FREE WHITEWATER

Wisconsin

Courts, Daily Bread, Fair Maps, Gerrymandering, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.29.23: Procedures in the Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling on Gerrymandering

by  •  • 2 Comments

 Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 39. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset 4:29 for 9h 04m 14s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 93.3% of its visible disk illuminated. 

On this day in 1812, the USS Constitution, under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three-hour battle.

  On Wednesday, FREE WHITEWATER posted on A Story on Federal Review of Wisconsin’s Recent Gerrymandering Case. The Journal Sentinel story described avenues and prospects for federal review of Wisconsin’s high court decision. (See Republicans likely to take Wisconsin gerrymandering case back to the U.S. Supreme Court.) 

Two other recent stories describe the legal process the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ordered on redistricting. At the State Journal, Alexander Shur reports Who are the 2 referees the Wisconsin Supreme Court named to review new maps?:

When the Wisconsin Supreme Court last week ordered parties to a redistricting lawsuit to draw new legislative maps, it also named two referees to evaluate the maps’ adequacy.

The two consultants — University of California, Irvine political science professor Bernard Grofman and Carnegie Mellon University postdoctoral fellow Jonathan Cervas — may not be household names in Wisconsin, but they have played prominent roles in settling map disputes in other states.

In Wisconsin, they’ll weigh in on whether the maps abide by the court’s standard that any new maps contain equally populated districts; be bounded by county, precinct, ward or town lines; include only contiguous territory; be as compact as possible; and comply with federal law.

They’ll also assess whether the maps preserve communities of interest, reduce municipal splits and are drawn so that no party benefits more than the other.

On Tuesday, the consultants sent out a letter to parties in the case specifying how they will evaluate the proposed maps. They called for each party to note themselves when their proposed maps may go up against one of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s proposed metrics, and said they’ll independently verify each claim.

The new maps must be submitted by Jan. 12, and the professors’ evaluations are due by Feb. 1.

Rich Kremer of WPR spoke with Morning Edition about the upcoming legal processes:

AC [Alex Crowe of Morning Edition]: There’s going to be a big fight now over drawing some new maps. With this ruling, are we going to get new maps right away before the election in 2024? What does that process look like?

RK [Rich Kremer of WPR]: The court didn’t immediately draw new legislative districts to replace those deemed unconstitutional, but like you said, they have to be in place prior to the 2024 elections. Justice Karofsky said she’s hopeful that the GOP-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers will agree on new maps.

In the meantime, they’re going to be proceeding toward adopting what they call remedial maps. What that means is in a separate court order, the majority laid out deadlines for maps and they appointed two national experts to oversee the process. Parties in the case have until Jan. 12 to submit remedial maps. These consultants have until Feb. 1 to file a report on the competing proposals.

The majority also said it will consider partisan impact when evaluating the remedial maps. But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said in recent months that the U.S. Supreme Court will have the last word on the redistricting litigation in Wisconsin. This week, he said the Legislature will pursue all federal issues arising out of the case. 

And so, and so — there are state processes certain to take place, and federal litigation likely to take place. 

Perseverance Rover Zooms in on Ancient Mars River:

After 1,000 Martian days of exploration, NASA’s Perseverance rover is studying rocks that show several eras in the history of a river delta billions of years old. Scientists are investigating this region of Mars, known as Jezero Crater, to see if they can find evidence of ancient life recorded in the rocks. Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley provides a guided tour of a richly detailed panorama of the rover’s location in November 2023, taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument.

Composed of 993 individual images and 2.38 billion pixels, this 360-degree mosaic looks in all directions from a location the rover science team calls “Airey Hill.” Portions of the rover itself are visible in the scene, appearing more distorted toward the edges as a result of the image processing.

A color enhancement applied to the image increases contrast and accentuates color differences. By approximating what the scene would look like under Earth-like lighting conditions, the adjustment allows mission scientists to use their everyday experience to interpret the landscape. The view on Mars would be darker and more reddish. The panorama can be explored and downloaded at: https://go.nasa.gov/3tmJnGB.

Daily Bread, UW System, Weird Tales, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.28.23: UW-La Crosse Chancellor Fired for Side Gig in Pornography Videos

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 38. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset 4:28 for 9h 03m 39s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.5% of its visible disk illuminated. 

