Strongly Worded Letter

Million Dollar Idea #4

I had a doctor's appointment the other day and got into a conversation with the receptionist about how rough Mondays are for most people, coming back to work and whatnot. That got us talking about how great three day weekends are and how there should be more of them.

Why not every weekend? Isn't it time to seriously look at the idea of the four-day-a-week, ten-hour-day work week for some people? And not just for the mental health benefits.

By coincidence, I just saw this story: 

     "It's a way to save gas by commuting to work one day less. West Virginia workers are thinking about going to the shorter work week which, obviously, would cut fuel consumption by 20 percent.
   This is not a new idea. It was first broached in 1973 during the first oil crisis --you know, long lines, odd and even days, back when gas wasn't even a dollar a gallon. The idea never caught on but today, several cities in California, Nevada and Arizona are already experimenting with a 4-day work week."

Seeing where the current energy crisis is going and with talk of 200 dollar a barrel oil in our future, isn't it time to take a new look at mixing up the work week? Why do most people need to work their eight hours Monday through Friday anyway? Not just four ten-hour days should be examined for many workers but how about shifting some jobs, or industries, to Wednesday through Sunday? And aren't there many businesses -say, making baseball bats- where the factory could operate 6pm to 2am instead of "regular" business hours? Nine to five is starting to look sooooo 20th Century.    

"We've got to BE Creative...B...E...Creative..."

Watch This

The conversation never actually happened but through the years some have reported that authors F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway had this exchange:

Fitzgerald: "The rich are different than you and me."
Hemingway: "Yes, they have more money."

Of course rich is relative. I know people who would mock my bank book but to others I would be considered very wealthy just by having two cows.

To the former group, here's a new item for sale you may want to get on the waiting list for. To the latter, I'm sorry you have to see this, as you sit surfing the internet on your free government laptop in your dirt hut in the Congo.


Here are the details from the Wall Street Journal.

"A $300,000 watch? Luxury. A $300,000 watch that doesn’t tell time — and that sells out? Pure genius.

Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome just launched the Day&Night watch. The watch won’t tell you what time it is. That’s so yesterday. But it does tell you whether it’s day or night — helpful, I guess, for billionaire types who can’t afford windows.

As the company’s Web site boasts: 'With no display for the hours, minutes or seconds, the Day&Night offers a new way of measuring time, splitting the universe of time into two fundamentally opposing sections: day versus night.'

What’s most impressive about the Day&Night is its complexity, given its absolute uselessness. The watch features two tourbillons — devices that overcome the ill effects of earth’s gravity on a watch’s accuracy — connected by a differential mechanism. Instead of hands, the watch has a 'contemplative tourbillon operation whereby the ‘Day’ tourbillon operates for 12 hours to symbolize working life, while the ‘Night’ tourbillon takes over afterward to represent an individual’s private time.'

Like other Romain Jerome watches, the watch is made in part with steel salvaged from the sunken Titanic, along with material from the shipyard where it was built. That sounds creepy to me, but maybe today’s buyers prefer morbid metals.

The company’s chief executive, Yvan Arpa, cited statistical studies to explain how the watch better reflects the time-philosophy of today’s wealthy.

'When you ask people what is the ultimate luxury, 80 percent answer ‘time’. Then when you look at other studies, 67 percent don’t look at their watch to tell what time it is,' he told Reuters.

He added that anyone can buy a watch that tells time — only a truly discerning customer can buy one that doesn’t.

And here’s the best part: The watch sold out within 48 hours of its launch."
   

At Least Buy Me A Drink First!

 Okay, this is crazy. If you would have told me last week that I would soon feature not one, but two, blog postings about Dan Fogelberg I would have asked what kind of dope you were on.  And you would have responded, "Nobody has called it 'dope' since Dragnet went off the air." Then again, you probably don't know what Dragnet is either so scratch that too.

The point is that singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg died this weekend of prostrate cancer. He was just 56 years old. 56. Could it have been prevented? I don't know. But he did leave this message on his own website after he was diagnosed and I consider it a tribute to him to pass it along here.  When I get to 50, I will remember what to do.

Dan wrote:


                "To each and every man....

                I cannot encourage you strongly enough to get a DRE (Digital Rectal Exam) and a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test  EVERY YEAR.
               
                The medical community suggests this for men over 50, but men with a family history of prostate cancer should start getting tested at age 40.
               
                The PSA test is a simple blood test...it only takes a minute or two. The DRE, okay, every man squirms at the thought of this exam, but hey, it too takes only a minute or two, and IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.
               
                Prostate cancer can be very slow growing or very aggressive, but detected early while it is still confined to the prostate gland, it can usually be treated and cured successfully.
               
                Once it spreads beyond the prostate it is called Advanced Prostate Cancer (PCa). At this point it becomes imminently more life threatening and harder to treat. Do yourself and your loved ones a huge favor and GET CHECKED REGULARLY. I promise you, you DON’T want to go through what I’m going through if you can avoid it.
               
                Education and awareness are key, I urge you to follow the link here to the Prostate Cancer Foundation web site and read up on how best to protect yourself and reduce your likelihood of contracting this terrible disease."


P.S. Me again. Every time I type the word "Fogelberg" the Typepad spell check tries to get me to change it to "Foreleg." I hope one day to be running the kind of blog where the word "foreleg" gets used. 

Million Dollar Idea #2

Where: The Bob Hope Burbank Glendale Pasadena Or Whatever the Hell It's Called Airport, Burbank, California.

When: Friday, 7 December, about 3:15 p.m.

Who: Random passengers and me

Why: Air travel is a popular way to travel between cities.

What: A Million Dollar Idea

This idea is definitely a time saver. See in the scene above how everyone of the 100 or so passengers on my flight from Seattle to The Bad Place are squashed together all trying to see their baggage when it come round on the carousel?

Better idea: A six foot rule. No one stands closer than six feet from the carousel. If everyone stands back from the luggage, everyone would be able to see the luggage, even those passengers not in the front row of the crowd.

The way it is done now, only about 30 people can see, rather than 100. In my new world order, when someone sees their bag, or one they think might be, they move forward to the carousel and claim it. There's no need to be right on top of the thing and block everyone else's view if you don't need to be.

P.S. Personal to the fellow at Amoeba Records in Hollywood on Friday night who came up to tell me how much he enjoys the blog. I really appreciated that. He may have just been havin' a laugh, but I decided to take the compliment at face value instead.

Million Dollar Idea #1

Here it is: Extreme Spelling Bee.

Nerdy 9-year old white boy steps up to the microphone and misspells   "vivisepulture." Instead of just a buzzer and a walk off, he gets pelted from the audience with rotten fruit.

Tiny home-schooled Mexican girl is next and misspells  "xanthosis." She gets shot in the forehead with a paint gun.

Indian pre-teen with fuzz on his upper lip correctly spells "prospicience." From the side of the stage come a litter of puppies to lick his feet.

Another home-schooler can't figure out "appoggiatura" and when she misses, a trap door opens up on the stage and down she goes into a tank of sharks.

And so it goes....warm Mrs. Fields cookies for the winners,  Montecore from the Siegfried and Roy show for the losers.  Spell it right and get a lap dance from Hayden Panettiere. Miss your word and out comes a needle full of smallpox.

Who could turn that show off? it's TV magic and it is yours for the taking!