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Updated: Crews hope to clear tipped trailer by morning
JANESVILLE--Authorities were hoping to have a semitrailer truck cleared by Friday morning's commute after it shut down Interstate 90/39 on Thursday afternoon, Janesville Fire Shift Commander Bill Ruchti said.
The semitrailer truck driver pulled onto the southbound shoulder about a one mile north of the Racine Street interchange because he thought he was having mechanical problems, Ruchti said. The driver disconnected the semitrailer tractor from the trailer, but one of the two jacks holding the trailer up sunk into the shoulder, and the trailer tipped over on its side, he said.
The trailer contained 41,500 pounds of disinfectant solutions used in the food industry, packed in 55-gallon drums and 1-gallon containers, he said. It didn't appear that the chemicals had leaked, he said.
The incident backed traffic up for miles, but authorities allowed traffic through during the evening rush hour before closing one lane again in the evening for clean up, he said. Crews were working overnight to unload the trailer and hopefully have the site cleared by morning, he said.


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Investors and analysts will be closely watching when the company next reports earnings numbers. Earnings results can offer insight into the overall profitability of a specific company. Sell-side equity analysts are looking for AAC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AAC) to report quarterly EPS of $0.14. The company is slated to next report earnings on or around 2017-02-28 for the period ending on 2016-12-31.
The earnings report has the ability to trigger near-term movements of the stock whether results hit or miss expectations. Before the earnings report, investors might be watching directional trends of estimates. The company posted actual EPS for the last quarter of $0.19. The Zacks Research consensus estimate prior to earnings was $0.24. The difference between the two numbers was $-0.05 which resulted in a surprise factor of -20.83%.
2 analysts polled by Zacks Research currently have a mean target price of $18 on AAC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AAC). The top target is presently $27 and the lowest target has the stock reaching $9 within the year. In looking at the standard deviation of all estimates, we arrive at 12.727. Zacks Research also uses an analyst ratings scale that spans from 1 to 5. Using this scale, a 1 would indicate a Strong Buy, and a 5 rating would represent a Strong Sell rating. Using all the ratings on AAC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AAC), the mean rests at 2. Breaking those down we see that the ratings are as follows: 2 Strong Buy, 0 Rated Buy, 2 Rated Hold and 0 Rated Sell.
Want to receive stock recommendations on AAC Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AAC) as well as the latest stock picks before the Street? Sign up below!
Analyst recommendations and estimates are for informational purposes only and should be used along with a number of other factors when considering an investment position. Part of the data in this report is derived from Zacks Research and FactSet. Ratings and estimates change daily and thus the numbers may differ slightly if a new report has been issued within the last 24-hours. The consensus numbers take into account the reports from over 160 brokerage firms. The job of analysts is to issue recommendations for their clients, and not typically for the general public. Analyst forecasts, earnings estimates and price target projections are issued to help their clients make money through stock investments. We in no way are suggesting that readers make any decision based on the information in this report.

subset: commoncrawl


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Journal Abstracts
Unlimited access to full-length articles is included with membership. Click memberships to become a member.
A holonomic holographic integrated model of early development is introduced reflecting clinical findings from prenatal and perinatal psychology as well as current western early development thought.
This phenomenological study aims to portray the nature of the shared experiences of Israeli women who became pregnant and gave birth after surviving the trauma of terrorism in order to learn how maternity experiences can either augment the process of posttraumatic healing or exacerbate the wound inflicted by the trauma. Data was collected via open-ended interviews with eight women who shared the stories of their experiences. Data analysis revealed findings in four categories: losses, maternity through the prism of otherness, maternity as empowerment and transformational processes.
Mother-Fetus Communicative Relationship: A Longitudinal Study on 58 Primiparae and their Children during the First Eighteen MonthsAbstract:
The purpose of this longitudinal observational survey was to compare a questionnaire on fetal auditive exposure, administered to 58 pregnant women, to the Mac Arthur questionnaire recording the communicative and linguistic development of their children when ten- and eighteen-months-old. By 'fetal auditive exposure' we mean the natural exposure to the acoustic stimuli that the fetuses experience through their mother's living environment.
On a theoretical level, this article aims to categorize the increasingly large body of work that exists on fatherhood in order to gain a better understanding of the psychic aspects involved in this stage of development. In a second time, the authors expose two case studies of a clinical research on the transition processes among first-time fathers. The subjects were 25 Greek men of an average age of 30, who were to become father and who participated to a semi-directive interview before and after the birth of their first child.
This article continues the dialogue on the origins of heath as beginning in the womb. It points to the positive effects and changes that can occur when re-evaluating the importance of the pregnancy period for matters of public health. A brief review of the literature on dietary habits preconception/prenatally, and the intrauterine pollution of fat-soluble synthetic chemicals were offered. Followed by the description of a pilot study for the purpose of initiating a new generation of research.
How Women Can Carry Their Unborn Babies to Term - The Prevention of Premature Birth Through Psychosomatic MethodsAbstract:
This article presents a method that has been developed in Germany, during practical work in an office for gynecology, obstetrics, and psychotherapy, which has resulted in an astoundingly low rate of premature births among the pregnant women cared for. The actual rate of premature births in the last 15 years stands at something over 1 per cent instead of about 7 per cent usual in Germany. It has been found that a threatened premature birth should be regarded within the entirety of physical and emotional processes.
Based the principles presented in the book she co-authored with Judith Acosta, LCSW, The worst is over: What to say when every moment counts, Dr. Prager focuses in this article on the application of these techniques for expectant parents. This is accomplished with reference to a wide variety of background concepts, including Native American and other traditional cultures, as well as Chaos Theory. Dr.
The association of preeclampsia with both high and low birth weight challenges the current belief that reduced uteroplacental perfusion is the unique pathophysiologic process in preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is thus presented from a new perspective, in the framework of maternal/fetal conflict. Interspecies comparisons encourage us to raise new questions concerning the potential for conflict among humans. The spectacular brain growth spurt during the second half of fetal life is a specifically human trait.
This study aims at exploring the psychological impact of emotional support during childbirth and thus to discuss it in the light of humanized principles of assistance. Methods: clinical study carried through intermittent observation of the labor and birth, when the emotional stages of the parturient and emotional support she received from the midwife were observed. Interviews about the women's experience of labor were performed before hospital discharge.
This article, in the format of a personal narrative, presents abortions statistics and discusses the controversial subject of abortion with clarity. The proposal is made that medical abortions may not be the only option when a pregnancy is untimely. A process, titled by the author "Conscious Abortion" hi introduced and described.
KEY WORDS: Abortion, Conscious abortion, Abortion statistics.


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Slideshow: Mobile World Congress's hottest product launches
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More than 72,000 people attended the 2013 Mobile World Congress, setting a new record, according to the GSMA, the organization that hosts the event annually in Barcelona, Spain. More than half of the attendees hold C-level positions, including more than 4,300 CEOs, according to the group.
One highlight of the event outlined by GSMA was the Connected City portion of the exhibit, which featured a complete urban environment, including a town hall, department store, apartment and other elements. More than 10,500 people also participated in a new interactive exhibit, NFC Experience, which allowed NFC-enabled handsets to exchange information and conduct transactions at locations throughout the venue.
Of course, MWC was also the site of dozens of high-profile product launches, chiefly smartphones and tablets. We've profiled some of those that captured the most attention, on the following pages.
Click on image to enlarge.


