Bad Credit Hotel

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave...

http://www.controlyourcredit.gov

If only those who score high in the game could claim their portion of the $700bn bailout plan...Americans love games but when will they stop playing and deal with the crisis seriously?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Book restoration

Used books have value because they look like used books with shopworn covers and yellowish pages being part of the mystique that attracts book lovers. But what happens when you spill say coffee in a new book that's glossy and expensive? Is there anywhere you can take it to restore it for less than the cost of buying a new one? Coming up with cheap techniques to do that and selling them in bookstores will be useful and good business. It's similar to instant dirt-removal sprays that are a huge market worldwide!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

A way to keep voodoo dolls on the shelves!

French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to sue the company that made voodoo dolls with his image if they didn't withdraw them from the shops. Sarkozy will probably win in court but there is a way for the company to still sell the dolls. Partner with another company and sell the doll and the person's image on the doll as two separate things. It will then be up to the customer to put Sarkozy's image on the faceless voodoo doll. The shops will make more money by selling the parts separate and no one will be able to sue the customers. You can't sue a company for libel or invasion of privacy for selling a 'faceless' doll. Similarly, you can't sue another company for innocent-looking faces customers can apply anywhere. Welcome to the world of voodoo doll production! :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Crimebook

What do you say about a new social networking site for prisoners? It can help reduce prisoner unrest and attempts to escape. Also good for reducing loneliness and frustration which turns inmates equally dangerous after they leave prison. Sounds silly but it wouldn't surprise me if it already exists. Can you suggest some good ideas on how its privacy settings or applications will work? :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

how many negatives make a positive?

don't we not need to not need to not use too much negation to not make a non-positive statement?

some people get confused because they read into it. it's easy ** don't read, just count! ** you only need one pair of negatives to make a positive which you can then repeat endlessly. so if you have to find out if a long statement using only negatives is positive all you have to determine is whether the number of negations is odd or even, if it's even it's positive, if it's odd it's negative.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Sunflower-moving solar panels

Someone suggested to me that we make panels spherical to increase surface area and solar energy production. that won't work because half of the sphere will be covered by sun and half by shadow. I think it's better idea to make existing solar panels rotate with the movement of the sun like sunflowers do. follow the sun and stay constantly exposed to the most productive angle.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Is cheating a skill to be encouraged?

I have in mind students who come up with creative ways to cheat at school. Should teachers and parents encourage those kids to pursue careers in government and spy agencies? At least that's where that kind of ingenuity is rewarded, right? Big question is, in addition to be ethically wrong is cheating also a sign of intelligence and a skill to be encouraged for kids who show such proclivity?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

I want to read all your Real thoughts...

I've always wanted to read the sentences and words people delete before sending an email, the real thoughts! It only happens as an accident when someone presses the send button without realizing it. But it seems we could be close to inventing the technology that can do this. I read that by analyzing the electromagnetic signals produced by every key press Swiss researchers were able to reproduce what was typed in a keyboard from a distance of 20 meters.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10072967-83.html

Imagine for a minute you could have access to all the things I have just deleted from this post so that I don't scare you...Or imagine you could see beyond the "I love you" lines written by your boyfriend, "I love you honey [delete] but I love Cindy more [delete]" Scary huh? :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Strip Club Sperm Bank!!

Why waste a good ejaculation? Private booths will offer full privacy. If you donate, you get an extra dance for free :)))

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Simple water-saving idea

It's so simple and easy. Some people talk about it but very few have such a system in their homes. Use waste water from washing machines or other appliance to fill the toilet tank. Right now we unknowingly flush fresh water which we could be saving

http://www.thinkaloo.com

hey fat boy...

that's a belt for you! do you think it's a good gift idea? would you ever give it to someone who must lose weight and wants to make a serious effort at it??

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Stop binge drinking

How about a bar system where the price of a drink goes up or doubles every time another one is ordered by the same customer?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Bird diarrhoea pill

Most of the parking space where I live is under trees and that's what I get on a bad bird-diarrhoea day. Sometimes it's even worse. A pill that can mix with bird food and permanently fix this problem is desperately desired. If anyone has different solution or advice other than 'park-it- somewhere-else', please leave me a comment or send me a message, thanks!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

$$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ Acting Naked $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$

Porn sells well all over the world. I bet whoever invents the software that can strip all actors/actresses playing in non-porn movies off their clothes and show them naked will make millions. Shall I bother mentioning the benefits that come with the software? No need to re-shoot movies. Just take any non-porn movie you want, activate the software on your pc and watch them naked. After you make your first couple of millions selling the software, celebrities will sue you and try to stop you. That's when you render it open-source and become adored by billions more who will get free access to it. Relax kid, it was just a joke :)))))

http://www.thinkaloo.com

TV that's smart-for-me

By monitoring my viewing habits my TV turns on and displays the channel most likely to interest me, perhaps with a few suggestions on the side of other channels to try. I rarely watch TV as I get most stuff I want online but when I decide to turn it on for a change, I'd rather be greeted with something interesting. Even better for me would be to have my TV connected with my laptop, when I'm done with it I just type what I am in a mood for to watch on the big screen and it gets it for me while I lie comfortably on my sofa...

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Atlantis! Myth or Reality? Which is better?

The consensus is that the lost city of Atlantis is a myth, it probably never existed. Yet most people become very excited to learn a new theory is out or that new discovery expeditions are on the way. Some people argue that a story and its lessons are more powerful if they stay in our imagination as a myth. After so many theories and years of no hard-proof conclusions, which do you prefer that Atlantis remains?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Do you think women can be good porn directors??

I think so because the industry has been dominated by men and now needs new perspective. Unless they have been silently watching too much porn all these years and became men-brain washed women must have different perspective which can prove useful. Hypothetically speaking, if you were an adult movie producer, would you hire/trust a woman as your director? :))

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Which is greater, A or B?

A. The number of 6-letter English words having n as their 5th letter

B. The number of 6-letter English words ending in ing

Hint: you don't have to survey the Oxford English Dictionary or even know how to count to figure it out.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Rename bonuses

Bankers and CEOs believe they rightfully earn their multi-million dollar bonuses even though research after research shows that luck, or what we call a good year, is the random cause behind a year's extremely good performance (and similarly behind a year's extremely bad one). We know CEOs will never willingly give away their multi-mullion dollar "performance" bonuses but we also know taxpayers hate to pay for them when the companies they run go under. I think the first fair step is to rename all higher than $1 million bonuses from "performance" bonuses to "lucky" bonuses. The bonuses will still be paid but it will be punishable by law to refer to them by any other name.

The big shots can't object to the name change because they will still be entitled to collect the fat paycheck. Yet they will be denied the pleasure that comes from thinking or believing that the bonus is a rightful reflection of their charisma and skills only. How's that for a start?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

good orchestra and bad orchestra

how to tell? cause a one-minute power cut and sink the hall in utter darkness. a good orchestra should be able to keep playing as if nothing happened. no need to read the score just play from the heart. a good audience should be able to keep listening from the heart and not bother to shout 'lights please'

http://www.thinkaloo.com

cut and plant

do you think it's a good idea to make it mandatory that for every tree that's cut a new one is planted in its place? I think so. new seeds are not expensive and planting them is not difficult to do. governments can subsidize the cost or provide tax incentives to the companies. Do you agree it's a good idea? I am very interested in hearing all points of view on this. If you disagree please tell me why

http://www.thinkaloo.com

A coarse course

A typical blond trying to figure out the cause of her coarse throat. A typical smartass suggesting that it's either too much intercourse or simply her understanding of intercoarse. Butt, Off Coarse! :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

IQ University (99% parties, 1% tests)

If you're not smart I don't expect you will ever appreciate my concept. But if you are, I know you've already thought about it on your own and so I grant you free admission to the class of the best and the brightest. The IQ university only requires testing your IQ every semester to make sure it never drops. When you score higher with every new test, you graduate with Honors. The stick is IQ tests. The carrot is endless parties! No studying, no reading, no homework.

