Good morning.

We’ll have gradually clearing skies this Monday, with a high of seventeen (wind chill values being between five and five below).

There are three municipal meetings scheduled for today. At 5:00 PM, there’s a special meeting of the Community Development Authority. At 6 PM, the Planning Commission meets, and at the same time (6 PM) there’s a meeting of the Fire and Rescue Task Force.

Of these meetings, one may say that there never was and never will be anything special about lapping up crony-capitalist checks from the WEDC, it’s a sign to the city of how serious the Planning Commission is by how much they focus on sign regulations, and the task of the Fire and Rescue Task Force should be to do more than ponder whether – scathing report now public – one should be “in the process of implementing any recommendations if there is a need to do so.”

If one doesn’t see a need now, then one will never see any need, for anything.

Well, we have a definitive answer to the poll question, FW Friday Poll: Whitewater’s first accumulated snowfall in the 2013-14 season? It was December 8th. I picked a date too soon (December 4), but some of those 26.19% who picked a date between 12-1 to 12-15 may have had 12.8 in mind.

Of the most recent FW poll, an overwhelming number (86.36%) answered the question of whether to sell or discard a returned engagement ring by voting to sell.

WERE SHE alive today, Grace Hopper would surely be too busy and focused to dwell on her own Google Doodle.

Too much to do, and discover, and understand. Throughout her long career, Hopper the naval officer, like time, marched on.

“Amazing Grace” Hopper would have been 107 today, and Google pays tribute with a home-page cartoon of the young computer pioneer at work. The Doodle prompts us to celebrate the great woman and mathematician and trailblazing programmer, even if she wasn’t the type to make a fuss over such things.

Puzzability‘s new puzzle series for the week of 12.9-12.13 is about the cold:

This Week’s Game — December 9-13

The Bitter End

It’s beginning to feel a lot like winter out there. For each day this week, we started with a word and added the sound “brrr” to the end to get a new word. The two-word answer phrase, described by each day’s clue, is the shorter word followed by the “brrr” word.

Example:

Saloon employee who cuts men’s hair

Answer:

Bar barber

What to Submit:

Submit the two-word phrase, with the “brrr” word second (as “Bar barber” in the example), for your answer.

Monday, December 9

Integer too cold to feel anything

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will bring a near-certainty of afternoon snow, with accumulations of about an inch. The high for today will be twenty-five. A second snowfall is likely overnight, again with an accumulation of about an inch.

On this day in 1941, America followed the attack on Pearl Harbor with a declaration of war.

What’s it like to live in state-capitalist, heavily-planned and dictatorially-managed China? One can see the air.

On December 8, 1917, a Wisconsin agricultural inventor passes away:

1917 – Inventor John F. Appleby Dies
On this date the inventor of the twine-binder, John F. Appleby died. Appleby was raised on a wheat farm in Wisconsin and searched for an easier way to harvest and bundle grains. His invention gathered severed spears into bundles and bound the sheaves with hempen twine. His invention, which was pulled by horses, was a great success. In 1878 William Deering, a farm machinery manufacturer secured the right to use Appleby’s patent and sold 3,000 twine harvesters in a single year. In 1882 the McCormicks (of the McCormick reapers) paid $35,000 for the privilege to manufacture Appleby’s invention. Appleby spent the rest of his life in his shop trying to create additional successful machinery. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes]

Good morning. Saturday will be sunny with a high of sixteen, with wind chill values of zero to ten below.

On this day in 1941, at 7:48 AM local time, Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor.

Wisconsinite Russ Warrnier survived the attack:

1941 – Wisconsin Man Survives Pearl Harbor Attack
On this date Russ Warriner, a 25-year-old first class seaman on the USS Arizona, miraculously survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The explosions ripped apart the Arizona and killed nearly all his mates. At the time of the attack, Warriner was on the sky control platform, where his job was to spot enemy ships and planes. The bomb that struck the Arizona sliced through the steel deck and exploded into a fuel tank. Fire flared for seven seconds before it ignited 1.7 million pounds of explosives held in the ship’s magazine. More than 1,000 sailors died instantly, including many on the lookout platform with Warriner. Warriner lost his balance and fell onto the platform. His hands swept through fiery magnesium remaining from incendiary bombs and were nearly burned off. He was knocked off the ship, pulled aboard a small motor boat, and eventually made his way to shore.

