Frank Beacham's Journal

On this day in 1957 — 64 years ago — the Wham-O toy company rolled out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discs — now known to millions of fans all over the world as Frisbees

On this day in 1957 — 64 years ago — the Wham-O toy company rolled out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discs — now known to millions of fans all over the world as Frisbees.

The story of the Frisbee began in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where William Frisbie opened the Frisbie Pie Company in 1871. Students from nearby universities would throw the empty pie tins to each other, yelling “Frisbie!” as they let go.

In 1948, Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner, Warren Franscioni, invented a plastic version of the disc called the “Flying Saucer” that could fly further and more accurately than the tin pie plates.

After splitting with Franscioni, Morrison made an improved model in 1955 and sold it to the new toy company Wham-O as the “Pluto Platter” — an attempt to cash in on the public craze over space and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).

In 1958, a year after the toy’s first release, Wham-O — the company behind such top-sellers as the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball and the Water Wiggle — changed its name to the Frisbee disc, misspelling the name of the historic pie company.

A company designer, Ed Headrick, patented the design for the modern Frisbee in December, 1967, adding a band of raised ridges on the disc’s surface — called the Rings — to stabilize flight. By aggressively marketing Frisbee-playing as a new sport, Wham-O sold over 100 million of its famous toys by 1977.

In 1967, high school students in Maplewood, New Jersey, invented Ultimate Frisbee, a cross between football, soccer and basketball. In the 1970s, Headrick himself invented Frisbee Golf, in which discs are tossed into metal baskets. There are now hundreds of courses in the U.S., with millions of devotees.

There is also Freestyle Frisbee, with choreographed routines set to music and multiple discs in play, and various Frisbee competitions for both humans and dogs — the best natural Frisbee players.

Today, at least 60 manufacturers produce the flying discs — generally made out of plastic and measuring roughly 8 to 10 inches in diameter with a curved lip.

The official Frisbee is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, who bought the toy from Wham-O in 1994.

Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., the second man to walk on the Moon, is 91 years old today

Buzz Aldren heading to the launchpad for Apollo 11, 1969

Photo by Frank Beacham

Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., the second man to walk on the Moon, is 91 years old today.

Aldrin was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history.

On July 20, 1969, he set foot on the Moon, following mission commander Neil Armstrong. He is also a retired United States Air Force pilot.

Owsley Stanley was born 86 years ago today

Owsley Stanley was born 86 years ago today.

Stanley played a pivotal role in the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s. As a crafts-person, he became best known simply as “Owsley” – the LSD "cook" (underground chemist).

Under the professional name of "Bear," he worked with the Grateful Dead's international fan "family."

Bear was an early soundman for The Grateful Dead, a band he met when Ken Kesey invited them to an Owsley Acid test party. As their sound engineer, Bear frequently recorded live tapes behind his mixing board and helped "The Dead" become the first performers since Les Paul to custom-develop high-fidelity audio components and sound systems.

Stanley was the first private individual to manufacture mass quantities of LSD. Between 1965 and 1967, Stanley produced more than 1.25 million doses of LSD.

Stanley died in an automobile accident in Australia on March 12, 2011 at age 76.

Charles Ponzi, inventor of the Ponzi scheme, died 71 years ago today

Double your money in just 90 days!

That’s what Charles Ponzi, who died 71 years ago today, promised investors. In the end, Ponzi swindled more than $15 million in 1920 — the equivalent of about $190 million today.

The trickery took Ponzi’s name, as the headlines noted 10 years ago when Bernard Madoff defrauded clients of more than $50 billion.

Ponzi’s original scheme centered on postal notes. He took advantage of international postal reply coupons, which allowed customers in one country to buy a voucher redeemable for stamps in another country.

The idea was that Ponzi’s company would take investors’ dollars, use them to buy foreign postal coupons, convert each coupon into a five-cent stamp and convert the stamps into cash.

In reality, Ponzi was paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors. Millions of dollars began arriving every week. While this type of fraudulent investment scheme was not originally invented by Ponzi, it became so identified with him that it now is referred to as a Ponzi scheme.

Before he was caught, Ponzi lived luxuriously. He bought a mansion in Lexington, Massachusetts and he maintained accounts in several banks across New England. He bought a Locomobile, the finest car of that time.

Ponzi bought a macaroni company and part of a wine company in an attempt to gain profits that could be used to repay the investors of his IRC scheme.

