Ideaaday 306wd March062015

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From Blog to Book.
306wd.com/ideaaday
1.
2010
1.1
November
1.1.1
About (2010-11-10 12:11)
One idea per day. Thats my goal.

The point is not to have great ideas ushed out. Nor to nd something thats going to get me rich and famous. But
rather, that I get used to delivering things quickly, being happy with 30 minutes of rough work.
So this is an exercise about delivering concepts for no apparent reason. Ge ng them out there and not being worried
about how exactly right or not right they are. An exercise at wri ng. An exercise at comple ng, even if only completing a rough dra .
Ill focus on ideas because, like most people, I have them alot when commu ng, si ng in mee ngs, or exercising.
Then I kick myself later when I see people espousing, selling, and/or receiving government grants for ideas that I have
had in the past but didnt act on it. But thats the point isnt it? I didnt act on it. The reason why I didnt act on it
could have been due to many reasons:
1) I have a life. A family, a house and a job in a foreign language that I am s ll, and will always be, learning
2) I think that the idea is so obvious, that its not worth perusing. It must have been already inves gated by people smarter than me. These are the ideas that when I see them later being perused really get my goat, if I may use
that phrase.
3) I want to think it all the way through, research, draw sketches out, etc... before I do anything. This is the engineer in me, as well as a fear of looking stupid because I forgot some obvious thing like porcupines are allergic to
raisins. This is probably the biggest issue. I mire the idea down in details that I dont have the me to deal with in one
si ng, and then due to #1 never get around to doing.
Will they be original ideas? Original to me. Maybe someone else already had it, but if I write it down I had no
no on of the previous work.
Will these be good ideas? Hopefully a couple.
Will these be researched? Maybe. But my goal is less than an hour of work per day on this (see #1).
Will these be complete ideas? Unlikely, but I may go back and edit them as I think more on it.
Will it really be one per day? Im going to try, but realis cally not. I doubt I will publish while traveling, for
example. But an average of one idea per day, and each idea assigned a specic day (even if generated on
another day) goes a long way to making this seem more legit.
Will they have a theme? no
Can I have one of your ideas? Really?! Just contact me and Im absolutely sure we can work something out,
assuming its not for evil purposes. These ideas can always be developed further if I had a reason to focus on it
(i.e. government grants)
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Can I steal one of your ideas? Who would ask that? Well thanks for asking but no.
2.
2.1
2.1.1
2011
February
Lets try this.... (2011-02-01 02:33)
Date of Idea: Nov 8

One idea per day. Thats my goal.
The point is not to have great ideas ushed out. Nor to nd something thats going to get me rich and famous. But
rather, that I get used to delivering things quickly, being happy with 30 minutes of rough work. Its about clicking that
Publish bu on.
So this is an exercise about delivering concepts for no apparent reason. Ge ng them out there and not being worried
about how exactly right or not right they are. An exercise at wri ng. An exercise at comple ng, even if only completing a rough dra .
Ill focus on ideas because, like most people, I have them alot when commu ng, si ng in mee ngs, or exercising.
Then I kick myself later when I see people espousing, selling, and/or receiving government grants for ideas that I have
had in the past but didnt act on it. But thats the point isnt it? I didnt act on it. The reason why I didnt act on it
could have been due to many reasons:
1) I have a life. A family, a house and a job in a foreign language that I am s ll, and will always be, learning
2) I think that the idea is so obvious, that its not worth perusing. It must have been already inves gated by people smarter than me. These are the ideas that when I see them later being perused really get my goat, if I may use
that phrase.
3) I want to think it all the way through, research, draw sketches out, etc... before I do anything. This is the engineer in me, as well as a fear of looking stupid because I forgot some obvious thing like porcupines are allergic to
raisins. This is probably the biggest issue. I mire the idea down in details that I dont have the me to deal with in one
si ng, and then due to #1 never get around to doing.
Will they be original ideas? Original to me. Maybe someone else already had it, but if I write it down I had no
no on of the previous work.
Will these be good ideas? Hopefully a couple.
Will these be researched? Maybe. But my goal is less than an hour of work per day on this (see #1).
Will these be complete ideas? Unlikely, but I may go back and edit them as I think more on it.
Will it really be one per day? Im going to try, but realis cally not. I doubt I will publish while traveling, for
example. But an average of one idea per day, and each idea assigned a specic day (even if generated on
another day) goes a long way to making this seem more legit.
Will they have a theme? no
5
Can I have one of your ideas? Really?!

So lets try this.
2.1.2
Curling Ice (2011-02-02 12:57)
Original idea: like forever ago

I used to curl. I s ll would but curling clubs are rare in the U.S. and even rarer in my part of Europe. But back when
I was part of a club there was a debate over spending money, good money, thousands of money, to have the stones
cored. That means to take the stones we had at the me, made of a granite that is good for knocking o each other,
core them out and replace the center part with granite that is be er for the running surface (which is really only a 5
diameter ring on the bo om). There were previous debates about when to get the stones resurfaced, which was a
polishing of the running surface. The discussion would always center around whether it was needed or not.
To know if it was needed there were opinions and tests, like throwing the stones a bunch of mes and seeing what
happens. This is dicult because the ice condi ons change with every throw. Some players know how some rocks
behave because they play so o en, but thats at best a couple rocks per sheet (and theres 16 total per sheet). Theres
even a guy I heard about that comes in, puts all the stones on a big ramp and lets them go. Records how far they
go, resets the thing, but with the rocks all shi ed to remove some unknown variable from the test and redone. All of
these methods rely on manual exper se to evaluate something that has many many variables aec ng it.
My idea is to strap an accelerometer to a stone and throw it normally. A Wiimote would work. Then just collect
the data as to how the stone is curling (in the side to side direc on) as well as how fast it slows down a er the point of
release, there will be a peak in the accelera on where it will turn abruptly to decelera on. Throw a stone normally a
few mes and do it for every stone (mixing the stone order and going back and doing earlier ones again). Sta s cally
all the stones should sit on top of each other, outliers can be seen. Do this every two months and see it, over a season
or two, anything signicant changes.
Perhaps throwing it through the house overcomes alot of the variables. That is throwing it so hard that it will
not stop before it someone catches it (before it hits the back wall). The accelerometer should s ll record its behavior,
and the ice will have less eect. I actually have a lot of ideas to work this out, both in terms of technology and data
analysis, but just dont have the need to record it all.
This is an example of an idea that was so simple to implement, I never got around to doing anything other than
thinking I should do it. Ah well.
2.1.3
Muscial Cri que (2011-02-03 12:22)
Original date of idea: Today

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Bon Jovis You give love a bad name would be be er with a drum solo.
2.1.4
Congressional Corrup on (2011-02-04 13:19)
Original Idea Date: Oct 28, 2010

With all the talk of lobbyists and other inuence peddlers this elec on season, and the vast sums of money drummed
up to try and get elected, there is always talk of reforming the system. Ive heard all sorts of things from new laws for
transparency to manda ng only public funding of candidates, but all of these sugges ons back into the same problem
that makes it hard to crack down, the 1st amendment and freedom of speech. How can you tell someone that they
are not allowed to support a candidate of their choice, regardless of their mo va ons? You cannot. So how about a
move from the environmental playbook: The solu on to pollu on is dilu on. If my memory serves correctly, there
are 535 members of congress (435 house + 100 senate). Expand congress. Triple the house (1305) and add another 50
to the senate. The inuence per $ spent will go down, since you would conceivably have to spend at least as much as
you do now, but each candidate has less power. The representa on levels are not unprecedented, look at Germany.
They have 622 members for 81 million people, over 4 mes more representa on. If each candidate represented fewer
people, they would have that much more me to deal with the issues specic to their (smaller) district and it would
be that much easier for cons tuents to keep an eye on who is actually being represented.
While were having fantasy fun with the governmental structure, a er adding 50 new senators (3 per state now),
make the vote in the senate along state lines. That is, 26 states would be needed to carry a vote. And each state
would have to internally vote amongst the three to get that one vote out. The power dynamics would be very interes ng, s ll with some swing senators yielding lots of power (although there could be as many as 50 swing senators in
this scenario), to senators with absolutely no power (where the other 2 from the state always vote as a block).
Of course, having more poli cians as a rule is not necessarily a great idea.
2.1.5
Fuel Economy Indicator That Teaches Proper Braking (2011-02-05 13:14)
Actual Date of Idea: About 2 years ago on the way to work.

On many cars there is an indicator that tells you your mileage. It shows some value from 0 to lots and is updated
constantly. If used as a gauge, it can help people learn how to drive more eciently. A problem with it is that it
doesnt give specic feedback as to what you can do, and there are many variables. One of the biggest ones is to
use the brakes as li le as possible. When brakes are used, it turns momentum into heat (in the case of regenera ve
braking with electric motors, it captures some of it, but there are s ll losses. Never braking is and will always be more
ecient than regen). I think of it as burning gas. It would be possible to es mate, from the vehicle characteris cs and
decelera on rate, the amount of energy lost into the brakes, and combined with the fuel economy es mate would
indicate how much gas, in gallons, has been spent by braking.
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Perhaps having a real me display you watch while braking isnt as safe as youd think. So instead how about a
calcula on that shows your total gasoline lost per the trip and/or another display with what your fuel economy would
have been had you not done any braking. Its very rare to get anywhere without braking, but learning to look far down
the road and coas ng as o en as possible will make for quick gains, and the display proposed here will give you an
indica on of whether its making a dierence or not.
Could other feedback sugges ons be made by computer. Something that es mates vehicle weight and tells you to
empty the trunk might be good, but would be hard to calculate that from the inexactness of the variables. A display
that shows where the engine is opera ng with regard to ecient zones is nice, but dicult to deal with in real me
while also safely driving, and having an automa c tranny or an indicator of when to shi a manual helps keep things
in line. Something that tells you to slow down, especially when cruising on the autobahn at over 110 mph would help,
but it would be very naggy.
2.1.6
E-Shoes (2011-02-06 11:33)
Date of Idea: Back in the summer when electric bikes were out front of the bike shop.
Electric cars are, in popular press, be er than non-electric cars. Electric bikes are marketed much the same. The
next logical step is of course, electric shoes.
A small motor with a cam built into the hell that rotates to help push o the ground for you. Regen capable either by
capturing your heel-strike or with a sole that allows you to slide forward a bit spinning the motor through a linkage
while going down hill. Ba eries are packaged on the top of the foot, addi onal ba eries can be strapped to the leg
or waist for longer treks. Lights on for safety at night.
Think globally, act locally.
2.1.7
Economic Modelling (2011-02-07 07:45)
Date of Original Idea: Today

