Category: Quick hits

As the Great Depression approached its worst, Wisconsin made the nation’s first governmental direct relief effort for the unemployed. On this date in 1932, it enacted unemployment insurance, soon followed by a half-dozen other states before the Social Security Act in mid-decade moved all states to adopt such programs by 1937. Wisconsin’s program issued its first unemployment check in August in the amount of $15. By 2012, states and local governments took in over $80 billion from the payroll tax …

“To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.” That’s the motto of the University of Georgia, which on this date in 1785 became the young nation’s first state-chartered university. Royally chartered private universities existed in America in Colonial times, notably Harvard and William and Mary. The University of Georgia opened in 1801 after the similarly chartered University of North Carolina. Today, over 70 million Americans hold bachelor’s or graduate degrees. People with bachelor’s degrees average around …

On this date 33 years ago, the infant personal computer was empowered to become something much greater than a glorified word processor with the release of the spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3. The popular program drew acclaim as the first PC “killer application.” Finance and accounting workers were thus freed from hunching over ledger books and switched to hunching before a computer screen. The name “1-2-3” stemmed from the product’s integration of three main capabilities — spreadsheet, charting and graphing, and …

On this date in 1915, east and west were linked by voice in the first transcontinental phone call. This event was a conference call involving Alexander Graham Bell in New York, his assistant Thomas Watson in San Francisco, President Woodrow Wilson in Washington, and the president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in Georgia. Using the new commercial service was a major financial commitment. The charge for a three-minute call from New York to San Francisco started at $20.70. …

Friday, January 22nd.  Many sumptuous foods get their day — or month — in the sun by way of some commemoration. But even very basic, traditional and unexciting foods get a salute. For example, this is National Oatmeal Month, recognizing the long-term favorite for its up-to-date health characteristics — low fat, no sodium, and the ability to help lower the risk of heart disease. Oatmeal also fits today’s time pressures, since a bowl can be made in seconds in the …

You may think the debate about smoking is fairly recent, but the more things change, the more they resemble 1908. On this date that year, the New York City council passed an ordinance that made it illegal for women to smoke in public places. The ordinance was the result of a campaign by the National Anti-Cigarette League. At the time, a number of cities had banned smoking, along with the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho, and Tennessee. All of these …

Several decades ago, America’s coffee culture featured very little variety. Average annual per capita consumption was high, reaching 46 gallons in 1946. But it mostly was a uniform roast, made by a percolator or a drip method. Such variety as existed was pretty much limited to ethnic restaurants and a scattering of hip coffee shops. No more. Even with American consumption down to 23.5 gallons per capita, coffee has become a lifestyle choice. So January is Coffee Gourmet International Month, …

Being able to store and distribute food before it spoiled became easier in the young United States on this date in 1825. That’s when Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett were granted a patent for the tin can. Heating and sealing food in glass jars had started a few years before in France, and the British Royal Navy was being supplied with canned foods by 1820. Borrowing the practice, the U.S. became the eventual world leader in canning. Even though today …

Dr. Martin Luther King would have been 87 years old this year. The civil rights leader, minister, and recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize was born in 1929 and assassinated in 1968. Today is the national holiday, honoring his memory and life’s work, appropriate in a month that also sees the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. America’s diverse population of some 319 million enjoys the civil rights Dr. King advocated, including around 254 million whites, nearly 46 million African-Americans, …

Friday, January 15th. The contemporary habit of adjusting TV viewing to your own convenience got its sputtering start 50 years ago. The Sony Corporation began marketing its open-reel videotape recorder in 1966 to individual consumers. The black and white system didn’t make much of an impression. But the Japanese company did far better in 1975 with the introduction of the Betamax VCR for home recording and playback. Although Betamax quickly lost out in the market to the competing VHS format, …

January is Financial Wellness Month, appropriately timed to the confluence of New Year’s resolutions and holiday bills. It’s a time to set new goals for financial freedom and moderation in spending; for people to understand the benefits of “paying yourself first.” A financial adviser can help shape money management goals, pointing out the power of compound interest to work for you in savings and against you in debt. Americans have a per capita income average of just over $28,000 and …

Couch potatoes can trace their roots to this date in 1928 when three experimental television sets were installed in private homes in Schenectady, New York. Not that there was much to see, the test broadcast by General Electric and RCA being of a person smoking, followed by a man playing a ukulele. The first home receivers’ screens were only 1½ inches square; a far cry from today’s theater-sized flat screens. And in another departure from 1928’s lonely three, the number …

Protests by college students in America have a long pedigree. In fact, this year marks the 250th anniversary of the first such action. In 1766, there were just seven colleges in Colonial America.  The students at Harvard—the first college– were unhappy with on-campus dining, specifically, the rancid butter. The so-called Butter Rebellion began with the cry “Behold, our butter stinketh!”  About half the student body supported the complaint, and they found safe spaces for dining in nearby taverns. The administration …

In the depths of winter, many Americans find soothing warmth in a cup of hot tea, be it herbal, ginseng, black, green or some exotic specialty blend. Lumped together, this appreciation of the brew underlies January’s National Hot Tea Month. Tea is the only beverage commonly served either hot or iced and in any season. While tea has been consumed for thousands of years, Americans made two important contributions — inventing tea bags and iced tea — both in 1904. …

Friday, January 8th. The nation’s telephone service options changed forever on this date 34 years ago when AT&T complied with a Justice Department mandate to give up its local Bell System companies. The action came as the result of what has been termed the most significant antitrust suit since the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. From the late 19th century, the virtual monopoly of what had come to be known as “Ma Bell” controlled America’s telephone equipment and lines. …

During the Revolutionary War, the rebelling colonies and the Continental Congress were anything but too big to fail. To the contrary, finances were very spotty and precarious. To help put affairs in order and make credit available, the first commercial bank in the U.S. opened on this date in 1782, just a week after being chartered by Congress. Called the Bank of North America, it was capitalized at $400,000, which roughly would be around $7.5 billion today. The names of …