This is a recent sample of the interesting ways 21stCenturyWaves.com is being portrayed on the web. Apologies if I couldn’t mention you this time.

Thanks to everyone who’s visited 21stCenturyWaves.com.

Aviation Week & Space Technology
Thanks to Guy Norris in “Dissolve NASA?” for linking to:
21stCenturyWaves.com

Aerospace America Discussion Forum
Thanks for featuring:
21stCenturyWaves.com

The Planetary Society Blog
Thanks to Emily Lakdawalla for featuring:
State of the Wave: Why No One’s Been to the Moon in 40 Years — How Soon We’ll Go Again

WeirdWarp.com
Thanks to Chris Dann for featuring:
Phobos: The Key to the Cosmos? Just Ask Russia and China!

IDigMyGarden.com
Thanks to “AcidRain23” for featuring (and showing the data):
200 Years of GDP Trends Support a Near-Term New Space Age

BautForum.com
Thanks to “Hernault” for featuring:
OSIRIS-Rex — A Possible Stepping-Stone to Mars?

ZIV GROUP Ltd.
Thanks to Tsvi Bisk for linking to:
21stCenturyWaves.com

GreenEnergyInvestors.com
Thanks to “DrBubb” for featuring this post (DrBubb’s link doesn’t work but he quoted this post.):
Why Wasn’t There a Great Depression and a World War Between 1985 and 2001?

Eons.com
Thanks for featuring:
OSIRIS-Rex — A Possible Stepping-Stone to Mars?

uFollow.com
Thanks for featuring:
The Greatest Era in the History of Mankind
…plus other goodies.

The secret of the future is, of course, education. And if you’re interested in the economy or technology, it’s science education.

Innovation in technology — a major driver of U.S. economic competitiveness –doesn’t grow on trees, it begins with world-class math and science instruction in K-12 classrooms.
Click

This week (9/23/10) the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering concluded again that

A primary driver of the future economy and concomitant creation of jobs will be innovation, largely derived from advances in science and engineering. While only four percent of the nation’s work force is composed of scientists and engineers, this group disproportionately creates jobs for the other 96 percent … So where does America stand relative to its position of five years ago … our nation’s outlook has worsened. While progress has been made in certain areas … the latitude to fix the problems being confronted has been severely diminished by the growth of the national debt over this period from $8 trillion to $13 trillion … Further, in spite of sometimes heroic efforts and occasional very bright spots, our overall public school system—or more accurately 14,000 systems—has shown little sign of improvement, particularly in mathematics and science.

Of course, growing public concerns about the quality and international competitiveness of math and science education in the U.S. are not new. From 21stCenturywaves.com of 6/20/09,

Growing public calls for improvement of U.S. education are reminiscent of those one long wave ago during the 1950s when the Cold War and Sputnik were the global focus. For example, in Math and Science Education Perspectives, I reminded readers that only 10 days after the surprise launch of Sputnik “the New York Times identified U.S. education as the problem, because Soviet science students were better motivated and given more prestige.” And 70% of Gallup poll respondents believed that U.S. high school students should become more educationally competitive with their Soviet counterparts!

In this context, Californians recently revealed their vision for the future of science education. In April, The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning in Santa Cruz conducted phone interviews with 1004 adults and followed them up with focus groups in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Seventy-four percent of those surveyed believe that science education in the schools is essential to keep America and California at the forefront of technology and innovation. But 56% believe California has fallen behind and is “near the bottom in education”.

Californians believe that science instruction should start early. Seven in 10 believe science teaching should start in elementary school; 6 in 10 think 3rd grade is about right. And two-thirds believe that in high school all students should study biology, chemistry, and physics.

Many Californians are unsure about the quality of teacher preparation in the area of science instruction. Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed either do not know or do not believe that the background and training of K-12 science teachers is adequate.

One Sacramento focus group member summed it up this way:

Placing more emphasis on science in K-12 opens the doors to understanding the physical universe, logic, critical thinking, and rational behavior, as children mature and grow into adulthood and become citizens within our society.

