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Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 11.23.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Friday will bring a probability of rain and a high of sixty to Whitewater. Sunrise is 7:18 and sunset 5:59, for 10h 41m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On 10.23.1983, “a suicide truck-bombing at Beirut International Airport in Lebanon killed 220 U.S. Marines, 18 sailors and 3 Army soldiers; a near-simultaneous attack on French forces killed 58 paratroopers.”

On this day in 1869, John Heisman is born:

John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was an American player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College (1892, 1894), Buchtel College—now known as the University of Akron (1893–1894), Auburn University (1895–1899), Clemson University (1900–1903), Georgia Tech (1904–1919), the University of Pennsylvania (1920–1922), Washington & Jefferson College (1923), and Rice University(1924–1927), compiling a career college football record of 186–70–18.

His 1917 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been recognized as a national champion. Heisman was also the head basketball coach at Georgia Tech (1908–1909, 1912–1914), tallying a mark of 9–14, and the head baseball coach at Buchtel (1894), Clemson (1899–1904), and Georgia Tech (1904–1917), amassing a careercollege baseball record of 219–119–7.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954. The Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the season’s most outstanding college football player, is named after him.[2]

On this day in 1921, the Packers play a first:

1921 – Green Bay Packers First NFL Game

On this date the Green Bay Packers played their first NFL game. The Packers defeated the Minneapolis Marines 7-6, for a crowd of 6,000 fans and completed their inaugural season with 3 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties.[Source: Packers.com]

A Google a Day asks a science & technology question:

The general who directed the project responsible for the “Fat Man” graduated from what alma mater in 1918?

City, Government Spending, Local Government, Open Government, Taxes/Taxation

City of Whitewater’s Proposed 2016 Budget

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Embedded below readers will find the City of Whitewater’s proposed 2016 budget.

An open and confident government would embed the budget on the city’s main webpage; an inquisitive and worthy press would embed (or at least link) to the budget file.

For the city there’s still a long way to go; for the print press there’s little time left to do, at least once, the right thing.

Beautiful Whitewater, Business, Food, Hip & Prosperous, Restaurant

Restaurants Transform a City

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Whitewater is a small city, not a California metropolis, but even a prosperous place like San Francisco benefits from a growing restaurant culture:

SAN FRANCISCO — For decades, as this city polished its reputation as an essential food destination, a stretch of Market Street just a short stroll from the groundbreaking Zuni Café remained stubbornly unchanged, an odd wasteland of check-cashing stores and weed dealers punctuated by the whiff of urine.

A city survey last year declared that Market Street between Seventh and 11th Streets was San Francisco’s dirtiest commercial strip. While nearby Union Square and the South of Market district blossomed, these half-dozen broad blocks remained something people rushed through on their way to more charming neighborhoods.

But in a city consumed by a tech boom that has left no inch of its roughly 47 square miles unnoticed by developers, the neighborhood now called Mid-Market is undergoing a transformation that would render it nearly unrecognizable to anyone who hasn’t braved its sidewalks for a few years….

See, A San Francisco Street Transformed by Food @ New York Times.

Some of the most uplifting changes to Whitewater’s retail scene have been the addition of new restaurants (and a nano-brewery) in the downtown.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 10.22.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Whitewater’s Thursday will be mild and sunny, with a high of sixty-four. Sunrise is 7:17 and sunset is 8:01, for 10h 43m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 68% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets today at 5 PM.

On this day in 1962, following the American discovery of nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba, Pres. Kennedy addressed the nation about the crisis:

1022_bigWashington, Oct. 22–President Kennedy imposed a naval and air “quarantine” tonight on the shipment of offensive military equipment to Cuba.

In a speech of extraordinary gravity, he told the American people that the Soviet Union, contrary to promises, was building offensive missiles and bomber bases in Cuba. He said the bases could handle missiles carrying nuclear warheads up to 2,000 miles.

Thus a critical moment in the cold war was at hand tonight. The President had decided on a direct confrontation with–and challenge to–the power of the Soviet Union.

Direct Thrust at Soviet

Two aspects of the speech were notable. One was its direct thrust at the Soviet Union as the party responsible for the crisis. Mr. Kennedy treated Cuba and the Government of Premier Fidel Castro as a mere pawn in Moscow’s hands and drew the issue as one with the Soviet Government.

The President, in language of unusual bluntness, accused the Soviet leaders of deliberately “false statements about their intentions in Cuba.”

The other aspect of the speech particularly noted by observers here was its flat commitment by the United States to act alone against the missile threat in Cuba.

Nation Ready to Act

The President made it clear that this country would not stop short of military action to end what he called a “clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace.”

Mr. Kennedy said the United States was asking for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to consider a resolution for “dismantling and withdrawal of all offensive weapons in Cuba.”

He said the launching of a nuclear missile from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union against the United States. It would be met, he said, by retaliation against the Soviet Union.

