As a sign of the times we live in, it is hard to ride around these days without seeing signs in front of restaurants, service establishments and other types of businesses seeking applicants for immediate employment for all shifts.

On Oct. 4, 1957, a polished-metal sphere 2 feet in diameter with four antennae was launched by the Soviet Union into a low elliptical Earth orbit. It was called Sputnik I, and it became the planet’s first artificial satellite.

During my decades in business-to-business publishing, I have borne sad witness to the gradual export of this country’s manufacturing sector and its many jobs to overseas sources.

Any student of world history can tell you that the concept of democracy is handed down to us by the culture and governance of ancient Greece. The word democracy is derived from two Greek words: “demos,” or people; and “kratos,” or rule.

Mask-wearing showed up a little late in the strategy to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus but has since caught on. Presently, masks have become more the norm than the exception, and many states, cities and towns across the country have been advised or ordered to wear them in public.

Only 10 weeks have passed since I wrote my last column in mid-March, but the world has changed so much that it seems a lifetime ago. The phrase “going viral” has gone full-circle and come back to its original and more literal meaning.

My last column in February targeted some politico/economic factors that could affect the global and domestic forging industry through 2020. What wasn’t on that list was any mention of COVID-19, the virus-induced petroleum price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the U.S. stock exchanges plummeting toward the earth’s molten core.

With the new year freshly underway, it seems a good time to gaze in the crystal ball and consider what trends will likely impact the climate for manufacturing in the U.S. and abroad during this year.

According to Wikipedia, in 1982 Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh installed a Coke machine in one of its buildings.

On March 16, 1926, Professor Robert H. Goddard was scurrying around a snow-covered field in Worcester, Mass. He was preparing to ignite a small rocket assembly mounted on a metal-framed “launch pad.”