Fresh food tracker

How do you feel when you look in the refrigerator and notice food that has gone bad? I personally feel frustrated that I wasted the food.

Suppose that refrigerators had a touch-screen monitor that kept track of all the food in the fridge, and displayed a list of when each thing would go bad. Here's how it could work:

When you buy the food, you input the type of food and the approximate day that it will start to spoil. The touch-screen would be similar to what the store clerks use. First you choose from about 12 general categories of items. After you select one, then choose among several specific options within that category. After you've selected the specific item, input the date that the food will begin to spoil. Some products (like milk) have an expiration date stamped on them, while others do not. If it has the expiration date, you could select the option to view a calendar, then select the day. If it does not, then you select the option to view choices for number of days (up to 21 days). If you use the "number of days" option, then "1 day" represents tomorrow, "7 days" represents a week from now, etc.

To summarize, with 6 taps, you could input all the information:
1. Add new item
2. Choose general food category
3. Choose specific food type
4. Select expiration date
5. Select input method for expiration date (calendar or number of days)
6. Tap the day you expect the food to spoil.

When the touch-screen is not being used, it displays the list of food that is closest to spoiling. If any food has reached its expiration date, a red light flashes to let you know.

When you use up an item, just scroll down the list and select it, then push the "Delete" key.

A Nocturnal Community

I grew up in an area that is very hot in the summertime. The middle of summer is so hot that they had the 4th of July parade a night. That got me thinking: what if the whole community did life at night during the entire summer? Stores, restaurants, and offices have the lights running all the time anyway; they might as well be open at night.

Also, there tends to be a lot of crime at night, but I think that is only true because so few people are awake. If everyone was up and about at night, crime may go way down.

In today's world, every city is interconnected with several others, so I know that a noctural switch would require some adjustment on the part of other cities. However, I'm sure that they could learn a lot of tips from companies that have international branches across the world. For example, those companies learn to schedule phone conferences at the end of one branch's day and the beginning of the other branch's day.

The main benefit to being noctural is to avoid the heat. I wonder, though, whether people would go into depression by not seeing the sun very much.