AI: The EU’s Birth Rates 1.46 Live Births per Woman In 2023; Replacement Level of 2.1: Native-born Population in the EU is Shrinking and Aging ⏳
“A change-over from an increasing to a declining population… is what is happening. Certainly, a declining population implies a shrinking labor force and possibly a shrinking GDP.” — Massimo Livi Bacci, Italian demographer.
“The era of rapid population growth is coming to an end. … Declining fertility and increased life expectancies have resulted in a rapidly aging population.” — Amy Smaldone and Mark L.J. Wright, Federal Reserve economists.
“The EU’s population is ageing. Over the last fifty years, life expectancy at birth has increased by 10 years for both men and women. …These changes significantly affect our economy, our social and employment policies, public finances, and territorial cohesion.” — Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission
AI: John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Cornelius Vanderbilt Compared: Family Mansions (Part II) 🏰
“My father’s dream was to create something so beautiful and so perfect that it would be a joy to all who saw it, a place where his family could live and grow and be inspired by the beauty around them.” — Nelson Rockefeller
“Heaven is a home like Skibo.” — Andrew Carnegie
“When I built Marble House, I was in a position to do what I wanted, and I did it.” — Alva Vanderbilt
AI: 🛢️ John D. Rockefeller, 🏭 Andrew Carnegie, and 🚂 Cornelius Vanderbilt Compared: The Gilded Age (Part I) 🎩
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
“The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.” – Andrew Carnegie
“What do I care about law? Hain’t I got the power?” – Cornelius Vanderbilt
AI: Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon Compared: 🇫🇷 Napoleon, The Revolutionary Military Genius and Master Organizer (Part III)
Napoleon said:
“Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.”
“History is a set of lies agreed upon.”
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.”
“From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.”
AI: Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon Compared: ✝️ Charlemagne, the “Father of Europe” (Part II)
“He was the most famous and greatest of all the kings who ever lived.” — Einhard, Charlemagne’s biographer (Vita Karoli Magni)
“Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right.” – Charlemagne
“Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky.” – Charlemagne
“Take care of the poor and the widows, for they are the treasure of the Church.” – Charlemagne
AI: Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon Compared: 🦅 Julius Caesar, The Charismatic Populist and Military Innovator (Part I)
“Alea iacta est.” (The die is cast.)
“Veni, vidi, vici.” (I came, I saw, I conquered.)
“Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt.” (Men readily believe what they wish.)
“Omnia Gallia in tres partes divisa est.” (All Gaul is divided into three parts.)
“Et tu, Brute?” (You too, Brutus?)
AI: 🐀 Bubonic Plague, 💉Smallpox, and 🫁 Tuberculosis (TB) Compared: Epidemics and Diseases
“How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, breakfast with their kinfolk and the same night supped with their ancestors in the next world! The condition of the people was pitiable to behold. They sickened by the thousands daily, and died unattended and without help. Many died in the open street, others dying in their houses, made it known by the stench of their rotting bodies.” — Giovanni Boccaccio
“The pestilence of the smallpox, which had for so many centuries been filling the grave-yards of the world with countless millions of victims, and leaving the survivors disfigured and blinded, was now to disappear forever from the earth.” – Andrew Carnegie
“Consumption [tuberculosis] is a disease peculiar to the human race, and it has caused more havoc and destruction than all the wars, plagues, and famines combined.” – Robert Koch
AI: Louis Sullivan, William F. Lamb, Fazlur Rahman Khan, César Pelli, and Adrian D. Smith Compared: Skyscraper 🏙️
“It must be tall, every inch of it tall. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it” – Louis Sullivan
“The only thing that was unusual about the Empire State Building was that it was done so fast (1 year and 45 days).” – William F. Lamb
“The technical man must not be lost in his own technology; he must be able to appreciate life, and life is art, drama, music, and most importantly, people.” – Fazlur Rahman Khan
“The desire to reach for the sky runs very deep in the human psyche.” – César Pelli
“The design of a skyscraper must be timeless and enduring.” – Adrian Smith
AI: John A. Roebling, Joseph Strauss, Othmar Ammann, Man-Chung Tang, and Michel Virlogeux Compared: Bridges 🌉
“I could construct bridges by an entirely new method, using wire cables… so strong that they would defy the forces of nature.” – John A. Roebling.
“It is my purpose to build a bridge which shall not only be the greatest bridge ever built, but one that will be an object of beauty, simple in its lines, and harmonious with its surroundings.” – Joseph Strauss.
“A great bridge in a great city, although primarily utilitarian in its purpose, should nevertheless be a work of art to which Science lends its aid.” – Othmar Ammann.
“The sun never sets on a Man-Chung Tang bridge.” – Man-Chung Tang.
“Structural mechanics is the basis of engineering. Yes, engineers must have more imagination, more creativity… but they must never lose mathematics and structural mechanics. If they lose that, they lose everything. They’ll become under-architects.” – Michel Virlogeux.
AI: 🛠️ Filippo Brunelleschi (Italian Renaissance, 1377–1446), 🕌 Mimar Sinan (Ottoman Empire, c. 1489/1490–1588), and 🏆 Sir Christopher Wren (British Baroque, 1632–1723) Compared: Architecture
“He put a fresh egg upright on a piece of marble and said that whoever could make it stand up on its own, without touching anything other than the egg, should build the dome.” – Filippo Brunelleschi
“My apprenticeship work is the Şehzade Mosque; my journeyman work is the Süleymaniye Mosque; and my masterpiece is the Selimiye Mosque.” – Mimar Sinan
“Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice (Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you).” – Sir Christopher Wren. This is inscribed on a tablet near his tomb in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral.