FREE WHITEWATER

Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.23.11

by  • 

Good morning.

It’s a rainy day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temperature of eighty-five, and thundershowers in the afternoon.

School’s about to resume, and each school day comprises hundreds of interactions between students, teachers, and visitors. In France, researchers decided to place radio frequency tags on students, to map the encounters between them during a day:

By putting RFIDs on children and monitoring their interactions over a single day, researchers have produced one of the most detailed analyses ever of the roiling, boiling social free-for-all that is school.

The findings, published August 16 in Public Library of Science One, document the minute-by-minute interactions and locations of 232 children aged 6 to 12 and 10 teachers.

Reconfigured as pulsing network maps and flows of color are the universal experiences of middle school: the between-class rush, playground cliques, snatched hallway conversation and the fifth-graders who are too cool for everyone else.

See, Visualized: A School Day as Data.

And here’s how those many encounters appear:



more >>

Laws/Regulations, Taxes/Taxation

Helping Entrepreneurs Enrich America: Univ. of San Diego Law Professor Donna Matias

by  • 

It’s hard to run a business, as entrepreneurs are burdened in taxes, regulations, and find themselves squeezed by those who have never run a small enterprise. (Regulators have often spent a lifetime working at state — taxpayer — expense.)

Here’s a video describing a law clinic that’s helping America’s job-creators thrive against long odds.



The description accompanying the video, from Reason.tv, appears immediately below:

At a time when political leaders are talking a lot about the need to create jobs from the top down, Donna Matias is taking more of a bottom-up approach. Matias and her colleagues at the Entrepreneurship Clinic at the University of San Diego Law School provide pro bono legal services to San Diego entrepreneurs.

We sat down with Matias to learn more about how her organization works to help low-income entrepreneurs overcome the regulatory hurdles that so often make it difficult for small businesses to succeed.

Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.

School District

The Whitewater Schools’ Sound Path

by  • 

A dynamic organization both experiences, and experiences positively, changes in personnel and direction. Tonight, Whitewater’s school board will discuss a replacement for our high school principal, who is leaving for Williams Bay. (For more on the departure, see Kevin Hoffman’s story on the change.)

These last twenty-six months have, overall, been good ones for our school district, and far better than conditions at many other districts. (Hoffman’s recent story mentions some of the problems elsewhere, many that Whitewater has shrewdly avoided.) For more on this topic, of Whitewater’s path, see Zentner and Afterward and The Whitewater Schools’ Next Administrator: A Wise and Sound Choice.

Changes in the district, of different types, offer Whitewater an opportunity to build on a good direction. There’s a chance from these recent years for the district to be a primary source of genuine innovation for all Whitewater.

There are challenges ahead for just about every district in the state, from budgets to the Wisconsin economy; these next few years will remain difficult for many schools.

We’re better positioned than many others to address them.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.22.11

by  • 

Good morning.

It’s a sunny day ahead for Whitewater, with a high temp of eighty-one.

In our schools, there’s a school board meeting tonight, (portions in closed session) during which there will be planning for the replacement of Whitewater High School’s principal. Closed session begins at 6, regular, open session at 7 p.m. The meeting agenda is available online.

Dogs beat cats in the FREE WHITEWATER poll from Friday, and in honor of their close (but undisputed) victory, here are two clips of the theme song from the old PBS series, Wishbone.   The show ran originally from ’95-98, with forty-eight episodes.



There’s even a blues version of the theme —



Economy, Weird Tales

Rhinelander benefits from the… Hodag

by  • 



For more on the Hodag —

March 22nd is the birthday of Eugene Shepard, of whom the Wisconsin Historical Society offers an account —

…Eugene Shepard was born near Green Bay. Although he made his career in the lumbering business near Rhinelander, he was best known for his story-telling and practical jokes. He told many tales of Paul Bunyan, the mythical lumberjack, and drew pictures of the giant at work that became famous. Shepard also started a new legend about a prehistoric monster that roamed the woods of Wisconsin – the hodag.

