Category Archives: Politics

#SOSVenezuela: Sources of Information

A small group of fascists, according to official sources.

The Venezuelan government controls the electronic media, so there’s no sense looking for information from broadcast sources.  When I checked the front page of TV network Venevision, it appears that the most pressing news story facing Venezuelans is the fact that Christina Aguilera is expecting a child.

The print media still has some freedom, although the government has managed to deal with that problem largely by restricting the import of newsprint.  Many newspapers have suspended their print edition, and even the largest ones have severely reduced the size of their editions.  But still, there is some information coming out through traditional journalism.  El Universal has a regularly updated section in English.

The internet has been shut down in some areas, but the best source of information  appears to be blogs.  The following English-language blogs will let you know what’s going on in Venezuela:

http://caracasgringo.wordpress.com

http://antipatrioticvenezuelan.blogspot.com/

http://caracaschronicles.com/

http://daniel-venezuela.blogspot.com/

http://maruangarita.blogspot.com/

http://venezuelablog.tumblr.com/

http://devilsexcrement.com/

http://martineretting.wordpress.com/

http://thirdworldchronicles.blogspot.com/



SOSVenezuela

As a lawyer, one of my obligations is to do what I can to fight injustice, and I don’t believe that obligation ends at the borders of my country. People everywhere are entitled to live in a free country and in peace. Venezuela used to be such a country, with a free press, an independent judiciary, and the rule of law. It used to be a relatively prosperous country with a strong middle class. It hasn’t been that way for quite some time, and the people are finally taking to the streets to reclaim their country. The pictures below are from Twitter, and were all taken by ordinary Venezuelans in the last few days (I write this on February 20).

The government has responded to these protests by sending in National Guard troops , augmented by irregulars–red-shirted armed thugs–supported by the government. They have killed civilians, set fire to apartments, and detained many of the protesters.

For whatever reason, the U.S. media are largely silent. Perhaps it’s partly because their cameras were seized, as happened to this CNN crew.

The El Universal Newspaper, is still reporting, and you can read their English edition online. The Caracas Chronicles blog is also providing good information. And despite the service being shut down in many parts of the country, Twitter is the best source for up-to-date information. You’ll get an idea by searching for #SOSVenezuela or by following @ReportaVE. Most of those tweets will be in Spanish, but the many photos speak for themselves.

Please educate yourself as to what is going on in Venezuela. Since the U.S. media has not deemed this to be a priority, it is up to the rest of us to come to the aid of the people of Venezuela.



Iowa Supreme Court Has Some Choice Words About Crony Capitalism. It’s Too Bad Minnesota Politicians Don’t Listen.

Iowa’s constitution, like that of Minnesota, contains a strict prohibition that the credit of the state shall never be loaned to any private entity. The Iowa Supreme Court recently had occasion to examine this provision, and it’s very relevant today.

The Iowa constitutional provision was taken from New York’s constitution, and was to prevent the practice under which “aspiring new states had loaned their credit freely and extravagantly to corporate enterprises which had in them much seductive promise of public good. These enterprises included railways, canals, water powers, etc.”

The Iowa Supreme Court has jealously guarded the public fisc over the years. In a 1923 case, they held that “no public purpose can be meritorious enough, and no obligation of equity appealing enough, to override this provision.”

In its recent case, the Iowa High Court lamented the fact that other states have ignored similar provisions. “To engraft by judicial gloss a vague and open-ended public purpose exception would undermine this constitutional prohibition.”

They quoted a 1987 Kentucky opinion identifying the practice for what it is: “Crony Capitalism.”

The framers of most state constitutions knew better than to freely and extravagantly lend the state’s credit to seductive private enterprises. Fortunately, a handful of states such as Iowa still apparently stubbornly cling to the archaic idea that the public treasury and the public credit should not be used to make the rich richer.

Publicly funded stadiums and other boondoggles should be recognized for what they are–crony capitalism. The seductive promise of public good is an insufficient reason to open up the public treasury to favored private interests.

I have a more complete summary of the case, Star Equipment, Ltd., v. State of Iowa, Department of Transportation at my website.



Appeals Court Says USDA Can’t Keep SNAP Dollars Hidden

Federal court sheds some sunlight on food stamp fraud.

When the Food Stamps (now known as SNAP) started in 1964, Congress appropriated $75 million. By the program’s third year, this amount had risen to $200 million. By fiscal year 2012, the program had a price tag of over $78 billion–a staggering thousand-fold increase over the program’s first year. By 2012, more that 46 million people–more than 15 percent of the U.S. population–were receiving benefits.