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I am missing a feature in Firebug!
From FirebugWiki
Every Firebug release adds some cool new features and Firebug is already a very handy tool for web developers. Though development doesn't stop and there might be things, that can be improved in Firebug. So we encourage every user to help us and make suggestions, which features we should add.
What to do when a feature is missing[edit]
Is the feature already available?[edit]
- Make sure you have the latest version of your user agent and Firebug installed and you read the release notes.
- In case Firebug misses a feature, there might be an extension offering it.
Reporting the suggestion[edit]
Now, that you made sure, that the feature doesn't exist yet:
- Make sure your feature was not suggested yet. If there is already an issue, you can give additional input to it by following the rules for the issue tracker, else
- Develop a test case
- Follow the rules for the issue tracker and open an enhancement request and describe why you would like to have that feature
If you can't give a test case, please ask in the Firebug discussion group or in the Firebug IRC channel.


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Why are flowers "beautiful"?
Discussion of everything related to the Theory of Evolution.
Moderator: BioTeam
Why are flowers "beautiful"?
I'm not an expert at biology, but I'm very interested in it, especially in the theory of evolution. As a materialist, sometimes I try to explain to myself things like "beauty" using this great theory. Yesterday I was wondering why flowers are beautiful. This is my guess:
Flowers are "beautiful" and "aromatic" to attract some animals such as bees in order to be pollinated. Bees exploit their nectar in return. But the question is: Why do flowers seem beautiful to us (humans)? Presumably, we humans don't pollinate the plants! I guess flowers are interesting to us because we have inherited some of the genes of bees or another animal which pollinate plants.
I want to know the opinion of experts.
Sorry for bad English and Thanks.
Bees and humans both have brains that are based on the same basic building blocks, nuerons or nerve cells. These cells are linked together in networks that have predictable behaviors. First and foremost is threshold behavior. Stimuli must overcome a given amount of intensity before evoking a response. Plants have evolved flowers that evoke a response from neural networks.
An interesting behavior in neural networks is their lack of sensitivity to the idea of too much stimulus. You can't have too much beauty.
You are wrong when you say we humans don't pollinate flowers. For the last 10000 years or so we have been selecting plants, some for nothing more than their beautiful flowers.
Thanks. What about our near ancestors like Homo heidelbergensis, or monkeys?
I've always assumed that there's a Freudian-style/covert reason why men give women flowers as a romantic gesture - because flowers are reproductive organs...
Sounds somewhat gross when you put it like that (!), but it's really the otehr way round - human reproductive organs are pretty damn ugly (there was no evolutionary drive to make them beautiful, unlike naked human bodies, because, I would argue, by the time you get around to the reproductive bits you are pretty damn committed!!!!)....so we use flowers' reproductive organs instead, as a far more aesthetic subsitute.
However, as to what constitutes beautiful - ie, why we say some things are or are not beautiful, there is a whole cognitive displine of aesthetics, and a lot of it appears to be culturally dependent (eg, fat naked women were considered beautiful in olden days - see Rubens etc! - because most women were thin from malnutriion, whereas slim women are considered beautiful now because most women in the western world suffer from obesity-related diseases).
However, there are some mathematical underpinnings, such as the golden mean etc, that do seem to unify a lot of culturally dependent things, such as the space between eyes, proportions of nose to mouth, etc etc etc.
Whatever it is, it's not a simple or simplistic answer to the question of what makes somethign beautiful, as humans are not simple little souls!
Julie: quite funny
you really think that human reproductive organs are ugly? I mean by nature, not due to social rules... Just look to apes, who got big red ass when ready to mate (sorry for my English, if the words used are not correct ones). Just the society made it ugly, just remember to Adam and Eve, who hided their reproductive organs after being "enligthed" by the truth...
(and look to some aboriginals, who are basically naked, because their ancestors were not enligthed)
Cis or trans? That's what matters.
Hmm, I think my feminine modesty should kick in at this point!
Suffice it to say that whereas artists are more than happy to depict beautiful women and handsome men, they don't tend to focus in on the 'bits'....
(Right, definitely time for me to bow out of this one!)
Re: Why are flowers "beautiful"?
Hmm - thats a good question. Flowers using bees, hummingbirds, bats, etc. for pollination are designed by evolution to attract these pollinators, and these are the flowers we see as beautiful. Plants that pollinate by the wind (e.g. most trees) do not have beautiful flowers. The smell, the nectar, the bulls-eye arrangement are all designed for pollinators. Bees being small tend to have eyes that are more receptive to small wavelengths (ultraviolet) and flowers have even more elaborate ultraviolet designs on them that cannot be seen by humans without special equipment. But why are they attractive to humans? Humans have no need of the nectar, but they find the sight and smell of flowers attractive. Human smell is designed by evolution. Any smell associated with bacterial danger causes a negative reaction in humans (don't eat meat that smells, don't eat poop, etc.). Flowers are designed to give the "opposite" smell to pollinators, and it works on humans too because our sense of smell is designed by similar forces, so I guess I can see why they smell good. Also, carnivores are not interested in smelling good, they don't want their prey to smell them coming. Cats clean themselves, dogs roll in dirt and deer poop to disguise their smell, human hunters generally avoid perfume. Prehistorically, human males were more likely to hunt than females. Is that why women are more attracted to the smell of flowers than men? But why do they look good? Well, they are designed to look much different than their background, to attract pollinators, and its no mystery why they look different to every other animal with eyes too. But why do humans find them attractive to the eye while other animals (except pollinators) do not? Maybe because humans are the only animals that can make the connection between flowers and abundance of food. Flowers mean springtime, the coming of warm weather, fertile soil, lots of seeds and game, etc. and maybe that's a connection that other animals don't have the attention span to make. A similar question is why do two pure sounds with a particular frequency ratio sound pleasing to humans while two sounds with other frequency ratios do not?
Re: Why are flowers "beautiful"?
I will pop in an idea here - merely a hypothesis, since I have no good evidence.
Perhaps humans have evolved to perceive bright colours as attractive because these are the colours that signal that a fruit is ripe and ready to eat. We are attracted to bright red apples, or blue coloured grapes, or yellow capsicums as they are good to eat.
Our love of brightly coloured flowers may be just a flow on from this.
My wife and I love fruit and we always have a fruit basket at home, from which we select our snacks. It is decorative as well as delicious. Right now it contains yellow bananas, orange oranges, yellow apricots, purple grapes, and red plums. The bright colours are attractive and beautiful.
"Perhaps humans have evolved to perceive bright colors as attractive because these are the colors that signal that a fruit is ripe and ready to eat"
I think you hit the nail on the head " skeptic" it is the same as why fruit tastes so good to not only animals but to us humans also because if it were not palatable the fruit would then not get eaten and the seeds dispersed thus ensuring the demise of that particular species of tree they would simply die out.
As for beauty in the eye of the human that is really complex as it is not only visual it is pheromone based as well, off the top of my head i think we are the only animal that can pick out and distinguish a single face out of literally billions of faces of its own kind, its based on symmetrics for some reason the distance between the eyes and the grouping of all facial features play an important role and are subconsciously analyzed by humans within a split second.
The comment on the comparison between flowers and human reproductive organs is a good one and i agree, a bit like why a woman wears lipstick as studies have shown it is a "sexual" thing really mimicking the red swollen labia majora at that special time of ovulation bit like the length of a womans skirt relates to what part of the cycle she is in.
"you really think that human reproductive organs are ugly?" they are in a way but we are genetically hardwired to seek it out, the female reproductive system is a brilliant bit of gear i think but being happily Engaged i am no longer allowed to "seek it out" anymore
Re: Why are flowers "beautiful"?
I kind of agree with that! I think there might be something to it. Because if you go or look at any flowershop] and the flowers they sell there you can almost always point a finger at the most colorful one and they will also simultaneously be the best seller. That might just be a coincidence but I do think it stems from the color.
Last edited by canalon on Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Spam removed
All true, but I don't think that answers his question. Like him, I would like to know how a good (melatonin?) feeling or effect in us comes from flowers. What has natural selected that response in us? Certainly, it has not been carried on in us because of some highly remote connection to bees.
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Whitewater stands alone in first
WHITEWATER—John Kelly and the Platteville Pioneers hadn't dealt with a 6-foot-4, 240-pound linebacker like Cole Klotz.
And it was hard to anticipate the athleticism of outside linebacker Josh Williams, as well.
UW-Whitewater never allowed Kelly to get comfortable, forcing the steady senior into four interceptions as the No. 6 Warhawks made a statement with their second victory over a top-10 opponent in a row. They rallied from a nine-point early deficit to beat No. 8 UW-P 35-16 in front of 12,028 at Perkins Stadium on Saturday.
"The theme of the whole week was to make sure at the end of this week that we're in control of our own destiny," Klotz said. "I haven't been a part of a team that's come together like we have in these past weeks. It's really good to see, and I think it's reflecting on our games."
The Warhawks improved to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, where they control their own fate when it comes to a conference title. UW-P is 7-1 and 4-1.
Credit UW-W for not panicking when down 9-0 in the first quarter and for a pair of interceptions from Williams and Klotz that stifled any momentum the Pioneers were building.
Platteville built its lead thanks to an interception—the first of the year for Whitewater quarterback Matt Behrendt—returned for a touchdown and a field goal. The Pioneers had run just seven offensive plays in the first eight-plus minutes, but had a two-score lead.
"There was definitely no panic," said Behrendt, who threw for 193 yards and four touchdowns, "because we knew we were moving the ball really well on them."
The Warhawks responded with an eight-play, 60-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard pass to Joe Worth for the first of his three touchdowns.
By midway through the second quarter, Whitewater was in full control. It scored on back-to-back drives to take a 22-9 lead with 4:11 left in the half, and the defense had allowed just 36 yards of total offense.
But the Pioneers gained some traction on their final drive of the half. Having driven to the Warhawks' 4-yard line, they could have pulled back within one touchdown and knew they'd get the ball to open the second half.
"We're very good, in the second half, of coming out with the first possession and scoring," Platteville coach Mike Emendorfer said. "Even if we kicked a field goal, it was crucial we came away with points."
Instead, Williams baited Kelly into a frustrating interception. Playing a spy technique on the quarterback, Williams gave the impression that he'd blitz, but back-pedaled when running back Andy Puccinni snuck out of the backfield to run a route.
Williams leaped to make what was likely a touchdown-saving interception.
"He made a great play," said Kelly, who completed 22 of 46 pass attempts for 256 yards, one touchdown and the four picks. "It was a bad read. I thought I saw something, and he made a great play on it."
"Earlier in my career, I always wanted to make big plays, and it kind of hurt me," Williams said. "So I kind of just want to do my job. Plays are going to come, so I just wanted to stay patient."
Platteville did end up showing its prowess for scoring out of halftime, going 72 yards in seven plays to make it 22-16.
And after forcing Whitewater to punt, the Pioneers hoped to keep the surge going. But on third-and-long, Kelly threw down the middle of the field and Klotz jumped to tip the pass, which deflected right to sophomore Ryan Winske for an interception.
"It's the perk of being 6-4," Klotz said. "We weren't running the same defense on any given play. We kind of confused the looks and made the quarterback make some plays."
"Most linebackers in this league do not tip a ball like that," Emendorfer said. "Trevor Whitehead was open for a big-time play.
"That was crucial, too, because it gave them a short field."
The Warhawks converted the turnover into an Eric Kindler field goal to go back up by two possessions, and their lead never appeared in doubt the rest of the way.
It was a long day for Kelly, who said the game's biggest plays came down to a matter of inches. He entered Saturday averaging more than 300 yards per game and had thrown 27 touchdowns to seven interceptions.
The Warhawks kept him on his toes with timely blitzes and an effective defensive front. Kelly had been sacked just four times, but was taken down twice against UW-W and took post-pass hits more than a handful of times.
"Our defensive ends, we feel, are as quick as anyone at this level," UW-W coach Lance Leipold said. "Getting some outside pressure and making him step up (was key), and then you've got to be able to mix it up. You can't just sit in one thing with an experienced quarterback in that system."
The Warhawks will go on the road on Saturday to UW-Stevens Point, looking to avenge a loss last season while clinching at least a share of the WIAC crown. They close with a home game against UW-River Falls on Nov. 16.


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This segment of Saving Nebraska's Treasures covers the chemical properties of all types of animal-based materials, such as skins, bone, and keratin.
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Parker girls basketball team will rely on juniors
Janesville Parker has big shoes to fill.
The Vikings lost three major contributors to graduation from last year's girls basketball team that advanced into WIAA Division 1 sectional competition, and they will be without top returning scorer Morgan McCulloch for at least the first month of the season.
As a result, coach Tom Klawitter will rely on a core of three other returning juniors to lead the charge as the team sorts out its identity and its rotations to start the season. The process begins today with a matchup against Oshkosh West at Brookfield Central.
"We're going to have to get experience on the run here," Klawitter said. "It's going to take a little bit to find out what we're going to do. But I think they're excited about it, because players know they can be in the mix if they go out and play hard every night."
The Vikings will be built around a solid junior class. Forward Paige Smith averaged more than seven points per game last season, and guards Kathryn Dubanowich and Jessica Thompson combined to average nearly 11.
Smith, at 5-foot-10, is Parker's tallest player, so the emphasis will be on high-energy play and toughness on the court.
"Dubanowich and Smith and Thompson are going to be pretty steady, I think, and we need to keep them on the floor as much as we can," Klawitter said. "All three are scorers, so hopefully that will create some problems."
Paiton Foster is Parker's lone senior on the roster, and she and her sister, sophomore Kaitlyn, will likely round out the starting five to start the season today.
Beyond that, the Vikings will spend the early part of the year sorting out roles.
"I think we're in a real process right now of finding out who needs to be doing what," Klawitter said of the young group which still received votes in the preseason Division 1 state rankings. "Hopefully we can keep things going. This is going to be a real learning year."
McCulloch, an honorable mention all-conference player who averaged eight points per game a year ago, is working her way back from a torn ACL. Klawitter said the junior may return to the floor as early as late December, but it will be a week-by-week process with the final decision made by McCulloch, her doctor and her family.
The Vikings will look for others to step up in her stead, including junior Grace Randles—a defensive stalwart—and sophomores Brooke Nunn, Bree Porter, Carly Fleming, Kendyl Richards and Kirsten O'Leary.
"We can score, so it's just a matter of how we're going to defend other teams, and rebounding," Klawitter said. "And I think we're going to have to mix defenses a bit, for sure, and try to keep other teams off-balance."
"I know they all want to play, and it's just a matter of finding the combination."