Shepard built the mythical monster out of wood and bull’s horns. He fooled everyone into believing it was alive, allowing it to be viewed only inside a dark tent. The beast was displayed at the Wausau and Antigo county fairs before Shepard admitted it was all a hoax. [Source: Badger saints and sinners, by Fred L. Holmes, p.459-474]



The hodag’s become the mascot for Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and  a music festival, the Hodag County Festival, that carries the animal’s name (34th annual festival held July 7-10, 2011).

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 8.14-8.20

by  • 

New York Times describes Wisconsin Supreme Court as ‘A Study in Judicial Dysfunction’ nyti.ms/nX1EpX

Lunatic Alert™: Arizona sheriff promises Obama-eligibility probe – via equally nutty WorldNetDaily bit.ly/rqBoMR

A prime aim of the growing Surveillance State – bit.ly/ciwJzl Mobile bit.ly/ppBV11

PolitiFact’s silly, picayune critique of Rep. Baldwin’s statement about recalls taking place in reddest parts of state bit.ly/oH9tXD

How Richard Nixon Inspired the Libertarian Party « FREE WHITEWATER bit.ly/ncdbE3

Only insanity is thinking defense will work: Wheeler police chief uses insanity defense against child abuse charges bit.ly/nXorO7

During Whitewater’s Police Chief Search « FREE WHITEWATER bit.ly/qNWlQo

For those who have almost everything: Owning Your Own ‘Chupacabra’ – Fox Point-Bayside, WI Patch bit.ly/pCDGLJ

The Wisconsin Reporter’s Incredible, Ignorant Enthusiasm « FREE WHITEWATER freewhitewater.com/?p=17536

As expected, Dem Sen Bob Wirch retains seat in recall vote – JSOnline bit.ly/o3HnvJ

WisconsinReporter.com tweet after 17% of vote ‘Steitz building a commanding lead’ just embarrassing boosterism Wirch wins easily

Copyright t[r]oll hit again Righthaven defendant wins second attorney’s fee award – VEGAS INC bit.ly/nrX5RU

Story’s not funding, it’s unwillingness to recuse Prosser’s recount got ample funding – JSOnline bit.ly/pQkEgN

Weak story leaves politicians’ assumptions unchallenged Racine officials fear being ‘inundated’ with group homes bit.ly/npp0pW

Economy, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations

The Best Way to Create Jobs: Free Markets in Capital and Labor

by  • 

Here’s New York Mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg talking about the best way to create jobs. He’s right that fewer immigration restrictions actually boost American employment.

There’s much more to be said about all this, but a scheme of labor restrictions isn’t just socially disruptive, and an example of over-criminalization.  Restrictions impoverish America; free private flows of capital and labor enrich America.  



Comment Forum

Friday Poll and Comment Forum: Cats or Dogs?

by  • 

Here’s a question that I’ve not yet offered, and that’s overdue: Cats or Dogs?



FREE WHITEWATER has catblogging, but no dogblogging. Generally, I’d pick cats, recognizing that a good dog counts for a lot, even if cats are particularly fascinating (and worthily independent). So, for me, cats over dogs, but not by much — just a whisker. As for my own dog, I’d not make the choice, as he’s a very sold and sharp canine.

Here you go: which do you prefer?



Comments will be moderated against profanity and trolls; otherwise have at it. This post will be open until Sunday morning.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.19.11

by  • 

Good morning.

It’s a mostly sunny day ahead, with a high temperature of eighty-six awaiting Whitewater.



ScienceNews.org reports on a study about the insidious effects of one’s own stress on others, in a post entitled, Early stress is contagious in adulthood: A zebra finch’s tough childhood shortens both its life and its mate’s. Susan Milious reports that

Among the regrettable things one might catch from a long-term mating partner, add the life-shortening effects of stress in childhood.

Chickhood stress is bad for zebra finches. Nestlings dosed with stress hormones tend to die earlier in adulthood even if they enjoy plentiful food in predator-free lab quarters after maturity.

And so do those unfortunate nestlings’ mates, a new study finds. Zebra finches, which form strong pair bonds, somehow manage to transmit their own risks of stress-shortened life span to their partners.

“It’s like giving them a disease,” says evolutionary ecologist Pat Monaghan of the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

The study involves only birds, not humans, but other experiments are likely in an effort to see how widespread sress’s effects may be.