His rapid rise naturally drew suspicion. When a Boston financial writer suggested there was no way Ponzi could legally deliver such high returns in a short period of time, Ponzi sued for libel and won $500,000 in damages. As libel law at the time placed the burden of proof on the writer and the paper, this effectively neutralized any serious probes into his dealings for some time.

On July 24, 1920, the Boston Post printed a favorable article on Ponzi and his scheme that brought in investors faster than ever. At that time, Ponzi was making $250,000 a day. Ponzi's good fortune was increased by the fact that just below this favorable article, which seemed to imply that Ponzi was indeed returning 50 percent return on investment after only 45 days, was a bank advertisement that stated that the bank was paying five percent returns annually.

The next business day after this article was published, Ponzi arrived at his office to find thousands of Bostonians waiting to give him their money.

Ponzi’s scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed. When it fell due to investigations, it took down six banks and wiped out his investors, who received less than 30 cents to the dollar. His investors lost about $20 million in 1920 dollars ($225 million in 2011 dollars). Ponzi completely annihilated their finances.

As a comparison, Bernard Madoff's similar scheme that collapsed in 2008 cost his investors about $18 billion — 53 times the losses of Ponzi's scheme.

In two federal indictments, Ponzi was charged with 86 counts of mail fraud and faced a lifetime in prison. At the urging of his wife, Ponzi pleaded guilty on November 1, 1920 to a single count before Judge Clarence Hale. Ponzi was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

He was released after three and a half years and was almost immediately indicted on 22 Massachusetts state charges of larceny. He was eventually sentenced to an additional seven to nine years in prison as "a common and notorious thief."

Remarkably, during his various prison terms, Ponzi continued to receive Christmas cards from some of his more gullible investors, as well as requests from others to invest their money — from his prison cell.

After word got out that Ponzi had never obtained American citizenship (despite having lived in the United States for most of the time since 1903), federal officials initiated efforts to have him deported as an undesirable alien in 1922. Ponzi later died in a charity hospital in Brazil, with only $75 to his name.

Thanks New York Times

Benjamin Franklin was born 315 years ago today.

Benjamin Franklin was born 315 years ago today.

One of the founding fathers of the United States and in many ways was "the First American," Franklin was a renowned polymath. He was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman and diplomat.

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity.

As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals and the Franklin stove, among other inventions.

Franklin facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's fire department and a university. He earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity. He was an author and spokesman in London for several colonies and the first United States Ambassador to France.

Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment.

In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat."

To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become."

Franklin, always proud of his working class roots, became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies. With two partners, he published the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British policies.

He became wealthy publishing Poor Richard's Almanack and The Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin was also the printer of books for the Moravians of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (1742 on).

Franklin's printed Moravian books (printed in German) are preserved, and can be viewed, at the Moravian Archives located in Bethlehem. Franklin visited Bethlehem many times and stayed at the Moravian Sun Inn. He played a major role in establishing the University of Pennsylvania and was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society.

Franklin became a national hero in America when as agent for several colonies he spearheaded the effort to have Parliament in London repeal the unpopular Stamp Act.

An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts to secure support for the American Revolution by shipments of crucial munitions proved vital for the American war effort.

For many years, he was the British postmaster for the colonies, which enabled him to set up the first national communications network. From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. Toward the end of his life, he freed his own slaves and became one of the most prominent abolitionists.

His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and status as one of America's most influential founding fathers, have seen Franklin honored on coinage and the $100 bill; warships; the names of many towns; counties; educational institutions; corporations and countless cultural references.

In the above painting by Jason Heuser, Franklin battles Zeus for lightning

John Backlund creates "fine ass" guitars that live on

Entirely self-taught as an artist/designer, John Backlund was influenced by retro-futuristic design concepts that are reminiscent of the period from the mid-late 1930's to the early 1960's.

The terms "Aero," "Rocket," "Streamline," and even "Atomic" are often used to describe his design work. Backlund often found himself involved in pursuits besides art and design.

He did stints as a reluctant motorcycle salesman, a terrible guitar salesman, a very young and inept Nebraska sandhills ranch hand and a fairly good flatbed semi-driver running a worn-out Freightliner FLD throughout the Midwest.

Reflecting on guitars and design, John observed, "I like color in my designs. I like bright things. I like two-tones that compliment each other. I like a splash of chrome for contrast, and I like it all integrated into a flowing form that is 'balanced,' well-proportioned and pleasing to the eye.

