the centennial anniversary of the achievement of man's primal aspiration.

Who be he
   Hath not gazed skyward
And pondered
   They how do do that

     •  Papa Cartwright said to Little Joe:
What are you doing ?   Haven't you got a field to plow ?
     •  Eve to Adam:
I sent you out to gather corn;  not to contemplate the sparrows.
     •  The schoolmarm finally gets Johnny's attention:
Where were you ?   I've called your name four times !

In each case  –  Joe, Adam, and Johnny, had the same reply  –  a single word.   A word that embodies freedom itself.   We -dreams it in both day- and night-.

For over five decades now, I keep having the same dream.   And am told, "You're not alone."   It's probably the top-of-the-charts motif for "what's going on" during the REM's of humanity immemorial.

Who is he, or she, of eyes, and breath, who has not bird-watched  –  and bird-wondered:

      Wouldn't it be wonder-fulled
    If we
  Could
Do as they

The word is:  FLYING

A soaring of spirit.
  Gravity abanished.
    Life untethered.
      Go anywhere anytime.

Born in 1867 and 1871.   Never married.   Bicycle builders.   Students of da Vinci, Borelli, & Newton;  Cayley, Stringfellow, Henson, Mouillard, Ader, Lilienthal, and Chanute.   And of any  –  and every  –  thing else they could read on the subject.

Plus.     They had a providential surname.

"SMITH" means

a person who makes or repairs metal objects.   It is closely akin to

"WRIGHT", which is defined as

a person who makes things.   Not much difference from "smith."

True.   Each is equally considered to be an artisan, a craftsman, a skilled laborer.   However.   In common usage  –  at least up through the 19th Century  –  the distinction was clearly

A "smith" is primarily a metal-crafter.   exempli gratis:


•  blacksmith •  scissors-smith •  locksmith •  tinsmith •  axlesmith

•  toolsmith •  silversmith •  gunsmith •  scythsmith •  clocksmith

A "wright" works primarily with wood.   exempli gratis:


•  wheelwright •  cartwright •  boatwright •  shipwright •  housewright

•  gatewright •  wainwright •  plowwright •  millwright •  bookwright

Yet, today, the terms are, forthemostpart, either completely interchangeable, or no longer used.     In any case, when they started designing the "Wright Flyer" (in the Spring of 1899), the Wright Brothers were the Wright Guys, at the Wright Time, with the Wright Idea, and the Wright Background to implement it.

They thought well.   And thoroughly.   And insightfully.   And  –  maybe most powerfully of all  –  their minds were somehow "connected."   It was as if a double-sized brain were designated separate crania.   But without disconnection.   And.   With the result frequently being greater than the sum of the parts.   Between 1899 and 1903, the parts came together  –  and on a breezy December morning at Kill Devil Hill, 4 miles south of Kitty Hawk, Dare County, North Carolina, the parts were all assembled, tested, and ready.

It was 10:35 when Orville Wright flew the first power-driven, heavier-than-air machine (since God created eagles) a distance of 120 feet in 12 seconds.   The date was Thursday, December 17th, 1903.   There were 6 witnesses:  brother Wilbur, and 5 others.

By noon, three other flights were made  –  the longest (and last) being 852 feet in 59 seconds, with Wilbur at the controls.

That very aircraft is now on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.

• Wingspan:  40 feet, 4 inches
• Weight:  about 750 pounds (with pilot)
• Power:  single, lightweight, custom-built, 12-horsepower gasoline engine, driving 2 propellers
• Top air-speed:  circa 30 mph.

Wilbur Wright was born on Tuesday, April 16, 1867, near Millville, 8 miles east of New Castle, Henry County, Indiana.   He died of typhoid fever in Dayton, Ohio, on Thursday, May 30, 1912, at the age of 45.

Orville Wright was born on Saturday, August 19, 1871, in Dayton, Ohio.   He suffered a heart attack in his laboratory in downtown Dayton on January 27, 1948, and died on Friday, January 30, 1948, at the age of 76.

At the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles, we acclaim and celebrate the AUTOMOBILE as the invention "which has changed both the culture and economy of the whole world, in a very major way, in a mere hundred years."   But our friend, Phil Scott, is swift to remind us that, "Without the airplane, there would have been no tailfins on the '57 Chevy."

A few Flight Centennial Celebration Sites:


U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission
Countdown to the Centennial, AIAA
Wright Brothers, History of Flight, AIAA

RETURN TO CONTENTS

Christmas is the day (December 25^th) on which Christians celebrate the birth of Yeshua.   Of course, the great bulk of the English-speaking world calls Him, "Jesus."

How did we get that word ?

Yeshua is Hebrew,

and is probably what His parents called Him, as well as most of the elder relatives in His family.   But it's entirely possible that His contemporaries may have called Him Yosh, which is a contracted (nickname) form of an older version of the name, Yeshua, which was YEHOSHUA.   Our English equivalent to Yosh would be Josh.

Iesous is the Greek translation

of the Hebrew, Yeshua.   Greek really has no letter which matches up to the "yod" ("Y") of Hebrew; so it uses an "iota" ("I") in its place.

Iesus is the Latin form

of the Greek, Iesous.   Neither Hebrew, Greek, nor Latin have a "J" in their alphabet.   Then  —  whence cometh it ?  

