Poll, Sports
Friday Poll: A Patriots Tattoo
by JOHN ADAMS •
Patriots fan Burke O’Connell got a tattoo commemorating a Patriots win in Super Bowl 50, shortly before the Patriots lost the AFC game that would determine whether they would go to Super Bowl 50. See, Bad ink! Patriots fan gets tattoo declaring Super Bowl win @ 790 KGMI News Talk. (In the video below, Burke explains his decision.)
So, is his tattoo evidence of true dedication or unjustified optimism?
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 1.29.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Our work week ends with partly cloudy skies and a high of thirty. Sunrise is 7:11 and sunset 5:04, for 9h 52m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 73.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
“The Raven” is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talkingraven‘s mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man’s slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student,[1][2] is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word “Nevermore”. The poem makes use of a number of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.
Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically, intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay, “The Philosophy of Composition“. The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in the novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of ‘Eighty by Charles Dickens.[3] Poe borrows the complex rhythm and meter of Elizabeth Barrett’spoem “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship”, and makes use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout.
“The Raven” was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, although it did not bring him much financial success. The poem was soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated. Critical opinion is divided as to the poem’s literary status, but it nevertheless remains one of the most famous poems ever written.[4]
Here’s the Friday puzzle from JigZone, entitled Tulip Inside :
Hobbies
Build A Life-Size, Phone-Controlled BB-8 Droid (Full-DIY-Tutorial)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Food
The Classic Hamburger
by JOHN ADAMS •
This week on Dining on a Dime, Lucas Peterson teams up with The Meat Show’s Nick Solaresto find the ideal meal for both their tastes: flavorful but inexpensive, and centered around beef. Their search leads them to the town of Massapequa on New York’s Long Island and a place called All American Hamburger Drive-In, an old-school burger and fries stand stuck the 1960s in the best way. Watch as Solares explains why the throwback burger — squishy bun, thin meat patty, ketchup, pickles — endures as an American classic. It might not be as hefty or hearty as a steakhouse burger, or as rich or exotic as a chef’s creation, but it stands the test of time. And, as Solares notes, it passes the squeeze test.
Via What We Talk About When We Talk About Classic Hamburgers @ Eater.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 1.28.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Thursday in town will be cloudy but relatively mild, with a high of thirty-six. Sunrise is 7:12 and sunset 5:02, for 9h 50m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 81.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
There are several public meetings in the city today: Downtown Whitewater, Inc. (8 AM), CDA Seed Capital Screening Committee (4 PM), a CDA Board (5 PM), and for the Zoning Board of Appeals (6 PM).
On this day in 1959, the Packers make a now-legendary choice:
1959 – Lombardi Named Packers Coach
On this date Vince Lombardi was named head coach of the Packers. He had been the offensive backfield coach of the New York Giants for the previous five seasons. Lombardi went on to coach the Packers for nine years, winning five NFL Championships and victories in Super Bowls I and II. [Source:Packers.com]
Thursday from JigZone, there’s a 48-piece cut puzzle entitled, Number Cube:
Geography
The Mapparium
by JOHN ADAMS •
Beautiful Whitewater, Business, City, Free Markets, Lifestyle
Having Nice Things in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Some months ago, a community group, while embarking on a new project, began using the saying, ‘yes, we can have nice things in Whitewater.’ One supposes that they meant the saying as an expression of optimism about their chances for success, along the lines of we can do this. It’s also probable that they intended the expression as one of desire, along the lines of we deserve this.
It was not the first time that I’ve heard this said about Whitewater, and when an account of the expression’s recent use reached me, I knew immediately whence it came.
It’s a sentiment, generally and beyond any group’s particulars, with which I very much agree: we can have, and deserve, nice things in Whitewater.
Our challenge is that nice is not a fixed quality, sealed in amber, forever unchanging. Nor is nice a thing to be decided from on-high, from a few planners and politicians. The very use of the expression is confirmation that residents will no longer settle for accepting whatever comes their way.
Sometimes nice is a simple thing, overlooked until ordinary residents voice their hopes for more, different, and better.
Look back a decade, and what does one see? Too many leaders and insiders crowing that Whitewater was the pinnacle of all the world, that change would come from them, and that to dare raise any questions about local conditions was somehow an offense against the natural order. They wanted for others little more than a lemming’s life, albeit lemmings who would smile and applaud when asked.
