It’s beautiful weather in store for Whitewater, with sunny skies and a high temperature of eighty-eight.
In Whitewater, there’s a meeting of the Landmarks Commission, including training for commissioners on the landmarks nomination process, at 5 p.m. The meeting agenda is available online.
Today’s a memorable anniversary for the Brewers, as the Wisconsin Historical Society explains:
1999 – First Brewer Inducted into Hall of Fame
On this date Robin Yount became the first player inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in a Brewer’s jersey. Yount entered the major leagues at the age of eighteen and spent his entire career with the Milwaukee Brewers as number 19 at short stop and center field. His awards are numerous, including being selected as an all-star three times as well as American league MVP twice. [Source: Milwaukee Brewers]
Here’s your chance to comment on your choice of legendary beast: What do you think we should do? There’s a poll, and space for comments, below, too.
The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings is, of course, fine. Although the comments template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.
The forum will be open until Sunday morning, and this post will stay at the top of the website during that time. Other posts may be up during that time; they’ll just appear below this one until Sunday.
There’s no need to milk taxpayers — either in Whitewater or elsewhere — of millions, when a profitable venture in mythological animals might be started for peanuts. For decades, the screwball Pratt Institute conducted all sorts of nutty, theologically-unsound seances, and Whitewater got nothing good out of it. For a fraction of price of time and energy on excuses about TID 4’s sorry state, we could have our own version of the Loch Ness legend.
We’d clean up if only we’d spread carefully publicize a few harmless stories about mysterious hounds, bipedal amphibians, or skunk apes.
Last night, I came home from a wonderful evening, and what did I see on the news? I saw this headline at Channel 3000:
Damnit! Juneau County’s already ahead of us. They wasted no time, no time at all, jumping on a mysterious animal craze, now in full swing after a supposed chupacabra discovery in Texas. I cannot describe how abraded, affronted aggravated, annoyed, bothered, bugged, burned, chafed, disturbed, driven up the wall, enraged, exasperated, galled,grated, incensed, inflamed, infuriated, irked, maddened, needled, nettled, offended, pained, peeved, pestered, piqued, provoked, put out, rankled, riled, roiled, rubbed the wrong way, ruffled, soured, tried, and vexed I am.
More, even, than usual.
And look at this — there’s a news video about this Juneau County creature:
Did they ever get a jump on Whitewater. Sure, it looks like a sickly possum, or a crappy raccoon, but it’s news. Now this guy will pull it out of his freezer, have it stuffed, and charge for tourists from across America, Europe, and Japan (probably especially Japan, as they love this sort of thing) to see it.
There’s still time, but no time to waste, leaving discovering giant ape footprints along the Cravath Lakefront, or the trail of an aquatic beast that emerged from Trippe Lake.
Oh, Whitewater, let’s not allow this golden opportunity to pass. If Juneau County can do it, so can we. more >>
In truth, the shuttle’s retirement could actually make the U.S. space program stronger, by finally allowing the shuttle’s two users – NASA and the Pentagon – to go their separate ways in space, each adopting space vehicles best suited to their respective missions.
Axe writes about some of the options that America will now use for space launches:
For routine sorties placing satellites and other space vehicles into orbit, NASA will use unmanned rockets, from the 1.6-million-pound Delta IV to the 1,300-pound Minotaur. That’s the Pentagon’s preferred approach, as well. NASA is trying a more commercial approach for resupplying the space station. For example, they’ve agreed to 12 resupply missions with SpaceX worth at least $1.6 billion.
Not a bad set of choices, among others that the story mentions. We’ll be fine.
In Texas, a thirteen-year-old boy believes he’s shot a chupacabra, a legendary animal that supposedly sucks the blood from its prey. Looking at the video, the dead animal looks like nothing so much as an emaciated, partly hairless coyote. (It looks a coyote that because that’s what it surely is.) Yet, even this readily-identifiable creature’s spurring national news, with videos and stories about what it might be.
Whitewater’s missing out on a real chance here. There have been stories about the nearby Beast of Bray Road, so our area’s already primed for more spooky, amazing tales of bizarre creatures. We’ve had our work done for us.