On this day in 1943, Soviet authorities launch Operation Ulussy, beginning the forcible deportation in cattle wagons of the Kalmyk nation of 93,000 people to Siberia and Central Asia.

  The Universities of Wisconsin Regents unanimously voted yesterday evening to fire UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow over Gow’s appearance with his wife, Carmen Wilson, in several pornography videos. The story, understandably, has attracted national attention. Never a dull moment in the Badger State. 

From the Journal Sentinel, one learns the cause of Gow’s dismissal: 

Gow, 63, and his wife, Carmen Wilson, appear in videos on several porn websites using “Sexy Happy Couple” as the account name, a moniker also used on at least two social media accounts.

The couple also published two books under pseudonyms detailing their experiences in the adult film industry. Both books and the social media accounts feature photos clearly showing Gow and Wilson.

….

The couple’s account on X, formerly Twitter, hinted at their hobby: “The Passionate plant-powered couple cooking, conversing, and shooting with top adult video stars. Visit our LoyalFans and OnlyFans sites for fully explicit scenes!”

Gow and Wilson have six videos on OnlyFans that feature adult film stars, according to descriptions of the videos. They also appear on at least two other porn websites, PornHub and XHamster. Some videos have more than 200,000 views. All videos were posted in the last two months.

Liam Beran of the Daily Cardinal offers more detail:

The couple has posted nine videos on their Youtube channel Sexy Healthy Couple — described as “a plant-powered couple [making] delicious vegan food with top adult stars,” per a channel description — with the first posted on Dec. 9, 2023, as first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The videos feature Gow and Wilson making recipes alongside adult film entertainers and small segments of suggestive material.

The channel’s Twitter account advertises “fully explicit scenes” on their OnlyFans account.

In one video, Gow shows a book entitled “Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship,” which he says he wrote with Wilson. The book is listed under pen names Geri and Jay Hart, which are described on Amazon as “pen names of a married woman and man who serve in executive positions at two well-known organizations in the U.S.”

“Not our real names, because we’re still forced to kinda lay low on that, but someday,” Gow said in the Dec. 13 video.

Properly speaking, if Gow wanted to describe ongoing concealment in the present, he would use lie low, not lay low (past tense).  Lay low would correctly describe prior concealment, but then again Gow might have been using lay low as wordplay to describe the particulars of his lifestyle. Perhaps chancellors in La Crosse are crafty that way. 

The Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman stated after Gow’s dismissal that

“Upon my recommendation, the UW Board of Regents today terminated Dr. Joe Gow from his position as chancellor of UW-La Crosse effective immediately. In recent days, we learned of specific conduct by Dr. Gow that has subjected the university to significant reputational harm. His actions were abhorrent.

“As a tenured faculty member, Dr. Gow will be placed on paid administrative leave as he transitions into his faculty role at UW-La Crosse. However, I have filed a complaint this evening with interim Chancellor Betsy Morgan regarding Dr. Gow’s status as a tenured faculty member, asking that such status be reviewed. In addition, an outside law firm has been engaged to undertake a fulsome investigation of the matter. We anticipate the complaint will be considered in the normal course as dictated by Wis. Admin. Code Ch. 4.”

While one can understand that Gow’s behavior is embarrassing to the Regents, Rothman’s use of abhorrent (lit., inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant) seems a bit much for a public university system that has over many years tolerated far worse than anything Gow has done. (All Gow’s actions were, after all, apparently weird-but-consensual.) 

Gow, himself, has few regrets, as Kelly Meyerhofer reports:

Joe Gow has just one regret about the recent sex videos that ended his 17-year career as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

He wishes he hadn’t self-censored that part of his life for so long, fearing his secret would lead to his being shunned by the higher education community.

After years of hearing UW leaders profess the importance of free speech, Gow decided to test that commitment. He felt the timing was apt, with months left in his chancellorship and plans to return next fall as a faculty member.

“I felt a little bit more open about ‘let’s raise these free speech issues and see how the board responds,’ and now we know,” he said.

The national Daily Beast picks up on how Gow might describe himself and Wilson in a story entitled College Chancellor Canned for Secret Life as Vegan Porn Star.

A Hulu series can’t be far away.

