Worst Idea of the Century?


It was called to my attention by my friends at Personal Watercraft Zone, that Time has published an on-line survey entitled The 100 Worst Ideas of the Century. The survey contains what Time claims are 100 really bad calls. These bad calls are things that Time defines as ...dud inventions, foolish decisions and highly embarrassing mistakes. Included on this list are such things as Gone With The Wind Sequels, Rocky 5, Milli Vanilli's Grammy, Aerosol Cheese, Psychic Hotlines, The DeLorean, Thong Underwear for Men, Breast Implants, Cold Fusion and Personal Watercraft.

Yes, Time has placed Personal Watercraft in the same survey as Crystal Pepsi, the Flowbee and Sailing the Exxon Valdez into Prince William Sound. The disturbing fact is that the PWC has received significantly more votes than the wreck of the Valdez which spilled 250,000 to 260,000 barrels of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound causing chronic harm to successive generations of wildlife.

As of the date of this article, the PWC had received 3.5% of the 126,314 votes. Only 10 other entries had received more votes than the PWC. Topping the list was telemarketing at 32%, followed by prohibition - 8.52%, OJ Simpson trying on the glove - 7.12%, the Jerry Springer Show - 6.31%, the designated hitter rule - 6.76%, the programming decision which caused the Y2K bug - 5.83%, driftnet fishing - 5.62%, watches that beep - 5.11%, spandex in plus sizes - 4.89% and DDT - 4.47%. At least the PWC squeaked below the mindless killing of dolphins! It is disheartening to know that the PWC received more votes than things such as Infomercials - .24%, spray on hair - .23%, chain e:\mails - .10% and asbestos - .07%.

I urge everyone that owns a PWC or jet ski or has ridden one and enjoyed the experience, to visit this survey and cast your vote for something that is truly a bad call. See below on how to e:\mail this article to a friend or, better yet, go ahead and send a chain e:\mail to all of your friends encouraging them to vote and telling them that their wish will come true if they in turn pass the e:\mail on to 20 of their friends. Heck, according to Time's survey, only .10% find that annoying!

Catch you on the waves!

Karen K. Patton

The copyright of the article Worst Idea of the Century? in Jet Skiing is owned by Karen K. Patton. Permission to republish Worst Idea of the Century? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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