Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Oh yes....lawnmowers. I remember those.

Do you remember hearing stories from 40 years ago about some inventor who perfected a car engine that could get 100 mpg, but then all talk about it disappeared because his invention was supposedly bought out by the oil companies?  Seems they had a vested interest in seeing us chug along in our 15 mpg chariots, buying oil/gas from them by the boatload, pun intended.

I have an idea similar in its potential to revolutionize how we live our lives, but seeing as how I pretty much screwed off during high school chemistry and learned little more than how to make stink bombs, I don't know how to develop it.  I can be the creative (read:  screwball) partner, now I just need a smart geeky partner to breathe life into my idea and it's off to the bank we go.  Here's my idea:



I was out this morning walking the pooch when I noticed how ragged the lot across the street looked.  A guy with a big tractor was just out there last week cutting it, but already some weeds are now knee-high again.  Not all....just some.

Chemical companies can make stuff to make things grow faster (fertilizer), and they know how to make potions to make green stuff die (herbicides), right?  (Yeah, yeah, I know....we're poisoning Mother Earth, blah, blah....just stick with me here.)  Why can't they make something that makes everything grow at the same rate?

Just imagine....you mow your yard in the spring.  It looks nice.  A month later everything....grass, weeds and all....are now 3 inches tall.  (Hey, green is green.  Just don't look too closely.)  Another month later, they're all 4 inches tall.  Another month 5 inches tall, etc.  

Eventually, depending on how big a dog you have, you'll need to mow your lawn again (you'll know it's time when you let your dog out and you can't see him anymore), but until then yard mowing will just be a twice or three-times-a-year event.  Woo Hoo!


Of course, this is bad news if you're the CEO of a lawnmower manufacturer or maybe Briggs and Stratton, but screw 'em.  We just got our weekends back, guys!  

OK....I need a geeky partner with a knowledge of chemistry (or at least the patience to do a lot of online research).  Who's interested?  *Cha-ching!*

S

9 comments:

  1. I never took chemistry, but I think there are a lot of factors that would come into play like the soil content, how much sunlight and rain the area receives, etc. It would probably be impossible to make a one-size-fits-all solution you could buy at the Home Depot.

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    1. Negative vibes, PT. If they can grow it and kill it, why can't they just stunt it?

      S

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  2. My idea is to just forget about manicured lawns altogether - just let everything grow willy-nilly!

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    1. Yep....that'll work, too. And I'm guessing Mike would concur? ;)

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  3. I think that idea about the high performance engine being kept from the market came from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I've heard this for years but I don't think this story has been substantiated.

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  4. Kelly beat me to it - that was going to be my suggestion.

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  5. And risk "turf toe"? No way! ;)

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