Im not an economist, Im an engineer. But everyone seems to have their own take on the economy these
days what went wrong, why it went wrong, whos fault it is, who should pay, and so on. My favorite are analogies
made by people, especially economists. They try to break it down to some example at your local supermarket or a
kid running a lawn mowing business. But no one, that I know of anyway, has taken the engineering approach to it. So
thats todays idea, to use not a dumb-ed down analogy, but an analogy that requires some engineering background
to get.
So rst. The economy is represented as a shape. I like circles:
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[1]
And economic ac vity will be thought of as economic energy. I dont want to use energy too much since it
sounds kinda new-agey for people that dont normally use it in the sense of work integrated over me. So this is, in
a simple form, the farmer buying tools from the blacksmith to grow food and the blacksmith buying food from the
farmer with the money used to buy the tools.
[2]
But of course, its more complicated than that. It is actually a large network of ows. Ill keep with the circular analogy and not go with a network model such as youd nd in an electrical or a thermal model. So each li le blue
sectors, be it automo ve, nance, real estate, movies, what have you, doesnt stay only in the li le area, but feeds
into each other: a person working for the automo ve sector spends some of his money on housing and groceries
and entertainment and so on. Ok, we all get that. In my model the aggregate of this makes for one giant ow that
keeps moving around. This is harder to measure and harder to dene, but it is the fundamental economic ac vity of
the system.
[3]
Thats a good example of real energy, but there are forms of complex energy. Electrical engineers know
this stu, its voltage, power, energy whatever that is not seen or used to do real work, but the eects of it is
measurable and takes real energy away. But its there. Credit is similar. Its not real wealth, but it allows parallel
paths of work of the economic units. It requires some overhead and on the bo om line it only the real parts
contribute (or should contribute) to actual wealth. In this simple model, it is represented by ows in the third
dimension (in and out of the screen). But really I dont need to discuss it much more so just the one picture:
So a very big economy with all sorts of ac vity is really complex. Flows
[4]
breaking, spli ng, reforming. Much like the gaseous swirls in the surface of Jupiter. Every so o en a Great Red Spot
forms. It feeds on itself as well as suppor ng, and being supported by, many smaller swirls. It is s ll in the overall
ow but it has much more inuence than many around it.
[5]
But some mes, o en actually, it gets too large to be self sustaining and requires alot of inux from other sectors. Problem is, this cant last since to do so would consume the ac vity of all the rest of the economy. Where is the
ac vity going? Its going into the complex plane, the 3rd dimension of this analogy. That dimension is ge ng out of
propor on from the real plane and it is causing a great ineciency in the system. It is at this point in an electrical
network that someone steps in and adds or subtracts complex components to the system to bring it back in line. In
the economic analysis that is similiar to adjus ng the credit supply. But if it is done incorrectly, things get very very
out of whack.
[6]
And that part of the system must be shutdown and restarted, but you cannot do that to the economic system
and things just go nuts. The popping bubble leaves a void and disrupts the overall ow. Sectors immediately
downstream of the ow are hit rst, then sectors that require much more trust and credit (e.g. autos). No one knows
where the ows are actually moving to and from so containment of the problem is as impossible to guarantee as
xing the problem.
[7]
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The empty voids mean the economy has less going on, and the whole thing must shrink to ll the voids. Newer voids
open up here and there while the original shrinks (in reality, voids are forming and dissipa ng o en, like cavita ons
in a uid, all the me, but they dont have much impact outside their immediate area as they dont disrupt the
aggregate ow too no ceably). We just now have to wait for the aggregate ow to get stabilized again before we can
feel comfortable.
[8]
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/economicloops1.png
2.1.8
Learning whats best (2011-02-08 07:46)
Date of Original Idea: Since I was 3

People should listen to me.
2.1.9
Clean (and Fresh Scented) Energy (2011-02-09 13:05)
Date of Original Idea: A couple years ago

Idea: Dryer sheets remove the sta c cling from clothes. Where does it go?
Next Steps: Research is needed into harves ng that sta c electricity from the used dryer sheets and conver ng it
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into useful energy. Added benet: the dryer sheets can be re-used several mes before they begin to fall apart physically. I could sell small devices that recharge your iPod with the used sheets.
2.1.10
Thanks, I got it (2011-02-10 20:42)

We need a socially recognized and accepted signal to indicate to someone that whatever he or she is explaining is
already understood by the listener. By making the signal, the speaker is politely informed that they can move on to
the next subject or just plain stop talking, without feeling insulted or interrupted.
I nd that a good deal of my working life and also a great deal of my interac ons with other people is spent listening to people explain in detail things that I already know. Similar to some standard clause about cancella ons that
someone at the airline must tell you every me you call, regardless of how many mes youve booked this month
already. I dont mean to sound conceited, like I already know everything, and trying not to be so is one of the reasons
why I get caught so o en in these situa ons. I usually give the benet of the doubt that if someone is going through
the trouble of formula ng concepts and drawing li le pictures that they are telling me something new, however I am
o en disappointed and nd myself confused as to why someone is explaining something to begin with. Am I missing
the point? No they just want to tell me stu, to instruct and inform. They are usually friendly about it, but are not
keyed into the li le clues Im giving out to try and expedite the discussion, such as saying understood or I got all
this. I could use a li le signal like crossing my arms in an X or s cking a nger in an ear or something subtle but not
so subtle as to be missed.
2.1.11
Passing Time Produc vly (2011-02-11 21:57)

An idea for a business plan: A combina on publishing house and temp agency. The company hires aspiring writters with talent but who need to put the me in to hone their cra . They wont nd the me to do it working 9 to 5
busy work. So instead, this temp agency focuses on jobs where the person is 90 % of the me idle. Night watchmen
is a perfect example, but also cell phone store worker in dull periods or parking a endant on Sundays, or so on. With
all the free me on the job, they write. And the good stories/wri ers move on while the ones without the talent and
drive get placed in jobs where more ac vity is required.
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2.1.12
A short story idea (2011-02-12 21:00)
Date of Original Idea: Couple months ago in a car trip to Paris

A rough idea for a story:
A man goes to sleep in a hotel room and wakes up well refreshed. Had a great night sleep, puts on his glasses and
starts to get ready to a end a business mee ng he is traveling for. But something seems odd. Packs all his things up,
cant quite put his nger on the problem. Wanders down to check out and get a receipt (oddly, the quick checkout
wasnt slipped under the door or hanging on the door handle) and the hotel has no record of him staying there. He
and a few other people standing around the front desk. They all have their stu and a similar morning but none of
them actually checked into this hotel. They all checked into another one across town, and come to think about it, so
did our hero. They were checked into the Maplethorpe, not the Hya Regency. They go to nd their rental cars but
they are not in the parking lot. Together they jump in a cab and go to the hotel they checked in. When they arrive, the
hotel is gone. The parking lot is s ll there with their cars. But the hotel, which stood in the middle of the parking lot
is gone and the parking lot is not now larger, or with an empty space, it simply lled in the place where the hotel was,
but didnt get any bigger. As if the very space that the hotel existed in was deleted and the edges of the remaining
space closed in and sealed up. There were a few other people standing around perplexed. Some employees, some
visitors, a bakery delivery truck. Our hero wonders how this will go on his expense report, no receipt but probably
very likely the charge is already on the credit card. Should have raided the minibar last night.
A er that I dont know where to go. Or should it go any further. Maybe just ush that out, but I dont think I can get
more than another paragraph out of it. There needs to be more missing buildings or spaces. Maybe half an airport
and a road that is now much shorter. Thats probably enough for an ABC TV drama, but thats not good enough.
2.1.13
Wearable Blood O2 Sensor (2011-02-13 19:56)
Date of Original Idea: A few years ago.

This is another idea for an idea, but maybe I can get two out of it. One general idea now and later an idea of how to
realize it. Maybe [1]this is the way.
For exercise there are heartrate monitors that give a good es ma on of how hard the body is working, but if you
want to know when you go o the cli of aerobic (or is in anaerobic?) having an blood O2 monitor might be helpful.
They have them in hospitals that just clip on your nger and use a light sensor and get a 0...100 % measurement of
the O2 in your blood. If there was a way to get it to be more rmly axed and have the accuracy to measure the
blood O2 level, thatd rock.
1. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927943.800-smart-contact-lenses-for-health-and-headup-displays.ht
ml
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2.1.14
Wearable Stress Monitor (2011-02-14 19:58)
Date of Original Idea: Dec, 2010 sounds good.

Working o the Feb 13 entry, why not also measure stress? Can that be done without drawing blood? Is there
something electrical or a combina on of blood pressure and jaw ghtness that can be combined into a stress measurement. There are certainly physical symptoms of mental stress, so those must be measurable somehow. Can it be
measurable in a strap-it-on=and-look-at-your watch way like is done with heart rate monitoring?
This would be useful for running, racing, driving, working, and dealing with the kids.
Oh, a quick google search says that this is not a new idea. I wonder if any of these things work. One clips on your
earlobe, which I would think cannot be both secure and comfortable during exercise.
2.1.15
Just a thought... (2011-02-15 19:42)
The louder you get the righter youre not.
2.1.16
Flag Burning (2011-02-16 19:41)
Date of Original Idea: some me ago