What food stamps are intended for.

What SNAP (food stamps) is intended for.

Most of that money goes to needy families. But an estimated $858 million per year is “trafficked”. Recipients illegally sell their benefits for cash to unscrupulous retailers. By one official estimate, about one in ten of the participating retailers engage in this illegal practice. Not only are these businesses stealing money from the taxpayers, but they are stealing food from hungry people.

If you’re doing this in South Dakota, you’re about to get busted, thanks to the tenacious efforts of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader newspaper. For almost three years, they’ve been fighting to get the USDA to hand over the secret data of how much money is going to each participating retailer. It’s safe to say that armed with this data, they’re going to be responsible for sending a few dishonest store owners to jail, all through the simple expedient of good journalism. If you’re taking in millions in food stamp dollars, it’s now only a matter of time before a reporter camps out outside your door. If you don’t have any customers walking out with bags of groceries, you’ll have some explaining to do. And you can do that explaining to a judge and jury.

For almost three years, the USDA, which runs the food stamp program, tenaciously fought to keep this information secret. They refused to hand it over when the newspaper made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. They refused again when the newspaper filed an administrative appeal. And they fought hard and won when the newspaper brought them to federal court in South Dakota.

But that all changed on January 28 when another federal court ordered the USDA to hand over the information. The U.S. Court of Appeals, based in St. Louis, struck down the South Dakota judge’s ruling, and held that the public and the newspaper are entitled to this information. The court brought a little sunlight to the USDA bureaucracy, and even quoted Justice Brandeis who said that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”

A few months ago, I did the SNAP Challenge and wrote about it. I know that it’s tough (but not impossible) to feed yourself adequately with the amounts allowed.  And it’s a lot harder if people are stealing the money designated to feed the hungry.  If you’re stealing from the taxpayers and from hungry people in South Dakota, you’re about to get busted. And it’s about time.

You can read a more complete summary of the court’s opinion at my website, including a link to the court’s opinion.



Mayhem Erupts at Minneapolis DFL Caucus, But It’s a Tradition



MinnConst

The drafters of this document also had problems deciding who got to run the meeting. But even the Democrats of 1857 agreed that no member of the state shall be disfranchised unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.

According to the Star Tribune, mayhem broke out tonight at a DFL precinct caucus in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. 300 people were present, most of them Somali Americans. An altercation took place about who would chair the meeting. Cops were called, and both the fight and the caucus were broken up less than an hour after they started. No business was transacted, police escorted attendees out of the building, but no arrests were made.

Republicans probably would have resorted to the simple expedient of having a vote, and letting a majority of those present decide who should chair the meeting. (Although Republicans also sometimes resort to calling the cops, seizing microphones, and other similar measures when a majority gets in the way of someone’s carefully made plans, as evidenced by the 2012 state Republican conventions in
Louisiana, Oklahoma, and other states.)

But having two people trying to chair the same meeting is nothing new to Minnesota politics. Indeed, Minnesota is unique in the Union in that it has two constitutions, based upon an incident not unlike that which occurred Tuesday night in Minneapolis.

When the Minnesota Constitutional Convention convened in 1857, there were two men on the platform purporting to chair the meeting. The Democratic chairman took a motion to adjourn until the next day. Meanwhile, the Republican chairman continued to preside, and the Republicans got down to work. The Democrats then left the chamber for the day.

Upon their return the next day, the Democrats found the chamber occupied. Undaunted, they simply moved down the hall to the other chamber, and held their own convention. Each convention published its own journal of the proceedings.

Somehow, a small conference committee was able to produce a single document to which both sides could agree. However, the two conventions never met together, and two copies of the document were ratified, one subscribed by the republican delegates, and the other subscribed by the democratic delegates. One of these copies was officially transmitted to Congress. However, the other copy found its way to Washington as well, and it was this second copy that was attached to the bill admitting Minnesota to the Union. Therefore, both versions, with their minor differences, stand on equal footing. When the placement of a comma is critical to the interpretation, lawyers still need to look at the two original handwritten documents and see whether the comma is really there in both copies.

So two people trying to run the same meeting is nothing new.  But the Republicans generally do a better job of sorting out such messes, and even the Democrats of 1857 performed admirably at solving this little problem.

If you happen to find yourself disfranchised by your party, especially if you find yourself disfranchised because you’re a new American, perhaps you should think of finding a party that doesn’t have such a history of disfranchising people.



