Saturday, September 18, 2010
Weight Loss Strategy
I think a good technique for loosing weight would be to have your spouse keep a running list of the food you eat.
Choice
I read this in a textbook on thought manipulation. "If presented a choice between two different gains, the less risk is more often chosen. If presented a choice between two different losses the higher risk is more often chosen."
A New Producer
An interesting way to shoot a movie that I have never seen before would be to film an actual person's life without them knowing. You could add events into their actual lives for additional drama. You would then edit the scenes to coherent movie. Afterwards you could have the person who you film to watch the film, add comments and insight and possibly do voice overs and narrate their thoughts.
A Younger Self
It is interesting to think about how differently you used to think when you were younger. You used to be completely lacking in particular logical abilities. No wonder children need constant looking after and still manage to screw up so much.
Waiting on A Friend
I think that it would be cool to engage in a different activity for every person you wait for. For example, you have a sketchbook and you work on a different sketch when you are waiting for each person you know.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Inspiration
Inspiration is something that you can't force, you can only set up circumstances where you are more likely to become inspired. These circumstances are what you have done/seen/hear/thought and what you are doing right now. Inspiration helps to overcome the punishment of effort.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Gambling
When making a bet you should take into consideration the odds of the other guy cheating through bribery, collusion, or other types of cheating. Subtract the chance from your original odds to find a built in house-edge to any bet you would make
Target Demographics
If you are starting a company that appeals to people who like rap, make the name of your company or product a word that is very easy to rhyme with.
Improving Transportation
I think that if a person were to come up with a way to improve transportation it would make a more significant impact than almost any other area of advancement. Multiply the amount of time saved by the amount of people it would affect, astronomical improvement in world efficiency. As a result we should have more people spending time thinking of ways to improve transportation on a fundamental level, like improving the four-way-stop. I almost want to spend the rest of my life in this pursuit, but it is not a topic I am interested in at all.
Counting Calories
Deciding not to eat something because it has too many calories sound like something lazy people would do. "Oh i would eat this thing that I would really enjoy, but I would have to engage in activity that would burn those calories." You can choose any activity!
Birthday Present
For a friend's birthday, get $20's in one dollar bills, write happy birthday in red sharpie over George Washington's face. sneak into your friend's bedroom and put each dollar into the pockets of 20 different articles of clothing. on the dollar that you place in their ugliest pair of pants, sign your name.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Dining Table
Centerpieces at a dining table can be distracting and block views between people. My idea is for a table with a dropping center so centerpieces can be displayed but be out of the way.
New Purpose for Business
Business models are designed to maximize profits, what if a business was created that was designed to maximize the number of, self sufficient, employees. each employee adds to the company value that is only slightly greater than their salary. It might be a government project to combat unemployment.
New Restaurant
I thought that a cool idea for a restaurant that is just starting out would be to ask homeowners in the area what their favorite dishes to order at a restaurant are and then to have those choices available on the menu. Or the restaurant could ask what are favorite dishes that are too time consuming or difficult to make.
Losing an Argument
Start an argument and then lose on purpose. Would this make the other person happier for “winning” the argument. It seems like even though this is the supposed goal of an argument in my experience it is not the anticipated reaction. Some people will not accept a resignation in an argument. Winning an argument might be the supposed goal but it doesn’t seem to make the winner very happy.
Speeding Tickets
I would like to see the relationship between getting pulled over and given a speeding ticket and reduced driving speeds. Also, if the ticket is what makes the difference or if just being pulled over makes the difference.
Lawn
I think that grass shouldn't be the only option for a lawn. I would probably choose something that grows more slowly but is still durable/comfortable enough to walk on. There has to be a type of ground cover that is a reasonable alternative to grass.
One Word
I thought an interesting poem would be a poem that describes the depth of one particular word.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Cliches
The more you know, the more you realize what things are cliches. This allows fr you to be able to use them more responsibly and express yourself more exactly.
Physical Attraction
I think that physical attractiveness can be broken into 4 categories. Genetics, fashion, hygiene, and fitness. Genetics is the only one that you can't do anything about. Some people are just born with unattractive genes but you can hopefully compensate with the other three. Good fashion can improve your physical attractiveness just by spending money. If you don't have large amounts of money to spend on clothes that are almost guaranteed to make you look good, you will have to develop an eye, but with practice this is not too difficult. Hygiene is an element that should be done anyways just for health, but it can also improve attractiveness. Lastly, fitness is also important for health, but it is also can be the most important of the four elements.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Explanations
What is more important for the advancement of society, the ability being able to explain a process, or the ability getting the correct answer?
The Money Taboo
There is this economic principle called "The Money Taboo" which basically states that in many cultures it is taboo to discuss an individuals income/expenses. One of the negative results of this taboo is an increase in frictional unemployment because workers are unaware of how much better the job across the street pays, because it is never discussed in polite conversion. I think people should actively attempt to change our culture, in order to improve the economy for the working class. People who make excessive amounts of money will be ashamed, people who make less than competitors will be motivated, and the minimum wage will become more effective as a tool for raising other low wages and benefits.
Coming of Age
I define the "coming of age" period as the time when a youth realizes that they can create their own opinions. At first these opinions are half-hazard, unoriginal and often conflicting. This can lead to poor, misguided and/or confusing actions.
