Friday, August 21, 2020

Inventions That Work Too Well to be Improved Upon


Sometimes someone comes up with a design so simple, elegant and effective that it becomes the de facto item for that use in perpetuity. It must feel good to have created something that does something the best. In the other direction, here are inventions that are now used for something other than their intended purpose.

1.

Text - MythicLettuce 2.0k points · 13 hours ago The soda can. The physics behind it have been perfected. There is a cool YouTube video about it!

2.

Text - acadoe 1.7k points · 14 hours ago Chopsticks. Talk about consistency, it has been the same way for I have no idea how many years.

3.

Text - -EDGAR- 385 points · 14 hours ago The aglet. That's the little piece of metal or plastic at the end shoelaces. It's a simple, yet very helpful invention that is perfectly fine just the way it is.

4.

Text - the_blade_whispers 80 points · 13 hours ago The Game. What else can you do to it? It's nearly global, it's one of the few nonconsensual things in the world that doesn't hurt you, and it's fun to play by yourself or with 3 trillion+.

5.

Text - SovacoDaCobra 7 points · 11 hours ago Deck of cards. A product that has barely changed in over 100 years.

6.

Text - SaltyChickenDip 58.8k points · 16 hours ago Paper clip. Last major patent was in the 1880's

7.

Text - falsescorpion 3.4k points · 13 hours ago The brick. It has been made of mud, then mud with straw, then mud with clay, then finally with clay alone. That is as far as progress has taken the brick, in the (guess) 8,000 years since it was invented, and it is still in use today. Someone, lost in the obscurity of ancient history, realised that you couldn't build really strong stone structures with irregularly- shaped small natural stones, and hewing huge lumps of stone into regular shapes was

8.

Text - kippersmoker 39.4k points · 16 hours ago The spoon is a pretty incredible invention. It can often sub as a fork or a knife, and it has a great name

9.

Text - inksmudgedhands 34.9k points 16 hours ago The basic sewing needle. It really hasn't changed in thousands of years. There is no need for change.

10.

Text - bubblegumdummdumm 28.5k points · 15 hours ago · edited 8 minutes ago Plates. You can get the ones that dont smash. Its too good.

11.

Text - seeteethree 19.4k points · 14 hours ago · edited 2 hours ago The Schrader Valve used to inflate your bicycle tires, car tires, tractor tires, etc. was patented in 1893. It is still used in virtually every tire on the planet. And now you know its name.

12.

Text - drakethatsme 18.4k points · 15 hours ago Rubber bands. They work.

13.

Text - ToGrillAMockingbird 17.2k points · 16 hours ago O 2 2 The toilet s-bend. We would still be throwing our hershey soldiers out the window without it. Invented in 1775 and still used today.

14.

Text - CrazyShepard 17.0k points · 14 hours ago The XLR cable. Until they can beam something directly into your head, we kind of hit a dead end for perceived sound. The simplicity of what a cable can do by allowing both AC and DC power to flow through so you can power and draw signal from a microphone. Plus the fact it's so simple to remove the noise you get from outside interference makes it even more genius.

15.

Text - BioSciGuy 16.7k points · 12 hours ago P-trap - a simple elegant way to prevent odor from coming into your house via sink, toilet, etc

16.

Text - Adonis_X 14.7k points · 14 hours ago · edited 12 hours ago Most professional classical music instruments are already in their final stage like piano and violin.

17.

Text - doctor_krieger_md 12.3k points · 12 hours ago Cast iron skillet est. 1707

18.

Text - rotatedesophagus 10.8k points · 12 hours ago I'd say nail clippers. Rich and poor people all use the same thing to clip their nails.

19.

Text - archSkeptic 8.6k points · 16 hours ago · edited 11 hours ago S The wheel. What are you going to do? Make it rounder? Edit: Guys it's a joke I understand that the modern wheel has brakes, suspension, and requires an axle. You can stop blowing up my inbox

20.

Text - Poeteca 7.9k points · 16 hours ago The steam turbine, it is such a useful way to convert heat into electricity that it would not be surprising to see one strapped to a fusion reactor (if one ever get built).

21.

Text - epanek 7.3k points · 13 hours ago A mirror is as good as it gets for its usage.

22.

Text - TheGardenBlinked 6.0k points · 16 hours ago . Pizza. You can change it up, you can ruin it, and you can fold it half like a crazy calzone munching madman, but you can't beat perfection.

23.