Are you wondering this is all a joke? Are you perhaps thinking why would anyone want to employ someone who partied through college? That's because He is the elite dude. That's because He is among the best and the brightest and His mind hasn't been spoiled by the arbitrary confines of our rigid educational system.

And by partying all the time while in college, He feels ready and fresh to do some well-paid work for a change. The only thing He needs to prove is His higher intelligence

He was gifted with. The reason for which our current education system is against the IQU has to do with the fact that the world is inhabited (and will soon become uninhabited because of it) by people who are not smart enough to be admitted to IQU and thus want no one else to be admitted either.

If you're still dismissing the concept in the back of your mind, then you definitely Don't belong to the elite. I just wasted these lines trying to convince you about the merits of my concept because your lack of higher intelligence forbids you from appreciating its lofty workings.

For most of your life, you eagerly lumped the fact that you're not a genius and so you're harboring resentment towards those who are. But you can do us all a favor and get back to your homework and let the truly talented enjoy the gift they were given, which is....Partiesss, ooops I meant high IQ..:D:D:D

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Lovers

"They love and hate, they grapple and spoon, they want and don't want, and as time goes on they each sink deeper under the other's skin. It's a real show, patty-cake, the follies and the circus all rolled into one, and dollars to doughnuts it's going to be like that till the day they die."

Who is the author behind these lines? It's one in a million shot. No search engine can ever reveal who this passage belongs to. No one, except the author himself perhaps, can tell. But will the author notice the words are his in the first place? Thrown as they are in a totally random, new context that bears no relation or reference to the original work itself, will they sound familiar to him? Who knows.

Assuming he can tell right away the words are his, how does he proceed next? As far as he can see, he has two options. He can openly claim ownership and satisfy the curiosity of everyone here. Simple as this solution is, it bothers him when he contrasts it with his second option.

He can let the mystery linger, perhaps perpetually inside the minds of his new readers. After all, they are no more than a motley crew of online strangers who've never heard of him before and for all he can tell, they will never be interested in reading any of his original works. So why bother. Option two seems fun but the author's vanity will never be affirmed and no matter how much he wishes he didn't have to grapple with it right now, he can't ignore its powerful grip on him.

As he reflects between the two options, he unexpectedly realizes there's a third one he must think through if he's to proceed with option two.

Suppose someone else reads the words and recognizes who they belong to and then that someone else comes out openly and points to the author before he has a chance to do so himself. Suppose that someone else is a fan or a loyal reader who instantly recognizes the words of his beloved author and rushes to tell everyone who the author is.

The idea that his readers will be able to recognize his work even when it's taken out of context is a flattering thought to him adding strokes to his vanity. However pleasing it is to contemplate, option three is not as straightforward a solution as it initially sounds and for some reason its very conception now seems all the more troubling to him.

Waiting for a reader to restore due credit to the author when he, the author, could do so himself sounds as if he is too willing to cede control of his actions to someone else on something that involves him so intimately. It's true that for all anyone here cares, the author can come forward and claim ownership by portraying himself as a reader or fan and use that person to point back to the author. We will never know who the reader is, let alone ever suspect he or she could be the author. By deciding to go with option three, the author reckons, he gets to settle the issue on his terms.

Alas, his anxious mind sees the set up and immediately drops option three. The very person who took the author's words out of their original context and is now challenging him to claim back what he owns is a very devious mind who knows very well what she's up to. He can see it clearly now. By explaining option three to everyone here in full detail, nadia or whatever her real name is, has irrevocably surrendered all the secrecy involved in handling the affair according to option three.

It doesn't take much to figure out that the more we read into the lines, the more we get spooked to expect that anyone (other than the author) who references the words back to the author could be the author himself. While it's true that we'll never be 100% certain it was the author acting as a fan or a loyal reader, the very suspicion that anyone acting on behalf of the author can be the author spoils away the pleasure of proceeding with option three.

By opening his eyes to the setup, the author now feels relieved to know he has avoided its roguish contraptions and proceeds to drop option three.

So far, the only thing we know about the author behind the quoted passage is that he is a man. Not necessarily a man in real life but at least someone with a male name.

For all we know the author could very well be a woman or a girl hiding behind a male pseudonym. Perhaps to complicate matters more, the author could be a male wishing to be perceived by the public as a female writing under a male name. Perhaps the quoted words don't belong to any real author out there and are the fictitious work of an online prankster who took it upon herself to entertain other people's minds.

The author, however, knows none of this is true and none of this will matter when he openly re-connects his name to the quotes. But as of now, he still hasn't made up his mind. No matter how much effort he exerts to make the right decision, the options before him come to a splitting end. Either he comes out and reveals who he is, or he musters control over his vanity and goes with option two, never to allow himself to reveal himself and thus neither let anyone else do so on his behalf...

http://www.thinkaloo.com

The Republican enigma

When Bush was in office, Republicans claimed they were doing good, but now that Obama is in office they claim they are doing good still but Obama has tanked the economy. What's going on?

The way to bridge this seeming contradiction is by looking at it this way. The Republicans may now be saying they are doing good still while Obama is in office but few people believe them anymore and their popularity is not going up as a result of their claims.

It seems to me the Republicans are great at shooting themselves on the foot and that is good for the country, good for Obama and good for the Republicans in so far as they discovered a way to allow themselves to feel good about themselves even if the rest of the country doesn't take them seriously anymore.

That skill of doing good at every level and pleasing oneself by hurting oneself which the Republicans so amply possess at the moment should be highly commended :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Boog-mesis

It's a bug that lives in your nose and it's hard to pull out like a regular booger, it sticks to the inside of your nostrils and may stay there for ever. It's called boog-mesis and comes from a beautiful orange-blue flower that is most common in Queensland and South Australia. The flower exudes alluring aromas that make people think it's harmless. Even the slightest whiff can be enough to welcome the tiny bugs in your nose. To recover from boog-mesis, you'll have to take nasal spray every day for a month before intense sneezing subsides and even then healing may not be complete as the bugs can fester in your nose for months. Be careful during spring and summer. Mesis!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Choco Pens

The idea is chocolate bars in the shape of any item students carry with them at school and place on their desks. Good ideas for shapes include pens, pencils, notebooks, stationary, exam sheets etc. To be eaten or chewed upon when bored during class. Some students are in the bad habit of chewing the tip of the pen when bored, why not chew a chocolate bar that looks like the pen but tastes so much better? The taste can be anything the student likes

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Kill 2 Birds or (up to) 600 fish with 1 Stone!

There is a fishing practice in Japan that uses birds to catch fish. A British friend reminded me about it when he heard me using the phrase, kill two birds with one stone.

"If you aim for the wrong bird in Japan", he said, "your kill might cost you up to 600 fish on a good day". Yeah, right. It's true though. Not many people know about cormorant fishing so if you're interested here's how it's done.

The cormorant is a dark-colored water bird with a long neck, a hooked bill, and a distensible throat pouch. The fishermen keep the birds on individuals leashes and can handle up to 12 of these large birds at the same time. Around the birds' neck they place a small ring to prevent them from swallowing fish above a certain size.

Cormorant fishing only takes place at night. To attract a fish a bright burning wood brazier is suspended above the water. The birds are then allowed to begin their hunt.

When the bird's pouch is full, it is pulled back into the boat and its catch is removed. Each time the bird is put into water, it catches from two to four fish and a total catch on a good night is about 50. Cormorants need about two weeks of training before they can do their job properly. Cormorant fishing was invented to catch a river fish called ayu or sweetfish which disdains fisherman's bait. The fish is highly prized in Japan.

When you throw a stone to hit two birds in Japan, be careful which birds you aim for. Cormorants are worth a small fortune and are great entertainment to watch. :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Obama didn't soften up US foreign policy.

A lot of people believe that US foreign policy has softened up because Obama is in charge. It's true that Obama is someone who actually believes in dialogue and diplomacy. But I don't think the reason why US foreign policy softened up is because of Obama. It's rather because the US has more pressing problems to deal with domestically.

US Presidents set the tone and direction of the country's foreign policy. Obama is definitely more interested in solving his country's problems first. The rest of the world can wait. Better still, other countries can start work on solving world problems on their own.

