450 Volts
Weekly update #292 8/24/2025 to 8/30/2025
I stumbled across a decades-old experiment this week with surprising results. Before that though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
This week, the Seymour Fire Department had a chance to put the finishing touches on the SFD Little Hotshot Challenge and do some trial runs with a few young people from the community. This event is open to Kindergarten through 5th graders this year and will be held the Saturday morning of Oktoberfest. Participants will get a chance to try their hand at several stations designed to be like the skills that our firefighters use at work. From carrying hose to spraying water, the test runs had plenty of smiles and more than enough laughs to go around. When registration opens Tuesday at noon, I hope you will get your kids signed up quickly because space is limited. Good work to everyone involved in getting us this far, and I can’t wait to see the event live in just over a month.
This week, I had a chance to spend the morning with Water Pollution Control and assist as they delivered a lift for an upcoming Reno Brothers-themed mural in downtown Seymour. The lift is on loan from the Freeman Municipal Airport for the project with WPC providing the transportation to get it to the site. Artist Jamie Harris will be starting soon on Seymour’s newest mural being provided by donations from several different businesses and organizations. I can’t wait to see the finished project in the near future, weather permitting of course. The mural will depict the Reno Gang as they ride away from their first train robbery just about a mile to the east of the mural on what is now the CSX railroad. Thank you to everyone who has helped bring this project to life.
Several months ago, I met some of the team from the IU School of Public Health Bloomington at an event. This past week, we looped back around to discuss a few topics related to Oktoberfest and if we would be able to partner together to get fresh eyes on different topics. After a good discussion it will be interesting to see what the future holds for both groups when it comes to learning. Thank you to both groups for coming together to start the conversation.
Earlier this week, the book I am reading mentioned a series of experiments at Yale University by Stanley Milgram to see if participants were willing to follow the direction of an authority figure when it conflicted with their conscience. The most surprising part to me was that when in different rooms, 65% of that particular group would administer what they thought was a shock of 450 volts. When both parties were in the room together it dropped to 40% and reached 30% when the participant had to touch the other while strapping them in before they started. This experiment did come with criticism due to Milgram allowing people to believe they had shocked someone. What it really got me to thinking about was how social media could have a similar result over 60 years later. Is the lack of face-to-face interaction playing into what people are comfortable saying to or about each other in today’s world? I have often wondered about the difference in people behind a keyboard compared to face-to-face. Are they more emboldened with a sense of anonymity when they don’t have to read body language around a conference room table? This thought for me doesn’t just include social media, but I wonder about it during zoom-style meetings as well. Today, I will leave you with a few words from Mother Teresa, "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."