SWCAMBORNE

Way cool video of blasting a dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State.

Explosive Breach of Condit Dam from Andy Maser on Vimeo.

It appears that there is a wonderful remediation opportunity here and in the hundreds of other small dams that are going to be taken out in the next few decades.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

This skycap at the Atlanta Airport built a cup holder onto his baggage cart.

Excellent!

Nobody visits Maryhill Henge

and even less people go to Carhenge.

So few in fact that according to this story in a local (northwestern Nebraska) newspaper Carhenge is for sale.  Why not move Carhenge to Maryhill and build the critical mass of both.  I imagine a blend of Area 51 and Storm King Art Center.

One of the Passover rituals is to dip parsley in salt water.  I’m not sure why.

At every Seder I have ever been to the salt water was made at the home.  It is easy to do but sometimes it is done wrong.  Usually not enough salt.  My suggestion is to sell premixed salt water in a beautiful bottle with a connection to Israel.  It could be purified Red Sea or Dead Sea water.

A test market could be done by having a youth group like United Synagogue Youth try to sell it in one area.  The unique selling proposition is: Convenience, Purity, Connection to Israel and Tradition.

The Honey for Rosh Hashanah promotion from Temple Or Hadesh in Memphis shows how a small company could get this started by private labeling for Temple gift shops.

At Rosh Hashanah to celebrate and/or insure a sweet new year in our Jewish tradition we dip apples into honey and say a blessing.  This year our friend David Julian and his family  in Tennessee sent us a beautiful gift of honey for the new year.  He is who the Rabbi/Cantor of a new congregation, Or Chadesh, in Memphis.

It is an excellent gift as a way to stay connected to old friends and as a fund raiser for Jewish organizations.  It has given me a new idea for my old Tears of Affliction Passover product idea.

In many Arab countries last spring there were revolutions. Three of them Morocco, Egypt and Libya  ended up causing the government to fail and new people and hopefully democratic ideas to rise.  This movement has come to be know generally as the Arab Spring. And it is not over yet.

If Mexico were to have a similar revolution against corruption, drug violence and the power of the oligarchs I propose that it could be called the Cilantro Spring.

Now I’m not proposing that this should happen, that it is a good idea or encouraging it in any way.  I’m just saying if it does happen: The Cilantro Spring is a good name for it.

A smart young Mexican entrepreneur should buy the URL for this one.

This has happened to everyone who travels.  You are driving along and you see a field of something.  You want to know what it is.  And you wish there was a sign that said Almonds or Cotton or Sorghum.

Pretty soon there will be an app for that.  After you download the app ($3.00) to your iPhone you will be able to point your camera at a field and it will tell you what is growing there.  Pretty cool.

The technology will be an adaptation of already existing stuff like Google Maps, Zillow, Bridge Hunter and Wickipedia.  If you intuitively understand how this could work you are the one to build and market this app.

The beauty is that the revenue stream will come not just from app sales but also from advertisers like local merchants near where you are and agribusinesses who want to influence you.

You see problems.  I see opportunities.

We saw this sign in Cave Creek, Arizona.  I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure the IRS would want more details on this transaction.  Another bad idea gone awful.

Many people have an extra refrigerator in their garage and feel guilty about it.  It is useful for storing extra food and drinks for parties and it didn’t cost anything because it was the old kitchen refrigerator.  But it an electricity hog and is expensive to run.  Somewhere between $240 and $300 per year.

After we gave our old garage refrigerator (pictures above) to Lillian I decided to look for a super efficient refrigerator designed for occasional use in garages.  My little bit of research tells me that this is an entrepreneurial opportunity.  Nobody is targeting this market (guilt free garage refrigerators) and the available products are not well advertised and promoted.  I smell a money making opportunity.

Does it upset you that the news media goes on witch hunts.  They tend to exaggerate the import of even minor events.   Of course they do it to sell papers or gain viewers.  The theory is that if  an event  appears cataclysmic more people will listen to them.  The Gulf oil spill last year is exhibit A of this type of hysteria.  My suggestion is don’t let it upset you.  Take advantage of it by investing in the companies whose stocks are pummeled by the negative publicity.

Some examples:

• During the gulf oil spill I bought BP it is up 20%
• When the government was taking over GM and Chrysler I bought Ford (up 40%)
• In the spring when gasoline in California went over $4.00 I bought Exxon (up 15% in 3 months)
• When Starbucks dumped Tassimo (division of Kraft) and went to Keurig (div of Green Mtn Coffee) I bought Green Mountain.
• I bought Apple the first time that Steve Jobs was reported to have cancer. The stock has tripled.
• Now that News Corp is being beaten up in the UK I’m buying.

Let the over-reaction of others be your friend.  Hysteria make even sensible people lose perspective and you can take advantage of it.