Vroom!

1. What is the oldest human-created artifact that has mattered to you? Why/how does it matter? (from @butwait on Twitter)

The oldest human-created artifact that has mattered to me is the car.  The first car was a steam-powered car created in 1769 by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.  The car matters to me because it is how I get from place to place every day.  Even though I cannot drive, my parents still drive me everywhere in the car.  I play for a soccer team where it takes me an hour and a half to get to practice three times a week, and if the car was never invented, it would take me even longer to get there.

"Who invented the automobile?." Everyday Mysteries. 12 Feb 2009. Library of Congress, Web. 1 Feb 2010. <http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/auto.html>.

"Early steam automobile presented to Smithsonian / Underwood & Underwood, Washington.." Library of Congress. Web. 1 Feb 2010. <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3c16793))+@field(COLLID+cph))>.