[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
Marek Reavis wrote: So, Edg, what toys have sparked from your fire? Playful minds want to know. Marek, Geeze, I've got hundreds of ideas, and most of them cannot be detailed herein because they've not gotten to retail and might turn a profit for me or my kin down the line. But, let me tease ya. In my box of secrets, I've got: 1. A non-electric gizmo that stores up to a dozen photographs -- each of which is instantly viewable by a mere slight shift of the hand holding the device. 2. I've got a device that is merely two sheets of plastic with meaningless smudges on them, but overlay them, and a photo appearsa neat secret decoder thingy that also might have serious security uses. 3. Geo-Quest Card Game that teaches about geography and animals. 4. Aha -- a card game that a four year old can play with almost the same skill that an adult would have -- as much fun for mom and dad as the kid. 5. A game that makes doing samyama fun. 6. Artificial intelligence programming concept that I haven't seen bandied in the literature yet, which would have many game applications. 7. A game in which the players are involved in a mad frenzy -- a melee in which all players are playing all the time with their hands grabbing and discarding objects in rapid fire fashion that requires that each player watches what the other players are doing more than what they are doing. 8. A maddening updating of the game of hide and seek where all the players are running around like mad and then suddenly freezing for a few seconds and then running like mad again. One player just stands there and smirks. 9. Wind chimes for inside -- that work on the slight air currents found indoors. 10. A construction set that has many pieces that are all identical but from which many objects can be created -- but each object is like a jigsaw puzzle and must be solved in order to be constructed. 11. A game that only can be played by folks who truly are in love because it is so sweet and intimate -- non-sexual but it cannot be played if any non-lover is observing. 12. A game like Scrabble and Risk combined -- gotta spell, gotta conquer, but a ten year old might beat an adult. 13. A stamped plastic object that one looks at until one sees famous faces in it.several. 14. A 3D playing board with grooves that allows game pieces to be slid around in a territorial competition for dominion. 15. Eight strips of paper which can be woven into a pot-holder sized mesh that yields a geometric shape -- Hundreds of shapes to achieve, each shape a puzzle to figure out how to achieve it using the same strips. 16. A three piece puzzle device into which three images can be programmed. Tens of thousands of ways for the three pieces to be combined, but only three of those orientations yields an image. Patented. 17. A jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are photos of everyday objects which have been cut-out along their outlines. These pieces then are used to create a large image by interlocking with each other ala Escher-esque tessellation. Lions and tigers and bears and washing machines and bikes and telephones and ANYTHING are used to create a photo-realistic image by snuggling with each other. 18. A jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces are not used unless one has completely solved the puzzle, but if there are pieces left over, doesn't matter because the image is still formed. The amount of pieces left over is inversely proportional to one's I.Q. 19. A card game in which one determines one's I.Q. while in competition with others doing so also. 20. Boo -- a haunted house treasure search game. If you see a ghost, you're in trouble, if another player sees your ghost, he's getting closer to winning. Ideas that got to retail are: Bite Lite -- a small fuzzy creature that bites onto a child's pajama lapel and hangs on with tiny monster teeth -- a child's friend who also has a tiny flashlight attached for revealing if there truly are monsters in a dark bedroom. Celebrity Notebook Game -- players try to be actors who by tone of voice deliver their lines such that a precise target meaning is created. The other players must guess the meanings. The more the audience is correct, the more points for the actor. Hex a Box -- a few puzzle pieces that can form a certain pattern, but there's millions of wrong ways to put the pieces together. Omni Jigsaw puzzle -- a set of jigsaw puzzle pieces that can form not merely one image but any image. The retail version of it had seven images that could be made from the pieces, but in reality, any image could be created by them. Users would buy separate instructions for additional images. Whew, that's enough. Don't get me started bragging about all the Internet services I've imagined that are just laying around -- hundreds of them just waiting for passion, time and money. I've got two human powered vehicle concepts collecting dust too. Then there's all the video games I've imagined. There's several
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
