What Dem Can Win WI Gov Race?

I was reading Althouse post about Obama's upcoming visit to Madison and there were many comments about the Wisconsin Governor's race. I did not think that Lawton had a chance but after hearing the analysis of why Barrett would have a hard time, I am very depressed. Is there any top Dem who can win? Walker would be terrible for the state and terrible for me as a state employee. I don't think Falk would do well and I am not sure there are many other good options. I don't know why Kind is not running.

Another Stupid List of Cities

I am a sucker for all the dumb lists that rank cities and this one makes me really bugs me for several reasons. It is the Forbes list of "America's Safest Cities". Part of the problem is that they lump all the safety factors together, crime, natural disasters, traffic accidents, etc. Many people would really only care about certain factors and not others. You may not even own a car and intend to walk or take public transit then you don't really care about the traffic fatalities. The larger problem is that these problems only impact certain people for certain reasons in certain places. While crime is bad in Milwaukee it is not so bad in Mequon. While traffic accidents are common in Miami, they are not likely to be a big concern if you live and work on Miami beach. It is good that they make it clear that this a ranking of metropolitan areas and not just the central cities but the rick factors usually vary a lot based on where in the area you live and work. Saint Louis Park is safer than Minneapolis.

Part of what is frustrating is that these are actually important issues that people should care more about but this is so broad that it is useless. It think people should consider the Traffic Death Rates when picking a spot to live or work but there is so much more you'd want to know to make any type of informed decision. The top two cities NYC and Boston have many people who take public transit or walk/ bike to work and if the statistic is per capita death rate it would make sense that they would have lower overall rates. If you were to consider moving to Boston but had to drive on the highway all the time long distances, you don't know if you'd be any less likely to die than if you lived in any other place. Even the cities that ranked the worst in terms of traffic death rates, Orlando or Jacksonville, you don't know where and who is killed and why. Maybe the reason for this is very high rates of drunk driving on weekends late at night. If you are not out at those times, why would you care?

While I am glad I live in Wisconsin a spot with little risk of wild fires, earth quakes and hurricanes, the natural disaster ranking is also pretty worthless. Even though these disasters can be very destructive, the risk is largely one of cost (fire insurance) and possible large inconvenience and the risk is not universal across a metro area either. If you have a new home that can withstand a hurricane or earthquake, you should be less worried.

The workplace safety one seems the most silly to include at all. People should consider if their job is safe not whether people in their city have higher rates of workplace accidents or injuries. Maybe the reason that Indianapolis or Houston have high rates of workplace deaths is because they have more people working in dangerous professions like manufacturing or construction. If I am a laywer, do I care?

"Crack a decent fart joke and, as professionals, we will laugh."

Interesting Vanity Fair piece from Nell Scovell, a woman who worked as a writer on the Letterman show for a short time about Dave's hanky panky and the work environment that was hostile for women.

Part of what seems striking about this is that it seems clear that Dave have been screwing women on the show for 20 years! I was more sympathetic to Dave when I heard his confessional story about the blackmail but after reading this and thinking it over, it seems that he is a bad dude for doing this for so many years. He did not just sleep around or cheat on his girlfriend/ baby mama but he did it in the workplace for years and years. You can't do that and expect to have a happy normal workplace.

Maybe wireless internet was not a good idea on planes

Pilots were busy using their laptops when they overshot Minneapolis and ended up in Wisconsin. I can see a funny cartoon of the pilot surfing the net, looking at crap on eBay or checking out Facebook when the flight attendent is tugging on his shoulder saying "I think passed the Mall of America a half hour ago".

Apple Trouble

I am very excited that I got a new MacMini and a new iPod Nano (for my B-day) but I am a bit frustrated. Problem #1 - Right out of the box Mini needed a bunch of software updates which took forever. I thought I updated Safari and iTunes still can't open the store. If they want me to buy their music they should not make it so hard for me to even look at stuff in the store and to upload new podcasts. My old computer with an older version of iTunes and Safari worked just fine. #2 - Also, the iPod seems to never turn off the backlight. I set if for 2 seconds and it stays on. I even turned the lock button off and put it down and came back hours later to find the light on. Also, the headphones are a bit quirky and hard to plug in all the way. I love the new iPhoto, nice improvements.

Spicy Pony Head

This is too funny. Comedy sketch from Kasper Hauser.