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Taj Burrow Tames The Lane, Wins The O'Neill Coldwater Classic
Steamer lane. It's gotta be one of the trickiest, hardest-to-figure-out stops on the World Tour. You've got massive elephant seals barking at you, a treacherous leap off the cliff to get into the water, and a dash up slippery boulders to exit the water. And oh yeah, the wave breaks all over the place, making for a huge playing field.
While these factors played a role in most of the top-ranked surfers, there was no slowing down savvy tour veteran Taj Burrow. He dealt with the fin-catching kelp and territorial sea lions like a true West side local. In the final against Matt Wilkinson (Wilko's first ever), Taj used huge frontside hacks and searing cutbacks to take down Wilko. Adopted by the town of Santa Cruz (they love their eccentric characters up here) and a former Coldwater Classic winner, Wilko nearly pulled the upset off but just couldn't muster up a mid-range score in the pumping, six-to-eight foot surf on tap at the Lane. He seemed to be rushing his bottom turns and not tapping into the power source of the waves. Still, it was a crucial result for Wilko and one the guaranteed him a slot on the 2013 World Championship Tour.
Back to Taj. While everyone had their eyes on the World Title drama, Taj quietly worked his way through the event, allowing the spotlight to focus on the looming Kelly Slater/Joel Parkinson/Mick Fanning showdown that's gonna go down at the Pipe Masters in late December. His mastery of Steamer Lane was impressive throughout the whole event, especially considering a guy of Kelly Slater's stature looked completely lost out there at times. The win marked Taj's second of the year (the first being the season opening Quiksilver Pro) and vaults him up several spots in the overall rankings but not enough to be in World Title consideration.
Congrats to Taj and O'Neill, it was a great event with excellent surf, perfect weather, and showed what us Californians always knew—there's no better place to be in the fall! Thanks as well to Ryan Augenstein for hosting TransWorld SURF, you da man Auggie!—Justin Coté
Final Results For The 2012 O'Neill Coldwater Classic
1st Taj Burrow
2nd Matt Wilkinson
=3rd Michel Bourez, Travis Logie
=5th Joel Parkinson, Jeremy Flores, Adriano De Souza, Gabriel Medina
ASP Press Release: STEAMER LANE, Santa Cruz/California (Tuesday, November 6, 2012) – Taj Burrow (AUS), 34, has won the O'Neill Coldwater Classic, Stop No. 9 of 10 on the ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), over Matt Wilkinson (AUS), 24, in solid six foot (2 metre) waves at Steamer Lane.
Burrow quietly advanced through the opening rounds of competition, building momentum throughout the latter rounds while punctuating his efforts on the final day with an amazing variety of forehand maneuvers. Burrow toppled young Brazilian Gabriel Medina (BRA), 18, and goofy-footer Travis Logie (ZAF), 33, en route to the Final against compatriot Wilkinson. Both Burrow and Wilkinson opened up strongly, but struggled to secure a solid backup score. Wilkinson had an opportunity in the dying moments, but couldn't hold on during a third critical maneuver and came up just short.
"This win feels incredible," Burrow said. "It happens sometimes where you never feel like you have the best heats. I was kind of in the zone. I never really had a good heat the whole event, but I still felt good. It's such a tricky wave and I guess the only thing that helped was my wave count. That Final was the battle of the back-ups. We both stacked it on a couple and we were in a fluster. Wilko (Matt Wilkinson) fell on that last one and he would have got the score, but I'll take it."
Burrow's win marks his second of the season after snatching the opening event on the Gold Coast of Australia. Western Australia's favorite son now sits at No. 6 on the 2012 ASP WCT rankings. "I really wanted to win another event this year, especially since I'm out of the race for the title," Burrow said. "That's pretty depressing, but I'm really happy that it just fell in to place here in Santa Cruz. To get two wins in a year, I've only done that once before so I'm really happy with that."
Wilkinson, a former winner at the venue in 2010, continued his lethal backhand assault at Steamer Lane, belting the day's highest heat total of 17.73 while defeating Adriano de Souza (BRA), 25, and Michel Bourez (PYF), 26, to attain his first ASP WCT Final appearance. "I was stoked when I made it through the third round," Wilkinson said. "Every heat after that, I just kept building. I felt amazing. I was getting 9s and backing them up. All year I've been dropping one big score. Out here, I felt like I was getting better every heat. I had that one that would have been a 9 if I made it out of that last turn."
Wilkinson was in desperate need of a result entering the O'Neill Coldwater Classic ranked 30th on the ASP WCT rankings.
"I was starting to freak out," Wilkinson said. "I didn't want it to be left up to Hawaii needing points. Anything can happen there. There's a bunch of locals in the contest so it's not like any other event. You have to surf more rounds than usual and the more down the list you are the harder it is because you have to surf more rounds. I'm definitely happy to have these points heading in to Hawaii." Today's Runner-Up finish vaults Wilkinson up to 22nd on the ASP WCT rankings and 15th on the ASP World Rankings, solidifying his requalification position for the 2013 ASP Top 34.
Michel Bourez (PYF), 26, marched to his best result of the year, besting veteran Damien Hobgood (USA), 33, and Jeremy Flores (FRA), 24, with an amazing array of powerful carving turns on his forehand. Unfortunately for the Tahitian, he was unable to put a stop to Wilkinson's progressive backhand approach in the Semifinals and finished Equal 3rd overall. "It was a good event for more," Bourez said. "I'm frustrated that I didn't have a better Semifinal. I feel like I haven't had the best year and I was having a good event this week. My son is here with me and my family is my life. They have been my inspiration this week."
Travis Logie (ZAF), 33, was another deadly backhander at Steamer Lane, besting current ASP WCT rankings' leader Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, in the Quarterfinals while securing his best result of 2012, an Equal 3rd place finish. Logie's tear continued in the Semifinals, posting an excellent 8.33 against Taj Burrow, but the South African was unable to find a backup score against the Australian, finishing just shy of the Final.
"I'm pretty stoked with how I surfed in this event," Logie said. "I'm really disappointed because I had one really good one in that heat and I feel like I just needed an average one to make that heat. Taj has been ripping though and congratulations to him." Logie, who entered the O'Neill Coldwater Classic ranked 26th, vaults up the rankings to 17th, compliments of his 3rd place finish in Santa Cruz, revitalizing his campaign to requalify for the 2013 ASP WCT.
"This result is huge for me," Logie said. "These points are massive. I was looking pretty out of it going in to this event and a third place here shoots me quite a bit up the rankings. I'm still not home and dry, but hopefully in Hawaii I can make up some points." Kelly Slater (USA), 40, current ASP WCT No. 2, struggled to find a rhythm in his Round 4 bout against Adriano de Souza, finishing equal 9th overall. Despite Slater's early exit from the event, a 9th place finish replaces his last-place injury points from Brazil, exponentially narrowing the ratings' gap with current frontrunner, Parkinson.
"I haven't looked at the numbers, but it's funny enough, I gained a couple thousand points," Slater said. "Joel (Parkinson) dropped a 9th and gained a 5th and I dropped a 500 and gained about 3,000 points. It's a huge opportunity lost for Joel (Parkinson)."
Heading into the final event of the year, three surfers remain mathematically in contention for the 2012 ASP World Title: Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, Kelly Slater (AUS), 40, and Mick Fanning (AUS), 31. The final stop on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour will be the Billabong Pipeline Masters from December 8 – 20, 2012. For more information, log onto www.ASPWorldTour.com
1 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.10
2 – Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.70
SF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.57 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.40
SF 2: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 17.73 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.10
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.83 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 8.60
QF 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.83 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.00
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.16 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 6.70
Heat 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.50 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 8.90
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.00 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.00
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.50 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 9.40
CURRENT ASP WCT TOP 5 (After O'Neill Coldwater Classic):
1. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 53,900 pts
2. Kelly Slater (USA) 50,700 pts
3. Mick Fanning (AUS) 47,000 pts
4. John John Florence (HAW) 44,350 pts
5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,350 pts


