Woodstock CT Café

Sherri Vogt and ‘Disillusioned� both rightly questioned the level of visitation to the Café after seeing the low number of responses to the polls that we have set up. This is a reasonable question to ask. In fact we ask this question everyday. All blogs have a stat counter that reports the number of unique visitors based on the recognition of “internet protocol� or IP address (four sets of numbers separated by dots that are assigned by the host server). If you activate the ‘headers’ in your email box you can see these IP codes. For the most part these are anonymous IP codes but we have noticed that they rarely change for users of certain types of servers. There’s a whole science to understanding this phenomenon that is not the point of this article. The fact is that blog sites record the numbers of clicks for page turns and the number of unique visitors based upon unique IP addresses as a measure of activity. This is how these polls limit voting to one time over a certain time range.

At this minute our poll on how many visitors attend Town meetings has a measly 36 votes but the poll has only been up for a week. I took a look at CT Local Politics (see link in the right column of links), a statewide blog that has been heavily promoted by the Hartford Courant and WTIC. At the same time the Villager doesn’t acknowledge the Café, even though they visit us a lot, and Woodstock citizens only whisper about us in Town meetings. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Chuckles (referring to Comments 11 & 12 between Chuckles and Kiddinunot made on February 12th under this article, Admin),
You said, “Frank Baran and his staff counts crayonsâ€?… You said, “You obviously have never looked at the school budget”…
So, I ask you… How many “crayons” does the school system have? If you don’t know, you’ve obviously never LOOKED at the school budget much less attended any BOE meetings.
Now, this post is not going to address numerous line items in the proposed 07-08 budget. I think I’ll shoot for something a bit simpler…just so you can keep up.
I’d like to address something that has to do with the actual “spending” that is done. What, you say? Yep, good old run of the mill stuff. You know… the stuff that just falls beneath a “broad” headliner like, say, TECHNOLOGY.
As well versed as you claim to be in the “crayon counting”, I’d still like to offer up some food for thought and, hopefully, an invigorating discussion.
Before I do, I just want anyone else who is reading this to know that I am not bashing our schools. To the contrary, I am one of its biggest supporters. However, with all the mud-slinging that goes on (one side of the fence to the other) I feel that in the interest of parity, one must visit both sides of the fence. For me, that means that there is no “blind eye” turned to the details for benefit of whatever soapbox I might be perched upon.
If we, blindly, follow those who lead or support our cause without question… can we honestly say that we’re “rightâ€?? Just because THEY SAID SO? Read the rest of this entry »