Humankind's Greatest Unsung Inventions

I think a lot of time is wasted in praising ourselves for coming up with inventions like the wheel. Sure, it's important and it certainly makes life easier, but there are many inventions that we take for granted although they're used every day all over the world.

I don't know what made me think of this, really. I was going to post an entry about yawning and why it's contagious. I found that subject boring, however, and I couldn't stop yawning while looking at this.

I also considered writing about how self-serving TV chefs come off looking. I mean, they'd like us to believe that all those people around their table are dear friends who have been invited over for an intimate dinner party, but the entire time they're sitting there, the chef is talking about how he or she made each dish and how little money he or she spent; the dinner conversation is dominated by the chef and the "guests" are the unwitting prisoners of his or her pontificating. Well, I'm not going to blog about that. Instead, here is my list of humankind's greatest unsung inventions (in no particular order). Feel free to add your own.

1. Stairs: As much as I gripe about them, they're certainly better than climbing a slope every morning when I'm bringing my first cup of coffee up from the kitchen.
   
   
2. The handle on the coffee cup: I like the French coffee bowl, but I'd rather have a handle to latch onto first thing in the morning.
   
   
3. Pockets: We humans have a need to accumulate stuff and pockets help us take our stuff with us. Where would we put our stuff if we didn't have pockets?
   
   
4. Toilet paper: (goes without saying why).
   
   
5. Paper clips: What did people do before?
   
   
6. Disposable lighters: No more buying flints and fuel like my dad had to for his Zippo.
   
   
7. Push buttons: How many do you press in the course of a day and never give them a thought? And how upset do you get when one doesn't work?
   
   
8. Pillows: I've often wondered how people in Japan deal with those uncomfortable-looking wooden "head benches". How do they get their small children to use them and never turn over at night? Is everyone forced to sleep on their backs?
   
   
9. Pants: Life was a lot breezier before pants were invented.
   
   
10. Spectacles: Without them, life would be considerably less pleasant and productive for many of us.