Althouse: There are lots of cool details at the new Alumni Park at the UW campus.

October 8, 2017

There are lots of cool details at the new Alumni Park at the UW campus.

Take a closer look:

Elsewhere:

Closer look:

And:

38 comments:

FIDO said...: How wonderfully the administration has spent retirement funds, sold property, desperately accumulated savings, and obscene amounts of student loans to make someplace pretty for the Academics to live and work.

Meanwhile, our kids learn to hate the Constitution, Free Speech and themselves.

But as long as the professors are happy, amirite?; 10/8/17, 6:05 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Those curved planters look like a Meade backyard ripoff.

So, it's only fair for y'all to borrow the idea of adding some non-vegetative art-type stuff to the semi-circle backyard. Perhaps a chopped up, bronzed bike. An homage re the single track. Could also get a bronze statue of a bare breasted spirit of justice thingy, cause of law prof stuff. Just don't torture AG JA, if he stops by.; 10/8/17, 6:15 PM
ddh said...: It's interesting that the University chose to highlight John Atanasoff's claim of having invented the digital computer. His design was not programmable, and a lot of computer scientists think the Federal District Court's decision in Honeywell v. Sperry Rand in 1973 botched the finding of fact. Nevertheless, the Court's decision, coming decades after the fact, invalidated Sperry Rand's patents, putting basic computer design concepts into the public domain. Atanasoff received almost nothing from his victory except for a scientific award from his father's native Bulgaria.; 10/8/17, 6:19 PM
rcocean said...: Uh oh. Old fat guy in shorts at 3 O'Clock.

Looks like an 60 year old kid with his backpack. All he needs is his cap on backwards.; 10/8/17, 6:22 PM
gilbar said...: Atanasoff got a building named after him here at Iowa State University
WHERE HE BUILT THE DAMN THING!!!; 10/8/17, 6:23 PM
clint said...: "Make Your Mark on the World" -- it's a nice slogan. But written on a monument on a college campus... I predict year after year of college kids thinking it will be cleverly ironic to "make their mark" right there. With spray paint.; 10/8/17, 6:32 PM
tcrosse said...: Is that in what used to be the parking lot between the Union Cafeteria and the Red Gym ?; 10/8/17, 6:37 PM
Enlighten-NewJersey said...: FIDO where did you get your information? According to the Alumni Park website, the park was funded entirely by private donations.; 10/8/17, 6:47 PM
Hagar said...: Which also could have gone to educational purposes and in any case are tax write-offs, so we all participate in these "gifts."; 10/8/17, 7:06 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: you know those engraved names passed a thorough background check. it's how we live now.; 10/8/17, 7:08 PM
MikeR said...: "The father of modern digital computing"? That's absurd already. He won the patent dispute, but there isn't any question but that ENIAC was the first real computer and its creators were the "parents" of digital computing. They are the ones who made a computer that worked, and began to use it. The bizarre intricacies of patent law - and the case was bizarre by all accounts - are beside the point.; 10/8/17, 7:09 PM
wildswan said...: The Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin so I think they should have plaque for that. And a plaque to the men from Wisconsin who died in the Civil War - some of them in Andersonville POW prison. Picture at this link of what the men who survived Andersonville looked like.

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/calvin-bates-20th-maine-andersonville-prisoner-cdv.87603/; 10/8/17, 7:10 PM
FullMoon said...: All dead white guys?; 10/8/17, 7:11 PM
madAsHell said...: Tim Berners-Lee didn't release HTML until 1990. The monument indicates that Mr. Keck left Wisconsin in 1990 after creating The Onion as a junior (1988?) So, I'm guessing The Onion was a print product at one time.; 10/8/17, 7:13 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/8/17, 7:15 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/8/17, 7:17 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/8/17, 7:20 PM
FullMoon said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/8/17, 7:22 PM
MountainMan said...: @Wildswan: I spent a full day two weeks ago at the Andersonville National Historic Site and National Cemetery. Wisconsin has a large and impressive monument to its soldiers who died there very near the NW corner of the prison wall. You can see a photo of it at the site’s NPS web page. Very worthwhile visit.; 10/8/17, 7:23 PM
Gahrie said...: Where is the statue in honor of the tens of thousands of raped co-eds?; 10/8/17, 7:36 PM
JackWayne said...: I remember when Walker’s $250M cut to UW was presented as the worst thing ever. But, somehow, things still got built. Odd.; 10/8/17, 8:20 PM
n.n said...: The life of 1%ers cannot be underestimated nor the progressive debt that makes it possible.; 10/8/17, 8:21 PM
FIDO said...: According to the Alumni Park website, the park was funded entirely by private donations.

Of course it was. And I am sure that some alumni, out of nowhere, proposed, designed and built that thing, just because they are so awesome like that.

OR...crazy theory, I know...the Alumni Board and the Administration designed a delightful place for their continual benefit while going out to people already struggling, twisting arms for donations and spending 'Other People's Money' for THEIR benefit. Because maybe spend some of THEIR budget on this...it just isn't done!

I am pretty sick of Academia these days. Sure, the kids get to have a nice place to throw their Ill Informed Indoctrinated Political Temper Tantrums for four years...but the Academy gets it forever.

They made themselves despised by people. So no benefit of the doubt do they get.; 10/8/17, 9:10 PM
Fled Wisconsin said...: These posts are a disgrace. Wisconsin's people are the experts at whining and complaining about anything with class.

