A Daily Blog (est. 10/2012) dedicated to quality writing, original content and a healthy dose of entertainment from "A Vagabond in God's Big Pond" Don't forget Wild Card Saturdays AND PUNS FOR INTELLIGENT PEOPLE will tickle your fancy. +++Plus +++ read my book Read about The Space Family McKinney at your own pace = THE RETURN TRIP concluding Mid-winter 2021 and The NULL Solution to follow in 2021. Episode Catalogs for all books in the "links" section: Constance Caraway ~ Forever Mastadon and Alpha Omega M.D. ***** If you have not viewed this blog on a PC, Laptop or Tablet, you don't know what you're missing.
… “Damn right, Carolyn! Well actually, I did not know that, but when it came to the rights to Cinderella and of Peter Pan… $500,000 drunken dollars, probably parked next to their whiskey barrel.”…
Walt Disney holds out his silver cigarette case, as a deal-sealing gesture would look.
“I don’t smoke, thank you.” Carolyn pauses thoughtfully, continuing, “Don’t you think that all the smoke you inhale may have long term health effects?”
“These?” he closes the case, “Clark Gable has been smoking since he was 15 and he isn’t slowing down. 60 damn movies and he lights it up in most of them. Beside that, my doctors say I’m as healthy as Prince Charming.”
“Ah, a Cinderella reference,” she comments, then adding a historical tidbit, “Did you know that Sir James Matthew Barrie has relatives in Tallahassee?”
“Damn right, Carolyn! Well actually, I did not know that, but he, or rather, his family was a sticky wicket when it came to the rights to Cinderella. And of Peter Pan… $500,000 drunken dollars, probably parked next to their whiskey barrel.” His bitterness boiled to the surface, but settles down, “By all accounts, Barrie himself was a literary genius. Too bad we weren’t contemporaries.”
Lyn Ford nods, easily empathizing with collaboration and will abandon the smoking issue for the sake of consolation. But she does not jump up and down.
“I am Walt Disney, Carolyn!” No ego here! “Am I chopped liver in your world?”
“Not exactly, Walt, more like steak tartar.” She has not made up her mind.
“Oh yes, with a thick slice of Vidalia onion on top. But you seem to be dodging my proposal.” He is used to getting is way. As he will gladly tell you, ‘I am Walt “the man” Disney!’
Lyn comes up with a solution. “How about we make a hand shake agreement to start an open-ended project? No hurry, no deadlines. You are in the full flower of your creative bloom.”
Another massive cloud of smoke rises into the California air~~~~~~
…Call me Walt, call me Disney, call me Dizzy, and just don’t call me late for breakfast…
“Why thank you for your kind words, Mr. Disney, but I’m just a backward Southern girl.” A pretentiously shy Carolyn Hanes-Ford senses some form of amorous advance by THE Walt Disney. He has been gushing effusively about Lyn’s work on the movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still and further claims to have read nearly everything Lyn has penned. Had he not been able to name titles and themes, this chain smoking Hollywood playboy would be a prime candidate for a casting couch expert; ‘I could send your career through the stratosphere, baby.’ Perhaps she was mistaking schmoozing for seduction.
“Backward? Mrs. Ford… please! My people tell me that you are one of the leading experts on unidentified flying objects. That is why I invited you and… Your friend… where is the dashing Mr. Ford?”
“I believe you could find him at your TWA Rocket to the Moon exhibit inTomorrowland. Knowing him like I do, he is trying to fly that thing.”
“It is not interactive,” injects the amused animator.
“That makes no difference to him.”
“Well okay,” he concedes. “Disneyland is all his… may I call you Carolyn?”
“Please do, Walt.” Familiarity abounds.
“Call me Walt, call me Disney, call me Dizzy, and just don’t call me late for breakfast.”
Lyn would not be calling him for breakfast anytime soon, but that last long draw on his Pall Mall cigarette had that ‘Thank you for a great night, sweetie’ feel to it.
“Getting back to my original reason for inviting you here… I’m talking about my memoirs and you writing them. You seem to be just the person to tell my story; the perfect combinations of grounded core values and wonderfully open imagination.”
Alpha Omega M.D.
Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Partners by Jennifer Hickey
Disney is known for being one of the most family-friendly companies you could imagine, and spends an incredible amount of money to maintain that illusion and appear as one of the most squeaky clean companies in the world. Disney is the company that bought Star Wars, and immediately banned the appearance of smoking in films – villain or otherwise – because of the children.
