Sunday in Whitewater will be increasingly sunny with a high of 23. Sunrise is 7:12 and sunset is 4:20 for 9 hours 8 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 90 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
In Britain, under the Labour Party, there will be a requirement next year that migrants speak English at a B2 level1. In America, there is a growing political2 demand for English language proficiency from immigrants. Sophia Smith Galer addresses this question for her own country and finds that nativists might be surprised to learn that they would struggle to meet the standards they’re so keen to impose on others:
In the caption to her Instagram post, Smith Galer refers to “A-level English (B2).” She’s using two common British descriptors: for academic achievement generally (that’s the A-level she means) and language proficiency (that’s the B2 level she means). For the British, a person at A-level academically should speak British English at B2 level.
But, but, but… could they? Could we do as well, either, when speaking American English?
The plain answer is that many a nativist would impose a standard on immigrants that he himself would struggle to meet.
American English is beautiful, but beauty (like love) should be embraced freely without demand.
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In Europe, many institutions apply the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) to assess language proficiency. The CEFR adopts a scale ascending from Basic User (level A) to Independent User (level B) to Proficient (level C). There are gradations within each level, e.g., B1 and B2, where B2 requires (by the standard of the scale) a greater proficiency than B1. ↩︎
A political demand is not a market demand: ability to function in the marketplace undoubtedly requires less proficiency than a political demand, or there would be no effort to impose government regulations that require more than the existing marketplace. ↩︎
A seal walked into a bar… Or to use a technical term, it galumphed. A baby fur seal caused confusion when it waddled into a craft beer bar in Richmond, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, on Sunday. One patron tried to usher the seal out the back door, but it eluded pursuit and dashed into a restroom, where it hid under the dishwasher, which was swiftly unplugged. Salmon was used to lure the seal out into a dog cage, where it stayed until Department of Conservation rangers arrived to collect the seal, whom they were already tracking. The department spokesperson, Helen Otley, said it was released on nearby Rabbit Island, which is considered a safe location due to its dog-free status. It’s not unusual for curious young seals to show up in unexpected places at this time of year, she said, as they follow rivers and streams up to 15 km inland.
Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:11 and sunset is 4:20 for 9 hours 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 96 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
What stands 36 feet tall, 17 feet wide at the base and has 3,000 pounds of glass on it? That would be the world’s tallest glass tree, created by artist Jason Mack. The tree, made from recycled glass and steel, has become a holiday institution at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 27. Sunrise is 7:10 and sunset is 4:20 for 9 hours 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Here’s a bit from the Felidae Conservation Fund, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the United States, about this faraway feline:
A peculiar looking cat with short legs, a long head with tiny, low-set ears, and a short tail, the flat-headed cat has long, thick, and soft fur. The color of the fur is reddish brown on top of the head, dark roan brown on the body, and mottled white on the underbelly. The muzzle and chin are white.
The flat-headed cat’s diet is dominated by fish, so it usually stays close to water. The species’ prey also includes frogs and shrimp. Rodents and domestic chickens are also taken at times. Flat-headed cats also consume fruit and sweet potatoes, the latter from plantations.
The flat-headed cat’s range includes southern Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo.
Tuesday, December 9th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of The Family Stone @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Holiday/Comedy/Romance Rated PG-13
1 hour, 43 minutes (2005)
From “The Week” magazine: “Diane Keaton’s death will make fans’ annual re-viewing of this cult 2005 holiday drama hit home. She anchors an ensemble cast as a headstrong matriarch who is losing her own cancer battle.” Also stars Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sara Jessica Parker, and Luke Wilson.
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 16. Sunrise is 7:09 and sunset is 4:21 for 9 hours 12 minutes of daytime. The moon will be full this evening.
Layoff announcements this year have hit their highest level since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the U.S. economy, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday.
It’s only the sixth time since 1993 that announced job cuts through the month of November have surpassed 1.1 million. The last time was in 2020, when planned cuts totaled 2.3 million by this point in the year.
