Useless Inventions & Bad Ideas

Over the last several thousand years, mankind has come up with some great ideas. And a few ideas that aren't so good in my book...

Decaffeinated Coffee.   This is a ridiculous, irrational idea. For starters, decaf does not smell like genuine coffee. The taste is off the mark too. It’s even worse than coffee that has been on the warmer for several hours—and without the kick from caffeine.  I love coffee but I do not love it enough to drink it without the wonderful effects of caffeine. And I borrowed the decaf coffee can in the picture. No point in encouraging production of the stuff by actually buying it.

The Snooze Button.  Why?  That extra five to ten minutes only means you’re going to be running behind all day. When the alarm clock goes off, it’s time to get going and face the day.  If a good day is in store, why waste any more time? If a tough day is in store, all you’re going to do is fret about it until the alarm goes off again. Get up and get on with it.

Alcohol Free Beer. This is also referred to in some quarters as near beer or practice beer.  I agree that whoever first called it "near beer" is a very poor judge of distance. As is the case with decaf coffee, something is missing in the taste—especially when you’re taking the alcohol out of light lagers where taste is a bit delicate to start with. An alcohol free version of stouts, porters, IPA’s and the like might be a different story but I have yet to encounter such a brew. I suspect that someone with good sense has tried this and has already confirmed that this is also a bad idea.

Pop-Up Advertisements.  If you think that I’m going to have a positive impression of your company or product when you interrupt me while I’m doing virtually anything on line, you’re out of your mind.  I’m very unlikely to do business with people who annoy me. All your pop-ups have done is convince me that your business does not spend its advertising budget in a wise manner.

The Designated Hitter.   This is a bad idea from that decade full of bad ideas—the 1970’s.  Nine in the field, the same nine in the batting order is how real baseball is played.  Most of those bad 70’s ideas have gone away. When was the last time you saw a Chevy Vega in traffic?  Or a Ford Pinto?  Or a leisure suit for that matter?