However, while today Disney tries their hardest to be the most non-offensive thing possible, this wasn’t always the case. In the past, Disney hasn’t always been entirely family-friendly, and their past is checkered with racism and other abuses. Disney himself may not have necessarily been a racist or a misogynist, but he was certainly not progressive for his time, and his attitudes were reflected in the culture of his company and the products they produced.
10. Walt Disney’s Song of the South Was Not Just a Product of It’s Time
If you haven’t heard of it before, Song of the South is a Disney movie made back in the 1940s that has caused such controversy that Disney has kept it in the vault for decades now and has no intention of ever allowing it to see the light of day again. The movie has caused trouble since it was first released because of its depiction of African American characters. The movie is set on a plantation in the south, and it seems that it is post Civil War, but it’s very ambiguous. There are still a lot of black people working on the plantation, and while they are not called slaves, they have very subservient attitudes and speak in a way that seems designed to make them look less intelligent – not only that, but they seem very happy about their lot, which is working for white people.
Disney only really likes to release movies from the vault when they can celebrate it, and show off an image of squeaky cleanness. Song of the South not only doesn’t allow that, but it creates unnecessary controversy and potentially lost customers and image. Of course, there will always be people who defend the actions of Walt Disney to make this movie back in the day, and say that he was just a product of his time. However, those who knew Walt at the time understood that he knew full well all the possible controversies he could create, but he wanted to go ahead and make it anyway. Some accounts even say Walt actually downplayed the racial stereotypes some from what he originally planned because he didn’t think it would go over well. This doesn’t necessarily paint him as racist, but it does show he cared more about telling a story than any kind of racial sensitivity.
9. Disney Underpaid His Employees, Causing Them to Go On Strike and Changing Animation Forever
In the early days of the Disney company, things were not really very well organized, and Walt was just trying to get as many good ideas as possible, and move things forward at a brisk pace. He had hired on a lot of animators to do creative work, and the company expanded faster than he really knew how to deal with. This led to a very serious issue where Walt’s disorganization and greed really got him in trouble. He underpaid most of his animators to begin with, and then would give raises in very arbitrary ways. People would randomly be given more pay with little reason or explanation, and no one really knew what you exactly had to do to earn more. After dealing with this for a bit, the animators started to get tired of having their creative talents abused, and went on strike.
Walt was not really interested in negotiating with them, and instead tried to beat it out and fight them on it. The animators formed a guild to protect themselves, and after several weeks of intense picketing and the like, Walt was forced by a lot of outside pressure to give in and pay people fairly. However, laws for dealing with employer retaliation were not very good back then, and Walt held a very serious grudge. He was pretty awful to be around if you had been part of the strike, and before long he was firing people when possible, and many just departed on their own. This actually led many to create their own studios, and many other talented artists to go into comics. The Looney Tunes and many comics and other animation were designed by animators who left Disney, and likely would have never had their designs properly see the light of day under Walt’s leadership. In the end, his hardline stance against fair pay actually indirectly helped change the world of animation for the better.
8. The Yippie Invasion of Disneyland in the 1970s Caused the Disney Company to Overreact
In August of 1970, a group of radical hippies known as yippies had a plan to invade Disneyland on the 6th of the month. They passed out hundreds of thousands of flyers and the rumors started flying around that 200,000 of the counterculture youth intended to invade the park. Disneyland reacted to this by asking the local police to show up, and they arrived that day in full riot gear expecting a huge crowd. Instead, only a couple hundred of the yippies actually showed up, but they still caused quite a bit of a problem.
At first they were just doing silly things like smoking marijuana while climbing on things, but they started to get restless and get into fights with some of the park guests. As the day wore on, they “took over” Tom Sawyer Island, by standing on Castle Rock and doing drugs. Near the end of the day they disrupted the Disney marching band, and raised a gigantic flag with a pot leaf on it next to the American flag. This caused things to spiral quickly out of control between the yippies and regular guests, causing Disney management to be so upset with the situation that they shut the park down early for the first in their history. As an overreaction to the entire situation, Disney instated a dress code for men that they kept for years – if you had long hair or otherwise looked like a hippie, you would be barred from entering the theme park. Disney may be the first major company to ever actually ban all hippies from their property.
7. The Original Pirates of the Caribbean Ride Had Real Human Skeletons
Pirates of the Caribbean is a successful movie franchise that has now long overstayed its welcome; however, it was all based on the popular ride at Disneyland that was originally designed back in the 1960s. Walt Disney was very pleased with the ride itself and loved what they had done with it. However, some of the designers were disappointed that despite how realistic the rest of the ride looked, the skeletons just didn’t look real enough to them. In order to solve this problem, they contacted the UCLA medical center and managed to get their hands on some real human skeletonsto decorate the ride.
