Tuesday, October 26th at 1 PM, there will be a showing of The Lost City of Z @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Biography/Drama/Adventure
2 hours, 21 minutes
Rated PG-13 (2016)
Charlie Hunnam stars in a true-life adventure about British explorer Major Percival Fawcett, who disappeared while searching for a mysterious indigenous city in the Amazon, in the 1920’s. This is a thrilling, thoughtful, hauntingly beautiful film that you will not soon forget. Also stars Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Franco Nero, and Tom Holland.
In Current Biology, Kristyn R. Vitale, Alexandra C. Behnke, and Monique A.R. Udell have reported their findings on Attachment bonds between domestic cats and humans. Here is a summary of their report, with the full study available online:
Worldwide, domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) outnumber domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Despite cats’ success in human environments, dog social cognition has received considerably more scientific attention over the last several decades [1, 2, 3]. A key aspect of what has been said to make dogs unique is their proclivity for forming attachment bonds, including secure attachments to humans [1, 3], which could provide scaffolding for the development of human-like socio-cognitive abilities and contribute to success in human environments [3]. Cats, like dogs, can be found living in social groups or solitarily, depending on early developmental factors, resource distribution, and lifetime experiences such as human interaction [1, 2, 4].
Despite fewer studies, research suggests we may be underestimating cats’ socio-cognitive abilities [2]. Here we report evidence, using behavioral criteria established in the human infant literature [5, 6], that cats display distinct attachment styles toward human caregivers. Evidence that cats share social traits once attributed to dogs and humans alone would suggest that broader non-canine-specific mechanisms may be needed to explain cross-species attachment and socio-cognitive abilities.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 54. Sunrise is 7:16 AM and sunset 6:01 PM for 10h 44m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.3% of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School District’s Policy Review Committee meets at 9 AM, Whitewater’s Community Involvement & Cable TV Commission meets at 5:30 PM, and the Whitewater Fire Department Holds a Business Meeting at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1805, A British fleet led by Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve in the Battle of Trafalgar.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 70. Sunrise is 7:15 AM and sunset 6:03 PM for 10h 47m 42s of daytime. The moon is full with 100% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1803, the United States Senate ratifies (24-7) the Louisiana Purchase.
Free markets include markets in capital, labor, goods, and services. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at workplaces interfere with free labor markets, denying employers willing workers. If the Biden Administration reduces ICE raids at workplaces, then it will be to America’s economic advantage. They should follow this step by also reducing, if not ending, immigration-related actions against employers. (Federal and state governments can address workplace safety concerns through other agencies without any ICE involvement.) Voluntary, mutual agreements between employers and workers are a worthy exercise of liberty, benefiting both parties to those agreements and the overall economy.
The Biden administration Tuesday [10.12] ordered a halt to large-scale immigration arrests at job sites, and said it is planning a new enforcement strategy to more effectively target employers who pay substandard wages and engage in exploitative labor practices.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s memo ordered a review of enforcement policies and gave immigration officials 60 days to devise proposals to better protect workers who report on their bosses from facing deportation.
Mass arrest operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly referred to as ICE raids, have been used primarily against industries that employ large numbers of immigrants, such as meatpacking. Immigrant advocates and many Democrats who oppose the raids say they punish vulnerable workers, sow fear in immigrant communities and rarely result in consequences for employers.
“The deployment of mass worksite operations, sometimes resulting in the simultaneous arrest of hundreds of workers, was not focused on the most pernicious aspect of our country’s unauthorized employment challenge: exploitative employers,” Mayorkas’s memo states.
“These highly visible operations misallocated enforcement resources while chilling, and even serving as a tool of retaliation for, worker cooperation in workplace standards investigations,” it says.
ICE work site enforcement practices have flip-flopped between Republican and Democratic administrations over the years. In 2019, the Trump administration swept up 680 workers at seven poultry and other food processing plants in Mississippi, the largest single-state immigration enforcement action in U.S. history. Four managers were later indicted.
Pathologists often use tissue samples and microscopy to help diagnose diseases like cancer. But distinguishing different cells often requires several stages of staining. Now researchers are presenting a new type of microscope slide which uses nanotechnology to change the perceived color of cells without staining them. They say that this could help diagnose diseases like cancer.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 7:14 AM and sunset 6:04 PM for 10h 50m 28s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Nick Rolovich came to Washington State as a fun-loving coach, known nationally for his off-the-wall antics and an ability to win.
