A Fifty-Cent Toy That Changed The World

How I miss Paul Harvey!
I used to listen as far back as a young lad in art class after school in the early 70s. And then as a teenager in the the late 70s in the same class in high school.

The teacher was a very well known artist and CSJ/SSJ nun.

She loved Paul Harvey and always had the radio on .
Kinda rubbed off on me.

You know, 50 cents back in 1878 was a lot of money!

I'm glad you decided you were a teenager rather than a young lady! I was a bit worried.

Well...it's a nice story but methinks a bit sanitized. First, the Wright Bros were not overly successful in their earlier lives...they were BICYCLE MECHANICS. Honest work, surely; and needed work, with the "safety bicycle" the then-new mode of affordable personal transport (replacing the dangerous, awkward Penny-Farthing bicycle). But, not overly creative work.

While the Wrights were dabbling in gliders and (to their credit) building a homemade wind tunnel to test wing lift, Samuel Langley and others in Europe were playing with the same ideas. IIRC, the Wrights, like Thomas Edison with his incandescent light...all of them had long legal fights over patent rights. Whether they were the first or not, they had plenty of competition...others with the same ideas.

Nor were the Wrights able to prosper on their new ideas, long. IIRC, one of the brothers died on a train trip...in his sleep; the other was distraught and retreated into a hermit's existence. The Wright company was sold to competitors...trying to remember the name of it; but the Wrights were a brief flame in early aviation history.

Curtis bought wright

Curtiss.

Double S.

I see, my information is wrong.

Wilbur died of food poisoning. While in Boston...got home, slow death.

He was great in many areas, but he got suckered on a couple of occasion
Louise Ciccone and Natalie Hershlag both come to mind. Ms Ciccone (Madonna) won some award shortly after a clip about her as did Ms. Heshlag (Natalie Portman) in Black Swan.
Madonna while talented, always catered to the LCD. Portman only in Leon the Professional