Stupid Statements (Part XVI)

In a 60 Minutes interview from 1996, then US ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright infamously quipped of the deaths of half a million Iraqi children to maintain US policy: “… we think the price is worth it.”

The named candidate with Canada’s Liberal Party delivered a shocking statement that is, in essence, advocating genocide against 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking at Toronto’s Beth Emeth synagogue, hockey hall-of-fame goalie, former federal cabinet minister, and current member of the Canadian parliament for the Ontario riding of York Centre, Ken Dryden sounded like an arch-Zionist when he said; "Stop all aid that flows into Gaza. While that may seem a harsh measure that will hurt Palestinian civilians… it is the right thing to do at this time." It’s amazing what politicians will say to garner votes.

Archbishop Thomas Collins told reporters in a courtyard of St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto on March 30, 2010, “Of all the people to become the target of attacks in this, the Pope ... good grief.” He made that statement knowing that Pope Benedict XVI played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests. He was also aware that when the pope headed the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican, he issued a secret edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety. The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it and to keep victims quiet. Further, his edict threatened that if the victims repeat the allegations, they would be excommunicated. Cardinal Collins also said to the reporters about the pope, “When he sees evil, he deals with it.” He certainly dealt with it. He covered it up for years.

Igor Kenk of Toronto Ontario was convicted of stealing thousands of bicycles and storing them in various places around Toronto. As many as 3,000 were seized from his stash of bikes. He had been paying people to steal the bikes for him. Later, he would sell the bikes to people who had no idea that the bikes were stolen property. He was convicted and sent to jail. After his release, he learned that although nine hundred of the bike’s owners were able to recover their bikes after the police found them in Kenk’s possession, a great many more were never claimed. For this reason, they were being given away, and in many instances, in parts alone so that the bikes can be rebuilt. Kent was upset upon learning this after his release from jail and made the following statements. “They’re my bikes. I think of them as my puppies. Every bicycle I owned was purchased and documented. I would love to buy some of my property back.” Just because this twerp paid people to steal the bikes for him, doesn’t mean that the bikes were his.

Mohammed al Modadi was a minor diplomat at the Qatar embassy in Washington, D.C. and was flying on a United Airlines flight enroute from Washington to Denver Colorado in April 2010. While in the air, he decided to have a smoke in one of the plane’s lavatories. Now just everyone knows that is a very big no no. As soon as this dummy exited the lavatory, an air marshal on board was waiting for him. Now instead of telling the marshal that he was smoking his pipe, he instead chose to say as a joke, “I was trying to light my shoes.” He was immediately pounced on. Richard Reid, an American member of al-Qaeda got onto a plane in December 2001 with explosive material in his shoes and while in flight, he tried to set off the explosives. He is serving life in prison with no hope of parole and spends his time in solitary confinement. When the captain of the Washington-Denver flight was informed of what Modadi had said, he contacted the authorities and two fighter jets accompanied the airliner to the nearest armed forces base. The minor diplomat was arrested and subsequently kicked out of the United States. I have no idea what his future is going to be in Qatar.

Computers came upon us quite quickly but there was a time when very few people really understood the potential of computerization. And some of these people should have known what the potential was but instead made really stupid statements about computers. Here are some of them.

"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 the fuck 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

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, 1981

Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs attempted to get Atari and Hewlett-Packard interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer that they had designed. So they went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary. We'll come work for you.' Atari replied, 'No.' They then went to Hewlett-Packard, and they replied, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'

Back in the early 1960s, I experimented with quadraphonic sound. I approached a stereo manufacturer with my concept and the official (without listening to the effects) said to me. “When you listen to a symphony orchestra, you sit in front of it. You are proposing that our listeners sit in the middle of it. We’re not interested.” Three years later, another manufacture began building quadraphonic sets.

Around that same time, typewriter ribbons were being sold with two colors on each ribbon; black and red. I went to a typewriter manufacturing firm and proposed that the colors on the ribbons be black and white. I said that if anyone makes a typo, they can go back to it and type the white over it and then re-type the back letter in its place. An official in the firm said to me, “Sounds pretty stupid to me.” Several years later, another firm created two ribbons, one black and the other white and synchronized them so that the corrections could be made without changing the ribbons.

Now what follows are some really stupid remarks.

"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.)

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

"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. because he though the movie would be a flop. .

"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 which then made millions in sales.

"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.

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.