Library Journal provides coverage of the Google Book Search settlement hearing in Manhattan, with excerpts of testimony by UM librarian Paul Courant: “The alternative to the settlement is not a utopia of universal digital access. Rather, it is the status quo under which most of the works of the 20th Century simply cannot be legally read in digital form and physical and institutional proximity to great collections is the only effective means of access.” [Source]
Bus #8 bus bumped from spot by concrete work and again from temporary stop by DTE. Even Ann Arbor buses can’t find parking downtown.
John U. Bacon
The modern Olympics started in 1896, but it took 28 more years before the winners would hear their national anthem during the medal ceremony.
The Vancouver Games will conduct 86 medal ceremonies, during which any of the 82 countries present could be serenaded with their national anthem. But not all are created equal – including ours.
You probably knew the melody for our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” came from a popular British drinking song, and that Francis Scott Key added the words during the War of 1812. But you might not have known the song didn’t become our national anthem until more than a century later, in 1931. And we didn’t start playing the song before ball games until World War II.
“The Star Spangled Banner” may be two centuries old, but its status as our national anthem is relatively new – and, I think, not beyond reconsideration. [Full Story]
UM alumnus Robert Davis has filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging that regents violated the state’s Open Meetings Act when they met behind closed doors for an update on the NCAA investigation of the Michigan football program, according to a Detroit Free Press report. Says Davis: “I just hope and I pray that university officials follow the same rules that they hold the student-athletes to.” [Source]
Mark Boonstra, chairman of the Washtenaw County Republican Committee, led the cheer: Virginia! New Jersey! Massachusetts!
Sarah Palin buttons were among many on display at the Feb. 16 Lincoln Day Dinner at the Four Points Sheraton in Ann Arbor. (Photos by the writer.)
“What do you say we bring a little Massachusetts home to Michigan?” Boonstra asked, referring to the recent Republican victory in that state’s U.S. Senate race. His question prompted cheers and applause from the crowd of about 150 people attending Tuesday’s Lincoln Day Dinner, at the Four Points Sheraton in Ann Arbor.
“What a difference a year makes,” Boonstra said, noting a resurgence of energy and enthusiasm among local Republicans. It’s a year that the GOP can win back the state House of Representatives, he said, adding that Washtenaw County needs to do its part. Currently, all four state legislative seats in the county are held by Democrats. “If we can do it in Massachusetts,” Boonstra said, “I think we can even do it in Ann Arbor.” [Full Story]
A very special guest at tonight’s concert: Patti Smith. At KCH, Great Lakes Myth Society opens for Jesse Smith and Michael Campbell, who are opening for Smith on Friday at Saint Andrew’s Hall in Detroit.
Rick Snyder’s campaign is asking people to vote for one of two new “tough nerd” commercials, according to a report in the Detroit Free Press. It’s the latest push in the Ann Arbor businessman’s effort to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination. The Freep posts clips of both commercials with the article. [Source]
Police, fire and ambulance surrounding AATA bus stopped in middle of intersection of Thompson & William
The Chicago Tribune reports on testimony by Jeffrey Jentzen, director of autopsy and forensic services at the UM Medical School, who testified at the high-profile pre-trial hearing of Drew Peterson, who’s being tried for the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Jentzen agreed with the original ruling that Savio’s death was an accident: “I believe all the injuries she sustained could have been sustained with a simple fall.” [Source]
Sign at AATA headquarters says that 40 staff members lost a total of 219.4 pounds last week. [photo]
Between the Lines, via PrideSource, is reporting that the owners of Common Language in Ann Arbor are holding a Feb.25 fundraiser – “The Last Bookstore Standing” – to benefit the shop: “The bookstore, located in Braun Court and owned by \aut\Bar proprietors Keith Orr and Martin Contreras, has been in the news and in the community eye for its economic pain. Orr and Contreras, which almost closed Common Language due to financial woes, have worked tirelessly to raise funds and awareness about the ‘little LGBT bookstore that could.’” [Source]
Chris Leinberger was blunt in his assessment of the proposed Fuller Road Station: If the parking structure is built as proposed, in 20 years it will be torn down.
The city-owned Fuller Road parking lot, site of the proposed Fuller Road Station. To the south of the lot is the University of Michigan medical complex. (Photos by the writer.)
Speaking at a forum on transit-oriented development, Leinberger – a University of Michigan professor of practice in urban planning – said current plans for the joint UM/city of Ann Arbor project do a good job of incorporating different kinds of transit, from bikes and buses to perhaps, eventually, commuter rail.
