Saturday, July 8, 2017

Jane Kay Simon Atwell (1944-2017) Warren Area High School class of 1962



1962 Dragon yearbook

1967 Warren City Directory
  • [county section] Atwell Arthur Tiona
  • [county section] Simon Grace L 18 Church ln Barnes
  • [county section] Simon Harryt A 18 Church la Barnes
1983 Warren City Directory
  • [county section] Atwell Arthur Bx 297 Tiona
  • [county section] Atwell Jane Bx 297 Tiona
  • [county section] Simon Grace L Church Ln Barnes
  • [county section] Simon Harryt A Church La Barnes

Jane experienced an impressive, if less than spectacular, run of popularity into the 1960s, spending 55 years (1911-1965) in the top 100, peaking at #35 in 1946. After bottoming out at #447 in 2006, she's turned things around during the past decade.


Other members of the WAHS Class of 1962
Jerome Bowersox.  (4/14/2017)
Judith Manchester Graham.  (3/2/2017)
Andrew Gerbec.  (1/3/2017)
Carolyn Hummel Randas.  (3/3/2015)
Eleanor Haight Jones.  (12/10/2014)
Cheryl Quiggle Wuertzer.  (12/3/2014)
Martha Mathis Frederick.  (11/4/2014)
Sarah Andrews Ahlgren.  (10/7/2014)

UPDATE. Paul Ryan sings another verse of the same old song



Quoted in Six months into Trump presidency, Paul Ryan 'pleased' with legislative accomplishments.  (Capital Times, 7/8/2017)


Source:
Read Paul Ryan's Speech Calling Donald Trump's Victory the 'Most Incredible Political Feat'.  (TIME, 11/9/2016)


Original 7/2/2017 post, "Really, it's time for career politician Paul Ryan to go", starts here.

Paul Ryan blathers to his heart's content in the friendly confines of "Fox & Friends".


Quoted in Ryan: This could be ‘most productive’ presidency, Congress in our lifetime.  (The Hhill, 6/27/2017)

Source:  Wikipedia

Chuck Grassley not sure GOP Senators can get it up



G.O.P. Support of Senate Health Repeal Erodes During Break.  (The New York Times, 7/7/2017)
10 defections.  More on the way? Three other Republican senators, Bob Corker of Tennessee, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and John Boozman of Arkansas, have withheld their support, although they have not declared their opposition, and others have largely remained silent.

Friday, July 7, 2017

Carolyn Webster Cordes (1935-2017) Warren High School class of 1953



1953 Dragon yearbook


1967 Warren City Directory
  • [county section] Webster Herbert J Russell
  • [county section] Webster Mabel A Russell
1983 Warren City Director 
  • [county section] Webster Herbert J Rt 3 Bx 3358 Russell
  • [county section] Webster Mabel A Rt 3 Bx 3358 Russell

The popularity of 'Carolyn' is graphed here.   Let's see how son-in-law Devon fares.
A relative latecomer, Devon first appeared on the Top 1000 baby names for boys list in 1960.  He peaked at #119 in 1995, 1997, and 1998,  Twenty years later, he's already in a serious decline.

Other members of the class of 1953:
Leroy Sorenson.  (5/25/2017)
Carole Weigel Wunner.  (5/10/2017)
Arthur Wagner.  (1/5/2017)
Robert Harrington.  (12/6/2016)
Beverly Taft Littlefield.  (11/26/2016)
Karolyn Lane Stone.  (11/24/2016)
Roberta Leave Troutman.  (6/8/2016)
Grace Tigani.  (5/20/2016)
Nan Perry Fischer.  (6/18/2015)

Foxconn officials eyeing sites in Michigan


Or so "sources" want everyone to believe.

Photo credit:  Crain's Detroit Business

Reported in Sources: Pontiac, Lyon Township among sites being pitched to Foxconn.  (Crain's Detroit Business, 6/2/2017)
Jobs jobs jobs at any cost.  The company has taken criticism for worker conditions at its plants in China after a wave of suicides; in 2010, according to a 2015 Re/code story, 12 Foxconn workers killed themselves by jumping off rooftops. The article says Foxconn employs about 1.4 million people in mainland China and is one of the world's largest private employers.

