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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Nov. 17, 2009/ 30 Mar-Cheshvan 5770
Shouldn't the Government Unleash Innovation? The Lesson of the Organ
By
Tom Purcell
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
We got it in the early '70s: a Kimball organ that sat in our living room for 20
years or more.
It had single buttons that played whole chords. Other buttons played cymbals,
marimba and other rhythmic beats.
I spent hours playing the thing. My father, too his fingers are so big he had
trouble playing just one key at a time played it often.
And at family gatherings, my mother and her siblings would stand around it for
hours, singing holiday tunes and other well-known standards.
I had no idea then how technological innovation made our living-room organ possible.
Harvey Olsen, a retired electrical engineer, electronics instructor and organ
expert, told me about the history of the home organ.
In 1933, Lawrence Hammond, an inventor and high-end clock maker, got into the organ
business. His goal was to produce a mechanical instrument that replicated the sound
of a pipe organ.
Hammond's very first organs consisted of spinning wheels tone generators and
lots of other electromechanical parts. The machines were extremely well built and
many are still functioning today.
By the mid-1950s, however, organ makers began replicating the organ sound with
lower-cost vacuum-tube technology tubes that looked and acted like light bulbs.
It was much less costly to create tones electronically than with lots of mechanical
parts.
By the late '60s, vacuum tubes gave way to even-lower-cost transistor technology.
The transistors were small, inexpensive and reliable. They enabled the development
of compact integrated circuit boards the electronic gizmos made it possible to
produce more sophisticated sounds, such as a marimba beat.
They also allowed organs to be produced cheaply.
And so it was that the '60s and early '70s became the heyday of the home organ.
Hammond, a high-end organ maker, soon found competition from low-cost producers,
such as Lowrey, Thomas and Kimball.
Every mall had an organ store staffed with organ-playing sales representatives. They
seduced thousands of suburban dads, such as mine, into digging into their wallets to
bring organ music into their living rooms something that had been unimaginable to
my father as he grew up during the Depression years.
To be sure, our old Kimball organ brought us many hours of amusement. As
sophisticated as we thought it was in the '70s, we would have been shocked had we
known what organs would be able to do by 2009.
Digital technology has revolutionized the organ, as it has everything else. Today,
for significantly less than my father paid for our Kimball in the '70s, a fellow can
buy a digital organ that produces incredible sounds.
If you're traveling in Europe and come across a pipe organ in a medieval church, you
can probably buy a "sampling" software program that allows you to reproduce its
exact sound in your living room.
In any event, we've had so much technological innovation in America that we take it
for granted, but we do so at our own peril.
The fact is, innovators and entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. We need
their inventions, many of them not yet known, to resolve a multitude of challenges
we face to produce the wealth we need to cover our bills.
Government spending is tying up needed capital and a proposed increase in capital
gains taxes will only punish success and inhibit investment in new ideas. Shouldn't
the government do everything possible to unleash innovation rather than quell it?
Where America's innovators and entrepreneurs are concerned, can't we strike a better
chord?
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR Contributor Tom Purcell's column, by clicking here. To visit his web site, click here.
ARCHIVES
© 2009, Tom Purcell
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