Whitewater’s annual Christmas parade takes place on Friday, December 2nd at 6 PM, and although it’s great fun to watch, why not march this year? Here’s a form, from the parade committee, for those interested in taking part —
Good morning.
If you’re reading from faraway, and you’ve awakened to a day of sunny skies and seventy-five degrees, then you’ve missed out on a crisp Whitewater day with a high temperature of thirty-eight. Our November is as November should be.
It’s a grand opening for Whitewater’s new, expanded Walmart today. I walked through last night, and I’ll write more about Walmart later tonight. It’s an inviting sight to walk into the store and see — as one walks in — so much produce on display. Walmart may do a hundred small things wrong, but they do one thing very well (as well as any retailer on Earth: they offer lots of products to people in lots of places.
The New York TImes recalls that on this day in 1933, The United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations:
On Nov. 16, 1933, the United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations. President Roosevelt sent a telegram to Soviet leader Maxim Litvinov, expressing hope that United States-Soviet relations would “forever remain normal and friendly.”
It was the right practical step to establish relations, but ‘normal and friendly’ (or at least their approximation) were only possible with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
There’s a story at Wired that describes, and offers an explanation, for da Vinci’s observation that a tree typically grows so that the total thickness of the branches at a given height is equal to the thickness of the trunk. Kim Kreiger writes that
The rule says that when a tree’s trunk splits into two branches, the total cross section of those secondary branches will equal the cross section of the trunk. If those two branches in turn each split into two branches, the area of the cross sections of the four additional branches together will equal the area of the cross section of the trunk. And so on.
Expressed mathematically, Leonardo’s rule says that if a branch with diameter (D) splits into an arbitrary number (n) of secondary branches of diameters (d1, d2, et cetera), the sum of the secondary branches’ diameters squared equals the square of the original branch’s diameter. Or, in formula terms: D2 =Sigma di2, where i = 1, 2, … n.
But, why? Botanists had speculated that trees’ shapes followed the rule to allow for the pumping of water from the ground. There’s likely a very different reason:
But this didn’t sound right to Christophe Eloy, a visiting physicist at the University of California, San Diego, who is also affiliated with University of Provence in France. Eloy, a specialist in fluid mechanics, agreed that the equation had something to do with a tree’s leaves, not in how they took up water, and the force of the wind caught by the leaves as it blew.
Eloy used some insightful mathematics to find the wind-force connection. He modeled a tree as cantilevered beams assembled to form a fractal network. A cantilevered beam is anchored at only one end; a fractal is a shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a smaller, though sometimes not exact, copy of the larger structure. For Eloy’s model, this meant that every time a larger branch split into smaller branches, it split into the same number of branches, at approximately the same angles and orientations. Most natural trees grow in a fairly fractal fashion.
Leonardo was right about the relationship of branches to trunk, and now centuries later we know why: it’s all about endurance and resistance.
Over at Reason’s blog, libertarian Shikha Dalmia writes on Alabama’s War on Immigrants. The essay is solid from beginning to end. I’d recommend readers to consider her full essay, but I’ll quote now from a few key passages.
Overview:
Conservatives are resorting to ever more draconian measures to take back the country from “illegal immigrants.” The latest state to declare an all-out jihad is Alabama. But as with slavery and segregation, they are using the government to commit sins that will eventually require even more government to undo.
Consequences of Alabama’s law:
But the provision that has struck terror in Alabama’s Hispanic community is that schools will now be required to collect information about the residency status of students and share it—albeit minus the names—with state authorities. Thousands of Hispanic kids have reportedly dropped out of school, fearing that this is a set up for future deportation.
The way these immigration restrictions are like segregation:
But there are parallels galore between the restrictionist and the segregationist crusades.
The most obvious is that they both invoke a grand American principle to justify a dubious cause.
Racists justified slavery and Jim Crow in the name of states’ rights then and restrictionists are justifying their attack on illegals in the name of the “rule of law” now. But rule of law in the service of bad laws is a form of tyranny….
But a bigger similarity between restrictionists and segregationists is their total blindness to what they are doing to a minority community. If restrictionists have their way, undocumented kids will have a hard time attending school, going to college, or ever gaining citizenship.
Emphasis in red my own.
The further consequence of these immoral restrictions:
Closing off economic opportunities and tearing apart families will ghettoize a subset of Hispanics just as segregation and Jim Crow ghettoized southern blacks. Right now, a country caught up in a restrictionist fury might not care.
But a civilized society doesn’t forever tolerate such blatant inhumanity. Ultimately, some triggering event forces it to confront its turpitudes.
The real question for the Right:
So the question is what do conservatives hate more: big government [to enforce a war on peaceful people] or undocumented workers? If it is the former, then they should stop drinking any more restrictionist poison. And if it is the latter, then they should stop pretending to be the party of limited government.
I’ve referred critically to similar policies before, either expressly or implicitly. See, Wisconsin Assembly Bill 173 and Eight Steps for Responding to Political Wrongs.
Politics is a matter of compromise, in almost all things. Yet you know, and I know, that there are legislators in Wisconsin — some so very close at hand — who support restrictions like those of Alabama.
Their support of these measures is beneath a normal American politics, and so there can be no compromise with them. If they were thoughtful they would renounce these views, and return to America’s principled, compassionate, beneficial support of free exchange in capital and labor.
If they were, they would; likely they are not, and so will not. Their embrace of these un-American proposals threatens to sew individual abuses and social discord across Wisconsin.
As with segregation, there can only be ceaseless, diligent, peaceful opposition to these restrictions. (Dr. King is an enduring example of principled American activism.) I wish it were otherwise, but one sometimes responds to conditions not of one’s choosing.
This is one of those times.
Ilya Shapiro of Cato comments on the Supreme Court’s consideration (this term, March oral argument) of challenges to ObamaCare (considering particularly the individual mandate provision of that law).
There will be no more significant case before that court in this term, or any recent term.
See, SCOTUS Will Hear ObamaCare Challenges | Ilya Shapiro | Daily Podcast | Cato Institute.
Good morning,
A mostly sunny, balmy fifty-six degree day lies ahead for Whitewater.
Two public meetings await, too: the Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:15 PM, and Common Council meets at 6:30 PM. The Common Council session features a public hearing on Whitewater’s 2012 municipal budget. I’ll offer fuller remarks on the 2012 budget tomorrow, after the hearing.
I earlier posted about the plans for an Occupy Whitewater protest on 11.17.11, and here’s more detail from the organizers’ press release, as published @ CSI Media:
On Thurs. Nov. 17 to 18th, the American Dream movement, along with three University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student groups, including Forward Whitewater, the Peace Group, and the College Dems, will be sponsoring an Occupy Whitewater event the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s South Library Mall, just off Main Street, (between Hyer Hall, the Anderson Library, and the University Center) (800 W. Main Street, Whitewater). We are the 99%, and we will recall Walker and other corporate-owned politicians who have forgotten to do the will of the people.
• We’ll have a booth to sign petitions to Recall Walker.
• There will be a teach-in starting at 3 p.m.
• The rally will begin at 5:15 p.m., with Representative Andy Jorgensen, Representative Peter Barca, and Senator Erpenbach stopping by.
• At 6:30pm we will march as a group (or you can drive) to UW-Whitewater’s Hyland Hall (Room 1000, Timmerman Auditorium), where Erpenbach will be speaking at 7 p.m.
• After the talk, please return to the UWW South Library Mall for hot chocolate and more protest fun.
• If you wish to stay overnight, tents can be set up after 2 p.m. We’re hopeful that a significant group will stay overnight in solidarity with the international Occupy Movement. Even if you don’t stay overnight, please come and join the rally.
I’m more than curious to see how this event unfolds, as it’s not characteristic of the city. Protests like these — of all stripes — are more common in other places, and there’s no reason they can’t transpire as smoothly in Whitewater.
Good morning,
For Whitewater today, it’s a slight chance of showers, and a high temperature of fifty-five.
