D r. Roush has an MIT PhD

in the history and social

study of science and

technology. (His surname is pro-

nounced "Raush".) He has exten-

sive experience in communicating

this kind of news in prominent

publications such as Science and

the MIT Technology Review. Wade often com-

municates via podcasts under the brand name

SOONish at the website soonishpodcast.org/

listen/.

For this talk, Wade focused his observations on

new manufacturing tactics, techniques, and proce-

dures for returning manufacturing jobs to Ameri-

ca. The talk is based on his podcast on future fac-

tories, and it can be listened to as Episode 4 at this

link:

https://play.radiopublic.com/soonish-WJpd0K/ep/

s1!

b6ccf4e8c65d4d11ada176b69d7867b45253e4c2

The title is 1.04 Future Factories, With Workers

Built In and the talk lasts about 34 minutes.

Wade observes that 6 million manufacturing jobs

have left the US since the year 2000. He says that

many of those jobs are not coming back. Early in

the podcast, he interviews an inspiring 88-year-old

named Bill Taylor. In the cellar of his house in

Belmont, MA, Bill has an impressive amount of

machine tools, accumulated over a lifetime of

making amazing items - often innovative crea-

tions. Bill is the kind of person who helped make

America into the manufacturing power house it

became after WW II. He is worried that there are

few innovators in the generations following him to

carry on his type of work. He thinks that the fac-

tories that we have today do not produce his kind

of person.

(Based in part on Wade's podcast, the author has

the following comments on several problems that

must be solved for future factories to be success-

ful:

1. Products always need to be tailored to market

demands. One problem in the past has been man-

aging the startup costs of new products. The costs

for R&D to create the product design that will sell,

as well as training and tooling costs, had to be

matched to the profits from the expected produc-

tion run to meet the demand.

2. If the product had a niche market, there might

not be enough sales expected to pay these startup

costs. So, the startup costs

Robotics, Automation, and Jobs

Dr. Wade Roush, Technology Journalist and Audio Producer

UPCOMING

MEETINGS

August Meeting Minutes Ship’s Bell Rang at 10:00 AM

V OLUME 21 ISSUE 8

AUGUST 2017 Cigar Box Bulletin

RETIRED MEN’S ASSOCIATION

Let’s Get Acquainted— John Beeler 4

COA Focusing on Transportation 6

August Anniversaries and Birthdays 7

Volunteer Opportunity 8

Arresting Time: Joke 8

Annual Dinner 9

RMA Bulletin Board 10

Woodpecker 11

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Continued on Page 2

Continued on Page 3

Reporter: Bill Beebee

Reporter: Bill Johnson

R ay Graunas called the meeting to

order; cell phones were silenced;

and Ray led us in the Pledge of Al-

legiance. Ken Watson gave piano accompa-

niment to the singing of the Star Spangled

Banner.

Visitors -

Nick Veeder called on members to intro-

duce their guests.

Howard Kendall introduced Bob Lieber -

man. Bob and his wife moved to Sudbury 3

months ago. He has a background in ac-

counting and finance.

Merrill Mack introduced Ken Mattis. Ken

has lived in Marlboro for 20 years and is re-

tired from the Pharma company Astrogenica.

Travelers -

While scouting out retirement options near

Bar Harbor, ME, Bob Cooke visited Jackson

C IGAR BOX BULLETIN P AGE 2

had to be low enough to enter the niche market. Only by enter-

ing the market could it be possible to grow that market beyond

the niche size. (An example of a niche market is making a kay-

ak that can collapse into the size of a suitcase. This product is

noted in Wade's podcast.)

3. Today, the R&D part of the startup costs can be reduced by

two techniques. One is to use intelligent design tools, such as

2D and 3D CAD software on appropriate machines with good

user interfaces, to allow "experimentation" in idea space before

the expense of cutting metal. Such tools are becoming increas-

ingly available and are less and less dependent on user skill to be

productive. Another technique is to do the work in an

"incubator" environment where innovators in other technologies

can share insights across the tech boundaries.

4. Once the product is established in its market, full-scale pro-

duction must be large enough to meet the changing demand. It

must also contain costs to discourage competitors from entering

the market. The above CAD software can be used to reduce

production costs and to make automated machines that can each

do several tasks.)

