Daily Bread, Nature
Daily Bread for 8.11.24: The 2024 Perseid Meteor Shower
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:58, and sunset is 8:01, for 14h 02m 41s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 39.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1919, the Green Bay Packers professional football team is founded during a meeting in the editorial rooms of Green Bay Press-Gazette.
The 2024 Perseid Meteor Shower:
Ditching generators and recycling buildings: How Paris did the Olympics differently:
Books, Censorship, City, Daily Bread, Education
Daily Bread for 8.10.24: The Store That Only Sells Fake Food
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 5:57, and sunset is 8:02, for 14h 05m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 30.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan‘s five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan’s death in the Philippines.
This Store Only Sells Fake Food:
Giant pandas make public debut at San Diego Zoo:
Books, Censorship, City, Daily Bread, Education
Daily Bread for 8.9.24: Tracking Book Bans
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 71. Sunrise is 5:56, and sunset is 8:03, for 14h 07m 39s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 22.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1944, the United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.
Richelle Wilson reports Wisconsin’s ‘banned book queen’ tracks book challenges and worries about widespread bans (‘Tasslyn Magnusson keeps a public database of book bans around the country and advocates for students, authors and librarians’):
Magnusson worries about increased efforts to ban books from school libraries. Last year, Wisconsin was the second-leading state nationally in the number of school library book removals, according to a new report she and others wrote for PEN America. A big reason for that was one parent in the Elkhorn Area School District who requested a review of 444 books.
Other districts around the state are dealing with debates around book bans, too. Magnusson lives with her family in Prescott, a small town in western Wisconsin where the St. Croix River and the Mississippi River meet. She said local school districts have been feeling the strain of increased book challenges, which often lead to heated discussions at school board meetings.
An aspiring children’s author herself, Magnusson started participating in the “kid lit” community on social media after getting a master’s degree in writing for children and young adults. That’s when she first noticed that some of her own favorite authors, including young-adult fiction writer Laurie Halse Anderson, were having their books taken off shelves.
In 2021, Anderson posted on X that her 1999 novel “Speak” seemed to be getting banned more often. She suggested that someone should start tracking book bans around the country.
Magnusson took note.
“I was like, ‘Wow, Laurie Halse Anderson asked. I can do that. I know how to use a Google spreadsheet,’” Magnusson recalled on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “So, I took it upon myself to make a spreadsheet. And here we are three years later.”
This book-banning panic will subside when it meets opposition; opposition, however, requires awareness of the censors’ and scolds’ work.
See also PEN America, New Report Finds Unprecedented Surge in School Book Bans.
Cats, Games/Puzzles
Friday Catblogging: Stray Coming to Nintendo Switch
by JOHN ADAMS •
Alana Hauges reports Indie Sensation ‘Stray’ Meows Up Switch Release Date:
Releasing on Switch on 19th November, Stray is an award-winning adventure game where you play as a cute little kitty cat. But this cat has big paws to fill — it has to uncover an ancient mystery hidden within a huge, neon-lit cybercity. Yeah, it’s catpunk, baby. Or cybercat? Well, the cat isn’t cyber… you get it.
The cat makes friends with B-12, a drone, and the pair must work together to escape the city. Stray earned tons of praise for its realistic cat animations and unusual premise, and it was even up for Game of the Year at the 2022 Game Awards.
City, Film
Film: Tuesday, August 13th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, In the Land of Saints and Sinners
by JOHN ADAMS •
Tuesday, August 13th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of In the Land of Saints and Sinners @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Crime/Action/Thriller
Rated R (Language/Violence)
1 hour, 46 minutes (2024)
It’s 1974, during “The Troubles.” A disillusioned hit man (Liam Neeson) comes out of retirement for one last job, when an IRA bomber on the run arrives in his sleepy Irish village. Totally filmed on location: an absolutely beautiful depiction of Irish locales, people, music and culture. Liam Neeson considers this one of his best film roles, ever.
One can find more information about In the Land of Saints and Sinners at the Internet Movie Database.
City, Daily Bread, University, UW System
Daily Bread for 8.8.24: Arrive for the Campus, Stay for the City
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:55, and sunset is 8:05, for 14h 10m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 15.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1974, President Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.
Whitewater has a public university, and a goal of this community should be to encourage graduates of UW-Whitewater to remain in the city as residents after their graduation. Statewide, the Universities of Wisconsin have had success with graduates remaining in the Badger state. A local goal should be to encourage the graduates of our campus to take up long-term residency in Whitewater.
Of the state figures, Abbey Machtig reports Universities of Wisconsin graduates stay in state, according to ‘Facts and Trends’:
Almost 90% of Wisconsin residents with a bachelor’s degree from the Universities of Wisconsin were still living in the state five years after graduation.
That compares to 10% of graduates who were originally from Minnesota and 16% of graduates from other parts of the country or world, according to data from 2021. These findings, and more, were shared in a report the system released Wednesday. The report, “Facts and Trends,” includes information on state funding trends, enrollment and participation rates, affordability and tuition.
