Preparation is hard, and much harder and longer than mere presentation. Consider an extemporaneous speaker: anyone who speaks well and at length without notes only does so based on considerable, prior reading, listening, and rumination. A person may require many, many hours of reading (that’s an understatement) before even a minute of speaking competently on a subject.
Sometimes one will hear that talented people don’t need this kind of preparation. On the contrary, it’s talented people who know its importance and perhaps profit most from it.
Almost all of that earlier reading, listening, and rumination will occur in private settings, far removed from a public forum.
It’s not glamorous work, but it is (or should be) enjoyable, enriching, and perhaps even practically rewarding.
Nationally and locally, there are a large number of policy presentations that reveal only a weak grasp of the underlying issues, and an obvious lack of thorough preparation. (I think PowerPoint often allows weak presenters to hide behind a few, ill-considered bullet points.)
These presentations aren’t flimsy because their presenters aren’t smart (most people in a community are very sharp); these presentations are flimsy because their presenters are misdirected in their focus or lazy in their work.
Tuesday in town will be mild, with a high of sixty-three, and an even chance of afternoon showers. Sunrise is 6:49 AM and sunset is 6:41 PM, for 11h 52m 20s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 11.7% of its visible disk illuminated.
Khrushchev arrived in the United States on September 15. His plan was to tour America and conclude his trip nearly two weeks later with a summit meeting with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Hopes were high that the visit marked a turning point in the Cold War and that perhaps the Soviet leader’s oft-proclaimed desire for “peaceful coexistence” with the United States would become a reality.
Before official business began, however, Khrushchev–the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States–took the opportunity to tour parts of America. At the top of his list was a visit to Hollywood. His trip to the land of make-believe took a bizarre turn, however, as he engaged in a verbal sparring match with the head of Twentieth Century Fox Studio.
Khrushchev, displaying his famous temper, threatened to return home after the studio chief made some ill-chosen remarks about U.S.-Soviet competition. Khrushchev’s outburst was nothing compared to the tantrum he threw when he learned he could not visit Disneyland because of security concerns. Returning to Washington, the Soviet leader began two days of talks with Eisenhower on a number of issues. Although no specific agreements were reached, both leaders resolved to continue their discussions in the future and keep the lines of communication open….
This Tuesday, September 27th at 12:30 PM, there will be a showing of Suffragette @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin community building.
Suffragettedescribes Britain’s “foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State. These women were not primarily from the genteel educated classes, they were working women who had seen peaceful protest achieve nothing. Radicalized and turning to violence as the only route to change, they were willing to lose everything in their fight for equality – their jobs, their homes, their children and their lives. Maud was one such foot soldier. The story of her fight for dignity is as gripping and visceral as any thriller, it is also heart-breaking and inspirational.”
The film stars Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, and Helena Bonham Carter, with a run time of one hour, forty-six minutes, and carrying a PG-13 rating from the MPAA.
There’s considerable discussion of the role that Russians (hackers, politicians, business interests) may be having on the presidential election. I’ve just re-read Masha Gessen’s sketch of Putin, and it holds up well. (Her account ends a few years ago, but give an ample account of Putin’s upbringing, employment as a KGB officer and leader, and rise to Russia’s presidency.)
Our weather in town will look more like fall: mostly sunny with a high of sixty-four. Sunrise is 6:48 AM and sunset 6:43 PM for 11h 55m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 19.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM today, and their will be a School Board meeting at 7 PM.
The first general election presidential debate was held on September 26, 1960, between U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and Vice PresidentRichard Nixon, the Republican nominee, in Chicago at the studios of CBS‘s WBBM-TV. It was moderated by Howard K. Smith and included a panel composed of Sander Vanocur of NBC News, Charles Warren of Mutual News, and Stuart Novins of CBS. Historian J.N. Druckman observed “television primes its audience to rely more on their perceptions of candidate image (e.g., integrity). At the same time, television has also coincided with the world becoming more polarized and ideologically driven.”[2]
Three more debates were subsequently held between the candidates.:[3] On October 7 at the WRC-TV NBC studio in Washington, D.C., narrated by Frank McGee with a panel of four newsmen Paul Niven, CBS; Edward P. Morgan, ABC; Alvin Spivak, UPI;[4] Harold R. Levy, Newsday; October 13, with Nixon at the ABC studio in Los Angeles and Kennedy at the ABC studio in New York, narrated by Bill Shadel with a panel of four newsmen; and October 21 at the ABC studio in New York, narrated by Quincy Howe with a panel of four including Frank Singiser, John Edwards, Walter Cronkite, and John Chancellor. Nixon was considered a poor performer on television as he didn’t have the same telegenic looks in contrast to JFK. While he was considered the better debater, with more policy knowledge and good radio skills, Nixon wasn’t a snappy dresser, refused make up in the first debate, sweat profusely, and had a 5 O’Clock shadow.[5][6] Nixon later refused to do television debates in 1968 and 1972 as he felt his appearance had cost him against JFK in the tight-run race.
