FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1.27.14

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Good morning.

We’ll have a cold day in Whitewater, with a high of six below zero, and wind chill values of twenty-five to thirty below.

The Whitewater Schools are closed today and tomorrow.

On this day in 1888, the National Geographic Society is born:

…The 33 men who originally met and formed the National Geographic Society were a diverse group of geographers, explorers, teachers, lawyers, cartographers, military officers and financiers. All shared an interest in scientific and geographical knowledge, as well as an opinion that in a time of discovery, invention, change and mass communication, Americans were becoming more curious about the world around them. With this in mind, the men drafted a constitution and elected as the Society’s president a lawyer and philanthropist named Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Neither a scientist nor a geographer, Hubbard represented the Society’s desire to reach out to the layman.

Nine months after its inception, the Society published its first issue of National Geographic magazine. Readership did not grow, however, until Gilbert H. Grosvenor took over as editor in 1899. In only a few years, Grosvenor boosted circulation from 1,000 to 2 million by discarding the magazine’s format of short, overly technical articles for articles of general interest accompanied by photographs. National Geographic quickly became known for its stunning and pioneering photography, being the first to print natural-color photos of sky, sea and the North and South Poles….

Puzzability has a new, football-themed series this week, incorporating the Super-Bowl-contending team names into the daily game answers:

This Week’s Game — January 27-31
Team Scrimmage
Looks like there’s a gain on the play all week. For each day, we started with a word or phrase, added the letters in the name of one of the two teams competing in this year’s Super Bowl (BRONCOS or SEAHAWKS), and rearranged all the letters to get a new word or phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.
Example:
Ran like crazy; gets clean after playing football
Answer:
Tore; takes a shower (Seahawks)
What to Submit:
Submit both pieces, with the shorter one first (as “Tore; takes a shower” in the example), for your answer.
Monday, January 27
Cannoli cheese; squeezing snake

City

How Groups Try to Hide Decline

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In cities big and small, groups and companies that are in decline often try to conceal bad news about their performance or popularity.

An easy way to attempt this is to change the unit of measure by which the group reports membership, readership, production, popularity, etc.

To disguise a precipitous decline in production, for example, a group might change the unit of measure by which it reports success.

So, they might declare that they produced 3,000 gallons in 2012, and had another great year in 2013 by producing 3,000 quarts.

The change in the unit of production is a trick, to preserve the illusion that they’re still producing 3,000 of something. Of course, they are producing 3,000 of something, it’s just that it’s 3,000 of something much smaller, and only one-fourth of the previous size.

Wait long enough, and they’ll be compelled to report production in pints, cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. Still three-thousand of each, perhaps, but three-thousand of ever-smaller units.

One should care about this change in measurement only slightly. It’s true that it’s meant to work a deception, but it scarcely matters.

First, the overwhelming majority of people in a community are easily sharp enough to spot the supposedly crafty sleight-of-hand. They’ll see through it.

Second, as a group declines in production or popularity, they become increasingly irrelevant, and their attempts to conceal their decline matter less because, having truly waned, they’ve not the influence or importance they once had. They can say what they want, but it matters less and less.

And that, all said and done, is what decline means.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1.26.14

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Good morning.

We’ve a lovely blanket of snow in the city today, and we’ll have a high of twenty-three, with wind chill values around zero.

The latest FW poll, The Rabbit in the Statue’s Ear, is now closed. 63.16% of respondents felt that South Africa should remove a tiny rabbit surreptitiously placed in the ear of a statue of Nelson Mandela, and 36.84% felt that it should remain.

On this day in 1934, Samuel Goldwyn makes a sound purchase:

One of America’s best-loved movie projects gets underway on this day in 1934, when the producer Samuel Goldwyn buys the film rights to the children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

Published in 1900, Baum’s novel told the story of Dorothy, a young girl on a Kansas farm who is swept away by a tornado and carried to the magical Land of Oz. Baum, who died in 1919, based his book on the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, and also drew inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. His own work of children’s literature became an instant classic, was translated into some 40 languages and spawned numerous sequels.

Baum’s widow, Maud, allowed another writer to continue the series after her husband’s death in 1919–and adaptations, including a long-running Broadway musical that debuted in 1903 and several silent films. The most famous adaptation, however, would be Goldwyn’s film version of The Wizard of Oz, which was finally released in 1939. Goldwyn had supposedly intended for Shirley Temple to take the part of Dorothy, but the role went to 17-year-old Judy Garland instead, and it would catapult her to international stardom.

On this day in 1925, fire destroys a local 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]

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1.25.14

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Good morning.

Saturday brings blowing snow, a high of fifteen falling to two degrees by the afternoon, and about two inches of snow overnight.

On this day in 1981, the late Chairman Mao’s widow has a fall:

Jiang Qing, the widow of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death for her “counter-revolutionary crimes” during the Cultural Revolution.

Originally an actress in Communist theater and film, her marriage to Mao in 1939 was widely criticized, as his second wife, Ho Zizhen, was a celebrated veteran of the Long March who Mao had divorced while she lay languishing in a Moscow hospital.

….after her husband’s death in 1976, she and three other radicals who had come to power in the revolution were singled out as the “Gang of Four.” Jiang was arrested and in 1977 expelled from the Communist Party. Three years later, the Gang of Four were put on trial. Jiang was held responsible for provoking the turmoil and bloodshed of the revolution, but she denied the charges and denounced China’s leaders. She was found guilty and sentenced to die. On January 25, 1983, exactly two years after she was condemned, the Chinese government commuted her sentence to life imprisonment. In 1991, she died in prison of an apparent suicide.

On this day in 1932, still no public, Sunday dancing in Janesville:

1932 – Janesville Prohibits Sunday Dancing
On this date the Janesville council deadlocked, 3-3, on an ordinance that would have permitted public dancing on Sundays. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Movie clips seem almost obligatory —

Poll, Weird Tales

Friday Poll: The Rabbit in the Statue’s Ear

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In South Africa, there’s a new, large statue of Nelson Mandela with an unexpected quirk: inside the statue’s ear the sculptors added a small rabbit.

Here’s a photo that shows a tiny addition to the late leader’s right ear:

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The artists consider the rabbit their ‘trademark.’

So, should it stay or should it go? I’ll say go, as it’s a embellishment that’s simply an unnecessary distraction from the purpose of the work as a commemoration of Mandela.

What do you think?


Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1.24.14

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Good morning.

We’ll have blowing snow throughout the day, with a high of twenty-three, and about one to two inches of snow overnight.

It’s the anniversary of the first sales (from 1935) of beer in a can:

Canned beer makes its debut on this day in 1935. In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company delivered 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale to faithful Krueger drinkers in Richmond, Virginia. Ninety-one percent of the drinkers approved of the canned beer, driving Krueger to give the green light to further production….

On this day in 1960, Green Country residents meet to discuss a crisis:

1960 – Crisis of Morals in Green County
On this date representatives of civic and service organizations, schools and churches met in Monroe to discuss the “crisis of morals” in Green County, where the number of unwed mothers increased to 40 in 1959. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Last I’d heard, Green County was still standing, these many decades later.

Puzzability’s Alternative Musicians series ends today, with Friday’s game:

This Week’s Game — January 20-24
Alternative Musicians
Some people can really sing their hearts out. For each day this week, we began with the name of a solo singer who has won a Record of the Year Grammy Award. Then we removed any spaces and punctuation and deleted every other letter, leaving just the odd letters. The day’s clue shows those remaining letters in order.
Example:
MCALAKO
Answer:
Michael Jackson
What to Submit:
Submit the singer’s name (as “Michael Jackson” in the example) for your answer.
Friday, January 24
AYIEOS

City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Local Government, Poverty

Three Motivations for Local Government Intervention (and One That’s Sadly Missing)

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In Whitewater, we’ve had any number of local projects, some involving millions, in a town of only thousands.  

Broadly, one may assume three motivations for local intervention: (1) genuine if mistaken efforts at community betterment, (2) the vanity or economic interest of parties to a project, or (3) a desire to prevent demographic and cultural change within the community through regulation.

Of the first, a genuine desire for community betterment, one may say that often the benefits are over-stated, and the costs scarcely stated at all.  Still, the motivation is good-hearted if otherwise ill-considered.

