Granville T. Woods Essays - Telegraphy, Granville Woods,

Granville T. Woods Granville T. Woods African-American inventors have gotten little recognition for their accomplishments. Indeed, it was hard to find information to even write a small report on a single one of them. However, although their names might not be as household as Thomas Edison, that does no mean that African-American inventors have not played just as important of a role in technology in America. Although we might not be able to name any African-American inventors off the top of our heads, we use their inventions everyday and not even realize it. The last time you took a train, were you worried about it derailing, or not stopping? You could thank Granville T. Woods for that. He invented the air brake for trains, the standard emergency break used today. Granville T. Woods was born on April 23, 1856 in Columbus Ohio. His parents were freed slaves and Woods himself only attended school until the age of 10. Although he stopped formal education at such a young age, Mr. Woods began to work on the railroad and study electronics. Much of his knowledge came directly from ?on-the-job? training. He attended night school and took privet lessons in his teens to make up for the many years of lost education. In 1872 at the age of 16, Woods became a fireman on the Danville and Southern Railroad in Missouri. There, he developed a passion for trains and dreamed of becoming a railroad engineer himself. Indeed, his love of trains is what fueled many of his inventions. He moved around a lot in the next few years. In 1876 he worked part time in a machine shop in Springfield, Illinois. It was here that he began to take engineering courses in an eastern college. He took a job an engineer in 1878 aboard the Ironsides, a British Steamer, within two years he became the chief Engineer of the steamer. However, despite all of his experience and of his skin color, he never got far in these jobs. He decided to settle back in Ohio. It was back in Cincinnati that Mr. Woods began inventing. In 1880, shortly after settling in Cincinnati, Mr. Woods established his own shop. Woods' first patent was for an invention that had to do with one of his great loves, trains. It was on improved steam boiler furnace. It was in this shop that Mr. Woods became one of the most prolific inventors of the 19th century. He had registered over 60 patents in his lifetime and was sometimes referred to as ?The Black Edison?. Regarded as one of Woods greatest invention was the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph (1887). This was the most primitive form of the radio system used in trains today. Before this invention, there was no way for a dispatcher to be able to determine the location of a train and so accidents were frequent. This invention allowed for communication between the train and the dispatcher so that train accidents became less frequent. This invention used the principle of electromagnetic induction. The magnetic field produced from electric current running through the wire produced a signal that was traceable from the dispatcher's office. When the trains moved the magnetic field moved with it, this allowed for the tracking of all trains. Some of his more notable inventions include the development of the ?third-rail? system used in subways today and the development of the ?trolley? system for trolley cars. Most of Mr. Woods 60 patents had to do with railroad telegraphs, electrical breaks, and electrical railways systems. Some of his patents include the Steam Boiler Furnace, Electric Railway, Automatic Air Brake, Telephone Transmitter, Induction Telegraph System, Overhead Conducting for Electrified Railway, Tunnel Construction for Electric railway, and the Galvanic Battery. Unlike so many African-American inventors of the 19th century, Mr. Woods was actually praised for his work within his own lifetime. The January 14, 1866 edition of The Catholic Tribune said ?Granville T. Woods, the greatest colored inventor in the history of the race, and equal, if not superior, to any inventor in this country, is destined to revolutionize the mode of the street car transit.? Mr. Woods broke through racial and educational barriers to become one of the most notable inventors of the

