Happy Wednesday, dear readers! I hope it brings a smile to your face, remembering that it is half way to the weekend! I had a very productive day yesterday, catching up after a weekend of visiting family, and I am feeling rather successful. I hope you all are too! Since everyone is being productive and successful, let’s grab a cup of tea, and quickly get to the news, so we can all be on our way to a happy day.
This morning, we focus on how business and technology are being shaped by the environment, the world wide web and the outspoken views of consumers.
New technology being developed to keep planes safe from volcanoes.
In the wake of the 2010 volcanic eruptions in Iceland that sent plumes of ash into the atmosphere and affected millions of travelers for many days, high tech companies are working, in tandem with international transportation agencies, to create early detection systems for ash clouds. The transportation agencies vow to improve their space detection and monitoring capabilities, and the tech companies are designing infrared detection systems that will give pilots more time to navigate around the dangerous areas. This multinational effort aims to protect passengers and equipment, as well as cutting down on air traffic delays or cancellations caused by volcanic activity.
New Tech Helps Pilots Navigate Dangerous Volcanic Ash Plumes by Becky Oskin on LiveScience
Open-source software might be succumbing to “too many chef’s” syndrome.
When the internet was born, back in the 1980’s, it evolved via two prongs. The first prong, involved software developers, creating platforms for exclusive use. The other prong, termed open-source, invited transparency and cooperation, as coders revealed the inner workings of their programs, and asked other developers to help evolve the software. Now, vast open-source programs that are used by many big businesses and networking platforms as a way to save huge amounts of money for the companies have been attacked. Hackers, who are able to see the coding shared to encourage the evolution of the programs have instead been locating the vulnerabilities and exploiting them. Businesses may be forced to spend the money to develop their own proprietary software, and the open-source model may have to shift in order to create a safer cyber environment.
Proof that internet petitions can get things done.
As a child, I went to see whale and dolphin shows and certainly enjoyed them. I did not understand that these animals had been taken from the wild, and removed from tight-knit family groups. Many wish to see Orcas held only in rehabilitation situations, and not captive for the profit of humans.
Kathleen Haase, decided to put up a petition on the internet to encourage airlines to stop selling trips to locations that feature aquarium parks, like Sea World, and she has received much support.
Companies have been taking note, and even though Virgin America has asked its travel partners to sign a pledge that guarantees they will not catch dolphins and whales in the wild, the airline went one step further today, and dropped SeaWorld as a travel destination promotion partner. This gives a strong indication that companies are listening to the pocket book choices of consumers, and revising their business practices to create the image of a more responsive brand. However it happens, I see this as a victory for our whale and dolphin friends!
You can learn a lot from what businesses say to each other.
Can western business learn anything from companies growing and thriving in emerging markets? Can we, as readers, learn something from sponsored content in the business sections of publications, about how important sustainability is to corporate image? The answer to both questions is yes. Emerging market businesses do more with less. The vanishing middle class in the west must do more with less as well, and companies, that are over-designing and producing expensive products, where simple and affordable products would serve better, are going to be disappearing in the near future. As a retired marketing professional, I can tell you, emphatically, that businesses listen to other businesses, especially when they think their pocket book will be affected. Being sustainable, frugal and affordable is the new status symbol, and many companies are scrambling for ways to get that symbol. I feel that’s a good thing for us all!
Can business take sustainability cues from the emerging markets by Mark Hillsdon of The Guardian
Moving on…
This guy was looking for buried treasure, and he actually found some!
Derek McClennan, a dedicated metal detector enthusiast and treasure hunter, didn’t feel well, but he got up anyway. Two of his friends, also fellow treasure hunters, wanted to go out looking for booty in a Scottish field. He was glad he did, as he unearthed a hoard of Viking gold, and silver objects in a field in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The find is quite possibly the most important artifact haul related to the Vikings in Scottish history, according to Stuart Campbell, head of the National Museum of Scotland. It certainly sounds like he had a successful day, digging in a field!
Viking treasure haul unearthed in Scotland on BBC News Scotland
I wanted to thank a dear reader, who pointed something out to me regarding my comments on the movie Unfair yesterday. Seems he did more digging, and found out that the movie was produced by a group called Patriots for Jesus. While we all wish to work in fixing the world and making it a place that works for everyone, sometimes the intentions of a program, movie or website, might not be easily discernible, or in alignment, with our individual desire for change.
I am letting you all know this for two reasons. The first is to stress that I am not a professional journalist with years of investigative reporting practice under my belt. Many stories come in from our readers, and others from trusted internet sources, and if I intuit, based on the tenets of the Golden Age Of Gaia, that a piece is in alignment with fellow readers, I share it. If something “seems fishy to me”, I research more deeply, as I always want to share the truth.
Second, I appreciate all the help you give me in providing links to appropriate stories, but I was also really touched, that a reader would contact me to share where I may have made an error, so that I would be able to make that clear to all of you. That you, our readers, have my back, so to speak, and are here to support me, simply makes me smile. Thank you. Please continue to share links and make comments via the Contact Us and News Tip form, especially if you have any follow up to a story we have shared.
That’s the news for today! I hope to see you all tomorrow for more sharing!
Be Well. Be Joy. Be Love!
Alex