Saturday, September 15, 2012

Blog #36 - Best inventions in the past 200 years

In the next few days, we will talk about the most influential inventions and concepts that have changed human life for the better or worse, initially in our short lives, and then we expanded it to the past 200 years (of course, the Snuggie is right up there in the Top 1 Million Inventions of the Decade).



There are many inventions from the past few hundred years that would qualify as being the best.  They include, but are not limited, to:

 - antibiotics, painkillers, refrigerators, televisions, telephones, harnessing the use of electricity, light bulb, airplanes, computers, calculators, air conditioning (I think that's in my selfish top 3), duct tape (someone insisted on putting it on the board), the car, steam engine, gasoline engine, light saber, and many others.

Your job in this blog is to think of how your life and your parents' and grandparents' lives would have been amazingly different w/o the top three inventions that you have chosen.  Ask your parents and / or grandparents, aunts, uncles or other family members for perspective on technology, b/c we have a hard time looking past the few years we've lived in.  Right now, I don't know how I've lived w/o cell phones, but I obviously had for over 20+ years.  Now, try finding a pay phone.  But my personal favorite invention in the past 200 yrs (mainly b/c I'm not a huge fan of going outside in the middle of the night when ya gotta go) is:


The flushing toilet, right along w/ toilet paper.  It has made life so much more comfortable.  You can laugh, but think of having a pit toilet in your back yard, and having to go there in the middle of the night.  In the winter. I know, the girls, you would hold it, but the boys.... you're gross. 

Here's a website where you can rank your own top ten list of inventions: http://www.the-top-tens.com/lists/top-ten-inventions-in-the-last-200-years.asp
Top medical breakthroughs - http://zayamsbury.net/top-medical-breakthroughs-of-the-past-200-years/index.html



200 words minimum for the blog.  
Due Tuesday, Sept. 18 by the beginning of class. 

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

The 3rd best invention in the past 200 years is indoor plumbing. I think this because this allowed you to go to the bathroom inside your house instead of going outside. it could of been dark, snowing, raining, hailing or their could be a stalker outside your house so no one wants to have to go outside to use the bathroom.
The 2nd best invention in the past 200 years is the telephone. the telephone is the 2nd best invention because it allowed us to communicate with each other from any amount of distance away. before the telephone if your in new york to communicate with someone from texas you would have to write them a letter and that would take weeks or months. To communicate with someone instantly that lives on the other side of the country or just lives 1 mile away is a breakthrough in communication technology.
The best invention in the past 200 years is electricity. electricity is the best invention because with electricity you could create almost anything. the creation of electricity sparked a lot of new inventions that are very important. electricity allowed us to light our houses later and light the roads. without electricity we wouldn't have the phone which is the 2nd best invention in the last 200 years.

Max Watzman
4th hour

Anonymous said...

Our lives would have been a lot different without Duct tape, Auto weapons, and GPS trackers. All of these inventions we can live without but it would make our lives harder and more complicated. Without Duct tape we would not be able to keep stuff intact in a fast and easy way. When something is damaged and we need it we can use Duct tape without Duct tape we would need to either go out and get another or fix it there and waste time. Auto weapons without them we would need to reload after every shot, and if you miss it takes longer to hit the target and in that time you could get killed. So Auto weapons have let us keep more of our soldier's lives in war. With GPS trackers the government has been able to find and follow some of our most wanted and take care of them. The tracker has also helped us keep tabs on our men while they are in the Feld. This has also helped us to save lives of the men that we put in the field. If our agencies did not have this technology then we would be spending more money and more hours trying to do what this small thing does. This is how tech has helped us get to where we are now in life.

Nico Romano 4 hour

Anonymous said...

