Text 17228, 144 rader
Skriven 2005-11-29 23:27:00 av FRANK SCHEIDT (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JOE DELAHAYE
Ärende: Copyright
=================
-=> Quoting Joe Delahaye to Frank Scheidt <=-
    
 >  JD> The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, who was not an
 >  JD> American.  He was a Canadian who lived in Brantford Ontario, where the
 >  JD> telephone was originally conceived.  That it achieved fruitation in
 >  JD> the US is incidental.
 >
 > Alexander Graham Bell is so closely *associated* with America he
 > might as well have been one.  Oddly enough, I've *been* in
 > Brantford -- didn't use a telephone there, though ...

 JD> He is???  News to many Canadians.  He is also the father of Canadian
 JD> Aviation.  The fact remains, he was NOT an American.

Brantford is so close to the U.S. that it can be thought of as an 
American suburb ...
 
 >  >  WD> electricity,
 >  >
 >  > Huh? Europeans invented *electricity*?  Hmmmmmm, all the while I
 >  > thought that was a natural phenomenon, with the most dramatic
 >  > example being lightning.  Did Europeans invent storm clouds?
 >
 >  JD> Pehaps you might consider 'electricity' in its present form, as such
 >  JD> an invention.
 >
 > Huh?  "Modern" electricity is different than, say, electricity in
 > the past century?  Please explain.

 JD> Indeed.  There is AC and DC.  Edison was in favour of DC and was
 JD> rather angry at losing that argument.  

He lost that argument to George Westinghouse, an *American*

 JD> AC is something that was invented by a European

Westinghouse, Steinmetz and Tesla are the men most closely 
associated with the discovery and development of AC.  Steinmetz 
and Tesla were both Europeans while Westinghouse was an American.  
No one "invented" AC, they *discovered* it, just as Benjamin 
Franklin *discovered* some aspects of electricity.  Thomas 
Edison, OTOH, *invented* the incandescent light bulb.

Incidentally, during WWII, I went through an airplane mechanics' 
school with a man who was an electrician in civilian life.  One 
day when we were studying electrical units I referred to him as 
"Steinmetz".  He was insulted ... obviously he had no idea as 
to who Steinmetz was ... heh heh heh ...

 >  JD> Also, consider that the Niagara Falls project was
 >  JD> originally conceived by a European, and if I remember correctly,
 >  JD> engineered by him.
 >
 > But Niagara Falls are in the U.S.  Surely there are waterfalls in
 > Europe which could power turbines ... aren't there?

 JD> Actually, Niagara Falls are also in Canada, and the best section of
 JD> the Falls is Canadian (Horseshoe Falls).  Even the Amercian Falls are
 JD> best viewed from the Canadian side, and all the lighting is done from
 JD> the Canadian side.

You are certainly right *there*.  I've seen the falls from both 
sides and the Canadian view is far better -- especially with the 
lights at night ... 
 
 >  >  WD> the relativity theory,
 >  >
 >  > Oh yes, and Europeans, in effect, drove Albert Einstein *out* of
 >  > Europe!!  They must have been mighty proud of that "invention"
 >  > ... heh heh heh ...
 >
 >  JD> No, Einstein correctly saw what was going on in his native Germany,
 >  JD> and decided discretion was the better part of valour.
 >
 > That's what is meant by "in effect", above ... [sigh] ...

 JD> But, although they may have been Europeans, it was the repressive NAZI
 JD> regime which drove Einstein out of Europe.
 
I think *all* members of the Nazi Party were *Europeans* ...

 >  > We *are* grateful that Europeans also prosecuted the nuclear
 >  > physicists whom we welcomed here in the land of *freedom*!
 >  >
 >  >  WD> radiation therapy, the Nobel Prizes,
 >  >
 >  > That was as a result of Alfred Nobel's guilty conscience for
 >  > "inventing" war-time explosives.
 >
 >  JD> Actually, like many other scientists who invented things for the
 >  JD> common good, he was aghast with what the military had done with his
 >  JD> invention.  So, yes, you are partially correct.
 >
 > Almost *entirely* correct in this context.

 JD> No, because he did NOT invent it for military reasons.

He invented it so it could be handled *safely*.  Prior to then 
military men found handling nitro-glycerine -- a *powerful* 
explosive -- too unstable to handle in military situations.  
Nobel showed them how to use it by absorbing it on clay.  His 
conscience bothered him so much he started giving cash prizes 
dubbed "Nobel Prizes" thus using up some of his ill-gotten gains. 
 
 >  >  WD> ...
 >  > You do that!  Americans have invented a disproportionately large
 >  > number of *important* modern inventions which I'll not bother
 >  > listing since I'm sure you know about them already.
 >
 >  JD> And most of those 'Americans' were European immigrants.
 >
 > Does that prevent them from being *Americans*????  Are you going
 > limit "true" American inventions to those dreamed up by
 > *Indians*??

 JD> Unless they hold Amercian citizenship, they are not Americans, but
 JD> only Landed Immigrants.  and Yes, a true American inventions would be
 JD> dreamed up by the Indians (or rather Native People), and the same
 JD> would hold true in my country.
 
Actually many if not *most* inventors here *are* natives, "Native 
People" if you prefer.  Indians constitute about 1% of us 
natives.

 >  JD> And,
 >  JD> sometimes inventions were made in both sides of the water, at about
 >  JD> the same time.  A lot of times, as well, things on the wrong side of
 >  JD> the water were ignored by the American side of the water, as being
 >  JD> insignificant, and of course the local boys should have the credit, to
 >  JD> hell with the rest of the riff raff.  Sounds like the Soviet Union in
 >  JD> days gone by, claiming to have invented everything.
 >
 > Hardly.  In fact I was think that very thing about the European
 > tendency to making such wild claims about inventions -- reminds
 > one of the old Soviet Union where everything on earth was
 > invented ... heh heh heh ...

 JD> Read again what I wrote up above regards the Soviet Union.  The
 JD> Americans were subject to the same boasting.

We don't boast.  In fact there's a song about American in which 
one line is, "where there's never a boast or brag" ...
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