Category: Open Lines

Munich, Germany has its more famous Oktoberfest, but in Denver today, the record setting Great American Beer Festival is in the second day of its annual three-day meeting. The get together highlights some 1,884 different beers from all across the nation — the largest number gathered in one place anywhere in the world. Awards will be given to the best beers in 75 different categories. By the time it closes, some 46,000 people are expected to have visited the festival, …

A long-running part of the nation’s communications technology passed into history this week in 1983 — as the last hand-cranked telephone system in the country converted to direct dialing. The place was Bryant Pond, Maine, and the old system still had about 400 subscribers, using equipment that had served rural customers since the turn of the century. That equipment, including hand-cranked magneto switchboards, is now on display at museums. For decades, most of the nation’s households dealt with a near …

An annual event celebrating the simple pleasures of toys from the past is centered on Burlington, Wisconsin, today. The focal point of International Top Spinning Day will be the Spinning Top and Yo-Yo Museum. There, visitors can see more than 2,000 displays of tops, yo-yos and gyroscopes. The tops range from modern to antique, and come from around the world. There are tops that spin for hours, and even one that spins for days. Youngsters can learn about the physics …

The first superhighway in America opened this month in 1940 — the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The highway utilized roadbed and unfinished tunnels from an abandoned railroad project of the 1880s to make the nation’s first limited access, divided highway. The original road ran for 160 miles and featured seven tunnels, 10 service plazas, and 11 interchanges. In the years since, the turnpike — now part of the interstate highway system — has seen many improvements and is twice its original length. …

This is National Fire Prevention Week — a time to look around the house with the idea of keeping the risk of fire to a minimum. It’s also a good time to replace the batteries in your smoke detectors. Two of the worst fires in U.S. history broke out on this date in 1871. One was the famous fire in Chicago. The second fire that day was much worse, but has faded into history. A dry summer and high winds …

U.S. based manufacturers receive new orders every month worth close to a half-trillion dollars. To underscore the health and prospects of this closely watched economic sector, today is Manufacturing Day, with activities staged across the country by American companies. The main focus is a series of open houses to show that the words “Made in America” are still a powerful sign of innovation and quality. These open houses will enable the public to see for themselves that American manufacturing is …

Tomorrow marks the birth in 1882 of a man who ended up being called “The father of the space age” — Robert Goddard. He was just 17 when he climbed a tree to think about his future and decided to dedicate his life to developing rockets and space travel. This when America moved by horse and buggy and steam engine. Goddard’s work led to the first liquid-fueled rocket launch in 1926 and, later on, the development of solid propellants. Space …

The way Americans buy a home changed forever this week in 1947. That’s when one of the first communities built by a real estate developer opened for residents to move into — Levittown, on New York’s Long Island. Named for William and Alfred Levitt, the town ultimately contained more than 17,000 Cape Cod and ranch houses, snapped up by servicemen returning from World War II and facing an acute housing shortage. The houses in Levittown had 800 square feet of …

As National Hispanic Heritage Month continues, one of those recognized during the month is Richard Serra, described by art critics as among the most significant sculptors of recent years. Serra was born in San Francisco and studied at the University of California and Yale. He is noted for his large-scale, abstract, outdoor sculptures of rusted steel. Several of his pieces have generated controversy but his sculptures generally have been well received, with many on display not only in the U.S. …

A car destined to put America on wheels was introduced on this day in 1908. It was Henry Ford’s Model T, and the demand became so great that Ford developed the assembly line to speed up production. At one time, a finished car rolled off the line every 10 seconds, and fully half the cars in the world were Model Ts. In 1924, the basic Model T sold for just $260 — available, as the joke went, in any color …

Most people may think of cranberries only at Thanksgiving, but not the people of Warrens, Wisconsin. The town’s 40th annual Cranberry Festival starts today and runs through Sunday, a celebration expected to draw 110,000 people. While the focus is on cranberries, the festival has more than three miles of booths featuring arts, crafts, antiques, and food. Among the activities offered are educational tours of the nearby cranberry bogs. Each year in the U.S., there are 340,000 tons of cranberries harvested, …

While Halloween is more than a month away, the folks in Barnesville, Ohio are staging their 49th annual Pumpkin Festival beginning today and running through Sunday. Some 100,000 people are expected to see parades, a car show, banjo and fiddle contests, and, of course, the queen’s pageant. One major event will be the King Pumpkin Contest, where giant home grown pumpkins ride by on pickup trucks. Just over a billion pounds of pumpkins are grown in the U.S. annually. Illinois …

For hundreds of years, if someone ordered coffee, there was no question about what kind. Today, many Americans prefer their coffee decaffeinated. That choice began at the start of the last century, when Ludwig Roselius, a coffee merchant in Bremen, Germany, worked on removing caffeine from coffee beans. He described his process as “sans caffeine,” which he shortened to the familiar name “Sanka.” He moved to the U.S., and sold his process and trade name to a big firm in …

Three important dates in American newspaper history occurred in September — spanning more than 200 years. On September 15, 1982, USA Today began publishing. Critics at the time said the idea of a national newspaper was doomed to failure — now, USA Today is one of the country’s largest selling dailies. On September 18, 1851, the New York Times issued its first edition. And, on this date in 1690, the first newspaper in America was published for one day in …

As National Hispanic Heritage Month continues, the focus is on the contributions of this community to the nation’s military history. The exploits of David Farragut, the first admiral in the U.S. Navy, during the Civil War are fairly well known. Less attention has been paid to Bernardo de Gálvez, who aided George Washington during the Revolution, and for whom the city of Galveston, Texas is named. Up to half a million Hispanics served in the U.S. armed forces during World …

Today marks the birthday of a creative genius who made generations of Americans laugh — motion picture animator Chuck Jones. He created the characters of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, and helped develop Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. Jones won several Academy Awards and wrote, produced and directed the 1966 television classic, Dr. Seuss’s “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” When Chuck Jones headed his own unit in 1962, most movies were preceded by a short …

Today marks the 95th anniversary of the birth of one of basketball’s most famous personalities — Red Auerbach. As coach of the Boston Celtics, he won nine NBA titles. After retiring as coach, he became general manager, then president until his death in 2006. He was an early backer of hiring African-American players, and developed the fast break as a potent offensive weapon. Auerbach was named the greatest coach in NBA history and is widely considered to be the greatest …

With the presidential campaign in full swing, the size of the national debt and what to do about it is once again the topic of considerable political discussion — some of it heated. The first time the federal government went into debt was this week in 1789, when Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton arranged to borrow nearly $192,000 from the Bank of New York and the Bank of North America. The money was needed to pay the salaries of President Washington …

Newspapers on this date in 1908 reported on aviation’s first fatality the day before, and the serious injury of the airplane’s co-inventor. Orville Wright had been demonstrating an aircraft for the Army at Fort Myer, Virginia. With Orville at the controls, Army Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge went up as a passenger, as a test of possible military use of the airplane by the Army Signal Corps. Four minutes into the flight, the plane crashed, killing Selfridge and seriously injuring Orville Wright. …

When dark days in U.S. history are remembered, they usually include Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist attacks, which killed about 2,400 and 3,000 people, respectively. But the single bloodiest day in American history occurred 150 years ago today, in the Civil War battle of Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Forces of Union General George McClellan and the Confederate troops of General Robert E. Lee met in a daylong pitched battle. By its end, more than 23,000 soldiers had been …