Greatest inventions

fulloflead · Oct 4, 2005

condom, latex c. 1930
defibrillator 1952

Muzak 1922
Prozac 1972

There's no end to the madness.

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faramir · Oct 4, 2005

Gollnick said:
button c. 700 BC Greeks, Etruscans
buttonhole 13th century Europe

Apparently, between 700BC and 1400AD, everyone's fly was open.

Imagine the first guy looking at the buttons on his coat and thinking: if there was just a slot cut in the fabric on the other side, I could button my coat and keep the cold out. Why did this take 2100 years?

I take you've never seen the "loop" buttonhole equivalent ? It's a small loop of cord that button can just barely squeeze through, sewn onto the opposite side of the fly. When button comes through the loop stretches (it's not round anymore) so button can't slip back out of it acidentally. I imagine they were using something like that.

What makes me wonder though is why "Kool Aid" is considered an invention and "rocket" is not ? (rocket as in vehicle that got people to the Moon, not just the engine itself)

Nordic Viking · Oct 4, 2005

faramir said:
What makes me wonder though is why "Kool Aid" is considered an invention and "rocket" is not ? (rocket as in vehicle that got people to the Moon, not just the engine itself)

That's easy, without potato chips and Kool-Aid et al, you wouldn't have cholestrol and diabetes medicines. Spandex would never have been invented either.

DEA · Oct 4, 2005

Gollnick said:
Notice, please, that France invented both the Hot Air Balloon and the Blimp. When it comes to bags of hot air floating around as the wind blows, the French the unchallenged leaders.

you're not a big fan of them froggies, are you?

Blue Jays · Oct 4, 2005

Hi All-

Sliced bread

~ Blue Jays ~

deputy tom · Oct 4, 2005

cmc,you forgot the safety pin aka kilt pin.tom.

enkidu · Oct 4, 2005

Gollnick said:
Imagine the first guy looking at the buttons on his coat and thinking: if there was just a slot cut in the fabric on the other side, I could button my coat and keep the cold out. Why did this take 2100 years?

I think the old buttons all used loops on the other side. Like standing an egg on end, the answer is easy once you've seen it. The person who invented the buttonhole undoubtedly had a flash of insight which none had had before despite the widespread use of buttons throughout the world.

If you think about it, the motion needed to slip/flick a button in and out of its hole is subtle and suprisingly complicated to explain. I have a book "One Good Turn" about the history of the screw and screwdriver which touches on this and other aspects of the invention of the buttonhole. A good book for any tool geeks out there by the way.

Cindy Denning · Oct 5, 2005

The patterns are a little strange anymore

Nordic Viking said:
That's easy, without potato chips and Kool-Aid et al, you wouldn't have cholestrol and diabetes medicines. Spandex would never have been invented either.

Nordic Viking · Oct 5, 2005

Cindy, I sent you my picture in the strictest confidence that you would not post it online

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Cindy Denning · Oct 5, 2005