As it should be – @js_newswatch: Georgia goes green & gold http://bit.ly/gzpIqS
15 Jan
Greatest story — in all the world — for 1/14/11: Fox Shoots Man – Yahoo! News http://yhoo.it/hk2GVz
15 Jan
Arizona Republic: Pima County sheriff should remember duty http://bit.ly/fDvrja He’s done more than enough grandstanding and speech-chilling
11 Jan
Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice « FREE WHITEWATER http://bit.ly/gEBTTT
11 Jan
The 24th Annual Wisconsin Troopers’ Art & Essay Contest is accepting entries through February 15th.
I have included the contest rules and an entry form, immediately below. The forms can be viewed in a full screen mode, and are available for downloading and printing.
Best of luck to all contestants.
Wired notes a famous birthday —
Martin Luther King Jr. is born. Though his work for civil rights and peace will become widely known, he will also deliver an important warning on the perils of technological amorality.
King delivered a lecture at the University of Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 11, 1964, the day after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. He argued that progress in science and technology has not been equaled by “moral progress” — instead, humanity is suffering from a “moral and spiritual lag.”
From King’s acceptance speech —
Yet, in spite of these spectacular strides in science and technology, and still unlimited ones to come, something basic is missing. There is a sort of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.
Every man lives in two realms, the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live. Our problem today is that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external. We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be summarized in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau1: “Improved means to an unimproved end”. This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting problem confronting modern man. If we are to survive today, our moral and spiritual “lag” must be eliminated. Enlarged material powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth of the soul. When the “without” of man’s nature subjugates the “within”, dark storm clouds begin to form in the world.
This problem of spiritual and moral lag, which constitutes modern man’s chief dilemma, expresses itself in three larger problems which grow out of man’s ethical infantilism. Each of these problems, while appearing to be separate and isolated, is inextricably bound to the other. I refer to racial injustice, poverty, and war….
Via Jan. 15, 1929: Birth of a Moral Compass, Even for Science | This Day In Tech | Wired.com.
Hunter approaches a fox and tries to kill it with a rifle butt.
However,
The animal fiercely resisted and in the struggle accidentally pulled the trigger with its paw,” one prosecutor was quoted as saying.
Wired answers the question of What’s Inside: Purina Kitten Chow.
Here are the main ingredients: Biotin, Brewers Rice, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Animal Fat Preserved With Mixed Tocopherols, Fish Meal, Chicken ByProduct Meal, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Taurine, and Soy Flour.
The Wired story describes why each ingredient is included, and it’s well worth a cat lover’s time to see what’s part of his or her kitten’s diet.
Here’s the Friday open comments post.
Today’s suggested topic — The Canadians have banned a Dire Straits song. If you were going to ban a song — although I think banning’s a bad idea — what would you ban? Less intrusively, what song would you switch off the moment you heard it?
My pick —
Frosty the Snowman — I really dislike that song. I certainly wouldn’t ban it, as Sister Aloysius Beauvier would, but I don’t like it, as it’s just grating to me.
Think I’m wrong? Play this a few times — I dare you.
The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings is, of course, fine.
Although the comments template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.
I’ll keep the post open through Sunday afternoon. more >>
I’m sure the song is offensive to many — but that’s no reason to ban it.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that Dire Straits’ 1980s hit Money for Nothing is too offensive for Canadian radio.
The ruling, released Wednesday, was in response to a complaint against St. John’s radio station CHOZ-FM. The listener complained that the word faggot – which appears three times in the song is “extremely offensive” to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
For those unfamiliar, here’s the song:
Via Canada Bans Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing” for Being Too Offensive. No, I’m Not Kidding – Hit & Run : Reason Magazine. more >>
For millions, 2010 was a difficult year.
Foreclosures were at a record high in 2010, and more than 1 million people lost their homes, even as notices started leveling off during the end year.
In total, there were nearly 2.9 million foreclosure notices filed during the year, according to report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. That was a record high, but just 1.7% above 2009.
The story notes that foreclosures would have been higher had lenders not reduced the number of notices toward the end of the year due to complaints about robo-signing.
What to think about this high number of foreclosures? Megan McArdle thinks that it’s a complicated legal matter, and hard to assess. Thomas Sowell thinks that bailing out homeowners is bad policy.
I’d say both are true: it is legally complicated, but except for the truly disadvantaged, bailing out homeowners is bad policy (and denies prospective buyers their chance for a home). There’s also much demonizing of lenders in all this, when not all lenders are at fault for unlawful practices.
In most of these cases, especially for those borrowers with good incomes, this should be a matter between lender and borrower, without government intervention.
Good morning,
For today, the Whitewater’s forecast calls for a slight chance of flurries, with a high temperature of twenty-three.
In our schools, at Washington School, it’s Family Fitness Night, from 6-8 p.m, and at the Middle School it’s Activity Night from 7-9:30 p.m.
Over at Science News, there’s a post entitled, The write stuff for test anxiety:
Students score higher after jotting down worries before a big exam.
Psychologists Gerardo Ramirez and Sian Beilock, of the University of Chicago, contend that
High school and college students go from choking to smoking on big tests by writing about their exam fears beforehand, a new study suggests.