My graduation speech by Neil Postman Essays

My graduation speech by Neil Postman Essays My graduation speech by Neil Postman Paper My graduation speech by Neil Postman Paper The Dominance of the Visigoth My Graduation Speech by Neil Postman encompasses power, brevity and depth. The main focus of this speech is to inform the reader of the two existing kinds of people, those who are morally upright and those who are morally depreciated. Through this speech, the reader is able to obtain an idea regarding the good aspect of humans from an Athenian point of view, which dates back to 2500 years ago. On the other hand, the idea regarding the bad aspect of humans originated from the Visigoth from Germany approximately 1700 years ago. The Visigoths every action would only embody their own selfish benefits, such as living to only overcome and supersede others, and in turn creating problems for them. As Postman mentioned, Visigoth ideas are predominant in society today, which can be proven through the material found in media today. The desire to fulfill the need of entertainment for the audience results in the creation of television shows lacking in both temperance and moderation, displayed in the television program Extreme Makeover. Furthermore, the desire to win and supersede others is shown in the exploitation of violence registered by the characters in the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Lastly, many stories in daily newspapers such as the Globe and Mail, further display many realistic examples of peoples actions encouraged by the need to work for their own selfish benefits, instead of exercising those intentions for the benefit of others. Kasemphaibulsuk2 The Visigoths discovered that the factors that intrigued and pleased the general masses should be the factors to be used to control them. To accomplish this, the Visigoths aimed to project their desire for power, popularity, and superiority through the television series Extreme Makeover. To further explain, Extreme Makeover displays the lavish idea of the creation of beauty in women in order to raise the television ratings to compete in the race to supersede the other television series airing (http://abc. go. com). The use of beauty as a selling point for a television series captures the interest of masses of women both young and old. Because of the masses of women in society today unwilling to accept how they look, these women would settle for watching it being done to the lucky few appearing on the show. From this, Extreme Makeover encourages its women audience of the fact that all dreams no matter how farfetched or hard to reach can be attained one day. Through this, Extreme Makeover has succeeded in finding a point of immense interest and providing it for the audiences entertainment. However, of course, the main purpose of the series is not to provide an encouragement to women of today, but to actually make money from the television ratings out of other peoples expense. The exploitation of other peoples dreams, goals, and ambition as a tool of marketing is an act unrestrained and uncontrolled, characteristic of the Visigoth character. Despite the fact that Extreme Makeover is such a depraved form of entertainment, many people continue to enjoy watching it. The reason for this persistence lies in the way people in society think, which seems to surprisingly project the values of the Visigoth. Through the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the main characters are portrayed as humans fanatical with the desire to fight, and to surpass the each other, which are all Kasemphaibulsuk3 ideas befitting the Visigoths. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is the story of a husband and a wife who are both assassins. They are not aware of each others hidden career of an assassin in the beginning of the film. However, in the end their secrets are exposed when they are hired to kill each other. The fights, the violence, and all the hectic jumble of the plot are all Visigoth characteristics. The characters in the film care only about their own affairs, and none of the world and the environment around them (www. imbd. com). Despite the fact that all these ideas encompassed in the film are against tradition, society appears to be all right with them, which further shows that society views the Visigoths ideas as nothing out of place or wrong for that matter. Through this film, it is evident that the producer of the movie created all the violence, fights, and the hectic jumble to create one intriguing plot to captivate mass audience attention. From this, the producer aims to make a profit, instead of projecting meaningful ideals that the audience can actually learn from and apply to their life. Being self-centered is the act of being inconsiderate to others and lacking in ethics, which is another Visigoth idea. Found in the Globe and Mail, the article Upgrade how far will you go? informs the reader of the countless ways to lie to the staff in the airport for the chance to upgrade their seats, which shows that the Globe and Mail is full of Visigoth ideals that the means of achieving comfort in life is clever, and should be shared among everyone (Globe and Mail, T6). In another article, After all it was only public money, depicts the idea that people in society will do anything because of their greed. This article tells of the greed of Paul Coffin, who is an ad executive, a remorseless invoicer, and an Olympic biller, who feigns to act as a moral as possible, but Kasemphaibulsuk4 in reality is guilty of countless cases of corruption. (Globe and Mail, A25). The mask and pretense that a self-centered person creates reflects societys lack of honesty and ethics, all characteristic of a Visigoth. The evilness of Visigoth outnumbers the epitome of beauty, reason, and moderation. The immoral and deprecating values of a Visigoth appear on popular television programs such as Extreme Makeover, in films such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which motivates its audience to violence, and in real life of people who appear in news articles in the newspaper. According to Postman, the numbers of people who view the world in the Visigoth perspective outnumber the number of people who think like Athenians. Nothing is needed to be said that the majority of people do things for themselves, lack the sense of community, reject tradition, use rude language, work on grotesque art, and learn to win other people or to make money, and create problems to other people for their own power. The history of humans and the imagination of people are all rooted in Visigoth ideals. Kasemphaibulsuk5. Work Cited Hayden, Scott. After all, it was only public money. Globe and Mail 24 Jan. 2005: A25. Knight, Jeff. About the Show. June 26 2005. ABC, Inc. 24 Jan. 2005 http://abc. go. com/primetime/extrememakeover. Liman, Austin. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005). June 26 2005. IMDB. Earths Biggest Movie Database. 24 Jan. 2005 www. imdb. com/title/tt0356910.