I see photos on the news of people burning pieces of cloth colored in ways that they think they are burning American,
Bri sh and Israeli ags. 10 stripes. 18 stars. Green. One of the great ironies about these demonstra ons is that
it doesnt bother me nor many Americans (though there are many prominent Americans that dont deal well with
freedom of expression) simply because they are doing something that the ag stands for the ability to do, if you can
follow that. What bothers me is that they didnt get the ag right. Im all for self-made stu, but put a li le pride into
your work if you know what I mean. So for those people that want to actually insult the touchy Americans but dont
have me to get the ag right, I want to provide a service. Cheap, ammable ags. A global chain of stores that sell
American, Bri sh and whatever ags current events calls for, all made in China of course. People can buy as many
ags as theyd like and hold huge bonres. Ill take the prots back to fund an an -ag burning amendment lobby on
the logic that if the ag burners think theyre ge ng people pissed o, theyll burn more.
The trick is to build stores that themselves dont burn down. And to hire employees that dont torch the merchandise
before the store opens.
I just dont look forward to ironically tes fying on Capitol Hill to my Unamerican behaviors (the irony is that Im selling
anything I can for cash, and theres nothing more American than that)
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2.1.17
Gas Tax (2011-02-17 20:51)
Date of Original Idea: A while ago, but lets say today for con nuity of this blog
Gas Tax. Thats right I said it, and Ill do it again: gas tax.
Ok the idea of a gas tax is not new, however with the past 3 years of nancial turmoil, due in part to vola le oil
prices should make the ground more fer le for these ideas. The larger problem is the inability of xed costs (purchased cars, loca on of houses, etc...) to correct themselves quickly. It is also a problem for automakers to plan
several years ahead knowing that if the oil prices are volitale the market will want small cars but if stable, the market
will chose large cars. Whichever automaker guesses right looks smartest.
This specic idea is raising the gas tax $0.05 every 4 months for 10 years. By no measure is this alot. $1.50 over
10 years. However psycologically it will play a huge role. As weve seen in the past year, the stable oil prices have
allowed a complacency to come in to peoples choices of cars. And likely in other places too. However if it is known
that gas prices will denitly not stay this low, whomever is to blame, it will inuence the next 10 years of choices in
size of car, length of commute and so on. Automakers can have a li le more condence in smaller cars as the future
and people will learn that they dont really need a big car all the me (and for the few mes they do need it, they can
rent one cheaper than buying and maintaining a bigger one).
2.1.18
Roman c Comedy Story Concept (2011-02-18 18:58)
This story could fall into the lucra ve roman c comedy genre, or maybe just with some added graphic descrip ons of
glistening members, just a cheap trash novel. Or maybe it could be an actual news story in the coming years.
Poli cal incumbent is married to girl. Girl used to date boy, but like long me ago and they havent been in contact for that amount of me. Boy now is running as a grass-roots candidate against the poli cal incumbent, for some
righteous reason that the movie buying public will instantly associate hero with him and villain with poli cal incumbent. Boy learns of girls connec on, and of course he s ll loves her despite his rocky rela onship that has been going
on for years without any real commitment from him. Boy and girl have arguments, then hidden dinner but only as
friends but get caught by press and it doesnt look like just friends and causes boys girlfriend to leave. Meanwhile
incumbent has aair with some other hooker type woman that crowd will nd villainous, perhaps a lobbyist for Baby
Seal Hun ng or something equally despicable. That results in her ge ng divorce and incumbent, who stood on family
values, loosing. Then a er the swearing in of the boy to oce girl turns up and they have a happy ending full of happy
endings.
A twist could be that the politcal incumbants lover is boys girlfriend. It would even less believable so might play
well on the screen.
Lousy story I know, but when it breaks $40 million on the opening weekend youll be envious of my ability to concept this shit. Or has this one already been made? Ive lost track.
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2.1.19
Radiator Bed (2011-02-19 17:03)
Date of Original Idea: In a cold winter bed between 2010 and 2011
Electric blankets have numerous problems surrounding the durability of the wiring and the need to clean the blanket
from me to me. Waterbeds have the ability to be warmed up and keep the sleeper(s) warm, but there are issues
with durability here too. Not to men on weight problems in some houses, etc. So how about...
Between the bed and box spring goes a slightly-exible-but-mostly-s plas c that is a series of tubes for water,
warm water to ow through. The tubes, in and out, are either connected to the building hot water hea ng system, in
parallel with a local radiator, or to a small space heater plugged into the wall (the trick here would be ge ng a pump
to be either very quiet or or with just enough white-noise). Minimal wear on the large tube ma ress part (while
sleeping anyway), while all sensi ve connec ons and any electrical connec ons are made exterior to the bed where
they will not take so much abuse.
Even be er. If it is a ached to an external device for heat and pumping then we can also add a leak detector. Around
the series of tubes is another plas c encapsula on. This has a single connec on to a li le pressure pump and sensor.
When turned on and/or periodically the thing can pressurize the encapsula on and check the leak rate of the air out
of the area. The idea being to catch small leaks in the air bag before further damage can happen and cause larger
damage to the water containing network. Obviously this would be an up-sell as the added costs would be signicant.
2.1.20
Truly invisible and func onal nger bandage (2011-02-20 16:28)
Date of Original Idea: Dec 2010

I recently had a cut on my nger that required a bandage to be wrapped around the p of it. It was awkward to
type with and frequently got mangled by day-to-day stu. What I wanted was a full nger sized bandage, something
like two half shells of bandage that form t around my nger, exing at the right places of course. Then it would be
intact and not have any li le edges around the p to catch on things. It would have to come in dierent colors for
dierent skin tones, or some people would look like they had some weird nger disease. I suppose it would also have
to be specic for each nger and person. Maybe a sizing device at the store that you stuck your nger into to get a
reading.
Come to think of it, really too much trouble. Bandages work just ne.
16
2.1.21
Toll Road Pricing to Encourage Desired Behavior (2011-02-21 21:28)

Toll roads are typically priced in distance. Some magic formula that the thruway commission uses. The pricing scheme
is stuck in some sort of a me warp, where it is assumed that clocks cannot be synchronized. This simple proposal is
to charge a rate based on the average speed. To discount slower driving and charge a premium on faster driving...
within limits on both ends.
Say the current rate on your local toll road is 1.0 mes the magic formula. That is, if youre in the U.S. probably
for an average speed limit of 60 to 70mph. If you average 60 to 70 mph then you will pay the fee you are used to. If
you average 50 to 60 you will pay a li le less. If you average 70, 80 or 90mph, you will pay signicantly more, but not
actually be in viola on of any speed limits. Naturally there will be some speed limit (as well as a minimum speed),
and driving faster than it at any me or more amazingly, averaging it, will result in your usual conversa on with the
police.
[1]
up ck in the rate above the speed.
The keys are the two end areas to keep things bounded, and the sharp
This has the following advantages:
Police can concentrate on only the really fast drivers. No need to make everyone hit their brakes when they see
a cop at the last minute. Fewer police will be necessary.
It gives incen ves for slower driving.
It gives incen ves for stopping for breaks on long drives.
Rest stops and the items they sell, gas, food, etc... could be marketed as carrying a discount since stopping and
buying results in a lower cost for the toll road (yes yes, it really doesnt work that way, but so much of what is
adver sed really is what they are trying to convince you it is)
It allows fast people to drive fast and get to where they are going if it ts their budget.
People will pay what they are comfortable paying, but many will pay just to drive fast bringing in more chad for
the road authority.
It does require something that I have failed to nd in the U.S., proper lane discipline. Stay as far right as possible (no
cruising in the not thinking lane which is always the second from the le ), no passing on the right and look before
changing lanes le ward.
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/thruway2.png
17
2.1.22
Oce Worker Exoskeleton (2011-02-22 21:07)

Exoskeletons are these futuris c like things that always seem to be just on the horizon for disabled people or soldiers or dock workers. Its a robo c looking device that someone climbs into or a aches to the body and is used walk
far (or at all) or pick up heavy things or carry lots of stu. [1]Some of them are becoming more and more realis c everyday. Todays idea is an extension of that into the white collar workforce, as if we got too much physical exercise as it
was. So a device that you climb up into and strap yourself it. It has to make big whopmp-bumhp noises when walking,
have hidden li le places for storing oce supplies all over it, like Robocops gun holster but with a three-hole-punch.
A laptop can dock into it. A person could carry all the necessary binders and dierent parts and pieces that they work
on all day (I had to lug around 3 transaxle adapters the other day and I could have used this). Eventually desks could
be eliminated and you just work in the last loca on you whopmp-bumhpd to, presumably near the coee machine.
No need to search out a wheely-cart for the big items, just a charging plug during the down me.
The obvious challenges:
Preven ng serious hacking of the devices (not a bad idea by itself, but prevents work from being done)
Keeping them running. Think what its like now when you have a computer problem, imagine if youre stuck
somewhere yelling for help.
Preven ng the necessary arm wrestling and hallway races from turning into the oce into some futuris c
Mechwarrior-like landscape through warring fac ons and furniture throwing.
1. http://berkeleybionics.com/
2.1.23
Bridge to Teribithia: The Rough Years (2011-02-23 15:15)
Date of Original Idea: Back in Dec

What we need is a sequel to Bridge to Teribithia where that kid is now 28 years old, estranged from his fd up family,
just coming away from yet another failed rela onship, cannot hold down a job and always dwelling on the death of
that girl. Having ashbacks over the past 14 years of opportuni es lost or decisions poorly made due to fears and guilt
from the crappy day. Somehow he needs to change in the end, learn that it wasnt his fault, but that cannot happen.
So I have no idea how it should end
2.1.24
Towards another idea (2011-02-23 18:05)
Date of Original Idea: Today/Last Night

18
Ok, this feels like a cop-out but my idea is to get an idea for recording those ideas that I have in the middle of the
night or morning. When, just a er coming through a vivid dream, Im grudgingly awake with some terric idea or
even cra ed sentences for a story. I convince myself that Ill remember this since its so good and dri o again. Then
later Im le with some vague memories about a gorilla as a a orney and just how bad o youd have to be to see
that as be er than represen ng yourself. I even had a tle for that, but its gone. So my idea is like an improved and
automated alterna ve to paper and pencil at the bedside table, because that just doesnt work for me.
2.1.25
Her name is Lola (2011-02-24 20:55)
Date of Original Idea: October 2010

Know the Manalow song Copacabana, or Kopakobana, or Kuppecohana, or whatever its called? Its a nice li le story
about a cocktail waitress and some violently jealous men. Wouldnt it make for a great ride at DisneyWorld?
Heres the pitch: A [1]dark ride (which isnt what it sounds at rst) where you mount up on a moving vehicle that
just keeps going round and round, but instead of a vehicle it is a li le pla orm for you to stand on, lean slightly forward, and put your hands on the hips of either the next person in front of you, or a plas c person installed to reduce
the creepiness of dark rides and touching other people, so that you form a long conga line. Then you ride through
the rooms describing the dierent scenes of the song, hearing the song cycle and cycle. And during the catchy li le
tune between the parts of the song, while you conga through to the next room, the pla orm that your standing on
waggles. Le right le right. Making your tush, along with all the other tushes in the conga, do the conga.
It will be a hit! Del Monte could sponsor it.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_ride
2.1.26
Package Opening Security Robot (2011-02-25 21:02)
Date of Original Idea: Dec 23, 2010

In regards to [1]this story.
A series of machines that will open packages for you. It will handle the package with care while at the same me
containing any possible detona on. Maybe even an op on to check for chemical or bio agents. Then when the package is opened, the contents and packing material can be retrieved and the next package loaded for opening.
Dierent sizes for dierent packages
Dierent styles for loading (the delivery guy loads them into a hopper or you do it yourself on the cheaper models)
Outdoor or indoor op ons
Fully contained for chem and bio agents, or just blast walls for other concerns.
19
Dierent protec on levels for containing dierent levels of explosions.

