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Culture, Society, Sport and Business (Decline, Progress and Hope)
May 21st, 2011: Another doomsday prediction, this one predicted by evangelical pastor Harold Camping, fails to pan out. Nobody cares.
June 18th, 2011: Kirk Douglas, an actor from the Golden Age of Hollywood, dies from natural causes at the age of 93.
June 20th, 2011: Derek Jeter gets his 3000th hit on a walk-off 2 RBI single against the Milwaukee Brewers.
July 30th, 2011: Casey Anthony convicted for the 2008 murder of her daughter Caylee.
August 14th, 2011: Casey Anthony is sentenced to death for the murder of her daughter.
October 14th-30th, 2011: The XVI Pan American Games are held in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Though some commentators from outside Mexico fear that the games would be interrupted by the violence still plaguing the country, the games go off without a hitch. The games end with the United States in 1st place, Cuba in 2nd and Mexico in 3rd.
October 16th, 2011: The Boston Red Sox sweep the Texas Rangers in the ALCS to win the AL pennant.
October 20th, 2011: In a bitterly fought division rivalry series, the Philadelphia Phillies take out the Atlanta Braves in 7 games in the NLCS to advance to the World Series. Pitching duels between the aces of Hudson, Jurrjens, and Hanson on one side and Halladay, Hamels, and Lee define the series.
October 30th, 2011: In baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series in 7 games against the Boston Red Sox in a series that caused almost as much animosity between Yankee and Met fans as Sox and Phillies. Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz wins MVP honors by hitting 11 for 28 with 2 home runs, 3 doubles and 8 RBI's.
November 1st, 2011: The much-anticipated Boeing 787 Dreamliner enters commercial service with All Nippon Airways (ANA).
December 15th, 2011: In a surprise announcement, MLB commissioner Bud Selig states the MLB's intention to expand the league instead of moving to two 15-team leagues. The AL will instead gain two teams (in to-be-decided locations) to have two 16 team leagues. Also, Selig okays the relocation of the Oakland athletics to Portland, Oregon. Both the expansion and relocation are expected to be completed for the 2014 season.
December 22nd, 2011: Star slugger and future Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols resigns with the St. Louis Cardinals.
January 5th, 2012: Free agent and ex-Met shortstop Jose Reyes signs with the Detroit Tigers.
January 15th, 2012: The social networking site STREAMLINE.COM is launched, which allows it's users to share and watch movies and videos live together, as if in a movie theater or their living room together.
May 20th, 2012: In Canada, people all over celebrate the victory of the Vancouver Canucks, who manage to defeat the Washington Capitols 4-3 in overtime to bring home the Stanley Cup, at the conclusion of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The victory marks the first time in 19 year that a Canadian team has won the Cup, and the first time the Vancouver Canucks have also won.
May 26th, 2012: Maltese singer Kurt Calleja wins Eurovision with song “This is the night.”
June 6th, 2012: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera announces that he intends to retire at the end of the season.
June 20th, 2012: Honolulu and Las Vegas are announced as the expansion sights for the AL, with the team in Honolulu being christened the Hawaii Islanders and the Las Vegas team the Las Vegas Gamblers. The two teams will make the AL West go from being the smallest baseball division for tied as the biggest with the NL Central.
July 1st, 2012: The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship concludes. The German national football team defeats the Netherlands 2-1 in front of a crowd of 65,000 people at Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, to become European Champions. It is their seventh time reaching the finals, and their fourth European Championship, the most of any team. German star Mesut Ozil wins UEFA Player of the Tournament. It is the last time the sixteen team format will be used for this tournament.
July 19th, 2012: Star Wars Battlefront III is released to the cheers of the gaming community. It is a titanic success, and helps LucasArts to get going again in the gaming industry.
July 20th, 2012: The film The Dark Kinght Rises, the third a final film in the Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy is released to massive praise from critics and moviegoers alike, some even going as far to say that it is better than the previous film, The Dark Kinght. The film, stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Cane as Alfred Pennyworth, Gary Oldman as Comm. James Gordon, Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Marion Cotillard as DA Janice Porter, Joseph Grodon-Levitt as a young Roman Sionis, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. The story, set one year after the events of the previous film, involves Batman having to redeem himself in the eyes of Gotham City, while being hunted by both the law (led by a reluctant Comm. Gordon and a ruthless DA Janice Porter) and organized crime, who have hired the infamous hitman Bane to hunt down and kill Batman. Though it lost the award for Best Picture at the Oscars, Christopher Nolan won recognition from the Academy at last, winning Best Director for the film. Although the last film in the Nolan Trilogy, Warner Bros. announces fallowing the films release they still intend to make more Batman films.
July 27th, 2012: The XXX Summer Olympiad officially opens in London, United Kingdom.
October 28th, 2012: In baseball, the New York Yankees win their 28th World Series title in 6 games against the St. Louis Cardinals. Mariano Rivera wins his second series MVP award with 3 saves and 6 scoreless innings pitched, including getting out of a base-loaded jam with 0 outs against the heart of the Cardinal order to preserve a extra inning Game 4 tie. The championship will be the swan song of the successful Steinbrenner years in New York.
November 2nd, 2012: Yankees closer Mariano Rivera officially announces his retirement from Major League Baseball. He finishes his eighteen year career as the all-time saves leader with 639. He announces plans to become a minister back in his native Panama so that he can become closer to God, who had gifted him so much throughout his career.
December 5th, 2012: In a surprise move, free agent lefty ace Cole Hamels signs with the Toronto Blue Jays as the team looks to make itself a contender in the competitive AL East.
December 9th, 2012: Halo 4 is released, becoming a Platinum Hits game before its release, the first game ever to become a best seller by pre-orders alone, and helps catapult the Halo franchise back into the limelight after lackluster Halo Reach.
December 29th, 2012: Prominent atheist activist and Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens succumbs to cancer at the age of 63. A rumor circulates that he converted to Catholicism on his deathbed, but this is quickly refuted by his family members and close friends.
January 3rd, 2013: The 2013 Hall of Fame class is announced. Inductees for the year include Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, and Jack Morris. Notable is the almost utter lack of voting for noted steroid users Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa, all new to the ballot in 2013.
February 21st, 2013: After the election of Mitt Romney as president, a grassroots campaign finance activism organization forms, called the “Anti-Profit Prophets”. The group launches a massive lawsuit against the LDS Church, claiming that the Church secretly funded much of Mitt Romney's campaign funding. Their declared intention is to force the LDS Church to reveal their finances in the United States, as the Church has been legally required to do with their financial holdings in other nations.
By June 6th, 2015, the activists are wildly successful, causing the LDS Church to release it's American finances in full. Their records reveal that the Church is spending a overly large amount of money on administration, and expending too much effort to direct all LDS efforts from Salt Lake City.
March 21st, 2013: Elder Robert D Hales of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church dies at the age of 80, of an unidentified ailment.
March 23rd, 2013: The monthlong 2013 World Baseball Classic closes in Tokyo, Japan. The Dominican Republic emerges as the champion, beating out Japan for the title. In third place are South Korea, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are the United States. The Dominican Republic ends Japan's two-title lock over the championship.
April 6th, 2013: At the April portion of the 183rd General Conference of the LDS Church, President Thomas S Monson announces the filling of Elder Hales vacant position by Elder Benjamin D Hoyos of the Seventy. Hispanic Mormons celebrate Hoyo's position as the first Hispanic apostle. President Monson also announces that a new education program, the Zarahemla Project, will be created. The Zarahemla program will serve to fund and direct job-training and higher education ventures for the impoverished, but growing Latin American Mormon community. Elder Hoyo is closely involved with the project, due to his Hispanic heritage and history as an educator.
June 5th, 2013: After several delays, mainly due to weight issues, the Boeing 787-9 enters commercial service with Air New Zealand.
June 24th, 2013: Boyd K Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church dies, and in the next LDS biannual General Conference on October 6th, is replaced by Elder Claudio RM Costa, another Hispanic church leader.
June 30th, 2013: The first Petabyte hard drive shows up, but as of yet costs 2000€. As most cannot yet use so much space, so demand remains slim. Toshiba continues development.
July 5th, 2013: The film, Superman: Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder, is released. The film serves as a reboot to the Superman Film Series, and stars Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Natalie Portman as Lois Lane, Billy Zane as Lex Luthor, Viggo Mortensen as General Zod, and Jay Baruchel as Jimmy Olsen. The story of the film is set shortly after Clark moves to Metropolis and takes on the identity of Superman, and has him fighting for the affection of Lois with Lex Luthor, as well an invasion by General Zod. The film proves to be a hit with moviegoers and critics, and plans for a sequal are quickly greenlit.
July 29th, 2013: The International Olympics Committee announces that the 2020 Summer Olympics will be held in Minneapolis.
August 9th, 2013: Kriss Dumeer, a 16yo transgender youth, is beaten and dragged 1/2 mile by a chain at the back of a pickup truck in Shreveport, Louisiana, after he is discovered to be biologically male. The two defendants in the case show the act on Youtube, claiming that “He had it coming!”
August 17th, 2013: In Moscow, the Federation Tower is finally completed. With a height of 1,660 feet it is the tallest building in Europe.
August 20th, 2013: Former child star Lindsey Lohan is found dead in her Los Angeles apartment after suffering a drug overdose. Several hours previously, she and her girlfriend (who remains unnamed to this day per request) had a particularly violent argument that drove the other woman out of her apartment.
September 1st, 2013: Virgin Galactic launches it's first major Space Tourism rocket. Among the passengers are Richard Branson himself, Vice President Bobby Jindal, and several other businessmen and entrepreneurs from around the world.
September 8th, 2013: JVC is bought by Samsung and the brand discontinued.
September 26th, 2013: Jose Reyes hits his 30th triple of the season, becoming only the second player in MLB history to reach that mark, by taking advantage of the deep outfield of his new home at Coamerica Park.
September 30th, 2013: For the first time since 2006, two AL East teams are not in the playoffs, while for the first time since 1993 neither the Red Sox or Yankees are represented as Toronto wins the AL East title on the arm of Cole Hamels (20-6, 2.91 ERA, 210 K's) and the bats of young hitters Travis D'Arnaud (.272, 30 HR, 88 RBI) and Brett Lawrie (.308, 21 HR, 101 RBI).
October 29th, 2013: In baseball,the Detroit Tigers win the World Series against the NL champion Cincinnati Reds in 5 games. Austin Jackson wins MVP honors for hitting .430 with 2 homers, 2 triples, and 7 runs scored.
February 7th, 2014: The XXII Winter Olympiad opens on Sochi, Russia.
April 1st, 2014: The MLB season kicks off with a special 2 game series between the new expansion teams the Hawaii Islanders and Las Vegas Gamblers, with each team playing each other once in their respective home parks to start the season. The first game, the Gamblers at the Islanders, ends in a 6-4 victory for the Islanders.
April 22nd, 2014: Facebook buys it's direct opposition firm, XING.
May 10th, 2014: To the surprise of most, Facebook announces the start of a new and independent operating System, the fOS, on February 1st, 2015. This will be distributed in the form of a DVD, Blu-Ray, and GVD for the retail price of 50€ (including support). Except for iOS-only ones, all software functions on fOS.
July 9th, 2014: The twentieth FIFA World Cup concludes in Brazil. Ghana wins the final 3-1 over the Netherlands. Ghana is the first African champion, and their victory sets off massive celebrations across Sub-Saharan Africa. An estimated 750 million people watch the final.
July 13th, 2014: FIFA World Cup ends. As expected, Brazil wins the title, defeating Germany 3-0 in the final. Argentina reaches the semifinals for the first time since 1990 and beats the United States, the revelation of the tournament, in the third place match.
August 23rd, 2014: Star Wars Republic Commando II is released, doing far better than expected, narrowly beating out COD 8 for the top spot in gross sales.
August 27th, 2014: New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run in the majors. While many celebrate his achievements, others point to his steroid use as a stain on his numbers.
September 2nd, 2014: At 40, MLB player Johnny Damon collects his 3000th hit with the Hawaii Islanders.
