Well, thanks, Whitewater (and points far beyond, too)! I very much appreciate your suggestions for a name to recommend to the German scientists who recently discovered a new, super-heavy element (See my earlier post, Whitewater, Wisconsin — Name that New Element!
I’ll list your suggestions, and later today I’ll post the email that I send to the lead German researcher, an email that I will send in both English and German. (I have no German, and will use Google’s Transalation Tool to translate my English into German.)
First, I have omitted from consideration any references to the Second World War, although Pattonium has a certain appeal. References to Germans, from the war years or afterward, didn’t meet the criterion that our suggestion was something of America, to recommend to the German physicists.
There were a few celebrities suggested, but I didn’t include them either. It’s also not true, as someone suggested, that Vin Diesel is German — he’s American, for goodness’ sake. I saw Pitch Black — twice! — and Diesel’s not German.
Here are the suggestions that I’ll pass along, with a bit of comentary after each.
Whitewaterium or Whitewateronium — By far the leading suggestions. Just the name of the town. Simple, no puffery needed.
Obamium — A tribute to the new president, and someone who did, after all, win the city’s vote handily. I really like this one, actually, Libertarian though I am!
Chenium — In honor of the former vice president. I don’t think he ever visited here, but if he did, I am sure he would love it.
Dreamtonium — The idea of Whitewater as a dream town, based on the erroneous — nearly screwball — reliance on a survey that labeled the entire county of 100,000 as “Whitewater.” (See, Municipal Exaggeration — Dream towns.)
Coanitonium — I’ll pass along this reference to Whitewater, Wisconsin’s police chief, but it would not be — as you can guess — my first choice. I’d save this for an element that vanishes, and then reappears a few weeks later, looking for its former place in the Periodic Table.
Prattnium — Named in honor of the Pratt Institute, a center of spiritualism formerly located in Whitewater. This was a serious recommendation, by the way.
There were no suggestions involving any other local politicians or bureaucrats. Not one.
Finally, someone suggested Madsenium, in honor of actress Virginia Madsen. Why? in November 2008, I posted Smoking in a Nanny State, about a Wisconsin smoking ban.
I don’t smoke, but I opposed then as a proposal, and oppose now since enacted, a smoking ban.
In that post, I included a photo of actress Virgina Madsen, with a cigar and glass of wine. She’s not connected to Whitewater, and so I won’t pass the suggestion along, but any excuse to make a reader happy by posting the photo’s fine with me, and I agree that Wisconsin’s smoking ban is a too restrictive.
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| From Free Whitewater |