I'll start in antiquity with the UMBRELLA. First, a little rain really isn't that big a deal. I like to wear a hat. No problem. If it's a lot of rain, then you[ll get wet with or without the damned thing. Better stay in or under a shelter until it blows over. Or, of course, get wet. What's the big deal. In a heavy downpour you'll get wet with or without one of the damned things. I remember living in Austria, where rail streetcars are still used. Many of the stops were either at stops with shelter close by, or in front of businesses with overhanging shelters. I watched groups of people disembark, and rather than take 5 -6 steps to the shelter, stood in the rain struggling with umbrellas. Once open, people were too close together to put them over heads. Next is the one lever shower. The house I grew up in had a hot and cold faucets that could easily be used to adjust the water temperature and pressure. The G Damned thing I have in my shower after it was “modernized” has 2 TWO levers. It takes gallons and gallons to get the temperature adjusted, and it is impossible to then adjust the pressure without fouling up the temperature. Building one of these that works is not rocket science. The dorm I lived in as a freshman ((56-57) had one lever showers. Pulled away from the wall adjusted the pressure; right or left the temp. What one finds not only in homes, but also in hotels and even cruise vessels was certainly designed to not only to make life miserable, but also to waste water. Similar to the shower, is the air flow in late model vehicles. In my 2011 Ford 150, pushing one knob turns on the air flow. Turning it turns it up or down. Pushing another turns the air conditioner on. Again, turning another turns the flow more or less. Another knob adjusts the temperature. My wife's somewhat later Hyundai has an on-of knob, and a temp adjustment. Other than that the thing decides how comfortable driver and passengers are. Finally, the worst of all of these, and others I could mention if I had more patience, is....wait for it....THE APPLE IPHONE. I don't need to blather on about this. I know everyone who's ever crossed paths with one will understand and agree.
When I copied the title something didn't work when I pasted it. I tried to fix it, but couldn't. The title should read: THINGS THAT WERE INVENTED, DEVELOPED, AND ARE NOW MANUFACTURED THAT SERVE ONLY TO MAKE PEOPLE MISERABLE.
I agree regarding the one lever shower. A few years ago I did my own bath tear-out, and I specifically kept the older 2 faucet setup. You made me recall all those hotels I stayed at where adjusting the water temp was like playing some new arcade game where getting scalded was part of losing. My 2019 Mazda has computer controlled HVAC, and a supposedly accurate digital thermostat. The problem is that the thing isn't smart enough to not turn on the heat blower until the engine warms up. It's still better than my '59 Austin Healey, which coincidentally required an umbrella when it rained
I forgot: I just got my first iPhone in July. I kinda like it, but that's mainly because I was so concerned over making the transition that I went on the web and spent way more time learning about the iPhone than I ever did with any of my 'droids. I got an iPhone because I liked the Apple SmartWatch more than the Samsung Galaxy (Android-based.) One thing I've noticed is that the calendar app stinks. The Android displayed text on each day for each event in Month View, and I had a bunch of different colors I could choose, so each type of event (church, doctors, family) had its own color. The Apple calendar has one color for Work and one color for Home, and no text for the event without opening up each day...and there are dots for all the minor holidays that are not celebrated here, so I don't really know if I have an event or if it's groundhog day in Slovenia.
That was too long as the title space doesn't hold that many characters. I have edited it slightly to fit.
Someday I'll be forced by a constantly upgrading world to switch to a smart phone. It's already nearly impossible to resolve a glitch or customer service issue online, because the helpful rep or bot keeps sending remedial text messages with links in then that are useless on a flip phone, duh!
I only upgraded because the large company I was working for has such great employee programs available through Verizon. I've stayed with it because I have Verizon as my wireless internet provider, and the bundle o' stuff gets [more] expensive when you do it à la carte. It is very rare that I use a fraction of the capabilities of a smartphone. When I change to a different internet carrier I might consider going back to a flip phone, excepting that my smartwatch is my LifeAlert device and might not work if decoupled from an iPhone. I'm surprised you can still use your flip phone, since 5g technology is bumping 3g off of the towers. I'm sure you've seen the notices from your provider. It used to be so simple...
I just commented that I use my smart watch as my LifeAlert device. It has one touch 911 and fall detection. LifeAlert charges $25-$30/month monitoring fees, and after this watch is paid off (10 months @ $30/month) my fee to keep it on my cell account is $5/month.
We both love our Apple iPhones, and as luck would have it, were at the Apple store today looking at the watches. My SO wants one for Christmas. She especially liked the fall detection feature. Showers valves and car temp controls?? Meh
I got an Apple Watch with LTE (its own SIMS card) so it does not have to be near the phone to make 911 calls. I can be anywhere there is a cell signal (like outside working on my property) and can make an emergency call. It's also nice to have around the house when the phone rings or you get a text message and it's right on your wrist. The cell feature does not add that much to the initial cost of the watch, and since I have other stuff on the account, adding the watch as an extension of my phone is $5/month. Absent some minimum number of devices on the account (I believe it's 4), the line cost is $10/month. They are pretty slick devices with all sorts of cool gadgets on them. If you check out the cost of a dedicated LifeAlert type device & service, these things sell themselves for that application alone.
I was just recently forced by Consumer Cellular to upgrade to a 4G flip phone that I find seriously more annoying than the 3G one. What formerly took two steps to do now requires four or six, and there's no blinking-light-alert on the new phone to announce a missed call or text. weary-and-borderline-grumpy emoji face
I guess I'm not so easily annoyed. I like my iPhone and all its functionality, I can use a single or double handled spigot without a care, and my auto's climate system works well in the Houston heat and humidity. Also appreciate a good sturdy umbrella. Fa-la-la.
What would the world do without Marry Poppins and her umbrellla? Sadly, Mary didn’t have an IPhone or Apple Watch but I think they’re supercalafragelisticexpialadocious. Parcels wrapped in a box by the Chinese is the biggie in my book. They must have studied origami techniques to learn how to pack 10lbs of stuff into a 5lb box for most certainly, if one has to put whatever item it is back in the box it rarely fits exactly as it came out. Perhaps it’s the mother of all inventions intended to drive Americans crazier than we are.
I more often see the opposite end of that scale - a small product packed into a large box with a whole lot of bubble wrap or, what I hate the most, foam peanuts that stick to my hands, arms, and clothing, and which are nearly impossible to discard. Given that the small product is usually already in a small box, I don't know why they choose me to dump all of the unnecessary stuff on.