Things that need to be redesigned for the Effort-Impaired

[Lobsang]

If you are a lazy person like me, you'll probably have been put-off from bothering to do something because too much effort is involved in using the tools. I suggest that the tools need to be redesigned.

I'll start off with books.

Specifically Technical books.

Human beings tend not have four arms, so one needs to alternate the two arms between holding the book open, and typing on the keyboard.

The book needs to hold itself open, and pages need to turn by simply touching them at the bottom left or right corner.

Basically as little arm-interaction as possible. We don't read with our arms so they shouldn't need to be used so much for reading books.


I am fully aware that there are tools out there to help (things for holding books open. Online books on second monitors) but they are not a redesign of the book itself. ANd they require too much interaction for the effort-impaired to use or buy or even think about the fact that they exist.

[Kuboydal]

Bakc in the olden days when the world was black and white, the milkman would drive around picking up your empties and dropping off new, fresh milk.

I would really like to have this service with beer. Check the cooler, take out the empties, resupply and add ice. Going to get the beer all thie time is just too much work.

They could drop off bacon, too.

[ZipperJJ]

Stairs in homes should be designed with some sort of dumb-waiter or pulley system.

Basements are nice for storing things. But when you store stuff in the basement, you eventually have to get the thing out of your basement.

So if you have anything that's too heavy or cumbersome to lift yourself that needs to go into the basement, you need to call someone else to help you get it down there. Then if you ever need it upstairs again, you have to call someone to help you bring it up.

The other day I had this really huge 21" CRT monitor that I needed out of my living room. I could have carried it down the stairs, gingerly, and set it in the basement. Or better yet, ask my boyfriend to do it. But someday I want to trash it (once I know no one wants it). I don't know when that day will be. It could be next week when I decide. So I had to decide if I wanted to lug it down to the basement and then lug it back up next week.

I put it in my bedroom closet instead. It'll probably sit there for 2 years before I decide what to do with it.

I would gladly trade a few feet of floor space to have a dumb-waiter to the basement, or some headroom in the basement stairway to have a pulley system.

[ChiefScott]

Gripeth Lobsang, "I'll start off with books."

Go old school.

Scrolls, baby!

[Lobsang]

Gripeth Lobsang, "I'll start off with books."

Go old school.

Scrolls, baby!

You might be on to something there.. These days paper technology is such that you could put a whole book on two spools.

And each spool connected (either horizontally or vertically) to a 45% frame.

[An Arky]

Anything that requires assembly. Toys are particularly in need of better design/strangulation of their makers.

[Lobsang]

On beginning to read some of the articles linked in This thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=444381) I have decided that Information Assimilation needs to be redesigned.

Information needs to be piped directly into my brain like in the Matrix, so I don't have to battle against my 5 second attention span by actually reading things.

[Big_Norse]

Bakc in the olden days when the world was black and white, the milkman would drive around picking up your empties and dropping off new, fresh milk.

I would really like to have this service with beer. Check the cooler, take out the empties, resupply and add ice. Going to get the beer all thie time is just too much work.

They could drop off bacon, too.Many years ago when we lived on a US military base in Germany we actually did have beer delivery. Franz the beer guy was well loved by all. I don't know if it was a wide spread thing, or if the local brewery knew there was tons of money to be made off the military types. Soda and beer, no bacon, though.

[chaoticbear]

Irons. My ironing laziness is such that I will wash my shirts, and if after drying they come out wrinkled, I'll take them to the cleaners to have them laundered and pressed.