Category Archives: News

Advancing America’s Public Transportation System: High-Speed Rail in the USA

When it was first announced that the US was going to work on , I was very excited! Growing up in the , I am very familiar with the value of public transportation. I often rode a bus to and from school. As I matured and wanted to explore downtown with my friends, we’d ride the to get there from the suburban area we lived. Beyond that, when I needed to make trips between Detroit and Toronto, I would ride the between Toronto and Windsor instead of taking the 45 minute flight. Public transportation is a great way, in my opinion, to feel better about reducing one’s .

Don’t get me wrong, I love flying just as much as the next person and I’d much prefer it for travel to/from Europe to/from North America — who’d want to take a passenger ferry across the Atlantic given how much longer it would be? When I look at what the current high-speed rail map in the US looks like and then I look at the current high-speed rail map of Europe… it’s flabbergasting!   I’ve hyperlinked the two maps to bigger versions of themselves, so you can really get an idea for how much more advanced Europe is than the US when it comes to their rail system. It’s almost a little embarrassing just how much farther ahead Europe is in this regard.

Some people try to argue that Europe is much smaller, so a rail system makes more sense there. Well, as we can see from the image to the right (), Europe is not actually that much smaller than the USA. In fact, they’re pretty comparable in size. One of the reasons that Europe can sometimes be perceived as smaller than the USA is a function of . Regardless, from my perspective, there really aren’t any good reasons as to why the US hasn’t adopted a high-speed rail system. Even adds his two cents to the debate. In all my time watching Bill Nye as a kid (and in the classroom), I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak so blatantly negative about anything! He must really feel passionate about this particular circumstance.

Not everything surrounding the high-speed rail system in the US has to be about negativity. In taking a closer look at what the network of rail systems will look like when the projected plan is completed (in 2030), is kind of exciting. Passengers will be able to go from Vancouver, BC, to Miami, FL — all by high-speed rail! They could go from San Diego, CA, to Montreal, QC, again — all by high-speed rail! For me, someone who cherishes the value of public transportation, this is really exciting.

As the plans and the work for this public transportation system continue, I wonder what Europe (and Asia) will come up with next in the way of public transportation. Many areas on these continents already have high-speed rail systems, so, it is logical to think that they will be busy thinking up the next great transportation revolution. Regardless, I’m very excited to see the progress being made in the world with regard to public transportation.

Should We Have Seen This Coming?

While history is made everyday, in the , there was at least a bit of foreshadowing. During these elections, the was the highest it has been since 1938 – when FDR was President. Much of the ink printed around the midterm elections was focused on the prospects of . While that is also an important issue, the pressing matter of today seems to be what is happening in Wisconsin and whether or not it will happen in other states like Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, and Michigan.

I remember when the numbers were rolling in, and the state legislatures began to flip (from Democrat to Republican) such that , that it may prove to be ominous. While I may have thought it to be a foreshadowing of things to come, never could I have predicted (nor do I think others could have) the . Not to mention the kind of national spotlight that has been thrust upon the issue(s) at hand.

I’m wondering, though, if the political arena should have seen this coming when all the state legislatures flipped in November (of 2010)? Like I said, in my non-exhaustive search, I didn’t find anyone predicting it and I suppose you really can’t blame anyone for not predicting it. Who could have, given the data at hand? Nonetheless, it’s quite breathtaking to flip on the TV and see thousands of people gathering together for what they believe.

During my time as an undergraduate, I had a with what it takes to hold and organize a rally at a state legislature. From this experience, I can say that what is happening in Wisconsin is truly remarkable. I was only involved in a rally of about 1000 people for a few hours — these people have sustained protests of more than 50,000 people for nearly two weeks.

While someone, somewhere, may claim to have been able to predict what the Wisconsin State Legislature is doing, I would be highly suspicious of someone claiming to have been able to predict the public opposition in the way of . Citizens have voiced their opinions on issues before, but never in my lifetime have I seen it happen like this. The most interesting thing to me is the context for which this is happening.

