Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS
Daily Bread, Legislature, Politics, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP
Daily Bread for 1.4.26: Wisconsin Assembly Agendas
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:34 for 9 hours 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1944, Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.
PBS Wisconsin interviewed Assembly Speaker Vos and Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer. Below are recordings of each interview.
Vos:
An overall impression of delivery — Vos speaks as an older man recalling his talking points; Neubauer speaks as a younger woman conversing with others across a café table. He’s stiff and tedious to watch; by contrast, she’s natural and conversational.
Daily Bread, Science/Nature
Daily Bread for 1.3.26: What’s That Supermoon All About?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 24. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:33 for 9 hours 8 minutes of daytime. The moon is full today. It’s the January Wolf Supermoon.
On this day in 1777, American forces under General Washington defeat British forces at the Battle of Princeton, helping boost Patriot morale.
It’s a full moon today, and the moon will be large for the next few days. (While it’s cloudy now, it may yet be clear later in the evening.) So, so… what’s all the talk about (1) a full moon, (2) full moons with different names for different months, and full moons that are also called (3) supermoons?
It’s a simple three-step process to determine if a moon is a supermoon. Cultures for thousands of years have been noting when the moon is full, and which full moons are larger in appearance than others. There’s nothing difficult about it.
Here’s a quick primer:
The full moon. A full moon is easy to describe — it occurs when all of the moon’s visible disk is illuminated. That happens a bit more than every 29 days, and takes place when the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, a position called opposition:
Monthly names for the full moon each month. The names are applied to a full moon in a given month aren’t the creation of astronomers, but are simply traditional cultural descriptions people apply to a moon in a particular month. (Different cultures have different names.)
Here’s one list of those names, by month:
| Month | Moon Name |
| January | Wolf Moon |
| February | Snow Moon |
| March | Worm Moon |
| April | Pink Moon |
| May | Flower Moon |
| June | Strawberry Moon |
| July | Buck Moon |
| August | Sturgeon Moon |
| September or October | Harvest Moon1 |
| September | Corn Moon |
| October | Hunter’s Moon |
| November | Beaver Moon |
| December | Cold Moon |
Supermoons. When the full moon is closer than normal to Earth, a position called perigee, then it’s called a supermoon. Supermoons are simply full moons that are closer than average to Earth. Any month’s moon could be a supermoon, depending on whether that moon is closer to the Earth (perigee) than on average in that month and year.
This January, the Wolf Moon is closer to Earth than average, so it’s a Wolf Supermoon.
See Marta Hill, The Year’s First Bright Supermoon and the Colorful Quadrantid Meteor Shower Coincide This Weekend, Smithsonian Magazine, January 2, 2026.
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- “Technically, the Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to the September equinox around September 22. The Harvest Moon is the only Full Moon name determined by the equinox rather than a month. Most years, it’s in September, but around every three years, it falls in October.” See Anne Buckle, Aparna Kher, and Vigdis Hocken, Traditional Full Moon Names, timeanddate.com ↩︎
See also What Makes a Supermoon Super? (Animation):
City, Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 1.2.26: What Will Shape the City in 2026
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 22. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:32 for 9 hours 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1942, thirty-three members of the Nazi Duquesne Spy Ring, headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne, are sentenced in federal court, in the largest espionage case in United States history.
Many years ago, and for many years, a January post at FREE WHITEWATER would offer predictions for the year ahead. They were styled in the fashion of the late William Safire’s predictions at the New York Times. These turbulent recent years have made predictions too audacious to attempt for this blogger (and I think for Safire, too, if he were to see these times).
Instead, rather than specific predictions, one can confidently offer a list of the general forces that are likely to be influential in Whitewater. In this respect, those social forces are roughly the same as those present in the last few years. See What Ails, What Heals (11.14.22) and ‘What Ails, What Heals’ and What’s Changed (10.2.25). While the change over the last three years has been in favor of what heals in this city, those who would drag Whitewater back, by hook or by crook, are relentless and insatiable.
A few remarks follow, however, about the people and factions that comprise the negative and positive elements at work in Whitewater.
