There goes 2007 and here comes 2008. Another year just whizzed and as always we wonder where the time went. 2008, it has a sort of unreal sound to it doesn’t it? It is always like this whenever I enter into a New Year; the year just flows by like the bones on Ganges, or like a flying mammoth, or like a tortoise doing 60 in a 30 mph zone or simply like abracadabra. In the spirit of seasons passed and to come lets take a look back to say 100 years ago this day.
100 years ago in 1908 people lived in a much different world to say, but amazingly, the dreams and the people do not appear all that different on closer scrutiny. Maybe by looking at these “snapshots” in time we can get some perspective and hopefully catch a glimpse at what is in store for us next year.
1908 seems more than a world away from this, the 21st century, but if we look closely at the events of that time – I think we may see parallels for our time. The New York Times just ran a podcast that presented some interesting reflections from 1907. Perhaps the most relevant of these was a front page story for December 31st, 1907 in The Times announcing that at midnight a lighted ball would be lowered in Times Square to signal the New Year. How cool is that? Now let’s take a closer look at 1907 and what people were saying then.
A Look at 1908
- A Times headline foretold that man would fly in 1908 – Orville and Wilbur Wright did just that.
Futurists of the time predicted that people would be talking via mobile telephones; electricity would be generated by ocean tides and professor at the Rockefeller Institute envisioned organ transplants.- Grand Canyon National Monument is designated.
- The Sullivan Ordinance is passed making it illegal for women to smoke in public in New York.
- A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
- Friedrich Cook claims to have reached the North Pole
- Mother’s Day is celebrated for the first time.
- Masjid-al-Salaman s the first commercial Middle East oil discovery made in S.W. Persia
- Child Emperor Pu Yi ascends to the throne of China at the age of 2.
- Notorious outlaws Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are reportedly killed in Bolivia.
- H.G. Wells published a novel in which New York was the target of a devastating enemy air attack.
- Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash at Fort Myer, Virginia.
- Frenchman Henri Farman pilots the first passenger flight.
- Women compete in modern Olympic Games for the first time.
- Henry Ford produces his first Model T automobile.
- A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France.
- The Tunguska event, or the Russian explosion, occurs resulting in a 3-5 megaton air burst of a comet or meteorite over Russia.
Our Wishes for 2008
Rather than ordinary predictions for the coming year, we think it is more appropriate to project what “should” be in 2008. This is not an exhaustive list, so please feel free to add your own in the comments.
- The War in Iraq will end peacefully with all foreign troops being withdrawn and a stable government set in place by the end of the year.
- Medical research will find not only a vaccine for AIDS, but a cure as well.
- Africa will begin a union that will set the stage for collaborations ending hunger, sickness and genocide on that continent.
- The global community will meet, agree and take drastic measures to reverse the human contribution to the global warming effect.
- The Web will become an educational tool unlike anything the world has seen. The sum of all knowledge will be at the fingertips of everyone as the world becomes totally wired.
Conclusion
If we look at all that took place or was predicted in 1908, how fantastic was the suggestion that humans could take to the air? Visualizing fantastic things after the fact is easy, having a vision in advance takes some serious positive thought and most of all hope.
We truly believe that the world can be a better place, not in 10 years, but just next year or tomorrow even.Looking forward to Beijing 2008:
And finally here is a 2008 doodle from Google doodles:
In the end, I wish each and every one of you kind hearted souls who despite their long commitments to stumble to other cool sites paused momentarily on dreamzunlimited.co.uk - may all the hopes that you hope and inspirations that you inspired come true in New Year that follows. Happy 2008 from the 51st state.
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