As time has passed, the ride has been regularly renovated and Disney claims all human remains have been removed and given proper burials in their country of origin. The technology for fake skeletons is good enough now that they can make them as realistic as the real thing, so it really isn’t necessary or in good taste to have real human remains lying around anymore. However, some people are not convinced. People have gone through the ride looking at the skeletons in an attempt to armchair sleuth which ones might still be real, and some employees claim they are certain some of them are. If there are any real bones still lying around the ride, we may never really know the truth for sure.
6. In the Early Days, Walt Disney Didn’t Allow Women to Do Full Animating Work for the Company
A letter that has been passed around the internet shows a rejection in Snow White stationary, answering a young woman who had applied to Disney in the hopes of working in their creative department. This letter has been verified as the real deal, and shows just how behind the times Disney was, even for the era in which it was written. The form letter states that women are not allowed to do any of the creative work at Disney, and that all of that is done by “young men.” The letter further goes on to explain that women can work at Disney, but only doing inking and tracing.
As if to add insult to injury, the form letter explains that a young woman who wishes to apply for inking or tracing should bring samples of their work to show, but actually discourages her from applying, stating that so many women apply for the inking and tracing positions that she likely would not be selected anyway. While some would say this was only a product of the times, it’s really hard to defend this at any time. Even back then, while women may not have gotten the fair pay or respect they deserved, most people were well aware that women could do creative things just as well as men could.
5. Disney Would Like You to Forget About the Wizard of Bras
Disney loves being known for their squeaky clean image, so they really don’t want you to know about some of the things they tried in Disneyland in their early days. They would especially love it if you didn’t remember that they once had a shop in Disneyland that sold bras and corsets. Not only that, but it had 3D exhibits that showed women off in a way that was scantily clad for the time, and gave people a general history on undergarments. It also had a section of the shop called a corseteria where you bought all of the undergarments.
And in the middle of all this chaos was an animatronic sorcerer dubbed “the Wizard of Bras.” It should probably be no surprise that Disney did not keep this abomination around long and it was gone in about six months. However, it was not the only time Disney allowed an attempt at a sexy lingerie store on the Disneyland grounds. In the 1990s they allowed a store called “Jessica’s” to set up shop. This was a store dedicated to selling Jessica Rabbit-themed merchandise, especially underwear and night wear – it also folded after a short time, lasting just three years. Since then, Disneyland has not attempted any more sexy lingerie stores on the park grounds.
4. Disney Doesn’t Want You to Know How Long They’ve Been Covering Up the Alligator Problem
Last year there was a huge controversy after a 2-year-old boy died at Disney World following an alligator attack. Disney came under fire for not warning people properly of the alligators, and people cried out that Disney should have put up warning signs at the very least, since they had some idea that alligators could potentially make it to certain spots in the park. Disney caved and put up warning signs, and most people have forgotten about it. However, the truth is that Disney wouldn’t do the bare minimum to warn people because they didn’t want to break their illusion, when they know the problem is much worse than most people realize.
As of last year, Disney had removed 240 nuisance alligators – alligators four feet or longer with the potential to cause harm – from their Disney World resort properties. This is an average of 24 alligators per year, or two per month, and that’s just the ones they actually catch. Florida is basically a swamp and with so many waterways, it’s very easy for them to find their way into Disney World. If Disney were being responsible, they should have warned people much sooner of the dangers, and maybe even put up stronger fencing in certain areas. Unfortunately, their commitment to maintaining the sense of illusion for their customers sometimes overwhelms their common sense.
3. Walt Disney’s Involvement with the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals
In the late 1930s the fear of communism was starting to take hold in the average American, and the House Committee on Un-American Activities had been formed. This committee existed to check into the backgrounds of Americans suspected of having communist ties or sympathies, and has been denounced in history as a witch hunt that was often racist in nature when selecting what people to go after. It was in this political environment that in the mid 1940s, a bunch of famous movie stars and filmmakers, including Walt Disney, got together to make their own group called the Motion Picture Alliance For The Preservation Of American Ideals.