Text - Honestmistakesbyme 3.7k points · 14 hours ago · edited 38 minutes ago Hoodies. Cold? Hoodie; Underdressed? Hoodie; No bra? Hoodie; Hot? Hoodie; Rainy? Hoodie; Dead inside? You know it, hoodie

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Owner Short Changes Workers, Learns Their Lesson


Owners that go and short change their hard working employees to save an extra buck, are the worst. Just play by the rules and nobody has to suffer. Fortunately, we think this owner learned their lesson. 

1.

Text - Short change your workers? It might just come back to haunt you! For context, I started work at a frozen yogurt shop (Menchies) at age 14. Here in the U.S, there's loads of laws governing how much and how often those under the age of 16 can work, but many employers are willing to ignore it simply because their employees don't know any better. Anyways, fast forward a few months and I'm basically the #1 employee for any job nobody else will do (because being 14 at the time I thought that my

2.

Text - So I put in my two weeks at the beginning of the pay period, so that my last day would also be payday. When that fateful last day rolled around, I collected my check and started my shift as usual. Another thing you should know is my location had a tip jar, but the employees got none of the tips. It all went straight to management at the end of the pay period, supposedly so they could divide it up equally (they didn't) between the employees. Before closing, I took the entire jar FULL of bi

3.

Text - I never heard from her again. I'm guessing she decided that a few hundred in tips was easier to replace than a few grand in fines for breaking labor laws; but I got the last laugh. You see, even after she left me alone, I still reported her to corporate. Not sure exactly what happened, but long story short that location is now owned by corporate, and is no longer a franchise. TL;DR: was short changed out of a lot of pay, so I screwed the sh*tty owner of my location over

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Quick Tumblr Thread on the Impostor Cleaner Fish


We knew there were tons of extremely specialized, gross and miserable animals. Y'know, like wasps that lay eggs in living things or fish that swim up pee holes. It looks like this guy just got added to the list. For more animal tumblr stuff, here's a tumblr meltdown after someone says fish aren't animals, and a tumblr thread on farm animals that takes a dark turn.

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Text - REI tilthat Follow TIL that in the ocean there exists biotic cleaning stations, where fish will go to be serviced by certain species of fish and shrimp who remove dead skin and parasites. via ift.tt bogleech Follow Different fish wait in line for it and even though most marine fish are predators they tend to treat the station as like a peaceful zone

2.

Adaptation - bogleech Follow Oh but there are also these little fuckers who imitate cleaner fish so other fish will come to them thinking they're gonna be cleaned, but that little cute smile they have is just because their mouth doesn't close well around these:

3.

Fish - those fangs have now been found to inject an anesthetic so their victims don't notice that the fake cleaner fish is biting chunks out of them

4.

Text - armchair-factotum Follow I drive into the car wash and the attendant chloroforms me so I don't notice him stealing my tires and windows Source: tilthat

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People That Faced Karmic Justice Years Later


Someone on AskReddit got a thread going about people that they saw face karmic justice in the end. Seeing someone who wronged you end up getting theirs in the end has an uncanny knack for melting the heart. It's like the universe recognizes their BS behavior, and decides to intervene. Or, their luck just runs out. 

1.

Text - mikesername • 8y Kind of a short story. Kid I met in sixth grade became that kind of "is your friend but is really secretly your bully" type with me. I knew he was going to fail sixth grade (the first grade in my school system that you could really actually "fail" and get held back), so he did. I saw him a couple of times in the hall after that but I haven't really heard from him since. He used to talk about how he wouldn't mind being in jail at all, because you get lots of cole slaw ther

2.

Text - [deleted] • 8y I've posted this before, but it fits here. I few years back I was the assistant manager at my karate studio. It was a slow, quiet day, when in walked Paul, my old bully from public school. I wasn't sure at first, it had been a long time, and it was hard to tell. I didn't say anything. Paul was interested in joining the dojo, and I showed him around, discussed pricing, etc. I didn't treat him any differently than I would any other potential client. At the end of the tour, Pa

3.

Text - "I'm really looking forward to training with you." I smiled. "Thanks, me too," Paul said. "You don't recognize me, do you?" "No, should 1?" "Yes. We went to school together, Grade 3 through 8. You bullied me every day, and made my life miserable. Can't wait to see you in class." Paul went white, and walked out without another word. And never walked back in. He willingly threw away a year's membership payment, almost $500, rather than have to be in the same class with me. EDIT: There have

4.

Text - Freakazette • 8y My mom treats me worse than my younger brothers, and it eventually always bites her in the ass. My favorite is the time she saw it coming. See, when we were teens, my brothers were always allowed to borrow my mother's car, but I wasn't. My grandmother even warned my mother that she would need me one day and l'd tell her no. Mom blew her off because why would she need me, and it's not in my nature to say no. Fast forward a few years later when I have a car and my mom gets

5.

