Good ideas

It was a good idea to think of sending a letter to someone via a postal system, so that everyone could send letters - not just people who could afford messengers of their own. (And I wish I could go someplace with such charming pillar boxes when I want to post a letter! Those are in the UK, where they seem to have some kind of unique genius in charming design for ordinary objects.)

It was also a good idea to connect people via telegraph lines ... and then telephones ... and to put those 'phones into houses. Yes. All good ideas. For summoning help, finding your loved ones, ordering pizza ... telemarketers notwithstanding, that was a good idea. Thanks, Innocenzo, Antonio, Johann Philipp, Elisha, Alexander Graham, and Thomas. You had some good ideas there.

It was also a good idea to hook up all the people everywhere. I bet there were a lot of grumpy folk in rural areas who didn't want the city men coming in, and who grumped about the Rural Telephone Administration as much as they did about Rural Electrification. The first man of the house in this house was not pleased about electricity (or indoor plumbing, for that matter) and the family tells me that the old man would not stay here to watch the installation. He left the house for the day in protest. But there's no stopping progress, and this was progress. It is better not to be isolated.

It's also better not to pollute the world we live in. A lot of toxicity happens with batteries of any kind, and now that we're all the way up to cell phones (and a plethora of other electronic communications devices - enough to make us all deaf and distracted for all eternity), we are ready to start solving that pollution thing. Here comes one of the best ideas I have seen in my lifetime. This one ranks right up there with recycling bins at the curb, TiVo, and distance learning. (Of course, once again, Japan is waaaaaay ahead of us here in the U S of A.)

See this? It's a cell phone ... and it's solar powered!

The phone, created by Sharp and Japanese network KDDI, is set to be released this summer. It works by using a special solar panel that snaps onto the device and soaks up the sun's rays. The companies say 10 minutes in the sun will give you enough juice for about a minute of talk time, or two full hours of standby power. (From: Today@PC World)

Ten minutes. Hmm ... I wonder if we're going to get a whole ten minutes of sun today here in Skamania County. We might not - but this is still a good idea. I have a solar powered calculator in my purse. It's very tiny, and it always turns on, and I know the sun does not get into the depths of my purse very often, so I know they're going to invent a cell phone with even better solar capabilities. And that's a good idea.