Some lifeguards’ salaries, benefits and overtime pay topped $200,000.
When Aurora Toussaint takes her disabled son to the sun-kissed beaches of Newport Beach, California she knows that the lifeguards who watch from their towers will be there in seconds should anything go wrong.
Continue reading… “Anger Swells Over Lifeguards’ High Pay in California Beach City”
32.4% of American adults participated in recreational boating in 2010
They didn’t have enough cash for a cruise to the Caribbean. They didn’t have the available credit on their credit card to charge a flight to Disney World.
But 75 millions of Americans during tough economic times the perfect little getaway in 2010: a weekend of boating.
Continue reading… “Record Number of Americans Participated in Recreational Boating in 2010”
Futurist Thomas Frey: In March of 2007 I posted my original paper on the Future of Education where I talked about a system based on an iTunes-like approach where experts around the world could use a “rapid courseware-builder” to produce bite-sized courses, send them to a global distribution center, and students from around world could plug-in and learn whatever class matched their interests.
Continue reading… “Education as an App”
Kindle e-books outselling printed books.
Amazon.com announced this week that it’s now selling more electronic books through its Kindle e-readers than it is selling printed books.
Continue reading… “Amazon Selling More Electronic Books Than Printed Books”
As people live longer, some aspects of life are beginning to slow down
Futurist Thomas Frey: Tick, tick, tick. For virtually all working people, there is a clock ticking in the background. Tick, tick, tick.
Much like the rhythm of a beating heart, the sound of time creates a rhythm for our lives, a world unfolding in iambic pentameter, pulsing to the tempo of life.
Continue reading… “The Urgency Paradox”
One in 14 downloads is malicious says Microsoft.
You might want to think twice the next time a website says to download new software to view a movie or fix a problem. There’s a really good chance that the program you download is malicious.
Continue reading… “1 in 14 Downloads by Windows Users is Malicious”
The rich are back to pre-recession-style splurging.
A wider wedge is being driven between the wealthy and everybody else due to high gas prices. The rich are back to pre-recession-style splurging: Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom customers are treating themselves to luxury items like $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes, and they’re paying full price.
Continue reading… “Gas Prices Widening Gap Between Wealthy and Everyone Else”
England and Wales experienced a 2.45 million increase in population between 2001 and 2009.
Britain’s 2.5 million increase in population over the last ten years has been driven entirely by non-‘white British’ people migrating to the country and higher birth rates among ethnic minority groups, official figures have indicated. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics have shown that between 2001 and 2009 the population of England and Wales increased by 2.45 million to 54.8 million.
The world’s largest retailer reported the eighth consecutive quarterly decline at its US stores.
Wal-Mart admits it has been struggling to persuade shoppers to buy much beyond the necessities, as rising food and gas bills hit the spending power of US consumers.
Thirty percent of students working in the sex industry were in debt.
One third of university students in the German capital of Berlin would consider sex work as a means to finance their education, a study from the Berlin Studies Center said on Wednesday.
Continue reading… “1 in 3 University Students in Berlin Consider Sex Work”
Online retail spending reached $38 billion this quarter, up 12 percent from a $33.8 billion a year ago according to Comscore. This growth is due to an increase in the number of buyers (7%), transactions per buy (9%) and tempered by a decline in spending per transaction (4%).
According to a ComScore report released today, nearly half of those orders included free shipping, at 47% versus 53% for Q’1 ’11, 49% versus 51% in Q’4 10 (the holiday season) and 41% versus 59% in Q3 ’10.
Continue reading… “Almost Half Of All Online Orders Now Include Free Shipping”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ6UHFIbFyc[/youtube]
Futurist Thomas Frey at the TEDx University of Chicago event
Futurist Thomas Frey: We are a very backward looking society.
We’re very backward looking in that we’ve all personally experienced the past. As we look around, we see evidence of the past all around us. The past is very knowable, yet we will spend the rest of our lives in the future.
My job as a futurist is to help turn people around and give them some idea of what the future holds.
Continue reading… “TEDxUChicago 2011 – Thomas Frey – Communicating with the Future”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.