Point 3 in the above comments is being addressed by a chain of

high tech innovation operations called TechShop, with CEO Dan

Woods. His Shop is located in San Francisco and Dan is inter-

viewed in Wade's podcast. It has high tech machines to allow

experimental R&D and production. It also has a user communi-

ty that shares technologies to help each other get their projects

off the ground. "Accidental entrepreneurship" happens, about

60% of the time, when a person or group plays with an idea and

finds a product coming out. The Square Reader charge card

reader, for using smart phones to accept purchase charges, is a

product coming out of such an environment.

(More author comments:

1. Dan's TechShop story is also covered in the link:

https://venturebeat.com/2012/11/21/make-techshop/

2. One potential problem with TechShop-type organizations is

protecting proprietary information. What would keep an innova-

tion "pirate" from planting mole techies into such an organiza-

tion to soak up information of evolving products? Then, if a

technology appeared to be nearing marketability, the pirate could

make a quick patent filing to steal the opportunity from the inno-

vator.

3. Although there is a good community of innovators at

TechShops and similar groups, those innovators are likely more

skilled than the production workers they would need to hire,

later, to operate their production lines. The solutions to "how to

make it cheaper and faster" include extending the software-based

R&D and design ideas from TechShop scenarios into production

environments.

4. The goal is to still put "more smarts in the machine so you

need less in the worker". You want to be able to train workers

faster and you want to be able to use common production equip-

ment so that the same worker and his/her machine can produce

more diverse products.)

In his podcast, Wade also interviews Lawrence Lee of the Palo

Alto Research Center (PARC), owned by the Xerox Corpora-

tion. Lawrence says that PARC is making a big investment in

software to support the field of Design for Manufacturability.

That means creating a new generation of design software that is

smart enough to understand the capabilities and limits of today's

machine tools.

This kind of software could save time by checking whether a

product design is feasible and then recommending the right man-

ufacturing steps and the right materials to build it. Lawrence

gives an example about designing a chair:

"Anyone can design a chair that looks like a chair, but you want

to make sure that (it) actually supports weight and (has) balance

(and) doesn't rock and doesn't fall over. … If you are designing

for a manufacturer at the beginning, having iterative feedback

from the beginning from the (computerized design AI) system to

be able to say … you can't make using this material … because

… you won’t support the weight … or you … shouldn't put that

screw hole here …. It is too close to the edge and it won't have

the right stability and strength that you need.

And so being able to actually put enough of the reasoning into

the AI engine to be able to verify that from a material point of

view, from a structural point of view, I think will then open up a

much larger community of makers to be able to actually create

products that can then be manufactured at scale through the tra-

ditional supply chain."

Lawrence adds that PARC's design engine could work as an add-

on to existing industrial design software from companies like

Autodesk. And, he says that could be a big boost for small man-

ufacturers making customized products.

So, (back to Wade's words) take all the trends that we have been

talking about - the Maker Movement; Maker Spaces; simpler

design software; easily programmable production machines;

mass customization. Put them together and you can start to see a

future where anyone with an idea for a product can get it manu-

factured. Factories of the future could be in our basement and in

our garages. (Author comment: like Steve Jobs starting Apple

in his garage?) And that might provide an economic ladder for

skilled laborers who, 20 years ago, would have had assembly

line jobs.

(Author Comment: On a higher level, information giants like

IBM, Computer Associates, and Hewlett-Packard are selling

whole-division information processing and management sys-

tems. Their efforts are covered in impressive TV ads. These

give promise of more-efficient company management imple-

mentations down to unheard-of low levels. Their software likely

interfaces down to the above-noted design and production soft-

ware produced by PARC and others.)

Near the end of Wade's podcast, he Continued on Page 5

Speaker — Continued

V OLUME 21 ISSUE 8 P AGE 3

The Cigar Box Bulletin

P. O. Box 261

Wayland, MA 01778

Board of Directors

Ray Atkins President

Chris Hammer 1st Vice President

Larry Vifquain 2nd Vice-President

Merrill Mack Treasurer

Chris Hammer Program Chairman

Bob Diefenbacher Editor of Bulletin

Board Members

Ray Atkins Bill Beebee

Mort Brond Bob Diefenbacher Bill Ely* Karl Geiger

Chris Hammer Wally Hart

Frank Lyons* Merrill Mack

Al Persson* Ron Riggert

Nick Veeder Larry Vifquain

*Past RMA Presidents

Thank You To Our

Proof Readers

Yutaka Kobayashi,

Bob Curtiss

Published monthly by the Retired

Men’s Association of Weston, Way-

land, Sudbury and surrounding

communities.

