Tuesday - July 14, 2009

A series of idiotic ideas have been detailed in a book, History’s Worst Inventions.

I do not agree that the Beta system was idiotic at all, and don’t think it belongs on this list of bad inventions.
However, the rest are certainly noteworthy and may well deserve that application.

History’s worst inventions listed

Published: 8:25AM BST 14 Jul 2009

The Parachute Jacket, invented in 1912, was demonstrated by Franz Reichelt who jumped from the Eiffel Tower. He fell to his death

They include a wicker chair spaceship and an asbestos tablecloth. Other useless inventions included anti-tank dogs during the Second World War when the Russians attempted to counter the might of the German Army’s tanks.

The dogs, fitted with explosives, would be starved before battles and trained to search for food under vehicles, where they would then explode.

However, dogs often ran towards their own lines, blowing up tanks on their own side, according to the Sun.

The Parachute Jacket, invented in 1912, was demonstrated by Franz Reichelt who jumped from the Eiffel Tower. He fell to his death.

The Wicker Chair Spaceship from 1500 was dreamed up by Chinese official Wan Hoo who tried to fly to the moon using 47 large rockets strapped to his wicker chair. It resulted in a huge explosion.

In the 19th Century Dr Charles-Edouard Brown-Sequard injected himself with the testes of guinea pigs and dogs to stave off old age but it didn’t work.

In the 1970s Sony, the technology giant, lost billions of pounds when their failed Betamax video format was overtaken by the release of VHS a year later.

History’s Worst Inventions by Eric Chaline, published by New Holland

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Posted by peiper     on 07/14/2009 at 05:30 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor • Stoopid-People •  
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