchase. In late 1853, with the bankers' backing, Poston joined with mining engineer Herman Ehrenberg to organize an expedition into the territory Mexico was expected to sell to the United States. Taking a ship from San Francisco, the two became shipwrecked near the Mexican port of Guaymas. They were then detained temporarily by Mexican authorities as suspected filibusters before heading north to the Gadsden territory. The expedition visited San Xavier del Bac and Ajo, collecting mineral samples along the way, before traveling down the Gila River.  At Fort Yuma, a U.S. Army post near the confluence of the Gila and Colorado River, Poston first met the fort's commander Major Samuel P. Heintzelman.

Poston commissioned Tiffany & Co. to create a US$1500 inkwell from Arizona silver and presented the inkwell to Lincoln upon signing of the Arizona Organic Act.  On 12 March 1863 Poston was appointed superintendent of Indian affairs. This appointment was followed by his election as Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives on 18 July 1864.  During his term of service, Poston submitted bills aimed at settling private land claims and to establish Indian reservations along the Colorado river. 
Poston also wrote several books during this time, publishing The Parsees in 1872, The Sun Worshippers of Asia in 1877, and his poem Apache Land in 1878.  His work, Building a State in Apache Land was published in installments by Overland Monthly between July and October 1894.

He was made register of the United States land office at Florence, Arizona from July 1877 till June 1879.  During his time in Florence he became interested in building a Parsi fire temple on a nearby hill, paying for construction of a road to the summit and petitioning the Shah of Persia for funds to build the temple. This unusual interest led to Poston being criticized as a crank and eccentric.

Following his time in Florence he moved to Tucson and supported himself with a variety of positions including lecturer, mining and railroad promoter, and writer.  Charles D. Poston filed a claim on land which he called "Hole-in-the-Rock" in 1892.  The land was set aside as the Papago Saguaro National Monument in 1914 and in 1930, became Papago Park.

Poston declined into obscurity until 1897 when Whitelaw Reid published an account detailing Poston's situation. As a result, the Arizona Territorial legislature awarded Poston a pension of $25/month in 1899 and increased this to $35/month in 1901. Poston died in poverty on June 24, 1902 and was buried in Phoenix, Arizona.  Poston’s remains were removed from Phoenix and moved to Florence, Arizona, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. His remains were buried on Primrose Hill, renamed "Poston Butte" where he had never completed his “Temple to the Sun”. He was entombed in an official ceremony led by Governor George W. P. Hunt.

MI Printing: The First Broadcast Station in Arizona

KFAD were the call letters assigned to a new broadcast station at Phoenix, Arizona in June of 1922 by the Radio Division of the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Navigation to the McArthur Brothers Mercantile Company. Charles and Warren McArthur were the owners of the retail establishment, which was located at 134 South Central Avenue, site of the new station. KFAD was authorized to operate with 100 watts on "the broadcasting wave of 360 meters" (equal to 833 kilocycles) and first went on the air Wednesday, June 21, 1922 as Phoenix's first broadcast station.

By January 1924 , KFAD was in operation daily from 7:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. In early 1925, the "Class C" 100 watt station was assigned to operate on 1100 kilocycles by the Radio Division.

In late 1925, KFAD's license was transferred to the Electrical Equipment Company of Phoenix. This new firm was owned by the McArthur Brothers Mercantile Company. KFAD's studio and transmitting location was changed to 312 North Central Avenue, and power was concurrently increased to 500 watts in early 1927. By late 1927, KFAD's slogan, used on the air and off, was "The Gold Spot of America." Again, KFAD's dial position was altered--shifting to 330 kilocycles in early 1928. At 3 a.m. Saturday, November 11, 1928, the effective date of a major frequency reallocations ordered by the newly empowered Federal Radio Commission, KFAD was assigned to broadcast on 620 kilocycles.

A new studio was outfitted in early 1929, adjacent to its transmitting location at 316 North Central Avenue, in the same building as before. By the fall of 1929, the station's air motto was "Phoenix, where Winter Never Comes." In November 1929, KFAD was transferred to The Arizona Publishing Company, publisher of The Arizona Republic daily newspaper. Minority interest in the 500 watt station was retained by the Electrical Equipment Company of Phoenix. W.W. Knorpp was assigned by the newspaper as Station Manager of KFAD, which, in late November 1929 was assigned new call letters: KREP (for "Republic"). KREP was first used by the station in early December. A second thought about call letters for the station brought on the request for a new call, because KREP was being mispronounced. On December 26, 1929, the FCC authorized KREP to change call letters to KTAR ("The Arizona Republic"). This change was effective February 23, 1930. Also in early 1930, daytime power of the station was increased to 1,000 watts. Night power remained at the 500 watt level. Studios continued to be located at 316 North Central, while its transmitter and masts were located at 314 North Central.

