Million Dollar Ideas

I plan to make a million dollars teaching people how to tattoo cats

Here's a new million-dollar idea, and it might just BE something.

Slumberiums

Background: In my lifetime I've probably owned 16 beds: twin, double, queen, king, California king.  Standard mattress, waterbed, futon, extra firm, extra soft, all makes & models.  What we ended up with, several years ago, was a combination: it's a Sleep Number air-filled bed underneath (with adjustable firmness).  Over the top of that is a 3" slab of MemoryFoam (Tempurpedic style).  Topping everything is an extra-thick pillow-top mattress pad.

The combination is adjustable, warm, adjusts to your body position (no sore spots from lack of circulation) and has been the most comfortable bed I've ever owned.

Until recently.

As I've gotten older my joints have started to ache.  I can't sleep more than 2-3 hours without needing to majorly shift position (back-to-front, left side-to-right side, stretched out-to-curled up, round and round I go).  Lack of activity seems to cause SOMETHING (unoxygenated blood? Nitrogen?)  to build up in the joints (although this may be normal osteoarthritis).  It is only relieved by moving around for a bit.  I've started sleeping very fitfully (even with my ideal bed) and I don't like it.

Cleveland Clinic wrote:

Research shows that between 50 and 90 percent of people with chronic joint pain don’t sleep well. And, that sleep deprivation can lead to other health issues, including low energy, mood disorders and eating problems.

So I've been thinking, sleeping in weightlessness must be the ultimate.  You can move in all 3 dimensions all night long, without restriction.

Obviously weightlessness is difficult to achieve on Earth, but a close approximation can be had in a warm bath.  A warm bath of liquid adjusted so it's specific gravity matches the human body, so you neither sink nor float.  I've heard the Great Salt Lake is like that.

There are also water additives that are good for your skin (epson salts and others).  There's probably a formula that you could sleep in, all night long, without getting wrinkly or having your skin fall off.

If one could build a chamber big enough to move around in, maybe 3 feet in diameter, fill it with body temperature liquid... no more cold toes.  No more rolling over to "get comfortable."  No more joint pain.

I don't know if one would prefer to sleep horizontally or vertically if you were essentially weightless (I should check astronauts).  How much of brain repair occurs because your brain is at the same level as your heart at night-time?  Would sleeping upright prevent dreaming?

Not sure how you'd anchor your head outside the liquid, to keep from drowning in your sleep.  Maybe a collar outside the sleep jar?

I'll bet such an arrangement would reduce or eliminate snoring as well.  Snoring is caused by the throat physiology when laying down, and it you weren't restricted by a mattress I'll bet your body would find a comfortable posture for breathing, like you do when awake.

Hmmm -- I'm going to have to work on this!

"Active Helm"

Why not apply driverless car technology to boating?  With a few cameras pointed at the water around your yacht, you could instruct the software to keep the vessel at the dock while you walk around throwing bowlines and sternlines.  Make parking a boat a one-person job.

Also, maximize fuel efficiency on the open ocean by getting up on just the right plane.  Built-in GPS steers you around known navigation hazards.  Cameras steer you around visible debris and/or kayakers as you swamp them with your wake.

- From a dream this morning (Surprisingly, the name appears to be available)


[Edit:
Hmm, some Italian company named "Astra Yacht" (whose website looks like "astray acht"!) seems to be working on something like this:
http://www.yachtforums.com/threads/make-your-boat-self-docking.23268/
http://www.astrayacht.com/wp/en/custom-systems/
]

Colonoscopies for dogs. "Turn your head and bark."

In Alabama, that's called foreplay.

I'll bet somebody could make a million dollars leasing out the space inside the holes in donuts and bagels. Lotta space just going to waste there.

Our new house is in an area called Picnic Point, across the street from us the houses range from $1.2 to about 3.7 million.  We figured they must have a view, although they are not right above the water.

Mrs NoCo was talking to the neighbor directly across from us yesterday and she indicated they were putting their house up for sale.  It is now vacant.  So we walked around it, including sneaking into the back yard to see the view.

Oh.  My.  God.  They have a panoramic view of the valley below them, with the water being about half of it to the north.  The valley is lush forest, very little development (dunno why), just gorgeous trees as far as the eye can see.

Of course, the house is right on the edge of a very steep bluff, and has no fence.  Would not be suitable for kids or dogs.  But what a view!

So, my million dollar idea is to set up a webcam, or several webcams, in their back yard to capture the view all day and all night long.  Charge people a subscription to multicast this view to their flat screen TV.  

Give those of us in the cheap seats a thrill.

Here, check out the view:


Check out the house.  $1.3m is actually a bargain!
http://www.estately.com/listings/info/6710-128th-st-sw

That's gorgeous. And it's a great deal. I would guess at least four million here.

I might even be able to put up with the lousy weather at that price.

Hmmm. I've been meaning to bring up the subject of moving. Maybe I'll show the wife these pics.

We could be neighbors. I'll do your lawn.

You would have to quit creeping around the back yard.

And the wifi would be expensive.

Advantages: super fast wi-fi (150+ Mbps), gorgeous view, private lot, you can hear trains from here

Disadvantages: all of Picnic Point is on septic, crazy neighbors, my dogs will bark every time you move

NoCoPilot wrote:

Advantages: ...you can hear trains from here

NOT an advantage.

NoCoPilot wrote:

Disadvantages: ...my dogs will bark every time you move

Deal killer.

The trains are cool, they're off in the distance.  I love the sound.

My dogs OTOH...  monkey butts both of 'em.

I listened to trains at night for a few decades. That's more than enough.

Now we hear deer cropping the grass outside the bedroom window. Owls are a common night time sound. Occasionally, we hear coyotes yipping. On a few occasions we have heard a mountain lion yowling. They are very noisy when in heat.

I'll take those over mechanical racket any time.

In the picture, peanuts on the railings for the biggest Bluejay I've ever seen. My boys bark at him but he's not afraid.

In our previous house, there was a pair of blue jays in a tree at the back of the yard. They used to chase Cat, the sixteen-year-old Siamese. She would run back and hide under a table on the patio. One day, I went outside and found many blue feathers, including a pair of wings, scattered over the patio (all the meaty parts were missing). Problem solved. I was really proud of that old cat. Never saw a blue jay there again.

Another million dollar idea (for right-handed people)

Right gloves. Just the right.

Everyone knows that the right hand glove wears out first. Sometimes the left glove looks nearly new when it is needlessly replaced. Of course, this varies with the type of glove and the material.

So sell the gloves in normal pairs, but also offer pairs which are only the right glove.

I know nobody will believe this, but it's absolutely true.

In 1999, I was working in Jersey City, right across the river from the World Trade Center. Five days a week, I would look out of my office window and watch the little planes and helicopters buzzing along the Hudson under VFR, and wonder when some idiot would accidentally crash into one of the towers (no, I didn't anticipate an attack with fully-loaded passenger jets). And I had an idea. Why not create a coffee-table book about a year in the life of the WTC? Specifically, the year 2000, welcoming the WTC into the 21st century. And of course, the main thread would be photographs, at least one a week, maybe one a day, for the whole year. I didn't think there would be a huge market for this, but I thought it might be viable, just with the whole y2k thing going on.

So what happened? I changed jobs. And I wasn't watching the WTC any more, and I was wrapped up in y2k on the IT side, and ...

Suppose the book had been made. It probably wouldn't have done well in early 2001. What do you think the sales would have been like in December?

Well, you sure wouldn't be wasting your time conversing with peasants like us.
That sounds as if it would have been a real money maker.

Or the guy who walked a wire between them. THAT was a day to remember.

"Velcro sushi."

Million Dollar Idea:
Replacement, resealable, inner bags for cereal & crackers.

Since the stoopid manufacturers INSIST on continuing to use STOOPID cello inner bags which A) cannot be opened by human beings without tools and B) cannot be resealed and C) usually as a result of A) tear randomly into a configuration where B) becomes impossible,

SOMEBODY needs to make a Ziploc™ specifically for this purpose.  You could cut the top off the manufacturer's bag, pour the contents into the replacement -- and reusable! -- new bag, which holds its shape inside the box without bulging out and making the box unshelfable.

I hate ziploc bags!