All To The Good

Bite your tongue! Bite it!

Some of the smartest people to ever live have said some of the dumbest things. Here's some quotes that were inevitably gonna make their originators put their foot in their mouth:

1. "Everything that can be invented has been invented."
        ~ Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.
   
   
2. "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
        ~ Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
   
   
3. "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
        ~ Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
   
   
   
   
4. "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
        ~ The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
   
   
5. "But what ... is it good for?"
        ~ Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
   
   
6. "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
        ~ Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
   
   
7. "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
        ~ Western Union internal memo, 1876.
   
   
8. "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
        ~ David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
   
   
9. "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."
        ~ A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
   
   
10. "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
         ~ H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
    
    
11. "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
         ~ Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."
    
    
12. "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make."
         ~ Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
    
    
13. "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
         ~ Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
    
    
14. "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
         ~ Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
    
    
15. "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
         ~ Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
    
    
16. "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
         ~ Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
    
    
17. "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
         ~ Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.
    
    
18. "640K ought to be enough for anybody."
         ~ Bill Gates, 1981
    
    
19. "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy."
         ~ Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
    

Labels: fun

This site now has a new location: AllToTheGood.com.

You can find this article here (Part 1: Series Introduction), and here (Part 2: Showdown Of Cards).

Labels: poker

There are many reasons I chose to start this blog. Here's some of the reasons why you might like to read / subscribe:

• Shared Documents / Articles
  

       Whether it be articles I've written, a document that I commonly want to share with people, or articles I've found interesting... there'll be a link to it.




• Personal Media
  

       There will be sections dedicated to personal media I'd like to share, such as: pictures of family & friends, music I've listened to recently, videos I've found entertaining, and more. I find it pretty cool that I can also provide avenues to services, such as: the ability to order prints of my shared pictures; buy products that I have for sale (before you go spending more money on it elsewhere); view items that I'd love to get as a gift (my dad will appreciate this... he always wants a christmas list). I like the idea of being able to share a bit of my life with friends & family, and strengthening existing relationships through that.




• "Refinement Through Collaboration"
  

       By this, I mean that I'd like to get a bunch of people participating in the comments of articles so that a good consensus can be made on a particular topic. The article(s) will be continually updated to reflect the consensus, so that the best information can be put forth. This is the aim for a lot of my articles, including this one. Any article tagged with the label "best of web" will have this goal.




• "Top 10" Lists
  

       Everyone who knows me knows that I love lists. Now I'm aiming to gather the "best of" things together in lists, like "Essential iPod Accessories". This will hopefully providing a link to things you may never have known were "top 10" before. More Top 10 lists to come: best purchases ever made, books, places to shop, software, quotes, worst purchases ever made, magazines, podcasts, tv shows, etc. If it's "Top 10", it's probably worth checking out.




• Supplemental Income Through Advertising Revenue
  

       If you haven't heard about Google AdSense, it boils down to this: Google gets paid by advertisers to place their ads on sites with related content. For instance, say 'Joe' owns a tire company, and wants to advertise. Google will take his advertisement & place it on articles about tires (such as a hot rod magazine might write). They don't always get it right, however- when I wrote the article "Top 10 Movies Made For Men", I didn't expect to have gay ads displayed. Haha. Google gets paid by the advertisers when someone clicks the ad, and Google kicks back some of that amount to the people who allow advertisements to be displayed on their sites. Try it out on your own site! (google adsense button on the bottom right of this page)

Labels: blog