Where
Things Work RightWhere
Things Work Right
** New ideas added 12/01/04 starting at number 113.
113. The Urban Myth Minute -
An easier way to find out we're wrong.
There used to a short segment on the radio here in the U.S. called 'The
Rest of the Story' by Paul Harvey. It would
give you a short historical anecdote and then add a new tidbit of info
that was always surprising. The time it took to
air was 3-4 minutes at most. As far as I know that's gone now but it could
be replaced by The Urban Myth Minute.
This minute would pull one of the urban legends off of the snopes sight
and give the listeners a chance to hear the
truth, making most of us a little brighter (the exceptions would be those
who already knew it was a myth).
We could just go to the site of course and scan through the legends when
we're bored, but this would be a much
easier way to spread the truth.
114. Sneeze Spray -
Oral-Gel for the nose.
A certain percentage of people sneeze two or three times whenever they
walk out into bright sunlight. Since I fall
into that category it started me thinking about whether sneezing could
pose problems. A quick search on google
showed that it definitely could - it can be deadly for fighter pilots coming
out the clouds during air combat, risky for
drivers trying to merge onto busy highways, and just plain annoying when
your spouse wakes you from a sound sleep
with a sudden sneezing jag. So a solution is called for. Since most
of the literature points towards sneezes being
ultimately caused by nerve endings inside the nose being overly stimulated,
a Dristan-like nasal spray might solve the
problem. Instead of clearing your nasal passages though the mist from this
spray would numb the nerve endings inside
your nose, stopping the sneeze mid-stride.
115. Ambulance 2x2 -
Living in Florida, it's not uncommon to see an ambulance racing towards
you in the rearview mirror. If you're lucky
this happens when you're nowhere near an intersection and you can safely
pull over. If you're unlucky this happens at
a crowded intersection where the ambulance has to wait while you and about
fifty other drivers have to figure out
how best to create a path through the buildup (drivers waiting to get into
the left turn lane rarely move to the right to
clear this path).
One solution would be to split up the paramedics. There are always two
to an ambulance now, one to drive and one
to take care of the patient in the back on the return trip. If we modified
a motorcycle and put one of these paramedics
on it he'd be able to speed through the narrow gaps in any intersection
that was blocked and reach the victim much
faster. It wouldn't be long before people learned that this motorcycle
would quickly be followed by the regular
ambulance, giving them time extra time to move over.
At the accident scene (or house if that's where they were called to), the
driver would help the motorcycle patient load
the patient into the ambulance and then put the bike on a lift attached
to the front of the vehicle before heading to the
hospital. We might have to add some kind of counterweight to the back of
the ambulance to keep it from becoming
top-heavy on the front-end, but this is doable.
Also, the motorcycle paramedic should also have a radio built into his
helmet in case he needs to get, or give, updates
along the way.
116. fMRI Polygraph -
Studies are already being done to see if an MRI can detect lies any better
than the traditional polygraph (which
doesn't do a very good job of it). These studies are all testing
the reactions to spoken questions though. An easier
way, based on the latest findings, would be to ask nothing and just watch
their reactions to pictures. The logic behind
this approach is based on a recent study where people without any background
in physics were shown a picture of
two balls falling to the ground, a very large one and a small one. When
the big ball appeared to be falling faster than
the smaller one, the error-correcting portion of the brain didn't light
up (contrary to reality, this was what the test
subjects expected to happen). When a picture was shown with the balls
falling at the same rate, the error-correction
neurons fired up because the subjects thought something was amiss.
People familiar with physics didn't react the
same way.
So here's how it would work using crime scenes. Suspects would be
shown pictures of the crime scene but a single
detail in each of them would be radically altered (the blond turned into
a redhead for example). Only that single detail
would be different in the pictures. The error-correcting neurons wouldn't
fire up in the brains of the innocent because
they wouldn't have any idea of what the crime scene looked like to be begin
with. The criminal on the other hand
would realize something was wrong and his error-correcting neurons would
fire up to resolve the discrepancy. It
would be easy to find the top suspect this way without asking a single
question.
The following is an excerpt from an article in a magazine called New Scientist that gave rise to this idea.
"Why is physics so difficult?
...Kevin Dunbar a cognitive scientist at Dartmouth University in Hanover,
New Hampshire, and his colleagues
scanned the brains of students while they watched a video demonstrating
either classical Newtonian physics, in
which a large and a small ball fall to the ground at the same speed, or
the naive scenario, in which the larger ball
drops faster.
Those who had never studied physics showed activity in a part of the brain
associated with error processing when
they watched the Newtonian model, implying they thought there was something
wrong with what they were watching.
But the naive model sparked activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, normally
active when someone thinks about a
theory accepted as correct. Students of physics showed the opposite patterns,
though even they had some prefrontal
activity when watching the naive model, indicating they were still attached
to this false but intuitive notion."
Substitute the words 'guilty' and the 'innocent' in place of non-physics
and physics students and you've got this idea.
117. Removed
118. Boat trailers for beginners -
This device would consist of 2 ten foot long sections that could be clamped
onto existing boat trailers, one on each
side of the trailer. After you backed the trailer into the water, arms
on the extensions would be raised (2 or 3 per
extension) and then the extensions would be manually pushed back, giving
you a much longer temporary trailer.
Once the boat had been pulled in between the extensions and their guiding
arms (at whatever angle the boater could
manage), a push of a button would move hydraulic bumpers on the arms towards
the boat, straightening it out. After
it was firmly in place the boat could then be pulled up onto the trailer
the regular way, and the extensions pulled back
in after it. This would keep beginners from wasting time trying to
get the boat evenly balanced on the trailer and get
them out of the way of the experts quicker (and some of these experts are
pretty good - I've seen them drive the
boat right up onto the trailer and come within a foot or two of the winch
without breaking a sweat).
119. Elevator De-Pranker -
This is a simple idea for hotels that cater to families. It's not
uncommon for kids to think it's funny to press all of the
buttons on their way out of the elevator so it will go to every floor.
The result is that everyone waiting for it has to
wait a little bit longer. A weight-sensitive mat covering the elevator
floor could fix that. If the mat sensed that there
was less than 20 pounds on it when the doors closed it would signal the
console to de-select every button.
Elevators that already have weight sensors built into them for safety reasons
could be upgraded to do the same thing.
120. Baseball sunglass hat -
I'm much more likely to be wearing a baseball cap outside when it's sunny
than I am to be wearing sunglasses (more
so since I don't own a pair of sunglasses). Sunglasses always seem too
inconvenient, especially when I also have to
put on a pair of regular glasses that I only use for driving. They make
clip-on shades for glasses but it would be much
more convenient if a sunglass visor was built right into the brim of my
baseball cap where it could be pulled down as
needed (like when I'm driving right towards the sun at sunrise or sunset).
That way I could pull it down (back to
front) and get about a 3 inch tall, hat-length wide sunglass. A thin section
near the rim of the brim would be covered
in canvas so I could adjust the hat without getting my fingerprints all
over the sunglass part of it.
121. The Cell Phone Answer Man -
The Shell gas company used to put out a series of pamphlets called the
Shell Answer Man. Each one dealt with a
single car problem and gave a simple answer for it. I don't know
if they still print them anymore, but even if they do
it's time they were replaced with the Cell Phone Answer Man.
This would be a program added to your cell phone and work somewhat like
the address book. Instead of names
there would be categories - car crisis, baby crisis, mid-life crisis -
and once you selected one you could scroll through
the list of questions to find out what you need to know. For instance,
when jump-starting a car, do you connect the
red cable to the dead battery first. the black cable to the live battery,
the red cable to the live battery, etc.. I can
never seem to remember when the problem comes up (fortunately no batteries
have exploded yet). Another
example, the car won't start and you see the battery terminals covered
in crust - what can you do? Answer - pour
coke on them and try again. If my phone had a program like this on
it then it would be several times more valuable to
me than it is today (figuratively speaking since I don't have a cell phone).
If the programmer really wanted to dazzle
us they could record the answers so when we pressed the answer button a
calming voice would tell us what to do.
(Although in emergencies, the voice might shout 'RUN LIKE HELL!')
If anyone's interested, the link will take you to at least one source where this kind of program could be written -
122. Uphill skiing -
There are a couple of different ways to get up a ski slope now, the rope
pulley, chairlift, and cable car method to
name a few. This suggestion is for a new method that only experienced
skiers could use. A section of the slope
beside the chairlifts would be set aside for this purpose. At the
bottom of the hill a skier would grab a handle
attached to the same kind of line water skiers use. This one would
be slightly different though - it would have a
throttle. When the skier turned it an engine at the top of the mountain
would start pulling him up. He could keep
increasing the speed until he was going as fast as he wanted. If
he fell the throttle would be released, stopping the
engine so he could get back up on his feet, grab the handle, and continue
on up. There would have to be several
ropes/engines at the top of the hill to make this worthwhile, which would
be costly, so anyone who wanted to use
these ropes would have to pay an extra charge. There'd probably be
enough takers to make it pay off though,
especially when the lines at the lifts were real long.
