Complex Numbers

Inventive

It may surprise some of you to know that women can be clever. Examples, from Mental Floss:

    20 Things You Might Not Know Were Invented by Women  

Necessity isn’t the only mother of invention.

I'll say it again for y'all in the back: Necessity may be the mother of invention, but laziness is the milkman.

Though it wasn’t always easy to get patents or the credit they deserved, women are responsible for many items we use today.

In some cases, blame. Like when Lise Meitner invented the atomic bomb. Okay, men helped there.

As usual for these longer lists, I'm skipping a few; the link is there if you want to see more.

1. Paper Bags

A man named Charles Annan saw her design and tried to patent the idea first. [Margaret] Knight filed a lawsuit and won the patent fair and square in 1871.

The truly amazing thing here isn't that a woman came up with something, but that a 19th century court acknowledged it.

But the paper bag was only the first step. What I want to know is: Who was the absolute hero god(dess) who figured out how to give them handles relatively cheaply? That person deserves a statue, a commemorative coin, and a star named after them.

3. Foot-Pedal Trash Cans

For me, the best inventions are those that save time, giving me more opportunity to play video games. But this one's awesome for another reason: you can throw shit away while you're cooking, without washing your hands every time you lift a trash can lid. Or you can have a lidless trash can like I do, but if you live with someone, they inevitably complain about the odor.

In fairness, mine used to be one of those battery-operated sensor lid things, which is even lazier than a foot-pedal. But the problem with moving parts is that they tend to break, and then they need to be fixed or replaced. Or done without, in my case.

4. Monopoly

Pretty sure I've covered this one before in here.

Elizabeth Magie created The Landlord’s Game to spread the economic theory of Georgism—teaching players about the unfairness of land-grabbing, the disadvantages of renting, and the need for a single land value tax on owners.

From what I heard, she had two sets of rules: one for that particular flavor of socialism, and one for capitalism. For some reason, the company that eventually published the game only concentrated on the latter. The reason why escapes me.

6. Disposable Diapers

I'm sorry, but of all the things on this list, this one gets my vote for "most likely to have been invented by a woman."

7. Dishwashers

I know I covered this one before in here: "Pretty Petty" 

One might argue that this would be a contender for "most likely to have been invented by a woman," but this was a case of "my servants are Doing It Wrong and I don't want to do it myself, so I'll invent a machine."

12. Circular Saws

And being a power tool, this would be my "least likely to have been invented by a woman" thing. But I guess that would make me sexist, so it isn't.

A weaver named Tabitha Babbitt is believed to be the first person to suggest that lumber workers use a circular saw instead of the two-man whipsaw that only allowed cutting when pulled forward.

That's "two-person whipsaw," you sexist.

15. Folding Cabinet Beds

Sarah E. Goode’s folding cabinet bed didn’t just maximize space in small homes. In 1885, it made her one of the first Black women with a U.S. patent, after Martha Jones, who received one in 1868 for her cornhusker design.

Yeah, but Jones cheated; she was a time traveler.

(I really hope that's not too obscure a reference.)

19. Computers

Women in computer science have a role model in Grace Hopper. She and Howard Aiken programmed and designed Harvard’s Mark I computer, a five-ton, room-sized machine in 1944.

Women have been involved in computer science since before there were computers. Not to minimize Hopper's contribution at all.

Like I said, there's more I didn't cover. It's not always necessary to know who invented the stuff we use (nor would it be practical, as most things were group efforts), but sometimes it's nice to acknowledge where they came from.