Good morning.

Tuesday in the Whippet City will be sunny with a high of seventy-three.

Tonight, as part of a years-long series, there will be a joint Common Council-Planning Commission meeting to discuss the Zoning Re-write Project, beginning at 5:30 PM. One can expect all the fuss in the world over this, from more than one politically unreconstructed resident, as though there never was and never will be a greater issue for Whitewater than this. (More on this topic later.)

On this day in 1871, the Chicago Fire begins:

…flames spark in the Chicago barn of Patrick and Catherine O’Leary, igniting a two-day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100,000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million (in 1871 dollars; $3 billion in 2007 dollars) in damages. Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in the O’Leary barn and started the fire, but other theories hold that humans or even a comet may have been responsible for the event that left four square miles of the Windy City, including its business district, in ruins. Dry weather and an abundance of wooden buildings, streets and sidewalks made Chicago vulnerable to fire. The city averaged two fires per day in 1870; there were 20 fires throughout Chicago the week before the Great Fire of 1871….

At the same time, in Wisconsin, a fire also strikes, and causes greater loss of life:

1871 – Peshtigo Fire

On this date Peshtigo, Wisconsin was devastated by a fire which took 1,200 lives. The fire caused over $2 million in damages and destroyed 1.25 million acres of forest. This was the greatest human loss due to fire in the history of the United States. The Peshtigo Fire was overshadowed by the Great Chicago fire which occurred on the same day, killing 250 people and lasting three days. While the Chicago fire is said to have started by a cow kicking over a lantern, it is uncertain how the Peshtigo fire began. [Source: Wisconsin Electronic Reader]

Scientific American‘s daily trivia question asks about basketballs. (Clicking on the question leads to its answer.)

In 2006, the National Basketball Association introduced synthetic basketballs to replace the traditional leather ones. How different is the bounce of these new balls?

Good morning.

Monday will be mostly sunny, with a high of sixty-four, and west winds of 10 to 15 mph.

China, one reads, faces an insect threat:

The world’s biggest hornet is wreaking havoc in northwestern China, where 42 people have died after being swarmed and stung in Shaanxi Province, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Some 1,600 others have been injured since the outbreak of the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) began in July, the regional health authority reported, and attacks continue even as local authorities take action, including destroying hundreds of hives and improving medical treatment for victims.

See, along these lines, Beware the Giant Hornets:

On this day in 1774, Wisconsin’s French flare becomes formal:

1774 – Wisconsin Becomes Part of Quebec
On this date Britain passed the Quebec Act, making Wisconsin part of the province of Quebec. Enacted by George III, the act restored the French form of civil law to the region. The Thirteen Colonies considered the Quebec Act as one of the “Intolerable Acts,” as it nullified Western claims of the coast colonies by extending the boundaries of the province of Quebec to the Ohio River on the south and to the Mississippi River on the west. [Source: Avalon Project at the Yale Law School]

Scientific American‘s daily trivia question asks about meteorites. (Clicking on the question leads to its answer.)

Where is the largest crater on earth produced by a crashing meteorite?

Good morning.

Sunday brings a one-third chance of afternoon showers and a high of sixty.

A newspaper headline proclaims ‘These Robotic Blocks Can Automatically Combine Themselves To Build New Robots,’ and that’s pretty close to true (and spot on amazing):

Over at MIT, a student came up with an idea for modular robots – independent robots that can operate on their own or recombine with each other in various ways to create brand new robots made up of these smaller autonomous units.

It took some tinkering, but the idea came to fruition. They’re called M-Blocks – small cubes without moving parts, loaded up with electronics that help them roll and jump around a room.

And as you’ll see in the video below, they are smart enough to detect each other and figure out how to join up to create new devices.

For the Friday poll, asking about the believability of a supposed Bigfoot video, 69.23% of respondents said the video was poop, but 30.77% thought it was proof.

Good morning.

We’ve a ninety-percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms, on a day with a high of seventy-five.

On this day in 1947, Pres. Truman delivers the first televised presidential speech, from the White House:

President Harry S. Truman and several cabinet members, including Secretary of State George C. Marshall, asked Americans to refrain from eating meat on Tuesdays, and poultry and eggs on Thursdays, to help stockpile grain for starving people in Europe.

The New York Times reported the next day that the goal was to create a surplus of grain which, instead of being used to feed animals, could provide emergency food relief to Europe: “Food from the United States,” Secretary Marshall said, “would deter the march of hunger, cold and collapse, not only enabling Europe to recover its economic stability, but also contributing to the resolution of a crisis that could mean the difference between the failure or attainment of world peace and security.”

As for food, of the kind many eat today, an evergreen question lingers: what the heck is inside a Chicken McNugget? Here’s what:

Recently, Mississippi researchers found out why: two nuggets they examined consisted of 50 percent or less chicken muscle tissue, the breast or thigh meat that comes to mind when a customer thinks of “chicken.”

The nuggets came from two national fast food chains in Jackson. The three researchers selected one nugget from each box, preserved, dissected and stained the nuggets, then looked at them under a microscope.

The first nugget was about half muscle, with the rest a mix of fat, blood vessels and nerves. Close inspection revealed cells that line the skin and internal organs of the bird, the authors write in the American Journal of Medicine.

The second nugget was only 40 percent muscle, and the remainder was fat, cartilage and pieces of bone.

“We all know white chicken meat to be one of the best sources of lean protein available and encourage our patients to eat it,” lead author Dr. Richard D. deShazo of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, said.

“What has happened is that some companies have chosen to use an artificial mixture of chicken parts rather than low-fat chicken white meat, batter it up and fry it and still call it chicken,” deShazo told Reuters Health.

“It is really a chicken by-product high in calories, salt, sugar and fat that is a very unhealthy choice. Even worse, it tastes great and kids love it and it is marketed to them.”