U.S.-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts in November, Challenger reports. This is fewer than the overall number of layoffs announced in October, but more than in the same month a year ago.
It’s the highest total for the month of November since 2022. Hiring often fluctuates with the season, so economists and analysts typically pay close attention to data from the same month in previous years, and not just month-to-month changes.
Announced job cuts during November “have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and 2008,” Challenger’s chief revenue officer, Andy Challenger, said in a statement.
Some of the industries that Challenger said were hit hardest by layoffs last month included technology, food companies and telecommunications firms.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 31. Sunrise is 7:08 and sunset is 4:21 for 9 hours 13 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The U.S. labor market slowdown intensified in November as private companies cut 32,000 workers, with small businesses hit the hardest, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday.
With worries intensifying over the domestic jobs picture, ADP indicated the issues were worse than anticipated. The payrolls decline marked a sharp step down from October, which saw an upwardly revised gain of 47,000 positions, and was well below the Dow Jones consensus estimate from economists for an increase of 40,000.
Larger businesses, entailing companies with 50 or more employees, actually reported a net gain of 90,000 workers.
However, establishments with fewer than 50 workers saw a decline of 120,000, including a drop of 74,000 among firms with 20 to 49 employees. The total loss was the biggest drop since March 2023.
Exit questions, inevitable ones, for Whitewater: Why listen to the men who diminished the local economy for their own self-interest over a generation, and who back the policies and officials that are diminishing the national economy now?
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 23. Sunrise is 7:07 and sunset is 4:21 for 9 hours 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 91.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The choir of St Paul’s Cathedral looking east towards the High Altar. 2014. By Diliff – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link.
A responsible organization sets goals, a serious organization sets important goals, and a capable organization then achieves those goals. In the Whitewater Common Council’s agenda packet for this evening’s session one finds the City of Whitewater’s Strategic Goals and Milestones (embedded below). The document begins with a memo (‘2025 Supplemental Summary – Alignment with Strategic Goals’) and then presents slides describing the goals (‘Strategic Goals and Milestones 2024-2028’).
3. Support thriving businesses and grow the tax base
4. Improve recruitment, retention, and diversity
5. Align future expenditures with available resources
6. Strategic Initiative 2025: Increased Access to Medical and Health Care
7. Strategic Initiative 2025: Increased Access to Transportation
An excerpt on housing from a document I’d encourage residents to read in full:
A total of 51 new single-family units were advanced during the year.
Harbor Homes constructed 20 new single-family detached homes.
US Shelter constructed 20 single-family attached dwellings.
Additional units were advanced through scattered-site infill and ongoing subdivision planning.
The City facilitated the first phase of 128 multifamily units, representing a significant contribution to workforce housing and student-serving stock.
Combined, these residential projects represent more than $50 million in new private housing investment projected over the next several years.
The City positioned a 100-home subdivision for phased development with Bielinski Homes, one of the region’s most active and reputable builders, representing an additional $50 million in new private housing investment.
Planning progressed for 12 to 18 additional homes on City-owned land on Starin Road with US Shelter, leveraging publicly controlled property to meet family housing needs.
Residential build-out timelines indicate that these projects will continue well into the next decade, reflecting sustained pipeline management and predictable development sequencing.
Additional 2025 Affordable Housing Achievements
Habitat for Humanity continued to contribute meaningfully to local affordable housing production, previously building two (2) units on Franklin Street in 2023-2024, expanding access to high-quality, income-restricted housing for working families. In 2025, the City and CDA advanced the next phase of this partnership by redeveloping CDA-owned land for four (4) additional Habitat units, ensuring long-term affordability on property intentionally assembled to meet community housing needs.
These are all responsible and worthy goals, toward which the city administration has progressed well this year. The memo and slides are deserving of review and ongoing reference.
Note well: Prior city administrations were not this organized, and did not advance goals this important, and made less progress on the lesser standards that they set. A person has an obligation to acknowledge good when it comes along, better when it comes along, and modern and normal when he sees them.
