Futurist at Ford looks far ahead

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BY SUSAN CARPENTER ORANGE COUNTY (CALIF.) REGISTER

Sheryl Connelly is the rare auto industry expert who has almost nothing to do with cars. As Ford Motor Co.s manager of global trends and future, her role isnt to look at the industry but outside it, to determine what factors will influence cars in the coming decades.

We sat down with her at Fords Irvine, Calif., headquarters to peer into her crystal ball.

Q: As Fords first and only in-house futurist, what exactly are you trying to achieve?

A: It takes Ford Motor Co. three years to bring a vehicle to market, so even if we have the most ingenious idea today, what feels cutting edge at this point might not be. We have no crystal ball, but we can look to five arenas for guidance: social, technological, economic, environmental, and political.

Q: Why those five arenas?

A: You start there because youll never be able to predict the future, but those will be the forces that shape the landscape. It gives us a framework to play in this space of What if? and If so, then what? You talk about the possibilities, and then you explore what it means for the industry what it does to demand, supply, competitors, retail, the distribution network. Only if youve explored all of that do you even ask what that means for Ford.

Q: What timeline are you looking at?

A: The most distant function in the Ford team is advanced product research and engineering. Theyre trying to figure out what technologies are on the horizon and what to invest in. Their time horizon is 10, 20 years out.

Q: How far into the future are you looking?

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Futurist at Ford looks far ahead

Freedom Walk Brings Thousands To Hart Plaza

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Thousands attend the Freedom March rally in Hart Plaza. (WWJ/Beth Fisher)

DETROIT (WWJ) Thousands gathered on Hart Plaza after the Freedom Walk on Woodward. President of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, the Reverend Wendell Anthony, says theyre here to continue Dr. Kings work.

If you dont take the march to Lansing, if you dont take the march to D.C., if you dont take the march to your own neighborhood then marching dont mean nothing, said Anthony.

UAW President Bob King said this rally is a call to action:

Are you willing to accept in Michigan or anywhere else, the governor coming in and replacing your elected officials when you accept emergency managers. No, we will not, King told the crowd.

Our fight is going to be long, its going to be hard, but because of people like you we are going to win this fight, said Detroit Mayor Dave Bing. Referring to the fact that Detroit now has an emergency manager.

Thousands walked and attended the rally. Some people who marched 50 years ago were also at the event.

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Freedom Walk Brings Thousands To Hart Plaza

RedBlue America: Will gay marriage hurt freedom of religion

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The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling is expected this week on the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8, which limited marriage to a man and a woman. Will gay marriage undermine the freedom of religious people to recognize only traditional marriage?

Religious rights to suffer

No, the First Amendment and same-sex marriage cannot coexist harmoniously. Something will have to give -- and it will start with the freedom of conscience.

Here's why: If the law says there can be no "rational basis" for treating the union between a man and a woman as something unique -- if a union between any two (or, perhaps someday, more) consenting adults is a "marriage" -- then it really doesn't matter what your conscience tells you.

We don't prosecute people for holding unpopular beliefs -- yet -- but the authorities do look askance at discrimination. That's why we hear so much lately about caterers, photographers and florists running afoul of several states' civil rights laws for refusing to do business with gay couples.

True, those aren't churches. But states such as New Jersey and Vermont have already sanctioned church-affiliated organizations for refusing to host same-sex weddings or receptions at their facilities.

Freedom of association is also in jeopardy. California's state Senate last month voted to strip the Boy

California's Democrats don't care about the Boy Scouts' First Amendment right to define their membership. And they don't have particularly high regard for the role the organization plays in shaping boys into responsible adults and good citizens. The Scouts simply don't conform to the Democrats' way of thinking, and so they must be punished. Does anyone seriously think churches won't be punished, too?

It's only a matter of time before what we understand as "freedom of religion" is whittled down to little more than the freedom to worship whatever deity you choose in a special building one day out of the week.

But to actually apply your religious beliefs to the way you live or do business the other six days? Expect no sympathy from the law when it comes to same-sex unions. Such is the price of "equality."

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RedBlue America: Will gay marriage hurt freedom of religion

Freedom feted for Juneteenth

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SAN ANGELO, Texas The Rev. Terressa Holcumb threw down her walking stick and linked arms with a large circle of people to pray at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park in north San Angelo.

Freedom is the ability to see my children realize the sky is the limit, they can educate themselves, said Holcumb, with the Sims Chapel at the House of Restoration. Its going to the grocery store to pick up what I want to eat, not what I have to eat. Being able to celebrate who God is to me if not for him, we would have none of this.

Several hundred people gathered Saturday for a parade and picnic to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates Emancipation Day and the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865.

Juneteenth is about those who finally got the message, said Theodore Boone, of the Ministerial Alliance of San Angelo. Its important because sometimes people dont get the message and miss out on opportunities, so they continue in bondage.

To Boone, the delayed receipt of the message on Juneteenth is symbolic of those who have not heard the Christian gospel.

Were celebrating information that brings change. If you never get the truth, you stay in bondage, he said. We got the message. We got the message.

With a cool breeze whipping past, the parade procession made up of cars, motorcycles, a firetruck and a tandem bicycle caused a joyful clamor in the neighborhoods along MLK Drive.

Waving at Fort Concho Buffalo Soldier re-enactors and parade floats from the sidewalk, 62-year-old Billie Jean Lacy called out to them and gleefully collected the candy they threw to onlookers.

Lacy, originally from San Angelo, drove from Austin to celebrate Juneteenth with her family. She is thrilled that other cultural groups join in the celebration, too.

Now we have lots of different ethnic and cultural groups, she said. Thats the goal not to have segregation. Its for all culture to come to enjoy.

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Freedom feted for Juneteenth

Stingrays Lurk Along SoCal Beaches

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As beach-goers flock to the beaches this summer, lifeguards and one Whittier man are warning about the presence of stingrays.

Blake Carter, 23, had been recovering from a sting he suffered Tuesday at Sunset Beach, near Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway.

"It's right there, the sting ray barb was right there," said Carter, as he pulled off his sock to reveal a swollen foot.

The picture he took on his cell phone showed his heel, bleeding from the sting he got when he stepped onto a stingray and felt what he described as intense pain.

"It felt like a dog bit me, it was really powerful," said Carter. "It was pretty excruciating, actually."

Warm weather and water attracts the stingrays to Southern California beaches. Last year, Huntington Beach city beaches reached an all-time high of 438 stingray incidents by November due to unseasonably warm weather and water, which are conditions that attract the stingrays, according to the Orange County Register.

Lifeguards are educating beach-goers on how to "shuffle" when approaching the water, a method known as the "stingray shuffle."

"It's very simple," said Kevin Pearsall, a lifeguard supervisor with Bolsa Chica state beach. "You're trying to let the stingray know that you're in the area. As you enter the water, you kind of shuffle to get the sand moving and the area moving, so they know you're coming and they will flee."

Stingray injuries are so common at Huntington Beach city beaches that there is a dedicated recovery room to treat injuries.

"I'm definitely a little bit more cautious and aware," said Carter. "But it's important to realize we are playing in the place they live."

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Stingrays Lurk Along SoCal Beaches