IE 9 Blows?

Or does it suck?

I recently installed Internet Explorer 9 on my home PC and I am now trying to decide which other browser to use: Firefox, Safari, or Google Chrome?

I am not a Microsoft hater and I usually like new applications and new technologies (OK, OK, cell phones were an exception; but now that I have a cell phone, I can honestly say it has been life-changing.). But so far I have not seen any improvement over IE 8. I now get pop ups quite frequently despite having my pop up blocker turned on.

Moreover, the pop ups flicker in a ghost-like fashion. Trying to close them is impossible. And Google Maps Streetview? Trying to use it is more like planning a trip on LSD than planning a trip to Colby. I suppose that could be considered an improvement.

***

Apparently there is a way to go back to IE 8.

Monona in the News

Mike Ivey covers the cell phone/texting-while-driving-ban:

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/458310

By the way, while this did not originate with me and the Public Safety Commission may disagree, my expectation is that any such ban would not apply to the use of 'hands free' devices.

And Gena Kittner covers chickens in the WSJ:

http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/458623

And Adam Mella reports in the Herald that the Monona Grove School board eliminates committees. My good friend and educational expert Dean Bowles supported the move and I expect that was probably pretty influential. He expressed the view that the Board has become 'factional', but I wonder if having all the discussion occur at the Board level will instead increase division.

Board President Susan Fox explains it in her letter to the editor.

How is the Board going to get the benefit of community involvement? There will be no more citizen members on committees because there will be no more committees. Yes, people can still speak at Board meetings, but that is not the same thing by a long shot as having community members involved in full discussions and making recommendations to the full Board. Committee members often offer insights and ideas that are extremely helpful.

Personally, I think this policy change is a mistake. Certainly, running a school system is different from running a city, but I cannot imagine abolishing our city committees. If the concern was that too many decisions were being made at the committees, then a different solution would be for the Board to give less deference to the advisory committees.

Peter Sobols blogs it: http://petersobol.blogspot.com/2009/07/thanks-but-no-thanks.html

Charter or AT&T U-Verse?

We currently have the Charter bundle for TV, Internet, and phone. I'm considering a change to AT&T U-Verse.

AT&T U-verse - Advanced TV, High Speed Internet, Total Home DVR & More

Cable TV, High Speed Internet and Telephone Service -- Charter ...

I'm wondering if others, especially in the Monona area, have switched to U-Verse. Do you recommend U-Verse over Charter?

Is it worth it to change? I figure a switch like that has to result in significant improvement to warrant the hassle of changing (sort of like a software change, say from Office 2003 to Office 2007). As far as I can tell, the price is fairly comparable.

Does U-Verse have a feature similar to On Demand? (Charter OnDemand Get the Latest Movies, Sports and Original ...)

Twitter the Herald

Adam Mella sent a note that he set up a twitter account for the HI recently. The kids these days....they claim it's the bees knees.

I have to confess I have not twittered (twitted?) and I'm not sure I want to add 'yet' to that sentence.

Like me and don't what it is exactly? Go to the mother ship: Twitter: What are you doing?

You can find it on the Herald Independent here: https://twitter.com/MononaGroveNews

The Monona Public Library is on Twitter. Get the latest news and updates by following the Library here!

Monona City Council Candidate Forum - March 11

An announcement from Andrew Hagen at the Monona School and Community Cable channel.

Monona Community Cable to Sponsor Two Candidate Forums

Monona School and Community Cable (Channels 98 and 990) will sponsor two Candidate Forums this March before the April 7th Election.

The first forum, for the Monona City Council, will be held from 7:00 to 9:00 on Wednesday March 11th in the Community Media Room of the Monona Public Library.

Questions for the candidates may be written at the forum, or called in during the live broadcast, to (608) 442-6601.

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The second forum, for the Monona Grove School Board, will be held from 4:00 to 6:00 on Sunday March 15th in the Monona Grove High School I.M.C.

Questions for the school board candidates will also be accepted at the forum or by phone. However, questions for the School Board must be phoned in between 12:00 and 3:00 pm on March 15th to (608) 221-7666 extension 3133. Staff will not be able to answer the phone during the taping.

The League of Women Voters will provide an impartial moderator for each event, and both forums will be rebroadcast on Monona Community Cable Channel. Copies will also be available for viewing at the Monona Public Library, and on http://www.mononatv.com/
a few days after each taping.

Complete Packets for Plan Commission Now on Web Site

On Saturday, City Planner Paul Kachelmaier updated the city web site and posted:

Staff report-Keeping chickens ord. amdmt.

