Who was the first person to................?

[DaisyProudfoot]

Don't you sometimes wonder how things have happened?

 

For instance I was watching the adorably sexy Ray Mears last night on one of my fav episodes about building a birch bark canoe.

 

Who on earth first had the idea that you could skin a silver birch roll it up, add other bits of wood and build a canoe?

 

Amazing isn't it?

 

Anyone else ever wondered.............?

[aro]

I wonder about things like rhubarb who decided it looked worth eating and then that it was only the stalk that could be eaten and only once cooked! That was alot of trial and error! They must have been very hungry!!

[bikergal]

Hands off Ray Mears he's mine

[KarenT]

Oysters. Who the hell picked one up and thought "Yum, that looks tasty!".

 

Karen

x

[Kathryn]

... and who first decided bungee jumping was a good idea?

 

Respect to them!

 

K x

[littlenemo]

... and who first decided bungee jumping was a good idea?

 

It started of with an Amazonian tribe who do it as part of their young men's initiation ceremony (with vines! ) and there's a bit of an argument whether it was someone from New Zealand or the Oxford Dangerous Sports Club, who were certainly the first people to do it over here. They are (or were, I don't know if it's still going) a great bunch of freaks. I knew a couple of them years ago when they went to a posh ski resort one winter - with a punt!

Lots of mad stories, like the time they overshot the end of the piste, went over a snowdrift and ended up 10 feet below in the punt in the middle of the main road The most outrageous stunt was awarded with a candle-lit dinner for two followed by a disco - both done on a large sheet of plywood, going down the longest slope (wine waiter and dj incuded! )

 

Apparently the worst part of the whole journey was getting the punt through Swiss customs

[justamom]

Who was the first person to ...... invent Air Con - Coz i hate them?????

 

Anyone watch big bro.... then you will understand my weird sense of humor!!!!

[phasmid]

I've always wondered about snails, which incidently I adore, who, why and when had them for the first time. Frogs legs too.

[baddad]

Sharks liver...

Is used in haemorrhoid treatments -

Now who first looked at a lump of sharks liver and thought 'I know......?'

 

Two interesting (?) bits of trivia - the first related to Nemo's post... I saw a documentary YEARS ago about the islanders who bungee jump, and it included footage of their annual independence day celebrations, where they throw homemade fireworks about. The fireworks are made by drilling holes in coconuts, filling them with gunpowder, bunging in a rag fuse and lighting! unsurprisingly, given the nature of their two national sports, the tribe is in decline

and... Pastry: invented by the romans (what did the romans ever do for us?)... they used to make temporary pots out of flour and water in which they cooked stews and stuff in the fire embers... when cooked, they'd throw the pastry away. Over the years, the pastry had other bits added until we ended up with pies and stuff.. so - who ate all the pies? Maximuss Gutbuketuss!!