Of the second, motivations from vanity or manipulation of government for the economic gain of only few, we have had too many projects.  These vanity pieces are without legitimate justification, but instead cloaked in sophistry, relying on flawed or deceptive claims. Here lies crony capitalism wearing the garb of ‘progress,’ ‘development,’ and public-private ‘partnerships.’

The third, regulatory attempts to forestall cultural and demographic change, have been around for a while, but now have greater intensity as a few seek to prevent a new, emerging culture for the city.

One sees it, for example, in the strident and reactionary attacks on an emerging, new restaurant scene.  

Sensing that the community wants new opportunities, a few who cannot appreciate culinary diversity seek to ban, or regulate to infirmity, any new proposal.  An Old Guard, mostly without desire or appreciation of new choices, now sees claims of fear, uncertainty, and doubt as its remaining means to assure an unchanging, city-in-amber culture.  

Having lost in the marketplace – because after all a whole class of sharp and smart patrons seeks new possibilities – the Old Guard seeks regulatory obstructionism to stifle the free choices of others.

This is, of course, a sign of their weakness: they’ve nowhere to go except through scheming. They can cause a great amount of short-term damage, but still – for them – the demographic dustbin awaits.     

One can expect the third motivation to grow ever greater as Whitewater’s culture shifts.  

Finally, there’s one motivation of local government action that’s mostly missing: toward the poor and vulnerable.  If we are to have government intervention, here’s a place of legitimate emphasis: it costs less than grand construction schemes, and does more than those schemes ever could.  

We have, if anything, too little of legitimate anti-poverty plans. Contending that crony capitalist projects (e.g., Generac’s bus) are anti-poverty programs is a stretch at best, and unconvincing.  

We’ve three main motivations for government invention that we often don’t need, and not enough motivation for the one kind of intervention of which we could use, candidly, much more.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1.23.14

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Good morning.

Thursday comes to Whitewater with a chance of flurries and a high of two degrees.

On this day in 1775, British merchants speak against their government’s restrictions on trade with America:

…London merchants petition Parliament for relief from the financial hardship put upon them by the curtailment of trade with the North American colonies.

In the petition, the merchants provided their own history of the dispute between the colonies and Parliament, beginning with the Stamp Act of 1765. Most critical to the merchants’ concerns were the £2 million sterling in outstanding debts owed to them by their North American counterparts.

The merchants claimed that, a total stop is now put to the export trade with the greatest and most important part of North America, the public revenue is threatened with a large and fatal diminution, the petitioners with grievous distress, and thousands of industrious artificers and manufacturers with utter ruin. The petitioners begged Parliament to consider re-implementing the system of mercantile trade between Britain and the American colonies, which had served the interests of all parties in the empire prior to 1764.

Following the Coercive Acts of 1774, the colonies had quickly agreed to reinstate the non-importation agreements first devised in response to the Stamp Act in the autumn of 1765. They threatened to enter non-exportation agreements if Britain failed to meet their demands by August 1775. Because debts the colonies owed British merchants were generally paid in exports, not currency, such an action would indeed have caused tremendous financial loss to the British economy. Non-importation had a comparatively minor impact, because British merchants could and did find other markets. However, no one else would pay the vast debts owed to the merchants by tobacco planters like Thomas Jefferson or New England shipping magnates like John Hancock.

They simply would have been, and later were, better off trading with a free and separate country than having limited opportunities with mere colonies. Free trade is friendly.

Here’s Puzzability‘s game for Thursday:

This Week’s Game — January 20-24
Alternative Musicians
Some people can really sing their hearts out. For each day this week, we began with the name of a solo singer who has won a Record of the Year Grammy Award. Then we removed any spaces and punctuation and deleted every other letter, leaving just the odd letters. The day’s clue shows those remaining letters in order.
Example:
MCALAKO
Answer:
Michael Jackson
What to Submit:
Submit the singer’s name (as “Michael Jackson” in the example) for your answer.
Thursday, January 23

SEYCO

CDA, City, Development, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government

About that iButtonLink Announcement…

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An aspiring musician tells his friends that he performed to a standing-room-only crowd at Carnegie Hall. Needless to say, they’re impressed. “It’s great that your songs drew such attendance,” they observe.  

“Why, yes,” the musician replies, “it must have been my music, although I suppose the free tickets and fifty-dollar gift packages might have had something to do with it.”  

