I have made 999 posts, and am at the end of being a "God Member". This makes me sad. Especially since I'm leveling up to be an "Edison Member". Wasn't Edison kind of a dick?
Yeah he was by all accounts. I was a God when the threshold was 500, got demoted in the new categories of the day 
This makes me sad
You can always terminate your user name and start a new one, then you can be God again. 
.
Well, I'm not so anti-Edison that I'd change my name just to avoid him for another year or so.
When I was growing up, I lived near Dearborn, MI, where there is a museum called Greenfield Village. Edison's Menlo Park laboratory had been moved there. My several visits encouraged my current lifestyle.
How did you make an extra post and still be at 999, have you discovered eternal life?
This is Bar Sport.
That doesn't count, literally.
Ah ok, thanks.
Nice pic, but I don't get it.
It's Edison (in red) vs Tesla (blue.) The stuff in the background are the people and icons of the time.
A bit of research reveals that the myth of the epic battle is overblown in today's culture. Tesla felt that Edison had cheated him for some lab work he performed, and refused to do business with him again. Edison (and Westinghouse) went about buying up patents, and filing cross claims in what would be called a hostile takeover today. Tesla's lack of people skills left him powerless to resist, and he grew poorer and poorer, even though it was largely the fruit of his genius that was powering the future.
It's a sad and mysterious story.
Oh, note that I have stepped over the line.
ChrisTenone:
Tesla's lack of people skills left him powerless to resist,
Alas, not at all unusual. Inventors often get shafted by businessmen. And the even sadder reality is that we probably would not be using the inventions if the businessmen had not muscled in.
(That's why I refuse to invent anything)
...R
Robin2:
Alas, not at all unusual. Inventors often get shafted by businessmen. And the even sadder reality is that we probably would not be using the inventions if the businessmen had not muscled in.(That's why I refuse to invent anything)
...R
Right? If someone else doesn't get it patented first, then the company grabs the profit. So many companies have the "all your inventions are belong to us" clause, it downright stymies invention. I have two patents with my name on them (test equipment), but my former employer gets all the cash (I think nobody else uses them except that company though.)
When I worked for Pr1me Computers (anyone remember them?) I designed a product and wanted to put it on the market. Although the product was electronics/computer related it was totally not anything to do with Pr1me's mainframes and I got a letter from the company to the effect that I was free to market the product and Pr1me had no interest in it.
ChrisTenone:
Right? If someone else doesn't get it patented first, then the company grabs the profit.
It's even more complex than that. Patents do not produce money. If you don't have the capital and business nous to produce and market the product you have to do a deal with someone who has.
I know the inventors of Google are not poor - but they are not in charge now. Bill Gates was probably an exception among exceptionals. Maybe Edison also was.
...R
Robin2:
It's even more complex than that. Patents do not produce money. If you don't have the capital and business nous to produce and market the product you have to do a deal with someone who has.I know the inventors of Google are not poor - but they are not in charge now. Bill Gates was probably an exception among exceptionals. Maybe Edison also was.
...R
Yeah. I should admit - Edison was my boyhood hero. I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. One of my possessions was a bronze bookend - a bust of Edison, with "Thomas Alva Edison" embossed under the head. It looked a lot like the Edison avatar.
I shan't allow Edison's lack of principals to affect my own gathering of fortune. Ethos differed in his days ... right?
Hi,
Graynomad:
When I worked for Pr1me Computers (anyone remember them?) I designed a product and wanted to put it on the market. Although the product was electronics/computer related it was totally not anything to do with Pr1me's mainframes and I got a letter from the company to the effect that I was free to market the product and Pr1me had no interest in it.
What happened, why aren't you another Steve or Bill or Elon or Mark?
Tom.... 
why aren't you another Steve or Bill or Elon or Mark?
Because I can't market or sell for crap.
I did get a framed "Inventor of the year" certificate and retired at 45, so I suppose it wasn't a total loss.