Things to be proud of!

[John Sayers]

Australia has made it's mark in a few areas.

1. the Ute (1934), known in the US as a pickup.
2. the IVF freeze-thaw method for storing embryos (1983.
3. anti-counterfeiting technology for banknotes (1992).
4. Penicillin (1944)'s antibiotic properties were discovered and developed by Australian Howard Florey.
5. the plastic disposable syringe (1949).
6. ultrasound (1976), pioneered in Australia
7. black box flight recorders (1961)
8. Racecam TV sport coverage (1979).

When I was at boarding school in New Zealand I spend a sunday playing around in the prototype of what became The Hamilton Jet Boat and later the Jet Ski.

[Krisidious]

1. the Ute (1934), known in the US as a pickup.

I knew there was a reason I loved Australia...

[sorgesu]

Ohh, this is right up my alley. I specialized in weird topics for my oral speeches in high school: I did one on the history of the toilet:
the first flush was over 2000 years ago in Crete:

The Brassiere is named after Phillipe de Brassiere but he never patented it and the patent instead went to an engineer named Otto Titzling. (watch how you pronounce that) His marketing managaer was Hans Delving. (never mind)

I did onE on the history of Swearing too, shall I get started?

[boofredlay]

Hell yeah.

[Ross Macintosh]

Canadians Frederick Banting & Charles Best discovered insulin in 1922. Estimates show there are more than 15 million diabetics living today who would have died at an early age without insulin.

[sorgesu]

YOu asked for it "Gadzooks" (God's Hooks), "sblood" (God's blood)

A CURSE: "may you grow like an onion, with your head in the ground"

[tomsdesk]

Kansas City inventions include:

Teflon, Eskimo Pie, M&M candy coating, the jazz jam session, the swing sound in jazz music, Wishbone salad dressing, the McDonald's Happy Meal, the multi-screen theater concept.

Proud of:

That "melts in your mouth, not in your hands" coating it pretty amazing...and tasty!

[Anssi]

Inventions claimed to be Finnish:
Sauna
Women's right to vote (1906)
The Molotov Cocktail
The mobile phone (Nokia is a Finnish company that originally made rubber boots and car tyres)

Anssi

[Will03]

Tom,

I hate to correct you, but the multiplex is a Canadian invention...
http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10229

[Daniel Bouchard]

Other canadians inventions;

• Lightbulb (first patented) - Henry Woodward (1874)
• Garbage bag (green plastic) - Harry Wasyluk and Larry Hanson (1950s)
• Snowblower - Arthur Sicard (1927)
• Snowmobile - Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1937)
• Anti-Gravity Suit Invented by Wilbur Rounding Franks in 1941
• Electric Car Heater - Thomas Ahearn invented the first electric car heater in 1890
• Kerosene Invented by Doctor Abraham Gesner in 1846
• Music Synthesizer Invented by Hugh Le Caine in 1945
• Walkie-Talkie Invented by Donald L. Hings in 1942
• Wireless Radio Invented by Reginald A. Fessenden in 1900

and one of the best!

• zipper - Invented by Gideon Sundback (1913)

And I think then all of these inventors was under 14 years old!!!

[tomsdesk]

Will, I stand corrected...

"North America's first two-screen theatre, The Elgin Theatre was created in 1957 by Nat Taylor in Ottawa, Ontario, when he expanded the 20 year old facility. Taylor is credited as inventor of the multiplex or cineplex, and later founded the Cineplex Odeon Corporation, opening the 18-screen Toronto Eaton Centre Cineplex, the world's largest at the time.[1]

Stanley Durwood of American Multi-Cinema (now AMC Theatres) pioneered what would become the multiplex in 1963 after realizing that he could operate several attached auditoriums with the same staff needed for one through careful management of the start times for each movie."

...sorta. (I actually thought I'd get static about the Happy Meal, so proud are we :`)

[Gaieus]

Some inventions by Hungarians (not all developed in Hungary - we all know of "brain-draining"...)

• safety matches
• dinamo
• carburator
• soda water
• helicopter
• ball pen
• the basics of modern informatics (computering)
• vitamine C
• the "BASIC" progamming language
• diesel and gas turbines
• the "Zeppelin"
• the nuclear reactor and later - though in "team work" - the atomic &hydrogene bombs (well, not to be very proud - or at least happy - of/with it...)
• the automatic telephone centre
• stereo radio broadcasting
• transformator (among others)
• micro-groove record player
• holography
• and last but not lest: the Rubic cube...

[CadFather]

in italy we know the telephone was first 'conceived' by Antonio Meucci..very interesting.. look it up

[Ross Macintosh]

Here's some more Canadian inventions:

17-alpha-ethynyl-17-hydroxy-5(10)-estren-3-one: today known simply as "The Pill"
Air-Conditioned Railway Coach: Henry Ruttan, 1858
Abdominizer: (infomercial exercise device) Dennis Colonello, 1984
A/C Radio Tube: Edward Samuels Rogers, 1925
Automatic Foghorn: Robert Foulis, 1859
Automatic Machinery Lubricator: Elijah McCoy
Automatic Postal Sorter: (200,000 letters an hour) Maurice Levy, 1957
Basketball: James Naismith, 1891
Bone Marrow Compatibility Test: Barbara Bain, 1960
Chocolate Bar: Arthur Ganong, 1910
Computerized Braille: Roland Galarneau, 1972
Creed Telegraph System: (Morse Code to text) Fredrick Creed, 1900
Electric Cooking Range: Thomas Ahearn, 1882
Electric Light Bulb: Henry Woodward invented the electric light bulb in 1874 then sold the patent to Thomas Edison
Electron Microscope: Eli Franklin Burton, Cecil Hall, James Hillier, Albert Prebus, 1937
Electric Organ: Morse Robb, 1928
Electric Streetcar: John Joseph Wright, 1883
Fathometer: (early sonar) Reginald A. Fessenden, 1919
Film Colourization: Wilson Markle, 1983
Goalie Mask: Jaques Plante, 1960
Gramophone: Alexander Graham Bell & Emile Berliner, 1889
Green Ink Currency ink: Thomas Sterry Hunt, 1862
Half-tone Engraving: Georges Edouard Desbarats & William Augustus Leggo, 1869
Heart Pacemaker: Dr.John A. Hopps, 1950
Hydrofoil Boat: Alexander Graham Bell & Casey Baldwin, 1908
Instant Mashed Potatos: Edward A. Asselbergs, 1962
JAVA: (programming language) James Gosling, 1994
Jetliner: The first commercial jetliner to fly in North America was designed by James Floyd in 1949.
Jolly Jumper (Baby bungee jumping): Olivia Poole, 1959
Music Synthesizer: Hugh Le Caine, 1945
Newsprint: Charles Fenerty, 1838
Odometer (mechanical): Samuel McKeen, 1854
Paint Roller: Norman Breakey, 1940
Plexiglas: William Chalmers, 1931
Pumpable liquid hand soap system: Harold Humphrey, 1972
Portable Film Developing System: Arthur Williams McCurdy, 1890 (McCurdy foolishly sold the patent to George Eastman in 1903)
Process to Extract Helium from NG: Sir John Cunningham McLennan, 1915
Quartz Clock: Warren Marrison
R-Theta Navigation System: J.E.G. Wright, 1958
Radio-Transmitted Voice: Reginald A. Fessenden, 1904
Railway Car Brake: George B. Dorey, 1913
Railway Sleeper Car: Samuel Sharp, 1857
Plastic bottle Machine (Rotary Blow Molding): Gustave Côté, 1966
Safety Paint: Neil Harpham, 1974
Silicon Chip Blood Analyzer: Imants Lauks, 1986
Standard Time: Sir Sanford Fleming, 1878
Stereo-orthography Map Making: T.J. Blachut & Stanley Collins, 1965
Superphosphate Fertilizer: Thomas L. Wilson, 1896
Synthetic Sucrose: Dr. Raymond Lemieux, 1953
Television System: Reginald A. Fessenden, 1927
Television Camera: F. C. P. Henroteau, 1934
Telephone Handset: Cyril Duquet, 1878
Tuck-Away-Handle Beer Carton: Steve Pasjac, 1957
Undersea Telegraph Cable: Fredrick Newton Gisborne, 1857
UV-degradable Plastics: Dr. James Guillet, 1971
Wirephoto (fax concept): Edward Samuels Rogers, 1925
Pablum (baby food): Drs. A. Brown, F. Tisdall, & T. Drake, 1930s
Superman: Joe Shuster & Jerome Siegel, 1938
Panoramic Camera: John Connon, 1887
Electric Wheelchair: George J. Klein
Silicon Steel Alloy: Reginald A. Fessenden, 1892
Alkaline Batteries & Lithium batteries: Lewis Frederick Urry, 1959
Two-way transatlantic radio transmission: Reginald Fessenden, 1906
Instant Replay (for televised sports): George Retzlaff, 1955

plus the Dental Mirror, Tracer Bullets, Radio Compass, portable baby highchair, Yachtzee game, Trivial Pursuit game, Pictionary game, Balderdash game, Nursing Mother Breast Pads, helium as a substitute for hydrogen in airships, the first cardiac intensive care unit, and Margerine,

And close to my heart...
the yummy McIntosh Apple: developed by John McIntosh, 1796