Roofs blown off houses as Storm Gerrit brings high winds and floods to UK:

Courts, Daily Bread, Fair Maps, Gerrymandering, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.27.23: A Story on Federal Review of Wisconsin’s Recent Gerrymandering Case

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 41. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset 4:27 for 9h 03m 09s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.7% of its visible disk illuminated. 

On this day in 1929, Soviet General Secretary Stalin orders the “liquidation of the kulaks as a class” leading to a Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, or executions of millions of kulaks (prosperous peasants) and their families. 

  Jessie Opoien and Molly Beck report in a general readership story that Republicans likely to take Wisconsin gerrymandering case back to the U.S. Supreme Court:

In order to get the U.S. Supreme Court to look at the case, the Legislature and its allies will need to make the argument that there was a violation of federal law. That’s because, explained Rob Yablon, University of Wisconsin Law School professor and co-director of the State Democracy Research Initiative, the core legal claim in the case — contiguity — is a matter of state law.

The case brought to the court argued the maps violate Wisconsin’s Constitution because some legislative districts include pieces of land that are not connected.

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court has the last word on state law questions,” Yablon said.

A request for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on a state Supreme Court decision (or a federal appeals court decision) is known as a petition for certiorari, or cert petition. Under U.S. Supreme Court rules, four of nine justices must vote to accept such a case.

“(The majority) did a really intentional job of sticking to very narrow state constitutional issues, which has the effect of insulating a lot of the decision from U.S. Supreme Court review,” said Daniel Suhr, a Republican attorney who served in former Gov. Scott Walker’s administration. “When a case is decided on only state constitutional grounds, there’s not a U.S. constitutional hook for the Supreme Court to rely on in intervening.”

In their story, Opoien and Beck consider two principal arguments for federal intervention (Protasiewicz’s participation in the Wisconsin decision and if any new maps have an unlawful racial bias) but report through interviewed experts that both lines of argument have uncertain prospects. 

In any event, while it’s four to take the case, it’s five to overturn on federal grounds.

What ChatGPT is and what it’s not: A three-minute guide:

Daily Bread, Economy, Employment, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.26.23: More Wisconsin Jobs, Unemployment Remains Low

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 51. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset 4:27 for 9h 02m 44s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.8% of its visible disk illuminated. 

On this day in 1776, at the Battle of Trenton the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian forces.

  Robert D’Andrea reports Wisconsin adds more jobs, unemployment remains low (‘State reaches all-time high in total non-farm jobs’):

Wisconsin’s labor force continues to grow, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The total number of non-farm related jobs across Wisconsin hit a record high of more than 3 million during the month of November. 

That’s more than 32,000 additional jobs compared to the same time last year, and an increase of 1,700 compared to October, according to an analysis of the preliminary data from the state’s Department of Workforce Development. 

“If you’re a job seeker, this is a fantastic time. If you’re trying to hire, it’s a little tougher,” DWD economist Scott Hodek said Thursday. “That’s why DWD and the state are doing so many things to try and get everybody into the labor force and skilled-up as much as possible.”

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 3.3 percent last month, up a tenth of a percent from October.

That’s lower than the national average of 3.7 percent. And it remains far below the average of the last three decades.

Large explosion in Crimea as Ukrainian airstrike hits Russian warship:

Daily Bread, Education, Government Spending, Legislation, Lobbyists, Low Standards, Public Relations, Reasoning, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.17.23: The Empty Case Against School-District Competitive Bidding

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 43. Sunrise is 7:20 and sunset 4:22 for 9h 02m 09s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 26.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1903, the Wright brothers make the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

By John T. Daniels – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppprs.00626.

Corrinne Hess reports Wisconsin school districts would have to comply with competitive bidding requirements under new proposal (‘Wisconsin is only one of three states that doesn’t require schools to go out for bid on construction projects’):

School districts in Wisconsin would have to comply with competitive bidding requirements for construction projects costing more than $150,000 under a new legislative proposal.

Wisconsin is one of only three states that allows a project of any size to be awarded on a no-bid basis, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Municipalities, meanwhile, have to seek a competitive bid for any project over $25,000. The same proposed legislation would increase that threshold for municipalities to $50,000.  

During a public hearing Thursday before the Assembly Committee on Local Government, Chris Kulow, government relations director for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, testified against the bill. He argued that requiring a competitive bidding process would take away local control.