On this day in 1938, Dick Post of Footville had a productive day, to be followed by yet another such day:

1938 – Footville Man Wins Husking Title
On this date Dick Post of Footville won his sixth county title by husking a record 24.5 bushels of corn in 80 minutes. Two days later, he husked 1,868 pounds in 80 minutes to win the state championship. Post finished fourth in the nationals at Sioux Falls, S.D. [Source: Janesville Gazette October 22, 1938, p.4]

A Google a Day asks a sports question:

An NFL game was given the nickname “Ghost to the Post”, as a result of two memorable plays by a great receiver and blocker who played college ball at what university?

Economics, Economy, Local Government

The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Economy

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You’ll find in the video above a concise, balanced assessment of China’s economic prospects from economist Tyler Cowen. The short-term is sure to be rocky, but there are good, long-term prospects for China. (Prof. Cowen doesn’t say so, but those long-term prospects are likely to include – indeed, to require – a China without the Party.)

One may be absolutely certain that Whitewater is not China; the video isn’t meant to offer a comparison between that big country and our small city. It’s just an informative summary on its own merits.

One can say, though, that even a few minutes of Prof. Cowen’s assessment illustrate how mediocre Whitewater’s own economic development specialists are – even his simple video summary is superior to any analysis ever offered from Whitewater’s CDA, Tech Park Board, etc.

Don’t think so? Fair enough: produce anything of comparable, concise understanding that any of our self-declared experts has ever demonstrated concerning local municipal finance and development.

Here’s the simple – and cold – truth:

One American university economist surpasses the combined competency of all local development specialists entrusted with millions of dollars from thousands of taxpayers in the city. Even worse, many residents of this city have children living at the poverty level, and still they’re supposed to defer to a local understanding that’s laughably thin, for projects that are utterly worthless to their well-being.

See, The rise and fall of the Chinese economy @ MARGINAL REVOLUTION.

Business, CDA, City, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, State Government

Gov. Thompson Rejects WEDC-Style Loans

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Republican Tommy Thompson, who served for fourteen years as governor, has written in opposition to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s loan program.  It’s the right position to take, and shows that Thompson understands the problems with WEDC.  Explicitly, Gov. Thompson’s opposition to WEDC-style loans includes local communities’ doling of loans through their own programs.  (Whitewater’s Community Development Authority has been one of several cities Capital Catalyst communities making a practice of this, and seeking more money to keep doing so.)

(There’s an irony here, of course.  Some of the local development men who have claimed close ties to Tommy Thompson are also the ones so strongly tied to the loan programs Gov. Thompson rejects.)  

Here’s Tommy Thompson, from his recent essay in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel :

My time away from public office has further convinced me of one thing: Government shouldn’t operate in the business lending space. I served our state for 14 years as governor and another 21 years in the Legislature, believing and operating under the assumption that there are few things that government does better than business. I left public service in 2004 and have spent more than a decade helping build companies in a variety of industries. I’ve repeatedly helped secure capital, meeting with successful institutional and private investors and have never once during the investment process been asked, “Why isn’t government investing in this company?”

What do all of our neighboring states have in common besides wishing they had Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback? Neither Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota nor any of the other states we share a region with provide a state-backed business loan program — and for good reason. Government — federal, state or local — shouldn’t be in the loan business; it’s neither built for the necessary rigors of the financial due diligence process nor is it best structured to withstand the political pressures that may be inserted into the process.

So very well said.  

See, in full, Tommy Thompson: Government shouldn’t be making loans @ Journal Sentinel. 

Thompson’s opposition, and the inquiry into state-backed loans, isn’t the end of these stories.  As I’ve mentioned, there’s a cluster of communities – including Whitewater (http://inwisconsin.com/entrepreneurs/assistance/capital-catalyst/)  – that have embraced this idea, with development gurus imagining themselves bankers of the highest order.  

Significantly, even the dodgy WEDC provides no oversight of these loans (“WEDC does not provide direct funding to businesses or review business applications under the program.”)  It’s all in hands of the men who have styled themselves development gurus, public relations experts, business lobbyists, etc. 

Having watched these same men make significant mistakes, pick the wrong priorities, and declare all of it a floral bouquet, one should not expect something different now. 

No matter, they’ve embraced the wrong policy, and the consensus (of policy and politics) against their efforts grows stronger each day.  

