I've been very clear this whole time. If you're doing an activity on American streets that puts you next to cars driving at speed, wear a helmet. In my view, recommending that people *not* wear a helmet, as I read you to be doing in this tweet, is dangerous.

Of course I do! But you began this whole thing by appealing to greater sophistication in parsing tradeoffs & statistical risks. Now you're acting like you can't differentiate between the risk of a car hitting a biker in a shared lane vs a walker on the sidewalk. Get a grip.

Where did I say that?

This isn't the Netherlands. In America we have a norm that bicyclists wear helmets for their own protection. This norm doubtlessly saves lives every year. I don't know why you're trying to change that.

Given the behavior of cars, closer to the former. I don't see people jogging in the street, inches from cars. But if I did, I would recommend they wear helmets too.

Every urban bike event I participate in encourages or requires helmets--as they should.

Also, I've been a daily bike commuter for nearly a decade & I've had 3 incidents that probably would've been life-changing if not for a helmet. Wear a helmet. This isn't complicated.

maybe because they don't support this narrative. I wrote about how the decline in support for Democratic candidates among Black Milwaukeeans is easily exaggerated.

faculty blog post: law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/...
newsletter version: bluebookmke.substack.com/p/the-declin...

Who do you use for knife sharpening in Milwaukee?

It's easy to share maps because the URL updates as you pan, zoom, & select geographies & filters. Send someone a URL & they'll see the same thing as you.

Here is a quick-start guide. johndjohnson.info/posts/2025/l...

Yeah, it's one of the really great things about the state IMO

more here johndjohnson.info/posts/2025/a...

The consolidation of farms common on the plains of Illinois is just physically more difficult in the Driftless where fields are often smaller, scattered, & oddly shaped. I bet this has helped dairy remain viable, along with other more niche farm products.

Why this difference between the counties? I suspect topography is a partial answer. McDonough is flat and Vernon is hilly--part of the unglaciated Driftless Area.

In McDonough, the farms have gotten vaster as the labor needed to grow & harvest corn/beans has diminished.

Despite selling about the same aggregate $ of agricultural products, Vernon has far more farms, farmers, & farmworkers than McDonough.

VERNON
- 1,810 farms
- 7,398 farmers
- 1,533 farmworkers (hired)

MCDONOUGH
- 658 farms
- 2,345 farmers
- 544 farmworkers

Consider Vernon, WI & McDonough, IL counties.

TOTAL SALES
- Vernon: 83rd pctile
- McDonough: 82nd pctile

PRODUCT DIVERSITY BY SALES
- Vernon: 80th pctile
- McDonough: 35th

COMMODITIES >$100k sales
- Vernon: 18
- McDonough: 6

The farms are different though. Illinois is mostly corn, beans, & some hog CAFOs. WI farmers produce many different products.

In some ways, rural WI & IL are very similar. Agriculture is huge in both. In between the North Woods of northern WI and the Shawnee Nat'l Forest of southern IL lies some of the most fertile land in the country, maybe the world.