Continued on Page 5

Labs, a mammal genetics laboratory.

On a Viking River Cruise of the Danube provided by one

of his kids, Bill Beebee saw Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg,

Munich, Nuremburg and Prague. The boat was nice but the

real action was on the bus tours on shore.

Kobe Kabayashi visited Delta, Utah, near Salt Lake

City. He had been held there in his late teens in a Japanese

internment camp and his father had died there. Sadly, Ko-

be found that the entire area, with all camp structures,

had been wiped clean and returned to its natural state.

Ray Atkins thanked the following members who had

helped with the Meeting:

Coffee - Harold Edelstein

Donuts from Stop & Shop – Terry Thoman

Badges - Larry Vifquain

Facilities – Mike Sheff, Ray Graunas, Fred Jungalwala, and

Dick Kilbourne

Reporting on the Minutes – Bill Johnson

Reporting on the Speaker – Bill Beebee

Bulletin – Bob Diefenbacher

Sound Equipment – Ron Riggert

Slide Show – Bob Curtiss and Al Persson

Website – Bob Curtiss and Bill Thompson

Photographer Art Phipps

Announcements -

a. Howard Kendall summarized the Sudbury COA volun-

teers program for the RMA members. Folks who want to

participate can apply their skills to project management,

communications, the town web site, and town media chan-

nels (to get the COA message out).

Minutes — Continued

V OLUME 21 ISSUE 8 P AGE 4

Let’s Get Acquainted—John Beeler

J ohn Beeler grew up in the small

town of Elizabeth, PA. After high

school, he entered the Army

where he was assigned to the Army Se-

curity Agency (ASA) which reported to

the director of the NSA and later be-

came the U.S. Army Intelligence and

Security Command (INSCOM).

John was assigned to the Philippine Islands where he at-

tended the University of the Philippines while in the ser-

vice, and then attended West Virginia Wesleyan College,

majoring in business administration, and graduating in

1961. Later, at 50, when he was working as a department

head at Endicott College, he returned to school and re-

ceived an Executive Master’s degree in Business Admin-

istration.

John also had a career in the national food service industry,

serving in various positions for Seiler’s and ARA Services,

two major companies in the field. At Seilers’s, he was as-

signed to work for a Uniroyal subsidiary at its world head-

quarters at Middlebury CT. He supervised food services to

22 institutions, many of them academic. At ARA, he be-

came Regional Manager, responsible for feeding ARA cli-

ents in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut at business-

es, colleges and public schools.

His experience included dealing with a sudden problem in

Pittsburgh, where his company was tasked with feeding

members of the West Point Cadets Corps for a football

game. When John learned, at the last minute, that no ar-

rangements had been made for serving the more than 500

cadets, he had a sign put up: “Wait Staff Needed. How

would you like to feed a cadet?” Almost immediately, 300

students volunteered; 60 were hired and got the job done.

After his career in food service, John became an Assistant

Administrator at the Bristol Hospital in Bristol, CT where

he worked until his retirement in 2003.

John’s wife of 54 years, Dianne, died, in 2014. He has four

sons and six grandchildren, all living within commuting

distance of Sudbury.

In retirement, John has been as busy as he was before. He

has traveled the west (Yellowstone, Mt. St. Helens, etc.).

He is in his 8th year on the board - currently the chair - of

the Sudbury Council on Aging. He is also a board member

of BayPath Elder Services, an organization covering 14

cities and towns which provides services to the elderly. It

specializes in acting as a single point of entry for those

seeking home care services. It serves 2700 meals/day

through Meals On Wheels, and includes services to 52 peo-

ple who live in Sudbury. BayPath also offers courses to

teach people how to deal with chronic diseases, chronic

pain and balance problems. He looks upon its mission as

being there: for people when they want to talk to someone;

and when they have a need.

As if he weren’t busy enough, John is a member of a town

task force considering an intergenerational community cen-

ter in Sudbury.

He is happy with his family nearby and satisfied that the

activities he has volunteered for are meeting important obli-

gations to his community.