October 1st, 2014: As the MLB season comes to a close, the expansion and relocation seems to have been a huge success. The A's, Gamblers, and Islanders all have great attendance numbers, leading the MLB leadership to greatly consider okaying more dramatic moves in the future. The records of expansion teams do not necessarily reflect their great attendance however, as the Texas Rangers cruise to a 105-59 finish to take the AL West, largely from a 15-4 record versus the new teams.
October 28th, 2014: In baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in 5 games to win the World Series. Blue Jay Jose Bautista wins the World Series MVP for hitting 4 home runs and driving in 7 in the brief set.
January 15th, 2015: Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski is appointed as Commissioner of Baseball after Bud Selig retires from his position at the end of his contract after the MLB 2014 season.
January 20th, 2015: In one of his first actions as baseball commissioner, Dave Dombrowski makes the All Star game once again count for nothing and has World Series home field advantage alternate by year.
February 1st, 2015: Realdon Robotics is established as one of the first companies with the realistic goal of creating a fully functioning robot capable of use by humans. It is founded by William G. Realdon.
April 17th, 2015: After years of lobbying by the LDS Church, Kazakhstan allows LDS missionaries to operate within it's borders. This is hailed as a victory for religious freedom in an Islamic-majority country, and the Church soon announces the formation of the first LDS ward in Kazakhstan, composed mostly of the 75 ethnically Russian Mormons already in the country.
June 10th, 2015: In light of the successful lawsuit about it's financial records, the LDS Church divests itself of stock holdings in several companies, and announces that it will reform the administration of the church, giving more administrative power and money to local church units throughout the world. This move is seen as not only financially wise, but also a boon to advocates of LDS decentralization.
July 2nd, 2015: 'Batman Beyond' is released in cinemas as the first entry in the film franchise since the hugely successful 'The Dark Knight Rises.' Inspired by the 1999-2001 animated series of the same name and resurrecting plans for such a film from 2001 that were abandoned in favour of Christopher Nolan's reboot, the concept was made use of to avoid unfavourable comparison between it and the still recent Nolan films and explore new ground. The film is set in 2044 and starts Kevin Conroy as an elderly Bruce Wayne, Stana Katic as Lady Cain, Nathan Filion as Derek Blight and newcomer Richard Herod as Terry McGinnis, the new Batman. The new film is met with critical and box office success and is praised for sitting well with the Nolan films by combining their neo-noir feel and gritty realism with subtle hard sci-fi undertones and for it's success in areas the preceding entries were sometimes felt lacking in. The soundtrack is also praised, being jointly composed by Hans Zimmer and Jesper Kyd.
July 4th, 2015: The Mayor of New York announces that New York intends to reclaim the title of world's tallest building with the construction of the New York Tower. Designed to climb to 3,342 feet/1018m, the building will be located 9 blocks south of the Empire State Building.
July 6th, 2015: Pope Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger, dies at night after suffering a stroke. Fallowing his death, Catholics around the world mourn his death, and many make the pilgramage to the Vatican for his funeral, along with many of the worlds most famous political and religious leaders.
August 17th, 2015: In the Papal conclave that fallows the Death of Pope Benedict XVI, the College of Cardinals votes to have Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa,Honduras, to serve as the Next Pope. He takes the name of Pope George, after Saint George, the legendary dragon slayer. In his first address to the world, Pope George promises to the people that his first priority will be to work to help the poor and the suffering.
September 11th, 2015: India's Parliament, under the leadership of Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi, passes the Equality in Donation Act. This act prevents fertility clinics from informing customers of the caste of the donor. Oftentimes, customers will refuse to accept sperm except from donors of specific castes. Some fertility clinics even go so far as to refuse donations from members of certain castes, or segregate the sperm storage facilities. The Equality in Donation Act seeks to end those practices.
September 12th, 2015: In some parts of India, outrage ensues over the Equality in Donation Act. Furious crowds gather outside of many lawmakers' offices and fertility clinics, demanding their “right” to know the caste of a donor. While most doctors and middle-class Indians support the Gandhi government's law, many lower-class and high-caste upper-class Indians oppose it, believing that it is important for them not to sully the purity of their caste.
September 18th, 2015: In response to severe public pressure, and pressure from some members of his coalition, Rahul Gandhi asks the Indian Parliament to repeal some parts of the Equality in Donation Act. While clinics will still be banned from refusing donations from low-caste donor, customers will regain the right to know what caste their donor was from.
September 20th-Otober 20th, 2015: In India, a national debate ensues over sperm donation and caste. Six states, including Bihar, pass state laws which require all donors to state their caste and make it more expensive and difficult for low-caste donors to give sperm. Meanwhile, nine state governments, led by Kerala, go in the opposite direction and ban patients from asking about the caste of their donor. Over the upcoming years, these numbers will shift slowly in favor of the Keralese bloc.
September 24th, 2015: The Pittsburgh Pirates clinch the NL Central title with a 5-0 shutout of the Cincinnati Reds at PNC Park. Fans storm the field in excitment, causing $250,000 in damage once all is said and done.
October 8th, 2015: Facebook acquires SchülerVZ and StudiVZ, who saw their membership numbers rapidly decreasing and filed for insolvency.
October 30th, 2015: In baseball, the Washington Nationals win the World Series in 6 games over the Los Angeles Angels. Nationals second baseman Stephen Lombardozzi wins the MVP award for hitting .488 with 7 runs scored, 3 steals, and a walk off home run in Game 2.
November 20th, 2015: The Chicago Fire win the Major League Soccer Cup over D.C. United, 3-1.
January 4th, 2016: The Vatican announces that the new Pope George will be making a round the world tour of the developing world in the summer. Pope George himslef says he is doing it to, “shed light on those of us who are truly suffering in a time of great unrest,” due to the economic downturn.
February 3rd, 2016: Yankee Shortstop Derek Jeter, 41, announces his retirement after his 21st season as a major league. Jeter had a brief career renaissance after his 3,000th hit, hitting above .300 (.301 and .304) twice since. He ended his career with 3,654 hits, good enough for 4th all time in the MLB.
February 5th, 2016: After discussions with baseball executives and the player's unions, Commissioner Dave Dombrowski begins a series of reforms to the game. The playoffs expanding to an extra wild card team, with both wild card teams playing a 1 game playoff to decide who will move on, is the biggest and most noticeable change. The others are a list of minor changes and directives sent to umpires by Dombrowski that are meant to speed the game up, partially inspired by new Commissioner adviser Bill James. In 2015, games were averaging a time of 2:52. By 2020, games average a time of 2:31.
February 17th, 2016: Seth MacFarlane and the Fox network announce that the popular comedy Family Guy will end at the conclusion of the current season, the show's fourteenth. MacFarlane says that “we ran out of original ideas some time ago”, and that the cast members wished to move on to other roles.
March 3rd, 2016: The Working Class Zeroes release their hit album Apocalypse….Some Time Soon. The music sounds much like the 90's “pop-punk” bands but lyrical more akin to 80's hardcore punk, using the growth of radical Christian groups and the continued political and economic problems under President Romney as inspiration for biting commentary. They spawn a brief resurgence in punk rock's popularity in the few years before the end of the twenty teens.
March 20th, 2016: A 20-man militant Islamist cell within Kazakhstan assaults and kidnaps the first LDS missionaries sent to that country, holing up in a school in a remote region with the missionaries and 17 Kazakh converts. The militants claim that any of their ethnic brethren “should not be allowed to follow even a heretic version of the crusader faith”, and demand that the LDS Church cease proselytizing in their country. In a public statement, LDS President Monson asks that members of the church pray and fast for the missionaries and the now-famous “Kazakh 17”, while he and other church leaders negotiate with the militants. The media dubs the conflict the “Kazakh 17 crisis”.
March 25th, 2016: As their demands have not been met, the Islamic militants in Kazakhstan execute one of the LDS Kazakh 17 converts they have kidnapped, which immediately ends negotiations between them and the LDS Church. The Church proceeds to appeal to the Kazakh government for a strike on the Islamists to rescue the converts, while publicly urging moderation and denouncing any anti-Islamic bigotry by Mormon public figures.
During this crisis, Elder L Tom Perry, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church and second-in-line for leadership of the church suffers a massive heart attack, but does not die. It is debated whether the church could “retire” Perry to have a younger and healthier elder take his place.
April 1st, 2016: The Pingan International Finance Center is completed in Shenzen, China. Topping out at 2,165 feet, it is the tallest building in China and the second tallest in the world behind the Burj Khalifa.
April 2nd, 2016: The groundbreaking ceremony for the New York Tower begins. Construction is expected to take 6 to 7 years, with the building being done in time for the nearby Empire State Building's 100th anniversary.
As the Kazakh 17 crisis continues, President Monson declares the cancellation of the April session of General Conference, saying that just as Brigham Young stopped Conference in order to organize a rescue group for stranded handcart companies, “so must we roll up our sleeves and work for the freedom of our missionaries and our Kazakh brothers in faith.”
The Kazakh government agrees to send a strike force to eliminate the militants, on the condition that the LDS Church refrain from proselytizing in certain areas of their nation known to be sympathetic to the militants. The Church agrees.
April 8th, 2016: The saga of the Kazakh 17 crisis comes to a close with a bloody strike on the kidnappers by the Kazakh government, killing 10 of the militants and capturing the rest. Excluding the executed convert, the hostages and missionaries are sent safely home, and stories of faith and bravery on the part of the Kazakh 17 begin to circulate throughout the LDS community.
Quietly, the LDS Church puts out a statement that Elder L Tom Perry will be made an “apostle emeritus”, effectively retiring him and removing from him the responsibilities of an apostle. Among the more conspiratorially-minded LDS members, rumors being circulating that Perry was privately opposed to the decentralization of church organization, and that is why he was removed from his apostleship in the somewhat unprecedented “apostle emeritus” move. LDS Church spokesmen ignore the rumor. In Perry's place, Elder Randall K Bennett is made an apostle, in what is seen as a move to more easily appeal with Russian-speaking officials to avoid another Kazakh 17 situation.
May 20th, 2016: The film, Superman:Last Son of Krypton Part I, the second Superman film to be directed by Zach Snyder is released. The film once again has Henry Cavill, Natalie Portman,Billy Zane and Jay Baruchel reprise their roles from the previous film, and adds Colin Salmon as the villian Brainiac. The first of a two-part story, the film ends with Brainiac taking over the Earth, and Superman leaving to go into exile. Though one of the most popular films of the year, and a box-office blockbuster, some critics and moviegoers dislike the “darker” direction the film series is being taken in.
June 1st, 2016: With the international mood of the time, the 2010s continues to be a time of escapism. Many see a return to campy styles. Bright and vibrant colors contrasted with sarcastic humor, and “grimmer and darker” reboots going out of style are the mainstays of this period. One magazine columnist would later describe the 2010s as “the visual style of anime, cynicism, and an influx of 80s and 90s throwbacks”.
June 14th, 2016: Spain wins its third trophy in Stade de France stadium, Paris after beating Germany 2-1 in the final match.
July 11th, 2016: Pope George embarks from Rome to begin his 2016 summer tour of the developing world.
July 28th, 2016: Pope George gives an address in Nairobi, Kenya, to an audience of over 300,000 Catholics. The new pope is on a major tour of the developing world, as part of the Church's shift to focus on helping the poor. In the speech, Pope George announces that the Church will no longer be opposed to condom use to help prevent HIV/AIDS, and will, in fact, begin buying and distributing condoms in countries where HIV/AIDS infection rates are highest. The Pope makes clear that the Church still considers homosexuality and contraception a sin, but says that “God has told me that the greater sin is to allow the suffering of the afflicted to go unheeded and unheard.” His Holiness' decision is greeted extremely enthusiastically by the international health community and most African nations.
July-August, 2016: Pope George makes his first tour of the developing world. His trip includes stops in his home country of Honduras, in which he famously tells the people, “Though I May travel the world, I will always carry this country and it's people with me!” The Pope also visits Venezuela, and meets with President Hugo Chavez, and the two appear in photographs and video around the world, appearing very friendly. In America, various Anti-Catholic groups use this to attack the Pope. Other notable visits by the Pope include Kenya, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Israel, Iraq, Egypt and others.
August 1st, 2016: Two prominent Catholic cardinals publicly oppose Pope George's shift on condom use in Catholicism. In separate TV interviews, Cardinal Juan Thorne of Peru and Cardinal Angelo Scola of Italy say that the Pope has “overstepped the bounds of true Catholicism” in announcing that the Church will distribute condoms in AIDS-stricken countries, while continuing to oppose contraception. The Cardinals' remarks cause a widespread stir, as they are seen as a challenge to papal infallibility, but Pope George chooses not to respond. Meanwhile, many liberal Catholics, including several American cardinals, suggest that Pope George did not go far enough, and that the Catholic Church should not oppose contraceptives at all.
August 5th, 2016: The XXXI Summer Olympiad opens in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
August 21st, 2016: The Olympic Games of 2016 at Rio de Janeiro close. As happened in 2008, China tops the ranking of Gold medals, with Brazil in 2nd and the United States in a very close third place (which was nonetheless seen as an humiliation- one in a long list for outgoing American President Mitt Romney).
October 1st 2016: In a further move of decentralization, the LDS Church authorizes mission areas to allow missionaries to take part in and study authorized parts of a mission area's culture previously barred from them. This move is hailed as a forward-thinking move to help missionaries relate better to possible converts and avoid misunderstandings.
October 26th, 2016: In baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays win the World Series in 5 games over the Cincinnati Reds.
November 13th, 2016: The Los Angeles Galaxy win the Major League Soccer Cup over the C.D. Chivas USA, 1-0.
November 19th, 2016: The last episode of South Park airs, ending the show's 20 season run. The final episode ends with a seemingly touching ending, only to have Cartman make fun of Kyle for being a Jew. One then hears Kyle yelling “Shut up Cartman!” before the credits roll.
January 2nd, 2017: A man kills four Muslims in Seattle, Washington. His crimes over the next month will come to be spark a culture war in the city.
March 21st 2017: Russell M Ballard of the LDS Quorum of Twelve Apostles dies, and is controversially replaced by Jon Huntsman Senior. In keeping with the LDS Church's new reform policies, Huntsman divests himself of all his financial holdings, which fund massive improvements in international Church Welfare programs and Church-supported education programs. Huntsman Senior also denounces political polarization within the LDS Church, saying that “God would not want us to hate each other on the basis of political partisanship; there's room for multiple political viewpoints in the Church”.
March 25th, 2017: The Chicago City Council votes 42-7 (1 absent) to sell the 3.24 acre DuSable Park to the Magellan Development Group for $16.8 million. Magellan plans to turn the park into a vertical farm of sixty-three stories capable of feeding up to 38,000 people called The Farm at Lake Michigan.
March 28th, 2017: The monthlong 2017 World Baseball Classic closes in Miami, Florida. Cuba emerge as the champions, beating out South Korea for the title. In third place are the Dominican Republic, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are Japan.
May 7th, 2017: The IFAB rules that players shall not get a red card with a “second yellow”, but only with the third yellow card. If it is a second yellow card, the referee has to show the player two yellow cards.
May 17th, 2017: After two years of delays from the 2nd Korean War, the Light Tower in Seoul is finally completed. At the tip of its spire the building stands 2,100 feet tall. The building also contains all the parts of a modern city, including an aquarium, office buildings, stores, and residential areas. Many hail the building as the newest trend in urban development by building up instead of out.
May 20th, 2017: In the final game of a seven game series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Vancouver Canucks, the Montreal Canadiens win a last minute goal to bring the Stanley Cup back to their city, winning the game 3-2. The win marks the first time Montreal has won the cup since 1993, and the 25th time overall. During the night in Montreal, several “disturbances” to break out in parts of the city, though few are injured.
June 2nd 2017: Iron Rod, the first self-proclaimed “Mormon Metal” band forms, created by the sibling trio of Zane, Ammon, and Anita Garrett. The band claims equal inspiration from LDS Church hymns and power metal bands such as Blind Guardian and Sabaton. With it's first single “Sons of Helaman”, the band proves to be a hit with LDS youth, rocketing up to the top of the charts in the Mormon-heavy states of Utah, Idaho, and Arizona. It is trumpeted as a “new wave of Mormon music” and “a new face in Mormon culture”, with the Garretts being proclaimed the “Osmonds of Metal”. However, the LDS Church leadership remain skeptical of Iron Rod, and forbid LDS youth to play it during any youth-based church functions.
July 7th, 2017: Apple, seeing the sales of iPhone, iPad and iPod declining and losing market shares to Android phones, buys up Acer and Asus.
July 14th, 2017: The film, Superman: Last Son of Kypton Part II, directed by Zack Snyder is released. The cast of the two previous films all reprise their respective roles, and adds Amanda Seyfried as new superhero Zara-Zor-el/Supergirl. The story raps up the one began in the previous film, and has Supeman return with Supergirl to Earth to defeat Brainiac, who now rules a large empire. Though the film is as successful ass the previous two, plans for a fourth film are put on hold, due to Warner Bros. wanting to focus on a new Batman film.
August 5th 2017: In an embarrassing and much-publicized incident, a Latino LDS stake president and several Latino LDS youth from Arizona are mistakenly deported to Mexico after being held in an immigration facility for three days. In the furor over the event and similar incidents, LDS Church President Thomas S Monson takes a rare political stance and calls for a reform in immigration policies, including the implementation of the DREAM Act and a streamlining of legal immigration. This follows only 6 years after the Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church embraced a moderate immigration plan in Utah.
August 30th, 2017: The increasingly popular web comic Human Legacy receives a publishing license from the manga publishing company Kodansha USA. The manga-inspired comic, created by University of California Berkeley Graduate Student Juan Rivera, revolves around a group of California high school students who are gifted with supernatural powers and subsequently have to face a slew of super-powered villains, all in the context of the social and political environments of the early 2010's.
October 12th, 2017: Former pop star Britney Spears is admitted to a mental hospital after suffering several nervous breakdowns. After her record label dropped her in 2015 due to sharply declining music sales, reality hit her harder than it should have, and she was determined to keep living her former lifestyle of fame and fortune.
October 30th, 2017: In baseball, the Kansas City Royals win the World Series in 6 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Billy Butler wins MVP honors with 2 home runs and 4 doubles.
November 17th, 2017: D.C. United win the Major League Soccer Cup over Sporting Kansas City, 2-0.
January 20th, 2018: Amazon opens their first shopping mall in the outskirts of Hamburg, for the first time expanding out of online-shopping. This move proves to be so successful that Amazon-malls spring up in most major cities by 2025.
February 9th, 2018: The XXIII Winter Olympiad opens in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
May 5th, 2018: The Old Chicago Main Post Office is demolished after 21 years of disuse and several failed development plans. The land is sold by the City of Chicago (which assumed ownership in 2015) to a French-German development company.
July 18th, 2018: The twenty-first FIFA World Cup concludes in Russia. Germany wins the final 2-1 over the Brazilian team. An estimated 760 million people watch the final.
July 22nd, 2018: Former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with 98.25% of the vote. He becomes only the second Panamanian in the Hall of Fame after Rod Carew.
July 31st, 2018: Celebrated British author J.K. Rowling releases a new book for children, Little Loser. Widely popular, Little Loser becomes the third bestselling book of the year and the bestselling book for children of the decade.
August 1st, 2018: 'The Tomorrow Knight' is released in cinemas. The sequel to 2015's 'Batman Begins,' it continues the story of Terry McGinnis assuming the role of Batman three decades into the future. Featuring a take on Riddler, played by David Tenannt, as the main villain, the story concentrates on McGinnis coming to terms with his new role and his choice to continue as Batman as a means of redemption for his past sins rather than merely as a means to avenge the death of his father, as happened in the preceding film.
October 28th, 2018: In baseball, the Cincinnati Reds win the World Series in a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.
November 15th, 2018: The still under construction New York Tower becomes the tallest building in New York as it reaches 1,778 feet/542m in height. Still, another 1,500 feet/500m are needed for it to reach it's final height.
November 21st, 2018: Sporting Kansas City win the Major League Soccer Cup over the San Jose Earthquakes, 3-2.
December 18th, 2018: American Airlines, after years of being in the red due to the Great Recession and the collapse of the air travel market, declares Chapter 7 bankruptcy, sending shock waves throughout the industry. By 2020, several airlines in the US have folded, leaving United, Delta, and Southwest as the remaining major players.
February 8th, 2019: Construction begins in Chicago on The Farm at Lake Michigan, a 73-story vertical agriculture building being built by Magellan Development. The Farm will be built on the 3.24 acre site of the former DuSable Park, adjacent to the long-cancelled Chicago Spire. Magellan hopes to open The Farm by 2027.
April 29th, 2019: Jason Carson founds his own hydrogen fuel station, known as Carson Fuel Incorporated, in Los Angeles, California as the first fuel cell cars begin to show up on the roads.
May 17th, 2019: FIFA decides to expand the World cup to 48 teams, effective for the France 2026 bid (which is also accepted on this day, winning against Germany, Canada and the EAF). It will be eight groups of six, of which four advance.
May 19th, 2019: The French movie Ma Cherie, starring Natalie Portman and French Arab actor Salim Kechiouche, is released in the United States. With French dialogue and subtitles, Ma Cherie becomes the highest-grossing foreign-language film of all time within the United States. The film explores a French woman's conversion to Islam after she marries a French Arab man. The film later goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
June 1st, 2019: Average attendance per game in Major League Soccer rises above 20,000 for the first time. The most-attended team was Seattle Sounders FC, with an average of 42,192 fans per game.
June 29th, 2019: During a Q&A session at the Los Angeles based Anime Expo Convention, Juan Rivera announces that his comic series Human Legacy is in the works to become an animated series, and would air in the winter or spring of 2021.
July 15th, 2019: The India Tower is completed in Mumbai, rising 2,300 feet into the skyline of the city. It is the centerpiece of the rapid urban renewal that is beginning in India to turn their population centers from slums to modern cities of steel and concrete. At it's opening, Indian President *INSERT NAME, I HAVE NO CLUE * makes a speech, claiming that “this building will shine forth, bringing India into a new age”. At it's completion it takes over honors as second tallest building in the world.
October 19th, 2019: Sony and other firms announce that production of Blu-Ray players will be discontinued in 2021. This surprises many laymen, but experts are not surprised seeing the success of the GVD (which outperformed Blu-Ray sales five-to-one two years after its introduction).
October 29th, 2019: In baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Kansas City Royals to win the World Series in 5 games. Trevor Bauer wins MVP honors for his two complete game wins to start and finish the series.
November 13th, 2019: The Portland Timbers win the Major League Soccer Cup over the New England Revolution, 1-0.
March 11th, 2020: Amazon acquires OBI, a German do-it-yourself store that filed for insolvency, restructuring the shops and enhancing their presence.
May 28th, 2020: The New York Tower becomes the tallest skyscraper in the world as it passes the Burj Khalifa at 2,718 feet/828m. However, with 4 other 3,000 feet/900m + skyscrapers already under construction and many others close to construction, it is a title that won't be held for long.
June 1st, 2020: Intercontinental Airlines launches its first flight as a commercial airline from New York's JFK Airport to London Heathrow, using a Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Intercontinental offers exclusively international flights with service rivaling that of the Middle East and Asia's 5 star airlines, and is famously declared by The New York Times in 2027 as “the rebirth of the American flag carrier” for its internationally known brand and product.
August 3rd, 2020: The XXXII Summer Olympiad opens in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
August 24th, 2020: The Netherlands beats Turkey in the final of the 2020 UEFA Championship after a bitter match with a 1-0 result in the minute 96.
October 12th, 2020: In baseball, the Seattle Mariners win the World Series.
November 19th, 2020: The Portland Timbers win the Major League Soccer Cup over Toronto FC 5-4 on penalties.
November 30th, 2020: The New York Tower tops out at it's final height of 3,342 feet/1019,m. The building will still need roughly a year for it to be completed and opened.
February 13th, 2021: The popular manga-inspired comic series Human Legacy is aired for the first time on television, making it's debut on Adult Swim's 1am time slot. The first episode does reasonably well, garnering over 2.9 million viewers on the first airing.
