Where would we be without WARS??

Malt_Vinegar · 28 Dec 2002 at 17:23

Originally posted by MrCrispy
We needed somewhere to live so we built brick houses with bathrooms, jacuzzis, showers, central heating etc because our caves weren't luxurious enough.

We needed more food? What because the supply we had wasn't enough? No, because the supply we had wasn't EASY enough and we are fundamentally lazy.

We needed to stop our feet getting damaged, like all the other animals (that don't wear shoes) ?

As the stuff became easier to make, it was taken for granted, and these things like showers/etc became NEEDS....

Farming was originally a random, one person affair. One person grew what they could on what land they had.
Then someone had the idea to do all the farming together, because they could make more food, with less expense, on one big plot of land...

We originated from apes, we were tree dwellers, not ground dwellers, the need to walk long distances as we became upright, meant we needed shoes...

Mr Flibble · 28 Dec 2002 at 17:26

Originally posted by MindYerBeak
Penicillin was discovered by accident.

Yes, it's discovery was by accident, but war forced the americans to find a way to produce and purify it in sufficient amounts to be used medicinially. Losing Britain potential royalties from the drug

MrCrispy · 28 Dec 2002 at 17:27

Ah, so you're changing the definition of 'necessity' to fit your trite reasoning?

We NEED showers in the same way we NEED seventy two different lagers?

Malt_Vinegar · 28 Dec 2002 at 17:36

Originally posted by MrCrispy

We NEED showers in the same way we NEED seventy two different lagers?

Yessir

well bitters at least

Anyway, i said invention, not improvement

Adding of extras + other bits is just progression/improvement....

MrCrispy · 28 Dec 2002 at 17:55

And that, surely, is my point.

INVENTION (as dictated by necessity) does NOT include showers, jacuzzis, steam rooms, saunas, zit cream, hair wax, mascara, Ferraris and Windows.

Malt_Vinegar · 28 Dec 2002 at 17:57

Originally posted by MrCrispy
And that, surely, is my point.

INVENTION (as dictated by necessity) does NOT include showers, jacuzzis, steam rooms, saunas, zit cream, hair wax, mascara, Ferraris and Windows.

Its an expression to explain that the best things are invented only when they are needed...

Other things are gunna be invented along the way.......

MrCrispy · 28 Dec 2002 at 17:59

Originally posted by Malt_Vinegar
Its an expression to explain that the best things are invented only when they are needed...

Other things are gunna be invented along the way.......

Yes I understand what the expression means, but it is still trite and it is still wrong.

@stolath · 28 Dec 2002 at 18:04

The saying is 'Necessity is the mother of invention'.

Not 'all' invention.

If you're gonna quibble, at least argue over the correct point!

MrCrispy · 28 Dec 2002 at 18:08

Originally posted by @stolath
The saying is 'Necessity is the mother of invention'.

Not 'all' invention.

If you're gonna quibble, at least argue over the correct point!

Quite right sir. And, to some extent I think we can agree on that, we tend to not bother inventing things we don't need. But we DO continue to invent (who knew we NEEDED the world wide web?!

).

Meridian · 28 Dec 2002 at 18:42

Just to half-correct one myth: Teflon was a discovery of the atom bomb project - flourine compounds where looked at to help enrich uranium (it was done as uranium hexaflouride). But for some reason it is usually attributed to the space race, even though it was patented in about 1949.

But the principle reason why so many of the 20th centuries most important invention have come form the military is easy to work out: MONEY. The military have always thrown large quantities of it about.

M

Fusion · 28 Dec 2002 at 18:51

One invention that is not remotley related to war: the transistor.

Malt_Vinegar · 28 Dec 2002 at 18:54

Originally posted by Fusion
One invention that is not remotley related to war: the transistor.

but the miniaturisation (sp?) of it to be used in weapons/vehicles etc...

I bet the government/military had a hand in that

Red Scorpion · 28 Dec 2002 at 19:06

WD40 from WW2 now I wonder what WD40 stand for

. Named after where it was invented.

Feek · 28 Dec 2002 at 19:38

Originally posted by IceBus
Super glue wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the Vietnam war. You've never wondered why it sticks skin together so well?

The Vietnam was was 1965 to 1975.

"Superglue or Krazy Glue is a substance called cyanoacrylate that was discovered by Dr. Harry Coover while working for Kodak Research Laboratories to develop an optically clear plastic for gunsights in 1942. Coover rejected cyanoacrylate because it was too sticky.

In 1951, cyanoacrylate was rediscovered by Coover and Dr Fred Joyner. Coover was now supervising research at the Eastman Company in Tennessee. Coover and Joyner were researching a heat-resistant acrylate polymer for jet canopies when Joyner spread a film of ethyl cyanoacrylate between refractometer prisms and discovered that the prisms were glued together.

Coover finally realized that cyanoacrylate was a useful product and in 1958 the Eastman compound #910 was marketed and later packaged as superglue.

original source

K.

MrCrispy · 28 Dec 2002 at 19:45

Go on then, explain, where would we be without war?

ALL of man's greatest discoveries (evolution, gravity, engineering, peace) all are as a direct result of war?

They are a direct result of investment, not the same thing :rolleyes:

.

Fusion · 28 Dec 2002 at 20:06

Originally posted by Red Scorpion
WD40 from WW2 now I wonder what WD40 stand for . Named after where it was invented.

Water Disperser?

MrCrispy · 28 Dec 2002 at 20:23

No, it was the fortieth thing to be invented in Washington.

Feek · 28 Dec 2002 at 20:27

Originally posted by MrCrispy
No, it was the fortieth thing to be invented in Washington.

Incorrect..

"In 1953, a fledgling company called Rocket Chemical Company and its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry, in a small lab in San Diego, California.

It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. But they must have been really good, because the original secret formula for WD-40—which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try—is still in use today."

Taken from the WD40 website

K.

MrCrispy · 28 Dec 2002 at 20:34

Originally posted by Red Scorpion
WD40 from WW2 now I wonder what WD40 stand for . Named after where it was invented.

Hmm, how does that fit in then? :confused:

Fusion · 28 Dec 2002 at 21:01

Originally posted by Feek
WD-40—which stands for Water Displacement....

Oooooh i was close! Closer than you MrCrispy

Where would we be without WARS??

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