KTAR affiliated with the National Broadcasting Company "chain" on June 8, 1930, becoming Arizona's first affiliate of that nationwide network. In late June 1930, a new corporation was formed by "The Arizona Republic" newspaper and the Electrical Equipment Company to operate their station--The KTAR Broadcasting Company.

By 1935, KTAR was granted an SA (Special Authorization) by the Federal Communications Commission to utilize 1,000 watts for its nighttime broadcasts; however, it remained licensed for 500 watts of power at night. On February 26, 1935, the station was granted a construction permit to increase night power permanently to 1,000 watts. KTAR became a fulltime 1 KW facility shortly thereafter.

Today,  KTAR 620 NEWS/TALK/SPORTS . . . Arizona's oldest continuously licensed broadcast station, operates 24 hours a day with an all news and information format from studios at 301 W. Osborn Road, Phoenix, Arizona. Operating at 620 kHz with 5,000 watts (nighttime directional), KTAR is licensed to Phoenix Broadcasting, Inc., a subsidiary of the Pulitzer Broadcasting Company (Michael E. Pulitzer, President and Chief Executive Officer). James F. Taszarek is Vice President and General Manager of the ABC Information Network affiliated station.

MI Printing: Word Myths: Inuit Words for Snow

The Great Inuit Vocabulary Hoax is anthropology's contribution to urban legends. It apparently started in 1911 when anthropologist Franz Boaz casually mentioned that the Inuit—he called them "Eskimos," using the derogatory term of a tribe to the south of them for eaters of raw meat—had four different words for snow. With each succeeding reference in textbooks and the popular press the number grew to sometimes as many as 400 words.

First some facts. Eskimo, or more accurately the Yupik and Inuit-Inupiaq families of languages, have a handful of words for snow, ranging from estimates as low as two to a high of a dozen or so. That's about the same number that can be found in English (snow, sleet, flurry, blizzard, slush, powder, etc.). So actually, Yupik and Inuit are not remarkable in the number of words they have for snow.

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Many times the first impression a person will have with your company is to handle and open correspondence that arrives in your company envelope.  There’s something about receiving a custom printed company envelope. You can feel the importance and significance of any document with the help of logo, printing and the quality of the paper.  In fact, correct envelope printing adds greatly to the image and credibility of a company.

While your letterheads are standards for businesses and companies, the envelopes that carry that important document can not be a poor quality product.

Envelope printing is crucial because it contributes to the image of professionalism and reliability that a company projects. The image of a company can be picked up from the documents that they produce and use in communications with the public.

Your company's formality and credibility is also reflected in your envelopes.  Envelopes in fact, have the power to affect a response from the recipients whether its favorable or not.  Depending on the look, appearance, color and quality, your envelope can greatly influence the way your recipients think about you and your company's message.

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MI Printing: Word Myths: SOS Meaning

RMS Titanic April 1912

Many people believe that the Morse code group SOS has a meaning and is an acronym. SOS became associated with phrases such as "save our ship", "save our souls", "stop other signals" or "sure of sinking".

The phrases were a later development, most likely used to help teach signalmen to remember parts of the Morse Code.

As the SOS signal is a prosign, its respective letters have no inherent meaning per se, it was simply chosen due to it being easy to remember.

SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal ( · · · — — — · · · ). This distress signal was first adopted by the German government in radio regulations effective April 1, 1905, and became the worldwide standard under the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which was signed on November 3, 1906 and became effective on July 1, 1908.

RMS Titanic Radio Room

SOS remained the maritime radio distress signal until 1999, when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress Safety System.

In International Morse Code, three dits (shorts) form the letter S, and three dahs (longs) make the letter O, so "SOS" became an easy way to remember the correct order of the dits and dahs. In modern terminology, SOS is a Morse "procedural signal" or "prosign".

There was some resistance among the Marconi operators to the adoption of the new signal, and, as late as the April, 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, the ship's Marconi operators intermixed CQD (seek you or calling all stations) and SOS distress calls. However, in the interests of consistency and water safety, the use of CQD appears to have died out after this point.

MI Printing: Arzona History: Charles Hayden

Charles Trumball Hayden was an American businessman and probate judge. His influence was felt in the development of Arizona Territory where he helped found both the city of Tempe and Arizona State University. Hayden is also known as the father of U.S. Senator Carl Hayden.