On this date Indian tribes including the Ojibwe, Menominee, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Ottawa and Sauk ceded land to the government, including areas around Milwaukee, especially to the south and east of the city. The ceded land included much of what is today John Michael Kohler and Terry Andrae State Parks. The Potawatomi continued to live along the Black River until the 1870s, despite the treaty. [Source:Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources]
JigZone‘s daily puzzle for Monday is of a Spanish coastline:
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has over 144 million different objects in its collections. A sample of these collections are on display to the public, but 99 percent of the Smithsonian’s treasures remain behind the scenes. Scientists work with these objects to study and decipher the world we live in, each specimen offering its own tiny clue to the natural world.
Sunday in town will be partly cloudy in the morning, with thunderstorms arriving in the afternoon, and a high of eighty-one. Sunrise is 6:46 AM and sunset 6:45 PM, for 11h 58m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 28% of its visible disk illuminated.
Friday’s FW poll asked readers whether they would watch the first presidential debate, this Monday night at 8 PM CT. An overwhelming majority of respondents (85.19%) said that they would.
TAT-1 (Transatlantic No. 1) was the first transatlantic telephone cable system. It was laid between Gallanach Bay, near Oban, Scotland and Clarenville, Newfoundland between 1955 and 1956 by the cable ship Monarch.[3] It was inaugurated on September 25, 1956, initially carrying 36 telephone channels. In the first 24 hours of public service there were 588 London–U.S. calls and 119 from London to Canada. The capacity of the cable was soon increased to 48 channels.
Later, an additional three channels were added by use of C Carrier equipment. Time-assignment speech interpolation (TASI) was implemented on the TAT-1 cable in June 1960 and effectively increased the cable’s capacity from 37 (out of 51 available channels) to 72 speech circuits. TAT-1 was finally retired in 1978. Later coaxial cables, installed through the 1970s, used transistors and had higher bandwidth.
On this date Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson signed into law a bill that required all 1962 cars sold in Wisconsin to be equipped with seat belts. [Source: Janesville Gazette]
Saturday in town will have a high of seventy-one, with morning clouds and afternoon sunshine. Sunrise is 6:45 AM and sunset 6:46 PM, for 12h 00m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 38% of its visible disk illuminated.
The only ship of her class, Enterprise[12] was, at the time of inactivation, the third-oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulledUSS Constitution and USS Pueblo. She was originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2014 or 2015, depending on the life of her reactors and completion of her replacement,USS Gerald R. Ford,[13] but the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 slated the ship’s retirement for 2013, when she would have served for 51 consecutive years, longer than any other U.S. aircraft carrier.[14]
….In 1958, Enterprise‘s keel was laid at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. On 24 September 1960, the ship waslaunched, sponsored by Mrs. W. B. Franke, wife of the former Secretary of the Navy. On 25 November 1961, Enterprise was commissioned, with Captain Vincent P. de Poix, formerly of Fighting Squadron 6 on her predecessor,[31] in command. On 12 January 1962, the ship made her maiden voyage conducting a three-month shakedown cruise and a lengthy series of tests and training exercises designed to determine the full capabilities of the nuclear powered super carrier.
The Citizens Advertising Takeover Service (C.A.T.S. – get it?) replaced all the advertisements in one London Underground station with pictures of cats. For two weeks, commuters at the Clapham Common tube station will be greeted by adorable kittens instead of ads hocking Vitamin Water or the 15th Jason Bourne movie. Could this be paradise?
GLIMPSE
C.A.T.S. is the brainchild of Glimpse, a creative collective aimed at positive social change. Glimpse founder James Turner said the idea came from a prompt: to “imagine a world where friends and experiences were more valuable than stuff you can buy.”
USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is an inactive[11] United States Navy aircraft carrier. She was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed “Big E”. At 1,123 ft (342 m),[5][6] she is the longest naval vessel ever built. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 tonnes)[4] displacement ranked her as the 12th-heaviestsupercarrier, after the 10 carriers of the Nimitz class and the USS Gerald R. Ford. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.[9]
