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Former U.S. House Speakers John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi along with Rep. Paul Ryan referred to the U.S. House of Representatives as the People’s House as they transferred leadership over to Ryan Thursday morning. With the usual tears in his eyes, John Boehner exited the podium and returned to stand amongst the house members.

Boehner’s Farewell -People’s House’

www.c-span.org/video/?c4557645/boehner-peoples-house

Pelosi as the Minority Party Leader with a gracious speech thanked Boehner for his service and welcomed Ryan to take his place as the new Speaker of The House. In her statement, she thanked Boehner for inviting the Pope to speak to Congress and how his visit has inspired a more conciliatory tone amongst members of the House. She said Democrats would work to tackle issues which both parties deem as a priority. Her tone was friendly and hopeful as she welcomed Ryan to the podium, handing him the Speaker’s gavel.

nancy-pelosi-welcomes-paul-ryan

Ryan began by saying how humbled he was by being elected and the weight of responsibility he now has as Speaker. He called upon House member to wipe the slate clean from past partisan fights as well as fights within his own Republican party. In one moment, he called for Republicans to pray for Democrats and Democrats to do the same for Republicans.

To which Rep. Pelosi is seen in the video telling fellow Democrat Steny Hoyer “I pray for them all the time, I do, I pray for them.”

Paul Ryan Pray Nancy

This is a stark contrast to the attitude expressed during Pelosi’s and Boehner’s leadership. Both of their times as speaker were fraught with fierce fights and parliamentary tricks to push legislation through that one side or the other was vehemently against. While Ryan is trying to set a new tone of civility in the House, there has already been complaints coming from factions in both parties. This environment will put his leadership to the test to see if he can really make it a new day in the people’s house.

When I started this blog I knew I was interested in the future of the communication industry and particularly journalism. I know those seem general topics in nature, but what I found was specificity. I found a specific style of content I like to create for my posts. During research for some of my articles, I found out about the futurist community of thinkers. Some are professionals working with think-tanks and businesses. Some are journalists, like myself. Some are people just interested in thinking about the future. I have explored several ideas from this area in my articles, from shopping to women in politics. The common thread in my topics is me. All of these article topics somehow either relate to an issue which directly affects me or my community.

Writing these brought not just a better understanding of myself, but of the community around me in the present. It’s impotent to look at that because I believe to get a glimpse of the future we must understand fully our present. And we want to get a glimpse of the future because as Futurist Edward Cornish so elegantly put it, “foresight is the secret ingredient of success.”

I think Futura Bazaar has developed and is still developing into its own voice, but has made a long journey since the beginning. It has allowed me truly to have an identity which is set apart from my personal self. An expression of a more hopeful me, a me who wants to help find solutions and answers, and not wallow in the latest breaking next new controversy. As humans we are only at the beginning of a very long journey of existence, extinction is not around the corner. If you believe that then you can take the journey into a hopeful future. A future where together we can mold an existence that suits us all. But that takes thinking. And more importantly, communicating ideas so they can be put into action.

Futura Bazaar will continue to assist in that goal. I will continue to write articles related to the futurist genre, but I will also include videos and graphics I create about the topic. I will also continue my research on Edward Cornish. I may continue to work on some type of biographical workup on him and eventually put that into some type of presentation. I’m not sure of the medium, but I enjoyed writing the screenplay with him as a character. I will continue to promote #FutureTalk. I will continue to develop and promote this voice.

Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor used to be a Certified Public Accountant, so it wasn’t a stretch for her when Governor John Kasich asked her to head up the Common Sense Initiative (CSI). The goal of the CSI is to ease the regulatory burden on businesses by eliminating excessive rules.

“We’ve reviewed over 6700 rules that impact business …and we’re at about 56-percent historically have either been rescinded or amended because of the work of the CSI office,” said Lt. Gov. Taylor.

Taylor said this helps Ohio businesses succeed. She may be right as statistics from U.S. Department of Labor show Ohio’s Gross Domestic Product has been steadily increasing since it bottomed out in 2009 while unemployment has steadily declined since then.

Being in charge of the CSI, Taylor said has helped her enhance and further her leadership skills. With Governor John Kasich officially announcing his candidacy for President, Lt. Gov. Taylor says she’s ready to take over at the state house if needed.

“I look forward to the opportunity to continue to do the great work that I believe were doing in Columbus that’s better for the entire state,” said Taylor.

When asked if she’s planning on making a 2018 run for governor, Taylor said she’s “keeping her options open.”

If Kasich were to ascend the GOP ladder, Taylor would be the first woman in Ohio to hold the governor’s chair for more than just a few days. Back in 1998, then-Lt. Governor Nancy Hollister became governor for 11 days when then-Governor George Voinovich became one of Ohio’s U.S. senators and had to resign in order to take his senate seat.

