Yahoo’s researchers want you to voluntarily slap a one-cent stamp on your outgoing e-mails, with proceeds going to charity, in a bid to cut down on spam. Can doing good really do away with spam, which consumes 33 terawatt hours of electricity every year, not to mention way too much of our time?
The idea behind CentMail is that paying to send e-mail — even a single cent — differentiates a real e-mail from spam blasts, and thus, spam filters can be adjusted to let the stamped mail sail right through, according to a report from New Scientist. Users would get to choose which charity benefits from their penny missives, which the researchers hope will convince people to pay CentMail for something that’s currently free.
You know, I would probably agree to a penny per email, but I would be scared of rates going up and then being old and complaining to the youth that back in the day email was free.
Sitting up alongside their human counterparts, the dogs are trained to recognize signs of drowning. When they see someone in trouble, they paddle out to the swimmer, ideally together with their human partners, though they can also go it alone. The distressed swimmer can grab hold of the dog, which will then paddle back to safety with the would-be drowner in tow, or the dog will drag the swimmer in with its teeth, tugging him ashore by his arm, shirt or bathing suit. “If need be, the dogs are strong enough to pull in three people holding on to each other, or a raft with three people on it,” boasts Piccinelli.