Time takes her toll: most of the leaders from that time have slipped from Whitewater’s public scene (some tumbling more than slipping, if the truth of it be said).
Nice things are sometimes simple, plain things, changing by definition as generations pass, unplanned from above, and decided commonly by many rather than exclusively by a few.
It’s fair to say that a grocery store would be among the plain and simple things of value to Whitewater’s consumers; it’s encouraging that residents are willing to say as much.
Update, Wednesday afternoon : There will be more to write about a new grocery when possibilities become clearer. One can confidently guess that my own position will favor private, local transactions between businesses and shoppers without government subsidy.
Film
Film – Virtual Reality: The Birth of A Medium
by JOHN ADAMS •
For more on this topic, see The New Frontier @ Sundance and Where Virtual Reality Takes Us @ The New York Times.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 1.27.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Midweek in town will be cloudy, with an even chance of snow showers, and a high of thirty. Sunrise is 7:13 and sunset 5:01, for 9h 47m 51s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 88.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
There will be a Common Council meeting tonight at 6:30 PM.
America’s borders have changed greatly over her history – here’s a two-minute illustration of how greatly:
From JigZone this Wednesday, here’s a dog puzzle, in a 48-piece cut:
Language, Technology
Google’s New Translation App
by JOHN ADAMS •
Education, School District
Video & Liveliness
by JOHN ADAMS •
Post 3 in a weekly series.
There’s an unfortunate, unnecessary gap in our schools between the liveliness of students (and many teachers) and the way in which local print media present those lively people. Although I’m opposed to being too close to a subject, the encounters that I have concerning our schools unfailingly remind of this gap.
(For political commentary, too close distorts: one loses one’s objectivity after ingratiating oneself with every policymaker in town. Too close in Whitewater, by the way, is still much farther from a topic than town notables realize. Those who say one can wear several hats, switching between them at will, ignore the plain truth that all those hats sit on the same head.)
It puzzles me why our schools do not use video clips of students, faculty, and administrators more often. There are many photographs of school life (some from truly gifted photographers), but almost no candid, slice-of-life video clips.
We’ve already seen the inevitable shift in Whitewater, as in nearby communities, toward several media (often different Facebook pages) presenting school developments. Print – and here I mean actual newsprint – in this area presents school news in so deadly dull and dry a fashion that it simply drains the life out of the news being reported. (There’s a deeper problem, of course: the readership for newspapers is much smaller than those publications care to admit, and it’s skewed old.)
Websites that fashion themselves after soon-to-be-extinct newspapers have advantages over print, of course, but so many as advantages as they might have.
Why, when thousands of children and adults in the community enjoy videos every day, does the district do so little on this score? There’s no left-right in this: any community, of any politics, could publicize its work with unrehearsed, slice-of-life recordings of what’s happening now.
Part of the answer to this question is cultural, and part of it is political (based, I think, on a miscalculation about what the community’s truly like). Those are topics for future posts.
On the district’s main page, and on the pages of separate sites unconnected to Central Office, there could easily be a better, more lively account of how students and teachers speak, move, react, and experience their studies or teaching. (I am reminded that there is a teaching from long ago, everlastingly true, on the idea of letting a light be seen.)
That better, more lively account of how students and teachers speak, move, react, and experience their studies or teaching requires video.
THE EDUCATION POST: Tuesdays @ 10 AM, here on FREE WHITEWATER.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 1.26.16
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Our day begins with cloudy skies and brings a high of thirty, following a light snowfall last night. Sunrise is 7:14 and sunset 5:00, for 9h 45m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM and there will be a community meeting on a local grocery store at 6 PM this evening.
On this day in 1980, the U.S. Olympic Committee declines a previously-scheduled trip to Moscow:
At the request of President Jimmy Carter, the U.S. Olympic Committee votes to ask the International Olympic Committee to cancel or move the upcoming Moscow Olympics. The action was in response to the Soviet military invasion of Afghanistan the previous month.
On this day in 1925, Whitewater loses her hospital:
1925 – Fire Destroys Whitewater Hospital
On this date a fire destroyed the Whitewater Hospital. Monetary losses were estimated at $20,000, but no deaths were reported. [Source: Janesville Gazette]
Today’s puzzle from JigZone is a 67-piece cut entitled, Fantasy Toadstools:
Culture, Television
Back to 1993
by JOHN ADAMS •
The new six-part X-Files series debuted on Fox last night. Here’s a trip back to when the series first began.