From the Publisher
From time to time, there are moments in history that are poignant and worth remembering. The true nature of a person comes through. And in times of stress, challenge and things life tends to throw at us, those moments provide some balance, insight and comfort; knowing what we are capable of, what we can give back, without avarice or expectation. We live in a challenging time and sometimes we lose our way, our hope, or we just need a boost. It’s time for one of those historical moments. So, take a deep breath and hopefully you will find some comfort below.
This is a quote from a famous person of the past whose achievements have contributed to our lives. The person was Hedy Lamarr, a noted genius, an actress and hailed as one of the most beautiful women in the world. She once said of herself: “Any girl can look glamorous, all she has to do is stand still and look stupid.” She lamented the fact that people only saw her face and not what was inside her head.
During WWII, our US naval ships had difficulty in torpedoing the enemies’ ships, as the torpedoes were being detected and destroyed before they hit their targets. So Hedy put her brain to work and invented a way to maintain communication between the US ship and its torpedoes to its completed goal. This was called “frequency hopping”. The definition: “Repeated switching of frequencies during radio transmission according to a specified algorithm, to minimize unauthorized interception or jamming of telecommunications.”* This was patented by Ms. Lamarr and widely used in military satellites, GPS, Bluetooth, cell phones, Wi-Fi technology, and in other ways. The market value of her invention is an estimated 30 billion dollars ($30,000,000,000).
Hedy Lamarr’s later years were spent in near poverty and she died in her sleep in January of 2000 without ever having been paid for her invention. In her final years when she was told by her son that she should be paid for this incredible invention, she replied: “I don’t care anymore.” This is something she read to her son during that time.
“I’ll read you something pretty:
- People are unreasonable, illogical & self-centered
Love them anyway
- If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, alternative motives
Do good anyway
- The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the…
smallest minds
Think big anyway
- What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight
Build anyway
- Give the world the best you have and you’ll be kicked into (her word) the teeth
Give the world the best you have anyway”
*Computer Security Research Center--https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/frequency_hopping
**Documentary – Bombshell… (Netflix)