The group was basically the film guild version of the House Committee On Un-American Activities, and before long people from the film industry were, indeed, being inspected by the house committee. This led to a backlash where a counter group of others in the film industry created their own guild called the Council Of Hollywood Guilds And Unions to protect themselves against the attacks from the Motion Picture Alliance, often called the MPA for short. The new guild accused the MPA of being racist and just looking to inflame tensions and cause trouble – an accusation that has stuck in most people’s minds to this day. It is hard to say whether Walt was really being racist here or if he was genuinely concerned about communism and overreacted, as many did at the time. However, he was deeply involved in the group, as he was their vice president when they formed.
2. Disneyland in Paris has had a Recent History of Mistreating and Underpaying Its Employees
Disneyland Paris is supposed to be the happiest place in Europe, as the Disney vision goes, and for many tourists it is indeed a very fun attraction. It’s known so well for fulfilling that promise to guests that it is the single most popular tourist attraction in Europe, despite all the rich history that is available to see on the continent. However, while it is great for the tourists, the employee experience is anything but, and over time that will degrade the guest experience as well. Back in 2010 the Independent did a piece on Disneyland Paris, and found some very alarming issues.
Two employees had recently committed suicide, and one of them killed himself in a rather disturbing way. He had been sick and missed work as a cook at Disney and was supposed to go back. Before killing himself, he scrawled on the wall in French “I don’t want to work for Mickey anymore.” The parent company, Euro Disney, has been criticized for huge staff and budget cuts, while continuing to take in an even bigger influx of guests. And to make matters worse, the staff members who are expected to do more with less every year have essentially no opportunities for advancement. Not only that, but most people are being paid only barely above minimum wage, and are expected to work six days a week and very long hours. For many who work for Disney, the fun is being part of the Disney family. However, for those working at Disneyland Paris, they are being treated as anything but.
1. Disney’s Fantasia has a Character Named Sunflower Who is a Breathtakingly Racist Stereotype
Most of you have probably heard of Fantasia, but many people are really only familiar with the segment where Mickey is the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, unless they are a big Disney buff. And even those who have watched Fantasia in full may have missed Disney’s most blatant racism if they watched a more recent revision. A lesser known segment of Fantasia is called “Pastoral Symphony” and was a brief story where mythological creatures and others are preparing for a festival involving some of the Greek gods. The story starts out showing some female centaurs being beautified by cherubs to prepare them for the arrival of the male centaurs and it just goes downhill from there.
There is one female centaur who is not being prepared by the cherubs, and is instead acting like a servant to the other female centaurs – brushing their tails, etc. This female centaur is black, and is half donkey instead of half horse. She has incredibly exaggerated features, and dreadlocks that stick out at odd angles, as if the animators were doing their best to mock people of African descent. To make matters worse, this character is called Sunflower – a flower whose nicknames include “n**gerhead.” While sunflowers do have a lot of other nicknames, it seems a little too strange to just be a coincidence. Also, in a later scene, the Greek god of wine, Bacchus, shows up flanked by two black centaur servants, who are half zebra and half Amazon looking – their purpose is to fan him and keep him cool. In revisions of Fantasia, these racist elements have been removed, but you can see a brief clip of Sunflower brushing a pretty, white female centaur at the top of the entry.
The list of things inspired by Lord of the Rings and, to a lesser extent, The Hobbit is so long that it literally has its own Wikipedia page. If you don’t have time to click that link, we’ll summarize by saying that virtually anything you’ve ever seen, heard, or read that features any reference to Orcs, Elves, Halflings, Dragons or Dwarves, was almost certainly inspired in some way, shape, or form by Tolkien’s work, meaning you can thank him for Skyrim, Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, and this Megadeth song. Speaking of music, dozens of metal bands have cited Tolkien’s work as an influence over the years, meaning along with every piece of fiction ever written about elves, Tolkien is also directly responsible for about 4000 guitar solos. Which is great.
But here’s the thing: Tolkien only wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a vehicle for his awesomely nerdy hobby of making up languages. Hell, there’s even a quote from Tolkien himself where he basically says that he wrote The Lord of the Rings for no other reason than to “provide a world for the languages” he’d spent years creating so that it didn’t seem like he’d wasted his time making up words. In fact, Tolkien put so little stock in The Lord of the Rings as a serious work of fiction that he almost never published it, being content just to leave it as a story he could tell his grandkids, and was only inspired to finish it because his friend CS Lewis bugged him to. So we guess we should thank him, too, for being able to gut stab orcs in that Shadow of Mordor game.
