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Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.5.13

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Good morning.

It’s a beautiful Friday for Whitewater: sunny, a high of eighty-three, and light winds of 5 to 10 mph. Sunrise was 5:23 AM, and sunset will be at 8:36 PM. The moon is a waning crescent with just 6% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Independence Day events continue today at Noon. The carnival will open then, and the festival opens at 5.   Live music begins at 6.  There will be fireworks tonight about an hour after sunset, at 10.

Almost seventy years ago today, a fashion innovation:

On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini modeled the new fashion, which Reard dubbed “bikini,” inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week.

European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits that consisted of a halter top and shorts in the 1930s, but only a sliver of the midriff was revealed and the navel was vigilantly covered. In the United States, the modest two-piece made its appearance during World War II, when wartime rationing of fabric saw the removal of the skirt panel and other superfluous material. Meanwhile, in Europe, fortified coastlines and Allied invasions curtailed beach life during the war, and swimsuit development, like everything else non-military, came to a standstill.

Puzzability‘s current series, concluding today, is called Key Words:

Key Words
We’ve got a parade of patriotic trivia this Independence Day week. The answer to each day’s question is a name or title that contains one of the main words in the well-known first verse of our national anthem.

Example:
What super-sweet cereal is Calvin’s favorite in “Calvin and Hobbes”?

Answer:
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

Here’s the puzzle for Friday:

What alternative rock duo originally presented themselves as brother and sister when they were, in fact, married for several years?

Here’s a link to the lyrics for the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.4.13

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Good morning.

We’ve a beautiful Independence Day ahead in Whitewater, with mostly sunny skies and a high of seventy-eight. Sunrise was at 5:22 a.m., and sunset will be at 8:37 p.m. The moon is a waning crescent with 11% of it’s visible disk illuminated.

Our Independence Day festivities begin today just before 10 AM. The Whippet City Mile takes place about 10 minutes to 10, and our July 4th parade starts at 10. There’s a car show today from 8-3, and a ski show on Cravath at Noon.  Twice during the day there will be a motorcycle stunt show, at 1 and 2:45. Live music begins along Cravath at 1, and fireworks will begin at about an hour after sunset, at 10.

Puzzability‘s current series, running this week, is called Key Words:

Key Words
We’ve got a parade of patriotic trivia this Independence Day week. The answer to each day’s question is a name or title that contains one of the main words in the well-known first verse of our national anthem.

Example:
What super-sweet cereal is Calvin’s favorite in “Calvin and Hobbes”?

Answer:
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

Here’s the puzzle for Thursday:

What 1999 movie includes a list of eight rules, the first two of which are the same?

Here’s a link to the lyrics for the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Holiday

Happy Independence Day

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20071018_declaration

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

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.

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.–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, 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 effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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.–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. 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 an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

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 operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

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.

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.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has 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 mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured 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.

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 amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

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.

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:

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:

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:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

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 power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

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.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

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, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured 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. 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 Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. 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. 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.

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 Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; 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; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.3.13

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Good morning.

There’s a chance of thunderstorms today (about 40%), but Whitewater will have mild temperatures in the 70s and light winds. Sunrise was at 5:21 a.m., and sunset will be at 8:37 p.m.

Whitewater’s July 4th events begin today at 5 PM. Tonight features the Miss Whitewater Pageant at 5, the opening of midway amusements, and live music beginning at 8 from The Now.

On this day in 1863, the Union line holds, forcing Lee to clear the field a day later, at Gettysburg:

On July 3, Lee, having failed on the right and the left, planned an assault on Meade’s center. A 15,000-man strong column under General George Pickett was organized, and Lee ordered a massive bombardment of the Union positions. The 10,000 Federals answered the Confederate artillery onslaught, and for more than an hour the guns raged in the heaviest cannonade of the Civil War. At 3 p.m., Pickett led his force into no-man’s-land and found that Lee’s bombardment had failed. As Pickett’s force attempted to cross the mile distance to Cemetery Ridge, Union artillery blew great holes in their lines. Meanwhile, Yankee infantry flanked the main body of “Pickett’s charge” and began cutting down the Confederates. Only a few hundred Virginians reached the Union line, and within minutes they all were dead, dying, or captured. In less than an hour, more than 7,000 Confederate troops had been killed or wounded.

Both armies, exhausted, held their positions until the night of July 4, when Lee withdrew.