Some youths go through this period briefly and instead of finding their own path, just latch on and imitate those people they look up to or consider successful, frequently parents.
Some youths go through this period briefly and instead of finding their own path, just latch on and imitate those people they look up to or consider successful, frequently parents.
Eulogy
I started writing a eulogy for my dad and then I stopped because I realized how morbid it was. Then I thought that the stuff I had written was pretty good and I might as well hold onto it because I was going to need it eventually. This last thought was so morbid that it convinced me to completely destroy what I had written. But I didn't.
Learn Your Craft
Every day should contain within it at least one attempt to improve at your craft. Otherwise can you truly claim to be passionate about it? I think everyone should have this level of passion towards at least one thing.
Reality Shows
I think that reality shows are just examples of Utopian societies. They allow for the viewing into a world where the larger more important problems are removed and trivial problems are amplified in importance to take their place.
Shallow People
The "shallow people" who don't examine their lives don't really need to examine themselves because they are shallow and boring anyways. I realize this is a circular definition.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Named for Success
I wonder if people named after famous people are more likely to become successful in the areas that they were named after, even if they achieve a normalized level of success in the other fields. That's why I'm naming my kid (JOKE)
Pleasure
I think that it is interesting that as different as people are, we all derive pleasure from almost the exact same activity.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Carpool Coordinator
I think a good idea for a website would a carpooling website that would maximize carpool efficiency. Each person would enter in their home location where and when they need to go and when and where they would be willing to drive. If a large enough community were to use this service I think that it could become enormously efficient. Benefits included, decrease in traffic, less necessary road construction due to expansion and wear in the roads, increased community atmosphere, saves time for people not driving as they could engage in other activities.
Pay Scale Crimes
I think that fines and criminal penalties should be scaled up and down for income and life expectancy.
Extremes vs. Moderation
Does society prefer individuals who live lives of extreme highs and lows or ones of moderation, assuming that they average out the same. Which is better from the perspective of the individual.
Zero
I have a theory that if you add up all the good things and all the bad things in the universe it adds up to zero. I apply this to many things, but mainly for luck and emotion. The amount of good luck and bad luck that an individual has over their lifetime should add up to zero in the end, as probability would suggest. Therefore, you shouldn't be disappointed when you experience something that is unlucky, because it just means that you will experience an equal amount of good luck in the future. For emotion the amount of happiness (aka positive emotions) a person has is equal to the amount of pain (aka negative emotion) they experience in their lifetime. This happens because of how we adjust to our surroundings. If we become used to something good happening then its happiness strength is less. This also makes it so that if something bad happens instead, the strength of that negative feeling is stronger to counterbalance.
If emotion does add up to zero then it would help to prove an additional theory of mine. I believe that people who use drugs, injecting happiness artificially, will experience an additional amount of negative emotion as the scales of emotion are forced to counterbalance leaving with a net total of the same amount of total pleasure and pain. So if you chose to use drugs you are just deciding to have larger swings of emotion rather than a more constant an moderate level. As a person who usually doesn't have a very large swing of emotion it is one of my reasons to use as I am often jealous of people who experience larger ranges of emotion as I feel it is a better way to live life.
If emotion does add up to zero then it would help to prove an additional theory of mine. I believe that people who use drugs, injecting happiness artificially, will experience an additional amount of negative emotion as the scales of emotion are forced to counterbalance leaving with a net total of the same amount of total pleasure and pain. So if you chose to use drugs you are just deciding to have larger swings of emotion rather than a more constant an moderate level. As a person who usually doesn't have a very large swing of emotion it is one of my reasons to use as I am often jealous of people who experience larger ranges of emotion as I feel it is a better way to live life.
Friday, August 13, 2010
New Holiday
I think that the voting day should be on a national holiday so there would be more incentive and avilibilty to vote on that day.
Inmate Internet
I think it would be a cool social experiment to give all inmates in a prison personal computers and internet access and see what they do with their time. All it would do would be to give them the power of knowledge and communication. Maybe they would become beneficial members of the internet community, or maybe they would all join 4chan.
Cluttered Life
Life has too many layers of detail and context to easily capture in art without appearing cluttered.
Lollipop Head
People shouldn't have hair if they want someone to come close with their mouth. Hair should be used as an out of bounds line. This is why I grew a beard, to keep all kissing centered on the mouth. This is also why I don't care about armpit hair. I think guys who shave themselves bald like to have their heads licked like lollipops.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Flower Stampede
When animals walk through the forest, do they try to avoid trampling pretty flowers?
Indications of Failure
Before you initiate a plan, you should ask yourself, "If I were to do this, what would be signs of impending failure". Also, continue to ask yourself this question throughout execution.
Making Paper
When a tree is cut down 8% of that tree becomes pulp and that 8% pulp represents 4% of the tree's value. Pulp, as used for paper, is essentially a waste product, if it were not turned into paper in many situations would just be burned. No tree farming companies harvest for the primary purpose of paper, although there are subcontractors who certainly sub-specialize.
Given a Point
Being a skilled artist requires attention to which details should be included. Art can be a simplification of truth through focus. Artists can decide the focal point.
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