Night Thoughts

Ideas tonight

These thoughts swirl through my mind and wake me – pushing me to write them down at 2:55 am (now) lest I forget them as they often fade in the morning mind fog I usually experience.

1. A website that takes writers and sponsors or patrons and puts them together. Would-be authors would put out a beginning chapter and patrons would pay for the author to continue to the next chapter. The patron would invest in the creation of a project they like and the author gets financial support as s/he writes. An escrow account can be set up so that once the writer has completed the chapter or number of words promised, the writer can publish the chapter and collect the funds to support the next writing. This would allow the author to set the amount s/he is willing to accept as payment and allow multiple patrons to support the work. In the event the time limit set by the author to deliver the chapter is passed without a chapter published , the patrons would be refunded and the book ended.

1. The website could be PatronoftheArts.com or Writer’s Workshop or Writer-Patron Collective or some other descriptive central clearinghouse for artists to rise or fall based on reader’s tastes and bypassing traditional publishing hurdles that stop would-be writers from ever being discovered or recognized.

1. The website owner (presumably me) would take a percentage of the serial as it is being funded. It would be large enough to support the ever expanding endeavor but not enough to encourage copycats from stealing the idea.

1. A spin off idea is an artisan village online where craftspeople and artisans could put up images of their wares with a description and as the pieces are sold, the website owner would get a percentage of each sale offering the artisan a place of business online where shoppers come to explore many different crafts and custom pieces for free but only pay for the service when they sell. I have always wanted to take an abandoned Kmart or similar store that had a lot of parking and set up an artisan village where local creators could sell their wares,

1. Another spinoff is my idea of the finest teachers in any subject offering their courses on video or other media and competing to be the “Top Teacher”. In reality we would be getting the best courses for students. This would bring education to ever improving levels as each year, a competition is held to be named top teacher and their video or media course would be sold to students and the teacher would receive the royalty. A film/media crew or crews could be created and hired to have the teacher make the course accessible to students. The Top Teacher Award would not only provide cudos for the teacher but also augment the pathetic amount a teacher receives each year for his/her efforts. Schools could license these courses and allow the existing teacher in the subject to augment and help students with gaps in the courses as a tutor while each student receives the same education and therefore the same opportunities in learning. The Great Courses Company would be on my buy list as they are the closest thing I’ve seen to this idea but I would expand it to include K-12 education. Another buy list would be the company that produced Cornerstone – a computer program we used in the 1990’s that taught, trained and tested individual students on computer and tracked each student’s progress for the teacher to evaluate and supplement.

1. I would like Google, who now has mapped pretty much all of the country, to go back and take video of these roads perhaps recording temperatures, humidity and someday, smells so that a recreation chamber could be made to visit places from a room designed to provide both video and duplicate the environment as a true virtual reality room. While there may be a time when computers can accurately create such an environment, I think that real video of real places gives an authenticity to the space at least in the beginning. As time passes, this real video will be considered today’s equivalent of “Old School” and therefore a premium valued by the devotees of the future. This room then could be added to or built into dwellings as an entertainment center as wells as a place where a variable environment could be maintained to support whatever work or leisure activity was warranted at the time. This would give Living Room a whole new meaning.

1. I would like to see a machine that records what we buy – using the barcodes put on items but also flexible enough to manually enter and then uses that resource and duration of use as in when it is thrown away [a scanner in the trash can] to create a shopping list that is timely and predicated on buying habits. Once the patterns are collected, the data can be used to also create a budget, record best sources for buying and track price increases/ decreases to predict a future budget and suggest possible alternatives. This would reduce cost, waste, and improve time use and aid in decisions. Expand this idea to all we buy, all we own, and add location to the equation and we can see a real picture of our assets which would aid in both insurance claims and locating items when they are needed.

1. I would like to learn home hydroponics and investigate those who claim they can make $100,000 on a half acre. I would like to make a mobile version of that which will fit in the back of a pick up truck so it may be moved to a new location. Each one would be a module that could be added to by other modules with a minimum of effort. These can be sold once perfected.

1. I would like to make a workshop out of those metal shipping containers that are now 53’ long. I would take them 2 high and 2 wide putting a translucent roof over them where the larger projects could be created and each container be used for a different purpose: one would house the power – wind and solar being the main components, another would actually be a house made of 2 or more containers, yet another would be a workshop devoted to smaller projects or project parts, still another would be a food growing environment. Storage of tools and equipment to carry out projects could be housed in another container or two and all could be protected by locks and design along with video surveillance. Some could be used under ground to weather inclement climates and each could serve as rain collection sites to channel water to a reservoir for the needs of the compound.

1. I would like to create a storage site for people to rent these containers and store their RV’s and other vehicles.

1. I would like to take a basic power train – engine, transmission etc. and create snap on fiberglass or other easy to mold material cars that just bolt on securely and plug in to the drive train. Then we can have a sports car, a family car, a van or truck or camper all using the same base. We can snap on which ever vehicle we need that day whether it be commuting to work or leisure time. The power plant would have to be sufficient for any of these vehicles.

1. I would like to take common containers like shipping or even the back of a pick up and design a shell that can receive a variety of environments that just slide into it. An office in a pickup bed or container, even a sleeping quarters or mobile living quarters or possible housing peddlers wares -- but all units designed to slide into a predesigned shell that provides all the connections needed for the operation of any environment.

So now I have -- as the other thoughts that have awakened me have already evaporated during my consciousness and effort to capture these ideas.

Now I will attempt to sleep the remainder of my night satisfied that at least some of my creativeness is not lost on dreams.

-Mitch Terrusa

11-23-2016