Wikipedia turns 20 this Friday, January 15, 2021, on what is known as “Wikipedia Day” around the world. Launched on January 15, 2001, “To create and freely distribute a free encyclopedia in all the languages of the world.” Wikipedia now contains more than 55 million articles, written by human volunteers in hundreds of languages. With 1.7 …
Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow (EPCOT) Growing up on Long Island I lived only a couple of miles from Levittown, a planned community of mass produced homes developed between 1947 and 1951. The returning veterans of World War II fueled much of this growth as well as similar suburban growth throughout the country. The economies …
In March 2013 Whole Foods Market put “a stake in the ground on GMO labeling” by announcing that by 2018 all products sold by the grocery chain would be labeled indicating any included genetically modified organisms in order to provide full GMO transparency to customers. The announcement occurred around the same time as failed efforts by consumer activists to petition the federal government …
The series finale of ‘Mad Men’ closed a fictional window to the 1960s. Women’s and civil rights, The Beatles, Serge Gainsbourg and The Doors, the introduction of birth control and realization that cigarettes cause cancer. The series remained authentic by intertwining itself with events of the decade. The crash of American Airlines Flight 1, the assassinations of John F Kennedy …
News this week that Sears and Kmart will close 235 stores along with JCPenney’s continued decent reaffirm my belief that the true value of these iconic brands is being ignored. In the case of JCPenney, unimaginative executives struggle to increase sales with awkward marketing stunts in a retail industry that is returning to its roots. While the brands of yesterday are suffering slow …
For most of us reliable high speed Internet access is a daily necessity that when interrupted causes havoc to our routines. We expect our access to be reliable like telephone, water, sewer, and electricity – like a utility. The debate for and against Net Neutrality centers on this question. Should Internet access be regulated like a utility or …
With just 21 days left before Christmas we are now in the thick of the holiday “consuming” season. Shopping no longer being the operative word considering we are targeted by retailers and websites to buy what has the most margin after being baited by the best deal. We are merely consumers in the eyes of …
The top priority of improving our transportation network is to reduce congestion which would improve the quality of life and make our region more attractive to top employers and professionals. Infrastructure and bus improvements short of rail will certainly assist with relieving congestion; and with continued political efforts can be brought to reality. But will these initiatives ever really ease …
For a while I have expressed concern about the future of startup business incubators that are not only in Tampa Bay but everywhere. Tampa Bay Innovation Center president Tonya Elmore noted in the Tampa Bay Times last year that every “city council member in every town wants an incubator now that startups like Facebook glamorized entrepreneurship”. The article estimates …
During discussions about the Conscious Capitalism and Benefit Corporation movement or my own book Corporate Empathy the conversation often has some focus on social entrepreneurship and social enterprises and what the potential is for these kinds of businesses. According to Wikipedia, “a social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being, rather than …