After less than two years and only 11 games, Rolovich has been fired, and will be known nationally as one of the highest-profile terminations for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Washington State athletic director Pat Chun said WSU had “initiated the separation process” with Rolovich and four of his assistant coaches for not complying with the state mandate that all state employees be fully vaccinated by Monday.
Defensive coordinator Jake Dickert has been named acting head coach.
“This is a disheartening day to be here today,” Chun said in a Monday evening news conference. “Our football team is hurting, our WSU community is fractured, and today will have a lasting impact on the young men on our team and the remaining coaches on the staff.
“As the director of athletics and the steward of this department, I take full responsibility for hiring Nick. … We believed we had found the perfect fit and a long-term solution for Washington State football. Unfortunately, we stand here today making a transition.”
Defensive tackles coach Ricky Logo, cornerbacks coach John Richardson, quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann and offensive line coach Mark Weber are also being let go.
“To be at this juncture today is unacceptable on so many levels,” Chun said.
Rolovich will not receive the remaining $3.6 million buyout of his contract.
He had applied for a religious exemption to the mandate requiring all state employees to be vaccinated by Oct. 18. To remain as coach, Rolovich needed approval for his exemption request and for his supervisor, Chun, to determine that he could effectively do his job while keeping the public safe.
“For the employees that we received notification [on] today, it was really simple and their accommodation requests were denied,” Chun said.
Washington State did not fire coach Nick Rolovich on Monday. The school was merely the vessel of dismissal, carrying out a state mandate designed to save lives and contain a pandemic.
In reality, Rolovich fired Rolovich.
He alone is responsible for his termination, halfway through his second season and with his team on the ascent.
He alone bears the burden for the mess in Pullman, for the massive disruption to the football program, for the immense embarrassment to the university and for the gut punch to Cougar constituents.
A reminder on the libertarian case for vaccine mandates: Cato adjunct scholar, and George Mason law professor, Ilya Somin on why vaccine mandates are consistent with libertarian views. Summarizing: (1) a disease like COVID involves the potential of harm to other people (2) mask mandates, lockdowns, and restrictions on international travel are all much more intrusive than the relatively slight imposition of a safe and effective vaccine (3) there is a strong libertarian case that private institutions, and even the government when acting as employer, can set policies attached to what are voluntary relationships: employees, customers, students, etc. (4) Florida’s recent attempt to ban private businesses such as cruise lines from adopting vaccine requirements has already suffered defeat in court and is one example of an affront to libertarian sensibilities.
Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 71. Sunrise is 7:13 AM and sunset 6:06 PM for 10h 53m 14s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
The top two jobs in the University of Wisconsin System are turning over within months of each other next year, a major leadership shake-up that comes on the heels of new chancellors installed during the pandemic at nearly half of the regional campuses and amid a variety of other challenges.
The departures of interim System President Tommy Thompson and UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank in 2022, along with new leaders at five of the 12 other campuses, create opportunities but also some sense of uncertainty, experts say. The timing related to the two leaders’ exits will require close coordination.
….
Other new faces in UW leadership include:
UW-Stout Chancellor Katherine Frank: started March 1, 2020
UW-Green Bay Chancellor Michael Alexander: started May 1, 2020
UW-Stevens Point Chancellor Thomas Gibson: started Jan. 11, 2021
Interim UW-Whitewater Chancellor Jim Henderson: started July 1, 2021
UW-River Falls Chancellor Maria Gallo: started July 15, 2021
Whitewater has two new educational leaders: Henderson, the interim chancellor at UW-Whitewater, and Caroline Pate-Hefty, the superintendent (since 7.1.2020) at the Whitewater Unified School District.
Their situations are unalike: Henderson is a veteran academic serving as an interim leader, while Pate-Hefty is leading a school district for the first time.
Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 66. Sunrise is 7:11 AM and sunset 6:07 PM for 10h 56m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 90.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1931, Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.
Wisconsin imprisons Black residents at a higher rate than any other state in the country, a new report found, highlighting long-standing and deep disparities in the state’s criminal justice system.
Thereport, authored by The Sentencing Project and released on Wednesday, used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics to calculate states’ rates of imprisoning white residents and people of color.
A “staggering” one of every 36 Black Wisconsin adults is in prison, the report found. Black people comprise 42 percent of the Wisconsin prison population, but just 6 percent of the state’s population.
The analysis also examined the disparity in imprisonment rates between Black and white people. Nationwide, Black Americans are imprisoned at nearly five times the rate of white Americans, the report found, and in Wisconsin, the ratio is even higher: Nearly 12 times the rate.