What are some skywatching highlights in December 2025? The 3I/ATLAS comet makes its closest approach to Earth, the Geminid meteor shower sparkles across the sky, and the Moon and Jupiter get close for a conjunction. 0:00 Intro 0:13 3I/ATLAS 1:24 Geminid meteor shower 1:57 Moon + Jupiter conjunction 2:31 December Moon phases Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/….
Monday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy, with afternoon snow showers, and a high of 27. Sunrise is 7:06 and sunset is 4:21 for 9 hours 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 84.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 4:30 PM and there will be a Board Governance Workshop at 6 PM.
On this day in 1959, the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, is first open for signature.
The last city administration neglected to implement a regular schedule of fees for stormwater usage in Whitewater. A decade’s since passed, and the current city administration now seeks to provide ordinary fee adjustments, as a consultant to the city once recommended (a recommendation that was unfulfilled during the last administration).
Along comes a local landlord, who admits that the residential portion “won’t be that much of an effect” but complains about his business (“on the university, will be on us, will be on Fairhaven, groups like that”). Along the way, he also insists — falsely — that the result “will cause rent increases. It’s part of it because renters do pay all of those charges.”
So sadly predictable as an example of yesteryear’s political culture in Whitewater — blame-shifting and erroneous in yet another claim. Passing on utility changes is a choice, not a natural law. It’s not gravity this gentleman is explaining — it’s his own chosen businesspolicy. Indeed, here in the real conditions of Wisconsin landlord-tenant relationships, Wisconsin law makes clear that passing on various utility fees is a decision that must be placed in writing. SeeWis. Admin. Code § ATCP 134.04(3) (Nov. 2024).
There’s a well-written, well-reasoned memo from the December 2nd Whitewater Common Council agenda packet that explains the actual situation. I’ve excerpted a portion of that memo below, with the full document also available for review:
In response to public comments asserting that the stormwater rate adjustment would inevitably result in rent increases, the City conducted a targeted data analysis to quantify the actual per-unit impact. To ensure a representative sample, staff analyzed fifteen multifamily properties: five from the largest complexes, five from mid-sized complexes, and five from smaller buildings. The buildings with the highest ERUs in each category were used for analysis. This approach allowed us to evaluate the rate adjustment across a range of property types and rental structures within the community.
The results of this analysis show that the per-unit impact of the stormwater rate change is modest. Across the sampled properties, the additional cost attributable to the rate adjustment ranged from $1.06 to $3.38 per unit per month, or approximately $12.72 to $40.56 annually. These values represent real properties within the City and reflect the most accurate information available as our broader analysis continues.
Although property owners retain full discretion in setting rents, the data provides clear evidence that any rent increases tied specifically to the stormwater rate adjustment would be minimal. We offer this analysis to ensure the community has a factual basis for understanding the actual financial impact of the rate change on renters.
Note well: discretion requires a choice between two alternatives. If the rate is passed on, the landlord chooses to do so, and may do so if a lease is properly drafted.
A landlord’s candid comment would have been to say “here’s what we’re gonna do,” rather than suggest renters pay all of those charges without implying that passing them on is an inevitability. It’s not. (If it’s too hard to be a student landlord in a town with a public university, then anything’s too hard.)
The focus of policy should be on these ordinary residents for matters like these, rather than complaints from big institutional establishments.
In any event, these are small amounts for most ordinary residents. That’s what matters most.
The sun erupted with an X1.9-class solar flare on Dec. 1, 2025. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the blast in multiple wavelengths. Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: NASA / SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams / helioviewer.org | edited by Steve Spaleta (https://x.com/stevespaleta).
Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 31. Sunrise is 7:05 and sunset is 4:22 for 9 hours 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 75.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1782, in Paris, representatives from the United States and Great Britain complete preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).
This libertarian blogger is no one’s idea of a drug warrior1, but I’ll extend my deepest sympathies to the drug warriors of Walworth County and beyond — they must be reeling from lightheadedness and vertigo2 upon learning of Mr. Trump’s latest proposed pardon:
He once boasted that he would “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.” He accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to pass through Honduras. A man was killed in prison to protect him.