That Wisconsin residents stay in Wisconsin does not surprise me: this is a congenial place to live.
The goal for Whitewater, however, should be to encourage UW-Whitewater students, from whatever communities before attending our campus, to become long-term residents of our community after graduation.
See Universities of Wisconsin, Facts & Trends 2024.
What do Team USA Olympians listen to before they compete?:
Daily Bread, Economy, Health, Kulturkampf, Opioids, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.7.24: Opioids Still a Top Wisconsin Concern
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:54, and sunset is 8:08, for 14h 12m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 8.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1947, Thor Heyerdahl‘s balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America
Christine Durrance, a professor in the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, writes Wisconsin’s opioid crisis complicates an already troubled health care system (‘54% of respondents in UW-Madison survey report health care as quite or an extremely big problem for Wisconsin; 69% feel this way about health care being a problem for the country’):
Health care is the third most concerning issue during this presidential election year, according to WisconSays survey data collected as part of this year’s Main Street Agenda, which the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison is using to highlight what matters to Wisconsin throughout 2024.
In this statewide representative survey, 54% of respondents report health care as quite or an extremely big problem for Wisconsin; 69% feel this way about health care being a problem for the country. These sentiments are felt across the state with 58% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans viewing it as quite a problem or an extremely big problem for the state. There is also little divide between urban (54%) and rural (53%) residents.
….
In 2022, more than 80,000 Americans died from opioids. It was the most deaths in a year due to the drug, and roughly four times the number of deaths attributed to opioids just a decade earlier. Nearly 1,500 Wisconsinites lost their lives to opioids in 2022, almost 20% more than just two years prior.
The effects of the epidemic on our communities and health care system reach far beyond overdose mortality. One understudied aspect of the opioid crisis is its impact on women, infants, and children.
A hundred culture-war issues, pushed relentlessly, have only distracted from, but not alleviated, tens of thousands of yearly tragedies.
See also Society of Actuaries: Economic Cost of the Opioid Crisis.
Firefighters rescue deer on UW-Stevens Point campus:
Around 11 a.m. first responders were called to the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Pointr construction in Lot J.
Crews were able to restrain, secure, and free the deer from its predicament.
Daily Bread, Harris-Walz, Never Trump, Presidential Race 2024, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.6.24: Wednesday in Eau Claire, Dueling Rallies
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy and windy with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:53, and sunset is 8:08, for 14h 14m 55s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 4.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1960, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
Anya van Wagtendonk reports Democrats and Republicans will have dueling rallies in Eau Claire tomorrow:
Eau Claire will be host to not one, but two presidential campaign stops on the same day this week.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, announced last week she’d visit the western Wisconsin city with her as-yet-unannounced running mate on Wednesday, Aug. 7. [Since this report, the Harris Campaign announced Gov. Tim Walz as V.P. Harris’s running mate.]
On Monday, the Trump campaign announced that Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance , the Republican vice presidential nominee, will hold a rally in Eau Claire that same day.
There’s a false quadrennial complaint that the two major parties are the same. The complaint has never been accurate; it’s never been less accurate than now. Democrats Harris-Walz and Republicans Trump-Vance could not be further apart and yet be in the same society.
If it all seems the same, the problem isn’t with the choice. It’s with the grasp of those who can’t see the differences.
The choice is stark and the imperative clear: Harris-Walz.
Never Trump means never Trump.
Private Cygnus cargo ship captured by space station robotic arm:
Carpetbaggers, Daily Bread, U.S. Senate, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.5.24: Baldwin Outraises Hovde 7-1
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:52, and sunset is 8:09, for 14h 17m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.0 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School Board goes into closed session shortly after 6 PM and returns to open session at 7 PM.
On this day in 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe’s Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
If Eric Hovde weren’t spending millions of his own money, he’d already be out of Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate race. Few others are ponying up. Baylor Spears reports Baldwin outraises Hovde nearly seven times over last month:
Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, who is running for her third term, outraised her opponent, Republican businessman Eric Hovde nearly 7-1 last month, according to recent Federal Election Commission reports.
Baldwin reported more than $2.5 million in receipts from July 1-24, according to the FEC pre-primary reports. Almost $2.1 million of that came from individual contributions, and according to WisPolitics, of that, $773, 270 came from individuals who contributed less than $200.
Baldwin reported spending about $3.4 million, and ended the period with $6.3 million on hand.
Meanwhile, Hovde trailed the incumbent significantly, reporting $374,000 in contributions in the same time period. He spent nearly $2.7 million, and ended the period with $3.1 million on hand. He has kept up with Baldwin in part because of the $13 million in personal loans he has put into his campaign since February.
Hovde’s lack of appeal isn’t surprising. It’s what happens when Mitch McConnell creates a carpetbagger in a mad scientist’s laboratory.
Previously at FREE WHITEWATER: Hovde’s Evident, Ignorant Racism, Eric Hovde Treats Wisconsin as a Side Hustle, It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, and Another Vanity Candidate.
