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Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 5.28.14

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Good morning, Whitewater.

It’s already the middle of the week, and we have a mostly cloudy Wednesday ahead, with a high of seventy-three.

The Community Development Authority’s Seed Capital Screening Committee meets today at 3 PM, and its Board of Directors at 5 PM.

Google’s latest self-driving car has discarded the steering wheel:

Google has revealed it plans to build its own self-driving cars from the ground up, per an announcement from founder Sergey Brin at the Code conference Tuesday. The company revealed one such car to Recode, a highly compact two-seater without a steering wheel.

Google had previously been retrofitting Toyota Priuses and Lexus SUVs with its self-driving technology. The cars were approved last week for use on public roads in California, and Google demonstrated the technology’s ability to navigate complex traffic situations in cities at the end of April.

The prototype Google revealed differs from the Priuses and Lexuses in that they can’t let humans take over the job of piloting; they are completely controlled by the onboard computer. In addition to lacking a steering wheel, the Google-built car also has no accelerator, no brake, no mirrors, no glove compartment, and no soundsystem (your tiny smartphone speaker will have to do). The cars are capped at a modest 25mph and are started and stopped by a button.

Perhaps, in time, many cars will be without steering wheels.

Here’s Puzzability‘s Wednesday game in its Out of State series:

This Week’s Game — May 26-30
Out of State
We’re taking a road trip for the unofficial start to summer. For each day this week, we started with the single word that completes a state’s nickname in the phrase “The ___ State.” Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with an interstate sign in place of the nickname.
Example:
We learned that younger members of the local Native American triinterstateaged just a few years living on the reservation once they became adults.
Answer:
Beaver (tribe averaged)
What to Submit:
Submit the nickname (as “Beaver” in the example) for your answer.
Wednesday, May 28
The school princiinterstateday with the field trip chaperones to help prepare them for tomorrow’s trip.

Local Government

The Truth About Preferential Treatment

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Cases in which a person successfully demands preferential treatment from government (that is, an unfair advantage not available to other residents), require two parties, not one. 

There must be an entitled man or woman who demands access or opportunities that would routinely be denied to others, but also a craven official who acquiesces to that selfish request. 

What Reagan said about the Soviets’ need to cooperate toward arms control is true in this context, also: it takes two to tango.  

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 5.27.14

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday brings a likelihood of afternoon thunderstorms and a high of seventy-eight.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets today at 4:30 PM.

Friday’s FW poll asked readers about their most anticipated summer-blockbuster films.  Of the choices available, Godzilla (15.79%), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (14.04%), and X-Men: Days of Future Past (14.04%) led the responses.

On this day in 1844, a socialist community near Ripon begins its short life:

1844 – Utopian Community Founded Near Ripon
On this date the first settler moved to the Fourierite utopian community in what is now Ripon. This communal society was based upon the teachings of Charles Fourier, a French Socialist, who urged the rebuilding of society from its foundation as the only cure for economic hardship. This especially appealed to those suffering from the 1837 Depression. The communal village was named Ceresco after the goddess of agriculture, Ceres. Also known as the Wisconsin Phalanx, the community thrived for six years, with membership reaching 180 in 1845. The community officially disbanded in 1850 after many members decided to farm for their own profit. Families gradually left the commune to work and live on their own property. The center of the commune, the “Long House,” remained vacant until the 1930s when people suffering from the Great Depression found shelter and comfort there. Community founder Warren Chase said of the failed community “It was prematurely born, and tried to live before its proper time, and of course, must die and be born again. So it did and here it lies.” [Source: Wisconsin Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, pg. 94-104]

Puzzability has a new series entitled, Out of State. Here’s Tuesday’s game:

This Week’s Game — May 26-30
Out of State
We’re taking a road trip for the unofficial start to summer. For each day this week, we started with the single word that completes a state’s nickname in the phrase “The ___ State.” Then we hid it in a sentence, with spaces added as necessary. The answer spans at least two words in the sentence and starts and ends in the middle of words. The day’s clue gives the sentence with an interstate sign in place of the nickname.
Example:
We learned that younger members of the local Native American triinterstateaged just a few years living on the reservation once they became adults.
Answer:
Beaver (tribe averaged)
What to Submit:
Submit the nickname (as “Beaver” in the example) for your answer.
Tuesday, May 27
We were amazed at the skill of the cowboys at the rodeo, who could lasinterstateaging bull after another.

Holiday, Military

Memorial Day 2014

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Correspondent Mike Boettcher reported from, and later produced a documentary, The Hornet’s Nest, about American soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. The VOA reports about his film, and below in this post I’ve embedded the documentary film’s trailer.

Remember. That is the message delivered by war correspondent Mike Boettcher in his gritty documentary ‘The Hornet’s Nest.’ It’s about a deadly nine-day period of combat between U.S. troops and the Taliban on one of Afghanistan’s most hostile terrains. Boettcher, who along with his son shot the footage, does not want people to forget what the soldiers went through and why they died. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.

Additional information on Boettcher’s highly-regarded documentary is available at the Internet Movie Database.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 5.26.14

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Memorial Day in Whitewater will be partly sunny, with a high of eighty-two, and a probability of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Sunrise today is 5:23 am and sunset 8:22 pm. The moon is a waning crescent with 5% of its visible disk illuminated.

New York City is renowned for its beauty, and on a sunny day it’s lovely from the air —

On this day in 1868, Pres. Andrew Johnson survives conviction and removal from office after being impeached that February.

On this day in 1884, a future senator is born:

1884 – Alexander Wiley Born
On this date Alexander Wiley was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Wiley obtained his law degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, practiced in Chippewa Falls and served as district attorney of Chippewa County from 1909 to 1915. Wiley was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1938 and was reelected in 1944, 1950, and again in 1956. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1962. While a Senator, Wiley served as chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary (Eightieth Congress) and the Committee on Foreign Relations (Eighty-third Congress). Wiley resided in Washington, D.C. until a few days before his death on May 26, 1967. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. [Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]