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Google created too many challenges, so we've moved HolyCowIdeas to its own domain.

Hopefully, you can move with us by using the link below:

HolyCowIdeas.com

New Drill Bit Means More U.S. Oil Production

A new drilling method may allow for 2 million barrels a day of oil pumped from U.S. soil. I'm the first to point out that we need to switch to alternative fuels ASAP, but I also acknowledge the value of keeping American money in America.

It's a fact, nearly everyone drives a gas-powered automobile and also a fact that the U.S. is nearly hostage to foreign interests as they continue to raise prices because they can. We must have an alternative to $100 per barrel of oil being sent outside the U.S. and we cannot convert to electric, solar or hybrid vehicles overnight.

I say, put the new drill bit - actually a process that breaks the shale with water and other sources - in action right now, send trucks to Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming and the Dakotas tomorrow and start pumping gas next week.

See more about this article at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_re_us/us_shale_oil

Reveal A Brand NEW Sexy You With The Next Generation Of Skin Care!

What if there were a simple, natural, and clinically proven way for you to
completely and dramatically renew the appearance, feel, and health of your
skin from the comfort of your own home?

Until recently, these type of results were only available to the select
few who could afford expensive salon or risky chemically based treatments,
simply because there was not a safe and effective skin peel process (approved
for home-use) that had ever lived up to this claim.

At Ginalé Skin Care (http://www.ginaleskincare.com)we don't just offer claims, we put you, your health,
and the beauty of your skin first! We offer a relaxing, spa-like, 3-step
facial treatment so gentle yet effective, that it can be used by anyone of any
skin type, age, or color. The Ginalé Skin Peel is the best kept secret in
the skin care industry!

How The Ginalé Skin Peel Works:

Over time, the outermost layer of the skin thickens and creates a build-up
of dead skin cells that it cannot fully exfoliate. Add to that, the amount
of sun exposure and pollutants we are all exposed to on daily basis.

This leads to many different skin problems in addition to the dulling and
aging of the appearance of the skin. This happens to all of us and no one
is immune.

The Ginalé Skin Peel was developed for our clients as an answer to
chemical-based peel products that are known to cause lengthy downtime, extreme
pain & burning, risk of infection, or even permanent scarring and
discoloration.

This revolutionary product contains FDA approved ingredients that are safe
to use on the face, neck, chest, arms, and other parts of the body! (an
industry first...)

This effective, peeling treatment helps rejuvenate the surface of the skin
and only takes 10-15 minutes to complete per session. It creates an even
and controlled shedding of several layers of skin, which allows the
unblemished layers to be brought to the surface and exposed.

(http://www.acnefreein3days.com)

The Ginalé Skin Peel is ultra easy to apply and can provide results in
only its first use! It invigorates and revitalizes your skin, and can provide
even better results over time with continued use. Experience what it can do
for your skin today!

$1,000 homes for Cops and Firefighters in Detroit

Now this one is cool.  2 of the 3 groups hardest hit by the economy now get a break if they are willing to live in the city limits of Detroit.  The mayor, Dave Bing, regardless of your political views has gotten this one right!

http://www.clickondetroit.com/community/26772277/detail.html

Not only do the policeman and firefighters get the homes at a great price, they also can get up to $150k for renovations and likely to get rid of vagrants or drug dealers.  So, not only do they get a bargain, the neighborhoods should also become more livable and enjoyable from the mayor's decision.

Of course there are always naysayers, but you've got to commend the effort and at least these are ideas and suggestions that seem to make sense.  Do you have a better idea?  Have anything that you think can help Detroit and every other city being hurt by the economy?

Share your thoughts now.

Visible phone menu system

You dial a phone number anywhere today and you get the dreaded menu; Dell, IBM, Blue Cross Blue Shield and AIG all use them, where the poor user is forced to wade through 3 or 4 levels of menus just to get to the right choice.  Don't get me started if that choice goes to voicemail...

Idea - have the menu sent over the phone line, so if the phone you call from has a display, you can see the menu and read in your native language too.  Plus, companies REALLY focused on customer support, could provide an option to reach the operator on the 1st menu.