Camera.
Laser posi on scanner
Some sort of device that can rotate the package to the correct posi on, like from baggage handling or pop bo le
return sor ng machines.
and a box cu er on a 2 axis placement machine.
and one of you need to be head of homeland security for awhile to make sure these become required.
1. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2010/12/23/exp.exp.rome.embassy.bombings.cnn?hpt=T1
2.1.27
Ki y Cannon (2011-02-26 20:15)
Date of Original Idea: One night where the cat wouldnt let me sleep
The tle is quite descrip ve. A cannon that you can load a cat into and launch it into another neighborhood.
[1]
The trick is to calibrate the angle and launch power to get the cat far enough away that he doesnt come back un l
breakfast me, but not so far that he doesnt come back at all, cause that would be cruel.
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/kittycannon_sm.jpg
20
2.1.28
Rain Powered Car (2011-02-27 20:39)
Date of Original Idea: Few years back

A bathtub on the roof, a spout through the drain down to a li le water wheel, a chain around the water wheel going
over to a dieren al. Green propulsion at its best, good in the northwest.
No I dont think it will work, but Ive always wanted to make a web page with a series of photos from a development session. A car with a roof-mounted bathtub perched at the top of a slightly sloped but short driveway. A
fearless test driver in helmet giving a thumbs up. Another photo of the car 3 feet down the slope, water all over the
ground behind it, driver clenching the steering wheel and looking as if wai ng for a rocket launch. A third photo with
the car 7 feet from the star ng posi on, the ground soaked in water, the driver with his head out the window looking
into the sky. A nal photo of two addi onal people entering the scene, each in a white labcoat with a clipboard. The
tall one making notes near the drive unit the other holding out his hand as if checking for rain while the driver is
yelling something at the shorter engineer and poin ng to his watch.
Why havent I done it? Cause I dont have a bathtub handy.
2.1.29
Listen to me Garmin (2011-02-28 20:46)
Date of Original idea(s): many runs ago

I have a watch that I wear when I run with built in GPS. It tells me how fast Im going and how far Ive gone. It
can tell me other things too like eleva on, but really just the rst two are important. It has alot of li le features in
it, but not everything I can think of. What Garmin needs to do is release a DevKit for this watch and let people like
myself experiment with new ideas. They can also host a forum where others can upload new concepts of what they
have done with the watch. It will add value to this piece of hardware. Really. Here are some of the ideas that I want
to have my watch do... simple things:
Display both metric and non-metric units at the same me. I want to see miles and km.
Let me set a target distance and count down to it.
When coun ng down to a target, do gross and ne levels so that its eventually coun ng o the last 1000m of
a marathon in 100m increments. (which seem like eterni es)
Let me set a target distance and me and con nuously show me what my average pace should be to ensure
that I reach it.
Have it so when I hit the lap bu on, it corrects the distance covered to be to the nearest round mile/km. It
gets o a bit over a long distance, maybe 100 to 200m or so depending on buildings and so forth, and I nd it
annoying. But if the distance shows 22.04 miles and I hit the lap bu on, I want the total distance to be corrected
to 22.00 miles.
When it auto-laps, it puts a li le screen up with the average pace of the past lap. a) that screen should go away
if I hit a bu on and b) that li le screen, if its going to block out all the other data on the screen, might as well
tell me other stats about the last lap
21
I want to change the beep it makes for auto-lap (although it is cool in a race when passing a mile marker there
are all the same beeps)
I want to be able to record heart rate before and a er recording distance/ me. A er is important info for
checking tness levels and before is interes ng to see how prior condi ons aected your race
But mostly I just want control of the hardware I own.
2.2
2.2.1
March
Land-Based GPS (2011-03-01 19:27)
Date of Original Idea: Feb 3, 2003 (really! I found an old note)

Wouldnt it be cheaper for land-based GPS points? Some cel phones already use cel-towers to do some triangulaon. So with some added sophis ca on in the signal sent by the towers the cost of launching a new satellite every
few years could be avoided (GPS satellites have only a few years of life in them before they are burnt-up in the atmosphere and replaced).
I suppose it wouldnt work well in the oceans. And if you need to have satellites wizzing around for the ocean coverage you might as well use them for land. But what if there were really powerful shore based transmi ers? Like so
powerful people that cancer clusters developed in the side-bands of these towers, miles and miles of clusters. Would
it work?
2.2.2
Wind Powered Ferris Wheel (2011-03-02 19:32)
Date of Original Idea: 17 Jan , 2011

Eco-Friendly Fun! A giant ferris wheel, much like the London Eye, but bigger. With turbine blades in the middle
and a generator on it just like a wind turbine. Control the loading of the generator to slow down the ride to an acceptable level. People enter the loading structure and either take the elevator or climb the stairs (something like the
Eiel Tower to the rst level). From there they can shop, eat or ride. On days when the wind isnt blowing they can
buy a t-shirt that says I went to the EcoWheel and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt
[1]
22
When the wind is blowing in the right direc on and people are willing to drive out to it, this thing will rival other
regional sight-seeing des na ons!
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/windpoweredferriswheel.jpg
2.2.3
Noisy Upstairs Neighbor Combat Device (2011-03-03 19:57)
Date of Original Idea: Dec 28, 2010 while some lady in heels walked around on her uncarpeted oors in the unit above
me.
[1]
A device that allows a person to strap in a bucket from around the house and a handle from a broom. Then the person
can place the bucket against the ceiling with one hand while pulling and releasing a cord with another. The ac on
results in a loud bass thud that resonates into the upstairs apartment, much the way their thuds resonate down. For
when they wont answer the door or youre just too passive aggressive to even knock.
23
Can be sold at drug stores or discount general in a small box:

[2]
Big words printed on the side though: Cau on, this will make them cause more noise and then no one will get any
sleep. Maybe also include a book of tac cs like ge ng up at 2 a.m. and doing this when they are sleeping. Youre
sure to win with these tac cs!
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/noisyupstairsneighbortop1.jpg
2. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/noisyupstairsneighborbottom.jpg
2.2.4
The Crapper Napper (2011-03-04 20:57)
Date of Original Idea: A few years ago stuck in Cleveland airport

A portable hammock with 5 hooks. The hooks clip on to the top of stall walls in the bathroom, 2 on each side and 1
on the door. <p>
[1]
24
It gives you a place to sleep or rest that is clean, if not pleasantly scented. I argue that it is cleaner than the oor
anywhere in the airport (men stand at the urinal, then wander all over the place), cleaner than the seats. It is as clean
as the inside of the storage bag you keep it in. Air freshener can be included in the bag and you can put a swipe of it,
from a vapor rub sort of can, under your nose if necessary.
The door hook works to hold the door closed when your weight is in the hammock. A quasi-feature is that it will
not work on the corner stalls, ensuring that there is always a stall available for regular business and no urgent threat
to airport func onali y.
Available at airport kiosks:
$29.99 for the Sport

$39.99 for the Comfort (with air freshener and a li le pouch that hangs down for you to put your shoes into)
$59.99 for the Execu ve (all the features of the Comfort plus a pouch for your laptop and Blackberry
I gure one manufacturing run and theyll be in all airports across the country. One or two years later they will nd
their way into goodwill bins and in 3 to 5 years bus sta ons will be plagued by the homeless to ng the Crapper Napper
™
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/crappernapper.jpg
2.2.5
Santa Transponder (2011-03-05 17:57)
Date of Original Idea: Dec 2005?

25
Hey Kids! dont read this.

Years ago we were planning on visi ng family for Christmas. This involved a drive and stay in another state. My
kids were concerned that Santa would not be able to nd them, or worse yet, deliver the goods on Christmas morning to our house pu ng a week-long delay in the receiving of said gi s. We tried to calm their fears, but they kept
bringing it up. We found the answer at Target. They had gi cards that were the size of fat credit cards and if you
pressed the bu on a bunch of LEDs on a christmas tree would twinkle. On the back was all the regular gi card stu,
a unique bar code and disclaimers. We bought two gi cards (then used them on regular purchases) and passed
out the cards to the kids with the informa on that these were Santa Transponders. The bar code was registered to
them and if they pressed the bu on on Christmas Eve, Santa would be able to reroute the gi s to the loca on that
the bu on was pressed. You could tell it was working cause the LEDs twinkled in response. This worked well.
My idea is to commercialize this idea further. The gi card design and the electronics inside cant cost that much.
The bar code can be just randomness. Just add a web site where the kids can register their transponders (for security sake, just rst name and rst le er of the last name and maybe a process where you press the bu on once, click
enter on the computer, then press it again for conrma on). Sell them for $6/apiece or 2 for $15 in Target check-out
aisles. Of course you need a new one every year because as we all know, the more stu you buy the be er the world
is.
2.2.6
6 Under (2011-03-06 19:22)
Date of Original Idea: Oh so long ago

I was driving along a beau ful lakeside road in the thumb of Michigan once and I passed two things that were
sandwiched between me and the water. 1) a golf course and 2) a cemetery. And I thought that it was such a waste
to have such a beau ful area, a wonderful view that makes you think it is great to be alive, taken up by dead people
who cannot appreciate it. Somehow my mind went from that to what if we could combine these two vast wastes of
space, golf courses and cemeteries? (how inspira on works I will never know).
The details:
Picture a regular golf course. Fairways, tee-boxes, etc...