In what amounts to a Heimlich maneuver for choking under pressure, writing down test-related worries for 10 minutes before taking a major exam appears to dislodge those concerns and clear the way for higher achievement….
That’s intriguing, and contrary to a traditional view that holds that one should ignore one’s worries, and concentrate only on the subject matter. Beilock has a book on the topic of test anxiety: Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To.
Here’s Beilock talking about her book —
According to MSNBC, she was brought into Israel’s Wildlife Hospital in the Ramat Gan Safari, near Tel Aviv, because she had been run over by a lawnmower. She sustained fractures in her shell that became infected….
Because of this, the veterinarians gave her a set of wheels. The turtle liked them so much that the prototype had to be replaced with a stronger set.
Via Huffington Post Injured Turtle Gets Wheels To Walk (VIDEO).
The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ January 2011 Newsletter is out, and it includes articles and a calendar of upcoming LWV events. The latest copy of the LWV newsletter is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below, with coding through Google.
Here’s a sampling of upcoming events for the Whitewater-Area League —
Date: January 20 (Thursday)
Event: Speaker, Attorney Victor Arellano on Immigration and Naturalization Law
Where: 7 PM City Municipal Building, Council Chambers
Description:
Attorney Victor M. Arellano will address issues of immigration and naturalization in the Council Chambers of City Hall in Whitewater on January 20th at 7PM. This event is free and open to the public.
Attorney Arellano practices law in Madison and is an expert in immigration law and international adoptions. He is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, both Wisconsin Federal District Courts, Immigration Court and the United States Tax Court. In 2007 Governor Jim Doyle appointed Mr. Arellano to the Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in Wisconsin’s Criminal Justice System. In addition, he was one of eleven Wisconsin attorneys selected as a Leader in the Law for 2006 in the Wisconsin Law Journal. Recently, Mr. Arellano was listed along with other outstanding attorneys across the country in Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition 2009.
Attorney Arellano participates in many civic activities including hosting his own radio program, “En Vivo con Victor Arellano/Live with Victor Arellano” on AM 1480, La Movida Spanish radio programming where he provides legal advice to the Latino Community. In addition, Mr. Arellano regularly serves as a Moot Court Judge for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. Mr. Arellano frequently handles pro bono cases. He has also written numerous “Know your rights” articles in Spanish for various bilingual newspapers. Victor M. Arellano received the Hispanic Youth award from Madison’s Centro Hispano and participates annually in the Latino Youth Career Fair.
Date: February 17 (Thursday)
Event: Meeting with LWV-affiliated Student Organization
Where: 6:30-8:30 PM UW-W campus, University Center, Room 264
Date: March 8 (Tuesday)
Event: Viewing of movie “Iron Jawed Angels”
Where: UW-W campus, University Center, Summers Auditorium
For more on the Iron Jawed Angels, see http://iron-jawed-angels.com
Good morning,
Today’s forecast calls for snow, of limited accumulation, with a high temperature of twenty-three degrees.
Tuna’s a popular food, but tuna fishing in U.S. waters may be restricted. The Wall Street Journal, in a story entitled, Tuna Fight Muddies Waters Over Damage From BP Spill, reports that
The bluefin tuna is one of the most majestic and prized creatures in the sea. Last week, one caught off Japan sold in Tokyo for $396,000, to be used as sushi.
Now the fish is the subject of a scientific fight that shows how hard it will be to gauge the environmental fallout of the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The U.S. government will wrap up public meetings next week on whether to recommend declaring the Atlantic bluefin an endangered species….
Over at the Janesville Gazette, there’s a fine story about the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams project. The story describes the project:
The project is an effort to make something great out of something unspeakably tragic. Treyton Kilar of Whitewater was killed last Sept. 2 in a crash involving a driver who now faces charges of homicide by drunken driving.
Kilar’s parents and others are working to raise nearly $500,000 to pay for construction of a baseball field in Whitewater, dubbed the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams.
See, Field of Dreams project seeks help.
The most important and enduring things are free of politics. They’re an unalloyed good, borne of noble dreams. It was an English jurist who once wrote that Americans are, fundamentally, noble dreamers. The Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams project is such a dream, grand and noble and an unalloyed good.
I’ve been voting for it each day, and I hope that you’ll do so, too.
Here’s the project overview, from the Pepsi Refresh website —
Treyton Kilar, age 6, was killed in a senseless car crash by a drunk driver on September 2, 2010. In an effort to create hope out of despair, the Whitewater community has united to build a new baseball field to honor Treyton and provide a happy, healthy place for families and children to come together safely. Treyton’s big dream was to someday play professional baseball.
He spent countless hours practicing at home and on teams through the Whitewater Parks and Recreation Department. Although Treyton’s dream was cut short by a senseless tragedy, this new ball field will provide our young people with an opportunity to achieve their dreams. By providing a place for family friendly and safe activities, the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams will provide an alternative to drinking and driving and be a monument to overcoming evil with goodness and love.
Here’s how to vote —
1. Register at http://www.refresheverything.com/treytonkilar and then vote for the Field of Dreams project. You’ll only need to register once, and then you’ll be able to vote for the project each day through January 31st.
2. For Facebook, go to http://www.refresheverything.com/treytonkilar, and install the blue Facebook application (it’s in the right column of the page).
3. Text 105500 to Pepsi (73774)
