# Inventions the world needs **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591 "2016-08-22T00:32:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/21 "2016-08-22T17:13:51Z")
Wall warts with the prongs on short cords so they don’t hog the power strip. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/22 "2016-08-22T17:22:41Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Wall warts with the prongs on short cords so they don’t hog the power strip. I bought a [ten pack of one-foot extension cords](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CEJW0WQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for just that purpose. Bob’s your uncle. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/23 "2016-08-22T17:24:17Z")
> [@Vicsage](#): > > When you turn your cell phone off or mute it, you should be able to call it, enter a special code, and the phone should ring loudly. That way if you can’t find your phone when its off, it will still ring for you. > [@Sario](#): > > If you use an Android smart phone, you can do that. You can log in to your google account and make your phone ring, even if it’s on silent. You can also use its GPS to see where it is. iPhones, too. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/24 "2016-08-22T17:26:19Z")
When they’re not puttering around trying to cure diseases, I want the genetic engineers to make dragons, griffins, and unicorns. Bonus points if they can get a dragon that flies, and an alicorn that will neutralize at least one common poison. On a more practical note, I want them to make a critter that is basically a stomach and a tooth. You feed it, and it makes ivory. We raise them on large plantations, and ivory becomes so plentiful and so cheap that elephant-poaching becomes unprofitable. Maybe we could do something similar with rhinoceros horn and shark fin. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/25 "2016-08-22T17:41:20Z")
I’m still waiting for silent velcro. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/26 "2016-08-22T18:15:34Z")
Every tall person has wished for telescoping implants in their femurs for sitting without pain in too-short legroom. You know, the ones in theaters, sports stadiums, buses, subway cars, airplanes, and some cars. I suppose a screw-drive piston would be better for internal placement than hydraulics. **mbh** wants a dragon that flies. I don’t suppose a dragonfly would do? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/27 "2016-08-22T18:24:28Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > When they’re not puttering around trying to cure diseases, I want the genetic engineers to make dragons, griffins, and unicorns. Bonus points if they can get a dragon that flies. Done! I hope you like [pink & purple](http://www.skychariot.com/N-726PA/SmithsonianDragon.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/28 "2016-08-22T18:49:06Z")
> [@Me\_Billy](#): > > Shower heads in bathrooms which are ABOVE your head instead of in your face. > > Enough electrical outlets in each location as is needed these days. Like 8 outlets where a computer would go. 6 outlets where the can opener, coffee maker, etc. go. And 6 outlets where your chair is in the living room - lamp, cell charger, answering machine, cordless, phone, etc. Advantages to being able to build your own house. My shower heads are 6 1/2’ above the shower floor. Not the face height of my old shower. Note my kids were just tall enough to reach when it was built. Receptacles on my kitchen counters are all 4 outlet and about 32" apart on the counter tops on differing circuits. The bedrooms got outlets every 4’ along the walls. My daughter’s built in vanity got two above and 2 below the counter on two separate circuits. She’d have to be trying on purpose to overload a breaker. Computer always had a UPS to plug everything in to. Living room by the master chair suffices with one of the [screw on multitap-adapters](http://www.truevalue.com/product/Electrical-Lighting/Taps-Adapters/Multi-Outlet-Taps/6-Outlet-Polarized-Current-Tap/pc/4/c/59/sc/530/7330.uts) since that part of the house was not redone in the past 1/2 century. Media center got a [power strip](http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=35078606&cp=2568443.2568454.2632223.1259255). ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/29 "2016-08-23T13:09:11Z")
I think we need a non-polluting way to turn trash into energy. I would like someone to market a hand held piss vacuum, so you don’t have to get out of bed in the morning. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Vicsage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e68b1a/32.png) [@Vicsage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vicsage)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/30 "2016-08-23T13:15:38Z")
When I record shows, I would like a functional fast forward. Make the show go about 20% faster and still have the sound also going 20% faster. That way I could binge watch 1 hour shows in 48 minutes. What would be even nicer is if you could control completely the speed because I’d wager the more you did this, the faster you could go. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/31 "2016-08-23T17:19:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > A button on the phone that, when pressed while receiving a scammer or telemarketer’s call, kills the scammer, their entire family out three levels of cosanguinity, and paints a star on your kill board. And here I am just wishing for an option to make their ears bleed, and one for the microsoft scammers that you get to take over their computer instead of them getting control of yours. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/32 "2016-08-23T17:28:41Z")
I was at a restaurant once that had a button that would make a light go on so the wait staff would come over. I want that to be universal. That way, they don’t need to come by and bother me when I don’t need them (“is everything okay? How’s your meal?”) and they will be there quickly when I do. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/33 "2016-08-23T17:36:56Z")
> [@Vicsage](#): > > When I record shows, I would like a functional fast forward. Make the show go about 20% faster and still have the sound also going 20% faster. That way I could binge watch 1 hour shows in 48 minutes. What would be even nicer is if you could control completely the speed because I’d wager the more you did this, the faster you could go. You’d also have to have the pitch of the audio automatically lowered as the show speeds up, to avoid Chipmunk voices. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/34 "2016-08-23T17:45:35Z")
> [@KellyCriterion](#): > > TVs should have a “TV remote locator” button on them that, when pressed, makes the TV remote control beep. I actually tried to patent that very idea about 10 years ago, someone was already sitting on a patent for it. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/35 "2016-08-23T17:56:20Z")
> [@Vicsage](#): > > When I record shows, I would like a functional fast forward. Make the show go about 20% faster and still have the sound also going 20% faster. That way I could binge watch 1 hour shows in 48 minutes. What would be even nicer is if you could control completely the speed because I’d wager the more you did this, the faster you could go. My Playstation 3 allows me to watch DVDs at 1.5 speed with sound. A glorious feature for marginal movies that you just want to hurry up and finish. ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/36 "2016-08-23T19:01:45Z")
I think they should invent a new type of mouthwash that you keep at your desk which, after swishing it around, you can just swallow it and get on with your life. Plus, it should dissolve anything that isn’t teeth, tongue or skin leaving your mouth healthy and clean. People brushing their teeth at the work sink is gross. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/37 "2016-08-23T19:37:23Z")
Battle Mechs food replicators Google Earth Throughout History Mammoths ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/38 "2016-08-23T19:45:19Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Wall warts with the prongs on short cords so they don’t hog the power strip. [The Squid!](http://powersquid.com/collections/frontpage/products/powersquid-surge-protector-calamari-edition) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/39 "2016-08-23T19:48:28Z")
Teleportation. There’s got to be some way to make it work. Traffic sucks. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591/40 "2016-08-23T19:52:33Z")
Ooo, Battle Mechs! How about affordable self repairing car paint or auto glass. I know that nano paint is coming but it isn’t cheap. Stupid-Seeking Anti-Personnel Missiles. Inexpensive Water purifiers that allow 3rd world countries to use whatever water is available as a reliable drinking/agriculture source. Missed edit window. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inventions-the-world-needs/763591.md?page=3)