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Daily Bread for 3.18.15

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in the Whippet City will be partly cloudy with a high of forty-eight. That’s cooler than recently, to be sure, but there’s something to be said for crisp temperatures. Sunrise is 7:00 and sunset 7:05, for 12h 04m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

A Herald Examiner headline covering the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925.

A Herald Examiner headline covering the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925.

On this day in 1925, America experiences a severe tornado strike:

The worst tornado in U.S. history passes through eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana, killing 695 people, injuring some 13,000 people, and causing $17 million in property damage. Known as the “Tri-State Tornado,” the deadly twister began its northeast track in Ellington, Missouri, but southern Illinois was the hardest hit. More than 500 of the total 695 people who perished were killed in southern Illinois, including 234 in Murphrysboro and 127 in West Frankfort.

A tornado is a dark, funnel-shaped cloud containing violently rotating air that develops in climate conditions that, in the United States, are generally unique to the central and southern plains and the Gulf states. The rotating winds of tornadoes can attain velocities of 300 mph, and its diameter can vary from a few feet to a mile. A tornado generally travels in a northeasterly distance at speeds of 20 to 40 mph and usually covers anywhere between one and more than 100 miles.

The Tri-State Tornado of 1925–which traveled 219 miles, spent more than three hours on the ground, devastated 164 square miles, had a diameter of more than a mile, and traveled at speeds in excess of 70 mph–is unsurpassed in U.S. history.

On this day in 1954, employees of Parker Pen get a bit more:

1954 – Parker Pen Employees Win Wage Increase
On this date employees of Parker Pen in Janesville won a 5-cent-an-hour wage increase in contract negotiations. After the raise, male employees made a base pay of $1.95 an hour while their female counterparts were paid $1.62 an hour. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Puzzability‘s green-themed series continues with Wednesday’s game:

This Week’s Game — March 16-20
Green Party
We’ve minted some new questions for jaded solvers. In this St. Patrick’s Day trivia quiz, the answer to each day’s question is a name or title that includes a shade of green.
Example:
For what 1978 movie did director Michael Cimino suggest that little-known Meryl Streep write her own lines to flesh out her underdeveloped role?
Answer:
The Deer Hunter
What to Submit:
Submit the name or title (as “The Deer Hunter” in the example) for your answer.
Wednesday, March 18
Who won a Best Actor Oscar for playing Idi Amin?
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