Those that are to rest in piece are cremated and cast into a cylinder with a li le plaster-of-paris. Picture 6 in
diameter and 18 to 24 in height.
The res ng places are on the edge of the fairway, just before the rough. A post-hole digger sinks a hole.
A funeral is book for 6 or 8 4-somes, depending on the desired length of the service.
Several black stretch-golf carts are used. Classy ones.
Ceremony is done, cylinder sunk, family moves on to the wake at the clubhouse.
Hole is lled in. A 6 marker is set complete with yardage info:
26
[1]
When a surviving family member wants to grieve, they can book a foursome, come through leave owers at the teebox.
Guys who like to golf would choose this, as would their wives who hope for visits from their husbands a er death.
Every Saturday morning he can leave some owers and play through.
Addi onal up-sells could be specic loca ons on the golf course and wedding/wake combo discounts at the clubhouse.
The name of the place (thanks Gary) is: 6 Under.
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/johndoemarker1a.gif
2.2.7
Home Hea ng from Fracking Failures (2011-03-07 20:41)
Date of Original Idea: Feb 28, 2010

Weve seen the news reports and videos of failed a empts cleanly fracking natural gas. The gas and other secret
ingredients get into the drinking water of the people living nearby, who subsequently video themselves ligh ng
their tap on re.
27
IFRAME: [1]h p://www.youtube.com/embed/U01EK76Sy4A

Theres energy in them pipes! Now all we need is a furnace that separates the gas from water and uses it to heat a
home or, more ironically, heat water. It is apparently a low gas ow volume and the supply is probably not too stable,
so a low ame, much like a mutli-stage furnace on low se ng. It would be excellent for hea ng a volume of water
as in a boiler system, where a low but fairly constant hea ng would get the system warmed up eventually and then
kept at the temp, the thermal capacity of the system would deal with lapses in the gas supply. In very cold climates
it would probably need to be supplemented by other hea ng sources. The problem might be that you have to keep
the water running to get the gas to ow, and then youre running a well pump that is not meant for such con nuous
duty, so a beeng up of the pump might be necessary too. The water could be recirculated back down the wellits
not potable anyway.
Need to get cracking on this one, with gas prices going up there will be a big demand for this type of device in just a
few years!
1. http://www.youtube.com/embed/U01EK76Sy4A
2.2.8
Enough Already (2011-03-08 19:47)

Chubby Checkers The Twist should be re red. Nothing good can come from it being played anymore.
2.2.9
Waist Scarf (2011-03-09 18:29)

A scarf doesnt just keep your neck warm, it keeps wind from blowing through the neckhole of your jacket while
you move around. I need something like that at the other end too. My belly is cold.
2.2.10
A Store for Scrooge (2011-03-10 18:32)

In the story A Christmas Carol old man Scrooge has a change of heart during Christmas Eve and wakes up a new
man. He immediately employs a poor kid who happened to be walking by to buy him a goose and later shows up at
28
his employees house bearing gi s. Where did he get those gi s and where did the boy get that goose? I dont know
of any store open for such things Christmas morning, and unless your city isnt endowed with a strong non-Chris an
commercial base, you probably dont either. Imagine how that story would have ended if the impulsive new feelings
had to be delayed a day or two, not quite the same ending.
This idea is for a store that is ONLY open on Christmas morning for those newly minted Scrooges dont need to delay
gra ca on, and the a er-last minute shoppers can get the goods. The store would only sell a few items at respectable
markups, but its there for you- and who cares about prices anyway when the ghost of Christmas Future scared the
crap out of you. Either buy the $60 goose or get a pack of old baloney at the gas sta on, your choice.
2.2.11
The World without the Americas (2011-03-11 21:09)

Story idea, one of those alternate reality/history ones. This one is that the space where north and south America
is just open water. European explorers found nothing. The rise and fall of the Spanish and Portuguese empires never
happened, including all papal interven ons . Frances huge war expenses of the 17th and 18th century never happened, and therefore the king had cash to keep his people happy and Napoleon busy with menial jobs. The European
wars of the mid 1800s didnt happen, Germany didnt unify, didnt get involved as a unit in WWI, wasnt fodder for
Hitler to rise to power in. Japan and China were able to keep out the European colonialists, Australia stayed Asian.
What does 2011 look like now?
2.2.12
Coming to a theater near you... (2011-03-12 10:57)
Sit and Spin: The Movie

A li le fun can turn deadly.
2.2.13
Secure Warmth (2011-03-13 19:26)

29
Electrically heated seatbelts. Like heated seats, but in front of you too. Bands of warmth.
2.2.14
USB Rechargeable Electric Car (2011-03-14 07:36)

The tle says it all. Instead of bulky cables and inconvienent loca ons, you can just plug your car into your laptop
with a nice slim cable. Sure it might take longer to charge, but if you put the charging cable in the cabin of the car you
could charge while youre driving. You wouldnt have to stop un l the laptop ba ery was also dead. Of course, there
are power limita ons on the amount of current through a USB connec on so you might need to have more than one
cable. And laptop ba eries are small so maybe more than one laptop. I envision a cable that plugs into the car on
one side with a hole bunch of USB connectors on the other side. Then a trailer full of laptops if need be.
It probably wont not work well, but the photos of the prototype and the stories of the manager who wanted it
made would be priceless.
2.2.15
Mo on Sickness Correc on So ware (2011-03-15 20:12)

My daughter gets sick while reading or working on a computer in a car. The reasons for this, as I understand it,
involve a disconenct between what the brain is sensing as mo on and what the eyes are perceiving, specically on
small bumps and turns (which transport modes like airplanes and trains lack and dont cause this problem). An iPad
(or similar device) brings the same results. But an iPad (or similar device) has a accelerometer. Could so ware for the
iPad (or similar device) be developed to correct this by moving the image on the screen with the bumps and turns
ever so slightly? If so, it would be a pre y cool app.
Or it just make people even sicker.
2.3
2.3.1
Fail!
30
April
Fail (2011-04-02 11:46)
31
32
3.
3.0.2
2012
Restart (2012-04-02 18:42)
Date of Idea: Today

The idea is to do this again. Restar ng exactly one year a er declaring failure on the rst a empt. What has changed,
you ask, that this me it will be be er? Have you been laid-o, or learned to live on 3 hours sleep or invented a
me machine that can only take you back 3 hours in the past and this is the best applica on I can nd for it? No, I
havent been laid o, in fact Im working more hours now. No, I s ll need many hours sleep. And no, if I had invented
such a me machine I could nd a much be er applica on for it. No, I dont have a good reason for it. Perhaps Im
con nuing to do the same thing with hope of a dierent outcome.
3.0.3
Harves ng Remaining Energy from Ba eries (2012-04-03 18:49)
Date of Original Idea: a couple months ago

Most ba ery powered devices stop working when the voltage on the ba ery drops too low, but theres s ll energy
in there. As I see it, the only useful way to get all the energy out is to take it out as heat, as that would be the only
useful voltage independent and cost eec ve method. So if youre in a part of the world where you heat your home
from external sources (wood, gas, oil, electricity), you just save your almost dead ba eries for the winter. Then you
jam them in a bucket of BBs. They will short out the ba eries, drawing every last Joule of energy out and supplement
the hea ng of your house.
If you saved up a couple dozen ba eries and jammed them in a li le pouch of BBs, you could wrap it around your
neck or where ever and enjoy the heat directly.
Is it alot, no. Is it free, yes. Is it easy, yes.
3.0.4
Creapy Sound Generator (2012-04-04 20:10)
Date of Original Idea: not too long ago, while indisposed

There is a new device in the bathrooms at work. It dispenses air freshener periodically. I was wondering what that
li le grrr-schuus, click sound was, then I found it. To make this even creepier, it should have a li le MP3 sound
generator in it with sounds like camera click and hard grun ng.
33
It would crack down on employee loang around in the bathroom me. And would be a be er solu on than any
of [1]these.
1. http://www.hazards.org/toiletbreaks/
3.0.5
Ma ress That Wakes You Up By Being Uncomfortable (2012-04-05 21:00)
Date of Original Idea: A couple weeks ago

A bed that changes from comfortable to uncomfortable to wake you up.
Possible implementa ons:
something inatable like the Sleepnumber bed that changes to a lousy number, or just plain vents all the air,
about 30 minutes before you want to get up.
Something that heats up un l youre swea ng. Of course youll have to wash the sheets more o en.
Something that cools o un l the thought of a shower gets you out of bed.
Even if you need to use an alarm clock to actually wake up at the right me, at least you wont have trouble wan ng
to get out of bed.
3.0.6
Book Idea: Fake Replies (2012-04-06 19:25)
Date of Original Idea: Jan 14, 2012

A book of reply le ers from celebri es. The ini al le er that was sent to the celebrity is not on hand, only these
replies and the reader has to read between the lines about what was ini ally said, suggested or proposed. Comedy,
naturally, is the goal.
Example:
Dear Mr. Salmiho,
Thank you for the le er dated March 3. I truly enjoy ge ng feedback from fans, but as you can imagine the volume
of mail I get is quite high so I ask your forgiveness in this reply. Thank you for the kind words about the poor showing
34
of Mission Impossible 3, I agree that the franchise has been pushed too far, but you never can tell when something
will reignite!
To your ques ons:
1) no, I dont think it is a good idea. Your mother has made those rules for a reason and I think you should follow them
so long as you con nue to live in her house. Respect your mother.
2) boxers
3) When Im travelling I do use an assumed name at hotels, and I thank you for the sugges ons, but I dont feel that
any of those on the list are either appropriate or respectable.
Well thanks for wri ng, and please dont miss Mission Impossible IV, in theaters next June!
Sincerley,
Thomas Cruise
But much be er than that.
3.0.7
Back seat kid dividers (2012-04-07 10:22)
Date of Original Idea: the last me I went anywhere with the kids
A sturdy, yet crash-friendly, L-shaped block that seat belts into the middle of the back seat. It is thick enough that no
one can cross my side and has cup holders as well as other storage areas individual for each kid. It can be easily
removed.
That way the kids never have to learn to get along with other people and theyll t be er into society.
3.0.8
Blister Bandage Dispenser (2012-04-08 19:06)
Date of Original Idea: March 28

35
Like the [1]Post-it highlight dispensers;, but lled with bandages to cover a blister on the back of the heel. Every
me my wife or kids have a blister there they put a band-aid on it and it just rubs o in under an hour, but a dispenser
built into the shoe it could con nuously replace the bandage.
Of course, as I like to remind them, they could just wear socks.
1. http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/promos/flaghighlighter/
3.0.9
Post Oce Help (2012-04-09 16:54)