Wow! Very cool stuff, Edg. Many more (and more varied) than I had expected. 35 seems way too old for your brain, Edg; 16 seems more likely to me. Is the Bite Lite still around? I'd love to get one for the granddaughter. Marek ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_re...@... wrote: Marek Reavis wrote: So, Edg, what toys have sparked from your fire? Playful minds want to know. Marek, Geeze, I've got hundreds of ideas, and most of them cannot be detailed herein because they've not gotten to retail and might turn a profit for me or my kin down the line. But, let me tease ya. In my box of secrets, I've got: 1. A non-electric gizmo that stores up to a dozen photographs -- each of which is instantly viewable by a mere slight shift of the hand holding the device. 2. I've got a device that is merely two sheets of plastic with meaningless smudges on them, but overlay them, and a photo appearsa neat secret decoder thingy that also might have serious security uses. 3. Geo-Quest Card Game that teaches about geography and animals. 4. Aha -- a card game that a four year old can play with almost the same skill that an adult would have -- as much fun for mom and dad as the kid. 5. A game that makes doing samyama fun. 6. Artificial intelligence programming concept that I haven't seen bandied in the literature yet, which would have many game applications. 7. A game in which the players are involved in a mad frenzy -- a melee in which all players are playing all the time with their hands grabbing and discarding objects in rapid fire fashion that requires that each player watches what the other players are doing more than what they are doing. 8. A maddening updating of the game of hide and seek where all the players are running around like mad and then suddenly freezing for a few seconds and then running like mad again. One player just stands there and smirks. 9. Wind chimes for inside -- that work on the slight air currents found indoors. 10. A construction set that has many pieces that are all identical but from which many objects can be created -- but each object is like a jigsaw puzzle and must be solved in order to be constructed. 11. A game that only can be played by folks who truly are in love because it is so sweet and intimate -- non-sexual but it cannot be played if any non-lover is observing. 12. A game like Scrabble and Risk combined -- gotta spell, gotta conquer, but a ten year old might beat an adult. 13. A stamped plastic object that one looks at until one sees famous faces in it.several. 14. A 3D playing board with grooves that allows game pieces to be slid around in a territorial competition for dominion. 15. Eight strips of paper which can be woven into a pot-holder sized mesh that yields a geometric shape -- Hundreds of shapes to achieve, each shape a puzzle to figure out how to achieve it using the same strips. 16. A three piece puzzle device into which three images can be programmed. Tens of thousands of ways for the three pieces to be combined, but only three of those orientations yields an image. Patented. 17. A jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are photos of everyday objects which have been cut-out along their outlines. These pieces then are used to create a large image by interlocking with each other ala Escher-esque tessellation. Lions and tigers and bears and washing machines and bikes and telephones and ANYTHING are used to create a photo-realistic image by snuggling with each other. 18. A jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces are not used unless one has completely solved the puzzle, but if there are pieces left over, doesn't matter because the image is still formed. The amount of pieces left over is inversely proportional to one's I.Q. 19. A card game in which one determines one's I.Q. while in competition with others doing so also. 20. Boo -- a haunted house treasure search game. If you see a ghost, you're in trouble, if another player sees your ghost, he's getting closer to winning. Ideas that got to retail are: Bite Lite -- a small fuzzy creature that bites onto a child's pajama lapel and hangs on with tiny monster teeth -- a child's friend who also has a tiny flashlight attached for revealing if there truly are monsters in a dark bedroom. Celebrity Notebook Game -- players try to be actors who by tone of voice deliver their lines such that a precise target meaning is created. The other players must guess the meanings. The more the audience is correct, the more points for the actor. Hex a Box -- a few puzzle pieces that can form a certain pattern, but there's millions of wrong ways to put the pieces together. Omni Jigsaw puzzle -- a set of jigsaw puzzle pieces that can form not merely one image but any image. The retail version of it had seven images that could be made from the pieces, but in
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_re...@... wrote: I might as well toss in my great American novel while I'm at it. Have written only one chapter -- a decade ago -- sigh. It's about the birth of God. There´s your whole problem right there, Edg. You should have written the last chapter first. That´s what I do, and it works because then I have to figure out all the stuff that led up to the ending. :-) Great list. Really, really neat ideas. I know a toy store in Santa Fe that would pick up and sell any of them. I picked up some cool toys from them, including one that is a spinning top that levitates, and spins in mid-air. Endless delight.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
On Feb 24, 2009, at 11:44 AM, Duveyoung wrote: 5. A game that makes doing samyama fun. Already been made by meditation researchers and being used in some schools. It's a video game that trains attentional skills.
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
Marek, I might have a Bite Lite around here somewherestay tuned. And, yeah, I am kid's kid and always have been -- except for the fact that I, you know, raised four kids, had jobs, made money for my guru, etc. I don't think I've ever been in any other frame of mind than let's play! This is my burden -- I've never been able to quite overcome it, and I'm pretty much unemployable, but I play at playing a real person, so I have not been readily fired from my jobs but probably should never have been hired for half of them. I really hate those meetings where I know I can't shout out a joke from the back of the crowd. I have a severely bitten bottom lip. I remember this meeting with three patent attorneys, a President of a company, and his right hand guy, and then me all on the 40th floor of some Chicago skyscraper. Huge huge room, 30 foot ceiling, wall to wall windows overlooking the city's vistas, and everyone in the room getting, arrrgh!, $500 per hour to be there -- except me. Ya don't waste time with a joke, then, let me tell ya, but I burn, I burn, I burn like Spock in rut to bust out a pun. But you, an attorney, have this as your daily fare. How often do you get witty? I went through this legal process last year in which I had to do eight hours a day, five days in a row, with my attorney to prep for a disposition. I got a few jokes inserted into the process, but man, you lawyers are nit-picking, deep-thinking, focused cusses. That week was for me a real eye opener about your profession. I don't know how you can leave your work at the office. During that week, I literally couldn't enjoy anything -- went back to my motel, and didn't bother to watch TV or anything and couldn't sleep without having dream after dream about the legal material. I complemented my attorney about this, and he said, I know, I know, I try to tell my wife about this, but she just can't know the intensity of the mental work I do. Hey, any chance you can help the FF pot kids? Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Marek Reavis reavisma...@... wrote: Wow! Very cool stuff, Edg. Many more (and more varied) than I had expected. 35 seems way too old for your brain, Edg; 16 seems more likely to me. Is the Bite Lite still around? I'd love to get one for the granddaughter. Marek ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_reply@ wrote: Marek Reavis wrote: So, Edg, what toys have sparked from your fire? Playful minds want to know. Marek, Geeze, I've got hundreds of ideas, and most of them cannot be detailed herein because they've not gotten to retail and might turn a profit for me or my kin down the line. But, let me tease ya. In my box of secrets, I've got: 1. A non-electric gizmo that stores up to a dozen photographs -- each of which is instantly viewable by a mere slight shift of the hand holding the device. 2. I've got a device that is merely two sheets of plastic with meaningless smudges on them, but overlay them, and a photo appearsa neat secret decoder thingy that also might have serious security uses. 3. Geo-Quest Card Game that teaches about geography and animals. 4. Aha -- a card game that a four year old can play with almost the same skill that an adult would have -- as much fun for mom and dad as the kid. 5. A game that makes doing samyama fun. 6. Artificial intelligence programming concept that I haven't seen bandied in the literature yet, which would have many game applications. 7. A game in which the players are involved in a mad frenzy -- a melee in which all players are playing all the time with their hands grabbing and discarding objects in rapid fire fashion that requires that each player watches what the other players are doing more than what they are doing. 8. A maddening updating of the game of hide and seek where all the players are running around like mad and then suddenly freezing for a few seconds and then running like mad again. One player just stands there and smirks. 9. Wind chimes for inside -- that work on the slight air currents found indoors. 10. A construction set that has many pieces that are all identical but from which many objects can be created -- but each object is like a jigsaw puzzle and must be solved in order to be constructed. 11. A game that only can be played by folks who truly are in love because it is so sweet and intimate -- non-sexual but it cannot be played if any non-lover is observing. 12. A game like Scrabble and Risk combined -- gotta spell, gotta conquer, but a ten year old might beat an adult. 13. A stamped plastic object that one looks at until one sees famous faces in it.several. 14. A 3D playing board with grooves that allows game pieces to be slid around in a territorial competition for dominion. 15. Eight strips of paper which can be woven into a
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
Duveyoung wrote: I might as well toss in my great American novel while I'm at it. Have written only one chapter -- a decade ago -- sigh. It's about the birth of God. TurquoiseB wrote: There´s your whole problem right there, Edg. You should have written the last chapter first. That´s what I do, and it works because then I have to figure out all the stuff that led up to the ending. :-) Turq, Oh, I've got the ending down pat, but you're right, having that as a goal keeps you on the literary path. The ending: suddenly, the universe attacks. Yeah, there'd have to be a sequel. Natch! Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB no_re...@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_reply@ wrote: I might as well toss in my great American novel while I'm at it. Have written only one chapter -- a decade ago -- sigh. It's about the birth of God. There´s your whole problem right there, Edg. You should have written the last chapter first. That´s what I do, and it works because then I have to figure out all the stuff that led up to the ending. :-) Great list. Really, really neat ideas. I know a toy store in Santa Fe that would pick up and sell any of them. I picked up some cool toys from them, including one that is a spinning top that levitates, and spins in mid-air. Endless delight.