Surprisingly, Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize even though it is clear his priorities are domestic. He rather be remembered as the President who transformed America than the President who brought lasting peace to the Middle East.

If the Palestinians and the Israelis, for example, make peace under Obama's watch, it will probably be because they want it more than the US or its President do. The way things stand, it's highly unlikely that Israelis and Palestinians will make peace any time soon.

So be it, the US tells them. When you're ready, we're here. In the meantime, good luck on your own.

People say Obama reads the world very well, that's why he is not interested in forcing anything on anyone. I think the opposite is true. Over and beyond Obama's belief in dialogue and diplomacy, the US can't afford to be a bully anyway. It's very convenient and productive that Obama is in charge and the US is not swimming against the world's currents.

But go with the flow, that's the only option anyway!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Hack into someone else's romantic marriage proposal

My thought brings no harm or embarrassment to any party. Some people can afford to take their significant other to a romantic spot and while they look up into the sky, a plane forms the words "Marry Me". The guy usually takes out the ring and proposes. Nice idea but costs money. A solution to make it more affordable is to group people who plan to propose on the same day together and have them share the cost but, personally, I don't like that idea so much.

I prefer to hack into the company's log, check where and when the plane will take off, take my girlfriend there and propose to her while the guy who will actually foot the bill is also proposing nearby. It's called taking advantage of open spaces, I am not stealing the other guy's moment, he still gets to do his stunt. I, on the other hand, am effecting a multiple use of an event that is bound to take place anyway, why waste it when others can benefit from it and when no one will ever find out about it?

If you don't know how to hack, hire a hacker, it will still cost you much less than if you paid full price for the thing. How cool is that? Wait! I have a last-minute tip. Before you take the ring out, read something romantic to her and use the time to CHECK no name follows the "Marry Me" sentence, the romantic words will reinforce the moment, checking that no names suddenly appear next to the magic words can save you from disaster...

http://www.thinkaloo.com

What is your favorite rule of the Church of Satan?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Satan#The_Eleven_Satanic_Rules_of_the_Earth

For me number 5 is the most hilarious. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal?? That sounds as hard to follow as a fellow Catholic would find "No sex before marriage" to be. Obviously, no pure Satanist can take it seriously. Imagine you're pure to your faith because you have the devil inside and your Church makes up rule number 5 and asks you to control your lust. It's almost saying "Ban Rape" from your life. It's such a preposterously Christian thing to ask, it's so preposterous it's not even funny.

I think the Church needs to change rule number 5, because it sounds so 999-like. Suspicion is high that the Church has been infiltrated by Christian guerrillas determined to humiliate and destroy the Devil and his legacy. I propose the following variations to give it more of a 69er spin and a nasty breath of hell...

5=999. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal

699. Give the mating signal yourself before you make missionary sexual advances to a member of the opposite Church

669. Give the mating signal yourself before you make all kinds of sexual advances to any member, non-member or dismembered person of any Church

666. You don't have to give or receive any mating signal in order to make all kinds of nasty sexual advances you so darkly desire to anyone you so lustfully desire

That sounds more like a rule written for the Church of Satan. The letter of the rule clearly follows and animates the spirit of the Devil! It's also non-discriminatory, Satanically-correct and designed to lust forever!

I like it better already even though I'm not a versed member of the Church of Satan (proud member of the Church of Someone's-Laughing-at-You).

Help the Church of Satan by picking your favorite from the list and give it The Devil's Spin. May Hell treat your soul with Mercy (lol)

---

The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth, please examine carefully:

1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.

2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.

3. When in another's lair, show them respect or else do not go there.

4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat them cruelly and without mercy.

5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.

6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and they cry out to be relieved.

7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.

8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.

9. Do not harm little children.

10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.

11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask them to stop. If they don't stop, destroy them.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Hey, pick a better role model!

Little Johnny's curiosity got aroused. Why do people say politicians are dumb? Isn't getting rich with little effort smart? Politicians make millions in salary, bonuses, lobbyist payments, bribes, exclusive contracts and money from foreign interests. And all that for doing little more than signing a paper here and there. Can you imagine how smart someone has to be in order to deceive enough people into voting for him or her, and then living off their power? Wouldn't you do just that too, if you had the chance? Save millions in a number account in Switzerland while showing up to work only a couple of times per week, for an hour each time?

Yes I think so, but No I wouldn't.

If I had the chance to save millions in a number account in Switzerland while showing up to work only a couple of times per week, I would be a politician. You're right!

But if I had the chance to save billions in a number account in Switzerland while showing up to work only a couple of times per week to party mad with escorts and off with cocaine, I wouldn't be a politician, I would be Madoff.

I think Little Johnny got his role models wrong. Politicians are ok but neither the smartest nor the richest gang, so..

..little johnny if you are to pick a role model for a rich man who's smart and plays top league, then a politician is only an ok bet. Madoff is a better bet and someone like Madoff who never gets caught is your best bet.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Signs of Wisdom

I know, I know, the title alone can be misleading. The kind of wisdom I have in mind is of a very specific nature. And so are its signs. And so it must be dully noted that what I have in my mind is a result of yet another trip down silly lane. Something has been pervading my thoughts as of late and perhaps you might have some insight on the matter. The intention here is to learn how to appreciate reflections of wisdom wherever they come from and where ever they may appear. So in a totally random fashion I caught myself wondering about hair. Men's hair. White/Grey hair. If its appearance on a man's upper head make him look sexy and wise, is it equally sexy-looking and wise-appearing if the hair also crops up in his groin?

Assuming the area is not waxed or fully shaved and the baldy fellow is in a ramrod state of continuous hypernation, a few grey hair around him would be cute. But I suppose it would be a different story if the bagpipe was in a state of continuous hibernation.

Testicle hibernation would suggest too much wisdom has been accumulated on the cherry splitter that renders him unsuitable to carry out any serious piston movement. So it must be that any signs of sexual wisdom/experience are welcome only up to the point where physical and mental stimulation has room to flourish.

When the condition is not satisfied, the spectacle is not exciting and therefore I say any reference to old age around the sickly cane must be unplucked.

If my visuals feel harsh and disrespectful to the rare spectacle of having white/grey follicles appear around a penis that is no longer a ramrod gun but has irreversibly resized itself into a beetle, then guys remember this. No matter how much aesthetic consideration a woman has for her man, there will always lurk somewhere in her mind's most deepest practical recesses the strong desire to merge good aesthetics with unfettered friction...

And that I hope settles the issue of how to appreciate signs of wisdom where ever on a man's body they may appear. :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

why can't we drink sea water?

Found it on Yahoo..very interesting..

A search on "drink salt water" in Yahoo!'s ever-ready search box linked us to Water Science for Schools, an educational site from the USGS (United States Geological Survey). There we learned the difference between salt water, which contains concentrations of dissolved salts, and fresh water. Salinity is usually measured by the weight or amount of salt contained in water expressed as "parts per million" or ppm.

Water is considered highly saline if it contains anywhere from 10,000-35,000 ppm of dissolved salts. Water is considered fresh if it contains less than 1,000 ppm of salt. In some regions of the United States, slightly saline water is used for tasks like crop irrigation. In regions where an abundant supply of clean, fresh water is difficult to come by, desalinization technologies convert seawater to drinkable fresh water. This is still a very expensive process, although costs are starting to drop, and methods, such as reverse osmosis, are improving. Today, the towns of Avalon and Santa Barbara in California, and Tampa Bay in Florida, are working on desalinization projects.

But that still doesn't answer your question. So, we typed "why can't humans drink salt water" directly into the search box. The U.S. government came through again with an answer from the Department of Energy's Ask a Scientist web site. Prof Bill's response is brief and to the point:

Humans can't drink salt water because the kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking salt water, you have to urinate more water than you drank, so you die of dehydration.

As is so often the case, this answer raises some new questions. How much salt is too much? Salt, like water, is a key ingredient of life on earth. The right amount of sodium chloride (common table salt) is essential for human health. In fact, our blood is 0.9% salt and our body weight is about 1/400 salt. Living cells depend on sodium chloride to maintain the chemical balances required for complex processes and reactions that take place at the microscopic level.