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Badgers continue downfall
The state of Bo Ryan's 13th team at Wisconsin has reached this point:
The opponent can lose its leading scorer to injury in the first minute of the game and not miss a beat.
Minnesota lost junior guard Andre Hollins to an ankle injury after only 16 seconds Wednesday night at Williams Arena and simply turned to Maurice Walker, a nondescript junior forward, to handle the scoring.
Walker killed UW inside early to set the tone and the Gophers rode the early momentum to an 81-68 Big Ten victory.
"It's something that is very frustrating," UW sophomore forward Sam Dekker, who scored a game-high 20 points, said of the Badgers' porous defense. "It is something that is very bold on our list right now and we have to correct and we have to buckle down.
"There's not much else you can say other than we have to be better in every aspect on the defensive end.
"Usually we take pride in it, and this is embarrassing."
Led by Walker, the Gophers (15-5, 4-3 Big Ten) killed UW in the paint and improved their home record to 12-1.
UW's free fall from the top of the Big Ten continued with a third consecutive loss.
The Badgers (16-3, 3-3 Big Ten) fell into a tie for fifth place with idle Purdue (13-6, 3-3).
Purdue, which hosts UW at 4 p.m. Saturday, suffered a 63-60 loss in two overtimes Tuesday at Northwestern.
Walker entered the game averaging 4.9 points per game this season. His college-high scoring effort was 11 points.
But after UW center Frank Kaminsky picked up his second foul less than three minutes into the game and headed to the bench for the remainder of the first half, the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Walker controlled the lane.
He scored 12 points in the first 9 minutes 57 seconds to help the Gophers build a 21-15 lead and finished with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting as the Gophers continued to impress under first-year coach Richard Pitino.
"That's definitely frustrating to watch, that I couldn't be out there and do anything about it," said Kaminsky, who finished with nine points and four rebounds. "I was sitting there for 17 minutes or whatever it is.
"That's one of the most frustrating things to sit there and watch and know you can't do anything about it."
With Kaminsky out, Ryan tried freshman Nigel Hayes (12 points), Zach Bohannon and freshman Vitto Brown but found no stopper.
"You better try something," Ryan said.
With Walker slowed in the second half, junior guard DeAndre Mathieu scored 13 of his 18 points after halftime. Mathieu hit two of two 3-pointers but used his quickness to get into the lane for jumpers or floaters. He hit 8 of 13 shots overall.
"He was very good getting to the rim, and we let him have too many opportunities," Kaminsky said. "He capitalized on them."
Guard Malik Smith added 14, including 10 in the second half for the Gophers. Fellow guard Austin Hollins added all 11 of his points in the second half.
Minnesota entered the game eighth in the Big Ten in shooting (43.7 percent). The Gophers shot 51.7 percent in the opening half (15 of 29) in building a 34-28 lead and finished at 58.9 percent (33 of 56).
The point total was the highest for Minnesota against UW since the 1993-'94 season when the Gophers routed UW, 109-78, in Madison.
Indiana shot 51.6 percent in handing UW a 75-72 loss.
Michigan shot 54.7 percent in handing UW a 77-70 loss.
Minnesota topped those marks in handing UW a 13-point loss.
Anyone else notice a troubling trend?
"With the results it was clear we gave up way too many easy ones," UW junior guard Josh Gasser said. "We kept working it and working it and they made some tough ones.
"But at the same time they made a few easy ones that got them going…. I'm kind of sick and of talking about it. We've got to do it."
Kaminsky was asked if he agreed with Dekker's assessment that the defensive execution has been embarrassing.
"That's accurate," he said. "If you look at the points we've given up… it has been embarrassing to say the least."
Last updated: 11:40 pm Wednesday, January 22, 2014


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Watch These Monkeys Riding Around on Other Animals — Daily Distraction
[onescreen item="5024235″]
Monkeys can be troublemakers. They steal. They're sloppy kissers. And if you're another animal, one might just jump on your back and use you as a taxi.
Now, it's possible that some of the animals here are generous, willingly hauling these primates around. But not all of them. That one little pig clearly has no way of getting that monkey off. Get off him, monkey! A pig is not an automobile!
The Daily Distraction is your Internet break from reality. Whether you're eating lunch at your desk or avoiding high school exes on Facebook, you might just laugh, say "aaahhh" or not believe what you just watched.


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Top 10 smart energy articles of 2012
Post a comment
PARIS - This years most popular contributed articles on the Smart Energy Designline include design features on energy harvesting, energy conversion, smart metering, powerline communication, batteries, and more.
The clean energy industry faced several challenges in 2012, including the demise of some high profile solar energy firms and concerns around smart grids/smart meters and consumer privacy, according to firm Pike Research.
Public sentiment about issues related to clean energy and the environment, however, has not always reflected developments in the market and in the political sphere, said the market researcher.
On the following pages are the top Smart Energy Designline design features of 2012 together with links back to the original articles so that you can see what fellow engineers found interesting, or maybe catch up on something you missed.
Here are the top 10 smart energy design articles, from #10 to #1, as measured by the reader traffic numbers.