Kulow said most school boards are already using competitive bidding. He said having to choose the lowest bidder could mean having to sacrifice the best quality. 

“Currently, districts that have long-standing relationships with local contractors have the opportunity to work with them to negotiate deals that include spending resources locally, keeping those dollars in the community,” Kulow said. “They result in the hiring of parents whose children attend the schools. They want to do a good job, and they’re less likely to ask for extra charges.”  

All school boards, not merely most, should use competitive bidding for large projects. Kulow’s argument about districts with long-standing relationships with local contractors is unsupported by his testimony. He’s telling a story about local, but his story offers not measurement but instead only unsubstantiated-yet-beguiling claims: “spending resources locally,” “dollars in the community,” “hiring of parents whose children attend the schools,” etc. 

Sounds great, right? How often, how much, how many?

Kulow — who asserted his points as a representative of educational boards — offered in his testimony no evidence whatever. Not a shred. See testimony of Chris Kulow, Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Local Government, 12.14.23, video @ 1:17:23. A former superintendent, now part of the school board association’s staff, followed Kulow’s presentation with his own singular experiences in one school district.     

Honest to goodness. A knowledgeable or educated person should expect more than this. A student who turned in a term paper so vacuous would deserve a poor grade (or a chance at a re-write); an adult representative of school boards doing the equivalent deserves the intellectual scorn of his fellow Wisconsinites. Our millions of fellow Wisconsin adults did not, each of them, fall off of turnip trucks yesterday. 

These men represent school boards; many more men and women are on school boards. There are thousands of superintendents and other administrators in over four hundred school districts in this state. Anyone — any single one — who was graduated from high school, college, or a graduate program with a presentation as light as Kulow’s either learned too little or has forgotten too much. 

Those who wish to argue against required competitive bidding — a practice adopted in 47 of 50 states — need to do better than this. 

See a massive galaxy cluster evolve in simulation:

Daily Bread, Education, Health, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.11.23: A Recovery School in Wisconsin

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 33. Sunrise is 7:15 and sunset 4:20 for 9h 05m 04s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

 Whitewater’s Planning Board meets at 6 PM. 

 On this day in 1941, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following America’s declaration of war on the Empire of Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on them.

Margaret Faust reports Teens say Wisconsin’s only recovery school saved their lives. Funding for more schools is on the way (‘There’s a wait list for Horizon in Madison as mental health struggles and substance abuse persist’): 

There are 14 students at Horizon, an alcohol- and drug-free high school designed specifically for students recovering from substance use disorders and mental health disorders. It’s Wisconsin’s only recovery high school. But after a push by advocates resulted in new state funding, that could change in coming years.

The private, nonprofit school contracts with schools in the surrounding area. It has small staff-to-student ratios, random weekly drug testing of all students, twice-weekly group therapy sessions and immediate attention to mental health crises.

School leaders say they aim to provide personalized academic and emotional support as students work toward establishing and maintaining sobriety. 

….

Traci Goll, Horizon’s director, said there is clearly a need. Horizon serves the Madison area and has a waiting list. It can’t accommodate every student who would like to go there. Meanwhile, survey data shows that mental health struggles and substance use persist on high school campuses. 

Goll said the pandemic made everything worse. 

“We’ve always had kids who have been struggling with substance abuse and mental health, but I think it’s just gotten so blown out of proportion,” Goll said. 

New state funding is meant to help. The 2023-25 state budget includes $500,000 in grants that may help to fund Horizon and potentially allow others to establish new recovery schools elsewhere in the state. 

McDonald’s security guard soaks homeless man’s sleeping bag in London:

Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.10.23: Ice Age Trail Becomes Part of National Park Service

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 33. Sunrise is 7:15 and sunset 4:20 for 9h 05m 48s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 6.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1864 during his March to the Sea, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.

Laura Schulte reports Ice Age Trail becomes part of the National Parks Service, opening the door to more resources:

Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail is now a part of the National Park System, a change that will allow for more resources as organizers push to complete it.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and National Park Service Director Chuck Sams announced the change, heralding the 1,200-mile-long trail that traverses some of Wisconsin’s best natural features, from St. Croix to Janesville and back up to Door County.

“The Ice Age trail also tells an important story about the history of Wisconsin and the abundant natural resources that have shaped our great state,” Baldwin said. “Literally running through the great north woods, over rolling hills and prairies, past inland lakes and waters, and finally winding up along Lake Michigan. This trail showcases some of the best that our state has to offer. “

The Ice Age, New England and North Country National Scenic Trails were all folded into the parks system, meaning each will remain part of the national scenic trail system but with more access to funding and other resources the system provides, such as official trail maps and brochures designed by the service.

….

The Ice Age Trail was started in the 1950s and is still under construction, with the Ice Age Alliance purchasing land along the trail’s winding path to fully connect it. It runs through both rural and urban areas, along the natural features created by glaciers during the last Ice Age.

Italian ‘boot,’ Sicily and Croatia captured from ISS using RED Dragon camera:

Daily Bread, Education, University, UW System, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.8.23: A Direct-Admissions Proposal for the UW Schools

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 55. Sunrise is 7:13 and sunset 4:20 for 9h 07m 29s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 19.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt declares December 7 to be “a date which will live in infamy,” after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

Corrinne Hess reports UW system will launch direct admissions initiative with 2024 senior class (‘Students will get college admission letters in July 2024 before applying to college’):

Starting next year, high school students could be accepted into University of Wisconsin schools without even applying.  

The Universities of Wisconsin is rolling out its direct admissions initiative to boost enrollment across its campuses. UW system administrators hope to reach first-generation college students and other potential students who might not have considered attending a four-year school.  

….

Participating high schools and participating UW campuses will enter student grade point average data and campus admission requirements into two large student information systems used by many public school districts in Wisconsin, Infinite Campus or Skyward Schools. From there, students will receive admission letters to the campuses where they are matched for fall 2025. 

Rothman said most UW campuses have similar GPA requirements. He said GPA is being looked at because it is a good predictor of future college performance.  

“We can start to have a conversation about what a university journey will look like, financial aid and what that process is, and really take some burden off of high school counselors,” Rothman said. 

Hess reports that other states have had success with a direct-admissions approach:

Idaho adopted the nation’s first direct admissions system, proactively admitting all high school graduates to a set of public institutions in 2015. Idaho’s program raised first-time undergraduate enrollments by just over 8 percent and in-state student enrollment by almost 12 percent by the 2017-18 school year, according to an article by Research in Higher Education.

The state of New York created a direct admissions program this year for more than 125,000 graduating high school seniors. In fall 2024, Georgia will roll out a direct admissions program similar to Wisconsin’s.  

It’s a good idea — schools will send out offers of acceptance based on academic performance in participating high schools but students need not accept an offer. The program removes a burdensome application process many might have experienced. Less in this case is more. 

Super hot plasma made easy with stabilizing fibers:

Adventure, Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.3.23: Wisconsin’s Scenic Treasures | Northwoods

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see morning flurries with a high of 38. Sunrise is 7:08 and sunset 4:21 for 9h 12m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 65.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1947, the first TV station in Wisconsin, WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee, is established. The seventeenth television station in the country, WTMJ-TV was the first in the Midwest.

Wisconsin’s Scenic Treasures | Northwoods:

Wisconsin’s Scenic Treasures: Northwoods continues the celebration of our state’s natural landscapes. This exploration of Wisconsin’s northern forests, lakes, parks and natural areas takes the viewer to widely cherished locales as well as lesser-known secluded spots. Experience this panoramic compilation of our treasured ‘Up North’ wonders.

Pufferfish receives stress-free checkups by swimming onto platform:

A 12-year-old pufferfish at the Melbourne Zoo has learned to swim onto a platform, so that it can receive a health checkup.

Daily Bread, Marketing, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.29.23: About Those Wisconsin Best & Worst Lists

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 41. Sunrise is 7:04 and sunset 4:22 for 9h 18m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 95% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1961, Enos, a chimpanzee, is launched into space. The spacecraft orbits the Earth twice and splashes down off the coast of Puerto Rico.

  Rick Barrett reports Why Wisconsin is the ‘best’ or ‘worst’ place on so many random lists (‘Clickbait or helpful, rankings for cities and states are viral marketing’):

The Green Bay Packers have some of the sexiest fans in the NFL and Milwaukee’s Gen-Zers are No. 1 in the nation for leaving the nest.

As a state, Wisconsin has bragging rights beyond cheese. We’re one of the “least clumsy” states, according to a ranking, and we’re fifth in the nation among elderly-friendly labor markets.