The report cites pervasive racial bias across the criminal justice system. It notes that Black Americans face disproportionate arrest rates and factors that can lead to longer prison terms — including a greater likelihood of being charged as a habitual offender and more time spent in jail awaiting trial.
….
A 2020 studyby the Wisconsin Court System found that men of color, particularly Black and Native American men, are significantly more likely to receive prison sentences than their white counterparts — 28 percent and 34 percent more likely, respectively, with white men 21 percent less likely than non-white men to receive a prison sentence.
Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 58. Sunrise is 7:10 AM and sunset 6:09 PM for 10h 58m 48s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 83.7% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1780, the Great Hurricane of 1780 finishes after its sixth day, killing between 20,000 and 24,000 residents of the Lesser Antilles.
In an effort to ban “political” signage from classrooms, the Waukesha School District banned LGBTQ+ messages and symbols from being put up in schools — and the community showed up to fight it.
The ban called for the removal of things like rainbow flags, the phrase “safe space” and other “beyond the curriculum” signage, which many community members said only gave more permission for LGBTQ+ youth to be bullied and remain outsiders in their school environment.
For the second month in a row, Waukesha students and parents filled three rooms, waiting to speak their piece in front of the Waukesha School Board. Over 30 of them got their say over the span of an hour, both praising and criticizing the district’s actions.
Waukesha School Board has banned Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, anti-racist and other ‘controversial’ materials
In August, the board banned Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, Thin Blue Line, anti-racist and other posters deemed “controversial” materials from classrooms.
The public comments were not directly addressed by the board Wednesday, as the sign-banning policy was not an item listed on the meeting’s agenda.
In an Oct. 13 letter sent to families and staff following the meeting, district officials said they will have conversations with members of the school district to consider options to make sure everyone feels “safe and welcome.”
Other communities with speech-banning majorities on their school boards will find themselves in a similar position To Waukesha’s students: restrictions on free expression and against safe spaces.
Now, I do not speak for a particular community in Whitewater, the other towns within the Whitewater Unified School District, or any other place on this planet. I am, so to speak, an emissary of one. It is enough to oppose these restrictions on principle. It’s prudent to prepare a defense should this community face similar, restrictive efforts.
At an emotional school board meeting Tuesday night, students, parents, and teachers attested to incidents of discrimination, racism, homophobia, and sexism they’ve experienced, with little or no response from the school board and community.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 55. Sunrise is 7:09 AM and sunset 6:11 PM for 11h 01m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 74.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1956, FORTRAN, the first modern computer language, is first shared with the coding community.
We’re pleased to inform you that the UW System Board of Regents, at its October meeting, gave final approval for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s new mission statement.
Thanks and appreciation go out to all the folks who collaborated, drafted, provided feedback, and shepherded the statement through the approval process. This is the culmination of years of work from our constituents on campus and in the greater community. Without question, the new mission is a significant step forward for our institution, reflects our current goals and aspirations as an outstanding regional comprehensive university, and it will serve as a guiding compass as we create a new strategic plan for UW-Whitewater in 2022.
Thank you,
Jim Henderson, Ph.D., Interim Chancellor
John Chenoweth, Ph.D., Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
The text of the new mission statement reads as following:
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is a preeminent academic institution driven by the pursuit of knowledge, powered by a spirit of innovation, and focused on transforming lives. As part of the University of Wisconsin System, UW-Whitewater embraces the Wisconsin Idea and is an economic and cultural driver of our region. We are nationally and internationally recognized for the accomplishments of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Grounded in a rigorous core curriculum, students receive a well-rounded education and every academic program prepares students to be creative, innovative and adaptable in dynamic and diverse work and life environments.
We are an inclusive educational community with a deep commitment to access that inspires us to serve students from diverse backgrounds, experiences, identities, and abilities. We have a longstanding special mission to serve students with disabilities. By supporting all students, we champion education, opportunity and prosperity for all. As engaged global citizens, members of our community make positive contributions to the State of Wisconsin, to our nation, and to the world.
Our academic programs serve undergraduate and graduate students, including online learners, and span the disciplines, from the theoretical to the applied, and encompass study in the arts, business, education, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, technology, and professional and interdisciplinary programs. High-quality programs are offered at the associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral levels. These programs prepare students to become lifelong learners who lead successful lives and enjoy productive careers.
