Staff, Author at Milwaukee Independent

As Milwaukee suffers from food insecurity, potato chips arrive in holiday flavors

Posted by Staff | Nov 23, 2017 |

The Pringles Thanksgiving Dinner is a pilot taste test and has only limited availability. Generation-X (GenX) remembers not having parents at home to cook, and the thrill of the pre-microwave TV dinner. Even the overpriced Lunchables were preferred to a smashed PB&J sandwich with the companion sliced apple that had turned brown, or the over-ripe banana. For kids of the 1980s, pre-packaged meals were a realization of the future. But holidays were different, and usually involved real food. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, even though in Milwauke and around the country it takes the form of family...

Infographic: The Selfie Syndrome and social narcissism

Posted by Staff | Nov 23, 2017 |

“How we see ourselves does not come from who we really are, but rather from how we believe others see us.” – Charles Horton Cooley Remember the pre-iPhone 2000s when “selfies” did not exist? The newly-coined term has become a popular teen obsession that is time-consuming and may lead to mental health issues. Psychologists have noticed a rise in narcissistic personality traits, insecurity, self-objectification, addiction, damaged friendships, body dysmorphic disorder, and depression that coincide with the increase of selfies. Selfies may seem innocent in moderation, but overindulgence may lead to social media narcissism and other mental health issues. The...

Milwaukee residents encouraged to pick rivers over retail on Black Friday

Posted by Staff | Nov 22, 2017 |

While shoppers rush to consume more things they do not need during the annual holiday sale ritual, the Milwaukee Riverkeeper is offer an opportunity for members of the community to help conduct research into the quality of the city’s water resources. For Black Friday, area residents are encouraging volunteers to #OptOutside as part of REI’s efforts to celebrate the outdoors and its benefits. Volunteers will collect water samples from one of the organization’s Emerging Contaminants Monitoring Sites, at 14 locations throughout the Milwaukee River Basin, anytime on Friday, November 24. An online map displays the sites on the Milwaukee...

Infographic: The People Behind the Way We Live

Posted by Staff | Nov 11, 2017 |

© Graphic The People Behind The Way We Live Do you know how the inventions you use everyday really came to be? Inventions are thing we use everyday and we tend to over look how they came to be. For instance indoor plumbing, in 1775 Alexander Cumming invents an S-shaped trap that uses standing water. This infographic covers many everyday inventions and how they came to be what they are...

Facebook Psychology: 10 infographics that illustrate the impact of social media

Posted by Staff | Nov 9, 2017

Information graphics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends. Infographics have been around for many years, but have become widely used in the age of short attention spans. They have evolved in recent years to be used for mass communication, and are therefore designed with fewer assumptions about knowledge base of readers. This collection covers various aspects of how social media, and specifically Facebook, affects members of the community. The toggle...

Thank You, Canada, for loving Milwaukee Veterans

Posted by Staff | Oct 30, 2017 |

Concerning the ongoing controversy of NFL players not standing for the national anthem, the argument against it has been that the protest disrespects American veterans. But all the shouting about respect has hijacked the actual action that shows respect in the most simple terms, a Veterans Day Parade. Leaving the NFL issue aside, those Milwaukee voices who talk about respect have done nothing to put their money where their mouth is. Because since 2014, a foreign corporation has kept the Milwaukee Veterans Day Parade going. Without the generous assistance from the TransCanada Corporation, a 54 year tradition of honoring...