|
Hear this right… HERE! Right at this Exit sign! Exit 41 I-278 Brooklyn Queens Expressway, to Northern Boulevard (IND Queens Boulevard Line), Jackson Heights, Queens  Can you imagine, spending $50 on a radio advertisement and generating a return of $150,000? That's a return on investment of three thousand percent! Wow. Well it happened right here in Jackson Heights, Queens. That’s because from the printing press to Television to Facebook to Snap Chat, new media SERIOUSLY impacts the way people live. Famed documentary film-maker Ric Burns explored the impact of radio when it first was introduced back in 1922. Believe it or not, back then radio excited the engagement of teenagers just as Tic Toc does today. So here is a quick snapshot of media through the ages. Before and after the American Revolution, newspapers were the primary way people got their news. They often would be distributed by the Town Crier who would walk around villages and loudly proclaim the latest news often augmenting this with the sale of pamphlets: “Hear ye, Hear ye… Queens Man put to death for killing his neighbor. Read all about it.”  The tech of journalism was different too and it impacted how the papers were treated. Before 1900, newspapers were printed on cotton which was sturdier than paper. Cotton lasted months. Newspapers were expected to be handed around. So most folks got "second hand news.” That is where the phrase derives from: second hand news is old news. As in old handed around news papers. No surprise, newspapers made of cotton from this era are still in good shape.  By World War One, however, cotton was replaced by cheap paper — which meant the newspaper was less resilient and more disposable. News Papers after this period eroded in weeks. So consumers bought their own editions and tossed them afterwards.  Yet newspaper circulation became more targeted. In one household, Dad might read one Newspaper while Mom would read another. Also, in an attempt to keep abreast of current news, papers came out in the morning and also in the evening. In the morning a family would get the New York Times and in the afternoon, another newspaper would arrive at doorsteps: The Evening Post. The adaptation of media to modern lifestyles was essential for success. It conformed with how people lived. With the advent of subway commuting around 1900, publishers began to make more money with single sheet paper tabloids instead of fold out newspapers. Jam-packed strap-hangers preferred to peruse the thin copy, large images, and single leaf tabloids of say the Illustrated Daily News — today’s Daily News — over the unwieldy erudite New York Times.    Predictably these dailies targeted the masses with sordid stories about millionaires and immoral ladies -- preferably both. And more eyeballs meant more money from ads. These cheap paper tabloids quickly faded and grew jaundice -- but so-called Yellow Journalism boomed. According to the Ric Burns and James Sanders companion book to Ken Burns' PBS Series, NEW YORK, AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, the impact of the new media of radio was even more staggering. While papers reached thousands, radio could reach millions.  Although first broadcast commercially in 1920, it was not for 2 more years that the first radio advertisement was transmitted. On August 22, 1922 on NYC Radio Station WEAF ran a 10 minute advertisement for an apartment complex right here in Jackson Heights, Queens. The response was overwhelming. The advertiser who had paid just $50 for the airtime quickly sold $150,000 worth of apartments. Driven by the vast new scale of radio, not just media but also the advertising industry in New York exploded.  That’s because, for the first time a single product could be sold to the entire nation at once. Already the nation’s leader in culture, fashion, and publishing, no surprise New York City excelled in the new art of heightening the power of advertising. And so what "Wall Street" was to Finance, "Madison Avenue" became for media and advertising... and both were headquartered in the Big Apple. #RicBurns #NewYork #NEWYORKANILLUSTRATEDHISTORY #JamesSanders #NewYorkTimes #DailyNews #Radio #newmedia #JamesSanders #PBS #PBSNEWYORK The 2 Roads of Wes Moore If you had the RoadSpoke app… hear this here: EXIT of the Day: EXIT 22 I-95s Delaware Expressway to I-676, SR 30 to Wayne PA, in Philadelphia PA “The subject of this EXIT has an amazing resume. He was a troubled youth, then an Army Ranger, a Decorated Combat Veteran, a Rhodes Scholar, an investment banker, then the CEO of the Wall Street billionaires' favorite philanthropy, The Robin Hood Foundation -- which channels opportunity to urban neighborhoods. Today he is a Best Selling Author, and Best Friend Forever of none other than Miss Oprah Winfrey. He also serves as the Governor of Maryland and a lot of smart money -- from both Democratic and Republican circles -- speak of him as a future Presidential Candidate.  But we had a hard time figuring off what Exit to place this story. It could be placed at Baltimore, Maryland, The Bronx, or even beside a tiny tropical sugar town of Trelawny Parish on the Caribbean Island of Jamaica. The story is about one man named Wes Moore. It is a story about being born along the mean — then plummeting. It is a fight against the odds, falling and bouncing back to reach the highest height -- a J Curve, if you will, which every person experiences. The best part of this trajectory is Wes Moore’s story is not even half-way done. What heights will he attain? Remarkably this Wes Moore wrote a Best Selling book about 2 Black Kids from Baltimore both named Wes Moore.  Both started along the same mean, each chose a different path. The Other Wes Moore is now spending his life in prison, convicted of murder. The Book itself is entitled, THE OTHER WES MOORE. As for the EXIT of the Day, we chose an offramp that takes you to Wayne, Pennsylvania which is the home of Valley Forge Military School, a dormitory prep school which marked the bottom of our Wes Moore’s plunge and from which he rose to succeed in so many things.  You see, in Baltimore Maryland, as a 3 year old child, little Wes witnessed his father's death from a rare virus. Moore's mother then took him to live in The Bronx with his grandparents. His grandfather, Dr. James Thomas, was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. His grandmother was a retired school teacher from Trelawny Parish, Jamaica. A smart kid, Wes got financial assistance to attend the elite Riverdale Country School. When Moore's grades fell, he got into trouble with the law. His mom yanked him and enrolled him in Valley Forge Military Academy off the approaching EXIT. It was here that he learned discipline and he began to rise. It was here too that he first parachuted which gave him the desire later to lead combat troops with the 82nd Airborne.  