March 25th, 2021: The monthlong 2021 World Baseball Classic closes in Denver, Colorado. Japan emerge as the champions, beating out America for their third title. In third place are Cuba, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are the Dominican Republic.
May 5th, 2021: J.K. Rowling releases the first of two sequels to her children's novel Little Loser, entitled Overgrown Oaf. The two books, aimed at children between 8 and 12, have together sold more than 20 million copies worldwide since 2018.
June 12th, 2021: Famed historian David McCullough dies at the age of 88, while working on his latest book, The Constitutional Convention. His previous work, a history of Nigeria, had won widespread acclaim, including from the President of Nigeria and Chinua Achebe, the famous novelist.
June 29th, 2021: 'The Legend of the Dark Knight', the sequel to the highly successful 'Batman Beyond' and 'The Tomorrow Knight', is released in cinemas. It shows McGinnis desperately trying to truly live up to the legacy of the cowl as he is increasingly tempted by ever more brutal methods as an assassin takes out swathes of the city's most high profile citizens. Doubting his worth as Batman as he continues to be beaten down by the mysterious foe and doubting the value of his mission as many of the victims are some of the most notorious members of the criminal underworld or corrupt officials. The film ends with Terry taking down the assassin, only to be confronted with the true mastermind behind the plot, Dr. Elliot Strange, the Deputy Mayor being revealed. 'Hush' proceeds to kill his own assassin and Bruce Wayne himself while detonating a bomb that kills the Mayor, Police Commissioner and half the rest of the City leadership, all of whom are beyond reproach, and frames Batman for all the murders committed by him, leaving the film to surprisingly close with Terry entirely broken and without a single ally as Strange proceeds to take power.
July 2nd, 2021: The band Solfire is formed in Copenhagen by natives Kennet Esperson on guitar, fiddle, oud, and rabab, Mogen al-Asjid Khader on drums and backup vocals, and Swede Hanna Sjosted on lead vocals. They begin experimenting with a style which combines North African Berber and Arab tonalities with Norse fiddling and rock music.
July 4th, 2021: Six years to the day the New York Tower was announced as a project, the building opens it's door. It is seen by the public as a monument to what America can still accomplish.
September 11th, 2021: The football associations of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi-Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, Mauritania, Oman and Somalia decide to form the AFA. The exclusion of Iran leads to quarreling, but the conflict is resolved in a way which leaves Iran part of AFC.
October 13th, 2021: In baseball, the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.
November 25th, 2021: The Chicago Fire win the Major League Soccer Cup over D.C. United, 5-1.
February 6th, 2022: The XXIV Winter Olympiad opens in Denver, Colorado, USA.
April 1st, 2022: Noted American director and producer George Lucas dies at the age of seventy-seven. Best known for his Star Wars and Indiana Jones series', Lucas had become known in recent years for his vocal opposition to 3D film formats.
May 19th, 2022: Solfire, a Danish band, releases their first album, Tales of the Occident. It becomes a sleeper hit in the European music scene (English lyrics), and Occident is downloaded 29 million times from the band website. Solfire uses a non-traditional payment structure, in which they allow fans to download their music for free, with an optional donation. They make over 45 million dollars from this system. Hanna Sjosted, the lead singer, donates 10 million of her 12 million dollars to charity.
June 1st, 2022: For the first time ever, all teams in Major League Soccer are profitable. The league reports that the most profitable teams are the Chicago Fire, the New England Revolution, the Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders FC and the Montreal Impact.
June 30th, 2022: 'The Legend of the Tomorrow Knight' is released in cinemas, the fourth film in the 'Batman Beyond' series of films and the concluding part to the events begun in 'The Legend of the Dark Knight.' The main villain from the last film, Doctor Elliot Strange, has taken over as Mayor of Gotham. Triggering the second part of his plan, he triggers a gang war, having created a power vaccum at the top levels in the previous film, and blames the new Batman as having started it, amassing vast emergency power in fighting the street gangs battling it out on the street and in hunting down the “terrorist pretender to the noble legacy of Batman” so that he can come to Gotham's rescue and have the lasting authority to “do what the Batmans never could and truly stomp out the decay in this city.”
Destroyed, Terry spends his time out of cowl exploring the true legacy of the mantle of the Dark Knight, reviewing the history of his mentor and predecessor. After seeing the brutality of Strange's new methods on the streets and facing his own reasons for taking on the cowl Terry rediscovers the righteousness of what Batman stands for and takes on Strange directly, halting his attacks on the city before exposing him publicly and handing him over to the authorities. The film ends with Terry having truly embraced the cowl and made it his own, listening to a recording made to him by Bruce in the event of his death.
July 21st, 2022: The twenty-second FIFA World Cup concludes in Qatar. Defending champions Germany wins the final 7-6 over Qatar. Qatar was the first Arab country to reach the finals, and their run elicited a great deal of excitement across the Arab World. An estimated 770 million people watch the final.
September 24th, 2022: At a private party in Los Angeles, California, actor Brad Pitt is shot and killed by a deranged fan with multiple personality disorder. The gunman, 30-year-old Jonathan Chance, is found to be insane and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a mental institution.
October 15th, 2022: In baseball, the Minnesota Twins win the World Series.
November 10th, 2022: The Chicago Fire win the Major League Soccer Cup over the San Jose Earthquakes, 5-4.
January 20th, 2023: The first proper “internet series” is released. While several groups and people had created internet shows in the past, this is the first show that became mainstream and widely recognizable. The series is named David and is a sitcom about a married couple. Despite the tired premise, the material is fairly original for its time, and the people behind the show, The Temany Production Group (TPG), go on to become one of the “big five” internet entertainment industries.
February 5th, 2023: The Buffalo Bills win Super Bowl LVIII in Cowboys Stadium against the Philadelphia Eagles. It is the teams first NFL Championship. Quarterback Stephen Witt wins the Super Bowl MVP by going 18-30 with 302 yards passing, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. He also has 4 rushes for 18 yards and a touchdown.
September 1st, 2023: Over 75% of Americans now drive electric cars. The hydroelectric energy boom in the West and the Southwest has caused a huge boom in jobs and the race for energy independence.
October 15th, 2023: In baseball, the Kansas City Royals win the World Series.
November 22nd, 2023: The C.D. Chivas USA win the Major League Soccer Cup over the Seattle Sounders FC, 4-2.
December 18th, 2023: Fickle Failure, J.K. Rowling's final book in her Loser series, is released. The series is aimed at pre-teen children. Fickle Failure sells over 10 million copies in its first year of release.
January 1, 2024: Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie officially enters the public domain in the US, over the vocal protests of the Walt Disney Company. Several prominent internet personalities celebrate what they call “a triumph of the people over corporate greed” by playing the Steamboat Willie clip on a loop on their homepages.
January 18th, 2024: Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs passes away in San Francisco, CA from liver failure.
March 26th, 2024: French business airline l'Atlantique unveils the first commercially available supersonic route in twenty years, between New York and Paris. The Embraer-made aircraft seats approximately 50 passengers in a business-class arrangement. Over the next few decades, supersonic flight will gradually replace subsonic intercontinental air travel.
June 18th, 2024: Former Disney star Miley Cyrus pulls a bizarre stunt when she attempts to parachute Hannah Montana memorabilia onto passersby from her Manhattan apartment, attracting widespread media attention. Since her career at Disney ended when she turned 18, Cyrus attempted several increasingly bizarre stunts to stay in the limelight, culminating in this event before the general populace began regarding her as a has been desperate for attention.
August 2nd-18th, 2024: The 2024 Summer Olympic Games are held in Dubai, UAE. The tournament closes with the United States having won the most medals, followed by China.
September 11th, 2024: The Danish band Solfire releases their second studio album, titled The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Their style, a blend of Arab, fiddling, and rock genres, has become known as Occidental. It is widely copied and popularized in the British, French, Dutch, Nordic, and German music scenes. Solfire enjoys growing popularity in the United States, as well. Fundamentalist is downloaded 80 million times, with donations earning the band members over 200 million dollars.
October 16th, 2024: In baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series.
November 12th, 2024: In the game FC Bayern München vs. SV Meppen, a goal is scored in the 90'+2. minute by Thomas Müller. It is the 13-0, breaking the nearly fifty year-old record of 12-0 (Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Borussia Dortmund 1978). Meppen coach Stefan Kehl is immediately sacked.
November 22nd, 2024: The Chicago Fire win the Major League Soccer Cup over the New York Red Bulls, 1-0.
January 23rd, 2025: Casey Anthony is executed by the State of Florida (by Nitrogen Asphyxiation) for the murder of her daughter Caylee.
March 5th, 2025: An article in Rolling Stone notes that Occidental music, popularized by Danish band Solfire, has quickly become extremely popular among young people in the US, Europe, and Arab nations. The article compares the spread of Occidental music to the development of rap decades earlier.
March 21st, 2025: The monthlong 2025 World Baseball Classic closes in Taipei, Taiwan. Japan emerge as the champions, beating out Venezuela for their second title in a row. In third place are Nicaragua, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are the Americans.
March 21st, 2025: In the World Baseball Classic (an inter-national baseball tournament), Brazil finishes with an unusually strong showing, ranking 8th out of 20 countries. Brazil's success is largely attributed to brothers Luiz and Paolo Gushiken. Hailing from Parana state, the twenty year-old twins have combined for a .392 average over their brief careers. Paolo is also a pitcher, with a 1.28 ERA on Brazil's small national team.
May 8th, 2025: The Indian Supreme Court rules that under the right to privacy, fertility clinics and sperm banks are banned from keeping any information on the caste of donors. The decision settles a national debate ongoing since 2015, when Rahul Gandhi's government attempted to pass the Equality in Donation Act, which would have had the same effect. After public backlash, Gandhi's government was forced to repeal part of the act, and since then, caste and donor conflict have been a state issue. Following the Court's decision, five states are forced to repeal their “caste reporting” laws, although they face minor public protests. Most Indians, especially those in urban areas, celebrate the Court's choice. Prime Minister Chakravorty also supports donors' right to privacy.
July 18th, 2025: At San Diego Comic-Con, fans are given a sneak preview of Prophet, the animated rendition to the second comic series created by Juan Rivera. The story takes place in an alternate universe where the native peoples of the Americas retained their independence from European colonialism and formed their own nations and empires, and revolves around a group of social outcasts traveling through this alternate world. The story incorporates supernatural powers and integrates various Native American legends, becoming a hit with fans when it airs the following year.
July 21st, 2025: Apple, Inc. unveils the HoloPad, a tablet-like multimedia device that employs three-dimensional technology to simulate virtual “pop-up” screens. The HoloPad is an immediate success and dismisses claims by critics that Apple was “losing its innovation” after the death of Steve Jobs.
October 13th, 2025: In baseball, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series. Their first World Series victory in 116 years, the victory sparks massive celebrations in Chicago. Over 2 million people attend the victory parade, and the Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, gives all the team members keys to the city.
November 13th, 2025: The Los Angeles Galaxy win the Major League Soccer Cup over the Philadelphia Union, 2-0.
January 1st, 2026: Carson Fuel Incorporated has by this point become the main hydrogen fuel station in California as demand continues to rise. By buying up most of private competition, the company has begun to form a monopoly. The company has also diversified into fuel cell maintenance, providing fuel to public transportation using fuel cells, and electric car charging.
February 10th, 2026: The XXV Winter Olympiad opens in Chamonix, France.
June 1st, 2026: As the bad times of the 2010s begin to drift into the past, the 2020s see more gritty, realistic takes. The humor is brighter, and as an international optimism begins to arise from problems of the 2010s being dealt with, the moral tales of art in this period are generally classic tales of overcoming triumph, or struggling to the very end. It also sees a revival in “twist endings”, likely inspired by movies such as The Sixth Sense, released at the very tale end of the nineties.
July 2nd, 2026: The twenty-third FIFA World Cup concludes in Spain/Portugal. Germany was the champion for the third tournament in a row, beating out Spain 1-0. An estimated 750 million people watch the final.
October 14th, 2026: In baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series.
November 18th, 2026: Japanese-Brazilian baseball players Luiz and Paolo Gushiken are drafted by the Fukuoka Hawks of the Nippon Professional League in Japan. The first Japanese-Brazilians to play in the NPL, the Gushikens are widely known for their performances in the 2025 World Baseball Classic, and are quite popular in Brazil.
