Today, my mom was telling me about a tour she once took of a post office. Apparently, it was just after they'd started using zip codes. It had never occured to me that zip codes were so new (her tour was in the 60s, I think). I guess if I'd really stopped to consider it, I would have realized they had to be invented sometime, but I've just always taken them for granted.
It's amazing the things history can teach us. I'm currently reading a book on the history of England from 3500 BC to 1603 AD (as background for the book I want to read on English legal history [I know; I'm weird]). Apparently, there may have been indoor "loos" in England as far back as 5,000 years ago. Maybe things haven't changed so much after all.
Started my new job on Tuesday. All good, except that the hard drive on the computer they set up for me crashed sometime between Friday at 5 pm and Tuesday at 8:30 am. It seems the computer has been on its last legs for awhile, and the prospect of me using it put it over the edge. So I have to wait for a bit til I have a computer.
So to sum up: Zip codes are new, toilets are old, and my work computer belongs in the loo.
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they even invented flush toilets several hundred years (16th century? i don't exactly recall) before they became common (early 20th century). ok, i looked up the wikipedia article and the flush toilet was invented in 1596.
toilet paper was invented sometime after flush toilets came into fashion (and after sears switched the catalog to less-absorbant glossy paper). it took seveal more years before someone figured out how to make cheap toilet paper without splinters. (wouldn't that just ruin your whole day?) the first modern on-a-roll toilet paper was sold for about 35 cents back in the 20s or 30s, which is insane, considering you pay about that much now!
i saw a show on the history of sanitation the other day. :)
-- clara
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