Inventions

A reality show
Sometime ago, I chanced upon a reality show called American Inventor. I found it pretty interesting. Better find the next great inventor than the next hit singer, right? The winner of the first season was a couple who invented an egg-shaped baby car seat that can switch its orientation to an angle where the baby will be protected in the incident of any impact. But that sounds more like a clever engineering design, isn’t it? It’s a bit tricky to really define invention, innovation, design etc I imagine.

SMART
Take the newly-opened SMART for example – it’s the first of its kind, an engineering solution to two KL problems: flash flood and traffic congestion. I have been looking forward to its opening for many months and I’m happy to say that my expectations are met. My traveling time towork has been cut down by 30 minutes, that’s almost halved! I don’t use SMART, but the traffic that had been channeled via SMART has dramatically reduced the congestion at the Lebuhraya KL-Seremban in particular near the Lapangan Terbang Sg. Besi. Driving through that hot spot, usually a time-sink bottle neck, is now a breeze for us who’s going to Jalan Istana. Going back home however, is a different story. The additional channel supplied more traffic onto Lebuhraya KL-Seremban, and as expected, slows down the evening journey a bit, by perhaps 5-10 minutes, so the overall impact is still positive. But I fear that once the one-month free toll period has passed, more motorists will be deterred by the expected-to-be-expensive toll (my guess: RM4 for a mere 3km!), turning things back to the way it used to be. Well, we’ll see.

When I was little
But I digress. Back to the story of inventions, when I was little, ‘inventor’ made it to my list of ambitions. How much did I know about inventors at that time? I can’t remember. But I do remember thinking even then that I want to invent everyday things for lay people, things domestic maybe, like an auto floor-cleaning device, or some useful stationeries. Simple, huh? I don’t know where that enthusiasm went though. Else, it’ll be really useful for my uni and working days. For a Conceptual Design class, we were supposed to design and articulate a product that can help paint a house (domestic use) for the assignment. All I could come up was an uninspired jack-like equipment to reach heights, when others thought about cooler concepts like atomic sprays (already in wide use for cars actually) and spiderman-like climbing webs.

Dream invention
Some time ago, I heard a show in the radio where the DJ asked the listeners to call in to tell them what is their dream invention. I obviously have neither the guts nor desire to call the station, but I did think about what my dream invention would be. An uncontested Pintu Suka Hati! Or Go-Anywhere Portal (Yes, I read/watch Doremon and still do actually. The J@p@nese are creative lots, aren’t they?) Can you imagine eliminating the concept of distance? It’ll save me 3 hours of commute daily, 80 km mileage, and RM15 petrol and toll. Not to mention I’ll be able to pop by and see my son during teabreaks and lunchtime. Hmm.. how about breakfast of freshly fried keropok lekor with Tok in Terengganu, a short adventure exploring ancient ruins in Rome, jacket potatoes for lunch at the Backs, a relaxing boat ride in Danau Toba, Maghrib at MasjidilHaram, and Isyak at Masjid Nabawi all in a day? I wish. Well, some people do think the journey itself is part of the joy of travel. But me being prone to motion sickness, coupled with an ever-wriggling toddler, I’d rather arrive at the destination immediately. Alas, I believe we don’t have the technology to build one such portal, not today’s technology at least.

Universal remote control
In the radio show I mentioned earlier, two callers called to say they would like a universal remote control, the one that can so-called fast forward an unpleasant experience or mute a nagging wife etc. Haven’t they watched the movie Click? (skip this part if you don’t want to risk reading spoilers!) I did, last month, and I think it was a good reminder for us to appreciate our lives more. My sister and I cried (the film was supposed to be a comedy!) during a scene when the main character replayed a scene when the auto-pilot him mistreated his father, while the ‘replaying’ him (confused already?) attempted to savour whatever he could by saying “I love you” to the father, not that the father could hear him. Can you imagine waking up one day to realize that you’ve skipped one whole year, or three, or ten? It’d be a nightmare. Although the message of the film was more towards workaholics who prioritize career over family, I try to apply the same message to relationships with Allah. Isn’t it scary to wake up one day, feeling that you’ve somehow ‘drifted apart’ from Him? One of my constant worry when contemplating the passing of time is: how am I better today compared to one month / one year / ten years ago?

The internet & Qistina
Now, everyone would agree that the internet is a very powerful invention. Thanks to the internet as a powerful medium of communication and information, the news of the plight of little Nuur Qistina spreads faster than it would have been 10 years ago. Please visit her site, and help if you can. (I first read about her in UmmikuSayang yahoogroup mailing list, about 2 weeks ago).

End of a 'rojak' post, with an attempt to be glued together by a supposedly unifying theme.