The Good Ideas Page.

[justdrew]

On the subject of energy why haven't govts installed solar panels on all public buildings and introduced affordable schemes for householders on a so much free to you rest goes to the grid basis? And helped along the development of electric cars?
Not claiming ownership of this good idea, or wanting the answer to the rather obvious question btw. Solar panels round nuclear plants to provide emergency power in the event of cooling problems might be a start.

Well yeah, you know how fast cities were electrified back in the day? And how quickly they got natural gas?

Why aren't cities now fitted with solar power? And all new houses? Especially in the American Southwest?

We could manufacture the damn things here in this country, and suddenly have an economy again.

but it'll cost money. Any activity requiring capital has to compete in a ROI against meaningless financial transactions. For example, say you got 10 million dollars and you want to do something with it. you could start a business making solar panels, and wait years to recoup your investment (or lose the money entirely, like a major solar manufacturer just did, which is now in receivership), or you can just roll the dice with some bullshit six month (or less) derivative. Guess what choice most people with capital are making.

Then there's the big problem with distributed power generation, it bypasses the cashflow of the existing _power structure_, the last thing the PTB wants is to be disintermediated. and beyond that, we've got a brainwashed populace that can't even conceive of da gubamint setting quality national energy/industrial policy and having it enforced. Anyway WTO membership will ensure American manufacture will fail, due to our inherently higher structural costs of production than in China. Of course this was all said before, over ten years ago, but as usual the fucking god damn mainstream media bullshit artists prevented most people from even hearing about it. and all politicians failed then to lead, just as they fail to lead today. Although in the existing population and media environment, I'm not sure anyone capable of actually leading anywhere good could possibly ever be elected.

[Harvey]

Here's a great idea already working, starting small and local and with the potential to build:

http://www.barterbuddies.co.uk/barter_u ... &Itemid=73

There are many barter websites out there but a number of them seem intent on creating and controling what amounts to a seperate credit currency preserving the 'price' inequalities of money, thereby a baker has to give a thousand loaves worth of credit to get the accountant to do his yearly accounts. Can you imagine how many loaves a banker would ask in order to barter his skills? Clearly, weighing a barter sytem against the value of money makes no sense and preserves the same imbalances that got us where we are now.

A truly useful barter system should not attract those seeking to profit massively in financial terms, even if it can help them to make ends meet a little or a lot easier. It should be community based, and community organising, it should be about shared values and fairness.

I'm convinced that the best way to do begin this, make it local, build trust in the idea of bartering, design and manage it with fairness and safety in mind, and most importantly design it without the value system that attaches to money wherever possible.

[blanc]

There was a scheme started in a previous UK recession which used trade of hours of labour as its basis. I like this idea - irrespective of the skill or service you offered one hour bought you a credit which could buy an hour of another person in the scheme's time. So babysitting could trade for decorating for example.

[Harvey]

There was a scheme started in a previous UK recession which used trade of hours of labour as its basis. I like this idea - irrespective of the skill or service you offered one hour bought you a credit which could buy an hour of another person in the scheme's time. So babysitting could trade for decorating for example.

That is probably a better way of valuing the contributions of members and as you say, trading time for services. Thanks!

[Harvey]

If anyone here has the resources to set it up, I would love to see a website called something like Reality Critic or perhaps Brave New Worlds. It would be a site of user generated content where anyone can post constructive and critical reviews of just about anything, but only from the world as it should be.

So that can be film or TV reviews, theatre, music events, or new bands. Create your ideal super-band and review the resulting album(s), or humorous reviews of an artist and where they might go in an ideal world sort of like Lester Bangs satirical but oddly beautiful and inspiring review of garage band Count Five (Psychotic Reaction). The resulting piece posited an entire future history of beatlesesque proportions which changes the future of music.

So, in the spirit of Lester Bangs, what was Ken Russels final seminal movie as an example...

Re-write the world as it should be! What are the science breakthroughs, the stories of space exploration, and the discoveries? What political changes are occurring? Where are we going in these alternative universes, and what key events, disclosures and changes of heart are getting us there?

What books have been written there? What are the daily News stories? What are their effects? How is society changed for the better? How do key players come clean or receive some kind of poetic justice?

