Dear Elders,
What do you think is the greatest invention of your lifetime? I swore I would never have a microwave in my house, yet for years now I have used one every day.
Signed,
Cookin' With Waves
Jan Stickler
Dear Cookin’,
Since my time goes back quite a way, I’d have to say sliced bread. Did you ever wonder where the phrase “breaking bread” came from? That is not accidental phrasing. Do you know how difficult it is to butter a hunk or get it into the toaster? That is how bread crumbs were invented, but that’s another whole story.
Without sliced bread, the sandwich would never have been invented, not to mention lunch bags and boxes. I’m not saying our civilization would have ground to a halt, but the impact would have been astounding – just the peanut butter and jelly industries alone!
There are not too many things that are “better than sliced bread.” Yup, gets my vote.
Roioli Schweiker
Dear Cookin’ With Waves,
There are many candidates for my favorite invention.
1. I will pick an electric refrigerator with a large freezer full of frozen vegetables, at least half green peas. With a freezer, you don’t have to eat up the leftovers before they spoil, but tuck them away to enjoy later after you have had a break.
2. Orlon socks, or other synthetic fabrics. Years ago, when I went hiking, I could choose between red, itchy feet in wool, or blisters in cotton socks.
3. A word processor.
Steve Leavenworth
Dear Cookin’,
There have been hundreds, even thousands, of inventions that have given us so much. But nearly all of them have also brought pain and suffering or have been wasted, like TV, gasoline engines, nuclear energy. But there are two I think are worthy of mention as greatest.
1. Guttenberg’s moveable press printer. I don’t see any bad results, only good results. What has been written may not always be good, but on the whole, it has raised humankind upward.
2. The “invention” of agriculture moving humans beyond hunter-gatherer status. Again, I don’t see any wrong agriculture, just allowing man to use his time better.
3. Perhaps a third great invention is the boat. When men learned to put the wind to work, they began seeking other men and learned from each other. But, here again, explorers countered the possibilities of exploration by their behavior.
I think I’ll stick with the Guttenberg printing press with agriculture a close second. Don’t ask for the worst inventions – the list would fill the whole newspaper!
Casper Kranenburg
Dear Einstein,
The greatest invention in my house is a fire alarm with a snooze button. I have been able to catch a few more zzzzzs while waiting for the fire truck to arrive; there was nothing else I could do anyway!
Just last week, while in bed watching TV, I was unable to find my cigarette, which had dropped in my mattress and set it on fire, but I pressed the snooze button on the blaring alarm, and it allowed me a few winks before being carried out of the house by this brawny fireman.
Bill Twibill
Dear I’m With You,
It is so very difficult to choose just one invention in my lifetime. I’ve been through remote controls, touch-tone phones, piston planes to supersonic engines that can fly you from here to Hong Kong nonstop, hybrid cars, cell phones, miracle digital cameras, DVD movies and many, many more, and I haven’t got a clue how any of them work.
I must pick the computer as the all-time champion of greatest invention. I have seen it begin as a huge corporate body of metal and noise and turn into a user-friendly home necessity. It provides all the wonders of the world at the touch of a key. All from the comfort of your home. Science fiction is no longer fiction.