Ok, its almost not completely my idea. Some guy says as much in this ar cle [1]here. But he was saying it like it
would be ridiculous if USPS sold adver sing that got slapped to your le ers and/or packages. Sort of sneaking the
junk mail into the keep pile at home. A small s cker on the back side of a le er or the side of a box would get some
bad press at rst, but it wouldnt do any real harm so people would ignore than. Then later you can build up to larger
ads without much hassle.
Of course, it s ll requires that something of value is being sent through the mail to begin with....ad s ckers on junk
mail just weighs down the recycling bin.
1. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/courtyard-marriott-wifi/
3.0.10
Pi Table (2012-04-10 17:55)
Date of Original Idea: Mar 25 (came to me in a dream)

Self explanatory. For pies.
[1]
36
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Pi-Table.jpg
3.0.11
Carnival Hotel (2012-04-11 18:26)
Date of Original Idea: April 10, 2012

There are hotels that are converted this-and-thats. Planes, harbor cranes, fallout shelters, wine casks, castles. How
about a bunch of converted carny rides. All set up inside a big hanger (a converted airplane hanger!). Vomitproof
seats removed and replaced with semi-comfortable bedding, at least as comfortable as possible while retaining the
original characteris cs of the ride. Some of the rides would operate in order to be useful, such as the ferris wheel.
Some would operate, but very slowly, such as the carousel or the lt-a-whirl, and some would stand idle such as roller
coasters.
Possible converted rides
Ferris wheel
Carousel
Tilt-a-Whirl
that one that spins and holds you against the wall (would have to operate to keep sleepers from falling over)
Bumper cars
37
Tunnel of Love (aka the honeymoon suite)

Demon drop type things, have you dangling free
Can get started by watching for deals [1]here. Although it looks like itd be cheaper to buy an old Motel 6 and let
people sleep in the elevator.
1. http://www.amusementtrader.com/category/186/New-and-Used-Rides.html
3.0.12
Nu y (2012-04-12 19:07)

Peanut bu er perfume
Says it all.
3.1
3.1.1
May
Piss Powered (2012-05-22 19:26)
Date of Original Idea: May 20, 2012

Li le turbines in the drain of urinals. Must be constructed so that that aim results in no splash-back, as well as
preven ng spin-out due to the turbine itself. The energy collected from such a device could be used to run an LED
somewhere. Get enough urinals together and you could light several LEDs for a short period of me.
3.2
3.2.1
June
Even more with the pee (2012-06-09 18:06)
Date of Original Idea: somewhere in the last couple weeks

Take that last idea, the one with generators in the urinals, and turn it into a game. Based on the energy captured,
38
award points and display them on a screen. See how you compare with the other guy. Lets take this a bit farther and
add a bluetooth device. It scans and picks out the SSID of your phone and couples that informa on with the score
you have in a database (can you do that, I mean with the bluetooth? it doesnt require a connec on, just a unique
iden er. Without connec ng, can you get a unique iden er? I would think there would be all sorts of privacy issues
around that, but then again, Im not sure how it works). Then it can welcome you back and compare your performance
today with previously. You can collect points. You have evidence to brag to your friends about how big a pisser you
are.
3.2.2
enough with the pee (2012-06-10 18:07)

No more ideas involving pee. At least for awhile.
3.2.3
Poli cal Might (2012-06-24 19:00)
Date of Original Idea: the other day

In poli cs, cash is access, and as individuals or even grassroot groups most of us dont have it. But the companies that
are already sinking lots of money into lobbying eorts of varying degrees do. It has been successfully proven (recently
SOPA), that by complaining to companies and not your representa ve. The company has a nanical incen ve to get
somthing done at the govermental level. So why write your congressman while you could convince a company that
it is in their best interest to back your ideology? Boyco Walmart if they dont support your stance on X, organize a
campaign to let movie theaters in-masse understand your feelings on what RIAA is doing. Even as a small group, a
congressman, or more specically, his/her sta (those that set the schedules) has minimal self interest in helping you.
But if an organiza on that has at least the illusion of being able to scratch some backs in return (they will not always
be sta or congressmen/women you know), then it is more likely that your opinions will be heard.
Companies become the amplier of poli cal might.
3.2.4
Marketocracy (2012-06-25 20:36)

39
Although this idea came rst, it really goes one step further star ng from yesterdays idea. We replace elected representa ves in congress with appointed reps from businesses. (cut out the middleman, so to speak)
When people dont like the way things are going, the business gets bad press and possible issues in the marketplace
which can provide pressure to change things. It would be structured so that when theyre doing a bad job, it will
impact the companys bo om line. Transparency would be achieved cause there would be no ques on about why
youre wri ng certain laws or vo ng a certain way. It would be dicult for companies to ram stu through since they
will have li le to no inuence over most of the other reps (where now, one company can be funding mul ple reps at
the same me). Companies that make money from star ng wars would have to nego ate with companies that lose
money from star ng wars, for example. It would have to have some rules about the percentage of companies with
$x of worth, and percent with $y of worth, etc.. to prevent an -market pressures that come from monopolies. And
some sort of controls about them vo ng themselves a raise (corporate taxes = 0), but thats not too dierent than
now.
3.3
3.3.1
July
Weekend Racers (2012-07-02 19:47)
Date of Original Idea: June 30, 2012

Goat-Cart track. thats right, a goat-cart track. Like a go-cart track but with fewer greenhouse gases and a more
animal rights issues. Easy to create in a few straigh orward steps: Outline a track in recycled res, hook goats up to
wagons, put helmets on the kids, and hire a guy to clean up a er the goats.
oh, and build a fence high enough so that people dont see that youre serious un l a er they pay.
3.3.2
Spaghe
s (2012-07-31 20:32)
Date of Original Idea: July 30, 2012

Regular Spaghe
Os plus some riso o.
pronounced spaa - geeh- T - oues
40
3.4
3.4.1
August
Keyboard Cleaning Aid (2012-08-31 17:11)
Date of Original Idea: Aug 31, 2012

Keyboards should have a li le door on the bo om, very much like toasters do, to let all the crumbs out that collect
under the keys over the years.
icky.
3.5
3.5.1
September
Burrito Printer (2012-09-08 19:00)
Date of Original Idea: Sept 8, 2012

Theyre 3-d prin ng everything now. cars, houses, candy, cats (I read it online I think). So why not Burritos? A
machine pulls the shell from the storage bin and then proceeds to dispense other ingredients all according to a very
detailed order sheet. The calories can be accurately counted (cause people ea ng Burritos are generally pre y calorie
conscious right?) and the ingredients will be put in the RIGHT PLACE in the RIGHT ORDER. Then it gets shoved o for
cooking.
It could be used for other tor lla based foods as well: so tacos, gorditos, etc. or combined with a nacho arranging machine (you know, a machine that puts the nachos in the RIGHT ORDER into the RIGHT PATTERN to hold the
cheese).
3.5.2
3-Zone Tires (2012-09-09 19:00)
Date of Original Idea _ July 31, 2012

Tires with 3 inateable zones to adjust for corning or straight driving. Useful on motorcylces? Can make center
zone ater to make the whole thing to go straight or inate the center zone to make cornering smoother. two other
zones could be connected by communica ve tubes to really just be one (would air owing through the tubes to the
41
other side during turns be a good or bad thing? ). Issue would also arise around the sides pressing into the underinated center. Maybe a new re technology is necessary, non air based. Foam or pudding or something thicker but
pumpable.
3.6
3.6.1
November
Daily Commute Podcast (2012-11-27 21:00)
Date of Original Idea: Nov 27, 2012

A podcast that is simply the recording from inside my car during my commute, to and from work. Published daily.
People can download and hear me listening to other podcasts, or singing along to some 80s classics, maybe prac cing
my German accent by repea ng the news radio, or if the condi ons are right and there are no ac ve speed limits
on the autobahn (and I s ll have my Golf GTD) you can hear me laughing manically and cursing various vehicles that
wont get out of my way.
3.6.2
Pacman Navi (2012-11-28 21:11)
Date of Original Idea: Nov 28, 2012

An op on on the nav where the li le symbol that is your car is changed to an animated pacman. And the line that
is your route is changed to white dots. And if there is an accident or construc on or something that shuts down the
road could be a colored ghost just wai ng for you (but be er to avoid it)
3.7
3.7.1
December
Daily Power (2012-12-11 21:07)

Story idea. Guy gets random superpower daily. Some are cool (ying), some are lousy (immunity to gravity, he
42
wakes up and just oats around all day trying to get to his kitchen while never being sure if he has to pee or not),
some are disrup ve (demobilizing electronic devices with his touch, but not being able to turn it o, or rather, not
having the power long enough to learn to control it), some are not even no ceable (having super memory, but only
for the day), some are cool but you have no idea that you have it (being able to breath underwater, but how o en do
you encounter the need for that?). They come and go with sleep. Maybe they repeat, cause how many new super
powers can a crea ve writer generate. Maybe he gets be er at the ones that repeat. When hes trying to save the
world/girl/city he can never really be sure if today is the day or if he waits for tomorrow hell be be er equipped.
He keeps a journal to chart it all out- said journal can fall into the wrong hands. Weaknesses come and go too, so
hes never really sure if he has a weakness or just a bad day. He follows horoscopes and having these powers just
reinforces his belief, although theyre s ll random, and he starts ge ng heavy into astrology, but thats just a side
story to show that hes got qwirks maybe one day he has powers that let him realize that astrology is crap but then
the next day cannot remember the logic behind it. Hes not terribly smart, but not stupid either.
43
44
4.
4.1
4.1.1
2013
January
Boom!ana (2013-01-23 19:22)

A pinata that gets opened up by the kids, one-by-one, a aching recrackers to the side and being exploded. The
pinata might have to be constructed dierently to make it last more than 2 or 3 pops, and of course a rule that the
next re cracker has to be some minimum distance away from the last one. And of course youre going to have to get
your neighbors buy-in, cause thats going to be annoying.
Of course youd need to get a responsible adult to do the ligh ng. And any adult that would allow this is not going to easily t into the responsible category.
4.1.2
1000 Piece Puzzles with 1200 Pieces (2013-01-24 19:36)

Puzzles with extra pieces. Should be easy for a puzzle manufacturer to take one puzzle and throw 1/5 of its pieces
into each of 5 other puzzles (same or dierent picture, doesnt ma er). Then you have the extra challenge of trying
to nd a place for an eye here or an extra leaf there. It should only increase the price of the puzzle in the 120 % range,
but you could easily charge 122 or 124 % of the normal puzzle.
4.2
4.2.1
February
Croudsourcing Time Machines (2013-02-21 07:14)
Date of Original Idea: Yesterday