UW-Whitewater spokesman Jeffrey Angileri referred questions to UW System. UW System spokesman Mark Pitsch said Wednesday: “We just received this, and do not comment on pending litigation.
There is a oft-asserted contention that during litigation an institutional defendant should prudently make ‘no comment.’ That’s false, although it’s often what non-lawyers speciously contend lawyers should do. On the contrary, there is a range of replies (in word and deed) that an institution, its spokesmen, and its lawyers can make when faced with serious claims of abusive and unethical behavior.
‘No comment’ is what those who are indolent or indifferent say.
UW-Whitewater’s students and faculty deserve leaders who speak meaningfully and act sincerely in response to claims of individual injury from institutional misconduct.
Siamese cats are walking heatmaps. Their characteristic coloration results from a delightful mutation (maybe I should call it a mew-tation) in tyrosinase, an enzyme that makes melanin. A deleted cytosine amino acid causes a frameshift mutation. The result? Tyrosinase in Siamese cats is particularly sensitive to temperature, denaturing at normal body temperature.
This means that near the cat’s warm body, the enzyme doesn’t function, and melanin isn’t produced. But at colder extremities like the tail, feet, ears, and face, the color kicks in.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 7:08 AM and sunset 6:12 PM for 11h 04m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 64.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On the night of October 14, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was shot in Milwaukee. Roosevelt was in Wisconsin stumping as the presidential candidate of the new, independent Progressive Party, which had split from the Republican Party earlier that year. Roosevelt already had served two terms as chief executive (1901-1909), but was seeking the office again as the champion of progressive reform. Unbeknownst to Roosevelt, a New York bartender named John Schrank had been stalking him for three weeks through eight states. As Roosevelt left Milwaukee’s Hotel Gilpatrick for a speaking engagement at the Milwaukee Auditorium and stood waving to the gathered crowd, Schrank fired a .38-caliber revolver that he had hidden in his coat.
Roosevelt was hit in the right side of the chest and the bullet lodged in his chest wall. Seeing the blood on his shirt, vest, and coat, his aides pleaded with him to seek medical help, but Roosevelt trivialized the wound and insisted on keeping his commitment. His life was probably saved by the speech, since the contents of his coat pocket — his metal spectacle case and the thick, folded manuscript of his talk — had absorbed much of the force of the bullet. Throughout the evening he made light of the wound, declaring at one point, “It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose,” but the candidate spen[t] the next week in the hospital and carried the bullet inside him the rest of his life.
Schrank, the would-be assassin, was examined by psychiatrists, who recommended that he be committed to an asylum. A judge concurred and Schrank spent the remainder of his life incarcerated, first at the Northern Hospital for the Insane in Oshkosh, then at Central State Hospital for the criminally insane at the state prison at Waupun. The glass Roosevelt drank from on stage that night was acquired by the Wisconsin Historical Museum. You can read more about the assassination attempt on their Museum Object of Week pages.
One of the challengers running in the Mequon-Thiensville School Board recall election has shared social media posts with Holocaust references in them, which drew condemnation from the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center, a program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
Kris Kittell shared his post on his Facebook account: “It didn’t start with gas chambers. It started with one party controlling the media. One party controlling the message. One party deciding what is truth. One party silencing speech and silencing opposition. One party dividing citizens into ‘us’ and ‘them’ and calling on their supporters to harass ‘them.’ It started when good people turned a blind eye and let it happen.”
The post also included the letters “WWG1WGA,” an abbreviation often used by QAnon that stands for “Where we go one, we go all.”
Kittell also shared a post with images from the Holocaust and the words: “Any government with enough power to demand that you carry around papers in order to move around freely is more dangerous than COVID-19.”
Other posts Kittell shared included one with a man with a mask and face shield on reading a book with references to Nazi Germany that said “How could people allow it to get to that point?” and one with a picture of a sign reading “If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied during 1930’s Germany, now you know.”
Kittell did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting an interview.
America has led the world for generations in the development of safe and effective vaccines, but an ignorant and fanatical horde presumes to criticize these accomplishments in medicine with false analogies to Nazi Germany.
Indeed, they presume to criticize our nation’s indubitable medical achievements in the very name of education.
Yesterday, the Peterson Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser Family Foundation published a study finding that
We also estimate how many COVID-19 deaths were among unvaccinated adults and could have been prevented since June 2021 when safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines became widely available to all adults in the U.S. From June through September 2021, approximately 90,000 COVID-19 deaths among adults likely would have been prevented with vaccination.
