An idea: The Transatlantic Cable

Back in the day, the transatlantic cable from Europe to America was a
wondrous thing, sending humble Morse code between the continents.

Today we are more connected than ever with the internets, and yet
differences remain. How is that cultures touch each other and mix and
merge? Through constant contact?

Instead of twitter, and email, and even skype, what if we had a window from
one city to another, a window that never closed? The C-span of
transatlantic communication.

A live video feed 24/7/365 from say London to New York. Of course, it
wouldn't literally be a single cable from London to New York, but you could
even build it and arrange it that way to create the mental illusion; the
screen in NY would face west, and the screen in London would face east, so
that people in each place would literally be facing each other from half a
world away.

While these screens should be publicly accessible, I think it would handy if
they weren't 100% outdoors, to protect them (and the people using them) from
the elements. Kind of like TV and radio studios on the ground floors of
buildings that let you see out the windows as the film a show.

Just a thought.

Saving the New York Times

Been writing / meaning to write this entry for awhile. Still dont't a ton of time, but my brain came up with an abbreviated version while I was traveling recently.

NYT: Here's what to do: Sell your new building in NYC and use the money to buy all of your paying subscribers Amazon Kindles, which they can then the read the paper on daily. 1 month later, offer them all an opt out for the paper version and cut their subscription price in half.

X-ray machines; sleep and work

Traveling recently...a thought: Instead of carting the bins back through the line every time, why not have them attached to a looping conveyor belt?

Very busy this week, so let's try something new and quick: hours of sleep and work times.

2hrs, 0520/1900

Want to see an example of a terrible corporate website? Dominos.com

(Except the real time pizza tracker, that's actually really cool.)

Pet peeves

A pet peeve of mine: when it is easier to find a particular news article using a generic google search than with the site's built in search engine.

Example: try to find the following article:

"As gas prices fall, gas stations' profits actually rise," by Paul Davidson in USAToday on 1 Dec 08.

Office 2007

The AF recently switched over to Office 2007 at work...am I the only one totally dumbfounded by the new menus (or I guess they are called "Ribbons" now...)? Just when I had learned a bit about the things Office could do and how to do them, they go and change it...