The English (or, more accurately, "Roman") alphabet, up until only about 300 years ago, had only 25 letters in it.   In usage, when an "I" came at the beginning of a word (or a double-I inside it) the pronunciation was more like a "Y" than an "I."   Then why not write a "Y" instead of a double-I ?   Because a deeper, more guttural variation of the "Y" was developing  —  the sound we now call a "J", which is nowhere near as soft as a "Y."   So.   A tail, to the left, was added to the "I" to specify a pronunciation such as we now give to the first letter of "jam", "joy", "jigsaw", and "jellyfish."

But not all languages treat the "J" as is common in English.   German, Polish, and Scandinavian languages pronounce it as a "Y."   Spanish gives it an "H" sound;  French, "ZH."

What is the morphology

of the word "Christmas" ?

First, it may be good to understand why He is often referred to as "Jesus Christ."   "Christ" is not His last name.   Back then, people customarily didn't have "last names" (as we know them today), but were referred to in ways that led up to what later became "last names."   There was always the problem of reference.   Even in a tiny hamlet, it was not uncommon to have 14 Davids, 27 Johns, and 43 men (and boys) with the name "James."   So, normally, the method of distinction was, for men, by occupation; for boys, by father; and for those from another village, by hometown.

For example, the designations of three of the people in Nazareth, about 2000 years ago, were "Joseph, the carpenter", "Mary, wife of Joseph", and "Joshua, son of Joseph"  (or, in full Hebrew form, "Yeshua bar Yowceph").

If this were today, we would know Him by the name "Jeshua Josephson", or maybe "Jeshua Carpenter."

So.   "Christ" was a title given to Yeshua.   Sort of like an occupation.   As a boy, His "occupation" (title) was "Joseph's son."   As He became a man, His title changed to "carpenter", like His (earthy) father.   But now, we title Him, "Christos" (or Christ).

"Christ" is the English (or Roman) form of the Latin "Christus", which is taken from the Greek "Christos", which is their equivalent of the Hebrew "Messias" (or "Messiah").

We also tend to use "Jesus" and "Christ" interchangeably.   This is technically incorrect  –  but we shall not go into that here.

Back to the question on the morphology

(parsing) of the word "Christ-mas."

"Christ" means MESSIAH.   And we'll leave that at that  —  for now.

"-mas" is an abbreviated form of the word "mass."   We typically define MASS as a Catholic church service.   But let's look a little deeper.   Catholicism calls it a "mass" for a very specific reason.

The word "mass" is akin to the word "mess."   If you've been in the Army, you know that the "mess-hall" is where the porridge is prepared, and served.   Yes, the word "mess" essentially means "food."

And the Catholic Church is telling you, with the word "mass", that this is not just a prayer meeting, or a Bible study, but, though either, or both, of those things may be included, the biggdeel of this coming-together is that:  FOOD WILL BE SERVED.   Thus, the name given to this meeting, gathering, share-time, assembly, is "mass."

Does (then) "mass" mean "food" ?   Yes, just like "mess", that is what "mass" means  —  "food."

But there is more to it.   Behind it.   The true meaning of "mass" is "CELEBRATION."   And who ever heard of a celebration without food ?!   So.   "Mass" does mean "food", but it also strongly implies, "celebration."

Therefore.   CHRIST-MAS means, "a celebration of the Christ", or "a celebration of the Messiah."   And.   To be sure.   There will be food !

Let's go back to "messiah",

and let us morph (break into pieces) that word.
"MESS-I-AH"     You may already see it.

         I   =   I               (a no brainer)
     AH   =  AM           (nearly as easy)
MESS   =   FOOD      (you knew that)

To call someone, or title someone, or refer to someone as, MESSIAH, is to say they are FOOD.   But now ...

We have to look a bit deeper into what "food" truly means.   In its essence, the word "food" means "that which brings, gives, sustains  —  life."

Did not Yeshua call Himself both the "bread of life" and even "life" itself ?

So.   "Christmas", at its verymost fundamental level, means:  "a celebration of life."

There's much more to all this.   But we'll leave that for another day.   H'ever.   In the meantime, chew on this:  The morphs of the word "Christian" are  CHRIST-I-AM.

But what about the tree ?

Where did it come from ?   The jury's still out on that one.   A zillion legends abound.   Maybe 8^th Century, Germany.   Or was it 700 years later ?   Or somewhere in between ?     Hoo nose.     Knot eye.

What about Christmas cards ?

Who invented them ?   My favorite answer is "Hallmark."   But "World Book" says it was artist John Calcott Horsley, in 1843.   And #1 to the shelves was Charles Goodall & Sons, London, 1862  —  not Gibson, and not Hallmark.

The Yule Log and Mistletoe ?

Probably Scandinavia.

The Nacimiento ?

Spain ?     Maybe.     Maybe not.

Christmas Village at Bernville, Pennsylvania ?

William Koziar, December, 1948.   (26 miles WNW of the Boyertown Museum)

Santa's Workshop at North Pole, New York ?

Julian Reiss, July, 1949.   (293 miles NNE of the Boyertown Museum)

Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular in New York City ?

Russell Markert, December, 1933.   (92 miles ENE of the Boyertown Museum)

The Christmas Exhibit at the Boyertown Museum ?

Kenneth Wells, December, 1985, and every year since.

M  e  r  r  y     C  h  r  i  s  t  m  a  s