He went on to attend Johns Hopkins University where graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2001. He also won a Rhodes Scholarship and attended the University of Oxford in England. In 2005, abandoning a Wall Street Job, Wes volunteered in the Army to serve and see combat in Afghanistan.  Later, Wes became President of the Robin Hood Foundation. New York City based Robin Hood Foundation is one of the most innovative and well funded non-profits investing tens of millions annually in providing solutions to the War on Poverty. Managing a philanthropy led him to politics and so, harnessing the money and contacts he made on Wall Street, Wes ran for governor of Maryland, his first home. Wes now serves as the governor of that great state. In addition to leading crusades against poverty, Wes is a strong advocate for Veterans Affairs and has produced TV Shows with Oprah Winfrey and TED Talks about reintegrating veterans into society.  Wes is married to Dawn Moore with two young daughters. He lives in Maryland's Governor's mansion, many many Exits from the Other Wes Moore — who is still his friend. So it only seems appropriate that we credit EXIT 22 with being the right road for Wes Moore. Down this Exit, Wes Moore drove to the Valley Forge Military Academy that changed his direction in life. So it is the correct choice for our EXIT of the DAY.” #WesMoore #TheOtherWesMoore #ValleyForgeMilitaryAcademy #RobinHoodFoundation #RiverdaleCountrySchool #82ndAirborne #Army #TrelawnyParish #TedTalks #Oprah
0 Comments
 Hear this here: I-95 EXIT 11 To: Garden State Parkway to Woodbridge, New Jersey Nearby is the colonial era Home of a recent President's English ancestors. This President's family came to America not long after the Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving. And no, it was not a Roosevelt, a Clinton, a Bush or a Trump. President Barak Hussein Obama's American Roots run deep. While his Dad was from Kenya, Obama's mom's side can trace roots directly to English immigrants arriving at the time of the Pilgrims.  In fact, maybe his ancient American heritage might have something to do with his interest in law, morals as well as politics. His Ancestors were leaders in the Anglican Church in North America and -- not surprisingly -- colonial era politicians. Jonathan Singletary Dunham (1640–1724), Obama’s first American born ancestor was born in Massachusetts. He moved to Woodbridge, New Jersey where by 1670 he started a grist mill. It was the first grist mill in New Jersey. And like his presidential descendant, he was a politician elected as a Member of the New Jersey Provincial Congress. Dunham is President Barack Obama’s direct ancestor; he is the president's eighth great-grandfather. Nearly 400 years ago, John Dunham thrived and died in Woodbridge. The house the Dunhams built in 1671, the Jonathan Singletary Dunham House, still stands and currently serves as the Rectory of the Trinity Episcopal Church. That's because Obama's 7th great grandfather, Benjamin Dunham, generously built the first of three church buildings at that location.    Members of the Dunham family then drifted out West. Generations passed. Ultimately Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas. Here in Woodbury, the oldest portions of the building are still in use today as the rectory where the presiding minister lives. She spoke to the webpage, mycentraljersey.com. Said the Reverend Angela Cipolla, the head priest at Woodbridge's Trinity Episcopal Church. “The connection with the president is absolutely something that the parish is incredibly proud of,”    Not surprising, the Rector extends a warm invitation to the President's family to come visit Woodbury. In effect it's an invitation for President Obama to come home. #PresidentObama #ObamaAncestry #AngelaCipolla #WoodbridgeTrinityChurch #JohnathonSingletaryDunham #WoodbridgeNewJersey     EXIT 4 I-95s in New Jersey, To Penn’s Landing, PA Along the Interstate you see a lot of farms and fields. If not for Roadspoke and the radio, sometimes you might even get bored looking at all the fields. Back in the day when kids would get mean with one another, they might say something like, “You are dumb as dirt!” Well guess what Road Trippers, the dirt in many farmers’ fields is no longer dumb. You might even call it smart soil. Nowadays, science is getting back to nature and that means getting away from using synthetic fertilizers. Turns out a lot of fertilizers create side effects that are very harmful to the rivers, streams and even the ground itself. Too much fertilizer is poison and harms plants, animals and humans and the ability of the field to grow healthy crops. So what’s a farmer to do? According to the Walton Family Foundation, the answer lies in “cover crops”. The Walton Family Foundation, with money earned from Walmart, has found such cover crops as winter wheat, cereal rye, clover or other cold-hardy plants provide a number of ecosystem services. According to an article about an Iowa farmer Mitchell Hora written by Amy Saltzman in November 2019’s Environment Magazine, cover soils do multiple good things. Writes Saltzman: “Cover crops prevent soil erosion by keeping plant ‘roots in the ground’ in cool seasons when corn and soybeans aren’t growing, absorbing nutrients that might otherwise leach into rivers and streams. They also increase organic matter and reduce the need for fertilizer. And they help hold water, making land less susceptible to flooding and drought.”    With global warming, this last point is especially pertinent. According to the article, “In Iowa, farmer Mitchell Hora uses cover crops to protect against extreme weather. The rains started in early May 2019, a series of near-constant showers across southeastern Iowa that – over the course of the month – totaled 15 inches in all. But while thousands of farmers across the state and throughout the Midwest endured record rainfalls and heavy flooding that wreaked havoc during planting season, Mitchell Hora’s corn fields weathered the storms just fine. His secret? Cover crops, which he planted the previous fall.” Said Mitchell about the use of cover crops: “A lot of other farmers had drown-outs where they had to replant. That costs a lot of money. In a farm economy that is super tight, anything you can do to save is huge. Our cover crops pulled the extra moisture out of the soil so our corn and soybeans didn’t drown out. We actually only had one acre that we had to replant, which is fantastic!”  