The relentless pursuit of knowledge

It's not trivial. One thought or idea leads to another.

I mentioned Dale Carnegie's original successful book written in 1936 and wondered if he was related to the famous American industrialist named Carnegie. Maybe he was just a lazy rich kid with the time to philosophize and write about "winning friends and influencing people". How to find out? I thought of Wikipedia, partly inspired by a recent article on Wikinomics in Canadian Business by Don Tapscott, Canadian philospher,writer and commentator on technology trends.

So I searched Google (of course) to find the Wikipedia entry and learned the following, plus a bonus marketing tip!:

Born in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri, Carnegie was a poor farmer's boy, the second son of James William Carnagey and Amanda Elizabeth Harbison.[1] In his teens, though still having to get up at 4 a.m. every day to milk his parents' cows, he managed to get educated at the State Teacher's College in Warrensburg. His first job after college was selling correspondence courses to ranchers; then he moved on to selling bacon, soap and lard for Armour & Company. He was successful to the point of making his sales territory, southern Omaha, the national leader for the firm.[citation needed]
Perhaps one of Carnegie’s most successful marketing moves was to change the spelling of his last name from “Carnegey” to Carnegie, at a time when Andrew Carnegie was a widely revered and recognized name.

More fascinating facts, or useless trivia. You decide.