The Golden Rule ? Sense or Bullshit?

[Rahul]

I like how you merged British inventions and American inventions in the same list. Is that an example of that "special relationship" I keep hearing about?

Notably (for Scots) John Logie Baird and Alexander Graham Bell provide credit to Scotland for the invention of the television and telephone.

Airplanes is an interesting one, too. The Wright Brothers didn't exactly invent flying. There were a lot of eccentrics, crackpots and pioneers around the world who were perfecting various types of flying machine. The Wright Brothers managed the longest recorded flight, winning them credit for the biggest success. It doesn't make it an invention, though.

I was curious about the claim for the combustion engine, too, and a look at Wikipedia confirms my suspicions. Which American in this list were you referring to?

And computers. I've always known Babbage as the "father of computing".

I was refering to inventions from the "Western World". (Pst. I'm talking to a guy from China, Red Celt.) Not a country. Euro-American inventions.

But babbage? Pbbhtt. It all depends on how you define what a "computer" is. But the US invented the Microprocessor, so we win. Internet too.

And the Wright brothers? Talk to the 'pedia.

The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who were credited[1][2][3] with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. From 1905 to 1907, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers