Listen to the mobile network operators promoting the arrival of 5G today, and one thing is clear: whatever your problem may be, it is the solution.

Massive bandwidth. Super speed (also known as low latency). Did I mention massive bandwidth and super speed? You will be able to download and watch three movies at once. Your grades will improve, you will get the promotion you want, lose weight and become an Instagram star.

If only it were so.

When it comes to 5G hype, we all need a filter. An organization called the World Teleport Association (WTA) recently published a report that offers one. WTA is an industry trade group for commercial providers of satellite communications, and the report aims to advise these companies on realistic opportunities in the new technology. But many of its conclusions are equally useful to community leaders seeking better broadband solutions for their people and employers. Here is my summary.

No need to worry about the constant threat from extreme weather and natural disasters which caused huge damages. Quadlink has developed an IoT water quality control monitoring system and helped increased the fish farming production by 20% and reduced power consumption by 30% averagely in 8 cities in Taiwan. Quadlink also serves overseas markets in Indonesia, Brunei and Philippines.

At the time of writing, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was being mourned by the Royal Family and remembered globally as he was being interred in the Royal Vault in St. George's Chapel inside the walls of Windsor Castle. The wonderful pageantry of the day gave me the opportunity to reflect on my time with him during several of his visits to Canada.

A real 5G smart factory case study from Inventec, a leading ODM of laptops, servers and wireless communications products. Inventec has deploy 5G service at their own factory which increasing auto-inspection accuracy to over 90%, improving SMT First Pass Yield to over 85%, and reducing re-inspection labor force by 50%.

Under the wave of globalization, the construction of English learning environment has become the primary task of all countries around the globe, Taiwan is no exception. However, under the traditional education system in Taiwan, English learning can be only improved in the field of reading and writing, for listening and speaking, it’s still insufficient. In addition, the economic gap between urban and rural areas in Taiwan is large, and the learning resources of rural, disadvantaged and low-income families are limited. In addition, although there are many e-learning resources, they can not provide customized learning services according to the needs and degree of users.

March 14, 2021 – Today was declared a day of remembrance in New York City. It was on this date one year ago that the first person in the Big Apple died from COVID19.

We posted as best we could the early weeks of this shock – an emotional and civic trauma unlike any other in my lifetime – in our “No Place BUT Home” series.

Words were not of much use as this city was hollowed out and whipsawed in a perfect storm; one where all of its cultural jewels and unique assets – bound together for generations like a Sicilian family – were unraveled so spectacularly that religious people proclaimed this novel corona virus the author of a “biblical epic.” It had its own exodus as 300,000 people fled the terror of ending up in a crowded or non-existent ICU. While some relied on religious analogies, readers of Sartre, author of The Plague (copies of the 1947 novel sold out in weeks), noted that life is tenuous, viruses have unimaginable power and that communities and societies can be overturned, transformed or even eviscerated in the time it takes to cough, lose your breath and die. In a few weeks, it appeared that our public health networks, our technology and our sophisticated rituals could not sustain us.

When Sgt. Dominic Zacharilla and his armored group crashed through the gates of a Nazi death camp in 1945, they were followed by my Uncle Pete and his team of U.S. Army medics. While neither saw each other during the horrific campaign both were similarly shaken. Even General George Patton, leader of the American Third Army, threw up at the sight of the death camp.

Both of my uncles came home from war decorated and honored. They settled into unremarkable but decent lives in their hometown. Uncle Dominic went to a trade school and learned to become a barber, where he opened his own shop. Uncle Pete, a big brawny guy, worked in a family lumber business. Both loved fishing in the Finger Lakes of upstate New York. Both raised families. Their children were educated, competent, successfully solid members of their communities. Two left the village and settled in other states.

Innovation.  It’s a popular, misunderstood and kind of squishy term that nonetheless plays a big role in today’s world.  A Google search on it will earn you 1.65 billion hits. 

There’s a reason for that.  Economist Robert Solow won the Nobel Prize more than 30 years ago for proving, for the first time, that 80% of all growth in the economy comes from the introduction or use of new technology. So, if you are engaged in creating or putting to use a new way of doing things, you have a shot at your share of 80% of growth.  If you are devoted to doing the same old things, you can hope for a share of the 20%.  Which would you rather have?

Owing to a quirk of history, many of the nation’s liberal arts colleges are located in small towns and rural areas. Many of these schools were founded in the nineteenth century as denominational colleges, when a college education was as much about teaching religious devotion, morality and good character. The belief among their founders was that this education could not happen if the college were located in proximity to the vices and temptations of the city.

By the 1920s, the United States was a majority urban-dwelling nation. At the same time, early twentieth century philanthropies, as a condition for their support, insisted that institutions be ecumenical and open to science, rather than denominational in outlook. The Rockefeller and Carnegie organizations, especially, worked to secularize American higher education. Thus by the early twentieth century, many of these denominational schools were losing enrollment, as well as their reason-for-being. To survive, these small rural colleges were forced to reinvent themselves.

For all the damage, frustration and sorrow that COVID19 has brought us, it has also taught us lessons we needed to learn.

Some are personal. It turns out that my health depends on your health. If you refuse to wear a mask, you are expressing – not your independence – but a willingness to infect me.

Some are political. It turns out that, when we allow working people to live in poverty with no medical insurance, we create reservoirs of infection that keep blazing up like wildfires – or perhaps the avenging fires of a just God – to engulf us.