Related reading:
Report: Lyon Township Out Of Running For Foxconn Facility.  (WHMI, 6/23/2017)
But before any Michigan investment can happen, a tax incentive program sought by the Snyder administration will have to be approved. The program, which that would allow new companies that create more than 500 new jobs in Michigan to capture up to 50% of their employees' state income taxes, was derailed this week by House Speaker Tom Leonard. The DeWitt Republican canceled a vote after questioning whether Snyder cut a side deal with Democrats.

Related post:
UPDATE. Foxconn becomes pawn in Wisconsin transportation funding tussle.  (7/6/2017)

UPDATE. Foxconn becomes pawn in Wisconsin transportation funding tussle



Italicized portion reported in Foxconn considering bringing 10,000 jobs to southeastern Wisconsin, Assembly speaker says.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, /7/5/2017)


7/2/2017 update, "Too many high school grads?  These examples might not bode well for Wisconsin.", starts here.

Tom Still doesn't acknowledge this recent front-page New York Times article:  A New Kind of Tech Job Emphasizes Skills, Not a College Degree
Mr. Bridges represents a new but promising category in the American labor market: people working in so-called new-collar or middle-skill jobs.


Reported in In era of ‘new collar jobs,’ Wisconsin can compete for business like Foxconn.  (Madison.com, 7/1/2017)


But then maybe it's about something else altogether.

Related articles:
Finnish tire manufacturer to locate new 400-worker plant in Dayton, Tenn.  (Chattanooga Times Free Press, 5/3/2017)
Among provisions in the recently passed and signed IMPROVE Act, which raises fuel taxes for the state's highway fund while cutting several general fund taxes, is a reduction in Tennessee corporate franchise and excise taxes for manufacturers.

A grim bargain.  Once a weakness, low-skilled workers who get paid little have become the Deep South’s strength.  (Washington Post, 12/1/2015)
Though many states recruit businesses with tax incentives, states in the Deep South pioneered the practice and remain aggressive users of the tool, pitching not just tax breaks but low costs and anemic union participation. The strategy has both payoffs and potential downsides. Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Airbus and Boeing now have plants in the Deep South, providing tens of thousands of sturdy middle-class jobs. But while those high-profile plants attract much of the attention, experts say tax breaks often are used for the many companies offering lower-wage work.

How the American South Drives the Low-Wage Economy.  (American Prospect, 7/6/2015)
Just as in the 1850s (with the Dred Scott decision and the Fugitive Slave Act), the Southern labor system (with low pay and no unions) is wending its way north.

6/28/2017 update, "Foxconn is not your fathers' manufacturing jobs; they pay much less", starts here.

Photo credit:  LinikedIn

Reported in If Foxconn builds a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, it won't be what many expect.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/27/2017)


6/16/2017 update, "Dear Foxconn, What happened to those other 45,000 jobs?", starts here.

Or is it 25,000?

Illustration from Pinterest

Reported in Is Michigan losing Foxconn to Wisconsin?   (Crain's Detroit Business, 6/14/2017)


Original 6/15 /2017 post, "The Foxconn timeline", starts here.

2016
Related image

After a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of Softbank, a mobile telecom and investment firm, suggested Foxconn could create 50,000 jobs in the U.S.



On January 23, 2017, Forbes reports:
Over the weekend, Foxconn's billionaire chairman, Terry Gou, filled in some of the gaps in the plan. 
He told reporters that the plan to build a plant for displays was still very tentative, but if it went ahead the investment would exceed $7 billion and could create 30,000 to 50,000 jobs, according to news reports.  
Gou singled out Pennsylvania as a possible location, adding that the investment would depend on Foxconn being able to negotiate good rates for land and power.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

The usual case of states giving away the store for jobs.  [Michigan Governor Rick] Snyder, a Republican, has been increasing pressure on Michigan lawmakers to approve tax incentives for large-scale business expansions in the state as it tries to convince Foxconn to locate in his state.  

Michigan’s Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof said this week in advocating for the incentives to lure Foxconn that “we should put our best foot forward so that we don’t lose all of it or part of it to a neighboring state.” 

Wisconsin state Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, said Wednesday he would “jump at the chance” to work with the Walker administration to pass any economic development incentives deemed necessary to land the Foxconn plant.

The governor of Pennsylvania is a Democrat.

Salary information from Indeed.


Working a 40-hour week, an assembler would earn $19,427.20 annually.  For a family of 3, that's $992.80 below the federal poverty guideline.  Not a living wage.

And not nearly enough of an hourly wage to afford the fair-market rate for a two-bedroom apartment.

