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Everyone who votes for a business idea gets a chance to invest in it…
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Yawn, politics again…
To be successful in a democracy, a politician needs to please the most people. The key to pleasing folk is to discover what they actually want.
So just ask them:
If someone could help you achieve it, what would you most want to do?
Obviously it needs to be asked to a lot of people, and a cross-section of society (a good excuse to find new ways of conducting surveys that aren’t biased towards bored people with landline phones). I figure this particular question works best if people are given time to ponder it.
You can guarantee that in the resulting answers there will be indicators as to what people really want from life. And then, within reason, give it to them.
Examples:
People want to experience foreign lands, but can’t afford it. Create a working holiday exchange program.
People want to open their own cafe. Create a TAFE course designed to guide them, but also save them from making costly mistakes.
People want to quit their minimum wage job and work on their art. Create a universal wage system.
People want to quit their minimum wage job and spend more time looking after their disadvantaged family member or friend. Create a universal wage system.
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Yet another business idea for you 🙂
Train prospective chefs for a month at a private facility, and at the same time they can sort out which ingredients they will need. I don’t know how you find them, perhaps also-rans from Master Chef??
Every new moon the restaurant proper gets a new chef, with 10 menu items they created. The rest of the menu consists of a few staples that never change, but non with enough wow enough on their own to be the main reason people visit. I’m thinking entrees, deserts and sides.
For the first week of a new chef, everything is 1/2 price, including drinks. This inspires people to give the new menu a go. With the understanding that their might be some hiccups.
Aside from the chef, all the staff are permanent, all systems are permanent, decor is permanent.
The chef’s photo/story are promoted with the menu, and you can take the menu home. It also has one recipe.
Big party at full moon, regardless of the day of week. One sitting, followed by drinks and live music, set price.
At the end of the month, if the chef is a hit, they get one encore month. Beyond that, the owners may choose to invest in a full-time restaurant with the chef.
Read MoreOne of my maxims in life is that if I really hate something, there’s a good chance I really like it, deep down. This ties in with my belief that being a hypocrite is human nature, and not something to be judged by (I’m talking your life actions, not semantics and debates).
Example: in my extended years of backpacking, I came across a curious subset in the UK that went on cathedral tours. They had a set list of 10, 15, 20 cathedrals and they saw every one and that was their journey. Each to their own but they made other backpackers look at the their photos. Not cool, not interesting, and I suffered and hated it quite a few times through politeness. But wait! In later years, knowing what I do about the non-Christian history of such places, they do interest me quite a bit. But I would still hate that display of photos demonstrating the grandeur, and no pagan insights.
But here’s the thing. Having an odd purpose takes you away from the most touristed paths and opens up so many more possibilities. The less common your purpose, the more likely you will end up in scenarios that other tourists never have. You get a unique experience, and you see the real sides of the country you are visiting.
I love looking an extreme examples to find a truth. What if I decided to visit the owners of the 10 fattest hamsters in Bulgaria? You can guarantee I would have a unique and very real insight into that country.
Which brings me to today. When David Bowie dies, I listened to every album he made in chronological order. Then when Prince died, I did the same. Now, as I am looking through old Uncut magazines before I throw them out, I have come across their top 70 albums of the year 2000. With the aid of Spotify, I will listen to each one, counting down from 70 to 1.
(Obviously I will cut short any that don’t appeal to me…)
I expect this odd purpose will find me things otherwise unobtainable.