Nothing like calling to discuss your DirecTV bill or mis-applied credit on your VISA card, only to wait over 3 minutes to finally hear that the average wait time is 7 minutes.

Visual phone menu, that's my idea for the day.  Do you have one?

Visit ReadWriteDonate.com today to join support for Public Schools in America.

5 New Planets found in our galaxy

I am totally convinced humans are not the only living beings in the universe because it would just be naive to think in an infinite universe we are the only ones.  What do you think?

Still, it is very cool to see that new planets are being found so close to home with similar distances to their stars, so as to make water available for life to be a possibility.  Today's article in CNN has the full story - Kepler space telescope spots five Earth-sized planets in our galaxy

Frozen Water Pipe Catcher

Yesterday my water pipe in the kitchen froze and no one would have no, but for the side comment from my daughter, Mollie, who said, "oh yeah, it's weird that the cold water didn't work."

If not for that one passing comment, I may never have learned about the potential catastrophe before it happened.  As it turned out the electrical tape I rushed to buy would not work anyway, because it was 6' long and my [visible] water pipe was only 6" long.  We have an overhang and on the back of the house about 18" that makes our main level 3 feet wider than the basement and it seems the pipe and the rest of the space in that overhang are completely uninsulated - a whole 'nuther' discussion for another time.

So, with a 2" x 4" hole cut out around the pipe in the bottom of the cabinet, I could feel how cold the pipe was and downstairs the pipe was completely covered with spray foam insulation - a project I had just finished 2 months ago - thankfully.  A 1600 watt hair dryer and 10 minutes was all it took to change the water drop every 5 seconds, to every 3 seconds, then 2 and 1 second intervals, until finally a fully working water supply to the sink.

My Idea: 
   Temperature sensors that attach wirelessly to water pipes throughout the house every 2 - 4 feet and register with the thermostat where a sudden change can be alerted and either updated or acted on to prevent frozen water pipes.
  Another usage for these sensors would be to catch insulation deficiencies and more importantly to help with fire detection and the ability to be monitored remotely with a default action to call someone in case you are not home at the time.

How to copyright your blog work

It is important to give someone proper acknowledgment, credit and potentially a payment when you use their work, but what about blogs - does the same actually pertain in this space?  YES, it does.  So, pay attention that the proper way to acknowledge someone else's work and never plagiarize or infringe on someone else's hard work - you wouldn't want the same to happen to you, right?

Here's an excerpt from article I read today that really helps define the subject - please read and understand how it protects you and what next steps you need to take to properly protect your idea(s): 

"When you write a blog post, you instantly create a copyrighted work. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, your original work receives copyright protection “the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.” In other words—you wrote it, you own it. This also applies to photographs and images—once a photograph that you took or image you created is fixed in a tangible medium, the copyright is yours instantly—no registration necessary, and no little © required.
However, there is one big “but”—if you want to sue someone in federal court for copyright infringement, your work must first be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office."
source:  http://www.legalzoom.com/intellectual-property-rights/copyrights/blogging-and-intellectual-property-law?


Ideas?  Questions?  Comments?  Let's talk.

Out of the ordinary

Why does the fire stay a simple diameter?

Remember the arrow ceremony?  Be careful if you burn the arrows that the fire is contained within a safe limit and diameter from all other objects, so as to prevent the spread of fire, especially in dry areas.

Love what gets posted here - make lots of comments.

Don't love what gets posted here - make some of your own.

The web wasn't created in a day, but this blog can really zoom in usability with the help of users like you.

Write On!!

The Arrow Ceremony

During my morning ritual - get up at 5am, into sauna for 30 minutes, while reading a book - I came upon such a great way to create life-changing goals, so, of course, I wanted to share with you...

The Arrow Ceremony is handed down by the Great American Indians.  This is one group who have never gotten the respect they deserve, don't you think.  They were in 'America', where they had lived for eons and were essentially corralled into reservations; a great choice for naming their new homes too if you think about it.

Anyway, here is this vibrant, intelligent, proud group of people with SO much to offer and learn from, yet 'we' put them away because they looked different, thought different and acted differently. 