Despite continuing bad news about the economy — e.g. the U.S. poverty rate increased over 1% from the previous year to 14.3% in 2009, the highest since 1994 (near the long wave trough) — there are many reasons to expect a major economic boom by 2015; see “State of the Wave: Today’s Gloom & Doom, and the 2015 Boom.”

Many energy-intensive desalination plants like this one, producing 800 million gallons of pure water per day — currently the world’s largest on Saudi Arabia’s Persian Gulf Coast — could someday use microwave beams supplied by space based solar power satellites to solve the world’s future water challenges.
Click .

Veteran expert on corporate real estate and economic development, McKinley Conway, sees the approach of the greatest boom ever,

A period of unprecedented global development lies just ahead. It will energize world economies and provide new hopes and opportunities for people of many nations. The great new era will start in the 2010-2020 decade and build to a peak by 2050.

Conway’s unique asset is his company’s database of new plant reports that has been maintained since 1954 and serves “as a vital link around the world between Corporate Facility Planners and Area Developers and Service Providers.” By providing a realistic assessment of the nation’s fastest growing firms, Conway found a multi-decade picture of consistent growth; “growth that continued despite wars, natural disasters, recessions, and depressions … a measure of the true strength of our economic system and its future.” This is due to the geographic and functional diversity of thousands of new plants started every year.

For example, as fresh water sources become inadequate, the future world will have to depend on massive seawater desalination plants. Currently, over 13,000 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day around the world. “Selling water will become the world’s biggest business,” according to Conway.

As the world moves away from fossil fuels, alternate energy sources will be developed including nuclear, solar, and “new systems yet to be developed.” It’s clear that increasing industrial activities and quality-of-life issues around the globe will benefit from clean, space based solar power and other growth technologies. And due to global television and the internet, even “those who live in the Third World are well aware of what they are missing.” This includes the “underlying desire of all people to be self-governing.”

My Commentary, “Phobos, Key to the Cosmos? Just Ask Russia, China” appears in Space News this week (9/6/10). (See also The Articles.)

This piece follows-up on my decade space forecast of 6 months ago. I suggested that Russia and China may decide to expand their Phobos-Grunt experience (assuming it’s successful) into a joint manned Mars exploration initiative after 2015 focused initially on Phobos.

A few of my friends in the space business have interpreted this as a suggestion that we should bypass the Moon and head to Mars.

Two things: 1) I have always been very excited about the potential for expanding human civilization to Mars, but 2) my Space News piece does not advocate skipping the Moon.

The Moon is so close and has so much scientific, resource, and commercial potential that humans will want to develop it, near-term. But the smart road to Mars colonization does go through Phobos. And as the new International Space Age gains momentum after 2015, we may ebulliently decide to do both.

Thanks to Warren Ferster, Editor in Chief of Space News, for his interest in the Commentary, and also to Todd Windsor, Copy Chief of SN, for the cool look he gave it.

Here at 21stCenturywaves.com we’re always on the lookout for signs of wide-spread ebullience, because over the last 200 years it’s fundamentally driven some of the most thrilling human explorations (e.g., Lewis & Clark) and most amazing technology projects (e.g., the Apollo Saturn V launch vehicle) of all time.

Actor Jonathan Goldsmith is the “most interesting” — and the most ebullient — man in the world.
Click .

Here at 21stCenturyWaves.com, “ebullience” is a technical term.

It’s defined as a very positive, somewhat irrational — almost giddy — emotional state, that’s usually due to widespread affluence during a 1960s-style major economic boom. In response to affluence-induced ebullience, many people ascend the Maslow hierarchy where their expanded world views make Great Explorations and MEPs seem not just intriguing, but almost irresistible — hence the name “Maslow Window.”

In the 1960s Apollo program and Peace Corps of John F. Kennedy it was the ebullient feeling that we could do almost anything; in the early 20th century it was Theodore Roosevelt’s Panama fever and (north & south) pole mania; in the mid-19th century is was manifest destiny of James Polk and the central Africa adventures of Dr. Livingstone, I presume; and about 200 years ago it began auspiciously with Jefferson, Napoleon, and Lewis & Clark.

