Freebsd Fortunes 6: 767 of 2171 |
The Man Who Almost Invented The Vacuum Cleaner
The man officially credited with inventing the vacuum cleaner is
Hubert Cecil Booth. However, he got the idea from a man who almost
invented it.
In 1901 Booth visited a London music-hall. On the bill was an
American inventor with his wonder machine for removing dust from carpets.
The machine comprised a box about one foot square with a bag on top.
After watching the act -- which made everyone in the front six rows sneeze
-- Booth went round to the inventor's dressing room.
"It should suck not blow," said Booth, coming straight to the
point. "Suck?", exclaimed the enraged inventor. "Your machine just moves
the dust around the room," Booth informed him. "Suck? Suck? Sucking is
not possible," was the inventor's reply and he stormed out. Booth proved
that it was by the simple expedient of kneeling down, pursing his lips and
sucking the back of an armchair. "I almost choked," he said afterwards.
-- Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic Failures"
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 768 of 2171 |
The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd.
The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever
been.
-- Alan Ashley-Pitt
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 769 of 2171 |
The man who has never been flogged has never been taught.
-- Menander
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 770 of 2171 |
The man who laughs has not yet been told the terrible news.
-- Bertolt Brecht
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 771 of 2171 |
The man who raises a fist has run out of ideas.
-- H.G. Wells, "Time After Time"
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 772 of 2171 |
The man who runs may fight again.
-- Menander
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 773 of 2171 |
The man who sees, on New Year's day, Mount
Fuji, a hawk, and an eggplant is forever blessed.
-- Old Japanese proverb
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 774 of 2171 |
The man who sets out to carry a cat by its tail learns something that
will always be useful and which never will grow dim or doubtful.
-- Mark Twain
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 775 of 2171 |
The man who understands one woman is
qualified to understand pretty well everything.
-- Yeats
|
|
|
Freebsd Fortunes 6: 776 of 2171 |
The man with the best job in the country is the Vice President. All he has
to do is get up every morning and say, "How's the President?"
-- Will Rogers
The vice-presidency ain't worth a pitcher of warm spit.
-- Vice President John Nance Garner
|
|