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Janesville City Council chooses military man for city manager
JANESVILLE—A man who led soldiers in battle will lead Janesville into the future.
The Janesville City Council announced Saturday that it had chosen Mark Freitag as the new city manger.
Freitag, 47, is an Army colonel now posted in Alaska. He commanded armored units in Desert Storm and the Iraq war.
Freitag (pronounced FRY-tag) is expected to take the reins at the Janesville Municipal Building on Dec. 1
The council's decision was unanimous. The appointment is subject to finalizing Freitag's employment contract.
The council interviewed five finalists in private Friday and then met behind closed doors Friday night and much of Saturday.
The two final interviews Saturday were Jay Winzenz—the acting city manager and 25-year city employee—and Freitag, said council member Doug Marklein.
Council President Kathy Voskuil would not confirm that Winzenz was interviewed Saturday.
Freitag said it would take about 60 days to complete his separation from the military. His start date in Janesville is Dec. 1.
Marklein said Winzenz has agreed to continue running the city in the interim.
"I think its most of our hope that he'll stay a lot longer than that," Marklein said.
Winzenz has said throughout the process that no matter the outcome, he would stay.
Freitag and his wife, Patty, looked at houses in Janesville on Saturday. They fly back to Alaska on Sunday.
Patty said both are looking forward to a settled life in the Midwest, as contrasted with the military, which typically uproots families every few years.
Freitag was asked in an interview with a citizens advisory committee on Friday why he wanted to leave the Army.
Freitag told of the plight of many like him, whose only upward career move is promotion to general. With lots of colonels and few general slots, a colonel often has to look forward to similar postings for years to come. Many get out.
Freitag said the easy route would have been to work for a defense contractor, but he looked back at his career and asked himself what made him happiest. His answer was his time at Fort Hood, Texas.
He was garrison commander at Fort Hood, "the Army's largest city-installation," from 2010-12, he said in his resume.
The position was the Army equivalent of city manager, he said. He was in charge of making sure things such as streets, utilities, and gymnasiums were running for 90,000 residents and about 400,000 others who lived nearby.
His budget at Fort Hood was $400 million, with 5,500 employees, at a time of major restructuring and downsizing, he wrote. Janesville has an operating budget of about� $43 million.
"As an Army leader, I am accustomed to serving the public and collaborating and partnering with surrounding entities" Freitag wrote in his application letter. "As a member of the nation's largest team, I have excellent organizational and professional development skills, know how to empower appropriately and can create a strong sense of unity and team."
Voskuil said details of Freitag's contract are still being worked out, so she could not yet say how much he will be paid.
Freitag said he didn't anticipate making changes during his first 100 days on the job. That's when he will be learning the city's processes and systems and meeting city and community leaders as well as leaders from surrounding jurisdictions.
"I want to be sure I set myself up for success," and meeting key people in business and other sectors is an important part of that, he said.
Many observers—perhaps even Freitag—expected the council to pick Winzenz.
"I thought I was going to be the outsider looking in—a very pleasant surprise," Freitag said of the council's choice.
Winzenz was assistant city manager under the last city manager and has extensive experience in budgeting. The council will be well into its budget process by the time Freitag joins the team.
Voskuil delivered the news to Winzenz by phone, Marklein said.
"A short, bittersweet conversation, I'm sure," he added.
City council members stayed away from specifics when asked why they chose Freitag.
"I think he's what Janesville needs at this time, with the changes we're going through," said council member Sam Liebert.
Voskuil pointed to Freitag's success over 25 years in the military. "We think he'll do a great job here," she said.
Voskuil said the council was impressed with Freitag's desire to get out and meet the public.
Freitag told the interview committee on Friday that he had quarterly meetings with neighborhoods at Fort Hood. He also held weekly brown-bag lunches with various employee groups.
"I don't know if that would work here, but I am certainly willing to try," he said.
Freitag was not the only finalist to mention in interviews that Janesville lacked a vision and a mission statement. Voskuil said the council has objectives, such as job creation and quality service, but she expects the council and manager to embark on a planning process to define the city's vision in the coming year.
Freitag has experience in this area. He led the creation of a plan called Fort Hood 2030. The process included community input from surveys and at town-hall-style meetings, and he attended all of those, he said.
Last updated: 3:39 pm Saturday, August 24, 2013


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oregonhawkfan wrote:As I was watching the Colts game today, I was thinking there is no way RW stands a chance. Our team is not bad enough to get blown out bad enough to allow RW to pad his stats in garbage time of blow outs or get in a shootout w/ no defense. All our games, even the losses, are relative low scoring close games.
Whats the one stat always thrown around, even around here all the time? Total yards and yards/game, both of which I believe are horrible measurements by themselves of performance. Which is better, 200yds passing in a win or 300yds in a loss. I will take the win everytime, thank you. Sadly, I think a lot of people even so called professionals tend to dwell on the yardage numbers.
Aros wrote:RW isn't flashy, he plays for the South Alaska Seahawks...What would you expect?
Unless his stats were historically gawdy, the brainless collective hive mind of the national media is not going to take note of how special our quarterback is.
That WILL change soon enough.
Bigpumpkin wrote:The ONLY way that Russell would even be in the running for ROY would be to win the SuperBowl!
CANHawk wrote:And this is why I always say that fantasy football is creating an entire generation of idiot football fans. W's are all that matters.
Return to [ THE OFFICIAL NET NATION FAN FORUM ]


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Family and friends mourn Mayall
Comedy friends such as Ade Edmondson and Ben Elton gathered to bid their final farewells to late comedy star Rik Mayall today as his funeral took place in a country village.
Many of the stars behind the comedy hit which established his reputation, The Young Ones, were among mourners who attended the service at St George's Church in picturesque Dittisham, Devon.
Edmondson, a university friend of Mayall who went on to play the show's punk Vyvyan, acted as a pall-bearer, while Nigel Planer (who played hippy Neil) and Alexei Sayle (landlord Jerzei Balowski) were among more than 100 people who paid their respects.
Elton, who co-wrote the show, was also there to celebrate the life of the comic actor with whom he formed a strong bond as a student in Manchester when they were both teenagers.
Mayall - also known for TV hits such as Bottom, The New Statesman and Blackadder - died last week aged 56 at his home in Barnes, south west London. He also had a home in Devon.
Friends from throughout his career, mainly dressed sombrely in black, attended the service which filled the church with cheers and clapping as they recalled his achievements and his humour.
They also included friends from his appearances in Channel 4 series Comic Strip Presents - with whom he worked repeatedly - including the director and actor Peter Richardson, Dawn French and Edmondson's wife Jennifer Saunders.
Others who filed into the church to an organ performance of Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade Of Pale were Alan Rickman and Ruby Wax and guests saw the wicker coffin carried in, decorated with red flowers.
Prior to the service, Mayall's widow Barbara asked fans for their "thoughts and prayers" during the private ceremony, led by local clergyman Father Will Hazlewood . A memorial service for the star is expected to be held in September.
He collapsed and died following what was described as an "acute cardiac event".
Mayall shot to national fame for his role as poetry-writing anarchist Rick in The Young Ones, going on to star as conniving Conservative MP Alan B'Stard in The New Statesman and Lord Flashheart in Blackadder.
Guests filed out to the sounds of the Van Morrison hit Brown Eyed Girl.
A vintage Rolls-Royce, which carried Mayall's family to the service, struggled to cope with the incline which led to the church holding up the vehicles taking guests away from the service.
The order of service, which was circulated among guests, featured a colour photograph of Mayall wearing a roll-neck chunky pullover.


