Friday, January 11, 2008

Brain Calorometer

I want to know how much brainpower is literally being used when I think up thoughts. Is it generating heat that I can measure? Would it need to be wired up? Perhaps it's in a helmet of some sort. Yeah, show me how much mental exercise I'm doing right now... Awww, SNAP!

----------------
Now playing: Kruder & Dorfmeister - Rollin' On Chrome
via FoxyTunes

Bike Powered Trash Compactor

I want a trash compactor, but I don't want all the power drain. I want to hook my bike up to a set of pulley and have all my trash (which is not a lot, by the way, mostly thin plastic coatings and lids) squished into small bricks. I want my bike to power tons of things, so a bike powered generator would also be nice, but that's an idea that's already in circulation. The compactor should make very little noise, give me some exercise and reduce the amount of times I need to take my trash out while keeping my trash costs lower since I don't need the big bin at pickup time.

----------------
Now playing: Joe Satriani - Day At The Beach (New Rays From An Ancient Sun)
via FoxyTunes

Tune Google

I want to whistle a tune into my computer and have Google search the web for the same musical signatures and find all the songs with that tune. Perhaps just be able to hum literally a few bars and get the web to discover the gist of the tune, then find it for me.
Case in point, the Periodic Song that my friend Damien Potts introduced me to. He passed away recently, and I didn't have the sense to ask him who sang it. Might as well also have Google embed a simple tuner and metronome into the search page to make sure you got the notes right. Heck, integrate it into Garage Band for me while you're at it, so I can plunk a few notes on my midi device to have the tune discovered out there.

----------------
Now playing: Damien Potts - Periodic Song
via FoxyTunes

Conservation dial for combustion cars

I want to be able to tell my car "More power, I need to be able to pass that truck up this hill in the rain" and later on be able to tell my car "Less power, I need to coast at 65 all the way to Portland and get 70 mpg". I know this is possible. If you have a 6 cylinder car, you need to be able to tell it "5 cylinders right now, I'm in traffic going 5 mph". I want a computer readout just like the Prius has, showing torque and mpg as I move the dial from power to energy savings. Kablow!

----------------
Now playing: The Chemical Brothers - Left Right
via FoxyTunes

Idea Camp

Another idea I've been cooking up for years. I think this one is my best. The idea is to give kids a camp experience that specifically fosters creativity. All the best camps wrapped up into one. Fun with brainstorming, collaboration, and inventions. At the end kids would do the classic talent show, but with an opportunity to show the camp their best ideas. All kinds of creativity would be fostered, but the focus would be on the specific skill of coming up with new ideas and exploring ways to implement them in the real world.

----------------
Now playing: The Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
via FoxyTunes

Big Fun Gym

This is an idea I've been cooking up for 7 years now: Build a geodesic dome the size of a football field. Cover it with solar collectors, but let much light in below. Inside the dome, it's a huge playground for grown up kids. All the stuff we liked doing as kids, but bigger, better and faster. Around the outside would be a huge river-like trough for kayaking. Inside lane separated with a wall would be a swimming track. Inside that would be a walled-in racetrack for human powered toys: That's right, Big Wheel, Trikes, Green Machines, scooters, rollerblades, the works. Racing teams meet weekly. In the middle, there would have to be a huge mountain for climbing, bouldering, rappelling. All around the mountain would be cool big toys to climb on like cargo nets and such. There would have to be a zip-line from the top of the mountain, landing you in a huge pool of plastic balls. An olympic-sized pool at that. Jungle gyms a plenty. A juice bar. Pogo stick area. Adult-sized Sit-n-Spin with adult sized vomit bags in the middle. Of course, there would have to be hundreds of yards of adult-sized habit-trail. At night, you could play laser tag. Some of the human powered devices would be fitted to generate energy for the facility. How you like me now?



----------------
Now playing: Cat Stevens - Peace Train
via FoxyTunes

Book a marching band dot com

You heard it on Tusk by Fleetwood Mac, and it's about time high school and college marching bands put their shingles up. Clearly it has to be a non-profit endeavor, so the money raised would go to the music program or to a fund for under-privileged kids to get new instruments. Essentially, marching bands rock and should be hired to play gigs that are not just astroturfed. A marching band for a wedding? You bet, and the proceeds go to a good cause.

----------------
Now playing: Herbie Hancock - Chameleon
via FoxyTunes

Global Reality Tours #2

Same idea as before, but it's all about the mind-blowing good stuff on the planet. 7 Wonders stuff: Arches National Park, Angor Wat, Great Wall of China, San Adreas Fault, Galapagos Islands, Mt. Fuji. 10 different sites around the world, testaments to both man and nature that reality can be totally excellent, and we've only seen a smidgen of it. Perhaps a Google Maps tour on a high-speed helicopter, but better yet, all done with human powered transport or alternative power. Sailing, solar cars, bicycles, "walking". Come to think of it, the entire Global Tours mission should be carbon negative, and should be a showcase of how to do tourism without punching the Earth in the throat. Again, proceeds go to conservation. Booyakashah!

----------------
Now playing: Ben Harper - Give a Man a Home
via FoxyTunes

Global Reality Tours

I know it sounds weird, but people like to find out what lies beneath the surface of our everyday existence. I recently watched "Baraka" and found myself drawn to seeing with my own eyes the devastation that we force upon the planet. I know I play a part in it myself, and I would like to drive home the point. I have seen articles about the swarms of people in India that break down big ships at heavy risk to life and limb, and I want to see it in person. I understand there's a huge collection of our plastic trash floating around the earth, and I think it's my duty as a person on this planet to observe what we are doing to it. The money I pay for the tour obviously should be spent doing conservation work. I would consider it an education and money to a good cause. Booyah.

My Music = My Music

I want a system to identify a music track and designate it as mine for all time. I am tired of having to re-buy music that I am essentially getting a single copy of. I will pay for the transmission (in advance), the packaging, the place I put the track. I would even pay a few dollars more for the service. I am a person who buys his music, I don't pirate. I want to access to that music forever. I bought it. I would call the system "my music".
Yeah. My music.

Neighborhood Purchase Program

How many snowblowers does one neighborhood need? When I lived in Chicago, I noticed a peculiar artifact of city living: everyone moved the snow in front of their own house, but stopped right at the property line of their neighbor. Seriously, they'd each buy a snowblower for their own family and move 10 yards of snow a year. What we need is a web-downloadable form and a system for gathering up your neighbors and using collective buying power. In hotter climates, perhaps this could mean sharing a big centrally located gas-powered grill or a set of power tools. I know what you're thinking: "But Aaron, how can 20 people share one expensive item without arguing about it constantly?" To that I say, buck up camper! It's not that hard, you just have to agree on terms of sharing ahead of time. Think of the money you can save, the resources you can save, and the bonding with your neighbors. Do you even know your neighbors? Meet them with a shared Saws-all and make a friend for life! It might not work with every neighbor, but I can tell you that it sure is convenient to borrow my neighbors' 20 foot ladder in exchange for a taste of my internet Wi-Fi access...

----------------
Now playing: Aaron and Elise - Chest Fever
via FoxyTunes