Chicken Ordinance amendment background and

Chicken Ordinance Amendment background

Excerpts from the staff report:

[Monona contacted Coty of Madison staff]

Heidi Conde, Madison Zoning Code Enforcement Officer

Heidi Conde works on the east side of Madison and said they have gotten approximately five (5) complaints mostly regarding the illegal keeping of roosters crowing in the morning and residents keeping more than four (4) hens on their property, which exceeds the maximum number of hens allowed in the City in a residential property. She said she has not received any complaints and / or concerns of adjacent property owners regarding the cleanliness of the site, the treatment of the chickens, or any other health concerns. She said another complaint they have is the keeping of chickens without the proper licenses because residents do not know they need to acquire such a license. She said when they receive complaints, they go to the property in question, inspect it and take photos, send notices to property owners in violation of their code, and re-inspect the property once the property owner remedies the situation. She said she has never had to take any further action than this, but if she does, she has two options (1) issue a WI uniform citation or (2) refer the case to the City Attorney to take legal action against the property owner. Again, she said a notice usually fixes the problem and they haven’t had to resort to the other options as of February 25, 2009.

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Matt Tucker, Madison Planning Department

He said they have had somewhere between five (5) and ten (10) cases a year of residents calling in complaints for people who keep chickens on their property. He said the complaints are generally quality of life complaints such as a rooster waking them up early in the morning, residents keeping more than four (4) hens exceeding the limit specified by the City code, the smell and traces of feces, and concerns about the chicken feed attracting rats to the area.

Madison City Treasurer

The representative from the Treasurer told her that [Madison] issued fifty-four (54) licenses for the keeping of chickens in the past year.

END OF EXCERPT

Prorating Madison's numbers to Monona, one would expect zero or one complaint per year.

Robin Schmidt Blog

Our county supervisor Robin Schmidt has a newish blog:

http://robin4danecounty.blogspot.com/

City Slipping on Packet Posting Policy UPDATED

UPDATE: I am now informed that packets can also be accessed through the calendar on the city's main web page. http://www.monona.wi.us/

The PW packets were and are on the web site.

Anyway, the city's new web page should be up in the next week or so.

***

In the last two days I looked at the web site packets for two committees (Public Works and Plan Commission) and neither one complies with the city policy on posting meeting packets. The Plan Commission is much closer to compliance than Public Works (not really sure that is better because you may incorrectly think that you have all the information that the committee has).

I have asked staff to redress this lack of compliance with the city council policy on posting packets on the web site.

The packets would also be more useful if the files were converted to PDF files rather than scanned. I've asked staff about that item also.

Monona's Radio Station

In case you missed it in the WSJ: Monona plans low-power radio station WSJ 8:13 pm

Nice story, I would only caution that as we are dealing an FCC in transition that it may take longer than the story suggests.

Low Power Radio Coming to Monona?

Next Thursday October 30th the Low-Power FM Radio subcommittee of the Broadband Telecommunications Advisory Committee will meet at 5:30 pm in the Library Board Room (lower level) to discuss the possible creation of Low-Power FM Radio station in Monona and Monona Grove Schools.

From How Stuff Works (http://www.howstuffworks.com/):

What is low-power FM LPFM?

What is low-power FM LPFM?

A normal FM station transmits at thousands of watts. This level of power means that the station needs lots of expensive transmitting equipment, as well as a fairly substantial antenna. It might cost in the range of a million dollars to get a basic FM station on the air at this level of power, and it can cover an entire urban area.

The LPFM station is designed to let individuals and small organizations own and operate radio stations for a wide variety of not-for-profit reasons. In this sense, the FCC is trying to bring station creation closer to normal people -- in the same way that anyone can create a Web page.

It's not quite that simple, but at least they are headed in the right direction.

An LPFM station is a 10-watt or 100-watt transmitter. This level of power gives the station a range of approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km). A transmitter this size and its antenna might cost $2,000 to $5,000. In a city, the range of an LPFM transmitter can encompass lots of people, and it can completely cover an entire neighborhood or community area. The owner/operators of low-power FM radio stations could include, among others:

Religious groups
Local neighborhoods
Amusement parks
PTA-sponsored school stations for parents
picking up or dropping off children
Ethnic organizations wanting to create foreign language programming
Race track pit and parking areas, as an extension to a public address system
Universities too new or previously unable to get a full-power license
Movie-theater schedule information
Interstate highway rest stops
High schools

Information about low-power FM radio stations is available at the FCC Web site. The FCC considers community service and proposed programming when granting applications. Maybe some day you can become a "micro-broadcaster"!