Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.6.15
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Monday in our city will be warm, with afternoon thunderstorms and a high of eighty-seven. Sunrise is 5:23 and sunset 8:35, for 15h 12m 11s of daytime.
To keep up with cost-conscious shippers, BubbleWrap is modifying its product. It just won’t sound the same:
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485, at the age of 32, in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of the fictional historical play Richard III by William Shakespeare.
When his brother King Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward’s son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. As the young king travelled to London from Ludlow, Richard met and escorted him to lodgings in the Tower of London, where Edward V’s own brother Richard of Shrewsbury joined him shortly afterwards. Arrangements were made for Edward’s coronation on 22 June 1483; but, before the young king could be crowned, his father’s marriage to his mother Elizabeth Woodville was declared invalid, making their children illegitimate and ineligible for the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of Lords and commoners endorsed the claims. The following day, Richard III began his reign, and he was crowned on 6 July 1483. The young princes were not seen in public after August, and accusations circulated that the boys had been murdered on Richard’s orders, giving rise to the legend of the Princes in the Tower.
Of the two major rebellions against Richard, the first, in October 1483, was led by staunch allies of Edward IV[1] and Richard’s former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham;[2] but the revolt collapsed. In August 1485, Henry Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, led a second rebellion against Richard. Henry Tudor landed in southern Wales with a small contingent of French troops and marched through his birthplace, Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers. Henry’s force engaged Richard’s army and defeated it at the Battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire. Richard was struck down in the conflict, making him the last English king to die in battle on home soil and the first since Harold II was killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
After the battle Richard’s corpse was taken to Leicester and buried without pomp.[3] His original tomb is believed to have been destroyed during the Reformation, and his remains were lost for more than five centuries.[4] In 2012, an archaeological excavation was conducted on a city council car park on the site once occupied by Greyfriars Priory Church. The University of Leicester identified the skeleton found in the excavation as that of Richard III as a result of radiocarbon dating, comparison with contemporary reports of his appearance, and comparison of his mitochondrial DNA with that of two matrilineal descendants of Richard III’s eldest sister, Anne of York.[5][6][7] Richard’s remains were reburied in Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015.[8]
A Google a Day asks a history question:
Who is generally regarded as one of the very first Americans to die in the struggle for liberty from British Rule?
Animation
Sunday Animation: Starry Night
by JOHN ADAMS •
A try to visualize the flow of the famous painting "Starry Night" of Vincent Van Gogh.
The user can interact with the animation. Also, the sound responds to the flow.
Made with openframeworks.
Available on the app-store: itunes.apple.com/us/app/starry-night-interactive-animation/id511943282
Available on google-play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.artof01.starrynight
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.5.15
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of eighty-five. Sunrise is 5:22 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 13m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 85% of its visible disk illuminated.
Our Independence Holiday events conclude today along Cravath, opening at Noon and closing at 5 PM.
It’s today that the FIFA Women’s World Cup match between America and Japan takes place, at 6 PM central time. (Yesterday saw an exciting, extra-time game for third place between England and Germany, and an English win over Germany, 1-0.)
The Solar Impulse 2 plane completed a trans-Pacific flight from Japan to Hawaii on July 3rd. It’s another step in use of genuinely green and clean technology:
On this day in 1832, Gen. Atkinson enters the trembling lands:
On this date, General Atkinson and his troops entered the area known by the Native Americans as “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk. The area was some 10 square miles and contained a large bog. Although the land appeared safe, it would undulate or tremble for yards when pressure was applied. Many of the militiamen were on horses, which plunged to their bellies in the swamp. The “trembling lands” forced Atkinson to retrace his steps back toward the Rock River, in the process losing days in his pursuit of Black Hawk. [Source: Along the Black Hawk Trail by William G. Stark]
Holiday
Varieties of Fireworks
by JOHN ADAMS •
All beautiful, like flowers, however named —
Via The 12 Kinds Of Fireworks You’ll Probably Encounter This July 4th @ Digg
America, Holiday
Happy Independence Day
by JOHN ADAMS •
An annual reading of the Declaration of Independence, with transcript below, from NPR —
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And now we will celebrate Independence Day, as we do every year at MORNING EDITION, with our reading of the Declaration of Independence.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
(Reading) When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
(Reading) We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
GREENE: (Reading) That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it.
