A link for word-game fans — “America’s most elegant, adventurous, and addictive crosswords and other word games.” See, WSJ Puzzles – WSJ.

It’s municipal budget season in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and in towns across America. Whitewater’s budget will be presented in stages, over more than one Common Council meeting. That’s been a practice here for years; this year is no different. I’ll offer a few remarks on a municipal budget, before commentary another time when the city’s proposed…

A spooky, Halloween-time treat — Best-selling author and Wisconsin’s leading authority on the paranormal Linda S. Godfrey will present a book talk and signing for her newly published book, “Haunted Wisconsin: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Badger State” at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Lake Geneva Public Library…. Be prepared for Kenosha’s Headless…

The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ October 2010 Newsletter is now available, and the latest issue includes a calendar of upcoming LWV events. The most-recent copy of the LWV newsletter is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below, with coding through Google. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events for the Whitewater-Area…

Good morning, Whitewater’s forecast calls for a sunny day, with a high temperature of seventy-two degrees. The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls a odd moment in Wisconsin’s history, on this day in 1774: 1774 – Wisconsin Becomes Part of Quebec On this date Britain passed the Quebec Act, making Wisconsin part of the province of Quebec.…

With all due respect to George Washington Carver, America’s greatest food inventions have all originated in one place — the state fair. From cotton candy to corn dogs to deep-fried Coke, the enterprising folks at America’s state and county fairs top themselves year after year. Some observers thought state fair cooks had hit their peak…

Wired has a story about Saturn’s aurora, recorded with the Cassini orbiter. Lisa Grossman describes the aurora: Much like Earth’s northern and southern lights, Saturn’s aurora is triggered when charged particles from solar winds are channeled toward the poles by the planet’s magnetic field. At the poles, these particles interact with charged gas or plasma…

Just in case… Survive a Dog Attack – Wired How-To Wiki.

England is an especially vile place. See, British badgers face firing squad.

Good news following difficult employee concessions: MILWAUKEE — Harley-Davidson Inc. agreed Tuesday to keep open its two Wisconsin production facilities, saying it gained the cost savings it needed when union members agreed a day earlier to a concession-laden contract. Via Harley agrees to keep 2 Wisconsin plants open.

Crackpot dictator Hugo Chavez has ruined a nation that was once a prosperous paradise: As they go to the polls this month, Venezuelans will undoubtedly be concluding that arrests, censorship, and other restrictions on liberty are no substitute for economic and political freedom and sensible public policy. Via Venezuela on the Brink.

The Bed Bug Registry exists to give travelers and renters a reliable and neutral platform for reporting their encounters with bed bugs. Though most Americans have still never come across one one, these retro pests are spreading extremely quickly across American and Canadian cities. Wisconsin Reports: http://bedbugregistry.com/location/WI/ Via Bed Bug Registry – Check Apartments and…

Sensible thinking saved a family camping near the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage from disaster when a tornado struck: The Park Falls man [Larry Krznarich], his wife, Rita, and their dog, Lilly, along with Mark and Gay Rumppe of Clinton, used the 2,000-pound log table on his campsite to escape the ravages of a tornado. The storm occurred…

Fascinating… Some 50 years ago, the renowned linguist Roman Jakobson pointed out a crucial fact about differences between languages in a pithy maxim: “Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.” This maxim offers us the key to unlocking the real force of the mother tongue: if different…