Tourist cities should have hotel rooms by the hour that are actually clean when you just want to take a nap.
Living wages in exchange for work.
A button on the TV that would make the remote beep so you can find it
Some Roku remotes support this. You issue the command from the mobile app
Instead of mandatory military service like some countries have, people should have mandatory public work for two years. Whether it be labor, clerical/administrative, etc, it could help young people learn a new skill, get guaranteed work to get the started, and could potentially save a ton in taxes. It would also create the opportunity to start getting caught up some things that keep getting swept under the rug like bridge maintenance , etc.
We had something like that in Germany, if you opted out of military service, you had to do civil service instead, i.e. you had to work in an institution that provided some benefit to the general public.
Most of those jobs were healthcare related, such as working in a hospital, as ambulance driver, kindergarten teacher, assisted living helper etc., or working in a supervisory rule for a company that employed people with disabilities to make sure they don’t get injured in the workplace.
Both my brother and I did it (they later scraped military service, and the civil service as a consequence), and it was really amazing. He went to work in a food factory where people with mental disabilities were employed to sort raw ingredients (think removing debris and washing fruit and vegetables for juice, yoghurt & pickling), I worked as a nurse in a hospital.
Gave both of us a good twist for our careers, he moved on to study education for people with disabilities and now works as a special ed teacher for an integrative school, I went on to work in the development aid sector all across Africa and Central Asia for years.
So what does Germany have now that they’ve scrapped it?
There’s the federal volunteer service, which is the spiritual successor. Basically the same thing, but without being forced into it. There also voluntary social or ecological years, which is kind of the same thing as well.
Airport lounges where the seats are just like on the plane, with little spots for luggage to the side. Then people just get up and board in order, putting your stuff right above or in front of you. If you’re late, you board last. No more airline rat race.
Why do people care when they get on a plane?
Because checking a bag became a premium feature you have to pay for. So now they’re trying to be first/early to compete for the overhead bag space, which there’s not enough of for everyone. A lot of people have anxiety about traveling and it’s not just the fear of heights or dwelling on the dangers of flying, a lot of it is based on the loss of control of their lives for those few hours. The sooner you’re in your seat with your carryon above your head, the sooner you’re back in control and can relax a little.
The real trick is to just use whichever overhead you see open as you approach your seat. It doesn’t need to be directly above your seat. You’re going to have to pass by it again on your way out of the plane anyways, so it’s not like you’ll be delaying anything during deboarding.
A cool idea I’ve had for a long time (or rather a dream) was a truly private and good suit auf office programs like Microsoft 356 but with privacy and the customor in mind. No anti-consumer things generally.
This exists. https://www.libreoffice.org/ Great stuff 👍
Collaborative editing in real time?
If you need collaboration you can self-host collabora for free. https://www.collaboraoffice.com/code/ It uses libreoffice code. It’s also a supported backend for collaboration in nextcloud.
Also nationwide lead removal fund.
*International
Yeah but there’s no real international authority for that, and how am I supposed to get my national government to join a treaty organization for that purpose when neither it nor any lower level of my government offer anything similar?
Hey, this thread is about what should be an actual thing, not what is realistic or even feasable to do.
You mention that a nationwide fund for removal of lead in the environment should be a thing, I just countered that there should be an international fund dor the removal of lead since it is an international problem.
Both funds should be a thing.
I mean, I suppose, but at that point it really hits the level of abstract principle rather than plausible policy. Kind of up there with “no more war”, “ending hunger”, or “socialism replacing capitalism”.
And while I do believe that a better world is possible, I really wanted to speak to things that are plausible in the existing political and economic climate in my lifetime.
That’s a fair point I didn’t think about when I made my comment.
Now that you mention it, switching to international scale in politics/activism sounds fantastic, but if often used as a way to divert responsibillity to a party with no authority.
So yeah, a national program is better