Mitchell began planting cover crops four years ago on land his family has been farming for seven generations. The conservation practice is growing in popularity across Iowa and the Midwest as a way to build soil health and resilience. What’s this all mean to you as you pass these farms and fields? Well for one thing, when kids argue nowadays, they cannot be so rude to describe dirt as dumb. In fact it is pretty smart at least if they are using cover crops. #covercrops #MitchellHora #AmySaltzman #WaltonFamilyFoundation #IowaFarmers #ExitoftheDay #Extremeweather #Globalwarming #ClimateChange  Ok Roadtrippers now it's time for a Road Test. So prepare yourselves for the Fast Facts! The winner of this Road Test gets a free 16 ounce Pepsi Product or Large Coffee at the upcoming 7/Eleven which is located exactly one minute off upcoming Exit 27. So get right. Someone’s gonna win! Look around you. Likely you see large trucks. We call them 18 wheelers, or semi trucks or simply semis. They are big and powerful and do a lot of good. Big names in Trucking include Werner, Covenant, and JB Hunt. You might fly by them on the highway without thinking much about all that, but there's a lot worth knowing. The facts reveal that they are essential to the lifeblood of America. What you probably don't know about them will surprise you. Listen up! Now for the Road Test so here come the Fast Facts,: Fact One: 18 wheelers transport over 70 percent of the goods in the United States. That’s right; more than railroads or other things. They are the source of food on supermarket shelves, Amazon deliveries, even gas in your car. Two: The maximum weight for a truck and full trailer is 80,000 pounds. To visualize that, it’s about 20 Indian Elephants. Ok that’s weird but it works for me. Three: In 2016, according to Popular Mechanics Magazine, semitrucks drove 175 BILLION miles. Four: Recent estimates suggest trucks deliver about 60,000 pounds of goods per American — per year. That’s a lot of stuff, right? In fact it comes out to about 18.5 Indian Elephants.  So each truck is almost entirely dedicated to you. Think about that. Five: Truck Drivers work hard but by law must take rest stops every 8 hours. So yes most trucks have sleeper space behind the cab. The amount of luxury varies. But it is not uncomfortable back there. Even basic sleeper cabs incorporate tables, closets, refrigerators, flatscreen TV mounts, and, of course, beds. Six: Some Sleeper cabs can accommodate even a small family or a pair of spouses. They are not likely, however, to accommodate an Indian Elephant. Fast Fact Seven: Spouses who both drive the truck are called a Tag Team. Now for the Road Test: you have 3 seconds to answer and you should get right to Exit to get your free Large Pepsi at the upcoming 7/Eleven. Now for the quiz: How many elephants are accommodated in a sleeper cab? Three. Two, and one. If you said none, you win! Get right, exit now, and tell the merchant you’re there to claim your free Pepsi. To get it, just tell ‘em RoadSpoke and the Elephants sent you. #18wheelers #PepsiProducts #JBHunt #Werner #Covenant #Semitrucks #PopularMechanics #IndianElephants #sleepercabs    I-95 Fast Facts: Interstate 95 is RoadSpoke's First Audio Tour. Ultimately all Interstates will be narrated. In the words of one of our competitor's, Autio, which was formerly HearHere... in history, every story has a place. Now with RoadSpoke, every place has a story. But unlike Autio, formerly known as HearHere, RoadSpoke will not just bore you with long winded slightly liberal and overly pedantic stories narrated by uninspired wanna be actors. Through your choice of favorite Siri voices, RoadSpoke will provide short enticing bytes that also do one more thing that Autio does not do. We don't just turn Interstates into talking tours. Offering discounts and deals on everything from fast food to Ferraris, only RoadSpoke turns the open road into an endless shopping aisle! We like to think of RoadSpoke as using the interstates to create a narrative spine for discovering America - and Americans. Story, history, science, scandal, celebrities, sports, regular folks and corporate histories... and deals! Then RoadSpoke will go social, and fans and bloggers will fill in all other roads around the country.... and around the world! Laying personalized RoadSpokes, our users will be able to leave comments and observations that in theory, their great grandkids could follow in a hundred years. Why start with I-95? No road in America is as consistently busy from one end to the other as Interstate 95. A few stretches of other interstates carry more traffic than the busiest parts of I-95, but no highway in total carries more traffic. I-95 crosses 15 states and runs from Canada south to Miami, covering 1,918 miles. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 1,040 of those miles are in urban areas. 60 percent of urban areas are classified as “under heavy congestion.” In its northeast passage, I-95 travels through the most densely populated region of the country. More than 325,000 vehicles per day travel through the area encompassing the New York City/New Jersey/Connecticut area, making that stretch the seventh busiest in the country. But wait! Traffic allegedly gets worse. According to the FHA, I-95 passes through the Washington, D.C., area, another traffic chokepoint on the way to its southern end just south of Miami, where I-95 there rates as the sixth most-traveled section of interstate in the U.S. So why I-95? 1) We can't think of a highway that needs more entertainment options -- especially when you consider the delays from all the traffic! 2) I-95 is so embedded in Billboards and urbanity that it dulls the brain. Yet the concrete conceals some of the most fascinating Information about America. In fact, you cruise pass 89 Dino-digs, 114 Native American BattleFields, 219 Intersections with the life of George Washington, 1034 Civil Rights Sites, and the birthplace of 128,236 famous people. And that's just in New Jersey! 3) Finally, I-95 has tons of potential to create commercial partnerships with nearby merchants, destination marketing organizations, and other stakeholders who could use our patent pended DEAL RADAR to place timely ads on the Interstate. Think Virtual Billboards. Nearby Interstate Stakeholders can move their inventory on the most highly trafficked of all Interstates. They can drive all that traffic right to their off highway but still nearby storefronts. 4) FAST FACTS: - "76% of all Travel is still done by car." - Waze - "Convenience Store Sales are 55% larger than all online sales, including Amazon." - GasBuddy - “Travel is better when we are rewarded, guided and informed.” - Waze - "Location is core to delivering the right mobile experience.” - Gasbuddy - "Proximity marketing boosts conversion by 240%.” - Venture Beat At RoadSpoke, We may not be pretty, but we aren't stupid! 😁    EXIT of the Day. EXIT 141 I-95n to Gold Rock and Rocky Mount, North Carolina Hear this... right... um ... HERE! "Certain comments are sky high soccer lobs that are meant to be blasted like a “bend it like Beckham” line drive. This lady's male coach once snootily told her, "You run like a girl." Without missing a beat, she replied, "If you could run faster, you could too!" Talk about retorting with a line drive after getting a lob, right?  