1. Lambchop – Nixon – SAVED – worth some more listens
2. Primal Scream – Xtrmntr – SAVED – worth some more listens
3. Radiohead – Kid A – dreary
4. Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of Bewilderbeast – Had the CD, is tired these days
5. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP – SAVED – worth some more listens
6. Emmylou Harris – Red Dirt Girl – HAVE CD – LOVE IT
7. Outkast – Stankonia – HAVE CD – not a big fan, aside from the hits
8. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker – ALREADY SAVED AND F’KIN AWESOME
9. Kid 606 – Down With The Scene – NOT FOR ME
10. Birth – Gotton Bold – NOT FOR ME
11. Steely Dan – Two Against Nature – NOT FOR ME
12. The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs- SAVED – worth some more listens
13. The Kingsbury Manx – The Kingsbury Manx – NOT ON SPOTIFY
14. Leila – Courtesy Of Choice – NOT FOR ME
15. Godspeed You Black Emperor! – Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To The Sky – NOT FOR ME
16. Warren Zevon – Life’ll Kill Ya – NOT FOR ME
17. Phoenix – United – NOT FOR ME
18. Calexico – Hot Rail – SAVED – worth some more listens
19. The Webb Brothers – Maroon – NEATLY MOST
20. Lewis Taylor – Lewis II – NOT FOR ME
21. Lou Reed – Ecstacy – NOT FOR ME
22. Amon Tobin – Supermodified – NOT ON SPOTIFY
23. Smog – Dongs Of Sevotion –ALREADY SAVED AND F’KIN AWESOME
24. Doves – Lost Souls – NOT FOR ME
25. The Go-Betweens – The Friends Of Rachel Worth – NOT FOR ME
26. Gonzales – The Entertainist- NOT ON SPOTIFY
27. Willard Grant Conspiracy – Everything’s Fine – NOT ON SPOTIFY
28. Kelis – Kaleiderscope – NOT FOR ME
29. Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030 – NOT FOR ME
30. The For Carnation – The For Carnation – NOT FOR ME
31. Broadcast – The Noise Made By People – SAVED
32. Knife In The Water – Plays One Around The Other – NOT ON SPOTIFY
33. Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain – ALREADY SAVED AND F’KIN AWESOME
34. The Handsome Family – In The Air – ALREADY SAVED
35. Eels – Daisies Of The Galaxy – SAVED
36. Elliott Smith – Figure 8 – SAVED
37. Marah – Kids In Philly – SAVED
38. Patti Smith – Gung Ho – NOT FOR ME
39. Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out – NOT FOR ME
40. Jeff Buckley – Mystery White Boy- NOT FOR ME
41. Sonic Youth – Nyc Ghosts & Flowers – NOT FOR ME
42. Dr Dre – 2001 – NOT FOR ME
43. Joe Pernice – Big Tobacco – ALREADY SAVED
44. Add N To X – Add Insult To Injury – NOT QUITE FOR ME
45. The Mighty Wah! – Songs Of Strength And Heartache – NOT ON SPOTIFY
46. Chris Morris – Blue Jam – NOT ON SPOTIFY
47. The Twilight Singers – Twilight As Played By The Twilight Singers – NOT FOR ME
48. St Ettienne – Sound Of Water – NOT ON SPOTIFY
49. Black Box Recorder – The Facts Of Life – MAYBE
50. XTC – Wasp Star: Apple Venus Vol. 2- NOT ON SPOTIFY
51. Apples In Stereo – The Discovery Of The World Inside The Moone – SAVED (But track #1 is probably all that is good)
52. Clinic – Internal Wrangler – NOT FOR ME
53. The Shazam – Goodspeed The Shazam – NOT ON SPOTIFY
54. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Madonna – NOT ON SPOTIFY (but a big fan)
55. Go-Kart Mozart – Instant Wigwam And Igloo Mixture – ALREADY SAVED
56. Asian Dub Foundation – Community Music – NOT ON SPOTIFY
57. Elastica – The Menace – SAVED
58. Romanthony – R Hide In Plain Site- NOT ON SPOTIFY
59. June And The Exit Wounds – A Little More Heaven Hamilton, Please – NOT ON SPOTIFY
60. Max Tundra – Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be – NOT FOR ME
61. Brave Captain – Go With Yourself – NOT ON SPOTIFY
62. Mandalay – Instinct – MAYBE
63. Fatboy Slim – Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars – BEEN THERE DONE THAT
64. The Russian Futurists – The Method Of Modern Love – NOT FOR ME
65. The Wu-Tang Clan – The W – NOT FOR ME
66. Giant Sand – Chore Of Enchantment – SAVED and LOVING
67. David Holms – Bow Down At The Exit Sign – NOT ON SPOTIFY
68. The Hight Llamas – Buzzle Bee – NOT ON SPOTIFY
69. Bent – Programmed To Love – SAVED
70. PJ Harvey – Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea – SAVED
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Sometimes the noon rule doesn’t apply
Continuing the delights of the previous night
Or avoiding the anticipated drudgery of today
So a different path is taken
And I miss the opportunity for things to come right on their own
One way of looking at getting older is the things that you no longer care about. And perhaps the secret of staying (at least seeming) young is to do the opposite?
