Good morning, Whitewater. A new month begins, with only four days until Tuesday’s election. We’ll have sunny skies and a high of forty-five in the Whippet City. The FW Halloween poll results are in, and vampires have won the most responses, with 32.26% of the total. Last year, with the same choices available, ghosts led…
274 search results for "innovation center"
Good Ideas, Science/Nature
The Makers of Things Present and Future
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
There’s a story at the Christian Science Monitor about makerspaces across America, like the one we have in town @ whitewatermakerspace.org, 1206 E Bluff Rd, Whitewater, WI 53190. It’s a new-old idea, as Noelle Swan writes: The ‘maker movement’ is heralded as a new industrial revolution – combining the spirit of the old shop class…
Government Spending, Local Government, Marketing
Structural Limits and Wishful Thinking
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
If there’s a limit to a fraud (like Enron), it’s not simply because a swindler is discovered; it’s because some swindles (Ponzi schemes, for example) are impossible to sustain everlastingly. Cleverness doesn’t matter – there are structural limitations that cannot be overcome (only so many people, only so many future victims, only so much money…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 3.14.14
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Good morning. Whitewater’s work week ends with partly sunny skies and a high of forty-seven. It’s Albert Einstein’s birthday (born this day in 1879). On this day in 1979, the Bucks set a team record: 1979 – Bucks Set Scoring Record Milwaukee set a team scoring record for a regulation-length game with 158 points against…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 1.29.14
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Corporate Welfare, Government Spending, Local Government, Press
The Gazette‘s Laughable, Damage-Control Editorial
by JOHN ADAMS • • 3 Comments
There’s an editorial at the Gazette today (http://gazettextra.com/article/20131122/ARTICLES/131129885/1034) predictably praising continued funding for Janesville’s transit bus to Whitewater. That there’s a bit of crowing in the editorial is unsurprising, but it’s more telling that it’s an error-prone essay that makes basic mistakes about Whitewater’s politics, and omits – perhaps intentionally – a description of the…
Education, Good Ideas, School District
Rube Goldberg Machines
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
The Empty Bus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
The Empty Bus from John Adams on Vimeo. Whitewater’s Common Council will tonight consider the performance of an often-empty Janesville Transit Bus that mostly benefits one multi-billion-dollar corporation. At the end of this post, readers will find links to prior posts about this failed project. I’ve also embedded the relevant documents from tonight’s meeting –…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 11.1.13
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. The end of the week will bring scattered showers (a fifty-percent chance) and a high of forty-seven. On this day in 1512, the Sistine Chapel ceiling goes on public display. Sistine Chapel ceiling – photograph by Patrick Landy via Wikipedia On this day in 1863, a pen magnate is born: 1863 – George…
Development, Economy, Film
What a Film About Janesville Really Says
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Much has been said about Brad Lichtenstein’s As Goes Janesville, and it’s usually about how the film depicts Gov. Walker. There’s much more to the film, though, and particularly interesting to me is how Janesville tries to entice a startup to locate in that city by offering millions in public incentives. The startup, Shine, promises a new…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 10.20.13
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. We’ll have a high of fifty-six today, with a twenty-percent chance of afternoon showers. We are far from the Atlantic Ocean, and so among the many immediate concerns of Wisconsinites, the lionfish, fortunately, is not one: The clear waters around Bermuda are as picturesque as you can imagine, and the brilliantly colored fish…
City, Corporate Welfare, Government Spending
Janesville Transit’s Ghost Bus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 8 Comments
It’s the month for Halloween, and just in time, Janesville Transit brings Whitewater a trick, but certainly no treat: a Ghost Bus. One may safely call it this, as it’s almost entirely empty after dropping riders off at multi-billion-dollar Generac, with those few passengers remaining being about as rare and difficult to see as the…
City, Local Government, Politics
More about ‘Scenes from Whitewater’s Failing Drug War’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
I’ve had both emails and a conversation with a journalist about yesterday’s post, Scenes from Whitewater’s Failing Drug War. I’ll summarize some of the topics of those messages and my replies. Shouldn’t the UW-Whitewater chancellor receive deference? I’m not sure what to make of this. It’s all-too-clear that Chancellor Telfer receives ample deference, and from…
Business, Film, Good Ideas
The Innovator
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Innovator from Cineastas on Vimeo. Mike Friton is a freelance shoemaker, weaver, paper sculptor and innovator with over 30 years of experience at Nike. His innovations are responsible for many elements of athletic footwear that people wear today. Each of his crafts informs one another and he is constantly exploring the fringes of his…