History | Forward Ever Forward

October 7, 2011

FW: The 10¢ Mistake

When young F. W. Woolworth was a store clerk, he tried to convince his boss to have a ten-cent sale to reduce inventory.

The boss agreed, and the idea was a resounding success. This inspired Woolworth to open his own store and price items at a nickel and a dime. He needed capital for such a venture, so he asked his boss to supply the capital for part interest in the store.

His boss turned him down flat. “The idea is too risky,” he told Woolworth. “There are not enough items to sell for five and ten cents.” Woolworth went ahead without his boss’s backing and he not only was successful in his first store, but eventually he owned a chain of F. W. Woolworth stores across the nation. Later, his former boss was heard to remark, “As far as I can figure out, every word I used to turn Woolworth down cost me about a million dollars.”

FW: The History of Labor Day

Happy Labor Day 2011! In a series of short clips, The History Channel takes a look at the origins of Labor Day, changing methods of manufacturing and legislative gains made by labor unions.

FW: The Difference of a Good Leader

In September of 1862, the civil war tilted decisively in favor of the south. The morale of the northern army dipped to its lowest point of the war. Large numbers of Union troops were in full retreat in Virginia. Northern leaders began to fear the worst. They saw no way to reverse the situation and turn the beaten, exhausted troops into a useful army again.

There was only one general with the ability to work such a miracle. That was General George McClellan. He had trained the men for combat and they admired him. But neither the war department nor the rest of the cabinet members saw this connection. Only president Abraham Lincoln recognized Gen. McLellan’s leadership skills.

Fortunately, Lincoln ignored the protests of his advisors and reinstated McClellan back in command. He told the general to go down to Virginia and give those soldiers something no other man on earth could give them: enthusiasm, strength and hope. McClellan accepted the command. He mounted his great black horse and cantered down the dusty Virginia roads.

What happened next is hard to describe. Northern leaders couldn’t explain it. Union soldiers couldn’t explain it either. Even McClellan couldn’t quite explain what happened. Gen. McClellan met the retreating Union columns, waved his cap in the air and shouted words of encouragement. When the worn out men saw their beloved teacher and leader, they began to take heart once again. They were moved with an unshakable feeling that now things could be different, that finally things would be all right again.

Bruce Catton, the great civil war historian, describes this excitement that grew when word spread that McClellan was back in command. “Down mile after mile of Virginia roads the stumbling column came alive. Men threw their caps and knapsacks into the air, and yelled until they could yell no more. . . because they saw this dapper little rider outlined against the purple starlight.

“And this, in a way, was the turning point of the war. No one could ever quite explain how it happened. But whatever it was, it gave President Lincoln and the north what was needed. And history was forever changed because of it.”

The story of Gen. McClellan illustrates dramatically the impact a leader can have on the human spirit.

Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R.
Sower’s Seeds

FW: Unknown World War II Hero

Peter Nguyen is definitely a fiction author in the making =).

FW: The Amazing Life of Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was a remarkable man who began his learning very early in life and never stopped. If only all of us could be the type of individual Thomas Jefferson was. May his life be an example for us to be better citizens and people!

At 5, he began studying under his cousins’ tutor.
At 9, he studied Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, he studied classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, he entered the College of William and Mary.
At 19, he studied Law for 5 years, studying under George Wythe.
At 23, he started his own law practice.
At 25, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, he wrote the widely circulated “Summary View of the Rights of British America” and retired from his law practice.
At 32, he was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
At 33, he took three years to revise Virginia’s legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, he was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry.
At 40, he served in Congress for two years.
At 41, he was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams.
At 46, he served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington.
At 53, he served as Vice President and was elected President of the American Philosophical Society.
At 55, he drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party.
At 57, he was elected the third President of the United States.
At 60, he obtained the Louisiana Purchase , doubling the nation’s size.
At 61, he was elected to a second term as President.
At 65, he retired to Monticello.
At 80, he helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine.
At 81, he almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president.
At 83, he died, on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams.

FW: How is the Future Different?

FW: 1000 Years of War in 5 Minutes

This animation shows all important battles that took place over the last ten centuries (up until 2008). The sizes of the explosions and labels are proportional to the number of casualties. The music is “Ride Of The Valkyries” by Richard Wagner. The data comes from the Wikipedia article, List of Battles.

FW: 60 More Very Odd Facts

If right handed, you tend to chew your food on the right side of your mouth. Left handed, you tend to chew on the left side.
To make half a pound of honey, bees must collect nectar from over two million flowers.
Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by Bayer.
Communications giant Nokia was founded in 1865 as a wood-pulp mill by Fredrik Idestam.
Tourists visiting Iceland should know tipping is considered an insult!
People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport.
Astronauts can’t belch—there is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.
Ancient Roman, Chinese, and German societies often used urine as mouthwash.
The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.
The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. In the Renaissance era, it was fashion to shave them.
The speed at which the Earth moves around the Sun makes it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than seven minutes 58 seconds.
The night of January 20th is “Saint Agnes’s Eve” which is regarded a time when a young woman dreams of her future husband.
There are over 25 million bubbles waiting to burst out of each bottle of Champagne.
Google is actually the misspelled name for a number with a million zeros.
It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite number of times!
The heat of peppers is rated on the Scoville scale.
Gold is the only metal that doesn’t rust, even if it’s buried in the ground for thousands of years.
Your tongue is the only muscle attached at only one end.
If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated its thirst mechanism shuts off.
Each year 2,000,000 people quit smoking. Each year 2,000,000 people also die of tobacco-related disease.
When it originally appeared in 1886, Coca Cola was billed as an Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage.
Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals.
Kites were used in during the Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.
Auld Lang Syne is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year.
For every real Christmas tree harvested, two to three seedlings are planted in its place.
Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 6 percent.
Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doe’t smoke unless it’s heated above 450°F.
The Shell Oil Company originally began as a novelty shop selling seashells in London.
The roar heard when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.
Nine out of every ten living things live in the ocean.
The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can only be propagated by the hand of man.
Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.
People who sold Fish and Chips were considered to be in an offensive trade until 1940 due to the smell it produced.
The University of Alaska spans four time zones.
The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.
In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.
Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil) and Mazaru (Speak no evil).
Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
A comet’s tail always points away from the sun.
The 1976 swine flu vaccine caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent.
Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that’s why it is found in some medicines.
If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.
When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight.
Trivia in Roman mythology was the goddess who haunted crossroads, graveyards and was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft. She wandered about at night, and was seen only by barking of dogs who told of her approach.
In ancient times strangers shook hands to show they were unarmed.
Strawberries are the only fruit whose seeds grow on the outside.
Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit; 167 calories per hundred grams.
It cost the soft drink industry $100 million a year for thefts involving vending machines.
The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year.
The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust.
Due to earth’s gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 50,000 feet.
Men’s shirts have buttons on the right, women’s shirts buttons on the left.
Mickey Mouse is known as “Topolino” in Italy.
Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock down the bridge.
The painting that won second place in a competition held by the US National Academy of Design was hanging upside down when judged.
Everything weighs one percent less at the equator.
For every extra pound carried on a space flight, 585 pounds of excess fuel is needed for lift-off.
The letter ‘J’ does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements.
And last but not least: 2011 July has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays. This apparently happens once every 823 years! This is called “money bags.”

FW: “I Have a Dream”

Martin Luther King’s speech – full version

FW: Mormon Poster

If you were around in 1919, you might have come across the following Mormon poster…

I mean, seriously, wouldn’t you just keep drinking?

Forward Ever Forward

FW: The 10¢ Mistake

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