I think the top three inventions in the past two hundred years are the light bulb, computer, and automobiles.
The obvious reasons for choosing the light bulb is so we can see. The day no longer has to end at sundown. The light bulb gives you light and allows you to see at night and in dark places. This expands the time that people can be productive in work, homework, etc. Furthermore, it was a much safer alternative to the burning candle and the poisonous coal and kerosene gas. Light bulbs are not just found in the ceilings and lamps, but in many of our everyday appliances, such as refrigerators, ovens and even some televisions.
I would not be typing this paper and posting it to a blog, if it was not for computers. Today, pretty much every aspect of our lives has computers integrated into them. This includes at school, work, ATM machines at the bank, communication and much more. Computers have made a huge impact on the way people communicate. Most people no longer write letters, but instead use the computers to instant message or email. Not to mention it makes work easier, faster and in most cases, reliable. They can hold huge amounts of info and helps you manage the information.
Automobiles are the largest source of transportation in the world. The days of walking to work and to school are over. People now have a greater variety of job opportunities as they can work and find jobs much farther away from home, if necessary. Families can travel together to more places. This includes vacations, visiting other family members, shopping, eating out, etc. Our livelihood and our economy are now totally reliant on good transportation and the use of aotomobiles.

Lexi Kizy
4th hour

Anonymous said...

Bella A 4th Hour


The best invention is the last 200 years is electricity. Without electricity so many inventions wouldn’t be her today. We wouldn’t have TV, light, phones and a lot more. Electricity is probably one of the most useful inventions ever made. Mostly everything is based off of electricity these days. The second best invention in the last 200 years is the telephone. The telephone is a very successful invention. Without it people would be writing letters to each other. Letters take a very long time to get from one place to another. When you want to talk to someone you can just pick up your phone and call instantly. No matter where they are or how far they are they will still be able to get the call. Telephones have made a big impact on life today. The third best invention in the last 200 years is antibiotics. An antibiotic has helped save so many people’s lives. Without it so many more people would be dying of things that could be cured easy these days. It helps sick people get better in a matter of days. If antibiotics weren’t her today so many more people would be dying. These are the 3 best inventions I believe were made in the last 200 years.

Anonymous said...

The 3 best inventions in the past 200 years are the television, cell phone and computers. I chose television because it is very important to me. I don’t think I could ever live without television, I always watch television in my free time. I would get so bored. The second thing I wouldn’t be able to live without is cell phone. I don’t think anyone could live without a cell phone. You can communicate with friends or family. Now there are smart phones. They are like laptops. You can do everything on them; you can use the internet, calculator, camera, video and a lot of other things! It has so many specialties. The third thing I chose is computer. Ok, I honestly am on the computer 24/7. I am addicted to the computer, I don’t think I could ever ever live without a computer. Computer has internet which is amazing because I can do everything on the internet. On the computer, you can do your homework and you can search things, you can also communicate with friends through facebook and twitter through the computer. It’s a very important part of my life and I don’t think anyone could ever live without it.

Dina Kadadi, 4th hour

Patrick M said...

Patrick Mason 4th hour

I think that the best 3 inventions in the last 200 years have been the cell phone, the airplane, and light bulb. The light bulb has been an amazing invention because it has lead to billions of people all over the world having light during the night which makes it easier to see. The second best invention has been the airplane because it makes it so easy for people to get over the world in a short amount of time compared to 100 years ago. Also this has helped the working world because if you have to do business with someone in another continent it can be done shortly all you have to do is hop on a plane. The airplane has made traveling better because you can go anywhere in the world. The best invention so far I think has been the cell phone it is so great for everyone and helps make life much easier than it used to be. If you are in an emergency you have a cell phone right in your pocket that you can pull out and use to get to safety. Also if you are away from your family you can make long distance calls to see how everything is doing at home. The best things about cell phones is that they have many features now that you can use to help you and you can even put them in your pocket so it can always be with you when you need to use it .

Anonymous said...

I think the three most important inventions of the last two hundred years are the computer, antibiotics, and the refrigerator. The invention of the computer is one of my mom’s favorite inventions too. When she was in college she had to write a hundred page thesis. The computer was not invented for people to use at this time and every thing had to be typed by a typewriter. If you made a mistake, you had to manually correct it using correcting tape, and if you didn’t line it up the right way, you had to retype the whole page. Now, all we have to do to fix mistakes is press the “delete” button. Another important invention is antibiotics. Without antibiotics, many more people would succumb to illnesses and die and there would be many more people with chronic health issues. When my grandfather was 10 years old, he got strept throat, which led rheumatic heart disease because there were not effective antibiotics to treat strept throat. He had to stay in bed for 6 months and as he describes it, he ate nothing but jello. If you get strept throat today, you will get treated for strept throat with antibiotics and most likely will not get rheumatic heart disease. The last most important invention was the refrigerator. When my grandmother was little, every two days a huge block of ice would be delivered to her house and was put into the icebox in the house. This block of ice only kept certain things cold, and did not do a great job preserving food. Today not only do we have refrigeration which can keep things preserved for several week, but we can freeze things which was mostly unheard of in my grandmother’s childhood.