LAKSHMI SINGH, BYLINE: (Reading) And to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
JULIE MCCARTHY, BYLINE: (Reading) Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established shall not be changed for light and transient causes. And accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: (Reading) But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: (Reading) Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies. And such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.
JOE PALCA, BYLINE: (Reading) The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
AUDIE CORNISH, BYLINE: (Reading) He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be obtained. And when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: (Reading) He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: (Reading) He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable and distant from the depository of their public records for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: (Reading) He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: (Reading) He’s refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: (Reading) He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states. For that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: (Reading) He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amounted payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
MICHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: (Reading) He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.
ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: (Reading) He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: (Reading) For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us, for protecting them by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states.
ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: (Reading) For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, for imposing taxes on us without our consent, for depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: (Reading) For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses, for abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarging its boundaries so as to render at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
(Reading) For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments, for suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with the power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: (Reading) He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our people.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: (Reading) He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy, the head of a civilized nation.
CORNISH: (Reading) He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, and to fall themselves by their hands.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: (Reading) He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE: (Reading) A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people, nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: (Reading) We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: (Reading) They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind – enemies in war, in peace, friends.
COKIE ROBERTS, BYLINE: (Reading) We therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free independent states.
GREENE: (Reading) That they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved.
MONTAGNE: (Reading) And that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce and do all other acts and things which independent states may have right do.
INSKEEP: (Reading) And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: Two hundred and thirty-nine years ago tomorrow, church bells rang out over Philadelphia as the Continental Congress adopted Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GREENE: And we declare it’s MORNING EDITION from NPR News.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.4.15
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
It will be a sunny Independence Day in Whitewater, with a high of eighty-three. Sunrise is 5:22 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 14m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 92% of its visible disk illuminated.
Our Independence Day festivities begin with a race through town, and then parade at 10 AM.
America plays Japan tonight Sunday for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, in Vancouver, at 6 PM central time.
Stage One of the Tour de France begins today, for a competition that continues through most of July, from 7.4 to 7.26.
On this day in 1863, Gen. Grant compels a Confederate surrender at Vicksburg:
The Confederacy is torn in two when General John C. Pemberton surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
The Vicksburg campaign was one of the Union’s most successful of the war. Although Grant’s first attempt to take the city failed in the winter of 1862-63, he renewed his efforts in the spring. Admiral David Porter had run his flotilla past the Vicksburg defenses in early May as Grant marched his army down the west bank of the river opposite Vicksburg, crossed back to Mississippi, and drove toward Jackson. After defeating a Confederate force near Jackson, Grant turned back to Vicksburg. On May 16, he defeated a force under John C. Pemberton at Champion Hill. Pemberton retreated back to Vicksburg, and Grant sealed the city by the end of May. In three weeks, Grant’s men marched 180 miles, won five battles, and took 6,000 prisoners.
Grant made some attacks after bottling Vicksburg, but found the Confederates well entrenched. Preparing for a long siege, his army constructed 15 miles of trenches and enclosed Pemberton’s force of 29,000 men inside the perimeter. It was only a matter of time before Grant, with 70,000 troops, captured Vicksburg. Attempts to rescue Pemberton and his force failed from both the east and west, and conditions for both military personnel and civilians deteriorated rapidly. Many residents moved to tunnels dug from the hillsides to escape the constant bombardments. Pemberton surrendered on July 4, and President Abraham Lincoln wrote that the Mississippi River “again goes unvexed to the sea.”