9. One Guy’s Obsession with Bugs Gave Us Pokemon
Pokémon has had an almost immeasurable impact on pop culture, and the popularity of the series is such that, when an episode of the original anime literally caused kids to have a bunch of seizures, causing it to be temporarily removed from the airwaves, fans in Japan gathered in the country’s major cities and solemnly sang the show’s theme song because they were that worried it was going to be cancelled forever. And you know a show is popular when fans shrug off the fact an episode nearly killed a dozen of their peers. Weirdly, though, the franchise may never have existed if it wasn’t for one guy’s hobby of collecting bugs.
That guy was one Satoshi Tajiri, the creative mind behind the entire concept of Pokémon, and a man responsible for more fractured childhood friendships than yo-yo injuries and girls we liked. As a child Tajiri was obsessed with collecting insects to the point his childhood nickname was, get this, Dr. Bug. Along with collecting bugs, Tajiri would catalogue them and even trade them with his friends in an effort to, for lack of a better phrase, catch ‘em all. Tajiri found this hobby so satisfying and enjoyable that he endeavored to create a video game that centered around a similar concept, eventually molding this idea into the Pokémon series we all know and argue about today.
8. Disneyland was Inspired by Walt’s Miniatures Hobby
For a guy with a creepy looking mustache who was obsessed with princesses and anthropomorphic mice, Walt Disney was a terrifyingly powerful man, as evidenced by the fact the company bearing his name can technically tell Darth Vader what to do. The foothold of the Disney empire is arguably located in Disneyland, where Walt’s hobby of collecting miniatures helped enthrall a generation of children into buying enough of his company’s merchandise to buy out Iron Man.
Unsurprisingly for a man who used to measure how many steps people took before throwing their garbage on the floor as they walked around Disneyland, Walt Disney was a guy with a bunch of weird hobbies. One of the weirdest was his apparent obsession with tiny versions of things. According to those who knew him best, Disney would spend hours playing with miniature figurines, creating elaborate scenes and dioramas for his own amusement, and spending hundreds of his own dollars to expand his (ironically) ever-shrinking collection.
While this isn’t the only factor known to have influenced Walt’s eventual decision to create Disneyland, his hobby of collecting miniatures and, more specifically, creating magical worlds for people to explore is largely noted to have been one of the things that “ultimately led to its creation.”
7. Bo Jackson’s Pro Football Career was Basically a Hobby
Bo Jackson is widely regarded as one of the finest athletes of all-time, in part because he’s one of only a handful of people to become an All-Star in two sports (baseball and football), but mostly because his physical accomplishments are freaking insane. Able to run the 100 meter dash in just over 10 seconds, leap 20 feet through the air, and throw a rock hard enough to straight up kill a pig, Jackson was always destined for greatness as an athlete. However, the true extent of his skills may never have been known if he never decided to join the NFL, basically as a hobby.
When Jackson joined the LA Raiders in 1987, he did so almost purely because he was bored and wanted something to do during the baseball offseason. Obviously, he’d been a Heisman Trophy-winning football player in college a few years earlier, but baseball was his real passion. As a result of this off the cuff decision to dominate the NFL in his spare time, the true extent of Jackson’s natural ability and his sheer natural athleticism became apparent, leading to one of the most popular advertising campaigns of all-time, and this TV spot for an episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
6. Roget’s Obsession with Words Led to the Thesaurus
The thesaurus, for anyone who’s never right-clicked a word and searched for a smarter-sounding synonym while writing an essay, is one of the most influential pieces of literature ever created, next to the dictionary and possibly the Harry Potter series. The first thesaurus, unimaginatively titled,
Dr Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases classified and arranged to facilitate the Expression of Ideas and assist in Literary Composition was only created, though, because its author, Peter Roget, had a quirky hobby of cataloguing words.
This hobby was of such interest to Roget that he eventually spent three years of his retirement logging the different meanings of every word he could think of, culminating in the release of the thesaurus in 1952. It’s become a book so popular it has quite literally never been out of print since the first time it was published. Suck on that, JK Rowling.
4. Roosevelt’s Love of Reading Made Him a Great President
Listing the reasons the public loved Teddy Roosevelt is like listing the things a 10 year old boy wants to be when he grows up. He was a judo black belt, sheriff, cowboy, and explorer who personally shot half the animals in the Smithsonian. However, what endeared him to the politicians and big-wigs who sponsored his presidency was his eloquence and ability to speak knowledgeably about, well, everything. Anecdotes from those who knew Roosevelt speak of him being able to effortlessly converse with friends and strangers about everything from poetry to natural history with the kind of authority you’d expect from an expert on the subject, or Kelsey Grammer’s character from Frasier.