In November, to much fanfare, UW-Whitewater proudly announced a new tenant for the publicly-funded Innovation Center. (I’ve reproduced the press release, in full, below.)

In those eight paragraphs and three-hundred seventeen words, one reads about what a great deal it is, how much space they’ll occupy, how long they’ve been in business, and that they’ll move a handful of employees over from East Troy.  

All this is meant to show how very skillful the tech park’s leaders have been in landing someone, anyone, to move into the Innovation Center.  

It’s just that there’s one relevant and material aspect of the relocation that the university’s press release conveniently omits – that iButtonLink also received a one-hundred thousand dollar ($100,000) public loan from Whitewater’s Community Development Authority.  

See, from the 12.18.13 CDA packet, the notes from the 11.20.13 CDA meeting, at Item 8(3), loan approved unanimously.   

Maybe it’s not just the music…

Press release immediately below – 

iButtonLink, a research and manufacturing company focused on networked sensor solutions, is moving its operations to the Whitewater University Innovation Center.

The company signed a five-year lease on Thursday and will occupy five suites (4,063 sq. ft.) on the Innovation Center’s first floor, making it the largest private tenant in the building.

“We are excited at this opportunity,” said Rob Olson, iButtonLink CEO. “For a technology company like ours, the ability to collaborate with the university, the excellent labor pool in Whitewater, and the great support of the community all enable us lead in the ‘Internet of Things’ space.”

“iButtonLink will bring new energy and technological expertise to the community,” said Richard Telfer, UW-Whitewater chancellor. “I am particularly excited about the company’s plans to engage UW-Whitewater students, faculty and staff members in its business operations.”

Much of that collaboration will happen because of iButtonLink’s participation in the Whitewater Incubation Program. The program is designed to provide coaching, mentoring, and support services to businesses linked to the Innovation Center. UW-Whitewater faculty experts and students assist with growth opportunities, business plans, and marketing and branding.

Founded in 2003, iButtonLink produces and distributes high-quality sensors and solutions that can be outfitted to fit any business needs. Products include temperature, humidity, voltage and light sensors, to name a few. iButtonLink serves clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups, and its products have been used in the harshest environments around the world, from the Antarctic to the African savannah.

“iButtonLink is a great addition to the Innovation Center,” said Jeffery Knight, chairperson of the Whitewater Community Development Authority. “They will add a well-established product line and also create a research facility for future product development. Our building and their needs are a perfect fit together.”

Olson said the company and its 10 employees expect to relocate from the current headquarters in East Troy to the Innovation Center sometime in December.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1.22.14

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Good morning.

Wednesday brings a high of eleven, and a likelihood of morning snow with accumulation of less than one inch. Sunrise is 7:19 AM and sunset 4:55 AM. The moon’s a waning gibbous with 65% of its visible disk illuminated.

At 8 AM, Downtown Whitewater’s board members meet, and at 5 PM there’s a meeting of the Community Development Authority.

It’s the 41st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.

Also on this day, in 1998, the Unabomber pleads guilty – “…in a Sacramento, California, courtroom, Theodore J. Kaczynski pleads guilty to all federal charges against him, acknowledging his responsibility for a 17-year campaign of package bombings attributed to the “Unabomber.” ”

Today’s a notable anniversary (from 1964) for cheese-makers, too:

1964 – World’s Largest Block of Cheese Produced
On this date The world’s largest cheese of the time was manufactured in Wisconsin. The block of cheddar was produced from 170,000 quarts of milk by the Wisconsin Cheese Foundation specifically for the 1964 New York World’s Fair. It weighed 34,665 pounds (17.4 tons). The cheese was consumed in 1965 at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association at Eau Claire. A replica is displayed in Neilsville in the specially designed “Cheesemobile“, a semi-tractor trailer in which the original cheese toured. [Source: American Profile, December 16, 2001]

Here’s Wednesday’s Puzzability game:

This Week’s Game — January 20-24
Alternative Musicians
Some people can really sing their hearts out. For each day this week, we began with the name of a solo singer who has won a Record of the Year Grammy Award. Then we removed any spaces and punctuation and deleted every other letter, leaving just the odd letters. The day’s clue shows those remaining letters in order.
Example:
MCALAKO
Answer:
Michael Jackson
What to Submit:
Submit the singer’s name (as “Michael Jackson” in the example) for your answer.
Wednesday, January 22
PICLIS

 

Federal Government, Freedom of Speech, Liberty, Local Government, New Media, Open Government, Politics, State Government, Writing

Steps for Blogging on a Policy or Proposal

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For bloggers who cover politics, policy-making, etc., just as would have been true of essayists and pamphleteers in an earlier time, it helps to have a method to one’s writing.  In the paragraphs below, I’ll list steps one should take when approaching a topic.

