Filed under "great inventions I never knew existed"
589603
I never even knew Post-It Tape existed until I saw a YouTube tutorial on blending distress inks. Then I knew I had to get some! You can re-stick it a couple of times before it loses its stickiness, so it's really a fairly good value as a crafting item. I've found it in 1" and 2" sizes, and bought a quantity of 2" which is wide enough to make sure that even if I'm blending a little too energetically I won't cross the whole width and accidentally get ink where it's not supposed to be. What a great invention!
2629537
These things are the best invention ever...They are hard to find...I have night at least 100 refills so that o can have them for many years to come
69480
A few years ago I had the opportunity to review 100 People Who Made History and when 100 Inventions That Made History was available to review, I knew this would be a great book for our family.  This book presents in less that 130 pages the most incredible inventions and the stories behind them.  Whether it is an essential item or something that is just nice to have, I think it is always fun to learn more on how things were made.  I used to watch a television show titled How Things Are Made and really enjoyed it.  Every once in a while, the kids and I watch some of their episodes on the net.

The table of content is pretty detailed and you can discover with a simple glance what kind of things the book covers.  I took the liberty to list it here so you can determine if the book would be interesting for your own kids.

On the Move  Discover how the wheel, caravel, submarine, navigational novelties, steam engine, steam locomotive, electric motor, bicycle, elevator, car, airplane, helicopter, rocket, and nuclear energy were invented.
Getting Connected  How to we keep connected through life?  By using one of the inventions created for this like the paper, the printing press, the telegraph, braille, the phonograph, the telephone, the radio, anything that takes pictures, the television, the transistor, the microprocessor, the computer, the satellite, the telescope, the internet and the World Wide Web.
At Your Convenience  What are the things that are part of our everyday life that you couldn't live without them?  Not a clue?  How about the flush toilet, the pendulum clock, the light bulb, the washing machine, the vacuum cleaner, the can opener, the dishwasher, the microwave oven, the refrigerator, the plastic, the battery, the hook and eye, the safety pin, the snaps, the zipper or the velcro?
Work and Play  In this section, you will learn more about things that were created to help our work and play like money, bar code, plow. crane, dynamite, cement, steel, glass, Kevlar, titanium, robot, lead pencil, ballpoint pen, post-it note, pocket calculator, sticky tape, blue jeans, sports shoes, musical instruments, video games, personal stereo, movies, fireworks, and chocolate.
Medical Marvels  This specific section is very interesting if you like medical information.  My oldest son really like anything and everything medical.  In here, he can read how anesthetics, antiseptics, antibiotics, the microscope, the laser, the diagnostic devices, the aspirin, the defibrillator, the vaccination, the bionic body parts (makes me think of the Bionic Woman or the 6,000,000 Dollar Man) as well as micro machines were invented and use when treating patients.
The book is great for science and/or history lessons.  You can incorporate some of the inventions mentioned in the book when you study a specific era or an inventor as well.  Or you could simply encourage your kids to read one invention per day in order to expand their knowledge.  I also think this is a great book to have if you travel long distance with the kids in the car as it is fun and different than other kind of books.  The book is packed with photos, drawings and sketches to help you better understand how the various items included in it have been created.  Sometimes, the item presented also introduce you to other products which were created because of the one you are learning from.  For example, in the page presenting the printing press, you will discover how Johannes Gutenberg created it, which book was the first one to be printed on it, discover that the invention changed the world but that Gutenberg never made money with it, how printing is made today and how it paved the way for newspapers, magazines, paperback books and even the e-readers.

I really enjoy reading that kind of book because you have a feeling that you are learning something when you are done with it.  This book is definitively a great addition for your personal homeschool library.
3815392
I wish I had heard about this a long time ago. A friend of mine got one and told me about it. I've passed it along to several friends myself!!
1503004
This is a great idea. Much along the same lines as the invention of the safety pin or paper clip:  Very simple, very efficient.

My bud now do say in my ears without a problem.