Those are just a few of the dozens of surveys, rankings, and studies that pour into journalists’ emails, some serious and others nothing more than clickbait. Some result in stories while others fall flat.

Even zombies have weighed in on the action.

In one study, Milwaukee was ranked 66th among U.S. cities best able to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Huntington Beach, Calif., was No. 1 followed by Bellevue, Wash.; Alexandria, Va.; and Minneapolis.

California lawn care company uses surveys for marketing

The zombie study was done by Lawn Love, an online lawn-care company and prolific publisher of city and state rankings, some of which actually include topics like lawn irrigation.

There may be useful information in these lists, but their primary purpose is to promote a product. See also @ FREE WHITEWATER, Live by Clickbait Marketing, Perish by Clickbait Marketing.

Curious dolphins watch aquarium staff member mop the floor:

America, CDA, City, Daily Bread, Economy, Local Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.28.23: Opportunity If We’ll Take It

by  •  • 3 Comments

 Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 23. Sunrise is 7:03 and sunset 4:22 for 9h 19m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM. 

  On this day in 1895, the first American automobile race takes place over the 54 miles from Chicago’s Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in approximately 10 hours.

  A 11.21.23 essay from Brookings by author Homi Kharas describes what fuels middle-class optimism. (Kharas has a new book, The Rise of the Global Middle Class, that I have not yet read. For today, this post confines itself to Kharas’s 11.21 essay.) 

Kharas notes the rise of a global middle class:

Joining the middle class has been a ticket to the good life for two centuries now, a history I trace in a new book “The Rise of the Global Middle Class.” The American Dream, the glorious years of European reconstruction after World War II, miracle economic growth in Japan and other East Asian countries, Xi Jinping’s great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and India’s software revolution each brought hundreds of millions of people into the ranks of the global middle class. Today, thanks to this progress, most of the world, upwards of 4 billion people, enjoy a middle-class or better lifestyle for the first time ever.

Yes. (I’ll note that the period of China’s greatest economic success came only after liberalizing her economy toward freer markets, and that period of liberalization is regrettably over.)

Here’s how Kharas describes middle-class optimism:

Middle-class life satisfaction rests on two pillars. The first is the idea that hard work and self-initiative will lead to prosperity. The second is that thanks to this prosperity, the children of middle-class families will enjoy even more opportunities for the good life.

There’s a local aspect to this. To be successful, a community needs to have middle-class success. 

In Whitewater, CDA types in the decade from 2010-2020 failed to capitalize on state and national economic gains. See Whitewater’s Still Waiting for That Boom. (“While Wisconsin and America advanced, these gentlemen were left admitting reluctantly their own poor performance. (There was a national boom, uplifting many cities, but it passed by Whitewater. What did Whitewater get after the Great Recession, years into a national boom? Whitewater received a designation as a low-income community.  The gentlemen speaking, these ‘Greater Whitewater’ development men, were by their own accounts at the center of local CDA policy during most of the years that the state and national boom ignored Whitewater.) See also A Candid Admission from the Whitewater CDA (“This new EOZ program allows for private investments to be made, with significant tax benefits, in lower income communities like ours that need a boost to their economy,” said Larry Kachel, Chair of the Whitewater Community Development Authority (CDA).” Emphasis added.)

We have a chance for better. See A Development Director for Whitewater (“Whitewater’s development policy is meant to be a community development policy, not one captured against the public interest by a few. Who owns Whitewater? The proper answer — the answer suitable for a beautiful, well-ordered American town — is everyone and no one.”)

Rescued baby turtles scurry into the sea:

Accidents, Animals, Daily Bread, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.27.23: Car v. Deer

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 26. Sunrise is 7:02 and sunset 4:23 for 9h 21m 17s of daytime. The moon is full with 100% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 6 PM and the full board at 7 PM. Earlier, Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM.

  On this day in 1945, CARE (then the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is founded to send CARE Packages of food relief to Europe after World War II.

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com

  John Davis reports Car-deer accidents in Wisconsin in 2023 are expected to be similar to recent years (‘In the last 15 years, the chances of hitting a deer have increased’): 

Wisconsin drivers are on pace to hit as many deer this year as they have in each of the past three years.

