Invented by who?

So there's this popular cold remedy/preventative out on the market that people are just going ape shit over. I don't want to mention the name of it for fear of this blog's massive audience driving up sales, but let's just say it shares it's name with a kick-ass rollerblading movie featuring (but not starring) Seth Green and Jack Black.

Anyway, the thing that bothers me most about this particular remedy isn't the fact that it has no actual medicine in it and therefore bypasses any FDA scrutiny. It's not the fact that it makes claims based on studies financed by it's manufacturer. It's not even that notoriously overindulgent maker of baseball-themed movies Kevin Costner is a big fan of the product. None of that really bothers me all that much.

What really annoys me is that their main selling point appears to be that this product was developed by a school teacher -- and not just any school teacher but a second grade teacher. Maybe if it was the 12th grade chemistry teacher I could go with it, but second grade? Really? I'm trying to imagine the "lab" where this wonder product was developed and all I can picture is a craft table with popsicle sticks, Elmer's glue, and rounded scissors. I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna take anything off that table, effervesce it in water and swallow it.

The only brilliant idea my second grade teacher ever came up with was sending me to the principal's office to scare me out of my daydreaming, lackadaisical attitude towards school. The principal proceeded to take me to a storage room, pulled out a big wooden paddle and... wait for it... spanked an older kid in front of me. The only thing I remember being scared of was that kid finding me and beating me up for being witness to his humiliation. My daydreaming, lackadaisical attitude continued to hound me for the next 28 (and still counting) years.

Oh, and if you want real(ish) inventions by unlikely thinkers, check this out.