Opportunities in problems Sep 16, 2010
When I got home from work yesterday, one of my bazillion neighbors' bazillion dogs was barking its head off.  For no reason.  Nonstop.  To be fair, I'm not a dog person, so a barking dog is about as appealing to me as a severed foot.  Ok to be honest, I wish all dogs were de-barked as part of a nationwide crackdown on noise pollution.  People would say, "I got my dog de-barked," and I would reply, "Oh, that's a shame; dogs are animals, simply expressing their dog-ness," but in my head I would be cheering because I hate more than anything else in all the world a stupid barking dog, except for those teenagers that used to live next door and throw keggers every Tuesday. 

Well that got out of hand.  My point is that barking dogs are a problem.  But dogs bark; that's what they do.  So really the problem is on my end.  Which is why I think it would be cool to take something that's a perceived problem and turn it into a potential gain.  For example, I'd like to invent a device that would capture the sound waves created by a barking dog, filter them through some sort of piston/compressor assembly, and generate electricity.  Electricity is a good thing.  A barking dog is a bad thing.  But getting electricity from a barking dog is a great thing. #technology
Psychic patronage Sep 16, 2010
There's a psychic on my way home from work every day (and they knew I'd be writing about them -- they're psychic).  It's a little building on the corner of two fairly busy streets.  It's been there forever.  There's always a car in the parking lot, and the sign is always lit up.  I'm a Christian, and I admit that Christianity has some ridiculous beliefs.  But I'm aware of the existence of more than one Christian.  I know some Jews, some Hindus, maybe a Muslim or two.  The point is that despite the unbelievability of major world religions, there are more than a handful of people who subscribe to each, and even I, as a socially awkward loner, know some of them.  Yet I don't know a single human being who has ever been to a psychic.  So my question is this:  How does this place stay in business?  I guess I could always ask a psychic. #religion