Here's an example of a water ski version - Water skiing pulley system
The handles would be sent back down on a pulley specifically designed for
this purpose. One side of the handle
would have a ring on it and the underside of the pulley would have hooks
with their open end facing uphill. The
handle ring would be put on a hook, the pulley would take it downhill,
the open end of the hook would turn
downward as the pulley started going around the wheel at the bottom, and
the handle would fall off. There are
probably simpler ways of getting the handles back down but that's the quickest
way I could come up with.
123. Follow the Leaders -
Stop letting bad school systems experiment with reform.
This idea only applies to countries that have multiple, independent school
systems within their borders. I'll use the
U.S. as an example of how it would work.
1. Define the demographic categories that will be applied to each school
system. This would be things like the
total population of students served, the relative economic status of those
students, the transiency rate, ethnic
mixture, etc...
2. After the demographic criteria has been defined, group the school systems
according to their similarities. Using
states as examples in the U.S., this would most likely put California,
Texas, Florida, New York and New Jersey
in the same group.
3. Rank the states in each group according to how their students performed on nationally-normed tests.
4. After the rankings have been established, only allow the top three states
in each group to experiment with
improving their educational system. Any state that isn't in the top
three for their group will be required to pick
one of the top three states and duplicate that educational system that
that state uses (in its entirety).
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 every five to ten years.
By making this reform measure a part of each state's constitution we could
be sure that those states with poor
educational systems were at least moving in the right. The lowest
performing districts have already proven that they
can't make wise choices. This forces them to follow those who have
proven their ability to make wise choice.
The top three districts may or may not want to experiment. They probably
didn't get to the top by being satisfied
with where they're at though. Leaders tend to think there's always
room for improvement. Systems led by people
who think like that won't stagnate. (The fear of falling behind might
also motivate those who tend to favor the status
quo into competing with the experimenting leaders to make sure they don't
fall behind.)
Here are some examples of experiments that might be worth taking:
1. Use all of the tools that are available in reading programs instead
of just the bandwagon of the day. Right now
many school systems choose either phonics, whole language, etc... Each
approach works with a certain number
of students but by limiting themselves to only one approach the students
that that approach doesn't work for get
left behind. (This might have something to do with the economics
of buying a single type of textbook.)
2. Require all schools to follow the thematic approach, where each subject
is taught in the context of changing
themes (this would reinforce the subject matter throughout the day).
3. Allow students to test their way out of any and all subjects.
This would mean changing the system from
grade-based classes to knowledge-based classes. When you passed all
of the tests you'd graduate, regardless
of your age.
4. Make all subjects beyond basic reading and math electives. You
wouldn't have to pass algebra to graduate if
the direction your career was taking wasn't likely to use it. There
would still be a requirement for an overall
number of credits - you'd just pick courses that were relevant to your
goals. (The first two years of college in
the U.S. could stand an improvement along these lines.)
5. Change the current curriculum to subjects that make more sense in a modern world.
a. Drop the wood shop class and replace it with a home repairs class.
b. Drop an algebra class and replace it with a logic class.
c. Drop an English class and replace it with a class exposing the techniques
used in modern advertising and
propaganda.
d. Change a history class from its emphasis on people and dates to a class
on world timelines and concurrent
cultural development.
124. Gold-sniffing submarines (the lazy man's treasure hunter) -
Within the next year or so we'll have the technology to spot heavy metals
through steel, wood, 30-feet of water, etc..
based on the way muons scatter when they hit these materials.
We already have the technology to send remote-controlled submarines through
strong ocean currents without them
getting swept off course.
We also have the technology required to have these submarines follow a quadrant-based search pattern.
So if we put all that information together we can design a remote-controlled
submarine that will send us the location
of every heavy metal deposit it finds as it roams its way across the ocean
floor. When we eventually go out to find
what it spotted we won't always find gold but it will take only one shipwreck
full of gold to make the venture pay off.
125. Commercials with Attitude -
Let me pick the tone and I might just listen.
If the point in advertising is to get listeners to pay attention to the
ads then maybe marketers should simultaneously
broadcast several versions of the same commercial, each one differing in
the tone it tries to impart. I know I might
pay more attention if I could put my TV into sarcastic mode.
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