At the federal trial of Juan Orlando Hernández in New York, testimony and evidence showed how the former president maintained Honduras as a bastion of the global drug trade. He orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions for cartels while keeping Honduras one of Central America’s poorest, most violent and most corrupt countries.
Last year, Mr. Hernández was convicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. It was one of the most sweeping drug-trafficking cases to come before a U.S. court since the trial of the Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega three decades before.
But on Friday, President Trump announced that he would pardon Mr. Hernández, 57, who he said was a victim of political persecution, though Mr. Trump offered no evidence to support that claim. It would be a head-spinning resolution to a case that for prosecutors was a pinnacle, striking at the heart of a narcostate….
Prosecutors said Mr. Hernández was key to a scheme that lasted more than 20 years and brought more than 500 tons of cocaine into the United States.
See Santul Nerkar, Annie Correal, and Colin Moynihan, The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine (‘Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Mr. Trump called a victim of persecution, helped orchestrate a decades-long trafficking conspiracy. It ravaged his Central American country’), New York Times, November 29, 2025.
Five hundred tons is a large amount3, isn’t it now? Perhaps someone in Elkhorn has a table of weights and measures to sort all this out for us.
In the end, Trump will betray the misplaced trust of everyone who ever supported him. That’s not recompense for the harm he’s caused to this country; it’s simply a small portion of collateral damage.
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I don’t use any illegal drugs, don’t even smoke tobacco, and would never encourage anyone to use cocaine, but I do think that for others marijuana should be regulated like wine. ↩︎
Drug warriors: drink water, lie down until your dizziness passes, and move slowly. Perhaps some warm milk. You’ll get through this with a generous helping of rationalizations and excuse-making. ↩︎
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Jonny Kim, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui share their message of gratitude in the annual Thanksgiving message from the International Space Station.
Saturday in Whitewater will be snowy, with a significant accumulation, and a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:04 and sunset is 4:22 for 9 hours 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 64.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1961, Enos, a chimpanzee, is launched into space. The spacecraft orbits the Earth twice and splashes down off the coast of Puerto Rico.
How do snowflakes form? Why do they have six sides? Is it true that each snowflake is unique? Here’s some serious snowflake trivia courtesy of physicist Prof Brian Cox. Made by Studio Panda with paper artwork by Sam Pierpoint, in partnership with the @royalsociety. 0:00 What is a snowflake? 0:30 How snowflakes are made – and why no two snowflakes are the same 1:18 Johannes Kepler asks: Why do snowflakes always have six sides? 2:19 Different snowflake shapes 2:44 Snowflake photography and how to take the perfect shot 3:14 Snowflakes and symmetry 3:37 Snowflakes aren’t actually white! 3:50 Snowflakes and the Universe.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 29. Sunrise is 7:03 and sunset is 4:22 for 9 hours 20 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 53.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1964, NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars.
Agricultural bankers in Wisconsin and neighboring states report feeling pessimistic about farmers’ profitability at the end of 2025.
Surveys by the Federal Reserve Banks of Minneapolis and Chicago found tougher farm credit conditions in the third quarter of 2025. Surveyed farm lenders reported lower rates of loan repayment and higher demand for extensions and new loans.
The bankers projected those trends to continue for the final quarter of the year, despite the expectation for a strong corn and soybean harvest this fall. More than 80 percent of respondents to one survey expected farm income to be lower than a year ago.
Joe Mahon, regional outreach director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said during a webinar on the data that a continued slump in crop prices is driving farm incomes down.
Bear attacks are at record levels in Japan, with more than 50 attacks and four deaths in the region of Akita this year. Javier C. Hernández, our journalist, looks at the causes and how Japan is responding.
(It’s reasonable that experienced hunters should be a part of the solution here, as there is no species of bear that’s bulletproof.)
