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Inventor of the Modern Pinball Machine Dies At 100
porsche911 writes with this excerpt from the New York Times: "Steve Kordek, who revolutionized the game of pinball in the 1940s by designing what became the standard two-flipper machine found in bars and penny arcades around the world, died on Sunday at a hospice in Park Ridge, Ill. He was 100. ... 'Steve's impact would be comparable to D. W. Griffith moving from silent films through talkies and color and CinemaScope and 3-D with computer-generated graphics,' [pinball historian Roger] Sharpe said. 'He moved through each era seamlessly.'"
Pinball is great, and I'm fond of some of the "pinball people" I've met.
Many seem interesting and dedicated, but others just seem to have too much money and time, and have an enormous ego because of their collection.
Pinball is fun, I agree. However, like many expensive hobbies it seems to attract some really elitist dickweeds, and I'm having a hard time with the competing emotions of feeling sorry that this guy died, but at the same time elated that I hope the news momentarily pauses a few real assholes I've known. It won't, I know that, and it doesn't really matter.... so forgive my terrible pettiness, but M & L (you Federal Agent lunatics, you), wherever you are, I hope this makes your a day a little dimmer and distracts you for a split second where-in something truly awful befalls you both.
Petty? Yes. But so are whackjob federal agents with an axe to grind.
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