It took God 7 Days to Make the World and Crumb 4 years to Draw His First Book

What a fun world we live in. I find it truly great when very odd quirky things get done and attract interest. Just when I think our country is so boring I am reminded that people are interested in more than People Magazine and Wal-Mat. Underground comic grand dad Robert Crumb has just come out with a complete illustrated copy of the Book of Genesis. Check out this NPR story on it with clips from him at a press conference. I really loved the movie Crumb and have an interest in the guy ever since. What a funny thing that here is a guy who is not a believer spending so much time on this project and so many are interested in buying it. (credit R. Crumb)

Shop Local - Really Local

Good piece from the Utne Reader which profiles a new corporate marketing fad to make national corporations seem like shopping at the local corner market. You are can get that feel good feeling if you spend your money and these local mom and pop companies: Anthropologie, The Cheesecake Factory, Barnes & Noble, and Starbucks.

Don't Tear Down the Last of the Historic University Avenue Shops

I read today that the owners of Brother's bar on University Avenue are filing a law suit to blog the University of Wisconsin from acquiring their property to build a School of Music performance hall.

I have never been in Brother's bar and don't really care if they stay or go but from a planning ascetics point of view, I think that this strip of two story shops on University should not be torn down to make way for yet another big building. I am not sure how I feel about whether the UW should have the power to use eminate domain for projects like this. Typically the businesses are paid for their property and given a fair offer of help to relocate and I am sure that Brother's could find another spot for their bar but my beef is with the use of the land.

University Ave. has become a pedestrian unfriendly highway corridor with huge buildings everywhere. Where there were once many of these type of cute little rows of shops and apartments there are now giant beasts of buildings like Grainger Hall, the Fluno Center and the rising Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Everyone would agree that this row of buildings that includes Brother's is a bit run down and shabby but they could be remodeled and be a useful part of the campus life. They provide character for the area. I can't believe that the UW could not build their new facility some place else (a parking lot) or maybe behind these buildings somehow, it doesn't have to be on University Ave. I am not clear on whether the city planning dept. has approved this demo and new construction but if they have not I think they should not approve tearing these down.

(photo from master9zero on Flickr - let me know if you want me to take it down)

Nice Comments Only Please!

I have been thinking lately about the issue of comments on blogs and what to do when things get ugly. Should bloggers moderate comments and take out offensive ones? This issue came up recently on Althouse when she posted a note about Andrew Sullivan and his obsession with Sarah Palin's baby. She wrote a short post and got many comments, some were anti-gay and nasty. Andrew Sullivan called out Althouse for not deleting the offensive comments and in a sense creating a haven where these homophobic views are acceptable. There has been more back and forth and others have weighted in, including Isthmus writer Ken Burns with a piece with the title: Althouse commenters: Gays are perverted fudge packers and John Nichols.

Some blogs allow comments, some like Sullivan's do not. Althouse recently slammed Paul Krugman for not allowing comments on a recent NY Times post that Krugman had about the global warming chapter of the upcoming Freakonomics. Krugman said "I’m going to block comments here, because I know it will be overwhelmed." I am not clear on a NY Times editorial, if the author has to moderate comments or if staff do it and what is their criteria for throwing out comments. I guess they throw out many nasty offensive ones because I don't see many comments like that on there.

The Internet is a place that brings out the worst in people, especially those who like to write anonymous nasty attacks. Why do people bother commenting at all? I think it is usually one of two reasons, they really don't like what the blogger has to say or they want to engage in some sort of (fake) conversations with others about the topic. People don't bother to say things like, "I agree" or "good point".

If your blog is large enough and you have a real job and don't spend every minute in front of the computer, you could not really moderate the comments one by one. Do the readers police themselves? Nichols seems to think so but I think some folks don't care how many people they offend and will be encouraged by attacks. Why do people with very anti liberal racist and homophobic views hang out and read some blogs including Althouse? I do think while she is independent and not a right-wing puppet (or I would not read her), but she attracts many more right than herself. Is it right to blame her for the company she attracts?

I don't blame Krugman for blocking comments. The vocal minority on a view are the ones who come out to make their voices heard and if you have 200 comments and 180 are negative is creates a certain impression of the views of readers which doesn't represent what people really think. I have not received many comments but some have clearly been a vocal minority who have strong feelings on a topic (911 conspiracy theory folks for example). That is not really a balanced fair dialogue.

Penelope Trunk recently posted and tweeted about miscarriage and abortion. She got some very nasty personal attacks in the comments. Many of those were not regular readers but anti-abortion folks who heard about this and spewed their views out. Bloggers need thick skin but why should she or any blogger feel obligated to sit there and take all those nasty comments about themselves? If you do police the comments where do you stop? if something is a little racist or a little mean do you delete it? Do you wait for others to come to your defense?

