Boo!

This Old House--the home improvement show--did a pumpkin carving contest. The one pictured was done by a woman in Minnesota--lots of hidden talent in the Middle West. (Would you date her?)

She used a kitchen knife, tempera paint, and stamp pad ink.

People love to whack up orange gourds, as the site pointed out.

Everyone needs some fun sometime--to get their creative freak on.

In DC, they used to feed pumpkins to the elephants at the zoo--they had a good time, too.

For more great gourd savaging, go to: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20750271_30044220,00.html

May not be up long--this fun comes but once a year.

Roominations

That David Kelley guy of IDEO, the self-professed supercoolest creativity company EVAH, says he dislikes people in a room brainstorming--or braindrizzling--or whatever they kids call it these days. Too confined to idea people, I take it--you need to get out and see what "real" people need, want, and like.

Personally, I don't like "bundling" where on say, your phone service, you pay more to get rid of features. Clever on their part, irritating as fleas on meth on my part. And why can't we pay 50 cents a month for each cable channel we actually watch, including the movie ones?

No one asked me, nor as far as I can tell, anyone else.

So maybe Kelley--who is a little twee for my tastes--is on to something here. (I am not sure what "twee" means, I just like it.)

I want new colors--yes, there are 200 shades of red--but they are all red. OK--we are limited by the light spectrum. I hate that! New colors, I say! Like murk, maybe, or dazz.

Gravity is so handy for setting things down and expecting them to stay there. But not so great for human flesh. Not sure what we can do about that.

I am sick of the lightbulb as the symbol of creativity. And that box! We should lose that baby. Maybe a basket or muffin tin?

As for cliches--clams are not ecstatic that I can see (of course, I usually meet them in their chowder form). And "kick the can down the road"--let's can that kick until further notice.

Innovation--Nurtured or taught?

Can wacky genius be taught? Well, she said modestly, I think we have answer when it comes to this blog--who could do this--or would?

But, apparently, people do want to read high tech snark--we are up to 11K hits since Jan.

Kidding aside, Melissa Korn took this up in the WSJ October 9, 2013, when she talked about new approaches to teaching innovation at the university level.

Out are the blah-blah lectures and in are the hands-on innovating opportunities.

Item: Luke Williams' course at New York University's Stern School of Business. This will be two days, cost $2,800, and will offer step-by-step plans for innovation by individuals and teams.

One exercise--if a cell phone doesn't work, instead of thinking the battery has run out, think why cell phones even need batteries.

Item: Columbia Business school has two new courses, one of which called Reinventing Innovation.

Whoa--pretty existential! Oh, OK--applicants have to measure their tolerance for ambiguity first. Whew.

Item: Dartmouth School of Biz--Leading Innovation from Idea to Execution. Pretty linear there. But it does try to rein in wild-eyed innovators with a lot of practical financial thinking.

There are also some innovation courses online. Check out the Haas School of Business at the University of California.

What do you think? Can this crazy stuff be taught--or should anyone with a bent be given a million bucks and a year off to do their worst? Kind of like those designers on Project Runway.

How to make money from an idea, without the risk

You know my great idea for aging people--drive-through kitty litter stores--no getting out to heave around 20 lb bags? Well, I am too broke and not commercially oriented to do it, but what if I could sell the idea?

You see where I am going here.

According to the WSJ of Sept 30, 2013 (you need to get it, I am just hitting the high spots), 43.5% of Americans saw a business opportunity last year, way up from previous years.

But only 55.9% of Americans, the same as in past years, think they are capable of launching a business.

The percent of Americans who didn't launch because they feared failure is way up, too.

Here's a secret: The next step after an idea is not necessarily launching a startup. Sssh--don't tell.

But--before doing anything--inventors should protect the idea, usually meaning get a patent.

You might also want to do a prototype. Or do a survey--who would want it?

Then see what companies have gone into products or ideas like yours.

You may wish to approach companies one at a time--some want exclusivity.

Or you might want to license--say it's an item that won't be replaced soon--you want part of every sale.

Or if it would help all mankind--maybe give your idea away.

I guess I already gave away drive-through kitty litter. And, of course, it would help mankind. Maybe I could make money naming it--come on, entrepreneurs, be a sport.

Let's see, Kitty Gurney...no...wait, give me a minute. Something with Toonces--the Cat Who Can Drive a Car.

A few mistakes OK if it uses less energy

What do you think of deliberately designing a "good enough" computer?

I know this sounds laughable in this age of freezes, comments that do not appear, orders lost, and just plain irritating stupid computer tricks, but some thinkers say it might be good to quit trying to be cyberly-perfect if it means burning too much energy.

Energy-saving/somewhat error-prone. What do you think?

At the University of Washington, they are designing a computer language called EnerJ, which allows benign errors to slip through, but blocks big giant horrible ones.

It's called approximate computing.

Now--they say--they need to think of a use for it. Any come to mind?

I say almost anything--the errors are slipping through now. But that would be mean, wouldn't it?

Still, I had to switch to Chrome just to do this post. Everything else works with the AOL browser. This is what I mean.

Repurposed, adapted--whatever--still creative

To be a handy invention, something need not be new from the blue. It can be the result of..."Hey, what if...?"

Example: A spoon with internal balancers to counteract the tremors from Parkinson's and other motor skills impairments.

My father's half sister had Parkinson's.  Once, when she was visiting, her fork tapped on the plate during the meal and my little brother started tapping on his high chair tray with his fork. We laughed, but it was awkward.

Tremors can also result in spills and embarrassment.

Now we have the handSteady cup and the Liftware spoon.

These feature small movements of the hand, much as your smartphone stabilizes to take a picture.

The Liftware spoon reduces the effect of tremors by 75%.

Check out http://www.liftlabsdesign.com.

Someone thought, "Hey..."

That's where it all starts.

Inventing advice from good old Tom Edison

I found a fun blog--it's called Imagineer 7. Check it out: http://imagineer7.wordpress.com/.

There is one long entry on Thomas Edison--you know, the lightbulb guy. Well, he actually had 1,093 patents. He tinkered around and built a phonograph, motion picture camera, talking doll, concrete house, you name it.

See what you can do if you don't have a TV--he didn't invent that and no one else had either.

He believed in quantity. He set a quota of one minor invention every 10 days and a major one every six months.

One tip: Initial ideas are usually poorer in quality than later ones.

Edison believed in challenging all assumptions. He thought his lack of formal education was a plus--he leaped into everything with enthusiasm. He offered new employees soup--if they seasoned it without tasting, they were assuming it would not be salty enough--he did not hire them.

The key is take an assumption, reverse it, and to make the second version work. All restaurants have menus--so create one with no menu. What if the diners told the chef what foods they liked and he created dishes based on those foods?

He never let a failure go to waste. He recorded all of them--sometimes he could use the failed idea somewhere else.

Now--truth time. Edison did not invent the lightbulb--be he did make it commercially practical.

Read the article--more cool stuff within.