Warriner was treated at Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois, where plastic surgeons were able to repair his hands. Warriner settled in Wisconsin, married and raised two children. In the late 90s, Warriner was a retired piano tuner living in Beloit Township. [Source: Janesville Gazette]

Two years later, on 12.7.1943, the U.S. Navy christened a new battleship for the war:

1943 – USS-Wisconsin Christened
On this date the USS-Wisconsin was christened by Wisconsin’s first lady Madge Goodland. The ship was re-christened by Mrs. Goodland in March, 1951 during the Korean War. The USS-Wisconsin was inactive for many years but was recommissioned in 1989. [Source: First Ladies of Wisconsin, the Governor’s Wives by Nancy G. Williams, p.181]

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventeen.

On this day in 1884, workers finish the Washington Monument:

…in Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of an impressive monument to the city’s namesake and the nation’s first president, George Washington. As early as 1783, the infant U.S. Congress decided that a statue of George Washington, the great Revolutionary War general, should be placed near the site of the new Congressional building, wherever it might be. After then-President Washington asked him to lay out a new federal capital on the Potomac River in 1791, architect Pierre L’Enfant left a place for the statue at the western end of the sweeping National Mall (near the monument’s present location)….

Made of some 36,000 blocks of marble and granite stacked 555 feet in the air, the monument was the tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion in December 1884. In the six months following the dedication ceremony, over 10,000 people climbed the nearly 900 steps to the top of the Washington Monument. Today, an elevator makes the trip far easier, and more than 800,000 people visit the monument each year. A city law passed in 1910 restricted the height of new buildings to ensure that the monument will remain the tallest structure in Washington, D.C.–a fitting tribute to the man known as the “Father of His Country.”

On 12.6.1821, Wisconsin gets her first post office:

1821 – First Wisconsin Post Office Established
On this date the first Wisconsin post office was established in Green Bay. The first postmaster was John Deane and the office is still in existence. [Source: Wisconsin: Its Territorial and Statehood Post Offices, compiled by Frank Moertl, p.30]]

Puzzability‘s Festival of Lights series concludes today:

This Week’s Game — December 2-6

Festival of Lights

Here’s a bright idea for Hanukkah. The answer to each day’s trivia question this week is a two-word phrase, name, or title in which each word can be followed by the word “light” to make a compound word or phrase.

Example:

What was achieved for the first time by the Soviet Union in 1959 with an unmanned craft and by the U.S. 10 years later with a manned craft?

Answer:

Moon landing (moonlight, landing light)

What to Submit:

Submit the two-word trivia answer (as “Moon landing” in the example) for your answer.

Friday, December 6

What New Year’s Eve performance-based celebration was originated in 1975 by a group of Boston artists as an alternative to boozy parties?

Good morning.

We’ll have a chance of flurries in the morning, then mostly sunny skies and temperatures falling into the twenties.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM, as will the Fire & Rescue Task Force (6 PM).

On this day in 1901, Walt Disney is born.

In the Wisconsin of December 5, 1879, a new organization:

1879 – Humane Society of Wisconsin Organized
On this date the Humane Society of Wisconsin was organized in Milwaukee. Inspired by Henry Bergh, a New York City philanthropist, and his Humane Movement, the state Humane Society was formed to protect both animals and children. However, with the formation of child protection laws in the early 1900s, the Humane Society of Wisconsin began to focus primarily on animal protection. [Source: Humane Society of Wisconsin]

Puzzability‘s Festival of Lights puzzles continue with their Thursday entry:

This Week’s Game — December 2-6

Festival of Lights

Here’s a bright idea for Hanukkah. The answer to each day’s trivia question this week is a two-word phrase, name, or title in which each word can be followed by the word “light” to make a compound word or phrase.

Example:

What was achieved for the first time by the Soviet Union in 1959 with an unmanned craft and by the U.S. 10 years later with a manned craft?

Answer:

Moon landing (moonlight, landing light)

What to Submit:

Submit the two-word trivia answer (as “Moon landing” in the example) for your answer.

Thursday, December 5

What Australian wine brand’s label features brackets around its name and a picture of a wallaby?