Source:  Washington Post, 6/8/2017


The GOP's fact-free defense of its ACA replacement



Reported in Five Misleading Republicans Claims About Health Care.  (The New York Times, 7/3/2017)

Related posts:
GOP Senate leaders scrounge for votes to repeal Obamacare. It's bribery, pure and simple.  (6/29/2017)
Sen. Mitch McConnell sings his own rendition of "You Gotta Have Heart".  (6/27/2017)
UPDATE: Trump election provides big boost in popularity for Obamacare.  (4/5/2017)
Donald Trump delves into the intricate details of Obamacare replacement.  (2/18/2017)
With each passing day, Freedom Caucus crazies insure that GOP now has full ownership of Obamacare.  (2/15/2017)
And each time House Republicans voted to repeal Obamacare, they had no plan of their own.  (2/14/2017)
All clamor and no counsel leading GOP to Obamacare repeal disaster.  (1/27/2017)
Translation: "What I mean is that we really don't have a plan."  (1/26/2017)
As GOP promises quick repeal, people start to warm up to Obamacare.  (1/26/2017)
Trump's America: Fayette County, West Virginia, where Obamacare is a lifeline.  (1/24/2017)
Voters in Colorado's 5th Congressional District discover they have a chickenshit representative.  (1/17/2017)
Donald Trump:  The man without a plan.  (1/14/2017)
Wisconsin State Assembly rep Joe Sanfelippo talks out of both sides of his mouth on Obamacare.  (1/13/2017)
As for Obamacare, Vice President-elect Mike Pence promises a 7th year of all talk and no action from the GOP.  (1/6/2017)
UPDATE.  Hell:  The perfect setting for a weenie roast.  (1/5/2017)
UPDATE. Yes, Paul Ryan, we know, and that's very disturbing.  (1/17/2017)
UPDATE. Scott Walker in so many words: All told, it will take as many as 9 years to replace Obamacare.  (1/15/2017)

Beyond CES 2017: Modobag, the perfect luggage for the slothful American




Soon, It May Just Pack Itself.  (The New York Times, 7/3/2017)
Online Headline:  Did You Pack Too Much? Your Suitcase Know. Luggage has been a pretty sleepy product category. The industry’s last major innovation came nearly 50 years ago, when wheels and a telescoping handle were added to suitcases. Since then, improvements have been incremental, focusing on lighter-weight materials, interior layouts and maneuverability.

The latest features:
  • ports and chargers
  • GPS trackers
  • electronic baggage tags
  • built-in-scales
  • self-moving 

Modobag 
Price range:
  • $1,295 for 1
  • $2,550 for 2 (co-pilots)
  • $6,300 for 6 (flight crew)
  • $12,500 for 10 (company pack)

CES 2017 and beyond:
Hey, Rosie, look what folks can buy for $16,000.  (5/25/2017)
SleepPhones.  (2/6/2017)
Fuggedabout the Sominex.  (2/6/2017)
Griffin connected toaster.  (2/1/2017)
Ara by Kolibree smart toothbrush.  (1/27/2017)
Hypersuit.  (1/24/2017)
Omron Project Zero wrist blood pressure monitor.  (1/16/2017)
Pity the generations of parents who raised kids before CloudTot.  (1/15/2017)
Help your baby sleep through the night with this $1160 Snoo Smart Sleeper.  (1/15/2017)
Add some drama to your life with Razer Project Valerie.  (1/15/2017
LG Smart InstaView refrigerator.  (1/15/2017)
PowerVision PowerRay Drone.  (1/15/2017)
Equisense Care horse bodysuit.  (1/13/2017)
Vuze 3D-360° Virtual Reality Camera.  (1/13/2017)
HiTech Ninja solar power backpack.  (1/13/2017)
Augmented reality and head-up technology.  (1/12/2017)
LIVS:  Life-enhancing intelligent vehicle solution.  (1/12/2017)
Sony HT-ST65000 sound bar.  (1/12/2017)
The Las Vegas robot parade continues with Ewaybot's Moro.  (1/9/2017)
Meet Olly.  (1/7/2017)
Lynx Robot.  (1/7/2017)
LG Hub Robot.  (1/6/2017)
Lego goes robotic.  (1/6/2017)
Meet Kuri. (I'll leave you to decide if this allegedly 'adorable' robot is worth $700).  (1/6/2017)
Are you still using a dumb brush?  (1/3/2017)
IllumniBowl 2.0 (as seen on TV).   (12/21/2016)
Fireside Audiobox.  (12/20/2016)
Sony 4K OLED TV.  (12/19/2016)

City of Madison continues to sprawl west


I hadn't driven on Mineral Point Road west of Pleasant View for quite some time and was surprised to see how much development has taken place west of the Beltline and south of Mineral Point.

Beyond the cornfield.  The view looking west from Junction Road. (Red arrow on map below)

Photos and video by Retiring Guy

At the Sugar Maple Lane/Meandering Way roundabout, where a park is in the works.  (Green rectangle on map below.)


Multi-family housing along Mineral Point Road.


And the obligatory video.  (Blue arrow.  Apologies for the annoying spot on the windshield.)



Sugar Maple homesites.  (Min. Size: 1,600 Sq. Ft. Ranch, 1,900 Sq. Ft. Two-Story)


Howard Lincoln (1922-2017) Warren High School class of 1941



1941 Dragon yearbook

Howard's high-school activities:
Dragon Board (3); Band (2); Orchestra (2).

1967 Warren City Directory
1983 Warren City Directory

The popularity of Howard as a baby name is graphed here.   Let's take a look at Fae and her variations.


Faye is not only the most popular, relatively speaking, of the three, but she's recently made a return, if tentative, appearance.

Other class of 1941 members:
Charles Tranter.  (3/3/2017)
Evelyn Boyd.  (12/2/2016)
Thomas Masterton.  (9/3/2015)
Autumn Ettinger Doherty.  (2/20/2015)
Elizabeth 'Betty' Schearer Wilson.  (1/23/2015)
Imogene Morris McDaniel Schall.  (1/20/2015)
Rowena Farnsworth Littrell.  (10/22/2014)
Doris Look See.  (8/5/2014)
Elizabeth 'Betty Jean' Peterson Johnson.  (12/27/2013)
Frieda Dahler Mansfield.  (12/18/2013)
Margaret Bathhurst Gilson.  (12/16/2013)

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

A total of 242,300 Cadillacs were sold in 1974


And most of them were Coupe de Villes.  (Parallel parking optional.)



Cadillac Sales Hammered In June As Flagship Sales Stall.  (24/7 Wall St., 7/4/2017)
Cadillac sales fell 11.8% in June to 12,580. Sales of its new flagship Sales of its new flagship CT6 were up only 5.4% to 1,014. Both numbers for June were not characteristic for the year.  First-half sales for Cadillac were down 1.6% to 78,073.

Bleacher Report mid-term major-league baseball review


Didn't see that Brewers resurgence happening.  (Of course, we're only halfway through the season.)

Source:  MLB Predictions 2017: Projecting the Final Standings.  (Bleacher Report, 2/6/2017)

Could be a very long and disappointing rest of the season if the Bleacher Report is spot on.

Meet Dorian Gray, Milwaukee Brewers' manager.  (In Craig Counsell's case, the only connection is that the guy just doesn't seem to age.  If there were any dissipation and crime involved, he wouldn't be in the position he is now.)

Trump's America: Shasta County, California


The Great Red North of California.  (The New York Times, 7/2/2017)
Online headline:  California’s Far North Deplores ‘Tyranny’ of the Urban Majority.
Mr. Johnson lives in what might be described as California’s Great Red North, a bloc of 13 counties that voted for President Trump in November and that make up more than a fifth of the state’s land mass but only 3 percent of its population.

