Gadget Nation

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American ingenuity begets some whacky inventions

...the approaches, a book that would surely make America's founders, Founding Fathers proud, maybe laugh a little bit too.The author of Gadget Nation explains why the freedom to go after your dreams can lead to some pretty whacky inventions.

Hi,I'm Steve Greenberg and I am the author of Gadget Nation.It's a book all about offbeat gadgets and the inventors behind them.It's kind of a fun look at a, kind of a strange,bizarre slice of Americana.So many the products that we use everyday are,are, go back to some individual inventors,sure a lot of them come from corporate inventors,and that's a different story.

But things like "WiteOut",the paper clip,the bobby pin,all those things are individual inventors.America is really about coming up with an idea,a little ingenuity,hard work,being an entrepreneur and making something wonderful out of it.

It was back in 2004, this particular night.I got up to went to get a drink of water and when I came back to get in the bed,I turned and ran into the end bedpost on our bed and glided back down the bed that night. I thought, why don't I just, you know,invent some bedroom slippers that have headlights on. Got up the next morning and that's how I got started.

I would hit the snooze button on the alarm clock every day for a couple hours and never be able to get myself out of bed on time.The first thing that came in, that came into my mind was to create an alarm clock that would actually run away from you.And then the idea is that you actually have to get out of bed,to look for it. And in that process, you wake up.

Some of them like my book profiles are kind of, you know, silly, they're not gonna save lives necessarily,but they do represent things that people want.

I need to come up with a solution to an everyday problem which is bird poop.Because I enjoy having the birds out the cage with me,and Mark got tired of seeing the poop on my back and all over the floor.We knew that the solution that we thought we've come up with for our own birds,was actually gonna have a much more mass appeal,than we originally thought.

And if you come up with a talking toilet paper roll. To risk your 401(k) or your kid's college fund over a product like this, I guess it takes guts and they really are about America,they really are the spirit of America.

offbeat:different from the usual; odd

401(k): The 401(k) plan is a type of employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plan under section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 401(k)) in the United States, and some other countries.

文本参考中文翻译

这本书会使美国的创建者，美国的开国元勋们感到自豪，或许会让他们忍俊不禁。Gadget Nation这本书的作者解释了为什么追求梦想的权利可能会导致一些怪诞的发明。

大家好，我是Steve Greenberg，Gadget Nation这本书的作者。这本书全部都是关于一些离奇的小机件和他们的发明人。这看上去很有趣，有点像美国文物比较怪异的一部分。这么多我们日常生活中都在使用的东西都是由个人发明的，当然有些是由公司的几个人合作发明的，那就另当别论了。

但是像涂改液，回形针，大头针这些东西都是由个人发明的。美国人经常从一个小点子，一点点创造力，再加上努力的工作，就能成为大的企业家，做出一番大事业。

这要追溯到2004年那个特别的夜晚。我起床去喝水，当我回到床上的时候，不小心撞到了床柱上又倒在床下了。我想，我为什么不发明一种卧室专用的带前灯的拖鞋呢。于是第二天早上起床之后我就开始实践这个想法了。

每次闹钟响的时候我都会懒洋洋的将按钮关掉，从来都没有准时起床过。我首先想到的是，为什么不发明一种可以跑开的闹钟，你必须起床来找到闹钟。在这个过程中，你就清醒过来了。

有一些发明，比如我的书的概要，看上去有点愚蠢，他们不会拯救生命，但是它们确实代表了人们想要的东西。

我需要想个办法来解决日常生活中鸟粪的问题。因为我喜欢把鸟从笼子里放出来，Mark讨厌看到我背上和地板上到处都是鸟粪。我们想出的办法是，大家应该集体呼吁，而不是像我们原来想到那样。

如果你想到一个会说话的厕纸卷，你可以冒险利用一下你的401(k)或者为孩子准备的大学基金。这是需要勇气的，这是真正的美国精神。