Today, as I tried to rein in and direct two "under-fives" and two "old enough to know betters", I had a light-bulb moment. A contribution toward the scientific development of renewable resources. One that will light up every city in the continental U.S., eliminate the childhood obesity dilemma, and..... decrease parental psychiatric admissions by at least 25%.
Are you ready?
Imagine a giant generator with multiple storage batteries powered by non-other than a pre-schooler on a giant hamster-wheel. (Come on, you know it's a brilliant idea!!)
Families with multiples may even be able to tap in to this as a source of extra income as they sell the extra energy back onto the grid. Parents could use this to fund the replacement of the multiple items of clothing that are now stained beyond belief with paint, play dough, and who-knows-what.
Need extra electricity? Remember those marshmallow-super-crispies that you refused to buy? Go ahead and give the little tykes a treat and save yourself a cereal isle meltdown.
Now I know some super-brilliant person has probably already come up with the schematics and parts list for this. Probably someone who, at one time, had to babysit a younger sibling, went to university, and is now trying to save the world. (We all know that an actual parent would never have time to put all the parts of this together.)
So, go green. Save the world. Save your sanity. Light up the world.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Utopia - part 2
I finally had a chance to read more of Utopia on the long drive home from vacation.
I had to chuckle as I read through "Book One: The First Book of the Conversation of Raphael Hythloday concerning the best state of a Commonwealth." I kept thinking of Solomons words, "There is nothing new under the sun, but it is all vanity and a striving after the wind." Yes, over the course of 400 years, through various political and religious changes and upheavals, we still have the exact same problems and humans continue to think up 'new' philosophies to fix them. Every so often, I would quote a sentence or two from the book as we drove. It would seem that, except for the antiquated language, some of the 'current events' could have been taken from today's news journals.
The main theme of Book One is how the unequal distribution of wealth has led to societal problems. Also, how the crime/punishment equation being unbalanced was ineffectual (ex. the death penalty for stealing food). Moore recounts how rampant unemployment and homelessness, arising from the greed and shortsightedness of the wealthy, had led to increased crime as 'peasants' try to provide for self and family via theivery. His philosophical answer seems to be a type of socialist/communist ideal where wealth is capped (for the King), acquisition of new government lands is abandoned (no more wars to increase a nation's holdings) and a country's wealth in increased by investing within its own borders. The wealth was then equalized amoung the citizens because all had opportunity to benefit from it. The wealth would be measured, not by one man's holdings, but by the overall peace and prosperity of the citizens as a whole. Thankfully, he is wise enough to admit that while such ideas might be successful in theory (great foder for the minds of philosophers), they might not play out in an actual, workable setting (as can be seen by historical attempts at such governments). The ideals are tempered by arguments about why such a 'perfect' system could not be put in to effect, namely the mis-educated, prejudiced, greedy, and power hungry entourage that surrounds and influences the ruling heads of state. (Hythloday's view of the King/courtiers/advisors - not mine, BTW.)
I could only take this book in small doses. The sentence structure and language really requires undivided attention. More than once, I wished I had a dictionary for some of the older words. Also, knowing by historical testimony that Moore's philosophical arguments were flawed perhaps altered my view of the material from what was intended to be a serious thought-provoking exercise into a tradgic comedy. Seeing that 400 years after his observations, the same basic human problems exist, jaded my objective.
Still, I did enjoy the challenge both literary and mentally. Book Two is significantly longer. I will post more on that as I have the chance to read it.
I had to chuckle as I read through "Book One: The First Book of the Conversation of Raphael Hythloday concerning the best state of a Commonwealth." I kept thinking of Solomons words, "There is nothing new under the sun, but it is all vanity and a striving after the wind." Yes, over the course of 400 years, through various political and religious changes and upheavals, we still have the exact same problems and humans continue to think up 'new' philosophies to fix them. Every so often, I would quote a sentence or two from the book as we drove. It would seem that, except for the antiquated language, some of the 'current events' could have been taken from today's news journals.
The main theme of Book One is how the unequal distribution of wealth has led to societal problems. Also, how the crime/punishment equation being unbalanced was ineffectual (ex. the death penalty for stealing food). Moore recounts how rampant unemployment and homelessness, arising from the greed and shortsightedness of the wealthy, had led to increased crime as 'peasants' try to provide for self and family via theivery. His philosophical answer seems to be a type of socialist/communist ideal where wealth is capped (for the King), acquisition of new government lands is abandoned (no more wars to increase a nation's holdings) and a country's wealth in increased by investing within its own borders. The wealth was then equalized amoung the citizens because all had opportunity to benefit from it. The wealth would be measured, not by one man's holdings, but by the overall peace and prosperity of the citizens as a whole. Thankfully, he is wise enough to admit that while such ideas might be successful in theory (great foder for the minds of philosophers), they might not play out in an actual, workable setting (as can be seen by historical attempts at such governments). The ideals are tempered by arguments about why such a 'perfect' system could not be put in to effect, namely the mis-educated, prejudiced, greedy, and power hungry entourage that surrounds and influences the ruling heads of state. (Hythloday's view of the King/courtiers/advisors - not mine, BTW.)
I could only take this book in small doses. The sentence structure and language really requires undivided attention. More than once, I wished I had a dictionary for some of the older words. Also, knowing by historical testimony that Moore's philosophical arguments were flawed perhaps altered my view of the material from what was intended to be a serious thought-provoking exercise into a tradgic comedy. Seeing that 400 years after his observations, the same basic human problems exist, jaded my objective.
Still, I did enjoy the challenge both literary and mentally. Book Two is significantly longer. I will post more on that as I have the chance to read it.
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