Hopefully this node does not fit in with the title and I’m sure that given the chance, fellow noders could probably come up with some ideas of their own. Amazingly, most of these have been noded in one form or another but I thought it might be a good idea to have them in one place. Have fun creating the soft links.
Anyway, a while back Time Magazine conducted a poll asking their readers to come up with the 100 worst ideas of the century. I don’t know if they provided their readers with the choices or not. What follows is the results and the percentage of votes for each. From top to bottom...
Prohibition – 8.12%
That Teensy Programming Decision That Led to the
Y2K Bug – 7.98%
Geraldo Rivera Opening of
Al Capone's Vault – 7.82%
Telemarketing - 7.67%
The
Jerry Springer Show - 6.88%
The immortal line from the Simpson Trial “Mr. Simpson, Step forward and try on the glove.” – 6.63%
Spandex in Plus Sizes – 4.73%
The
Designated Hitter Rule – 4.22%
Driftnet Fishing – 3.41%
Watches that Beep –3.04%
DDT – 3.00%
The
Ugandan Space Program (somebody please have some fun with this)– 2.28%
Personal Watercraft –2.03%
The
Dalkon Shield – 1.63%
Red Sox sale of
Babe Ruth to the
New York Yankees – 1.57%
Michael Jackson's Marriage to
Lisa Marie Presley – 1.42%
The
Treaty of Versailles – 1.33%
The
Titanic – 1.18%
Breast Implants – 1.10%
Psychic Hotlines -1.08%
Barney – 1.07%
New Coke – 1.06%
Spray-on Hair - 1.03%
Thong Underwear for Men - .92%
The Attack on
Israel on
Yom Kippur - .89%
The
Blacklist - .75%
New Math - .68%
Not Bombing the Fuel Tanks at
Pearl Harbor - .66%
Suntans - .61%
Sailing the
Exxon Valdez into
Prince William Sound -.59%
Fast Food - .59%
Infomercials - .50%
The
Hitler Diaries - .49%
The United States
Metric System Campaign - .48%
Bush's Choice of
Dan Quayle - .46%
Susan B. Anthony Dollar - .45%
Asbestos - .44%
Introducing
Kudzu to the U.S. - .41%
The
Maginot Line - .41%
Laugh Tracks - .41%
Milli Vanilli's Grammy - .38%
Choosing VHS over Beta - .37
Staffing the
White House with Interns During the Government Shutdown - .36%
Crystal Pepsi - .35%
Installing a Recording System in the
Oval Office - .34%
Michael Jordan, Outfielder - .33%
Strip Malls - .29%
Flowbee - .29%
The Independent- Counsel Statute - .28%
Leisure Suits - .26%
The Paperless Office - .25%
Hydrogen-Filled Blimps - .24%
Aerosol
Cheese - .23%
Heaven's Gate - .23%
The Russians' Diverting the Tributaries of the
Aral Sea - .22%
Rocky V - .21%
Tie-Breaker Shoot-outs in the
World Cup - .20%
Daryl Hall's Solo Career -.20%
Astroturf - .20%
Cold Fusion - .19%
George Lazenby As
James Bond - .19%
Smell – O – Vision - .18%
Videophones - .16%
Mohawk Hairstyles - .16%
Letting
Oliver North Near a Shredder - .14%
Gone With the Wind Sequels - .14%
Woody Allen,
Paterfamilias -.14%
The
Stiletto Heel - .13%
Hooked on Classics - .12%
The
Edsel - .11%
Fen/Phen - .11%
General
George MacArthur's Defying Truman - .10%
Shoe-Store X Rays - .10%
Cryogenics - .09%
Muzak - .08%
IBM's
PC Junior - .07%
Ishtar - .07%
The
Eight-Track Tape - .07%
Hair Club for Men - .07%
Biosphere 2 - .07%
Vinyl Siding - .06%
Ponzi Schemes - .06%
Comeback Tours - .06%
The
Spruce Goose - .05%
Earth Shoes - .07%
Radium Cures - .05%
Message T Shirts - .05%
Theme Restaurants - .05%
AfterMASH - .05%
Culottes - .05%
Swine-Flu Vaccine - .04%
The
DeLorean - .04%
The
U.S.F.L. - .04%
Rod McKuen's Poetry - .04%
Promoting
Kim Philby - .04%
The
Apple Lisa - .03%
Prestige Area Codes - .03%
Mood Rings - .03%