No more free raw material!

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Aaron Campbell <glowplug@gmail.com>
Date: January 29, 2008 12:52:58 PM PST
To: "go@blogger.com" <go@blogger.com>, "." <.>
Subject: No more free raw material!

Maybe this is a bit farfetched and perhaps in some cases might be detremenental to recycling, but I confess that I'm tired of giving away raw material to people who make it into something else in order to sell it...sometimes.

I guess the idea is to make recycling more attractive to the recycler by paying him a bit to do it. Five cents a can in Oregon is a start, but what about all the rest of the things that we recycle?  The trash co comes and takes our paper, plastic, glass, and compost to make something else with it or sell it to a different co who makes a profit from it. It burns me up a bit, but maybe I've forgotten a key reason they do it, like maybe they do it at a loss. Hmmm.

Sent from my iPhone

Hypercolor Wall Covering

Paint that changes color with heat. Or, like in the Pacific Science Center, a wall that holds differences in light for a brief amount of time, glowing briefly. Hmm, perhaps glow in the dark paint that's less expensive is the real idea here, but I also want color changing walls, so there you go. 1.5x ideas

Web Magnifier

I want a tool on my mouse that works the way that old Apple MacOS system 8 did for the viewing impaired: A keystroke triggers the mouse (or a tap on the screen somewhere) to become a big magnifying lens, with the ability to mouse click from within it. When I use the key functions or preferences to make the viewing font bigger, the images and text within those images are still small. Did I miss some function in Firefox that lets me do this?

Home Wiring Gun

This may be totally unfeasable, but then again...
If the right material was engineered, one should be able to lay down wires (insulated, even) with a caulking gun. Just squeeze out the wiring goo and install the wires without having to staple or nail or snap them in. Easily painted, won't come off, great for low-voltage wiring.

Please Advertise to Me

Here's one I think would be loved by Madison Ave, but I would love it too. I would be happy if advertising was actually targeted to me and my preferences. I just don't want the people knowing who I actually am. I want them to know I'm not interested in Gap clothes, but I am interested in American Apparel. I want them to know I am not 17, but not 45. I want them to know I like Honey Nut Cheerios, but not the plain version.

Heck, I'm even advocating that I'd go for a specific advertising web page, made for me to browse stuff that I want or could want. Like Amazons' "If you like X, try Y" idea, but for everyone to join in. MyPersonalShoppingMall. I want it to learn, like StumbleUpon, what I like and don't like. Maybe I even want to meet people who have bought an iMac, or who like Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. My identity would have to remain anonymous for sure, with a specific email addy just for shopping in my personal Web Mall, with a new low-interest credit card that rewards me and the vendor for getting my needs met. Hell, Yes. Show me the creme de la creme of new environmentally friendly LED lamps, then point me to the right low-VOC paint you think I might like, then link me to three people in Seattle who bought both of those things so we can meet up and go for a rollerblade to Marymoor Park.

MMMMM, perhaps if I did sign up for the service of targeted ads, I could tell my browser to opt out of the ads that target me so randomly and ineffectively in my normal web experience. That's the thing, I don't mind ads, just ads that suck and have nothing to do with me. This is an idea that's X2, and I don't mean maybe, baby.

Wreckage Salvage

I've posted this on GlobalIdeasBank.Org, but it's time for another reiteration. Buildings are constantly being torn down and the detritus often quickly hauled off by well-meaning but uninformed workers to the landfill transfer station. Sometimes they'll do the right thing and separate their trash from their clean wood, their steel from their plastic bags, but not often enough. There isn't much incentive from a contractor's POV to go through the hassle of separating that stuff out, they get paid for doing the work, not the hours of time that could be spent recycling. SO: Contractors should charge (and it should be understood) for recycling.

Be it further noted that when tearing down a big old building the contractor/demolition expert should be paid to put the site up on an official city registry for salvage. Then people could line up and sign up for a shot at taking away the stuff that might be reusable, big wooden beams, nice leaded glass windows, cool drawer pulls, hardwood floors in reasonable shape. It should be either rewarded or at least not penalized for contractors to re-use and recycle. It just makes sense.

Self Branding for Kids

Okay, the word "branding" is not the kind that requires hot steel on skin. I'm talking about Moby, Prince, Madonna, giving yourself a particular identity and saying "I'm me and I'm proud". Perhaps in this day and age it sounds crass, or perhaps it sounds savvy, but I think that one should get cracking on figuring out who one is pretty quick in life. This is "identity" but is otherwise known as "branding". I've got a tattoo on my hand that I wish I had the guts (and parental blessing/encouragement) to put on my hand decades earlier. Whether that means letting a child change her/his name or cut their hair a particular way or buy particular clothes, make it important. Talk about it with them, tell them you support their search for identity and meaning. Get creative. Let them express themselves, and let them know they might change that expression later as they evolve. It could just be showing them their own signature, it could be a tattoo, a particular song that they identify with.