I saw the video below, which started me reminiscing about a symbolic name that’s been part of my vocabulary for as long as I can remember: “Rube Goldberg”. In my rural ‘keep ‘er running’ world, a Rube Goldberg solution involves slapping together a complicated thing made up of available, but improbably connected moving parts that actually does something. But as for the man himself, I vaguely thought that I remembered that he was a guy from the sixties who drew such things ridiculous machines that inspired creations like the game “Mousetrap“. However, in putting this post together, I discovered that he was a real man, and a complicated one at that. Goldberg was the winner of a Pulitzer prize for example. In addition, during World War II, he gave his children the last name of George, rather than Goldberg, to spare them the persecution he himself suffered as a result of his politically unpopular cartoons. And though probably not considered for an Oscar, he did write a screen play for a movie starring more memorable names from childhood: The Three Stooges.
But anyway, enjoy this three minute break. It is pretty incredible.
Posted on February 23rd, 2010 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Uncategorized
I really like it when the truth turns out to be both better and more interesting than we’d imagined. That doesn’t seem to happen often in the present moment as we experience it, but history is just chock full of wonderful tidbits like this one. Thanks for the nice surprise!