For those who are grilling this weekend, here’s a poll about some of the likely possibilities to grace the grill. Multiple answers are possible.
What will you be grilling?
At the House of Dissenting Opinion, we’ll have steak and fish, but lamb is always tempting if one can find something suitable…
Good morning.
It’s a mostly sunny day ahead in the Whippet City, with a high temperature of seventy-eight.
On this day in 1977, with Memorial Day approaching, Star Wars first hit theaters:
Google’s daily puzzle asks about how a watchdog was once distracted: “In Roman mythology, what pastry did Aeneas and Psyche use to distract a three-headed watchdog?”
So how do you keep a group of dancing robots in synchronization? It’s a Bacterial Trick [That] Keeps Robots in Sync:
You don’t have to watch Dancing with the Stars to know that keeping in sync is tough — and it’s even tougher for a robot. A new approach keeps several robots in step, and even enables a dancing robot that loses its footing to seamlessly rejoin its synchronized peers.
One way to synchronize a group of robots is for each to communicate with one another about their positions, but distance between the robots can lead to time delays. And when many robots are involved, the complexity of this communication network grows. To skirt such problems, researchers from MIT have taken inspiration from bacteria that synchronize their behavior not by checking in with each other, but by checking in with their environment….
Similarly, MIT’s Jean-Jacques Slotine and Patrick Bechon coordinated the behavior of eight dancing humanoid robots by having the bots send information to — and get information from — an external computer server. The work was posted May 14 on arXiv.org.
Harm it does – creating unnecessary barriers to entry, and higher costs for consumers. Equal costs hit those with less most acutely.
Posted originally on 5.24.12 at Daily Adams.
Good morning.
Whitewater’s Thursday will be warm and windy, with a high temperature of eighty-seven.
At 4:30 PM today, Whitewater’s Community Development Authority will meet in closed session for negotiation with potential CDA directors.
On this day in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was first opened to traffic.
Google’s daily puzzle asks about a way to measure wealth: “How much was your personal fortune worth if you wore ruffles in the New England colony settled in 1630?” more >>
Good morning.
It’s a sunny day ahead for Whitewater this Wednesday, with a high temperature of seventy-eight.
The Wisconsin Historical Society marks today in 1854 as a transportation milestone:
1854 – First Railroad Reaches Madison
On this date the Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad reached Madison, connecting the city with Milwaukee. When the cars pulled into the depot, thousands of people gathered to witness the ceremonial arrival of the first train, and an enormous picnic was held on the Capitol grounds for all the passengers who’d made the seven-hour trip from Milwaukee to inaugurate the line. [Source: Waukesha Chronicle, May 24, 1854; Wisconsin State Journal, June 1, 1924]
Google’s daily puzzle asks about the month of a moon as a people described it: “Native Americans had a name for the moon associated with the most widely grown crop in America. During what month would you see that moon?”
Last Friday’s poll asked whether Facebook seemed a fad. Most respondents said no, but almost as many said that it was, or that they weren’t sure. Commenters were, I’d say, skeptical of the company.
Well, fad or not, all the world’s talking about the problems FB’s stock is having. (I didn’t think it was a fad, but I don’t have any stock in the company, either.)
Finance blogger Barry Ritzholtz @ The Big Picture gives it to Facebook, and anyone standing nearby:
Thus, what we see are a series of bad decisions made by Facebook’s executives going back many years. The insiders got greedy, too clever by half, in how they used secondary markets. They picked a bad banker and an awful exchange. The stock broke syndicate on Monday morning, and I would not be surprised to see it eventually cut in half from the way-too-high offering price.
Via The Big Picture.
I wrote last evening with a brief summary of Whitewater’s Common Council session of 5.21.12, during which Whitewater’s city manager submitted his resignation effective 6.22.12. See, Whitewater’s 5.21.12 Common Council Meeting.
A few remarks about that session’s discussion.
The Bigger Trends are Still the Bigger Trends.
Whitewater will pick a new city executive of some sort, but regardless of that selection, the fundamental direction of the city will be unchanged. We’re in a transition from one sort of city to another.
The selection of a new leader is very important, but principally because it will influence how easy or difficult that transition will be.
(Some of the most excited about the chance to select a new leader will be the city’s town squires, desperate to wield what remains of their waning influence. Nothing they do can prevent the general transformation of the city’s political and social scene. To meddle is not to prevent.)
Much Yet Ahead.
Neither Rome nor Whitewater was built in a day.
The Preliminary Steps.
Council made all the basic steps one would expect – accepted a resignation, appointed an interim city manager (Cameron Clapper), set more discussion for the next council session (6.7.12).
Waiving an Early Termination Penalty.