The left and right are equally crabby and completely crazy in Wisconsin. And they are united in that they love their alcohol and dress like slobs. They get more dui's per capita than any state.

It is no wonder young people are fleeing in droves

. Wisconsin and Illinois are sister ships sinking like the Titanic.

I lived in both Illinois and Wisconsin. Both have corrupt politicians and a lot of unhappy people but Illinois has history worth studying unlike the backwater to the north.

Anything with any class gets attacked in Wisconsin. The people have the Russian peasant mentality. They are only happy unless everyone is equally poor.

On Wisconsin!; 10/8/17, 9:50 PM
walter said...: Bye Fled..and good riddance.
Though equating Wiscos politics to Chicago is entertaining. Right..just a pair of Titanics. Illinois is more like the Hindenburg. Let's not forget Rahmbo sitting atop a pile of "gun violence" victims every weekend, month and year.; 10/8/17, 10:02 PM
walter said...: But do tell us where you came from, where in WI and Il you lived..and what social paradise you Fled to.; 10/8/17, 10:09 PM
walter said...: Right..another disposable name hit and run troll...; 10/8/17, 11:06 PM
CWJ said...: The railing in the first photo will be carved into matchwood in a year, if not months.; 10/8/17, 11:23 PM
Sebastian said...: It's nothing a little BLM protest can't destroy.; 10/8/17, 11:33 PM
CWJ said...: Snark aside. A beautiful series of photos and a place I'd have a peaceful day enjoying.; 10/8/17, 11:45 PM
Josephbleau said...: Are the sandstone towers a memorial to the commies that blew up the ROTC building and killed the grad student?; 10/9/17, 3:28 AM
Big Mike said...: Two things bother me about honoring Atanasoff. First, inventing the first computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Calculator, is placed on the same level as founding "The Onion." But more importantly, everyone agrees that he didn't get the ideas that led to the development of his machine until he was an assistant professor st Iowa State. Wisconsin is claiming credit where credit is not due.; 10/9/17, 4:29 AM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: walter said...
But do tell us where you came from, where in WI and Il you lived..and what social paradise you Fled to."

I strongly suspect it's Titus posting under another nic.

Although Wisconsin has its' share of idiots, we are more sensible voters than the nitwits of Massachusetts, who blighted the country with Teddy the Swimmer, John F'ing Kerry and Princess Paleface. The fools in Cambridge apologized for any discomfort they might have given to the jihadists who blew people to bits at the Boston Marathon.

Titus had the hots for one of the murderers. That, in and of itself, caused me to completely discount anything he has to say about anything. I have never found him very funny, except when he's not trying to be funny. He's still a hick from the sticks, a self-parodying gay who is ridiculously uncritical of all things coastal and makes up for his obvious insecurities by bashing the state he came from.; 10/9/17, 6:00 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Two things bother me about honoring Atanasoff. First, inventing the first computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Calculator, is placed on the same level as founding "The Onion." But more importantly, everyone agrees that he didn't get the ideas that led to the development of his machine until he was an assistant professor st Iowa State. Wisconsin is claiming credit where credit is not due."

It's called "Alumni Park."

I think the idea is to celebrate individuals who were students here.; 10/9/17, 6:07 AM
Rusty said...: "I lived in both Illinois and Wisconsin. Both have corrupt politicians and a lot of unhappy people but Illinois has history worth studying unlike the backwater to the north."

If it weren't for corruption Illinois wouldn't have a history worth talking about. Even Rauners principals are fungible.; 10/9/17, 7:11 AM
Joe Veenstra said...: Fido:

False statement about funding for the seemingly pleasant ode to notable alumni.

Followed by:

"Meanwhile, our kids learn to hate the Constitution, Free Speech and themselves."

I went to UW and none of this is true. I took a wide range of classes including many liberal arts classes. I'm happy, think free speech is great and needs to be protected, and think the Constitution was flawed from the start (Art. 1, sec. 3) but still a great document and certainly don't hate it.

I hope you are okay with your anger issues about a great public university.; 10/9/17, 8:17 AM
FIDO said...: Joe Veenstra,

It would fill me with a trace of hope that a few of our Ivory Towers have avoided anti American, Post Modernistic New Marxist rot.

However, I very much doubt that, were I to throw a rock into a crowd of teachers at Wisconsin, I would be far more likely to hit someone LGCTQ (3,8 of he population) than to hit someone who is Conservative (40% of the population).; 10/9/17, 2:32 PM
FIDO said...: It turns out I am wrong

https://hotair.com/archives/2017/10/07/university-wisconsin-crack-disruptions-free-speech/

University of Wisconsin System leaders approved a policy Friday that calls for suspending and expelling students who disrupt campus speeches and presentations, saying students need to listen to all sides of issues and arguments.

The Board of Regents adopted the language on a voice vote during a meeting at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie. The policy states that students found to have twice engaged in violence or other disorderly conduct that disrupts others’ free speech would be suspended. Students found to have disrupted others’ free expression three times would be expelled.

“Perhaps the most important thing we can do as a university is to teach students how to engage and listen to those with whom they differ,” system President Ray Cross told the regents. “If we don’t show students how to do this, who will? Without civil discourse and a willingness to listen and engage with different voices, all we are doing is reinforcing our existing values.”

Enjoy your park. But still...laugh at Marxists and gender and racial studies professors in the furtherance of your free speech rights. They deserve it.; 10/9/17, 3:31 PM