The Delta County Conservation District (July 25th, 2023): New Members, Park Economics, and Sparks Flying!

People love our parks
They can be a bigger
enhancement to summer
tourism.

The July 25th, 2023 Delta County Conservation District was an interesting meeting where obvious disagreements came forward in public light. You can read more from TV 6's article 'Fireworks fly at Delta Conservation District board meeting' where members of the board discussed $73K that was to be dispersed to a CEO of the conservation for employee bonuses (I think I understand that correctly). Some are saying that the money was already earned and others are saying that they want to review the payouts more before agreeing.

If you have been watching the Delta County Commissioner meetings for some time you will get a better understanding of the various actions that were in play that led to this sparks flying situation (public disagreement). First there were questions about the money, then there was active interest in the board because of those questions, and now there are new board members who want more information. The newcomers appear untrusting of some of the actions of seasoned members.

Most of the time when situations like this arise, it is best to take a deep breath and be very open to all of the information because it creates an opportunity to reduce the natural propensity to oppose an opposite perspective. Working with, if one feels they have a good point, often leads to opening up of new resolution avenues through greater understandings. i.e. filling in open gaps and finding common grounds. 

Information on the Delta County Conservation District (This looks like the official site.). They have a 5 board members according to the site. (I saw 7 at the table so they may not all be board members in the video.). 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has some information on conflict resolution that seemed somewhat relevant to the situation 'Conflict Resolution in Public Participation' The article discusses transparency may be a contributing factor to some of the disagreement and divergent viewpoints. People don't know what they don't know so that is why they are arguing. Once everyone is confident of the basic facts some of those disagreements will dissipate. 

(If you want some more information on the value of parks you can read 'Parks and Recreation Contribute to the U.S. Economy')

Sometimes there may be logical reasons why there are gaps in information and other times its worth looking more into those gaps if there are still reasonable concerns/questions. Transparency helps to increase the quality of the communication between the two entities and lessen those gaps. Right now some member of the community have concerns.

Stay tuned.....

Yes I know that this isn't the video of the meeting. However, the article did get me to think about our own wonderful fireworks. We host different kinds of fireworks on and off YouTube 🙈

The Garden House: The Economics and Health Benefits of Gardens

The Garden House
2023
Gallery

Gardens are something many people engage in and enjoy as a past time as well as a micro farming method. Not only do they improve the aesthetic value of the properties but also seem to enhance other aspects of the area. Food security rises and general health increases. Some may opt for personal gardens and others may desire a more community approach. I think both are just fine.

I talked to two people about gardens in the past week. 1.) Wanted to start a garlic farm on his shared family property and the other said he had 10 pints of herbs come out of a relatively small space. I experimented with my garden box and think I will be adding at least three more (to be built during the winter), 4 apple trees and 2 cherry trees. Escanaba has a community garden and seems to be putting more in (They are volunteer). You can see it HERE.

Anyway, here are some benefits of gardens....

1. Healthy Lifestyle: Gardening as a general lifestyle brings benefits that include exercise, stress, and social connection. Review a meta analysis on gardening. 'Gardening is beneficial for health: A meta-analysis'

2. Economic Benefits: It would appear that gardening also increases the community in many ways that range from property values all the way over to better weight health. A few bucks seem to go a long way in our pockets and our tummies. I took the information below from 'Community Garden Statistics in 2023 (Latest U.S. Data)'

1. Community gardens increase surrounding property values by up to 9.4%.
2. Average community garden yields about 20.4 servings of fresh produce per 11 sq. ft.
3. Community gardens can lower household food security concerns by up to 90%.
4. Every $1 invested in a community garden yields around $6 worth of produce.
5. Community gardens have a positive impact on neighborhood security.
6. There are over 29,000 community gardens in the 100 largest U.S. cities.
7. Community gardeners eat 37.5% more fruits and vegetables than non-gardeners.
8. Common reasons for garden participation are access to fresh foods, health benefits, and to enjoy nature.
9. Women community gardeners are 46% less likely to be overweight than their neighbors.

Escanaba City Council Regular Meeting (July 20, 2023): Cold Water, Fish Cuisine, Open Committees and the Rise of Thebes in the U.P.

View of Thebes
1819,
by Hugh W. William
Representation as a place that has
greater influence then its size.

While watching this super short Escanaba City Council meeting we see governance humming along as the new and improved begins to emerge from its multidecade slumber. A town is in the process of transition and becoming more important than just good food, great outdoor activities and great people! It is becoming reconnected to the global market in a new way.....

(Escanaba is becoming a hot spot investment and vacation destination of the Upper Peninsula.  A type of Thebes emerges from the depths of Bay de Noc waters. A first of its kind.) 

Just take a mental snap shot of what it looks like today and compare that with say 5 years from now (Maybe it grows, maybe it declines, maybe it stays the same. I think its an undiscovered gem that is on the verge of being discovered. Time will tell if there is something or nothing, because there are lots of steps in between and market factors that come into play. However, I think its recognized as a unique place.)

You can see what these cities can sometimes look like. The Environmental Protection Agency has some information on Smart Growth

 You can read the July 20th, 2023 Escanaba Agenda. I pulled out a few key points to remember.

-Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF): Just shy of $2 mil. The fund is offered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With all the new water and sewage improvements I think that our infrastructure is improving. Likewise, we have our own water sources. What would also be nice is to have our own electric generation. i.e. solar or other. 

It takes a little time but things do change. For example, we once had outhouses and now have toilets. Likewise, we used to only clean our dishes with Cold Water but now we have other cleaning options like running water. 🤷

-Need additional board members for various committees. This is a good way for people to really get involved. If you want to improve something, or take an interest in something, go ahead and join up. I think you would call the city hall and say "I'm interested in serving my community and would like to get on one of our open committees." Then ask if they provide free snacks for meetings.

-Bar and fish restaurant selling fresh fish would be nice i.e. fish market and fish restaurant. (Delta County Hedge, Hotel-Marina-Ships)

Update on Hate (07/27/2023): Supporting Police and Supporting Reform Are the Same

The Declaration of Independence
1818
John Trumbull

For most of my life I pretty much always thought police wanted to do the right thing and protect the public. The vast majority of them still do and that is why I give the profession its due respect. I have even helped police out in many cases because it is our general duty as society to maintain safe streets in which we all can thrive. However, in recent years I have seen clan based systems persist and then distort the intent, purpose and public trust of policing. 

No matter what, these guys are going to hate me. I'm part of the second class citizen group (Those that don't belong to a narrow sliver of ethnocentric and overentitled fellow Americans.). Not everywhere am I treated that way, but here I'm the target because I witnessed a level of corruption, defended myself/family from one of their clan leaders, then a large group of clan affiliates, and in turn told them the truth "Not all police are bad, but the clan based system that developed in the backrooms of departments and social clubs is immoral, bankrupt and inherently dangerous". 

I get it! I'm the outlier who didn't fit within their preexisting notions of who is and who is not allowed in "their town". It makes no difference if my historical branches supersede theirs (much like this clan network views Native Americans in the area). It would appear to be somewhat a true statement that their concern is having unchecked power of the community and not the greater purpose of policing (They work for us, we do not work for them. If we do, our democracy is done because we made the switch to autocracy. Freedom House has some good information on the dangers of autocracy. HERE.)

What I encourage our fellow Americans to do is politely and peaceable ask our leaders to care enough about the majority of society and the policing/justice institution to consider the following:

(Just FYI in case your the ideological kind. I'm a light R with lots of liberal friends. It means that I look at things more rationally then your average politician. I'm not all R and I'm not all L. I choose things based on their moral conscious and practicality. I'm like the vast majority of American's whose voice gets drowned out by selfish others. P.S. I'm also not a politician and for the most part think I've lost interest in it once I saw how destructive it can be in the past few years.) 

1.) Strengthen the ability of police to catch bad guys/gals who harm our communities. When it comes to crime there should be no racial, religious, or ideological differences in policing and outcomes. When good cops do good stuff we should encourage them to set the cultural expectations so as to crowd out the ethnic-religious clan based networks (These groups that often have ethnocentric far right/left ideological leanings are third world in orientation. Every nation that fell did so on dissolution of institutional trust.). We want good people to stay and we want bad apples to leave so as to make the profession attractive to the best and brightest this country can raise.

2.) Ensure civil rights are the 110% and policing 100% to maintain democratic balance. That should also include easy to find complaint forms on their webpages, do not go directly back to the departments without being vetted first, and when there appears to be racial/religious aggressions it is reported to State and Federal Authorities. i.e. paper trail that helps uncover illegal activities and would be difficult to ignore if proficient and repeated (Must of the bad behavior is shadow behaviors designed to avoid detection. The community has eyes and can report these behaviors if they know they won't be retaliated against. In this case, it appears they retaliated.)

3.) Start listening to their stakeholders and not pander to the hyper political structure. It is much more honorable being voted out of office doing the right thing then to sell your soul for the wrong thing. Makes no differences if you are Democrat or Republican. Our Constitution and the freedom of our people should always outweigh the needs of the smaller group of movers and shakers. We are managing a whole society to live free, happy, and productive with the best lives we can. They are not here to support someone else's lifestyle. Conversation should float up and down freely to maintain a proper national course.

 (There is a nice poem I wrote a decade ago on protecting our freedoms from generation to generation. Haiku: Eagles Eggs  Patriotism is a deeper connection to the essential truths of our way of life. A citizens we should be good people and help each other. We always advance our collective goals.).

*This article is obviously fictitious and is meant for general learning. We know it could never, ever, ever happen! If it did, we would correct it right away! Feel free to click off and enjoy the rest of your day. "bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. education & free discussion are the antidotes of both." Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, August 1, 1816

Utility Theory and Probability in Personal and Business Decision Making (Just Figure it Out)

Pythagoras and the Fisherman
1662
Salvator Rosa
A representation of how mathematics
and the art of decision making 
work together. 

Whether you are in business or life you will have certain goals and desires that you seek to achieve (Its normal, we all have them. Even business was started because of people's goals an desires.). We all have goals and that is part of life. Organizations also have goals and that is part of the process of making money from the resources they convert to a higher value. No matter if you are an individual or an organization you will have goals. Ranking and assigning probability to these goals leads to overall stronger long term strategic decision-making. 

