rogers was working on his electric grid in appleton wisconsin. and came very close to actually eating edison to the punch but edison opened his grid in august 1882, 2 weeks later in september, h. j. rogers' grid came online. it was the second centralized electric grid in the entire world. it was the first hydroelectric power plant in the entire world. and more important, appleton wisconsin was the first place that somebody other than thomas edison without edison's team of geniuses working around him try to take this technology and apply in the real world. and he failed initially. and when you understand why h. j. rogers failed from the other better understanding of how our good works today and why there are some problems with it. h. j. rogers first problem was a technological problem. specifically, he had no idea what he was doing with the technology he purchased. there were no such thing as electric linemen in 1882. there were no such thing in his electrical engineers but that was the job, is edison's staff was inventing as they went along in ne

and so the people who bought the electric utility in appleton. it was not until the 1920s that it was a profitable business. and even then, it was because electric utilities set out to create their own demand. they set out with a concerted effort. along the way, they created the toaster oven, the curling iron, and they found lots of different things to do with electric motors. items in turn sure some of you have seen history books we can see small towns having these great big networks of electric streetcars. a lot of those were actually owned by utility companies, trying to find something for people to do with electricity during the day. it only work for you could serve a lot of people at the same time, not in rural cities. for many years, womack america was not modernized. it wasn't until the 1930s to 1950s when the federal government stepped in and started spreading the cost of building this infrastructure over the entire country that you were really able to get everybody up to the same speed on a technological basis. i think there are a few im

in 1882 was one of the richest people in appleton wisconsin. he had a paper mail and was literally building a mansion on the hill and matt made a decision where he went on a fishing trip for the edison electric writing company. at the time to hj rogers had never seen the electric lightbulb. he actually owned by gaslight utility and electricity was an up-and-coming competitor for him. he came back the proud honor of the rights to license these edison technology and ended up being the beginning of the end for him it is a successful businessman. i like this story a lot because it really goes again the narrative i think most of us learned when we were in junior high and high school, vat that thomas edison invented the electric lightbulb in 1879 and everything kind of comes together perfectly like electricity is this killer app that solves the problem whenever it should adopt immediately. the reality is a lot messier than that. in reality the incandescent light bulb was invented in 1879. it was invented in 1804 by eight humphrey dacey who became the

. >> i'm here with a big-time yo-yo champion from the appleton ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone likesorder in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it. keep track of spending, move money with a slide, and use the calendar. all to see your money how you want. ♪ see how the carrots i grow make that new stouffer's steam meal so tasty. actually, the milk fr my farm makes it so creamy, right dad. dad can see... boys! don't you think stouffer's steam perfect bag should get some credit? my carrots. my milk. [ female announcer ] new from stouffer's. farmers' harvest steam meals taste so good we'll bet the farm on it. >>> he bills himself a champion. >> i'm here with a big-time yo-yo champion from the appleton area. >> he even has a cool nickname. >> good morning, thanks for coming on. >> but these television anchors are about to find out the only yo-yo in this group is k. strass himself. >> you all right? >> i'm here with lisa mallick, the host of "sunday morning" in green bay, wisconsin. yo-yo champion kenny strasser or k. strass is booked on the show in april 2010. >> well, i have been a