By The Way...

Friday, November 11, 2005
5:56:00 AM EST
Hearing Nothing at the moment.
I love articles like this: History's Most Underrated Inventions -- nine things you didn't know were terrible important to the way live today, ranging from chariots to rotary presses to carborundum. My favorite thing on here is the longbow, the large bow-and-arrow set that ended the era of the armor-clad knight; anyone who's spent any amount of time reading European history knows just how significant a weapon that baby was. However, the list doesn't feature what I figure to be the most underrated invention of recent times: Air conditioning. Seriously, I can't imagine how people lived before that.

Anything you think this list is missing?


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This entry has 4 comments: (Add your own)

• #4 Comment from bubblekid2417 
  11/12/05 8:35 PM | Permalink

  I just survived a summer without air conditioning.  I have to say it was pretty tough
• #3 Comment from mavarin 
  11/11/05 9:23 PM | Permalink

  Heh.  Hey, I've heard of all of this stuff, plus the Jacquard loom and coal-tar derivatives.  These are all inventions that James Burke has been talking about for years, in his The Day the Universe Changed and Connections tv series and related books.  Great stuff! - Karen
• #2 Comment from lurkynat 
  11/11/05 3:26 PM | Permalink

  Hi! I liked the concrete story so much..it's alwasy fascinated me but I din't know waht they put into it and now I do! I kied hearing about the longbow too again thanks!
  natalie
• #1 Comment from tehfifthfeather 
  11/11/05 8:55 AM | Permalink

  How did they live without air conditioning? Their homes were designed in such a way that their knowledge of when to keep the windows and doors open to let in the cool drafts and when to close them to keep the hot air out. It's an art that's been lost today.