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
Vaj, I doubt my game play is that to which you're referring, but can you give me any particulars of this video game of which you've written? My game is played 24/7 by any number of players. You never know when your turn will come, you never know when any other players' turns might come, but all players know what they'll have to do when the challenge whacks ya sudden like. No player ever sees another player playing the game..unless.. My game requires a sacred intent, a magical and whimsical creativity, and STEALTH! And the game NEVER ENDS. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 24, 2009, at 11:44 AM, Duveyoung wrote: 5. A game that makes doing samyama fun. Already been made by meditation researchers and being used in some schools. It's a video game that trains attentional skills.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
On Feb 24, 2009, at 2:05 PM, Duveyoung wrote: Vaj, I doubt my game play is that to which you're referring, but can you give me any particulars of this video game of which you've written? My game is played 24/7 by any number of players. You never know when your turn will come, you never know when any other players' turns might come, but all players know what they'll have to do when the challenge whacks ya sudden like. No player ever sees another player playing the game..unless.. My game requires a sacred intent, a magical and whimsical creativity, and STEALTH! And the game NEVER ENDS. I didn't write it and I haven't played it. I've heard it talked about with the scientists involved in InnerKids, a program bringing mindfulness meditation into schools. I do know it's not played 24/7 :-). Since the idea is to train attention volitionally, people enter into the game with that intention, it's just that the training is masked as play.
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_re...@... wrote: Marek, I might have a Bite Lite around here somewherestay tuned. And, yeah, I am kid's kid and always have been -- except for the fact that I, you know, raised four kids, had jobs, made money for my guru, etc. I don't think I've ever been in any other frame of mind than let's play! This is my burden -- Or gift. You have said that you believe in God. Do you still have some believability in the idea that the reason given for creation was Lila, play? Wouldn't Let's play put you *in tune* with the purpose of creation rather than being a burden? Just asking. I've never been able to quite overcome it, and I'm pretty much unemployable, but I play at playing a real person, so I have not been readily fired from my jobs but probably should never have been hired for half of them. I really hate those meetings where I know I can't shout out a joke from the back of the crowd. I have a severely bitten bottom lip. I remember this meeting with three patent attorneys, a President of a company, and his right hand guy, and then me all on the 40th floor of some Chicago skyscraper. Huge huge room, 30 foot ceiling, wall to wall windows overlooking the city's vistas, and everyone in the room getting, arrrgh!, $500 per hour to be there -- except me. Ya don't waste time with a joke, then, let me tell ya, but I burn, I burn, I burn like Spock in rut to bust out a pun. Just to present an alternative Way to you, I have been in more than my fair share of 40th-floor meetings. I have made jokes in all of them. They kept hiring me. Go figure. I did it in the TMO, too. That is one reason why I have no interest in giving Jerry a hard time. The man was FUNNY. He could crack a joke anytime and get away with it. So could Rama. So can I. It's a matter of 'tude as far as I can tell. If you walk into the room wearing the 'tude that you Really Don't Need These People, and that you can walk out at any time, often they perceive that as competence, or Personal Power. Or whatever they think. I really don't know what they think. All I know is that I have gotten away with Being Myself in most situations in my life, whether it be the uptight, behind-closed-doors meeting rooms of the TMO, or the uptight, behind-closed-doors meeting rooms of IBM. I now find myself working for IBM again, because they just bought the company I have a contract with. So far, I've been getting away with cracking jokes in their meetings, too. Again, just saying. But you, an attorney, have this as your daily fare. How often do you get witty? I somehow suspect that Marek gets witty -- and gets away with it -- more often than you would imagine. Surfer thing. :-)
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
Cool, Edg (as re BiteLite search and find mission). You know, maybe the field of Civil Law is full of tight asses, but humor is such a huge positive in life, and that's true in the courtroom, too; and particularly so when you're in front of a jury. I love jurors to laugh and unburden their hearts a little bit, even moreso when the subject matter of the trial is distasteful or gruesome. Just yesterday I was in court all afternoon with a new-ish judge doing a double misdemeanor calendar call (i.e., she was calling her own court's misdemeanor pretrial cases and the misdemeanor pretrial cases for another judge's courtroom who was unavailable). I was carrying about 30-35 cases myself and there were maybe 90-100 cases called total. Normally, I'd be done by 4:00-4:30, but I didn't get out till 6:00. Everyone was overworked, the court clerk was audibly complaining about having to work so hard and trying to keep up with all the cases (the court clerk makes a running