Greatest Invention Ever?

[#juan]

Great taste in weapons, those early Britons.


Of course, before the Hi Power, the Welsh long bow was the greatest missile weapon of all. Able to be fired several times a minute, capable of penetrating both sides of a suit of armour at 200 metres (to say nothing of the man in it) the Welsh long bow was a superior weapon to anything invented up until the Minie ball and repeating rifles of the 1860s.

The problem with such weapons was that they could only be effectively wielded by professionals.......it took so much time and practice to become and remain proficient with them. I was interested to read recently that archeologists on old battlegrounds can tell the skeletons of long bow archers from other remains by the over developed arm bones, and even a twist in the spine towards the draw arm..........that is how much practise it took. Only the elite, or professional men-at-arms hired by the elites had the time to spare from scraping out a living to excel at such weapons. The same is true of edged weapons, although to a lesser extent.

So, a Lord with a few men-at-arms were very capable of putting down any rebellion consisting of much larger numbers of men using farm implements as weapons.........

The long bow fell to the firearm simply because you can teach a man to shoot in an afternoon..........not well, but as well as the capabilities of the firearms of the day would permit. Bring him back a year later, and he can still do it.........and when the industrial revolution put such arms within the reach of a large number of common men.........democracy wasn't long in coming

.:read2:

Hi Colpy

Kidding. In all honesty, the high power is a great weapon.

BTW, I have had a bow for over thirty years. It is a sixty two pound pull, Bushmaster, compound bow.. I once entertained the idea of bow hunting. Never did hunt with it, but I can still put ten consecutive arrows, mostly in the middle of the paper from twenty five yards

 

[Vereya]

I'd vote for electricity - it has made life so much easier for everyone, and in an indirect way it's made life a lot more interesting, with TV shows and computers, and other devices that make life easy and pleasant.
And another thing would be book-printing. It's strange that no one's mentioned it here before. It did a lot to boost the level of literacy.

 

[Curiosity]

These haven't been invented yet - even though there are some models around but not 100% accurate...

I would vote for the greatest invention of mankind as a foolproof and accepted method of reversible
vasectomy and tubal ligation along with cures/preventions for STDs and AIDs/HIV

 

[Colpy]

These hasn't been invented yet - even though there are some models around but not 100% accurate...

I would vote for the greatest invention of mankind as a foolproof and accepted method of reversible
vasectomy and tubal ligation along with cures/preventions for STDs and AIDs/HIV

Good one, although one could add cheap and universally accessable to the requirements for all the above.

 

[Colpy]

Hi Colpy

Kidding. In all honesty, the high power is a great weapon.

BTW, I have had a bow for over thirty years. It is a sixty two pound pull, Bushmaster, compound bow.. I once entertained the idea of bow hunting. Never did hunt with it, but I can still put ten consecutive arrows, mostly in the middle of the paper from twenty five yards

And I, despite the above ramble through ancient history, have never drawn a real bowstring.

Too many good rifles around.

 

[gc]

The internet/Computers were an important...err I meant interesting invention (not necessarily important). We've only begun to see how our lives will be shaped by it.

What about toilet paper? :laughing7: Can't live without that.....

I suppose language, both written and oral, were extremely important as well.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

For me, it was Holt and Spitz's one-way shunting device in the late 60's....saved or prolonged the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, like myself, with Hydrocephalus, who would otherwise either die in infancy, spend the rest of their lives hideously deformed and a vegetable........if they were lucky".

Just thought I'd mention this as I suggested, for me, the two above were responsible for my greatest invention, Prof. Spitz has just died, here's the article from Philidelphia:

" This was posted in the Philadelphia Inquirer today.

Eugene B. Spitz, 87; developed a life-saving operation
By Sally A. Downey
Inquirer Staff Writer

Eugene Bernard Spitz, 87, of Center City, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon who developed a life-saving surgery for children, died of complications from diabetes Thursday at his daughter Pam Weber's home in West Chester.

In the early 1950s, Dr. Spitz was a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia when he pioneered an operation for hydrocephalus in infants. The condition causes a dangerous buildup of spinal fluid in the brain. Dr. Spitz implanted a shunt to drain off the fluid and later modified the procedure with a valve invented by John Holter, an engineer whose infant son suffered from the condition.

Dr. Spitz also developed brain surgeries to treat children with tumors and with epilepsy. He was an advocate for aggressive treatments for the mentally impaired such as patterning, in which a child's limbs are moved to simulate crawling.

He treated children from all over the world and held clinics for brain specialists all over the country, a friend and colleague, Dr. Lorraine King, said. Despite his accomplishments, she said, he was humble and caring.

In the mid-1960s, Dr. Spitz became chief of neurosurgery at Crozer-Chester Medical Center. He cofounded Broad Street Hospital in Philadelphia in the 1970s and performed surgeries there until the hospital closed in 1988. For many years he maintained a private practice in Morton and then in Swarthmore. He retired in March.

A native of Queens, N.Y., Dr. Spitz completed his medical training by the time he was 25. He was a 12-year-old in knickers when he began his undergraduate studies at New York University, his daughter Jane said. He earned his medical degree at NYU and then completed a residency in pathology. During World War II he did research for the Navy.

