Photo: Thinkstock

When you work in public places, as so many of us freelancer/consultant/telecommuters do, you get really good at ignoring people. It's probably the only line of work in which social neglect and a mild case of face blindness are assets: when you don't actually have coworkers, you need less of an elevator speech and more of a "don't talk to me I gotta get this done" face. So it's no surprise that blogger and professional impossible-thing-doer Joel Runyon was reluctant to break his focus when an elderly fellow sidled up to him in his local cafe, asking about his Mac. Runyon was inwardly groaning at the Mac-vs-PC debate he thought was coming, when the man said, "I invented the first computer."

The conversation that followed is notable in many ways, not the least of which was the advice Mr. Invented the Computer offered: "Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do."   This, from an innovator before there was an internet full of innovators, from the man who, among other notable accomplishments, scanned the first image (in yet another instance of this man's foresight, the photo is, like so much of the Internet today, a picture of an adorable baby). The other advice Runyon shares? "Do things that have never been done."

Yes! Don't you love when inspiration comes from unlikely places? Like that person sitting next to you, maybe, who you've been ignoring while you read?

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