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Best Invention in the last 100 years that you use a lot

air filtration
water filtration
indoor plumbing
electric illumination
refrigerant heat pumps
solid state electric computers
 
Supervstech said:
So…

Like it or not, modern indoor plumbing to everybody remotely close to what we use today… is an invention of the 20th century. Maybe mid to late 19th century…
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As far as I know Roman based toilet systems worked via the potty hole that then dropped down into a trough that was connected to channels of flowing waste water throughout various locations. As to where the flowing waste water ended up I am not sure. I do know that the wealthiest houses would have a private channel system that lead into the main system. Water was pretty much the same thing with concrete piping that lead from the cities aqueducts bring fresh water to their houses to feed the baths and wash up areas.
Same result just a cruder version.
I spent summers with my aunt and uncle and all they had was a wooden out house and an outdoor shed that fed piping cold water for showering. We were actually not much better off than the Romans.
 
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robby said:
As far as I know Roman based toilet systems worked via the potty hole that then dropped down into a trough that was connected to channels of flowing waste water throughout various locations. As to where the flowing waste water ended up I am not sure. I do know that the wealthiest houses would have a private channel system that lead into the main system. Water was pretty much the same thing with concrete piping that lead from the cities aqueducts bring fresh water to their houses to feed the baths and wash up areas.
Same result just a cruder version.
I spent summers with my aunt and uncle and all they had was a wooden out house and an outdoor shed that fed piping cold water for showering. We where. Actually not much better offf than the Romans.
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Ahh, now I understand your confusion.
Yeah, I meant modern indoor sealed plumbing, flushing toilets, and pressurized water, with waste treatment, not dumping it in the sea/river…
 
You don't know where it was?
Well anyway, here in summer I have hot water for the shower for free, it goes from the well to the (black) tank, from there through some 20 metres of black irrigation pipe laying in the sun, and from there to the pump. Even in winter it's not too cold when the sun is out.
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robby said:
I dunno, I was about 6 years old but I think it was well water pumped into a wooden tank.
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When I was 10 or 11 we moved to Cheeney WA, and we had party line phone system, and a hand crank well pump, and an outhouse… we didn’t need to use any of it, as the house had modern plumbing, but it was there… a big creek went through the property with snow melt runoff from the mountains… had a HUGE irrigation well driven by a windmill… 700 or so acres of land at the foot of some huge hills… loved that place.
 
Don B. Cilly said:
You don't know where it was?
Well anyway, here in summer I have hot water for the shower for free, it goes from the well to the (black) tank, from there through some 20 metres of black irrigation pipe laying in the sun, and from there to the pump. Even in winter it's not too cold when the sun is out.
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You asked what Latitude and I don't know. I was six years old.
I think It was upstate NY, like a 4 hour drive from NY city in the 1960s. It was farm land and he had horses and cows.
 
Heck, touch tone phones are a modern invention… the phone itself invented just 24 years before the turn of the century, so I’m sure for most it was a 20th century addition to their home…
IP phones on the internet making long distance charges a thing of the past…
Countertop cooking devices, bread maker, crockpot, George Forman grill, hot plate, induction cooking, blenders, and the countertop electric mixer… I’m sure plenty of cooking equipment was invented or perfected in the 20th century
 
Supervstech said:
Heck, touch tone phones are a modern invention… the phone itself invented just 24 years before the turn of the century, so I’m sure for most it was a 20th century addition to their home…
IP phones on the internet making long distance charges a thing of the past…
Countertop cooking devices, bread maker, crockpot, George Forman grill, hot plate, induction cooking, blenders, and the countertop electric mixer… I’m sure plenty of cooking equipment was invented or perfected in the 20th century
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I remember in the early 70s on Christmas Day we would call one of my uncles and his family who lived in England.
I remember my older sister manning the wrist watch and giving each of us a 5 second count down before our 30 second allotment was up.
We each had about 30 seconds on the phone with them. Last to talk was my Dad and just a second or two before 3 minutes was up my Father would cut the call. I don't remember what the Call Charge was exactly but I remember hearing the cost of the call and thinking OMG that is a lot of money, well a lot by a kids standards.
 
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Well, NYC is just over 40° north, we're just over 39°. Not much difference.
A black pipe would have give you warm showers, in summer ;·)
Not much of an invention, black irrigation pipe, true, but incredibly effective for the price (dirt cheap :·)
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robby said:
You asked what Latitude and I don't know. I was six years old.
I think It was upstate NY, like a 4 hour drive from NY city in the 1960s. It was farm land and he had horses and cows.
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You could look at Louggle Earth archives. Use the "Decade Rewind" feature. ?
There were probably only a few cars traveling that distance back then.
 

Best Invention in the last 100 years that you use a lot​

guess I have to wait 6 years before I say sliced bread
If you wonder why I'd say it, you've never seen my wife handle a knife.
I'm surprised she still has all her fingers
 
We don't all use them but we have all experienced the impact of the invention of the standardized shipping container (1957). That simple invention led to a revolution in international shipping because shipping costs plummeted. Without the massive price drop in shipping, we would all be paying a lot more for everything we buy.

On the flip side: Without the shipping container, we would not be so dependent on Chinese manufacturing.
 
We are in the information age. Modern computer, and search algorithm to present the relevant data. Without that, modern society grinds to a halt.

Quantum Mechanics. A lot of high tech is based on it.
 
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