The more people working towards a goal, the be er the odds that the goal will be reached, its the basic driving
force in croudsourced development. This is especially true for out-there type research that needs many independent
minds looking for breakthroughs. Unfortunately some ideas are just too out there, just as me travel, so there are
pi fully few people dedica ng their lives to these goals.
45
The idea here is to nd a photo that is clearly from, say, the early 90s with a younger man and an older man or woman,
and send the photo to random people around the age of 20 to 22 (men or women as the case may be) with a note
that says something of the sort:
Dear X In 1994 you and I met. You spun some tale that you were from the distant future, showed me some
interes ng technology that would seem to indicate it, predicted smart phones and the whole Charlie Sheen
incident, bummed a meal o me, and posed for the enclosed photo. You are the older gentleman on the le .
You asked me to send you this photo in/around 2013 to 2014 meframe to inspire you to get to work, that it
was actually this photo that got you going on the road to making the breakthrough and mee ng the people
necessary to develop your me travelling capabili es. To be honest, Im s ll having a hard me believing it
(which, ironically, you told me I would write in this le er) and if it wasnt for the technology you brought from
the future to show me I would have never believed enough even to write this le er and buy a stamp, so dont
forget to bring some cool stu along to show me. You also asked me to tell you
1) linear accelera ons in a *near* vacuum, with emphasis on the near and youd know what that meant
2) Do not publicize your inten ons un l at least 2019, youd know when
Take care, and dont forget to look me up again, otherwise I didnt write this le er.
Sure, most people are not going to change their lives based on this le er, but send this le er to a signicantly large
number of people, but not so large that it is exposed as a hoax, and youll get lots of people dedica ng signicant
me to this task.
4.3
4.3.1
March
The Book of the Month Church (2013-03-06 20:48)
The number of religiously unaliated Americans has increased from 15 % to 20 % in the past 5 years alone (source
Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life). The religiously unaliated now make up the fastest growing religious group
in America and represents a younger demographic than tradi onal religions. In order to tap into this market, I propose
a non-religion church. The church would serve to build communi es, oers fellowship, and do many of the charitable
things a tradi onal church does, but without the focus on money, power, poli cs or religion. Instead of being based
on the teachings of the bible, sermons would be based on topics found in any c onal book wri en by a deceased
author. Each month would focus on a dierent author or book and well known songs would be used as hymns which
e into the topic. Show tunes would be encouraged. Cheese would be served with crackers during snack me. The
intent would be a family friendly alterna ve to church with weddings ceremonies performed on Saturdays.
4.3.2
Theme Park Ride Idea - Blind (2013-03-08 22:46)
Blindfolded par cipants navigate a large empty smooth surface. The par cipants wear headphones with posion/orienta on sensors and a computer system generates a realis c acous c image of a city scape. Par cipants
46
must navigate construc on sites, busy streets, wild animals, and open sewers without visual input. Overhead fans,
water misters, and, scent generators would be used to enhance the experience.
4.3.3
Google Glass Applica on - Beer Googles (2013-03-10 19:45)
Idea for an applica on that overlays the present image with a more a rac ve view.
4.3.4
Google Glass Applica on - Electronics Lab (2013-03-13 20:00)
Idea for an applica on that overlays the output of a small handheld probe via blue-tooth (scope, dvm, temperature
etc...).
4.3.5
Google Glass Applica on - Price is Right Trainer. (2013-03-14 19:00)
Idea for an applica on that overlays price informa on on all objects in view.
4.3.6
Google Glass Applica on - Diet Trainer (2013-03-15 19:46)
Idea for an applica on that overlays calorie informa on on all food objects in view.
4.3.7
Google Glass Applica on - Language Trainer (2013-03-16 20:38)
Idea for an applica on that overlays the name of all objects in view in languages of your choice.
47
4.3.8
Smartphone Supplemental Warning System (2013-03-17 20:56)
As smartphone usages increases so does the risk of injuries related to distracted walking. Idea for a pop-up warning
based on detec on of hazards...How? Radar, blue-tooth, wi, near eld comm, rd, visual?
[1]
Look Out!!
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IMGP2121-001.jpg
4.3.9
Robot Temp Agency (2013-03-18 21:00)
This is an idea for a labor services provider that places robot workers instead of people in repe ve manual labor
jobs.
Recent technological advances in robo cs has made automa on of many simple forms of manual labor cost competi ve with minimum wage workers. The robot temp agency would own the robots, provide training for the required
tasks, handle maintenance and repairs, and maintain best prac ce strategies for each type of work the robots are
engaged in. The goal would be to provide minimum wage compe ve labor with lower employee overhead costs and
48
zero workforce turnover. The robot temp agency would employ exible use industrial robots that are safe to work
alongside people without safety cages and can be installed and removed within minutes, with the goal of providing
next day labor service for pre-learned tasks and 2 day service for new tasks. The robot temp agency would also provide engineering services for special automa on projects or for interfacing legacy equipment with the robots.
[1]
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/2013-03-017.jpg
4.3.10
Second Hand Smoke Alarm (2013-03-19 18:37)
This is an idea for a very annoying alarm to alert people to the presence of second hand smoke. Comes with earplugs
for the user.
[1]
49
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/SecondHandSmokeAlarm.jpg
4.3.11
Puzzling Puzzles (2013-03-22 18:49)
Date of Original Idea: Mar 21 but I had to wait a few days to post.
More to the idea of Jan 24.
1) a box lled with two dierent puzzles
2) a box lled with two dierent puzzles that are the same picture but cut with a dierent pa ern
4.4
4.4.1
April
To sleep.... (2013-04-24 19:07)

I need a wireless link from my kindle to the bedside light. When I havent touched a bu on for awhile, or it goes
50
to sleep due to inac vity, my lamp gets the signal to turn o. Could be done through the WiFi on my kindle assuming
I installed a wi adapter on my lamp, assuming I had that kind of me to play around with, assuming I even had the
WiFi on my kindle turned on.
Ok, or I just get something like the kindlewhite. But that just seems too bourgeois.
4.4.2
Tracking sleep (2013-04-25 19:07)

Going o yesterdays idea. If the kindle (or kindlewhite) could send a signal to whereever over WiFi saying when
it had gone to sleep, it could record when I had gone to sleep. That data collected over me, and with the constant
se ng on my alarm, could record the amount of sleep I have been ge ng.
The only way Im going to nd the me to put this together is if I give up some sleep.
4.5
4.5.1
June
Towards a Grand Unied Theory (2013-06-13 06:02)
Date of Original Idea: June 9, 2013 (a couple days ago, Ive been lazy with this stu)
Concept for Star Wars Episode 7
[open on the last few moments of Jedi. Ewoks dancing, Leia with long hair, the ghost of the real Anikain Skywalker glowing proudly).] [Screen fades. Fuzzy, so , blury, starts to refocus on the sleeping face of a man. Hes
waking from a dream in a modern day apartment. Looks at clock, sighs and gets up.] [The man stands, we see
Keanu Reeves pulling himself out of bed, brushing his teeth, making his way to work] [work se ng, the oce
from the rst few minutes of The Matrix. Its the day before all that stu goes down. Some mindless stu about
taxa on, trade routes, Agent Smith makes a few appearances as various characters to make us all say oh I know
him, he he. Generally boring bridge movie]
Like Eps 1-3 people will see it whether it is good or not. Like Alien/Predator we can meld these storylines together.
I gure in another couple years Star Wars/Matrix can be quickly melded with Alien/Predator and various other sci,
while Harry Po er can be the nucleus for Fantasy, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days the nucleus for RomComs. In
100 years, if we bear down on this, we could have a grand unied story line.
51
4.6
4.6.1
July
They wont know any be er (2013-07-14 01:03)

Wall decals that look like a classy nursing home, but will t on the walls of a budget nursing home. Take advantage of the senility se ng in and save some cash.
4.6.2
They wont know any be er: part 2 (2013-07-15 01:07)
Date of original idea: yesterday

For your elderly family members who are losing track of what has and has not really happened: a service whereby
someone calls them up and chats with them about some awesome adventure in the past as if they were really there.
war stories, poli cal victories, race car ac on, rst man on the moon, etc...
4.7
4.7.1
September
Temperature logging and displaying (2013-09-30 13:37)
Not really an idea, more of a project.

[1]
52
Ini ally an Atmel Mega8 (A) was connected to a couple sensors forever ago. It sits on my desk periodically sending
temperature and RH info over a Lantronix XPort (B) to this web server, where a Perl script logs the data and updates
this graph (which as of this update is not working cause the stu is in a box):
An overview looks something like this, and was initaly, roughly, documented [2]here.
[3]
53
Lately it was updated with a new RH sensor (the old one simply died), a new compiler for the Atmel work, and simultaneously the Arduino Yun (D) became available. In the interest of a project to learn the Yun it was programmed to,
over wireless, request the most recent uploaded data at the web server, parse it, and display the temperature in the
room on a 2x16 LCD display (the same used in the [4]vending machine project).
[5]
Overall Im very pleased with how much roundabout-ness is involved to get the temperature, which is measured a
mere 15 cm to the le , displayed. The sharing of the router is due to the fact that I have only one, but I could just as
easily locate the Yun project where ever else in the world, should anyone want to know the temperature and RH of
my typing environment.
Oh, and the Arduino Uno (E) which is also pictured is not doing anything at all.
1. http://hortop.us/adventures/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/setup.jpg
2. http://306wd.com/tstat/
3. http://hortop.us/adventures/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/OverviewDrawing-A.jpg
4. http://hortop.us/adventures/?p=2776
5. http://hortop.us/adventures/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/OverviewDrawing-B.jpg
4.8
4.8.1
October
Average Clocks (2013-10-13 17:13)
Date of Original Idea: Oct 6, 2013