Missing boaters rescued without injuries amid incoming hurricane:
Music
Monday Music: Antonio Carlos Jobim, One Note Samba
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread, Language, Law, Legislature, State Government, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.4.24: No on Amendment Questions 1 and 2
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 86. Sunrise is 5:50, and sunset is 8:10, for 14h 19m 39s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1914, in response to the German invasion of Belgium, Belgium and the British Empire declare war on Germany. The United States declares its neutrality.
Questions written nebulously, and presented to voters on a month of traditionally lower turnout, deserve rejection. Government, and the questions it presents, are meant to be more than semantic trickery.
These are the amendment questions:
QUESTION 1: “Delegation of appropriation power. Shall section 35 (1) of article IV of the constitution be created to provide that the legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?”
QUESTION 2: “Allocation of federal moneys. Shall section 35 (2) of article IV of the constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?”
For more information on the amendments, see Michael Keane, Wisconsin Constitutional Amendments, Wisconsin State Law Library. Keane writes:
If a majority of those voting on the ratification question vote “yes,” then the amendment has been ratified and becomes part of the constitution upon certification of the results by the chairperson of the elections commission, unless another date is specified in the amendment. (Wisconsin Statute 7.70(3)(h)).
The two amendments on the ballot in August, dealing with the expenditure of federal funds, were approved by the legislature on first consideration during the 2021 session (2021 Senate Joint Resolution 84; Enrolled Joint Resolution 14); they were approved on second consideration by the 2023 legislature (2023 Assembly Joint Resolution 6; Enrolled Joint Resolution 14). Two questions must be submitted to the vote because two different constitutional revisions are incorporated in the single joint resolution. The Supreme Court has ruled that in such cases, separate questions must be submitted to the people. (State ex rel. Thomson v. Zimmerman, 264 Wis. 644).
It appears that, for the first time, the people will be asked to approve a constitutional amendment at a primary election. All previous constitutional amendments have been submitted to the voters for approval at the non-partisan general (April) election, or the partisan general (November) election. (Wisconsin Blue Book, p. 509-514).
Signs of Ancient Life on Mars? Here’s What We See in This Intriguing Rock:
Daily Bread, Plants, Science/Nature
Daily Bread for 8.3.24: The Most Dangerous Garden on Earth and Other Extreme Gardens
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:49, and sunset is 8:11, for 14h 21m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 0.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1977, Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world’s first mass-produced personal computers.
0:20 Why is this tree so lonely?
04:06 It’s the world’s deadliest garden!
06:18 Imagine holding a 100-pound vegetable
08:45 The world’s hottest river!
Asking Kevin of the the_three_chimigos how he keeps his streets in order:
Carpetbaggers, Daily Bread, Ignorance, US Senate Race 2024, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.2.24: Hovde’s Evident, Ignorant Racism
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be increasingly sunny with a high of 86. Sunrise is 5:48, and sunset is 8:13, for 14h 24m 16s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 3.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1932, the positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
At Urban Milwaukee, Bruce Murphy has telling finds about Eric Hovde’s views of Black men and welfare policy. Murphy writes Hovde Blasted for ‘Bigoted’ Comments on Black Men (GOP US Senate candidate says Black men have lived on ‘handouts’ and ‘welfare checks’):
On the Jay Weber show on WISN on April 5, Hovde declared that “a lot of people in the minority communities, particularly young black men… are moving in the conservative direction” and “no longer want to just live on just getting welfare checks. They want to be part of the American entrepreneurial dream.”
Hovde repeated these kind of statements on other programs, including on Fox News on April 4, where he said that “Young Black men… want to get off of welfare, they don’t want to be stuck with handouts.”
Murphy reminds, as anyone who understands welfare policy would know, that
The old AFDC system of welfare was eliminated in 1996, in favor of the TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] program, and is used by states to provide non-welfare services, including educational services, job training and pregnancy prevention services.
As for the idea that welfare increased the percentage of out-of-wedlock births in the Black community, research has shown “welfare benefits could not have played a major role… because benefits rose sharply in the 1960s and then fell in the 1970s and 1980s, when out-of-wedlock births rose most,” as the Brookings Institution noted. The causes are far more complex and one key factor was the devastating post-1970s decline of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
Hovde has a bigot’s view of Black men as check-collecting layabouts, when that’s false because they’re not, and no one of any race or ethnicity could be. TANF and W2 (Wisconsin Works) — as part of TANF do not operate the way out-of-touch Hovde must think they do.
The first rule for a U.S. Senate candidate from Wisconsin (other than living here full-time) should be to understand the federal and state policies that affect this state. Hovde evidently doesn’t.
One would almost think that it’s Hovde who’s a dividend-check-collecting layabout looking for a free ride to the U.S. Senate.
Previously at FREE WHITEWATER: Eric Hovde Treats Wisconsin as a Side Hustle, It’s Not Going So Well for Hovde, Eric Hovde Should Fire His Political Consultants and Hire a Therapist, Tim Michels 2.0 Eric Hovde Announces U.S. Senate Run, and Another Vanity Candidate.
One year since wildfires ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui: