Wow this is interesting expert predicting the future. And these were the best in their fields at the time boy were they way wrong.
Expert Predictions
"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." --Admiral William Leahy, U.S. Atomic Bomb Project
"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." --Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." --Popular Mechanics magazine, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." --Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
"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
"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." --Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television"
"But what ... is it good for?" --Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip
"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
"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
"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.)
"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
"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.
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." --Decca Recording Co., rejecting the Beatles, 1962
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." --Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895
"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this," --Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads
"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
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." --Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." --Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." --Charles H. Duell, Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, 1899
"The supercomputer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." --Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University
"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself." --the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." --Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
"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
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." --Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Court ruling on Marine dad is shameful
Are you fucking kidding me? What in the hell is wrong with this country? More bullshit from dumb ass protesters.
Editor's note: John Ellsworth's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth, died in November, 2004, as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. John Ellsworth is a command sergeant in the Wolverine Lake Police Department in Michigan. His lawsuit with Yahoo! to recover his son's wartime e-mails made headlines in January and February of 2005. He is one of the founding members and chairman of Families United, a nonprofit organization that honors the fallen in war and supports their families.
(CNN) -- The recent ruling of a federal appeals court requiring the family of fallen hero Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder to pay the legal expenses of Fred Phelps and his misguided followers at Westboro Baptist Church is unconscionable.
Like Matthew's father, Albert, I am all too familiar with the hardships associated with losing a son in combat, having lost my son Justin in 2004. It is a tragedy that the thanks given the Snyder family in return for the life of their son is a court order to repay the legal expenses of the hate group that protested at his funeral with signs such as "thank God for dead soldiers."
Beyond simply insulting though, this decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is a slap in the face for every Gold Star family that has lost a loved one in combat. It also represents an egregious misuse of the judicial system; one that sets a dangerous precedent for how the memory of our fallen heroes will be treated. The Supreme Court should immediately move forward with this case and stand up for those who have stood in the face of danger for all Americans.
The legal maneuvers that brought Albert Snyder and his family to this point are enough to make any American shake his or her head in disgust. After Snyder lost his life in 2006, Fred Phelps and his followers showed up at his funeral to spread their message of hate.
Mind you, they didn't know Matthew, and thus had no understanding of the enormous sense of loss his family was feeling; they simply decided that the Snyder family's vulnerability presented an easy platform for their own agenda.
To his credit, Albert Snyder sued the group and won an $11 million judgment against them. However, that award was reduced to $5 million on one appeal and overturned altogether this week by the appeals court.
In fact, not only did the court overturn the original ruling, but it decided to add to the pain and suffering of the Snyder family by imposing more than $16,000 of court fees. Perhaps the judges had forgotten that without the sacrifices of brave soldiers and their families, the American judicial system would have been a long-distant memory.
Beyond the inherent injustice of the court's decision is the message it sends to the thousands of families around the country that have received a tightly wrapped flag and heard the words, "On behalf of a grateful nation ..."
When the Snyder family sued to protect the common decency we should provide to all grieving families, their efforts were met with court orders to pay the legal bills of those who caused their family so much needless pain.
Surely, this is not the kind of thing that Lance Cpl. Snyder or my son, Justin, gave their lives to protect. Has our nation learned nothing from our treatment of returning Vietnam veterans? What would have been the reaction to Fred Phelps and his repugnant actions during World War II? Our veterans and the families of those who didn't return deserve better than this.
Looking ahead, as engagements in Afghanistan draw on and our soldiers answer the call to defend freedom around the world, this case could have a dangerous effect on morale and willingness to serve.
It is time for the Supreme Court to take up this case, not only for families like Albert Snyder but for the families who will bear the ultimate price of freedom in the future. The justices should strike down the ruling of the Virginia court that brushed aside the sacrifice of Lance Cpl. Snyder and restore common sense and basic decency to the way we honor our fallen heroes.
Snyder fought on behalf of all of us, and now his father fights on his behalf. I can only hope that the Supreme Court will restore some measure of justice and dignity to a family so richly deserving of the best the United State has to offer.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Ellsworth.
Editor's note: John Ellsworth's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth, died in November, 2004, as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. John Ellsworth is a command sergeant in the Wolverine Lake Police Department in Michigan. His lawsuit with Yahoo! to recover his son's wartime e-mails made headlines in January and February of 2005. He is one of the founding members and chairman of Families United, a nonprofit organization that honors the fallen in war and supports their families.
(CNN) -- The recent ruling of a federal appeals court requiring the family of fallen hero Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder to pay the legal expenses of Fred Phelps and his misguided followers at Westboro Baptist Church is unconscionable.
Like Matthew's father, Albert, I am all too familiar with the hardships associated with losing a son in combat, having lost my son Justin in 2004. It is a tragedy that the thanks given the Snyder family in return for the life of their son is a court order to repay the legal expenses of the hate group that protested at his funeral with signs such as "thank God for dead soldiers."
Beyond simply insulting though, this decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is a slap in the face for every Gold Star family that has lost a loved one in combat. It also represents an egregious misuse of the judicial system; one that sets a dangerous precedent for how the memory of our fallen heroes will be treated. The Supreme Court should immediately move forward with this case and stand up for those who have stood in the face of danger for all Americans.
The legal maneuvers that brought Albert Snyder and his family to this point are enough to make any American shake his or her head in disgust. After Snyder lost his life in 2006, Fred Phelps and his followers showed up at his funeral to spread their message of hate.
Mind you, they didn't know Matthew, and thus had no understanding of the enormous sense of loss his family was feeling; they simply decided that the Snyder family's vulnerability presented an easy platform for their own agenda.
To his credit, Albert Snyder sued the group and won an $11 million judgment against them. However, that award was reduced to $5 million on one appeal and overturned altogether this week by the appeals court.
In fact, not only did the court overturn the original ruling, but it decided to add to the pain and suffering of the Snyder family by imposing more than $16,000 of court fees. Perhaps the judges had forgotten that without the sacrifices of brave soldiers and their families, the American judicial system would have been a long-distant memory.
Beyond the inherent injustice of the court's decision is the message it sends to the thousands of families around the country that have received a tightly wrapped flag and heard the words, "On behalf of a grateful nation ..."
When the Snyder family sued to protect the common decency we should provide to all grieving families, their efforts were met with court orders to pay the legal bills of those who caused their family so much needless pain.
Surely, this is not the kind of thing that Lance Cpl. Snyder or my son, Justin, gave their lives to protect. Has our nation learned nothing from our treatment of returning Vietnam veterans? What would have been the reaction to Fred Phelps and his repugnant actions during World War II? Our veterans and the families of those who didn't return deserve better than this.
Looking ahead, as engagements in Afghanistan draw on and our soldiers answer the call to defend freedom around the world, this case could have a dangerous effect on morale and willingness to serve.
It is time for the Supreme Court to take up this case, not only for families like Albert Snyder but for the families who will bear the ultimate price of freedom in the future. The justices should strike down the ruling of the Virginia court that brushed aside the sacrifice of Lance Cpl. Snyder and restore common sense and basic decency to the way we honor our fallen heroes.
Snyder fought on behalf of all of us, and now his father fights on his behalf. I can only hope that the Supreme Court will restore some measure of justice and dignity to a family so richly deserving of the best the United State has to offer.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Ellsworth.
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