Whoever invented ice cream deserves to be thanked

Last night, R. and I went to visit a friend of ours who fell off a cliff recently. I'm not making that up. But don't worry - he's ok, and in fact, went back to work today.

Anyway, while we were at his place, we played a little game: it was Memorial Day, so we went around remembering the best inventions ever. Here are some we came up with:

Ice cream
We live in Texas. But even if we didn't: is there any pleasure as fleeting and wonderful? (And don't even start with your dirty minds). Plus, Jeanie eats ice cream.

Laptop computers
A legion of coffee shop franchise owners would agree with me.

The talkies!
Meaning, movies with sound. I suppose one could be more all-encompassing and simply say "film," but given how grand that innovation was, how easy would it have been to stop there and say, "ok - I think we're good." So this one's for the gentleman/lady who pressed on for improvement: well done, good Sir. Madame. Genius that you are.

The toilet
I mean, right?

Internet
True, it's a double-edged sword. But the one edge is really, really sharp and good. Before 1994, would you have ever figured out whether or not Michael Jackson is truly saying "...but the chair is not my son" in "Billie Jean?" (He's not). Or, written a paper about South Africa without first marching to your public library's card catalogue? I rest my case.

Those are a few we tossed around, with the one criterion that the invention had to be dramatically life-changing. What are yours?