So, the arrow ceremony is a ritual for every New Year's Eve, where the Indians would take pride in creating 3 good arrows and 3 bad arrows.  The bad arrows were things or thoughts or conflicts they wanted to get rid of and the good arrows were items they wanted to bring into their lives.

The ritual was to create a ring of tobacco lives where each person in the tribe would enter and silently pray to the Great Spirit to rid them of these items and those arrows would be burned to symbolize death of those traits.

Next, they would go to higher ground, create a new ring and enter with prayers of what they wanted to have manifested in the new year and those arrows would be stuck into the ground as a reminder of the gifts to come.

Read more in the book, Write It Down, Make it Happen by Henriette Anne Klauser, page 203.

Have a great day - You deserve it!!

#1 Job of a Citizen is to Keep Your Mouth Open

This is not a technical Holy Cow Idea, but I was happily reminded today when reading a book by Bill Gates, Sr.  I think it was chapter 3 that started with the quote, "The #1 job of a citizen is to keep your mouth open", by Gunter Grass.

In an effort to get people talking more on this BLOG, let's use this as a starting point.

I know many of you have a hard time keeping your mouth shut on many ignition topics like politics, religion and schools.  Even neighbors, bosses, spouses and best friends can cause a stir, so is it so far-fetched that ideas whether new or revisited could cause an equal or more impassioned discussion.

Let's have it, what is your Holy Cow Idea or today's rant and rave about any topic that comes along.

Rain Maker

Found this article yesterday, http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/03/scientists-create-52-artificial-rain-storms-in-abu-dhabi-desert/?hpt=T2.

They (scientist) made it rain for 52 days in the Abu Dhabi Desert - Holy Cow!

Now there should be concerns, as I see it, about what impact that has on the rest of the planet, but that is pretty big news.  Someone in the article commented, "Why isn't this bigger, front-page news?"  I agree.  This would seem to qualify for a enlarged heading.

Before we start to irrigate the deserts though and turn them into gardens, I sure hope there are smarter scientists looking into the global impact of moving water from one are to another.

Discussion anyone......

Instant Recall - part 2

Challenge is to make it work in a smart-phone or iPhone where they may not be enough memory and database speed.

Here's the scenario:

You see someone at a party or they walk up to you at the mall and really need their name.

Using the video/photo bluetooth device I described in this blog, you take their picture or could look them up if you have time.
From the photo your phone or special device recognizes their face and begins letting you know the information like this:
   Name: Mike Smith
   Spouse: Susan
   Works at:  IBM, Denver
   Married: 6 years
   2 childrent:  John-4 and Rachel-7
   More information?  which would then provide full details if needed

All this can be happening in your earpiece while they are talking about not having seen you in a while, so you can respond with instant-recall to as many details as you have stored in the database and have everyone around you amazed at how much you remember about friends....

Holy Cow!!

Instant Recall

Ok, here's a BIG one, so I'm using this forum to mark my place in the sand...

Have you ever had someone at the grocery store or mall just come up to you and start talking like you were good friends and you cannot quite remember their name? 

Wouldn't it be cool to have a way to instantly recall not only their name, but also their spouse, children, birthdays, high school or college they went to?  I suggest that would be a great invention; hence Instant-Recall.

Have your contact information with pictures stored in a device and create software for facial recognition.  It wouldn't be too timely to recognize a face, since you may only have a few dozen to a couple hundred people.  System recognizes a face, finds it in the database and speaks or displays the information to you.

end of part 1

Shirt Sleeves and Pant Legs

I had a provisional patent on this idea about being prepared for those cool evenings or not wearing a big coat for cool mornings.

Take the sleeves off a sweatshirt and put elastic at the top of the sleeve, so it can be pulled on and stay there.  So, when it's spring or fall and you play golf at 4, sometimes it gets cool before you are finished.  Instead of packing a jacket, roll these sleeves and store anywhere.  Same goes for an early morning hike.  Put on the sleeves and take off.  The when the temperature rises and your body temp goes up too, just take off the sleeves and put in your pockets.

Pant legs can be taken from sweat pants too.  Follow the same steps as above and you can roam without worrying about the temperature changes.  Give more thought to your day, if you live in Colorado, where it was -18 this morning...

Enjoy.