Major Innovations in Human History

So I was thinking about this as I hobbled down to the Student Health Center the other day. The idea originally occurred to me around the time I was on crutches following my knee injury, and reccurred naturally as I am having problems walking. Walking is quite possibly the biggest innovation in human history. I broached the subject with Mark at the bar on Thursday, and got to talking about other ones that would make the list. It's a short list to be sure. But walking, agriculture, energy, and the internet/communications are certainly on there. Another one that occurs to me, although its impact may not be fully felt until later is the mapping of the human genome.

But walking seems to be the most fundamental and changing of them all. Given the fact that by freeing up the hands, it allows humans to use tools, which eventually leads to agriculture. Agriculture leads to the establishment of civilizations and history hits the ground running, so to speak. It just seems like its something that people take very casually for granted. But if you stop and think about it, or see what it's like to be unable to do it, walking has a major impact on not only the life of one person, but the course of human events.

Yo Yo Knots

So Blogger won't allow me the neccesary space to put this in my profile. I took the time to come up with it, so I figure I'll not let it go to waste. It was one of those random question things you can answer in your profile. When I was looking at it, the question was this:

Try making up the rules to a game where you tie knots in a yo-yo string just to see if you can get them out:

It could be a team game. Maybe 4 players to a side. Played in 8 innings. Each player has the opportunity to tie a knot in the string and then untie them. I suppose there has to be a time limit. Depending on the knot, a point value is assessed. For instance, a simple overhand knot might be worth 1 point. Something like a clove hitch or a slip knot result in loss of round. The more complicated a knot the more points. Style points could also be awarded, for say behind the back, blindfolded, or between the legs. In addition to which, if a player fails to untie his knot, the player on the other team can steal if he/she can, sort of like in Family Feud. The team with the most points wins. In case of a tie, we go to a knot off. Each team would come up with a knot that the other team would have to untie. Or something like that.

The Prospect of Death?

So I don't know how many of you actually read Newsweek, or at the very least see the cover. This past week's cover article was on Billy Graham. Yes, that Billy Graham. And in the tagline, is the phrase "The Prospect of Death." Now this is something that perplexes me. I had always considered the word prospect to be used with something like 'the prospect of retirement.'

Here's Webster's: 4 a : the act of looking forward : ANTICIPATION b : a mental picture of something to come : VISION c : something that is awaited or expected : POSSIBILITY d plural (1) : financial expectations (2) : CHANCES

I suppose the usage could be in the sense of looking forward, especially considering Graham's position as a preacher. But every other definition makes it seem more as a choice of options. As far as I know, death is not an option, although I suppose that is where Graham's sprituality would come in. Although it seems slightly inappropriate, from the viewpoint of supposedly unbiased journalism, to push that sort of agenda, for lack of a better word. Or perhaps Graham merely steered the interview that way.

You know what the funny part in all of this is? I didn't even read the article. I just kind of skipped around it. Truth be told, I've become more of a Business Week man these days.

Millenium Men?

I know it sounds like some bad, hackneyed, trite superhero, reminiscent of a slew of early 90s superhero movies starring people like various Wayans' and other insignificants, but it is anything but. As I'm sure many of you are decently educated, as I have alluded to in previous posts, you are, no doubt, familiar with the term "Renaissance Man." While also the title of a movie starring Danny DeVito and Gregory Hines, I refer instead to the usage describing men of history who were quite diversified in their talents. Great men, most famous amongst them Leonardo DaVinci.

To run off on a little tangent here, I wonder how easy it actually was to acheive this status. It was expected of nobles and courtiers in those days to have a breadth of knowledge. But I wonder, especially coming out of a period in history called the Dark Ages, how easy discovering some of these things might have been. Not to take anything away from these men, but it seems to be analagous to fishing with dynamite. Perhaps the passage of time overshadows their accomplishments.

Back to our regularly scheduled program. The term Renaissance Man seems bandied about too easily these days. My mother described a professor of hers at the University of Minnesota as such, in as much as he was a professor of chemistry and also wrote skits for department dinners. I suppose what I am getting at here is introducing a new term into colloquiality. It's harder now to contribute the same depth of knowledge as a polymath of days of yore might. If you tried, more likely you would end as "jack of all trades, master of none." I think these days, diversity is everything. Unfortunately, the majority of fields have become so diluted that there is hardly any name recognition anymore, save with a select group of individuals. However, that group hardly qualifies as renaissance men as they devote the largess of their time to their work. But a man or woman who could contribute, perhaps defined by publications or something similar, who also shows proficiency in areas of the opposite spectrum could be considered for candidacy.

It almost seems like it would require an application. Something like the International Polymath Society. It would require a significant contribution to your main area of interest but still show ability outside of that in the arts. I'm not really sure where this is going anymore.

Here. List of Polymaths.

For the Rich and Famous, As Well As the Not So Rich and Not Famous

So a few things in this post. First of all, the real estate ads in the Wall Street Journal are really something. They have all of these multi million dollar estates advertised around the country. I think I saw an estate in California for like $19 million dollars. Crazy. In addition there was an ad for a condominium complex in Miami for about $2.5 - 3 million. It came with a servants' quarters. Which happened to be about the size of the 'Hers' bathroom. Yeah. His and Hers bathrooms in the master suite. Four bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths. Crazy. There was also a compound in Massachusetts for sale, though I forget the price. I qualify calling it a compound by adding this: it has a pistol range. So let's add that to the dream home shall we? Bat Cave, volcano, cyborg army, hidden passages, pistol range.

Going in completely the other direction. I was at Ikea this weekend out in Conshohocken, PA. I like Ikea. I really do. I made the comment at the time that I might actually furnish my apartment or house at some point strictly from Ikea. It's cool stuff, relatively inexpensive, besides which they have these whole setups in the showroom floor to give you ideas about which things to use together in a room.

A Gentlemen's Guide

So those who know me, know I am a classy individual. Just look at my facebook picture. Well tonight at dinner over at the Bob Evan's Restaurant, which, incidentally is not half bad, I mentioned that if I were ever on a talk show, preferably a late night one, for whatever reason, I would come out in top hat and tails and be like, "Sorry, I just came straight over from the gym." As though top hat and tails are my gym/screwing around clothes.

Fast forward to about 9:00 PM. In Barnes & Nobles we find this book in a bargain bin entitled The Gentlemen's Guide to Grooming and Style. It's like a style bible. Everything from shaving to cufflinks and canes. After flipping through this while waiting for the 10:35 showing of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, I have decided something. While I may start slow, once I reach a stable financial point in life, I want to start following this book. Get some nice tailored suits and shirts. A hat. A cane with a flask in it. A dressing gown. Basically I want to be Hugh Hefner. Maybe a bit classier, but I don't know that that can be pulled off. Sadly, as having no real job to speak of this summer, I had to leave the purchasing to Jim. But I know it exists now.

A Most Unprecedented Expedition

So for the uninformed, there have been 2 Bill & Ted movies made. Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey. Now I realize that the ending credits reveal the majority of what happened between the Battle of the Bands and world peace, but it does so only through newspaper headlines and magazine covers. I think it's time for another sequel. I'm just not sure how to work time travel into it, although you could always take the Back to the Future Part III route. They even give a perfectly good title at the end of Bogus Journey, in this bit of dialogue:

"Bill?"
"Yes Ted my friend?"
"This has been a most unprecedented expedition!"

I figure the time is right. Get Keanu Reeves to stop making shitty movies like the Lake House. And apparently Alex Winter hasn't appeared in anything since 1999. So I'm sure he's free.