Insufficient salt intake can lead to fatigue, illness, and death, although it is more common nowadays to hear about health problems associated with too much salt. According to the Salt Institute's encyclopedic site about salt, the National Academy of Sciences' recommended daily dose is 500 mg/day -- though most Americans consume closer to 3,500 mg/day. (A teaspoon of salt equals about 2,000mg.)

Optimal salt intake varies -- it depends on a person's genetic makeup, where they live, how active they are, and other lifestyle factors. However, nobody, except for a saltwater fish, is designed to drink saltwater.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

How do I make myself happy here?

They say the happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything. All right, but how do you decide what is the best of everything?

There's this girl I really like. She's pretty and has a very interesting personality. I enjoy my time with her a lot. I think of her all the time and I want her to be my girlfriend. The only problem is she likes girls...

Then there's this other girl we both know. She's sexy and she likes me a lot but other than a strong sexual attraction I don't see what else we have in common. Here's how I don't know how to make the best of everything I (can) have...

I can be involved platonically with the girl whose company and personalty I like hoping that one day she might want to be my girlfriend. Or I can keep her as a friend and have sex with the other girl.

The girl I like as my girlfriend, however, happens to be attracted to the girl I can have sex with.

The girl I can have sex with though is not into girls. So if I sleep with the girl who is not into girls I run the risk of antagonizing the girl I like as my girlfriend.

I know I won't be happy if I never have sex with the girl I want as my girlfriend. She, on the other hand, will not be happy If I have sex with the girl she likes. The girl she likes won't be happy with me if I don't have sex with her.

Making the best of everything in my case means to have sex with the girl who likes me and to go on with my life hoping that one day the other girl might become my girlfriend.

Having the best of everything, however, means to have no 1-1 sex with the girl who likes me so that I can hope to convince the girl I like as my girlfriend to have a threesome all together. Why not? She gets to sleep with the girl she likes and I get to sleep with both of them wishing one day I will be more than a threesome partner to her.

So what do I do to join the rare group of people who are the happiest with their lives? Do I make the best of everything I already have and have 1-1 sex or do I choose to try the best of everything I could have and end up with a threesome and possibly with the girlfriend I like?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

THE BENEFITS OF BEING short

I use far fewer calories than the average person. I am much more economically and environmentally sustainable. I exhale less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. I use less space and thus I don't need a large house to live in. If the earth was populated by people my size, we could sustain a much larger population for longer. Next time you are about to dismiss or call someone "short", think about all the benefits he or she contributes to the planet and say something short and nice to them about me! :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Tie back to its origins

Ties were originally used as napkins. They were not designed to serve as something nice to wear but had a function. I would like to have a tie that I can wear as a tie that comes with an extra layer I can use as a napkin. What you see in this photo is close to what I have in mind but not exactly. The photo shows a napkin with a tie painted on it. As you can see it has the shape of a napkin. I would like to have the opposite. A tie with the shape of a tie to also be used as a napkin. I know that with self-cleaning nano-fabrics we will soon be able to use any piece of cloth as a napkin, but a tie would be the most obvious one for me to use because the world associates it with formality, neatness and cleanliness and it's just too tempting to see people getting shocked when I wipe my mouth with it.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

If your leader is a clown, is your country a circus?

I used to find it disturbing that a country's Prime Minister is subjected to 2,500 court hearings on charges of bribery and corruption but's never convicted. After reading Berlusconi's latest clown statements I changed my mind. I realize there are some things in a leader money can't buy that are worse than bribery, worse than corruption, worse than what he claims are false accusations of bribery and corruption. Delusions of grandeur is the vice I'm speaking of. Berlusconi just told us he is The Best Prime Minister in human history boasting, among his other well-known "priceless" vices, paying more than 200 million Euros over the years in consultant fees and...Judges(!!)

Need he slip more? I don't think so. And the Oscar for best Honest Clown performance goes to.....Signore Berlusconi!!

Dear Clown Prime Minister of Italy,

As your private banker/secret conduit to impartial justice and unbiased judges, I must warn you. If Unlimited Currency bailed you out all those years, Unlimited Arrogance is the currency to bail you "in" this time. Are you sure you don't want to go back conducting your transactions in Euro? It might be a very wise thing to do. Those fat-cat judges will be better fed in Euro than in your own hard-to-exchange clowrrency.

Dear Desperate PM-Clown of Italy,

Speaking on behalf of the same mankind you speak on behalf of in reference to yourself, please be happy to know that there's Never(!) existed any other clown leader as honest as you. So honest about your own bribery practices that your people follow your lead wherever they go.

10 French troops died at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan in August 2008. They died needlessly because the Italians who were stationed there prior to the French troops taking over were bribing the insurgents not to cause trouble. When they switched control, they failed to inform the French troops. As a result, when the French moved into the Sarobi area near Kabul and the protection payments stopped, the Taliban struck, killed them and then mutilated them.

Who's to blame the Italian troops for the actual act of bribery when the Prime Minister in charge of the country brags about giving 200 million Euros in bribes? Everyone in the clown movement knows no bribery is more innocent and justified than the one carried out by the Prime Minister. Why? Because he didn't fail to inform the public before it was too late. Silvio came clean. The Italian army never admitted to the practice until Americans intercepted a call where the unsuspecting Italians talked about the bribes to the Taliban.

History will make note of Berlusconi's coming honest about his dirty work, something his troops failed to do with disastrous consequences. Rest assured that so long as Berlusconi keeps his payments in Euros, history will "judge" him positively.

If bribery wasn't so lethal as was the case in Afghanistan, it would have been tremendously entertaining to contemplate it. When I say entertaining, I mean entertaining as in spending an evening at the circus or something clowny to that effect. Since I seem to be seriously contemplating the whole thing, why don't I check when Circo Medrano comes to town next? Their reputation is quite good I hear.

Until justice is served, I think I want to save my applause and cheers for when Italy's real clowns come to my town. If it wasn't for those 10 French troops dying in Afghanistan, these bribery affairs wouldn't have been so disturbing.

Why does French naivete have to spoil all that circus fun??

And what the hell are we doing sending multinational troops in Afghanistan to kill when the Italians can do a much better job bribing everyone out?

Something tells me that if we let Afghanistan in Italian hands, we'll soon see foreign leaders making state visits with full-scale parades and all that pomp. Not a bomb dropped, not a drop of blood spilled.

Who knows, if we all agree to put Berlusconi in charge of disbursing the payments, the Taliban could agree for a photo-opp with Osama bin Laden as part of the protocol. If you know how to bribe, nothing's too impossible it seems.

So I seriously worry now, why do we need the Americans bombing and killing and missiling the bribe-hangry Taliban when the Italians can give the people what they really want, restore peace, security and economic development and do all that without a blink?

Sounds too preposterous to say but the antidote to the Taliban might very well be sending Medrano in Kabul.

Think about it next time the Circo visits your town. Seriously, think about it!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Make bribes legal

From the guys that gave us the Mafia and inspired Don Corleone, why not let them take the lead on this? The Prime Minister does it, the judges do it, the troops do it, most businessmen I assume do it too. Who's left? If everyone does it, and whoever doesn't accepts it as a fact of life anyway, why not nudge Italians to take the next step and make it all legal? For one, it will help make us foreigners less confused about their norms and practices. Confusion mostly results from claiming that something is illegal when everyone either does it or accepts it. Holland made the use of drugs legal, I see no problem with Italy doing the same with bribery. They seem to be equally addicted. The measure will save lives, money (spent on legal fees) and last but not least...horses' heads!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Non Stop Drinking :)

A man walks into a bar at five o' clock in the afternoon and orders three scotches. Not one after the other but all three at once. The bartender is a little puzzled by this unusual request, but he doesn't say anything and gives the man what he wants - three scotches lined up on the bar in a row. The man drinks them down one by one, pays the bill and leaves.

