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24 results found
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| Political candidate background information database 
We need a website that lists all registered candidates for upcoming elections and that provides potential voters with as much information on each candidate as possible, such as their:-voting history, if already a politician
-education
-affiliations and associations
-criminal record
-stance on issues (major and minor)
-articles written about them
-awards, commendations, etc.
-criticisms of their actions and policies
-ideology
-biography
-achievements
-any controversy involving them or their actions or those of their associates
This website must meet the following criteria:
-not-for-profit
-does not recieve corporate or political funding/contributions
-non-partisan, and as unbiased as possible
-moderated and cross-referenced for accuracy
-easily accessible to anyone
-free
-easy to navigate
-well 'advertised' via public service announcements to maximize awareness of the serviceThe idea here is to educate and thoroughly inform voters so that they know all about who they are voting for, so as to not get screwed by greedy or flip-flopping politicians. We need third-party information that is more trustworthy (fact-based) than what the politicians speak of themselves, because they will often say anything to get voted into office. Once they are in, they can do whatever they want even without the approval of the people who voted for them; so being able to estimate a candidate's pros and cons can be an invaluable tool in ensuring true democracy and representation.I hate voting because I never know anything about 95% of the people on the ballot and therefore vote for the most familiar name (which is almost always the candidate with the biggest campaign budget) or based on party affiliation. I always feel like I'm giving my car keys to someone I just met...not a good idea; And it is way too hard and time consuming to research all the given candidates.Reward: informed votes = more accurate representation = better politics! 
There are 4 replies to this idea
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| Automotive Window Display (AWD) (pretty catchy huh?)
The basis of my idea is automotive safety.So, there has been much research and development of OLED (oragnic light emitting diod) applications. OLED's can be used to make different tv screens, computer screens, etc. The advantage to OLED technology in a screen is that it uses less energy, is very precise, can be made very thin (3mm), flexible, and transparent. My idea is to cover the inside of the windshield of a car with a transparent OLED screen which you would not notice when driving normally. Initially my idea came from night-vision equipped cars in which there is a display in the instrument panel that shows night-vision from an external camera. This makes driving at night much safer. But, if the entire windshield were to transition to a hi-def night vision shot from various cameras, then it would be like driving with mega-bright headlights without blinding everyone. Obviously this presents quite a bit of problems from people speeding at night, camera failure, transitioning to looking at a big screen, etc. Lots of problems. So, I started thinking a little smaller, for example, a virtual rear-view mirror that showed feed from a rear mounted camera. This would give a tremendously better view behind you. No matter when your head was in relation to the "mirror" it would always show the perfect view in perfect clarity. To the left and right of the rear-view mirror could display your blind spots. Any of these would be able to be turned on and off with the press of a button. These peresent problems as well, but what the hell. You could set your windshield to automatically tint when it was getting very bright. All of this would use more electricity but they are already underway in increasing the size of the battery in cars to accomidate increasing technology. With a windshield effectively working as a screen, there are tons and tons of possibilities, and I know we have the technology to do it. Give me some good feedback here guys. That includes some good criticism. If you stuck with me through this whole thing anyway.Reward: Just a little recognition :)
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| Revolutionizing Education
The University system here in the United States follows traditions that should perhaps be updated as we move into a globally competitive marketplace in the 21st century. Colleges have experimented with Internet classes and distance learning courses that are aired over television channels. I propose that colleges establish a set of professional quality video taped lecture presentations for standard courses. The video tapes could be kept in a special section of the university library, duplicated and sold along with textbooks, or even made availible publically through video rental stores such as Blockbuster.If distance learning is successful, a video-taped lecture should be equally successful or more so. The students may watch their lectures on a television and arrange to speak to a professor in the role of tutor during the professor's office hours during the semester. Thus, a single professor could be on hand to answer questions for hundreds of students without the need to provide lectures. The highest quality lectures could then be mass duplicated so that the lecture experience is superb.I spotted an article in the 1977 volume of the Journal of Mathematical Sciences in my college library that reported a scientific study comparing traditional education in calculus 1 to self-education by means of textbooks without lectures or other resources. Surprisingly, the outcome of the study showed that the students who studied themselves, from textbooks, without ever setting foot in a classroom, not only scored higher on final exams but learned the material in 2/3 the time. If this can be done for Calculus 1, this can surely be done for other subjects. Let us support the University system by charging for comprehensive, written, final exams that will give full credit a course whether or not someone has stepped in a classroom. The costs can be adjusted to finance the University operating costs and research efforts. France uses this system - French Universities don't charge for tuition, just for the exams, and their education system is excellent. One who has experience in industry can thus gain from his experience without retraining in fundamentals when he tries to get a degree. Another aspect of French education is the fact that courses all over the country of France teach a set course curriculum with no electives or course variation in different universities. The French spend a lot of effort to make the curriculum for someone such as a electrical engineer, for example, be everything which it needs to be for an engineer to walk out of school and go to work with all the skills he needs. French engineers work 35 hours a week and match or exceed the productivity of American engineers who work 50-60 hours a week ; people who work in international companies are aware that the productivity of the American worker is characteristically lower than that of foreign workers. I love America and say this only to bring attention to the fact that America has much room for growth in the productivity of the individual - I hope my observation encourages skeptical people to investigate this matter themselves to see the truth of it ; shame falls on people who would brush aside my remarks out of pride in American labor and never try to verify or disprove that I am telling the truth.In summary, we should video tape high quality college lectures for every course where this can be done ; investigate the use of textbooks alone as learning resources for particular courses suited to this kind of approach ; charge for final exams rather than tuition ; and follow France in standardizing college courses nationally to the highest level of quality appropriate for entering the job market, eliminating electives not "essential" to the training effort. Reward: I would feel rewarded if widespread discussion of these ideas could result in a commitment to test these plans.
There are 8 replies to this idea
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