Considered the Pele of her generation, Mia Hamm played college soccer for the North Carolina Tar Heels and helped the team win four consecutive NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship titles.  One of the key players and stars of the 1999 United States National Team which won the title at the 1999 World Cup, she scored the key penalty kick in the United States' double overtime victory over the Chinese in the championship game. Named in 1997 by People Magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, in 1994 she was the recipient of the Honda Broderick Cup, given to the Most Outstanding Female Athlete in all of college sports. A member of U.S. Team which won the Gold Medal at 1996 Olympic Games in Athens, she previously helped lead the Tar Heels to NCAA championships in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993 during which time the Lady Tarheels posted a record of 92 wins, 1 loss and 2 ties — in her four year career. She was a three-time first-team All-American, a three-time Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year and led the nation in scoring in 1990, 1992 and 1993.  During that time, Mia set the UNC record for single-season assists with 33 in 1992. She set the NCAA record for single-season scoring with 97 points in 1992. She still holds NCAA Tournament career records for scoring (41 points) and goals (16). Then, while still a college undergrad, Mia started for Team USA when it won America's first-ever FIFA World Championship, played in China in 1991.  After that, Mia graduated from upcoming UNC Chapel Hill and received her degree in political science. Even now — years into her retirement and shortly after the Team USA Ladies won another FIFA world Cup — Mia Hamm is arguably the most famous women's soccer player in the world today. So yeah Dude, learn to run like a woman! #MiaHamm #NCAA #UNCChapelHill #FIFAWorldCup #Recordbreaking #Soccer #Football #TeamUSA #AllAmerican  Delaware Road Test... so now for the Fast Facts! I-295s Exit to SR 9, To New Castle and Wilmington, DE Some Fast Facts and then a Road Test. So Pay attention. You. Yes... YOU! Get off the snapchat or Tik Tok and listen. Delaware is fascinating. Really. Did you know that Delaware is home to the first log cabins in America, dating back to the 1600's? So log cabins are older than your Dad even. Bet that fact is not on Tik Tok today! One ancient log cabin is still on display in Dover at the Delaware Agricultural Museum. Their style is not so much All-American as it is All-Finnish. Yup. The All-American Log Cabin first came to America brought by fur trappers from Finland. Fascinating right? Delaware is also home to the nation’s first scheduled railroad. It started in New Castle in 1831. Before that time, trains just ran and passengers would just stand along railroad tracks and wave down the train like a taxi cab. But you with the Tik Tok… you probably don’t know what a cab is. Correct? Just Uber… you know about Uber. Speaking of transportation, Delawarean Oliver Evans built the first automobile in America, though it would be hardly recognizable as an automobile by today’s standards. More like a horseless carriage. Or a small locomotive from a train. Does anyone know what a locomotive looks like anymore? I wonder.   In certain parts of Delaware, it’s illegal to serve alcohol in an establishment if there’s dancing going on at the same time. Obviously that would not be popular on Tik Tok. No dancing or silly stuff -- which may make sense because Delaware is very serious. Delaware has the highest percentage of Ph. D.'s in the country… …and Delaware is the only state NOT to have a National Park. On the other hand, Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware produces one hundred and seventy five thousand barrels of beer every year. That’s almost 700 million bottles of beer, enough for everyone in the United States to have two beers every day for a year. So now we know what people do in Delaware instead of Tik Tok or National Parks. They study for Ph. D's -- and drink craft beer!  Now for the Road Test. Where is Dog Fish Head Brewery located? If you cannot remember you are obviously not a candidate for a Ph.D. Nor are you likely a reader of John Milton, the great philosopher and writer of “Paradise Lost” for whom the brewery's town, Milton, Delaware, is named. I bet you have not even heard of "Paradise Lost" because it is not posted on Instagram. Right? Ha! Put that in your Tik Tok and Snap it! #NewCastle #Delaware #Logcabin #Finnish #FinlandinDelaware #Wilmington #Ticktock #instagram #snapchat   EXIT 92 on I-4, to Altamonte Springs and Casselberry FL Hear this here: "Casselberry is the retirement home and death place of a fascinating cast of characters. What does the Jewish wife of Hitler’s Arms producer, a major Hollywood Starlet, Howard Hughes girlfriend, and the creator of the original tech that created both wifi and bluetooth have in common?  The answer is, drum roll please, they were all one woman. That woman was Austrian immigrant and Hollywood golden girl Hedy Lamarr. Best remembered perhaps for playing Delilah to Victor Mature’s Samson in the 1949 classic Samson and Delilah, Hedy was a European beauty queen who before World War Two, fled her Nazi husband because he was enthusiastically underwriting Hitler's hateful war machine.  The fact that the beauty queen was isolated in her husband’s castle did not prohibit her from accompanying him on business trips to meet arms engineers and scientists. A rank amateur, still science fascinated her. Already a rising star in European Film, her husband disapproved of his 19 year old wife playing sexy ingenues. So she fled the gilded birdcage, jumped the pond, and ended up with a man immensely more wealthy. Hedy landed in Hollywood and soon was the girl friend of aeronautical pioneer and billionaire Howard Hughes.  In the 1930’s Howard owned quite a few businesses including TWA Airlines, RKO Movie Studios, and his two cash cows, Hughes Tool and Hughes Aerospace. Hughes Tool had a patent on drill bits for oil rigs. But Hughes Aerospace made things that fly. Unlike Hedy’s ex husband, during Hedy’s downtimes between films, Howard arranged consultations with his engineers and scientists. A student of life, it is rumored that Hedy encouraged Howard to emulate the streamline aspects of birds, insects, even rain drops to make his planes fly faster. No surprise, Howard won many world speed records in the 1930’s. Then World War Two broke out. Hedy felt useless. She loathed the fascists. So she started to apply her creativity to make tools which would be helpful for the allies. In her spare time, Hedy created a frequency hopping technology that aided radio controlled torpedoes from being jammed. Later frequency hopping tech became the basis of tech in blue tooth and wifi. Reviewing the documentary of Hedy entitled Bombshell, Forbes Magazine writer, Shivaune Field, wrote an article entitled: “Hedy Lamarr: The Incredible Mind Behind Secure WiFi, GPS And Bluetooth.” Ms Fields asserts that, “The striking movie star may be most well-known for her roles in the 1940s Oscar-nominated films ‘Algiers’ and ‘Sampson and Delilah.’ But it is her technical mind that is her greatest legacy.” Hedy’s musings were patented and became the basis for much of the internet some 50 years later. “The brains of people are more interesting than the looks I think,” Hedy admitted in 1990, 10 years before she passed here in Casselberry, Florida.  So in sum, maybe we misspoke earlier when we said the thing Hedy was best known for, was her role in 'Samson and Delilah'. Perhaps in all likelihood, Hedy may one day be recalled as the mother of the internet. So move over Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Sergei Bin, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg. There is a new girl in the pantheon of Tech Titans.   And best of all, that Beauty Queen was no pasty nerd! Pretty cool, huh?" #wifi #Bluetooth #HedyLamarr #Frequency #Moviestar #ForbesMagazine #ShivauneField #Jewish #HowardHughes #TWA #RKO #Hollywood #MarkZukerberg #SteveJobs   Hear this here! EXIT of the DAY: EXIT 48 I-95 To I-91n to Hartford CT, Springfield Mass in New Haven If you bear right here up the onramp of Interstate 91 it’s a long road up to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. But that road is nothing compared to the road of so many of the women that went there before 1919. The long road is a breeze when compared to the struggle of women to claim the honest rights that all Americans should share. It took almost 130 years for women to get the right to vote in 1919. Dorothy Kenyon liked losers. And good thing for them. Dorothy was a feminist lawyer and an inspiration for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Growing up in the late 1800’s her parents had a country home near Lakeville, Connecticut. It was in Connecticut, on the frozen ponds, that she learned to stand up and give as good as she takes. She loved to play Hockey with the boys. But it was back in New York City where she scored her most points.  “Years ago,” she recalled, “my lawyer father said the words I should like to hear everybody use today. Holding tight to his hand and skipping to keep up with his long stride, the little girl that was me suddenly popped this question out of nowhere to him: ‘Can girls be lawyers, father?’ “And he answered, smiling, ‘Why not, my dear?’” A grad of Horace Mann School and later of Smith College, Dorothy received her law degree from NYU. A snap researcher, she worked on the Versailles Accords to settle World War One and then made her bones in the 1930's advocating against Injustice. For most of her career, Kenyon advocated for causes such as the New Deal, the Labor Movement and most of all, for Women’s Rights. During the Depression she was appointed to municipal relief agencies in the city and notably agitated for birth control, the rights of prostitutes and the equal treatment before the law of the men who paid for their services. In the Communist baiting McCarthy era, Kenyon was accused of being a communist. This prompted many plain old feminists to support her. Foremost of her supporters was none other than Former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor drew on Dorothy's words to craft the United Nations Declaration of Universal Rights. These rights protect women and even men all over the globe. Thereafter, she prepared briefs for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and worked for the American Civil Liberties Union. Dorothy would join African American female lawyer, Dr Pauli Murray to advocate for women having the right to serve on Juries. Can you imagine that? People wanted to serve on juries!  Wonder if that is something most men or women would willingly roll back now? But in the 1950’s it was quite revolutionary... So much so that then lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited Dorothy’s work as an inspiration — an Honorary co-author even -- in her successful court fight to allow women equal rights to work under the law. While Dorothy had several long relationships with men, she did not marry. Perhaps this was out of deference to her crusading ways. “I always pick the losing cause,” she said in an interview in 1936. “1 guess I'm’ crazy about the underdog. But I think I'm helping women by my kind of life.” A champion of women, people of color, and anyone who seemed to face a losing cause, Dorothy worked up to the day she died in 1972 at age 84. Dorothy Kenyon... A winner to the end. #DorothyKenyon #RBG #RuthBaderGinsberg #19thAmendment #Womensrighttovote #SmithCollege #HoraceMann #NYU #PauliMurray    Hear this here! I-95n at Exit 10 to Fairmont, North Carolina Ok Road Trippers, time for a Road Test. And no you do NOT win a Drivers License! But you do win $5 worth of Pepsi or Dorito Products with a fill up of fuel at the upcoming Exit 10 to Fairmont. If you take the Exit bare right to the Extra Mile Chevron and tell em RoadSpoke sent you. So get right to Exit. Now for the Fast Facts. Can you guess which of the following Fast Facts about the state of North Carolina is false? Three of them are true, and just one is false. Here we go. 1. Krispy Kreme Doughnut was founded here in North Carolina. 2. The first miniature golf course was built here. 3. Coke was invented here. 4. Babe Ruth, as a pro ball player, hit his first home run here. What do you think? Which is false? Krispy Creme? Mini Golf? Coke? Or Babe Ruth? First I’ll reveal which are true.     Krispy Kreme Doughnuts was indeed founded here, in Winston-Salem. That’s true! In fact, local legend has it that in 1937, Vernon Rudolph opened his first Krispy Kreme store, deciding on Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the location because his favorite cigarette company, Camel Cigarettes, was headquartered in Winston-Salem. Apparently in an era where everyone smoked, Vernon Rudolph liked his cigs fresh! Vernon also learned something about fresh baked Krispy Kreme donuts when customers began lining up at midnight which was when Vernon began to bake the next day's inventory. By 4 am the fresh baked donuts were sold out! Anyways, returning to our Road Test... The first mini golf course was built here, in Fayetteville. That is also a fact. You know what else happened in Fayetteville? Babe Ruth hit his first home run! On March 7 in 1914. Which means that if you guessed Coke wasn’t invented here, you’re correct! But in this case, the lie is not too far from the truth. Because even though Coke wasn’t invented here, Pepsi was! Pepsi Cola was first introduced as a product called "Brad's Drink" in New Bern, North Carolina, in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, who made it at his drugstore where the drink was sold. It was renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898. In 1931 at the depth of the Great Depression the Pepsi-Cola Company entered bankruptcy. Eventually Pepsi's assets were purchased by Charles Guth, who was the president of a candy manufacturing company with retail stores that contained soda fountains. He was interested in Pepsi because he wanted to replace Coca-Cola at his stores' fountains after Coke refused to give him a discount on syrup. Think about it, if Coke had just given that discount way back when, there would be no Pepsi to rival them!  