$1,000 homes for Cops and Firefighters in Detroit

Now this one is cool.  2 of the 3 groups hardest hit by the economy now get a break if they are willing to live in the city limits of Detroit.  The mayor, Dave Bing, regardless of your political views has gotten this one right!

http://www.clickondetroit.com/community/26772277/detail.html

Not only do the policeman and firefighters get the homes at a great price, they also can get up to $150k for renovations and likely to get rid of vagrants or drug dealers.  So, not only do they get a bargain, the neighborhoods should also become more livable and enjoyable from the mayor's decision.

Of course there are always naysayers, but you've got to commend the effort and at least these are ideas and suggestions that seem to make sense.  Do you have a better idea?  Have anything that you think can help Detroit and every other city being hurt by the economy?

Share your thoughts now.

Visible phone menu system

You dial a phone number anywhere today and you get the dreaded menu; Dell, IBM, Blue Cross Blue Shield and AIG all use them, where the poor user is forced to wade through 3 or 4 levels of menus just to get to the right choice.  Don't get me started if that choice goes to voicemail...

Idea - have the menu sent over the phone line, so if the phone you call from has a display, you can see the menu and read in your native language too.  Plus, companies REALLY focused on customer support, could provide an option to reach the operator on the 1st menu.

Nothing like calling to discuss your DirecTV bill or mis-applied credit on your VISA card, only to wait over 3 minutes to finally hear that the average wait time is 7 minutes.

Visual phone menu, that's my idea for the day.  Do you have one?

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5 New Planets found in our galaxy

I am totally convinced humans are not the only living beings in the universe because it would just be naive to think in an infinite universe we are the only ones.  What do you think?

Still, it is very cool to see that new planets are being found so close to home with similar distances to their stars, so as to make water available for life to be a possibility.  Today's article in CNN has the full story - Kepler space telescope spots five Earth-sized planets in our galaxy