-Laura G. 4th hour

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ronald G. said...

Ronald Goldsberry
The top 3 inventions of the past 200 years are the car, the cellphone and indoor toilets and plumbing. Indoors plumbing makes number 3 on my list because it has provided a comfortable way to use the restroom without having to completely leave the house every time you need to go. Without it my life would not be the same because I hate outdoors and if I had to squat over a hole to poop I would never go. And I would never want to go in my backyard to because it would smell terrible. Also there would be no privacy because everyone would know when you had to go to the bathroom. Second on the list top 3 inventions would be the cellphone. Without the cellphone there would be no way to communicate when you were away from your home. If you were in an area where there was no payphones there would be no way to communicate with other people. The number 1 invention on my list would be the car because it has allowed civilizations to be larger because people can access other locations in a lot less time. Without the car people would be riding bikes or walking places which would be a huge disadvantage in today’s world.

Anonymous said...

In my eye the best inventions over the past 200 year have been the shamwow the
slapchop and the snuggie. One reason why I love the slap chop is because the
salesman sold it so well ha made me love to chop nuts. My grandparents life
would have been a lot easier if they have had these. If they had the snuggie
they would have been able to watch tv without having to take the covers off when
they wanted to change the channel. If they had the slap chop there life would
have been more exciting wth food and they would have had a better diet. If they
have had the shamwow it would have been easier to clean up messes that my
parents might have caused because there bad children. Jason C.

Nicai Sorrell 4 said...

Over the past 2 centuries, there have been numerous inventions that boast the overall well being of the earth, but the more note worthy tasks go unrecognized. A simple invention that comes 3rd on my list is Moon Shoes by Nickelodeon. Described as a "kid powered, anti-gravity shoe," it was much more, teaching me that if I never reached that 50" vertical, I could always hit the 3 foot vertical for the same feeling. In 2nd place comes Big Time Toys' Socker Boppers. Instead of hurting your posse in a fistfight, you could throw these on and go to work without any real damages, unless you're really going in. I think this over convinced my parents, "If we buy this, our kid’s will think it won't hurt to clock someone.” 1st place was an adverse pick between Rock'em Sock'em Robots and Skip-It, in the end I decided Hasbro's Pogo Bal was the way to go. Overrated, the Pogo Bal was a great way to either cause major head injury or build a kinder-gardener with extreme balance. This invention helped prove to me that a lot of glorified or “cool looking” toys could always turnout to be a complete failure.

Anonymous said...

The first invention that I think is the most important is the light bulb. The light bulb is very important because it is necessary for many things in our lives today. For example, without light, we wouldn’t be able to do things at night that we can do now because we couldn’t see. Also we wouldn’t have computers or laptops because we need light to use it. The second invention that I think is most important is the telephone. I think the telephone is important because it makes communication much easier. We can actually hear what someone else is saying and understand them better. Back in the day they used telegrams or even further back they had to send letters through the mail and that would just take too long. The telephone made communication faster and easier. The third and final invention that I think is the most important is antibiotics. Antibiotics are super important in today’s world because they help with many illnesses that we couldn't cure a long time ago. Because of these antibiotics, we haven’t lost as many people to these diseases or illnesses as we have before. Most of the illnesses in the past that haven’t been able to be cured are curable now because of this amazing scientific breakthrough with medicine.

Elise S.
4th Hour

Anonymous said...

I think that the top three important inventions in the past 200 years includes, anesthesia: because without it today people probably wouldn’t survive surgeries. Another reason is people wouldn’t be able to take the pain or die from infections. The second most important invention in the past 200 years is the light bulb. I say this because without light our days can end much later. Before light the day pretty much ended at sundown so you would pretty much be in the house or sleeping for the remainder of the night. Now days that would cut down on money so people wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in their homes or be able to provide for their families. The third most important invention is the telephone. Without the telephone you wouldn’t be able to talk to people far away. The fastest way to communicate with someone out of state would be writing letters and that could take forever. Another reason the telephone is important is because if you have an emergency like a fire you wouldn’t be able to call the fire department they would come when they saw smoke or something.

