One of the technological innovations I have written about here and here in this column has been the reduction in size and cost of computer storage. It is one of the more significant developments in computing over the past two decades. It is part of the foundation that has allowed the explosion in mobile computing […]
Growing up as part of the baby boom generation, a distinct memory is the air raid siren tests. Every Tuesday, if I recall correctly, at 10a there was the test of the air raid siren blaring across the entire city of Chicago. This was to prepare us for the possibility of a nuclear attack from […]
Two years ago in this blog, I wrote a futuristic column from April 20, 2009. The title of the column was “Remember When Gas Was Cheap?†At that time I predicted that the price of oil in early 2008 would reach $125 and that in April 2009 it would be $137. In January of 2007 […]
The magnitude of the energy crisis we now face in the U.S. cannot be overstated. It is not just about cutting the emission of greenhouse gases, the increasing price of petroleum or the fact that we are dependent for oil on countries that only hold us in high regard as customers. It is about the […]
This thought came to me while standing on Omaha Beach, one of the American landing beaches on D-Day. I think about the future and it is clear to me that humanity will need to find greatness to face some of the issues it faces now and in the next decade. We need to rise up […]
[Note to readers: this column was written a number of weeks ago, but was in holding as I wrote columns about some more immediate travel related subjects. With the turmoil in Tibet this past week, it is clearly a topic in the news. I have updated the prior column to include the recent upheavals.] When […]
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 […]
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 […]
Technology has been the defining force of the Information Age. Technology has given us an appreciation for speed, global communications, connectivity, miniaturization and of course computing power. We embrace new generations of computers, cell phones and digital content players. Many of these innovations, as they increase in power, generate heat. As they decrease in size […]
Regular readers of this column know that I have long predicted that oil would reach and then exceed the $100 price barrier. In fact, when this barrier was first breached the first few days of January, readers congratulated me on the veracity of my prediction. Yesterday was the first time that a barrel of oil […]