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Toppers Pizza to open Janesville store
JANESVILLE—Over the years, the corporate operations director for Toppers Pizza has been routinely asked when the Whitewater-based chain would open a store in Janesville.
The answer, Adam Oldenburg said Thursday, is late May or early June.
Toppers Pizza will open in the new strip center in the Kmart outlet near the intersection of Old Humes Road and Milton Avenue.
"There's definitely a high demand for our product in the Janesville area," said Oldenburg, who oversees the company's 18 other corporately owned stores. "Many people come from Janesville to our Whitewater store, primarily for our house pizzas and Topperstix, the most mouth-watering cheesy goodness you'll ever have."
Founded in 1991 in Whitewater, Toppers now has a combination of 53 corporate and franchise operations in 10 states.
Oldenburg said the company sets itself apart with pizzas that start with fresh, made-from-scratch dough, real Wisconsin cheese and finished with toppings such as French fried onions, oven-roasted tomatoes, mac 'n cheese, tater tots and fresh-cut vegetables.
Oldenburg said the store would be open from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily, and 80 percent of its orders are typically delivered.
"We deliver faster than fast because we have a culture of looking over shoulders so we can start an order before the ticket is complete," he said. "Our drivers run the orders. It's all about speed and quality."
Oldenburg said the Janesville store would employ about 35 people, depending on sales volume. About 20 of them will be delivery drivers, he said.
In 2013, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Toppers as one of the top 500 franchises in the United States. Nation's Restaurant News declared the brand as one of the 50 breakout chains of the year, and Toppers received a No. 58 spot in Pizza Today's top 100 pizza companies.


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Clayton Kenneth Smith, Evansville (1990 - 2014)
May 4, 1990 - January 25, 2014
Clayton Kenneth Smith went to heaven on Jan. 25, 2014, at 23 years of age, unexpectedly. He was born on May 4, 1990, the son of Kenneth G. Smith and Barbara E. VanGalder. Clayton was a very caring person who could put a smile on anyone's face. He enjoyed the outdoors. You could always find him in the woods or on the lake. Clayton loved his family and friends and will be missed dearly by all who knew him.
Clayton is survived by his parents, Kenneth G.(Jane Falstad) Smith of Evansville, and Barbara E. VanGalder of Milton; his brother, Ricky Carlson of Deforest; three sisters: Crystal Leiber-Smith of Madison, Creshna (Gastavo) Perez and Jennifer Smith, both of Janesville; four nieces, three nephews; and two special friends, Trevor Long and Randy Leeder.
Private funeral services will be held at WARD-HURTLEY FUNERAL HOME, Evansville, with Reverend Matthew Poock, of St. John's Lutheran Church, officiating. Burial will take place in Jug Prairie Cemetery Brooklyn Township. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the family in honor of Clayton K. Smith.
Condolences may be expressed at Wardhurtley.com


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The fate of the euro was uppermost in the minds of delegates at the International Cash and Treasury Management conference held by EuroFinance at the end of September. According to an interactive poll, 57% of the finance executives at the conference say their company is prepared for a country exiting the euro, although only a third believe that there will be fewer countries in the euro by this time next year.
Patricia Greenfield, head of treasury operations at AstraZeneca, said the pharmaceutical company has put in place a eurozone task force and taken measures including setting up contingency bank accounts in legacy currencies in case the need arises.
Jörg Bermüller, head of cash and risk management at Merck KGaA, another pharmaceutical company, said his company launched a new IT project to ensure its systems could handle new currencies and the respective exchange rates if necessary. Bermüller said that while Merck is prepared for a breakup of the euro, he is optimistic that the common currency will survive.
Marianna Polykrati, group treasurer of Vivartia, a Greek food company, gave some sobering insights into the challenges Greek companies face in the current climate. Vivartia has swept half of its surplus cash out of the country, but is keeping the other half in Greece in case the government introduces FX controls, which could prevent the company from bringing money back into the country.
Other contingency measures Vivartia has taken include setting up electrical generators and back-up servers in case of a significant electricity outage. The company is also looking at the possibility of paying employees using a barter system.
Polykrati noted that treasury's role within the organization has been "upgraded" as a result of the crisis.
She challenged the merits of keeping the euro together at all costs. When asked for her personal views, Polykrati said that she thought Greece should have defaulted two years ago when it still had cash on hand to grow the country again.
A panel session at the EuroFinance conference explored the range of possible outcomes, including a significant breakup of the euro, a continuation of the current situation or substantial political integration within Europe. The overwhelming consensus of the panelists was that it was impossible to predict what was going to happen.
European politicians have had some form of fiscal union on the agenda for the past 19 years, but the process was mishandled at the outset, with clear design flaws, said Stephen Boyle, head of group economics at RBS. Europe is now moving towards the right kinds of structures and solutions, Boyle added, but doing so will take time.
In a later session, John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of the Economist, argued that a common mistake is to believe that unsustainable situations will continue indefinitely, such as the existence of a single European currency without a fiscal union. Micklethwait predicted that the euro will survive, but said some sort of federal union will be necessary, and pointed out that the consequences of such a union would be significant for countries and businesses across Europe.


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Trevor Foss pitches in Burlington win over Beloit
Ryan Dalton hit a two-run homer and Angel Rosa had a two-run triple to help the Burlington Bees beat the Beloit Snappers on Friday night.
The Bees scored all of their runs in the third and fourth innings, topping the Snappers 7-2 in the opener of a Midwest League series.
Dalton's two-run shot gave Burlington a 2-1 lead in the third.
Rosa's triple sparked a five-run fourth inning that knocked Snappers starter Ronald Herrera from the game.
Beloit second baseman Sam Roberts went 3-for-3 at the plate and worked for the second time this season on the mound, throwing a scoreless eighth inning.
Janesville native Trevor Foss threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Bees, striking out two, walking two and giving up two hits. He has a 4.22 ERA this season.
The Snappers and Bees play again today.
Beloit����������� 010���� 000���� 100—2����� 9����� 2
Burlington���� 002���� 500���� 00x—7���� 11���� 0
Herrera, Bragg (5), Roberts (8) and Chavez; Nuss, Foss (7), Krehbiel (9) and Bemboom.
Leading hitters—Marincov (Bel) 2x4; Roberts (Bel) 3x3; Shannon (Bur), 3x4; Dalton (Bur) 2x5; Rosa (Bur) 2x4. 2B—Vollmuth (Bel), Roberts (Bel), Shannon (Bur). 3B—Marincov (Bel), Rosa (Bur). HR—Dalton (Bur).
SO—Herrera 2, Bragg 5, Nuss 4, Foss 2, Krehbiel 1. BB—Herrera 1, Bragg 1, Roberts 1, Nuss 2, Foss 2, Krehbiel 1.
W—Nuss (2-0). L—Herrera (2-2)


