On 1/29/12 5:39 AM January 29, 2012, John Sundman wrote:
Old joke:
Radio interviewer: "And what would you say is man's greatest invention?"
Man on street: "That's easy. The thermos."
RI: "The thermos? Why do you say that?"
MoS: "Well, what you put in it is hot, it stays hot. What you put in it is cold, it
stays cold."
RI: "What's so amazing about that?"
MoS: "How do it know?"
My grandmother (who is now 89) once told me that the greatest inventions
of the 20th century were jello and dishwashing detergent. This was
towards the end of the Apollo program, so I was mystified at her prosaic
list. I could kind of understand the magic of jello, but dishwashing
detergent?
When she was a girl, all they had was homemade lye soap. When you were
done washing the dishes, there was a ring of soap and dirt around the
dishpan, and you had to scrub away this filthy mess when you were done
with the dishes.
She is also a big fan of other modern conveniences like indoor plumbing,
central heating, the refrigerator, and the automatic washer. As a girl,
they had to do their wash in two big boilers, over a fire in the front
yard, using wash-paddles to wring clothes out. Then the clothes were
hung to dry (they froze dry in the winter) and they had to be ironed to
get the stiffness and the last of the dampness out.
As I have gotten older, I have come to appreciate the sheer marvel of a
number of prosaic inventions. The lowly screw, for example, that holds
our world together. Some years ago, I realized that I would never have
thought to wrap an inclined plane around a sharp cone and that the
resulting item would become a very secure fastener. I am simply not
smart enough to have invented the screw.
This was a very humbling realization.
So, in the contest of the greatest human invention of all time, I would
like to offer SANITATION.
The realization that disease is spread by filth and germs came
relatively late to human beings. A huge amount of human suffering and
death was caused by contaminated water, contact with human waste, and
the presence of vermin disease vectors. Diseases of filth, such as
typhus, have turned the tides of wars and caused epidemics that laid
waste to cities and even continents.
regards,
jrs
P.S. In my house, my wife and I use the phrase "how do it know?" to express amazement, especially
when some technology, such as a new DVD player, actually works when you set it up instead of not working for
some unfathomable reason that makes you want to smash it to bits (before you give up, swallow your pride, and
call the 800 "help" number and get connected to a very nice young woman in Bangalore named
"Jenny" who has a very bad fake American accent, but who figures out how to get your DVD working.)
Wait. You have actually had success in recent years with a call to a
support center?
I no longer even try. If Google doesn't know the answer, it's time to
send the thing back where it came from and get one that Google can
understand.
--
Heather Madrone ([email protected])
http://www.sunsplinter.blogspot.com
Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its
best is power correcting everything that stands against love.
- Martin Luther King
