Daily Bread for 5.1.15

Good morning, Whitewater.

Whitewater’s Friday will be sunny with a high of sixty-nine. Sunrise is 5:47 and sunset 7:45, for 14h 07m 49s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

Since its dedication, trespassers have been an occasional problem at the Empire State Building.

On 5.1.1931, Pres. Hoover dedicates the Empire State Building:

On this day in 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City’s Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turns on the building’s lights. Hoover’s gesture, of course, was symbolic; while the president remained in Washington, D.C., someone else flicked the switches in New York.

At the time of its completion, the Empire State Building, at 102 stories and 1,250 feet high (1,454 feet to the top of the lightning rod), was the world’s tallest skyscraper. The Depression-era construction employed as many as 3,400 workers on any single day, most of whom received an excellent pay rate, especially given the economic conditions of the time. The new building imbued New York City with a deep sense of pride, desperately needed in the depths of the Great Depression, when many city residents were unemployed and prospects looked bleak. The grip of the Depression on New York’s economy was still evident a year later, however, when only 25 percent of the Empire State’s offices had been rented.

It’s the birthday of a noted Wisconsin academic:

On this date John Bascom was born in Genoa, New York. A noted educator, university president, and author, Bascom received his B.A. (1848) and M.A. (1852) from Williams College in Massachusetts. In 1855, he entered the Andover Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. He was appointed president of the University of Wisconsin in 1874. A leader in college education, he devoted his career to improving university standards by encouraging improved high school instruction. Bascom also advocated co-educational instruction, a rarity in the 19th century. During his tenure as president, the first Agricultural Experimental Station and the School of Pharmacy were created, and new buildings such as the Washburn Observatory, Old Science Hall, the Library, and Assembly Hall were built. Bascom was a strong supporter of women’s rights, was a leader in the Prohibition party, and advocated the right of workers to join trade unions and strike for decent wages. He resigned from his university presidency in 1887 and returned to Williams College to lecture in sociology and political science. John Bascom died on October 2, 1911. [Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography, pg. 29]

Here’s the final game in this week’s Puzzability series, Giving Away the Ending:

This Week’s Game — April 27-May 1

Giving Away the Ending

You’ll need to do a little detective work this week. For each day, we started with the title of a well-known mystery book and replaced all the letters in each word—except the last letter—with asterisks.

Example:

A  ****Y  *N  ******T

Answer:

A Study in Scarlet

What to Submit:

Submit the book title (as “A Study in Scarlet” in the example) for your answer.

Friday, May 1

A  *S  **R  ****I