Wednesday, May 16, 2007

"How It's Made"


Have you ever seen that show on the Discovery Channel called "How It's Made?" It's this little half hour program that picks four of the most banal objects it can find and shows you how they're made from raw material to out-the-door. In these little 6 minute segments it will take you inside the making of rubber gloves, tooth picks, firemen jackets... Whatever. And it's absolutely fascinating.

It also reaffirms my faith in mankind. (I know, I know, I'm supposed to say "humankind" but I've had a couple beers and am feeling reckless) I mean, we really are an amazing and complex species. When you watch the ingenuity that goes into creating radiator hoses and soda bottles you just have to sit back in awe at what we're able to do when we set our minds to it.

I once saw a two hour documentary beside itself that a cute little dolphin knew a few pieces of sign language. Sign language? Whip-de-friggin-do. Let's fry that little useless sucker up so we have something to eat while we watch the miracle of man mass-producing thumb tacks.

2 Comments:

Blogger kris1O said...

I used to LOVE that show. But there was this one episode where they showed a factory that produced chickens--it showed masses of hens and roosters in tiny cages and factory workers tossing newborn chicks onto different conveyor belts according to their sex.
I don't think they were showing how horrible it was either; it was just another 6-minute segment. It just made me uncomfortable, to say the very least. =/

7:44 PM  
Blogger Gina said...

Oh, go ahead and say "mankind." I hate political correctness. :-) (Courtesy is another thing, but I honestly don't think it's uncourteous to say "mankind.")

4:43 AM  

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