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# Five Worst Inventions

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gRxkKHj1.m3u8" -->
## Video: Five Worst Inventions

[Watch (HLS stream): Five Worst Inventions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gRxkKHj1.m3u8) (2:27)

![Five Worst Inventions](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gRxkKHj1/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2009-11-11. TIMIE senior writer Lev Grossman dons a snuggie (but not a gas mask bra) to discuss the choices for Worst Inventions of the Year_


---

Jul 27, 2023 1:15 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[The Best Inventions of 2015](/video/00y0bxBE/)

### The Best Inventions of 2015

[The Best Inventions of 2013](/video/2dst8HeQ/)

### The Best Inventions of 2013

[2007 Best Inventions of the Year](/video/a2AImrv8/)

### 2007 Best Inventions of the Year

---


## Transcript

Hi. My name is Lev Grossman. I'm a senior writer at Time. And I'm gonna talk, you know, about some of the worst inventions from 2009. Every year we collect the best inventions but ever since we started doing that 10 years ago I've always wanted to do the worst inventions. This year we finally did it. One of the worst inventions of this year comes out of Japan. There's a company in Japan where every morning you get to work and they have special software and the software is used for analyzing your smile and tells you whether your smile is cheerful enough. And if you're not cheerful enough, you have to smile wider.

2009 will probably not be remembered as the year that the gas mask bra was invented. But it was. Someone invented a bra that doubles as not one gas mask but two gas masks and the event that you're surprised buy a gas tank when you're wearing lingerie. One of my least favorite inventions this year is something I'm calling the Jane Austen Monster Mashup Novel. It began with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which was a funny idea for about 30 seconds but it has been followed by a tidal wave of knock off imitators and I think we've seen enough of them. Another one of our worst inventions this year comes out of England.

In England, they've changed the way that standardized tests are graded. [ unk ] it was too much work for humans who actually read the essays that students wrote so instead they're having them graded by computers. Computers read the essays, tell you if the writings any good, and no human ever sees them. I don't see how that could be a good idea. The last of our worst inventions of 2009 has to be with a garment known as the sleeved blanket or the Snuggie. Now, Snuggies are not a new invention for 2009 but this was the year that we invented the Snuggie for dogs. Now as you can see, the Snuggie for humans, it's not a dignified look.

My question for you is, who would do this to a dog? Who would do that? This is Lev Grossman for Time. com

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