ideas posts page 6

Hierarchical Site DB Storage

in

a prototype hierarchical site database will be made containing a description and discussion of everything I own organized by category. for now this’ll allow children to have only one parent, but it will need multiple parents in the future.

page display:
a nav box at the side of each page will have links to its parent, siblings, and children. children will be ordered by type
the content will be in a box. content may also contain links to other pages, especially children, when mentioned.
a site map will provide a hierarchical link list of all pages in database

each page will be a entry in a database. It will have:
a unique id to identify it
the id of its parent page (what links to it)
type/template defining display of page by type
style of page (style sheet for colors, etc of sections). parent inherited if blank. will be unimplemented at first
content of page

root page will be home, with links to all first level sub pages.

example for stuff
transportation page
children: car, sailboat, bicycle, foot
content: It is essential to get from point A to point B: to get products stored elsewhere, see different things and people, go to locations better suited for certain functions. One comes with feet with which to travel about. This mode of transportation is very easily accomplished, requires as little as oneself, allows careful manuevering in tight places, and can easily handle terrain other transportation types have trouble with. It is also relatively very slow and tiring for longer lengths and can only handle ground. A bicycle provides transportation with the body as a motor, allowing more speedy and efficient travel. The bicycle is a fairly simple device, lightweight and easily storable in most places. A car is a much faster mode of transportation that requires very little exertion on the users part. It allows great distances to be achieved within less time and easy transport of goods. It is also big and much more expensive to own and operate…
(this is a brief overview of transportation. children are linked to in content with a brief summary of each. Each child will go into more depth.)
template: this would probably be a “summary” or “directory” type template, just a overview of a category with summaries of each child. Its children would probably be as well. The car category might have children that are of a “product” type, giving a review/discussion of specific instances of the parent. the parent of a collection of “product” pages may contain a comparison summary that provides a conclusion as to which is best for a given situation.

Design Problem Solutions/Tutorial Database

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I spend a lot of time writing html, php, and css for my website to implement various ideas and create a certain look. I very often find myself having trouble with one particular thing. I search the web with google or search forums to try to find a solution. Sometimes it’s extremely simple, while others it creates new problems. As I am often working on one part of my site at once, these problems are often related. I would like a site that is a central repository for solutions for all of these problems to exist.

The site would probably be a wiki so as to get input from many people, have a large source of authors, and continue to be updated with new problems.

Posts would be much like a tutorial. They would explain what to do, and also why.

Navigation would be critical, allowing one to quickly find solutions to a specific problem as well as for a more generic learning how to do something type fashion. A good search system would exist like most wikis have, allowing search of the title as well as the content. Also needed is a good way to relate articles and navigate to them through relations. A good, specific category system would be important, with related articles in related categories. The articles should be organized in such a way that they could be followed in a general sequence towards a specific goal like a tutorial. As an example, many people like to create CMSs to manage their site. They go through the same or comparable problems to those who’ve already made them, and thus would benefit from the knowledge of those who’ve already been through it. The cms tutorial would guide them through the process, with the most basic articles being the main path they follow and the less important articles forming side paths. Branching off based upon decisions would also lead through different paths. CMSs are similar in many ways, but some decisions in the design process lead to certain differences in the design process; branches would allow one to design their CMS and choose the branches that apply to them.

This would become sort of a code repository, with code for anything already generically written, and branches in logic allowing for all possible different needs to be accomodated.

Though I came up with this for programming and web design, it could apply to any problems, and thus web-design and programming would only be sub-categories. Examples of where this could be used are in designing a car or planning the construction of a house. Numerous decisions are made in each, though the basic concepts would be used in every implementation: every housebuilder must look at the types of flooring available and decide which is best for the application; every car body design must choose a balance between factors such as aerodynamics, appearance, and capacity to accomodate other parts; every design must choose between a more costly or less costly path based on available resource (money, time, etc).

This seems to work best for problems of design.

Versatility of Design

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An object that can have a wider range of uses, especially potential uses, should be designed to be more versatile than one with fewer uses. It must be so in that it is more able to be changed to suit particular needs.