“Solid body electric guitars are a tempting and wonderful candidate for my style of design, and being a guitar player for many decades, it's only natural that they figure prominently in my efforts.”

J. Backlund Design is in business today as Retronix.

Here’s a 50’s era photo of J. Backlund Fine Ass Guitars, with curb service. Perhaps in Rapid City, S.D.

Rob Glaser, the father of streaming media, is 59 years old today

Rob Glaser, the father of streaming media, is 59 years old today.

In 1995, Glaser introduced a new technology called RealAudio, the first streaming audio over the Internet. Two years later, he introduced RealVideo, the first streaming video over the Internet.

At first it hiccuped and sputtered, but it was clear from the beginning that video had a future over the Internet. Before founding RealNetworks, his streaming media company, Glaser he had become a millionaire by working for Microsoft for ten years.

I was the first person to interview Glaser about his new technology. The idea of delivering audio programming over the internet was so new to me at the time that it took a lot to wrap my head around this totally new concept.

Interestingly, in later years, Glaser called on me first at press conferences because he felt I brought him good luck due that first interview he did with me in the beginning days of his company.

At the time, his PR person was Katie Cotton, who would go on to head Apple PR. His head of marketing was Maria Cantwell, now the U.S. Senator from Washington.

Later, Glaser became a major contributor to pro-Democratic organizations. He was the leading creditor to Air America Radio, loaning at least $9.8 million according to its bankruptcy filing.

Photo by Frank Beacham

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, was born 115 years ago

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, was born 115 years ago.

Hofmann was a Swiss scientist known best for being the first person to synthesize, ingest and learn of the psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).

Hofmann also was the first to isolate, synthesize and name the principal psychedelic mushroom compounds: psilocybin and psilocin. He authored more than 100 scientific articles and a number of books, including LSD: My Problem Child.

In 2007, he was ranked a shared first place, alongside Tim Berners-Lee, in The Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses.

He died in 2008.

Illustration by Alex Grey

Laurens Hammond, inventor of the Hammond Organ, was born 126 years ago today

Laurens Hammond, inventor of the Hammond Organ, was born 126 years ago today.

An engineer and inventor, Hammond’s inventions include not only the Hammond organ, but the Hammond clock and the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizer, the Novachord.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, to William Andrew and Idea Louise Strong Hammond, Hammond showed great technical prowess from an early age. His father, William, took his own life in 1898, ostensibly due to the pressures of running the First National Bank, which he had founded.

Upon her husband's death, Idea, who was an artist, relocated to France with Laurens to further her studies. It was during their stay in France that Laurens began developing many of his early inventions. When the family returned to Evanston, Laurens, then 14, was as fluent in French and German as he was in his native tongue.

By this time, he had already designed a system for automatic transmission for automobiles. At his mother's suggestion, he submitted his designs to engineers at French automaker, Renault, only to be rejected. Hammond studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University, and was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He graduated with honors in 1916.

After World War I, Hammond moved to Detroit, where he was chief engineer for the Gray Motor Company, a manufacturer of marine engines. A partner in the company, Col. John H. Poole, with whom Hammond had served in the war in France, knew of his engineering skills, and paid him an extra $300 a week under the table to stay with Gray Motor.

In 1919, Hammond invented a silent spring-driven clock. This invention brought him enough money to leave Gray Motor Company and rent his own space in New York City. In 1922, Hammond invented the Teleview system of shutter glasses in association with 3D films. One feature was made for the system, a film called Radio-Mania.

Hammond premiered his show at the Selwyn Theatre in New York in December, 1922 to critical acclaim, but the cost of installing the expensive machinery in the theater killed the project. In 1928, Hammond founded the Hammond Clock Company, after designing a synchronous clock motor that was inspired by Henry Warren's Telechrons, but was not self-starting. These clocks were still popular in Britain in the 1960s, because they would not display a false time.

Hammond's clock business ran into difficulties in the early 1930s, and he struggled to save it with a number of other inventions, such as an electric bridge table and, slightly later, his famous organ.

In 1933, he bought a used piano, and proceeded to discard everything apart from the keyboard action. Using the keyboard as a controller, he was able to experiment with various sound-generating methods until he found the best one — the tonewheel generator.

The company's assistant treasurer, W. L. Lahey, was the organist at the nearby St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, and Hammond consulted him concerning the quality of the new instrument's sound. Thanks to Hammond's prior manufacturing and engineering experience, the tonewheel generator was extremely well-engineered by the time the organ finally went into production.

