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    The Great Gordino Newsletter - Issue 301 - Fri 11th Mar 2005
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    Hi There,

    I hope Friday finds you well.

    I saw a good documentary recently, which really pushed my
    buttons on the self-improvement, goal achievement and wealth
    creation fronts.

    It was about the actress, Hedy Lamarr.

    I must admit that my knowledge of Hedy Lamarr didn't really
    extend much beyond the Mel Brooks film 'Blazing Sadles', which
    featured a sheriff called Hedly 'not Hedy' Lamarr.

    This documentary was amazing.
    It was made by her son, and was a bit corny in style, but her
    story is a fascinating one, so here it is...

    Born in 1914 in Vienna, Austria, she decided when she was a
    little girl that she wanted to be an actress, and at 17 she caused
    a real storm when she appeared naked in the film 'Ecstasy',
    which would only have been in 1931.

    She got married to an arms trader, but he virtually kept her under
    lock and key, so at 19, she escaped to Paris and London.

    Plenty of adventure so far, some good, some bad.
    She then decided to go to the US, and on the boat was the film
    mogul Louis B Meyer, who had just finished an unsuccessful
    talent spotting trip to Europe.

    He met Hedy, and gave her a 7 year contract on the spot!
    He also gave her the more American sounding surname of
    Lamarr.

    All pretty fairytale stuff, and the fairytale connection carried on
    when Disney based the look of Snow White on her.

    She made 25 films, and went through 6 husbands, which seems
    pretty standard Hollywood fare.

    She wasn't quite the dim beauty that some people thought she
    was, and in fact was a hugely talented scientist.

    During the war she came up with an idea for submarine torpedo
    guidance, based on the principle of frequency hopping.
    This means that the radio frequencies keep changing, so that
    enemies can't tap into them.

    The Government classified the information, and told Hedy
    instead that she would be of more use raising money for the war
    effort.

    As a result, she sold kisses, and raised $7 million in war bonds.

    She carried on winning inventor awards as her Hollywood star
    waned.

    Spread spectrum technology, using Lamarr's frequency hopping
    principles, only really took hold after her patents had expired, so
    she didn't make huge profits from it.

    In fact, everything from mobile phones, to Global Positioning
    Systems use this technology.

    Amazing, eh?

    Hedy Lamarr - she achieved her ambition of acting, reaching the
    heights, went through relationship troubles, helped her country
    in the war, and used her brain to develop science which we all
    take for granted today - now *that's* a story!!

    Ok, have a good weekend, and here's a thought- are you really
    going for your dreams?

    'Til Monday,
    Health and Happiness,
    Gordon
    email me at gordon@gordonbryan.com - you'll have to copy and paste
    thanks to the idiot online spammers!



    
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