Roosevelt’s seemingly superhuman ability to retain knowledge is said to have stemmed from his time as a child. More specifically, all the time he spent cooped up in bed with nothing to do but read. You see, Roosevelt was a very sickly child who was frequently bedridden by illness, and as a result, he spent much of his time reading because the Gameboy hadn’t been invented yet. Reading would eventually became a lifelong passion of the pre-pubescent president to the point he was known to read three books every day of his adult life. This vast repository of brain knowledge unquestionably helped Roosevelt’s political career, as it allowed him to charm virtually anyone, from any background, by being able to speak with them about any interest they happened to hold.
3. Lemmy’s Obsession with Nazis Shaped his Worldview
Lemmy, former frontman of the heavy metal band Motörhead and current corpse, is a man about whom it is impossible to overstate how much ass he kicked. He was a hard-drinking, hard-partying, grizzled veteran of rock and roll who drank a bottle of whiskey every day for 30 years and reportedly slept with over 2,000 women. He was a mainstay of metal who inspired everyone from Guns N’ Roses to Metallica, who were such big fans of Lemmy that they once dressed up as him and played the song,Overkill, for his 50th birthday.
One of the things that made Lemmy such a legend within the rock and roll community was his irreverent wit and nonchalant, accepting attitude towards his own mortality, once being quoted as saying:
“Death is an inevitability, isn’t it? You become more aware of that when you get to my age. I don’t worry about it. I’m ready for it. When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn’t complain. It’s been good.”
This blasé approach to life was apparently inspired by Lemmy’s obsession with Nazi paraphernalia, of which he was an avid collector. Along with collecting Nazi memorabilia, Lemmy was well versed in the history surrounding it, which shaped his anarchist world view and inspired much of his inimitable straight-talking advice. For anyone curious about why Lemmy collected Nazi memorbillia, according to the man himself, he simply liked the way it looked, saying:
A quote we very grudgingly censor, because we’re pretty sure censoring a Lemmy quote is, like, a crime or something.
2. Linus Tolvard Created Linux Out of Boredom
Linux is the operating system Wikipedia assures us about 1% of the people reading this currently have installed on their computer. In essence, Linux is an open source operating system similar in function to Windows and OS X, only better because you don’t have to pay for it. While not widely known amongst casual PC and laptop users, Linux’s ultra-streamlined and highly customizable nature has helped it become virtually the only operating system used in supercomputers, which, judging by the name, areway better than the computers most of us are reading this on.
Peculiarly, though, the only reason Linux even exists is because the original creator, Linus Tolvard, was bored and decided to make the operating system just to see if he could, describing the whole thing as “just a hobby,” adding that it wouldn’t be “big and professional.” A statement that’s kind of hilarious in retrospect, considering the operating system has been classified as being, quite literally, “the fastest of the fast operating systems” by the people making the computers that can calculate pi to a trillion places, and a lot of other really smart sounding stuff.
1. Amateur Astronomers Have Mapped Much of Our Galaxy
Given that the universe is infinite, there are technically an infinite number of things to learn about it, meaning there’s enough out there for any dumbass with a telescope or camera with a zoom lens to discover something. And boy, you had better believe that throughout history there have been a lot of dumbasses who’ve done exactly that.
The list of things in our universe discovered by “amateur astronomers” who considered what they were doing to be little more than a hobby is actually quite humbling, and includes things like comets, stars, and supernovas, as well as advances in telescope technology that have allowed ordinary people to see into God’s toilet, if they want to. The impact amateur astronomers have had on the field is so notable that there are even awards for amateurs to encourage them to keep looking to the stars and doing NASA’s job for them. Which we think is a lovely thought to end on. There are people out there taking pictures of the sky with big-ass cameras, who have accidentally discovered more about the universe than the people we pay to do it. Sort of like that episode of The Simpsons where Bart discovers a comet.
10 Success Stories Who First Endured Massive Failure
Succeeding in life is not easy. Go ask someone who you know is successful, and they will surely tell you that it takes tremendous amounts of hard work, commitment, patience, dedication, and perseverance to succeed. They might even add that in order for you to achieve success, you need to fail first. Failure goes hand-in-hand with success, as failures are wonderful opportunities to learn and grow, and not the end of the road as many fear.
The next time you face heart-breaking failure, think of the following famous people. They all failed, but that didn’t stop them from pursuing their dreams, and ultimately achieving success.
10. Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is considered one of the greatest Hollywood directors of all time. He brought us critically acclaimed blockbuster hits like E.T., Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, andSchindler’s List. But before he became successful, famous, extremely wealthy, he first experienced several failures, one of which was not being admitted to the film school of his choice.
Spielberg wanted to study film at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. However, he was rejected due to a very low grade average. He applied again but got rejected again. These two failures didn’t stop Spielberg from pursuing his dream of studying at USC, so for the third and final time he sent another application, and unfortunately, this too was rejected.
These rejections, no matter how painful and depressing they might have been for Spielberg, didn’t hinder him from succeeding in his career and life. Spielberg eventually got a job at Universal Studios where one of the employees noticed his gift for creating films. From there, he became the Spielberg we all know today.
9. Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe truly is a Hollywood icon. Though she died in 1962, she is still adored by millions of people throughout the world up to this day. She has been the inspiration of many songs, poems, books, and paintings, and her movies are studied as art in many academic institutions.
Born Norma Jean Mortenson, Monroe had a very sad and difficult childhood. She lived in numerous foster homes since her mother couldn’t look after her, and at age 16 she got married just to avoid living in an orphanage in Los Angeles. In 1948, Monroe signed with Columbia Pictures. However, she was soon released from said contract because, according to Columbia, she wasn’t talented and beautiful enough to become an actress.
Fortunately, these hurtful words and failure didn’t stop Monroe from pursuing her Hollywood dream. She later on starred in many films produced by another (smarter) movie studio, one that made her America’s most famous sex icon.
8. Milton Hershey
Before Milton Hershey, the founder of Hershey Chocolate, became an expert businessman, he worked as a printer in a local newspaper. Later on, he quit his job and got employed in a candy factory. There, he learned the art of making candies. After several years, he quit that job and decided to open his own candy store. However, Milton’s first entrepreneurial venture was a failure.
Not wanting his failed business attempt to hinder him from succeeding in life, Hershey went to Denver, Colorado, to learn the art of making caramels. After acquiring the necessary skills to manufacture caramel, Hershey went back to New York and attempted to set up another candy business. Unfortunately, this too was a failure.
Despite the two heart-breaking failures he experienced, Milton didn’t give up on his dream. He went back to his family’s farm and spent his time creating various kinds of chocolatesand candies. He eventually learned how to make delicious milk chocolates. Hershey’s milk chocolate became an instant hit not only among the kids, but adults too. This success with milk chocolates greatly helped him establish his own chocolate factory , which brought him immense wealth and fame.
7. Theodor Geisel
Theodor Geisel, more popularly known as Dr. Seuss, is considered one of the greatest children’s authors of all time. But before he became a prominent figure in children’s literature, he experienced a series of heart-breaking failures. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was the first book Dr. Seuss had ever written, and before finally finding its way as a children’s classic, it was rejected 27 times!
After continually being told his incredibly amusing story of how powerful a child’s imagination is was pure rubbish, Dr. Seuss was ready to give up. He was walking down the streets of New York City when he bumped into an old friend, who just happened to be the new editor of the children’s department of a publishing house in New York. He read Seuss’ book and decided to publish it. Nobody called Suess a failure after that.
6. Henry Ford
Henry Ford undoubtedly revolutionized the American car industry. He didn’t invent the automobile, but he was the man responsible for manufacturing the first reliable, simple, and budget-friendly versions. Before Ford invented the Model T, cars were only for the rich. But due to his determination, hard-work, and ingenuity, he succeeded in manufacturing cars that were affordable to the average Americans of his time.
However, it took two major failures before Henry Ford finally succeeded. The first company that he founded was the Detroit Automobile Company. He was the man behind the design and production of the cars, while William H. Murphy was his financial backer. However, a year and half later, after Ford established his first company, it was dissolved due to major problems with the car design. Despite this failure, Ford did not give up. He asked Murphy for a second chance, and with his financial assistance he founded another company, the Henry Ford Company. But unfortunately, this too was an absolute failure.
But Ford was not a quitter. He did not let his two major failures hinder him from achieving his goals. Right after he left the Henry Ford Company, he met a wealthy Scottish man named Alexander Malcomson who was willing to back up him financially. With Malcomson’s help, Ford finally perfected his car design and established the Ford Motor Company.
5. Bill Gates
Microsoft was not the first company Bill Gates founded. In fact, his first company had nothing to do with computers. Before Microsoft, there was Traf-0-Data, which specialized in creating products that processed raw information gathered from daily traffic encounters, and made reports for traffic engineers.