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Our Views: Sponsors wise to keep funding Janesville-Milton-Whitewater bus
The Whitewater City Council waffled but in the end did the right thing by voting 6-2 Tuesday to keep contributing to a bus service running from Janesville to Whitewater.
Sure, a state grant that helped launch the Janesville-Milton-Whitewater Innovation Express is gone, meaning the three cities, UW-Whitewater and Generac Power Systems are being asked to pick up more costs. And, yes, some Whitewater officials see that few city residents board the buses and wonder whether city tax dollars are justified.
Most Whitewater council members, however, see the big picture. The buses benefit Generac, which makes power generators and is the city's largest private employer.
Dave Mumma, Janesville Transit System director, says the combined needs of Generac and Janesville residents were the impetus for the service.
"One of the reasons the Janesville City Council agreed to become involved in this in 2010 was that council members here saw a need in our community for employment, and here you had a large employer 20 miles away that needed workers. It has worked out very well."
Numbers bear that out. Buses started rolling in April 2012 with three daily weekday trips and one Sunday evening, coinciding with Generac shifts. Riders totaled 5,167 by year's end. In part to attract more UW-W students, the service has added two more daily weekday trips, three Saturday runs and a second Sunday trip. Compared to 2012 totals, ridership through October almost tripled.
Janesville contributes the buses and maintenance, facilities, capital and administrative services. Mumma values that at $250,000. He figured operating costs at $360,000 this year and $395,000 next year. Despite the loss of the grant, state and federal aid still would pay about 55.5 percent of costs. Sponsors and fares would make up the rest.
Whitewater paid $10,000 last year. Mumma wanted Whitewater to boost that to $18,000, but the council agreed Tuesday to pay $12,000. He wanted Generac to pay $48,000 next year, but the company approved $18,000.
In contrast, Milton is fully on board. It increased its funding from $15,000 this year to $27,000 for 2014 because, as Mayor Brett Frazier said, "we felt the numbers speak for themselves and that the value is fairly self-evident."
Mumma hopes UW-W again matches Whitewater's contribution but says the shortfalls might force service cutbacks. Still, he sounded diplomatic Wednesday.
"I think it's only natural for elected officials to ask questions and sort through things."
Mumma thinks rider numbers show the service's value and hopes they keep growing.
"In November, we're continuing to see strong ridership, and we think we've proved the ridership and that there's a desire out there for the service. It's like anything else; it's how we're going to continue to pay for it. Money's tight for everyone.
"I appreciate the struggle they went through," Mumma said of Whitewater's council members, "and I appreciate that they agreed to fund $12,000 this year."
Supporters hailed the service as a boon to workers, employers and the general public. They suggested it could boost commerce by easing access to Janesville stores and restaurants and UW-W events.
Rising ridership shows a demand. It would be foolish to hit the brakes now.


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Shared service centers that handle such back-office tasks as billing and payments have become a part of the corporate landscape, many executives seem to unhappy with the performance of such centers, according to a recent SunGard survey.
The survey included 485 executives from companies around the world, some of whom worked in shared service centers (SSC) and others in business units served by shared service centers. Almost 37% of the business unit executives expressed dissatisfaction with their shared service center's performance, although that sentiment was shared by just 19.7% of the shared service center executives.
The main complaint, that the company's culture keeps it from using the shared service center properly, was cited by 52% of business unit executives and 65.5% of shared service center executives.
In a more jarring disparity, 40% of business unit executives complained the shared service center was not meeting its service level agreements, a view shared by less than 4% of executives at the shared service centers.
Service level agreements (SLAs) include a set of metrics ranging from the number of invoices or payments processed to measures of the centers' costs and customer service. Shared service centers usually provide a monthly scorecard showing their performance on the metrics set out in the service level agreements.
The differences in views between executives in the two groups suggest a lack of communication and collaboration, said C.J. Wimley, chief operating officer of SunGard AvantGard Receivables.
"The folks within that shared service center and the business owners themselves, they all have these SLAs in place, but is there visibility to the results?" said Wimley, pictured at left. "It's really a miscommunication there."
Collaboration and visibility are the keys to success for shared service centers, he said. "If organizations aren't setting up time to review that scorecard on a monthly basis, or at least a quarterly basis, then that's something they need to improve."
Wimley argues that the technology that companies deploy in shared service centers is critical to the centers' success, as well as to companies' ability to assess their performance. "Solutions providers try to sit on top of all of those [company systems] and consolidate the information so that you can, in a meaningful manner, look at a dashboard, look at a scorecard, look at the day-to-day things you need to," he said.
A 2012 survey of finance priorities by Protiviti showed that finance executives put a few aspects of shared service centers high on their list of things that needed improvement, including the governance of centers, the service level agreements, and the chargeback allocation methodology that dictates how much each business unit pays for the work performed by shared service centers.
Ryan Senter, managing director of business performance improvement at consultancy Protiviti, emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the metrics showing how the shared service center is performing and then working to improve them.
"When you look at achieving the expected efficiencies in moving from a decentralized to a centralized environment, it all becomes about performance management and being able to manage to [key performance indicators]," said Senter, pictured at right. "It's really focusing in on the accuracy of the measures that we have and setting targets to gain additional efficiencies."
When it comes to chargeback allocation methodology, Senter says that when a company first implements a shared service center, it usually divvies up the cost evenly between the different business units for which the center does work. As time goes on, the shared service center gets a better sense of its cost per transaction and the extent to which one business unit's work may require more time and effort than another's.
"When you look into a shared service environment, say three years into the implementation, there will be one big segment that's noisier than the rest and constantly needing help," Senter says. "You want a chargeback model that enables a fair chargeback to all the parties involved. That's just a natural progression for companies now, to fairly allocate costs back to those business segments."
Implementing a shared service center used to be all about cutting costs. But the SunGard survey found that reducing costs was cited as the main reason to implement a shared service center by 49% of the 485 executives surveyed, down from 56% in a 2010 survey. Meanwhile, 21% of executives cited standardization of operations as the primary driver, up from 11.8% in 2010.
SunGard's Wimley noted that when the previous survey was conducted in 2010, cutting costs was high on companies' to-do lists as they struggled to recover from the financial crisis and recession. "Now that people have realized cost savings, you see an increase of interest in standardization and efficiency," Wimley said.
Senter said that while shared service centers traditionally have handled transactional work like accounts payable and accounts receivable, companies with mature shared service centers are asking their shared service centers to take on work that involves a higher level of skills.
"When organizations get really good at operating their shared environment, the natural conversation is, 'What else can we put into this operation that will give a lift to our organization?'" he said. "The natural progression from a finance perspective is [to add] treasury management, financial planning and analysis, and being able to have a core group of professionals that can provide ad hoc reporting capabilities to the finance operation and the company as a whole."
Despite the extent of the dissatisfaction captured in the SunGard survey, shared service centers are here to stay. And SunGard notes that the executives overseeing shared service centers are more and more likely to have a non-finance title, in a sign that the strategic importance of the shared services is gaining recognition. Among companies with shared service centers, 29.2% had an executive with a shared service job title overseeing the unit, while 11.6% of the executives in charge had a global service job title and 6.4% had a business process title.