Vacuum

Mappy Hour Detroit, Wednesday, May 2, 2012 5 pm at Mercury Burger Bar, Detroit MI

Come visit lovely Mappy Hour, happy hour for metro Detroit map nerds. Wednesday May 2, Mercury Burger Bar (2163 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48216), Five-ish. 

View Map · Get Directions

More on the Mercury Burger Bar from the Detroit News.

Union membership rates by state, 2011 data from Bureau of Labor Statistics

From a Bureau of Labor Statistics news release:

In 2011, the number of workers belonging to a union in Michigan was 671,000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported [on Monday, April 9, 2012]. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that union members accounted for 17.5 percent of wage and salary workers in Michigan in 2011 compared to 16.5 percent a year earlier. At its peak in 1989, the first year state data were available, Michigan’s union membership rate was 26.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.)

The full news release has lots of detailed data, but the map below is the keeper.

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, news release 12-631-CHI

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the University of Michigan, 1962

The Michigan Daily story of April 15, 2012 has an excellent set of photos of MLK's visit to Ann Arbor on November 5, 1962, and the story of how they were discovered.

David Erdody, a digital curator at the Bentley Historical Library, discovered a series of 20 photo negatives in early January that feature King giving a speech and hosting a discussion at the University. These photographs, which have never been printed or published, depict King speaking and greeting a crowd at Hill Auditorium, attending a small discussion in the Michigan Union and having dinner at the University on Nov. 5, 1962.

One of the main archives of MLK materials is at Boston University; there's a set of correspondence with the University of Michigan Office of Religious Affairs that would be worth looking at to round out some of the institutional memory of this event.

 

2012 Water Hill Music Fest: Sunday, May 6th, from 2 to 6 p.m. (rain date May 13th).

From Paul Tinkerhess, organizer:

The 2012 Water Hill Music Fest is set to happen Sunday, May 6th, from 2 to 6 p.m. (rain date May 13th).  All residents of Ann Arbor's Water Hill neighborhood are invited to play music on their front porches during this unique celebration.  Expectations are high this year after thousands of visitors attended last year's inaugural event.

More information: www.waterhill.org and www.facebook.com/waterhillmusicfest .

From last year's event, as documented by Michigan Radio:

Japanese Mitsui chemical plant explosion, monitored via transmissions of NHK World Radio Japan

A fire at a chemical plant in Japan killed one and injured dozens, according to broadcasts monitored on international shortwave frequencies and Internet news and trade publication sources.

The NHK news includes news of a chemical plant explosion at Mitsui Chemicals' Iwakuni-Ohtake facility, which straddles areas in Yamaguchi and Hiroshima prefectures. The Mitsui Chemicals site identifies the site of the plant as 1-2, Waki 6-chome, Waki-cho, Kuga-gun, Yamaguchi 740-0061, and says the following chemicals are produced there:

• PTA
• PET resin
• TPX
• MILLION
• APEL
• Wax
• Hydrocarbon resin
• LUCANT
• Gas pipes
• Pelicles
• Hydroquinone
• Resorcinol
• Meta/Para-cresol

ICIS.com, in a story by Tomomi Yokomura, reports that the fire was in the unit which produces resorcinol, an adhesive for wood and car tires.

This safety data sheet for resourcinol, otherwise known as CAS 108-46-3, 3-HYDROXYPHENOL or 1,3-benzenediol, m-dihydroxybenzene, describes that its dust is highly flammable.

Fukushima Diary reports (unconfirmed) nuclear materials on site. This was later confirmed in a Mitsui Chemicals press release.

I'm not able to be up to monitor this (it's late here in Ann Arbor, MI) but there is a YouTube video with a longer shot of the event.

Via the NHK World Radio Japan web site, here is a map of their transmissions on shortwave bands. The "Yamata" site marked is the primary transmission site in Japan.

I was able to pick up the transmission from Canada, marked as (1) here and on the March 25, 2012 frequency and broadcasting chart (PDF). Of course, the sound quality is much better on the Internet, but if you have a new (to you) shortwave set there's some satisfaction in just making contact.

I always find Japanese infographics to be interesting to look at and get ideas from.

- 30 -

Mandatory disclaimer: Nothing to disclaim at this time.

Copyright notice: The images in this article are Copyright NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and are not to be further reproduced.

Also see: NHK World, UPI (quoting NHK),  Xinhua (quoting the local press), and Jiji Press (quoted by several, but I could not find the original story).

Message from President Andrew Jackson on the Ohio and Michigan Boundary, January 12, 1836

[Doc. No. 54.] 24th Congress, 1st Session. Ho. of Reps. Executive.

