Successful people with lowly beginnings

[P00057870]

Thomas Edison:
Thomas Edison

Born in 1847, Thomas Edison was a brilliant scientist and inventor. He was thrown out of school when he was 12 because he was thought to be dumb. He was noted to be terrible at mathematics, unable to focus, and had difficulty with words and speech. It was very clear, however, that Thomas Edison was an extremely intelligent student despite his poor performance in school.

In the late 1860s and early 1870s electrical science was still in its infancy and Thomas Edison was keeping abreast of the latest developments. He was an avid reader of the latest research of the day and frequently contributed articles about new ideas in telegraph design to technical journals. Over the course of his career Edison patented 1,093 inventions. Edison believed in hard work, sometimes working twenty hours a day. He has been quoted as saying, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."

Hard work and perseverance helped Thomas Edison focus his keen insight and creative abilities on the development of ingenious tools that have laid the foundation for our modern society.

From a dislexia site: Famous people with Dyslexia

[P00057870]

Who was this man?

This man failed in his first attempt to become a state legislator. This man had a failed business. He failed in his first attempt become a congressman. Later he failed in his first bid for Vice President. Who was this man? None other than… Abraham Lincoln.

[JanusthePhoenix]

Now we're talkin! Thanks P00057870, although I must point out that Edison was not so much a great inventor, but a great businessman and promoter who exploited the inventions and innovations of people like Nikola Tesla. Maybe morally questionable, but look who got remembered!

I'll just post this for laughs...I just took the practice Census test after having a couple of beers. I missed two questions, got the correct answers on 3 other questions but somehow wrote down the wrong letter anyway, and on one question I inexplicably answered "8", which is of course not a letter of the alphabet nor did any of the answer choices involve numbers. :confused:

The moral is, beer before tests equals fail. Or a low pass, I'm not sure what the cut score is for this one. :p

[alissaroot]

The real census test is almost identical to the practice one online I took. It's nearly word for word the exact test.

Also, the lady who gave me my test said I would be able to resume my unemployment benefits after my census work was done, so it should buy me some time to find a permanent job, although I am going to call and confirm this for myself.

They are really looking for people, so if anyone wants to pick up some extra cash--they do need people who can visit places after business hours, so it wouldn't have to interfere with your day schedule, either. High population density areas can pay around $15/hr, but mine is lower than that, $12.25/hr. and $0.55 per mile reimbursed.

[Jessica0703]

This is one of the few classes I can test out of. Any advise?

[Lindagerr]

He started as a person who drove around all of the area outside his city. He knocked on doors and did a good job. He kept getting promoted and he ended up with a job that lasted about 2 years and he became a supervisor. He was already retired from the service and retired from teaching, so he wasn't looking for a permanent position, but it was offered.
So go become a census worker and work your way up and get offered a $100K permanent job.