The next day, he comes back at five o' clock and orders the same thing. Three scotches all at once. And the day after that, and every day after that for two weeks.

Finally, curiosity gets the better of the barman. I don't mean to be nosy, he says, but you've been here every day for the past two weeks ordering your three scotches, and I'd just like to know why. Most people take them one at a time.

Ah, the man says, the answer is very simple.

I have two brothers. One of them lives in New York, one lives in San Francisco, and the three of us are very close. As a way of honoring our friendship, we all go into a bar at five in the afternoon and order three scotches, silently toasting one another's health, pretending that we're all together in the same place.

The barman nods, finally understanding the reason for this strange ritual, and thinks no more about it.

The business goes on for another four months. The man comes in every day at five o' clock, and the barman serves him the three drinks. Then something happens.

The man shows up at his regular hour one afternoon, but this time he orders only two scotches. The bartender is worried, and after a while he plucks up his courage and says: I don't mean to be nosy, but every day for the past four and a half months you've come in here and ordered three scotches. Now you order two. I know it's none of my business, but I just hope nothing's gone wrong with your family.

Nothing's wrong, the man says, as bright and chipper as ever.

What is it then? the bartender asks.

The answer is very simple, the man says. I've stopped drinking.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Why is the world of the rich so Unbelievable?

If you are about to spend $1 bn to build a lavish 27-storey house and buy your wife a luxury Airbus jet, what's the point of giving yourself a 66% pay cut?

I am holding a copy of the Financial Times Weekend Edition and on the first page I read in big letters the title of the article,"A towering example from Ambani" I'm thinking whoever this Ambani guy is, he must have done something very noble to have him on the front page as someone who leads the world by the example of his actions.

Then the first two paragraphs read like this and I quote them here to gear you up (I was)

"Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, who is spending about $1 bn to build a lavish 27-storey house and buy his wife a luxury Airbus jet, this week gave himself a 66 per cent pay cut."

"In reducing his remuneration to "set a personal example of moderation in executive compensation", Mr Ambani, who controls Reliance Industries, became the first high-profile Indian executive to heed his government's call for austerity in corporate compensation."

Is that supposed to make me feel good because I almost feel like crying here, the tears are swelling under my eyes and I can't continue reading the article any more. I feel terrible for the guy. 66% pay cut when his wife is getting him into so many expenses with the new house and Airbus jet?

I find the title and opening of the story too comical to laugh it makes me cry.

Are we supposed to believe that this guy voluntarily took a cut in his pay because his government called upon him to show modesty and austerity in compensating himself?

Are we supposed to believe that he will not be saving himself money cutting his pay all the while selling himself to the world as someone who is actually experiencing the effects of the recession through the pay cut?

What a towering example of hypocrisy we are lured to accept.

I suggest we make it a rule worldwide that billionaires and millionaires never take a pay-cut in their compensation no matter how severe a recession is and no matter how high their official salary. The whole point of having a salary cut is to have a cut in expenses and expensive lifestyle habits. Otherwise, there's no point cutting it to set an example if expenses are not also cut!

What's more depressing than economic austerity is the depression that arises from taking us all, beings of a lesser God, for fools.

The article continues by saying that,

"Tax experts told the Financial Times that Indian tycoons' salaries and bonuses were not their main income and many top executives preferred to earn low wages, which are taxed at about 30 per cent, and instead be remunerated more with dividends, which are tax free."

Can someone explain how Mr. Ambani sets an example by not cutting down on his expensive lifestyle?

I just don't see what the Indian government is so proud about. At best, they forced Mr. Ambani to take a better look at his tax structure and save himself money.

If they tell me that their aim was to make it possible for him to spend his $1 billion in order to stimulate the plutonomy and make the dream of becoming rich like Ambani one day possible for millions of poor Indians, then I can accept that at least we're not taken for fools.

There are no funny words or phrases or emotions in the article, but for some reason this hilarious reporting cracked a smile on my face something that I haven't experienced from reading the FT's front page in a long long time!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Moisturize your neck

Women always put moisturizer on our face but never get it down on our neck. The skin on our neck, however, is the same stuff as on our face, but it ages twice as fast because we don't ever put any cream on it. If you like to speed down signs of aging on your face, apply the cream on your neck. It's common-sense but a good tip nonetheless. Try it!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Google phone

On the contrary to regular phones, Google phone has an Operating System made by Google. They call it Android platform.

I used it for 2 days and I am not very impressed. It's a new phone, ugly and I don't see it being better than iphone at this point.

My opinion is that it will be better to buy in the next one or maybe two years.

Anyone has tried it?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

why go to premium cars?

few years ago a luxury car had what a regular car has today.

I just bought the new Alfa Romeo Mito. It compares to size to cars like Punto, Mini Cooper, etc.. Mini Cooper is a different category of what we call a premium luxury car.

So my new question here is .. Alfa Vs Mini.

Winner by far far far is Alfa.

better design.. better feeling.. faster... better consumption..

oh God and so so so so so beautiful . On the contrary Mini Cooper is to find women who have no idea about cars :)

So my question is why to go to a premium car when there is Alfa.. Sorry I meant to say when there are better better cars.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Paying for Comics with Movies

Stephen W. Saffel suggested that Disney (which will own Marvel Comics) and Warner Bros. (which owns DC Comics) should "decide that it's time for comics to become ubiquitous once again".

Disney has announced their intention to purchase the Marvel corporation which would mean that the two main comic book companies would be owned by major media corporations which also make movies. Disney and Warner Bros. can use the stable of comic book characters they each own to produce films. They can also easily publish comic books about the characters from their movie productions.

A controversial idea would be to make comics "ubiquitous" by making them more affordable. Marvel already could have decreased the paper quality or even art quality if they had wanted to target children with limited budgets. I assume that Mr. Saffel intends Disney to subsidize comics with profits from the movies that would be made about the characters made popular by the comic book medium.

I agree that if it would work, Disney should definitely look at the overall picture of profit between movies and comic books that tie together. Corporations, especially larger ones, can have a difficult time setting up incentives to encourage this kind of cooperation and big picture thinking.

Effectively comic books would be what's called a "loss leader" for movies but it is hard to balance when a loss leader is just a waste and when it drives success elsewhere in the business. In this case the loss leader acts as an idea factory for movies and many of those new stories would fail to gain an audience.

Stephen W. Saffel is an Editor/Content Developer in the hobby/popular culture arena from the Forest Hills, New York. His comments can be found at http://www.icv2.com/articles/talk_back/15809.html

http://www.thinkaloo.com

who cares about the bell??

pencils put away, notebooks folded, backpacks zipped up, students ready to get out of the class long before the bell rings. everyone's interested in taking a break than paying attention to the class. but wait. once upon a rare time everyone's hooked into the class. no one's rushing to the door, instead everyone's listening to the teacher waiting for him to finish before getting out. no one cares about the bell. this, in my view, is the best sign that students are learning. the teacher whose performance results in students not wanting to rush to their break is a truly exceptional teacher. in my opinion, teachers should be evaluated based on the minutes it takes for students to rush out of the class before and after the bell rings. this is a universal sign of interest and as such it should be adopted as a teacher performance metric everywhere!!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Shop-it-yourself Restaurants!

What do you think of a new type of restaurant where the customers bring the ingredients for the meal and the chef cooks it for them? I'm thinking the idea will appeal to people who enjoy shopping for groceries and food but don't want to spend time cooking after. A good idea would be to have the restaurant conveniently located close to food markets. Nothing is charged for the meal and profit is made from monthly/annual membership fees. It's obviously a members-only restaurant. The menu is advertised online offering details on the ingredients/quantities so that customers know what to bring with them and book a table in advance. What's your opinion? Can such business do well?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

What's that noise mummy?

It's the neighbors having sex sweetie, but I can't tell that to my 5-year-old, can I?

It's the neighbors playing Wii Fit and by the sound of it seems they're exercising pretty hard at it. They're so loud, aren't they?

Yes mummy, they're so loud... (phew!)

Mummy, what was that noise again coming from your bedroom last night?

Ooops! The dreaded moment of truth for every single mother, knocking my door this time...

