8 Crazy Things That Could Happen to the Workplace Within 30 Years

8 Crazy Things That Could Happen to the Workplace Within 30 Years Ever think about how the workplace of the future will be different? Here’s some food for thought: a few scenarios to consider as we plan our careers in a changing world. 1. Driverless CarsThis isn’t so much about the workplace, but will certainly change commutes and also fundamentally alter fields like mass transit and transportation, and maybe also change the face of the auto industry forever.2. No More OfficesMore and more companies might opt to have workers set up remotely, either at home or in shared co-working spaces. This will save companies lots of money on office space and give them the ability to hire talent from around the world.3. Big BrotherGPS monitoring might enable employers to track your location, your health, and your productivity. This certainly won’t be popular, but as long as the technology exists, some companies will want to use it.4. Workers’ ChoiceMore and more millennials entering the workforce are demanding that their employers mee t their ethical standards. Expect workers to switch companies and jobs more than they used to as they follow their passions and try to sculpt their ideal careers.5. Work ‘Til You DropWe’re all living longer, and companies are getting rid of costly retirement programs. We’ll all probably have to work much, much longer, particularly as medical advances keep us alive well past the life expectancy of our parents’ parents.6. Part-Time PlusFreelancing may be the wave of the future. It’s much cheaper for an employer to hire a freelancer, without having to provide benefits or health insurance. And many workers prefer the control and flexibility that lifestyle affords them. The steady 9-5 may be a dinosaur by the time our kids enter the job market.7. Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence will start to replace as many jobs as feasible, putting more manual tasks in digital hands. This will destroy certain jobs, but create others in technology and serv ice.8. No More BossesZappos did it with their controversial â€Å"holacracy.† More and more companies are restructuring from the typical linear grunt-level-up-to-big-boss model. We can expect more lateral, integrative hierarchies to start forming, which will change the face of how we work and who we work for.9 ways the workplace will be different in 2050