November 20th, 2026: A charter flight containing the three members of Occidental band Solfire goes down in a storm over the South Atlantic, and all eleven passengers are presumed dead. The band members, all at age 24 at the time of their death, had forever changed music with their creation of the Occidental style. A posthumus album, entitled Jeesh and Friends, becomes the most downloaded album of all time on iTunes.
November 21st, 2026: The Seattle Sounders FC win the Major League Soccer Cup over Sporting Kansas City, 4-1.
December 24th, 2026: The Sagrada Familia cathedral is completed in Barcelona, Spain.
August 1st, 2027: Fatih Nkwocha, the daughter of Nigerian woman footballer Perpetua Nkwocha, signs a contract with newly-promoted Bundesliga club Alemannia Aachen. She would be the first woman to sign a contract with a men's Bundesliga team. The “player's licence” (Spielgenehmigung) is at first not given.
August 2nd, 2027: Alemannia Aachen files a lawsuit. On September 17, this suit lands at CAS in Switzerland, the highest sports court.
October 10th, 2027: The CAS rules that “there is no explicit ban of women playing in men's team”, and on that grounds has to make Fatih Nkwocha eligible for Alemannia Aachen.
October 19th, 2027: In baseball, the Houston Astros win the World Series.
October 30th, 2027: After David opened up a new market of internet entertainment, Entertainment Zone become the second major internet entertainment production group with the launch of (ez-shows.com).
November 15th, 2027: Vancouver Whitecaps FC win the Major League Soccer Cup over FC Dallas, 2-1. . They become the first Canadian team to win the MLS Cup.
February 3rd, 2028: Britney Spears passes away at a Los Angeles mental hospital at the age of 47. In her deteriorated mental state, Spears was convinced it was thirty years previous and that she was still “America's pop princess”.
February 14th, 2028: After a four years of successful supersonic flight by the private business airline L'Atlantique, Boeing officially unveils its supersonic transport to capture demand from international airlines. The aircraft, dubbed the Boeing SST-8, is expected to fly by 2034 and ushered into commercial service with launch customer Intercontinental Air Lines by 2035.
April 1st, 2028: Famed British writer J.K. Rowling reveals, in an interview with The Guardian, that she is working on writing a Harry Potter encyclopedia, which will “include a copy of The History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot.” While some fans believe this to be a terrible April Fool's Day joke, Rowling confirms her comments a few days later.
April 5th, 2028: All Nippon Spacecraft (ANS) begins selling tickets for space tours to the moon, scheduled to begin from 2035.
April 16th, 2028: Southwest Airlines shocks the financial world by acquiring a 60% stake in Intercontinental Air Lines, the United States' most prominent international airline. This gives Southwest a lucrative gateway to the global travel market, and Intercontinental a strategic domestic source of passengers to feed its international flights.
May 2nd, 2028: Sony announces that the production of DVD-Players is going to be discontinued on January 1st, 2030. Samsung, Apple, and Fuji-Toshiba follow suit.
June 8th, 2028: The Farm at Lake Michigan, a 73-story vertical farm in Chicago, is opened to the public. Capable of feeding 38,000 people year-round, the building is given LEED Platinum status for its many inovations. The $240 million building is mostly powered by a series of wind turbines, solid waste disposal and solar panels, draws its fresh water from both Lake Michigan and sewage greywater, combines hydroponics, drip irrigation, intensive farming and aquaponics, and employs over 500 people full-time to run. It also includes tours and a farmers market. The food grown will be distributed to nearby grocery stores at extremely low prices, given the lack of need for transport and the minmal chance of spoilage. It will cost only $2.1 million each year to run, and is projected to produce crops worth up to ten times that much.
August 9th-27th, 2028: The 2028 Summer Olympic Games are held in Chicago, USA. The tournament closes with the United States having won the most medals, followed by Russia.
October 13th, 2028: In baseball, the Chicago White Sox win the World Series.
November 20th, 2028: The New England Revolution win the Major League Soccer Cup over the Montreal Impact, 3-2.
December 8th, 2028: Fatih Nkwocha is nominated for the Nigerian men's national football team. But FIFA/CAS rules that she is no longer eligible because she has already played for the women's national team, which thus is viewed as a separate entity.
March 23rd, 2029: The monthlong 2029 World Baseball Classic closes in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Americans emerge as the champions for the first time, beating out Japan for the title. In third place are China, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are South Korea.
March 30th, 2029: Sociologists report that cigarette smoking is at an all time low in Western countries. Increasingly, the habit is viewed as dirty and “uncool”, while cigar and joint use rates have risen. Only 3.2% of Americans regularly smoke cigarettes, down from 20.8% in 2006. One state, Connecticut, has banned the smoking of cigarettes entirely, though it has not yet instituted a fine for use, only for importation.
April 15th, 2029: Prolific author (and later activist) Stephen King dies in his sleep, at the age of 79.
June 30th, 2029: Japanese-Brazilian baseball players and twin brothers Luiz and Paolo Gushiken are traded from the Fukuoka Hawks of the Nippon Professional League to the Atlanta Braves of American Major League Baseball. Luiz, a versatile shortstop, and Paolo, a pitcher, are the first Brazilians to play in the MLB. The trade sparks considerable interest in baseball in Brazil. The two young men led their Fukuoka Hawks to the 2028 Championship in Japan.
July 12th, 2029: 32 year-old Indian writer Kumaraswamy Pulavar publishes his first novel, The Moon Outshines the Stars. The novel is unique in that there are three variants, all written by the author, in Tamil, English, and Hindi. Pulavar is fluent in seven languages, and sets to work writing the novel in the other four; Bengali, Farsi, French, and Russian. This multi-lingual process becomes a trademark of Pulavar, and provides endless fodder for critics as they compare wording. The Moon Outshines the Stars quickly becomes India's best-selling book of all time, surpassing the Harry Potter series.
July 29th, 2029: With the entire baseball world holding its breath, Portland Athletics third baseman Ryan Timmons hits in his 57th consecutive game, breaking Joe Dimaggio's “unbreakable” record, with a walk off single in the 9th against the Boston Red Sox. His streak would later stop at 61 games.
October 1st, 2029: Far West Theater, an animation group, launches a new website, styled similarly to the recent successes of internet series sites. It quickly becomes one of the largest websites on the internet.
October 12th, 2029: In baseball, the San Diego Padres win the World Series.
November 3rd, 2029: The Moon Outshines the Stars, by Kumaraswamy Pulavar, is released in the United States and the UK. It becomes a runaway hit, and marks the beginning of large-scale cultural export from India to the Western World.
November 17th, 2029: Toronto FC wins the Major League Soccer Cup over the New England Revolution, 2-0.
December 31st, 2029: The last DVD players are produced. The discs will remain available for years to come. At the same time, the successor to the GVD, called SCD (Super Capacity Disc) and being able to store (at least theoretically) up to 20 PB, is released.
February 9th, 2030: The XXVI Winter Olympiad opens in Astana, Kazakhstan; Almaty acts as co-host.
May 5th, 2030: HydroFuel Solutions is formed as a holding company for the majority stake the Carson family has in Carson Fuel Incorporated and soon also holds major stakes in a few other small time fuel cell station companies. HydroFuel Solutions begins to develop a monopoly on fuel cell stations in the United States.
July 5th, 2030: The twenty-fourth FIFA World Cup concludes in Australia. France wins the championship over Italy, 3-1. An estimated 775 million people watch the final.
October 18th, 2030: In baseball, the Las Vegas Gamblers win the World Series.
November 6th, 2030: Eight years after the end of The Daily Show, Station Prime launches their own website, with its main show being a political satire show in a similar style.
November 9th, 2030: The Philadelphia Union win the Major League Soccer Cup over the New York Red Bulls, 1-0.
January 1, 2031: The popular birthday song “Happy Birthday To You” finally passes out of copyright in the US. For years, TV shows and moves had avoided using the song due to the fact that the music company Warnell/Chappel had asked for steep royalties to perform it. To celebrate, several popular shows made episodes with main characters birthdays being the main plot point. Privately, the creative minds behind television and the Internet express relief and joy that they are now free to use the song without “For He's a Jolly Good Fellow” as a substitute for it.
February 1st, 2031: Polio is declared eradicated by the United Nations Health Office, making it the third disease after smallpox and rinderpest to be wiped out. The last cases affected a village in Timor-Leste in 2028.
February 14th, 2031: Dr. Zdenek Dvorak of the University of Berlin announces the deciphering of the hitherto unknown alphabet of the ancient Minoans, Linear A. The ancient language of the Minoans is discovered to be related to ancient Etruscan.
July 1st, 2031: J.K. Rowling releases her weighty Harry Potter encyclopedia, entitled The Encyclopedia of Magic. Containing over 3000 entries and coming in at a hefty 890 pages, the Encyclopedia nonetheless goes on to sell over 5 million copies in the next year. It is credited with sparking a new generation of Harry Potter reading, as sales of those seven books rise considerably over the next few years.
September 20th, 2031: The last of the major internet entertainment groups, Awesome Network, is launched after a merger of several different internet entertainment websites, including the now classic Channel Awesome.
October 17th, 2031: In baseball, the Atlanta Braves win the World Series. The team's star pitcher and batter, Luiz and Paolo Gushiken, Japanese-Brazilian twin brothers, have generated a large following in Brazil. Luiz Gushiken is named Most Valuable Player, and finishes the season with an ERA of 1.98, the lowest since Roger Clemens in 2005.
November 16th, 2031: The Seattle Sounders FC win the Major League Soccer Cup over C.D. Chivas USA, 2-1.
December 1st, 2031: Major League Baseball Commissioner Jon Daniels announces a major expansion of the league. Beginning in the 2033 season, three teams will be based in Mexico. The Monterrey Sultans and Mexicali Vaqueros will join the National League, while the Mexico City Devils will become an American League Team. Daniels says that he is “very excited” about the prospects for baseball in Mexico, and says that MLB, along with private investors, will put forward over $200 million to upgrade and expand the three Mexican ballparks.
July 29th-August 14th, 2032: The 2032 Summer Olympic Games are held in Paris, France. The tournament closes with the United States having won the most medals, followed by France.
October 19th, 2032: In baseball, the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.
October 22nd, 2032: Cardinal Shelton J. Fabre (b. 25 Oct 1963) the Louisiana-born former Bishop of New Orleans is elected to the papacy on the sixth ballot. He assumes the regnal name Pope John XXIV.
November 23rd, 2032: D.C. United wins the Major League Soccer Cup over Real Salt Lake, 3-1.
March 26th, 2033: The monthlong 2033 World Baseball Classic closes in Seattle, Washington. South Korea emerge as the champions, beating out Japan for the title. In third place are America, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are Cuba.
April 1st, 2033: The Monterrey Sultans lose 6-2 at home to the St. Louis Cardinals in the first MLB game played on Mexican soil. The Sultans are part of a three-team MLB expansion to Mexico, which also includes the Mexico City Devils and the Mexicali Vaqueros.
April 30th, 2033: Prominent atheist, evolutionary biologist, and critic of religion Richard Dawkins passes away at the age of 92. Although his death is celebrated (or at the very least, privately smiled at) by many evangelical Christians, atheists are saddened by the lost of their most prominent representative. Although his legacy will be controversial and a hot topic for debate, he is ultimately recognized as a successful biologist by the scientific community.
May 10th, 2033: Reports indicate increasing numbers of American couples traveling to countries in Europe and Southeast Asia seeking designer children. The babies of the child architect industry are referred to as “scions”, portrayed as the advent of a “perfect” human race, in the U.S. and Europe.
October 8th, 2033: The Monterrey Sultans are eliminated from the playoffs in the National League Division Series, losing the 5-game set to the Chicago Cubs 3-2. The Sultans were profitable in their first MLB season, although their companion Mexican teams, the Mexico City Devils and the Mexicali Vaqueros lost money.
October 17th, 2033: In baseball, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.
November 21st, 2033: The Chicago Fire win the Major League Soccer Cup over Real Salt Lake, 7-0.
February 5th, 2034: the XXVII Winter Olympiad opens in Quebec City, Canada.
July 15th, 2034: Boeing's first supersonic aircraft, the SST-8 “Slipstream”, embarks on its first flight from the company's main production facility at Paine Field near Everett, WA. The Slipstream carries 230 passengers in a three-class configuration, cruising at an altitude of 50,000 feet at speeds of Mach 2.1, slightly faster than the Concorde nearly fifty years previously.
July 20th, 2034: The twenty-fifth FIFA World Cup concludes in the United States of America. Brazil wins the championship 1-0 over defending champions France. The American team placed third, an unexpected but unsurprising showing. Football in America has steadily been growing more popular, and Major League Soccer is well-established as one of the “Big Five” major leagues in America. An estimated 810 million people watch the final match.
July 30th, 2034: American actress Anna Kendrick stars in the film Miracle of Death, about Amanda Adamsson, a woman who joined SOUL and planned several bombings in the 2010s. Adamsson later informed on R.SOUL for the FBI and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. She committed suicide in 2026. The film is a major box-office success.
October 13th, 2034: In baseball, the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.
November 14th, 2034: The Helena Hunters win the Major League Soccer Cup over the Houston Dynamo, 2-1.
November 28th, 2034:A new poll released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveals that 35% of Americans self-identify as non-religious, up from 30% in 2022. Of that 35%, 8% identify as atheists, 10% identify as agnostic, and the remaining 17% are not classified by any (non)belief. Based on current trends, Pew predicts that the United States may become a majority non-religious nation by 2065. This announcement comes as a surprise to many Americans, given America's strong religious history. One of the main factors is the increasing use of technology in people's everyday lives, which has caused many to abandon organized religion in favor of spirituality, New Age beliefs, or atheism/agnosticism. In addition, far-right Christian fundamentalist terrorism caused a sharp decline in religious adherence throughout the nation in the 2010s and 2020s. This trend shocks many social conservatives and evangelicals, already fearful that the religious identity of the USA has been fundamentally altered since 2001.
February 20th, 2035: Brazilian musicians Elia Lobo, Marlos Nobre, and Maysa Monjardim form the band El Aleatorios (The Randoms) in Maceió, Brazil. Inspired by earlier styles like Occidental and bossa nova music, the group quickly becomes a hit in the Maceió club scene.
May 13th, 2035: Beatle Paul McCartney dies peacefully at the age of 92 in his home surrounded by his loved ones. His last words were reported to be “Linda…John…George…How I've missed you…”
September 18th, 2035: The DigiGlasses Alpha is released by Microsoft. The glasses operate by utilizing the lenses of glasses to serve as a monitor, and they have the computing power of a 2010s era tablet computer.
October 18th, 2035: In baseball, the Minnesota Twins win the World Series.
November 19th, 2035: The win the Major League Soccer Cup over the San Jose Earthquakes, 3-1.
July 11th, 2036: An article in Rolling Stone notes the growing popularity of “mamba” music, which uses African drums and rhythms in a Western pop setting. The best known group are The Black Snakes, an American group originally from Chicago, Illinois.
August 11th-29th, 2036: The 2036 Summer Olympic Games are held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The tournament closes with China having won the most medals, followed by the United States.
October 15th, 2036: In baseball, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.
November 2nd, 2036: After a year's worth of delays related to design flaws, the Boeing SST-8 Slipstream enters commercial service with launch customer Intercontinental Air Lines between San Francisco and Beijing. The flight is an immediate success, and the airline exercises its purchase options, calling for a fleet of forty planes within five years. Competitors Airbus of Europe, Bombardier of Canada, and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) announce plans for their own supersonic designs.
January 1, 2037: After heavy lobbying by the tech industry and internet freedom advocates, the US Congress passes the Intellectual Property Reform Act (IPRA), which reduces copyright term to the classical 28 years, as originally outlined in the Copyright Act of 1790. In addition, the act declares all intellectual property to be jointly owned by the public and the rights holder, and reduces copyright restrictions in the context of the Digital Age. The most popular portion of the bill is the section repealing the infamous Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). As the Millennial Generation grew up, copyright was viewed as a hindrance and annoyance rather than a help, and the calls to reform it ultimately outweighed the lobbying from the remnants of the entertainment industry.
March 1st, 2037: At the Detroit Auto Show, the Ford Motor Company reveals the first automobile fitted with the automatic piloting system, dubbed “Smart Wheels”. The feature quickly becomes a success, and rival companies enable the rapid spread of the technology across the US.
March 29th, 2037: The monthlong 2037 World Baseball Classic closes in Chicago, Illinois. The Americans emerge as the champions, beating out Colombia for the title. In third place are the Dominicans, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are the Netherlands. The Netherlands' strong showing is the highest placement ever for a European team.
July 18th, 2037: Encoders, a science fiction action movie starring Lucas Kite, Alex Anderson, and Sophia Lewis is released. Inspired by Japanese mecha anime and science fiction TV shows of the 2000s, the movie is incredibly successful at the box office. 2037, because of this movie and several other releases, is regarded as the end of the “Dark Age of Sci-Fi”.
August 11th, 2037: J.K. Rowling releases the novel Paper Days, her first book aimed solely at adults. Critically acclaimed, the novel nevertheless fails to meet sales expectations.
October 13th, 2037: In baseball, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the second year in a row.
October 20th, 2037: Effective for the 2046 FIFA World Cup, which is awarded to the Union State, the cup is extended to 64 teams. It will be eight groups of eight, of which four advance (and not sixteen groups of four).
November 18th, 2037: Obael, a long running science fiction internet series, is launched. It will continue to 2050.
January 1st, 2038: By this point, HydroFuel Solutions controls 61% of all hydrogen fuel stations in the country.
January 2nd, 2038: As midfielder Lassana Touré (Bayern Munich) is severely injured, they buy Shinobu Sawa from FC Utrecht. She is the first woman on their team.
February 7th, 2038: The XXVIII Winter Olympiad opens in Malmo, Sweden.
March 13th, 2038: The US Department of Justice files suit against HydroFuel Solutions as being in restraint of free trade and commerce.
*March 19, 2038: Two years after a Supreme Court ruling legalized online piracy in the United States, the European Parliament passes the Filesharing Legalization and Copyright Reform Act, which legalizes non-profit piracy and retroactively reduces copyright terms to 28 years from publication. Polls show 73% of European citizens support the move.
*July 6th, 2038: The twenty-sixth FIFA World Cup concludes in England. The USA wins the tournament 2-1 over Poland, marking America's first victory in the World Cup. The final match draws in over 112 million American viewers, making it one of the most-watched telecasts of all time in the United States. Across the world, an estimated 900 million people watch the World Cup. After their win and Captain James J. Gonzalez received the trophy, FIFA President Mogogi Moatihaping (Lesotho) unveils a new FIFA World Cup Trophy. The new model resembles the trophy that was lost before the 1966 Tournament. October 7th, 2038: San Marino wins 1-0 against Germany in what will later be known as the “Schmach von Mönchengladbach” (Mönchengladbach Scandal). October 14th, 2038: In baseball, the Minnesota Twins win the World Series. —- March 4th 2039: 'Game Change' and an HBO miniseries about the 2008 US presidential election is released. April 28, 2039: Performing under the stage name Diana Middleton, H.R.H Princess Diana of Great Britain releases her first jazz album titled Kensington Nights with her group, the Kensington Big Band. Skeptical critics are prepared to pan the offering as the work of a royal dilettante but are pleasantly surprised at the freshness of the arrangements and sheer virtuosity of the performers. Performing mid-20th Century jazz standards, the group reinterprets them using mid-21st Century sonorities and the result is eminently listenable. April 30th, 2039: Ringo Starr, the last surviving Beatle, passes away at the age of 98. May 28th, 2039: Gonzaguinha, the second studio album by Brazilian band El Aleatorios, is released. Downloaded more than 12 million times in the first two weeks of its release, Gonzaguinha is the best-selling album of the last twenty years in Brazil. El Aleatorios announce that they intend to go on a concert tour of the Americas in the summer, showcasing their unique music. Rolling Stone magazine, in a review of the album, coins the term Oeste Brasileiro to describe it, meaning Brazilian Occidental. Several other bands and singers have mimicked the oeste style. June-July, 2039: The Ricketts family, which owns the Chicago Cubs, makes plans to tear down Wrigley Field and move to the western suburb of Libertyville, citing “irreversible structural damage and wear”. A massive outcry results from fans, building preservationists, and Wrigleyville business owners. After consideration, the Ricketts family abandons its plan and instead invests $80 million in an extensive renovation plan. The plan rebuilds the bleachers according the original plan (while keeping the classic scoreboard) and replaces the upper section on the left-hand side. June 22, 2039: On the heels of Europe and the United States, Canada passes the Copyright Act, which reduces copyright terms to 28 years from publication and legalizes non-profit filesharing. October 17th, 2039: In baseball, the New York Yankees win the World Series. —- January 1st, 2040: The worldwide life expectancy for developed nations surpasses 90 years for the first time in history. New medical technologies, assisted greatly by effective long-chain protein modeling have allowed for great improvements in the lifespan and quality of life of those past the age of 60 in the last 20 years. Life expectancy in the developing world remains decades below that of the the developed world. June 25th, 2040: In United States vs. HydroFuel Solutions, the Supreme Court of the United States rules 6-3 against HydroFuel Solutions. However, the SCotUS justifies the ruling on the grounds of the Public Utility Holding Company Act, that HydroFuel Solutions, as a provider of electricity, a dealer with many public transport groups, and a part of the transport infrastructure, is to be broken up into regional affiliates due to HydroFuel's status as a holding company of public utilities in the Court's ruling. August 3rd - 19th, 2040: The 2040 Summer Olympic Games are held in Chennai, India. The tournament closes with India having won the most medals, followed by the United States. October 19th, 2040: In baseball, the Cleveland Indians win the World Series. —- January 1st, 2041: The beginning of the Halcyon Age, a time of relative peace and significant scientific and technological advancements in the developed world, at the same time “scions” begin emerging in society. Typically viewed as 2041-2057. For the first time ever, the highest annually grossing movie in America is not an American film. Maybe Someday, an Indian romantic comedy set in India, the UK, and the US grosses $612 million in the North American market. March 18th, 2041: In the match of Energie Cottbus against 1. FC Union Berlin, Energie Cottbus fields 6 women and 5 men, thus making it the first top-flight (Bundesliga) game in which one team plays with a majority of women. March 20th, 2041: The monthlong 2041 World Baseball Classic closes in Havana, Cuba. Thailand emerges as the surprising champions, beating out Cuba for the title. Thailand owes much of its success to its star Suruchai Suksomkit, who plays for the Hawaii Islanders. In third place are the Americans, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are Japan. May 1st, 2041: J.K. Rowling releases The Compendium, a fiction novel focusing on a small town in Scotland. Written for adults, the book sells excellently and is critically well-received. August 5-7th, 2041: The 50th annual Lollapalooza music festival occurs in Grant Park, Chicago, USA. Headlined by Keys, Annie Alanda, and The Black Snakes, the massive event draws approximately seven hundred thousand spectators. August 30th, 2041: At the 2041 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, Princess Philippa meets Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein, the eldest child and heir of Reigning Prince Alois of Liechtenstein and his wife Princess Sophie. Although twenty years her senior (b. 24 May 1995 in London), and carrying the reputation of a playboy, the princess falls hard for the 46 year old prince. October 13th, 2041: In baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks win the World Series. December 25th, 2041: On Christmas Day, Maysa Monjardim, the lead singer of Brazilian band El Aleatorios, marries her bandmate Marlos Nobre. The wedding, a huge spectacle for the Brazilian media, costs 40 million reals, and has over three thousand guests. —- February 8th, 2042: The XXIX Winter Olympiad opens in Harbin, United Provinces of China. April 1st, 2042: Brazilian band El Aleatorios releases their third album, entitled Braguinha. The band also announces that they will tour worldwide in fall 2042, and then no longer perform live; guaranteeing that tickets to their shows are sold out almost immediately. Braguinha, meanwhile, is downloaded 40 million times in April, and reaches #10 on the American downloads list, the highest ever for a Brazilian band. July 21st, 2042: The twenty-seventh FIFA World Cup concludes in Nigeria, marking the second time the World Cup is held in Africa (after South Africa 2010). Nigeria wins the championship 3-1 over Germany. The Nigerian President, John Amarafa, declares July 21st a national holiday, and over seven million Nigerians take part in the victory parade in Lagos on the 25th. An estimated 865 million people watch the final match. August 5th, 2042: The United Nations Health Office declares that malaria has been fully eradicated, making it the fourth disease made extinct by humans. The last known case killed 3-year old Thomas Nlolo in 2039. September 30th, 2042: The Pittsburgh Pirates secure the best record in the NL with a 100-62 record. Rookie Pirate pitcher Jay Kelvin will win the NL Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young for going 22-6 with a 2.98 ERA and 201 K's. October 26th, 2042: The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago White Sox to win the World Series for the first time in 63 years. They had broken their play off drought in 2015, but even with three NL championships in a total of 10 play-off appearances since then it took until 2042 to win a World Series. November 3rd, 2042: A Scientific American article discusses the rise of “vertical farming” - urban skyscrapers which grow food for the city they're in. There are now more than 80 large vertical farms worldwide, including 6 in Chicago, which led the way with The Farm at Lake Michigan in 2028. 