BTW, this isn’t me and just a broad generalisation based on what I see around me… and it isn’t particularly gender-specific
(age) 18 – stop writing poetry
24 – stop trying to impress your boss
27 – the last time you read literature
32 – stop buying your partner flowers
35 – stop going to the gym
42 – the last time you went to the theatre
44 – stop listening to new music, the old stuff is better
45 – stopped noticing ants on the footpath
48 – the last time you tried a new food dish – didn’t like it
51 – danced, actually danced, instead of shuffling
54 – the last time you went on vacation to somewhere new
55 – stopped buying clothing or shoes that are modernly fashionable
58 – the last time you walked upright, with pride
62 – felt you could fall in love with that new person, but it’s too hard
63 – stop caring if what you say upsets or offends others
65 – the last time you licked an ice cream
67 – the current TV set will outlast me
70 – no more pets, you’ve said goodbye to too many
72 – stopped noticing birds
75 – stopped listening to your partner – they haven’t noticed
83 – stop watching your team that rarely wins
88 – stop watching reruns of your favourite shows
93 – stop caring about your latest new-born relatives, or any family except for you own children
Note to self, this could be a collection of existentialist short stories. Think Raymond Carver…
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As we have seen in the USA, if the majority of a democratic country doesn’t have the skills, intellect or education to understand the issues and what candidates truly offer… you get Trump.
I suggest that an improvement in political education is possible, if you get the right educators on board.
Most people interested enough in politics to spend a lot of time on it are on the intellectual side of things, or at least they are good at debating cleverly. They are not generally suited to educating the working class.. But some will be… we need to find them, train them, fund them and send them across the land.
Bipartisan won’t work, and most people hate being preached to on politics.
The solution is lively debates between experts in their field from opposing political parties and independents. I would expect a minimum of the two major parties plus one other, and preferably the two major parties plus a 3rd party and an independent or 4th party.
Critically, the debaters must make their arguments easily understood by common people. Those that are good at this might find they have a place in politics, from a background of expertise, with a ready fan base.
Each debate (on a new and different topic) should be held in a regional city or outer suburb of a major city. And of course made available online. After a month of online discussion and submissions from other interested parties, a repeat debate should occur in the original venue.
The ultimate goal is to get people interested in politics who otherwise would have shied away because they didn’t feel equipped to understand it all.
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Someone recently asked what music I like. My standard answer of pretty much every genre but only the most heartfelt and melodic in each is wearing thin. Time to put some more thought into it.
It goes beyond music, into movies and literature. Common themes are present once I look for them.
Black / grey.
Even if I wasn’t a Kiwi I probably would still be an All Blacks fan. They have the best uniform. And I wear black a fair bit.
I like bad weather, and I LOVE thunderstorms. When I first went travelling I took a cassette with me where every song on side 1 was about rain, and every song was from NZ. This is one of them:
My musical favourites are wide and varied. But a significant amount skew towards the dark and tremulous. I like the:
- Pagan, passionate operatics of Wendy Rule
- Explorations of David Bowie
- Nick Cave’s ruminations
- Dystopian metal of Metallica and Megadeth
- Neu-pagan-mysticism of Julian Cope
- Despondent literature of And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
- Most of the above via Ed Harcourt
Ready to move from this world to the next one
Summon my soul to the end of the setting sun
A parliament of rooks will move you on
Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/ed-harcourt/parliament-of-rooks-lyrics/#Vz9HT2gPtHdqv4Gs.99
I read mostly despondent, darkly fantastic, existentialist and dystopian literature:
- K. J Bishop
- H. P. Lovecraft
- Dostoevsky
- Clive Barker
- Cormac McCarthy
- J. G. Ballard
And movies/tv ….