A house must be much more versatile in design than a car. In the house, you must be able to easily move things around to suit current needs. A house is used for a lot, and those uses can change, requiring a change in layout to better suit them. A car isn’t used for as much, and thus needn’t be as versatile. A car is used for driving primarily, and possibilities for a good setup for that are more narrow than for a house. Things can be improved and tuned for specific needs, but not so much as with a house. In a house, you may need to move a light fixture for better lighting of a certain area if you decide to do something in that area you hadn’t done before, so it is good for this to be easy to do. In a car, the lighting needs that will most likely be realized through use can be thought of beforehand and designed for; it is much less likely to find a task that needs better lighting in a certain area (if the initial design was well thought out).

Writing of Ideas

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The ability to write ideas allows easy storage for later review and retrieval as well as the ability to share with others. Ideas not recorded have the possibility of never being thought again, or of being revived in such a hideous manor as to deteriorate or destroy their original meaning. It is a good idea to write down or at least tell someone else notable ideas so they may live on and perhaps bear fruit in the future

Waste Handling

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There should be a government, or perhaps commercially, run organization which handles any sort of good people no longer want. If you don’t want something, you either take it to one of their locations, or have them pick it up. They will take anything at all.

The organization will take all goods given to them and handle them through the appropriate channel.
-Recycleable goods will be sent to an appropriate recycling facility: goods such as styrofoams that are recycled in only select areas will be shipped in bulk to that area.
-Lawn debri and other compostable items will be sent to composting facilities to be used by local farms.
-Consumer goods still useable, such as old toys or electronics, will be resold in second-hand type stores or given to needy folks
-Construction material still useable will be made available to construction companies or to homeowners
-Any items that cannot be disposed of by any other reasonable means will be sent to landfills
The avenues through which each type of item is sent may either be run by the organization or through independant organizations that most properly fit the orgs needs.

The organization will need to be large spread to be economically feasable and be able to appropriately handle all types of goods. This is hard to do for startup independant companies. The org will likely have to be either an already established company that has the means to handle it, maybe even a consortium of several companies; or something like a state or federal government agency, or perhaps a consortium of local governments.

There would be charges for items the organization cannot make money off of appropriate to the costs incurred for that amount of that type of item. There will also be nominal fees for on-site pickup of items. For items the org does make money off of, the remainder of income after costs incurred by the org for handling it will be given to the discarder, either by an estimate based on similar items at the time of discarding, or later through some sort of well set up account system.

Education

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My response to a survey asking how my education could have been better

would have worked better to have:

occupation training in more of a working business environment, with no classes per-se, learning specific areas of the business as progress through one large ‘class’. the business would have all students from a given field as first observers learning from instructors, then workers still being given instruction, the more senior of who would take part in training the new ones. The business would pay students once they begin work, as well as provide the program with income. Students could elect to focus on certain areas of the business, which instructors would then concentrate on.

less concentration on memorization and much more concentration on use

less concentration on getting good grades on assignments/exams and more on learning the material – a student could learn to the same level as another, but reach that point more slowly and thus perform more poorly early on in the class and thus get worse grades though they come out with the same level of knowledge

better connection between classes in a series

many more short classes on a wide variety of topics, that would allow students to take many of these classes at once, and thus learn many more subject areas. work load would be minimal, the classes would merely provide an introduction (the basics) of the topic. I had wanted to take a lot of classes when I had looked at the course book, but was unable to because of time restrictions and especially prerequisites.

more flexibility of course hours, able to spend proper amount of time to learn current material, including both length of time spent in classroom in a day and number of weeks attending the class

ability to learn desired amount of a given subject, by either offering more and less involved versions of classes, or by allowing students in the same class to choose their desired work loads/learning amounts (with several broad categories), or by having many short (perhaps even only one visit long) classes in a series that a student could attend until they feel like they’ve had enough

vacuum insulation

in

i have been interested in vacuum insulation for a long time now. A full vacuum would allow absolutely no heat transfer through conduction (or convection, a special case of conduction). Completely full vacuums cannot be created, but a near vacuum can be achieved economically even in mass produced items such as vacuum thermoses, and provide a very high level of insulation in a very thin layer. A reflective foil layer, even thinner than the vacuum insulation, then prevents most radiation leakage, creating a very effective level of insulation.

Vacuum insulation of housing appears to have only been recently moving into a commercial existance. VIPs (vacuum insulated panels) are mass produced panels that are vacuum insulated for use in housing, with exterior materials to prevent damage (damage to a VIP to the point of allowing air leakage would result in complete insulation failure). They claim an R-Value of about 30 per inch (compared to up to 8 for foam or 4 for fiberglass). They have been used in a few select applications, but have not made mass progress yet. Mass sales are planned for use in floors, ceilings, and walls, especially in manufactured homes, in metal roofing, and in exterior doors.

There doesn’t appear to be vacuum insulated windows. Such an item would turn what is normally the largest point of heat loss in a house to a not-so-significant insulation problem. This would allow more window to be installed to provide a much more powerful passive solar heating system without the normal night heat loss problems. Glass, though weak against pressure at a point, is strong against the uniform pressure of holding gases or vacuums. With a proper thickness of glass and well sealed housing, a normal looking window could have an insulation value potentially much greater than a well insulated houses walls or ceiling.

I plan to attempt to make some vacuum based insulation, both wall/ceiling/floor panels and windows, for my home (which is very poorly insulated currently) until I succeed or until commercial alternatives become available and affordable. I only have to wait until I have the money and know-how to do it. For me, this insulation would be extremely benificial. I plan to move into a truely mobile home (mine is one of those more stationary types) which would greatly benifit from thin but highly effective insulation. I also like passive solar heating, and this would help immensely with it.

general

in

******** Walls **********/

/******** Interior Panels **********/

able to attach and detach large and small items without damaging walls

able to flip panels – one side’s black, one’s white

air and water tight seems, retained upon removal then replacement

water proof material

resists basic scratching, denting, and breaking from common bumping while moving stuff

somehow deals with problem of holes for lightswitches, outlets, etc needing to be made and unmade

ReUse: Trickle Down

in

Now old products being replaced with new models become the new models for people who can’t afford the newest.

New technology is often too expensive for poorer people, but usually eventually becomes adopted by. Technology is always being developed, requiring manufacture and purchase of new products to get the new features. The old products still exist though, and are worth less because they no longer need to be manufactured and don’t have all features of a new product. These products are then affordable to more people. With each iteration of revisions, the first product of a kind becomes affordable to more and more people, while later revisions bring new features to those who can’t afford new, but can afford better than the oldest. Older products begin making their way into “third world” countries as well, bringing them the ‘higher’ standard of living of the more developed nations. As an example, cell-phones are constantly revised and the new ones are purchased to replace the old, leaving many temporarily unneeded. If they are sent back to the manufacturer to be ‘recycled’, they are sold in poorer countries for a third of the price of the new models, making these countries able to afford them when otherwise they couldn’t.

A good reuse system should contribute to the trickle down affect, bringing a ‘higher’ standard of living to more people.

Examples of items not so long ago used exclusively by the rich only, but now spread everywhere:
-computers
-cars
-clothes washing and drying machines
-dish washing machines
-in-house plumbing
-toilets

anti-Psychiatry (drug based)

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I see there is a movement of anti-psychiatry. I generally agree with this movement and its premises. Diagnosis like sluggishly progressing schizophrenia are very scary to me. I fear being hospitalized based upon my state of mind. My mind is all that I have that will always be there, and I don’t want people messing around with it. I wouldn’t consent to taking drugs to modify it, and I certainly wouldn’t want someone else consenting for me.

The mind is very complex, well beyond the understanding of current scientists/doctors. It produces thoughts and elicits behaviours that, really, are who a person is. Many governments classify some of its problems as unallowable, essentially illegal states of being, and require unconsented treatment for these socially improper thoughts and behaviours. I agree that someone should be allowed to take medication or other similar treatments to attempt to fix their problems if they want to, but an outside mandate is an attack on the person.