Its a sad day for me

[godric21ph]

So i was reading my weekly dose of damninteresting.com and there was an article in there about a huge tower that Tesla built. It was mentioned in the first few paragraph that he invented the flourescent lamp...

wait... WTF?!

Masakit sa pinoy prode ko yung nabasa ko. So i went to wikipedia to read about flourescent lamp and was surprised that the name Agapito Flores is not even mentioned and there were also no article about him in there. After further research, I learned that he didn't exists and was only a myth.

When did this happen? Pinalabas ba sa tv? Pano na yung mga childhood memories kong nanonood ng batibot, nakikinig ng kwento tungkol kay Agapito. San nanggaling ang kwento ni Agapito?

[takkochan]

Hindi lang yan..eto pa:

Armando Malite...pinoy inventor daw ng M-16 armalite, tinuro ito sa amin sa ROTC. WRONG! Eugene Stoner is the inventor.

Eduardo San Juan...pinoy inventor daw of the Lunar Rover. He supposedly worked for Lockheed Martin. WRONG! The Lunar Rover was built by Boeing, with teams of scientists and engineers.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Hmmm. I had HS in RP (during Marcos' time) and I do recall Germer, a German, as the inventor of the first true fluorescent bulb while GE bought the patent from him and was the first to produce the product. I never heard of A. Flores til now.

As for the Moon Rover, I'd bet San Juan was one of those in the team (or at least associated with the Moon Rover) although he can't claim to be the inventor. Now that I've heard of from my Mapua days since I think San Juan was a Mapuan. I also recalled stories about Lockheed swiping the brightest graduates as soon as they finished their degree.

Of course, that was back then when Mapua was still considered the heavyweight for engineering.

As for the M-16.... Looking at the way the US Armed Forces developed and procured arms, I think it's highly unlikely Armando Malite was the inventor. My dad was already in the service during the whole development/deployment of the M-16. If it was a Pinoy who invented it, he definitely would've said something to me.

As for that rumor, I first heard it in the late 70's from my young (then 10-yr old) cousin who was playing with a toy plastic "Armalite". The obvious similarity of the names was there. But, that's about it.

[FedEx]

hmm.. armando malite? hm... ar**** malite? hmmm morning tsikoteers

[Alpha_One]

When did this happen? Pinalabas ba sa tv? Pano na yung mga childhood memories kong nanonood ng batibot, nakikinig ng kwento tungkol kay Agapito. San nanggaling ang kwento ni Agapito?

From what I read, the closest any "Agapito Flores" was to being involved in the technology is introducing it to Manuel Quezon.

I don't see any value in propagating these false stories that instill a sense of false pride among people. It's like telling a child that he was delivered by a stork, with a busload of insecurity in the part of the storyteller.

The media plays upon the insecurity in people, overblowing the achievements of those worthy of attention. Examples: Diosdado Banato (Silicon Valley innovator) being "richer than Zobel, Tan, Sy combined", Eduardo San Juan inventing the Lunar Rover "all by himself" (as opposed to being on the team that invented it), etc.

Media also glorify people who haven't got much to do with famous inventions if anything at all. E.g. Flores, Malite. This is further reinforced by the similar sounding names and the "oppressive imperialist must have stole my work!" mentality. I'm not surprised if their stories were completely fabricated.

Don't be ashamed. Tesla may not be a Filipino, but he is human. Humans are capable of real amazing s***. Remember, all Filipinos are humans. It's your humanity, not your ethnicity (or citizenship) that you should be more proud of.

[orly_andico]

Yan kasi ang problema... as a country we have so little pride that we resort to "inventing" accomplishments.

I remember that Agapito Flores ( = "fluorescent" ) gag back when I was in elementary. Even back then it sounded stupid.

The Lunar Rover guy, as I recall, he designed the drive system ( transmission ) on the Rover, not the whole thing.

Never heard about Armando before. It's well-known that Eugene Stoner developed the M-16 from his civilian AR-10 rifle.

[BlueBimmer]

armando malite? :hysterical:

[MAXBUWAYA]

I just research this three weeks ago, yes agapito G flores wasnt recognize as the inventor.

Some says that he sold his invention kahit hindi kasama pangalan nya.

[Alpha_One]

The Flores story is unlikely if not impossible. The principle of fluorescene has been around for three quarters of a century prior to the period of his "invention", and the technology in development for almost as long. It's possible that he might have come up with a patent for a specific sort of fluorescent lamp, but he didn't invent the fluorescent lamp himself.

Anyway, see http://www.txtmania.com/trivia/inventions.php. The page lists some Filipino inventors, both real and "imagined". The roster includes Flores, San Juan and Dingel. Decide for yourself.

"In Poland, the Moon Buggy is attributed to a Polish inventor."

[ts1n1ta]

ako i've never heard of agapito flores...

armando malite? hahaha pinagtripan ata kayo officers sa rotc. that's funny.

[badsekktor]

As i recall, the Flores guy was believed that he lived near our place but we never knew anybody who have Flores as their last name (just in case there are still descendants living our area)

and as for that armando malite? i thought it was just a joke?

