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Education Milwaukee Reading

Latest Read: Evicted

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Matthew is a sociologist at Princeton University. He is also the principal investigator of the Eviction Lab.

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Evicted was the 2017 winner of the Pulitzer Prize, In addition, Time Magazine named Evicted one of the ten best nonfiction books of the decade.

Matthew follows eight families across greater Milwaukee who indeed are struggling to live in apartments. For many readers, Evicted should dramatically change our country’s limited understanding of real poverty, impacting both Caucasian and African American families. One can only imagine the acceleration of evictions since COVID derailed the economy.

It is certainly remarkable to be living in Milwaukee and being able to see the apartments around the greater Milwaukee area in person on trips. Some small cities outside Milwaukee including Cudahy are also written into family stories.

Furthermore, Matthew documents that a common notion is that rent should equate to 30 percent of income. However multiple stories of families reveal they are spending up to 80 percent of income on rent. This certainly leaves so many with almost no money for food, clothing, or basic amenities.

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Design Education Flat World Globalization Innovation IoT Maker Milwaukee OpenSource Reading Technology

FarmBot: Open­source precision farming

FarmBot is an open­source and scalable automated precision farming machine and software package designed from the ground up with today’s technologies. The world’s population is growing and is projected to surpass 9 billion inhabitants by 2050. As a result farms must increase production by about 60 percent to meet demand which is stunning since many believe we have reached the limits of traditional farming.
FarmBot

In comparison to desktop digital 3D printers and CNC machines FarmBot extends the idea of X, Y, and Z directions and applies it to plows, seed injectors, water and sensors in order to accurately and efficiently grow plants and soil. I think that I would like to try this out in my own backyard.

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Cloud Design Education Globalization Innovation Maker Milwaukee OpenSource Technology

Global 3D Printing Day in Milwaukee

Tomorrow 12/03/15 is Global 3D Printing Day. There are over 24,000 printers with 370 participating cities in over 150 countries participating. Luckily Milwaukee has over 30 established 3D Printing Hubs around Greater Milwaukee. There are many more throughout Wisconsin including Madison and Green Bay Hubs. 3D Hubs has established #3DPrintingDay has their twitter feed and Facebook page and Pinterest link.

3D Printing Day MilwaukeeBrowse a global map for your local 3D Printer hub location and drop by to see how they are participating in 3D Print Day to reveal local resources for digital manufacturing.

The main difference in each participating city is that the cities offer a different number of activities (most likely based on how active the community is and how many Hubs there are to host activities.)

But the idea of coordinating the same types of activities to run at the same time all around the world is definitely a testament to how much 3D printing technologies are growing in popularity and diversity of application.

In fact, London has planned is a great way to explain the template that many cities appear to be following for #3DPrintingDay. London 3D Hubs plans to honor Global #3DPrintingDay by showing people how 3D printing works tomorrow. This long day of 3D printing exhibitions includes 3D printing showcases and demonstrations throughout the day at various Hubs in London. For Londoners, this day will be jam packed with activities, according to Community Mayor Charlotte, so plan early and be ahead of the pack by reserving your spot now!

Similar events, planned throughout the world, all run from 12 am-12 am, providing a 24-hour day of 3D printing festivities in cities including: Kiev, Istanbul, Dublin, Lisbon, Milwaukee, Nairobi, Paris, Seattle, Taipei, Budapest, Cape Town, Zurich, and Buenos Aires.

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Education Milwaukee Reading Vietnam War

Battle of Ong Thanh anniversary

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the Battle of Ong Thanh. This battle was a tremendous loss for American troops, ambushed forty miles northwest of Saigon during Operation Shenandoah II.

october 17
Ong Thanh Battle date 1967

On this weekend in 1967 the battle in Vietnam and a student protest turned riot in Madison resulted in a turning point for the State of Wisconsin. While affluent students were protesting Dow Chemical at Bascom Hill, blue collar boys from the south side of Milwaukee were dying in battle.

The soldiers including Danny Sikorski, Jack Schroder and football All American Don Holleder served under the command of Terry Allen Jr. on this fateful day.

In Madison Paul Soglin, (the city’s current Mayor) led student protests that turned violent. After this battle 64 Americans were dead. Even today this is a shocking number of American losses in a small battle. The Tet Offensive began less than 90 days later.

It was in David Maraniss’ award winning book They Marched Into Sunlight the Sikorski family in Milwaukee would receive ~$740 from the Army to bury their son Danny. He was one of the first Black Lyons killed in Bravo Company. Yet at the same time The Pentagon Papers reveal the Michelin Corporation secured a reimbursement agreement from the U.S. Government for ~$700 per tree destroyed in combat on their rubber plantations in Vietnam.

The Army’s report on the battle of Ong Thanh remained classified for almost four years until released in 1971.

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Education Milwaukee Reading

Malcolm Gladwell evening in Milwaukee

Friday was a wonderful evening with Malcolm Gladwell. I was able to get a personalized copy of his book David and Goliath. As usual he was sharing a remarkable series of intertwined events. Tonight it was about the IRA collapse in Belfast, Alva Vanderbilt and the women’s suffrage movement in America. Malcolm is truly a great storyteller.
Malcolm Gladwell in Milwaukee