And even after Pepsi took off, the Coca Cola company was offered the opportunity to purchase the Pepsi-Cola company not just once but on three separate occasions between 1922 and 1933. But they declined on each occasion and the rivalry has just kept growing. Time to play another game. I’ll give you four Pepsi slogans from the past sixty years or so. Three will be true and one will be false. Can you guess the false one? Here we go. The first slogan is "Any Weather is Pepsi Weather.” The second slogan is “More Bounce to the Ounce.” Here’s your third option: “Born in the Carolinas.” And finally the fourth option is “If you’re peppy, get Pepsi.” Are you ready to answer? Do you think it was the slogan that said “born In the Carolinas”? Well you’re wrong, that’s a real Pepsi slogan from 2011! The false slogan was “if you’re peppy, get Pepsi.” Why not get right and take the next exit to Fairmount? I know I am thirsty, and you are likely too. Let’s get a round of sodas or maybe a soda and some Doritos. And when in Carolina do what the locals do. Make it a Pepsi! #Pepsi #KrispyKreme #NorthCarolina #BradsDrink #NewBern #BabeRuth #CocaCola   I-95n Exit 13 in MA To: University Ave, (in Norwood) No Services, and Rt 128 OK Road Trippers, consider this: while tech in California tends to come from start ups, in Massachusetts, a lot of innovation is created by long established companies like Raytheon or General Electric or IBM. Often it is funded by the Department of Defense. Just because the entities are huge, their tech makes the innovation no less imaginative, useful, or disruptive.  Underneath and alongside I-95 runs Massachusetts Route 128. Like I-95, Route 128 makes more than a 180-degree arc around Boston. The area along the western part of Route 128 is home to a number of high tech divisions. This part of Route 128 is even signed as "America's Technology Highway” and “America’s Tech Region”.  Silicon Valley and Route 128 are two of the premiere technological concentrations, not only in the United States, but in the world. Like Silicon Valley, the development of electronics-related companies on the 65-mile highway surrounding Boston and Cambridge was influenced by the area's major research universities. In Silicon Valley it was Stanford and UC Berkley. Here it is MIT, Harvard, Boston University, Boston College, Brown University, Brandeis, and hundreds of other academic institutions. The professors and grad students in the universities devote their energies toward a greater understanding of the world around them. The government, particularly the Defense Department and the National Science Foundation, provides the financial support for the academicians to perform the experiments. The firms would then produce the physical manifestations of these ideas for the marketplace. Think knee replacements, medical devices, and robots.    One major distinction between Silicon Valley and Route 128 is that much tech here is devoted to military uses. One local example: Waltham based Raytheon creates drones and drone technology as well as the brains for smart bombs and cruise missiles. Such innovations are used to fight our country's wars. Not exactly Twitter or Facebook but it is essential tech nonetheless! #128 #Route128 #Massachusetts #Hightech #Defensetech #Raytheon #IBM #GE #Waltham #RoadTrippers #MIT #Harvard #BostonUniversity #Brown #Stanford #Berkley #BostonDynamics #BostonCollege #HarvardUniversity #Brandeis #Technology #Tech #SiliconValley #SiliconeValley     I-95s, Overpass of State Route 17, in Fredericksburg VA Quick! Glance over to your right. You are passing a lovely manicured campus. The Big Man on that campus is in fact a lizard. That’s because you are passing the corporate campus of GEICO Insurance.  In fact, the big lizard on GEICO's Corporate campus is no ordinary lizard but rather a gecko. And no doubt you have heard, The GEICO Gecko, that MOST uncommon of creatures, is uniquely adapted to help people save money on car insurance. So, in short order we will give you some Fast Facts about animals who sell insurance but first let us make you an Offer: If you say, " Deal Radar get me some GEICO," we will send you an email that can save you 20% on your current car insurance. You are under no obligation but it can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars annually. FAST FACT Number #1: On top of that, with RoadSpoke feeding you experiences and monitoring your reactions, we can offer even more cash savings in the following year. Imagine that! You are driving for dollars! So yes say it. Repeat after me. One two three... "Deal Radar, get me some Geico!" Oooh. That was good. Although someone said "Get me some Gecko!" And now we will get you Fast Facts about the Gecko.  FAST FACT #2: The cockney lizard has captivated audiences of all ages. GEICO is now the second largest writer of private auto insurance in the United States. This 40 acre campus on your right is home to several company divisions including our favorite, the GEICO auto insurance division. The idea for the Gecko grew from a creative session at GEICO's ad agency, the Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia. The name "GEICO" was often mispronounced “Gecko." As the brainstorming began, a quick doodle of a gecko appeared. Ad campaigns from the past have proven animals create a strong connection between customers and companies. Think Lassie, Morris the Cat, Smokey Bear, or the MGM Lion. But a lizard? Any how, with this in mind the Gecko came to life and made his debut in the 1999 television season. But the Gecko is not alone. GEICO has launched concurrent ads with equally humorous characters. There’s camels yelling “Hump Day!” and silent manatees in T shirts. There’s even a walrus playing hockey. The GEICO Cavemen promote commercials claiming to use their GEICO website is "so easy, even a caveman could do it”. Of course the sophisticated cavemen are deeply offended by this stereotype — and well should they be!  But the biggest threat to the Gecko’s job security came from a pork chop. Maxwell, the GEICO "Piggy" gave the Gecko a brief run for his money. If you can recall, Maxwell shouts a long "Whee" and appears in both radio and TV commercials.  