Friday, October 03, 2008

Project 10 to the 100th

A buddy of mine recently told me about a contest that the mega-company GOOGLE is doing. They’ve called this contest "Project Ten to the Hundredth” and it has captivated my interest. The winner(s) of the contest will be the one(s) who have the most broad-reaching idea. The idea is to help as many people as possible. The following are the areas which each idea should cover:

Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?

Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don't fit into any category at all.

Now, normally, after hearing about a project like this, I would have wanted to come up with an idea. However, this time, it was quite different. This time, just such an idea already existed in my head. In fact, I had an idea several weeks ago that seemed too large for me. I wondered why it had been sent to me at all, until this contest came along. It’s almost as if the idea came in anticipation of the contest, or perhaps the contest came along to accommodate the idea.

So, when I heard about the contest, my recently conceived idea IMMEDIATELY came to the forefront of my mind. It was weird. Now, I’m not retarded…I don’t expect to place in the top 100 finalists, let alone win. The only reason I’m entering is only because the idea came to me and I have nothing else to do with it. Out of the context of this contest, my idea is too big for my otherwise incapable hands. So, I’m going to use this contest as a way to help the idea along to someone else who, if noticed, could get the attention and resources it would require. That isn't me.

So, today, I wrote it all out and entered. The idea is so grandiose that I'm embarrassed to even mention it here. It's sufficient to say that I've entered and my idea conduit is cleared again having had a movement and passed a rather large.... well, idea. I've entered the contest as myself, so on the 27th of January, my entry will be visible to the public with everyone else’s.

Now, with that idea out of the way, I can get back to writing my "Training Wheels" stories again. Whew!



3 comments:

Mindy said...

You're really just going to leave me hanging like that? Sheesh! I get enough suspense from watching Lost. ;)

Can't wait to hear more about your proposal.

TYEDART said...

Shook, but chances are, you WON'T hear about it at all, just like MOST of the ideas in my Brain Vomit book. If I want people to ever take me seriously in the future, ideas like this one need to go unmentioned (in specific terms) while I work hard on the more mild and probable ones. Its kind of like an ant, planning the theft of a sleeping elephant. I wasn't kidding when I said that it's too big to seem realistic. It's not the kind of thing a small-town, middle-class, average-joe like me conceives of and accomplishes. If I had conceived of the idea for the Internet before it existed, I suspect most of the people who know me would have just rolled their eyes laughed at the crazy notion. The idea is good, but just too big - for me. But, as stated before, I'm okay with that. Even the ant can (and should) DREAM big. :)

Mandy said...

WHAT? Give us SOME hint about the idea. Maybe someone else could help you with it, if only you mention it.