Dr.-Ing. H.c. F. Porsche AG shortened to Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans; the headquarters for Porsche AG is in Stuttgart, is owned by Volkswagen AG, which itself is majority owned by Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Porsche's current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman, 911, Macan and Taycan. Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" in 1931, with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart; the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, but did not build any cars under its own name. One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, a "Volkswagen"; this resulted in one of the most successful car designs of all time. The Porsche 64 was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle. During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the military version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen, 52,000 produced, Schwimmwagen, 15,584 produced.

Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks during the war, losing out to Henschel & Son in both contracts that led to the Tiger I and the Tiger II. However, not all this work was wasted, as the chassis Porsche designed for the Tiger I was used as the base for the Elefant tank destroyer. Porsche developed the Maus super-heavy tank in the closing stages of the war, producing two prototypes. Ferdinand Porsche's biographer, Fabian Müller, wrote that Porsche had thousands of people forcibly brought to work at their factories during the war; the workers wore the letter "P" on their clothing at all times. It stood not for "Porsche," but for "Poland."At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British. Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory. On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, but not tried. During his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy.

He had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his father's release in August 1947. The first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Austria; the prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun by Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH founded by Ferry and Louise. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. After the production of 356 was taken over by the father's Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH in Stuttgart in 1950, Porsche commissioned a Zuffenhausen-based company, Reutter Karosserie, which had collaborated with the firm on Volkswagen Beetle prototypes, to produce the 356's steel body. In 1952, Porsche constructed an assembly plant across the street from Reutter Karosserie; the 356 was road certified in 1948. Porsche's company logo was based on the coat of arms of the Free People's State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital.

The arms of Stuttgart was placed in the middle as an inescutcheon, since the cars were made in Stuttgart. The heraldic symbols were combined with the texts "Porsche" and "Stuttgart", which shows that it is not a coat of arms since heraldic achievements never spell out the name of the armiger nor the armigers home town in the shield. Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern became part of the present land of Baden-Württemberg in 1952 after the political consolidation of West Germany in 1949, the old design of the arms of Württemberg now only lives on in the Porsche logo. On 30 January 1951, not long before the creation of Baden-Württemberg, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. In post-war Germany, parts were in short supply, so the 356 automobile used components from the Volkswagen Beetle, including the engine case from its internal combustion engine and several parts used in the suspension; the 356, had several evolutionary stages, A, B, C, while in production, most Volkswagen-sourced parts were replaced by Porsche-made parts.

Beginning in 1954 the 356s engines started utilizing engine cases designed for the 356. The sleek bodywork was designed by Erwin Komenda, who had designed the body of the Beetle. Porsche's signature designs have, from the beginning, featured air-cooled rear-engine configurations, rare for other car manufacturers, but producing automobiles that are well balanced. In 1964, after a fair amount of success in motor-racing with various models including the 550 Spyder, with the 356 needing a major re-design, the company launched the Porsche 911: another air-cooled, rear-engined sports car, this time with a six-cylinder "boxer" engine; the team to lay out the body shell design was led by Ferry Porsche's eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. The design phase for the 911 caused internal problems with Erwin Komenda, who led the body design department until then. F. A. Porsche complained. Company leader Ferry Porsche took his

The Fiddler's Reach Fog Signal is a fog signal station located on the Kennebec River in Arrowsic, Maine, in Sagadahoc County. It is about 1,100 feet SW of the front light of the Doubling Point Range Lights, about 2,000 feet east of Doubling Point Light; the pyramidal bell structure was built in 1914, two years after a large steamship, the Ransom B. Fuller, ran aground in the fog on this section of the river; the signal was rung to assist ships navigating the treacherous S-bend section of the river known as Fiddler Reach. It was a bell from 1914 until the late sixties and a horn until it was discontinued in 1982; the signal, while not part of the Kennebec River Light Station, was tended by its station keeper. He reached it along a footpath that included two wooden bridges. While it was a bell, it was rung by means of a clockwork counter weight system that had to be rewound every 4 hours. Bell signals were distinguished by the number of strokes and length of time between them; this signal was two strokes every twenty seconds.

The structure fell into disrepair. The original bell was removed by the Coast Guard in 1972 and is now displayed on the campus of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, it was restored by volunteer effort of the "Range Light Keepers", a self-described "group of interested local Maine citizens and visitors". A replacement bell has been kept at the Arrowsic Town Hall; until 2016 when the bell was installed on the tower's exterior bell arm The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 5, 2009 and the listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of August 14, 2009. Fort Point Light Station, a Maine lighthouse station having a pyramidal fog bell structure Perkins Island Light, four miles downriver with a pyramidal fog bell structure Tenants Harbor Light, with a square pyramidal bell reconstructed by Jamie Wyeth. National Register of Historic Places listings in Sagadahoc County, Maine restoration webpage, The Range Light Keepers, Arrowsic Island, Maine

Francesco Bilotto is a television design and entertaining expert, contributing to many media sources. Seen as a re-appearing guest on national network news morning programs as well as daytime entertainment talk shows, he has a self-titled segment "The Francesco Fix" on NBC New York. Francesco Bilotto was raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Bilotto spent his childhood living with his mother in a Cape Cod home on Lake Michigan's shoreline, where his love for design and passion for natural beauty began. Francesco has appeared on ABC The View and NBC Today Show, is a TODAY Tastemaker, He has appeared on New York Live, WNBC New York, Good Morning America ABC Television Network. Bilotto has had mentions in Closer Weekly, People magazine and other national publications. Bilotto has worked as a free-lance creative consultant to Discover Wisconsin, a program showcasing the state and its vast landscape and historical sites. In 2000, he volunteered his talents to Equality Illinois. In 2009 Bilotto moved to San Francisco, California, in pursuit of inspiration and extending his brand on a national level which brought him to his current home of New York City in 2011.

In addition to his broadcast career, Bilotto keeps a private client list including Manhattan socialites, many well known celebrities and Wall Street dwellers. Bilotto resides in New York. Official website