The Bomb Shell of Fort Ripley, Minnesota

Bomb Shell Newspaper, 1854

The Bomb Shell, an almost forgotten piece of journalism history.

If you’ve looked at my hectograph page, you might have guessed that I’ve always been intrigued by primitive printing methods.  As that page shows, you can whip up a little printing press in the kitchen.  According to Wikipedia (unfortunately, no sources are cited for the assertion), a hectograph was used by allied prisoners of war in World War 2 to make documents for a planned escape attempt.

A more laborious method was employed by three soldiers at Fort Ripley, Minnesota Territory, in the summer of 1854, when they published their newspaper the Bomb Shell.  According to its masthead, the Bomb Shell is the handiwork of R. Pollock, the “Bombardier”, H. Nugent, the “Gunner”, and C. Herman, the “Powder Monkey”.  It bears the motto, “the Earth’s a shell, thrown from old nature’s mortar.”  The prospectus issue indicates a subscription rate of 50 cents per year, but there’s no indication that any issues other than the first, dated July 28, 1854, were ever dispatched from that mortar.

This newspaper is unique in that it was produced with hand-carved type.  These early proto-bloggers didn’t let the lack of technology stand in their way.  With a pocket knife, they carved out the type, set it by hand, and printed their own newspaper.  According to its first issue, “the appearance of the BOMB-SHELL before the public may be as unexpected and to some as unwelcome as its prototype.”  It goes on to say, however, that the new paper “shall be as harmless as the egg of the turtle dove and except in defense of the innocent, will never be charged with explosive matter.”

The editor of another Minnesota newspaper described it thus:

Its contents are lively, and entertaining but it is not on that account only, we desire to see “Bomb Shell” succeed. To the eyes, it is an uncouth, ill-printed, muddy-looking sheet, and every letter in it is larger than those in a child’s Primer–but all these drawbacks are more than compensated for, by the knowledge that all the letters and furniture used in setting up the paper, were made by one of the soldiers in the Fort, his principal tool to work with, being a small pocket knife. Those who know how necessary it is to accurately square and level types, to make them serviceable at all, will readily agree with us that this is a wonderful exercise of skill, patience, and ingenuity.

Minnesota Democrat, August 23, 1854, reprinted in Douglas C. McMurtrie, “The Printing Press Moves Westward,” Minnesota History, Vol. 15, No. 1, p. 24 (Mar. 1934) (available online).

I know there is one copy of the Bomb Shell in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, but it’s unfortunately not available online. In addition to the article cited above, the Bomb Shell is also referenced in Newspapers on the Minnesota Frontier by George Hage.

 



What George Can Tell Us About Privacy

The other day, I received a dollar bill with a stamp inviting me to visit WheresGeorge.com.  That site allows you to track currency as it circulates naturally through the economy.  One “Georger”, as users are called, enters the note’s serial number, (optionally) marks it, and then spends it.  The idea is that someone else coming into possession of it will see the stamp, and update its location before releasing it back into circulation.  Interestingly, about one piece of circulating currency in a thousand is registered at this site.  The dollar bill I was holding was spent in Bismarck, North Dakota, a few months ago.  Whoever recorded it in Bismarck was presumably informed that I received it, and will be able to keep tracking it as it continues to circulate.

My son saw me on that site, asked what it was, and in response to my explanation, he proclaimed that it was “cool”.  I tend to agree.  It appears to be an interesting hobby, not unlike Amateur Radio, (or sending out a message in a bottle or helium balloon) in that something is sent out into the environment to fend for itself, and it’s interesting to see just where it winds up.  One can order the rubber stamp for a mere five dollars (or an “Abe”, as Georgers would call it) postpaid, and I suspect Santa will be bringing us one.

In short, it appears to be a fun hobby.  But it also demonstrates something about privacy in an era in which the NSA can spy on its citizens with seeming impunity.  I have no doubt that the NSA, if it wants to, can easily look up every phone call I’ve made, every e-mail I’ve sent, and every letter I’ve sent and received.  I suspect that they can easily retrieve the contents of the phone calls and e-mails.

I suspect the U.S. Postal Service, bless their hearts, still stubbornly defends the integrity of the envelope, and there’s probably little chance that the NSA is privy to contents of the mail.  There’s something to be said for bureaucratic momentum, and I suspect there’s enough bureaucratic momentum at the post office for them to cling to the archaic notion that the mail can’t be opened without the right procedures being followed.  Since Ben Franklin was the one wrote those procedures, they’re probably still more or less in line with the Fourth Amendment.