[Alpha_One]

Nung nalaman ko na hindi si Flores ang nagimbento ng ploresent lamp, hindi ako nalungkot. Feeling ko tinraydor ako ng media at ng sistema ng edukasyon. Andyan sila para magsabi ng totoo, diba? Kung kelangan ko ng fairytale story, andyan naman si nanay at ang mga children's books.

As i recall, the Flores guy was believed that he lived near our place but we never knew anybody who have Flores as their last name (just in case there are still descendants living our area)

Don't bother looking for evidence on the existence of Flores. GE and other big evil capitalists have already bought the rights to the evidence, you won't find them here. Only them and God know the truth.

[slyfox]

good thing i skipped out on rotc. hey at least we invented the yo-yo! loop the loop! hehehe

[badsekktor]

Nung nalaman ko na hindi si Flores ang nagimbento ng ploresent lamp, hindi ako nalungkot. Feeling ko tinraydor ako ng media at ng sistema ng edukasyon. Andyan sila para magsabi ng totoo, diba? Kung kelangan ko ng fairytale story, andyan naman si nanay at ang mga children's books.

same sentiments here..... feeling ko niloloko na lang tayo ng media.... kaya nga hanggang ngayon di pa rin ako makapaniwala na may nakarating sa tuktok ng mt. everest eh.... i mean masyado limited resources nung mga climbers and mt. everest is not like mt. apo or any mountains here... anyway feeling ko lang naman yun.... but on the positive side, these things uplifts our spirits....



until we discover the truth....

Don't bother looking for evidence on the existence of Flores. GE and other big evil capitalists have already bought the rights to the evidence, you won't find them here. Only them and God know the truth.

nagbabakasakali lang naman. hehehehe! baka makakuha ng first hand scoop from the man himself!

[the_wildthing]

For all we know these stories were just concocted by some propagandista during the Marcos era to champion the Filipino hero.

Even that story about Romulo saying "I want that dot" is not in any of the UN transcripts.

[laklak]

Even that story about Romulo saying "I want that dot" is not in any of the UN transcripts.

Could you enlighten me on this, it seems that i havent heard this before.

[Alpha_One]

Could you enlighten me on this, it seems that i havent heard this before.

If you look at the UN flag, there's a dot on the map of the globe where the Philippines would be. Legend has it that the Romulo asked where the bloody hell the Philippines was. The flag designer(s) answered that they didn't put it in because it was as small as a dot (wala namang hi-res printing or HDTV nun ). Romulo, it is said, insisted that he "it's an important dot and he wants it" or something.

[A121]

Sa pagkakaalam ko, si Dado Banatao ang may-ari ng narra venture capital. siya rin yung may ari dati ng S3 graphics. Nag talk yung isang rep nila sa amin sa school about venture capitalism.

Daming errors dun sa napost na site.

[Alpha_One]

Sites like that underscore my point with all these invented inventors. Mainstream media feeds us with so much half-truths, it's hard to distinguish them from whole lies. It's hardly "Pinoy Pride" when Dingel gets glorified by the media, then all of a sudden the "water powered car" comes around and you smell petrol exhaust. Any criticisms or skepticisms of these pop culture anecdotes will bring up all sorts of excuses such as "lack of government support", "unwilling to sell out to greedy capitalists" and "colonial mentality".

I mean, if you were a financially challenged inventor, would you a) keep the invention to yourself because you're "not a sellout", b) wait for nonexistent support on a radical new discovery or c) hand over your ideas to someone who can mass-produce and mass-market it or d) take a lot of personal risk by attempting to sell the idea to everyone.

Many inventors try c) first. When nobody takes them seriously, they do d). Inventors want their ideas to be in widespread application. Quacks like Dingel come up with excuses like "it's for the people". Sitting on a theory because you don't have the resources to put it in practice is counter-productive and anti-innovative, and are unlikely to be done by actual innovators.

Think about it. If the Dingel water car really worked, every car would be water powered by now, and as a result "the people" will have benefited directly and immensely. If the Khaos was a really good idea, every car would have it attached, and whatshisname would be rich by now. But I digress.

[uls]

An inventor or two wont make a country great.

A world champ boxer or two wont make a country great.

An olympic medalist or two wont make a country great

The economic output of it's people and companies make a country great.

-----------------------------------------------------------

OFWS sent home around $10B in 2005. This year it is expected to be around $12B

Here's a list of the most profitable companies in the US (2006):
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...anies/profits/

Microsoft made $12B in profits in 2005. That's more than all the OFWs sent to the Phils in 2005. That's just 1 company and its not even the most profitable.

I know we pinoys are a proud people. But let's be realistic here. Maliit lang tayo on the world stage.

We may have Manny Pacquio to make us proud for being pinoy... ummm... tapos? After the excitement dies down.... ano na? Time to do some accounting...

Manny Pacquiao made X amount of money... ano effect nyan sa GDP ng Pinas?

Kung sana all OFWs make as much money as Pacquiao every year, year after year... ibang usapan na yan...