Good morning,
Today’s forecast for Whitewater calls for a slight chance of thunderstorms with a high temperature of seventy-eight degrees.
There are two public meetings in Whitewater today, one for the City of Whitewater’s Community Development Authority at 4:30 p.m. and one for the Whitewater Unified School District at 7 p.m. (for open session). The agendas for both meetings are available online, and each agenda serves as a kind of puzzle, a cryptogram or word search where something has to be unscrambled or discovered. I cannot say that either puzzle is either difficult or clever, but both reflect the distorted political culture of Whitewater.
I’ll not spoil others’ fun, but instead merely embed both agendas immediately below. Put aside your daily crossword — these two public institutions offer you publicly-financed puzzles:
Whitewater Community Development Authority:
Whitewater Unified School District:
The Wisconsin Historical Society recalls that on this date in 1832
Atkinson starts up Rock River in Black Hawk War
On this date General Henry Atkinson and the Second Army began its trip into the Wisconsin wilderness in a major effort against Black Hawk. The “Army of the Frontier” was formed of 400 U.S. Army Regulars and 2,100 volunteer militiamen in order to participate in the Black Hawk War. The troops were headed toward the Lake Koshkonong area where the main camp of the British Band was rumored to be located. [Source: Along the Black Hawk Trail by William F. Stark, p. 93-94]
Over at GazetteXtra.com, there’s a nice blog post, from the Savory Faire blog, entitled, “The Raw Milk Debate.” The post describes raw milk cheddar cheese. LIsa Parsley describes the taste of raw milk cheddar:
So I gave it a try. It was everything she said it would be. The flavor was vibrant and earthy and complex—delicious is too light a word. Apparently while pasteurization destroys the bad bugs in the milk, it also can wipe out enzymes which contribute to the unique flavor and aroma of a cheese. This was how cheddar is supposed to taste. I get it now.
Parsley notes that she would never drink raw milk, however. (Parsley’s story isn’t about the politics of all this, but about the simple taste of a well-made, natural product.) Many people would make that same decision, and avoid raw milk, the way they avoid anchovies, shellfish, etc. There’s nothing unreasonable about expressing that preference. For Wisconsin, though, it’s a choice people should be able to make, and one that Governor Doyle (and a powerful dairy lobby) have denied residents.
At the Wisconsin State Journal, at the the Just Ask Us column, someone wrote asking, Which Capitol dome is the largest?
Here’s the answer:
Rough estimates of both indicate the dome volume of the U.S. Capitol building is larger, but the state Capitol dome is taller.
A calculation of the U.S. Capitol dome volume from the First Visitors Gallery, or interior balcony, to the base of the Statue of Freedom which sits on top totals approximately 850,000 cubic feet, said Sharon Gang, communications manager for the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.
A recent calculation of the Wisconsin state Capitol building’s dome — measuring from the 7th level at the base of the exterior columns to the 12th level just below the lantern on top — estimated its volume is 790,000 cubic feet, according to the state Department of Administration.
In terms of height, the state Capitol stands at 284.4 feet from the ground floor to the top of the bronze and gold-leaf “Wisconsin” statue, which is 16 feet and two inches taller than the U.S. Capitol.
