Larry Baum's ideas: (click suns to rate or comment on ideas)

1		To improve railway safety, install GPS devices and radio transmitters on all train locomotives. A computer at a control center would monitor all train locations and alert any trains headed for a crash, based on position and velocity estimates.	E-mail
2		Applicants to universities should submit a business plan for their chosen career, showing their research into job prospects for their field. This may prevent some painful surprises on graduation and may steer people to better paths before it's too late.	E-mail
3		Governments should pay for removal of discarded fishing nets snagged underwater. These nets last centuries, killing huge numbers of fish and mammals.	E-mail
4		In flood-prone areas, build high-rise flats/condominiums instead of single-family homes so that the homes will stay dry in floods. Build parks on the remaining land.	E-mail
5		Permanent UN fund for disaster relief so that emergency aid can be spent quickly when needed, instead of begging and waiting for donations while people die. Fund it with regular dues or taxes. Now it's been created: CERF.	E-mail
6		Emotion and logic are both needed for action. Logic alone can show something is true, but so what? Logic gives no motivation to act on truth unless there's a principle to motivate action: an "e-motion".	E-mail
7		Send tsunami and other disaster warnings by SMS (short message service) so that people who don't happen to be watching TV or listening to radio at the moment can be alerted and can evacuate. (tornado, typhoon, cyclone, hurricane)	E-mail
8		For children to wash their hands, one sink in every public restroom should be placed low, with the faucet closer to the front edge. Now I always need to pick up my child awkwardly, as if giving him an "airplane ride", to let him wash his hands.	E-mail
9		Give every person in the world equal allowances to emit greenhouse gasses, and require large emitters to buy allowances from people on an open market. This will bypass countries and corruption and will benefit poor people.	E-mail
10		Governments should run shelters for all street children and supply basic food, clothing, health care, and education.	E-mail
11		Teach kids reading with their bedtime storybook. Start by teaching 1-letter words, then 2-letter words, just one each night. If he can't remember a word, then tell him, and read the previous sentence again and ask him the word again. Use praise.	E-mail
12		Explain things frankly but simply to kids. They can understand from a young age and may thus learn and be able to deal with reality better.	E-mail
13		States or provinces tend to spend all their income when the economy grows, then need to cut spending in a recession, just when more spending is needed. Countries should tax states in expansions and pay them in recessions in order to create balance.	E-mail
14		2 satellites collided, spewing debris that threaten other satellites. To prevent crashes, a UN agency should track all orbiting objects and program a computer to predict their orbits and potential collisions. Satellites could then maneuver out of danger.	E-mail
15		Companies charge huge fees to workers who migrate abroad for long-term contract jobs (as maids, construction workers, etc.). Instead, governments should arrange migration and contracts at low cost to let workers keep more of their meager incomes.	E-mail
16		Most people are not all good or bad. We are not white hats or black hats, or even gray hats. We are multiple shades and colors, which change with the light and angle from which we are viewed, and they change with time, and with the eye of the beholder.	E-mail
17		Before starting to date, everyone should find and interview 10 married and 10 divorced people to learn how to avoid their mistakes and do what worked well. This is difficult for kids, thus high schools should arrange this as part of sex education.	E-mail
18		IPO auctions: companies lose money when their stock prices rise just after their initial public offerings. Companies should auction their shares to the highest bidders instead of the current practice of fixing a price and choosing buyers by lottery.	E-mail
19		Save life by donating a kidney to a stranger. You may trigger a "domino transplant", in which several donors who were willing to give a kidney to a relative, but were immunologically incompatible, give instead to a stranger. Thus, many lives are saved.	E-mail
20		People who don't like to argue and thus suppress their disagreements create peace on the surface but may feel angry or sad. They end up like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or more appropriately, Mr. Hide.	E-mail
21		Pet rental: service to rent dogs, cats, and other pets to people for an hour, a day, a week, or longer. This would let people decide whether they like and can handle pet care and would reduce abandonment.	E-mail
22		To prevent financial tsunamis, countries or UN should define companies that are "too big to fail" and assign a regulator to declare others that fall outside the definition, then put a public official on their boards and limit their leverage and risk.	E-mail
23		Create a website with interviews of people who tried to enter various careers and failed or succeeded, with statistics on % who quit that track or got a job. Are they happy? Provide the site for all high school career guidance counselors worldwide.	E-mail
24		A spiral slide as a fire escape from tall buildings. It has a cover and may use seats (& seatbelts) on gears (to regulate speed). It goes 10 floors at a time. Access via metal, locked doors, opened only in an emergency. Faster than stairs.	E-mail
25		Banks that are "too big to fail" threaten the world economy if they do fail. To prevent banks from getting so big, government should force breakups or block mergers of banks/companies with assets or liabilities > 1 day of world GDP (0.3% of annual GDP).	E-mail
26		Teach estimation for real-life: Fermi quiz (power of 10 estimates), budgets, taxes, should I buy insurance, how likely are coincidences, how much food to make for a meal. (math,probability,statistics)	E-mail
27		Teach practical history. Don't memorize dates. Generalize how people behave in similar events around the world over time: culture clashes, democracy movements vs. dictators, economic booms/busts, ethnic wars, development. Apply to future.	E-mail
28		Mark cell phone keys with Braille dots so that blind people can more easily use them.	E-mail
29		Save lives of heart attack victims: put defibrillators in public places and train people in their use like CPR. See this New England Journal of Medicine editorial.	E-mail
30		Research grant applications and papers should be accepted or rejected quickly. Now they take up to a year, during which time they may become obsolete. The delay accumulates since follow-up studies are slowed up to 2 years, etc.	E-mail
31		Teach how to handle money: calculate income taxes, how to set up an IRA, how to buy stocks, how to compare returns of various investments, life insurance, annuities, how to start a business, credit cards, loans, mortgage. (practical economics)	E-mail
32		Teach practical behavior: top reasons people divorce or stay married, or have children. Causes of spouse abuse & child abuse. Parent/teen relations. Recognizing and treating psychiatric illness.	E-mail
33		To raise money needed by charities (such as schools) for specific needs, set up a website to allow recipients to post proposals and allow donors to choose which they will fund. DonorsChoose is an example.	E-mail
34		A book interviewing people in various careers, and people who failed in those careers, to inform students about good and bad career choices and give hard-learned tips for succeeding.	E-mail
35		Make a website with list of charities that now have matching donation programs, enabling you to give to a worthy cause and have your gift doubled by another donor, increasing the effect of your money.	E-mail
36		Teach how to behave in the legal system: what to do when police stop you or arrest you or if you are summoned or sued, what is bail, what is it like in jail, what to do if you're a victim of crime, how to survive in a mugging or rape.	E-mail
37		Since Chinese restaurants keep fishtanks to let diners select live fish for their meal, why not keep a garden next to a restaurant where diners could select their own live vegetables, fruits, and herbs? You couldn't get more fresh.	E-mail
38		Teach how to use government (civics): how to lobby for changes in laws, how to contact officials at each gov. level, how legislatures work, how to run for office. If you try this, please e-mail me to let me know how it goes.	E-mail
39		Make public transit more convenient: replace coins with cash card accepted on buses and subways by swiping near a machine. Refill card at machines in subway stations. Hong Kong uses one.	E-mail
40		To advertise a small business, give a free t-shirt with a big purchase. It will display the business slogan and location. To encourage customers to wear it in your area, give a 5% discount each time they wear it during a purchase. Tell me if you try it.	E-mail
41		Idea contest for kids in school. Teachers may divide kids into teams to brainstorm and compete against other teams for greatest number of ideas or best ideas (as judged by other students).	E-mail
42		To prevent hepatitis E if in unsanitary areas, wash hands after using any washroom, eat only well and freshly cooked foods, drink only bottled or boiled water, and don't eat non-peelable raw fruits or vegetables unless cleaned thoroughly.	E-mail
43		Car headlights should automatically turn off with the engine. This would prevent the driver forgetting to turn them off and draining the battery. To use headlights when the engine is off, they could be turned on again manually. Toyota Camry does this.	E-mail
44		Examples of group violence are constantly reported in the news, but little is done to prevent them. Group loyalty/hatred should be studied scientifically like other illness to find the psychological/social causes and, most importantly, preventions.	E-mail
45		Before deciding to train in a particular field, talk with people working in that career to help predict whether you'd like that job. Volunteer to work in that area for a while during summer to experience it before committing to it. E-mail me if you try.	E-mail
46		To save paper, trees, energy, and money, try to make your workplace paperless. Instead of printing documents, read and store them on your computer. Use e-mail instead of paper memos, faxes, or letters.	E-mail
47		Use windmills for intermittent power in poor, remote areas, as farms in the US plains formerly used to pump water. Use for water pumping and purification, or making ice for underground ice house. (development,electricity)	E-mail
48		"Real Heroes" TV show: since Drama in Real Life in Reader's Digest and Rescue 911 on TV are popular, do a show on ordinary heroes. It can be not just about emergencies, but any charitable sacrifices of time and effort.	E-mail
49		Racetrack: a good non-computer game for kids on long trips. Very simple, using only graph paper, pencil, and creativity, and teaches physics and planning ahead. Instructions.	E-mail
50		Commercial Grameen bank: a bank for the poor like the original in Bangladesh, but raising capital from conventional sources (stock and bond sales, deposits). The high repayment rate (98%) and spread may attract Wall Street investment.	E-mail