- The Matrix (first one)
- True Blood
- Coen Brothers
- The 3%
- Twin Peaks
And don’t get me started about Real Life:
- Mental disorders
- Drugs / alcohol
- Winter / storms
- Anarchy / rebellion
- Deepest recesses of used book stores
- Sacrifice
Black is too clean, and mud is too hard to describe as a colour. Grey is my happy colour.
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An it harm none, do what ye will
Three facets, freedom, libertarianism and social. Freedom to do as you will, as long as it harms nobody. A few rules and as little rule as possible. And a mandate to make sure everyone is looked after. Libertarianism with a soul.
You can’t look after everyone without tax (unless the whole planet receives an epiphany). So everything will rotate around how this tax is raised.
The available Tax choices are:
- GST / VAT – when you buy something
- Income – when you earn something
- Payroll – when you hire someone
- Resource – when you use resources that (should) belong to everyone
- Corporations – to limit their success, tax them more
In all cases the model is the same – the more you do, the more you pay. This promotes moderation.
Medicine
Deconstruct the system, use technology. If I know I have gastro, I can stay at home, self-test, and come back to work/society when I feel better. No need to go out there and spread my germs.
Home treatments reduce the risk of hospital-acquired disease. If the patient is in control, they can demand cleanliness.
Social Welfare
What we need is a mix of giving useful employment to those that will benefit from it (most people need a purpose/station in life, and won’t think too deeply about what it really is), and allowing the artists, mystics, intellectuals and the genuinely useless to sponge off the state.
Military
One of the main reasons for countries forming (in ancient times) was that a national force could protect individual communities much better than they could on their own. Lefties and greenies are typically anti-military, because individually they tend to be pacifists. When running a country, pacifism has its limits – even Switzerland has an army. In fact the Swiss model is one that could be adapted – it has only 5% career soldiers and does not participate in foreign conflicts (with the exception of peace-keeping roles). Australia has two key differences to Switzerland which need to be addressed:
Geography – as a massive country with a low population, there is a strong need for local militia.
USA – being a close military ally with the USA has numerous benefits, and the relationship should be maintained to some degree. With very few career soldiers, the Swiss model could be modified so that there is some foreign conflict participation, but only by commandos fulfilling elite roles.
Education
This is probably the trickiest to get right.
A national system works best, because otherwise we’ll have people shifting states to get an advantage for their kids – and that isn’t efficient.
I propose a system similar to the pole vault in the Olympic Games – if you pass a standard level, you get to try the next level. No more scores. Just passed / didn’t pass. With quite a few levels. They could even break down the tests by category.
Drugs and Marriage
Freedom to do as you will as long as it harms none. If drugged drivers becomes a problem, the solution is punishment for those actually impaired – not someone who had a puff on a joint 2 weeks ago.
Any human marriage should be legitimate – it is the second most primal purpose after making kids. Why make such a fundamental aspect of life exclusive to a self-righteous majority?
Refugees
Assess at the source – their actual country of citizenship. Much easier than when they have arrived here without papers…
Provide guaranteed work. Most likely better than where they came from. Base the refugee system on the rest of Australian society… if you are fit and able to work, you should. If you are hopeless, we’ll look after you. If you want to learn, you can.
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Regarding the Asylum seeker impasse, what a shame we don’t already have a third body to help sort things. We have a cabinet and a shadow cabinet – neither of which usually have members with any skills or experience, pre-politics, to match their portfolios. I dream of a People’s Cabinet, democratically elected outside of the electoral system, staffed by men and women with genuine skills and experience. People outside of politics, with no allegiances. People who could come up with sensible solutions while our elected representatives play at smug gamesmanship.
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