Trippe Lake’s closed temporarily because of E. coli, but who knows what monster that bacterium might conjure from the depths? Perhaps something like this –
There’s no need to milk taxpayers — either in Whitewater or elsewhere — of millions, when a profitable venture in mythological animals might be started for peanuts. For decades, the screwball Pratt Institute conducted all sorts of nutty, theologically-unsound seances, and Whitewater got nothing good out of it. For a fraction of price of time and energy on excuses about TID 4’s sorry state, we could have our own version of the Loch Ness legend.
We’d clean up if only we’d spread carefully publicize a few harmless stories about mysterious hounds, bipedal amphibians, or skunk apes.
By the way, here’s a news account of that Texas animal – see what you think –
It’s a sunny day in the forecast for Whitewater, with a high of about ninety-four.
Perhaps, after all, a full moon does bring dangers, including (for those who happen to be in Africa) lion attacks. At ScienceNews, Nadia Drake writes that
Beware the full moon, for as it fades, hungry lions emerge to reclaim the night — and prowl for human flesh. Scientists studying lion attack trends in Tanzania found that predation peaks in the evenings after a full moon. The finding is the first to link lunar cycles with predation on humans, long a source of superstition and lore.
The study, led by Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, looked at the relationship between lunar cycles, lion attacks and lion feeding behavior. Researchers used records of more than 1,000 lion attacks on Tanzanian villagers that occurred between 1988 and 2009. Of these, nearly two-thirds were fatal, and most occurred after dark. Researchers were able to pinpoint a precise time of day for 474 attacks, and found that attacks clustered between 6 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.
They also found that attack rates were two to four times higher in the 10 days after a full moon….
Even in hard times, one finds there’s still great optimism in the dreams of America’s popular culture. Here, from Marvel Comics and Columbia pictures, is a reboot of one of those dreams.
More than a generation ago, NASA saw its greatest triumph, on this day in 1969, when Armstrong set foot on the moon. Even now, it’s a moving scene —
There’s superficial reason to be concerned about America’s future in space exploration — these are bleak days for NASA’s human space flight program (now more shell than anything else).
Yet, for all that, there’s reason to be optimistic — creative Americans are building private solutions that will make space exploration, and even travel, easier and cheaper than possible in 1969. Here’s a private launch (with NASA video) of Space X’s Falcon 9 —
Just a start, but our best accomplishments are yet ahead of us.
Today should be Whitewater’s hottest day of the week, with a predicted high temperature of ninety-nine, and sunny skies.
The Wisconsin Historical Society notes that “on this day in 1976, Hank Aaron hit his 755th and last home run at Milwaukee County Stadium against the California Angels. [Source: Milwaukee Brewers].”
Here’s Vin Scully’s call of Aaron’s earlier, record-making 715th home run —
There’s an item in the Whitewater city manager’s July 15thWeekly Report that shows how deceptive grants — supposedly free money — can be.
First, the cost. Grants for bridges, etc., aren’t free — someone had to earn that grant money, money that found its way to one public or quasi-public organization or another. When Whitewater gets several hundred thousand from an organization like the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, it’s not getting something that doesn’t come at a cost to Whitewater and Wisconsin.
(WEDC is Gov. Walker’s replacement for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, and he chairs its board of directors. They don’t have a printing press; they do have funding from taxes. How much? Millions upon millions in taxes.)
Second, the camouflage. Even after the taxpayer-funded grant money, there’s still often shortfall (as in this case, as in the case with the Innovation Center) that the city pays through municipal indebtedness. With a bridge on North Street, that’s still hundreds of thousand in debt, after hundreds of thousands in tax revenue. We need a new bridge; we should be plain that we’re the ones paying for it.
I sometimes wonder if Whitewater’s city manager has seen one to many Matthew Lesko infomercials —
WHITEWATER, WI – July 18, 2011 – The Alzheimer’s Association will be presenting a program called “Maximize Your Memory” on Monday, August 8, 2011 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Irvin Young Memorial Library, 431 West Center Street in Whitewater. This interactive and informative workshop will offer participants information on the difference between normal age-related memory loss and dementia. Tips and strategies for improving memory will also be shared, along with a discussion on the importance of a brain-healthy lifestyle.
The program is being offered by the Alzheimer’s Association at no charge and is open to the public. Registration is required; to register, please contact Bonnie Beam-Stratz at 920-728-4088 or send an email to bonnie.beam@alz.org.
The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research whose mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. For more information about Alzheimer’s disease and local services visit www.alz.org/sewi or call the Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 Helpline at 800-272-3900.
