The world as you see will be radically changed by the Flat-Screen Revolution. J.K. Rowling had it right: People will move in paintings and newspaper pictures. But take it further: Imagine how decals with moving images would make race cars even more of a visual riot. Billboards will move. Bumper stickers. (Once wrote a sci-fi Read More …
Here’s another cartoon I did years ago. Please credit Peter Mucha, if you use.
What’s this wrinkled, gnarled thing with an end that’s charred and hard? No, it’s not a dirty joke, it’s a microwaved hot dog. When the microwaves hit food, water molecules jiggle, generating the heat. But heated water molecules seek to escape, leaving edges of veggie burgers gritty and leftovers rubbery. So wrap that dog in Read More …
Gotta do more ideas that benefit lots of people right away, not just someday inventions and someday tweaks for benefitting society. (Will still do those, of course.) Have done some, such as: How to Solve Life’s ‘Picture Puzzle’ in Seconds Easy Action Plan to Begin a Business: Teach a Class How to Find Things: A Read More …
DON’T READ THIS if you don’t want to know what might happen in the next Harry Potter book. But basically, here’s my thinking: Lord Voldemort, we know, stashed pieces of his soul in places like an enchanted diary and a ring, so he couldn’t easily be killed. We also know that Harry Potter’s scar links Read More …
Here’s a win-win for charities and advertisers. It’s a site where companies get good publicity in exchange for matching contributions to charities. Plus it’s a way for philanthropic, benevolent souls to get more bang for their buck. Basically, works like this: Charities and companies with existing matching-contribution programs sign up, agreeing to link to the Read More …
Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail really got some Web ideas percolating in my brain. Example: The importance of user ratings to all sorts of mega-sites, from Netflix to Amazon. Netflix, though, could improve its reccommendations a bunch by having combo ratings for couples and families. As far as I can tell, although my wife and Read More …
Whoo-hoo, whoopdedamndoo! Every game show, the crowd and contestants are so pepped up, you’d think eyes would pop out and roll around the floor. How about, as a change of pace, Unenthusiastic Night or Unenthusiastic Day? (Unenthusiastic Week is too much to expect.) For one special occasion, you get morose and sullen and cyncial types, who shrug and Read More …
Take out the fat. Take out the sugar. Add back a couple of artificial sweeteners (as in Coke Zero and Sprite Zero) and you have a drink with calcium, protein and Vitamin D, but almost no calories. OK, OK, seems so inevitable, you’re probably right if you say, except for the name, and the sweetener combo, Read More …
School’s a waste of time, many students think. Yeah, teachers can drum their sales pitches into thick skulls, but how can that succeed when so much teaching seems unessential to their lives — now or in the future. So why not do the grand experiment and find out, once and for all, how long does anybody really Read More …
Ever notice that once in a while along comes a fad or phenomenon that’s seems inexplicable because it defames something wildly popular? Example, a book from years ago: 101 Uses for a Dead Cat, which is still alive on Amazon. Now some might see the appeal as simple satire, but I think it’s more than that: Some trends get Read More …
Think about it.
Radical baseball idea: Make pitchers pitch. No intentional walks, fake or otherwise. Here’s how: If a batter walks on four straight pitches, he goes to second base. Or, if that’s too severe, next batter strarts with ball one. Gotta throw at least one strike to the likes of Ryan Howard. Would be good for the Read More …
Wonder: Is it better to take one long walk each day or lots of little hikes? The one-long daily walk sometimes leaves me tired and a bit sore. But I notice if I get up from that computer terminal and stroll a lap around the floor I feel better longer. Anybody ever run a study?
It’s ridiculous how many hidden taxes we pay. Phone taxes, gas taxes, hotel and airplane surcharges, parking meters, bridge and turnpike tolls, car registration and driver’s license fees, unemployment and Medicare deductions, even taxi taxes. Want to really spark a tax rebellion? Create a kind of spending-tracker credit card that totals all our taxes. Better Read More …