Invention of the Week: Cunieform Writing

I just wanted to give you a big "Thank you!" anonymous Mesopotamian inventors of writing! You are our official Bud Light Real Men of Genius this week. Nobody knows who you are, but we certainly know what you were doing. About 6,000 years ago, it appears that you were trying to ensure the safe delivery of grain, beer, and other goods. Without the internet or computers, keeping your deliveryboys honest would have been difficult had it not been for your invention of numerical tabulation. And, good job on the writing medium. Had the Egyptians chosen something more durable than papyrus (or the Chinese who chose tortoise shells), we might be celebrating them this week instead of you; you had the forethought to use clay which survives the heat and erosive qualities of sand. Without your contribution to the human race, we would still be living in chiefdoms, collecting yams and other starches, and marrying our cousins. So, to you, I lift a big glass boot of beer!