Good morning,
Today’s forecast calls for a high of twenty-six, with a chance of snow in the afternoon.
In Wisconsin history on this day, the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls a shooting…in the territorial legislature:
1842 – Shooting in the Legislature
On this date the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin met in Madison, only to be interrupted by the shooting of one member by another. The legislature was debating the appointment of Enos S. Baker for sheriff of Grant County when Charles Arndt made a sarcastic remark about Baker’s colleague, James Vineyard. After an uproar, adjournment was declared and when Arndt approached Vineyard’s desk, a fight broke out during which Vineyard drew his revolver and shot Arndt. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes]
Arndt died within several minutes of being shot.
I’ve written before about bed bugs (Bed Bug Registry – Check Apartments and Hotels Across North America!), but not, I think, about fleas. I’ll correct that omission with reference to a story at Wired, entitled, Fleas Jump Using Spring-Loaded Feet. As it happens, they’re great jumpers:
Using new tools like high-speed video, researchers with the University of Cambridge in England have shown that fleas take off from their tibia and tarsi — the insect equivalent of feet — and not their trochantera, or knees. The researchers report their conclusion in the March 1 Journal of Experimental Biology.
Regardless of how fleas do it, the insects have always been famous jumpers, says study co-author Gregory Sutton. “There are even fairy tales that talk about how magnificent fleas are at jumping,” he says. And it’s not surprising: Fleas jump far. Some fleas — only a few millimeters long — can jump well over 10 centimeters, according to one study.
Watch them in action: