Stupid Ideas Revisited

9. February, 2011

Ever had a stupid idea? One which would instantly trigger the “that’ll never work. Ever.” response?

Did you withstand or gave you in?

Maybe it’s time to give stupid ideas more leeway. During my holidays, I started to think about a stupid idea. Really stupid. But this post is not about the idea, it’s about stupid ideas in general. Let’s look at a famous one: Christopher Columbus believed that the world was much smaller than everyone else.

So when everyone else set out eastward for India and fortunes in spices, little Christopher thought: Let’s take the shortcut. I’ll go west, land must be 4’000km away tops.

Of course, he was wrong. Earth was much bigger than he believed. But he wasn’t completely wrong: There was land. America.

So if he hadn’t pursued his stupid idea, one of the world’s largest economies wouldn’t exist. Millions of Indians wouldn’t have been slaughtered. Europe wouldn’t have made a fortune by selling slaves. The GIs wouldn’t have stopped the killing of millions by the Nazis. The Vietnam War wouldn’t have happened. Neil Armstrong wouldn’t have been to the moon. B. Obama wouldn’t have been elected 44th President.

A stupid idea can change the world.

Leave a Comment » | Philosophy | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by digulla

Tired of Being Tracked?

9. February, 2011

If you don’t want to be tracked by online advertising companies, there is a site where you can opt-out:  http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp

That doesn’t stop ads and spam, it just stops the companies from tracking your movements through the web.

Note that I couldn’t opt-out of more than roughly half of the networks; the other half simply ignores my selection. Not sure why that is; I’m suing FF 4 and I can’t find an option to allow third party cookies anymore.

1 Comment | Software | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by digulla

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