Google’s posted a doodle today for Franz Kafka’s birthday:

franz_kafkas_130th_birthday-1976005-hp

Puzzability‘s current series, running this week, is called Key Words:

Key Words
We’ve got a parade of patriotic trivia this Independence Day week. The answer to each day’s question is a name or title that contains one of the main words in the well-known first verse of our national anthem.

Example:
What super-sweet cereal is Calvin’s favorite in “Calvin and Hobbes”?

Answer:
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

Here’s the puzzle for Wednesday:

What competition TV show’s champions have included Kristi Yamaguchi, Emmitt Smith, and Jennifer Grey?

Here’s a link to the lyrics for the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.2.13

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Good morning.

It’s a mild and sunny day ahead: a high of seventy-four with light, morning winds at 5 to 10 mph in the morning.

On this day in 1937, “aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.”

On this day in 1832, 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]

Today is also the second day, in 1863, of fighting at Gettysburg:

1863 – (Civil War) Second day at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Fighting at Gettysburg began in the afternoon on July 2 and lasted until after dark as Union forces repulsed a series of attacks. That night, Union Major General George Meade held a council of leaders to decide what to do next. Lieutenant Frank Haskell, of Madison, was present when they voted to “allow the Rebel to come up and smash his head against [their position] to any reasonable extent he desired, as he had to-day. After some two hours the council dissolved, and the officers went their several ways.”

Puzzability‘s current series, running this week, is called Key Words:

Key Words
We’ve got a parade of patriotic trivia this Independence Day week. The answer to each day’s question is a name or title that contains one of the main words in the well-known first verse of our national anthem.

Example:
What super-sweet cereal is Calvin’s favorite in “Calvin and Hobbes”?

Answer:
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

Here’s the puzzle for Tuesday:

What fictional scientist, when exposed inadvertently to the blast of his own gamma bomb, gained the ability to transform into a large superhero?

Here’s a link to the lyrics for the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.1.13

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Good morning.

A new month begins, with sunny skies and a high of seventy-eight.

One hundred fifty years ago, the Battle of Gettysburg begins:

The largest military conflict in North American history begins this day when Union and Confederate forces collide at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The epic battle lasted three days and resulted in a retreat to Virginia by Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.

Two months prior to Gettysburg, Lee had dealt a stunning defeat to the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, Virginia. He then made plans for a Northern invasion in order to relieve pressure on war-weary Virginia and to seize the initiative from the Yankees. His army, numbering about 80,000, began moving on June 3. The Army of the Potomac, commanded by Joseph Hooker and numbering just under 100,000, began moving shortly thereafter, staying between Lee and Washington, D.C. But on June 28, frustrated by the Lincoln administration’s restrictions on his autonomy as commander, Hooker resigned and was replaced by George G. Meade.

Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac as Lee’s army moved into Pennsylvania. On the morning of July 1, advance units of the forces came into contact with one another just outside of Gettysburg. The sound of battle attracted other units, and by noon the conflict was raging. During the first hours of battle, Union General John Reynolds was killed, and the Yankees found that they were outnumbered. The battle lines ran around the northwestern rim of Gettysburg. The Confederates applied pressure all along the Union front, and they slowly drove the Yankees through the town.

By evening, the Federal troops rallied on high ground on the southeastern edge of Gettysburg. As more troops arrived, Meade’s army formed a three-mile long, fishhook-shaped line running from Culp’s Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top. The Confederates held Gettysburg, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position….

On July 1st, 1967 (yes, 1967), margarine finally becomes legal in Wisconsin:

1967 – Sale of Oleo Becomes Legal
On this date it became legal to purchase Oleomargarine in Wisconsin. For decades, margarine was considered a contraband spread. Sale of the butter imposter resulted in fines or possible jail terms. Oleomargarine was sold legally in Illinois and frequently smuggled into Wisconsin.

Puzzability has a new series, running from 7.1 to 7.5, entitled, Key Words:

Key Words
We’ve got a parade of patriotic trivia this Independence Day week. The answer to each day’s question is a name or title that contains one of the main words in the well-known first verse of our national anthem.

Example:
What super-sweet cereal is Calvin’s favorite in “Calvin and Hobbes”?

Answer:
Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs

Here’s the puzzle for Monday:

What 1932 dystopian novel envisions a society based on the principles of Henry Ford’s assembly line?

Here’s a link to the lyrics for the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Twitter

Recent Tweets, 6.23 to 6.29

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