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 10.21.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have another mild day today, with a high of seventy-five under sunny afternoon skies.  Sunrise is 7:16 and sunset 8:02 for 10h 46m 28s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 56.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

It’s Dizzy Gillespie’s birthday:

John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie (/???l?spi/; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer and occasional singer.[1]

AllMusic‘s Scott Yanow wrote, “Dizzy Gillespie’s contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time (some would say the best), Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis‘s emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy’s style was successfully recreated […] Arguably Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time.”[2]

Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge[3] but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizingbebop.[citation needed]

In the 1940s Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz.[4] He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan,[5] Chuck Mangione,[6] and balladeer Johnny Hartman[5]

 

On this day in 1897, the Yerkes Observatory is dedicated:

On this date the Yerkes Observatory was dedicated. Founded by astronomer George Hale and located in Williams Bay, the Yerkes Observatory houses the world’s largest refracting optical telescope, with a lens of diameter 102 cm/40 inches. It was built through the largess of the tycoon Charles Tyson Yerkes, who rebuilt important parts of the Chicago transportation system after the fire. Situated in a 77-acre park on the shore of Lake Geneva, this observatory was the center for world astronomy in the early 20th century and invited a number of astronomers from around the world, including Japan, for scientific exchange. [Source: Yerkes Observatory Virtual Museum]

A Google a Day asks a question suitable for a geography bee:

What two northernmost territories of India lie 1,100 km southeast of Calcutta? (In alphabetical order)

City, Local Government, Politics, University

Whitewater’s Major Public Institutions Produce a Net Loss (And Why It Doesn’t Have to Be That Way)

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I’ve often contended – and about this I’m sure – that most people are sharp and capable.  It’s only on this foundation that a prosperous and dynamic culture like America’s would be – could be – possible.

Whitewater’s major public institutions – her city government, school district, and local university – produce this unexpected result: although members of the government are certainly also sharp and capable individually, they often produce collectively a product that’s beneath their individual abilities or that of other competitive Americans.

There’s no doubt that many members of these public institutions are intelligent, educated, and capable on their own.

(There is one exception worth noting: the high-level leadership that former Chancellor Telfer gathered at UW-Whitewater is notably weak or troubled, exhibits a tendency toward act utilitarianism, and almost certainly faces greater disappointments ahead.  UW-Whitewater would have done better by picking almost any administrative leadership team than the one it did.  The worst is likely yet to come for – and from – that group.  A person of even moderate sense would stand as far from that upper echelon as possible.)

Yet, for the Whitewater School Board, or Common Council, do you not see plentiful talent?

I’m convinced that if one sat across the table from many of the elected or appointed leaders of these public bodies, just one-at-a-time, one would find capable and intelligent interlocutors who could easily hold their own in discussion and debate.  I’ve no doubt if it.

And yet, and yet, place those talented people together as a collective, and they produce so much less than their individual abilities would cause one to expect to produce.  I’ve no doubt of this, either.  Some of the collectively-produced projects in the city are simply ill-considered, counter-productive, or deleterious.

This odd result, in which talented individuals produce a collective result that’s less than a level of their individual abilities, is truly perplexing.

The whole should be more than the sum of the parts, that is, a true synergy.

Instead, for these public bodies, the result often seems to be a net loss in quality and accomplishment over that of individual members.  

I’ve no certain explanation for this, although over the years many people have suggested possible causes.

There is, however, a solution: each of these bodies could and should establish a deliberate, formal approach in which some of their talented members take a contrary position to the majority view, to test theories and projects.  In planning and debate, one would be left with (1) a group that advocated an approach and (2) those who intentionally took a contrary view to test the strength of that approach.  (That would be something like a Tenth Man Principle.)

This should be a serious, deliberate, formal process. (A few scattered questions at a meeting, sometimes at the last-minute, is not a serious, deliberate, formal process.  It’s a start, even sometimes a good start, but a start isn’t enough.)

A formal process of inquiry would produce much better work than government does presently.

Given the politics of Whitewater now, it’s much better – for clarity of thinking – to be outside a collective that produces work below the standard of its members or the community.  To trade individual clarity for collective confusion is a foolish trade.  An individual can do better than an addled collective.

Collective quality, however, can easily be improved through a formal, established process of questioning and inquiry.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 10.20.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be sunny, with a high of seventy-four. Sunrise is 7:14 and sunset is 6:04, for 10h 49m 13s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 46.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.  There is an earlier public information meeting, from 4:30-6:30 PM, about the reconstruction of Center Street, Summit Street and Boone Court.

On this day in 1944, MacArthur returns to the Philippines:

On 20 October 1944, troops of Krueger’s Sixth Army landed on Leyte, while MacArthur watched from the light cruiser USS Nashville. That afternoon he arrived off the beach. The advance had not progressed far; snipers were still active and the area was under sporadic mortar fire. When his whaleboat grounded in knee-deep water, MacArthur requested a landing craft, but the beachmaster was too busy to grant his request. MacArthur was compelled to wade ashore.[198] In his prepared speech, he said:

People of the Philippines: I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil—soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples. We have come dedicated and committed to the task of destroying every vestige of enemy control over your daily lives, and of restoring upon a foundation of indestructible strength, the liberties of your people.[199]

A Google a Day asks a history question:

Whose disciples founded Yellow Hats?