However, this venture was a failure. An important demo of the Traf-0-Data 8008 didn’t work, an event which caused Gates and his business partners to dissolve the company entirely. Fortunately, this failure didn’t stop Gates. He kept going on and finally, a few years later, all of his hard work and dedication paid off. He succeeded and established Microsoft, which is undoubtedly the biggest computer software company in the world today.
4. Stephen King
When it comes to the horror genre, no one can equal Stephen King. He is a literary genius who entertained and terrified us with books like Misery, The Shining, and The Stand. But King’s success and fame didn’t happen instantly. It took several failed attempts before he finally hit the jackpot.
It’s a wide known fact that Carrie was King’s first published book—the story of a teenage girl who possessed telekinetic capabilities. However, before it became a best-selling novel, Carriewas rejected not once, twice, or even 27 times, but 30 times! King got so disappointed with the rejections that he decided to chuck it in the trash. Luckily, Tabitha, King’s wife, found the manuscript and encouraged him not to give up. Following his wife’s encouraging advice, King sent Carrie to other publishers. And his wife was right. A publishing company liked King’s work and decided to publish it. Many years and numerous best-sellers later, King became an established and highly successful figure in the American literary world.
3. Harland David Sanders
You might now know Harland David Sanders by that name, but you might recognize him better if we stuck the word “Colonel” at the beginning of his name. Sanders was the founder of the extremely successful global food franchise, Kentucky Fried Chicken. He is living proof that no matter who you are, how old you are, or what little you have in life, you can succeed if you just work hard and persevere.
Colonel Sanders started selling his secret chicken recipe to different restaurants, homes, and individuals at the age of 65, after his official retirement. Despite his old age, Sanders traveled throughout America for two long years, selling his chicken recipe to anyone who would listen. At first, he was rejected and mocked by the people he approached. There’s even a legend that states the recipe got rejected 1,009 times before someone finally accepted it. Whether that number is accurate or not is irrelevant. What’s important is that Col. Sanders showed us that with hard-work, commitment, and hope we can achieve anything we want, even if that means failing or getting rejected over a thousand times.
2. Walt Disney
Walt Disney is credited for elevating the status of fairy tales and cartoons. Without him, we might have never known Mickey Mouse and all his remarkable friends. Aside from his classic works, Walt Disney’s life is a source of inspiration too. For one thing, he was fired from a newspaper company in Kansas City because he wasn’t creative enough. Because when you think Walt Disney, you definitely think boring and unoriginal. In addition, Mickey Mouse was actually rejected by MGM studios because they believed that a giant cartoon mouse would scare women. And to top it off, in 1933 one of his most successful pictures, The Three Little Pigs, was rejected because it only had four characters.
As you can see, Disney’s climb to success was a very steep one. However, despite the many nonsensical failures and discouragements he encountered, he did not quit. He held on to his dream and worked hard to achieve them. True enough, all of his efforts paid off.
1. Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan is a superhero, at least on the basketball court. He showed the whole world that unparalleled skill and out-of-this-world showmanship are what distinguishes the greats from the legends. But before Jordan achieved two Olympic gold medals, won six NBA championships, and earned five MVP trophies, he encountered heart-crushing failure in the form of somebody who thought he was too damn short to succeed.
With the help of his brother Larry, Michael got invited to join a basketball summer camp and try out for a university team group. In that camp, Jordan impressed all of the participants with his superb basketball skills. The coach supervising the camp recognized his talent, but he was hesitant to include him in the university team group because he was quite short in basketball standards. At the end of the camp, a list of those who got admitted to the university basketball team was handed out. And much to the dismay and surprise of Jordan, all of his friends’ names were on the list except his. This greatly crushed his heart and dreams. He came home feeling ashamed and discouraged. He even wept.
Thankfully, his loving mother gave him an advice that greatly encouraged him to continue on improving his game and pursuing his dream. In an interview, Jordan recalled, “She said that the best thing I could do is to prove to the coach that he had made a mistake.” He did exactly that and much, much more.
“We leave a Disney park reassured. We have opened our eyes to the world of the possible. We have experienced the better world. And by the way, we have fun while we were being entertained, and “reassured.”
― Martin A. Sklar
“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”
“Here is the world of imagination, hopes, and dreams. In this timeless land of enchantment, the age of chivalry, magic and make-believe are reborn – and fairy tales come true. Fantasyland is dedicated to the young-in-heart, to those who that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.”
Mickey Mouse gives some people Disney spells. — A Pun for the Intelligent Kid Inside Everyone