Taylor would also be among a small group of women who are currently governors and well as the small group of women who have ever been governors. With Arizona Governor Jan Brewer retiring earlier this year, that leaves only six women, three Democrats and three Republicans, currently holding the office of Governor.

According to the National Women’s Political Caucus, the largest number of women to serve simultaneously as governors was nine in 2004 and again in 2007. And they report only 26 out of the 50 states have even had a woman governor.

The United States isn’t sizing up well on an international level either when it comes to women in leadership positions. According to the Inter-parliamentary Union of Geneva, the U.S. has dropped in ranking in worldwide female leadership from 69th in 2008 to 84th in 2014.

With women becoming more educated and more involved in business since the mid-20th century, it has been questioned why more women aren’t getting involved in politics, which is why there are fewer women running for office than men. Brookings Senior Fellow Jennifer Lawless analyzed data from a 2011 study and it showed “women are less likely to be encouraged to run and less likely to be considered as a potential candidate when a position opens up.” Lawless also said there is also a perception among women who could potentially run that they won’t do as well as a man even though there is no evidence to support that belief. In fact, Lawless said, women do just as well as men when running for political office.

So the question remains, is Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor’s tenuous attitude about being governor a lack of self-confidence and encouragement or just a polite gesture towards Gov. John Kasich by letting his political aspirations make headlines before she makes her own?

Depending on how Governor Kasich does in the GOP primaries, we may know the answer to that question sooner than later.

The Association of Professional Futurist has tried a # hashtag Twitter campaign to promote communication between futurist at #futrchat. The event coordinator would arrange a time for a topic and an assigned futurist member would lead the topic conversation. It seems to have been popular at first in 2013 but has since then has waned. The campaign never went any further than Twitter.

What happened to the monthly #futrchat ? Just wondering..

— Ane (@AneRush) November 8, 2014

This issue here is consistence and the need to bring it to a less controlled time frame for participation.

#FutureTalk would be the hashtags I would use to promote communication among futurist while promoting the Future Frontier App. The campaign would include using Twitter, YouTube, Soundcloud, and Instagram. Any futurist could post links to blogs, articles, videos, and pictures and use the #FutureTalk.

I would use the hashtag to promote people using the free app The Future Frontier “FF” for short. I would create videos to show how to use the app and why it will help promote communication among this relatively small demographic. I would create photos and info-graphics promoting communication within the futurist community through the app. I would create podcast with futurist topics and others may contribute by promoting their podcast through #FutureTalk that would all be easily accessible through the Future Frontier App.

The app would create a communication environment much like the Team App that local sports teams use to socially communicate amongst each other in a non-public environment. This is what I hope to foster through the Future Frontier App.

My ultimate goal is to foster communication within the futurist community.

I want to use my skills as a writer and visual artist to communicate information about near future possibilities in art and sciences. I’d like to explore complex economic, political, legal, and social issues that are relevant to everyday life. I want to use my analytical abilities to present the positive possibilities of the future.

Experience

Avid Reader (since I was 5)
• I have read most popular classic literary works, including the full works of Shakespeare.
• I have read a handful of college level Law, Philosophy, Economics, History and medical books.
• I have read incredible amounts of fashion and celebrity magazines.
• I have read many Children’s Books. My favorite is James and the Giant Peach.
• I have read many trashy love novels.

Writer (since I was 8)
• I have written short stories, poems, three chapters of a book, and advertisements.
• I have written radio, television, and movie scripts.
• I have written journalistic stories for print, radio, and television.
• I have written graffiti with style and flair.

Performing Artist (since I was 2)
• I have been classically trained in dance and did so professionally for many years
• I have been professional choreographer and dance teacher.
• I have acted in film, radio, TV and on the stage.
• I have been a member of a sketch comedy troupe
• I have been the singer for a big band orchestra and in musical theater.
• I have performed at big venues like Disney World, at a half-time NFL game, and with a Pops Orchestra with Erich Kunzel conducting.

Salesperson (since I was 12)
• I have sold various retail items, food, dance lessons, and furniture.
• I have been a marketing manager

Education
I have a Bachelor’s degree and am currently pursuing my Master’s degree. (Expected graduation 2017)

Fade In:

EXT: PARK IN NEW YORK CITY – DAY – PRESENT

Children play in FLUSHING MEADOWS-CORONA PARK. An OLD MAN with a cane escorted by his 60-year-old SON slowly approaches a STONE PLAQUE. The Old MAN looks at the STONE PLAQUE.

It reads “The Time Capsules Deposited September 23, 1938 and October 16, 1965 by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation as a record of Twentieth Century Civilization-To endure for 5000 years”

The OLD MAN stares at it for a moment then smiles.

