Someone Needs to Invent

In My Humble Opinion
121

And you’d think this would be obvious, as there are precedents elsewhere around the house.

  1. Installing toilets: Just wax up the edges of the big drain hole in the floor and sit the toilet on top of it, and bolt it down. I think that’s pretty much standardized.

  2. The burners on electric stoves are plug-ins. There is a socket for each burner, and the burners had plugs that fit in. (I don’t know if these are standard from one brand of stove to another - but at least, they are easy to remove and reinstall.)

122

In the same vein : a car where the inlet for the windshield washer tank is just as accessible as the fueling port / charging port.

The people who design cars don’t seem to know that this fluid is necessary for driving in winter. They’ve never had to stop the car on the shoulder of a highway to open the front hood and try to pour the precious blue liquid, in the dark, with numb fingers, into a plastic tank that’s conveniently located on the side of the car that exposes you to traffic. At a time when all other drivers also have a hard time seeing ahead because their own windshields are also clogged with brownish semi-frozen water.

(Left or right drive deliberately vague. Substitute “bonnet”, “windscreen”, etc. as appropriate. Funnel recommended, sold separately.)

123

One of my SUVs had two tanks. One for the windscreen and a separate one for the tailgate glass. And of course it was located in the back.

124

A microwave water heater.

125

I want a single hand-held usb microsope/teeezers/led-light.
They do make usb microscopes but if you want to use it for say removing a sliver you have to put it on a stand to free up your other hand for a tweezer and make sure you have a bright enough light source nearby. If you could just hold a precision pair of tweezer with a microscope and light mounted to it focused on the tweezer tip that you could plug into a laptop I’d buy one tomorrow.

126

I was just typing something to the effect that the upstream solution would be a practical leaf-guard for gutters - and I thought to myself, I wonder…

I am only slightly depressed that there is a website called Unblock My Gutters.

j

127

Someone really needs to invent an insta-freeze cooler that works just like a microwave oven, but in reverse (with cold instead of heat), with which you can chill your drink in ten seconds, make a tray of ice cubes or a frozen fruit treat in a minute, and freeze large items like roasts solid for deep-freeze storage in five minutes. You could even use it to make your own applejack and ice beer! And, please, make it cheap enough that us poor folks can afford to buy one too.

128

A phone battery which harnesses the kinetic movement of the phone for its charge. Even if the phone isn’t totally charged by the movement, perhaps the captured energy can at least be used to slow down the battery drain, so that a phone that has been plugged in and reached 100% might last for days.

129

Teflon-lined pipes do exist, but they’re very expensive - generally only used for chemical engineering applications. I’m not sure you could get them for residential use.

130

… and since some of us barely move from our desks nowadays, soon afterwards we’ll see watch winders expand into the phone market.

131

Someone needs to invent… an alternative to window screens. Or at least transparent window screens.

Window screens do lots of good for us. When it’s warm enough around here to open our windows, the screens keep the bugs outside (and the cats inside!), and that’s a good thing.

But they just foul up the view so much. The past couple winters, we’ve taken to removing the screens in our front windows, and the view looking out is just improved so much. I wish we could preserve that crystal-clear view year-round.

132

Someone needs to invent . . . a surface or a coating to which spray paint will not stick. Public and commercial buildings could be coated with it, and sprayed-on graffiti would just bead up and roll off.

133

For some reason, I had an image of a Victorian waif coming to our desks to wind watches and plug in phones… I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I clicked that link.

134

A little double roller clamp on the lower intestine that squeezes out constipated stool, and then remains engaged above the rectum. A condition of employment would be having one attached, with the CEO finally getting control of those malingerers and their bathroom breaks. However, rebel hackers cause those they oppose to shit themselves.

135

I had a Toyota Celica like that. On the other hand, the access panel for the rear tank was designed as a perfectly serviceable funnel for filling it. I thought that was clever.

136

Someone earned their pay that day.

137

I have good news for you: This is exactly how it works in Japan. It’s incredibly convenient - you can buy and install a new ceiling lamp plug and play without having to connect any electrical wiring.
AccessJ: Moving: Light Fixtures for a Japanese Apartment

138

That’s amazing but somehow not surprising. I suspect that “Big Electric” is suppressing that here :grinning:

139

This one is a “shut up and take my money” idea. (This refers to a meme and I intend no insult to Thorny.)

It would amazing not to have constantly shift the seatbelt around to account for having breasts. Safer too, I’ll bet.

Have you seen the “seats” that are essentially a saddle only and require the passengers to stand for the flight? Nope. I’m not doing that.

There are a lot of options for zippered bedding from mattress pads to sheets to full sets of sheets and comforters. Here’s one example:

140

Obviously designed without women in mind. From a time or place where women didn’t drive anyway.