log of all the Court's orders and findings which are printed up and distributed as the minutes for the files), the courtroom was packed with impatient and unhappy misdemeanor defendant's. Every appropriate opportunity I got I'd insert some more-or-less humorous comment into the litany of negotiations, pleas, and continuances. Like you, I was always a wise- ass in school, always getting in trouble for saying the wrong (but funny) thing at the wrong time; but now I find that with a little discretion that wise-ass stuff pays real dividends in the day-in-day- out grind of the job. I kept it as light as the situation allowed and by the end of the calendar everyone was happy to be done and mostly smiling. As to the mental work, for the most part it doesn't burden me internally, but there is a lot of it to do. If you look at my dining room, the table and the floor is loaded with witness files, discovery, and research for a murder trial I start at the end of next month. The trial will last 4-6 weeks and I spend some time with it every evening and each weekend; there's still motions to write, witnesses to locate, problems to anticipate, but I trust that my mind will do what it has to do and when we get to trial I'll be as ready as I need to be. It's mostly automatic and I don't fret too much about it. Meanwhile, I've got two other attempted murders, one kidnapping, one robbery, two attempted robberies, a mayhem, a child molest -- all going to trial this year -- and lots of misdemeanor cases that come in every week, some of which will also end up going to trial. It's more work than I'd choose to take on but it's classic public defending and I get a kick out of doing it, regardless. The one year I did in civil law when I was back in Saint Louis was the unhappiest year of the last 10, and when I got a chance to come back to California and do criminal defense again I was stoked, and remain so. The FF kids who were busted for their grow are down around Chico, so they'll be represented by a public defender down there if they don't get private counsel. I'm in Humboldt County, so there's no way I could help them. Every jurisdiction has its own habits and customs regarding the perennial cases they all deal with. If they were in Humboldt, and they had no prior criminal record (or very little), they'd be given felony probation, maybe a little jail time. The money would be confiscated, of course ($180k is a lot of money), but that would be it. The authorities are more interested in the money than anything else. But, as someone else pointed out, if the Feds get involved (and that money may be the honey that brings them in), then they'll likely do some prison time. ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung no_re...@... wrote: Marek, I might have a Bite Lite around here somewherestay tuned. And, yeah, I am kid's kid and always have been -- except for the fact that I, you know, raised four kids, had jobs, made money for my guru, etc. I don't think I've ever been in any other frame of mind than let's play! This is my burden -- I've never been able to quite overcome it, and I'm pretty much unemployable, but I play at playing a real person, so I have not been readily fired from my jobs but probably should never have been hired for half of them. I really hate those meetings where I know I can't shout out a joke from the back of the crowd. I have a severely bitten bottom lip. I remember this meeting with three patent attorneys, a President of a company, and his right hand guy, and then me all on the 40th floor of some Chicago skyscraper. Huge huge room, 30 foot ceiling, wall to wall windows overlooking the city's vistas, and everyone in the room getting, arrrgh!, $500 per hour to be there -- except me. Ya don't waste time with a joke, then, let me tell ya, but I burn, I burn, I burn like Spock in rut to bust out a pun. But you, an attorney, have this as
Re: [FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
For every person that has some new idea about 1000 others on the planet have the same idea about the same time. Of those 1000 about 100 will actually get around to doing something about the idea. Of those maybe 10 will actually get something near completion. Of those 3 will actually complete it. Of those 1 will actually be successful with the product. IOW, there is probably nothing new under the Sun, just implementing it and getting it out at the right time. I guess this hearkens back to probably something MMY said in his teachings that ideas are really just sitting their in the transcendent and we tune into them and make them manifest. This is why I think copyrights are WAY overvalued and have WAY too long a lifetime. Those rules were made by the ignorant. Duveyoung wrote: Vaj, I doubt my game play is that to which you're referring, but can you give me any particulars of this video game of which you've written? My game is played 24/7 by any number of players. You never know when your turn will come, you never know when any other players' turns might come, but all players know what they'll have to do when the challenge whacks ya sudden like. No player ever sees another player playing the game..unless.. My game requires a sacred intent, a magical and whimsical creativity, and STEALTH! And the game NEVER ENDS. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradh...@... wrote: On Feb 24, 2009, at 11:44 AM, Duveyoung wrote: 5. A game that makes doing samyama fun. Already been made by meditation researchers and being used in some schools. It's a video game that trains attentional skills.
[FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
. . .there is probably nothing new under the Sun You're rightmore than you know. Over the years, no less than dozens of what I thought were my ideas have been imagined independently and run with by others. I invented a set of eight cubes that had magnets on each face of the cubes. The cubes challenged one to arrange them into a bigger cube if one was able to get the south poles to be abetting north poles. The schema for magnet placement was the key concept of the invention, and it was a very fun puzzle kinetically to mess with. Well, I worked up a prototype and showed it around but everyone (and we're talking ALL the major toy companies) thought it was way too expensive to make. Yet, the next year, BLAMMO, there 'twasright there in the Jacob Javitz convention hall -- done by a mom and popper who'd somehow solved the cost problem and gotten the set into a blister card for about $10 retail -- nice! It's humbling. When I would go to Toy Fair, there would be 1800 mom and pops with their one idea each -- most of them doomed to fail for lack of business skills, but, yep, there would ALWAYS be someone who was hot on one of my concepts and had gotten it to market -- usually in a far better format than I had gotten around to working up. If you really put out to get something on a shelf, you do a lot more thinking about the idea, and naturally, the concept evolves and different ways to package, market, advertise, price, name the product come to the fore -- whereas, for me, the idea might merely be on a list somewhere waiting for me to get passionate enough about it to flesh it out.meanwhile the movement belongs to those who move. The point to underline is that my ideas came to me from out of left field -- I wasn't improving on or fleshing out other ideas I'd come across at Toy Fair. I thought of myself as a pure inventor with no significant impact from the environment, but hey, it sure seems fishy that so many folks get the same ideas at the same time. Ask Alexander Graham Bell or Isaac Newton or Edison -- all of them had huge problems owning concepts that others were working on too. My inventing was more of a calling than a career. I'd get an idea and just have to work it up with duct tape and cardboard to see if it worked. Then, if it did, yep, I'd get visions of grandeur counting my chickens before they'd hatched. Then I'd hit the bricks of the real world and find out how unspecial I really waseven though I had some very original ideas. The truth is that the toy industry is one tough nut to crack, and the invention itself is but the smallest part of success -- business skills are way more important. A very simple toy can cost half a million bucks to get even a small inventory into a warehouse. But, you know me; I'm such a whiny crabbing pity-me victimized mental-case who thinks he's special that, yeah, it pissed me off that others did what I had give up on or had set aside for some nonce. It was my idea, ya see? But, finally, I got over it and realized that if I don't immediately take an idea to fruition, it never really was my idea. If there is a God, hHe sows ideas in many minds like seeds cast widely upon a field. Not all grow. Oy! Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: For every person that has some new idea about 1000 others on the planet have the same idea about the same time. Of those 1000 about 100 will actually get around to doing something about the idea. Of those maybe 10 will actually get something near completion. Of those 3 will actually complete it. Of those 1 will actually be successful with the product. IOW, there is probably nothing new under the Sun, just implementing it and getting it out at the right time. I guess this hearkens back to probably something MMY said in his teachings that ideas are really just sitting their in the transcendent and we tune into them and make them manifest. This is why I think copyrights are WAY overvalued and have WAY too long a lifetime. Those rules were made by the ignorant. Duveyoung wrote: Vaj, I doubt my game play is that to which you're referring, but can you give me any particulars of this video game of which you've written? My game is played 24/7 by any number of players. You never know when your turn will come, you never know when any other players' turns might come, but all players know what they'll have to do when the challenge whacks ya sudden like. No player ever sees another player playing the game..unless.. My game requires a sacred intent, a magical and whimsical creativity, and STEALTH! And the game NEVER ENDS. Edg --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj vajradhatu@ wrote: On Feb 24, 2009, at 11:44 AM, Duveyoung wrote: 5. A game that makes doing samyama fun. Already been made by meditation researchers and being used in some schools. It's a