I also have little doubt that the NSA can easily access all of my banking transactions.  If they care to find out, they can get a pretty good idea of everything I’ve purchased.  (And as you can see, Mr. or Ms. NSA Contractor, it’s all pretty mundane.)

I think that most people realize, or at least suspect, that all of this is true.  So to preserve their privacy, some people resort to spending only cash.  The idea is that the cash is anonymous.  Perhaps I’m wrong about the sanctity of an envelope at the post office.  But they are certainly wrong about the anonymity of their cash.   This is proven by the existence of WheresGeorge.com.  I know that one particular piece of currency was in Bismarck a few months ago.  I know (and now, thanks to me, the whole Internet knows) its location this week.  And it would surely be a trivial matter for the NSA to check my identity and that of the person who spent the bill in Bismarck.

It is quite true that this doesn’t really reveal anything particularly interesting.  The note in question passed through hundreds or thousands of hands before it got to me.  Even if the Georger in Bismarck was a notorious terrorist, the link to me is very tenuous.  But we do know a few things.  We know to an absolute certainty that someone crossed the Red River (or at least went around it) carrying this particular piece of currency.  We know this fact because of the note’s presence in two different places at two different times.  This is not a very profound piece of information.  But the reason why it’s not very profound is because only one note in a thousand is registered, and there are only so many Georgers doing the data entry.

But as more notes are tracked, the amount of information we can derive does not increase linearly.  Instead, it increases exponentially.  In other words, if twice as many bills were being tracked (1 in 500, instead of 1 in 1000), or if twice as many people were tracking them, then we would be able to figure out about four times as much information.  We would be four times as good at tracking down when the note was at a certain point, and where it was at a certain time.

Let’s look at the example of having twice as many people tracking the bills.  Currently, we know that a bill traveled 500 miles in 6 months.  But with twice as many people tracking, then we would probably know that it moved 250 miles in 3 months.  Increasing the number of bills being tracked would probably also increase the total amount of information available in a similar exponential fashion.

And if we increase both the number of people tracking and the number of notes, then the total available knowledge increases by a power of 4.  In other words, we now know 16 times as much information.  In other words, we would be able to narrow down the location of the bill in terms of movements of about 30 miles every 11 days.  We’re still not at the point where we can get much information about individuals, but we are getting much closer.  If we double everything again, we can now narrow down the location to about 2 miles, and less than one day.  Double it again (in other words, track 8 bills out of a 1000 instead of 1, and have 8 times as many “Georgers”) then we can narrow down the location to an eighth of a mile, and less than an hour.  We are now at the point where we can start to monitor individual behavior.  If we know that one individual was in that 1/8 mile radius, and he was in another 1/8 mile radius an hour later, it’s very likely that this is the person with the dollar bill.  And of course, if we have additional information available, then the likelihood becomes even greater.

In order to do this, you probably need to be smarter than me, and you probably need more computing power than I have.  I’ll leave it to the reader to consider who might have a lot of smart people with a lot of computing power.

Now, I’m sure the NSA has better things to do than hack into the WheresGeorge.com database.  All of that data is already readily available to them.  But I suspect they want cleaner data and more data.  And it seems to me that such data will become more and more available.

The cashier at the Kwik-E-Mart probably counts the till by hand, and doesn’t keep any records of what notes are in the till.  But he deposits some of them, and he hands the rest of them out as change.  The deposits are counted at the bank, and at some point, they are counted automatically.  And presumably, most large retailers count the money themselves, and probably do it automatically.  And many of the people who got change at the Kwik-E-Mart will spend it at a large retailer.


In fact, if the Kwik-E-Mart takes in enough cash, it might be worthwhile for them to buy their own counter. This money counting machine, for example, is very reasonably priced.  It can automatically distinguish between denominations, and it’s even set up for numerous currencies.  There is no indication that it can scan serial numbers.  But adding that capacity would be a trivial matter.  After all, if it can distinguish between a five dollar bill and a fifty dollar bill, or between a U.S. dollar and a Canadian dollar, or between a Euro and a Peso, then adding the additional capacity to scan serial numbers could easily be handled by software.