The Wisconsin Historical Society notes the birth of a famous, Wisconsin-born historian on this day in 1861:
1861 – Frederick Jackson Turner Born
On this date Frederick Jackson Turner was born in Portage. Turner spent most of his academic career at the University of Wisconsin. He published his first article in 1883, received his B.A. in 1884, then his M.A. in History in 1888. After a year of study at Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1890), he returned to join the History faculty at Wisconsin, where he taught for the next 21 years. He later taught at Harvard from 1910 to 1924 before retiring. In 1893, Turner presented his famous address, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” at the Chicago World’s Fair. Turner died in 1932. [Source: Bowling Green State University]
Today is also the anniversary of the day in 1971 when the Dow first broke 1,000:
It finished at 1,003.16 for a gain of 6.09 points in what many Wall Streeters consider the equivalent of the initial breaking of the four-minute mile.
“This thing has an obvious psychological effect,” declared one brokerage-house partner. “It’s a hell of a news item. As for the perminence of it — well, I just don’t know.”
It’s all relative, really. (Too funny, also that the New York TImes offered the brokerage-house partner’s quote as without specific attribution, as though no one wanted to be known for speculation on the topic.)
With a hat tip to the Huffington Post, here a dog proves he’s not just man’s, but also children’s, best friend:
Despite tough times in America now, Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini contend (and are likely right) that America remains the world’s best long-tern economic bet. There’s reason for optimism about our future:
But the longer-term future appears much brighter for the U.S. than for either Europe or China. America is still the leader in the kind of cutting-edge technology that expands a nation’s long-term economic potential, from renewable energy and medical devices to nanotechnology and cloud computing. Over time, these advantages will yield more robust economic growth.
The U.S. also has a demographic advantage. In Europe, declining birthrates and rising sentiment against immigration point toward a population that will shrink by as much as 100 million people by 2050. In China, thanks in part to its one-child policy, the working population has already begun to contract. By 2030, nearly 250 million Chinese will have passed the age of 65, and providing them with pensions and health care will be very costly.
Via Europe, China, U.S.: Whose Economy Has It Worst? – WSJ.com.
Activists Ready for Occupy Whitewater » FREE WHITEWATER bit.ly/udgiEp
11 Nov
Too funny – S&P Downgraded France’s Credit Rating by *Mistake* – The Atlantic Wire bit.ly/tL0gHs
11 Nov
R.I.P. Adobe (Mobile) Flash: The Crashes Won’t Be Missed – The Atlantic Wire bit.ly/vsltnd
9 Nov
Good Riddance, Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce « FREE WHITEWATER bit.ly/t8CqKN
9 Nov
A necessary first step NYT: Penn State Said to Be Planning Joe Paterno’s Exit Amid Sex Scandal bit.ly/s7Lklz
8 Nov
Whew! Via Astro Bob: Earth is safe; here’s what else you need to know about asteroid 2005 YU55 Duluth News Tribune bit.ly/tzI9KU
8 Nov
Only for the hunters: Can Wisconsin’s deer czar James Kroll ‘put the fun back in hunting?’ WI Outdoor Fun bit.ly/usrITa
7 Nov
Craig Gilbert: How a poor economy could affect the Scott Walker recall fight – JSOnline bit.ly/rz4Vqj
7 Nov
Gaming the system: Analysis shows hundreds of rehired UW-Madison retirees return for years bit.ly/u3XHYi
7 Nov
From Season 2 of the British series, Danger Mouse (the cartoon character, not the artist and musician!) battles a sneezing epidemic. Enjoy.
I see that activists are planning for an Occupy Whitewater event. Although I have more than a few doubts about the Occupy agenda, I sincerely wish the group well. Protest movements are both a right of speech and assembly, and they typically offer something to society no matter what their stated aims. (The right, in any event, settles affirmatively the question of whether they may speak or assemble.)
Dane 101 reports that
Occupy Whitewater is being organized in solidarity with a “99% National Day of Action” that will see large and small towns alike “occupy” streets, squares, and parks. The Whitewater event will also coincide with the launch of an effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker which starts on November 15….
State Senator Jon Erpenbach, long rumored to be a possible Gubernatorial candidate if a recall signature drive for Walker is successful, will speak after a 5:15 p.m. rally. After his speech occupiers are being encouraged to camp. James Hartwick, one of the organizers, said he camped out with Occupy Madison recently and hopes they’ll join him in Whitewater and return the favor. Occupiers will start setting up tents at 2 p.m.
