Reasons to Keep an Open Mind to New Ideas
 
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
--Popular Mechanics, 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
 
"But what ... is it good for?"
--Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of
IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
 
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their
home."
--Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital
Equipment Corp., 1977
 
"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.
 
"You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development
across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a
fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle
development as an unalterable condition of weight training."
--Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable"
problem by inventing Nautilus.
 
"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.
 
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
--Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents,
1899.
 
"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
-- Bill Gates, 1981


SPELLING BEE CONFUSING
 
If GH   can stand for P  as in  Hiccough
If OUGH stands for    O  as in  Dough
If PHTH stands for    T  as in  Phthisis
If EIGH stands for    A  as in  Neighbour
If TTE  stands for    T  as in  Gazette
If EAU  stands for    O  as in  Plateau
The right way to spell POTATO should be: GHOUGHPHTHEIGHTTEEAU


A distraught patient phoned her doctor's office. Was it
true, the woman wanted to know, that the medication the
doctor had prescribed was for the rest of her life? She was
told that it was.
 
There was a moment of silence before the woman continued,
"I'm wondering, then, just how serious my condition is. This
prescription is marked "NO REFILLS."