dinoiii
December 22nd, 2005, 10:32 AM
Dinoiii’s Rant II:
Dietary Supplement Companies,
Sharing Similarity with “Great” Historical Figures
Introduction
The dietary supplement industry shares many similarities with famous historical figures. Famous is assured! Unfortunately, this is likely at the expense of “great.” Only question would seem to be is that a fair trade off? Well, as with everything, there are significant pros and cons. To exemplify what I am talking about, we visit the time of Harry Houdini and Isaac Newton.
Houdini Was a Lousy Magician
Historians of magic are in total agreement about this: Harry Houdini did hackneyed mechanical tricks, showed little evidence of talent, and had almost none of the suave charisma that the great magicians of his era had.
And yet when you ask to name a famous magician, odds are you’ll say, “Houdini!”
So, how did he do it? How did a lousy magician become such a spectacular success?
Simple. He wasn’t a magician.
Harry Houdini invented an entirely different sort of vaudeville attraction. He was not a magician at all, but an escape artist. Crowds didn’t line up to watch him cut a lady in half. Instead they were fascinated by his taunting of death, by the way he used himself as the most important prop in the act.
One of his breakthrough performances took place in England. Houdini was challenged (by a renowned locksmith – something you don’t see very often) to free himself from a new kind of escape-proof set of handcuffs. At first he hesitated, but motivated by the cry of the public, he accepted the challenge.
After half an hour in a tiny, isolated chamber onstage, Houdini came back before the audience and asked that the cuffs be removed so that he could take off his heavy wool coat (he was sweating from the heat) and then replaced. The crowd angrily refused – Houdini would not be permitted to trick them. Unflappable as always, Houdini used his teeth to extract a razor from his coat, which he then dramatically shredded to pieces in front of the crowd. With a grimace, he returned to his chamber. An hour later, he emerged triumphant, holding the opened handcuffs over his head.
When Houdini made the decision to focus on escapes instead of magic tricks, it was considered professional suicide. There wasn’t a market for escape acts. There wasn’t a demand for it. It had never been done before. No one knew what it was worth and no one could tell him how long or how demanding his act should be.
Who could have imagined that Houdini would succeed by spending more than an hour and half doing just one trick, in a closed room, out of sight of the audience? Where is it written in the magician’s manual that the best way to become famous is to fake not only the outcome but the event itself (Houdini made those handcuffs himself and paid the locksmith to challenge him in the first place – it only took him a minute to open them when the time came!)?
Isaac Newton’s Head
Ask any elementary-school kid about Isaac Newton and you’ll hear the same answer: “He invented gravity!” Of course, Newton did NO such thing! Newton certainly invented calculus. He also invented the reflecting telescope. He did not invent the Fig Newton, though. That was Charles M. Roser.
Newton gets credit for inventing gravity because of a tree in his backyard. He was sitting in his garden, thinking about the moon, when he looked up and noticed that an apple on the tree nearby was precisely the same size (to his eye) as the moon. As an object gets farther away, it appears to be smaller. In a flash, Newton realized that the apple was proportional to the moon in size, and the effect of “gravitas” on each must be proportional as well. Newton had figured out that gravity decreased over distance. More important to his reputation, he gave gravity its name. The apple NEVER actually hit him on the head, but the term “gravity” stuck.
While Newton spent far more time on calculus and on alchemy, he’s known for discovering gravity. Why?
Because he named it.
To the average person, Newton’s contribution to science was a word. A word that described something that was already there, something that affected everyone, all the time. By naming gravity, he gave us power over it. He gave us a handle, which permitted both scientists and laypeople to talk about and interact with this mysterious force.
Conclusion
While I have potentially convinced you how far from “great” these historical figures were, I still invite you to look at all they offered. All this, despite not being what perhaps we recall made them famous.
While Houdini could be viewed as an essential farce, he also showed innovation at the same time. He took a chance and for that, his memory deserves some sort of recognition. Sometimes, making an original choice when there seems to be no choice at all is daunting. But this is often how the brave succeed while the masses are consigned to failure.
To all supplement companies: take a chance – you will face the harshest of critics BUT stand firm and tall.
With Newton, it really hurts to learn the apple never hit him on the head, I am sure. But “gravity” continues to have a wonderful ring to it, doesn’t it? Things change when you give something a name. If it has a name, your peers can measure it. If it has a name, they can alter it. If it has a name, they can talk about it. And if it has a name, they can eliminate it.
To all supplement companies: go ahead, name something – that’s all I’d give credit for which isn’t always a bad thing (Watch your head!).
