Tag: idea

a holiday for losing weight

Obesity in America is a big problem, which needs a solution. Actually, we know the solution. Despite all the diet fads and bringing back the presidential fitness test and time-change chicanery, we know what the best answer is: eating less and exercising more. It’s that simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple.

So what’s the problem with our solution here? We need people to know about this and then to do it. So if the government is serious about making a difference, here’s some ideas. (I’m not suggesting it’s the government’s business, but since they try to do something about it, it might as well be more effective. Well, we do need the FDA to protect us from harmful additives, but they shouldn’t legislate our health and fitness. But I digress…) Here’s the idea:

1) To bring awareness to the issue, create a national holiday (or even multiple days, like in the spring and fall). People can have a paid day off work IF they commit to getting physical exercise. There could be events setup to encourage people to do this together, like a 1-mile walk (but make it fun, perhaps without donuts for this one). This would help people get exercise, and hopefully they would realize it can be fun and help them feel better, so perhaps they will continue getting more exercise in the future. Various groups could schedule events on this day, like a free 10-minute introduction to pickleball or tennis or some other sport.

2) Provide a benefit for participating. Just getting a paid day off work is a huge benefit already, so there’s that. Perhaps some fitness-focused groups might want to setup some promotional benefits for people who participate in various exercise events. Maybe there could be a rebate from your health insurance for participating. (Some already do this for things like having a gym membership and going to the doctor for an annual physical checkup, so check your plan — they require you to fill out forms to get the rebate, but some do offer it.) The government could offer corporations a tax break for the day to encourage them to participate.

Do you have any more ideas?

a better way to fix Daylight Saving Time

It’s no secret that a lot of people have problems with Daylight Saving Time. Most of us don’t mind gaining an extra hour of sleep in the fall, but losing an hour of sleep is problematic. It costs the workforce millions of dollars by people being late and/or tired. There’s also the issue of it getting dark early. I don’t like night time to start at 5:00 PM.

Our representatives in Congress apparently don’t know what to do about it. There’s talk every year of getting rid of it, which is an option. Or, as I have proposed several times here, in the spring we could take the hour away from the workday at 8:00 AM on a Monday. The majority of people would approve of this. (Perhaps we should write our representatives about this idea. Tell your friends to see what they think.)

My favorite idea is switching to the Hobbit calendar (by J.R.R. Tolkien). Changing our system to that one just isn’t practical, though, given all the systems and programs that would have to be changed. But it’s fun to think about.

There is, however, another possible solution that I haven’t heard discussed. What if instead of going forward an hour in the spring, we go back 23 hours? Who wouldn’t like that? (I’m sure there’s someone, but whatever.) Most of us could use an extra 23 hours to rest, relax, and/or get things done. It would be like an extra Saturday, a bonus day off work.

The problem with this radical idea is that it disrupts our calendar. (Side note: did you realize the calendar is already broken? Why do we have a leap year where we add a day?) So to keep the calendar working properly, every four years, instead of adding a day, we take away 3 days. And those 3 days should be Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which according to recent polls are the least popular days. This could also happen in February, since it’s probably the least liked month [citation needed].

What do you think? Too crazy, or awesome? Is there a better idea?

designing a fun race for non-runners

I recently received an email newsletter that started with this:

I ran a marathon a couple weeks ago. No training. No preparation. I decided 5 days before. Just went out and did it.

The newsletter had the title “Lessons Learned”. I’m thinking that would be some harsh lessons there. If you don’t train, you don’t just go out and run 26.2 miles. Without running regularly, most people probably couldn’t run more than a quarter mile. I was curious about these lessons he learned, so I kept reading, and he talked about how it’s good to prepare, but then he said he did it because he knew he “could run 20 miles”, so he could just push himself to get to 26. And he did finish.

At this point, it’s obvious he’s being misleading, so I’m out. I unsubscribed from that email. (I realize there is strategy for trying to win a marathon, but the hardest part is being able to run that far, and being able to run 20 miles counts as training and preparation to me. That doesn’t just happen. Even if you’re young and skinny, you don’t just run miles without building up to it.)

I run more than the average adult, but I know I couldn’t finish a marathon without massive amounts of training, and that’s not one of my goals. I suspect most people have no interest in running that far.

However, I do enjoy being outside and getting exercise, as well as enjoying the camaraderie from being with like-minded people. So perhaps there should be some similar events but with modifications. I don’t just mean a shorter race — I know those exist, and I’m still not interested.

I’ve heard of a bicycle race called the Tour de Donut (The Donut Race). It’s a 30 mile race with two pit stops where you eat donuts, and each donut you eat reduces your time by five minutes. That’s more my style. Although 30 miles is still too far. So we should have one that is 5 miles (bicycling or running or walking), and each donut you eat takes off one minute from your time. We could also do this with bacon strips. Or donuts AND bacon!

I think a lot of people would attend an event like this. You could hand out medals for various categories: fastest actual time, lowest adjusted time, anyone who gets negative time, and most donuts/bacon eaten. The whole event could be a fundraiser, too. Someone should make this happen.

Would you participate?

Do you have any ideas to make it even more awesome?

decorative Wi-Fi access points

I have a business idea that someone needs to run with. This is not one that I plan to pursue, because my plate is full (running over, even), so I’m putting it out here for someone to take. Please do, because I would buy this.

Most houses have Wi-Fi now, and to get good coverage throughout the house you often need either an extender or a mesh network. (I just switched mine to an Amazon Eero mesh network.) The “problem” with all the solutions I’ve seen is that the hardware devices don’t look interesting. They’re plain and utilitarian. That’s not bad, per se, but it could be much better. I don’t care to see them around the house, although it’s not that big a deal to me. However, I’m married, so the WAF does need to be considered. (WAF = Wife Approval Factor.) My wife cares about the house being “presentable” and decorated. (Granted, I do too, but she does even more, so I often defer to her preferences, which seems to be common among men.)

So here’s the idea that improves the situation. Make Wi-Fi hardware points where you can snap decorative outer shells on them, which feature a pleasing design. By doing this, you can cater to multiple markets with the same base product. Here’s some ideas to help get you started:

  • fake plants — This may have the highest general WAF, so it definitely should be an option.
  • book-related — There are a lot of people who enjoy reading, or at least want to enjoy it if they had more free time. This could be a bookshelf insert like the one pictured, which is a street from the Harry Potter universe. You could also make bookends like the Argonath statues that came with the first deluxe DVD set of The Lord of the Rings. (I want that one, and my wife would probably tolerate it outside my home office.) Another idea is the Dr. Who TARDIS phonebooth.
  • movie-related — There are many options here, from figures to vehicles to buildings to logos. Of course there would be licensing to deal with, but a well-made Batman figure and/or the Batmobile would be worth it. Transformers figures (G1 style, preferably) would be awesome, too. (The WAF score sinks considerably with this one, but there’s a large audience of single guys who can decorate how they want. And Transformers figures definitely counted as decoration when I lived in the bachelor pad with college roommates.)
  • decorative frames with pithy inspiring quotes — People already buy this kind of thing. You could make it a frame with changeable inserts, so you could sell packs of more quotes. You might could even include a cheap subscription with new inserts arriving each month that match the season.
  • holiday decorations — You know if there was a way to make your Wi-Fi point look like a Christmas tree or an ornament instead of a chunk of boring plastic, people would buy this. These would sell like hotcakes during the Christmas shopping season (which gets longer every year). These could also have lights on them, since you already have power there.

I could go on, but you get the idea. There are MANY possibilities here for selling more, because if they all fit the same base units, people could buy multiple decorative pieces to change it out throughout the year. And when a new version of Wi-Fi comes out, make the base unit into the same shape so customers can use their current extensions. This encourages brand loyalty.

Hopefully this goes without saying, but make the actual hardware be quality. People will be paying more for this, so there will be expectations that it works well. If it looks impressive and works better than average, people will talk about it, which is free advertising.

To any entrepreneur willing to jump on this, the idea is free. If you’d be willing to send me a copy for review, I’d be glad to check it out. Have your people contact my people.