I really ought to have posted this last night

Human Achievement Hour. So what was to celebrate?

Hmm.... so much to say, so much to choose from. Here's a brief top of my head short list.
For many of us it is freedom from disease and hunger. Come on guys, when was the last time you were really hungry - I mean really unable to get any food at all for days? Not just that your next 'snack is only four hours away' hungry. BTW, not seen any people with Polio or a host of nasty permanently disabling / fatal diseases recently? A Human achievement.
The knowledge that for most in the West that any child given life has a better chance of survival to adulthood than ever in history. Even children with major birth defects. Oo goodness - another Human achievement.
Better and more well insulated housing. Well it didn't happen by accident did it?
Easy communication with friends and family all over the world. Well the fairies had nothing to do with it.
Widespread travel across the world. Damn those pesky innovative humans.
The Internet. Ditto.
Space flight. Earth may be the cradle of mankind, but we cannot live in the cradle forever.
Linux. Just installed Fedora 10 and given an old laptop a whole new lease of life.
Methods of killing so awful that a rational being should always think twice before initiating conflict. Not that the old ways were all that people friendly.

To all the pioneers of Medicine, Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Electronics, Communications, and every other field of human innovation - This blog and its author at least - salutes every single one of them. From the guys who first learned to bang the rocks together, from the stereotypical garden shed inventor, right up to the people unravelling the secrets of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and those working towards taking humankind out to the stars. Keep up the good work.