A friend of mine tells a similar story about his parents having a meal with a guy named Edwin who wanted them to invest in a particular chemical process he was experimenting with. They turned him down, and yes, it worked out to be Edwin Land, playing with what would eventually become the Polaroid process. They too threw away some money that day.

"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain--that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." --Lysander Spooner, 1867