an overlooked invention that radically changed the world
 

I've seen a few threads about this then I suddenly realized one invention had not been mentioned. This invention as done as much to change the world as electricity, the car and the computer..... refrigeration. Think about it. Changed society by allowing factories in areas unable to support production due to extreme heart like the southern us. Allowed food storage not possible before etc...

All these modern day inventions have made society significantly weaker by allowing people to pass on seed that would have otherwise been erased from our gene pool.

Natural Selection is here for a reason.

yes, lets go back to the days where stubbing your toe is a death sentence.

bad tooth could kill ya

Yea, I agree. The refrigerator's a great place where I can keep all my spoiled leftovers.

you're talking about air conditioning?

before refrigerators people had ice delivered to their homes - that's how refrigerators got the slang term 'the icebox'

i bet my parents grew up with an icebox - what year did home refrigerators become commonplace?

I agree though I'm not sure it is overlooked. In my school it was taught as one of the turning points in society.

100 fucking percent. Even worse, money allows these weaklings to control the strong. Bad bad formula.

Cities like Phoenix remained very small because of the horrible heat, once home air conditioning became available in the 50's cities in the Sun Belt had explosive population growth. Phoenix only had 65,000 people in 1940, I wonder what LA had.

************************************************** *****************
In 1940, Phoenix?s population had still only reached 65,000. A continuing impediment to
growth was the oppressive heat which was not really solved until the arrival of air
conditioning. When the FHA [Federal Housing Authority] accepted central air
conditioning as part of its home mortgages in 1957, installation exploded. In part, central
air penetrated the market so quickly in Phoenix because of the arrival of Motorola with its
high tech manufacturing plants in the early 1950s. Those plants had been refrigerated
from the outset and the engineers who moved to Phoenix to work for Motorola thought
their homes should be just as comfortable as their factories.

With the arrival of air conditioning, Phoenix population surged. During the 1950s it was
the fastest growing city in America, rising by 311%. In 1959 alone, there were more
houses built than in all the years from 1914 to 1946. By 1960, it was the largest city in
the southwest with a population of 439,000.

Not to mention actually having refrigerated California produce shipped to the east coast.

Screens for windows saved many lives. No joke.

an overlooked invention that radically changed the world
 

EASY: The Toilet...

Not only did it change the world...

But I overlook it on a daily basis... :2 cents:

air conditioning as well... and there were no ice factories before refrigeration Dan. before refrigeration guys would cut blocks of ice out of a fucking pond in the winter and ship it off packed in straw

cheap labor in the south as well... to fucking hot to work in a factory before AC

I've seen this, great documentary for sure

i grew up in an old farmhouse that had a milkhouse behind it. it was built of logs with old fashion plaster inside. meant to keep the milk cool before it was sold i guess. i thought it was so neat as a child. for me it was a place to play in but before refrigeration, it was an essential part of the dairy farm.

someday perfect specimens such as your self shall rule. fear not!

http://cache.ohinternet.com/images/t...nt_dweller.jpg

:1orglaugh

It was the invention of the century. So not overlooked.

The bottle cap.

And a shit lot of time before that, muslims invented natural air conditioning in the form of mini streams and tall convection towers, that would draw air into the rooms from the cool running water and expel the hot air out of the "cooling tower" allowing the much cooler air to fall back into the room.

Visit Alhambra in Spain as just 1 example. I went there around 5 years ago and it was like 45oC outside and yet "inside" (although everything was open plan) it was not more than 27. Not a single ice cube or air conditioner in sight.

:pimp

refrigeration is incredibly important. In England, in 1880s, only 30 percent of working class people had ever had meat. Cold storage made safe, cheap food available. Average height went up, malnutrition went down.

I don't think it's overlooked at all. Just listen to a stack train go by with 80% of the containers keeping something cold. Or I'm already thinking about getting my hvac cleaned to keep cool. (Same idea).
Ds

I've watched this in the past. Great documentary.