Arguments and counter-arguments. Old Whitewater, a culture that praised a few and scorned all others, did not encourage debate among those few, or anyone else. While there were arguments in favor of this project or that, no one was expected to do more than join a chorus of praise for these ideas.
And so, and so, those who came up in Old Whitewater, like the special interest men of this town, had no experience responding to counter-arguments. These men weren’t less intelligent than others, but they were less capable of forming and following a debate with sound reasoning. They are now men in their sixties and seventies whose quality of reasoning was less necessary to them than mere social pressure (‘SHUT UP AND SING OUR TUNE‘). Live your life that way, and your actual argumentation is weak, comprising little more than bad statistics, bad faith claims, and a barrel of fallacies suitable for any discussion.
Residents. Worth repeating in the year ahead:
My remarks concern policies of and within the City of Whitewater, where I am a resident and property owner: residing here in the city, not across the town line; owning a home here in the city, not elsewhere; voting as part of this city’s electorate, not with a different one; loving this small and beautiful community, above any other. Here now forever, happily and thankfully so.
One hopes more people would move to Whitewater. Critics (and supporters) within the city carry more credibility than those who live elsewhere.
The work of a lifetime. If the boosters were bad for this city (and they were), if toxic positivity is bad for this city (and it is), and if the special interest men are advocates of their own interests over the majority (and they are), then there is still work ahead in this city.
January 2026 Skywatching Tips from NASA:
0:00 Intro
0:11 Jupiter at opposition
0:50 Moon and Saturn conjunction
1:11 The beehive cluster
2:00 January 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/…
Cats, Nature
Friday Catblogging: Black Panthers
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread, Holiday
Daily Bread for 1.1.26: Happy New Year
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
New Year’s Day in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 17. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:31 for 9 hours 6 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
New Year 2026 fireworks in Dubai, Paris, London, and around the globe:
A coyote patrols Central Park:
Click image to play video.
Crime, Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 12.31.25: The Second-Most Daring Robbery of 2025
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 34. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:30 for 9 hours 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 88.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1907, the first ball drop takes place in Times Square:
The event was first organized by Adolph Ochs, owner of The New York Times, as an extension to a series of New Year’s Eve fireworks displays he held at the building to promote its status as the new headquarters of the Times, while the ball itself was designed by Artkraft Strauss. First held on December 31, 1907, to welcome 1908, the ball drop has been held annually since, except in 1942 and 1943 in observance of wartime blackouts.
In Paris, a daring daytime robbery at the Louvre captured worldwide attention this fall. It was the second-most daring robbery of the year.1 The New York Times describes how that caper unfolded:
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- The most audacious theft, occurring almost every day in 2025, has been organized and directed from a different location. ↩︎
Learning the truth about Albert Einstein:
Click image to play video.
Daily Bread, Weather, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 12.30.25: Big Snowfall… Up North
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 24. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:30 for 9 hours 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 80.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1916, Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, is murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was discovered in a Petrograd river three days later.
Whitewater had only a bit of snow, with cold temperatures. By contrast, quite a bit of snow fell in northern Wisconsin on December 28-29:
The bulk of the snow fall in Wisconsin Dec. 28 into Dec. 29 fell in far north-central parts of the state, Miller said. Some areas received over a foot.
- Saxon: 17 inches
- Land O’ Lakes: 14 inches
- Eagle River: 13 inches
- Minocqua: 12 inches
- Tomahawk: 10.2 inches
- Ashland: 7.8 inches
See Kelli Arseneau, Up to 17 inches of snow fell in Wisconsin overnight, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 29, 2025.
Next time, perhaps. Plenty of time for winter adventures.
It was always kinda suspicious:
Daily Bread, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Wisconsin, WISGOP
Daily Bread for 12.29.25: Statewide, $40 Million in the Primary Won’t Assure 51% in the Fall
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 22. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:29 for 9 hours 4 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 70.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1170, Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church.
One reads that merely to secure the WISGOP nomination for governor, Tom Tiffany says he hopes to raise $40 million:
When asked how much money it will take to win the party’s nomination, Tiffany said his campaign is “budgeting to raise $40 million.” He criticized what he calls “the billionaire loophole” in Wisconsin that allows unlimited campaign contributions to political parties, which then transfer unlimited amounts to candidates.