Text - Kazan • 8y I was the nerdy picked on kid in school... almost 10 years after graduating from high school one of the guys who used to give me shit contacted me on facebook. apologized for being an asshat, then asked for advice on going to college for the thing i have a bachelor of sciences in Edit this is not a billy madison rip. I have never seen that movie and only found out about it's existence from people replying to this comment. I generally don't like adam sandler. 472

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7.

Text - whalesharkbite • 8y My college roommate secretly slept with my boyfriend while I was at class for a year (I routinely took more than a full course load and was in math/science classes or study groups every morning). One day I walked in on them screwing when class was cancelled. Moved out. More angry at her than heartbroken. Lost most of my friends through the breakup. Fast forward 5 years later: those 2 throw a crazy expensive engagement party at the guy's parents' beach house (attended b

8.

Text - lamerfreak • 8y (now ex) GF and I worked at the same place. I was in a different department, different level, we had no real interaction there. She came home one day to tell me about laughing at her new boss who had been hitting on her. Nearly choked when she told me his name - he was my childhood, neighborhood bully. Warm fuzzies, right there. 179 ...

9.

Text - optimusxrae • 8y I'm was one of the least popular kids in my high school by far. I was too nerdy for even the nerds to hang out with. I spent most of my time with the outcasts. I knew it was bad but I had a crush on a football player. (Can you blame me? What nerd didn't?) I decided for once to take charge and do something for myself. I asked him out. He laughed in my face and told me I was too ugly for anyone to ever date. Called me "crow face" which was a lovely nickname that caught on f

10.

Text - After high school I began doing modeling gigs and cosplay events. I felt great and looked amazing. Not too long after these shoots started popping up online, he messaged me on facebook telling me how gorgeous I looked and that he should have never said no to me at all. I then got to calmly explain to him the years of self esteem issues l'd suffered from him and how I always pictured him humiliating me in front of our high school any time I wanted to ask someone out. TL;DR: Crush told me I

11.

Text - [deleted] • 8y To the friend who always looked at my test and copied me to get an A; I got all the scholarships, you didn't. Have fun. 102 ...

12.

Text - Erock2 • 8y I'm now manager at a Verizon store, and I have all the "cool" people from high school asking for a job... One guy I remember clearly making my life miserable came in and asked for a job, I joked around with him for a bit and told him to come in for an interview, he came in and started telling me how happy he is about how he finally found a job, after telling me his life story I started telling him how horrible he made my life when we were in high school, I stood up and told hi

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Mean Teacher Won't Believe Student, Student Proves Teacher Wrong


This revenge story is truly inspirational for all the students out there that have ever suffered at the hands of presumptuous, toxic teachers that they were too afraid to stand up too. Because oh boy, does this student hatch just the kind of revenge plan that took patience and dedication; and ultimately paid off in a big and beautiful way. 

1.

Text - r/ProRevenge u/Anonamaton • 2y + Join 3 Yes, Mrs. Smith, I can F*CKING read. Hello all! l'm not sure how pro my fifth grader ass was, but this miserable 6-year-period of my education still kinda pisses me off, even today. Please forgive the necessary backstory: I don't know why, but for some reason, the teachers and administrators who ran my strict Catholic elementary school decided that I was lying about my reading/writing abilities.

2.

Text - ..yeah, look I don't get it. I really don't. Every year, l'd start the semester having to prove I was actually doing my own English homework. They could never prove I was cheating, so they eventually settled on measuring me against the smartest girl in the class, Cathy. I hated Cathy. Here's an example of this comparison business: We've been assigned a book to read. We read the first chapter aloud in class. I like the book, so I take it home and finish it. Whoop de do. Next day, we're sup

3.

Text - Ме: "I did." Mrs. Smith: "I said READ. Not skim." Me: "I DID read it." Mrs. Smith: "Cathy, what page are you on?" Cathy: "Um, 15, ma'am." Mrs. Smith: "Okay OP. Cathy is the best reader in the class. If she's not past page 15, then neither are you." ..and that was that. I was too shy and embarrassed to really protest...so I didn't. I'd just stare and stare at the same page until Cathy turned her page, and then I turned mine. This was AGONIZINGLY boring, and it happened almost every day.

4.

