History of the Flying Pig including the origin
of "HAM" radio and startup of FPqrp
But first a pig joke...
A guy is stopped at an
intersection when a farm truck comes whipping past him. As the truck takes the
corner, a pig comes flying out and lands on the road. The driver
of the car puts the pig in his car and takes off after the farm truck. As he's
speeding along trying to catch up with the truck, he goes through a speed
trapand gets pulled over. The driver explains to the police officer that he's
just trying to return the pig. The officer says, "Well, you'll never catch it
now, you should just bring the pig to the zoo." The driver agrees, and off he
goes.
The next day, the cop is patrolling, and who should he see drive
by but the same guy. He still has the pig in the passenger seat, but now the pig
is wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. The police officer pulls the car over,
and confronts the driver. "I thought I told you to take that pig to the zoo!"
The man replies, "I did. We had such a great time that I'm taking him to
the ball game today." more jokes
This glorious creature overlooks the Riverwalk in
the great city of Cincinnati, Ohio.
1790 Cincinnati (aka: Porkopolis) gets its name when the
2-year-old town of Losantiville on the Ohio River is renamed by the Northwest
Territory's first governor Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who calls it Cincinnati after
the Society of Cincinnati formed by officers of the Continental army at the end
of the Revolution.
1818 Pioneer pig sticker, Elisha Mills opens
Cincinnati, Ohio's first slaughterhouse. Cincinnati begins packing pork in
brine-filled barrels. Salt pork becomes a U.S. food staple, and within a decade,
the city will earn the nickname "Porkopolis.".
1825 Buffalo, NY, is
the short-lived meat-packing center of the U.S. as the Erie Canal makes it a
central shipping point. It will soon be replaced by Cincinnati, then Chicago.
1829 Cincinnatians and the world begin to regularly refer to the Ohio
meat-packing town by the nickname "Porkopolis.".
1839 The musical
instrument termed the "Porco-Forte" is invented in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is a
keyboard instrument fashioned after a piano, but with a hammer action whereby
pigs tails are pinched as each key is struck, permitting the player to produce a
gradation of squealed notes depending on which keys were struck and how hard.
1861 As the Civil War rages in the U.S. and demand for pork and beef
staples escalates, Chicago, benefiting from superior rail transportation,
replaces the "Porkopolis" of Cincinnati as the leading meat processing city in
the US.
1913 Oct. 7 Henry Ford begins operation of an "automobile
assembly line" at the Ford Motor Company plant in Detroit, Michigan. Ford and
engineer Clarence Avery credit their observations of the dis-assembly lines used
by Cincinnati and Chicago pork packers as a major inspiration. By simply
reversing the process, Ford cut the time required to assemble a motorcar from
12.5 down to 1.5 hours.
1921 In the "Porkopolis" of Cincinnati, a
local auto parts producer Powel Crosley, moves his ham radio station 8CR transmitter from his house to his
factory and has it licensed under the call letters WLW. Crosley will organize
Crosley Radio Corp. in 1923 and the station will become a 50,000 watt voice of
the Midwest?s pork and corn belt.
1945 Harry S. Truman, a former
Kansas farmer, is elected 33rd U.S. President. Reflecting on his position, he
states "No man should be allowed to be the President who does not understand
hogs, or hasn't been around a manure pile."
Ramblings
RABBLE, n.: In a republic, those who exercise a
supreme authority tempered by fraudulent elections. The rabble is like the
sacred Simurgh, of Arabian fable -- omnipotent on condition that it do nothing.
(The word is Aristocratese, and has no exact equivalent in our tongue, but
means, as nearly as may be, "soaring swine."). THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY (1906)
Ambrose Bierce (1842 – 1914) U.S. writer and journalist.
Pigs flie in
the ayre with their tails forward... A SHORTE DICTIONARIE FOR YOUNGE
BEGYNNERS, (1553).John Withals
Don't discount flying pigs before you
have a good air defense. Attributed to: jvh@clinet.FI (ca.1996).
Pigs might fly, but they are very unlikely birds. Popular euphemism,
1620's.
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, Of cabbages and kings, And why the sea is
boiling hot, And whether pigs have wings." THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, (1872).
Lewis Carroll (1832 – 1898), English writer, mathematician.
The
first pig to fly in an aeroplane was taken up for a joyride in a biplane by Lord
Brabazon, holder of the first pilot license in Britain. "The TIMES", London,
(1909).
"Owl," said Pooh, "Could you fly up to the letter-box with
Piglet on your back?" "No," said Piglet quickly, "He couldn't." Owl explained to
Pooh about the necessary Dorsal Muscles. Piglet hurriedly added that he had been
getting much bigger lately, "so it's no good thinking about it." THE HOUSE
AT POOH CORNER, (1928). A.A. Milne (1882 – 1956), English author.
Pork,
the other white meat. Leaner. Healthier. Were going where no pig has gone
before, come along. Take that one small step... Buy pork! ADVERTISEMENT,
(1994). National Pork Producers Council, American Trade Organization.
I
have myself a poetical enthusiasm for pigs, and the paradise of my fancy is one
where pigs have wings. But it is only men, especially wise men, who discuss
whether pigs can fly; we have no particular proof that pigs ever discuss it.
FANCIES VERSUS FACTS, (1923). G.K. Chesterton, (1874 – 1936), British author
and critic.
"Just about as much right," said the Duchess, "as pigs have
to fly." ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. Lewis Carroll (1832 – 1898),
English writer, mathematician.
If you are sweating too much before a
flight, you surely haven't asked enough questions. If you are not sweating just
a little during the flight, you may not have been attentive enough. And, if you
are not sweating out the answers with all the experts you can think of after the
flight, you may never find that very beautiful pearl in all that pig litter.
Corwin H. Meyer, Grumman Aircraft test pilot, WWII.
I'm sure that
the airlines would allow first-class passengers to travel to Europe or
California in the company of their pigs, and I like to imagine the sight of the
pairs of differently shaped heads when seen from the rear of the cabin.
Lewis H. Lapham, U.S. editor and writer.