Cut To:

EXT. New York World’s Fair 1939 – DAY

A GIGANTIC WHITE SPHERE and OBELISK are in the background of LARGE RECTANGULAR POOLS lined by WHITE SCULPTURES.

A YOUNG BOY looks with big eyes to see a SIGN which reads “New York World’s Fair-The World of Tommorow.” He excitedly runs over to get in line on a curved walkway leading to the GIANT WHITE SPHERE. His FATHER hurries to catch up to the YOUNG BOY.

After waiting in line the YOUNG BOY and FATHER enter the opening in the GIGANTIC WHITE SPHERE. A SIGN shows the name of the GIGANTIC WHITE SPHERE as PERISPHERE.

YOUNG BOY
Dad, this is really nifty!

FATHER
I knew you would like it!

YOUNG BOY
What’s inside this giant ball, Dad?

FATHER
There is supposed to be a MODEL CITY OF THE FUTURE. See here. (Points to a MOVING WALKWAY) This will take us around to see it.

INT: PERISPHERE

The FATHER and YOUNG BOY approach and board the MOVING WALKWAY. They travel along looking at the massive MODEL CITY OF THE FUTURE.

YOUNG BOY
Wow, Dad do you think this is what New York will look like in the future?

FATHER
Maybe many, many years from now.

YOUNG BOY
You mean like 1962?

FATHER
Maybe a little longer than that.

YOUNG BOY
You mean like the year 2000?

FATHER
Yeah, maybe 2000.

YOUNG BOY
Do you think I’ll be alive then? And if I am, will New York look like this?

FATHER
Enough questions Edward Cornish, my you’re a curious boy.

YOUNG BOY
I just like to think about the future and if its going to be this nifty!

FATHER
Well, we’ll have to see. (Exiting the MOVING WALKWAY) Let’s go look at the WESTINGHOUSE TIME CAPSULE. I hear they are burying it for 5000 years.

The YOUNG BOY and FATHER Walk towards the Westinghouse Time Capsule Exhibit.

YOUNG BOY
What is a time capsule, Dad?

FATHER
Well, it’s where scientist take a bunch of modern day items and put them into a protective shell then bury them deep into the ground until someone digs it up many years later. In this case it should be 5000 years from now.

YOUNG BOY
What kinds of things do they put in there?

FATHER
I hear that they’re putting in a MICKEY MOUSE WATCH, a GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR, and even a KEWPIE DOLL.

YOUNG BOY
A KEWPIE DOLL? That’s yucky girl stuff.

FATHER
I’m sure there will be little girls in the future.

YOUNG BOY
Yeah, but maybe in the future they’ll play baseball and other sports instead of with yucky dolls.

FATHER
(Chuckles) I doubt that, son. I doubt that.

CUT TO

EXT: PARK IN NEW YORK CITY – DAY – PRESENT

The OLD MAN looks up from the stone plaque and sees some GIRLS playing soccer in the park. He chuckles to himself and motions to his SON it is time to go. The OLD MAN and SON walk away from the STONE PLAQUE.

Fade out

The Future Frontier App will help futurist to connect and advance their work. In this video, I explain the beginnings of The Futurist Magazine and the growing futurist community of both amateurs and professionals. It shows why that community needs an app like this and how it will benefit the society as a whole.

Here is my script for my yet to be made video.

In the 1930’s…everyone was sad because the Depression was making most everyone’s life the same…depressing.

A group of businessmen from New York decided…

“Hey let’s put on a gigantic fair so everyone can come and have a great time…ride rides and see amazing exhibits…and businesses can show off their products as sponsors of the event.”

“Yeah, and it’ll make people not be so depressed anymore.”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea, but let’s make it bigger so we can get the whole world to participate…We’ll call it the New York World’s Fair!!!”

So they opened the New York World’s Fair in 1939 which was a future themed exhibit. And a whole bunch of countries like England, France, Japan, Italy and many others joined in.

The creators made what they thought a city of the future would look like in The World of Tomorrow. It ended up looking like a gigantic old Hollywood science-fiction movie set.

This was about 75 years ago and in their future they envisioned huge geometric structures built with glass and chromium decorated in what we call art deco style. Think South Beach Miami, Florida. The exhibit was very impressive with its futuristic structures and entertainments.

and a little boy named Edward Cornish went there with his family. He thought it was really cool and it made a big impression on him. For the rest of his life he would always remembered how much he liked the exhibit and its depiction of a possible future.

Ed became a journalist when he grew up. He was a star reporter and traveled the world. But it was a real scary time because of the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the U.S. were always threatening to blow each other up with nuclear bombs, but neither ever did. However, there was one time where they came very close to pushing the button during 13 days in October of 1962.

