cyber beneficiaries

     What happens in cyberspace when you die?  I have read more than one article on this subject recently. A practical way to deal with the problem would be to have the option of designating a "cyber beneficiary"--someone with the legal right and capacity to deal with online accounts for someone who has died. The executor or executrix of an estate, or someone with a durable power of attorney, ought to be able to access online accounts. But how are they to get the passwords, or to know where the accounts are? Anyone who dies with money in an online account has probably left it to someone in a will--but collecting it can be difficult, if not impossible. Another instance where we don't need any new laws--just a "concession" that the laws of physical space also apply to cyberspace.

unpaid internships

     When I run the world, interns will be paid. Internships can be a great opportunity for recent college graduates. They gain experience, professional contacts and references, and may even be hired as regular employees when their internship is finished. Some interns are paid, but many are still "unpaid"-- they work for free for the length of their internship. The problem with this is that these great opportunities aren't really open to all. They are open to the wealthy--the students and graduates who have parents who can support them while they work for free. An internship may involve moving to another city, finding an apartment, paying for rent, utilities, groceries and transportation--all on no salary. Student loans may be deferred during an internship, but what is the intern supposed to live on?
   The effect of these "opportunities" is benefits for members of a club. It's classist, and, yes, racist.  This should be an easy fix.

constituency

     We have another presidential election this year. I would like to see a law passed that prohibits any foreign campaigning by our presidential candidates. Their constituency is in the United States, and that's where they should be making speeches and appealing for votes--not in any foreign country. Voting for the candidate who refuses to do this won't work--when one campaigns overseas, they all seem to do it. Let's get a law passed before the November election.

obsolete old saying

     Remember the old saying  "it's your dime"?  It doesn't mean anything anymore. Back in the old days it meant "you called me, what do you want?"  Back when only the person placing the call was charged for the call. The party who answered the phone didn't have to pay anything. Charging both parties to a phone call was a shocking idea at first, and many people resisted using cell phones because of it. Some are probably still refusing to get cell phones because of the two-way charge, when they can answer a conventional phone call for free--or place a toll-free call for free. If you place a toll-free call (an 800 number call ) with  a cell phone, you pay anyway. When annoying advertisers call you on your cell phone, you have to pay for the call. They are annoying with a conventional phone, but they don't cost anything. Now that everyone can talk on the phone from anywhere, we all have to consider whether or not we are willing to pay for the call. The phone rings, and if we don't know who it is, we don't pick up the call, and we don't return it--many people don't, anyway. Other people ( not so many ) are willing to spend money just to connect with a wrong number, or to find out how a salesperson got their number.

religion, again

     What do people who want to be save want to be saved from? I never have understood this. From the consequences of their own actions? From living with themselves?  From reality?

what happened to the great book scanning?

     If you look for books to read online because what you want is out of print and hard to find, you may find an old book that someone has re-typed, apparently to preserve it in cyberspace--like a weird bit of Farenheit 451. Now that we can scan a book, instead of re-typing it, other people are still arguing about whether we ought to scan the old books at all. Let's scan them, and worry about what to do with them later. Finding an old book online is still too much like potluck. By now the internet could have made all of the rare library and museum collections of the Earth available to everyone--and it hasn't come close. Even if the old books are never made available to the public, and there is no reason why they shouldn't be, the books would be preserved from decay or being accidentally discarded. Anyone who handles old books, or who might handle old books, should be encouraged to scan them. I have yet to see such a message, sent by anyone. Perhaps internet service providers could offer a premium of some kind for the first scan of an out-of-print book.

seeing is believing

     "Seeing is believing", the old saying goes, and it usually is. You can't believe everything you see, but beware of "seeing" what you believe.  Many people do. They "see" what they believe, based on a preconceived notion they got from any random source. They "see" what they believe whether it is there or not.  Drug experience has been described in this way. Drugs work on the mind--that's why people take them--not because they alter the emotions, but because they alter the functions of the brain.  Some drugs are formally called "mind-altering". Some are called psychotropics, meaning the same thing. But it may be that all drugs, including alcohol, alter the mind. People take drugs when they want to fool themselves. If successful at fooling themselves, they can use that belief to fool other people. All con artistry is founded on drugs, as is most crime. On fooling people. Don't make a fool of yourself by trying to fool yourself.