Cats
Friday Catblogging: DC Gets a Cat Café (But It Wasn’t Easy)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Holiday, Poll
Friday Poll: Independence Holiday Activities
by JOHN ADAMS •
What will you do this holiday? Multiple poll selections, like multiple activities over a long weekend, are possible —
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.3.15
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Friday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of seventy-nine. Sunrise is 5:21 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 14m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.4% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Independence holiday festival opens today at 5 PM. We’ll have fireworks in the city tonight later tonight at 10 PM.
On this day in 1863, the Union Army wins a decisive victory at Gettysburg, after three days of intense fighting, and heavy casualties on both sides of the battle. The next day, when details of the aftermath are better understood by his commanders, Pres. Lincoln issues a brief but moving statement:
Washington, D. C., July 4 — 10:30 A. M.
The President announces to the country that news from the Army of the Potomac, up to 10 P.M. of the 3d, is such as to cover that army with the highest honor; to promise a great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen; and that for this, he especially desires that on this day He, whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced with profoundest gratitude.
(Signed) A. Lincoln
On this day in 1919, Milwaukee gets an airport:
1919 – Milwaukee County’s First Airport Established
On this date one of the earliest publicly owned airports in the United States was established. Use of the airport ceased when the need for more space resulted in the purchase or Hamilton airport, now Mitchell Field. [Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers edited by Sarah Davis McBride, p.39]
Here’s Puzzabilty‘s Friday game, concluding this week’s series:
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This Week’s Game — June 29-July 3
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One Nation, Divisible
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Get out your red, white, and blue-ray for this week’s filmfest. For each day, we’ll give you a series of clues, each of which leads to a word. You must drop one letter out of each of these answer words and put them together (in order), adding spaces as needed, to get a movie title that includes a word evoking the July 4th holiday—a different such word every day.
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Example:
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“We hold ___ truths to be self-evident” / “Fourscore and seven years ___” / composer of The Merry Widow / public defamation, legally / uninhibited part of the psyche
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Answer:
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The Eagle Has Landed (these / ago / Lehar / slander / id)
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What to Submit:
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Submit the movie title and the smaller words (as “The Eagle Has Landed (these / ago / Lehar / slander / id)” in the example) for your answer.
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Friday, July 3
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Animals
Bringing Back Europe’s Bison
by JOHN ADAMS •
Assault Awareness & Prevention, Law, University
Former Coach Tim Fader Files Notice of Intent to Sue UW-Whitewater Officials
by JOHN ADAMS •
WISC-TV 3, Channel 3000, now reports on Fader’s Notice of Claim, in a story published online this evening:
Former University of Wisconsin-Whitewater wrestling coach has notified the state’s attorney general of his intent to sue a number of officials at the university for “improperly” dismissing him from his position and for continuing to stymie his efforts to find work.
Tim Fader failed a “Notice of Claim” this week, alleging that he was not renewed as the school’s wrestling coach in the summer of 2014 because he reported an alleged sexual assault committed by one of his recruits earlier last year directly to Whitewater Police and not to his supervisors on campus, per university policy. Fader asserts he’s been made a “scapegoat” because his situation arose shortly after the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education announced UW-W was one of 55 schools nationwide being investigated for how it handled sexual assault or harassment allegations
(Our law requires that one file a notice of intent to sue any state officials 60 days before legal action can begin. I have embedded the Notice of Claim below, so that one may read it in full.)
Attorney Stan Davis, a former UW System Regent, represents Fader. Attorney Davis observes that when Fader spoke to the police, he prevented UW-Whitewater’s officials from crafting a description of events at a time, and a pace, of their own choosing:
“He was the Division 3 Wrestling Coach of the Year and he is now unable to find a job,” said Fader’s lawyer, Stan Davis, a former UW System Regent. “It seems as though he’s being punished here for not giving the University the opportunity to decide how they were going to address, spin, handle this matter and that’s problematic.”
See, Former Coach Takes Step to Sue UW-Whitewater Officials @ Channel 3000.
