Steal My Ideas, Please

More than two million homes are expected to be foreclosed this year. What a waste. All because the owners can’t affort the particular payment on that house. Hmm. So what if we switched the people and the houses? Orchestrated a kind of mortgage musical chairs? Take Joe. Can’t afford his $600,000 house. But he could afford the […]

String theorists investigate the possibility that the universe has more than three dimensions of space and one of time. Positing more dimensions (usually curled up in tiny spaces) yields equations that, in some sets, describe facets of the universe very well. Problem is, as I foggily understand it, is that the possibilities are so astronomical (excuse […]

The other day my daughter, or someone she was reading, likened the future of newspapers to the fate of milkmen. They couldn’t imagine the service would fade away, but it did. Radio dramas were once popular, too, but they’re now a relic too.
But in these examples is kind of buried a lesson for newspapers: Don’t confuse […]

This a wild idea. Maybe it’s more of a stunt than a service. But with the power of the Web perhaps it’s possible: A way to ship something cross-country in just one day using almost no extra energy. Really puts the UNITED in United Parcel Service. Or maybe call it the Hand-Off Shipping Network. Basically people go to […]

Not surprised: This has been thought of before. If electric cars have a limited range, why not be able to pick up recharged batteries as you drive? Swap ‘em like tanks for gas grills. Freshcreation.com has a post, including a neat video of how electric car battery exchanges could work.

We have days for honoring military heroes, but why not a holiday to honor other people who risked their lives to protect and save their fellow man? Police. Fire fighters. Transplant donors. Rescuers from accidents and disasters. Extend gratitude to doctors, teachers, parents, too. If as a society we’re not going to pay these people as well […]

The presidency’s too much for any one man. Or woman. So divide it up. Besides, the more responsibilities a leader has, the more failures are accepted, and the more elections focus on likeability instead of issues. So suppose there were multiple ”presidents,” (or commissioners) each independent with only one problem-solving job: Improving education. Winning the war on drugs. Making Americans […]

OK, I’m doubting Chrysler going to call, and pay me for this great idea. But, honestly, as anyone who’s driven in a city knows, it’d be great to see a car revamped just for cities. It should have … bulletproof glass … a removable glovebox you can carry away … a removable ignition you can […]

I have a dream. I go to schools, conduct creativity workshops. Help kids learn to invent. As individuals, or as a group, they keep all the rights. And hopes. Wouldn’t it be great, as part of this dream, if poor kids could get patents for free? America’s slipping, some say. People worry about future generations, […]

New line item on federal income-tax returns: Number of $1 chances you’d like to buy to have all of your income taxes refunded. Bet 50 million people would buy at least a single chance. You’d keep drawing tickets till half the pot is awarded. Profit for feds: $25 million or more. Earmark for a worthy […]

Elementary schools don’t really teach science, which is a system of thinking, not a set of facts. Suppose, for example, in kindergarten, a running endeavor is to list observations about water: It’s wet. It’s sticky. It freezes. It flows. Ice floats. Snow has little crystals. Steam is hot. It forms drops. It splashes. Fog is […]

Could charities parlay tax breaks into bigger donations? Scenario: Generous Jill is in a 15 percent tax bracket. If she donates $1,000 directly to her favorite charity, she saves $150 on her taxes, right? But say the charity is also supported by Benefactor Bob, who is in a 30 percent bracket. He could give the […]

Imagine if our currency had a little “Brought to you by” section. Sell enough sponsorships, and voila, free money! Blasphemous! Sacrilegous! Tacky! you say. But this could be an ideal form of welfare. Free money for the poor, at no cost to taxpayers. Couldn’t possibly raise a dollar per dollar-bill? OK, how ads on coins. […]

Going to have to post a drawing soon, but until then a description will have to do. Imagine a dome made of a clear semi-flexible plastic. Now curl the bottom edges inside to create an inner trough. If you floated this plastic hemi-bubble on a body of water out in the sun, evaporation and condensation […]

In the movie Armageddon, Bruce Willis saves the world by planting a nuke on an Earthbound asteroid. Such a strategy is unlikely to work, however, because asteroids are aggregates of rubble whose bits would absorb the blast, a report concluded a few years ago. Hmm. How about this idea: Don’t wait until it’s almost too […]