That little fib about the neighbors a few nights ago? A life saver. It slipped and fit my occasion so willingly..

Thinking it would probably not be convincing enough, that was all I could come up with anyway.

I guess I must thank my neighbors for their healthy sex life (don't I?), helping me explain to my 5-year old it wasn't mummy playing the Wii Fit last night...

Phewii!
:-))

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Pay for Time Restaurant

A friend of a friend of mine who lives in Hamburg told me about it. The customer only has to pay for the time he spends there. The charge is per minute, you pay nothing for the food you eat, only for the time it takes you to finish your meal. The name of the restaurant is Take A Minute. The faster you eat, the less you will have to pay.

Wondering if the food they serve is worth the time checking it out. Has anyone been there?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

vice president meaning?

Do you know that the word Vice also Means defect, corruption, generally it has bad meanings for non English speakers? Why do we call Vice presidents , VICE then? :) Do you think there is a conspiracy theory behind this?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Secret Service Pollitics

I don't care where Your pollitics lie, it's obvious Obama should Not be killed. But should a poll on Facebook asking if Obama Should be killed, be killed? Secret Service asked Facebook to take the poll down and Facebook complied saying the content was inappropriate. Bad taste disgusts me but censorship Offends me. Killing Obama is a crime. Killing a poll is apolling. Welcome to the new era of Secret Service Pollitics. Please vote on Thispoll before Secret Service kills it or Obama's life will be in Grave danger...

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Make unused buttons disappear

I feel good about a remote control that allows me to hide all the buttons I don't use. This heavenly gadget is sure to hit all my function buttons head-on istically. Have you ever thought why most remote controls have more buttons than we ever use? I can only speak for myself, but be that as it may, my own remote control buttons are way less than those of any remote control I ever owned! :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Horny Flakes :)

The history of Corn Flakes, I read, has to do with one man's horror with sex, his fear that by eating wrong foods people will become sex addicts and flake society apart.

Meat especially was believed to stimulate longings of the flesh. So it was in 1906 that John Harney Kellog introduced a number of foods designed to promote health and decrease interest in sex. One of those foods was Corn Flakes! It is a big mystery then how the word corny today means...horny. Based on the history of corn as a food designed to decrease interest in sex, it should have the opposite meaning. Perhaps a pheromone-fortified new food designed to restore corn's true libidinous effects might be just the right product to introduce into our daily, sexually-enhanced diets. Me so corny darling, can you get me a potent start of the day with a bowl of Horn Flakes??

I'll add the cream later, thanks...lol

http://www.thinkaloo.com

women's rights

we live in a society where women have more and more rights every day because of feminist acts. What do you think was wrong with our society in the past and what has changed? Did we evolve as people and we understood that all this time we were wrong? Or we just try to prove that we don't care about discriminations and we think that everybody is equal now? for example gay to non gay people, women to men..

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Who can appreciate both art and science???

When I was younger, I was thinking that people can be either artists or scientists. Then i realised that this is a wrong thought as i have met many people who can be both.

Now my question is the following :If we take as granted the fact that scientists tend to be realistic and logical and artists tend to be romantic and utopians, is there more chance to meet a scientist who can appreciate and be inspired by art or an artist who can appreciate and be inspired by science?? Please vote i want to know your opinion about that!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

the more he heels, the more his dick will never heal...

la french presidente is a head over heels clown. just a few french fries short of a happy meal, his protocol says whoever stands next to him gets the short end of the stick. carla knows she'll never get to see the long end of it so she's made peace with her hormones. what-you-see-is-what-you get releases me from the embarrassment to explain who's the long of it and who's the short of it. let's just appreciate the fact that she's a perfect roll modele for all french men with altitude insecurities. sarkozy serves her a big head on short sticks and steep heels, she shoes him flat and modestly. to cut a long story short, if you're no more than 5'5" arms-stretched, the more you heel the more your dick will never heal. sexy french first wife...you got seriously dick-changed there.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Courier pigeons for romantic gifts and messages!

If courier pigeons can be relied to carry business data cross country, why not rely on them to carry flowers and a love letter to my girlfriend on Valentine's day and on our anniversary? The developing world makes use of pigeons because they lack basic infrastructure. The developed world can make use of pigeons because we lack romance that's truly original, authentic and utterly imaginative. I see a large new market opening up and great business opportunities for Winston and his family. Some birdie num num for tip would be greatly appreciated by Winston :)

"An IT company in South Africa pitted an 11-month-old courrier pigeon armed with a 4GB memory stick against the ADSL service from the country's biggest web firm, Telkom. Winston the pigeon took 2 hours to carry the data 60 miles - in the same time the ADSL had sent 4% of the data."

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Why don't some people smile when I smile at them?

Look, I have been taught to be polite. So, in my case, if I am at a party with my family, I smile at someone. No harm done, right?

Well, to them-- yes. Some people look at me and just... glare. I mean, what have I done wrong? And then when my younger sister smiles at someone, they have a huge grin on their face.

And then I am there looking dumbfounded, thinking.... What the heck? I don't say or do anything, but merely walk away.

Obviously you guys don't know me, but I'd like to hear some of your theories. If you can come up with any from the little information I have given you.

And if you are going to feed me crap, I'd rather not hear it. And no, I am not fishing for compliments. I don't have time for that rubbish..

http://www.thinkaloo.com

The Flaws of the college system

Hello everyone. I am here to talk to you about the flaws society has when dealing with the college system. Yes society, us, we have a major flaw in how we view college.

Let me give you an example, There are two students that want a certain job at the same time. Student A went to a 4 year college and got a bachelors degree for that job. Student B went to a 2 year technical school to gain the skills necessary for that job.

Now based on this, who do you think will get the job? Of course almost everyone would say student A. But now why is student A more likely to get the job than the other student? Both students have all the skills needed to work in that job. So why? Is it because student A's college is more prestige then a technical school? It can't be, how famous and renowned a school is would have nothing to do with a person's ability to do the job. Maybe it is because student A can analyze a book and write a 10 page paper on it. Well that can't be it either, if the job has nothing to do with reading books then being able to do that would be pointless. Or is it because student A spent the time and money to pay for an expensive college. Now that would not make any sense, for it should not matter how much money you spent or for how long you it took you to finish. So once again why is student A going to get the job and not student B? The truth is, there is no real reason. Student A is getting the job just because he has a piece of paper that says bachelor's degree on it. So who's fault is it that this is happening? I will tell you, the fault lies within our society. The people as a whole are to blame for this. You have to see that society says people without college degrees are inferior to those that do. Society will openly judge a person based on, if they have a degree or not. Society will completely ignore all of the work experience you gained if you do not have a degree. A person with a degree will even get paid more for doing the same work. I know people that have great jobs but can never leave that job because they will never get hired in the same field because they do not have a degree.

These people have worked very hard without a degree to get to where they are. But since they do not have a degree they are the first ones to get laid off or replaced by others that are fresh out of college. So some of these people have decided to go to college and are wasting 4 or more years of their life just to get a piece of paper labeled degree. Not to mention the thousands of dollars they will spend for classes they do not need. How is this fair? We say we have an equal opportunity market, but only people that have the financial stability to go to college will have greater opportunities. This leaves poor families with no chance to compete when they cannot afford to go to such colleges.

Why does society see college as the only way to have a stable career? Society has to remember the fundamental idea that drives colleges. A college is a business. And what do all businesses want, to increase their profits. Which, by the way, colleges are doing very well at. Colleges are gaining such large profits by using one word.

Requirements. If you only went to college and took the classes that you needed for a particular job then this system would not be so flawed. But colleges use the word requirements to force you to take more classes and spend more money while taking those classes. An example of these requirements is all the liberal arts classes one must take. If you are not going into a career that requires you to write analytically then you are just wasting your time. And yes I do admit that most jobs will need you to write up a paper or a report but you do not need 4 different classes to teach you how to do that, especially when you should have learned that from high school. Basically Just about all the requirements can be covered through high school and middle school, with simple refresher classes provided in college for those that need/want it. I am going to stress the word need because not everyone needs to relearn how to write a paper. This goes back to my first example, where both students have all the skills needed to work in that job, but student A pays more for requirements that are not needed and takes a much longer time to finish with the education. While student A is wasting time with useless requirements student B can be getting real world experience by working. Student B can even go to a different technical school and gain skills for a different career in the time it takes student A to finish college. But even when student B has the skills to do two different careers he/she would be seen as inferior to student A. This is a major reason why the system is flawed.