Text - After about 5/6 years of this...issue, I was PRETTY PISSED about it. Year after year, semester after semester, day after day, being told that I couldn't read as well as Cathy? When reading was the only fucking thing I was absolutely sure I was good at? It ate at me, rage and humiliation and frustration and just...a lot of self hate, for not being able to speak up, to force the issue to the point where I could prove I was a good reader? It stung. | And in the fifth grade, I finally saw it–

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Text - Two: I was one of the students that had to be supervised to "make sure I didn't cheat." (I NEVER FUCKING CHEATED YOU SHITB–okay, okay. Ahem.) Thanks to this, I was too embarrassed to ask to take the tests until the last semester. Three: 1ST THROUGH 4TH GRADERS WERE LOCKED INTO TESTS ON BOOKS ON THEIR READING LEVEL. Solid idea, in theory, preventing kids from cheating the system and guessing their way through high point value tests instead of reading, but do you want to know how many point

7.

Text - But fifth graders...fifth graders had FREE REIGN to take any test they wanted...any test...any test at all. I remember looking at my English syllabus on the first day of school and seeing that holy, blessed freedom... looked up at the back of Cathy's head, in the class across the hall. I could win. But then I realized...I could do better than win. I could DESTROY her. Destroy her and prove once and for all who the alpha reader in the school was. I could destroy her and show stupid Mrs. Sm

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Text - After school, instead of going to the homework room in after school care, I went to the library with Mrs. Reilly to take my AR tests, since I still had to be supervised. This was fine. I needed a witness. I started taking tests. I took all of the tests. Every book l'd ever read that was available to be tested, I tested. All of the Babysitter's Club. All of Sweet Valley High. All the Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Great Illustrated Classics, the unabridged versions of those same books. Ev

10.

Text - It took HOURS. About one hour in, Mrs. Reilly tried to stop me, but I shocked both of us when I very firmly told her: "No. I'm not stopping until l'm done." I'd never spoken to an adult like that in my life. It doesn't sound like much, but I was the quietest, shyest, most pathetic thing when it came to adults, especially teachers. I barely looked up at them. Later, my father came to pick me up. I told him I had to take all of these tests. Mrs. Reilly told my dad that l'd passed, I was fin

11.

Text - Mrs. Reilly and my dad let me take tests until about midnight. At that point, the program locked itself. No more tests could be taken, the year's competition was over. I could see my score, and I was laughing, and crying, and just a fucking mess. Mrs. Reilly just hugged me (writing this out now, she was seriously cool to actually stay so late and let this sobbing mess of a child do this). My (incredibly concerned, but kinda proud) dad took me home. I couldn't wait for Monday. You see, the

12.

Text - No one knew the truth...no one but Mrs. Reilly. Mrs. Reilly, who was IN CHARGE of the contest as the librarian and knew l'd won legitimately. I spent the entire morning hour with the biggest fucking grin on my face. I grinned though prayer, through the pledge, through the unrelated announcements. I was so excited I laughed when the principal started reading the AR winners. My classmates clearly thought I was nuts. My teacher- fucking Mrs. Smith, who was by far and above the worst teacher

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Text - Mrs. Smith thought I cheated of course. But I had Mrs. Reilly, and finally, my parents as backup. And now I need to pause, because...well. As you might assume, there's more to this story than just a little misunderstanding about my reading level. This petty revenge was the highlight of these years, but it was far from the only problem I had. Early puberty, childhood depression, and my shy, friendless nature made me a particularly juicy target for bullying and (in hindsight, pretty extreme

15.

Text - They transferred me out immediately, giving me the greatest exit any bullied child could dream of-a big bang: proving once and for all that those bastards were fucking wrong about me, beating Cathy (who, thinking on it now, didn't do anything but exist to be everything I supposedly wasn't and I kinda feel bad for ruining her moment), and blowing the whistle on my bullies. I left behind legacy of my passing-last I heard, it took the rest of the Harry Potter books and some serious dedicatio

16.

Text - I've gotten a lot of similar questions, so here's some answers! 1. How good was that pizza party? Never in my life has lukewarm, flat soda and microwaved pepperoni pizza tasted so good. Not even a joke, I've never had a pizza that can compare. Victory is a hell of a spice. 2. How are you doing now? I'm doing good! Therapy was a long process, but I'm happy these days. I ended up leaving the church, throwing myself bodily into art and writing, and using those skills to earn a full ride scho

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Text - 3. Did the school do anything about those teachers? Eventually, yes. In the end it wasn't as justice-boner- inducing, but they were dealt with. 7.2k 469 1 Share

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Stevie Ray Vaughn Plays Guitar And Shakes Fan's Hand


The guitar was a pure extension of Stevie Ray Vaughn's true self. 

Submitted by: (via SRV Bootlegs)