h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I saw that title in the 'recent conversations' list and liked it a lot.

But it's connected to the conversation forum for 'a good night's sleep'.

I'm sure there are more 'silly ideas that work' out there to be shared and enjoyed??

Helicopters. They look ridiculous. They have no right to stay up in the air the way they do. I'm not sure if that's the sort of thing you had in mind, but they *are* silly, and they do work.

Umbrellas, too. We take them for granted, but just think of all those automatic extending mechanisms and articulated joints.

And all that stuff you can buy in those little mail order catalogues that come with the Sunday papers - you know the sort of thing, motorised tie racks and crazy machines to enable you to practise golf in the office. Solutions to problems that nobody has got.

I used to have a device in my car (I'm going back 20 years now) which held pipe tobacco. It had a little springloaded paddle wheel, and by pulling on a little lever you could fill your pipe one handed whilst driving. It also had a little tamping device, but it didn't light your pipe for you. Anybody who's ever tried to light a pipe whilst driving will know that it's a very efficient way to crash.

I don't know if these count, although they are definitely silly, and they do work, but I have some motoring magazines from the early 1960s, and amongst the devices featured are the 'Car Fry', a 12V frying pan so you could do a cooked breakfast on the move (I'm not making this up) and a hammock for babies which slung between the tops of the front and back seats. It was attached with 'strong wire clips'. This held the baby securely in place, until you braked, when the baby was presumably propelled head-first through the windscreen.

Oh gosh, I forgot my automatic cigarette dispenser! Another 'boon' for the motorist (this garbage was always a boon for the motorist).

Imagine a plastic cylinder under the dash with 10 tubes that can each hold a cigarette. Each tube has a spring in the bottom. Add a rotating lid wih a hole in it - all you have to do is line up the hole with a loaded tube and - presto! - a cigarette will be propelled into your waiting hand. Or the back seat.

If I hadn't given up smoking I'd still be using it. Okay, that last bit is a lie. But it did work.

erm - to be more precise I probably should have put 'silly ideas that work - and some people actually would want to use / try'..

so helicopters are a VERY good example. Did you know Da Vinci invented it but was too early to have the means to actually build it?

have a (positively) surprising day

... some of your 'unidentifiable things in the kitchen drawer that are bound to come in useful' might qualify as well..

This comes from another thread, but how about drinking hot tea to keep you cold?

exactly what I meant by my question...

reminds me: does anybody have an idea why desert nomads [politically correct?? ] often are dressed in black - seems to me that black doesn't reflect the sun rays?

I also often wear black t-shirts in the sun. People look at you in a weird way when you wear black clothes and drink hot chocolate on a warm summer day. But I think what happens is the clothes absorb all the heat, and if it is loose and your skin doesn´t touch it, you don´t feel the heat. Ever tried bending over when wearing black jeans after having stood in the sun? Ouch!

- homeopathy
- the placebo effect in medicamentation

- eating bread or rice instead of drinking water after having eaten something too spicy

- taking a shower to make the phone ring
- lighting a cigarette to make the bus arrive

Doing a picnic to make it rain?

Actually drinking milk should be good after spicy food. Water should only make it worse.

aha - so the trick is to wear LOOSE black clothes and not tight ones? Thank you!
But why not white(ish)? Maybe because of them getting dirty much faster?

- making a safety copy to prevent something from going wrong (and - unfortunately - making something go wrong by omitting to make a safety copy..)

taking an umbrella to make sure it won't rain (well - not applicable to every country I reckon)

picnic:

taking a book to make sure you won't have to wait long (and again: also the reverse)

inviting people to get yourself doing something in the household before they arrive

Hmmm, that one only works for women doesn´t it?

Washing the car makes it go better.

And lighting a cigarette gets the waiter to bring the next course in a restaurant. I don't smoke anymore - what am I to do? And how come I put on weight when I gave up smoking and I can't get served anymore?

Try putting incense on the table, will probably also make him appear fast. But perhaps bringing a fire extinguisher.

Xanatic:

- believing in something so convincedly that it works even if it's not supposed to [and even if you're a man]

I've tried that believing in things making them work idea. It does work, sometimes. And I am a man. Sometimes it all ends in tears, though.

I don't think I believe in the incense idea enough to make it work, though.

No. I don't understand how you can wear clothes that don't touch your skin.

Perhaps the answer would to be to to wear a layer of white clothes under the black ones. That would serve two purposes:-

1. Stop the black clothes touching your skin.
2. Keep the white ones clean.

PP