It was called the Cuban Missile crisis. This scared Ed and a lot of other people about the future…mostly because they thought there may not be one. After the crisis was over, some people started panicking, building shelters for nuclear war and storing peas and stuff.

This made Ed sad..and depressed…but a friend of his came along and said one day…

“Hey, there’s all these scholars working on the future.”

Ed’s friend would give him copies of research and articles the scholars wrote. And Ed began to say…

“Hey, maybe the future isn’t going to be so bad.”

Ed actually did say…

“We can- not possibly know everything that lies ahead, but with effort we can glimpse the possibilities of our future. This weak but incredibly valuable knowledge is critically important if we are to make wise decisions. Fore- sight is the secret ingredient of success.”

Then instead of building shelters and saving peas…Ed decided he would do something different.

He started a magazine called The Futurist…where all the scholars and journalist and others interested in writing about the future could print articles.

The magazine was a hit and it was so popular Ed got together with his futurist friends and created the World Futurist Society.

Now, there are hundreds maybe thousands of futurist all over the world that belong to various future enthusiast organizations. Some people are even professional futurist and help businesses and governments plan for the future.

So what’s the problem? The problem is all these people need a way to communicate better. Yes, there are futurist on blogs, on Facebook, on Twitter, but there isn’t an app that brings together everything the futurist community needs to bring the futurist community together. There is not a singular site or app which provides for combined social networking, file sharing, with access to a database of research and articles exclusively for futurist community.

My idea is for The Future Frontier app. It would serve three purposes.

1. To Provide quick access to futurist articles and essays
2. To provide a social network for quick communication
3. To provide file sharing between members

There would be live chat rooms
Event calendar/planning
Library access
File Sharing

So say Sally loves to study about water…and not just any water but about the lakes and rivers near where she lives.

Then Jack loves to study about fish and knows about all the critters that live in the water.

Now say the two of them are interested in what might happen to the water and the fish and the critters and want to find solutions on how to best manage their favorite things.

They can go on the app and look up their topic and find all the articles and research being done about the state of their favorite things

What if Sally and Jack want to meet other people who want to help come up with solutions?

They can form a group on the app and invite all the other futurist to share information online in a group blog or chat room or at an in-person event.

The group or individuals could also write articles or essays to share with all the app members.

Jack and Sally can also set their settings so that they receive a notification every time a new article or essay is posted about the topic they are following.

With every member having a profile, Jack and Sally can check what the latest articles or comments people in their group post either on their profile page or the newsfeed.

The app would also offer location check-ins so futurist looking to socialize or meet-up could see where other members are hanging out.

Jack and Sally would also have access to various university and public libraries that would provide the latest articles and essays on futurist topics and research.

The whole purpose of this app is to better connect the people who are interested in molding our future by researching our present. The spread of ideas is powerful and that is what I hope this app will accomplish. Businesses interested in using a professional futurist can also connect.

The estimated time needed to create this product would be about 18 months with an estimated cost of about $50-thousand to $75-thousand dollars to create. The cost and time could both be affected by how difficult it would be to include libraries into the app. Any person who contributes money will get the finished app and its services for free.

There’s a growing community of futurist who do not have a common place to gather information about each other and about the topics they contemplate. There are also limited chances for in-person interaction besides periodic conventions or conferences.

My solution is an app which would not only provide futurist social networking, but would also have links to popular databases, blogs, and libraries. It would be a way futurist can connect or do research on the go through their smart phones. The app would act to encourage interaction between futurist not only on the web, but in person as well. The idea is to promote communication between futurist to help in their future studies research and creating scenarios. It would allow futurist mid-discussion to seek relevant information on the topic to enhance in the exchange of ideas with other futurist.

For example, two commiserating futurist wanted to incorporate others into their conversation. Using the app, they could contact members listed under the topic they were interested in discussing. The app would allow them to search topics then find those connected with those interest or expertise. They could then arrange to meet on-line or in-person through an instant messenger on the app. During their meeting, the app could provide a way to share relevant information on the topic or serve as a way to access research information quickly. They could also instant message to individual members, even during group meetings. Users could also upload files to share with other community members. The app is similar to the Team App which allows for a closed social network. It would let futurist set up groups so that communications between them are private.

The app would also be valuable to journalist who could connect with experts on the topic they are researching or find links to more information.

The estimated time needed to create this product would be about 18 months with an estimated cost of about $20-$50 thousand dollars to create. The funding could come from a grant from the World Future Society or other Futurist organization. It could also be funded through a loan or crowd sourcing. The services of a software developer would be needed to create the app. These could be paid for from the funding money.