My only complaint is that I was not the one who invented this ingenius product.  Probably costs about [...] cents to make and sells for about [...] bucks.... and does what it says it will do.  it doesn't get any better than that!!!
10568
This might be one of the single greatest inventions of our time. I didn't know they existed until recently. I now own a pair and all I can say is they've changed my life. My eyes are very sensitive to onions and previously I'd have to leave the kitchen half a dozen times while cutting one onion to use a damp cloth on my eyes because they burned so bad. I cut up 3 onions today, so strong that my sinuses could feel the oniony fumes, and yet... no tears and no burn. I'm sure goggles would work just as well but I would never have thought to do it. These people thought to do it and make money on it and market in such a way that people like me could find them and be able to chop onions without pain, and for that, they can have my money. Try them people, they're awesome.
2260391
George Owen has put together a great collection of information about many inventions spanning back over 2000 years. Have you ever wondered where toilet paper came from?  Chinese invention in the 6th century along with chess and backgammon. There are many inventions throughout history that made life easier or more fun. Many of those are still in use today. This is a look at some of the more popular inventions. Where the came from, when they were invented, and who invented them is just a sample of the information contained in this book. If you like history or science this is a great book for you to check out. I found this to be a great read and learned some things I never even had thought about before reading this book. Great job and fin read. Check this one out.
325155
Leave it to ELMERs to come up with such a great, innovative and needed idea.  I think I have bought every kind of  hooks Command makes and I loved and used them all.  BUT THIS IS NEW - at least to me - and I love gimmicks that are useful and not bad to look at.  These surpass those requirements cause they stick most anywhere and when you change your mind, you UNSTICK them and move them somewhere else.  I am a senior citizen but I still wear eye shadow and to eliminate searching for the right color in my great big group of colors, I took my favorites, typed up the colors and taped it onto my vanity drop down shelf.  Well, the tape kept coming off.  I took one of these and just stuck the typed list under the clip and I'm HOME FREE.  Now it's a little farther away on the back board of my vanity so all I have to do is enlarge the type font, print and I can see it without glasses.  I took the second one and put it on the backdrop of my kitchen cabinet.  Now, with all the recipes I planned on putting in a book (didn't do that....yet) I just clip the recipe into this  little freestyle clip and VIOLE', again it works.  But the best of all is this one.  I make necklaces for a hobby and I was always looking for something to hold one end of the string.wire/ribbon so I could work on the other end or measure the length of a finished piece.  This worked great.  I am so tickled with these, I am buying three more cause I'm going to use them on the handrail in my hallway to hold up my garland.  Now, if I could just use them to glue my huge white lacy vase back together that my cat broke earlier, I'd be a happy  camper.  Any ideas, Elmer?
4814701
I don't know who invented this thing but he o she is a genious!!! omg my cat thinks is a bird (and this thing "fly" like one) and gets crazy, his feline instinct go out and want to chase it and kill it!! when he "haunt" the "bird" bite it and go to my room to give me the prize!! is incredible! this thing is a MUST for every cat owner!! But be aware that you have to buy replacement feathers!! In fact, I'm ordering now! lol
2403730
Way cool invention. Search "Spider Songs Willy's Dream" if you want to see what it inspired out of me.
1908615
I saw this on the history channel during a special on the history of supermarkets, and thought it was a great novelty....
2575442
Wow! Had never seen or heard of these. Used one. Have some on hand which I will give away. Don't expect to need them what a great idea! Well made. Easy to use. Idiot proof.
2801735
Remember the inventions of,

*John Logie Baird's 'Television' 1926

*James Sharp's 'Gas Oven' 1826

*Nicholas Cugnot's 'Car' 1769

*Alexander Graham Bell's 'Phone' 1876

*Douglas Engelbart's 'Computer Mouse' 1968

These are all things that when invented and used made it difficult to imagine how we coped without them! Here is one for the future'

*Richard MacKenzie's SELF-CHANGE Hypnosis 2005!

Better than 'Sliced Bread'
3476106
Brilliant! Stumbled across these by accident and wonder why I haven't discovered them before? Easy to use, work like a charm.
1328227
I would never know this uncommon use of duct tape if I haven't downloaded this book. This is a brilliant idea that challenges one's creativity. The guides in turning certain materials into crafted products by the use of a duct tape are not complicated at all. I think anybody can simply do these crafted duct tape products as a hobby or perhaps as a way to bring out his or her own creativity. I, in particular have been challenged to start a project in making my own wallet.
3223029
Damn, do I love these things. What an incredible invention.
2731924
When my daughter invented a biofeedback-based antisnoring device (a stethoscope-like device with ear pieces and a sound-gathering tube taped beneath the nose) for a high school science fair, little did I realize that she had practiced Chindogu, or the art of creating an object that sounds useful and that almost satisfies a need... except for the fact that it fails in some essential way. Author Kenji Kawakami, whose International Chindogu Society promotes this wonderfully wacky art form, has compiled "The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions" to celebrate the best of Chindogu.

Each of the 200 inventions includes a description and one or more color photographs of someone modeling or demonstrating the product. How can I begin to list the many types of devices found in this off-the-wall collection?  There are many items of apparel ranging from a backscratcher's T-shirt with an itch grid ("Could you please scratch my back at F6?") to training high heels with stabilizer wheels. For the workaholics, there are an office tie and tool belt, each with handy compartments to hold business cards, a calculator, telephone, pens, and other office essentials. There are many umbrella devices, such as the full-body umbrella, an umbrella golf club, and shoe umbrellas to avoid nasty rain puddle splashes. For dieters there are a magnifying fork and dishes that hold half the food they seem to through the use of mirrors. For the handyman there are Swiss army gloves and lawn mower sandals. For the water hater there's a bath body suit to keep you dry no matter how long you soak in the tub. For the claustrophobe, there are wide-angle glasses to make that cramped apartment look roomy. For the ultimate in personal hygiene there are a two-sided toothbrush that cuts brushing time in half and a pair of eye drop funnel glasses. I could go on and on... but I'll leave you with this final gem:  the solar-powered flashlight. What would be more impractical than that?

These Chindogu do a masterful job at spoofing our insatiable need for gadgets. The deadpan photos of people using these items are hilarious. Not only will you laugh, but you might really crave a more refined version of some of these products. You might even be inspired to create an unuseless invention of your own. This book is a lot of fun!

Eileen Rieback