How do we live? Are we more in tune with nature and how is technology different to allow us to do this? How do we think differently to allow us to do this? How do we think of work in this brave new world?

The web site might be like a forum, or it might have main article sections, in which users write their articles, to which other users can comment in forum form beneath. The sections might be News Stories - Gig Guide etc…

Let it be... (Hmmm, now there's a great name for it!)

[justdrew]

If anyone here has the resources to set it up, I would love to see a website called something like Reality Critic or perhaps Brave New Worlds. It would be a site of user generated content where anyone can post constructive and critical reviews of just about anything, but only from the world as it should be.

So that can be film or TV reviews, theatre, music events, or new bands. Create your ideal super-band and review the resulting album(s), or humorous reviews of an artist and where they might go in an ideal world sort of like Lester Bangs satirical but oddly beautiful and inspiring review of garage band Count Five (Psychotic Reaction). The resulting piece posited an entire future history of beatlesesque proportions which changes the future of music.

So, in the spirit of Lester Bangs, what was Ken Russels final seminal movie as an example...

Re-write the world as it should be! What are the science breakthroughs, the stories of space exploration, and the discoveries? What political changes are occurring? Where are we going in these alternative universes, and what key events, disclosures and changes of heart are getting us there?

What books have been written there? What are the daily News stories? What are their effects? How is society changed for the better? How do key players come clean or receive some kind of poetic justice?

How do we live? Are we more in tune with nature and how is technology different to allow us to do this? How do we think differently to allow us to do this? How do we think of work in this brave new world?

The web site might be like a forum, or it might have main article sections, in which users write their articles, to which other users can comment in forum form beneath. The sections might be News Stories - Gig Guide etc…

Let it be... (Hmmm, now there's a great name for it!)

it's a good idea! Another possible name: RedoViews

and here's two sites already like that
http://www.alternatehistory.com/
http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

neither seems to have one thing I've been half-tempted to do, which is re-write the star wars crap, "the way it should have been"

[jam.fuse]

3. If you make a post stating that you are leaving, you will be.

From the posting guidelines at another board I go to... kind of a good rule, I think.

[Canadian_watcher]

3. If you make a post stating that you are leaving, you will be.

From the posting guidelines at another board I go to... kind of a good rule, I think.

because the moderators have a hate on for me, i risk making your whole point moot by agreeing with you.

but oh boy do I agree with you, particularly for serial offenders.

[Nordic]

On the subject of energy why haven't govts installed solar panels on all public buildings and introduced affordable schemes for householders on a so much free to you rest goes to the grid basis? And helped along the development of electric cars?
Not claiming ownership of this good idea, or wanting the answer to the rather obvious question btw. Solar panels round nuclear plants to provide emergency power in the event of cooling problems might be a start.

Well yeah, you know how fast cities were electrified back in the day? And how quickly they got natural gas?

Why aren't cities now fitted with solar power? And all new houses? Especially in the American Southwest?

We could manufacture the damn things here in this country, and suddenly have an economy again.

but it'll cost money. Any activity requiring capital has to compete in a ROI against meaningless financial transactions. For example, say you got 10 million dollars and you want to do something with it. you could start a business making solar panels, and wait years to recoup your investment (or lose the money entirely, like a major solar manufacturer just did, which is now in receivership), or you can just roll the dice with some bullshit six month (or less) derivative. Guess what choice most people with capital are making.

Then there's the big problem with distributed power generation, it bypasses the cashflow of the existing _power structure_, the last thing the PTB wants is to be disintermediated. and beyond that, we've got a brainwashed populace that can't even conceive of da gubamint setting quality national energy/industrial policy and having it enforced. Anyway WTO membership will ensure American manufacture will fail, due to our inherently higher structural costs of production than in China. Of course this was all said before, over ten years ago, but as usual the fucking god damn mainstream media bullshit artists prevented most people from even hearing about it. and all politicians failed then to lead, just as they fail to lead today. Although in the existing population and media environment, I'm not sure anyone capable of actually leading anywhere good could possibly ever be elected.

hey i thought this was the "good ideas" thread, not the "buzzkill" thread.



seriously i've been meaning for quite some time to investigate how the western world was so quickly electrified and suppplied with natural gas, because it worked like a charm and needs to be done again with solar.