I have more questions than I have answers but I think these issues of right and wrong in the new cyber world are going to keep making me think.

I broke the law today

Good piece in Slate about whether bikers should obey traffic laws designed for cars.
The article is titled "Stop Means Stop - How do we get bikers to obey traffic laws?" By Christopher Beam. This is important issue not only to make peace between bikers and drivers but it is a matter of life and death (or injury as seen in a recent Madison downtown accident- still looking for link).

I rode my bike in today for the first time in a while. I like this intro because I did the same thing: "Heading home from work yesterday, I ran five red lights and three stop signs, went the wrong way down a one-way street, and took a left across two lanes of oncoming traffic. My excuse: I was on a bike. "

The article asks the question, should we change "car-centric laws that don't make sense for bikes, like the rule that says you need to come to a complete stop at a stop sign"?

I had to print this out to read it on paper

I found it funny that in order for me to focus on this NY Times 'Room for Debate' - opinion thing about whether it makes a difference whether we read on paper or electronically I had to print it out and read it on paper. Also, the Times website did not set up this page with the easy print format button, they must have assumed everyone would want to read this on their iPhone or computer screen. I actually cut and pasted it into Word, shrunk the font, took out the photos so I could read "Does the Brain Like E-Books?" on paper in my hand. I think that tells you something. I like to read important things I need to focus closely upon on paper. I think part of my problem is that when reading on the screen I am distracted by all the other words, buttons, etc. in front of me. This is one reason why I like the NY Times printed articles from the web, they are just words with nothing else, not even page numbers. I saw a guy with a Kindle yesterday on the bus and thought that would be convenient but was worried he'd drop in on the crowded bus. As a guy who reads kids books every single night, I can never see bringing a e-book into bed for a good night story.

The girl next door is not supposed to be a brazen hussy

Nice story by John Blumenthal about his experience working at Playboy in the 1970s on why they used the shy innocent photos and not the flirtatious most sexy ones. Playboy Never Used the Really Sexy Pix

My Birthday is Coming Up

I am always a bit late on these funny websites that have lots of photos of funny stuff but this one takes the cake. Have you seen Cake Wrecks? I was laughing so much at some of these (I read about this on Althouse). Basically it is photos of cakes that were screwed up or look very strange, the funnest ones are when the person putting the words on the cake was not using their brain. Keep clicking through, they keep going and going.

My only beef with the site is that there are some good cool cakes and posts about Cake Wreck events which I don't really want to see. I only want the funny wrecks.

It seems that they have a mascot of sorts from one odd one when someone baked a cake with, get this, Carrot-riding Mohawk babies?! Not sure why anyone would want a cake like that but someone made one. Not exactly laugh out loud funny but makes you wonder.

I could not stop laughing at this one. What the fuck!? - why on earth would someone make a cake like this? what are they celebrating?

Moving is Over Rated

Very interesting article in Newsweek by Joel Kotkin about how trends are changing and people are moving less often and staying in their communties. The article “There’s No Place Like Home: Fewer Americans are relocating than at any time since 1962. That's good news for families, communities ... and even the environment.” Cites the following statistic: “As recently as the 1970s as many as one in five people moved annually; by 2006, long before the current recession took hold, that number was 14 percent, the lowest rate since the census starting following movement in 1940. Since then tougher times have accelerated these trends, in large part because opportunities to sell houses and find new employment have dried up. In 2008, the total number of people changing residences was less than those who did so in 1962, when the country had 120 million fewer people.”
The article explains some of the drawbacks of all the moving around – lack of political and social involvement, loneliness, lack of community, fewer local businesses. The article points to several concurrent trends which are leading to this shift away from the hyper mobility:

- more working at home
- the recession (I can’t move to Florida because I can’t sell my house in Ohio, I need to help support my adult kids who can’t get a good job so I can’t retire yet)
- technology changes
- more focus on family

I think this trend is in the right direction but we have a way to go to create real communities and relationships that we need to strive. I’d hope that part of the reason for this trend is that people will realize that moving around all the time and living in a place where you don’t know anyone or have any connection is not fun but I am not sure people get that message at the right time. If you are 24 and looking for a job and get a great opportunity in a city you know few people, you may take it but not realize that it will not be such a great move for your long term happiness. Yes, you may meet some friends and get married but you’d end up living in a city where you have no roots, no long term friends and family. I hope people (both employees and employers) see that corporate nomadism is no way to live and the drawbacks far outweigh the benefits.