You know what I did before I married? Anything I wanted to. (Henny Youngman

The best way to get most husbands to do something is to suggest that

perhaps they're too old to do it. (Ann Bancroft) Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

(Benjamin Franklin) A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong. (Milton

Berle) Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. (Phyllis Diller)

Continued on Page 6

C IGAR BOX BULLETIN P AGE 5

Continued on Page 8

Speaker—Continued interviews Brenna Schneider, who heads the apparel startup

known as 99 Degrees in Lawrence, MA. This interview gives

application context to the ideas and processes that Wade cov-

ered earlier. Brenna's apparel startup is physically located in

part of an old Lawrence textile mill, shut down generations ago,

that used to produce a huge amount of cloth each day. She start-

ed in 2013 to help workers graduate from manual cut and sew

jobs and become skilled operators of semi-automated production

machines.

Today, Brenna concentrates on the niche market of custom

sports apparel. Many of her workers use conventional sewing

machines but some are using ultrasonic presses to assemble

clothing using hi-tech adhesives. She wants workers to learn

everything they can about ultrasonic welders and heat presses so

they can help 99 Degrees to grow as the company moves more

and more towards sew-free technology.

(Author commentary:

Brenna's message below is from the 99Degrees website cover-

age of the (Berlin, Germany, industry conference) talk The Fu-

ture of Apparel via the link:

https://www.99degreescustom.com/our-vision

Brenna delves into the special aspects of the apparel industry

and says how smart, humanized automation can help solve on-

going industry problems.

She says she believes that apparel manufacturing can scale. We

can create jobs that will bridge our workforce to the future inno-

vation economy. She sees four changes in our future (as well as

two later challenges that we can embrace):

1. We look to an alternative to China, as wage rates rise and the

wage force ages. In the apparel business, fragmentation of the

industry is forcing labor to go all over the place, sometimes to

new places such as South America. Such supply chains become

increasingly complex and oversite becomes costly. This re-

quires a better approach.

2. The second change is speed and the unprecedented level of

speed that we are seeing and is being demanded. Her business

competes successfully because speed is a competitive ad-

vantage, sometimes outweighing cost. We can reduce inventory

costs and often produce just ahead of the demand as we see in-

creasingly customized and individualized demand. Proximity to

demand becomes important. Close collaboration between de-

sign, development, and manufacturing becomes a force multipli-

er in keeping close with demand.

3. The third point is automation and that polarizes the world

b. Stewart Hoover (visiting from Sudbury) described the

recent repurposing & renovation of the Loring Parsonage

in Sudbury Town Center (behind the Town Hall) on Old

Sudbury Road. The 1730 building housed Sudbury’s first

minister, and will soon be a showcase (Sudbury History

Center) for Sudbury’s long history, from the Puritans until

now. Hundreds of accessioned historical pieces from the

(renovated) Town Hall will be moved next door to the new

space in the renovated Loring Parsonage. The RMA mem-

bers can call the Sudbury Historic Society, 978-443-3747,

to participate in this historic activity.

c. Larry Vifquan announced the RMA dinner, as coming

up on Oct 18 with music by Ken Watson (lots of Golden

Oldies). For $50 for each diner, you can enjoy cocktails,

buffet style dinner, music and socializing.

Vital Statistics –

Oldest birthday: Jim McKelvey (89).

Longest married: Gail & Dorena Drake and Dave &

Audrey Livington, each couple tying the knot 67 years

ago.

Health of our members –

Joe Bausk said that Ken Coleman had some recent tests

for lung issues and John Iberg continues to deal with Lyme

disease.

Humor –

Dr. Al Persson relayed Dr. humor. One Dr. used a bottle of

Scotch to encourage improvements in patient performance.

Another patient, with an artery problem, used false econo-

my to get well, taking the bus to the hospital to save a $100

ambulance charge.

Musical Vignette –

Ken Watson on the piano and Bill Ladoulis on the vio-

Minutes—Continued

P AGE 6

COA to Focus on Transportation Issues

in Sudbury

The Sudbury Council on Aging has a continuing focus on

providing Transportation options for Sudbury Sen-

iors. The COA has recently expanded its focus with the

approval of the Selectmen to develop more options for all

residents. This is a large task involving working with

neighboring towns, two regional transportation authori-

ties, and numerous others. As this task proceeds, the Sud-

bury COA expects to need help to bring the project to fru-

ition. More information on who to contact to volunteer

will be provided once the task has become more struc-

tured.