Now I propose a solution to this problem, I am proposing an idea for a new system to take over how people get degrees. The first thing that would need to be done is to disassociate all degrees from colleges. The next thing to be done is to set a system of exams that would determine whether a candidate is qualified for a certain degree. These exams would be similar to the bar examination and the divers test. The bar exam is a great example because you do not need a college degree by practicing attorney for an extended period of time. Another reason this is a great example is because it should not matter where or how you gained the skills needed for a career, being able to perform the tasks needed of you is all that should be important. I also say these exams would be similar to the driver's test because the driver's test proves that the exams do not have to be limited to pen and paper, but can be a physical exam based on the career the exam is for or even a combination of the both. Think about it, for the thousands of people working that do not have a degree but have the skills necessary for the career they want to spend one day or a week, however long the exam is, and take an exam that would give them the degree or certification that states they are qualified to pursue that career. This allows less fortunate families to find alternate ways to learn the skills needed for good careers. This also allows colleges to keep their study programs and requirements for people that are financially able to pay for, but after graduating from college they would still need to take an exam toward the career they want to be recognized as qualified. With this system everyone can follow their career with enough hard work and not just people financially stable.

This new system sounds great on paper but will mean nothing if it remains on paper. Nothing will change if society does not acknowledge the flawed system we have now.

If you agree with what I have said then please pass this on to others and help them understand what is happening. We are the people and the people have power when we act united as one.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Organized Theft!

They call them organized beaches in Greece, "Organized" obviously being an euphemism for stealing your money, an act of organized charity you are made to feel grateful for. Just to enter the premises and sit under an umbrella you pay 40 Euros!! That's Asteras in Vouliagmeni. You hope your 40 Euros buys you something of substance, like coffee, drinks, sunscreen, magazines or whatever will add some comfort to your "organized beach experience"? Forget about it. The only thing your 40 Euros will get you is pretentious posing, thin Attica air and the promise of seeing Vandi or other Greek celebs only Greeks who pay 40 Euros for the umbrella entry know. No thanks! I rather look at myself in the mirror and since I'm a REAL celebrity pay a normal 5 Euro price for umbrella and coffee which is what all those cheap celebs pay anyway in return for luring the crowds to their pretentious "organized" dupe.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Mute button for my cell

I have the Nokia E71 cell, the guy who sold it to me told me it has everything I need. I'm generally happy with it but I noticed most super phones these days don't come with what I think is a very handy function. I'm surprised designers have totally missed it. When I want to change my profile to mute I have to go through the menu. An external mute button on the side that does the same thing or a shortcut press of existing keys is what's really missing from my cell. When I forget to set it at mute, a call comes in and rings loud. I must either answer, let ring or hang up. With the use of an external button I want to instantly change the ringing tone to mute without going through the menu. It's so easy to make.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Most Awesome Rollercoaster!

We all love the ride and thrill on the coaster because we are reassured it's safe. Nothing bad will happen. Muahaha. Enhance the adrenaline rush by tricking the emotional system visually, mess up our play-safe expectations and stake false appearances. Deceive the eyes of the uninitiated beholder. Muahahaha. Yes, manufacture it with The Best safety standards in the world. Advertise it as such, have it make it on Guinness records. But make it look shabby, wrecked and crumbling. Rusty railings and clearly broken-looking components. Make it rasp, squeak and creak from the moment you walk in. Most abandoned and derelict, it falls down like thick fog.

Homeless-looking staff ask who's brave to die today. A general air of incompetence enshrouds and ensorcells. Muahaha. Display death certificates for purchase before the ride for those who won't make it. Those who might can later exchange them for ones saying "I-got-lucky-this-time-only". Muahahaha.

Ladies, this is how all decent roller coasters should look like from now on. Muahahahahahaha...

http://www.thinkaloo.com

The tagline is Wrong!

I ask for your support to put pressure to change the wording of this commercial. A German charity wants to link Aids with mass murder. Ahead of World Aids Day in December they created an ad that shows a couple having sex, but it is only at the end that the man is revealed as Hitler. The tagline reads: "Aids is a mass murderer." The worry is that people with HIV will be stigmatized. Is it fair to stigmatize people who had safe sex but caught the virus another way, for example by having transfusion of contaminated blood or through drug use? I don't think stigmatizing millions of people with HIV is fair. The tagline should instead be "Unprotected Sex is Mass Murder". We should fight against irresponsible behavior, not stigmatize people with the condition and make it even more difficult for those who have HIV but don't know it come forward and test themselves. Just one wrong word in the tagline and the message gets out the wrong way...

http://www.thinkaloo.com

how to clean laptop screen with household products

1. Create a gentle cleaning solution. The ideal solution is plain distilled water. If more heavy cleaning is needed a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and distilled water can also be effective.
* Manufacturers no longer recommend using any cleaners with alcohol, ammonia or any strong solvents on LCD screens.

2. Put the solution in a small atomizer bottle, the type that you push from the top to get a fine mist. Don't use this, however, to spray on the screen itself.

3. Apply--a minimal amount of--the solution to a cotton cloth, such as an old T-shirt, lint-free microfiber cloth, or some other very soft cloth. A large cloth is best, since it will help to reduce the risk of leaving streaks across the screen from finger pressure. Do not make the cloth wet, only moist. A wet cloth can drip or run when cleaning the screen and the solution can weep behind the bezel and permanently damage your screen!

4. Wipe the cloth against the screen in a circular, or other consistent motion. Rapid circular movements generally eliminate streaks. Apply--a gentle--and even pressure to the cloth. Use only enough pressure to keep the cloth in contact with the screen. Take care not to press your fingers into the cloth or screen. Applying too much force when cleaning the screen can permanently damage the LCD matrix rendering your screen unusable.

http://www.thinkaloo.com

here's a new invention...a solar-powered clothes dryer!!

i suspect every pretentious dimwit out there suddenly wants to find out how it works. don't worry numskulls, i have it all figured out. but let's just say i'm not in the mood to impress every diehard sucker one of you, therefore, i won't give out my hullabaloo engineering hoopla and all that bling until i see some pennies for my thought first. i'll only let you know it's called a...clothes line. NOT! :D

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Rating the state of our economy

The Guru said. Please take a moment to contemplate with me the names of two of our nation's largest and most respected credit rating agencies.

Moody's...Standard And Poor's...Cheeze Everyone, that's the state of our economy.

Toxic, junk and AAA. Our beloved agencies gave the world the magic that turned all the former into all the latter. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world...The 70s saw the end of the gold standard. And now we see the beginning of the poor standard. But Don't worry, the Guru said. The Moody's They Are A-Changin'

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Pickup line for joggers

I was out with my friend and wanted someone to take a photo of us. I asked a cute girl who was jogging to take it. I gave her my camera and instructions how to use it. When I thanked her for taking the photo I told her that I was happy to hand her the camera because I noticed that she is very fit and a good runner but not as fast as I am and that's very important to know before I ask someone to take a photo of me with my camera. She asked why? I told her that's because if she runs away with the camera I need to be able to catch up to her..!! :)

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Makes my Spartan heart melt...

September 3, 2009

7:20 p.m. - 8:05 p.m., Greece

I had the most memorable evening swim complemented by a very touching and beautiful gesture. A love note on the beach meant for me.

I arrived at the beach on a beautiful sunset around 7:20pm. The place was empty and calm. I could only see two girls a few meters to my right lying on the beach facing the sunset and apparently taking looks at me as I made my way into the water.

I stayed in the water swimming for about half an hour till a beautiful full moon pinned like a silver plate took its turn on the sky.

