Who are the Lowell Norman Hiram and Max Goldberg?

The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max, invented and developed the first automobile air-conditioner.

On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees. The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.

Henry was curious and invited them intohis office. They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.

They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately. The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the patent.

The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.



Now old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords.

They haggled back and forth forabout two hours, and finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown.

And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max on the controls.

Claims that the "swine flu" vaccine is dangerous range from seriously overblown to flat-out false.

We’re starting to feel nostalgic for the early days of the swine flu pandemic, when the rumors centered around devastated villages and zombies in Cambodia. The crop of falsehoods about the H1N1 vaccine, though, are potentially much more dangerous, since they encourage the credulous to avoid vaccination at all costs. These myths fall into two loose categories: claims that the vaccine is tainted or dangerous, and claims that the government is going to make it mandatory anyway and punish anyone who doesn’t get vaccinated.

Same As It Ever Was. Really.

Widow of late boxing champion Arturo Gatti has been awarded $40,000

FREE T-SHIRT

MONTREAL–The widow of late boxing champion Arturo Gatti has been awarded $40,000 to cover legal fees and child-care costs, but her fight with his family over his sizable fortune looks set to go the distance.

The sum falls far short of the $150,000 advance that Amanda Rodrigues was seeking from Gatti's estate.

And in another blow to the 23-year-old Brazilian native, Superior Court Justice Paul Chaput concluded in his ruling Thursday that custody of the couple's dog is not an urgent matter for the time being.

Chaput awarded Rodrigues $30,000 to cover legal fees and $10,000 in eventual child-care costs for their son, Arturo Jr.

But the stakes in the bitter dispute are way higher – as in $6 million, the estimated worth of Gatti's estate.

The former world champion, who was born in Italy and raised in Montreal, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a posh Brazilian seaside resort last July 11.

Brazilian police initially ruled the death a homicide and detained Rodrigues for a few weeks. They then ruled it a suicide.

At issue in the legal battle is the validity of two wills that greatly differ on how the estate should be divided.

Rodrigues' lawyers claim a will signed in Quebec this June, which left the estate to her, is the valid one.

However, Gatti's family contends that a will signed in 2007 in New Jersey, where the boxer amassed much of his fortune, is in fact valid and that the Quebec one was signed under duress.

The 2007 will leaves control of his estate to his mother, Ida.

The family has been unable until now to come up with a signed copy of the will.

Grace Di Pace, a lawyer for the Gatti family, said an attorney in New Jersey has forwarded an unsigned copy.

She said regulations in New Jersey don't require attorneys to keep signed copies on file and that the state doesn't have a signed copy either.

On Thursday, the judge rejected attempts by Rodrigues' lawyers to get the court to dismiss the Gatti family's challenge of the newer will.

As he addressed lawyers on both sides, Chaput also expressed reservations that a lengthy court battle could eat away at the money available.

"I think the judge was careful in his judgment in the sense that he assured the succession would be protected at this stage," Di Pace said.

"It's not going to be divided, it's not going to be touched until the proceedings go on."

The legal battle is also being fought in New Jersey.

Last week, a U.S. judge rejected certain requests from Rodrigues' lawyers, but did award a $2,500 monthly support payment for the couple's son, who is about one year old.

Rodrigues will also be allowed to enter their condominium in Montreal to collect her belongings.

"The judgment . . . is a very preliminary stage," said Pierre-Hugues Fortin, a lawyer representing Rodrigues.

"There's many, many more proceedings to come, this is not the final hearing."

Rodrigues was not in court Thursday.

She arrived in Montreal on Monday from Brazil and her lawyer claimed she was penniless and needed access to the condominium and cash.

Chaput said he hopes to iron out a plan to proceed in the case and urged both sides to talk before returning to court on Nov. 17.

Authorities determined Gatti hanged himself with a bag strap that he tied around a wooden staircase column more than two metres off the ground.

They say he looped it around his neck before stepping off a stool.

Gatti's relatives refuted the claim and had his body exhumed in order to conduct a second autopsy, but the full results of that autopsy have not yet been released.