thepurist – it’s a sleeve or jacket. it’s not a podstakannik because it doesn’t go under, surely? (don’t have Cyrillic loaded on this PC and can’t see what it’s actually called colloquially in Russian today. Prob something shitty like dzheket)

Personally I like the invention of “no TV”, which is the absence of television. Supersedes Sky + etc and is similar in operation to a time machine in that it actually gives you hours of free time in which to do useful things like contributing to STW.

digital music players. remember cassettes in the car unwinding themselves?

konabunny – ah, i’d always thought that a podstakannik was just a tea-zarf. The first time I heard ‘zarf’ used it was in relation to those crappy brown plastic things for Klix machine cups, and I just generalised it to all things used to keep fingers away from stupendously hot coffee containers.

Consider a minute the impact of these inventions on your life.

Mobile phone: when working I used to go out for the day, phone into the office once to see if there was anything urgent on and get back home at five. With the phone they were forever calling me with urgent non-urgent rubbish to be dealt with pronto and “home time” lost its significance.

E-mail: things were read and generally thrown in the in-tray for a few days till it was convenient to draft a reply the secretary turned into a letter. With e-mail people expect a reply within a few minutes and you have to write the thing nicely yourself. People seem to send e-mails before rather than after engaging their brain. More work, more stress.

Dishwasher: my parents have one which means fishing around in the thing and washing what you need by hand as they don’t want to turn it on because of the water and electricity it wastes.

MP3: there’s a dusty one on my desk, what should I be using it for?

Internet banking: makes buying things and paying for things easier.

Whilst I’ve embraced some new technology, a lot of it just irritates and is now ignored. Satelite TV, fibre TV, YouTube, the Net in general I feel have added something to my life but I am thankful I completed most of my career in the days of snailmail and freedom.

http://www.google.com.au/patents?id=0F0lAAAAEBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=5425497,&hl=en&ei=8ljuTZa0CI3WvQPPhtjCBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA

Cup holder patent held by Jay Sorensen

Sky+
DAB radio
Cheap laptops (like this HP G61)
Shimano 105 shifters

The contraceptive pill.

As you typed that WDR was reporting a proven link between a Beyer produced contraceptive pill and thrombosis, Rusty.

Whilst there are modern pills that allow people to live healthier longer a good many create more problems than they solve IMO.

Food packaging is another modern invention that poisons us.

+1 for sky+ when half asleep I try and ff through the adverts on live tv

And my contribution. The Prodigy. Gets me from work to train station in double quick time! And no more sickyness or spots in front of my eyes after 2 weeks of it!

Low Cost airlines: Stelios and O’Leary have a lot to answer for, although there are both the positive and negative points, for me the glass is half full.

As you typed that WDR was reporting a proven link between a Beyer produced contraceptive pill and thrombosis, Rusty.

Whilst there are modern pills that allow people to live healthier longer a good many create more problems than they solve IMO.

There are many contraceptive pills (and implants) that have no medical side effects.
If you want to know how they’ve changed society infinitely for the better, just go and ask a woman.

They are the most socially significant invention of the past 100 years, at least in societies that respect women enough to allow free access to them.

The best invention since gravity.

Yep, it’s all gone downhill since then.

The Internet
Mobile phones
Wifi
Augmented reality
Nuclear medicine
Nanotechnology
29ers 😯

The lady here would rather I use condoms when necesssary and that suits me. From a purely selfish point of view I’ve found women easier to live with when not on the pill.

Yes, it is a purely selfish point of view, so the fact that it’s got cock all (sic) to do with you and is a form of contraception that women can control themselves is really the point.

Anyway, I’ve changed my mind, it’s got to be the readily available Doner Kebab.

I think the choice of a couple’s contraception should be a joint decision. I think it’s got quite a lot to do with me. The law agrees.

I’ve no idea which law you refer to, but if it gives men control over any aspect of a woman’s choice of contraception, then it’s an ass.

Anyway, this is serving no good purpose, so shall we just let these good people get on with their thread?

OK, Rusty. I’m allowed an anecdote though I hope. A friend’s wife was on the pill after a first child but failed to let him know she decided to stop. The result: twins, a divorce and a monthly bill to pay.

Drugs. Medicinal ones. So many illnesses that once were not treatable, now are.

The number of times I’ve ended up lying in some kind of heap cursing gravity…

but you wouldn’t be able to do what we all like doing on here if we lived in a world of constant freefall

+1 for the WWW

Personally I like the invention of “no TV”, which is the absence of television

This has made me think about modern inventions that we really could have done without… ignoring guns, bombs and all that… I’m going to nominate ready meals and their significant contribution to one of th most serious epidemics mankind is facing.

