John J Filson

Retired Naval Architect/Engineer w/long & active career in floating offshore structures. Main interests are in science and the processes/origins of everything.

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

POPULATION GROWTH …will it continue, can it. All of the Predictions Agree on One Thing: Humanity Peaks Soon
There are many opinions on world population growth, whether it's sustainable, whether we can overcome the limits. The NYT today, in an opinion...
https://t.co/uZgoHnefB2

[Ben Milbrath @PurdueToobah]

Last night’s sunset at Cannon Beach 🔥

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@NavyStrang Once upon a time, many major state supported universities (land grant colleges) had mandatory ROTC freshman & sophomore years, males only. Mine at UC Berkeley was a earlier version of the one on the left. Texas A&M is a bit different. https://t.co/Kb80Spc3EL

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

We got a terrific success story here with some good chuckles. Go for it.

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

In 1958, a divorced single mom got fired from her secretary job for being a bad typist.

21 years later, she sold her side hustle for $47.5 million.

And her teenage helper would go on to help invent MTV.

Her name was Bette Nesmith Graham.

Before she became a millionaire inventor, she was a struggling single mother in Dallas with no college degree and very few options.

She married young during WWII.

By 22, she was divorced, raising a son alone, and trying to survive on secretary jobs.

She eventually became an executive secretary at Texas Bank & Trust.

There was just one problem:

She was a terrible typist.

The bank had recently installed new IBM electric typewriters that made correcting mistakes almost impossible.

One typo could mean retyping an entire page.

Her son later remembered watching her sit at the kitchen table in “tears of panic,” terrified she’d lose her job.

But Bette had another skill.

She painted holiday window displays at the bank for extra money.

One day, while painting over a mistake on a window, she had a realization:

“An artist never erases mistakes. They paint over them.”

That night, she went home and mixed a white liquid in her kitchen blender using tempera paint.

She poured it into a nail polish bottle.

The next morning, she used it to cover typing errors.

It worked.

For five years, her boss never noticed.

Other secretaries did.

Soon, women from offices across the city were asking for bottles.

Bette started making batches at home with help from her teenage son, Michael, and his friends.

She called the product “Mistake Out.”

Then came the twist.

In 1958, she accidentally typed the name of her side business onto a company letter.

Her boss fired her immediately.

It became the best thing that ever happened to her.

She renamed the product Liquid Paper and focused on it full-time.

Orders exploded.

By the late 1960s, she was selling over a million bottles a year.

By the 1970s, 25 million bottles annually.

Then she did something even more unusual:

She built one of the most progressive workplaces in America.

Her company offered:
• child care
• continuing education
• leadership roles for women
• jobs for disabled workers
• integrated staffing

This was decades before most corporations even considered those ideas.

In 1979, with failing health, Bette sold Liquid Paper to Gillette for $47.5 million.

Six months later, she died at age 56.

Half her fortune went to women-focused charities.

The other half went to her son.

That son was Michael Nesmith.

Yes the same Michael Nesmith from The Monkees.

And with the money from Liquid Paper royalties, he funded a small experimental cable TV project called PopClips.

It featured short films set to music.

PopClips became the direct prototype for MTV.

So one woman’s “typing mistake” helped create:
• a multimillion-dollar company
• one of America’s most progressive workplaces
• and the blueprint for the modern music video era

Bette Graham proved something her old boss never understood:

The mistake wasn’t the failure.

It was the opportunity.

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@NavyStrang I am sure that this visitor smelled much better than one of his recent visitors. Likely that had much more productive conversations.

[The Royal Family @RoyalFamily]

🇺🇦 The President of Ukraine visited The King this afternoon at Windsor Castle

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@MoundLore Brigands is a word often used for terrestrial pirates. Robbers is good.

Many of the european castles along the navigable European rivers (eg Rhein, Danube, etc.) were in fact a subsequent development from early brigands who held power over stretches of river.

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@alpendamon @loganb The Hoh Woods is a testimony to this effect. On a larger scale, it is desiccating the Great Basin at the present time.

[LeoDaVinciWave @LeoDaVinciWave]

A clever “stramp” design at Robson Square in Vancouver that works as both stairs and a ramp.

[Dave @DrDave_99]

@bwaltens So… he’s not gay and he dates attractive, age appropriate woman he meets at work.

I guess this is “news” because it’s so much different from so many Republican politicians.

Thanks for letting us know.

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@DrDave_99 @bwaltens Beautifully sarcastic.

[BabelColour @StuartHumphryes]

I have cleaned this amazing Autochrome portrait of the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926), photographed in colour by Étienne Clémentel near the water Lily pond in Monet's garden at Giverny in 1917 (often dated online as 1921). It was taken in colour over a century ago using an early colour glass plate process and isn't colourised.

[Wyver Lane @WyverLane]

SR Merchant Navy Class 35028 “Clan Line” steams through a rather wet Paddock Wood with today’s Golden Arrow, working 1Z52 1352 Dover Priory to London Victoria… 🚂

[caio temer @canalCCore2]

A máquina não se adapta à infraestrutura.
A infraestrutura é que se adapta a ela.
Mover uma escavadeira desse tamanho exige fechar estradas, desmontar linhas férreas e coordenar comboios de transporte.

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@japan_nobunaga It is a language of a close family & is full of expectations & body language & not one of a wide & diverse population (eg Latin).

[Clinton @614clinton]

I forgot to post my D-Day joke yesterday, so here it is! 😂

An old veteran was looking through his bag for his passport. The woman on passport control asked him, “Have you visited France before?”

“Yes,” replied the old man.

Sarcastically she responded, “Well surely you should know to have your passport ready,” to which he answered, “I didn't have to show it last time.”

“Impossible!!” she barked.

The old man looked her straight in the eye and said, "Last time, when I landed on D-Day in 1944, I couldn't find a dadgum Frenchman to give it to.”

[Brad @BraddrofliT]

So let me get this straight:

When immigrants take jobs, it’s a national crisis.

When AI takes jobs, it’s innovation.

Can someone explain why we’re supposed to fear people willing to work, but celebrate technology designed to replace workers?

[🎶𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 ✨ @Old_But_Gold50s]

Amazing! The transitions between segments are perfect. It's so good that I even forgot about the original soundtrack.

[Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600]

Why are US roads so much deadlier than Europe's? US: bigger cars, longer driving distances, more rural roads, weaker pedestrian infrastructure, road designs that prioritise moving cars quickly rather than safely. Europe: tends to favour traffic calming, smaller vehicles, safer crossings, and stricter road design standards. Source: https://t.co/rLlbJao4Kd

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@NavyStrang @mikenelson586 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We’re at least on the 2nd lap somewhere.

[John J Filson @JJFilson]

@maxjthinks @thehotbritmom Tell her she looks like some of your “mystery followers” on Twitter & see where that goes.
🤣🤣🤣🤣