Good morning, Whitewater.

We’ll have a cloudy Saturday with a high of thirty-four.  Updated: Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset is 4:39, for 9h 15m 02s of daytime.  We’ve a new moon today.

On this day in 1975, scientists made a discovery previously-known only to residents near the Sierra Madre Mountains, in eastern Mexico: the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies, where monarchs in North America migrate.

On this day in 1863, the 23rd Wisconsin sees action:

1863 – (Civil War) Battle of Arkansas Post begins

The Battle of Arkansas Post, also called Fort Hindman, began on this day near the mouth of the Arkansas River. The 23rd Wisconsin Infantry was in the thick of the action all three days.

Good morning, Whitewater.

Our first work week of the years ends with rain (not snow!), and a high of thirty-nine. Sunrise is 7:24 and sunset 4:38, for 9h 13m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1877, Crazy Horse fights his last battle:

On January 8, 1877, General Miles found Crazy Horse’s camp along Montana’s Tongue River. U.S. soldiers opened fire with their big wagon-mounted guns, driving the Indians from their warm tents out into a raging blizzard. Crazy Horse and his warriors managed to regroup on a ridge and return fire, but most of their ammunition was gone, and they were reduced to fighting with bows and arrows. They managed to hold off the soldiers long enough for the women and children to escape under cover of the blinding blizzard before they turned to follow them.

Though he had escaped decisive defeat, Crazy Horse realized that Miles and his well-equipped cavalry troops would eventually hunt down and destroy his cold, hungry followers. On May 6, 1877, Crazy Horse led approximately 1,100 Indians to the Red Cloud reservation near Nebraska’s Fort Robinson and surrendered. Five months later, a guard fatally stabbed him after he allegedly resisted imprisonment by Indian policemen.

Here’s the Friday game in Puzzability‘s Sweet Sixteen series:

This Week’s Game — January 4-8

Sweet Sixteen

Happy 2016! For each day this week, we’ll give an eight-letter word or phrase and a trivia question. The 16-letter answer to that question (a title, name, or place) uses only the eight letters given.

Example:

HISTOGEN: What Rod Stewart song was his first U.S. #1 after “Maggie May,” five years later?

Answer:

“Tonight’s the Night”

What to Submit:

Submit the 16-letter title, name, or place (as “Tonight’s the Night” in the example) for your answer.

Friday, January 8

ORGANIST: What song about the weather from The Fantasticks was recorded by Barbra Streisand for her debut album?

Good morning, Whitewater.

We’re seven days into the new year, and the seventh of those days arrives in whitewater with an even chance of rain and a mild high of thirty-six. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset 4:37, for 9h 12m 28s of daytime. The moon today is a waning crescent with 7% of its visible disk illuminated.

Every so often, someone will write to me and ask why the Daily Bread post often includes moments in history from other places in Wisconsin or America.  (Thanks, as always, for those questions.)  There are two reasons: first because it seems to me to be interesting, and second because I believe a hyper-local focus without daily reflection on events in faraway places leads to myopia.  Local policy is made better when one begins with a reminder of the obvious: that we are no mere place of beauty, but a place of beauty made incomparably lovelier by its connection to a continental culture and civilization.

On this day in 1945, General Montgomery unjustifiably claims credit for himself, but eleven days later Prime Minister Churchill rightly sets the record straight:

On this day, British Gen. Bernard Montgomery gives a press conference in which he all but claims complete credit for saving the Allied cause in the Battle of the Bulge. He was almost removed from his command because of the resulting American outcry….

Montgomery had already earned the ire of many American officers because of his cautiousness in the field, arrogance off the field, and willingness to disparage his American counterparts. The last straw was Montgomery’s whitewashing of the Battle of the Bulge facts to assembled reporters in his battlefield headquarters—he made his performance in the Ardennes sound not only more heroic but decisive, which necessarily underplayed the Americans’ performance. Since the loss of American life in the battle was tremendous and the surrender of 7,500 members of the 106th Infantry humiliating, Gen. Omar Bradley complained loudly to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who passed the complaints on to Churchill. On January 18, Churchill addressed Parliament and announced in no uncertain terms that the “Bulge” was an American battle—and an American victory.

On this day in 1901, Fighting Bob first takes office as Gov. La Follette:

1901 – Robert Marion La Follette Inaugurated as Governor

On this date Robert M. La Follette was inaugurated as governor after winning the November 6, 1900 election. La Follette was born in Dane County in 1855. A Wisconsin Law School graduate and three-term member of congress, La Follette was renowned for his oratorical style. He was the first Wisconsin-born individual to serve as governor.