Chuckle Time

Speaker:—Continued

into high-tech scenarios and low-tech, low cost manual opera-

tions with nothing in between. The choice with automation is

"where do we produce?"

4. Finally, something that is very exciting to her is watching

supply chains merge in new ways. We see wearable technology

arising where the tech supply chain is merging with the consum-

er product supply chain. So, to be an apparel company, today,

means we must be partly a technology company. So, technology

companies must also be more consumer product oriented. It is

important to be in places like Boston where we have both manu-

facturing and technology expertise.

(As a side comment, Brenda says that we can now imagine a new

form of industry - one that is agile, more collaborative, highly

automated, and incredibly fast-changing. But, also, it is perhaps

regional - serving regional markets. We must invest in place and

we must invest in the industry's future.)

Now, Brenna sees two incredible challenges and she sees these

challenges as opportunities.

The first challenge is how do we invest in an eco-system that

supports this kind of future tech-infused industry? How do we re

-shore old industries and transform them into something new?

How do we support regional manufacturing hubs and regional

supply chains? How do we maximize cooperation and collabora-

tion to support speed and agility? What spaces foster this new

manufacturing approach? And how do we better partner be-

tween existing manufacturers and startups to merge supply

chains across what was a disparate industry?

The second challenge is to figure out what inclusive innovation

looks like. How do we train our workforce to enable automation

to take place? What is the human side of automation? We need

problem-solving and continuous improvement with a work force

that is better able to add value and to help us to meet demand.

We have broken from the model of huge mass production and

have gone to a piece-work model. We need our employees to

listen like entrepreneurs and think like engineers. The public

sector and the industrial sector need to work together to lead.

(This points into the Lobbying for Jobs Legislation that Mike

Hruby exposed the RMA to a few months ago.) We want inno-

vation to be inclusive of all, especially those whose jobs may be

replaced by automation.)

Wade has done us all a big favor by exposing us to the intense

problem-solving going on today to answer the question: How do

we bring people more jobs? He finishes his podcast with the

commentary:

"In any conceivable future, the jobs that are completely manual

are probably going away, but we could have a different future

where the workers can apply their own creativity as they guide

the machines to make cool new products."

Wade also notes a happy event related to Brenna Schneider and

99 Degrees:

"Last Fall, 99 Degrees won a competition at MIT designed to

reward companies that are finding ways to help middle-income

and low-income people benefit from high-tech innovation. The

Company took home a check for a hundred and twenty-five thou-

sand dollars, and Schneider says she's reserving some of the

prize money to fund ideas from employees."

Anniversaries in August

P AGE 7 C IGAR BOX BULLETIN

Average Years

Married—54

Member Spouse Anniv. Yrs.

Birthdays in August

Average Age--84

Member Birthday Age

Stuart Freedman Joanne Tuck 08/16/1998 19

George Ives Marney 08/12/1978 39

Jim Carlton Joan 08/06/1972 45

Paul Kudirka Marcy 08/22/1970 47

Niranjan Sheth Helen 08/08/1970 47

S. Richard Kilbourne Ellie 08/31/1969 48

Thomas Travers Jo 08/17/1969 48

Kenneth Coleman Ann 08/26/1967 50

William M. Carleton Donna 08/21/1966 51

Robert Joseph Susan 08/15/1965 52

Robert Malnati Ruthanne 08/28/1965 52

Robert Allard Luanne 08/17/1963 54

James Fraser Diana 08/03/1963 54

Stanley R. Sakowitz Rhoda 08/02/1961 56

Michael R. Daniel Janet 08/20/1960 57

Gerald Morse Merna 08/28/1960 57

Alfred V. Persson May 08/25/1957 60

Henry Dendunnen Jacqueline 08/24/1956 61

G.P. Lenentine Mary 08/18/1956 61

Norman E. Sears Dorothy 08/07/1955 62

David Raduziner Rose 08/01/1954 63

Robert A. Vannerson Alice 08/28/1954 63

Robert Mainer Marjorie 08/11/1951 66

Gail V. Drake Derena A. 08/06/1950 67

David Levington Audrey 08/20/1950 67

John Iberg 08/09/1941 76

Terrence Thoman 08/23/1939 78

Robert Diefenbacher 08/23/1937 80

Firoze Jungalwala 08/28/1936 81

Robert McKown 08/25/1936 81

Sam Merra 08/06/1935 82

Paul Neeson 08/15/1935 82

G.P. Lenentine 08/09/1933 84

Henry Dendunnen 08/22/1931 86

Arthur Phipps 08/28/1931 86

Peter Beckwith 08/05/1929 88

George H. Kiesewetter 08/12/1929 88

Bert Sellier 08/13/1929 88

James McKelvey 08/16/1928 89

V OLUME 21 ISSUE 8 P AGE 8

lin inspired us with a beautiful rendition of Panis Angelicus

by Cesar Frank (1822-1890).