Johne' Dogan 4th hour

Anonymous said...

To me, the third most important invention is the cylinder phonograph, the first device that could play recorded sound (in the form of small wax cylinders). I say that this is the most important because it lead to a whole revolution of different media outlets, from T .V to commercial radio to film, the phonograph was the first invention in a long succession of inventions that revolutionized how we transmit information, as well as making huge changes in the world of arts and entertainment.

The second most important invention would be antibiotics. Before the invention of antibiotics, when a person became severely ill, there was no way to fight the disease. People would die on a regular basis from typhoid, cholera, measles, and even the flu. Antibiotics prevent these diseases from having deadly outcomes.

And the most important invention of the last two hundred years was the light bulb. We may take it for granted today, but we must be reminded that in a pre light bulb age, the working day ended at sunset. With the innovation of electric lighting, businesses could stay open later than ever before, thus speeding up the productivity of businesses in urban areas.

Patrick Takata 4th Hour

Anonymous said...

Over the past 2oo years there have been many great inventions that have changed the world. The invention that comes 3rd on my list is the computer because now days we could not live without a computer. The computer helps me with my daily life. The 2nd invention on my list is the iphone because it is a smart phone that can do many things like call, surf the internet, play games, email, and many other things. The iphone is probably one of the best cell phone ever. the first invention on my list would be the Xbox because it is the coolest game system ever. You can play many cool games on their like madden, call of duty, and halo. Also you can face book and use your twitter on the Xbox.

Anonymous said...

My best three invention would be antibiotics, indoor pluming, and the furnace. The reason why i picked the antibiotics is because it is saving the lives of many people every day. The medication helps up fight off diseases and helps us find a cure for them. With out antibiotics many people lives would be lost because of a certain type of disease. The reason why i picked indoor pluming as a second best invention is because people wouldn't have to wake up in the middle of the night and walk in there back yard and do there business. Now all you have to do is walk in to a different room and just go at any time you want. You would have to go in the snow,rain,hail, mud and other things. And what if you need something from the house you would have to go inside then out again. And the their and last best invention is the furnace.The reason why is because back in the day there was just and fire place. now you have the machine head up the house for you. So during a cold day you would have a nice warm house. And these are my top three inventions.

Zach Egziabher

Anonymous said...

My best three invention would be antibiotics, indoor pluming, and the furnace. The reason why i picked the antibiotics is because it is saving the lives of many people every day. The medication helps up fight off diseases and helps us find a cure for them. With out antibiotics many people lives would be lost because of a certain type of disease. The reason why i picked indoor pluming as a second best invention is because people wouldn't have to wake up in the middle of the night and walk in there back yard and do there business. Now all you have to do is walk in to a different room and just go at any time you want. You would have to go in the snow,rain,hail, mud and other things. And what if you need something from the house you would have to go inside then out again. And the their and last best invention is the furnace.The reason why is because back in the day there was just and fire place. now you have the machine head up the house for you. So during a cold day you would have a nice warm house. And these are my top three inventions.

Zach Egziabher

Anonymous said...

Computers so we can use and find data let alone save and be able to read get more data and news at the same time. Light Bubs being able to have jobs being able to stay open longer and make it possible for other break throw for other inventions. Cars making sure that things can be deliver faster will at the same time not using animals for transportation and so people don`t have to walk everywhere and make sure that traveling city to city does not take months or years take maybe weeks or not day or hours. Jordan B.

Anonymous said...

The top three inventions in the past two hundred years are indoor plumbing, the ability to harness and use electricity and the engine.
Indoor plumbing is one of the best because it allows us to take more than one bath/shower a month which is how it used to be. Also it allows the use of toilets, so we don’t have to go outside to an outhouse every time we need to use it. Third it allows access to running water instead of having to go out back and use a pump to draw water from a well.
The ability to harness and use electricity is one of the best inventions for countless reasons. Some of which being that without electricity there wouldn’t be any light bulbs, phones, TVs or computers. Also without the use of electricity, countless more inventions would’ve never been invented and countless discoveries would’ve never taken place.
The engine is in the top three because cars, airplanes, modern ships and trains all use engines to power them. Engines have sped up travel immensely and in doing so they have saved many lives as well. (ex: decreasing travel time to a hospital)
Connor Biondo
4th hour

Anonymous said...

