Today at Flavorpill, we perused a list of the 50 best inventions of 2009. We went spelunking in LA’s secret oilfields and rigs. We chuckled over Slate’s unauthorized index of Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue. We felt under dressed at a sleek new Euro-style McDonald’s. We wondered if Philip Roth started shouting when he found out that he’d landed on the shortlist for the Literary Review’s bad sex in fiction award. We craved a punk rock dessert from Brooks Headley at Del Posto. We wanted to visit the best new buildings of the decade. We went inside of Tim Burton’s wackly world, courtesy of his new MoMA show. We couldn’t take our eyes off of Charlotte Gainsbourg in her new video with Beck. We were excited to start watching music videos on Hulu. And finally, we discovered why we love lists so much, courtesy of Umberto Eco. Spoiler alert: It has to do with death.