# Great ideas you in no way can implement yourself **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 14, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378 "2004-01-14T15:42:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DrunkenNinjaMaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@DrunkenNinjaMaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrunkenNinjaMaster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/41 "2004-01-18T03:15:46Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > I’ve had two, actually: > > 1. Would it be so difficult to put in an automated credit card machine into the booths at the local TGI Friday’s? (Or anywhere else, for that matter.) Certainly restaurants could take a page from the gas station industry and install “pay at the table” kiosks to enable the patrons to pay for their meals without the help of their server. This enables servers to focus on serving you better, and enables people in a hurry to leave more quickly. The server’s would have no way of matching signatures. Even if she makes sure it goes through the patron could leave w/o signing it. That = no money for the restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![DrunkenNinjaMaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@DrunkenNinjaMaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrunkenNinjaMaster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/42 "2004-01-18T03:18:32Z")
> [@DrunkenNinjaMaster](#): > > The server’s would have no way of matching signatures. Even if she makes sure it goes through the patron could leave w/o signing it. That = no money for the restaurant. Heh, I meant ‘she’ = server of any gender. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![psychomonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@psychomonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychomonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/43 "2004-01-18T06:34:18Z")
> [@DrunkenNinjaMaster](#): > > The server’s would have no way of matching signatures. Even if she makes sure it goes through the patron could leave w/o signing it. That = no money for the restaurant. Digital signatures, they’re everywhere. Not even a tiny hurdle. AFAIK legally, theyre the same, UPS has used them for years. Hell, the ony reason you even need a signature is in case of a dispute. McDonalds doesn’t require one at the drive through. ---
**Author:** ![najniran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/958977/32.png) [@najniran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/najniran)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/44 "2004-01-18T07:20:20Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > I’d also like to start a college student book-exchange type thing, where you could sell your books directly to other students for more than you would make selling them back at the school bookstores and yet for less than it would cost them to buy it used at the school bookstores. I’m sure such a thing exists, but I haven’t managed to find one at my university. And my books are too expensive this semester. One already exists. Actually, several do. But to my knowledge the first was started at UCSB. [http://www.screwthebookstores.com](http://www.screwthebookstores.com) ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/45 "2004-01-18T08:17:21Z")
A restaurant that didn’t have a menu, it had cookbooks. You picked what looked good and they made it for you…you might have to go early, or fax the recipe in before you arrive…would also be good to give mom’s recipe for whatever and have it made for you when you got there. But an idea I have had since I was a kid was The World’s Tallest, Longest, Sliding board…I am talking Mt. Everest large. The idea is, you literally jump off a cliff and free-fall until after awhile, your body finally starts to touch against the side and the sliding board does a gradual turn until you are then sliding parallel on the ground and slow down to a stop. Another idea is mini-remote control solar powere airplanes with video cameras…they would be about the size of matchbook cars…we would send up a few hundred thousand to some distant planet and you would pay to have one connected to your computer and you could totally control the flight around the planet, discovering it on your own. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/46 "2004-01-18T09:15:07Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > I’ve had two, actually: > > 1. This one’s a little more esoteric, and I could probably do this one if I felt the need, but what the heck. Take a jelly doughnut and remove the jelly from the inside. Then, using an injector, put soft-serve ice-cream inside the shell. Take ice cream doughnut, put in Tupperware. Put in freezer for an hour or so. Take out, put in microwave for 15 seconds. Voila. “Frozen doughnut.” Outer shell should be warm, inside is cold and ice-creamy. Well, Singapore does has one thing called fried ice-cream - basically, wrap ice cream around dough and deep-fried it for a few seconds till the dough are cripsy and golden-brown. Then bite. Never tried it before, but it seems to be so good that it came up on local TV. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/47 "2004-01-18T14:35:32Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > I’d also like to start a college student book-exchange type thing, where you could sell your books directly to other students for more than you would make selling them back at the school bookstores and yet for less than it would cost them to buy it used at the school bookstores. I’m sure such a thing exists, but I haven’t managed to find one at my university. And my books are too expensive this semester. We’ve got [Books4exchange](http://www.books4exchange.com/) here in Canada and I’ve been able to sell most of my old textbooks, as well as buy cheaper used books for school. I love it! Maybe you could try buying some books from the site, even if you’re in the states. I’m sure that if you paid extra for the shipping, most students would send you the books. What I want to invent is a mechanical pencil that lets you use the WHOLE lead. I’m so tired of getting to the last inch of lead, where the pencil’s mechanism doesn’t really hold onto it anymore. You get comfortable with your writing angle, and you have a point on the lead, and then after your next click, the lead starts falling out. You rescue it and manage to keep it in, but now it’s swiveling awound and you’ve completely lost your writing point. Not only is that as annoying as hell, but it’s a huge waste of lead in the long run. Can’t somebody design a pencil that holds onto the lead right near the point, instead of an inch above it? ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/48 "2004-01-18T15:51:28Z")
1. Dog treats with little pouches built in for medicines. I give 2 of my dogs glucosamine in the AM for arthritis, and I buy the processed American cheese and roll the pill up in the cheese. Sometimes this is messy, the cheese shatters and the pill is sticking out the edge. The only way to give liquid meds is struggle with the dog to get it in their mouth, or put it in food. If the medicines have to be given more often than mealtimes, sticking it in the dog food isn’t an option. A little soft treat with a liquid or pill holding pouch would be great. 1. Flavored meds for pets, like tuna for cats. Giving my cats liquid medicines is impossible. If it were flavored with shrimp or tuna I would think the process would be easier. I know they do different flavors for children’s meds (blueberry, bubblegum, etc.) why can’t the vets do the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/49 "2004-01-18T16:02:30Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > It would also be really cool to have a combo fast-food restaurant/car wash. You’d drive up to the first window, place your order and pay. Then you’d drive into the car wash, sit through however many cycles you’d paid for, and then drive to the next window and pick up your dinner. No, no, no!! Surely you pay, pick up your dinner, and then sit in the car eating it while the carwash runs?! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/50 "2004-01-18T16:15:17Z")
My favorite bar has a nifty card reader. You can pay your tab and/or get cash, and if that involves a PIN, they hand you a keypad-on-a-wire so you can key in your secret number. About 30 years ago, the Eisenhower bridge was built in my town. The west approach is much higher than the east end, so most of the bridge is a hill. Each section of concrete has **heating wires in the roadbed.** They all worked for a few years, too. A few sections fizzled out, resulting in some alarming situations. The city figured out they were going to have to salt the bridge anyway, so they just quit using the heaters. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/51 "2004-01-21T05:00:48Z")
> [@LostCause](#): > > Well, Singapore does has one thing called fried ice-cream - basically, wrap ice cream around dough and deep-fried it for a few seconds till the dough are cripsy and golden-brown. Then bite. Never tried it before, but it seems to be so good that it came up on local TV. i’d tried the pasar malam’s (street bazaar) version a long time ago - it’s more or less like having ice cream on a hot waffle, with the cooled waffle completely wrapped around the ice cream instead. i don’t like it. cold ice cream on hot waffles on the other hand, mmm… ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/52 "2004-01-21T06:12:20Z")
I was recently thinking about the viability of a cellular phone network sort of based on a decentralized peer-to-peer network, such as Gnutella or Fastrack. Each user would have a base unit at home which would place calls on a voice over IP system such as Vonage (to place calls to people not on the network). When you place a call on your cell phone, you would either connect directly to the closest base unit, or your call would bounce from cell phone to cell phone until it reaches the closest one. This would mean almost free cell phone service. Although it would be ridiculously unreliable, it has a certain “stick it to the man” appeal. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/53 "2004-01-21T07:13:23Z")
> [@LostCause](#): > > Well, Singapore does has one thing called fried ice-cream - basically, wrap ice cream around dough and deep-fried it for a few seconds till the dough are cripsy and golden-brown. Then bite. Never tried it before, but it seems to be so good that it came up on local TV. Most Mexican restaurants I have been to offer fried ice cream. It’s ok… not great. The batter they use seems like it has rice crispies or nut pieces or something in it… very odd texture. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/54 "2004-01-21T07:36:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **friedo** said:_ > It seems to me that most of the volume of snow is taken up by air between the crystals. I once read that a foot of snow is the same amount of water as an inch of rain. So instead of simply pushing the snow around, have a machine that sucks up the snow, applies just enough heat to melt it, and then freezes it into giant ice cubes, yielding a massive decrease in volume. Then just dump the ice cubes in piles every couple hundred feet. We have a couple of big machines like that in Toronto… but they don’t make ice cubes. Since snow is porous, it has a larger surface area per unit mass than the equivalent ice, and is quicker to melt than ice. The machine simply melts the snow and lets the resulting water run down the storm drains. This eliminates any problems with moving resultant icecubes later, and is well worth the extra heat needed to fully melt the snow. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/55 "2004-01-21T07:49:18Z")
