people would wait their turn before speaking!

i've noticed this more and more recently but it's hard to converse with someone or debate an issue without the conversation turning into incomprehensible spaghetti. of course this is something that has existed forever and it's a major part of the skill of adroit communication...

if i remember correctly - we never had any proper and dedicated classes on interpersonal communication. some may experience the odd public-speaking class in college but what i'm envisioning is more aking to debate and open discussion.

at the end of it - the matter has much to do with the person's ability to train the mind and appreciate the nuances of intelligent conversation. listening is oft-touted as a virtue but seldom applied. it's about time someone took to seriously introducing practical dialogue as a part of early education.

one thing that might be interesting - voice neutralizers! devices that could be directed at anyone to shut them up (or at least mute their speech). don't scoff - the basis for this technology is available today and its only a matter of time before its applied on a more "confrontational" level. can't wait - it's gonna be fun!!!

we could search data efficiently?

Copernic Desktop Search - a free search tool that offers commercial quality - The Tablet PCs Weblog - tabletpcs.weblogsinc.com now here is a possible answer. i had been a fan of copernic for a while before it had been nudged aside by google but for local PC searches i think i'll give them a try....

people were a little less greedy?

and therefore caring about who they step on - literally! at least two people died and scores of others injured when a new IKEA store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia stampeded into a new store at its grand opening... apparently the first couple of customers were offered a bunch of freebies (think cheap coasters) and the estimate was for 20,000 customers in the first day - which happened in the first hours!

i wonder how people rationalize such acts - or don't.... life in saudi must be hard these days for people to flock to an IKEA opening for freebies. reminds me of a story - a good samaritan was invited to give a speech about helping others to a large audience and was late to the presentation (in reality a staged experiment) and a cripple in need of help was made to fall in his way! the guy stepped over him in his rush to give a speech about selflessly helping others! a nice and true example of how sometimes overemphasizing the goals can obscure one's judgment...