Source:  Wikipedia



Source:  CNN


Other Trump's America posts:
Piscataquis County, Maine.  (7/3/2017)
Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota.  (7/2/2017)
Autauga County, Alabama.  (6/29/2017)
Letcher County, Kentucky.  (6/29/2017)
Huron County, Ohio.  (6/19/2017)
Wisconsin Dairyland dilemma, part 2.  (6/19/2017)
Jackson County, West Virginia.  (6/18/2017)
Jackson County, Ohio.  (6/6/2017)
Spartanburg County, South Carolina.  (6/5/2017)
St. Joseph County, Michigan.  (6/5/2017)
Cambria County (Johnstown), Pennsylvania.  (6/3/2017)
Union County, Tennessee.  (5/30/2017)
Marion County, Iowa.  (5/23/2017)
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.  (5/22/2017)
Douglas County, Oregon.  (5/17/2017)
Perry County, Illinois.  (5/8/2017)
Bryan County, Oklahoma.  (5/5/2017)
Greene County, Pennsylvania.  (5/3/2017)
Huntington County, Indiana.  (4/27/2017)
Lawrence County, South Dakota.  (4/27/2017)
Gaines County, Texas.  (4/26/2017)
St. Martin Parish, Louisiana.  (4/26/2017)
Morgan County, Colorado.  (4/25/2017)
Oneida County, Wisconsin.  (4/24/2017)
(Trending) Trump's America.  Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. (4/22/2017)
Van Wert County, Ohio.  (4/12/2017)
(Impatient) Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District.  (4/18/2017)
New Jersey's 7th Congressional District.  (4/14/2017)
Bryan County, Oklahoma.  (4/3/2017)
Trumbull County, Ohio.  (4/3/2017)
lMarion County, Tennessee.  (4/1/2017)
Illinois 16th Congressional District.  (3/26/2017)
New York 19th Congressional District.  (3/26/2017)
Granger, Indiana, bad hombre.  (3/26/2017)
Clark County, Kansas.  (3/21/2017)
Defiance County, Ohio .  (3/21/2017)
Williams County, Ohio.  (3/21/2017)
Sawyer County, Wisconsin.  (3/20/2017)
Clark County, Wisconsin.  (3/19/2017)
Taylor County, Wisconsin.  (3/19/2017)
Highland County, Ohio.   (3/19/2017)
Buffalo County, Wisconsin.  (3/19/2017)
Union County, North Carolina.  (3/9/2017)
Franklin County, Illinois.  (2/27/2017)
Knox and Whitley counties, Kentucky.  (2/17/2017)
Cabell County, West Virginia.  (2/9/2017)
Where voters abandoned the Democratic Party in droves.   (2/7/2017)
Poweshiek and Webster counties, Iowa.  (2/7/2017)
Adams and Waushara counties, Wisconsin.  (2/6/2017)
McHenry County, Illinois.  (2/5/2017)
Essex County, New York.  (1/29/2017)
Mitchell County, Kansas.  (1/29/2017)
Fayette County, West Virginia.  (1/24/2017)
Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series.  (1/24/2017)
Johnson Creek, Wisconsin.  (1/21/2017)
Get me rewrite: Buncha white people in Boone County, Iowa, talk about Trump.  (1/15/2017)
UPDATE. Luzerne County, Pennsylvania is a Trump election success story.  (1/14/2017)
Monticello, Iowa. New York Times joins the search for Trump's America, a very white place.  (1/13/2017)
UPDATE. Boston Globe reporter continues to explore Trump's America, where mostly white people live.  (1/13/2017)

Books to fuel the how-young-is-too-young debate



Children's Primers Court the Littlest Radicals.  (The New York Times, 6/30/2017)
Only three years ago, the eminent children’s book writer and artist Walter Dean Myers wrote an opinion article in The New York Times lamenting the paucity of children’s books with African-American protagonists and themes. His concerns at the time were substantiated in documentation by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin, which reported that of 3,200 children’s books published in 2013, only 93 were about black people. (The 2016 figures reflect a jump: Out of 3,400 books received at the center, 286 are about black people.)


Monday, July 3, 2017

Robert Billman (1936-2017) Warren High School class of 1956



1956 Dragon yearbook

1967 Warren City Directory [county section]
  • Billman Howard R (Martha M) cement contr 515 Pleasant dr
  • Billman Robt H (Sandra) lab Betts h824 Carbon pl
1983 Warren City Directory
  • Billman Howard R retd h515 Pleasant Dr
  • Billman Robert H & Sandra L; asmblr Betts Industr r 30 Grunderville Rd

The popularity of Robert is graphed here.  Let's take a look at Howard


Howard enjoyed a great first half+ of the 20th century, spending 59 years (1900-1958) in the top 100 and peaking at #24 in 1919-1920.  By 1990, he was in free fall and lately has been struggling mightily to stay relevant.

Other members of the class of '56:
Russell Grosch.  (3/21/2017)
Richard Mancuso.  (7/18/2016)
Carolyn Garber Grosch.  (1/5/2016)
Charles Franklin.  (11/12/2015)
Susan Brown Clark.  (11/1/2015)
John Harrington. (10/13/2015)
Carol Schwitzer.  (10/7/2015)
John Smith.  (9/12/2015)
Donald Burgeson.  (3/9/2015)
Diane McChesney Kondak.  (2/15/2015)