But Leinberger criticized the project for taking some of Ann Arbor’s most valuable land and turning it into something that won’t generate revenue for the city. He told Eli Cooper, the city’s transportation program manager, that “whoever’s in your position 20 years from now will tear it down.”
Monday’s forum, held at the UM Art & Architecture building on north campus, was organized by members of the WALLY Coalition and the 208 Group, among others, to focus on local transit-oriented development efforts. Moderated by local developer Peter Allen, the event included presentations by Cooper, Richard Murphy of the city of Ypsilanti and Shea Charles, Howell’s city manager. [Full Story]
UM students Meryl Davis, Charlie White, Evan Bates and Emily Samuelson, who are ice dancers competing in the 2010 Olympics, are posting comments about their experiences on Twitter. A recent post by Samuelson: “The Proctor & Gamble House in Vancouver is so cool! I truly appreciate all they’ve done for us; specifically the Thank You, Mom’s program! Men’s Short was very interesting tonight! Congrats to all the U.S. guys!!” [Source]
The Detroit News reports that two local commuter rail projects – a north-south line from Howell to Ann Arbor, and an east-west line from Ann Arbor to Detroit – are not being awarded federal funding from the $1.5 billion in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants. The funding announcement is expected Wednesday, according to the report. [Source]
Writing on Delish.com, Eric Steinman praises the alfajor, predicting it will become the next trendy dessert du jour: “Maitelates Alfajores are definitively the upmarket version of any alfajor I have ever experienced. Handmade somewhere in Ann Arbor, Michigan, these particular Alfajores are hand-dipped in dark Belgian chocolate (or alternately in Taza organic chocolate) and make for an elegant, and might I say, an appetizing picture.” [Source]
Ann Arbor District Library board meeting (Feb. 15, 2010): During her report to the board, AADL director Josie Parker delivered a scathing review of the state’s moves to downsize the Library of Michigan, laying out the implications for local patrons as well as for the state as a whole.
A memo dated Feb. 12, 2010 from the state Department of Education describes general plans to disperse the state library’s extensive collection. Parker noted that while the memo claims the state will support continued services, such as the popular Michigan eLibrary, there’s nothing that guarantees funding – and “without that, those resources are gone,” she said. [Full Story]
Pazcki pandemonium at Copernicus Deli.
A USA Today article about how colleges accommodate students with food allergies quotes Matthew Greenhawt, a UM allergist and clinical lecturer. He reports that a survey he conducted shows many students are eating foods they are allergic to: “Our data suggest that there are students out there taking risks.” [Source]
Former Ann Arbor city councilmember Leigh Greden is one of two finalists for the job of executive director of governmental and community relations at Eastern Michigan University. From the blog EMUtalk.org: “Greden has a kind of interesting ‘track record.’ Remember that mini-scandal last year where Ann Arbor city council members were sending snarky email messages during meetings? … It probably cost him re-election to the city council. Anyway, I’m not quite sure what his EMU connection is or isn’t.” [Source]
Outdoor ice rink in park with people skating on it: [photo].
Very, very long covered table in front of Grizzly Peak with seated warmly-dressed customers–waiting to be served perhaps? [Editor's note: It's some sort of "Polar Bear" promotion – $0.25 beers, but it's for their mug club. Info was shouted across street from set up guy.]
Woman walking a little poodle-type dog, with white curly fur. Its paws and the tips of its ears had been dyed bright purple.
At left: Architect John Mouat, a member of the Fuller Road Station design team, talks with Eli Cooper, the city's transportation program manager, before the start of the Feb. 10 citizen participation forum. Mouat is a partner in the Ann Arbor firm of Mitchell and Mouat. (Photos by the writer.)
For Eli Cooper, the city of Ann Arbor’s transportation program manager, a project like the proposed Fuller Road Station happens “once in a lifetime” – an opportunity for the city, he says, to take a vision and make it reality in a fairly short time.
What it will take to reach that reality was the topic of a Feb. 10 public meeting on the Fuller Road Station, a joint University of Michigan/city of Ann Arbor project. Its first phase entails a parking structure with about 1,000 spaces – nearly 80% of them earmarked for UM use.
