What about having an url for each bank account? So, the url of my private account may look like daniel.hofstetter.examplebank.com and it would be an OpenID. Instead of providing the credit card data at the check out I would simply provide my bank account OpenID. Then I would get redirected to my account, where I would have to login and to confirm the amount I have to pay. Quite easy (at least on the non-technical side, on the technical side it is more complicated).

An additional function of a letter box could be to act as a container for waste paper. So we would have a nice cycle: the postman first brings the mail, and later he picks up what ended as waste paper (which then can be recycled). And the people no longer have to store the waste paper for the next waste paper collection or to bring it to the collecting point for waste paper.

But what is with outgoing stuff? We have to bring it to the next post box or post office. Wouldn’t it be much easier to use the letter box also for outgoing mail? When the postman brings the mail, he could also pick up the outgoing mail.

Anyway, the message this sends out is obvious: there is a dog trainer who isn’t able to train his own dogs. I wouldn’t hire this dog trainer, would you?

Are there some barking dogs in your own life?

It reminds me of a ritual of some top managers from the company where I did my apprenticeship some years ago. At the first working day in the new year they walked around the company and wished everyone a happy new year. It felt strange, as it was the only time they ever “talked” to me (and they never knew my name). But they wished me the same as those who cared about me. Hm.

Maybe the next time we wish someone a happy new year we should ask ourselves whether we really care about this person, and if that’s the case, to ask: What can I do to make it a happy new year for you?

Now let’s move forward to the current year and to the Advent calendar which was given away by Migros, the largest super market chain in Switzerland. Well, the term “Ad calendar” would be more suitable. Behind each door you will find a bargain for the respective day (and only for that day). So, to benefit from those bargains you would have to go to the super market every day. Stupid.

But there is also no magic involved when opening a door of this Advent calendar. What you get is simply an ad saying: product X is reduced in price by Y percent today. Wow. Cool. And soooooo boring…

I think much more interesting would be an Advent calendar filled with examples of new products. Every day you could test something new. Some products you may like. And you may buy them in the future.

So it will bring long-term benefits for the company giving away such an Advent calendar. On the other hand, an Ad calendar is only about short-term benefits (and its destroying the magic of Advent calendars)…

Today, I received an email via this platform from a company (Deutscher Sparkassenverlag) which claims to look for the best (wow, I feel really honored *g*). They say they read my “very interesting profile”. But I doubt it. If they read it, they would present me a concrete position, and not simply a list of open positions.

It is interesting to see the big gap between what the company says (“we are looking for the best”) and what they actually do (“here is a list with open positions, maybe you will find something that interests you”).

I see two possible ways to close this gap:

• go really after the best, but with an adapted strategy (the best people in a certain field usually know they are the best, so treat them accordingly)
• go after the good, but even then I think it is not very efficient to send a list of open positions to potential candidates

In short: What you say and what you actually do have to be congruent when you are looking for new employees!

An advantage of using urls as addresses would be that you could have as many addresses as you want. You could have one for your private life and one for your business life. Whatever fits your needs.

Having multiple addresses allows also address-specific services. For example, everything that is sent to the address stuffidontwant.example.com could go directly to the paper recycling company. And bills sent to bills.example.com could go to your bank, which pays them automatically.

What other services would make sense?

Unfortunately, such addresses are only valid as long as you live there. If you move, they become invalid. That’s because your address is not independent of your location.

Wouldn’t it be much easier if we could use a simple url as our real-life addresses? So my address would be for example danielhofstetter.com instead of

Daniel Hofstetter
St. Gallerstr. 54
9325 Roggwil TG
Switzerland

Sure, the “old” address would be still used (as it describes my location in the real world), but it is no longer important. You deposit this address at your url, and that’s it. The post office can then automatically translate your url to the real-world address and deliver the letters and parcels to the correct place.

Sounds cool, doesn’t it?

Somehow that made me think whether there is a “simple” way to avoid wars.

Usually, those who decide to start a war are not those who effectively fight (and die) in that war. The decoupling of those two groups makes it “easier” to start a war, as “only” anonymous soldiers have to die. So maybe we could avoid some wars if those who decide to start a war are also involved in its execution by providing a close relative to the front lines. Then it becomes personal. They no longer send anonymous soldiers to a war but also a close relative. And maybe he/she won’t come back…

I think such an approach could influence the decision whether to go to war or not, at least it would influence me if I would be in such a position.

What do you think about such an approach, could it decrease the number of wars?