We are asked to respect anti-vax claims, anti-vax choices, asked to tolerate and accept anti-vax assaults on public health.
No and never.
(See also Cato adjunct scholar, and George Mason law professor, Ilya Somin on why vaccine mandates are consistent with libertarian views. Summarizing: (1) a disease like COVID involves the potential of harm to other people (2) mask mandates, lockdowns, and restrictions on international travel are all much more intrusive than the relatively slight imposition of a safe and effective vaccine (3) there is a strong libertarian case that private institutions, and even the government when acting as employer, can set policies attached to what are voluntary relationships: employees, customers, students, etc. (4) Florida’s recent attempt to ban private businesses such as cruise lines from adopting vaccine requirements has already suffered defeat in court and is one example of an affront to libertarian sensibilities.)
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with scattered afternoon thundershowers and a high of 69. Sunrise is 7:07 AM and sunset 6:14 PM for 11h 07m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 53.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee meets at 5 PM, and Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1775, the Continental Congress establishes the Continental Navy (predecessor of the United States Navy).
Joseph Trevithick reports Robot Dogs Now Have Assault Rifles Mounted On Their Backs (‘Robot dogs have been met with equal parts fascination and fear by the public, but their utility for military applications is becoming undeniable’):
Ghost Robotics and SWORD International have teamed up to create a rifle-toting “robot dog.” Called the Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle, or SPUR, the system adds a 6.5mm Creedmoor rifle from SWORD to one of Ghost Robotics’ quadrupedal unmanned ground vehicles, or Q-UGVs.
The SPUR made its debut on the show floor at the Association of the U.S. Army’s main annual convention in Washington, D.C., which opened yesterday. Though Ghost Robotics is partnered with a number of other companies to explore defense and security applications, among others, for its Q-UGVs — which you can read more about in this past War Zone feature — this appears to be the first example of one of these unmanned systems with an actual weapon mounted on it. Unarmed examples of the Q-UGV are notably already in limited use with the U.S. Air Force’s 325th Security Forces Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and are being tested by other units within that service.
The exact configuration of the 6.5mm gun inside the SPUR module — how much ammunition it contains, and how hard it might be to reload — are all unclear. Ghost Robotics has said that SPUR can be instructed remotely to chamber the first round from an unloaded state, as well as clear the chamber and safe the gun.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 7:06 AM and sunset 6:16 PM for 11h 10m 01s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 42.1% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 4:30 PM, and the city’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1960, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at the United Nations to protest a Philippine assertion.
Attorney Frederick Melms filed the lawsuit on Oct. 5 in the U.S. Eastern District of Wisconsin on behalf of Shannon Jensen and other parents and K-12 Waukesha School District students.
The lawsuit, which is being funded by the Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC and argues for class-action status, is seeking an injunction ordering the district to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 guidelines.
According to the lawsuit:
The Waukesha School Board on May 12 removed the mask requirement and many other COVID-19 mitigation measures that were in place for most of the 2020-21 school year. Despite that decision, Jensen’s son, a student at Rose Glen Elementary School, and his two younger brothers wore masks to school while many of their classmates did not.
One of Jensen’s oldest son’s classmates came to school with COVID-19 symptoms on Sept.16-17 before being sent home. Jensen’s oldest son was seated next to the sick classmate both days and his sick classmate did not wear a mask. On Sept. 19, Jensen’s oldest son developed symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19. Jensen then had all her sons quarantine at home. The younger two boys would later test positive for COVID-19 as well, and all of them missed school and other extracurricular activities as a result.
In a statement provided in the lawsuit, Jensen said she got delayed notifications from the district informing her that children in her oldest son’s class tested positive for the virus and later learned through another parent with a child in her oldest son’s class that four children had tested positive. She also learned the district had no thresholds for when the class would be quarantined and that no contact tracing was being done. Instead the district was “just blanket informing parents when a child in the school had tested positive, usually several days earlier.”
Lawsuits require that plaintiffs, individually or as a class, have been somehow injured (as defined by law).
So there are choices to be made, and ways to lessen the chance of becoming a defendant in lawsuit. The strongest way, for students and for school districts, is to have effective protocols diligently applied. These mitigation efforts may not always work, but they can both reduce illness and protect against a finding of liability.
By contrast, there is also a weak way to prevent injury and protect against liability: to ignore mitigation, to insist falsely that a district has mitigation protocols when it does not, and to insist unconvincingly that the district has no school spread.
People and institutions choose freely, sometimes well, sometimes poorly.
