Free Idea Factory

I read once that Einstein was a napper, and that he had an interesting method of napping. He’d put his keys in his hand and his hand over the side of his chair, and when he’d fallen asleep deeply enough that he’d let the keys drop, the noise of the keys hitting the floor would wake him up. A kind of a mechanically timed nap that can’t get into too deep a sleep.

I don’t think my keys hitting the floor would wake me up, though. So how about a device that would go on a keychain and could be set by a switch to making an alarm clock sound upon impact after a short fall.

I’d like to set up a large city block with subsidized artist condos. We bring in a select group of musicians, painters, graphic designers, videographers, etc. and subsidize their rent in exchange for periodic help with projects. There are regular meetings, both structured and informal, where artists can collaborate on projects. Also in this building are practice space, art studios, a print shop, recording studio, etc. for artists to do their work. Pro-bono projects are taken on from time to time for goodwill and to create community awareness of the artist community.

Also, this is no broken down hippie co-op*. It’s a nice, modern, sustainable & green building with accomplished, motivated people in it.

I would live in the Penthouse and call on artists from time to time for help with projects.

*I like to make fun of hippies, but they’re alright with me.

An adult playground. No, not that kind.

When I go to the park, I still use the swings and the monkey bars. Some years ago, as an adult, I went to a waterpark which has zip lines over a pool where you can slide down and drop it.

Mostly though, this stuff is aimed at and sized for kids. I want a playground with adult-size versions of different playground items.

For example:

• swings that are mounted 30 feet above the ground and hence have a massive arc
• serious monkey bars
• giant rope swings in to water or foam pit
• zip lines from tree to tree
• giant teeter-totters (kids versions have been removed from parks to due lawsuits of fear of them)
• giant hamster ball as used at Flaming Lips concerts
• giant rope ladders
• trapeze
• obstacle course

Don’t forget to throw in various gymnastics-type equipment.

Have a blast.

Why not “school”…structured learning activities for 2 or 3 hours a day at facilities where the elderly are housed…taught by retired qualified teachers…keep the minds alive.

Find a person who is both photogenic and enthusiastic with their facial expressions. Set up a camera on top or behind a television to capture their range of faces throughout an extended period of time playing a video game, or, set up a camera to take pictures while they’re rehearsing dialog for a play, or any activity that will run them through the widest possible range of facial expressions. Put together an exhibit of the photos, such that every shot is of the same person making a different face and which includes as many different faces as will fit in the space. One face, a hundred faces.

hang small mirrors from the ceiling and also words on strings. let the breeze blow through the room and see how the reflection changes. wriite a poem as you walk through the words and mirrors

Products like cigars and wine are extraordinarily complex to shop for as a consumer. The range and selection are so vast, and the subset that any given store carries is so relatively small that it can take decades before the act of shopping can become a comfortable process.

This should be fixable with a web service that would allow consumers to create a profile that would allow them to record, reference, and rate their purchases and then use the aggregate data of all the users to help suggest possibilities for new choices. The web service aspect of it could be further enhanced by an RFID chip in a credit card that could talk to the servers in any given store or restaurant to compare a customer’s total known history with the business establishment’s current on-hand inventory to produce effective recommendations.

Imagine being in a restaurant and having the waiter bring over both a general wine list and a custom laser printed list of suggestions based on the wines you’d already tried, and liked, and the wines others who liked the wines you liked suggested.

Imagine walking into a cigar store and not finding anything familiar. You ask the person behind the counter if he/she can make any suggestions. They ask if they can read your card. You say sure, and they take a look at what you’ve liked in the past and cross-reference those against the products they have on hand to help find an ideal match.

It’s such a massive boon to businesses that membership could be essentially free for the consumer. First businesses get signed on and get their inventory loaded into the database, then consumers get offered free cards and even incentives to start filling in their preferences. Most of the activity could even be passive. The RFID chip in the card announces itself to the POS system and any purchases made get automatically added to the webservice database, and prompts can go out to remind the consumer to rate those recent purchases.

A performance piece…fill a laaarge room with multicolored, inflated balloons (not the helium kind that rise, but regular air that keeps balloons floor level). The balloons should fill the room up to maybe chest height. Sell tickets for people to walk through the room feeling what it’s like to almost drown in balloons. the more people in the room, the more displacement of balloons, so I imagine people bouncing balloons into the air to give them more breathing space. How beautiful to watch.

How about an orchestra comprised of talented musicians who can all read music, conducted by a talented conductor. Only…you’re hearing a perfect recording instead of real live musicians. They LOOK like they’re playing (miming the instruments, but in real time, as IF they were playing…all dressed up, and turning the sheet music as necessary at the appropriate time. This would be fun for musicians who - for whatever reasons - don’t wish to play anymore, or can’t, but who really like the experience of being in an oechestra. I’d buy a ticket. Heck, I’d play one of the instruments!
Seems to me almost as much rehearsal would be needed…but what fun!

Lots of times it’s hard to find radio brilliance while traveling. Wouldn’t it be fun to tune the radio to a PBS version of “Library” where you could hear people reading/performing short stories, chapters, poetry etc. to keep you entertained and to tease you into visiting the library to get the actual books…