Word: lightly
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Another reason for Edison's inability to hold on to money was his extravagance. He excelled at raising venture capital (J.P. Morgan helped to bankroll his effort to invent the electric light), but had a genius for spending even more than he raised. Not on himself; his oddball personal habits were far from extravagant. But no sum was too great to lavish on his laboratories; Edison ordered the most expensive materials on earth, like platinum, by the pound. He was also the creator of the modern research and development lab, which he called an "invention factory...
Edison also saw inventions in a social and commercial context. He drew up lists of inventions that the world needed, or at least would buy, and set out to produce them. In the case of electric light, gas was already lighting homes, and electric arc lights were illuminating streets and stores-though much too brilliantly, and expensively, for general use. The need, Edison saw, was for some other form of electric illumination that would provide a steadier and, above all, cheaper glow than...
...doesn't make up his mind to cultivate the habit of thinking misses the greatest pleasures in life." A most unorthodox and in many ways unattractive thinker, Edison nonetheless multiplied the pleasures of life for everyone who listens to a record, watches a movie or flips a light switch...
Still, there is an amber light flashing caution in the industry. Even with the substantial customer demand and profit margins that average from 8% to 10%, automakers fear that some of these high-strung dream cars may be speeding down the road to extinction. They will hardly be done in by soaring gas prices. A West German dentist earning more than $100,000 is unlikely to quibble over an extra 50c or so a gallon. And in fact the graceful sprinters with the impeccable pedigrees sip gas daintily, considering their performances: a Maserati Quattroporte gets 16 m.p.g...
...disappearance of the exotic car would hurt the development of automotive technology. Those sweet chariots pioneered, among other things, techniques for maintaining stability at high speeds, and were early users of radial tires and light-weight alloys that later became popular on mass-produced models...