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What's in a name?
Research shows that as many as seventeen percent of adults don't like their first name, and wish they had a different one (OK, I made that up - but I bet it's close).
You might like your own name, but how would you like to carry around a handle like:
- Batman (OK in Singapore, but not in the US);
- Joker (OK in the Philippines, not in the US);
- Edsel (OK for a car - or maybe not - but not for a person);
- Moon Unit (inflicted by a weird show-business couple);
- Whoopi (she copes, I presume).
As always, my solution is simple and easy. The name they give you when you're born is a temporary name, and it legally expires on your eighteenth birthday. On that day, you have to choose a permanent name and file it with the government. You can keep your temporary name, or take up any one you like.
It would be a great excuse for a party...
Speaking of the lowly penny...
Don't you think it's time we eliminated the penny from our currency and our lives? Have you ever considered how big an effect that would have? Think about it for a while...
- All prices would be rounded to the nearest five cents.
- No advertising gimmicks: "Only 199.99 for this cordless three-speed franostat." Bull - it's two hundred bucks, so just admit it.
- Cash registers wouldn't need the penny tray. Cashiers would spend less time restocking, counting them, and wrapping them. Security guards would have fewer back and knee injuries from carrying them back and forth to the truck.
- Accounting systems and software would be greatly simplified. Fewer errors, less wasted time and labor - the last digit of every figure would be either zero or five.
- Sales tax would be calculated to the nearest nickel.
Of course, I guess there might be a few drawbacks:
- You couldn't say "A penny for your thoughts."
What other effects might there be?
Stop telling me to "be in the now."
That's one of the hip, pop-psych expressions these days. "Be in the now." "Be here now." "Be in the here and now." (Can you be in the now, but not the here? The here, but not the now?) There's a bunch of books with titles like "The Power of Now."
There's only one small problem with this: there is no "now."
Think about it for a second (a second is longer than a now). Now is an imaginary figment of the human brain - it's an instant in the flow of time that has no duration.
Try this on somebody, the next time they ask "What time is it?" You can say "Now?" and they'll say, "Yes, now." Then you say, "Do you mean now, as when you first asked me, or the second now, or right now?" Of course, by the time they can answer, now is already gone and it's another now.
What most people think of as now is just the first instant of the future.
An easy way to save the Postal Service
I don't know why so many people are agonizing about how to save the US Postal Service. Ben Franklin started it, and it's been a permanent part of American society for over 200 years. Times have changed, and it's losing money again, so it has to change with the times. The solution is easy if you think about it a bit.
Instead of adding a paltry one cent to the price of a first-class stamp, let's increase the price to where it really belongs: fifty cents. Every new stamp can have a serial number printed on it, and the stamp will become a lottery ticket.
Invest in your local CongressPerson - it's the American Way
With all of the talk lately about Wall Street "owning" the Congress, it seems like we're missing a good bet. Let's do it the good ol' American Way - all the way.
What's the American way - in this case? Well, it's simple. Each member of Congress, and his or her seat, would be incorporated, and traded on the stock market.
If a corporation can be a person, then why can't a person be a corporation? I don't mean that they can just own and operate a corporation, but that they could actually be a corporation.
Here's how it works (there are a few little bugs to be worked out, but I'm sure they would be minor).
Each current member of Congress can do an "IPO" - initial public offering of stock in his or her person-corporation. The starting share price that investors would be willing to pay would depend on what that particular member offered to do for the prospective investors - get certain bills passed, get others killed, get money for bridges and gambling casinos - that sort of thing. The member of Congress would have to pay his or her salary and operating expenses (including advertising, of course) out of the proceeds of the stock offering, and no political donations would be allowed.
At the end of the scheduled term of office, the shares would expire and the incumbent or the successor could do another IPO.
Shareholders could sell their shares any time they liked, at whatever price they could get on the market. Mutual funds would start buying and selling the shares, so more and more people could participate in the American Dream.
Or, maybe not...
These were the kinds of ideas that got me put into "special class" when I was a kid.
Karl Albrecht is a management consultant and author of more than 20 books on professional achievement, organizational performance, and business strategy. He studies cognitive styles and the development of advanced thinking skills. He is the author of many books including Social Intelligence: The New Science of Success, Practical Intelligence: the Art and Science of Common Sense, and Mindex Thinking Style Profile. The Mensa society honored him with its lifetime achievement award, for significant contributions by a member to the understanding of intelligence. Originally a physicist, and having served as a military intelligence officer and business executive, he now consults, lectures, and writes about whatever he thinks would be fun.