Needless to say, in each case there may be people who are injured. That matters most, of course. Nearly as important as handling present injuries is inhibiting future victims or third-parties from reporting allegations for fear of doing so.
Attorney Davis sees this fundamental truth clearly:
His lawyer believes the impact Fader’s jobless situation could have on campuses throughout the state is why this remains so important.
“The chilling effect this could have on other faculty members who may be afraid to go to the police now if they become aware of something because Tim went to the police and he ends up losing his job,” Davis said. “It suggests (UW-W) didn’t want an outside agency to be aware of this until they decided what, if anything, they were going to do about it.
“Making a scapegoat of one person who actually handled the situation the way I think most people would have… does not do anything to help address this problem in the future.”
In fact, it’s hard to believe that reasonable people, aware of the importance of encouraging reporting, and genuinely believing in open reporting would not see as much.
I’ll have updates as this matter develops.
I would encourage readers to donate to the It’s On Us campaign, and to support these and other efforts to prevent sexual violence.
Those who have experienced sexual assault will find resources of support at www.notalone.com.
See, below, NOTICE OF CLAIM AND CLAIM PURSUANT TO 893.82, WIS. STATS:
Post updated 7.2.15 with video interview.
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.2.15
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning, Whitewater.
Our Independence Holiday events will begin along Cravath at 5 PM, on a day with sunny skies and a high of seventy-four. Sunrise is 5:21 and sunset 8:36, for 15h 15m 47s of daytime. It’s a full moon, with 99.8% of that natural satellite’s visible disk illuminated.
On 7.2.1776, members of the Second Continental Congress vote for independence:
On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, formally adopts Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence from Great Britain. The vote is unanimous, with only New York abstaining.
The resolution had originally been presented to Congress on June 7, but it soon became clear that New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and South Carolina were as yet unwilling to declare independence, though they would likely be ready to vote in favor of a break with England in due course. Thus, Congress agreed to delay the vote on Lees Resolution until July 1. In the intervening period, Congress appointed a committee to draft a formal declaration of independence. Its members were John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson, well-known to be the best writer of the group, was selected to be the primary author of the document, which was presented to Congress for review on June 28, 1776.
On July 1, 1776, debate on the Lee Resolution resumed as planned, with a majority of the delegates favoring the resolution. Congress thought it of the utmost importance that independence be unanimously proclaimed. To ensure this, they delayed the final vote until July 2, when 12 colonial delegations voted in favor of it, with the New York delegates abstaining, unsure of how their constituents would wish them to vote. John Adams wrote that July 2 would be celebrated as the most memorable epoch in the history of America. Instead, the day has been largely forgotten in favor of July 4, when Jefferson’s edited Declaration of Independence was adopted.
On this day in 1832, Abraham Lincoln passes through our area:
1832 – Abraham Lincoln Passes through Janesville
On this date Private Abraham Lincoln passed through the Janesville area as part of a mounted company of Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War. [Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers edited by Sarah Davis McBride, p. 117]
Here’s Puzzability‘s Thursday game:
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This Week’s Game — June 29-July 3
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One Nation, Divisible
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Get out your red, white, and blue-ray for this week’s filmfest. For each day, we’ll give you a series of clues, each of which leads to a word. You must drop one letter out of each of these answer words and put them together (in order), adding spaces as needed, to get a movie title that includes a word evoking the July 4th holiday—a different such word every day.
|
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Example:
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“We hold ___ truths to be self-evident” / “Fourscore and seven years ___” / composer of The Merry Widow / public defamation, legally / uninhibited part of the psyche
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Answer:
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The Eagle Has Landed (these / ago / Lehar / slander / id)
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What to Submit:
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Submit the movie title and the smaller words (as “The Eagle Has Landed (these / ago / Lehar / slander / id)” in the example) for your answer.
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Thursday, July 2
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Anderson, Cartoons & Comics
Buzzword jargon buzzword
by JOHN ADAMS •
