Inspired by my ideas I won’t shut up about and all my friends are sick of. Feel free to critique mine and / or add your own…
Idea
Behold! Burrito Delivery Service!!
I live in San Francisco. I probably walk to a burrito place and get a burrito three times a week. For those unfamiliar with them, they are about 6 inches long and weigh about two pounds. They are definitely their own meal. Everyone I know eats these burritos all the friggin’ time. What would be wrong with burrito delivery? Cheap ingredients, easy to make, takes no time to make, easy to transport, don’t have to stay really warm like pizza. Hire a few delivery boys and get to work. Heck, I have a SUSHI delivery place near my house - burritos have to be easier than that. Plus, I could deliver until 2am, which would be another huge win b/c you can’t ever find any late night delivery food.
Invention
I give you…Baseball Hat Radio!! Snaps into place on all baseball hats, one size fits all. Comfortable adjustable round wire fits inside brim to hold in place and serve as the antenna. Earphones easily fold out and hang down on either side of head so you can put them in ears and listen to games. Does not obstruct the natural fit of the hat. Unlicensed private frequency for superior drone army control. Kidding.
Here are things I thought of that I didn’t think existed but didn’t do anything about but ended up getting done anyway:
A stethescope that uses a microphone and headphones to amplify the sounds.
My wife picked up a device called “first sounds”. It’s essentially a stethescope that uses a microphone and headphones to amplify the sounds of our babies in the womb. It even has the handy-dandy activator button I was thinking of.
Blinds that close from the bottom up rather than from the top down so people who live on sidewalk level can have the bottom part of their windows covered so people can’t look in but they can still have an open window up top. They already exist, though.
Last but not least, setting up panels in a railroad tunnel so when the train passes, they create a moving image you see out the window like a flip book. I imagined a sepia tinted scene of cowboys on horseback chasing the train. That was about 10 years ago.
Recently I saw someone do it for a Target ad in the PATH tunnel in NYC.
Next time I think of something I’ll just look into taking out a patent instead of trying to figure out how to do the whole thing by myself!
I can’t believe they don’t have burrito delivery in San Franciso. There are a half dozen places within 4 blocks of my apartment that I can order burritos from.
I was standing at the end of a subway car looking at the next car and watched how they moved back and forth in relation to each other. I figured that given the weight of the cars, there would be an incredible amount of shearing(?) force given off if you were to attach ‘something’ (the invention) to both cars. This ‘something’ would then be able to convert that incredible shearing force to energy. You could then use that energy to power some system on the train. I don’t know enough about physics though to even know if this makes sense.
I invented cable radio and the e-book. I was told by friends that both ideas were stupid.
The way I imagined the ebook was a nice, white-paper screen device with a fold-around cover, like a book. You could then pop in a card or a cartridge, like a Game Boy, which would have the text on it. Book stores would have the ability to dump book onto blank cards. The device itself would allow you to put in bookmarks and such.
It still wouldn’t be as nice as real books, but I coulda made a million at least pitching the idea to someone else who would then lose money on it.
I’ve got another idea right now, but I’m actually looking into patenting it, so I don’t really want to say too much.
Oh yeah, I’m sure other places have this, but we don’t here. A video store that delivers. You could go on the web, say, and find what you want, and they’ll bring it to you. Netflix is KIND of like this, but not so immediate. Have 'em also bring popcorn and drinks and I think you’d have a hit.
You know those buzz-strips along the edge of the road; they make a tone when you drift off the road to alert you. They’re also used to alert you when you approach a toll booth in some areas.
I want to vary the distance between the grooves to generate different notes and, of course, place the grooves down the actual traffic lane.
You could even have stereo with different grooves under the left side and right side tires. Sell it to states & counties to add interest. Driving into Texas, the road could play The Yellow Rose of Texas, Alabama gets Sweet Home Alabama, etc.
We’ll leave one lane unaltered for the musically unimaginative.
I think you are onto something with the **Burrito Delivery Service ** It’s making me want to call up 1-xxx-on-do-lay and order one.
(spelling errors are a result of a lack of a proper bilingual education.)
My inventions that have been given the green light by all my lazy friends:
**A new pizza box ** The standard ones rip the garbage bag or are too big to put in the container to begin with. MY revolutionary pizza box can be used to build a house…kinda like lego’s for the frat house crowd. cheap housing for the poor. Just think of the fund raisers…Eat a Pizza for the Homeless.
**Back Yard Trebuchet ** I want one of these soooo bad it makes me ache. Perfect for flinging dog poop. I’m sure there would be hundreds of other uses but at the moment, that is my only thought.
You know those **Leave Blowers **, MINE would also have a SUCK on them complete with a bag, then it would be a **Super Duper Pooper Scooper ** and then with the simple flick of a switch, FOOOOOM the pooop back to the homeowners yard from whence it came. Think of how much fun it will be for two neighboring eight year olds to have dog shit fights.
(I am slightly obsessed with dog poo, can you tell?)
**TV powered by a exercize bike/treadmill ** I’ve had this thought for years.
**Self cleaning dish cupboards ** Out the dirty dishes in the cupboard, press a button and they are washed.
Dooku, I would personally keep your burrito delivery service in business–provided it delivered all the way to North Carolina! It sounds like a great idea.
Not too long ago, I saw powdered kudzu at a health food co-op–for fifteen dollars a pound. Around here kudzu is considered a horrible weed that covers everything with frightening speed, but apparently it has some use in Japanese cooking. So, my grand plan? I’m going to open a pick-your-own organic kudzu farm in my backyard. The New Age-y tourists around here will love it, and I’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
Some of these are pretty brilliant! (Although I’m really having a hard time believing that there’s no place in SF that delivers burritos.)
What’s wrong with two clothespins on a piece of string that HOLD a paper towel? (Or you could steal one of those chains with clips on each end from your dentist.)
When I was a kid I “invented” the reuseable ice cube. I even went so far as to attempt to make some. (I cut up a baggie into ice cube sized pieces, then attempted to use an iron to seal them with water inside.) They didn’t turn out as well as I hoped so I ended up forgetting all about them, then a few years later I saw them (way cooler than mine, of course!) in with the picnic stuff at one of the “mart” type stores. I was pretty cheesed off!
I don’t have this one figured out yet, but a magnetic grid on the parkway of your house with magnets on the bottom of your garbage cans. So when the cans are empty, they don’t blow down the street on a windy day.
Cardboard clones. You can send your clone to things you don’t want to do, but have to. Like baby showers. It would have a pull string that would say various nice things. “The cake is wonderful!” “It’s so good to see you again” and “That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” The hands would be like chip clips to hold a present.
I’d tell ya’ll what my idea is, but then I’d have a heck of a time getting a patent on it.
If someone knows how to patent/launch a new product, let me know. You take care of the capital and I’ll take care of the idea.
BTW - One idea that I waited too long to act on; a delivery service for restaurants that don’t normally deliver. For example, you want a Big Mac but Mickey D’s doesn’t deliver. So, you call the Takeout Taxi, the driver drops by the Golden Arches, grabs you a #1 combo (supersized) and delivers it right to your door. The charge? $3 flat rate (tips accepted). I mentioned this idea to the wrong person a few years ago and look at me now, paying someone ELSE to do what I should have done way back when.
A combination Laundromat/Tavern. Throw in the laundry, walk over to the bar, have a cold one while you’re waiting. Perhaps some big screen TV’s for sports watching. I think this might increase the number of men willing to do the laundry.