I’ve talked about some of the recent world events and how that ,  but I think the protests in Wisconsin may not be happening the way they are if there weren’t already the massive protests in Tunisia and Egypt. The fair majority of Americans stay current in the way of the news of the day and because of technology, the news of the day is something that can become the news of this minute or the news of this second. I think with Americans being exposed to the possibility of protests and more importantly, protests working, it might have given hope or purpose to those in Wisconsin who saw fit to stand for what they believe in.

Are We Missing Something?

In following up on what , had a small bit on her tonight talking about all of the different parts of the Middle East that are experiencing seemingly revolutionary events. I think it’s quite amazing just how many different countries are going through similar unrest. I can’t imagine that anything like this has ever happened in history before.

A couple of weeks back I had the chance to catch a few scenes of . I had already seen the movie before, so it was less about ‘watching a movie’ and more about remembering what the movie was about. As I was watching it and experiencing having “ultimate” powers with the main character, I was struck by how narrow-minded the character was. The character (Bruce) was so focused on improving his immediate life and not exponentially or anything, just the ‘next’ promotion.

He thought that all he needed in life was this promotion and he worked his butt off (even with super powers) to get it. Eventually, the main character realizes that there’s more to life than getting that job that he thought he wanted. However, this is not quite what I’m interested in talking about today.

The character was so focused on what was in front of him that he was missing what was around him. His girlfriend at the time, played by Jennifer Aniston, had been anticipating a marriage proposal. When she thought she was about to receive the proposal, the male protagonist had called her to dinner to tell her that he had finally got the promotion that he was after. Heartbroken, she leaves him, but eventually, things all work out happily in the end.

In the world right now, there is so much happening. There are numerous reforms happening in the Middle East, there are happening all around the globe, there is political unrest in Wisconsin as the in the state that created them, but most of all, the needle of time continues to move from left to right. I wonder, with everything that’s happening in the world in here and now, what are we missing in the grander picture of Earth. What is it that we’re not seeing because we’re so caught up in what’s happening right now?

Same News, Different Perspective

The 2011 trade deadline for the National Hockey League () is nearing and with that, the propensity to move players from team-to-team has increased. Late last week, there was a particular trade that sent one player, , from the to the in exchange for a couple of . While this seems a bit like inconsequential news in the scheme of things, I found it absolutely perfect to illustrate a point about how the same facts can be talked about in different ways in the media.

We have a fact: Mike Fisher was traded to the Nashville Predators. It would seem that there really isn’t anything more to this story than one team is trading a player and one team is acquiring a player, right? Well, that’s what most people would think, at least. But, it just so happens that Mike Fisher is married to a very popular female in the country music business and… it just so happens that Nashville is the “seat of power” for country music.

Quickly, the news that became . To the sports world, it mattered that it was , and to the entertainment industry, it mattered that . It’s of no surprise that news can be important to different people for different reasons and as such, the news will be reported in different ways to different people.

I find this fascinating because it’s the same piece of news being reported on differently. The NHL is of seemingly little importance to the political arena, national security, or education reformation, but these are all different areas of news that can be reported on in just the same way. Meaning, there are going to be different angles on the same piece of political news (the angles reported to the Democrats and the angles reported to the Republicans are the angles we hear the majority of the time).

In my research of collecting articles/links for this post, I noticed that one of the articles I found actually spoke to both of the angles in the same article. That is, , addressed that Mike Fisher was traded to the Predators and that Carrie Underwood’s husband was traded to Nashville. While the trade’s importance may not be of global importance, I was still happy to read that the author was reporting on more than just the sports-angle or the entertainment-angle. I wish that all news was reported in this fashion, with at least an acknowledgement to the implications of the facts from more than one perspective.