I think the 3 best inventions in the past 200 years are electricity, indoor plumbing, and in auto mobile. I think electricity was a great invention because this created the light bulb, television, computer, cell phones, etc. With the light bulb, you can see so you don’t need to have a candle or gas powered lamps. Televisions bring happiness to a lot of people, and personally I love to watch television. The cell phone lets you call people from outside your house, so when you are doing something you can call somebody. Indoor plumbing is a great invention because of when people go to the bathroom, they don’t have to dig a hole in the ground and then cover it up. When you go to the bathroom you can just flush the water down the toilet which makes everything so much easier. This also works for showers and sinks. The water comes out from the faucet and then goes down the drain. This has helped on a lot of people for years. The auto mobile is a great invention because with cars, you don’t need to walk or bike to get anywhere. You can just get in your car and drive to where you want to go. This saves time and energy for a lot of people. These are all very important things in my life.
Jaime Ettinger 4th hour

Anonymous said...

In my opinion the best three inventions in the last 200 hundred years are electricity because we wouldn't have telovision, ovens, and a computer to e-mail, social media and a ton of other things.
Second Best invention would be a car becuase it is so much easyer to just drive places then have to walk or run places you can take a road trip with your family and it would be much more enjoyale if you have a car so there not complaining about how long the walk is.
The third best invention would have to be antibiotics and or shots becuase with out these medicans people would have died of a sicknesses and the medican can prevent all this from happeniong and spreading around the world.
These are my three favorite inventions

Jessica White

Anonymous said...

Jacob Corbeille
September 18, 2012
U.S. History
4th Hour
Best Inventions in Past 200 Years
The best invention in the past 200 years was electricity which was originally just made as a source of light. As the years progressed electricity became a much bigger thing. Many people were taking things made with electricity and looked for ways to improve them or make their own new invention out of it. I would call electricity the father of all inventions because without it I wouldn’t even be here typing this on my computer. The second best invention is antibiotics. Ask yourself if you think you would even be alive right now without them. Before antibiotics, disease spread so fast that it was a common thing. You could have gone outside for a 10minute walk and by the time you were back a disease would be traveling through you. Nowadays it’s not likely that you would get anything that serious unless it runs in the family or you were born with it. The third best invention is car. Walking is not the best option time wise if you’re trying to get from one state to the other or even just to your friend’s house. Cars may not be the best choice environmentally, but if you’re trying to get to work on time I would suggest a car.

Anonymous said...

My number 3 invention is the 3rd best invention in the past 200 years is indoor plumbing. I think this because this allowed you to go to the bathroom inside your house instead of going outside. it could of been dark, snowing, raining, hailing or any bad weather conditions.
My 2nd invention was the automobiles are the largest source of transportation and the you don’t have to use horses and ride somewhere or even walk those days are over unless you just want to get the exercise. Now people can get different jobs and like delivering food to people. Also family can go on roads trips and go visit some new place but by driving so that they capture the view it doesn’t even have to be a view some people can just for the fun of it like they want to go see family members from different states and don’t want to pay a high plane ticket. Last but not least my number 1 invention is the telephone. In the last 200 years the telephone has been helpful to some many people, like if you wanted to call someone in Florida then you can with no problem and you don’t have to send a message and have to wait like 2 months for someone to reply. With the telephone you can instantly ask that person that question and just wait a couple seconds and wait for a response.

Davion Curry
4th hour
U.S. History

Anonymous said...

Over the past two hundred years the best inventions are electicity, the internet, and the automobile (In no specific order). I put electricity as one of the top three inventions because your whole household runs on electricity. You have your washing machine, light bulbs, television, refrigerator, air conditioner, and pretty much everything else running on electricity. Next I put internet, it is a great way to connect with people all over the world, do your homework, it saves a lot of paper, and does so much more. The internet has opened up a whole new world to people. The internet provides us with an enormous amount of information on millions of different topics. Lastly I put the automobile, not only are they great for getting you from one place to another safely but also in a timely manner. Just think if we didn’t have cars and you had to go to Ohio for a family get together, you would have to walk the whole way. Cars have created jobs for millions, they also have allowed us to do so much more. These are my top three favorite inventions over the past two hundred years not only because I benefit from them but they have also contributed to advancing our use of technology even farther.

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