FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread for 11.29.15

Good morning, Whitewater.

In town, Sunday will be mostly sunny with a high of forty-one.  Sunrise is 7:04 and sunset 4:22, for 9h 18m 20s of daytime.  The moon is a waning gibbous with 83.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On Friday’s FW poll, on preferred shopping times, respondents selected from these choices (with multiple selections possible): Black Friday (26.83%), Small Business Saturday (25.61%), Cyber Monday (14.63%), but the most-selected choice was Other (32.93%).

Coffee Ration Stamps. Via CECOM Historical Office, U.S. Army

                              Coffee Ration Stamps. Via CECOM Historical Office, U.S. Army

On this day in 1942, America adds coffee to the list of rationed goods:

As of 1 March 1942, dog food could no longer be sold in tin cans, and manufacturers switched to dehydrated versions. As of 1 April 1942, anyone wishing to purchase a new toothpaste tube, then made from metal, had to turn in an empty one.[3]:129–130Sugar was the first consumer commodity rationed, with all sales ended on 27 April 1942 and resumed on 5 May with a ration of .5 pounds (0.23 kg) per person per week, half of normal consumption. Bakeries, ice cream makers, and other commercial users received rations of about 70% of normal usage.[6]Coffee was rationed nationally on 29 November 1942 to 1 pound (0.45 kg) every five weeks, about half of normal consumption, in part because of German U-boatattacks on shipping from Brazil.[9] By the end of 1942, ration coupons were used for nine other items.[3]:138Typewriters,gasoline, bicycles, footwear, silk, nylon, fuel oil, stoves, meat, lard, shortening and oils, cheese, butter, margarine, processed foods (canned, bottled, and frozen), dried fruits, canned milk, firewood and coal, jams, jellies, and fruit butter were rationed by November 1943.[10] Many retailers welcomed rationing because they were already experiencing shortages of many items due to rumors and panics, such as flashlights and batteries after Pearl Harbor.[3]:133

Rationing of some foods and non-medical items, however effective or ineffective, was yet a small price to pay to defeat the Axis.  (Rationing of medicine was, needless to say, a more significant sacrifice.)

On this day in 1848, Milwaukee gets an opera house:

On this date Milwaukee opened its first opera house with a performance of As You Like It. Over 1,000 patrons attended this inaugural performance. The idea for this arts structure was conceived and promoted by John B. Rice, later mayor of Chicago, who arrived in Milwaukee in 1846 to establish a first rate theater. [Source: History of Milwaukee, Vol II, p. 122]

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