USS Shangri-La (CV-38) in World War II and Vietnam

USS Shangri-La (CV-38) in World War II and Vietnam An  Essex-class aircraft carrier, USS Shangri-La  (CV-38) entered service in 1944. One of over 20 Essex-class carriers built for the US Navy during  World War II, it joined the US Pacific Fleet and supported Allied operations during the final phases of the  island-hopping campaign  across the Pacific. Modernized in the 1950s,  Shangri-La  later served extensively in the Atlantic and Mediterranean before taking part in the Vietnam War.   Completing its time off Southeast Asia, the carrier was decommissioned in 1971. A New Design Designed in the 1920s and 1930s, the US Navys  Lexington- and  Yorktown-class aircraft carriers were intended to meet the limitations set forth by the  Washington Naval Treaty. This levied restrictions on the tonnage of different types of warships as well as placed a ceiling on each signatory’s total tonnage. This system was further revised and extended by the 1930 London Naval Treaty. As the international situation deteriorated in the 1930s, Japan and Italy elected to depart the treaty structure. With the collapse of the treaty, the US Navy moved forward with efforts to create a new, larger class of aircraft carrier and one which made use of the experiences gained from the  Yorktown-class. The resulting ship was wider and longer as well as possessed a deck-edge elevator system. This had been incorporated earlier on  USS  Wasp  (CV-7). The new class would normally embark an air group of 36 fighters, 36 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo planes. This included the  F6F Hellcats, SB2C Helldivers, and  TBF Avengers. In addition to embarking a larger air group, the new design mounted a more powerful anti-aircraft armament. The Standard Design Construction commenced on the lead ship,  USS  Essex  (CV-9), on April 28, 1941. With the US entry into  World War II following the  attack on Pearl Harbor, the  Essex-class soon became the US Navys principal design for fleet carriers. The first four vessels after  Essex  followed the class initial design. In early 1943, the US Navy requested several changes to improve future vessels. The most noticeable of these changes was lengthening the bow to a clipper design which permitted the installation of two quadruple 40 mm mounts. Other alterations included moving the combat information center under the armored deck, enhanced ventilation and aviation fuel systems, a second catapult on the flight deck, and an additional fire control director. Referred to as the long-hull  Essex-class or  Ticonderoga-class by some, the US Navy made no distinction between these and the earlier  Essex-class ships. Construction The first ship to move forward with the altered Essex-class design was USS  Hancock  (CV-14) which was later re-named Ticonderoga. This was followed by additional ships including USS Shangri-La (CV-38).   Construction commenced January 15, 1943, at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. A significant departure from US Navy naming conventions, Shangri-La referenced a distant land in James Hiltons Lost Horizons. The name was chosen as President Franklin D. Roosevelt had cheekily stated that the bombers used in the 1942 Doolittle Raid had departed from a base in Shangri-La.   Entering the water on February 24, 1944,  Josephine Doolittle, wife of Major General Jimmy Doolittle, served as sponsor. Work quickly advanced and Shangri-La entered commission on September 15, 1944, with Captain James D. Barner in command.  Ã‚   USS Shangri-La  (CV-38) - Overview Nation:  United StatesType:  Aircraft CarrierShipyard:  Norfolk Naval ShipyardLaid Down:  January 15, 1943Launched:  February 24, 1944Commissioned:  September 15, 1944Fate:  Sold for scrap, 1988 Specifications Displacement:  27,100 tonsLength:  888 ft.Beam:  93 ft. (waterline)Draft:  28 ft., 7 in.Propulsion:  8 Ãâ€" boilers, 4 Ãâ€" Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 4 Ãâ€" shaftsSpeed:  33 knotsComplement:  3,448 men Armament 4 Ãâ€" twin 5 inch 38 caliber guns4 Ãâ€" single 5 inch 38 caliber guns8 Ãâ€" quadruple 40 mm 56 caliber guns46 Ãâ€" single 20 mm 78 caliber guns Aircraft 90-100 aircraft World War II Completing shakedown operations later that fall, Shangri-La departed Norfolk for the Pacific in January 1945 in company with the heavy cruiser USS Guam  and the destroyer USS Harry E. Hubbard.. After touching at San Diego, the carrier proceeded to Pearl Harbor where it spent two months engaged in training activities and carrier-qualifying pilots. In April, Shangri-La left Hawaiian waters and steamed for Ulithi with orders to join Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitschers Task Force 58 (Fast Carrier Task Force).   Rendezvousing with TF 58, the carrier launched its first strike the next day when its aircraft attacked Okino Daito Jima. Moving north Shangri-La then began supporting Allied efforts during the Battle of Okinawa. Returning to Ulithi, the carrier embarked Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr. in late May when he relieved Mitscher.   Becoming flagship of the task force, Shangri-La led the American carriers north in early June and began a series of raids against the Japanese home islands. The next several days saw Shangri-La evade a typhoon while shuttling between strikes on Okinawa and Japan. On June 13, the carrier departed for Leyte where it spent the remainder of the month engaged in maintenance. Resuming combat operations on July 1, Shangri-La returned to Japanese waters and began a series of attacks across the length of the country. These included strikes that damaged the battleships Nagato and Haruna. After replenishing at sea, Shangri-La mounted multiple raids against Tokyo as well as bombed Hokkaido. With the cessation of hostilities on August 15, the carrier continued to patrol off Honshu and airdropped supplies to Allied prisoners of war ashore. Entering Tokyo Bay on September 16, it remained there into October.   Ordered home, Shangri-La arrived at Long Beach on October 21. Postwar Years    Conducting training along the West Coast in early 1946, Shangri-La then sailed for Bikini Atoll for the Operation Crossroads atomic testing that summer. After this was completed, it spent much of the next year in the Pacific before being decommissioned on November 7, 1947. Placed in the Reserve Fleet, Shangri-La remained inactive until May 10, 1951. Re-commissioned, it was designated as an attack carrier (CVA-38) the following year and was engaged in readiness and training activities in the Atlantic.   In November 1952, the carrier arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a major overhaul. This saw Shangri-La receive both SCB-27C and SCB-125 upgrades. While the former included major alterations to the carriers island, relocation of several facilities within the ship, and the addition of steam catapults, the later saw the installation of an angled flight deck, an enclosed hurricane bow, and a mirror landing system.    Cold War The first ship to undergo the SCB-125 upgrade, Shangri-La was the second American carrier to possess an angled flight deck after USS Antietam (CV-36). Completed in January 1955, the carrier rejoined the fleet and spent much of the year engaged in training before deploying to the Far East in early 1956. The next four years were spent alternating between San Diego and Asian waters. Transferred to the Atlantic in 1960, Shangri-La participated in NATO exercises as well as moved to the Caribbean in response to troubles in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Based at Mayport, FL, the carrier spent the next nine years operating in the western Atlantic and Mediterranean. Following a deployment with the US Sixth Fleet in 1962, Shangri-La underwent an overhaul at New York which saw installation of new arrestor gear and radar systems as well as removal of four 5 gun mounts. Vietnam While operating in the Atlantic in October 1965, Shangri-La was accidentally rammed by the destroyer USS Newman K. Perry. Though the carrier was not badly damaged, the destroyer suffered one fatality.   Re-designated an anti-submarine carrier (CVS-38) on June 30, 1969, Shangri-La received orders early the following year to join the US Navys efforts during the Vietnam War. Sailing via the Indian Ocean, the carrier reached the Philippines on April 4, 1970. Operating from Yankee Station, Shangri-Las aircraft commenced combat missions over Southeast Asia. Remaining active in the region for the next seven months, it then departed for Mayport via Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. Arriving home on December 16, 1970, Shangri-La began preparations for inactivation. These were completed at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Decommissioned on July 30, 1971, the carrier moved to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on July 15, 1982, the ship was retained to provide parts for USS Lexington (CV-16).   On August 9, 1988, Shangri-La was sold for scrap.