Keith Olbermann joins ‘Independent’ News at Current TV

Earlier today, made his choice to join . Just about every news agency in the world has an opinion on this story and without a doubt, they are going to spin it every which way. The ‘facts’ of this story are that Olbermann has decided to join Current TV. He has also been selected as the Chief News Officer. I’m not quite sure what a Chief News Officer is and a quick Google search only turns up results of today’s news. Nonetheless, these are the facts of the news, but I think it’s interesting to see all the different ways that the story is spun, depending on the bend of the news agency. If you have a minute, check out the NYT, or the WSJ, or HuffPo, or FOX, or Yahoo, and see just how many different stories are written about the same story.

Olbermann said his choice of Current TV was because of its “.” While that may be the case, it’s hard to think of any news agency as a model for truth seeking. It’s not that I have a particular vendetta against news corporations, but given the ‘demand’ for 24/7 news, it’s easy to see how the severity of a story can be escalated, eschewed, and exaggerated. His choice of Current TV, no doubt, will give the CurrentTV website a bump in traffic that they weren’t expecting. As well, I would expect to see a bump in the ratings for CurrentTV (tonight?), but most definitely when Olbermann hits the air in .

While its interesting that (and still does) in starting this media company, I think it’s interesting to note that Comcast has a . I’m sure you’re all well aware of the recent that took place in January. While Comcast’s stake is only 10 percent, I wonder if that stake will increase at all in the next year. Keith Olbermann will undoubtedly bring ratings to CurrentTV and consequently, more profit. Maybe Al Gore will want to sell his stake when CurrentTV is on an upswing and who better to swoop in and take Gore’s shares off his hands. . .

Another interesting perspective on this situation is the . It was not publicly known as to exact details of the deal that was made, but I wonder if it might have been as . When I say limiting, I mean to say that the talent may have been very limited in their choice for their next venture. Maybe it was that Olbermann agreed that he wouldn’t go to another ‘major’ news corporation like CNN or CBS. I don’t know that Olbermann had any desire to join one of these organizations and given his statements about media conglomerations, it would seem not. However, many of the people in our society today are motivated by money. If Olbermann really had a choice between money and independent news, then I applaud him for siding with his conscience.

Egypt – Taking a Closer Look

I wrote about how some of the things happening in Egypt are not necessarily new occurrences. These things that we’re seeing happen have happened before (). I argued that what is happening in Egypt is something that has been playing out in history in different ways for quite some time. Today, I’d like to take a closer look at some of the implications of what is going on in Egypt and how we might be able to mitigate some of the possible conflict.

I work with organizations to more efficiently allocate their resources and optimize their production. Right now, as I watch what seems to be the deterioration of equilibrium, I am struck by how this could have been avoided. When the protestors first began their charge, things seemed to be very peaceful — on both sides. As time went on, and it was clear where things were going to have to go in order for the demonstrations to end, things slowly started to take a turn for the worse.

First, we heard about or reporters being told that in the country. Then, we started to hear about the escalated violence in the streets. Pretty soon, now we’re hearing reports of deaths as a result of this situation in Egypt. Like I said yesterday, I won’t begin to say that I fully understand everything that’s going on and maybe what’s happening couldn’t be avoided, but I can’t help but wonder if this is not the case… especially with the kind of work that I am capable of providing.

It seems now that the government is in the midst of a transitional period from the old regime to the new powers that be. While this may seem like a ‘victory’ for the protestors, I wonder if this may be causing more harm than good. Particularly, I’m interested in how effective a new government can be walking into this kind of a crisis situation. Not only that, but the energetics of the situation. That is, I wonder if the people who are leaving their posts early shouldn’t be leaving their posts early because of the energetic relationships that they were maintaining, consciously or subconsciously, which was serving to keep the situation stable.

Every living thing in the world is dynamic — organizations included. The structure of an organization is forever changing with the people who move through the various positions. If one of those people happened to be the symbolic holder of the masculine energy (think: The Godfather) or feminine energy (think: Grandma), and the person who entered that position (or someone else in the organization) was not seen as fit to carry that energy, the organization can tumble into an awful downward spiral.