Utility Theory helps us understand how people rank their prospects and then act on those prospects. That could be buy a new car or that could be to improve revenue of your company by 2%. Because the environment has many possibilities where one's individual and business goals factor into decision making, we must consider not only the rank of such goals but also their probabilities. 

In any situation, business or personal, you should consider the most important goals that an individual/organization seeks to accomplish and then rank them by importance. By doing so, one might also consider including the probabilities based on the data drawn from the market/environment/study to understand those prospects better. (Good data can keep filling in the blanks and in turn defining the probabilities while bad data derails you. You can get good at determining/differentiating between good and bad data.) 

As one gains new data, knowledge, and insight, they will be able to adjust and define their/organizational goals as well as understand the probability of achieving each possible goal. When we can break down that analysis into actual probability trees for decision making, we can better understand these prospects and the strategic paths in which they lead (With luck we can see the data find new branches of knowledge. You just have to know what to look for. Typically that is the blank spots or the data doesn't fit into existing theoretical structures. ) 

While we may use many different analysis and ways to achieve our goals, we are always stuck with deciding which goals are most important for personal/business achievement. Whether your are an individual or a business you can look at your internal and external resources and match that with the your purpose to achieve greater organizational outcomes. Often that requires a conscious rank order of goals and selecting the most probable of those choices to achieve certain objectives. (i.e missions statements have purpose in aligning people to goals and the probability that people will find direction in a way that influences their micro choices leading to organizational-economic change.)

(If you managing an organization of any type think of how things like a national constitution, business mission statement, or stated strategic goals/initiatives can give people a sense of direction for their own decision making. When people buy into a vision and have clear principles to work off of, they will naturally seek to align themselves if they find personal benefit. Probabilities change not only on the external but also the internal environment. The environment changes because of people and people change because of the environment and thus one has to consider that "human factor" into their decision making to fully assess both probabilistic lines. i.e. science allows for this innovation line but one must wonder whether the market will accept and buy that product. Knowing the two will determine an investment decision in research/product development that leads to the highest probably outcome. )

(I utilize this concept in my economic cluster theory because people must be able to see the prospects of goal achievement within the cluster goals themselves. They may also determine how best they can advance their collective and individual goals within and outside the cluster.). 

Utility Definitions:

Utility in Economics Explained: Types and Measurement

Utility Theory

3.1 Utility Theory

I like this study. Boundedly rational expected utility theory

Are the Aliens Here?: Meep Meep! House Oversight Committee

The Great Bear,
in Book of Fixed Stars c. 964.
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi 

There is some indication that we have UAP or potential alien life. Well, my thoughts are that I have heard weirder things (No seriously. 😕). First, most of the reporting's were not of UAP significance while some were of more importance (The unknown importance kind.). Of those that were, many did not have a full explanation. So we are left with further research as an avenue to greater understanding. 

If they are new types of drones and propulsion systems we should learn from them/it and develop our own. I thought my idea on molecular surface propulsion through high powered solar panels would allow for start and stop with no sound or vapor trail. (Just kidding. I mean it probably would have some line of development down the molecular level. That would make the propulsion system planet specific as new atmospheres have different molecular substructures.😕😂) 

ok...sorry...I will stop. 😂 Ok back to very important UFO super scientific research documentaries.

 Anatomical Man,
from Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
c. 1411–1416
Limbourg Brothers

Not to make light of the research because its a way of learning about our environment. Understanding new phenomenon is very important for military, civilian, and other purposes. If we don't know what it is, then we can learn from it. If someone built something in their basement we can reward them and put it to good use. Either way its an unknown risk and/or benefit at the moment.

You can read this article by CNN. 'Officials and lawmakers push for more government transparency on UFOs'

 

Garden Box: No Fertilizer, Irrigation, and Little Weeding (World Bank Food Insecurity)

Experimenting with growing some of my own food I made a garden box, used some old fencing I'm replacing, and a net to protect it from critters. I'm not a big gardener and I'm not always around so I don't want anything high maintenance. 

In this case, I did not weed or water at all. I only put fresh dirt and buried a number of seeds. No fertilize or compost added. I found a few rag weed and Devil's beggar tick but they were easy to remove.

 Amazingly almost everything is growing healthy except a few plants that got crowded out by other plants. A better planting design would help. The overall process worked well. 

The key things I think that made a difference is partial shade and sunlight so its not getting beat on all day in the global warming sun. Secondly, the dirt was fresh, and thirdly it rained a lot. 

If you were wondering why it can be helpful to grow a little more of your food you can read World Bank July 17th, 2023 Food Security Update. They discuss rising food costs. Maybe farms could consider replanting into paddocks bordered with trees to create partial shade, protect the soil, reduce the need for watering and maybe less/no fertilizer (Thinking out loud. One must check the science of it to see if it makes sense.)

The next goal is to put in a small apple orchard of 4 apple trees and 2 cherry trees (helping the bees). I removed a large dying tree so now I have space.