Speaking at the kick-off event at 5:15 p.m. will be Reps. Andy Jorgensen and Peter Barca. That will be followed by a march to Hyland Hall at 6:30 p.m. to hear Erpenbach speak.
The kick-off event is being sponsored by the American Dream movement, Forward Whitewater, the Peace Group, and the UW-Whitewater College Democrats.
I’ll follow this protest as it develops.
Ideological differences notwithstanding, best wishes for a successful event.
I asked readers last week whether I should get an iPhone or stick with an Android one, having previously had three Android phones and more than that number of BlackBerry models still earlier. Comments were mixed, with some support either way. Poll results heavily favored the iPhone, and The Phantom Stranger’s recommendations (always reliable) made the choice an easy one: iPhone it was.
I didn’t have a chance to pick one up until yesterday, but I’m now even more a part of Apple’s ecosystem. (I have used Macs for years: FREE WHITEWATER and Daily Wisconsin are both Mac-produced, and FW is on its second Mac since ‘07.)
First and foremost: shopping for phones isn’t the most important thing a person could do, these days or any day. This is hardly a food-clothing-shelter issue. I see that; there’s still room to comment, in hard times, on many activities apart from necessities. That was true during the Depression; it’s just as true now.
Apple Online. In the evening, between 9 PM and Midnight, apple offers customers the chance to reserve a phone for pickup the next day. It’s a great service, as it allows patrons to know that they’ll have what they want when they arrive. Carrier, choice of color, storage capacity: you’ll know what’s waiting the next day.
No window shopper would I make: I shop in stores for simple things easily obtained, rely on specialized merchants for their guidance, or order items online. (Whitewater, by the way, has some excellent, specialized shops, and I visit them for their owners’ sound judgment and opinions, but that’s hardly browsing.)
Apple makes it easy to avoid prolonged and uncertain mall visits.
The Carrier. Apple’s sales rely on the connection between their hardware and a carrier’s service. My carrier was not at its best when I went to get my phone, and a software error kept my account password from resolving correctly on Apple’s register. I had to call the carrier three times to have the issue resolved, and that’s two calls too many.
Despite the delay, a conference call between Apple’s customer service and the carrier’s service fixed the problem (through a password reset, albeit one that might have been ventured sooner than the third call). A glitch like this is, nonetheless, trivial in the course of one’s life; it can only be handled well if one remains firm in one’s goal but otherwise calm. People who work in call centers have difficult jobs; it’s both wrong and unproductive to treat them poorly.
Apple’s Store. I was surprised at how busy the Apple store was. They had a greeter at the door, and ample staffing otherwise, but still they struggled to keep up with people looking for phones, computers, tablets, iPods, service, software, accessories, or classes for products already purchased. No other store nearby had so many customers inside. The store stayed busy throughout my visit, without relent.
The Store Staff. I used to think that Apple’s associates invariably looked younger (and thinner) than most customers. I would wonder if that might cause a perception gap of some sort, with older patrons struggling to relate to younger workers.
On my visit Thursday, I saw none of those differences: the workers were of different ages, and no more fit (generally) than their customers. Perhaps as Apple has become increasingly popular, her workforce has begun to look more like a cross-section of America. A youth-culture wouldn’t deter me; it’s just that it’s less evident.
The Phone. iPhones come in white and black, and most people suggested black. Libertarian and contrarian that I am, I went with the more unusual selection. (iBooks and iMacs were once white, and both of those now-retired styles were good to me in their day.) Still, pick what you want, and ignore people who say one choice or another really means something: in the end it only means that’s what you like. Apple once encouraged people to ‘think different’; there’s no reason to stop simply because they’ve a new slogan. Black looks sharp, too, by the way.
First impressions: Surprisingly light, great screen resolution, and easy-to-use apps. The voice A.I. (Siri) has worked well for scheduling two appointments, three reminders, and answering my questions about nearby restaurants based on cuisine.
It’s a good start, I think, for a happy customer.
