Are you ready to jump? On July 20, at 7:39am and 13 seconds (EDT), it is planned for everyone in the entire world to jump simultaneously with the goal of changing Earth’s orbit slightly to abate climate change.

During WW2, simple calculating/tabulating machines including the first computer facsimiles were used to catalog soldiers, people and munitions by the use of punch cards and other apparatus. After the war, the United States Army developed the ENIAC system and used it to calculate artillery firing tables and perform functions related to thermonuclear weaponry. Weighing nearly 30 tons, the unit utilized 18,000 vacuum tubes, numerous diodes, relays, resistors, etc. At a cost of $5 million of today’s money, it was too expensive and cumbersome to reproduce for personal or independent business applications.

Imagine if you will a city down on its luck – holding on to the grand days of its past when parades filled the streets with cheer and every hand was full, now left forgotten, abandoned by prosperity to fend for itself. For the people in this city and its hard streets, hope is hard to come by, a catastrophe seemingly waiting around every corner. Now cue a movement, a feeling, a breath of fresh air full of inspiration and the world begins to change. The flowers grow, the children learn and the sun shines highlighting a path to a new horizon, a new destiny. What happens when a community walks that path together? Come with me on a voyage through another dimension – a dimension of sight, a dimension of sound, a dimension of mind. A voyage to a place without prejudice, fear or poverty.

Spring is in the air. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, people are venturing outdoors and flowers are blooming. For humans, it’s easy to know when spring has arrived. We feel the warm temperatures, we hear the birds, smell the flowers and see the changes all around us and it must be much the same for most animals. But, what of the plants? How do they know when it is time to emerge from the earth and bloom? What external or internal cues let them know when spring has arrived?

What’s your favorite color? Is it a primary like blue, red, yellow? Or something more exotic like cerulean, goldenrod, scarlet or the infamous (and now retired) yellow-green? Everyone has an answer to this question going as far back as they can remember and it’s all due to a pack of small wax sticks given to us as toddlers with the directive to “stay inside the lines.” As a society, the majority of our introduction to color and the myriad of shades and hues that exist came in the form of crayons and, once acquired, no blank piece of paper, wall, sibling or t-shirt was left unmarked. As the tool of choice for child artists everywhere, the crayon reigns supreme. And, even as an adult, I’ll bet you have a small box of crayons somewhere at home.

Before 1960, the National Football League (NFL) was the absolute dominant football league in the United States. So, when a small group of businessmen approached the league with hopes of starting new franchises and were turned away, the only thing they could do was start a league of their own. They launched the American Football League (AFL) in direct competition with the NFL. To the NFL’s surprise, the AFL not only stuck around but began to prosper. Six years later, the two leagues came together and formed an agreement to merge by 1970.

As we leave 2021 behind and enter the New Year, many of us spend time reflecting on our past year and vowing to make changes in our lives. Maybe some of us want to spend more time with family, start the business we’ve always dreamed of, eat better and be more active, etc. It isn’t something as simple as making a resolution; it’s a complete remodel of who we are, what we do and why we do it. As we open the day on January 1, we are ready to go. We make our lists, make our plans. And, in a few months or so, most of us find ourselves right back in our regular routines – right back in the same rut we thought we left behind.

Since it was first published on December 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol has been a holiday staple the world over. Never out of print, the story has been adapted to television and the big screen numerous times. It’s a story of charity, of kindness and of hope for the inherent goodness that exists in all men. Indeed, when Charles Dickens wrote the story over six weeks in the fall of 1843, it was with a noble aim.

It’s time. No, really. You can’t put it off any longer. It has to be done.

Since the development of motion pictures in 1878, we’ve been entranced by the medium. In 1888, the first official “movie” was made and at just 2.11 seconds long, the “Roundhay Garden Scene” quickly showed the capabilities of the technology. By 1895, motion pictures were well on their way to entertaining the masses.

What a great idea! Way to go! You can do it! You’re getting better every day!

Historically located just off Campus Drive (formerly Mill St.) near the campus of UM-Flint and behind the United States Post Office building, the Cornwall Whip Socket Factory, also known as Flint Specialty Co., was the world’s biggest supplier of whip sockets from 1905-12. (A whip socket is a wooden or metal holder, usually mounted on a carriage or buggy dash, to hold the whip that drivers used on their horses.) The company excelled after being purchased in 1901 by English immigrant, John Cornwall whereby he promptly changed the name and output.