Hey John,

You're absolutely right. Inventing is almost never ex nihilo. Almost always, there is some impetus, and more often than not, inventors build on prior art. The coffee maker situation is a perfect example. We had a "pretty good" coffee maker, and I simply made it better.

I think the perfect brew is the one where you hire a full-time barista to serve you your coffee in the morning... ;)

Right, that's not going to happen even if my ship comes in! LOL...