Geology and Topography of Antarctica

Geology and Topography of Antarctica Antarctica is not an ideal place for a geologist to work - it is widely considered one of the coldest, driest, windiest and, during winter, darkest places on Earth. The kilometers-thick ice sheet sitting on top of 98 percent of the continent makes geologic study even more difficult. Despite these uninviting conditions, geologists are slowly gaining a better understanding of the fifth-largest continent through the use of gravity meters, ice-penetrating radar, magnetometers, and seismic instruments. Geodynamic Setting and History Continental Antarctica makes up just a portion of the much larger Antarctic Plate, which is surrounded by mostly mid-ocean ridge boundaries with six other major plates. The continent has an interesting geologic history - it was part of the supercontinent Gondwana as recently as 170 million years ago and made a final split from South America 29 million years ago. Antarctica has not always been covered in ice. At numerous times in its geologic history, the continent was warmer due to a more equatorial location and differing paleoclimates. It is not rare to find fossil evidence of vegetation and  dinosaurs  on the now-desolate continent. The most recent large-scale glaciation is thought to have begun around 35 million years ago. Antarctica has traditionally been thought of as sitting on a stable, continental shield with little geologic activity. Recently, scientists installed 13 weather-resistant seismic stations on the continent that measured the speed of earthquake waves through underlying bedrock and mantle. These waves change speed and direction whenever they encounter a different temperature or pressure in the mantle or a different composition in the bedrock, allowing geologists to create a virtual image of the underlying geology. The evidence revealed deep trenches, dormant volcanoes, and warm anomalies, suggesting that the area may be more geologically active than once thought. From space, Antarcticas geographic features seem, for lack of a better word, nonexistent. Underneath all of that snow and ice, however, lie several mountain ranges. The most prominent of these, the  Transantarctic  Mountains, are over 2,200 miles long and split the continent into two distinct halves: East Antarctica and West Antarctica. East Antarctica sits on top of a Precambrian craton, made up of mostly metamorphic rocks like gneiss and schist.  Sedimentary deposits from the Paleozoic to Early Cenozoic age lie above it.  Western Antarctica, on the other hand, is made up of orogenic belts from the past 500 million years. The summits and high valleys of the Transantarctic Mountains are some of the only places on the entire continent not covered in ice.  The other areas that are free from ice can be found on the  warmer Antarctic Peninsula, which extends 250 miles northward from West Antarctica  towards South America. Another mountain range, the  Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, rises almost 9,000 feet above sea level over a 750-mile expanse in East Antarctica. These mountains, however, are covered by several thousand feet of ice. Radar imaging reveals sharp peaks and low valleys with topography comparable to the European Alps. The East Antarctic Ice Sheet has encased the mountains and protected them from erosion rather than smoothing them into glacial valleys. Glacial Activity Glaciers affect not only the topography of Antarctica but also its underlying geology. The weight of ice in West Antarctica literally pushes the bedrock down, depressing low-lying areas below sea level. Seawater near the edge of the ice sheet creeps between the rock and glacier, causing the ice to move much faster towards the sea. Antarctica is completely surrounded by an ocean, allowing sea ice to greatly expand in winter. Ice normally covers around 18 million square miles at the September maximum (its winter) and decreases to 3 million square miles during the February minimum (its summer).  NASAs Earth Observatory has a nice side-by-side graphic comparing the maximum and minimum sea ice cover of the past 15 years. Antarctica is almost a geographic opposite of the Arctic, which is an ocean semi-enclosed by landmasses. These surrounding landmasses inhibit sea ice mobility, causing it to pile up into high and thick ridges during the winter. Come summer, these thick ridges stay frozen longer. The Arctic retains around 47 percent (2.7 of 5.8 million square miles) of its ice during warmer months. The extent of Antarcticas sea ice has increased by approximately one percent per decade since 1979 and reached record-breaking levels in 2012 to 2014. These gains do not make up for diminishing sea ice in the Arctic, however, and global sea ice continues to disappear at a rate of 13,500 square miles (larger than the state of Maryland) per year.