"Blackberry Denied"

Mister President, how are we going to break it to the people? I mean it's going to do one hell of a thing to your image. You can't buy this malarkey. Imagine commercials exploiting this in foreign countries showing their leaders calling you from their flashy red Blackberries. Silvio's with the Ferrari logo on it and Sarkozy's with the Carla-Bruni-singing ringtone. The Kim Jong ills, the Chavezes and Ahmadinejads having theirs designed to look like a missile. Damn it, Mister President. I've been warning for years that we're still riddled with traitors. With your permission I'd like to call the boys in CONCOM :P

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Toilet paper money

It's been suggested before only as a joke, now let me reiterate it as a half-joke. If printing money is the answer to massive debts and global deflation could we ask that central banks print money on toilet paper so that it's rendered useful if zimbabwe-style inflation sets in? If the quality of paper is smooth and rectum-friendly we won't need foreign exchange markets either. We can just barter, trade, swap, insure or invest in each country's toilet paper comparative advantage. And unlike forex markets, almost every single person in the world uses toilet paper. We're talking of a potential 7-billion-people-essentially-single-currency economy here. Keep it in mind please!

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What's your impression of Obama's beliefs on war?

My impression is that Obama doesn't believe in war and wants to stir the world in that direction. That's not to say he doesn't believe in the use of force to go after terrorists in Pakistan. From his speeches and interviews, however, I rarely get the impression that in the back of his mind he seriously contemplates an attack on Iran or North Korea as the right policy, even if forced into that situation. Excluding another direct attack on America, I have the feeling Obama might be the first President to end his term(s) without presiding over a war.

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Twisted luck

Hillary Clinton fell and broke her arm. What is that, good luck or bad luck? To break a leg is good luck but to break an arm whose bad luck will it be? Politicians should learn to break a leg when they fall. To break an arm when there is so much arm-twisting involved in your job is some pretty twisted 'luck'. No more walking and talking at the same time :)

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Take year-off loans to travel

How about a new type of loan for students or workers who want to take a year off (or more) in a foreign country and work as volunteers for a cause? The loan will be repaid in work hours, not in cash. The applicant will indicate how many hours he is willing to work a day and based on the minimum wage for the country calculate the total amount of the loan for the specified duration.

The bank or other organization disperses the loan in daily installments based on whether the applicant checked for work or not that day.

This is what it might make sense for a bank to do that. Usually banks hand out lump sums to charities or non-profit organizations and save on taxes. Why not hand the money to the volunteers directly who will work for the charities? The difference is that More people will probably volunteer if they hear they can take a year-off loan to travel that they repay through work than if a charity advertises its work and asks people to join it.

It will also be good PR for the first bank that tries it as it will enable it to build brand and loyalty with young people based on an experience that was fun early on in their adult life. The bank will thus be able to sell more of its products to them in the future banking on that loyalty and brand it built early on.

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Make online search more universal!

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 2 April 2008 by member ontie

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Google has a great translation tool that allows you to translate foreign websites into English, but I was wondering if Google search results on an English keyword include results from relevant foreign websites that have been translated in English by Google's own translation software.

If Google doesn't search from a translated database of all foreign (non-English) sites, I think they should. This would require more storage capacity and thus be more costly to Google because it would mean we must replicate the amount of sites stored in the database from which search results are drawn.

On the other hand, however, such a feature will make online search truly global and with the right algorithms even more relevant!

US Presidential Elections, who can use who?

This thought was posted on Thinkaloo on 21 March 2008 by member monica

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I am interested in your opinion on this. If Hillary wins, she could use Obama in her cabinet, possibly as Secretary of State or at the Department of Energy to oversee the transition to a green economy. If Obama wins, however, I don't think there is much room to use Hillary. Their positions on health care and foreign policy in Iraq are different. Which do you think is more likely to happen?

If it's true that Hillary and Obama are a dream ticket, would you vote for Hillary so that you can also get Obama's talent or would you go for Obama with less chances to use any of Hillary's experience?