Re: [FairfieldLife] Toys, games, puzzles and gizmos (Re: How old is your brain)
Reminds me of the movie A Stroke of Genius which released last week on DVD. It is the true story of the guy who invented the intermittent windshield wiper system and how the auto industry stole it. In the story when he first present it to Ford after he leaves the guy at Ford asks his employees how much does he want? The inventor was seeing dollar signs though and did not sell it to Ford and after a couple of years trying to manufacture it himself unsuccessfully his company folded. From my experience if a big company wants to buy your idea (and Ford actually wanted to come out with the product and not shelve it) take it. This guy's failure was he didn't understand the problems of manufacturing and you've pointed out how expensive it is to create an inventory for even a small product. He did successfully sue the automakers but not after the situation caused him years or heartbreak and family problems. Duveyoung wrote: . . .there is probably nothing new under the Sun You're rightmore than you know. Over the years, no less than dozens of what I thought were my ideas have been imagined independently and run with by others. I invented a set of eight cubes that had magnets on each face of the cubes. The cubes challenged one to arrange them into a bigger cube if one was able to get the south poles to be abetting north poles. The schema for magnet placement was the key concept of the invention, and it was a very fun puzzle kinetically to mess with. Well, I worked up a prototype and showed it around but everyone (and we're talking ALL the major toy companies) thought it was way too expensive to make. Yet, the next year, BLAMMO, there 'twasright there in the Jacob Javitz convention hall -- done by a mom and popper who'd somehow solved the cost problem and gotten the set into a blister card for about $10 retail -- nice! It's humbling. When I would go to Toy Fair, there would be 1800 mom and pops with their one idea each -- most of them doomed to fail for lack of business skills, but, yep, there would ALWAYS be someone who was hot on one of my concepts and had gotten it to market -- usually in a far better format than I had gotten around to working up. If you really put out to get something on a shelf, you do a lot more thinking about the idea, and naturally, the concept evolves and different ways to package, market, advertise, price, name the product come to the fore -- whereas, for me, the idea might merely be on a list somewhere waiting for me to get passionate enough about it to flesh it out.meanwhile the movement belongs to those who move. The point to underline is that my ideas came to me from out of left field -- I wasn't improving on or fleshing out other ideas I'd come across at Toy Fair. I thought of myself as a pure inventor with no significant impact from the environment, but hey, it sure seems fishy that so many folks get the same ideas at the same time. Ask Alexander Graham Bell or Isaac Newton or Edison -- all of them had huge problems owning concepts that others were working on too. My inventing was more of a calling than a career. I'd get an idea and just have to work it up with duct tape and cardboard to see if it worked. Then, if it did, yep, I'd get visions of grandeur counting my chickens before they'd hatched. Then I'd hit the bricks of the real world and find out how unspecial I really waseven though I had some very original ideas. The truth is that the toy industry is one tough nut to crack, and the invention itself is but the smallest part of success -- business skills are way more important. A very simple toy can cost half a million bucks to get even a small inventory into a warehouse. But, you know me; I'm such a whiny crabbing pity-me victimized mental-case who thinks he's special that, yeah, it pissed me off that others did what I had give up on or had set aside for some nonce. It was my idea, ya see? But, finally, I got over it and realized that if I don't immediately take an idea to fruition, it never really was my idea. If there is a God, hHe sows ideas in many minds like seeds cast widely upon a field. Not all grow. Oy! Edg
