10,000 Brilliant Ideas

These are awesome electrical outlets. Osselets. Ocelots. Whatever. Marketing this is a freebie. Run with it. These are boxy outlet adapters that plug in firmly to your existing outlets  and  accept all plugs and have child safety measures included and  include switches to turn off phantom power. Awesome.

An aluminum bridge shell that can be attached to SUVs that can go underwater. The SUV has a few modifications. It has a snorkel, sealed doors, roof access, and pre-mounts that make attaching the bridge easy. (or just pre-mounts if you dismount it before the flood.) You drive the SUV under the bridge shell (stored in a warehouse or somewhere), lower the legs (lowering device on the top of the shell) until it sits on the pre-fastened brackets, raise the legs up all the way, drive to and then into the flooded road, climb out the top, lower the legs until the bridge is free-standing, get back in and drive out. Each bridge can either stand alone with on and off ramps or be connected to other bridge shells. The trick would be to get the bridge to where it's needed when most often there would be a huge backup of cars. This isn't an easy solution, but it works. The bridge has wheels on the bottom of each leg and can be removed from the SUV at the back of the car line-up and walked ov...

This isn't a particularly clever idea, but it begs the question: why hasn't this been done? I want a global bank. A real global bank. One where I have an account, and with a mouse click I can open a new account in any currency I wish. And close such an account. And I can use that account in the city of my choice with usability comparable with any other bank in that country. And then I can transfer money between my accounts at competitive exchange rates. When I move to a new country, I don't have to close and re-open or whatnot. All I ask for is simplicity. There's a lot of financial institutions that appear global (citi, paypal), but it's actually just the name. The glue between different branches is sticky at best. Rich people have accounts everywhere. So do corporations. Why not me? I get that most people just bank in one country, but there must be plenty of people operating between different countries who would love this convenience.

If annoyance and frustration are the mothers of invention then I can see why I have so many ideas at the airport. Here's my latest and as usual I haven't actually run any numbers to test my assumptions. Thanks for flying with us. You have 3 baggage options for your flight. 1) Carry-on, which is limited to this this and this. 2) check-in baggage, which is limited to this and this. Or, 3) door-delivery baggage, which is limited to more than First Class of the most generous airline. Door-delivery baggage will be delivered to your door within 3 weeks of your arrival. You don't have to wait at the baggage carousel, you don't have to manhandle it through the airport. What you don't use for carry-on, you can use for check-in. What you don't use for either you can use for door-delivery. And if you need more, you can add as much as you want at a constant rate. Here's why it works (assuming it does). Most of the things people bring on carry-on they don't actua...

Donate your living body to research! That's what the banner ad will say on your facebook page. What it means simply is that you are willing to give access to your full facebook and other social site history to researchers who can use it under certain conditions (guarantee of anonymity for example). I'm not talking about research of social media which is already plentiful. I'm talking about traditional research that needs to have you remember something about your past. For example, a study trying to determine if yo-yo dieting leads to diabetes. The researcher could contact you, pay you the nominal fee as is done in research studies, test you for diabetes, and then look in your facebook history to see how many times you mentioned being on a diet. Currently these studies suffer from recall bias because it's hard to remember what you did 5 years ago, much less what you ate. But if you're one of those facebook people who posts every time you eat a hamburger, well the...

My kids when very little, loved Baby Einstein. If you missed the release in theaters and it isn't yet out on Blu-ray in your area, I'll describe it to you.  A camera is locked down (ie doesn't move) looking at infinity space (that white space where you can't tell where walls or floor are). And into this space come or are put, toys and sciencey gadgets that are colorful and repeat. Each thingy is displayed for like a minute at a time (although it seems like 10 minutes), while Mozart plays in the background. The kids love it. (And I'll admit that I have literally watched the whole show with them several times. It's mesmerizing.) Some parents, such as myself, are totally sold on the idea that injecting the high-culture art of Mozart in the kids brains must have some benefit. But perhaps there lurks in the back of some parent's minds, that watching toys is stupid. Or at least can't have the same long-term benefit as Mozart. What are we new-age paren...

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.