Nor is there any indication that this machine can be connected to a computer.  But this could be done with very little additional cost, and would add both convenience and security for the owner of the machine.  The manager of the Kwik-E-Mart could balance his books at the end of the day quite easily–just put the money in the counter, and let the computer print the deposit ticket.  This could also add security, since an employee counting the cash wouldn’t have the opportunity to “accidentally” enter the wrong amount after the bills were counted.

I don’t know if more expensive counters already have these features.  But they certainly will sooner or later.  The cost to add them is very low, and at least a few customers will want them.

Of course, many money counting machines are already connected to computers.  These include the automated check out lanes at the supermarket.  There’s no reason why they couldn’t record serial numbers.

In other words, if it hasn’t happened yet, it will very soon.  And as a result, there will soon be a large database of serial numbers, times, and locations.  This data will be stored on individual computers owned by retailers and banks.  Of course, there will not be any need to store this information in a centralized location, and it will probably be stored securely.  In other words, it will be quite similar to cell phone metadata.  And probably more useful.

 



Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again. Part 2: Good American Food for Your Folks in Europe

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One of the galleries of the Hoover Library and Museum is dedicated to his years as a humanitarian.   Hoover was a self-made millionaire as a mining engineer.  He was in London at the outbreak of the First World War, and essentially took it upon himself to repatriate many Americans who were there at the time.   He was later called upon by the U.S. Government to organize relief for Belgium which he did, despite vehement criticism that he was aiding the enemy by bringing food to the citizens of of Belgium. Interestingly, one of the protests was that he was prolonging the war.  The argument was that the Germans should have to deal with the inevitable food riots if the innocent civilians of the occupied country were simply left to starve.

After the war, Hoover continued his humanitarian work through the American Relief Administration.  I’d never known much about the details of this work, and I was surprised to see this poster in the museum.  It was a surprisingly good idea.  Millions in Europe were facing starvation.  But millions of them also had a glimmer of hope, in the form of relatives in America.  The American Relief Administration merely put into place a mechanism by which these Americans could help their own family:  Americans could go to a bank, and for $10 or $50 buy a food draft which could be sent to buy “good American food for your folks in Europe.”

These drafts could be purchased here, and redeemed at warehouses in Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Germany. The system is explained in this memorandum to American bankers requesting their cooperation.  As Hoover writes in that circular, “the sum total of food now available in Central Europe is insufficient to keep the population alive, and under these circumstances money thus becomes that much paper so far as nutrition is concerned.  A hungry man wants food, not money, and under the arrangement outlined above, we can meet this need.”    This advertisement from the Spokane Daily Chronicle from January 26, 1920, is from a bank where these vouchers could be purchased.

The scheme worked because it made use of existing institutions:  Banking, postal, shipping, and, of course, American agriculture.  The few bureaucrats necessary to carry out the program simply had to bring together these existing resources.  And it was fueled by the natural generosity of the American people.  This generosity wasn’t coerced, and it wasn’t procured through feelings of guilt.  It was based upon pre-existing familial relationships.  And it served even those Europeans without relatives in America, by increasing the overall food supply to one sufficient for the whole population.

It worked because Hoover knew it would work.  He knew the American people were generous enough to help.  He used their existing motivations and their existing resources.

 

Books by Herbert Hoover at Amazon



Mister, We Could Use a Man Like Herbert Hoover Again: Part 1

HooverRadio

Secretary of Commerce Herbert Clark Hoover

 

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to visit the birthplace of the 31st President of the United States, Herbert Hoover in West Branch, Iowa.  His birthplace is administered by the National Park Service, and the site is also the home of the Presidential Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives.  The late President and First Lady are buried at the site, although I didn’t walk to the grave site in the chilly weather.

As Secretary of Commerce under President Coolidge, Hoover had a major positive impact upon the growth of radio, which I’ll discuss in future posts.  The picture shows him listening to what certainly appears to be a one tube radio.  His son, Herbert Hoover, Jr., was a licensed ham, and one of the exhibits contains a nice picture of the younger Hoover’s station.  Herbert Hoover, Jr., went on to become president of the ARRL in the 1960’s.  Herbert Hoover III was also a ham, and only recently became a silent key.

I suspect that the late President would be pleased to know that his birthplace and final resting place is the home of a nice radio beacon on 435 meters.  As you approach the site at exit 254 on Interstate 80, there’s a sign announcing that information is available at 690 on the AM dial.  This is a “travelers information station” which plays a continuous loop promoting the site.  According to the FCC database, the station is licensed to the City of West Branch, and transmits with 10 watts.  It appears to be maintained by Graybill Communications.

Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised to know what I did on the way back to Des Moines.  I tuned the radio to 690 to see how well the little station was doing.  I was able to copy it more or less solid for about 25 miles.  When I got further away, there was occasionally some co-channel interference, but I was able to positively ID it as far as mile marker 215, a full 39 miles away.  I think the former Commerce Secretary would be pleased at how well the 10 watts are getting out from his final resting place.

And the next time you’re driving east on Interstate 80 through the Hawkeye state, be sure to tune your radio to 690 when you get to milepost 215.  And if you’re westbound, I suspect you should tune in at around mile 293.  You’ll slowly start to hear a voice come out of the static.  And when you get to mile 254, it’s worth a stop to learn about the man without whom this kind of experiment probably wouldn’t have been possible.


Books by Richard Clem:

Please visit my author page at amazon.com



Our New Prairie Home

For over ten years, our parent website (w0is.com) and its predecessor websites have earned a small amount of income from the Amazon affiliate program. This income was very modest, but it was income, and we paid Minnesota income tax on that income.

In June, the Minnesota Legislature decided to kick us out of the state. As a result, we no longer earn this income in Minnesota, and we no longer pay Minnesota income tax. This website now earns income in another state, and Minnesota no longer sees a dime of that income. We got kicked out of the state because the Legislature bowed to pressure from large Minnesota retailers such as Best Buy and Target. These retailers were fretting about the unfairness of an unlevel playing field. From the sidelines, they watched the success of Amazon‘s business model and wondered why their customers were going to Amazon. They undoubtedly watched billionaire sports team owners successfully go to the legislature for help, and they decided to do the same thing. So they sent their lobbyists to St. Paul and asked the legislature to “level the playing field” for them.

They argued that Amazon is successful for one reason and one reason alone. It’s not because Amazon has better prices. It’s not because Amazon has a huge selection. It’s not because Amazon has great customer service. No, the only reason why Amazon is successful is, so the argument goes, is because Amazon does not need to collect Minnesota sales tax. Because Amazon does not have a physical presence in the state, it is not required to collect sales tax. Instead, customers are supposed to keep track of their own purchases and remit the “use tax” to the state themselves. According to the argument, Minnesota customers enjoy having to do this extra step, and this makes the playing field unlevel.

The Minnesota Legislature looked at the fact that Minnesota residents were making money by being Amazon affiliates, and decided that this was enough of a physical presence to warrant a demand that Amazon collect Minnesota sales tax, effective July 1. Predictably, as it had done in other states that had tried the same trick, Amazon decided that it wasn’t going to do business with affiliates in the state, effective that same date.  Unless they moved, those affiliates were out of a job.

In short, Amazon was told that they needed to fire their Minnesota affiliates or else collect the tax.  They complied with this demand, and thus leveled the playing field, by firing the Minnesota affiliates.

A website such as w0is.com doesn’t have too many ties to the physical world. We exist in “the cloud”. Our main physical presence is in the form of a bunch of ones and zeros in a Utah data center. But we have some physical assets, and until June, our physical connection was with the State of Minnesota. In late June, we hastily moved those physical assets to Texas.

We thank the Lone Star State for providing us with temporary refuge. But Texas summers can be hot, and we’ve spent the past few months looking for a permanent home. We have now found it, and we are proud to say that our operations are now based in Madison, South Dakota.


Madison is a thriving town of 6,474, and is the county seat of Lake County. For a refugee from the land of 10,000 Lakes, it’s a beautiful area with many opportunities for outdoor recreation. It is near the 1350-acre Lake Herman and 2800-acre Lake Madison. Several South Dakota State Parks are in the area. And like its larger namesake in the Badger State, Madison is a college town, as the home of Dakota State University. Its a short drive from Sioux Falls, a bustling city which has used its location to take advantage of the economic chaos just to its east.

If you want to send us a postcard, you can send it to our new World Headquarters:

  • W0IS.com, Inc.
  • 110 E. Center St. #388
  • Madison, SD 57042

Nothing much has changed. Our ones and zeros are still located in Utah. But the physical assets of this cyber business are now located in South Dakota. And you can thank the Minnesota Legislature for encouraging us to find our new home here.

Super 8 Motel - Madison

For your stay in Madison, South Dakota, we recommend the 
Super 8 Motel – Madison. They offer reasonable rates, clean comfortable rooms, free breakfast, and plenty of free parking. They’re less than a mile from our world headquarters.

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