But much of the presentation by city staff and members of the design team focused on the broader goals for that site, which they hope will eventually include a train station for commuter rail. [Full Story]
Rob Cleveland
Toyota is something of an instant Greek tragedy as of late. Having displaced General Motors as the world’s biggest automaker, the gods of conveyance quickly punished the Japanese automaker for hubris and success, leaving the company wandering dazed and confused in the loneliest place on earth … at number one.
But the story is more than technical problems resulting in Toyota’s largest U.S. recall ever.
It also is about Toyota’s culture and how their approach to communications during this crisis exacerbated an already difficult situation. [Full Story]
Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, which makes it different from other similar-sized Midwestern cities lacking a world-class research institution. You can’t swing a dead Greek philosopher without hitting someone in this town who can tell you how significant the connection is between Ann Arbor and UM.
Elizabeth Chen assembles a tetrahedron from connectors and straws. (Photos by the writer.)
In that way, at least, Ann Arbor is densely packed.
This is a story about that town-gown connection. It’s a story that connects a recent UM mathematics PhD thesis defense to the Ann Arbor planning commission – and takes a continuous path though topics like Klingons, grocery bags, affordable housing, yard waste collection and Valentine’s Day.
We begin with Elizabeth Chen, who successfully defended her PhD dissertation last Friday in East Hall on the UM campus. Her presentation included several hands-on assignments for those in the audience of around 30 people – several of whom assured The Chronicle that hers was an “unconventional” thesis defense.
Chen exhorted the assembled mathematicians to paste together plastic pyramid shapes with gummi putty to help them get an intuitive feel for the shapes: “It’s not so scary!” she admonished them. After half an hour, one member of her thesis committee prodded her to get to the mathematics part – he really had “better things to do.” The Chronicle, however, did not. [Full Story]
Editor’s note: At a recent meeting of the Ann Arbor city council, an item in the city’s capital improvements plan to shift and extend the runway at Ann Arbor’s municipal airport generated much discussion. This installment of “In the Archives” takes a look at Ypsilanti’s airport, which has faded from the landscape.
The delicate blue Waco 10 biplane roared 10 feet over the grass, past the crowd in the stands. Approaching trees at the airfield’s far end, its nose rose and it climbed, becoming smaller and smaller in view.
An photograph of a Waco 10 from the airshow program. Five aviators at the 1927 Ypsilanti air show competed in the cutting-edge biplane. (Photos courtesy of the Ypsi Archives.)
The gargling buzz of its 90-horsepower engine grew fainter, until the craft sounded like a distant housefly. Watchers from Detroit, Ypsilanti, and Ann Arbor under the 4 o’clock June sun shaded their eyes with their hands.
The buzz stopped: 1,500 feet in the air, the plane was without power.
The biplane arced to the left, trying to loop back towards the field. The crowd watched intently. The biplane curved again, losing altitude. A box of popcorn fell from the hand of a little boy watching, his mouth open. The plane’s wings wobbled. Airplane and crowd were quiet. On a nearby farm, a dog barked.
The plane dropped. Nearing the field, it slowed, its toylike wheels just a yard over the ground. The plane nearly stalled – and then landed as gently as a butterfly. It rolled to a stop. Its nose nearly touched a black and white checkered pylon. The crowd began clapping and cheering as two men ran to the plane and stretched a yellow measuring tape between the plane’s silver nose and the pylon. One yelled a number. The crowd grew louder, some people standing to cheer and whistle.
The pilot grinned and thrust both fists up. He’d won the “dead-stick” engine-off gliding and landing contest at the 1927 Ypsilanti Airport air show. [Full Story]
A New York Times article, looking at whether there’s life in Detroit after the Big 3, quotes Peter Adriaens, a UM business professor who’s tracking the economic impact of new industries in metro Detroit: “What we really are talking about is R&D, pilot projects and early-stage production. There is virtually nothing we can do to keep large-scale production here.” The article also includes comments from David Cole of the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research: “You could bring a whole new industry in here, and it may replace one auto plant.” [Source]
A person seems to be putting finishing touches on an front yard igloo. Ambitious for 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday.
On his blog There Is No Gap, Karl Pohrt – who owned Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor – writes about spending time with his young grandson: “Gavin clearly affirms the book as a tactile object. He loves the physicality – the being- in-the-world – of books. Even given all the seductive hype surrounding electronic media, I think he’s still – like his grandpa – old school. We both know what we like. I almost forgot to mention the taste test. Gavin reports that the pages are good to gnaw on and the Elmo puppet’s soft hands (paws?) don’t taste that bad either.” [Source]
People skating on the river. [photo]
