Seriously. Instead of dropping a bomb on your nasty neighbor, you drop some gas that makes them happy. Laughing gas. Or an anti-depressant. Or some kind of wonder enlightenment tonic to drop in the water. Or could this be the worst weapon of all, because it could be a way to quell all resistance to invaders? Not Read More …
Hello! Why is a cutout fine for many companies, but others insist on adding unnecessary plastic to the recycling of paper? Ban it.
Ever use that algebra and calculus you learned in high school? Most people don’t, I’ll bet. But every day we make decisions or encounter information involving odds and numerical evidence. Play poker? Buy a lottery ticket? Decide to fly or drive? Read a story about how married people live longer? Or how a drug cuts the risk of a rare Read More …
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 Read More …
Who says celebs are truly interesting? Why not a book chronicling the struggles and wild lives of wannabes and gonnabes?
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 Read More …
“Vote for Me! My ugly opponent’s pro-death and he wants to raise everybody’s taxes! This ad, brought to you by the Committee to Re-Elect Joe Jerkweed at Any Cost, not only just wasted $20,000 that could have gone for several children’s health-care premiums, but it may cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, gullibility, insensitivity, and major regret. Read More …
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, Read More …
Lots of American adults need more education. Could a kind of home schooling be an answer? Grants or government funding could set up a service or registry that would help students form groups taught by volunteers or family members. Perhaps parents who home-school high schoolers could invite an adult or two into their sessions, maybe Read More …
They give out tickets — lottery tickets? — for good deeds.
Junk mail drives me crazy! Don’t you wish there was a way to stop it from coming? Best would be a National Do Not Send Unsolicited Mail List. But, failing that, how about a Return to Sender Stamp? You slap one on an unwanted envelope not only to have it sent back, but to deliver Read More …
OK, this is basically a packaging concept based on a pun. Megatrends was a fascinating bestseller that forecast the future and spawned a set of sequels. Being more of a pessimist than is healthy (and always a prankster), I thought: Why not Negatrends, a gathering of gloom-and-doom scenarios into one book? Global warming. Emergent diseases. Read More …