Calvin the Rascal... My favorite comic strip super star! And this is my favorite Calvin strip ever. On second thoughts, it is Hobbes who I like better. But, let me save that for another time. We'll let Solomon Paapaiya decide who is better between the two. This post though is to see how true Hobbes' passing comment is... "Scientific Progress goes Boink"...

At age 10 i learnt about magnets in school.. I thought that this could help solve the fuel problems on earth.. (I didnt know about the existence of magneto-rail / monorail in those days.. But my idea was far more innovative). My solution to the transportation crisis was something like this... If you have seen the sidewalks (pavements) on Indian roads, you might have noticed that they are alternately painted black and white (black and yellow, sometimes). My idea was that each "black" region was to be replaced by a strong magnet with it's south pole facing the road. Similarly, the "white" region would have to be replaced by a strong magnet's north pole. This thing had to be repeated on both sides of the roads. Now, when a car was "in-line" with the magnets on the road, its internal electromagnets should magnetise itself to the same polarity as those magnets. That is, if it is near a black region (south pole), the car should polarise itself to act as another south pole. Now we have two south pole's (the one's on each side of the road) acting to repel the car's southpole. As the repulsion is coming from both directions, the car would move forward!Wow! Well, what can I say....."Scientific Progress goes Boink".

My next "invention" was a way to stop vehicles crossing the "stop-line" when the signal is red. The solution is actually a very simple one.. You need to place spikes on the stop line. When the signal is green, the spikes lie below the road level.. When the signal turns red, the spikes would automatically come up from below the surface and protrude outwards. So, anyone who dares to cross the stop-line would instead end up with a puncture.. Pretty cool na! Well, "Scientific Progress goes Boink".

Though there are many more such interesting innovations in my kitty, I cannot reveal them here as I am planning to go in for patents for the remaining....

:D

Vikkki