The steps are in a rough order, but in any method, one sometimes returns to an earlier step, or jumps ahead if necessary.

1. Read.  Often long before writing, there’s reading (and listening).  One reads the documents in a proposal, including contracts, studies, and other supporting materials, and listens to presentations on the proposal.

Reading and listening are more than a study of a particular proposal; they are a reliance on what one has read before, on the topic but also on other topics, perhaps seemingly unrelated at first blush.  In the end, what one reads – if it’s any good – is a review of others’ recounted experiences and analyses.

Rely on the sound foundation of the works of respected authors and researchers.

2.  Walk around.  If writing about a place, try to visit it if possible. Maps may produce a poor understanding of distance, line-of-sight, and the influence of weather. Similarly, if writing about devices, try to find one, to hold it in one’s hand, to learn how it looks and feels.

3.  Write initially.  After reading and listening and walking about or examining a device, start writing.

Sometimes, all that one has read or experienced will offer a definite opinion.

Other times, one may begin merely with a series of questions.  It’s rare that a significant topic inspires just one question.  Questions are both a search for information and an expression of prior, informed understanding.

Publish your questions.

It’s not an exercise of due diligence to ask one weak question, to ignore the need for a responsive answer, or to fail to act after the vague answers one receives (or does not even receive).  Asking a question and doing nothing after getting no answer or a poor answer isn’t an exercise in accountability, but instead an abdication of it.

Politics is littered with those who think that one tepid question is enough, and that the mere asking somehow fulfills one’s duty.  America did not become a great and advanced republic through timid political and scientific inquiry.

4.  Informal requests to officials.  If you’ve a few questions you’d like to ask directly, do so with an announcement of those same questions to your readers.

It’s a mistake to think that private conversations with officials will advance blogging on public issues.  (See, as an example, mention in FREE WHITEWATER from 11.6.13 letting readers know that I would be asking Whitewater’s city manager about particular documents.)

Private discussions always run the risk of being manipulated to officials’ advantage.  If one would like to be a tool or toad of government, then one can always join a fish-wrap community newspaper, where every day is an exercise in sycophancy.

5.  Formal requests.  If an inquiry demands a public records request under state or federal law, go ahead and submit one.  As with an informal request to officials, publish the full request online after you’ve submitted it.  Let readers see what you’re seeking from government, verbatim.

In the same way, publish what you receive in reply to your request.  I’ve come to see that it’s a mistake to leave a government’s reply unpublished. Readers should see the full reply.

Be prepared to follow up.  A reply will likely raise other questions.  Let your readers know those questions, including any subsequent, formal records request.

6.  Litigation.  Never threaten what one is not prepared to do; don’t publish threats (of litigation) in any event.

(There was an odd situation like this a year ago between two Wisconsin bloggers, where one of them taunted the other with the risk of a lawsuit.  It was a sorry affair.  The law is not a threat; it’s a defense.)

When writing about a major topic, think – as best as one can – about where it might lead. Most topics, needless to say and thankfully so, will never be the subject of lawsuits.  For a very few, that might be a possibility.

Consult with a lawyer if you have significant questions, about whether to obtain documents, assure open meetings access, protect a right, or advance a vital public policy.  Conversations on any of these topics will be between the lawyer and the blogger-client, and afterward addressed methodically with sangfroid, that cold calm that’s useful for success.

I’m sure I’ve missed much, but here’s the general method, some steps to be repeated, others never to be reached: (1) read & listen (2) visit places & study objects if possible, (3) write, asking questions where necessary, (4) submit informal requests to government if seemingly fruitful, (5) submit formal requests under the law, (6) consult an attorney for advice on rights under the law or limitations on government action.

Having a method for blogging on policy makes writing better for both blogger and readers. It’s as simple as that.