Sometimes something seems like a good idea, but it turns out to be a very bad idea. We often realize this far too late. When I was thinking about the very worst invention there ever was, I could only come to one conclusion and that was the atomic bomb. The world would be far better off without this evil device. Oh some might say that without it, we might not be the super power that we are today and who knows, maybe they would be right but look closely at what we have done. The atomic bomb has allowed individuals to become as powerful as countries. If an individual get his hands on an atomic or nuclear bomb, he can do more damage than an entire country could do in the same period of time. Making individuals so powerful has caused us to live in a constant state of terror, not knowing if one of these devices is going to be set off in one of our cities somewhere. Can any other invention in the history of the world be worse than this one?

If one believes that global warming was caused by the human race than it would follow that spray cans would rank well up there on the bad inventions list. As the propellants push out the contents of the cans, they enter the atmosphere and contribute to all those global warming problems. Oh sure, treaties have been put into place such as the Kyoto Treaty that many nations have agreed to on paper but not complied with in practicality. The U.S. knew it couldn't comply so it didn't even join the treaty signers. I guess it is better not to be a hypocrite but the result is still the same, nothing changes and pollution continues.

I always thought that the pay toilet was a very bad idea. Even the Romans had pay toilets and when the emperor was asked about it, he remarked that the money was clean. For all of us who have been desperate and found we had no change at the critical time, I lament this invention.

One extremely bad invention was the land mine. Millions upon millions are planted all around the world. They would step on them then we would step on them. Sure we and they made maps of their locations but the losing side, in the chaos of war, usually lost the maps or was in no shape to dig up the mines that were left after the war. There are many people walking around today without one or more legs thanks to these monsters. The military will argue that they are absolutely necessary, especially when you are out numbered and this may be true, but the problem of location and removal after a war is yet to be entirely perfected.

Mobil phones seemed to be a great idea when they were invented. The idea of having a phone on your person was great. Then the trouble started. Scientists were saying that these devices could cause cancer, because the radio waves were too close to your head. Many of the phones didn't get good reception in certain areas and some of the phones had a tendency for the signal to drift. Mobil phone conversations sometimes sounded this way: "Hey. What? I can't hear you, you are garbled!"

Women went crazy when panty hose was invented. "Hey this is great because it is easy to put on." Was it great or was the wool being pulled over their eyes? When women wore nylons, if one got ripped they could replace it and maybe not have to buy any new nylons if they had one laying around from a previous purchase. If a leg got a run in it on panty hose, you had to throw the whole thing away. A smart move by the manufacturers I would say. If panty hose was in three pieces with the legs entering up into the legs of the panty than that could hold up the nylon and they could be replaced one at a time if ripped.

One of the very worst inventions is the exhaust pipe and chimney. It looked like a good idea when used the first few times but people should have noticed where these exhaust fumes and smoke were going, they were going into the air we breathe. It should have become painfully obvious that dumping crap into our air was not a good thing. As we dumped more and more chemicals into the air, smog began to develop. Huge clouds of dirty smoke began to hang over industrial centers and places that had lots of cars belching their fumes out the back like some sick beast. If someone early on would have figured out how to deal with exhaust fumes in some other fashion the world would be a lot better place today and global warming may not be taking place.

The U.S. Electoral College is an invention that I would have to classify as ridiculous. This is an institution that only operates during a presidential election. People vote for who they like as president and vice president and a representative from that state then could conceivably vote any way he wanted without punishment. It makes no sense what so ever. Each state selects an elector using what ever method they decide. Each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators (2) plus the number of its U.S. representatives. The political parties (or independent candidates) in each state submit to the state's chief election official a list of individuals pledged to their candidate for president and equal in number to the state's electoral vote. When the people vote for their choice of president they are really voting for the electors pledged to vote for this candidate.

The Space Shuttle is one of the most expensive flops in history. Someone said that launching rockets into space was too expensive because they could only be used once so they thought that a reusable machine would be the answer. Unfortunately, that machine was not the shuttle. When the shuttle was invented, the cost of launching it was more than that of any rocket. The shuttle was highly dangerous with a chance of blowing up of one in two hundred. Several shuttles have blown up and they are so complicated that cities full of people are required to maintain them. I may have used poetic license, but I think you get my meaning. There are no escape devices on the shuttle. It is much the same as the early airplanes where pilots didn't even have parachutes in case of emergency.

Last but not least is the single handle device in motels that operates the shower/tub. How many of us have been burned by hot water or frozen by cold while trying to regulate the water stream. Sometimes even trying to figure out how to fill the tub is a problem that calls for a nuclear Physicist

Well that's all for now folks.