Blue Origin, a private spaceflight company, tested its New Shepard spaceship yesterday. The capsule tested properly, but the engineers were unable to recover the rocket booster (as they had hoped they would be able to do). Still, the launch alone demonstrates progress, and certainly impresses. See, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Launches Private Spaceship Test Flight…
Business
Business, Film, Poll
Friday Poll: Godzilla as Tourism Ambassador?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Godzilla as Japanese Tourism Ambassador View image | gettyimages.com One reads that the [f]ire-breathing, building-stomping Godzilla was welcomed to Tokyo on Thursday, but as a sign of prosperity rather than destruction. The violent radioactive monster was appointed special resident and tourism ambassador for Shinjuku ward, known for its bars and noodle restaurants. A Godzilla-size head…
Business, City, Cycling, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Health, Hip & Prosperous, Local Government, Planning
The Common Council Session for 1.20.15: Complete Streets
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted briefly yesterday on Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, and in that post mentioned that I would look a bit more at some of the remarks for, or against, the Complete Streets ordinance that passed Tuesday night. (I supported the ordinance.) Council discussed this issue previously, on December 16th. See, Common Council 12/16/2014. I’ve included…
Business, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, State Government
WEDC: Those Who Can’t Do, Lobby
by JOHN ADAMS •
One of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s many incompetent leaders, Ryan Murray, is leaving behind his controversial, failed role at the WEDC to become a lobbyist. Jobs agency official becomes lobbyist @ JS All Politics Blog reports on Murray’s shabby move: The No. 2 official at the state’s jobs agency has left the agency to…
Agriculture, Business, Food, Law, Press
Gazette Thinks Janesvillians Are Too Stupid to Buy Milk of Their Own Choice
by JOHN ADAMS •
Among the items in its ‘Monday Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down’ editorial, the Gazette argues against allowing Wisconsinites to drink organic milk (subscription req’d). It’s not merely that the paper’s editorial board thinks that drinking raw imprudent (pointing to illness from a recent incident), it’s that the board thinks sales should remain illegal. Without a law, the…
Business
Overhauling an Airliner: Months of Work in a Two-Minute Video
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Uncategorized, WEDC
WEDC Claims Success by Writing Off Bad Loans
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsin has had years of embarrassments from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, of economic manipulation, of picking supposed winners as though party hacks would know better than markets. It was a method bound to disappoint. These smarmy men at the WEDC have been trying to show progress on the millions of bad loans they’ve made.…
Business, Marketing, Politics
Roger Goodell could swing a gig in Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at Esquire, Ben Collins writes (accurately) about Roger Goodell as “a visual representation of everything wrong with corporate America squeezed into one empty suit made of blood and money.” See, Roger Goodell, World Class Client of Crisis Communications Experts, Still Needs to Resign.” Collins can be confident because he saw Goodell’s 9.19.14 news conference. …
Business
How to Pronounce 15 Difficult-to-Say Brand Names
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Free Markets, Local Government, Wisconsin
The New (But Old) Zero-Sum Game
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at Rock Netroots, Lou Kaye makes this accurate observation about how most local communities’ officials understand development: For the most part, city leaders here [he’s referring to Janesville] and across Wisconsin not only believe that communities are in competition with one another, they vigorously support and fuel those concepts by carving out special slush…
Business, Humor
That barista at Starbucks is misspelling your name on purpose
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Free Markets, WEDC
WEDC Afflicted with Internal Strife
by JOHN ADAMS •
Not long ago, Messrs. Telfer, Knight, and Clapper met in Whitewater with Reed Hall, so-called CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, to ‘celebrate’ another round of public money in the service of crony capitalism. These gentlemen must have thought – somehow – that all this would look grand and spectacular, that it would be…
Books, Business, Development, Economy, Local Government, Press
The Book on Janesville
by JOHN ADAMS •
Amy Goldstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at the Washington Post, is writing a book about Janesville after GM’s departure, entitled, Janesville: An American Story. I’ve been awaiting the book, and recently (also happily) discovered publishing information about it, from PublishersMarketplace.com: Pulitzer-winning Washington Post reporter Amy Goldstein’s JANESVILLE: An American Story, following three families as the GM…