The number of tonewheel organs still in regular use in the 21st century is a testament to the quality of the design and execution of the product. Hammond filed his patent application on January 19, 1934. At that time, unemployment was a major problem due to the Great Depression, and with this in mind, the Patent Office rushed to grant Hammond's application, with the hope of creating jobs in the area.

In 1954, the famous B-3 organ was introduced with the addition of a harmonic percussion feature. Many players preferred to play the B-3 through a rotating speaker cabinet known, after several name changes, as a Leslie speaker, after its inventor Donald J. Leslie. The Leslie system is an integrated speaker/amplifier combination in which sound is emitted by a rotating horn over a stationary treble compression driver, and a rotating baffle beneath a stationary bass woofer.

This creates a characteristic sound because of the constantly changing pitch shifts that result from the Doppler effect created by the moving sound sources. Leslie initially tried to sell his invention to Laurens Hammond, but Hammond was unimpressed and declined to purchase it.

Hammond modified his interface connectors to be "Leslie-proof," but Leslie quickly engineered a workaround. The Leslie company was sold to CBS in 1965 and was finally bought by Hammond in 1980. Hammond-Suzuki acquired the rights to Leslie in 1992, which continues to make the original 122 speakers and a variety of other products.

Laurens Hammond was awarded the Franklin Institute's John Price Wetherill Medal in 1940 for the invention of the Hammond electric organ. Hammond left his position as president of his company in 1955, to allow himself more time to concentrate on researching and developing new ideas. On February 12, 1960, at the age of sixty-five, he retired.

At the time of his retirement in 1960, he held ninety patents. He would be granted another twenty before his death at age 78 in 1973.

On this day — 253 years ago — Englishman Philip Astley staged the first modern circus in London

On this day — 253 years ago — Englishman Philip Astley staged the first modern circus in London.

Trick riders, acrobats, clowns, trained animals and other familiar components of the circus have existed throughout recorded history, but it was not until the late 18th century that the modern spectacle of the circus was born.

Astley, a former cavalry sergeant major, found that if he galloped in a tight circle, centrifugal force allowed him to perform seemingly impossible feats on a horse's back. He drew up a ring and on January 9, 1768, invited the public to see him wave his sword in the air while he rode with one foot on the saddle and one on the horse's head.

Astley's trick riding received such a favorable response that he soon hired other equestrians, a clown and musicians and in 1770 built a roof over his ring and called the structure Astley's Amphitheatre.

In 1772, Astley went to Versailles to perform his "daring feats of horsemanship" before King Louis XV, and he found France ripe for a permanent show of its own, which he founded in 1782.

Also in 1782, a competitor in London set up shop just down the road from Astley's Amphitheatre, calling his show the "Royal Circus," after the Roman name for the circular theaters where chariot races were held.

In the 19th century, the term "circus" was adopted as a generic name for this new form of entertainment. Astley, who lived until 1814, eventually established 18 other circuses in cities across Europe.

In 1792, English equestrian John Bill Ricketts opened the first American circus in Philadelphia and later opened others in New York City and Boston. President George Washington reportedly attended a Ricketts circus and sold the company a horse.

Smaller traveling circuses arose in Europe in the early 19th century, visiting towns and cities that lacked elaborate permanent shows. Larger traveling tent shows evolved in the 1820s.

In 1859, the Cirque Napoleon in Paris offered the first "flying trapeze" act, which remains a popular component of the modern circus.

In 1871, William Cameron Coup and showman, P.T. Barnum, opened an enormous circus in Brooklyn that they dubbed "The Greatest Show on Earth." Ten years later, Barnum went into business with James Anthony Bailey. The "Barnum and Bailey" circuses were so large they required simultaneous performances in three rings.

In 1884, the five Ringling brothers staged their first circus, and they soon were buying out other circus companies, including Barnum and Bailey, which they purchased in 1907. During the next three decades, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows grew into the largest touring organization in the world, with hundreds of tents and an army of workers and performers.

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey downsized after World War II, but continued until 2017. With weakening attendance and high operating costs, the circus closed on May 21, 2017 after 146 years.

Canada's Cirque du Soleil, which gave an artistic sensibility to its acrobatic acts while shunning the use of animals, was an innovative circus development of the late 20th century.

Thanks History.com

In the illustration, Astley’s Amphitheatre