Between the piggy, the caveman, the gecko, and 2,800 employees, GEICO is the largest private employer in Fredericksburg. This should make another character supremely happy — and that would be the Oracle of Omaha himself, Warren Buffet, who himself kinda plays a character, that of America’s richest granduncle! Turns out Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway is the majority owner of GEICO Insurance.  So don’t you wish he was your Grand- Daddy? Common, dontcha? With all that doe, just think how you would never care about what day it was. Humpday would be so easy it would be a thing of the past! Oh... Sorry Caveman. #Geico #GeicoGecko #Gecko #Caveman #Humpday #Camel #OracleofOmaha #WarrenBuffett  Armaggedon in the Bible Belt Hear this here: Exit 14 I-95s To: GA 25, to Harriet’s Bluff Creek [~ 6.92 mi to Exit 7, ] near Fancy GA Everyone brought their crowns, right? It’s time to put them on, because we’re now passing Kings Bay. Welcome to the last few exits in Georgia, a Bible loving area which happens to be the headquarters of Armageddon. Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is the east coast home to America’s Ohio Class submarines. According to the National Interest Magazine, the Ohio Class of nuclear powered submarines is the sole class of ballistic missile submarines currently in service with the United States Navy. Fourteen of the eighteen boats are configured to carry nuclear missiles, which, along with United States Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, constitute the so called nuclear deterrent triad of the United States. The remaining four subs have been converted to cruise missile submarines. Why do Russia and China Fear America's Ohio-Class Submarines? Well it is not complicated.  Built in the nineteen eighties these boomers might be old, but they could wipe out an entire country in less than an hour. Prowling the oceans today , the fourteen Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines carry onboard upwards of half of the United States’ nuclear arsenal. If you do the math, the Ohio-class boats may be the most destructive weapon system created by humankind. Each of the four hundred and fifty foot or one hundred fifty meter long vessels can carry twenty four Trident Two submarine launched ballistic missiles. Depending on the load, these babies can be fired from underwater to strike at targets more than seven thousand miles away. As a Trident Two re-enters the atmosphere at speeds of up to Mach 24, it splits into up to eight independent reentry vehicles, each with a 100 or 475 kiloton nuclear warhead. In short, a full salvo from an Ohio-class submarine—which can be launched in less than one minute—could unleash up to 192 nuclear warheads to wipe twenty-four cities off the map. Sweet huh?  Running silent and running deep, the sub’s nuclear reactor gives it virtually unlimited underwater endurance and the ability to maintain cruising speeds of twenty knots (twenty-three miles per hour). All the while these boomers produce very little noise. While other branches of the military may be deployed in reaction to the crisis of the day, all over the globe the nuclear submarines maintain a steady routine of patrols and communicate infrequently so as to remain as silent as possible. This makes them very tough to track.  Each Ohio class submarine hosts two crews of 154 officers and enlisted personnel. Cumulatively Submariners are known as Squids. Each Sub's Squids are split into 2 crews designated Gold and Blue, who take turns departing on patrols that last an average of seventy to ninety days underwater—with the longest on record being 140 days by the USS Pennsylvania . Currently, nine boomers are based in Bangor, Washington to patrol the Pacific Ocean, and five or maybe six are stationed here in Kings Bay, Georgia for operations in the Atlantic. Make no mistake. This is a nightmarish weapon of the apocalypse.  Luckily, the closest competitor to the Ohio class submarine is the Russia’s sole remaining Typhoon-class submarine, a larger vessel with twenty ballistic missile launch tubes. American Squids are confident their Ohio ships are superior, but if they told you why they would have to kill you.  In the event of a nuclear exchange, a boomer would likely receive its firing orders via Very Low Frequency radio transmission. While a submarine’s missiles are not pre targeted, like those in fixed silos, they can be assigned coordinates rapidly. The logic of nuclear deterrence is simple. While a first strike might wipe out a country’s land based missiles and nuclear bombers, it’s very difficult to track a ballistic-missile submarine lurking in the depths of the ocean—and there’s little hope of taking them all out in a first strike. In fact, they rarely contact any other craft or command unit for weeks on end so once they go down they are invisible to track and/or hear. Their Captains do however enjoy exhibiting their speed, power, and acrobatics on the surface!  Thus, ironically ballistic missile submarines promise the unstoppable hand of nuclear retribution—and should deter any sane adversary from attempting a first strike or resorting to nuclear weapons at all. At least that’s the theory! #KingsBay #OhioClass #Tridentmissiles #Georgia #NationalINterestMagazine    LLCoolJ has a very large following. His name stands for Ladies Love Cool James. Not just Ladies, but there must be a lot of Road Trippers who love LLCoolJ. Our post about him growing up on Long Island and making music in his family's basement went VIRAL! Some BIG Influencer obviously Likes or Loves Cool J too. No Other Audio app blankets the road like RoadSpoke! In fact, you can drive from Maine to Miami and hear roadspokes non-stop about factories, landmarks, exits, people, place and things.  We uncover and give context to the world around you! We turn drives into discovery. After all... There's a million stories behind every milepost. And... No surprise, RoadSpoke loves LLCool J too!  Hear this right…. HERE! On "Yankee Doodle Bridge" approaching EXIT 14 I-95s: to South Norwalk & Connecticut Ave, Norwalk Connecticut "Right now, right here... you are driving across the Yankee Doodle Bridge above the Norwalk River in Norwalk, Connecticut. So Road Trippers, time for a Road Test. If you get this correct, the person in the driver’s seat will pay you $20. Driver, keep your eyes on the road. Time for the Fast Facts:  The traditional American song "Yankee Doodle" has Norwalk origins. The song’s lyrics go: “Yankee Doodle went to town, Yankee doodle Dandy. Yankee doodle went to town, Riding on a pony. Yankee doodle went to town, Stuck a feather in his cap, and Called it Macaroni.”  Fifteen years before the American Revolution, during the French and Indian War between the British Colonies and French Canada, Connecticut towns were required to provide citizen soldiers to augment the soldiers of the British Army — the most well provisioned and powerful fighting force on Earth. American Colonials were dirt poor back then.  