Posted on 11/22/2007 10:54:55 AM PST by WesternCulture
Hollywood socialite Nicole Richie has lent her voice to a campaign to stop dogs peeing on lamp posts.
When Paris Hilton's dog-loving pal learned of Swedish inventor Lennart Järlebro's plans to design a urinal for dogs, she immediately vowed to spread the word in the United States.
"This invention is just so clever. It's a cute rubber cup attached to the post and a hose that pipes urine into the gutter," Richie, 26, told the Daily Star.
Lennart Järlebro began designing a toilet for dogs after reading a newspaper report about the corrosive effects of dogs' urine on lamp posts.
But he was not aware that news of his invention had spread to the US when The Local spoke to him on Thursday.
"Oh blimey," he said. "That's great."
The 56-year-old inventor admitted that, while he knew who Paris Hilton was, he had never heard of her Simple Life co-star Nicole Richie, who is expecting a baby in January.
"But it's fantastic that she wants to support my invention. She has clearly understood the problem," he said.
Järlebo told The Local that he was putting the finishing touches to the design and had spoken to a Chinese company interested in producing the miniature urinals, which he estimated would add fifteen years to the average lifespan of a lamp post.
I wish Järlebo good luck.
His idea might seem a bit weird at a first glance, but to me it makes sense after a bit of reading.
Sweden needs more inventors.
In fact, all countries do.
Once upon a time, Swedish inventions like the self-aligning ball bearing, the brainchild of a certain Mr. Wingqvist, created thousands of jobs in record time.
In 1907, Sven Wingquist’s invention was granted patent in 11 countries at the same time and the foundation of the company SKF was laid.
By 1910, the company had 325 employees and a subsidiary in the UK.
By 1930, SKF boasted a staff of over 21,000 people, employed in 12 manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Today, SKF is the world’s largest bearing manufacturer and employs over 40,000 people in around 100 manufacturing sites that span 70 countries.
Furthermore, the even bigger company of Volvo (AB Volvo today employs over 80 000 people and Volvo Cars, now a subsidary of Ford, employs around 30 000) actually developed out of SKF and the brand ‘Volvo’ was once an SKF trademark!
Volvo and SKF are not alone. Sweden actually has half as many companies on the Forbes Global 2000 as Germany, despite having a mere tenth of Germany’s population.
Sometimes, I wonder why at least 30% of us Swedes haven’t understood where our money come from.
But, I’m still optimistic. People over here are beginning to understand that national wealth is NOT created by politicians (although true political leaders often can exert a benign influence over the business climate of a nation) and there still are Swedish inventors.
One good thing about being an entrepreneur in Sweden is that people are extremely interested in new technology and rather interested in new business concepts. The attitude towards entrepreneurship and Capitalism is much better today than in the old ‘Socialist’ era of 1970-1990.
And with the support of Nicole Richie, what could possibly go wrong?
Finally, I recommend this article, written by an angry but insightful Stockholm entrepreneur in the IT business to anyone interested in business topics, innovation, Sweden, IT and economics as well as politics in general. Today, Stockholm is already one of the leading ICT hubs of the world and there is a lot of promising activity going on there:
http://www.thelocal.se/8876/20071023/
Yeah, it sounds like a good idea...right up until the dogs start drinking from them.
Or Kids play with it,Happy Thanksgiving BTW......
You are so right.
Where do the bitches go?
They go to the DNC and run for President. :=)
Why don’t you ask Paris?
“Where do the bitches go?”
- I guess the answer depends on whether you’re asking Järlebo or experts in a totally different field like Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton.
Doesn’t Sweden already have those Muslim foot washes?
Why in the world would anyone with more then two functioning brain cells bother to listen to what a sub moronic trust fund ditz has to say about dog urinals?
“This invention is just so clever. It’s a cute rubber cup attached to the post and a hose that pipes urine into the gutter,”
Right into your brain, Nicole.
And good for drunks who have to pee too.....
Better be a big funnel, my dog can’t hit the side of a barn.
Are the kids in Africa no longer starving?
Seriously, though...how do they propose to urinal-train dogs? I mean, you can try, but ultimately, if they want to go, they’re going to go, when and where they want to go.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.