After deciding to become a neurologist, he completed a residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was later an associate professor at Penn's medical school.

Dr. Spitz had a pilot's license and loved to fly from Philadelphia to his vacation home at the Jersey Shore. His wife, Eleanor S. Spitz, was his navigator. "He had a terrible sense of direction," Jane Spitz said. He enjoyed opera, classical music, and tennis.

In addition to his daughters, Dr. Spitz is survived by daughters Kathryn Tagliaterra, Adrienne Brenz, and Mary Margaret; a son, Eugene Jr.; a brother; 10 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. His wife of 55 years died in 2001.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. today at Christ Episcopal Church, 311 S. Orange St., Media. Friends may call from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Cavanagh-Patterson Funeral Home, 43 E. Baltimore Ave., Media."

 

[I think not]

Glad to hear you benefited from it Daz. It makes a difference when you read it from the "horses mouth", so to speak.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

Glad to hear you benefited from it Daz. It makes a difference when you read it from the "horses mouth", so to speak.

Shocked to find out he was an undergraduate at 12!!!!..........although this is one of the few times you'll hear it but, yes, I owe my life to 2 Americans, one from the liberty and city of brotherly love, Phili.

 

[Curiosity]

Daz

The shunt you have - does it require regular checking or cleaning or is it the kind of device you can forget about unless something unforseen happens?

I think the two gentlemen inventors would be proud to have known the kind of intellect they preserved in you. I'm not gonna spread any more "flattery" but your writing is so refreshing for me to read as you have a different take on things I have never considered - and this forum is lucky to have you as a member.

A diversion - a story:

A young man in his late teens was a victim of a automobile accident while riding his bike last weekend.
The driver was a DUI of course but that's not the story I am telling.

His parents offered his young healthy body for transplants and they harvested 7 organs - plus the liver can be divided into two parts for transplant - therefore he has given new life to eight people.

Tough on the parents - but they'll get through it after that supreme gift. Medicine never fails to amaze me.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

Daz

The shunt you have - does it require regular checking or cleaning or is it the kind of device you can forget about unless something unforseen happens?

Well, I've had 47 of them so far, *officially you should have one for the rest of your life, well that's the speil given, very rarely do many people with my condition survive past 60 or so of them, imagine the ventricles in your brain are like the tubing of an automotive fuel tank; you can on syphen off a certain amount of times before the tubes themselve start to close in on themselves, this problem is called "Slit ventricular syndrome", I have it, it occurs if you've been operated on too much, this problem has upsides and downs to it, my Head will never grow to the abnormal sizes you may have seen, making me look "normal", but then, it gives the fluid aaround the brain little area to build up, so fatal problems can occur within a few hours...and the tubes have a tendancy to wear out after maybe a year or two.

But it's better than before Holt and Spitz were on the scene, before it would be a case of perminant hospitalization, operations virtually every day, severe brain damage and ultimatley death in 99% of cases. So yep, him nd Holt certainly made a difference to me and others.

And dont pay any attention to Jason in Friday 13th, he supposedly had Hydrocephalus and was obscenely disfugured because of it, this is impossible because his spinal, neverous, airways and heart would be affected before his skull caved in on his brain, because as you may know, the brain controls everything, including heartbeat.

there you go.

Daz

 

[Curiosity]

Daz

Wow 47 - but at least they are monitoring you carefully thank god. Do you feel sensory problems in certain areas such as weak legs or arms or vision problems when it is time to go in for the procedure or do they perform these without waiting for performance problems?

Sorry I am being too nosy.....

I have never been able to sit through Friday the 13th....I am a coward.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

Daz

Wow 47 - but at least they are monitoring you carefully thank god. Do you feel sensory problems in certain areas such as weak legs or arms or vision problems when it is time to go in for the procedure or do they perform these without waiting for performance problems?

Sorry I am being too nosy.....

I have never been able to sit through Friday the 13th....I am a coward.

See, if I was in the US, it's probable they'd operate on the day of finding out, but in the UK it's different, I've found that waiting times can go from 4 hours to almost 6 months (luckily the 6 months was because the tube was getting old and wearing out...but still functioning...just...it fell apart in the surgeon's hands)...nope they dont monitor it as well as they should here...money reasons.

Imagine the symptoms of meningitis, effectivily, these are the early signs, light sensitivity, nausia, headaches, poor walking, vomitting and sleeping...they progress to sight, speech, breathing, walking problems and on and on it goes till...well, I mentioned earlier.

I was suprised myself about the resportory system problems, but apparently the brain dumps fluid in the lungs, I didnt find this out till they pumped out my lungs last time, I guess they thought they might have caught it later than they should have.

 

[Curiosity]

Daz

I guess you have lived with this condition so long you accept - but to read about it having never realized the complications which can occur..... it's boggling what's left of my mind.

You'll probably hate this next bit - you are bloody brave! Some people would cave under this kind of stressor.

 

[Daz_Hockey]

nah, there are braver people than me walking the streets everyday.