Romeo Lunch –

Bob Malnati set up a discounted tasty lunch at Ber tuc-

ci’s in Wayland.

Minutes—Continued

Volunteer Opportunity

MWFMP

The MetroWest Free Medical Program offers free medical

care to those who are uninsured and underinsured in the

MetroWest communities. The program connects with vol-

unteer health care providers, educators, interpreters and

other volunteers to make these services possible at our

evening locations in Sudbury and Framingham. The volun-

teers include doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, nutrition-

ists, insurance expeditors, people to set up and those to

break down the clinic

Our mission is to serve as an entry point to the health care

system. We do that by providing quality health care ser-

vices; supporting patients with medications, health educa-

tion and help with insurance applications; making referrals

to primary care, specialists, and diagnostic services.

Who We Serve Our programs are available at no cost to anyone who needs

help connecting with a doctor and health insurance. We

serve adults and children in MetroWest and Greater Boston

communities. MWFMP volunteers provide FREE care to

about 1,500 individuals each year, assuring that all people

have access to the health care services they need.

We speak English, Portuguese & Spanish.

We need help especially in finding people to transform

105 Hudson Road, Sudbury, MA for the medical pro-

gram and in transforming the space back. Set up for the free

medical program usually takes place on Tuesdays between

4:30PM and 5:30PM. Breakdown takes place between

9:00PM and 10:30PM.

Volunteers can reach out to Doug Barth

(dbarth@simplydirect.com) for set-up

and to Janet Buchwald luckydog18@comcast.net

for breakdown.

Thank you.

MWFMP Set-up and Breakdown Crews

Thanks to our

dedicated team

of reporters!

Arresting Time—

A police officer in a small town stopped a motorist who was speeding down Main Street. 'But officer, 'the man began, 'I can explain.' 'Quiet!' snapped the officer.' I'm going to let you spend the night in jail until the chief gets back.' 'But, officer, I just wanted to say, ' 'And I said be quiet! you're going to jail!' A few hours later the officer looked in on his pris-oner and said, 'Lucky for you, the chief's at his daughter's wedding. he'll be in a good mood when

he gets back.' 'Don't count on it, 'answered the guy in the cell.' I'm the groom.'

C IGAR BOX BULLETIN P AGE 9

Retired Men’s Association

Invites you and a guest to attend

The RMA Annual Dinner- Dance

October 18, 2017

Cocktails at 5:00 PM, Dinner at 6:00 PM

Beautiful Dining Music plus Golden Oldies from 1940 - 1960's for dancing

and listening pleasure!

At the Marlborough Country Club

200 Concord Road, Marlborough, MA 01752

Cost - $50.00 a person

Payable to the

RMA, PO Box 261, Wayland, MA 01778

Payable to the RMA, PO Box 261, Wayland, MA 01778

Or give check to Larry Vifquain (landb.vifquain@comcast.net) and/or send email to reserve a table with friends.

V OLUME 21 ISSUE 8 P AGE 10

RMA Bulletin Board

Have you made your reservation for the RMA Annual Dinner yet?

The dinner may sell out before

you register!

See page 9

RMA Meeting Schedule for Remainder of 2017

September 8

th- Friday

October 13th

, Friday November 10

th, Friday

December 8th

, Friday

The 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

is coming up this December

Join the RMA Visit to the

Museum of WWII on Friday Oct 27

8 Mercer Road, Natick, MA

Meet at 10AM at the museum en-

trance. Obtain your tickets there.