Reporting for duty, a regiment of poor Norwalk chicken farmers arrived outside Quebec. The smart British cavalry in their bright redcoats, burnished leather bandoliers, and tall thoroughbred horses looked down on this rag-tag crew. They began to ridicule the rag-tag Connecticut troops. These Norwalk famers had used chicken feathers to decorate their tattered uniforms. No doubt too, these Yankee doodles came to town, riding a single pony. A British Officer sang a popular melody of the time but he added words―“He stuck a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni.” "Macaroni" was London slang at the time for looking like a foppish dandy. You called something “Macaroni” when it was too chic, too stylish — Italian. So the British redcoats were making mockery of these dirt poor partners in arms. The Norwalk Chicken Farmers were humiliated by their own poverty. Twenty Years later, in the American Revolution, these same Norwalk Chicken Farmers sang the same song. They sang it proud. They sang it loud. This time, Yankee Doodle Dandy was a victory chorus. The poor troops of the American Colonies rolled back the fancy Red Coats and kicked them into the sea.  Now for the Road Test. What did Yankee Doodle ride, a horse or a pony? I'll give you three seconds: Three. And Two. And One. You said pony! Correct! Now Driver pay the winner. You owe twenty dollars. Cough up friend, and and don’t be a poor sport. #YankeeDoodleDandy #YankeeDoodleBridge #FrenchandIndianWar #Norwalk #NorwalkConnecticut #AmericanRevolution #Redcoats #BritishArmy #RoadTest #FastFacts #ChickenFarmers #Quebec   Hear this… HERE! EXIT OF THE DAY: EXIT 17, to Lumberton, Red Springs, NC Near Lumberton is the tiny railroad town of Hamlet, North Carolina, population of a little over 6000. Remember how I told you that there is a large Native American population around here? Well that is because Robeson County, North Carolina is home to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina which has a population of 55,000.    One of the biggest Lumbee tribe members is the diminutive Olympic Gymnast, Ashton Locklear. Ashton was an alternate at the 2016 Olympics.   As written in The Richmond County Daily Journal Newspaper in 2016: “In the 120 years of the modern Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee has sent 12,355 athletes to compete against those of other nations on tracks, ice rinks and snow-covered mountains, in pools and gymnasiums, on rivers, courts and fields. Not a single one of them listed Hamlet, North Carolina, as his or her hometown. I don’t think any of the people in this town realize the magnitude of what Ashton has done,” said Terry Barrett, the Hamlet gym instructor who taught her to do headstands at age 2½." Ashton was born in upcoming Lumberton, North Carolina. Her mom and Dad worked very hard to help their gifted daughter to soar to such heights in a sport that is not immediately profitable. “It’s been very difficult, especially financially,” said Ashton’s mother, Carrie Locklear. Carrie worked as a registered nurse at Sandhills Regional Medical Center. Ashton’s father, Terry, works in construction. Despite being an alternate at the Olympics, Ashton is considered possibly the best gymnast in the world on the uneven bars. She helped the US Team win the World Championships in Nanning China in 2014. By the time she retired in 2019, she was a two-time national champion on the uneven bars. Over the course of her youthful career, Ashton persevered though injuries and abuse, suffering the latter as one of the victims of Coach Larry Nasser. Her injuries are also breathtaking including 2 broken backs. Given her obvious appeal as a role model, Ashton was made a Nike Ambassador in 2017.  If you want to find out more about this dedicated dynamo and see where Ashton grew up, take the next Exit. Upcoming Pembroke is the tribal seat of the Lumbee Tribe. Aston Locklear’s birthplace of Lumberton is right next door. There is even a museum dedicated to this local hometown hero! After all, Ashton Locklear is a hometown hero who is a role model to all girls all over the world. #AshtonLocklear #NikeAmbassador #USOlympics #OlympicGymnastics #LumbeeTribe #Lumberton  EXIT of the DAY: EXIT 35 I-95n to : Thurgood Marshall International Airport, Savage Mills, North Laurel in Maryland. You are approaching Baltimore Washington International Airport aka The Thurgood Marshall Airport. It is named for a man whose roots were in Baltimore... his career was in Washington... and his influence was International.  However, at this auspicious place we can offer you a 10% savings in the next 2 days on any travel you Book through Expedia.com. That's right, just reserve your deal by saying, "Deal Radar, save my Expedia deal... now!" Then in the next 2 days you can book and use the promotion code, "RoadSpoke Deal Radar" to save that 10%. It could save you as much as $1200 or more -- especially if you are traveling with the family! Wow, right!? Ok... now for the story about this airport. The grandson of slaves, Thurgood Marshall attended Frederick Douglass High School. He then went to Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, a primarily African American college. His remarkable class of 1930 included Big Band leader Cab Calloway and writer Langston Hughes.   After Lincoln University, Marshall wanted to go to Law School. He applied to his home state college, University of Maryland School of Law but was rejected. That’s because the U of M did not accept African Americans. Instead Marshall attended Howard University Law School. Not surprisingly, he graduated 1st in his class. Then not 3 years after he applied, he sued the University of Maryland, won the suit, and forced the matriculation of the first black man. The legacy of Marshall at Howard lives on: the law school boasts one of the most admired Centers for the study of civil rights which itself was named for Thurgood Marshall.    A passionate proponent of education and an avid stickler to detail, over his career he stayed close to the words -- and promises -- of the US Constitution. As a Civil Rights lawyer, by 1967 he had won more cases in front of the Supreme Court than any other lawyer in the history of the United States. In the Mid '60's, President Johnson came calling.  Seeking the first black Supreme Court Justice, Marshall was appointed. President Lyndon Johnson said, "this was "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place." Marshall once described his philosophy as this: "You do what you think is right -- and let the law catch up." Folks argue that this was judicial activism. Marshall did not deny it. When he died in 1993, his legacy was simple: to uphold the constitutional rights of EVERY American. #BWI #ThurgoodMarshall #HarrietTubman #LyndonJohnson #BaltimoreWashingtonInternationalAirport #CivilRights #SupremeCourt #Slavery #escapefromslavery #HowardUniversity #UniversityofMaryland #CabCalloway #LangstonHughes   |
|
