FREE WHITEWATER

Monthly Archives: January 2011

City, Crime, Police

Authorities investigating Whitewater bank robbery, bomb threat

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Officers responded to a robbery at about 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Westside branch of Whitewater Commercial Bank, which is located at Sentry Foods at 1260 W. Main St., Whitewater, a news release from the Whitewater Police Department said.

The suspect reportedly was carrying a brown paper grocery bag and a computer bag containing two blue cylinders. During the incident, the suspect told a teller that the computer bag held a bomb, Whitewater police reported.

The suspect took an undisclosed amount of cash from a teller and fled through an east exit at the grocery store.

Via “Authorities investigating Whitewater bank robbery, bomb threat” by Latest News — GazetteXtra.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-17-11

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s forecast calls for a snowy day, with an estimated accumulation of one to three inches, and a high temperature of thirty-one degrees.

The Consumer Electronic Show’s finished now, and that extravaganza showcased note merely new devices, but new ones that use old technology. An example would be a turntable from TDK. Someone with LP records could still play them on the turntable, and could convert them to mp3 files at the same time. (I don’t have an LPs, but for those who do, the turntable is an opportunity to play the old format, and covert it to something new.)



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Twitter

Recent Tweets 1-9 to 1-15

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As it should be – @js_newswatch: Georgia goes green & gold http://bit.ly/gzpIqS
15 Jan

Greatest story — in all the world — for 1/14/11: Fox Shoots Man – Yahoo! News http://yhoo.it/hk2GVz
15 Jan

Arizona Republic: Pima County sheriff should remember duty http://bit.ly/fDvrja He’s done more than enough grandstanding and speech-chilling
11 Jan

Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice « FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/gEBTTT
11 Jan

Holiday

Jan. 15, 1929: Birth of a Moral Compass, Even for Science

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Wired notes a famous birthday —

Martin Luther King Jr. is born. Though his work for civil rights and peace will become widely known, he will also deliver an important warning on the perils of technological amorality.

King delivered a lecture at the University of Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 11, 1964, the day after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. He argued that progress in science and technology has not been equaled by “moral progress” — instead, humanity is suffering from a “moral and spiritual lag.”

From King’s acceptance speech —

Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.

Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau1: “Improved means to an unimproved end”. This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual “lag” must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the “without” of man’s nature subjugates the “within”, dark storm clouds begin to form in the world.

This problem of spiritual and moral lag, which constitutes modern man’s chief dilemma, expresses itself in three larger problems which grow out of man’s ethical infantilism. Each of these problems, while appearing to be separate and isolated, is inextricably bound to the other. I refer to racial injustice, poverty, and war….

Via Jan. 15, 1929: Birth of a Moral Compass, Even for Science | This Day In Tech | Wired.com.

Cats

Friday Catblogging: So What’s in Purina Kitten Chow Anyway?

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Wired answers the question of What’s Inside: Purina Kitten Chow.

Here are the main ingredients: Biotin, Brewers Rice, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Animal Fat Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols, Fish Meal, Chicken ByProduct Meal, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Taurine, and Soy Flour.

The Wired story describes why each ingredient is included, and it’s well worth a cat lover’s time to see what’s part of his or her kitten’s diet.


Comment Forum, Music

Friday Comment Forum: Worst Song Ever

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Here’s the Friday open comments post.

Today’s suggested topic — The Canadians have banned a Dire Straits song. If you were going to ban a song — although I think banning’s a bad idea — what would you ban? Less intrusively, what song would you switch off the moment you heard it?

My pick —

Frosty the Snowman — I really dislike that song. I certainly wouldn’t ban it, as Sister Aloysius Beauvier would, but I don’t like it, as it’s just grating to me.

Think I’m wrong? Play this a few times — I dare you.



The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings is, of course, fine.

Although the comments template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.

I’ll keep the post open through Sunday afternoon. more >>

Freedom of Speech, Liberty, Music

Canada Bans Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” for Being Too Offensive

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I’m sure the song is offensive to many — but that’s no reason to ban it.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that Dire Straits’ 1980s hit Money for Nothing is too offensive for Canadian radio.

The ruling, released Wednesday, was in response to a complaint against St. John’s radio station CHOZ-FM. The listener complained that the word faggot – which appears three times in the song is “extremely offensive” to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

For those unfamiliar, here’s the song:



Via Canada Bans Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” for Being Too Offensive. No, I’m Not Kidding – Hit & Run : Reason Magazine. more >>

Economy

One Million Homes Repossessed in 2010

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For millions, 2010 was a difficult year.

Foreclosures were at a record high in 2010, and more than 1 million people lost their homes, even as notices started leveling off during the end year.

In total, there were nearly 2.9 million foreclosure notices filed during the year, according to report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. That was a record high, but just 1.7% above 2009.

The story notes that foreclosures would have been higher had lenders not reduced the number of notices toward the end of the year due to complaints about robo-signing.

What to think about this high number of foreclosures?  Megan McArdle thinks that it’s a complicated legal matter, and hard to assess.  Thomas Sowell thinks that bailing out homeowners is bad policy.

I’d say both are true: it is legally complicated, but except for the truly disadvantaged, bailing out homeowners is bad policy (and denies prospective buyers their chance for a home).  There’s also much demonizing of lenders in all this, when not all lenders are at fault for unlawful practices.

In most of these cases, especially for those borrowers with good incomes, this should be a matter between lender and borrower, without government intervention.

Via 1 million homes repossessed in 2010 – Jan. 13, 2011.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-14-11

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Good morning,

For today, the Whitewater’s forecast calls for a slight chance of flurries, with a high temperature of twenty-three.

In our schools, at Washington School, it’s Family Fitness Night, from 6-8 p.m, and at the Middle School it’s Activity Night from 7-9:30 p.m.

Over at Science News, there’s a post entitled, The write stuff for test anxiety:
Students score higher after jotting down worries before a big exam.

Psychologists Gerardo Ramirez and Sian Beilock, of the University of Chicago, contend that

High school and college students go from choking to smoking on big tests by writing about their exam fears beforehand, a new study suggests.

In what amounts to a Heimlich maneuver for choking under pressure, writing down test-related worries for 10 minutes before taking a major exam appears to dislodge those concerns and clear the way for higher achievement….

That’s intriguing, and contrary to a traditional view that holds that one should ignore one’s worries, and concentrate only on the subject matter. Beilock has a book on the topic of test anxiety: Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.

Here’s Beilock talking about her book —



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Science/Nature

Injured Turtle Gets Wheels To Walk

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According to MSNBC, she was brought into Israel’s Wildlife Hospital in the Ramat Gan Safari, near Tel Aviv, because she had been run over by a lawnmower. She sustained fractures in her shell that became infected….

Because of this, the veterinarians gave her a set of wheels. The turtle liked them so much that the prototype had to be replaced with a stronger set.

Via Huffington Post Injured Turtle Gets Wheels To Walk (VIDEO).