Add your name and those of your guests

to the sign-up sheet

Their website is pretty comprehensive: https://

museumofworldwarii.org/

Admission:

WWII veterans Free

Adults $25

Seniors (65 and older) $20

Under 18 (with adult) $15

Help Needed to redesign

RMA Website

We are looking for help to redesign the RMA website. If they know of anyone who can help us or wish to help us themselves please contact Al Persson at 781 235 6910 or by

email popanlet@verizon.net

Volunteering for community, charitable, service, military, religious and non -profit organizations is an important activity for many Retired Men’s Association members before and during our retirement years. A sample survey of approximately 40 RMA members indicates that they volunteer at approximately 50 different organizations. On average these members serve as volunteers at typically two organizations. This truly represents “service above self”!

We would like to know what organizations each of our members serves at so that the full scope of the volunteerism efforts of the Retired Men’s Association members is known and more importantly members new and old have a RMA contact should they wish to volunteer at an organization already supported by RMA brethren. If you have not already made your volunteering activities known, please sent an email to Howard Kendall indicating the organizations that you presently volunteer at and if possible a link to these organizations’ web sites. Howard is serving as Chair of the Volunteering Committee and may be contacted at how-ard.kendall@comcast.net or 987-261-5264. Should an organization you belong to need volunteers for a specific event, please con-tact Howard and provide the details so that RMA members can be made aware of the need for volunteers.

C IGAR BOX BULLETIN P AGE 11

T here are many wondrous things in nature. Some are simply the result of adaptation to an especially harsh environment. As described in Darwin’s “survival of the fittest,” the challenge of surviving in these harsh environments can create stunning adaptations, completely unlike what one would find in a different environment.

Other traits evolved through other types of selection. Many organisms possess traits with the sole purpose of attracting a mate. While others, like the Rhodora, seem to be there for beauty alone.

In the kingdom of birds there are numerous examples of beauty. Many appear to be useful during the mat-ing season, where each bird is trying to announce “look at me” to anyone who will listen.

The Helmeted Woodpecker, and its larger cousin, the Pileated Woodpeck-er, possess bright red “crowns” that one can see from a great distance. Both of these birds are very shy, and their preferred habitat is deciduous, or mixed old growth forests at altitudes from sea level to 1000 feet. They are particularly fond of swamps. For these reasons they are rarely seen. Even devoted bird watchers rarely spot them.

They both have a distinctive flight pattern where their wings flap very lit-tle, remaining nearly fixed. They fly by undulating their entire body up and down as well as flapping their wings to propel themselves forward.

The Helmeted Woodpecker is a native of Central-Western South America. Much of their forest home has been cut down for lumber and to clear room for farms. It is estimated that only 10,000 Helmeted Woodpeckers are alive today. This is 10% of what there were 100 years ago.

The Pileated Woodpecker lives in the northern part of North America, and is one of the creatures in na-tures that have been able to adapt to the erosion of their habitat by man.

They primarily eat grubs and larvae of various insects. Their favorite food is carpenter ants. A few years back a Pileated Woodpecker pecked a hole 5 inches in diameter in a large healthy tree that divided into two branches. It had been in my yard for at least 100 years, but only two years after the woodpecker made his mark, the tree collapsed in a wind storm. The tree split down the middle, one branch went in my yard, and the other side went in my neighbor’s yard. The center of what I thought was a healthy tree was, in fact, full of carpenter ants.

I now know why the woodpecker put the hole in the tree. He was simply looking for dinner, and not cre-ating a place to put a nest.

Helmeted Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker

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Friday, September 8

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Frederick Law Olmsted & the Massachusetts Legacy

Alan S. Banks, Supervisory Park Ranger, Frederick Law Olmsted NHS

RMA Meeting: Friday, September 8, 10:00 am

The firm Frederick Law Olmsted founded over a century ago was involved in over 1,200 land-

scape architecture projects throughout Massachusetts, ranging from expansive 500-acre public

parks to intimate private gardens. One of its greatest achievements is a six-mile "emerald neck-

lace" of ponds, parks, and parkways that winds its way through Boston. This illustrated lecture

will sample this rich landscape legacy and explore the ideas that shaped some of the most treas-

ured places in Massachusetts.

Alan S. Banks oversees the historical interpretation of Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Mas-

sachusetts. During the last 25 years he has researched and developed a variety of landscape walking tours, lectures and

presentations on the Olmsteds and their work across the country. In 2013, he was an invited speaker at the Appalachian

Institute at Biltmore Estate in North Carolina and later that year he traveled to Milwaukee to speak on Olmsted-

designed, Lake Park.