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Omaha Beach
March 25th, 2008
I just returned from a trip through Normandy with my son. The focus of our visit was the beaches of D-Day. I was trying to connect a column billed as “A Future Look at Today†to the powerful emotions I was feeling. On Omaha beach there is nothing on the beach to acknowledge what occurred on June 6, 1944 except for a very modern sculpture dedicated in 2004 for the 60th anniversary. Nearby was a plaque with the words of the sculptor, Anilore Banon, as to his creative inspiration for his creation, “The Wings of Hopeâ€
“So that the spirit which …
An Example of How to Shape the Future
March 15th, 2008
Brasilia, the capitol of Brazil, represents an example of what humanity must do in this early part of the 21st century. In my last column, I discussed the history of this great city and the fact that it was created in the late 1950s to be “the capitol of the third millennium†and that it was built literally in the middle of Brazil hundreds of miles from the nearest city. In other words the eyes of the visionaries who built the city were completely focused on the future. What should a capitol of the future look like? How should it …
A Vision Creates a City of the Future
March 12th, 2008
Brasilia is the futuristic capitol of Brazil. It has been so since 1960 when the federal government moved there from Rio de Janeiro. I recently spent two days there and it is truly magnificent. It has been a place I have wanted to visit almost my entire life, but more on that later. First it is important to briefly tell the story of its creation as it is all about vision and how vision can project humanity into the future.
The population of Brazil, since colonization by the Portuguese has always been predominately oriented to the Atlantic coast, where the majority …
Another Cell Phone Milestone
February 13th, 2008
I have written several columns about cell phones in the past. Each one was due to milestones of growth. The speed of growth in the use of cell phones continues to be astounding. It was announced last week by the International Telecommunication Union that the number of total global cell phone subscribers will exceed the number of non-subscribers for the first time in 2008.
When you stop and think about it, this is nothing less than amazing. This means that more than half of all human beings alive today have cell phones. That includes …