10,000 Brilliant Ideas

Forest garden, agroforestry, intercropping, companion planting, forest farming, permaculture, edible forest gardens, silvopasture (I'm sure this list goes on and on) are all ways of using your farmland for more than one product. I like this idea for a few reasons. It creates more diverse products which should reduce the amount of travel for each one. It's more humane to animals than being raised in a small space. It apparently creates more stuff then each product alone (synergistic). There's apparently 10 times as much sun coming down at midday as any plant needs. But it requires a lot of skill and basically in this era of specialization, you gotta know everything there is to know about corn/cows/whatever to complete.  So here's my scheme. It's a little bit like a shopping mall. I buy a bunch of land. I put a fence around most of it. I then make lots on the edges. I lease the edge lots to different farmers with know-how. The farmers come plant, main...

Use our easy peasy system! Gosh its so easy. You get on the web site and select the products that are your staples. Then you put in your payment info and your desired stock (let's say 1 month). The stuff arrives on your door step and you put it in the pantry. When you get one of these things out of the pantry, whip out your phone and scan the provided QR code that we stuck on. That's it! When your stock dips, we'll order you more. If something is nearing expiration we'll alert you. If you try to use a new one when you still have an old one in stock, we'll tell you. And if you forgot to scan it, you can just click "already used". For non-expiring things like Shampoo, we'll send you a stock check now and again. Basically you can rest easy knowing you're always a month ahead should the need arise and your stock will adjust automatically based on your use. And what does it cost? Just the delivery fee! And if you buy enough, we'll waive that! We m...

A grocery service that  monitors  your pantry with an app that scans  bar codes  or let's you check off ingredients when you use them. Alerts you when things will expire or when you're going to run out. Could also be melded with a grocery service that prepares your basket for you with your staples before you come in. This breaks the "put the milk at the back of the store so you have to browse everything else first" model, but it could easily introduce a much more friendly "here's what you usually get and here's what we think you might like" concept. And of course you can have the pick up station at the back of the store too.

What do you do when you've finished your coffee in your personal cup which remains at your desk with a residue of drying coffee in the bottom? If you have a kitchenette in the break room there might be soap and a sponge for washing. If not, do you rinse it in the bathroom sink? Do you pour water into it, slosh it around and then dump it in a plant? Do you take it home and wash it? Or do you, eh, just pour some more java in the next morning crossing your fingers that nothing anthraxy got in there overnight? I propose a handy packet of coffee mug wipes. They clean and disinfect as well as with dish soap and water and don't leave any residual nasty taste.

This café is wired. There are cameras and microphones everywhere. What goes on inside is constantly broadcast in real-time on the café's website. There is a bold disclaimer on the front door telling everyone who enters that their conversation and image will be viewable by anyone accessing the site. It is open from 6am to 2am the next morning to maximize global viewing time, without becoming too seedy. It is located in New York or LA or maybe both. Another option: At the same time, monitors in the cafe show analytics in real time of how many people are on the website and where they are located. Maybe it even shows how many people are watching each camera and listening to each microphone. Perhaps people on-line could post chats and be active participants as well. Would no one want to go to a café where their privacy is completely nil? Would no one want to sit at their computer and watch people living instead of doing it themselves? Or do people have an inner desire to be seen, especi...

For cheeky cafés who know people come there to discuss their great ideas, these napkins come with notebook paper print on the back.

This appliance sits in your counter with a counter top on top. When you want to load it you hit a switch and the dish racks push up out of the counter with the counter top piece up in the air. You can then load dishes without bending over. As well, the bottom part will always be full (or half full) of water and constantly soak dishes, thus reducing the spray time needed, saving water and time, as well as more effectively cleaning dishes.

A simple marketing ploy. People give away nuts at Christmas, just make a nut gift box that says Nuttin' on it in big letters.

This is a coupon website where you can get great deals at restaurants and entertainment venues for mid-week dates, since most places can't fill up on a Wednesday. Of course Mondate.com through Thursdate.com are possibilities.

Okay you throw on some ebola-riddled meat on the grill with your tongs, let it cook, killing the ebola, but then you take it off the grill with the same tongs getting ebola back on the meat, not very sani-tary. (That could be a jingle.) With the new "sani-grill" you place tongs in a special spot between uses where the tong ends are in the flame, thus killing the ebola everywhere.

Gingerbread houses suck to eat because the gingerbread gets really nasty. These gingerbread pieces will come shrink-wrapped with a dull finish wrap that can be taken off after the whole thing is finished with. If decorations are also similarly wrapped then all you have to ditch at the end is the frosting which is a good idea anyway.

I'm sure a little taste engineering could come up with a flavor of toothpaste that tastes refreshing without having such nasty effects when combined with orange juice.