Even if people stay where they are and move less I think that the blending of suburb to suburb in our large metro-areas like Chicago or Atlanta creates a lack of political involvement or interest and many American’s have no sense of place in their community. So many of us work in one ‘burb, live in another, go to church in another and their kids go to camp in still another. I bet that most suburban adults don’t even have a clue who their Mayor is. Even if some of the reasons for these trends are not what we’d ideally want (We want to move to AZ but we can’t sell the house and the kids are living back at home) it may be a blessing in disguise.

She Doesn't Look Homeless

Gwen, the new American Girl doll, is homeless. (Photo from Madison.com from American Girl)

One Reason Obamacare is Not Happening

It occurred to me today that one reason the Democratic health care reform is struggling is that many previously uninsured people have already been helped by programs set up at the state level. Many states, like Vermont, Massachusetts and Wisconsin to name a few have make efforts in recent years to expand on Medicare and Medicaid to cover more people who would have previously been uninsured. Those folks, and their families and friends, are now covered and are fairly happy and not demanding Obamacare.

Governor Doyle tried to make this point recently when he told folks that the Badgercare Plus Core plan had too many people sign up. This program expands coverage for low income people without kids. Wisconsin has already expanded Badgercare to cover more children and families beyond the minimum that need to be covered by Medicaid. These incremental improvements to our health care system has lowered the demand for an overhaul.

Turn on Your Love Light

I don't really agree with these right wing/ Drew Cary/ Libertarian/ anti-environmentalist folks at Reason.tv but this video, Light Bulbs vs the Nanny State does raise a good point and is kind of funny and well done. (found this from Althouse from Instapundit)

I think the drawbacks of compact florescent bulbs are not as significant as what is described here but some are significant enough to make me think twice about completely banning the regular old light bulbs. I think that some of the problems with the bulbs can be overcome through more use and research and competition as they become more used. The bulb makers have already fixed some of these problems and are working on the others I'd bet.

Just like we should not put too much energy on bashing the Hummer, to shine the light only on light bulbs and to pass a complete ban seems a bit extreme. Which is better, to live in a small apartment with 4 incandescent light bulbs for 20 years or to live in a McMansion with 80 compact fluorescent bulbs? What the hotels, offices, and some apartments that don't have to pay utilities and folks leave lights on all day and night? How about incentives and some flexibility?

Just as the cash for clunkers program was criticized for taking useful working vehicles out of use and creating of new cars, some fans and other light fixtures and lamps can't really use CF bulbs easily and it doesn't make sense to in essence ask those owners to install new fixtures which would result in an environmental cost to manufacture the new fixtures and dispose of the old ones.

Economist Comedy Hour

very funny stand-up routine & stories from University of Chicago professor and Obama advisor Austan Goolsbee (from Megan McArdle)

colors

Had to travel to work up to Lake Tomahawk Wisconsin. A good 4 hours straight north of Madison. It was a bit overcast but the colors on the leaves, yellow, red, orange were so worth it. I have not been that far to the north woods in a long time and while 8 hrs of driving was not fun, it was like traveling to Autumn heaven.

Its the Economy Stupid - Olympics Selection Has Nothing To Do With Obama

I find it very strange that many, including Ann Althouse and her readers, think that the IOC not picking Chicago has anything to do with Obama. It is an international competition based on lots of factors.

I did not elect Obama to bring us the Olympics and the fact that we did not get them is not his fault. I don't really think the economic benefits are even worth the expense to the host city and country anyway.

Yes many in the US and outside the US are happy to have a change from Bush and yes Obama is a move in the right direction in terms of how the rest of the world sees us. However, there is still a lot of hard feelings against our country. We are clueless if we think we are now universally loved across the globe. Every country in the world is dealing with an enormous economic crisis that we caused on Wall Street. Then there is Iraq & Afghanistan....2020 here we come.

If you liked it, then you should have......

put a ring on it. I am probably the last person in the world to see the Beyonce video for Single Ladies. It is a good song and a ok video but why do people like this so much? Yes, she is a good dancer but what am I missing here?

So the YouTube version has had 70 MILLION VIEWS!!! Wow. Has any video had more ever? What seems really odd to me is that 133,000 people wrote comments on the video on YouTube! I have given some thought to the value of commenting on stuff you find online and it seems that if something has that many comments you may has well write down your comment and flush it down the toilet. That would have the same level of conversation/ benefit/ dialogue/ attention or whatever you expect when you comment on something. I don't think that Beyonce is sitting at home reading all these comments. Why do people feel compelled to comment on stuff the see like this?