Thank you.
We live surrounded by inventions and discoveries that make our lives easier (mostly). Sometimes, we know who was responsible. Mostly, though, especially for inventions/discoveries lost in the mists of time, or developed by a team behind closed doors, we have no clue. Think fire, the wheel, brewing, writing/language, the microwave.
And let's not forget those people who made original inventions more useful. The can opener wasn't invented until ten years after the tin can, and it took another 100+ years for easy open cans. The guy who invented the eraser, or at least thought to put one on one end of a pencil. The remote control. And yes, sliced bread.
Here are some other inventions that pop into mind that may not be civilization-changing, but have impacted my life. The list could take up pages and days, but this is a sampling.
- rope/string/thread
- ice cream
- air quotes (my personal fave)
- refrigerated cinnamon rolls in cans
- indoor plumbing
- plastic storage bags that seal
- domesticated animals
- handles, especially on cups, mugs and bags
Then there are things that may have started out as good ideas, noble efforts, but just crashed and burned. I'm thinking of things like adjustable doneness controls on toasters and the second zip strip on reclosable bags. And of course, the angry, vindictive person who took simple easy-open plastic packaging and made it into a fortress of solitude for the product inside, and requiring something like a chain saw to remove the package from contents
Let us not forget...
One of the items I mentioned as a good thing was writing. That is an example of a lot of people having a good idea at the same time, and developing it in different ways. The Sumerians, the Egyptians, and the Chinese all came up with ways to record things, independent of each other. All fine and good. But how did they decide/agree upon what the symbols and squiggles meant?
We have schools, one of whose primary responsibilities is teaching children and adults to read. But how, when writing was new, did the interpretation of the jots and squiggles occur, and letting people know what the meaning was and how to use the word? Word of mouth? Or were there formal training sessions showing how to decode the jots and tittles, in essence, the beginning of teachers and schools?
The thing is, however this transfer process occurs, it has to be refreshed regularly as new symbol systems are invented. Right now, we are undergoing such a shift in the language of emoji, where we learn the meanings of the different symbols and find out an eggplant is not just a vegetable. Unlike the elaborate friezes on the burial chambers in the pyramids, emoji is constantly evolving and changing, acquiring subtle nuances and shadings of meaning, so that an eggplant is not a cucumber. Or maybe it is.
Irony.
BBC chooses to report on The death of reading
by way of a podcast.
Another time waster.
My weather app wants me to Take ten seconds to see what everyone else will be talking about.
I do not care what other people will be talking about. More accurately, I care what other people are talking about less than they care what I’m talking about.
Although, seeing talking might be fun. I could really get behind visual talking. Oh, wait. Isn't that called reading—and writing?
Still not crazy after all these years.
One of my earliest memories is watching Captain Kangaroo, with Mr. Greenjeans, Bunny Rabbit, Mighty Mouse, and others.
But what I remember most vividly was an irregular visitor called The Banana Man. His schtick was pulling bananas out of large pockets on his overcoat while going 'oooo.'
Every now and again I tell people about Banana Man, people who are old enough to have watched the Captain, and they scoff and pshaw and say I'm crazy.
Well, yeah, but there was a Banana Man. Today, I was chatting about creepy TV with a friend (mostly about Twilight Zone) and thought about Banana Man. I said, 'hey, I've got a computer,' and so looked, and found my old friend. More to the act than I remember, like clothing and music, but still creepy fun.
In fact, the Captain may have been a whole lot less good mindless kid's TV than we give him credit for. He introduced many of us to societal outliers and the subversive.
Thanks, Captain.
Forever plastic.
People lament that much plastic is indestructible, will never degrade, forms giant floating islands in the Pacific Ocean, and may be invading our bodies and killing us.
Well, yeah, that's all bad, but right now I'm thinking more about the mound of various-sized plastic storage containers that lurk under a shelf in the pantry. You know the ones—Chinese food take-out containers. Yogurt drums. Various-sized jars. Containers bought specifically for guests to use to take leftovers home, but you overbought on containers. Containers you brought leftovers home in. And such odd sizes! 1x6x3, 2x20x6, 3ftx10ftx1in, and so on.
If that's not bad enough, as the hoard grows over the years, you discover there is no uniformity of sizes, that this square container is 1/4 in. larger than that container, making the orderly stacking and storage next to impossible.
Let us not forget the lids. Unto each container shall be a lid, and endless hours of frustration shalt be spent trying to match a lid to a container. Some lids crave freedom, and are never rejoined with their containers. Yet they linger on in the space beneath the shelf.
Yes, I know what the answer is, but I can't just throw these containers away, as they may be 'useful' some day. And throwing them away would only contribute to the whole global forever plastic problem.
Ah, the moral conundrums of the modern man.
Apropos of nothing.
I was looking at a map of Williamsburg, VA, the other day, and found a street called 'News Rd.' Cute enough. But just north of that is 'Old News Rd.' I wonder if the cartographer or city engineer or 'the guy responsible for naming city streets' had an impish sense of humor, or just was following some predetermined naming convention. I can only hope it was the former.
Back to basics.
BBC has a strange fascination with human elimination and excretions, the most recent example being the lifelong legacy of a baby's first poo.
Personally, I think the reporters should start hanging out with some scientists and medical professionals in different areas of investigation, and not just experts in the alimentary canal, or at least not tell us about every bowel movement they have.