Car-deer accidents in the state have been declining recently according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. But according to data from an insurance company, there’s still a greater chance of hitting a deer now in Wisconsin than there was 15 years ago.

“Recently, it’s been holding pretty steady,” said David Pabst, director of the Bureau of Transportation Safety for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. “We’re still doing over 16,000 crashes over the last three years, and we’re on that same track right now for 2023.”

Pabst said there have been about 11,000 car-deer accidents as of mid-October of this year. Between 25 and 33 percent of all the state’s car-deer accidents happen in October and November each year. This is the mating season for deer, also known as the rut, and deer are on the move. Most deer accidents this time of year happen in the dark, especially around dawn and dusk.

….

“We’ve always thought of deer hunting as a northern thing and that was certainly the case in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s,” said DNR deer program specialist Jeff Pritzl. “There’s still deer up north, but at the turn of the century, the deer population in the southern half of Wisconsin blossomed and continues to.”

This libertarian blogger uses a Mac, not a PC, but millions of Americans use their PCs for work and gaming. Many gamers enjoy snacks when battling monsters or fighting enemy armies while communicating with other players via headset. Where there’s a will, there’s a way: Steve Mollman reports Doritos is offering gamers AI-powered software that cancels out annoying crunching sounds. Mollam reports: 

Consider eating Doritos while playing video games. For many, gaming and the popular PepsiCo snack go hand-in-hand, but there’s a problem for players communicating via headset mics: crunching sounds. Many complain the noises distract them and hurt their performance.

AI has come the rescue in the form of Doritos Silent, described in a PepsiCo promotional video as “the world’s first AI-augmented snack powered by crunch cancellation.” The idea is that players can munch away without fear of disturbing other players. In addition to the snack there is software available for free download (it only works with Windows PCs for now).

Developing the product took six months and involved artificial intelligence and machine learning analyzing more than 5,000 crunch sounds, according to the snacks-and-beverage giant.

….

Of course, many observers might dismiss Doritos Silent as a trivial development, or a mere marketing ploy. A PC Gamer review called it “profoundly stupid,” while admitting it worked well enough with Doritos, if not always with competing snacks.

Either way, Doritos Silent speaks to how drawn marketers are to the video game industry (including Heineken, which recently offered a gaming PC that doubles as a fridge). Globally this year, that industry is expected to generate $188 billion in revenue, up 2.6% from 2022, according to a report from Newzoo, an Amsterdam-based industry tracker.

[spacer height=”200px”]

Adventure, Daily Bread, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.26.23: Winter in Wisconsin – A Place Like No Other

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see light snow in the morning, followed by a mixture of clouds and sunshine, with a high of 33. Sunrise is 7:00 and sunset 4:23 for 9h 22m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 99.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

  On this day in 1838, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature assembles in Madison for the first time:

[A]fter moving from the temporary capital in Burlington, Iowa, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature assembled in Madison for the first time. Two years earlier, when the territorial legislature had met for the first time in Belmont, many cities were mentioned as possibilities for the permanent capital — Cassville, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Platteville, Mineral Point, Racine, Belmont, Koshkonong, Wisconsinapolis, Peru, and Wisconsin City. Madison won the vote, and funds were authorized to erect a suitable building in which lawmakers would conduct the people’s business.

Progress went so slowly, however, that some lawmakers wanted to relocate the seat of government to Milwaukee, where they also thought they would find better accommodations than in the wilds of Dane Co. When the legislature finally met in Madison in November 1838 there was only an outside shell to the new Capitol. The interior was not completed until 1845, more than six years after it was supposed to be finished. On November 26, 1838, Governor Henry Dodge delivered his first speech in the new seat of government.

We’ve had some snow today, and that’s sure to delight some but disappoint others.  Wisconsin offers myriad winter adventures. Sam Li’s Winter in Wisconsin – A Place Like No Other highlights some of our cold-weather offerings. Go ahead, lean in: 

The 3D printer that crafts complex robotic organs in a single run:

Animals, Daily Bread, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 11.20.23: Wisconsin Life | Amazing Grace

by  •  •  Comments

 Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:53 and sunset 4:27 for 9h 33m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 51.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM. 

  On this day in 1945, Nuremberg trials begin against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.

Wisconsin Life | Amazing Grace:

US Soybean Farmers Enjoy Export Windfall: