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Monthly Archives: February 2012

History, University, Wisconsin

On This Day in Wisconsin History: University of Wisconsin Opens

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Happy Birthday:

1849 – University of Wisconsin opens

On this day in 1849 the University of Wisconsin began with 20 students led by Professor John W. Sterling. The first class was organized as a preparatory school in the first department of the University: a department of science, literature, and the arts.

The university was initially housed at the Madison Female Academy building, which had been provided free of charge by the city. The course of study was English grammar; arithmetic; ancient and modern geography; elements of history; algebra; Caesar’s Commentaries; the Aeneid of Virgil (six books); Sallust; select orations of Cicero; Greek; the Anabasis of Xenophon; antiquities of Greece and Rome; penmanship, reading, composition and declamation.

Also offered were book-keeping, geometry, and surveying. Tuition was “twenty dollars per scholar, per annum.”

For a detailed recollection of early UW-Madison life, see the memoirs of Mrs. W.F. Allen [Source: History of the University of Wisconsin, Reuben Gold Thwaites, 1900]

Via Wisconsin Historical Society.

Drink, Recipe

The Michelada

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From the website that touted the Pickleback, comes the Michelada. The NYT’s Toby Cecchini describes it as “a cousin of the Bloody Mary, or a spiced-up version of a Midwestern staple, the Red Eye.” (For a more cautious take on the drink, see Eric Felten’s A Curious Treat From Down Mexico Way.)

There are several variations, but here’s one from Cecchini:

Use a pilsner or other tall beer or cocktail glass; a 20-ounce cooler or imperial pint works beautifully in that it allows for the ice, the additives and an entire 12-ounce bottle of beer. Cut a small lime wedge and use it to moisten the rim of the glass, then invert it onto a saucer of kosher salt, or salt mixed with chili powder. Fill the glass with as much or little ice as you wish. Then use whichever of the following ingredients fit your mood, pouring the beer in last. Do experiment with lavish versions compared to more stripped-down ones to see which you like best. Salud!

— Fresh lime juice, about an ounce, or one lime’s worth. I like to save the squeezed half-hull to cap the drink, to incorporate the aromatics of the oil into it as well.

— Maggi Seasoning

— Salsa picante (bottled hot sauce)

— Worcestershire sauce

— Soy sauce

— 1-3 ounces tomato juice

— Beer, 12 ounces.

Perhaps something to enjoy while watching today’s game.

Enjoy responsibly.

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 1.29 to 2.4

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Lance Armstrong Doping Investigation Dropped: Prosecutors Close Inquiry, No Charges Filed huff.to/yFeTDg

Utter disgrace: Milwaukee attorney banned from federal courts – bit.ly/z0SRf5

RT @js_watchdog: No Quarter: As governor, Thompson touted benefits of collective bargaining. Now, not so much. (bit.ly/A5YrmG)

Japanese govt expects population to shrink by one-third by 2060, 40% ttl over 65

Lasse campaign release on suspension of U.S. Senate campaign misspells hometown De Pere as ‘Depere’ bit.ly/xLjDC9

Local Government, Official Misconduct, Police

Update: The Dismissal of Palmyra’s Police Chief, Charles Warren

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An update to an earlier post on Palmyra’s dismissal of Police Chief Charles Warren: I withheld a comment on the matter (it was mostly fine, with one impediment), but I’d like to respond here to the contention that Warren and other officials should be accountable for their actions.

Yes, I agree; I simply don’t know enough about the charges to say whether dismissal was reasonable.

I do know how rare any action is, in any city, town, or village: most commissioners can’t image holding anyone accountable.

Leadership accountability doesn’t make a police force worse; it makes it better. Needless to say, a selfish leader is quick to conflate a single role with that of an entire department, or to insist that any criticism is an attack on all policing. Were such a defense valid, no politician could be impeached, or no principal fired, despite his or her conduct in office.

Weak leaders across Wisconsin surround themselves with commissioners who will shy from legitimate oversight that, in fact, makes for better leaders, supported field officers, and safer communities.

I may be unsure about particular circumstances in Palmyra, but I’ve no doubt about a general policy of leadership accountability.

Comment Forum

FW Comments Policy

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This site has now opened comments on almost all posts, including for anonymous or pseudonymous posters. Comments stay open for a few days after a post’s publication, and then close automatically.

That’s new; for the site’s first four years, there were no generally open comments, with the exception of a weekly post on most Fridays.

It seems reasonable to have a short, simple comments policy, and I have now published one.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 2.3.12

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Good morning.

It’s a day of dense fog, with a high of thirty-seven, for Whitewater. In San Diego, it will be a sunny Friday with a high of sixty-seven.

On this day from 1917, an example of mistakes of German foreign policy: “In 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.” So much better not to anger the United States.

If you’re still basking in the afterglow of Groundhog Day — and how could one not be? — the Wisconsin Historical Society has a page about the holiday that I missed yesterday, but to which I will readily link today.

Few people are missing the snow (I’m one of those few), but for those wondering, NASA offers answers about snow, snowfall, and (for some of us) the happy days of Snowmageddon 2010.

more >>

Libertarians, Politics, Presidential race 2012

The Tea Party’s Tepid Support for Ron Paul

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The Tea Party’s not even warm for Ron Paul, and CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield asks Dick Armey why that’s so. Armey doesn’t speak for every Tea Party group (Banfield’s introduction actually inflates his role within that movement).

Still, why?

Although I don’t think Paul’s libertarian enough, that shouldn’t stop the Tea Parties from favoring him over, say, Newt Gingrich on ideological grounds.

Reason’s Brian Doherty posits that this is because Tea Party supporters are not so libertarian, and that’s partly right.

They’re libertarian on some issues, conservative on others, and simply Republican on other matters. There’s no criticism implied; this assessment is descriptive, only. If they were very libertarian, they’d be libertarians (or even Libertarians).

But there’s a more practical reason, that likely separates Tea Party supporters from libertarians: Republicans and Democrats expect to win elections, and that’s part of the appeal of a major party. If many Tea Party members have traditionally voted for a major party (where both major parties win a good amount of the time), a true third-party position must seem impractical and unappealing.

Libertarians advocate to win, but routinely settle for being a political corrective to larger parties’ actions. I’d guess that Tea Party adherents are more accustomed to winning with a major party than Libertarians have ever been, and naturally like being part of a winning side.

That goal is hard to relinquish.