What to Do

Sometimes the question isn't how to do something, but what do to in the first place.  I'm pretty good at the How, but coming up with the What is the tough part.  then again, if it was easy I would probably be more entrepreneurial.  I'm not worrying about the Who, the Where and the When.  Those sort of get dictated by the What.

So here's my partial list of things to do.  I'm not saying I can do these things, but sometimes a bit of thought on the subject will lead to something that I can do.  This won't be the last of these - Sometimes I feel the need to expound on something different every once in a while.

World peace

So how do you bring around the end of wars, strife, conflict, and so forth?  Mankind itself has been at war with itself since, well, the beginning of mankind itself.  When you think about it, most of it comes down to competition and the need for power.  Wars are fought over numerous things: land, resources, ideology, power, discovery and immortality.  So if you cannot remove the source of the competition, you need to redirect it in some way.  

The competitive spirit can be seen in a number of different ways.  Sports and direct competition isalways a good way.  beating someone in an event is always a good way of keeping this going, whether in the buildup or the event itself.  Take the World Cup (or the Superbowl, for those of you in the states).  the game happens periodically, but the hype before the game lasts a longer time.  the competion itself may only last a few hours or weeks, and involve twns of people, but entire populations get behind their teams, for better of for worse.  

for us non-physical types, this competition can be had through more cerebral competions, whether the math olympiads back when I was in high school, to the programming contests, to the hackathons.  Competition is strong in the software industry, as can be seen in Silicon Valley emplyment.  

World hunger

World hunger is actually a relatively easy problem to solve in theory.  the world is already capable of growing enough food for everyone to be properly fed.  The problem is not in this but in the political, logistical, and idealogical areas.  This is not only food, but also just about any other resource.

Politically some governments don't want to have anything to do with another government.  This has the effect of placing artificial barriers on getting things from one location to another, or mistrust in the goods that are offered.  Some people will refuse to take what s offered gratuitiously, and others would rather throw out or destroy what they have rather than see it be used without profit.

Logistics is the process of managing and transporting goods from one location to another.  It involves not only getting things from point A to point B, but doing it in the correctt time, in the correct way, and using the least amount of resources in the transport.  For instance, Some food can be tossed in a container and dropped anywhere, while other items will need refrigeration or delicate handling so that it will not spoil.  

Finally, ideology is related to politics, but can be more ingrained.  Politics may prevent somethingfrom happening, but there is a way for the two sides to possibly work together, and still get things done, whether directly with a treaty, or obliquely through some third party, allowing everyone to save face.  an idealogical barrier will prevent this from happening, since it is part of the parties inner core to hamper or halt this, due to differences.  

Where do lost socks and pens go

Yes, some things will border on the silly.  but think about it.  you toss your things in the dirty clothes hamper, dump them into the washer, followed by the dryer, and as you put things away, you realize there is one lone sock sitting there.  you don't remember dropping only one in there, but it must of happened,  sometimes you toss it into the sock drawer by itself, sometimes you put it someplacce special, but invariably it remains alone for the longest time.  I have had this happen multiple times, in different situations.  I have gone through my entire sock drawer, matching up everything two by two, and come up with extras.  I buy socks six pairs at a time, and after a while attrition kicks and and I cannot match things up.  Now sometimes I do toss a sock out, whether because it has worn out, or gotten stained, but that doesn't always account for all the missing foot covering.  So where do they go? I don't know.

Pens are the same way.  you grab a pen, and they invariably get set down someplace, never to be found again.  Now I know where some pens go - they stop working, so I toss them.  Some I hand to other people, since they look like the y need a pen more than I do, and some get used for other purposes.  but there are others that I put in specific places, such as in coat pockets, the car, satchels, and the like, that mysteriously disappear over time.  It is probably due to one of the reasons listed above, but I like to imagine, like Douglas Adams, that they have transported themselves through some pen shaped wormhole to a planet suited for a pen based lifeform, where they do pen-related activities and live the pen equivalent of the good life.

Now I know where hotel pens go to.  I've got a lifetime supply that I have picked up over the years.  I use them as decoys so I don't lose my good pens.