Maslow Window-style ebullience is usually affluence-induced, but even in the wake of the financial Panic of 2008 and during our stalled recovery, early ebullience is on the rise. We call this “early ebullience” because it signals our rapid approach to the next extraordinary Maslow Window expected by 2015.

This all came to mind this morning while we were celebrating the holiday watching opening-day college football on TV. Michigan State’s in-progress win over Western Michigan was interrupted by my favorite commercials on television: Dos Equis’ “the Most Interesting Man in the World” ad campaign.

To my friends (male and female) and me they are immensely amusing. So much so, that in fact, before today, I’d never thought about why — I was too busy enjoying them! But their sociological importance as an indicator of early ebullience is suggested because they’ve been around since 2007 and are very popular. Many folks strongly identify with their wildly ebullient themes!

They feature actor Jonathan Goldsmith as “The Most Interesting Man” who projects an intense aura of ebullience, but of an unusual kind. It’s not his personality that’s ebullient, it is his attitude!

Here are some new and fav lines about The Most Interesting Man:

“He is the life of parties he has never attended”

“His personality is so magnetic, he is unable to carry credit cards.”

“Sharks Have a week dedicated to him.”

My personal favorites include:

“He once had an akward moment, just to see how it feels.”

“Alien abductors have asked him, to probe them.”

“He lives vicariously through himself.”

Eat Me Daily gets it:

A cross between Ernest Hemingway, Bill Murray, Burt Reynolds, Royal Tenenbaum, and Don Draper, the Most Interesting Man in the World harkens back to a mid-century concept of what a man’s man should be. In love with women and booze, but classier than most, he travels the world seeking experiences. (“His beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body.”)

“Mid-Century” refers to just before the 1960s Apollo Maslow Window, about one long wave ago. We should expect these traits and images to be re-emerging about now because commercial television is a major influence on pop culture. And …

Pop culture elements resonate with the 56 year cycle because of the “omnipresent financial, technological, and cultural influences that long-term fluctuations in the economy have on society during similar portions of the wave; e.g., both the original and sequel of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” appeared 7 – 8 years before their Maslow Window opened …

Of course, The Most Interesting Man doesn’t prove we’re on trajectory for a 2015 Boom, but — along with a variety of other impressive evidence — it’s certainly supports it. And keep in mind that this is a postview of 1960s-style ebullience — something you can’t remember if you’re under 45 — and a preview of the Camelot-like ebullience likely to engulf you after 2015.

OK, I’ve teased you long enough. Here’s a montage video of The Greatest Man commercials. (I figured you’d stop reading if I included it earlier in the post.) Enjoy and have an Ebullient Labor Day Weekend!

CLICK: watch?v=QI58wj4b4g0

This is an updated end-of-August list of our readers’ favorite posts, based on the number of times each post was visited during the times indicated below. The lists below include both Daily Wavelet posts and State of the Wave posts.

Timeframes of the readers’ lists below are: I) Favorites during August, and II) Favorites during the last 7 days.

To see readers’ favorite posts for each previous month, click HERE.

The lists below give only the top 5 favorites in each category in order of reader preference.
All posts below are clickable and their publishing dates are given.

Updated 9/1/2010

I. AUGUST — Readers’ Favorites

1) A Major Economic Boom by 2015? … The Lessons of Cleveland, Roosevelt, and Obama — 7/31/10
2) China Surges to #2 and Contemplates More Freedom: The Implications for Space — 8/21/10
3) DecaState of the Wave — 10 Space Trends for the Decade 2010 – 2020 — 3/06/10
4) Phobos: The Key to the Cosmos? Just Ask Russia and China! — 3/27/10
5) The Way Space Really Works — 7/31/10

II. THE LAST 7 DAYS — Readers’ Favorites

1) Will the 2011 Economic Collapse Threaten the 2015 Maslow Window? — 6/08/10
2) “I feel the need … the need for speed,” insist Manned Mars Mission Planners — 10/05/09
3) Phobos: The Key to the Cosmos? Just Ask Russia and China! — 3/27/10
4) State of the Wave: Today’s Gloom & Doom, and the 2015 Boom — 8/29/10
5) OSIRIS-Rex — A Possible Stepping-Stone to Mars? — 8/16/10