Education makes the man

October 21, 1833 -- Alfred Nobel (pictured) was born. He invented dynamite, and established the Nobel Prize.

"Prizes bring bad luck...They encourage hypocrisy." -- Charles Baudelaire.

October 20, 1859 -- American educator John Dewey was born.

"Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent." -- John Maynard Keynes.

October 19, 1685 -- English physician and author Sir Thomas Browne was born. He wrote:

"Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave."

Patently absurd

The first U. S. patent was issued on this day in 1790.

"Inventor, n.: A person who makes an ingenious arrangement of wheels, levers and springs, and believes it civilization." -- Ambrose Bierce.

Birthday of the Month: Henry Ford (July 12, 1863)

"I have always considered considered that the substitution of the internal-combustion machine for the horse marked a very gloomy milestone in the progress of mankind.” – Winston Churchill.

Birthday of the Month

Alexander Graham Bell, born March 3, 1847. Bell patented the telephone on March 7, 1876.

"O misery, misery, mumble and moan!
Someone invented the telephone,
And interrupted a nation's slumbers,
Ringing wrong but similar numbers."
-- Ogden Nash.

Giving Edison the needle

Thomas A. Edison was granted a patent on the phonograph on this day in 1878.

"Dear Mr. Edison: I am astonished and terrified at the results of this evening's experiment. Astonished at the wonderful form you have developed and terrified at the thought that so much hideous and bad music will be put on records forever." -- Sir Arthur Sullivan.

Our minds are very weak lightbulbs

Thomas Edison was born on this day in 1847. He said:

"We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything."

Not exactly a soaring sentiment

Today is Wright Brothers day. The first successful powered flight on the morning of December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, lasted 12 seconds and spanned approximately 120 feet.

"The conquest of the air...may turn out to be the most sinister event that ever befell us." -- John Galsworthy.