Ohio and Michigan Boundary

---

MESSAGE

FROM

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

TRANSMITTING

Reports from the Secretaries of State and War on the subject of the Ohio and Michigan boundary.

---

January 12, 1836.

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

---

To the House of Representatives of the United States :

Having laid before Congress on the 9th ultimo, the correspondence which had previously taken place relative to the controversy between Ohio and Michigan, on the question of boundary between that State and Territory, I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of State and War on the subject, with the papers therein referred to.

ANDREW JACKSON.

Washington, January 11, 1836.

---

- 30 -

---

Mandatory FTC disclosure

Promotional considerations for this message were provided by Garrett Scott, Bookseller.

Garrett Scott, Bookseller

http://www.bibliophagist.com

P.O. Box 4561

Ann Arbor MI 48106

ph. (734) 741-8605

garrett@bibliophagist.com

First editions in 19th and eartly 20th century eccentric religious movements, popular entertainments, literature and Americana.

Books and pamphlets bought and sold.

Severe weather expected Sunday, April 15, 2012 for #annarbor area #miwx

The 2:40am map from Wunderground is a good marker of things to come for the Ann Arbor area.

As always, for DTE power outage information, the DTE Power Outage map is a place to go. Our old analog meter was replaced by a digital one, so there's one additional point of non-mechanical failure to watch for. The page on DTE outage claims is worth noting.

The 3am forecast from NWS: 

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AFTER 2 AM AS A WARM FRONT
LIFTS INTO THE REGION FROM THE SOUTH. THESE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED
TO BE SEVERE. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND
GUSTS TO 20 MPH AND PEA SIZED HAIL. THESE STORMS WILL MOVE TO THE
NORTHEAST AROUND 30 MPH.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY AND TONIGHT.

Ann Arbor Rec and Ed notifies for cancellations on a page worth watching. 

Summers-Knoll School open house for Middle and Elementary School, April 22, 2012, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Summers-Knoll School offers students rich academic experiences in an intimate and vibrant environment. Come meet the teachers, learn about our unique approach and tour our new building, located at 2203 Platt Road in Ann Arbor across from the entrance to County Farm Park.

Complimentary childcare for ages 4 and up will be available at our current campus at 2015 Manchester Road from 12:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Directions to 2015 Manchester Road will take you near the base of the Ann Arbor water tower visible from Washtenaw.

To register, email Karen Bayoneto at kbayoneto@summers-knoll.org.

summers-knoll.org | 734. 971.7991

From Joanna's "Head of School Blog":

In our new building, paint is going onto the walls. The reading nooks looking out onto the courtyard are warm with color. The sun comes in through the huge windows and skylights, and every way you look there are views to the trees outside. The flexible learning spaces - the common areas, breakout spaces, front porches for the classrooms, the open library space - are everything I hoped they would be. The music and drama studio, the science lab, the art room, the classrooms; they are all spacious, bright, gorgeous places. Soon they will be alive with children and the hum of projects and great ideas. 

Disclaimer: my son goes to Summers-Knoll School, and he's looking forward to having more kids in his age range, so I'm particularly eager to recruit 7th and 8th graders.

LoBuPa neighborhood meeting, April 11, 2012

The Lower Burns Park Neighborhood Association announces its spring meeting for neighbors in LoBuPa. Please join us, details follow. Thanks go to Nancy Leff for organizing this meeting.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2012
7 pm - 8:30 pm
Buddhist Temple on Packard


1.  Jim Kosteva, UM Director of Community relations, A2 city representative(s), and our local city council representatives, Margie Teall & Marcia Higgins will all be in attendance. There are many issues to discuss related to the Athletic department’s current Big House rental agreement with pro hockey and potential rentals for other events and how these events will affect our neighborhood: will parking on lawns be permitted during these events, how will traffic be managed, how will events with liquor licenses mange potentially unruly, intoxicated attendees, and more.

We would like to provide feedback to the city and to U of M on this issue from our discussion at the meeting.

2.  Aaron Seagraves, the city of Ann Arbor's Public Art Administrator.  Aaron is coordinating the project that will place permanent art work(s) at the Stadium Bridges area once the rebuild is complete.  He will talk about his job at the city and give details about the art project for the bridges.  Read more about the city's public art dept. here:

http://www.a2gov.org/government/publicservices/Pages/AAPAC.aspx


3.  Mike Sivak, our neighbor on Granger, will present the traffic datafrom the his effort to have the city monitor speeds on Granger Ave. and to increase police presence on our streets to stop speeding cars.

4. Graydon Krapohl will be on hand to discuss any issues related to the Neighborhood Watch program and updates on the Stadium Bridges project.

Thanks.   

Nancy Leff

For more information contact Edward Vielmetti, 734-330-2465, emv@umich.edu