Hayden was born on April 4, 1825 in Haydens, Windsor Township, Hartford, Connecticut to Joseph and Mary Hanks Hayden. Hayden's father died when he was six, leaving himself and his sister Anna to help his mother run the family farm. He completed his education at 16 and worked as a clerk for several years before leaving home in 1843. His departure was motivated in part by a lung ailment.

From Connecticut Hayden went to New York City, where he studied law, before beginning a series of teaching jobs in Kentucky, Indiana, and Missouri. While in Kentucky, Hayden was influenced by Henry Clay's vision of opening the West to settlement by the development of roads and canals. By 1847, he was working as a teamster hauling freight on the Santa Fe Trail.

Following ratification of the Gadsden Purchase, Hayden established a store in Tubac which served the nearby mines. By 1860, he had moved to Tucson and according to census records had assets worth $20,000. In addition to working as a merchant, Hayden also worked as a freighter and civic leader. With the creation of Arizona Territory, he added mail contractor to his list of duties. Finally, he was appointed a probate judge by Governor Goodwin and he achieved the title "judge".

Hayden remained in Tucson until 1873 when he moved to the Salt River valley. Local legend claims that while he was on a business trip from Tucson to Prescott, flood waters on the Salt River delayed him near the present location of Tempe, Arizona for several days. Using this time to explore the site, Hayden saw the potential to develop a new town at the site. In December 1870, Hayden published a notice claiming two sections along the south side of the Salt River "for milling, farming, and other purposes". He used the land to build a cable ferry, grist mill, general store, and other related businesses.

On October 4, 1876, at the age of 51, Hayden married Arkansas-born schoolteacher Sallie Davis in Nevada City, California. The couple would have four children, Carl Trumball, Sallie Davis, Anna Spenser, and Mary "Mapes" Calvert. Anna died when two-and-a-half years old while the three other children reached maturity.

Politically, Hayden made an unsuccessful run to be Arizona Territory's Congressional Delegate in 1874. This was followed in 1884 when Grover Cleveland considered him for Governor of Arizona Territory. In 1885, Hayden succeeded in having a former employee, John S. Armstrong, elected to the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature. Believing the territory's need lie primarily in educating new teachers, Hayden used his connection with Armstrong to lobby for the Territorial Normal School. Hayden even favored the normal school over the fiscally more lucrative insane asylum, arguing "Stockton, California was known to most people only as the place where insane people are confined" and that Tempe should not risk gaining a similar reputation. The normal school established in Tempe is now Arizona State University.

Hayden remained in Tempe for the rest of his life and died on February 5, 1900.

MI Printing: Pipe Spring National Monument

American Indians, Mormon pioneers, plants, animals, and others have depended on the life-giving water found at Pipe Spring.

When visiting Pipe Spring, your first stop will be the Pipe Spring National Monument-Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians Visitor Center and Museum.

This joint center was cooperatively funded and built, and is operated by the National Park Service and the Kaibab Paiute. The center serves as the entry to Pipe Spring National Monument, and provides exhibits about the people and cultures who have lived in this region for centuries.

In 1870, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons) began construction of a fortified ranch house at Pipe Spring. The ranch house/fort was designed as both a headquarters for a tithing cattle ranch and as protection from Indian attacks. The Mormon settlers did not particularly fear the Paiute tribe, which at that time inhabited much of the Arizona Strip, but the Navajo, who would cross the Colorado River at low water and raid both the Paiutes and the settlers.

The fortified ranch house was constructed directly over Pipe Spring. The Mormons were only the latest group to be drawn to Pipe Spring, which had attracted people for centuries. The Ancient Puebloans (Anasazi) inhabited the area from approximately 1 A.D. to 1200 A.D. The Paiute tribe followed the Anasazi, and had lived in the Pipe Spring region for nearly three centuries by the time the European settlers began moving into this area.

Winsor Castle was the site of the first telegraph station in the state of Arizona. The transcontinental telegraph wire came through Salt Lake City in 1861, and immediately revolutionized communications. Information from Washington, D.C., or San Francisco that once took weeks or months to reach Utah now arrived in only a few minutes.

However, the majority of the Utah settlements were north and south of Salt Lake City.
Thus the transcontinental line, running generally east-west, initially did little to improve communications within the territory.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints decided to build its own adjunct line, dubbed the Deseret Telegraph, linking communities to the north and south of Salt Lake. Construction on this line started in 1866.

Brigham Young asked that each community with a telegraph station train one or more young person in the art of telegraphy.