I come out of the water and take a look around me. No one's there any more. It's getting dark and cold and the girls who were lying nearby are also gone.

I walk towards the spot I left my towel. As I make my way to reach it, I notice this note carefully placed on the towel with a stone acting as paper weight against the wind.

The girls I had seen earlier must have written it and placed it there. They were the only ones around. I didn't take a good look at their faces but they did at mine.

I don't know if they were Greek or foreigners but it doesn't matter. I know they were nice.

And their beautiful gesture proves it!

If you're not one of the girls but you clicked on the photo and read the note, you'll agree it was very nice of them what they did.

Imagine their beautiful gesture for a moment.

They saw me getting into the water and swimming far away from the shore. They must have been observing me even though I didn't notice them doing so. Most probably they spent a good part of their time talking about me while I was in the sea swimming for both of them :)

As they were "living" the beach, they scrapped a piece of paper and wrote those short and very nice words for me to read and remember the time, the place, the chance encounter that never happened, the presence of all of us being there.

No names. No contact details.

Just the memory of it on the paper whose back side hints at some kind of card game they might have been playing.

That was the kind of gesture to make the heart of any Spartan melt.

I'm "living" the place tomorrow so I won't be able to come back and look for them.

But I can return the gesture, I thought, by posting this beautiful note online in the hope that one day one of the girls will stumble upon these lines, see the note and take pleasure from knowing that their thoughts of me were well received and greatly appreciated.

I have my reasons for not mentioning the name of the place.

If they come across this post one day and see their note, they will know it can only have been the sweet boy swimming for them as they were "living" the beach that 3rd of September evening in Greece. Only he could have gotten the note. There was no one else at the beach at the time.

I don't know if they will ever get to read these lines. Even if they do one day, many years may have passed by then. But if the girls who wrote the note and left it on the beach ever decide to contact me, I would know it's them because they will be able to tell me the name of the place.

Whoever you are beautiful-girl-note-droppers, please know that you touched the Spartan's heart.

His only regret is that you weren't around to see the smile on his face as he picked up the note and read it...

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Global Warming Solutions. Eat the sun!

"I eat the sun," Japan's First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama says, raising her arms as if to tear pieces off an imaginary sun. "Like this: yum, yum, yum. It gives me enormous energy. My husband has recently started doing that too."

The land of the Eaten-San is stuck deep in the hole. Creative solutions were desperately needed. We looked around for some unique skills in people to get us out of the mess. Someone whose wife's resume includes being abducted by aliens and a trip to Venus to verify that the grass is green and the girls are pretty sure is the best person you want to hire for the job. I am confident we made the right choice.

So now, if we can all, following the example of our leader, start eating the sun, some of its warmth will go away.

We have it all figured out. If we can just let the people do what's natural to them then Global Warming will go the Kyoto path and global hunger will also be solved!

Here's the trailer for "Mission Impossible 2009: In the land of the Eaten-San", starring, in this life, Miyuki Hatoyama and Tom Cruise.

At least they seem to be genuinely in love. That should count for something, right?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Global Warming Solutions. Eat the sun!

"I eat the sun," Japan's First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama says, raising her arms as if to tear pieces off an imaginary sun. "Like this: yum, yum, yum. It gives me enormous energy. My husband has recently started doing that too."

The land of the Eaten-San is stuck deep in the hole. Creative solutions were desperately needed. We looked around for some unique skills in people to get us out of the mess. Someone whose wife's resume includes being abducted by aliens and a trip to Venus to verify that the grass is green and the girls are pretty sure is the best person you want to hire for the job. I am confident we made the right choice.

So now, if we can all, following the example of our leader, start eating the sun, some of its warmth will go away.

We have it all figured out. If we can just let the people do what's natural to them then Global Warming will go the Kyoto path and global hunger will also be solved!

Here's the trailer for "Mission Impossible 2009: In the land of the Eaten-San", starring, in this life, Miyuki Hatoyama and Tom Cruise.

At least they seem to be genuinely in love. That should count for something, right?

http://www.thinkaloo.com

UnArmed, UnArmored and Totally EnAmored!!

That's what we should consider calling a "private" guard working for the US Embassy in Afghanistan.

They are private, because they are not ashamed to show their private parts.

They are ferocious and fearless, because they're not afraid to shock the Taliban into retreat by showing up in the line of fire armor-free.

It's always with a great sense of fiction that I read such stories on the news. That can't be real...???

We are daily bombarded with news and opinions about the lack of progress in Afghanistan 8 years after the US, with the help of NATO, kicked the Taliban out of the country.

Hundreds of European and American soldiers get killed there, the Taliban are coming back from Pakistan to reclaim territory and sabotage all progress achieved so far and things are just not working well or as well as we would like them to.

As I follow the news in that part of the world I am always left wondering. Why? Why can't we succeed there? We are throwing military and economic resources in that country, yet we seem to be the ones into retreat 8 years after we supposedly Talibanned the place.

Something just doesn't feel right.

Then I read this news and that something which didn't feel right becomes clear.

"Allegations surfaced last week that contractor ArmorGroup North America allowed mistreatment, sexual activity and intimidation within the ranks of private guards hired to protect the embassy in Kabul. The company and U.S. officials are investigating."

"We've immediately taken several actions," said Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. "First of all, 13 of the employees of ArmorGroup have been terminated from their contracts. That's a combination of some management and any of the individuals that were involved in this very disgusting behavior that occurred."

Two things amaze me in this story. The fact that "management" is involved is the first. The second is the use of the word "disgusting" to describe how WE feel about it.

If it is "disgusting" to us in the West who are supposed to be a little more tolerant of parties, booze, boobs and gays, how are the locals supposed to feel about it?

The irony is that this has nothing to do with the Koran or Islam and the locals' morals, their tolerance or lack of it to things Western. This is us calling ourselves disgusted and us firing the people who we hire to guard us from the people we feel disgust for their hate of us and who we force to change with overwhelmingly superior force which also doesn't seem to bring the results we want.

First it was Abu Ghraib in Iraq. A few years later, Obama wants Guantanamo closed as well. One would expect that "management" of the private guards in the US embassy in Kabul would know by now that this is not the kind of behavior to permit under any circumstances whatsoever anywhere in the world, least of all in fucking Afghanistan.

Unless they really believe that place has been totally fucked up and the hopes for a better outcome there are a pie in the sky, it just doesn't make sense that these incidents still keep happening with the "disgusting" patterned frequency they are happening.

It is one thing when one private soldier does something indecent and a different thing altogether when 13 people, including management are fired for "disgusting" behavior in Afghanistan.

This is a US embassy spokesman referring to the incident NOT using diplomatic language. The most diplomatic of all institutions representing the US government is using emotional language to describe the way WE feel about the way the people we hire to do things we don't want them to do.

This is very unusual and sick. We seem to be at a loss as these incidents are popping up like dots in a pattern we can't seem to be able to put an end to or at least bring under control.

Sure. We fired all 13 of them. But that's only after the news came out and was impossible to cover up. For all we know, orgies are addictive and whoever claims they only took part once or they had to take their shirts off because it was too hot dancing so close to the fire, it's like claiming they smoked the poppy but never inhaled it. Yeah, right!

How on naked earth do we expect that just by firing the privates we can still win the locals' hearts and minds and TaliBan this Fucking Poppyland?

Oh yes, silly me. Of course I should have noticed the naked truth staring at me through the fire like a Talibani imbecile.

The privates' faces in the photo are covered in black ink so they are not exposed.

YES! That's something the Taliban and the locals can appreciate.

Cover Up!

If we can start by covering up the faces, at some point, we will learn to cover up the rest of the body and private parts.

That's the kind of logic we can expect all local Afghanistanis to appreciate.

These guys should really like us. They are so wrong hating us and not welcoming us there with OpenArms, ArmsUp, UnArmed, UnArmored and Totally EnAmored!

In my private parts, I know that's the case. But I'll keep it private for now, for my private pirate code of ethics doesn't allow me to expose all my private thoughts in public.

But I don't mind if You want to!

Yours EnAmored,
JackSparrow

http://www.thinkaloo.com