I got this idea years and years ago, when I worked in the top floor of a high-rise and could see various highways and interchanges, which came in very handy when I headed to my car on the days I drove. They’re probably out there but I just haven’t found them, or else they’re expensive. Sites with little webcams aimed at the major highways, so you can go there and see what you’re going to get into before you leave work. (Yes, there are traffic reports online. Yes, you can find out what the current average speed is on selected stretches of the 405 if you’re in S. Cal. But I wantto see it, and I want to see it live.) Webcams are cheap, but the real estate isn’t, and I guess the bandwidth isn’t either. Okay, so you’d have to have popups. ---
**Author:** ![Retief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Retief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retief)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/56 "2004-01-21T13:07:36Z")
What I want is a smallish sized robot attached to the ceiling of my garage that would drop down like a spider on my car and proceed to clean it every night, so that each morning I would have a clean car to start with. I can’t be bothered with wasting time in a car wash. I envision a robot very insect-like that would “eat” the layer of dirt off the car and “piss” a layer of liquid wax in its trail. Inventors, you can have the idea, just send me 1/10th of 1% of the profits to my offshsore bank account. 😃 Retief ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/57 "2004-01-21T16:56:11Z")
> [@Cicada2003](#): > > I got this idea years and years ago, when I worked in the top floor of a high-rise and could see various highways and interchanges, which came in very handy when I headed to my car on the days I drove. > > They’re probably out there but I just haven’t found them, or else they’re expensive. Sites with little webcams aimed at the major highways, so you can go there and see what you’re going to get into before you leave work. > (Yes, there are traffic reports online. Yes, you can find out what the current average speed is on selected stretches of the 405 if you’re in S. Cal. But I wantto see it, and I want to see it live.) > > Webcams are cheap, but the real estate isn’t, and I guess the bandwidth isn’t either. Okay, so you’d have to have popups. They currently have this in the Salt Lake City area at [http://www.utahcommuterlink.com/](http://www.utahcommuterlink.com/). You can click on any of the little camera icons on the major commuter thoroughfares and get a snapshot that was taken within the last 2 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/58 "2004-01-21T20:10:46Z")
> [@Cyrokk](#): > > The next step up from a waterbed: the waterchair, which can come in any number of styles. > > My wife thinks this is a stupid idea, but I can’t understand why we don’t have them already. > Also, something like this may already exist, but how about a used card shop? You come in to the store after the holidays with all the cards that can be resold. The store owner pays you, say, a dollar per card and resells them for $2, still under the price of new cards. They could be organized by the addressee or addressor, such as a section of “To John from Grandma” cards. It’s sure a lot better than having all those cards taking up space in your home. This would be a good shop to attach to a bookstore or coffee shop. Again my wife thinks this is a bad idea, but I think it’s my best idea ever. I’m just too busy and poor to implement it. Hang on to that wife of yours, she’s one smart cookie. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/59 "2004-01-21T20:57:10Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > I’ve had two, actually: > 2) This one’s a little more esoteric, and I could probably do this one if I felt the need, but what the heck. Take a jelly doughnut and remove the jelly from the inside. Then, using an injector, put soft-serve ice-cream inside the shell. Take ice cream doughnut, put in Tupperware. Put in freezer for an hour or so. Take out, put in microwave for 15 seconds. Voila. “Frozen doughnut.” Outer shell should be warm, inside is cold and ice-creamy. Take (2). Sort of a Frinch Fried Ice Cream Bar or Treat. They are made & sold in Pigeon Forge TN and other places. Just order the jelly doughnut without the jelly. Most bakeries would sell a dozen that way if ordered in advance. Now all you need is a vet’s hypodermic syringe to inject the icecream of the proper consistency and it’s ready to eat. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378/60 "2004-01-21T21:03:53Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > I’ve had two, actually: > 2) This one’s a little more esoteric, and I could probably do this one if I felt the need, but what the heck. Take a jelly doughnut and remove the jelly from the inside. Then, using an injector, put soft-serve ice-cream inside the shell. Take ice cream doughnut, put in Tupperware. Put in freezer for an hour or so. Take out, put in microwave for 15 seconds. Voila. “Frozen doughnut.” Outer shell should be warm, inside is cold and ice-creamy. Take (2). Sort of a Frinch Fried Ice Cream Bar or Treat. They are made & sold in Pigeon Forge TN and other places. Just order the jelly doughnut without the jelly. Most bakeries would sell a dozen that way if ordered in advance. Now all you need is a vet’s hypodermic syringe to inject the icecream of the proper consistency and it’s ready to eat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-ideas-you-in-no-way-can-implement-yourself/224378.md?page=2)