December 5, 2007

Bathroom Sound Sculpture Appliance

I'm still not really sure what I think about sound sculpture, but I'm getting more interested. I recently followed a boingboing link to these ... uh, field recordings? or whatever they are. I've been noticing and wanting to record the sound at the Superfund site for a long time - the water, trains, birds, dogs, etc. -- so maybe I'll submit something.

Anyway, I remain convinced that if you're going to have noise-based art of some kind (that isn't music -- or even if it is, I guess), the bathroom is the best place to put it, and refining that idea, on a more practical level what I'd like is an appliance that is a built-in bathroom fan, light and radio. Maybe a heater, too. You know how hotels have the bathroom fan/heater/light combos? Sometimes they have a timer? It would be like that, only plus a radio. So that when you turn the light on, the radio comes on automatically. I'll bet someone is selling that, but I can't find it.

(BTW, one reason why I've been less inspired to blog lately is my scanner broke, so it's harder to create appropriate illustrations.)

Posted by mary at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

April 3, 2006

Beards!

I wish I had an invention to go with this link, but I can't think of a way to improve on the original idea, which surely must have already received a lot of press that I managed somehow to miss:

The World Beard Championships!

I'm thinking about heading out to NYC in May. Maybe I'll catch the 2006 competition.

And I can't wait to see the this documentary, Splitting Hairs.

And I guess I'll have to start reading the blog.

It is interesting. I hated beards as a child, and even as an adult I've never been very drawn to bearded men. But then I thought my ex-husband's beard thingy was cute, and now that more and more of my friends are sporting them, I've lost my aversion. So, let's hear it for beards, as well as flexibility within one's own aesthetic standards.

Posted by mary at 11:55 AM | Comments (3)

October 9, 2003

Full body blow dryer

This probably exists, but I would like to have, next to my shower stall (if I actually had a shower stall, instead of a tub) a stall that you walked into that would blow dry your entire body with nice, warm air. It would be really nice and comforting, especially on cold days.

Don't they have something like this in "Blade Runner"?

This reminds me of how my sister asked me one time (and I hope you're reading, Peter) if I ever gave my boyfriend "blow dries." What a little scamp.

Posted by mary at 12:32 PM | Comments (16)

July 31, 2003

Someone Else's Great Idea: the Controllable Flush

This is something I don't even feel like I can take any credit for anymore, except maybe I'll be discovered by some science historian someday as support for a thesis about the simultenaity of good ideas. My idea was:

Flush-O-Matic: A retro-fitting toilet flush handle and inside flusher mechanism that would give you three options for flushing, depending on your needs: Number One, Number Two, or (as Tim suggested) Number Three (alt: Mach One, Mach Two, Mach Three). This would offer all the benefits of saving water when you really didn’t need that much flushing power, without sacrificing the availability of power when you need it (as you do by putting one of those water displacing “bladders” in your toilet). It could be very cheap, unlike some of those new super-toilets, and easy to install. And you wouldn’t have to sit still for yellow water just to save water.

The flusher would work by having a rachet of some kind, so there would be a bit of resistance as you moved through each level, which would correspond to the inside flusher moving up (perpidendicular) a bit more, thereby releasing more water. Or maybe you’d choose a setting before pushing down the plunger. I’m not positive how this would work technically, but I AM positive that it’s a good idea. Maybe they have something like this in California already.

So, since "inventing" this, I discovered The Controllable Flush

I had a really nice correspondence with the company's president -- after some persistence on my part. For some reason he didn't respond to my first couple of emails talking about how I thought I'd invented the idea and how great it was that he was doing it. Then he finally responded and was pretty friendly -- I think I might have even spoken to him on the phone. I intended to go visit the company because, amazingly enough, it's here in Oregon not far from me. But I never got around to it. Alas. He did send me a bunch of brochures and stuff that I shared with all my friends. I still think it's a great idea and hope someday to get out there. Since I have a low-water toilet now, the idea of getting one for myself is not that appealing, however.

I've also had friends who visited various other, more toilet-advanced countries than our own such as Australia say they saw them there, too. But so far I haven't heard of any that have a #3 on them. That's my contribution. Actually, I guess it's Tim's contribution.

Posted by mary at 1:07 PM | Comments (7)