12 more are under construction across the world, and many cities are planning to incorporate vertical farming into their long-term strategic planning. December 29th, 2042: In a joint press conference, baseball players and twin brothers Luiz and Paolo Gushiken announce their retirements and return to Brazil, their home country. The two intend to help found a professional league in Brazil. Interest in baseball has picked up across Brazil in recent years, largely due to the stellar careers and large followings of the Gushiken brothers. A recent Folha de S.Paulo newspaper article noted that over 500,000 young Brazilians play in youth leagues across the country. Brazilians frequently play a modified version of the game, called Brazilian ball or beisebol. Major features of beisebol include only seven innings, shorter bases, and a denser ball, which allows for faster pitches for more muscular throwers. —- March 8, 2043: Tanya Banilov (b. 1919), believed to be the oldest living person in the world, dies at the astounding age of 133 years. Medical professionals attribute her longevity to a mixture of genetics and her own healthy lifestyle: she was a veteran of World War II (AKA The Great Patriotic War) and a factory worker during the Soviet era. Incidentally, she is also the last living Soviet veteran of World War II, and her body is laid to rest in a specially constructed tomb in Red Square after a state funeral. April 2nd, 2043: 21 year old power hitting phenom Brian Pollard makes his MLB debut with the Portland Athletics. He ends his rookie year with a .273 average and 150 K's, but hits 36 home runs, good enough for 3rd in the league and to win the AL Rookie of the Year. It is the beginning of a long, successful career. June 8th, 2043: A special feature is published in Sports Illustrated entitled “Ten Years of Mexican Baseball”. The article discusses the fortunes of the three Mexican expansion teams (the Mexico City Devils, the Mexicali Vaqueros, and the Monterrey Sultans). All three have become profitable, and Monterrey has reached an average attendance of 34,000 fans. Despite the fact that only 20% of Mexicans describe themselves as baseball fans, the three teams have been able to cultivate a loyal fanbase in their hometowns. The Vaqueros have developed an intense rivalry with the San Diego Padres, who play in the same division. August 1st, 2043: The city of Los Angeles announces an ambitious plan to install navigation systems on all city streets to assist with the growing number of automatic piloting vehicles in the US. September 29th, 2043: The Pittsburgh Pirates win their second consecutive NL Central berth and for the second season have the best record in the NL, going 102-60. October 5th, 2043: A new form of media is opened up with the release of the DigiGlasses Gamma, by Microsoft. With the power of the glasses now dramatically increased over the 8 years since the development cycle began, the spectacles are now able to process realistic environments. Soon after their release, a program that allows interactive ability with these processed environments. The technology reportedly was first developed by the United States Military in the 2030s. Some call these programs “virtual reality”, but the news media, having long forgotten the dreams of the 1990s, call them “interactives”. The name sticks. October 28th, 2043: In baseball, the Kansas City Royals win the World Series, beating the repeat attempting Pittsburgh Pirates in 5 games. The Pirates are utterly dominated as their offense falls apart from the stress of a 5 game NLDS and a 7 game NLCS. —- January 20th, 2044: The second book in J.K. Rowling's Compendium series, entitled The Assortment, is released. Selling over 10 million copies in its first week, the book cements Rowling's reputation as one of the greatest writers of the last fifty years. Reviewers note that her writing style has improved dramatically in quality from the first of her Harry Potter stories, while “her ability to conjure up enthralling stories remains unparalleled.” July 31st-August 15th, 2044: The 2044 Summer Olympic Games are held in Tokyo, Japan. The tournament closes with China having won the most medals, followed by the United States. September 1st, 2044: The Conferência de Beisebol do Brasil (CBB), Brazil's first professional baseball league plays its first game. The Sao Paolo Caçadores win over the Brasilia Senadores, 8-2. The Conferência plays by a Brazilian variant of the game, known as beisebol.The CBB was founded by former MLB stars Luiz and Paolo Gushiken, Japanese-Brazilian twin-brothers. With eight teams across Brazil, the CBB is indicative of baseball's growing popularity in the country. While commentators agree that baseball will never replace football as the most popular sport, it has settled into a comfortable niche and is the second most-watched sport in Brazil. September 23rd, 2044: The documentary Renegado, Sin Fronteras (Es. Renegade, Without Borders) hit North American theaters to wide acclaim. Directed by Tess Cuarón, the daughter of famed Mexican film director Alfonso Cuarón, the film follows Mexican President-elect Hiram Romney's climb to victory through the 2044 presidential campaign, illustrating him as a candidate for change running against the decrepit PRI and the PAN's conservative elites, as well as his appeal to everyday Mexicans despite his Anglo-Saxon and Mormon heritage. The film does well on opening weekend, especially in the United States, where the Mexican elections were enthusiastically followed there due to Hiram Romney's association to one of the US's own former presidents. October 28th, 2044: In baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers win the World Series, beating the Minnesota Twins in a fierce 7 game series. The wild card Brewers had shocked the baseball world by sweeping the highly favored Pirates out of the NLCS to advance to the World Series on the strength of their powerhouse lineup. —- February 17th, 2045: The first major interactive, Camelot Rising, about an uprising of the undead during the time of King Arthur, is released in North America, Europe, India and the Far East. March 23rd, 2045: The monthlong 2045 World Baseball Classic closes in Monterrey, Mexico. Venezuela emerge as the champions, beating out Japan for the title. In third place are the Dominican Republic, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are Thailand. October 17th, 2045: The Pirates secure their third NL pennant in four years after a sweep of the San Diego Padres in the NLCS after going 105-57 in the Regular season. October 27th, 2045: In baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series against the AL Champion Seattle Mariners in 5 games. Pitcher Jay Kelvin wins World Series MVP for going 2-0, throwing 17 innings and only allowing two runs, along with throwing only the third post-season no hitter in baseball history and only the second one in the World Series. November 25th, 2045: Pittsburgh Pirate Jay Kelvin wins his 3rd NL Cy Young in 4 years after going 25-5 with a ridiculous 1.97 ERA and 311 K's. His dominate performance is said to start another golden age of pitching after the brief pitcher's age of the 2010's. December 5th, 2045: Celebrated Bollywood actor Aamir Khan dies at the age of eighty in Mumbai. He was the top-grossing Indian thespian of all time. Particularly of note were his 2009 film 3 Idiots and 2038 epic movie Chandragupta. —- January 31st, 2046: The XXX Winter Olympiad opens in Helsinki, Finland. July 5th, 2046: The twenty-eighth FIFA World Cup concludes in China/Mongolia. Brazil wins the championship 5-1 over the Netherlands. An estimated 910 million people watch the final worldwide. September 1st, 2046: By this time, virtually all vehicles in the United States are free of gasoline engines, with nearly 75% being fully electric. In much of Europe, especially the Federated European States, hydrogen fuel cell technology is becoming a reality as hydrogen fuel stations are being constructed en mass. September 3rd, 2046: Drummer Elia Lobo announces that he is leaving Brazilian band El Aleatorios, due to “irreconcilable differences” with his two bandmates. The remaining two, husband and wife Marlos Nobre and Maysa Monjardim, pledge to continue writing as El Aleatorios and to continue developing the oeste style. September 8th, 2046: Elia Lobo sues Marlos Nobre and Maysa Monjardim over their announcement that they will continue to function as El Aleatorios. The Brazilian band, the most popular in Latin America, had broken up five days earlier. Lobo claims the rights to the name and sought to prevent Nobre and Monjardim from using it, on the grounds that he had invented it, and that their financial contracts listed all three as band members. The suit causes a huge media frenzy in Brazil. September 10th, 2046: Interactives are described as “ultra video games” by Declan Martinez, a former video game developer. October 19th, 2046: In a stunning turn of events, the Pittsburgh Pirates lose the NLCS to the Chicago Cubs in a dramatic Game 7 that ends with the team blowing a 5 run lead at home in the last two innings to force extra innings, where the Cubs then gain a 4 run lead in the 13th on a grand slam. The loss is considered the end of the Pirates dynasty that dominated the NL for 5 seasons. October 27th, 2046: In baseball, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series, beating the AL Champion Boston Red Sox in 5 games. The series went to extra innings 3 times, ending in the 10th, 12th, and 14th innings in Games 1, 3, and 4 respectively. December 20th, 2046: The dispute concerning naming rights for Brazilian band El Aleatorios is settled out of court. Elia Lobo, the former drummer for the band, had sued to prevent the remaining two members from using the band name. In the settlement, Lobo agrees to allow Nobre and Monjardim to use the name, provided he receives royalties from all downloads, both past and future. —- April 3rd, 2047: Washington National lefty pitcher Zach Barnett pitches a perfect game, only the 22nd perfect game of the modern era, on Opening day to start the National's season, a good omen of the season to come. While Barnett would play in Washington for only 4 years and have pedestrian numbers, the perfect game would earn him a place in National's lore. June 7th, 2047: The American-born Pope John XXIV (b. 25 Oct 1963) dies at Castel Gandolfo from diabetic complications. July 25th, 2047: Chosen as Pope on the 18th ballot by his fellow Cardinals, Joao Luis de Silva, Cardinal Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro (b. 15 September 1995) succeeds to the see of St. Peter with the regnal name of Alexander IX. July 30th, 2047: For the first time, Brazil's professional baseball league, the Conferência de Beisebol do Brasil, reports a profit. The CBB intends to expands to twelve teams from eight for the 2048-49 season. Brazil is now the third-biggest baseball country in the world, after the United States and Japan. Currently, there are eight Brazilian players in the MLB and eleven in the Nippon Professional League. August 14th, 2047: An Indian epic film, Hacha Ram, is released on the 100th anniversary of Indian independence. Starring the most notable Indian, Bangladeshi, and even Pakistani actors and actresses of the day, the film details the Indian independence movement and the First Indo-Pakistani war through a series of five connected stories. Over three hours long and eight years in the making, Hacha Ram becomes the highest-grossing film of all time in India. The film also performs admirably in the American, European, and African markets. October 19th, 2047: In baseball, the Washington Nationals win the World Series, beating the Seattle Mariners in 6 games. Nationals closer Jerry Long wins MVP honors for recording a win and 3 saves and allowing no runs in his 5 1/3 innings of work. —- January 1st, 2048: The production of GVD-players is discontinued. March 28th, 2049: The monthlong 2049 World Baseball Classic closes in Osaka, Japan. Japan emerge as the champions, beating out America for the title. In third place are the Chinese, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are the Europeans, making a strong run near the end of the tournament. May 8th, 2048: Bestselling British author J.K. Rowling dies at the age of 83 from cancer of the liver at her home in Dundee, Scotland. Her books have sold over 700 million copies, including the highest-selling book series of all time, the Harry Potter books. The third and final book in her Compendium series, called The Collection, is published posthumously and goes on to be a huge bestseller. Prime Minister Donovan calls her “one of the greatest Britons of our time.” August 10th-26th, 2048: The 2048 Summer Olympic Games are held in New York City, USA. The tournament closes with the United States having won the most medals, followed