King Camp Gillette is remembered for an empire built on giving away one half of his product to increase sales for the other half, but the year prior to moment of inspiration that lead to disposable razors, Gillette published a book with a larger scope: The Human Drift. The work of Utopian social planning was focused on a nation-city called Metropolis, to be powered by Niagara Falls. Gillette followed the first book with a second in 1910, World Corporation, which was a revised vision for a better world, now focused as a corporation formed in the Arizona Territory that would grow to encompass the world, with former President Theodore Roosevelt to head up as corporation president. Roosevelt declined the position, and Gillette's Utopian dreams faded. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jul 22, 2010 - 9 comments

On October 1, 1908, the first Ford Model T rolled out of the factory on Piquette Avenue in Detroit. Many people today wonder why Henry Ford started his nomenclature with the letter "T." Short answer: He didn't. [more inside]
posted by Turkey Glue on Jul 19, 2009 - 19 comments

Fake Rapture. You are now on the cutting edge.
posted by univac on May 5, 2009 - 131 comments

In Praise of Idleness, Why Crunch Mode Doesn't Work, and The Five Day Work Week. via
posted by anotherpanacea on Dec 14, 2007 - 24 comments

In the 1930's, Henry Ford transplanted a tiny piece of America—complete with picket fences, fire hydrants, poetry readings, square-dancing, and English-language sing-alongs—into the Amazon rain forest. Fordlândia was to be the largest rubber tree plantation on the planet (over 70 million rubber tree seedlings) providing material for the millions of tires Ford Motor Company needed. It flopped. So he tried again, downriver a bit, with Belterra. It flopped, too. By 1945, Ford threw in the towel having lost over $20 million, or roughly $200 million in modern dollars.
posted by CodeBaloo on Aug 21, 2006 - 10 comments

Auto baron Henry Ford was a great entrepreneur and a peacemaker during the World World I era. In fact, he loved just about everyone. Everyone, that is, except for the Jews. Read his book and find out how Anti-Semitism isn't just for white trash anymore.
posted by tdecius on Aug 28, 1999 - 0 comments