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THE ONLINE INVENTOR -- July issue

(c) 2002 Market Launchers, Inc.

www.marketlaunchers.com/customer-testimonials.html

Publisher: Paul Niemann

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FAMOUS / INFAMOUS Quotes …

"My wife said I'm not a good communicator because I don't listen -- at least
that's what I think she said," Bryan Flanagan

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Article 1: "We might have lost World War II if not for this little-known 'invention,' " re-printed from the INVENTION MYSTERIES newspaper column by Paul Niemann

Article 2: "Do YOU have the characteristics to be a successful entrepreneur?" by David Batchelor

Article 3: "Liability," by Jim White, author of "Will It Sell?"

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Article 1: "We might have lost World War II if not for this little-known 'invention,' " re-printed from the INVENTION MYSTERIES newspaper column by Paul Niemann

In war, the side with the superior level of intelligence has a major advantage, as does the side with the most effective use of communications.

This story delves into how the use of a certain communications tool influenced World War II. This "invention," though not patentable, is probably more native to America than apple pie and baseball.

It was used in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 -- Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima. It was used in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, enabling our men to transmit messages by telephone and radio in a code the Japanese never broke.

Without it, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima, according to Major Howard Connor of the 5th Marine Division.

So what is this great "invention" that helped us win World War II?

The answer: Navaho code talkers. These code talkers were Navaho Indians who were recruited to transmit and interpret messages during the war.

The Germans had the Enigma machine as their code system, but it was no match for the Navajo code talkers. Its syntax and tonal qualities, not to mention dialects, make it unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure and training. It has no alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American Southwest. One estimate indicates that less than 30 non-Navajos, none of them Japanese, could understand the language at the outbreak of World War II.

How important to the American war effort were the Navaho code talkers?

Major Connor had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle of Iwo Jima. Those six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error.

The subject of a 2002 Hollywood movie called Windtalkers, the Navaho code talkers' code is the only unbroken code in modern military history. The code enabled American translators stationed outside the United States to decipher the code in minutes, whereas other codes would take approximately two hours to decipher. It would take only 20 seconds for the Navaho code talkers to decode a three-line English message, whereas machines required 30 minutes to perform the same job.

So how did the Navaho code talkers go virtually unnoticed for half a century after the war had ended?

Navajo remained potentially valuable as code even after the war. For that reason, the code talkers, whose skill and courage saved both American lives and military engagements, only recently earned recognition from the U.S. government and the public. They were honored in September of 1992 at the Pentagon; the Navajo code talker exhibit is a regular stop on the Pentagon tour. The exhibit includes a display of photographs, equipment and the original code, along with an explanation of how the code worked.

Thirty-five Navajo code talkers, all veterans of the U.S. Marine Corps, and their families traveled from their homes on the Navajo Reservation, which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, to attend the dedication of the Navajo code talker exhibit.

Who was this visionary Navaho individual who came up with this brilliant plan to use their native language as code in World War II?

The idea actually came from an American named Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently. Johnston, reared on the Navajo reservation, was a World War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to decipher it. He also knew that Native American languages -- notably Choctaw -- had been used in World War I to encode messages.

Sources: The History Channel, Naval Historical Center of the Dept. of the Navy

NEXT ISSUE: Could this be the greatest invention of all time? You decide.

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If your newspaper does not carry the INVENTION MYSTERIES column, then call or write to your newspaper's editor and request that they carry it; they can go to http://www.inventionmysteries.com for details. You can find your newspaper editor's name somewhere in your newspaper, usually on the editorial page. Thanks.

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Article 2: "Do YOU have the characteristics to be a successful entrepreneur?" by David Batchelor

Do YOU have the characteristics to be a successful entrepreneur?

Here are what both experience and research suggest are six of the most essential qualities:

1)    A strong work ethic.
As Thomas Edison said: "It's one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration."

2)    The ability to take risk.
Business is a four letter word spelled RISK.

3)    Self-confidence.
It has got to be you, so you'd better believe in yourself.

4)    Clear and constant focus.
You must stay focused on your dream. You must learn to focus on the critical few things, not the trivial many. Do the important things, not the urgent.

5)    The ability to learn from mistakes.
You'll make them. Everyone does. Successful people have the courage to look at what they have done or not done and learn from it.

6)    Be passionate about your work.
"Nothing great," said Ralph Waldo Emerson, "was ever accomplished without enthusiasm."

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David Batchelor has written numerous articles focusing on Tips, Strategies, Tools and how-to's for creating the Ultimate Home Based Business. To Subscribe to his e-zine please go to: http://www.netmarkpro.com/djb
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (646) 353-1465

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Article 3: "Liability," by Jim White, author of "Will It Sell?"

If you know or suspect that there will be some liability issues involved with your invention, now is the time to start dealing with them. Some really dangerous products, such as toys, (yes you heard that right) have bodies of law with safety specifications that are mandatory for you to meet or exceed. It certainly won't hurt you to check out the Consumer Products Safety Commission at www.cpsc.gov.

Go in and rummage around and do searches of the Code of Federal Regulations for your product or product type. You'll probably notice the CPSC site occasionally bounces you out to the www.gpo.gov and other sites.

From the CPSC you can request a free copy of The Handbook & Standard for Manufacturing Safer Consumer Productions (June 1975). It describes at a high level the issues you need to think about from the day you start working on your invention. If you don't have time to look at the CPSC site now you can always come back to it later to find out how to deal with a mandatory product recall or a violation notice.

While you are thinking safety, don't just look at the laws. Many safety standards that you MUST meet in order not to be easily found liable are "voluntary." Another government site good for gathering this type of information is the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST, formerly called the National Bureau of Standards). Their web site is www.nist.gov. You can collect a wealth of information either online or by ordering documents.

You will also discover that there are many independent testing laboratories that will "certify" a wide variety of products. For example, I did a search and found 3 labs that certify toys. Yes, this stuff can be a lot to wade through. A shortcut is to buy a few products related to yours and closely examine them, their packaging, instructions, manuals, etc., and see what kinds of certifications or standards they purport to meet then to specifically research those. If you plan a global product the International Standards Organization (ISO) site at www.iso.ch is probably also a must visit. Their online catalog, for example, identifies a dozen publications relating to metal color and fineness standards relevant to jewelry products.

One typical "instant" reaction to the problem of liability is to incorporate or establish some other form of limited liability organization. It is a good idea but only to a point so I don't see its necessity in the early stages of your firm. I do highly recommend you get additional advice on this though.

The reason I'm not so keen on immediately incorporating or whatever is because both a financial and a time burden are imposed on you by such action. You have to keep the entity's records separate and apart from your own. That usually requires paid people or a considerable learning curve on your part.

No matter what you do, however, if your assets (or earning power) are bigger than your company's, and it appears that the event or decision for which the corporation "is" liable arose from negligence or a decision on your part, the plaintiff s attorney will quickly "pierce the corporate veil" and zap you directly. This is pretty much 100% guaranteed if your "Inc." doesn't carry a reasonable level of liability insurance for you.

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This information is from Jim's book, "Will It Sell?" To purchase "Will It Sell?" for 19.95 plus $5 S/H, please go to www.willitsell.com.

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Until next month, Successful Inventing To You!

Best Regards,

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Click here to read the June 2002 issue.