I wonder if part of what is happening in Egypt is because the energetic relationships within the Egyptian government were not healthy. This is not something that we’ll ever actually be able to cognitively evaluate (from the outside), but given how things have slowly fallen apart, I can’t help but wonder if having someone like me working with the government could have prevented the inevitable fallout.

News Today — Gone Tomorrow

With the , it has made me stop and think about what’s going on in the world today. I’m not well steeped in history nor am I particularly interested in knowing who did what to whom and when. However, I do find it interesting to reflect back on some of the more important events in history. The is a rather important part of US history and human history. I would also say that the was pretty important, too.

My interest lies in how these events are viewed well after the fact. People still learn about the civil rights movement in school and they also still learn about the JFK assassination, I’m sure. I don’t know, however, if they learn about some of the other perspectives of these major events. Not that I’m advocating one side over the other, but I think it’d be interesting to be teaching children not just about the civil rights movement, but about those who opposed it and more importantly, why they opposed it. I think it is important to learn about the differences of opinion.

How come? Simply because it seems to me that many of the issues that are present in the world today are not brand new issues. I won’t begin to pretend that I completely understand what is going on in Egypt and anyone who tells you they do is probably lying, but it seems that there’s this age-old archetype playing out where one side is not playing fairly with the other side where the sides are reflected in pro-Mubarak and pro-reformers.

It doesn’t seem like we’ve come to understand that living on this planet needn’t be a competition for the natural resources. My point is that this is not a new issue. This is something that our ancestors have been playing out for centuries through wars, invasions, and raids. I am not condemning war nor am I condoning it — merely taking a closer look at some of the reasons it seems to happen.

With the speed of our evolving world increasing at an alarming rate, it’s not clear to me just how this situation in Egypt will play out and more importantly — how it will affect other countries. Some would say that what is happening in Egypt is a result of . I’m more inclined to see happenings in the world as correlational rather than cause-and-effect. Who knows: maybe the movement in Tunisia spawned the movement in Egypt. I wonder, though, what will be spawned as a result of the movement in Egypt. Will it be more sparring and jockeying for position? Will a calmness overlay? Something tells me that situations like these usually get worse before they get better.

Where on the Internet is Jeremiah Stanghini?

Jeremiah Stanghini Dog Victoria British Columbia Happy [Author’s Note: This post was updated on April 6th, 2011, to add/remove sites that I frequent on the Internet.]

[Author’s Note #2: This post was updated again on June 14th, 2011, to reflect that I am now on Twitter.]

I am by no means , but I thought it’d be helpful to do a post about the various places where I can be found on the Internet.

– Obviously, first and foremost, you can find me here at my home site, Genuine Thriving. There is an for me and there is also an where you will find a list of my posts.

Twitter – Jeremiah Stanghini – I am now on Twitter (as I announced in this post). I’ll do my best to tweet things that I think are worth repeating to keep the information train flowing.

– I have a profile on LinkedIn that provides my professional resume.

– I have a channel on YouTube where I upload videos of presentations. You’ll also find videos that I “like” on YouTube along with videos that I have commented on.

– I have a ‘lensmsater’ page on Squidoo listing the various lenses (mini-webpages) I have created. All of the proceeds from my mini-pages (lenses) are donated to (loans that change lives).

– I have a profile on the International BodyTalk Association’s website profiling the various courses I have taken and requisite .

I have profiles with two of the more popular commenting services for blogs, and . On these profiles, you’ll be able to see the various comments I have made on blogs all across the Internet. There are other blogs I visit that do not use these commenting services like , the TED Blog, or .

Being that I grew up in the , I developed a soft spot for the and the . As a result, you may find me commenting at (For Toronto Blue Jays’ Fans) or (For Toronto Maple Leafs’ Fans). These sites are also linked up to a profile of a network of blogs at , so you’ll find my profile page at .

From time-to-time, you may also find me on community boards like , for example.

Overall, the best place to find me is right here — on my blog.

Looking forward to crossing paths with you!