Here’s the Thursday game from Puzzability‘s week-long Sweet Sixteen series:

This Week’s Game — January 4-8

Sweet Sixteen

Happy 2016! For each day this week, we’ll give an eight-letter word or phrase and a trivia question. The 16-letter answer to that question (a title, name, or place) uses only the eight letters given.

Example:

HISTOGEN: What Rod Stewart song was his first U.S. #1 after “Maggie May,” five years later?

Answer:

“Tonight’s the Night”

What to Submit:

Submit the 16-letter title, name, or place (as “Tonight’s the Night” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, January 7

CORDELIA: What luxury car was appropriately developed for the manufacturer’s fiftieth anniversary?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Midweek in the Whippet City brings a mostly cloudy day with a high of thirty-two. Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset 4:36 for 9h 11m 17s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 13.3% of its visible disk illuminated.

It may be cloudy, but that doesn’t mean a good day doesn’t await.  I’m an optimist about our future, but even as an optimist some days seem notably promising.

Whitewater’s Board of Zoning Appeals meets this morning at 8:30 AM.

This is the week for the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  It’s a gadget-geek cornucopia, and The Verge has coverage of the events.  Here’s a look at a some of the goings on:

1921 – Janesville Women Abhor Salacious Entertainment

On this date the Janesville Federation of Women decided to “censor” movies and vaudeville in the city. Members of this organization praised and promoted what they considered “better offerings.” They were zealously critical towards those of a “salacious” nature. No follow-up ever determined whether the women were successful in their quest or if the increased publicity for “salacious” shows backfired. [Source:Janesville Gazette]

Here’s the Wednesday game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — January 4-8

Sweet Sixteen

Happy 2016! For each day this week, we’ll give an eight-letter word or phrase and a trivia question. The 16-letter answer to that question (a title, name, or place) uses only the eight letters given.

Example:

HISTOGEN: What Rod Stewart song was his first U.S. #1 after “Maggie May,” five years later?

Answer:

“Tonight’s the Night”

What to Submit:

Submit the 16-letter title, name, or place (as “Tonight’s the Night” in the example) for your answer.

Wednesday, January 6

BALUSTER: What W.C. Handy song is named for a historic thoroughfare in Memphis, Tennessee?

Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will be mostly sunny with a high of thirty.  Sunrise is 7:25 and sunset 4:35, for 9h 10m 10s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 20.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

An ad hoc group from the Urban Forestry Commission (Heritage Tree Committee) meets today at 4:30 PM.

On this day in 1933, construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge:

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km), three-mile-long (4.8 km) channel between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to Marin County, bridging both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.^[7]

The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge “possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world”.^[8] It opened in 1937 and was, until 1964, the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m)….

Construction began on January 5, 1933.^[9] The project cost more than $35 million,^[29] completing ahead of schedule and under budget.^[30] The Golden Gate Bridge construction project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Corporation founded by Howard H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of Lehigh University.

Today is the birthday of a socialist whose supposedly successful community proved – predictably – anything but successful:

1813 – Utopian Community Leader Warren Chase Born

On this date the founder of a Fourierite Utopian community in what is now Ripon was born. Their inspiration came from the writings of Charles Fourier, a French Socialist who urged the rebuilding of society from its foundation as the only cure for economic ills such as the depression of 1837. The idea was supported by Horace Greely in New York and caught the eye of Warren Chase. Chase and others built a successful, non-religious communal society in which everyone received wages according to their skill, need, and work ethic.

The community reached their greatest population (180) in 1845 but soon dissipated when members began moving toward agriculture as an economic tool. Families gradually left the community to live in their own houses and work their own land in the same area. In 1850, the community disbanded and $40,000 in assets was divided among the remaining members. Warren Chase moved around the country and finally settled in California, where he held many public offices. [Source: Wisconsin Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, p. 94-104]

Here’s the Tuesday game in this week’s Sweet Sixteen series from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — January 4-8

Sweet Sixteen

Happy 2016! For each day this week, we’ll give an eight-letter word or phrase and a trivia question. The 16-letter answer to that question (a title, name, or place) uses only the eight letters given.

Example:

HISTOGEN: What Rod Stewart song was his first U.S. #1 after “Maggie May,” five years later?

Answer:

“Tonight’s the Night”

What to Submit:

Submit the 16-letter title, name, or place (as “Tonight’s the Night” in the example) for your answer.

Tuesday, January 5

TAIL ENDS: What was the title of the 1960s-1980s American editions of the Agatha Christie book also known as And Then There Were None?