Archive for category: Industry Insights

Guttenberg’s printing press inaugurated an era of dynamic changes in communications.  Up until this game altering brainchild, providing information via the written word was limited by labor, transportation and reading ability. Monks copied documents by hand, transmission was personal delivery, the citizenry largely without reading skills. Guttenberg’s creative passion erased these constraints.

Disrupting the status quo was met with vengeance by those with a great deal  to lose. In particular politicians took an active stance in suppressing the sudden availability of information that diminished their hold on the voters. Religious institutions were equal in their opposition to this technological interloper. Anti-printing press zealots were encouraged, resulting in a considerable amount of violence.

Time, non secular education institutes and readily available reading material greatly increased literacy rates…… no longer was reading ability limited to the few people of privilege. Within a relatively short period of time the written word was being widely consumed. An unintended consequence; censorship, and an enduring controversy.

A side bar—Guttenberg was cheated out of his patent ownership such that he did not benefit financially and suffered mightily emotionally.

Electrical impulses to transmit information through wires became the next great accomplishment. Samuel Morse receives much credit, in particular accolades for his contribution of the Morse code.  Volumes of information now moved through wires at the rate of an electric impulse.  Thousands of kilometers of surface and underwater cable united the world as never before. As telegraph poles marched across the North American landscapes, Indigenous peoples climbed to the top, anticipating over hearing the messages.  Pace of implementation was astounding. An example; a cable network connecting Indonesia to Europe was completed just in time to transmit news of the devastating Krakatoa volcano. Such real time information available to an uninformed population, caused great consternation, imagining a worldwide volcanic epidemic.

The telephone soon followed when Alexander Graham Bell upstaged the dot dash world with voice transmission. Once again adaption took on a world of its own. Suddenly everyone was talking to everyone else throughout the world.

What next?  Marconi’s ingenuity produced equipment to send sound waves, transmitted without wires. All the ships at sea could now be joined with the simple medium of dots and dashes.   Debate continues to this day as to the principal inventor. Suffice to say that both Marconi and Tesla were involved. Marconi remained a major player.

The wireless coded messages soon gave way to voice.  Many inventors contributed to what became the radio.  The results are evident today as wireless analog and digital communication maintains a substantial place in our daily listening and transmitting worlds. Outwardly little has changed; inside it is a whole new ball game. How many tubes have you replaced lately?

Soon real time video images swooped across the globe. Thomson’s cathode ray tube was the precursor for television; TV dinners became ubiquitous.

Two developments combined to initiate changes that dwarfed all previous communications systems.  One was the digital revolution as Brattain, Shockey and Bardeen came up with the transistor.  Secondly fiber optics replaced copper wire, multiplying many times transmission capacity. In part thank Karny and Hopkins for this. Vast amounts of   information now moves along glass cables at the speed of light. All of the devises, now so common, stem from converting an analog signal to digital and the capacity to move to move this stuff everywhere all the time. Think computers, smart phones, and so on and so on.

Over the centuries the absorption rate of new connecting technologies has been truly amazing. Seemingly we have no limit to exchanging information with everyone all the time. Why else would texters risk life and limb in cross walks and distracted driving laws are in place.

Throughout these few centuries one can imagine parental  discussions lamenting that all the younger generations seem to do is read,  expanding knowledge via crystal sets, enjoying  clandestine boy-girl phone calls, watch the Nature Channel and expanding relations with family and friends by texting.

Accolades for Guttenberg, Morse, Bell, Marconi, Thomson, Brattain, Shockey Bardeen and Karny, Jobe ; all contributed immensely to how peoples across the world can be in touch all the time.

Unintended consequences…. some information is offensive, some is deleterious, some is disruptive and some used for really rotten purposes.  Such outcomes are unsavory and harmful. Restricting messaging remains an issue, repeating earlier movements as far back as the Guttenberg era. Lest we forget, demigods of all stripes want and need to manage information for purposes of control and power.

Counsel from our inventors….. freedom to access information is a single force in growing democratic and civil societies.

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CASP (Canadian Association of Syrup Producers) is meeting this week to map out an international syrup campaign. Members include maple, corn and molasses producers. Their motivation for new directions comes from the need to gain greater access to international markets, formulating a leading-edge environmental strategy, shipping infrastructure, financing, joint ventures, long-term contracts, branding, food safety and intensifying an advocacy program.

CASP’s strategic role is enhancing the position of syrups as vital food items. The organization maintains that syrups general and maple syrup in particular are very important to Canada’s international stature and economy.  These tasty products are iconic and represent Canada well on the global stage. Further, the organization states that the syrups are nutritious and are produced in an environmentally-friendly manner by organizations that are socially responsible and inclusive in their employment practices. The industry embraces social enterprises as important components of their mandate.

Relations with Indigenous Communities have been tumultuous. Specifically, land usage was a source of contention, considering that much of the area occupied by the maple trees was for centuries the purview of the Indigenous Nations. A landmark agreement was reached seventy-five years ago which saw revenue-sharing solve the dispute.

New environmental regulations are forthcoming from the Federal Department of Sucrose and Carbohydrates. These will be comprehensive, and will influence all facets of the syrup industry.

CASP is evaluating the production process. First and foremost is avoiding any innuendo that the products are “dirty”. This often surfaces because of perceived harmful environmental impacts. In this case, all syrups are generated from renewable sources. Carbon dioxide is absorbed as trees, corn, sugar beets and sugar cane grow. However, when sugaring off, cane and corn stalk burning do produce toxic products of combustion, as well as carbon dioxide. Conservation measures include heat recovery and reuse. CAST’s research indicates that combined, the process is carbon neutral.

Transportation measures are under the microscope. There have been mishaps. Several years ago a tanker truck carrying molasses from a sugar refinery was in a collision spilling hot, sticky liquid over a wide stretch of highway. Powdered ginger was used to absorb the molasses, providing essential ingredients to make ginger bread. A pipeline moving maple syrup from a processing plant to a packaging plant ruptured, contaminating a field of wheat. A quick-thinking engineer promptly marshalled all the pancake producers in the area resulting in satisfactory remedial action. Transport by rail cars is being evaluated to determine the consequences of a runaway rail car.

Packaging specialists consider containers at production locations as the optimum solution. Research is ongoing.  The end game is a biodegradable material that will not vaporize in the pantry with nasty consequences.

A relatively new consumption barrier is surfacing. An obesity epidemic is threatening health. CASP is engaged in a branding program that will include sugar from syrups as good for you.

In conjunction with the Canadian Association of Liquefied Natural Gas Producers, CASP and CALNGP are presenting a united front in conversations with governments, environmental groups, Indigenous Peoples, consumers and regulatory bodies in efforts to find solutions to their common problems.

Syrup producers are searching the world for joint-venture partners who can commit to long-term supply contracts and participate in the project financing. Thus far, increasing international demand for Canada’s syrups has proven to be elusive. This will remain until Canada can assure importers of the capacity to be a reliable long-term supplier.

Work continues on all fronts.

Note to reader: The Faculty of Spoofology at the University of Thrush Williams has just awarded the author the prestigious Spoofer of the Year Award.