Council waived an early termination penalty in the amount of $4,000 that City Manager Brunner would otherwise have been obligated to pay the city.
I’ve been critical of waivers like that in the past, and my view is unchanged. The gentlemen who have been the beneficiaries of these waivers have, themselves, been among the most demanding for consistency and compliance from others in the city (at least from others who aren’t established or prominent).
When their obligations are under consideration, suddenly it’s all about taking a broader view, etc.
They’re right about a broader view — they should have taken it themselves when enforcing regulations against ordinary residents and merchants. This city of many thousands has always been greater than a few people imaging the city is only those of their close acquaintance.
A Mayor for Whitewater?
There was discussion last night about whether Whitewater should consider a mayoral form of government (of which there are several variations possible). I don’t have a particularly strong view, actually, but I’d like to hear a discussion about it, for and against.
Council plans to consider the possibility. That seems prudent.
What’s mistaken, I think, is to rush to an opinion about it now. Worse, because it’s simply wrong, is the contention that selecting a mayoral form of government would necessarily involving the hiring of a city administrator as a new, incremental employee.
That’s simply false. The city would not be required to hire an incremental employee, and could re-designate the salary and compensation now provided for an assistant to the city manager.
Regardless of whether one would favor or oppose a mayor, fiscal concerns about an incremental administrator are unfounded.
The Last Hiring Process, in 2004.
There was speculation about how the last hiring process, in 2004, went. One heard the suggestion that it went smoothly. That’s about right – it was fairly smooth, especially considering the circumstances under which then-City Manager Boden left Whitewater.
But that process is a cautionary tale, too. It produced a much-heralded candidate who fit the needs of the moment but (to be mild) understood the needs of this city only imperfectly, and whose administration has gone poorly.
If every day thereafter had been like that first day on the job in 2004, the outcome would have been different.
Yet, no matter how appealing prospect of an endless day might seem, it was never to be. Whitewater looked to the needs of that years-ago moment; she should have looked ahead, or at least tried to do so.
Good morning.
It’s another lovely day ahead for Whitewater, with sunny skies and a high of seventy-six.
The city’s Urban Forestry Commission meets today at 4:15 PM.
The Wisconsin Historical Society notes that on this day in 1968, the
Milwaukee Bucks [Were] Named
On this date “Milwaukee Bucks” was selected as the franchise name after 14,000 fans participated in a team-naming contest. 45 people suggested the name, one of whom, R.D. Trebilcox, won a car for his efforts. [Source:Bucks.com]
Google’s daily puzzle asks what one might think of another’s handwriting: “A graphologist might determine that you’re strongly emotional if he finds slants that go in which direction?” The direction of one’s writing might mean something about one’s personality, but then it might alternatively say something about the stability or level of one’s desk.
After an aborted launch days ago, NASA has successfully launched the privately-created SpaceX Falcon 9 Dragon rocket to resupply the International Space Station. Impressive and, one hopes, an encouragement to other private efforts.
Whitewater’s Common Council met on Monday evening to appoint three residents to city boards or commissions, and thereafter to discuss the resignation and departure of her city manager, and finally to appoint an interim city manager.
All seven members of the Common Council were present. (For tonight, I’ll offer a summary of the principal 5.21.12 developments; for tomorrow, initial observations.)
Commission appointments.
Common Council approved members to the Police Commission (Mark McPhail), Zoning Appeals Board (Michael Sobolewski), and Planning Commission (Cort Hartmann).
Preliminary discussion of municipal leadership.
Council discussed the appointment of an interim city manager, the retention of a search firm to aid in the hiring of a permanent city manager, and the alternative possibility of a change in Whitewater’s form of government (to a mayoral-council form).
Council set further discussion of some of these items for the next regular session (Thursday, June 7th).
General provisions on changes in the form of government for Whitewater are available at Wis. Stat. § 64.01 et seq.
Current city manager’s resignation.
Following a return from closed session, Kevin Brunner, city manager, submitted his resignation effective June 22nd, and the Council waived an early termination penalty in the amount of $4,000.
Interim city manager.
Council appointed Cameron Clapper, now asst. to the city manager, as interim city manager, effective June 23rd. Clapper received a salary increase of $1250 per month in compensation for his additional responsibilities.
These were the evening’s preliminary steps in a longer process.
…from Herbert Spencer.
As a balance of power:
“Everywhere aggression begets resistance and counter-aggression; and in our present transitional state, semi-militant and semi-industrial, trespasses have to be kept in check by the fear of retaliatory trespasses.”
Via Reason (originally appearing in The Freeman).
Generations later, we’re still in that transitional state. There are other justifications, of course, but Spencer correctly sees that organized labor is, essentially, defensive.
