Things I Wish I'd Thought Of

Sometimes I see news stories about someone becoming rich off an idea and someone inevitably says “I wish I'd thought of that!” Things like the iBeer iPhone app. This is an essential application for any iPhone or iPod touch owner. It simulates actual beer that sloshes around and "pours" according to the movement of the phone. Here's a guy who spends some time writing a program and it goes viral and he sells a million copies of it. Or maybe something like Ruth Wakefield's story. She put pieces of chocolate in her cookies, expecting them to melt, and invented the tool house cookie (aka chocolate chip). She didn't become rich, but did get a lifetime supply of chocolate. Yum!

The people of whom I am most envious, however, are not the “viral video” types, but a class of people I call “ethical entrepreneurs”. These are people who come up with an idea or product that not only benefits them, but also the poor or neglected members of society. How good would it feel to go to work every day knowing that the world was a better place because of what you do? we all like to think we do our small part, but sometimes it would be nice to see something concrete.

Suzanne Sadler thinks so too. Her blog "The Entrepreneurial Catholic" is all about family enterprise. Working for yourself and your family, while serving others is a truly Catholic way to work and live. Only a few posts, so far, but she has some great advice and ideas for starting a business that will change your life and other lives as well.

So what kinds of things do I admire? One of the inventions I like is the “Q drum”. This is a donut shaped plastic container that enables someone to easily transport up to 50 liters of water from a water source by pulling it along the ground. This is a big help for people living in areas without a safe water source in their home. Another is this human powered irrigation pump. It can help poor farmers in undeveloped areas grow more crops and be less dependent on weather. Suzanne Sadler called to my attention the safe bottle lamp. This is a simple kerosene lamp that won't cause a fire if it tips, helping to save third world children and families from burns or death.

Then there's the "Freedom Leg" from Forward Mobility. This is a lightweight brace that replaces crutches by redistributing force to the upper leg. It's more comfortable and helps strengthen the upper leg muscles. The company uses Kids First Enterprise to manufacture its devices in Vietnam. Twenty percent of that Kids First's workforce is disabled, and all of its profits go to projects that support the disabled and disadvantaged. How cool is that?

Of course, my area of expertise is computers, and you don't find many poor impoverished people needing software. However, the other day I came across this cool invention. With a few cheap parts and some software this inventor has found a way to turn a cell phone into a holographic microscope. In many places in the world, access to a medical lab or hospital may be difficult or impossible, but cell phones are everywhere. A doctor even in a remote area could use this invention to diagnose certain diseases.

So, got any good ideas you're willing to share? I'm interested.

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Declaration of Dependence

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind the party in power requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation and be content they can speak freely.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men human beings persons¹ are created born² equal, that they are endowed by their Ccreator³ with certain unalienable Rrights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness health care, taxes and sex⁴. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men persons, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed party in power, — That whenever any Form of Government person or persons becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People Government to alter or to abolish it ignore or ridicule them, and to institute new Government Laws, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established persons¹ should not be changed repressed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind persons are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off find common ground with such Government, and to provide new Guards taxes for their future security⁵.

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1. "person" refers to every member of the human race who is (a) already born (see footnote 2), (b) has no genetic defects that would require excessive health care costs or be unpleasant to look at, (c) has a life expectancy of at least 8 years from the current date, according to government statistics, and (d) meets any other requirements as defined by federal or state law.

2. "born" refers to a human being who (a) is wanted by all of its parents (however many there may be) or (b) if no parents are identified (e.g. clone or child of anonymous egg and sperm donors) is wanted by the state, and (b) gestated for at least 23 weeks, (c) has a weight of at least 2.2 pounds, and (d) has a length of at least 12 inches.

3. "creator" shall mean either the state, or, in the case of IVF, cloning, or other methods, the laboratory or corporation which funded or performed the procedure.

4. "sex" refers to any act, alone or with one or more other person of any sexual orientation, that gives immediate sexual gratification.

5. provided they meet the requirements of footnotes 1 and 2 above.

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Pax in Caritas on 9-11

My mother has one of the best attitudes of anyone I know. One of her axioms is when you're sad or lonely or depressed, get out there and help someone who's worse off.

I remember 9-11. I was working for a small company, and when I walked into the office that morning, something was amiss. "The twin towers were hit by a plane" someone said. I remembered how the Empire State Building had been hit by a plane many years ago, and thought it was something similar at first. Some idiot in a Cessna had takena wrong turn. "No, it's a jet" I was told.

The offices we were in had cable, but no TV (we were using it for internet access only). One of the guys went across the street to an electronics store and bought a TV, and we connected it in the conference room. The entire office piled into the room and we sat around the TV.

The images were shocking. We watched the towers go down, and spent the rest of the day talking about it and watching it played over and over. Being in central NJ, we could actually see the cloud of smoke near the horizon drifting southward. That faint cloud no the horizon made it much more real than the images on the TV set.

Over the next few days, stories began to come in. One of my best friends worked in the towers, but took that day off to take care of a parking permit issue. He was one of the only survivors in his company. Our church was hit especially hard. We had (if I recall the numbers correctly) something like 40 parishioners who were in the building, and we lost many of them. I remember going to memorial services and hearing them play the 4^th verse of "America the Beautiful"

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

while we all sat and cried. Over the next few days it became clear that I was sad. Well, now I'd say "duh", but it didn't hit me right away. I decided it was time to help someone. Fortunately for me DW's company had a program where employees (and their spouses) could volunteer to help support the rescue efforts. So we signed up, got our assignment and set out for some warehouse in northern NJ to do something. What we wound up doing was sorting donated material and moving it around a hug warehouse to be sent over by barge to the rescue workers.

We had pallets of work gloves, dust masks, water, sports drinks, T shirts. You name it, we loaded it up. In retrospect the work was fairly trivial in the grand scheme of things, and we weren't equipped with the skills to do it very well (computer geeks are not known for their strong backs), but we were doing something to help, and it was like therapy for me. When I went home that evening, sweaty and dirt streaked, I felt 100% better.

The moral of this story, if there is one, is that sometimes, mother knows best. Feeling blue? Find someone and help them. You'll be doing both of you a favor.

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Money Can't Buy Me Love

I saw this article in Science Daily that makes some shocking claims

If you think having loads of money, fetching looks, or the admiration of many will improve your life — think again. A new study by three University of Rochester researchers demonstrates that progress on these fronts can actually make a person less happy.

This is "striking and paradoxical" (at least according to the article). It continues

The findings in this study support Self-Determination Theory... The theory holds that well-being depends in large part on meeting one's basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Very nice and scientific, but although the authors cite how previous researchers overlooked things, it sounds like they do too, unless "relatedness" includes service to God and to others. According to this much less scientific survey clergy are the happiest people followed by firefighters (who are mostly Catholic, as we all know).

Which leads to an even less scientific theory I call "conservation of compensation". Ever wonder why lawyers get paid so much? Because (almost) everybody hates them! If it were a respectable job (like teacher or firefighter) they'd be happy to take the job even if it didn't pay well. I propose that this law is universal, except for doctors. I'm still trying to figure them out.

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