I, Too, Can Share My Ideas

Elon Musk dropped a bomb on the world earlier this week by releasing his open source plans for a bank-tube-ish transportation system between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Musk is the genius behind SpaceX—the first commercial company to get a craft into low-Earth orbit and land it safely, and the only non-government organization to ever dock a spacecraft with the International Space Station. He is also the guy behind Tesla Motors—high-end, badass electric roadsters. Basically, he knows how to build the things others don’t dare.

The hyperloop, as he calls the transport system, would consist of elevated tubes that would use several propulsion technologies to blast passenger pods at 800 mph. [Get the details.] It is a quite ambitious and extremely awesome idea. But because he needs to maintain focus on his SpaceX and Tesla projects, he released his hyperloop plans as open source documents. He wants someone else to run with the ideas and make it happen. This is no little thing he did. He gave away the plans to what easily could be a revolutionary transportation system. In Star Wars terms, he just gave away the equivalent of the plans to the Death Star.

Musk’s philanthropy got me thinking. I have been noodling on some Earth-shattering ideas that I don’t have the time to see through to fruition. With Musk as my inspiration, I think I should also release them as open source. Below are some ideas that I hope someone will make happen in my lifetime.

• Mobile dog groomer / pizza delivery. While your truck is parked in front of your grooming customer’s house, you could also be slinging pizzas in the oven and serving them out the back. This is diversifying your service portfolio and maximizing the profits with a single truck. Brilliant, I think.
• Fair Foods truck. I know there are trucks that serve food at county and other fairs. Those are basically stationary kitchens. I’m talking about a food truck that will deliver fresh funnel cake to your door. When you wake up at midnight after a long nap and a dose of glaucoma medication, you will want a greasy Italian sausage and some cotton candy. Call the Fair Food truck and you’ll have it in minutes. The good thing about this idea is that the food is being cooked in the back while it is on the way to your house or drum circle out in the woods. The funnel cake will still burn your mouth, because, as the Dalai Lama once said, “Patience is no match for funnel cake.”
• Mobile massage / power washing. Get your rub on while your house gets its scrub on. Enjoy the tranquil chimes and incense under the firm and soothing hands of a professional masseuse. Outside someone is power washing your house and deck and/or fence. I can’t think of another idea that has had such potential.

Of course some of these mobile services are out there now, but we need the engineers and top scientists to start working on ways to combine them into efficient and financially-successful vehicles.

To clarify, I want to state that I do not seek any royalties or payment for these ideas. I am putting them out there for the betterment of our society and the brightening of our future.

You’re welcome, world.