Posted originally on 5.21.12 at Daily Adams.
More on a bad deal for taxpayers, but a bargain at their expense for one big corporation.
I posted recently on addled messaging about the Generac bus from a weekly report of Whitewater’s city manager dated 5.11.12. Last Friday, 5.18.12, there was another announcement about the bus. That new announcement is really an admission of how expensive the bus is, but it seems neither the announcement’s author nor the webmaster who republished it understands as much. (For my earlier post, see, Old Whitewater’s Addled Message. For other posts about the bus, see A Generac bus by any other name, and A Local Flavor of Crony Capitalism.)
First that announcement, then an assessment of what it really says about the Generac bus, and what that really says about Whitewater’s political messaging.
The 5.18 Bus Ridership Announcement.
From the 5.18.12 weekly report of Whitewater’s city manager, one read this about bus ridership —
Whitewater Innovation Express Releases First Two Week Ridership Totals
Janesville Transit reports that a total of 173 passenger trips were made during the first two weeks of the operation of the Whitewater Innovation Express commuter bus service from Janesville through Milton to the Whitewater Business and University Technology Parks as well as the UW-Whitewater campus.
Of the total trips, 143 or almost 83% were taken by Generac Power Systems employees.
Generac supplies over 80% of the riders, but pays only 20% of the costs of the bus.
The total cost to run the bus until the end of the year is $128,310. The actual public cost to support Generac is $68,005 in state and federal money, and $15,000 in local public funding from the City of Whitewater and UW-Whitewater — a total of $83,005.
Despite these taxpayer subsidies, bus riders still pay a fee to ride, for each trip.
Generac — a business capitalized at over one-billion dollars – picks up only about 20% of the total cost, or about $26,058.
Most of the passengers are from one big business, but most of the funds come from local, state, and federal taxpayers.
Huge Costs per Passenger.
Consider even a back-of-the-envelope calculation. From the start of Generac’s bus service in late April until the end of the year, there will be thirty-five weeks. That’s about $3,600 per week to run the bus.
If there have been 173 passenger trips over two weeks, then each passenger trip cost over $41.
Forty-one dollars.
Of the list of possible uses of this much money per person, few people outside of Generac’s executives would rank Generac highly.
If Generac’s employee ridership were to double, it would still cost over twenty dollars – the cost of which is borne mostly by taxpayers – to shuttle Generac’s passenger-employees back to their homes in Milton, Janesville, etc.
Less Costly to Drive.
A single driver, traveling twenty miles, would incur costs of about eleven-dollars per trip ($0.55/mile in costs), but would save the bus fare – a fare that’s $4.00 per trip to Janesville.
If that driver shared her car trip with two other people, the cost per person would be under $4, as against each $4 in bus fare per trip.
Society is heavily subsidizing Generac’s employees. If there is to be spending, it could go for a hundred greater needs than this.
The Generac bus will need to have about ten times as many riders merely to approach the lower costs of a simple carpooling arrangement.
Unfair at any Fare.
Profits-flush Generac benefits disproportionately from this program: over 80% of riders are employees, but only 20% of contributions come from Generac’s hundreds of millions in annual revenue.
If this program cost only $100 instead of $128,310, Generac would still be getting too much and paying too little.
Bottom-Shelf Messaging.
I’d suppose that the idea of 173 passenger trips is meant to impress, but that’s only true until one looks at the costs incurred to get those passenger trips.
There’s the messaging problem: anyone thinking this a positive announcement is assuming that readers won’t understand what the costs are, or won’t be able to calculate them — even under a back-of-envelope calculation.
Worse – one would be ignoring that these are funds to benefit a single corporation that’s one of the haves taken from the pockets of ordinary people.
Whitewater is filled with thousands of really sharp people who can see this is a bad deal for everyone but Generac.
Even when one republishes the city manager’s announcement approvingly in a bright red font, it’s still the republication of a mediocre message, about a bad policy.
The Local Political Problem.
One cannot and should not stop someone from approvingly (and reflexively) republishing officials’ weak justifications, but one can reduce the number of weak justifications.
The messaging problem is that too many ill-considered explanations and announcements see the light of day. There’s no one who acts an internal check against flimsiness. Believing that something must make sense simply because it’s from an official source only compounds this problem. (In fact, believing as much is a problem all its own.)
There are two simple ways to fix this: (1) find city officials who can present a solid case, with a focused, compelling message, or (2) assign an editor from within city government to review the statements of officials for reasonableness, political impact, etc., and thus avoid continued mistakes.
The first is unquestionably the better approach, on principle and for policy. Even the second, though, would be better than what we have now.