I’m going to nominate ready meals and their significant contribution to one of th most serious epidemics mankind is facing.

i can agree with you there

I hated writing letters: too formal, too slow, cant manage a discussion thread properly, relies on royal mail for delivery, no offsite permanent storage, cant hyperlink, manual copy distribution, cant search mails, cant tag mails, needs filing space, sometimes cant read.

Webmail solves these things. It’s good.

Yes, it is a purely selfish point of view, so the fact that it’s got cock all (sic) to do with you and is a form of contraception that women can control themselves is really the point.

Anyway, I’ve changed my mind, it’s got to be the readily available Doner Kebab.

Gotta agree there, especially as a Doner Kebab, at the right temperature, with just the right amount of sauce, makes the contraceptive pill pretty much obsolete

Dig out a love letter form thirty years ago Buzz, feel the emotion in the handwriting, slowly inhale the perfume, note the postmark and remember the addresses it was sent to and from. Now tell me you prefer textos and e-mails.

you wouldn’t be able to do what we all like doing on here if we lived in a world of constant freefall

The only reason I ride a bike is because of bleed-in gravity and the restrictions it places on me. I would much rather be doing giant leaps and multiple slow motion somersaults, than riding a bike.

Dig out a love letter form thirty years ago Buzz

I wish [sigh]

Dishwasher: my parents have one which means fishing around in the thing and washing what you need by hand as they don’t want to turn it on because of the water and electricity it wastes

Tell them that it’s more efficient to wash a full dishwasher in terms of both water and energy than it is to wash by hand.

Edukator – you don’t like mobile phones because they allow your colleages to talk to you?

Anyway, I’ve changed my mind, it’s got to be the readily available Doner Kebab.

You can by whole frozen ones in LiDLs.

No it’s true! Look!

Depends how you wash by hand. Get a small dish of solar-heated water with a tiny dash of detergent, clean stuff then rinse under a tap with a diffuser. Less than half a bucket of water (guess who lived in a T2 for a year?).

Bloody hell Edukator. As if the typical household is going to do that? I can play this game too – Detergent? You eco-vandal, I’ve washed up i na mountain stream with a handful of gravel!

In terms of influence, the three that spring to mind are;

Dyson Cyclone Vaccum technology- Hoover may have the monopoly on the name of the appliance, but there aren’t many vaccum cleaners with bags these days!

LCD and Plasma Flat screens- As above not many CRTs around these days.

Apples iPod/iPad and apps.

In terms of influence, the three that spring to mind are;

I could quibble about all 3, but to pick one:

LCD and Plasma Flat screens- As above not many CRTs around these days.

Yet the 15 year old CRT I’m watching cricket on in the background works just fine. Sure I’ve been thinking about getting an LCD TV, but it would hardly revolutionise my life.

I’m kind of with you in spirit, Edu, but have to quibble about a couple of points:

E-mail: things were read and generally thrown in the in-tray for a few days till it was convenient to draft a reply the secretary turned into a letter. With e-mail people expect a reply within a few minutes and you have to write the thing nicely yourself. People seem to send e-mails before rather than after engaging their brain. More work, more stress.

Only if you let it be that way. I’ll often let people wait whilst I consider my reply – if it’s important I’ll write a draft and then go back and edit. Just because the transmission media is instant doesn’t mean the important bit has to be too. Meanwhile I’ve just sent off something really important for which I wasn’t sure an e-mail would legally count – what a hassle it was having to go to the post office for recorded delivery. About the only point you might have is the secretary thing, but it’s really not all that hard to do that bit is it (even I seem to be able to manage it)?

Internet banking: makes buying things and paying for things easier.

A problem for those with a complete lack of self-control? See above regarding recorded delivery letter, substitute cheque for letter, bank for post office.

I was being positive about Internet banking.

At the same time as e-mail arrived companies started introducing quality normes such as ISO 2001 and procedures. Those procedures took into account new technology when defining response times. Not complying with the time in the preocedure becomes professional misconduct so as you suddenly get bombarded with a mountain of brain farts as the public get computers, you get threatened with the sack if you don’t deal with them pronto. More work, more stress, home later. I’m relating this as a spectator in many companies BTW. I was self-employed and replied when I felt like it.

My friends know that if they want a reply within a couple of weeks it’s better to phone me on the land line and if that’s off the hook then push a note under the door or call back later. Edit: posting on STW might be a good way of getting hold of me, I’ve posted here at least twice a week recently.

I’ve never known so many people that still work moaning about stress. Observing them stopping the car to reply to a work texto on their day off skiing it’s obvious where that stress comes from: being bombarded 24/7 by their portable devices, being tied to their PC and being under constant pressure to respond and perform.

Observing them stopping the car to reply to a work texto on their day off skiing

Sounds like they are having trouble managing the new technology.

Douglas Adams had it right

1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;

2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;

3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

The flushing loo – life would be crap without it.