five ideas for making society an even better place

Life In this time of change, five ideas for making society an even better place:

(1) Cinema Membership Cards

The Guardian's William Leith isn't wrong here about the Vue Cinema chain's great idea of having adult only screenings to keep out roudy youngsters since adults can be just as loud when they want to be, though the comments section to the post asks a useful question: "How do you screen for twats at the door?" The answer is membership cards. If you want to see a film, you have to get a membership card which you then have to produce to buy a ticket. It could work like a loyalty card too so you get free tickets if you've been already x number of times. If you're caught being a twat you're given a warning, points off the license. Get caught again and you're banned from the cinema chain for six months or forever, membership revoked, with details kept on file in case you try and request a new one.

(2) The BBC's audio encyclopedia

I was listening to a range of BBC podcasts today during a shopping trip -- Composer of the Week and some thing about the history of Constantinople and realised that actually the BBC even having made an exciting start with the various archive projects could do much more. With all of the radio documentaries they've produced across the years along with the likes of In Our Time they clearly have the raw material for an audio encyclopaedia, for students, researchers and well, the rest of the great unwashed. Imagine being able to visit a version of the wikipedia and then being able to stream or download a programme about the subject, the perfect way to inform those of us without the time to pick up a book these days.

(3) The ability to search unread items in Google Reader

Why do I seem to be the only person online who thinks this is a good idea? Why can't I search for particular keyword and be able to see posts on the subject I've not read before without having to plough the myriad others that I have? I know they're fairly easy to spot in the 'list view' but it seems very odd that Google haven't included this option. Unless there's some interesting technical reason, such as the posts not being in the database until you've actually looked at them. They're known unknowns.

(4) Everyone should have a twitter account

Yes, even the people identified in (1). I signed up to Twitter last year some time, but since being broadbanded (which 4.1, should be a word) and began using Twhirl I've become a much heavier user and for the first time I feel like I'm truly connected to the web community as every couple of minutes a friendly ping brings more news. This was particularly true on election night, which I in reality spent alone but still felt like I shared with people too numerous to list here. Is this sad? Possibly. But since I'm feeling more isolated than usual lately, it's a lifeline.

(5) More buses on the 74, 75 & 80 routes out of Liverpool at about 5pm on a Sunday

Getting home from work on a Sunday has become beyond a joke. All of these routes have a half hourly service. By the time the buses have reached where I stand, which is on the edge of the city centre, just too far to walk from home (especially in this weather), they've picked up sabbath shoppers who've gathered at the Liverpool One shopping area and Great Charlotte Street during that half hour and are full by the time they reach our stop and drive past. As you wait the hour until the buses are empty enough to take you home, dozens of 86s pass through. Something related to the Saturday service must be introduced swiftly.

Yes, we, can.