by India. September 30th, 2048: The New York Yankees make a final month push to make the playoffs after 10 consecutive seasons of no playoff appearances. The team goes 20-6 to finished the season, pushing aside the Tampa Bay Rays who had been dominating for the majority of the season. October 26th, 2048: In baseball, the New York Yankees win the World Series against the San Fransisco Giants in a 4 game sweep. November 4th, 2048: The Hope for Change, a humorous but informative bio-pic about former President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Barack Obama is released, directed by Tyler T. Sullivan and starring Jacob Waters. —- April 1st, 2049: Portland Athletic Brian Pollard smashes 3 home runs on opening day, including a grand slam. The game signals the start of the sluggers magnificent 2049 campaign. July 10th, 2049: At the All-Star break, Pollard has hit 35 home runs. Sports analysts around the country talk of him the first 60 home run season since 2001 and perhaps the first to not involve steroids since Roger Maris's season. September 1st, 2049: Brian Pollard wins AL Player of the Month for August after hitting 15 home runs and driving in 40 runs. His home run total now sits at 57 with a month left to the season. September 29th, 2049: On the last day of the regular season, Pollard has a two homer game. However, it is only enough to bring his season total to 69. Pollard is still seen by many though as the legitimate single season record holder for home runs, even though Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds had high totals. October 31st, 2049: In baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks win the World Series, beating the Detroit Tigers in 5 games. November 25th, 2049: Brian Pollard unanimously wins the AL MVP, recording all first place votes. Pollard hit .303/.412/.705 with 69 home runs, 40 doubles, 123 walks, 161 RBI's, 130 runs scored, and even found time to steal 12 bases. His 447 total bases is tied for third with Lou Gehrig for most in a season. December 2, 2049: H.R.H Princess Diana of Great Britain wins a Grammy Award for the title track of her fifth album, Buckingham Stomp. Music critic Lionel Daviess of the London Times states, “she stepped to the piano with all the decorum and grace of the royal that she is. But when she began to play, we were shocked to discover she’s in a league not seen since Hazel Scott, Marian McPartland and Diana Krall. This princess can swing!” —- February 1st, 2050: The XXXI Winter Olympiad opens in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. July 19th, 2050: The twenty-ninth FIFA World Cup concludes in France (Federated European States). England wins the title 2-0 over the defending champions, Brazil. An estimated 907 million people watch the final worldwide. October 30th, 2050: In baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series. —- July 7th, 2051: Pope Alexander IX issues a revolutionary bull making priestly celibacy completely voluntary. He also repudiates 19th Century Pope Pius IX’s doctrine of papal infallibility. This is seen as an attempt to reinvigorate a church which had steadily lost clergy and influence since the pedophile scandals of the early 21st century. Pope Alexander’s own country of Brazil had ceased being a Catholic-majority country in 2031 when Pentecostalism became dominant. Many traditionalist Catholics leave the Catholic Church and several schismatic organizations with their own popes are founded. October 25, 2051: Debut of the Holyrood Symphony, a symphonic work by H.R.H Princess Diana of Great Britain by the Orchestra of St. Martin-in-the-Fields directed by Sir Elrond Perrin. Compared to other jazz performers who successfully enjoyed dual careers in classical music such as Andre Previn and Wynton Marsalis, the performance is well-received. October 28th, 2051: In baseball, the New York Yankees win the World Series. —- August 8th-24th, 2052: The 2052 Summer Olympic Games are held in Nairobi, East African Federation, marking the first time the games have been held in Africa. The tournament closes with Russia having won the most medals, followed by the United States. August 20th, 2052: At the 2052 Summer Olympics in Nairobi, East African Federation, Nigerian Margaret Nwoga becomes the first woman to run the 100 meter dash in less than 10 seconds, winning gold with her 9.92 mark. October 26th, 2052: In baseball, the Honolulu Islanders win the World Series. —- January 1st, 2053: A 2076 Article on worldwidesci-fi.com pinpoints this date as the start of the '21st century science fiction revival'. Largely a result of renewed interest in space, the science fiction genre, which had largely been discarded in the early 21st century, made a very public comeback with many new internet series and interactives being works of science fiction. Science fiction would once again become fully mainstream in the 2070s during President Cavalier's term as President of the United States. March 28th, 2053: The monthlong 2053 World Baseball Classic closes in Houston, Texas. The Americans emerge as the champions, beating out Japan for the title. In third place are the Venezuelans, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are Brazil. June 19th, 2053: The DFL rules that scions are not eligible to play in the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, and 3. Liga, because they would be advantaged over “normal” footballers. October 7th, 2053: The Chemnitzer FC, in a game against Borussia Mönchengladbach, is the first men's football team to field eleven women. Most men in its squad were injured or banned at this time, but Didierinho (Ivory Coast) was brought into the game in the 70th minute. October 20th, 2053: In baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series. —- July 5th, 2054: The Lindsey Lohan Story, a semi-biographical drama of Lindsey Lohan's life, is released, covering her fall from grace to her tragic death in 2013. The film ends up being the highest grossing film of the year, earning $1.3 billion internationally, and went on to win several awards. The most notable award was Miranda Cosgrove's netting of Best Supporting Actor or Actress for her role as Lohan's fictional psychiatrist. Cosgrove had a successful career following iCarly's cancellation in 2015, focusing on successful, serious movies, and is increasingly being called the “Helen Mirren of the 21st Century”. July 18th, 2054: The thirtieth FIFA World Cup concludes in India/Bangladesh, marking the first time the World Cup has been held in the subcontinent. Argentina wins the title 3-2 over Germany (FES). An estimated 1 billion people watch the final match worldwide, making the game second most followed event in human history, after the moon landings. September 7th, 2054: In Cissé vs. Eintracht Frankfurt, the DFL rule of the previous year is overridden as unconstitutional. Cissé must be allowed to play. September 11th, 2054: Eintracht Frankfurt plays against Borussia Dortmund, and Moussa Cissé scores four goals. Dortmund fans whistle whenever he touches the ball, because they feel hard done by, both by Eintracht Frankfurt and the BVerfG. October 18th, 2054: In baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays win the World Series. —- January 31st, 2055: Borussia Dortmund takes revenge on Eintracht Frankfrut by fielding two scions, Carlos Kagelmacher and Emre Götze. October 11th, 2055: In baseball, the Atlanta Braves win the World Series. —- August 1st-17th, 2056: The The 2056 Summer Olympic Games are held in Warsaw, Poland, marking the first time the Summer Games have been held in Eastern Europe. The tournament closes with the United States having won the most medals, followed by China. October 13th, 2056: In baseball, the Detroit Tigers win the World Series. —- February 16th, 2057: Facebook co-founder and longtime CEO Mark Zuckerberg dies of a heart attack at the age of 73. A multi-billionaire, Zuckerberg pioneered several social networking technologies, including “virtual rooms” (where you can walk into a simulated room and talk with friends) and interlinked sites. At the time of his death, Facebook is the world's largest social network with about 30% market share, just ahead of Google Friends and Mirrors. March 20th, 2057: The monthlong 2057 World Baseball Classic closes in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Cuba emerge as the champions, beating out Brazil. for the title. In third place are the Dominican Republic, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are Haiti. October 24th, 2057: In baseball, the New York Mets win the World Series. —- July 13th, 2058: The thirty-first FIFA World Cup concludes in Germany (Federated European States), although some criticize the choice only eight years after the tournament was held in France. The Netherlands win the championship 9-8 over England. An estimated 990 million people watch the final match worldwide. October 23rd, 2058: In baseball, the Houston Astros win the World Series. —- August 17th, 2059: Atlanta Braves shortstop Rebecca Mitchell becomes the first women to play in Major League Baseball, breaking the gender barrier. In her first game she goes 2-4 with a stolen base, a run scored, and a RBI, while also making an outstanding diving grab to end the game. While baseball is not treated to the same influx of players that desegregation started, many female stars will develop in the coming decades. October 22nd, 2059: In baseball, the Cleveland Indians win the World Series. —- February 20th, 2060: The last episode of American television show The Simpsons is released. The show is the longest-running TV show of all time, ending in its 71st season. Running through several different voice actors for each character and nearly being canceled in 2014 and 2037, The Simpsons is an American staple. The final episode, entitled “The End”, depicts Springfield replacing its nuclear plant with a fusion plant. In the final scene, the fusion plant detonates due to Homer's error and the entire town is wiped clean in a massive nuclear explosion. The last thing heard is Homer saying “D'oh!” June 30th, 2060: The production of SCD-Players is discontinued. August 21st, 2060: While excavating a new cistern using a rented backhoe, Chicago resident Mohammed “Ed” Ayesha uncovers the entrance to a cavern which contains human remains. Israeli archaeologists are immediately called. November 3rd, 2060: In baseball, the Portland Athletics win the World Series. —- March 27th, 2061: The monthlong 2061 World Baseball Classic closes in Atlanta, Georgia. China emerge as the champions for the first time, beating out the Dominican Republic for the title. In third place are America, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are Cuba. October 30th, 2061: In baseball, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series. —- July 19th, 2062: The thirty-second FIFA World Cup concludes in Mexico; the second time Mexico has hosted the match. Argentina wins the championship 1-0 over Brazil. An estimated 990 million people watch the final match worldwide. October 29th, 2062: In baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series. —- October 18th, 2063: In baseball, the San Diego Padres win the World Series. —- October 23rd, 2064: In baseball, the San Francisco Giants win the World Series. —- March 30th, 2065: The monthlong 2065 World Baseball Classic closes in Amsterdam, FES. The Dominicans emerge as the champions, beating out America for the title. In third place are Japan, and rounding out the heap in fourth place are the Europeans. October 25th, 2065: In baseball, the Las Vegas Gamblers win the World Series. —- February 11th, 2066: Karen Travis writes her final book, and the last book in her Star Wars series. To the disappointment of her core followers, she announces her retirement shortly after. February 21st, 2066: The Atlanta Falcons Defeat the Portland Meadowlarks 38-13 in Super Bowl C at Robert Kraft Field in Brockton, MA to Win the 5th NFL Championship in Team History. July 31st, 2066: The thirty-third FIFA World Cup concludes in Argentina. Argentina wins the title in a thrilling 2-1 match over Cote d'Ivoire. Across the world, approximately 1.02 billion people watch the final match. — April 19th, 2068: The Farm At Lake Michigan, one of the world's first urban vertical farms, is given a $65 million upgrade, as many of its features have become outdated in the 40 years of its existence. Its LEED status is subsequently restored to Platinum. Following these refits, the building is capable of feeding 60,000 people and is entirely self-powered. June 24th, 2068: After over 40 years off the air, British science fiction show Doctor Who is revived as a reboot. The re-imagined series is a co-production between the BBC, Indian-based internet entertainment production company Bombay Online, and Far East-based internet entertainment production company Bakeneko. The Doctor Who internet series is the main focus of the new BBC Online Entertainment division. The reboot is influenced heavily by Indian, Chinese, and Japanese sources, and the global nature of the entertainment industry leads to many fans of the classic series (2005-2023) criticizing the show for being “considerably less British” and “much more global”. However, most professional critics will cite the worldly nature of the internet reboot as being a positive thing, and the new Doctor Who is seen positively by most. Even most classic Who fans eventually warm up to the series. Starring Lewis T. Winter, Kai Patel and Sophie Davis. August 8th, 2068: At the 2068 Summer Olympics in Jakarta, Indonesia, American Cyrus Francis becomes the first human being to run the 100 meter dash in less than 9 seconds, winning gold with his 8.97 mark. —- May 5, 2070: Balmoral Dawn: A Tone Poem composed by H.R.H. Princess Diana of Great Britain is debuted by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra directed by Zdenek von Schwarzenburg with the composer present. The princess and the eminent conductor hit it off and marry the next year. —- June 2, 2074: Coronation of Queen Philippa of Great Britain. Premiere performance of St. Edward’s Crown, new coronation music by H.R.H Princess Diana of Great Britain. Asked why she composed it, she replied, “I was totally sick of the standard Sir William Walton and Benjamin Britten stuff.” —- ==== Navigation ==== Progress, Decline and Hope**