“But you know, you can cry about it, or you can compete,” Tiffany said. “We choose to compete. We’re hoping to raise $40 million when it comes to a competitive primary.”
See Rich Kremer, GOP candidates running for governor talk Trump, $40M primary fundraising goal, Wisconsin Public Radio, December 29, 2025.
Part of Tiffany’s big-money talk — for a mere primary race — is to make himself seem inevitable and thereby to ward off any latecomers to the WISGOP gubernatorial primary who possess greater charisma1 .
In any event, no amount spent in the August primary will assure success in the November general election, for candidates of either party.
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- That would be just about any latecomer with a pulse. ↩︎
How a reporter prepared for visiting a Japanese bear hotspot:
Note: The reporter in the video says that he, and Japanese targets of bear attacks, can use a device that makes the noise of gunfire, thereby deterring bears from attacking. I’d simply observe that actual gunfire also deters bears.
Music
Monday Music: Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
Cats, Daily Bread, Planning
Daily Bread for 12.28.25: The Extent of the Plan
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 47. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset is 4:28 for 9 hours 3 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 59.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later became known as x-rays.
Cats, Daily Bread, Science/Nature
Daily Bread for 12.27.25: A Second Kind of Lion Roar
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 42. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:27 for 9 hours, 3 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 49 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1966, the Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico:
“Temperatures in the cave are low. Vegetation grows thickly at the mouth, The cave floor is covered with a thick layer of debris and guano. The fungi in the guano may cause histoplasmosis in humans. The cave floor and walls are inhabited by millipedes, scorpions, insects, snakes and birds. From the floor at the bottom of the main shaft, there is a series of narrow pits known as “The Crevice”, totaling some 140 m (460 ft), which brings the total depth of the cave to 515 m (1,690 ft).”
Scientists have identified a second type of lion roar:
A new study has found African lions produce not one, but two distinct types of roars – a discovery set to transform wildlife monitoring and conservation efforts.
Researchers at the University of Exeter have identified a previously unclassified “intermediary roar” alongside the famous full-throated roar. The study, published in Ecology and Evolution, used artificial intelligence to automatically differentiate between lion roars for the first time. This new approach had a 95.4 percent accuracy and significantly reduced human bias to improve the identification of individual lions.
Lead author Jonathan Growcott from the University of Exeter said: “Lion roars are not just iconic – they are unique signatures that can be used to estimate population sizes and monitor individual animals. Until now, identifying these roars relied heavily on expert judgment, introducing potential human bias. Our new approach using AI promises more accurate and less subjective monitoring, which is crucial for conservationists working to protect dwindling lion populations.”
See Tom Seymour, Scientists discover new type of lion roar, which could help protect the iconic big cats, University of Exeter News, November 21, 2025.
See also Scientists discover a new type of lion roar:
Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 12.26.25: Winter
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 43. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:26 for 9 hours 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 37.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1776, in the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army under General George Washington executes a successful surprise attack and defeats a garrison of Hessian forces serving Great Britain.
Click image to play video.
Highlights over a full year of eruptions of Kilauea volcano:
Cats, Nature
Friday Catblogging: An Albino Puma
by JOHN ADAMS •
Itzae was the first albino puma born in Central America, and is one of four known in the world. She was born in a Nicaraguan Zoo in August 2023, among her beige and spotted siblings, the common coloration of pumas. After Itzae’s birth, she required special care due to her albinism. The condition can often reduce the survivability of an animal due to the lack of melanin.
Pumas, also known as cougars or mountain lions, are native to the Americas. The genus Puma only has one living species, Puma concolor, of which Itzae is a member. Cougars range from as far north as the Yukon in Canada all the way down to Patagonia in South America, rendering P. concolor the most widely distributed terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
They primarily inhabit the mountains of the Americas, but can also be found in a variety of habitats due to their high adaptability.
(Emphasis in original.) See Fiona Benson, Why The Rarest Ever Puma Cub Shocked The World When She Was Born, The Travel, April 20, 2025.