Sunday, March 28, 2010

March Badness or Final Zero

So much for my bracket. Go Butler! So when does football start?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Health care fun

During the next week I am going to be learning everything I can about the health care reform that was just passed in the House. I've read several articles to this point, and this one from the WSJ, and the Q&A from The New York Times have been the most informative.

I encourage anyone who has questions or concerns about the legislation to contact me by e-mail at bbrownspfd@yahoo.com. I will try to answer as many questions as I can.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Trusting strangers


Today I went back to work after a week of vacationing in Florida. While visiting Mickey and the gang, it occurred to me that I had to place a whole lot of faith in people I have never met. Like those who design air planes and roller coasters, most specifically. But also taxi and bus drivers, food preparers, and housekeepers to name a few.

I wondered how many others visit Disney World? It seems the numbers vary widely depending on the source -- I found everything from 20 million to 41 million annual visitors. According to the Orlando Tourist Information Bureau, 50 million people visit the area every year.

That's a lot of mouse ears.

As the human population approaches 7 billion and with the U.S. now over 300 million, I can't help but marvel at the size of our modern world. The numbers are so large and yet... Something about the cheesy sing-songy kiddies' ride sparked my imagination. It's a world of laughter...

At one point, a member of our group counted hearing 8 languages at one of the WDW theme parks.

As we move into the future, there will be more and more people. That also likely means it will be a less personal world. Disney World, much as it tries, wasn't built for you and me. It was built for us. The rides are for us. The buses were for groups.

I buy my food at Wal-Mart. I get my cell phone service from AT&T.

I had a great time last week and none of it would have been possible without the promise of big numbers. There's something unsettling about that.