Dietary Supplement Companies,
Sharing Similarity with “Great” Historical Figures
Introduction
The dietary supplement industry shares many similarities with famous historical figures. Famous is assured! Unfortunately, this is likely at the expense of “great.” Only question would seem to be is that a fair trade off? Well, as with everything, there are significant pros and cons. To exemplify what I am talking about, we visit the time of Harry Houdini and Isaac Newton.
Houdini Was a Lousy Magician
Historians of magic are in total agreement about this: Harry Houdini did hackneyed mechanical tricks, showed little evidence of talent, and had almost none of the suave charisma that the great magicians of his era had.
And yet when you ask to name a famous magician, odds are you’ll say, “Houdini!”
So, how did he do it? How did a lousy magician become such a spectacular success?
Simple. He wasn’t a magician.
Harry Houdini invented an entirely different sort of vaudeville attraction. He was not a magician at all, but an escape artist. Crowds didn’t line up to watch him cut a lady in half. Instead they were fascinated by his taunting of death, by the way he used himself as the most important prop in the act.
One of his breakthrough performances took place in England. Houdini was challenged (by a renowned locksmith – something you don’t see very often) to free himself from a new kind of escape-proof set of handcuffs. At first he hesitated, but motivated by the cry of the public, he accepted the challenge.
After half an hour in a tiny, isolated chamber onstage, Houdini came back before the audience and asked that the cuffs be removed so that he could take off his heavy wool coat (he was sweating from the heat) and then replaced. The crowd angrily refused – Houdini would not be permitted to trick them. Unflappable as always, Houdini used his teeth to extract a razor from his coat, which he then dramatically shredded to pieces in front of the crowd. With a grimace, he returned to his chamber. An hour later, he emerged triumphant, holding the opened handcuffs over his head.
When Houdini made the decision to focus on escapes instead of magic tricks, it was considered professional suicide. There wasn’t a market for escape acts. There wasn’t a demand for it. It had never been done before. No one knew what it was worth and no one could tell him how long or how demanding his act should be.
Who could have imagined that Houdini would succeed by spending more than an hour and half doing just one trick, in a closed room, out of sight of the audience? Where is it written in the magician’s manual that the best way to become famous is to fake not only the outcome but the event itself (Houdini made those handcuffs himself and paid the locksmith to challenge him in the first place – it only took him a minute to open them when the time came!)?
Isaac Newton’s Head
Ask any elementary-school kid about Isaac Newton and you’ll hear the same answer: “He invented gravity!” Of course, Newton did NO such thing! Newton certainly invented calculus. He also invented the reflecting telescope. He did not invent the Fig Newton, though. That was Charles M. Roser.
Newton gets credit for inventing gravity because of a tree in his backyard. He was sitting in his garden, thinking about the moon, when he looked up and noticed that an apple on the tree nearby was precisely the same size (to his eye) as the moon. As an object gets farther away, it appears to be smaller. In a flash, Newton realized that the apple was proportional to the moon in size, and the effect of “gravitas” on each must be proportional as well. Newton had figured out that gravity decreased over distance. More important to his reputation, he gave gravity its name. The apple NEVER actually hit him on the head, but the term “gravity” stuck.
While Newton spent far more time on calculus and on alchemy, he’s known for discovering gravity. Why?
Because he named it.
To the average person, Newton’s contribution to science was a word. A word that described something that was already there, something that affected everyone, all the time. By naming gravity, he gave us power over it. He gave us a handle, which permitted both scientists and laypeople to talk about and interact with this mysterious force.
Conclusion
While I have potentially convinced you how far from “great” these historical figures were, I still invite you to look at all they offered. All this, despite not being what perhaps we recall made them famous.
While Houdini could be viewed as an essential farce, he also showed innovation at the same time. He took a chance and for that, his memory deserves some sort of recognition. Sometimes, making an original choice when there seems to be no choice at all is daunting. But this is often how the brave succeed while the masses are consigned to failure.
To all supplement companies: take a chance – you will face the harshest of critics BUT stand firm and tall.
With Newton, it really hurts to learn the apple never hit him on the head, I am sure. But “gravity” continues to have a wonderful ring to it, doesn’t it? Things change when you give something a name. If it has a name, your peers can measure it. If it has a name, they can alter it. If it has a name, they can talk about it. And if it has a name, they can eliminate it.
To all supplement companies: go ahead, name something – that’s all I’d give credit for which isn’t always a bad thing (Watch your head!).