"Oh, it took Bell to make the telephone ring...

And it took Edison to light up our way. Oh, it took Robert Fulton in a steamboat to go chug-chug-chuggin' down the bay. Howe knew how to make a sewing machine. The Wrights knew the right way to fly. So when you're spelling the word Am-er-i-ca: don't forget to dot the 'i' for the inventors, don't forget to dot the 'i'!"

I want to continue ("George Pullman made the sleeping cart for railroad trips at night. Lou Waterman made the fountain pen so everyone could write..."), but it's not going to get it any less stuck in my head, I've already written far too much, and nobody cares except perhaps Rachael.

I've had a fine Wikipedia session investigating American inventors that started as a legitimate homework-related activity, but has now consumed half-an-hour of my day when it should've been a quickie. But imagine the horror when I looked up rotary printing press and "It was invented by William Bullock." My entire life I've been singing that it was Richard Hoe! But never fear, I figured it out: Bullock improved the rotary printing press during the 1860s that Hoe invented in the 1840s. Both can be cited as the inventor just depending on which step of the matter you consider the true invention of the rotary printing press. Whew...

Remember that phase during childhood when you wanted to be an inventor when you grew up? And wasn't it a shame when you found out that it's not a legitimate occupation? You can't major in inventing. You can't set up an inventing shop and make a living off of it. It was a bitter day indeed when I found out that it needs to be a hobby or directly related to some other occupation.