2, 3, 4, or more clocks that are set such that the average of the displayed mes is the actual me. Could also be
done with other mathema cal func ons or types of mepieces as well. (average sundials?)
For example:
54
results in an actual me of a few seconds shy of 11:43.
or
[1]
55
results in an average of, well, 16:28. But the point is that it can be as easy or hard as you wish to make it.
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/cl_4s.jpg
56
5.
5.1
5.1.1
2014
July
Drone2Work (2014-07-30 21:12)
Date of Original Idea: few months ago, I sat on this one awhile
The commute ge ng you down?
Stop, go, honk, stop, go honk?
Have to zig-zag all over town and trac, when the crow can y straight there?
Well make like a crow and dial Drone2Work. Clip on your easy Clip-On-Harness, grab your briefcase, and wait on
your front lawn. The drone will appear at the scheduled me, hook on to your harness, and li o! Ready to come
home? Just put the harness back on and head outside. Our handy web interface and op onal app lets you change
schedules or plans (subject to drone availability). With a 30 minute ight me at full load, it can take you home or
not to home, if you get our dri .
[1]
57
Act now and well include more apps! It has to be good, we have an app for it!
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Drone2Worke.jpg
58
5.2
5.2.1
August
Land, on-train, speed record (2014-08-16 15:26)
Date of original idea: last week

Whats faster than a fast car? A fast car driving on a fast train. One very very very long straight train track. One
ridiculously long train, say 5 miles long, covered to keep wind out of the equa on (some fancy aerodynamics would
be needed to suck the air from the tunnel as opposed to having the car compress it), and one very fast car.
[1]
Get the train up to speed, say 300 kph (something over 180 mph) then start driving the car up to 300+ kph and volia!
very fast car.
[2]
lets just look online... and, .....huh..... apparently this s ll would not be so impressive, especially [3]given the way the
record is measured . The internet is just one big source of disappointment isnt it?
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/FastCarFastTrain1.png
2. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/FastCarFastTrain2.png
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record
5.3
5.3.1
September
Direct Methane Fuel Cell in a Fanny Pack (2014-09-03 19:08)
Date of Original Idea: Sept 3, 2014

Power your cell phone with a direct methaNE fuel cell hanging on your belt in the middle of your back. The methane
side le open to the atmosphere. When the charge gets low, you just head o to Arbys.
59
5.3.2
Puzzle Piece Table (2014-09-04 19:17)
Date of Original Idea: Like in April or something

A table with jigsaw-puzzle shaped pieces. When you want to expand it and add new leafs (leaves?) in, they are
also puzzle pieces that t i in between. Im thinking 4 pieces with the legs a ached, that can then expand into a
longer, rectangular table. Maybe into a larger square table.
5.4
5.4.1
October
Apps for driving (2014-10-23 02:10)
Date of original idea: Oct 23, 2014

Driving again in the US has given me lots of ideas for apps:
Inform you that your turn signal is s ll on Show you views of the upcoming crosswalk from a camera mounted
where your eyes would be if you were not looking down at your phone A vibra ng alert when the person in
front of you starts braking An audio alert that the light has changed
Im sure there are plenty of others. The next logical step is to have the app take over all driving decisions and make the
user simply the actuator. Mount a screen in front of the steering wheel and dedicate 25 % of it to driving commands.
The data can be streamed up to the cloud and will be very useful during the trial.
5.5
5.5.1
November
Poll test (2014-11-04 12:47)
Date of original idea: a long me ago but really needs to be talked about
Happy Vo ng Day!
60
In celebra on let us add a poll test to the vo ng process. The Vote Party Line (or equivalent) op ons are already in
place for such a test. If any of those boxes are checked on a ballot, the en re ballot is thrown out on the grounds that
the voter is obviously not pu ng in even a minimum of eort.
5.5.2
De-rup on consul ng agency (2014-11-12 21:08)
Date of Original Idea: Yesterday

not non-distrup on, de-disrup on.
So you have all these disruptors like Elon Musk or whomever. Theyre great at coming in, making bold moves,
and the ones that get lucky with a pay o are hailed as our superiors and a testament to the disrup on concept. (you
never hear from the ones that failed, thats called [1]survivorship bias and theres a wiki page on it, but I digress)
Great, now what? You cant sustain a company long on free cereal in the cafeteria and promises of upcoming protable
years. You need someone to come in and build some cubical walls. There is a need to document whats supposed
to be built so that the expensive engineers dont have to be hand building everything. Someone needs to start processes that allow the company to scale, and someone has to hire non-excited sta to do the day-to-day work and
take the place of the heard of cats that is itching to move on to the next big thing. In eect, you need someone to
un-disrupt the situa on, to take this new paradigm and make it the norm. A task such as this requires people with an
understanding of great misguided vision to the extent that it exhausts them now-a-days.
The idea itself will constantly disrupt the disrup on business, so a company oering this consul ng service would
itself need an internal department to con nuously un-disrupt this company.
Or is it Derup on? I be er trademark both those words.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias
61
62
6.
6.1
6.1.1
2015
January
Thermal transport (2015-01-28 22:01)
Low cost FLIR ( h p://ir.com/irone/buy-us.cfm ) a ached to a roomba. A large thermal mass, as large as the roomba
can carry, rides on the back of the roomba. The li le guy wanders over to the warmest spot it can nd, soaks up heat,
then when the temperature of the thermal mass rises as high as its going to, the roomba nds the coldest spot in the
room. Using an on-board pel er device, the roomba charges itself and any extra energy can be used for other things
(details omi ed for brevity). It will work in the summer and winter. You can program it for certain areas to help with
comfort (search out the coldest spot near the couch to release its heat for example).
6.2
6.2.1
February
Stock Market vs. the Lo ery (2015-02-03 01:59)
Date of Original Idea: Ive been stewing on this one for years
Can the lo ery, played in modera on, be a reasonable re rement vehicle?
[1]I nally got around to (trying to) answer that ques on.
[2]
Im not really sure I did the sta s cs right, or that I used the p-value right (should it have been t-value?). So construcve feedback is appreciated. Just comment below.
1. http://306wd.com/projects/retirementprob/
2. http://306wd.com/projects/retirementprob/
63
6.2.2
Leveraging the Cold (2015-02-26 23:45)
Date of original idea: been kicking around for quite awhile, this cold snap made me nally make the calcs
Can I u lize the cold cold outside to (signicantly) reduce the energy my fridge uses?
[1]
Im staying with round numbers to keep this a proof-of-concept calc, so dont get hung up on my use of approximate values.
Results: About 1400kJ of reducing hea ng load per jug. The lions share of the heat absorp on (about 96 %) is due to
the phase change from ice to water, which means this only has a chance if you can fully freeze and then fully melt, and
the mel ng of a large block takes me. This puts an upper limit on the frequency that you can do this, Im guessing
that if you used a gallon jug that this limit is on the order of at least 1 day (from some empirical data I have with pop).
Therefore, op mis cally, this 1400kJ is the max per day for this shape jug. Maybe a at, thin container could speed
this up- well hold that aside for future funding requests.
The electricity savings, and therefore money savings, would depend on the eciency of the fridge (which would
also include the number of mes the door is opened and the temp of items put in and and and, which is why I put
eciency in quotes- its a mix of eciency and consump on). The 1400kJ does work as a lower bound on the savings: 0.4kWh/day minimum.
My fridge is listed at 606 kWh per year though thats a marke ng value. I would put a meter on the plug but the
thing is big and dicult to pull out of the way to get to the plug. Using the marke ng value 606/365 = 1.6 kWh/day of
electricity. How much heat rejec on that is I dont really have a good handle on right now. What we can see is that,
assuming this 1.6kWh per day is accurate, you cant get much out of this even at 100 % savings ( $0.18 or so, which is
$5/month and not nothing, but only when it is below freezing out).
Conclusion: The savings are small, likely less than $0.10/day of electricity, but a signicant por on (> 25 %) of the
fridge consump on. Admi edly, however, a be er test is needed to quan fy the benet: Energy meter for a some
me of normal use followed up by an energy meter for a some me of normal use with frozen water jugs. Ill get on
that the next me it is both cold out and the fridge needs to move anyway.
1. http://306wd.com/ideaaday/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/EnergyPerJugFrozenWater.png
64
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Low resolu on pictures

From Blog to Book.

About (2010-11-10 12:11)

One idea per day. Thats my goal.

Date of Idea: Nov 8

Can I have one of your ideas? Really?!

Curling Ice (2011-02-02 12:57)

Original idea: like forever ago

Muscial Cri que (2011-02-03 12:22)

Original date of idea: Today

Congressional Corrup on (2011-02-04 13:19)

Original Idea Date: Oct 28, 2010

Fuel Economy Indicator That Teaches Proper Braking (2011-02-05 13:14)

Actual Date of Idea: About 2 years ago on the way to work.

E-Shoes (2011-02-06 11:33)

Economic Modelling (2011-02-07 07:45)

Date of Original Idea: Today

Learning whats best (2011-02-08 07:46)

Date of Original Idea: Since I was 3

Clean (and Fresh Scented) Energy (2011-02-09 13:05)

Date of Original Idea: A couple years ago

Thanks, I got it (2011-02-10 20:42)

Date of Original Idea: Today

Passing Time Produc vly (2011-02-11 21:57)

Date of Original Idea: Today

A short story idea (2011-02-12 21:00)

Date of Original Idea: Couple months ago in a car trip to Paris

Wearable Blood O2 Sensor (2011-02-13 19:56)

Date of Original Idea: A few years ago.

Wearable Stress Monitor (2011-02-14 19:58)

Date of Original Idea: Dec, 2010 sounds good.

Just a thought... (2011-02-15 19:42)

The louder you get the righter youre not.

Flag Burning (2011-02-16 19:41)

Date of Original Idea: some me ago

Gas Tax (2011-02-17 20:51)

Roman c Comedy Story Concept (2011-02-18 18:58)

Radiator Bed (2011-02-19 17:03)

Truly invisible and func onal nger bandage (2011-02-20 16:28)

Date of Original Idea: Dec 2010

Toll Road Pricing to Encourage Desired Behavior (2011-02-21 21:28)

Date of Original Idea: Today

This has the following advantages:

Oce Worker Exoskeleton (2011-02-22 21:07)

Date of Original Idea: Today

Bridge to Teribithia: The Rough Years (2011-02-23 15:15)

Date of Original Idea: Back in Dec

Towards another idea (2011-02-23 18:05)

Date of Original Idea: Today/Last Night

Her name is Lola (2011-02-24 20:55)

Date of Original Idea: October 2010

Package Opening Security Robot (2011-02-25 21:02)

Date of Original Idea: Dec 23, 2010

Dierent protec on levels for containing dierent levels of explosions.

Ki y Cannon (2011-02-26 20:15)

Rain Powered Car (2011-02-27 20:39)

Date of Original Idea: Few years back

Listen to me Garmin (2011-02-28 20:46)